Free Agency Madness!
The start of July represents a bit of a free for all in the NHL, as teams frantically begin to pursue selected targets from the number of players who hit the open market at midday. There was the usual flurry on the first day but it took till Day 4 for the news that everyone was waiting for, as Zach Parise and Ryan Suter both revealed their future and chose to sign with the Minnesota Wild. As well at looking more closely at that deal, it seems like a good time to take stock of the other major signings.
Parise and Suter have signed massive identical 13 year, $98 million contracts with Minnesota, equating to individual salaries and cap hits of $7.5 million a year. Both players will have had similar offers from elsewhere but family connections pulled them to the twin cities state ahead of more regular cup contenders. It may seem excessive of the Wild to blow over a fifth of their salary cap in one day but they had the room in the budget to make this move and it makes their roster much more competitive, so fair play to them for being bold. After all, they haven’t made the playoffs in the last four seasons and the franchise needs invigorating, two all-stars should do that. As always, time will whether this was a punt worth taking by the Minnesota organisation, we’ve seen enough instances of teams becoming burdened with the overly long contracts (Rick DiPietro, Scott Gomez, Jeff Carter etc) to know that it is a risk, but should they deliver the Stanley Cup it will easily be worth it.
The Dallas Stars are another team that’s been spending some money, deciding that signing two 40 year olds in Ray Whitney (2 years, $9m) and Jaromir Jagr (1 year, $4.55m) was the best way to get back in to the postseason. Last year they both managed to post excellent numbers and bring a load of nouse and experience to the table, but I’m not sure as to why they need both of them on their roster. That said, scooping up two legends on short contractsTheir only other signing has been big d-man Aaron Rome but they have also traded Steve Ott and Adam Pardy for Derek Roy adding more skill to their forward group.
Another of the big deals on the first day was the Colorado Avalanche’s swoop for PA Parenteau from the New York Islanders, the right winger penning a $4m a year deal till 2016. After spending plenty of years grafting in the AHL, Parenteau got his major league shot in 09 with the Rangers and has not looked back. In both of his two full regular seasons he has managed to put up over 50 points, but the question will be whether he can do that when he’s not being set up by John Tavares, playing on a line with Matt Duchene wouldn’t be totally disimilar.
Getting the same contract was Jiri Hudler, who joins the Calgary Flames. It’s not the kind of deal he could get if he had chosen to stay in Detroit, though it is a good time to take on a bigger offensive role for the Czech. He’s not an offensive dynamo, though will likely be a 50-60 point scorer with the added responsibility.
Hudler appears to replacing the hole left by Olli Jokinen, who is now a member of the Winnipeg Jets. Despite not being the same player that put up 91 points back in 07 he produced his best season since then last time out and still has plenty to offer the NHL’s newest team, who aren’t hugely blessed at the center position.
Matt Carle was seen as the second best defenseman available after his impressive season with the Philadelphia Flyers, he agreed a deal with his former team the Tampa Bay Lightning of $5.5m for 6 years. He’s a good addition for the Bolts who have lacking a player of his ilk since losing Dan Boyle, his puck moving skills could combine nicely with the size and shutdown ability of former number two pick Victor Hedman.
Continuing the defenseman deals was Jason Garrison to Vancouver, and it was a 6 year deal for the new Canuck. 2012 was a breakout year for Garrison as he finished 3rd in goals for d-men, however this it looks to be a similar risk to Parenteau as both guys are getting $4 million a year despite having played less than 200 NHL games. If he can replicate his goalscoring exploits he will prove invaluable but there’s a question mark over that for sure.
Of course there have been plenty of restricted free agents needing sorted too, with David Perron, Erik Johnson and Tuukka Rask headlining the names that have resigned with their previous teams so no compensation packages have been required just yet.
After the frenzy that was the first days of July there is still talent out there, whilst you’re mainly looking at depth players by this pointe there are a pair of forwards that will be attracting the most attention. The two to look out for are Alexander Semin and Shane Doan, Semin is the hugely talented sniper who is a potential point per game guy with the right management and Doan the experienced leader with the scoring touch. It’ll be interesting to see where they end up, as they could be excellent pick ups.
So then, the Minnesota Wild are the only team to revamp their identity ahead at this point, though there is surely some trades in the offing (Rick Nash anyone?) to make this offseason even more interesting.
