Some teams are going to regret [the long-term free agent] deals in a few years. The salary cap could go down next year. That would put some teams in quite a bind. We're committed to playing our young players next season.

The deals have been the de-icing on the cake. The more dominant issue is the Nasdaq bounce, which we remain distrustful of, as we feel the market is being too complacent about interest rates.

The government itself is running exactly like the Sopranos and they sit back and they make deals. And they say okay, 'I'm going do this: France, you're getting the pipelines.'

Alexander is an incredibly gifted young player, and we are excited to have him join our club.

Simply put, he's one of the finest athletes and gentlemen that you can find on any team in any sport. This sends a great message to his teammates and our fan base. The message is: We're going to do this right, we're going to build it right and get the right people here. Certainly Olie is that kind of person.

The thing we have to understand is that Alex was in the homeland, playing for a professional team over there, he was in training camp and was earning a substantial amount of money. So the decision was not easy for him. But he wanted to come to Washington. He's a terrific young man who is going to be here for a long time.