The Smurfs have been busy with contract negotiations lately, but all the hard work has paid off and several of their key players are staying in Shediac. C Wayne Primeau, RWs Milan Hejduk and Daniel Alfredsson, D Nathan Martine and G Mikael Tellqvist have all signed long-term deals that should keep them on this team for the next five seasons. The team is still working on young G Wayne Savage, but that contract should be finalized shortly.

With all of these players receiving salary increases, the Smurfs are inching closer to the upper limit of the payroll cap. The team is expected to relieve some of that pressure by exposing some other players to the upcoming expansion draft or free agency. Who knows? There may even be some wiggle room to allow Shediac to replace one of them with another free agent, or get an upgrade to a preceived weakness. It should be an interesting off-season...