Islanders Re-Sign Linden

The New York Islanders re-signed restricted free-agent captain Trevor Linden to a one-year contract and hope to have him in the lineup for Saturday’s season opener.

The 28-year-old center and longtime Canuck captain will begin his first full season on Long Island after joining the Islanders from Vancouver in a February trade.

His signing leaves high-scoring right wing Zigmund Palffy as the only unsigned Islander.

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John Cullen’s comeback from cancer became official when the veteran center’s name was included on the Tampa Bay Lightning’s opening night roster.

Cullen, 34, out of hockey about 18 months while undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma, underwent six months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments and later required a painful bone marrow transplant and additional chemotherapy.

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The San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames open the NHL regular season in Japan, and many of the players are unhappy about it.

“Ridiculous,” Shark center Bernie Nicholls said. “Absolutely ridiculous.

If the teams spending a week in Tokyo to start the season isn’t rigorous enough, both fly home for a single game and then take to the road again--the Sharks for three games, the Flames for four.

A year ago, when the Japanese games featured the Mighty Ducks and Canucks, hockey fans in the Far East got a glimpse of stars Mark Messier, Pavel Bure and Teemu Selanne.

This season . . . well, there’s Fleury.

“That’s what I don’t understand,” said Tommy Albelin, a Flames’ defenseman who played for Sweden in Nagano. “If they want to send teams, why not well-known ones, like the Rangers or Red Wings or Maple Leafs? [Wayne] Gretzky or the Stanley Cup champions? I mean, everyone in Japan has heard of New York.”