Brendan Shanahan to Sign This Week, Possibly By Wednesday

Aside from Mats Sundin, former Rangers forward Brendan Shanahan is still sitting out there on the free agent market waiting to sign a deal. While Sundin is still making up his mind on what exactly he's going to do, Shanahan will, reportedly, be signing with a team this week, perhaps as soon as tomorrow, according to his agent, Rick Curran.

From Chuck Gormley of the Courier-Post:

Is Philadelphia a serious contender?" Rick Curran said Monday from his home in Devon, Pa. "Absolutely. There are people Brendan needs to talk to before he has all the information to make a decision." Curran said he and Shanahan have gotten back to all of the NHL teams that have "continually expressed interest" in signing the 39-year-old left wing. Curran would not identify the number of teams Shanahan is considering, but the Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, New Jersey Devils, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks are believed to be the most interested.

Shanahan wishes to remain close to New York, which would seemingly give quite an edge to the Devils and Flyers, and all but eliminate St. Louis and Chicago.

Plus, there's that "playing for a contender" thing which probably doesn't include the Blues or Chicago.The Blackhawks are a great young team, but I'm not sure they're in "contender" status yet. Though, their 7-3-3 record at the moment probably disagrees.

As for the Penguins, Flyers and Devils ... as long as Martin Broduer is on the long-term injury list New Jersey will have the cap room to sign Shanahan, while the Penguins and Flyers would probably have to shed some salary right now to fit him into the mix.

Shanahan, 39, has scored 650 goals in his NHL career, including 23 a season ago with the Rangers, and would still be a nice addition to any of the Atlantic Division teams currently fighting for his services.