On Friday afternoon, the Chicago Blackhawks reportedly agreed on a new three-year contract for forward Bryan Bickell.

Listed at 6’4 and 225 pounds, Bickell will be one of the young power forwards fighting to replace Dustin Byfuglien on the Hawks’ roster this season. In 23 career NHL games, the 24-year-old has five goals and one assist.

With a number of forwards and Brian Campbell hurt at the beginning of the 2010 postseason, Bickell dressed for four games and had an assist while skating with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in the Nashville series.

Late Thursday the Blackhawks agreed to terms with center Evan Brophey on a two-way contract. The deal has a base salary of $500k, and is only one year in length, according to CapGeek.com.

Brophey was selected in the third round (68th overall) by the Blackhawks in the 2005 draft. He is listed at 6’1 and 205 pounds and has spent the past three seasons in Rockford, where he scored 14 goals and added 17 assists in 79 games for the IceHogs last year. He will turn 24 in December.

In the wake of Thursday’s trade of veteran Marty Reasoner to Florida, Brophey joins a group of young prospects trying to win a spot on the Hawks fourth line in 2010-11. Given his cap number, a strong camp might get Brophey a shot at Chicago this fall.

The Chicago Blackhawks announced on Thursday afternoon that they had dealt veteran forward Marty Reasoner, acquired from Atlanta in the deal that sent Brent Sopel, Ben Eager and Dustin Byfuglien to the Thrashers, to the Florida Panthers for center Jeff Taffe.

Taffe (pronounced TAYFE) is 29 years old, and was originally the 30th overall pick in the first round of the 2000 draft, selected by the St. Louis Blues. He spent most of last season with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL, where he accumulated 56 points (28G, 28A) in 61 regular season games, and added seven points (G, 6A) in seven postseason games.

He is listed at 6’3 and 215 pounds, and has 44 points (21 G, 23 A) and 40 PIM in 174 career NHL games with the Phoenix Coyotes, New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Florida Panthers.

Most importantly, Taffe has a $550k cap number, saving the Blackhawks $600k against the cap in 2010-11.

On Tuesday, there were a number of small pieces of insight that lend credibility to our conspiracy theory that New Jersey Devils GM Lou Lamoriello was actually doing the NHL a favor when he offered superstar wing Ilya Kovalchuk a laughable contract.

First comes the report that the Devils knew on Monday night that the NHL had no intention of accepting the contract, but went ahead with flying a number of high profile players into town for a press conference on Tuesday. Why drag a huge media circus out if you know the deal isn’t done… at least legally?

Then Lamoriello added some meat to the conspiracy.

“There is nothing that we have done wrong,” Lamoriello said Tuesday. “This is within the rules. This is in the CBA. There are precedents that have been set. But I would agree we shouldn’t have these. I’m also saying that because it’s legal and this is something that ownership felt comfortable doing for the right reasons.”

This sounds like a kid justifying a broken window on the playground by saying, “Everyone else was throwing a baseball by the windows.” Lamoriello doesn’t appear to show remorse for offering the deal, or having it rejected.

The devil's in the details?

On Tuesday, within hours of the press conference introducing their new $102 Million Dollar Man, the New Jersey Devils received word that the league had rejected the contract on grounds that the deal was trying to circumvent the salary cap.

The deal is now in a holding pattern, waiting for an arbiter to rule, with the team and player considering how much to fight the league’s opinion.

Kovalchuk would earn $98.5 million of the $102 million in the first 11 years of the deal, but only $550k in each of the final five seasons. The star forward would be 44 when the deal expires.