Ron Hainsey

posted by Mike Boone at 16h24 EST on Jul 2

Former Canadiens first-round draft choice Ron Hainsey – 13th overall in 2000 – has signed with Atlanta: five years, $22.5 million
contract.

Nice raise on the $900,000 the 27-year-old earned with Columbus .... and yet another indication that puck-moving defencemen (see CAMPBELL, Brian) have become a very valuable commodity in the NHL.

• • •

Brooks Orpik, who's an old-fashioned bone-crunching defenceman, is staying put in Pittsburgh.

He's signed a six-year contract for $22.5 million, $3.75 million per. Orpik, one of the better Penguins in the Stanley Cup final, was making $1 million