The Ducks announced today that the club has signed defenseman Sami Vatanen to a three-year entry-level contract. Per club policy, no financial terms of the deal were disclosed. Vatanen, 19, appeared in 52 contests for JYP Jyvaskyla of the Finnish Elite League in 2010-11, scoring 11-20=31 points with a +30 rating and 30 penalty minutes. Named the Finnish Elite League’s Defenseman of the Year in 2010-11. Selected by Anaheim in the fourth round (106th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Vatanen represented Team Finland at the last two IIHF World Junior Championships in Buffalo, NY (2011) and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (2010). A native of Jyvaskyla, Finland, Vatanen spent two seasons with his hometown Jyvaskyla junior team prior to making his Finnish Elite League debut in 2009-10. In 55 games with the junior squad.

The Los Angeles Kings have agreed to terms on a three-year entry level contract with defenseman Nicolas Deslauriers, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced Tuesday. Deslauriers, 20, was selected by the Kings in the third round (84th overall) in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He recently completed his fourth season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) with the Gatineau Olympiques, and he led all QMJHL defensemen in 2011 playoff scoring with 20 points in 24 postseason games. Deslauriers helped Gatineau advance to the QMJHL's championship series (the President's Cup Final) before the Olympiques lost to the Saint John Sea Dogs in six games.

The Atlanta Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg. True North Sports and Entertainment announced Tuesday at Winnipeg’s MTS Centre that it has purchased the struggling team and will shift it to Canada next season. The deal is reportedly worth $170M, including a $60M relocation fee that would be split by the rest of the league. Winnipeg has been without NHL hockey since the Jets moved to Phoenix in 1996.

The Bruins got a grand sendoff from fans outside TD Garden Monday afternoon before boarding their flight to Vancouver for Games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, which begin Wednesday at the Rogers Centre. "You can feel, you can sense that the whole city is behind us and they've been like that all playoffs," Patrice Bergeron said. "It's great. Obviously Boston is such a sports town and to bring back, I guess the hockey fans and us into it, is something that I'm very proud of." Tim Thomas echoed Bergeron's sentiments, but acknowledged their ultimate goal had not yet been reached. "It's great and it's where you've wanted to be and you, well what I've worked for my whole life, you know to get to this point in the Stanley Cup," Thomas said. "And so it's a big accomplishment. But you don't dream of getting to the Stanley Cup finals, you dream of winning the Stanley Cup. So there's still more work to be done."

Forwards There is no doubt that Vancouver boasts more star power up front, as Henrik and Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler are likely all better than any Boston forward. But where they lack in absolute star power, the Bruins make up for with depth; their third and fourth lines are more dangerous offensively than Vancouver's. Yes, the Canucks third and fourth lines play their role well, forechecking and playing solid defensively, but they don't possess the hands, playmaking, and scoring of Chris Kelly, Michael Ryder, Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley. In the regular season Vancouver was the highest scoring team in the NHL, but the Bruins are averaging more goals per game in the playoffs. Boston currently has eight forwards with at least eight points in the playoffs, Vancouver has five. Boston's depth cancels out the Vancouver stars. Edge: Even Defense Vancouver's blueline is easily the best in the league right now. Kevin Bieksa (5-4-9, +10) and Dan Hamhuis (1-5-6, +5) are not only shutting down opposing forwards, but providing quick breakouts and timely offensive support. Christian Ehrhoff (2-9-11) and Alexander Edler (2-7-9) provide more offensive as a pairing, but less defense. Add Sami Salo and they have five defensemen with more than 20 shots in the playoffs. These five are a big reason that Vancouver doesn't allow as many shots on net as Boston does. Boston also has five defensemen with more than 20 shots on net, but if you watch their power play you would think Tomas Kaberle has yet to register a shot. The Bruins top pairing of Zdeno Chara (+11) and Dennis Seidenberg (+8) are playing fantastic defensive hockey and could very well give the Sedin twins trouble, much like Nashville's Weber and Suter did. But with The Big B's averaging over 28 minutes per game, fatigue may very well be a factor. Johnny Boychuk and Andrew Ference, like Kaberle, have been traded playing well and playing poorly. Edge: Canucks Goalie Roberto Luongo is doing his best to dispel the notion that he isn't a big game goalie, that he succumbs to pressure instead of embracing it. He says all of the right things, and quite frankly has played excellent since the Chicago series ended. In fact his numbers were at one point atrocious in the first round, but he has battled back to tie Thomas' 2.29 GAA. But there is just something about Tim Thomas that provides more comfort, despite his unorthodox play that remind some of Dominik Hasek. Thomas will likely win his second Vezina Trophy in the last three seasons at the end of June, and set the NHL single-season record for save percentage. He has also faced the most shots of any goalie in the playoffs at 560, but has stopped 92.9% of them; only Carey Price's 93.4% was better among playoff starters. So while it may not be fair to Luongo, the 2010 Gold Medal-winning goalie, the Vezina(s) and NHL-record on Thomas' wall provide more comfort at this point in time. And while emotional, Thomas doesn't appear to get as rattled, which matters. Edge: Bruins Special Teams Power play success rate: VAN 28.3%, BOS 08.2% Penalty kill success rate: VAN 80.6%, BOS 79.4% Edge: Canucks Coaching Both Alain Vigneault (Vancouver) and Claude Julien (Boston) are tasting their first bit of extending playoff success after years of successful regular seasons. While Julien has been more consistent (90+ points in every year but his first year in Montreal 2002-03), Vigneault had no success in Montreal but a lot of it in Vancouver; he is nominated for the Jack Adams Trophy for the third time, winning once in 2007. Julien has never been nominated. Vigneault has the respect of his players, but there was a lot to question when he chose not to start Roberto Luongo in a pivotal Game 6 against Chicago in the first round. He was fortunate that Luongo found his way back into the net and seemed rejuvenated, or else there could have been a great amount of tension between the organization and a player with 11 more years left on his deal. Julien, equally respected, can be properly blamed for his team's inability to have any power play success in the playoffs. While positioning� Chara in front of the goalie seems like a good idea, using his shot from the point, registered as the hardest in the entire league, seems like a much better idea. Big bodies like Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton could ably fill Chara's spot in front of the net. Both have their positives as well, but Vigneault displays a quiet confidence that that never seems to waver, which provides his team more stability than the sometimes-hot-under-the-collar Julien. Edge: Canucks Predicition: Canucks in six. Nick is RealGM's NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan

With a week between playoff games, the Canucks added scrimmages to their usual practice routine, according to an ESPN.com report on Monday. "Just making sure we are sharp and treat practice like a game and ramp up the intensity level," said goalie Roberto Luongo. "Just a little to get in the game flow."

The Bruins' Game 7 victory over the Lightning drew the most viewers for a conference finals game on cable since 2002. Boston's 1-0 win in the Eastern Conference finals Friday on Versus averaged 2.55 million viewers. That's the most since the Red Wings-Avalanche Western Conference finals Game 7 nine years ago.

The Thrashers' sale to a group which would move the team to Winnipeg could be complete this week, possibly as early as Tuesday. The Thrashers' owners are in negotiations with True North Sports and Entertainment, which would relocate the team to Winnipeg.

Forward Louie Caporusso has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Senators, according to an ESPN.com report on Monday. Caporusso, from Toronto, played for Michigan when it reached the NCAA championship game in April.

The Flyers are in need of a big-time goalie and general manager Paul Holmgren is trying to devise a plan to acquire one without giving up an offensive star. "I have certain plans and I'm certainly not going to discuss them," Holmgren said. "It's an important summer for us," Holmgren continued. "I believe we have a good team and we want to stay a good team. I believe we're one of the top teams in the league. I think it's important now to just try to maintain and add in certain areas. So we're looking at a lot of different things to try to make ourselves better." Jeff Carter, a 40-plus goal scorer, has been mentioned in some trade rumors involving Philadelphia taking back a much-needed goalie.