As we enter the second weekend of July, unrestricted free agents have now had over six days to sign contracts and settle on new hockey homes, whether short-term or long-term. This year’s July 1 was a refreshing change of pace from some of the slower COVID-era free agency periods, with over 150 signings to parse through within 24 hours of the market opening. It may have been a weaker market than normal, but with cap space at a premium, there were some interesting signings (and choices) made over the last week.
The biggest free agent acquisition may have also been the biggest trade deadline acquisition just a few months ago – defenseman Dmitry Orlov. He found himself sacrificing long-term stability, instead cashing in for a few short years during his prime, signing a two-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes worth a whopping $7.75MM per season. It makes him the highest-paid defenseman on the team, and it’s the highest cap hit of any deal handed out so far. Overall, Carolina’s been one of the more active teams over the past week, also signing winger Michael Bunting, and they’re expected to re-acquire defenseman Tony DeAngelo in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers, which could go through as soon as tomorrow. They’ve also been linked to one of the best players left on the market, Vladimir Tarasenko, and remain in trade talks for reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson.
Another team handing out some hefty contracts was the Anaheim Ducks, getting a pair of experienced veterans to head from coast to coast. Inking two-time Stanley Cup Champion winger Alex Killorn to a four-year contract worth $6.25MM per season and getting staunch defender Radko Gudas locked in at three years for $4MM per season, their front office is committed to adding some secondary pieces as Anaheim looks to turn the corner in their rebuild. It’s more term and money than most expected for both players at their age, however.
The Detroit Red Wings were also quite active over the past few weeks. They dished out a five-year commitment to center J.T. Compher, a one-year, $4.125MM deal for defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, a three-year, $3.4MM contract for defenseman Justin Holl, and added veteran backup James Reimer to complement their crease. The individual merits of each contract have been hotly debated – especially those of Compher and Holl – but it’s fair to wonder whether these moves leave Detroit in a more competitive position than they were at this time last year after signing players like David Perron, Andrew Copp, and Ben Chiarot.
Interim general manager Kyle Dubas also made his mark on his new team, as the Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed starting netminder Tristan Jarry to a five-year deal and nabbed defenseman Ryan Graves for six years, also making many smaller moves to round out their forward depth.
Some other notable signings have included the Toronto Maple Leafs handing out one-year deals to John Klingberg ($4.15MM), Max Domi ($3MM), and Tyler Bertuzzi ($5.5MM), the Nashville Predators adding a trio of veterans in Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, and Gustav Nyquist, the Arizona Coyotes nabbing middle-six forwards Jason Zucker and Alexander Kerfoot, and the Ottawa Senators adding to their crease with a five-year, $20MM contract for Joonas Korpisalo.
We ask you, PHR readers, which team has done the best work over the past few days? Were there any teams you thought strayed from a solid plan, overpaid on the market, or maybe instead nabbed some value talents? Make your voice heard below in our poll or in the comment section:
Not sure if anyone really has won. The FA class was a bit underwhelming (no one overly impactful) and teams have either handed out contracts that may not do well or they’re cap strapped and can’t really make any impactful moves due to the constraints. Carolina may be the closest to winning, but not sure the moves and future anticipated moves are going to change the optics too much.
Yeah, true. Less injuries will help. They were #2 in the NHL with the roster minus Orlov and Bunting.
There are usually more losers than winners in free agency because of Incompetent GMs grasping at straws as opposed to doing there homework. I will say that Columb
us has had the best summer so far, And If they can avoid another catastrophic season full of injuries they are a very dangerous team. The Babcock hire is still a wild card.
Gms need to do homework? Thats a good one. Even the weakest gm in the league knows more and does more homework then any of us phr commentors or armchair gms on cap friendly that make wild trade proposals
@Justajaysfan
Correct. GMs do their homework, they know as much as we do, and probably a lot more. The reason why they make dumb signings is they choose to ignore what they’ve found out, or believe that the pluses of any given signing outweigh the minuses. Good GMs make the right decisions, bad ones don’t. What’s a “right” decision? Only time will tell.
their goaltending sucks. Need a real #1. If they can grab Helly from Winnipeg, then yes, watch out. They also need a top #1C
Exactly. Gms know more about not just who’s available but what they want in terms of money and term, where they want to play and what that current team is looking for. Some people act like any team can sign/trade any player like it’s nhl23. Not every signing works out for a team, but it’s a calculated risk the gm makes based on who’s available, every year gms make signings that weren’t there first choice, but they had to take what they could get at that time. Hindsight is always 20/20 and it easy to say what a gm should have done when you know the result
Every GM but Hextall
@bap
Ron Hextall, as far as I can tell, is currently unemployed
Also, a player has to want to go to a certain team despite how much a GM may want to sign them. Case in point, it’s easy to say David Poile signing Matt Duchene was a mistake, but Duchene was one of the few higher end forwards who wanted to play in Nashville. You sign who you can and hope it comes together.
Right Bear. As justajaysfan pointed out, people regard this as a real life game of NHL 23, but it’s not. Human traits and emotions always come into play. Maybe Player A or his wife don’t want to play in Canada, but Player B does, so the Canadian team signs Player B. Then Player B gets hurt, and the contract looks awful. So how is this due to a GM “not doing homework”? Answer: it isn’t.
The NHL is not a real life fantasy hockey game. All things are not equal. You can’t plug and play human beings, and expect equal results. In other words: s*** happens.
Welcome to WilfWorld. He may not pay attention and his hockey knowledge may be lacking but he makes up for it with his enthusiastic attempts to pretend to know everything about everything and to lead the forum in posts .
Your comments about wilf have been missed, doggy. Sure wilf missed you too. Glad you’re back….. lol.
Think Toronto has to be up there just because they didn’t give out crazy term to anyone other than Revo.
I dunno who the winner would be, but the losers are the fans who look forward to July 1 every year. Face it, this free agent crop was like shopping at your grocery store, right before the pandemic hit. Mostly what other people didn’t want. Teams are signing their young, quality Stars to long term contracts, so all we get now in free agency are leftovers. And the flat cap doesn’t help. I guess Uncle Gary is loving his salary cap.
Everyone missing the obvious answer – We did, on the forum here. Lots of chatter about almost every move, sometimes even the obscure ones.
But it was painful chatter for some of us. :(
@Gbear – Tell me you did NOT follow Weatherby off that train! Somebody’s in need of a bag skate and bandages! :)
@Mac – Being told that Gustav Nyquist is a quality scorer and using your 2nd 1st round pick reaching for a Dman led me right off of that train. :(
@Gbear – You know there’s a problem when you have to ask GMBT whether the Nyquist he acquired has two legs or four. ;)
Good one Mac. Now let’s stop horsing around.
@KRB – Willlllburrrr!
@Mac – Guess I have to give Poile credit for one thing: he didn’t overpromise anything. :/
I like GMBT’s optimism, but so far it’s looking like the same pony show we’ve been accustomed to.
@Gbear – Kind of like a conga line to the glue factory, eh?
@Mac – As much of a critic as I’ve been of Poile, his scouting department was his biggest undoing. Unless and until Trotz brings in a new scouting regime, the Preds will continue missing out on players like Jason Robertson, Rope Hintz and Wyatt Johnston, all Dallas forwards who the Preds bypassed in recent drafts.
Not being able to move into the top 10 during this past draft is understandable, but not moving up from their 2nd pick at #24 when they had that pick and 3 2nd round picks to bargain with was a huge L.
@Gbear – I usually do only a little of this in-season, but you piqued my curiosity about their scouting staff. I often expect to see a few recognizable names, but outside of Stan Drulia and Doug Janik, I don’t think any of the others really bumped the “Do you know who I am”-O-Meter. That wouldn’t necessarily mean they’re bad scouts, but because of NSH’s track record, it might not be the most glowing endorsement. I guess GMBT has a bit more leeway early on here, but he needs to keep the Wagon Queen Family Truckster out of the ditch and get it back on the road. The war drums may not be all that far off.
@Mac – Jeff Kealty is the culprit, IMO. He’s headed up the scouting department for about 15 years. The results are underwhelming, to say the least.
I would’ve gone with the Canes except that I fear their signings will lead to losing Pesce. So Toronto gets the nod.
Exactly gbear…. Lets see what N.C. do with an often mentioned and quite asinine Pesce trade and possibly bringing in Karlsson on that crazy contract BEFORE anyone declares N.C. the “winners” of the offseason…. There are plenty more miscues they could make before the ’23-24 season begins, lol.
In my opinion, Toronto have improved the most. Signing good players with decent contacts, without losing any impacts. If their goaltending works out, they can be a major favourite!