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When he signed a one-year contract to stay in Chicago this year, most observers assumed that former first round pick Jack Skille was a lock to make the NHL roster.

The Chicago Blackhawks are trying to figure out who will be part of their title defense at a number of key roster spots. There’s room for a forward or two, and defensive depth has some question marks, and there are a number of young players trying to jump into the mix and get their shot at the NHL in these positions.

After a couple days of training camp, the player turning the most heads is Igor Makarov.

On Monday, the Pittsburgh Penguins extended the contract of General Manager Ray Shero by five more seasons, keeping him with the Pens through the 2015-16 season. He was in the final year of a five-year deal.

Under Shero, the Penguins have played in two Stanley Cup Finals, winning one. When he took over the team in 2006-07, the team was an afterthought in the postseason. However, adding superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to the roster, along with Jordan Staal and others, the Pens have made the playoffs in four consecutive seasons.

Last year, the NHL saw a couple of great, historic teams play for the chance to lift Lord Stanley over their heads, and the Chicago Blackhawks ended a 49-year drought in doing so. The playoffs saw an incredible spike in television viewing, and the league's bottom line showed what a great postseason can mean to everyone in the game.

As teams begin practicing together for the first time, it's officially time for the 2009-10 season to be packed up and put into storage. It's done. Over. Time to look forward.

This is the fourth part of our preseason series looking at the Chicago Blackhawks' roster heading into training camp in 2010.

On Thursday the Chicago Blackhawks announced that they have signed head coach Joel Quenneville to a three-year contract extension.

From the statement on the Blackhawks website:

Quenneville has been coach of the Blackhawks since Oct. 16, 2008, when he was announced as the in-season replacement for Denis Savard.

This is the third part of our preseason series looking at the Chicago Blackhawks’ roster heading into training camp in 2010.

This is the second part of our preseason series looking at the Blackhawks’ roster heading into training camp in 2010. In the first part, we focused on the centers on the roster. Now, in the second edition, we’ll focus on the skaters that will work with those centers: the wings.

According to reports out of Anaheim on Tuesday morning, the Ducks and Bobby Ryan have agreed on a five-year, $25.5 million contract. The cap number for this deal would be $5.1 million per season.

At 23, Ryan is just entering the prime of his career. After scoring 35 goals for the Ducks last year, he now has 131 points in 168 career NHL games. More importantly, this locks up the Ducks' core of Ryan, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf for the next three years.

On Friday, the Phoenix Coyotes reportedly agreed to terms with Martin Hanzal, 23, on a two-year extension contract worth $3.6 million.

Hanzal will reportedly make $1.5 million in the first year of the deal and $2.1 million in the second after scoring 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists) in 81 games with the Coyotes last season. He led all Phoenix centers averaging 18:29 in ice time last year, won 50.6 percent of his faceoffs and racked up 104 penalty minutes.