It was a relatively quiet Day One of free agency for the LA Kings. The team sat by and witnessed some mind blowing deals with an obscene amount of money thrown around. Rightfully so as well.
They didn't sit on their hands entirely though. A pair of minor deals got shuffled into the fold while guys like Dave Bolland made (Insert stupid amount of money here).
The Kings inked former St. Louis Blue Adam Cracknell to a one-year 600K deal. They also signed former Av David Van der Gulik to a one-year deal.
Van der Gulik, 31, has played the majority of his career in the AHL and is clearly a move to help bolster the ranks of the Manchester Monarchs.
Cracknell, 28, has also spent the majority of his career in the AHL but has also had a few extended runs in the NHL with the Blues over the last several seasons. He's a heavy player and you might remember him from the 2012-13 postseason with the Blues. If anything, Cracknell MIGHT see some time on the Kings bottom lines if an injury or poor run of form were to occur.
Nothing to see here really, just another quiet free agency day from Dean Lombardi.
Meanwhile, the Western Conference juggernaut has grown even more powerful.
While teams like the Kings, Sharks, and Ducks stood pat with their respective squads, a plethora of Western Conference teams added significant pieces.
And when I say significant, I mean fairly significant moves.
Quick run down.
Chicago: Brad Richards St. Louis: Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera
Colorado: Jerome Iginla
Nashville: James Neal
Calgary: Mason Raymond, Jonas Hiller
Dallas: Jason Spezza, Ales Hemsky, Anders Lindback
Minnesota: Tomas Vanek
Vancouver: Ryan Miller
Edmonton: Mark Fayne, Benoit Pouliot (although that contract is horrendous)
Anaheim: Kesler
All this on day one, and there are likely still plenty of signings that Western Conference teams will make.
If you want to go off pure point totals, then the Western Conference now has 32 of the top 60 players in terms of points from last season. Seems rightfully even. But as we all know it isn't just about the points.
Last season it was clear that the Western Conference had the bigger and badder teams of the league. You could have made a legitimate case for the Blackhawks, the Kings, the Sharks, to win the cup, and even teams like Anaheim and St. Louis had enough power to be somewhat scary. When it came to playing the Eastern conference last year, no team in the West had a losing record except for the Dallas Stars at 13-17-2. Two teams had even records, and that was bottom of the conference teams in Vancouver and Edmonton who each had a 14-14-4 line.
Some of the heavier hitters of the West were ridiculous against East teams. In fact, the top 3 teams from each division and the top 6 in the West had an overwhelming 124-46-22 against the East. That's a win percentage of about 65%, and grabbing points in just over 75% of the games.
Know what's scary? Those teams aren't the ones that improved significantly during Day 1 of Free agency.
Dallas, Nashville, Minnesota, Calgary and Edmonton are all taking strides in closing the gap with the upper echelon teams of the Western Conference. Some of those are very young teams with a plethora of talent that will be a year older and a year wiser to the NHL game as well. Players like Seth Jones, Val Nichushkin, Filip Forsberg, Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and the variety of young guns in Edmonton are going to be stronger. You also have bounceback stories in the making. Pekka Rinne and Kari Lehtonen both had years troubled with injuries. Minnesota also had its fair share of goaltending problems. Calgary started slow but was one of the better teams in the second half of the season, going a respectable 19-15-1 in the last 35 games of the season.
Now add in your moves like Spezza, Vanek, and Neal. Then factor in the teams that didn't really need to make any big moves.
The Western conference has become more competitive and more dangerous than before. If that is even imaginable.
Every team has a gamebreaker, a game changer, and a chance. Where it will be won, as usual, is in the depth. But make no mistake, it seems like every team in the West has gathered a pretty formidable amount of top end talent except maybe the Coyotes (Sorry Arizona...).
It is going to make for some exciting hockey down the stretch.
I can't even begin to theorize who will win out in these divisions. It's going to be fought for right to the end.
The Eastern Conference, no offense to those teams or front offices, seemed to be on the receiving end of some rather baffling contracts. Also, no one really improved at the same clip as the WC squads.
Who knows though, we may see a year where the role is reversed and the East beats up on the West. I wouldn't count on it though.
To all the players heading West, welcome to hell. It ain't easy out here. Every night is a battle, every team is good, and you probably won't be as recognized by the national media as much either. Have fun.
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If you didn't catch Jonas Hiller's interview post being signed by Calgary...well...it probably won't leave too many Anaheim fans pleased.
While being interview on SportsNet's coverage of the Free Agent signing day on NHL Network, Hiller stated,
"I want to play in front of a crowd that knows about hockey."
This came after his comment that
"No one in California cares about hockey unless you are playing the Kings."
I doubt he is serenaded with cheers and well wishes when he returns to Ponda Center.
Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go lie down. That Belgium-USA game exhausted me.
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