
The Laich signing is more important, as Cassivi, the 2006 Calder Cup MVP, is headed straight for Hershey, while Laich will get a real shot to center the Caps' second line. I remember Ted Leonsis (gratuitous name drop) telling me last year that the organization sees Laich as "a Steve Konowalchuk-type player with a little more offense." If that's the case, his future is indeed bright and pretty soon he'll be more than just "the guy we got for Bondra."
UPDATE: According to the WaPo (which has a nice article on towering blueline prospect Sasha Pokulok), Laich's deal is for one year at $627,000. The WTimes, however, reports that the deal is for one year at $606,000. Who should I believe - one of the most respected newspapers in the world or Sun Myung Moon and his neo-con daily? Sadly, TSN.ca is reporting the deal is for $606,100, so it looks like the Moonies win... this round.
Finally, if you haven't been reading them daily, catch up on Mike Vogel's reports from Caps' prospect camp here, here and here.