However, every year there are teams that do good in the free agency and trade market, and others who completely bomb on it. I should know- being an Islanders fan, I've watched alot of great NHL'ers leave the Islanders because Mike Milbury was an idiot for a General Manager. Hey, Bruins fans: You're welcome to Zedeno Chara. And also Roberto Luongo.
Winners:
1. Buffalo Sabers: They got Ehrhoff and Leino, resigned Stafford and Gerbe, and traded for Regehr and Kotalik. They already had a very good team; now they have a better team. And they may not be done just yet! It's nice to have an owner that wants to spend money on the team. What’s good for Buffalo is that they now have a really deep defensive corps, and that Tyler Myers doesn’t have to do all the work. Boston has a challenger for the divisional lead now.
2. Chicago Blackhawks: It's more a case of what they got rid of than what they got in return. They got rid of Brian Campbell and his bloated contract, which is good. Less good is the fact that they let Brouwer and Kopecky go through trades.....but they brought in dependable guys like Steve Montador and Dan Carcillo, and totally stole one on Andrew Brunette. Getting Brunette is the single best deal I have seen so far. Oh, and did I mention that they cleared A LOT of cap space here? They did. Big time.
3. Philadelphia Flyers: The trades they made before the deadline were big: they cleared salary by removing Mike Richards and Jeff Carter through trades, and also managed to get Jacukb Voracek, Brayden Shenn and Wayne Simmonds and some draft picks out of the deal. Then they signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a 9 year deal. That’s all good and dandy, but their team felt a bit flat- and they had to resign Leino and Carcillo if they could. Turns out they didn’t need to- they got Maxine Talbot and Jaromir Jagr instead. I’m not sure it’s an improvement yet…….but it is something, and probably something good. If you’re a Flyers fan.
4. Florida Panthers: It looks like their GM wasn’t kidding when he wanted to make some moves. He brought in through trades and free agent signings Tomas Fleischmann, Sean Bergenheim, Scott Upshall, Tomas Kopecky, Ed Jovanovski, Jose Theodore, Brian Campbell, Kris Versteeg. That’s a good haul for any team, let alone the doorstop to the league for the past ten years. This is more activity out of the Panthers than I’ve seen in the past 10 years (partying on South Beach doesn’t count). I think they overpaid for a few guys, and Brian Campbell, while a good player, isn’t worth $7 mil a year. Still, add that to Weiss, Santorelli, and David Booth on the team, and it’s the start of something good, or at least far better than they’ve had in years. Now we’ll just have to see if they can make a team out of this.
Losers:
1. Dallas Stars: Sure, they got Sheldon Souray (for cheap!), Michael Ryder, and a few also rans… but they’re about to lose Brad Richards. Getting Souray sounds good, and Ryder’s a good add on, but they won’t win the Stars games. And without Richards, who the heck acts as the offensive pivot for them? Morrow? Ribeiro? And who’s their goalie? And who the heck-butt owns the team?
2. Minnesota Wild: They lost Jose Theodore, which sounds like no big deal, right? But they also lost Brent Burns in a trade that got them David Setoguchi, who lost his roster spot to Logan Couture on the Sharks. AND they lost one of their best offensive players, Andrew Brunette. This wasn’t an offensive dynamo of a team to begin with. They’ve lost a lot of ground here.
3. Pittsburgh Penguins: Sure, they kept Tyler Kennedy, which is a no-brainer move. They also kept Pascal Dupuis and Aaron Asham, but that’s not enough. They lost out on the Jaromir Jagr sweepstakes, and then lost out on Maxine Talbot and Michael Rupp. And haven’t really nabbed anyone on the free agent market. One of the reasons that Dan Blysma was able to make a good team stay good when Malkin and Crosby got hurt was that he had a lot of above average players and (role players) on the team like Talbot and Rupp who kept things going well enough for them to make the postseason. Now they really don’t have that kind of depth, unless they make some moves from here on out. This team can't just be about Malkin and Crosby.
4. Nashville Predators: They lost some good depth guys like Marty Reasoner and Joel Ward who helped make them a better team. They also have some big names to re-sign, which might be the reason why the guys they lost were let go- they were role players, who can probably be replaced. That being said, I think Joel Ward had the chance to be a bit more than just that, and they lost him to the Capitols. Oh, I must also point out that the Preds aren’t lighting the boards up with scoring, either.
There are also alot of teams that made some good moves, but they'll really have to play out in the season for me to gauge how good or bad they are. So here are my "wait and see" teams, for now.
Montreal Canadiens, Phoenix Coyotes, Detroit Red Wings, New York Islanders, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks
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