This one is interesting.

The Caps have signed Keith Aucoin to a two-year contract. He played 38 games for Carolina last season and five goals to go with 13 points. The 29-year-old center has gone back and forth between the Hurricanes and their AHL affiliate the past three seasons.

Aucoin has scored 431 points in 435 career games in the AHL, including 229 in 175 contests in the past three years. And, he has been an AHL all-star each of those seasons.

Is this just another move to help out the Hershey Bears or does it signal insurance against someone like Brooks Laich or Boyd Gordon not coming back? I would lean toward the former, but it is interesting. Stay tuned.

(Update 11:05 a.m.)

Here's the deal with Keith Aucoin's, well, deal. It is a two-way contract for next season and a one-way deal for 2009-10. He would make $475,000 if he spent every day with the Caps next season and $500,000 in '09-10. So it looks like Aucoin will be a key cog for the Bears and someone who can be counted on with the big club in a pinch if needed.

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