Samuelsson heads for Canucks as Nash commits to Columbus

The Vancouver Canucks beefed up their offence by signing the Swedish right winger on a three-year contract.

The free agent Mikael Samuelsson, right, has joined the Vancouver Canucks. The Swede has scored 86 goals in 466 NHL games.

VANCOUVER // The Vancouver Canucks beefed up their offence by signing the Swedish right winger Mikael Samuelsson on a three-year contract. The free agent Samuelsson, 32, has spent the last four seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup in 2008 and reaching the finals again this year. A member of Sweden's gold medal-winning team at the 2006 Turin Olympics, he has registered 86 goals and 208 points in 466 NHL games. Samuelsson joins his compatriots Daniel and Henrik Sedin in Vancouver, the identical twins having agreed matching five-year contracts to stay with the Canucks earlier this week. In other moves, the New York Rangers agreed terms with forward Tyler Arnason and the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins retained Ukrainian forward Ruslan Fedotenko on a one-year contract. Arnason, 30, joins the Rangers from the Colorado Avalanche where he posted five goals and 17 assists last season for 22 points. Fedotenko joined the Penguins as a free agent 12 months ago and registered 16 goals and 39 points for the team last season. The 30-year-old won the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning before adding a second with the Penguins.

The Columbus Blue Jackets signed their captain Rick Nash to an eight-year contract extension. The contract begins in 2010-11, extending through the 2017-2018 season. Terms were not disclosed. "Rick is our captain, the foundation of our team and one of the elite players in the NHL," their general manager Scott Howson said on the team's website. "We are very happy he will continue to call Columbus home for many years."

The winger, 25, is the team's all-time leader in goals and points having compiled 194 goals and 161 assists in 441 career games and led Columbus to its first playoff appearance last season. Meanwhile the Los Angeles Kings have acquired the veteran left wing Ryan Smyth in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche. The Kings sent defencemen Kyle Quincey, Tom Preissing and a 2010 draft pick in exchange for the 14-year player. Smyth tied for his team's lead in points (59) last season and was first in assists (33). The 2008-09 campaign also marked the ninth time he recorded at least 20 goals. "Ryan is the type of player who fits with our team," the Kings president and general manager Dean Lombardi said. "He fills an important need as he is a competitive, gritty scoring left winger, and he fits with the overall identity we continue to build here." The 33-year-old Smyth has played in 920 regular season games with the Avalanche, New York Islanders and Edmonton Oilers while recording 660 points. In 81 career play-off games, he has 52 points.

* With agencies