The first day of the NHL free agent market is over. Many of the main cast (Patrick Kane, Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Bertuzzi) have taken a break and remain free agents for now. Yet even without this, the teams signed 166 new players, bringing them a total of $646 million. How did the most active teams spend this day?
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“Caroline”
Main contracts: Dmitry Orlov ($7.75 million for 2 years), Michael Banting (4.5×3), Jesper Fast (2.4×2), Antti Raanta (1.5×1), Frederik Andersen (3.4×2)
After the Hurricanes drafted five players from Russia, they also signed Dmitry Orlov. Perhaps the defender received a bigger cap hit than anyone could have expected, but this is due to the short duration of the contract. This is a rather non-standard solution – the players themselves are usually insured with long-term agreements. The Carolinas’ defense has already been one of the best in the league, and now it has absolutely incredible depth, where there is no slack on the left or right flank.
But the Hurricanes still haven’t solved another problem: This team has no brilliant attacking superstars and has yet to show up on July 1. Bunting has proven to be a great role player alongside the Toronto superstars, he’s an angry and scathing player, but it’s hard to imagine this is the type of person who, at playoff crunch time, will come up with something more original than endless. . Caroline throws. The pay system is filled almost to the brim, and there is definitely no room left for Kane/Tarasenko.
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But the strangest decision of the team was to return the Andersen-Raant duet at a time when Pyotr Kochetkov had already received a one-sided contract and was clearly ready to play at the base. Of this trio, only Peter can be sent to the AHL without being drafted with refusals, but does he have something to prove in the ag league? It’s quite possible that the Hurricanes will use the entire trinity in the season, but there aren’t as many examples of successful goaltending triumvirates in the modern NHL.
Forest ranger
Main contracts: Blake Wheeler, Nick Bonino (both – 0.8×1), Jonathan Quick (0.85×1)
Still, it’s nice to be a New York team. Do you have big ceiling problems that prevent you from competing for the best free agents? It doesn’t matter, veterans can always drive to you who’s ready to take a deep discount for the chance to play in the Big Apple. For the price of three minimum wages, NYR added nearly 3,000 players with NHL game experience and five Stanley Cup winners to its roster. In the NBA, these veteran contracts are known as ringchases.
blake rolls
Photo: Frank Gunn/Zuma/TASS
This is especially true of Wheeler, who has only played in a conference final at least once in his rich career. Now, he and Bonino will nurture a Rangers roster that many rightly called soft-bodied and has fallen even on the greens in terms of the New Jersey playoffs. Despite rumors of locker room problems, reporters write that Winnipeg’s top management had great respect for Wheeler as a person and leader, and hardly so. In pure hockey terms, it looks like Blake will fill a link spot with Kreider and Zibanejad, Bonino in the center of the fourth link. Quick, on the other hand, has clearly given up in recent seasons, but who knows how he’ll play with a load of not 60 games a season, but 25-30.
“Pittsburgh”
Main contracts: Tristan Jerry (5.38×5), Ryan Graves (4.5×6), Lars Eller (2.45×2), Noel Accari (2×3), Matt Nieto (0.9×2)
The most surprising rumor circulating in Pittsburgh is the news about a possible Erik Karlsson trade. At first glance, it seems like the club has no assets except to empty the treasury of draft picks and find itself in the same situation as San Jose, which gave Tim Stützle a pick a couple of years ago to Ottawa. But this remains just a rumor so far: In reality, Pittsburgh not only spent money in the market on Day 1, but also landed freshly baked NHL champion Reilly Smith days before.
The main and most controversial decision of Kyle Dubas was the extension of the contract with Tristan Jerry. As the primary goaltender, Jerry hasn’t won a single playoff series: Goal errors from him cost the team a huge chunk of relegation to the Islanders in 2021, and Tristan also botched it in the infamous loss to Chicago. There is a downside to this though: Jerry has long been one of the most consistent goaltenders in the NHL, rarely falling below league average, and in a period of crap goaltender stats this must have been appreciated.
Additionally, Dubas rebuilt the lower arms. Perhaps the cheapest acquisition is the highest quality: Nieto in different teams showed a very high quality game in the minority and in the fourth link. However, all of Dubas’s decisions have increased the average age of Pittsburgh’s already middling offense (to 31.2 years), the problem of Carter and Granlund, who faltered last season, has not been resolved.
“Nashville”
Main contracts: Ryan O’Reilly (4.5×4), Gustav Nykvist (3.19×2), Luke Schenn (2.75×3)
One of the main intrigues of the offseason was how Barry Trotz would prove himself in the completely unknown role of team general manager, where he made a name for himself. The result is one of the most controversial campaigns of the season, the one that arouses the most controversy. Trotz was not afraid to part with the Johansen – Dushane duo, even at the cost of a large “dead” payout, while he did not begin a radical restructuring: the old veterans were replaced by others, but cheaper.
Ryan O’Reilly
Photo: PETTER ARVIDSON/Imago/TASS
Trotz is an old-school coach who focuses primarily on a strong defense, a tight-knit team and the right guys. While the fans were promised that forwards were needed to make them jump out of their seats, it’s clear they won’t just appear out of nowhere, the draftees need to grow. Spring showed that the Predators have an interesting, if seemingly starless, group of young forwards. Now his mentor will be the more experienced POP, who, it seems, even gave the Predators a discount. Dushane’s costly departure was precisely because Matt isn’t the best teammate. Now, logically, the right people should make the right team and help youngsters adjust to the NHL.
“Detroit”
Main contracts: JT Komfer (5.1×5), Daniel Sprong (2×1), Klim Costin (2×2), Shane Gostisber (4.13×1), Justin Hall (3.4×3), James Reimer (1.5×1)
About a year ago, Steve Yzerman added five full-fledged players without signing a single super-long contract, but if a year ago Detroit was called the market winner, now on the Internet you can see the hair torn from your head. , asks the void “Yzerman what, crazy?”. and allegations that Stevie Wye was not Tampa’s true general manager. This behavior is even more surprising than the high expectations of last year.
The philosophy of Detroit, which Yzerman is building, was clear: This is an even team without big stars, but with great depth, which should be difficult and create problems for any opponent. Yes, this is not a cheerful “Tampa”, but in “Tampa” Yzerman once received an inheritance in the person of Hedman and Stamkos. In Detroit, the previous management regularly beat milk for most first-round picks in the five-year period before Yzerman’s arrival, and there weren’t really any elite juniors in the club system. Also, the “wings” have never come up in the lottery draft.
There are two confusing things about the Detroit signings. First off, Justin Hall doesn’t seem like the best option for a third partner, especially at this salary. Secondly, the “wings” do not yet have a clear star on the side. All of this year’s draft picks have been used to draft players, Debrinkat’s trade rumors have died down, and the team is still packed with assets. If he does not use them now, then later the youngsters will begin to interfere with each other to get into the team, but it seems that the management is waiting for something.
“Florida”
Main contracts: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (2.5×1), Niko Mikkola (2.5×3), Dmitry Kulikov and Mike Reilly (both 1×1)
In the final, Florida’s main problem was defense, both in terms of purely defensive actions and in the mode of transition to attack. With the injured Aaron Ekblad missing the start of the season and the most bearded player in the league, Ratko Gudas, moving to Anaheim, the Panthers signed as many as four defensemen to one-way contracts, a tactic not common in the agent market. free.
Dmitri Kulikov (left)
Photo: Joel Auerbach/AP/TASS
Of this quartet, OEL and Kulikov attract the most attention. The Russian defender has recently changed clubs and has traditionally been the most low-key Russian in the league; It may be forgotten that he began his career in Florida, where he spent his best seasons and was an important defender for most. With Ekman-Larsson, the story is simple: he’s a defender who no longer costs $8 million a year and can’t play 22 minutes a game, but the new team clearly expects OEL to give a decent level, spending 18-19 minutes in the ice. It cannot be said that the Panthers have become stronger in the elite, but they have not had banal depth behind them for a long time.
“Dallas”
Main contracts: Matt Duchain (3×1), Craig Smith (1×1), Sam Steele (0.85×1)
In Texas, they worked quietly but very effectively. Although it was previously written that Duchaine has not earned the best reputation, the players who recently scored 86 points are not lying by the wayside. Given the presence of Hinz and Seguin, Duchaine should go to the third line against much weaker opponents and complete good stats to get a good contract in a year. Considering how pale Dallas looked in the Western Finals, depth matters a lot.
Plus, the stars want to revive first-rounder Steele, who for the second time in two years doesn’t even get a qualifying offer. In Minnesota, Steele could not score points even in the link with Kaprizov and Zuccarello, but here they will not require that. Well, before the opening of the NSA market, the club retained Yevgeny Dadonov on very decent terms: the Russian striker once again proved that he was as effective as possible with the right partners and that he could be useful in the playoffs.
