Breaking News Update:
Radim Vrbata has signed with the Canucks. The Coyotes will miss him, but this was expected and with the youth on the way in the form of Samuelson and Domi it not an a great loss. It is, however, a bitter/sweet one.
Vrbata has played six seasons in Phoenix and has been a fan favorite. He scored a career high 35 in 2011/12 and is a lock for 20.
Vancouver gets a great player and the Coyotes save money while getting to promote from within. Win/Win!
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Yesterday was insane.
You would have thought that after seeing guys like David Clarkson or Ville Leino signed to free agent deals that were universally criticized, and seeing that the Flyers are up against the cap because of a ridiculous 5 year $4.5 million contract they gave to a 33 year old Vincent Lecavelier, that NHL general managers would think things through a little bit before handing out huge-money, long-term deals to second, third and fourth tier players.
You would think that, but you would be wrong.
While there were some good value and/or good risk/reward signings yesterday (Mathieu Perreault, Devon Dubnyk, Jonas Hiller, to name a few I liked) there were really only two teams that made what you can call great signings that immediately help their team with next to no risk:
The Paul Stastny one was amazing. The Blues get better by adding the best guy available and they get him to a good contract at a great term of only four years. How Colorado couldn't add a million or an extra year is beyond me. Give me prime Stastny over declining Iginla any day of the week. What a horrible move for Colorado to let this guy go.
The Penguins- who would have been the big winners just for refusing to sign their own ridiculously priced FAs - also scored big in getting Christian Ehrhoff. Maybe I am missing something, so please feel free to inform me, but I don't see how Ehrhoff had to sign a one year deal when guys he is superior to - Stralberg, Niskanen, Orkpik etc - all signed for super-long terms. Perhaps he just wants to re-establish himself playing with Crosby and Malkin and then cash in next year for a cool trillion. That almost has to be it, because barring a career ending injury, his value after playing in and being bought out by Buffalo isn't as high as it will be next year should he just show up for work in Pittsburgh.
Those were the good moves.
Here's the bad ones. (Or, space permitting, a small fraction of them)
If your George Mcphee, you might be wondering how you got replaced as Capitals GM by a spoiled 17 year old girl with her dad's credit card. Has Brian MacLellen ever even seen a game of hockey?
I have to ask that because signing Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen to two of the worst free agent contracts in the history of the sport does not seem like something a professional hockey expert (which I assume you have to be to be hired as a general manager for a professional team) would do.
Let's break it down: Matt Niskanen is 27, and got a 7 year $40 million dollar contract with a nearly $6 million cap hit. While playing most of the year in place of Kris Letang on one of the most lethal power-plays ever concocted, he racked up a respectable 46 points. But, unless he is hockey's version of Jose Bautista, he isn't likely to best those numbers because players who have career years at 27 are fairly rare. Players who become superstars at that age are infinitesimally rare. Even if he is a consistent 40 point defenseman, which he almost certainly won't be, he would still be hard pressed to earn that contract.
Also, he will either not get the top PP minutes due to Mike Green being on the roster, or he will necessitate the moving of a superior player. Either way, this is a move that should take the heat off Garth Snow for a while.
You could almost excuse the Niskanen signing by just saying 'well that's what happens on July 1st' and then accounting for the fact that he is a pretty good player who, as unlikely as it seems, may just be coming into his own as a late bloomer. There is, however, no excuse for the Brooks Orpik contract, which is 5 years at a 5.5 million dollar cap hit.
Orpik is 33 and slow. He is tough and hits a lot and blocks shots and is useful, but he scores zero points. If you filled your 5th defenseman spot with an AHL defensive, physical defenseman and you gave the other $4.5 million to a guy who could score, you would be so much better off it's not even arguable. Why in the world do teams keep paying out large portions of their cap hit to guys with "name" recognition and little else? Guys whose best days are behind them and whose value to the team comes down to how much you believe in Leadership, Character and Santa Clause?
It's really a mystery for Hercule Poirtot, not me, because I can't figure it out.
One other team that was very successful yesterday was the Toronto Maple Leafs, though if they are to be believed, it was only by accident. They dodged a bullet when David Bolland chose to take his talents to South Beach. While Leafs fans waited all-day for ESPN to broadcast The Decision pt. 2, it turned out to be worth it, as Bolland spurned the Buds and their ridiculous offer to sign the somewhat-talented master of leadership and character to a long-term deal, in order to sign an even more hilarious and preposterous deal with the Panthers.
I for one just want to say it really shows great character to leave your hometown team and centre of the hockey universe to go play for the perennial last place Florida Panthers for around seven dollars extra per game.*
Now the Leafs really got lucky here because in my opinion this deal is one Brooks Orpik shy of being the worst in NHL history.
Anyways, that was NHL Free Agency Day. Good Times were had by all.
See you after the next lockout!
*All numbers, except the ones I obviously made up about Bolland, are from CapGeek.com