Nashville Predators: The Nashville Predators signed leading scorer Andreas Johansson and made qualifying offers to eight other players Monday night.

Johansson's signing came just hours before a midnight EDT deadline for qualifying offers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 30-year-old forward had 20 goals and 17 assists in 56 games last season.

Qualifying offers were made to Denis Arkhipov, Scott Hartnell, Petr Hubacek, David Legwand, Curtis Murphy, Alexander Riazantsev, Robert Schnabel and Kimmo Timonen.

The Predators have not made a qualifying offer to forward Rem Murray, but the team is in negotiations to re-sign the forward. Murray, who was acquired in a midseason trade with the New York Rangers, had 12 goals and 19 assists.

The team also bought out the final year of Oleg Petrov's contract, making him an unrestricted free agent. Petrov was another player acquired in a midseason trade, coming from the Montreal Canadiens.

Nashville declined to make qualifying offers to 14 players, making them unrestricted free agents. They were Erik Anderson, Jason Beckett, Cale Hulse, Bryan Lundbohm, Cameron Mann, Denis Pederson, Domenic Pittis, Todd Warriner, Clarke Wilm, Vitali Yachmenev, Wade Flaherty, Brent Gilchrist, Bill Houlder and Reid Simpson.

"There are financial implications with these moves -- younger players generally cost less than older players," Predators general manager David Poile said. "In many cases of the players who we have not made qualifying offers to, the price is simply too high.

"That being said, our core is intact. As this team improves, it will be mostly due to talented young players who makes up that nucleus.''

Just hours before Monday night's free agency deadline, the team signed leading scorer Andreas Johansson and made qualifying offers to eight other players while failing to tender offers to 14 others.

"There are financial implications with these moves -- younger players generally cost less than older players," general manager David Poile said. "In many cases of the players who we have not made qualifying offers to, the price is simply too high."

Carolina Hurricanes: Forward Jan Hlavac or defenseman Nikos Tselios will not be offered contracts, general manager Jim Rutherford told The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer.

Hlavac was acquired from the Vancouver Canucks in November. A 26-year-old left wing who had 37 goals over two seasons for the New York Rangers in 1999-2001, Hlavac was expected to fill the hole on left wing created by Martin Gelinas' free-agent departure last summer but scored only nine goals in 52 games.

"He's under performed his contract," Rutherford told the paper. "He could certainly bounce back with somebody and score 20-25 goals, but I think we have enough forwards."

Tselios was the Hurricanes' first-round pick in 1997, 22nd overall. Though 6 feet 5, he never developed into an NHL defenseman and played only two games for the Hurricanes at the end of the 2001-02 season.

Of the Canes' four first-round picks from 1997 to 2001, only Jeff Heerema remains with the team.

Minnesota Wild: The Minnesota Wild on Monday made qualifying offers to all seven of their restricted free agents but cut ties with center Cliff Ronning and defenseman Lubomir Sekeras.

The Wild decided to not pick up Sekeras' $1.3 million option and decided to let Ronning, the team's only unrestricted free agent, enter the NHL's free agent market.

Ronning, who was paid $1.85 million last season, could still re-sign with the team as a free agent.

``We'll see where he fits in the marketplace and where we are financially,'' said assistant general manager Tom Lynn.

The 37-year-old Ronning had 48 points last season, tied for second-most on the team.

As expected, qualifying offers were extended to defensemen Willie Mitchell and Andrei Zyuzin; forwards Matt Johnson, Antti Laaksonen and Pascal Dupuis; and goaltender Manny Fernandez.

Right wing Marian Gaborik also was qualified, although the Wild are negotiating a long-term deal with him. All except Dupuis and Gaborik can file for arbitration by July 15.

Sekeras, who scored 11 goals and had 34 points in 2000-01, struggled to stay in the lineup last season.

The Wild also decided to pick up their option on defenseman Brad Brown.

San Jose Sharks: The club has signed left wing Yuri Moscevsky to an NHL contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Moscevsky, 24, tallied three points (one goal, two assists) and 172 penalty minutes in 65 games for AHL Cleveland in 2002-03. The 6-4, 220-pound California native's 172 penalty minutes ranked third among AHL rookies.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.