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By KEVIN KELLY
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 18, 2000
TAMPA -- With the start of training camp less than three weeks away, the Lightning cut the number of remaining restricted free agents in half Thursday by signing Bryan Muir and Kaspars Astashenko to one-year contracts.
"They are both big, good-skating defensemen that we feel have tremendous upsides," general manager Rick Dudley said. "We believe that they can both become quality players."
Tampa Bay has two unsigned restricted free agents: defenseman Pavel Kubina and center Wayne Primeau. They can sign with the Lightning, work out a deal with another team with the Lightning receiving compensation or hold out when camp opens Sept. 7.
"We expected to sign all of our players," Dudley said. "We haven't signed them all, so I guess we still have some work."
Muir, 27, was acquired from Chicago in November in a trade for Michael Nylander. The Winnipeg native recorded 1 goal, 1 assist and 32 penalty minutes but missed 18 games with Chicago and Tampa Bay with a broken ankle.
Signed by Edmontonin April 1996, Muir (6-4, 200) has played in 107NHL games with 4 goals, 8 assists and 118 penalty minutes.
Astashenko, a fifth-round pick (127th overall) by the Lightning in 1999, split time between the NHL and International Hockey League last season.
In eight games with Tampa Bay, the 25-year-old from Latvia had one assist and four penalty minutes. Astashenko (6-2, 206) also played 14 games with Long Beach and 51 for Detroit of the IHL.
"He played very well when we brought him up at the end of the season," Dudley said.
CARAVAN: Coach Steve Ludzik, Primeau and play-by-play broadcaster Rick Peckham are scheduled to attend the caravan's fourth stop from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at J.P. Igloo in Ellenton.
BLUE JACKETS: Right wing Kent McDonell was acquired from Detroit for a sixth-round pick in the 2003 draft. Columbus also signed left wing Jody Shelley, defensemen Rick Gorman and Tim O'Connell, and forward Robert Ek to contracts with its Syracuse farm team.
CAPITALS: Defenseman Brendan Witt will stay at the same $1-million for 2000-01 and get a $75,000 increase the next year after arbitration.
COYOTES: Eric Healey, who can play center and left wing, signed a one-year contract.
FLAMES: Goaltender Fred Brathwaite won in arbitration and will go from a salary of $373,400 to $950,000.
FLYERS: Defenseman Chris Therien, 28, has reached a contract stalemate. He received $1.5-million last year and wants $2-million in the first year of his new contract, increasing to $3-million by a third year. Goalie Brian Boucher also seeks at least $1-million more than what the Flyers offered, which is believed to be $800,000 for the first year of a multiyear deal.
SENATORS: Forward Radek Bonk, who had 23 goals and 37 assists in 80 games last season, was awarded a two-year deal worth $3.25-million in arbitration.
STARS: Free-agent left wing Ted Donato, 31, signed a one-year contract. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but he made $1.17-million last season. Right wing Blake Sloan was awarded a one-year contract worth $550,000, up from last season's $375,000, in arbitration.
WILD: The Canadian Wildlife Federation, which has published a children's magazine, Wild, for five years, says the NHL and Minnesota have demanded that it give up the rights to the trademark so the expansion team can use the name for marketing and promotion.
-- Information from other news organizations was used in this report.