No single period of the year tells you more about your club, about your owner, and about your general manager than free agency does. This is the time general managers have to write drafting wrongs, woo superstars and second six players, make a splash or do nothing worth noticing. At the end of the first week or so of free agency almost all of the biggest chips have fallen into place.
Unlike the NHL Entry Draft where all is hopes, dreams and shiny potential, free agency is know quantities, hope and hard numbers. Some signings work well, some don’t. In recent years some teams have shown they are extraordinary, in either good or bad ways at maneuvering this demolition derby of salary cap space and locker room chemistry.
The Chicago Blackhawks have done this pretty well, Marian Hossa injuries and all has been a key component in not one but two Stanley Cup wins. He drifted through several cities after being traded by the Thrashers-now-Jets. Michal Rozsival is another free agent acquisition that logged big minutes for them. This years post season saw the 34 year old defenseman average over 19 minutes a night and have the teams fourth highest goal differential. And who can forget Ray Emery, despite hip surgery, time spent in the minors, and the expectation that he was done in the NHL, he was signed two years ago to a contract. Last year he was ok, this year he helped power the teams record point streak, served up a .922sv% and went 17-1 helping assure the Blackhawks had home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
For some teams the rebuild, the acquisition of identity starts with a major free agent move. In the case of the Boston Bruins, it was two. After the end of the Harry Sinden era, Peter Chiarelli was brought in to take the rights and raise the franchise from the ashes. How did he do it? He signed one of the top three pure passers of the last twenty five years in Marc Savard, and he added a defensemen that hall of famer and multiple Norris trophy winner Ray Bourque said is better defensively than he was, Zdeno Chara. In one fell swoop the image of penny-pinching frugality was dealt a body blow. Both the offense, and the defense were reignited. Chara would win a Norris and hoist the Stanley Cup, Savard would mentor some of his younger teammates before having his career ended.
Other teams haven’t faired so well with free agents. The New York Rangers signed Wade Redden, Scott Gomez and Brad Richards to big money, long term free agent deals. Redden was buried in the minors for years before being bought out, not because he wasn’t what was advertised, but because he wasn’t what the Rangers brain trust envisioned. Scott Gomez is a slightly different case, the Rangers actually benefited from this horrific signing by unloading him quickly and getting two respectable talents out of. They did however spend $10,000,000.00 for a 16 goal, 70 point season. Brad Richards hasn’t quite proven a bust, he is however trending in that direction. They signed him in 2011 for $60million, in his first year on Broadway he turned in a solid 25 goals (3rd highest total of his career) but his puck distribution was wanting. This season he failed to lead in goals, assists or points and was a fourth line center and then a healthy scratch in the second round of the playoffs. All he accomplished in ten games in this year post season was one goal. He could still rebound, and speculation was that he’d be bought out.
But the Rangers are hardly the only team to mess things up. The Philadelphia Flyers have managed to engage in intimate acts with canines on a number of occasions. The Ilya Bryzgalov contract is certainly the most spectacular, but hardly the only case. Not only had Bryzgalov never played in the east where he would face Ovechkin, Stamkos, Staal, Crosby, Malkin, St Louis and Tavares on a regular basis. The Flyers whose success with goalies is so poor it has ceased even to be a punch line, have bought him out after just two years. This year the Flyers also bought out Danny Briere, who had been a very productive player in the post season, a respectable regular season talent, and whom they decided thanks to some other deals they simply can not afford.
One of the unfortunate realities of free agency is that you will end up overpaying anyone who doesn’t lead the team in something (positive) and likely the league. For some teams this is undesirable or just unaffordable. But bargains The New York Islanders came up smelling like roses when they signed right wing Brad Boyes and he turned in his best season in years. Matt Moulson is another of the of their bargains. Picked up off the scrapheap Moulson has produced three straight thirty goal seasons earning a pittance. Part of his success is certainly the chemistry he enjoys with John Tavares. That chemistry element has to be considered and teams that fail to balance team chemistry with the talent end up an uncompetitive mess.
The three big questions every armchair general manager should be asking themselves about
players are:
1: Where does he fit on this team?
Is he a 20 minute forward or 12 minute guy? Is this the shutdown defenseman we need? Is this goalie good on teams that give up a lot of shots, can they handle the workload we want of them?
2: How well will he fit in here?
The major part of this is how will they fit on the team as a player with the mix we’ve got? How will they fair in this city?
3: What’s his pay scale?
While teams that have to climb to the salary floor inflate the market, good and great teams can pay a little bit less for a chanced at the cup, or a chance to play with some stars?
Failure in the free agent market is easy. It shouldn’t be, but general managers are human too, and the shiny glow of new players gets to them too. Or the local media starts howling for their job and in an effort to do something, anything they do something wrong. Free agency is hopes and tears, and it couldn’t work out any other way.
@PuckSage is an NHL writer who enjoys a good steak, a glass of cognac and movies with explosions when not watching and writing hockey. You can find him at PuckSage.com @PuckSage and on Facebook and Google+.