Avangard Omsk have filled one of their biggest needs for the upcoming season by signing Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Karri Ramo to a two year contract.  The Finnish netminder has spent the past three seasons in North America, splitting the most recent two between the Lightning and the Norfolk Admirals of the AHL.  In 48 NHL games he had a 3.35 goals-against average and a save percentage of .895.  According to the Avangard web site, Ramo turned down a three year deal from the Lightning, opting instead to take the starting role in Siberia that was vacated by Alexander Fomichev earlier this summer.  Terms of the deal were not announced.  The soon-to-be 23-year old Ramo was set to become a restricted free agent next week.

Don’t expect tough guy Brandon Sugden back in Connecticut’s capital next season.  Hartford’s heavyweight spoke to Lindsay Kramer of the Syracuse Post-Standard earlier this week and made it clear that a return to his former team, the Syracuse Crunch, is a real possibility — provided his friend and fellow bruiser Jon Mirasty doesn’t re-up with the Western Conference club.  “I think everybody knows, if I’m going to play in the American Hockey League, my first choice would be Syracuse,” Sugden told Kramer. “If Jon doesn’t sign, would I come to Syracuse? Of course I would.”

According to the article, signing with his hometown Toronto Marlies is also a possibility for the soon-to-be 31-year old Sugden, who managed only one assist in 56 games last season to go along with his 136 penalty minutes.  One thing seems clear: a second season in the Atlantic Division is not in the cards for the gregarious goon.  “As tough guys go, they had me in Hartford and Westgarth in Manchester. No one had a heavyweight who wanted to fight me night in and night out,” explained Sugden. “After Christmas, I couldn’t buy a fight.”

Best of luck to “Sugar” wherever he ends up.  With the emergence of 21-year old Justin Soryal as a legitimate heavyweight candidate — who proved a more entertaining scrapper than his elder teammate and can actually play a regular shift — the Wolf Pack has little reason to be concerned about what appears to be Sugden’s impending departure.

KHL bottom feeders Dinamo Minsk are hoping to lure Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Vladimir Denisov home to Belarus next season.  In an interview published Wednesday, Dinamo’s Deputy Director of Hockey Operations Sean Simpson told Belorussian sports site PressBall that his club is currently negotiating with the blueliner and fellow Belarus national team player Sergei Demagin, who some will remember signed an AHL deal with the Wolf Pack last summer only to return to Minsk prior to the start of the regular season.

It would appear that Denisov is still planning on taking another shot at the NHL, however. “With Denisov it’s difficult, because he wants to continue his career in North America,” Simpson admitted. “With Demagin it’s a somewhat different situation; he played for Dinamo last season, after all.”

Simpson, who coached Team Canada to the Spengler Cup in 2007, doesn’t seem overly confident that his team will bag two of the country’s most talented players. “I’m not sure that the chances of signing contracts with these guys are great, but we’ll continue negotiations.  We’ll see what happens in the next couple of months.”  Denisov is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent this summer, but in an interview last month the soon-to-be 25-year old made it pretty clear that he expects to be playing outside the New York Rangers organization next season.