The NHL officially welcomed summer on July 1st with the start of the free agency signing period. Over the past few years, players have gone into free agency and received massive long term contracts like the ones Brad Richards and Ilya Kovalchuck have. However, because of the long term contracts, less players are making it to the free agent market, which leaves teams to fight over the limited selection of players. Still there was some activity this week and though it wasn't as earth shattering as past years, some teams will look very different come October. In this post I will talk about the five teams that made headlines this week starting with the massive splash made by the Minnesota Wild.
Minnesota has long been regarded as the hockey state due to its long history of producing high quality NHL players from their high school and university programs. One of those players is Zach Parise, the captain of the New Jersey team that lost in the final only a month ago. Parise was the top free agent forward on the free agent market this year and he was torn between the Devils and his home town team. But after talking with Ryan Suter, the top defenceman available on the market, the two decided to take a big risk and sign identical 13 year contracts each worth $98 million with the Wild. Since coming into the league in 2001, the Wild have not really gained a large fanbase outside their state, and so when teams like Detroit, Pittsburgh and Chicago were all rumoured to get these stars, Minnesota seemed like an unlikely team to get them. The Wild also boast one of the most talented prospect pools with junior stars like Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, Matt Dumba and Mikael Granlund all in their system. The Wild also added faceoff specialist and tough guy Zenon Konopka and seem poised to rise from a middle standing team to a contender in the near future. This is a franchise to watch now.
The Dallas Stars were also busy last week, both on the free agent market and trade block. After trading center Mike Riberio at the trade deadline, the Stars knew they had to boost their offence with new players. But they took a unique approach to do it by adding arguably the three oldest players they could. Ray Whitney led the Phoenix Coyotes last season with 77 points even though he turned 40 this past May. He joined the Stars on a two year contract in an effort to prove he still can play for a while yet. Dallas also signed the 40 year old veteran Jaromir Jagr to a one year deal; a player who also showed he could still play when he got 54 points last year on a talented Philadelphia team. Lastly the Stars made a trade with the Buffalo Sabers, sending grinder Steve Ott and defenceman Adam Pardy to the Stars for veteran center Derek Roy. Roy is a proven scorer who has struggled in recent years and was looking for a change of scenery. Dallas should give him that opportunity. Dallas' offence will look very different next year but these new additions will at least provide temporary help until their young prospects like Radek Faska are ready for the big leagues.
The Montreal Canadians have always been criticised as being a small team without many aggressive players. After trading Hal Gill last season, their only major checking force was Travis Moen, who was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this year. Montreal's new General Manager, Marc Bergevin, decided to address that need and made some big moves (pun intended) to solve the problem. First, the Canadians resigned Moen to a new 2 year deal but then they went and added 2 more equally strong players to play with him. Brandon Prust was a force for the New York Rangers in their very successful season and playoff last year, finishing with 17 points and 156 penalty minutes while also playing the penalty kill. Colby Armstrong never played to his full potential in Toronto and was bought out by the Leafs at the end of the season. He signed a one year deal with the rival Habs in order to prove Leaf management wrong and show them 6 times this year that he is still a strong power forward. With these two new players added to Montreal's bottom 6 forwards and a very strong draft, the Canadians should be a more difficult team to play against next season.
The Winnipeg Jets finished their first year back in Manitoba strong, but still short of the playoffs. The main reason for that was they were a young team which made lots of mistakes while learning. To solve this, the Jets went out and added two veteran players who they hope will both provide offence and leadership in the coming season. Olli Jokinen was the top center available on the free agent market this summer and with not much scoring coming from that position, the Jets moved in and added him for the next 2 years. Jokinen had 61 points for Calgary last year and will be a big addition to a team whose top center only had 44 points last year. The Jets also picked up Alexei Ponikarovsky from the New Jersey Devils, who can provide some offence from a third line role and provide leadership picked up from his trip to the Stanley Cup final this spring. These depth players will help solidify the Jets and with the addition of youngster Mark Scheifele to their team next year, the Jets will have a strong group of forwards this season.
The New York Islanders are a franchise that has struggled for a long time now and their future on Long Island is in jeopardy. That hasn't stopped their General Manager Garth Snow from attempting one last revival of the franchise before they move in a couple years. After using all his draft picks to add defenceman and trading for another in Lubomir Visnovsky, the Islanders entered this summer very aggressively. On July 1st they added two more prime age players to step into their roster next year and hopefully improve an Islander team that has to frequently found itself near the bottom of the league in recent years. Brad Boyes is a former 43 goal scorer who has struggled in recent years. He signed a 1 year, $1 million contract in the hopes that John Tavaras could help him find his scoring touch. The Islanders also added Matt Carkner from Ottawa, a tough as nails defenceman who can also shoot the puck hard when called upon. Carkner also comes with a history with cross state rival the Rangers after he elbowed Ranger forward Brian Boyle in the head during their first round matchup this spring. The Islanders need someone to step up and give this franchise energy and excitement again and with their new additions, that could happen next season.
I plan to write my Detroit Red Wing free agent review soon on hockeytracker.net because they were also very busy.
I can be reached through email at jbenny15@gmail.com or on twitter at @jbenny15. Please visit my website, www.jbenny.com, where other writing I do for sites and publications is posted, including a link to an article I wrote for my local paper. Thanks for reading.
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