NHL Free Agency Reaction
7/13/2009 | Posted by
Devin
NHL free agency started on July 1st and it was much more active than I first thought. With the initial rush mostly over and most teams looking forward to training camp, I figured now would be a good time to review some of the moves that were made.
I’ll refrain from using the terms “winners” or “losers” right now because nobody will really know that until the season is played out. If someone were to write a winners and losers column a year ago, I’m sure the Red Wings would’ve been the winners for signing Marian Hossa and Pittsburgh the losers for letting him go…how did that work out again? So with that thinking in mind, I’m just going to give my two cents on some of the deals (and only some of the teams) that took place during draft day and during the signing period. We’ll just have to revisit this column after next season to see how accurate I was (or wasn’t).
Anaheim
- I like what Anaheim has done so far. Signing Saku Koivu to a modest one year deal to play with friend Teemu Selanne should work out well. Trading Chris Pronger away as he headed into the last year of his deal was a good move. They got a very good return from Philadelphia out of an expiring contract so instead of losing him for nothing or getting next to nothing for him at the trade deadline, they maximized their return during the off-season. Very nice. If I were the GM, my next move would be trying to move J.S. Giguere and his $6 million dollar cap hit, then sign Jonas Hiller to a long term extension.
Atlanta
- Unless the words “contraction” or “relocation” are involved, I highly doubt I’ll be excited about Atlanta hockey. They have a chance to lock up Ilya Kovalchuk as he heads into the final year of his deal, but realistically they should be looking at trading him and getting something for nothing. I’d be very surprised if he re-signs with the Thrashers. Granted he would be getting a big pay day, but one would think he would actually like to win at some point in his career (and play in front of more than 128 fans per night).
Buffalo
- I would’ve liked the Sabres to have been slightly more active, but I didn’t expect it. I hear a ton of bashing by hockey fans about how the Sabres are so cheap and they just let everyone go. I’d like to mention that the players they have let go (Briere, Drury, Campbell, McKee) all have busted with their new team, or they are very close to busting in Campbell’s case. It’s almost as if the Sabres knew these guys weren’t worth that much money and decided to bite the bullet. Sure they took their hits at the time, but they are looking pretty smart right now. I could sit here all afternoon and rattle off some of the dumb contracts that were handed out this summer. I’ll take a cheap team any day to a team throwing $4 million dollars down the drain per season to drag Nik Antropov on the ice and have him act like he gives a damn.
Now that I’m done ranting, I can talk about what the Sabres actually did do so far. One area they had to address was blue line toughness and they did just that by signing Steve Montador. I was highly in favor of this move before free agency started so I was quite pleased when they announced the deal. If they were to acquire another defenseman and move Henrik Tallinder and/or Toni Lydman I’d chalk this up as a successful off-season. That will be a tough sell though and I don’t see it happening. Re-signing Matt Ellis doesn’t exactly excite me either. There has to be another move made before the season starts.
Losing Jaroslav Spacek hurts on the offensive side, but I really could care less. I said prior to free agency that I would only want him staying in Buffalo if he took a pay cut and it was evident from the start he wouldn’t do that. After seeing what Montreal paid for him, I’m very happy the Sabres didn’t offer a similar deal. Sure they will have to replace his 45 points, but that is where players like Chris Butler and Andrej Sekera will come into play.
Regardless, they were only two points out of the playoffs and most likely missed out on those points when Ryan Miller was out. Miller will be back and he’ll have some more attitude protecting him this time around (or so I hope). If he stays healthy next season, I see post-season hockey in Buffalo’s future. Then again, Scott Gomez is now in their division so all bets are off.
Calgary
I’ll refrain from using the terms “winners” or “losers” right now because nobody will really know that until the season is played out. If someone were to write a winners and losers column a year ago, I’m sure the Red Wings would’ve been the winners for signing Marian Hossa and Pittsburgh the losers for letting him go…how did that work out again? So with that thinking in mind, I’m just going to give my two cents on some of the deals (and only some of the teams) that took place during draft day and during the signing period. We’ll just have to revisit this column after next season to see how accurate I was (or wasn’t).
Anaheim
- I like what Anaheim has done so far. Signing Saku Koivu to a modest one year deal to play with friend Teemu Selanne should work out well. Trading Chris Pronger away as he headed into the last year of his deal was a good move. They got a very good return from Philadelphia out of an expiring contract so instead of losing him for nothing or getting next to nothing for him at the trade deadline, they maximized their return during the off-season. Very nice. If I were the GM, my next move would be trying to move J.S. Giguere and his $6 million dollar cap hit, then sign Jonas Hiller to a long term extension.
Atlanta
- Unless the words “contraction” or “relocation” are involved, I highly doubt I’ll be excited about Atlanta hockey. They have a chance to lock up Ilya Kovalchuk as he heads into the final year of his deal, but realistically they should be looking at trading him and getting something for nothing. I’d be very surprised if he re-signs with the Thrashers. Granted he would be getting a big pay day, but one would think he would actually like to win at some point in his career (and play in front of more than 128 fans per night).
Buffalo
- I would’ve liked the Sabres to have been slightly more active, but I didn’t expect it. I hear a ton of bashing by hockey fans about how the Sabres are so cheap and they just let everyone go. I’d like to mention that the players they have let go (Briere, Drury, Campbell, McKee) all have busted with their new team, or they are very close to busting in Campbell’s case. It’s almost as if the Sabres knew these guys weren’t worth that much money and decided to bite the bullet. Sure they took their hits at the time, but they are looking pretty smart right now. I could sit here all afternoon and rattle off some of the dumb contracts that were handed out this summer. I’ll take a cheap team any day to a team throwing $4 million dollars down the drain per season to drag Nik Antropov on the ice and have him act like he gives a damn.
Now that I’m done ranting, I can talk about what the Sabres actually did do so far. One area they had to address was blue line toughness and they did just that by signing Steve Montador. I was highly in favor of this move before free agency started so I was quite pleased when they announced the deal. If they were to acquire another defenseman and move Henrik Tallinder and/or Toni Lydman I’d chalk this up as a successful off-season. That will be a tough sell though and I don’t see it happening. Re-signing Matt Ellis doesn’t exactly excite me either. There has to be another move made before the season starts.
Losing Jaroslav Spacek hurts on the offensive side, but I really could care less. I said prior to free agency that I would only want him staying in Buffalo if he took a pay cut and it was evident from the start he wouldn’t do that. After seeing what Montreal paid for him, I’m very happy the Sabres didn’t offer a similar deal. Sure they will have to replace his 45 points, but that is where players like Chris Butler and Andrej Sekera will come into play.
Regardless, they were only two points out of the playoffs and most likely missed out on those points when Ryan Miller was out. Miller will be back and he’ll have some more attitude protecting him this time around (or so I hope). If he stays healthy next season, I see post-season hockey in Buffalo’s future. Then again, Scott Gomez is now in their division so all bets are off.
Calgary
- The Flames made a big splash on draft day by acquiring the rights to Jay Bouwmeester. I’m not exactly crazy about the overall makeup of the Flames roster, but I am very impressed with the back end. They still have Miika Kiprusoff between the pipes and will now have Bouwmeester and Dion Phaneuf also protecting the net. I’m glad the Sabres aren’t in the Western Conference. It was a good move but I’m not sure if it will be enough to push them over the edge.
Chicago
- Let’s see…the Blackhawks botched the paperwork for their restricted free agents which caused quite a large mess, then they throw a 12 year deal at Marian Hossa. Granted it’s a modest cap hit for Hossa, but 12 years? How many years will they be into that deal before they are sick of Hossa? Four? Seven? Nine? I think that contract is completely ridiculous. He is a great player, don’t get me wrong, but a 12 year contract is a bit much. One a side note, they have roughly $43 million already committed to the salary cap next year and still have to deal with the pending restricted free agency of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith. Good times in Chicago.
Colorado
- Sad to see Joe Sakic retire but it was his time to go. Props to Sakic for knowing when it was
time to call it quits. He was one of those players where you just had to sit back and respect his game. He will be missed by the entire league for sure. In other moves made by Colorado, I’m horribly unimpressed. I really don’t see how they will be improved at all next season. The mighty have fallen and they have fallen hard.
Columbus
- Nice job locking up Rick Nash. It would’ve been a disaster to make the playoffs and then lose their franchise player in the upcoming season. Smart move to give him his money and ensure he’ll be the face of the franchise for many more years to come. Steve Mason should improve after his highly successful rookie season so Columbus fans should be looking forward to more post-season hockey (and maybe even a win or two).
Edmonton
- While the possibility of acquiring Dany Heatley still exists, it’s not looking very good for the Oilers. Already having him turn the trade down once hurts. Personally, I was rooting for the trade. Anything to get that guy out of the Eastern Conference is a good deal in my eyes. Signing Nikolai Khabibulin could be a good move as well, assuming he returns to form. I was very unimpressed with him in Chicago but you never know what a change of scenery will do for the guy.
Montreal
- Hmmm…where do I start with Montreal? If you recall in my defenseman rankings and above, I said Spacek would be a good deal if he took a pay cut. He’s getting older and really wasn’t worth the money Buffalo was paying him. So what do the Canadiens do? They sign him to a three year deal AND give him a raise. But wait, it gets better. They also acquired the horribly
overpaid Scott Gomez effectively bailing the Rangers out of that TERRIBLE signing. Seriously, can anybody honestly tell me Gomez is worth over $7 million per season?
Ah yes, it gets better. They then sign Mike Cammalleri to a $6 million per season deal and throw another $5 million per season towards Brian Gionta. When I spoke earlier about getting drunk and running a tab up, this is pretty much what I was talking about. Do you think Bob Gainey rolled over one morning with a bunch of empty bottles next to bed and a pile of fresh contracts and said to himself, “What the hell did I do last night??”
NY Rangers
- As said above, the Rangers got bailed out of the terrible Scott Gomez contract which was a good move, but then they used that money to sign Marian Gaborik to a long term deal. But hey, if he can actually stay healthy it will be a good deal. I’m thinking the odds aren’t very good with that. Oh but wait, it gets better. The Rangers also decided that Ales Kotalik was worth three million per season for the next three seasons.
Examine that last sentence again. THREE MILLION PER SEASON. Are you kidding me? If you asked me, “What potential signing by the Sabres would force you to jump off a bridge with concrete shoes on?” I would definitely answer “Signing Ales Kotalik to a three year, three million dollar contract.”
The only way this contract turns into a good one is if Kotalik finishes with more than 25 goals (this has never happened in his six NHL seasons) OR the Rangers participate in 82 shootouts this season.
And please, if you’re a Rangers fan, try to defend this signing. I want to know why giving this guy a raise is a good idea. I want to know why signing him to a three year deal is a good idea. I know I was a little harsh above, but I guess I’m just basing it on watching the guy play for almost a decade. I’m sure a change of scenery is all he needs. Just like Dmitri Kalinin last season…right?
Ottawa
- Ottawa has severely screwed up this Dany Heatley situation. Instead of looking for that perfect deal, they should’ve been looking at as a chance to escape from his monster contract. I’m sure there were offers good enough, but Brian Murray is a complete idiot so that probably didn’t matter. On the positive side, they signed Alexei Kovalev and he’ll probably tear it up just to stick it to Montreal.
Philadelphia
- In the race for stupidity with Montreal leading the way, Philadelphia vowed to not be outdone and threw their hat into the ring. First they tried to find a few trade partners to unload the “great” Daniel Briere but couldn’t find any takers. What? They couldn’t find anybody to take an undersized, aging, $6.5 million per season forward who missed 53 games last season? I’m shocked.
I initially thought the trade for Chris Pronger was a good move, despite what they gave up, until I saw the contract they gave him. Hey, Chris will be in his early 40’s by the time this contract is up, but let’s do it anyways! Did I mention that Ray Emery is going to be their goaltender? Yeah, this is going to work out just fine in Philly.
Pittsburgh
- Re-signing Bill Guerin was a very smart move for both sides. Guerin was smart to take a pay cut for another shot at the Cup, and Pittsburgh was smart for recognizing his benefits and making that a priority.
Despite losing Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, the Penguins did sign Jay McKee for a cheap price. Smart move. When McKee was in Buffalo he was a shot blocking machine. The Sabres let him go because he wasn’t even close to being worth $4 million per season and I think St Louis proved that by buying out the final year of his contract this summer. However, the price is cheap and if he stays healthy for 60+ games, it will be an extremely good deal for Pittsburgh.
Chicago
- Let’s see…the Blackhawks botched the paperwork for their restricted free agents which caused quite a large mess, then they throw a 12 year deal at Marian Hossa. Granted it’s a modest cap hit for Hossa, but 12 years? How many years will they be into that deal before they are sick of Hossa? Four? Seven? Nine? I think that contract is completely ridiculous. He is a great player, don’t get me wrong, but a 12 year contract is a bit much. One a side note, they have roughly $43 million already committed to the salary cap next year and still have to deal with the pending restricted free agency of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith. Good times in Chicago.
Colorado
- Sad to see Joe Sakic retire but it was his time to go. Props to Sakic for knowing when it was
time to call it quits. He was one of those players where you just had to sit back and respect his game. He will be missed by the entire league for sure. In other moves made by Colorado, I’m horribly unimpressed. I really don’t see how they will be improved at all next season. The mighty have fallen and they have fallen hard.Columbus
- Nice job locking up Rick Nash. It would’ve been a disaster to make the playoffs and then lose their franchise player in the upcoming season. Smart move to give him his money and ensure he’ll be the face of the franchise for many more years to come. Steve Mason should improve after his highly successful rookie season so Columbus fans should be looking forward to more post-season hockey (and maybe even a win or two).
Edmonton
- While the possibility of acquiring Dany Heatley still exists, it’s not looking very good for the Oilers. Already having him turn the trade down once hurts. Personally, I was rooting for the trade. Anything to get that guy out of the Eastern Conference is a good deal in my eyes. Signing Nikolai Khabibulin could be a good move as well, assuming he returns to form. I was very unimpressed with him in Chicago but you never know what a change of scenery will do for the guy.
Montreal
- Hmmm…where do I start with Montreal? If you recall in my defenseman rankings and above, I said Spacek would be a good deal if he took a pay cut. He’s getting older and really wasn’t worth the money Buffalo was paying him. So what do the Canadiens do? They sign him to a three year deal AND give him a raise. But wait, it gets better. They also acquired the horribly
overpaid Scott Gomez effectively bailing the Rangers out of that TERRIBLE signing. Seriously, can anybody honestly tell me Gomez is worth over $7 million per season?Ah yes, it gets better. They then sign Mike Cammalleri to a $6 million per season deal and throw another $5 million per season towards Brian Gionta. When I spoke earlier about getting drunk and running a tab up, this is pretty much what I was talking about. Do you think Bob Gainey rolled over one morning with a bunch of empty bottles next to bed and a pile of fresh contracts and said to himself, “What the hell did I do last night??”
NY Rangers
- As said above, the Rangers got bailed out of the terrible Scott Gomez contract which was a good move, but then they used that money to sign Marian Gaborik to a long term deal. But hey, if he can actually stay healthy it will be a good deal. I’m thinking the odds aren’t very good with that. Oh but wait, it gets better. The Rangers also decided that Ales Kotalik was worth three million per season for the next three seasons.
Examine that last sentence again. THREE MILLION PER SEASON. Are you kidding me? If you asked me, “What potential signing by the Sabres would force you to jump off a bridge with concrete shoes on?” I would definitely answer “Signing Ales Kotalik to a three year, three million dollar contract.”
The only way this contract turns into a good one is if Kotalik finishes with more than 25 goals (this has never happened in his six NHL seasons) OR the Rangers participate in 82 shootouts this season.
And please, if you’re a Rangers fan, try to defend this signing. I want to know why giving this guy a raise is a good idea. I want to know why signing him to a three year deal is a good idea. I know I was a little harsh above, but I guess I’m just basing it on watching the guy play for almost a decade. I’m sure a change of scenery is all he needs. Just like Dmitri Kalinin last season…right?
Ottawa
- Ottawa has severely screwed up this Dany Heatley situation. Instead of looking for that perfect deal, they should’ve been looking at as a chance to escape from his monster contract. I’m sure there were offers good enough, but Brian Murray is a complete idiot so that probably didn’t matter. On the positive side, they signed Alexei Kovalev and he’ll probably tear it up just to stick it to Montreal.
Philadelphia
- In the race for stupidity with Montreal leading the way, Philadelphia vowed to not be outdone and threw their hat into the ring. First they tried to find a few trade partners to unload the “great” Daniel Briere but couldn’t find any takers. What? They couldn’t find anybody to take an undersized, aging, $6.5 million per season forward who missed 53 games last season? I’m shocked.
I initially thought the trade for Chris Pronger was a good move, despite what they gave up, until I saw the contract they gave him. Hey, Chris will be in his early 40’s by the time this contract is up, but let’s do it anyways! Did I mention that Ray Emery is going to be their goaltender? Yeah, this is going to work out just fine in Philly.
Pittsburgh
- Re-signing Bill Guerin was a very smart move for both sides. Guerin was smart to take a pay cut for another shot at the Cup, and Pittsburgh was smart for recognizing his benefits and making that a priority.
Despite losing Rob Scuderi and Hal Gill, the Penguins did sign Jay McKee for a cheap price. Smart move. When McKee was in Buffalo he was a shot blocking machine. The Sabres let him go because he wasn’t even close to being worth $4 million per season and I think St Louis proved that by buying out the final year of his contract this summer. However, the price is cheap and if he stays healthy for 60+ games, it will be an extremely good deal for Pittsburgh.
Toronto
- A few years ago when Anaheim beat Ottawa in the Stanley Cup Finals, while all the Buffalo fans were still lamenting their loss in the Eastern Conference Finals (again), I thought to myself that even if Buffalo made it to the Cup they would’ve been plowed over by Anaheim. That year the
Ducks were big, tough, and mean. Well, Brian Burke has taken that model to Toronto and things are looking up for the Leafs.
He started last season by getting rid of all the soft overachievers and continued this summer by bringing in loads of toughness. He took a low risk/high reward chance on Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson and has brought in a ton of defense to basically overhaul the roster. One would think they will have to deal some of those defensemen for some scoring, but it’s early and I’m sure Burke will get it done. I’m going to miss the days of Toronto being a pushover in the Northeast Division.
Vancouver
- The Canucks locked up the Sedin twins which was smart for both sides and also signed Mikael Samuelsson from Detroit. Now they just have to lock up Roberto Luongo before he puts that Red Wings sweater on next summer.
Washington
- Did you hear that the Capitals might actually sign Maxim Afinogenov? Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
- A few years ago when Anaheim beat Ottawa in the Stanley Cup Finals, while all the Buffalo fans were still lamenting their loss in the Eastern Conference Finals (again), I thought to myself that even if Buffalo made it to the Cup they would’ve been plowed over by Anaheim. That year the
Ducks were big, tough, and mean. Well, Brian Burke has taken that model to Toronto and things are looking up for the Leafs.He started last season by getting rid of all the soft overachievers and continued this summer by bringing in loads of toughness. He took a low risk/high reward chance on Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson and has brought in a ton of defense to basically overhaul the roster. One would think they will have to deal some of those defensemen for some scoring, but it’s early and I’m sure Burke will get it done. I’m going to miss the days of Toronto being a pushover in the Northeast Division.
Vancouver
- The Canucks locked up the Sedin twins which was smart for both sides and also signed Mikael Samuelsson from Detroit. Now they just have to lock up Roberto Luongo before he puts that Red Wings sweater on next summer.
Washington
- Did you hear that the Capitals might actually sign Maxim Afinogenov? Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
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