By mid-afternoon on an unusually bright and sunny Canada Day (doesn’t it always rain on July 1st?), the National Hockey League was zipping along quite nicely as the free agency period opened with a slew of deals and decisions. The price tag was enormous as teams spent more than $1 billion US, a record by far for opening day at the market.
By late afternoon and into the evening, hockey Joes and Jills, Phils and Philomenas, were doing their best to figure out how their club had fared.
Hence, a number of questions searching for answers popped up.
Here are a few of them.
ARE THE OTTAWA SENATORS ANY CLOSER TO NAILING DOWN A PLAYOFF SPOT?
Debatable.
General Manager Steve Staios made an exceptional splash earlier in the week in landing star goaltender Linus Ullmark from the Boston Bruins . . . and not surrendering much in return.
Day 1 in free agency didn’t quite match that star power.
Ottawa signed gritty forward David Perron (ironically, the same guy who cross-baton’d Artem Zub in the head last season as a member of the rival Red Wings) and a couple of shutdown forwards in Michael Amadio (a former Senator and Maple Leaf) and Noah Gregor (also a Leaf last season).
The biggest move came via trade and was an underwhelming one as Ottawa sent Jakob Chychrun to Washington for 33-year-old d-man Nick Jensen and a third-round pick.
Not much meat on the bone there.
Chychrun – like previous star acquisition Alex DeBrincat – just wasn’t a fit in Ottawa. His numbers were good, but the eye test told a different story. Too many slip-ups and poor decisions in the defensive zone put the damper on that 14-goal, 41-point performance in Ottawa over 82 games.
Clearly, GM Steve Staios isn’t done with the tinkering. The aim is to bring in competitive, veteran skaters and he did that with Perron, but the organization needs more.
The club also bid adieu to two restricted free agents in Erik Brannstrom and Parker Kelly who were not qualified.
Staios mentioned Monday that much of the growth of the team needs to come from within. That means the onus is on players like Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Jake Sanderson to continue to improve.
Playoffs?
At this point it’s a bit of a stretch.
IS NASHVILLE THE CLEAR-CUT WINNER THROUGH DAY 1 OF FREE AGENCY?
Adding stud blueliner Brady Skjei, sure-fire hall-of-famer, Cup-champion Steven Stamkos and another Stanley Cup champ in Jonathan Marchessault, GM Barry Trotz made an enormous splash on July 1st and signalled that business in Tennessee is about to pick up.
The signings put the Preds firmly into the discussion as to who’s the best in the NHL’s West.
Stamkos was the big fish that had teams clamoring and reaching for their wallets.
He posted on X: “Thank you Tampa ❤️❤️ I don’t have the words yet ….. I will soon. It’s still too early to process. Just wanted everyone to know how thankful we are for 16 years as a Bolt. My family and I are excited for the next chapter…”
When you combine playoffs and regular season scoring, Stamkos sits at a lusty 605 goals.
The three signees bring a ton of post-season experience to boot, a total of 306 games played.
Locked and loaded with Stamkos, Marchessault, Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn, the Preds have a hefty dose of character.
WHO ELSE TOPPED OUT?
The Boston Bruins went heavy and happy into the night after signing monster defenceman Nikita Zadorov and skilled forward Elias Lindholm. Boston just got a whole lot better after earlier losing Ullmark and Jake DeBrusk (who, oddly enough, replaces Lindholm on the Vancouver roster).
New Jersey’s defence – lambasted at times last season – landed some help for new netminder Jacob Markstrom in inking rugged Brenden Dillon and the underrated Brett Pesce. The Devils made another smart moved in acquiring grinder Stefan Noesen (a former Ottawa first-round pick) to round out the bottom six.
Brad Treliving did some nice work in Toronto. Still no movement on the Mitch Marner front but Treliving certainly shored up the beleaguered blueline in adding Cup winner Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Chris Tanev, meantime, will join Morgan Rielly on the Leafs’ top pairing. The money was reasonable at $4.5 million US, but the term (six years for a 34-year-old) was anything but.
Another good add-on was defenceman Jani Hakanpää who leaves Dallas on a two-year, $3 million US contract.
Earlier the Leafs made their best move this of the off-season in bringing back Max Domi, a player destined to be a Leaf.
Dallas made ‘change’ the flavour of the day as the defence saw a shake-up – Tanev and Hakanpää are out but Ilya Lyubushkin, Brendan Smith and Matt Dumba are in.
The Capitals net Chychrun (via trade) and Matt Roy (underrated) to the defence and bring in grit in grinder Matt Duhaime to the forward crew.
And how about the Blackhawks? With money to spend and a great need to find support for Connor Bedard, the Hawks added 25-goal man Teuvo Teräväinen (from Carolina) and 21-goal forward Tyler Bertuzzi (Toronto) who’s doing his best to suit up for every Original 6 team before retiring (with Toronto, Boston, Detroit in the bag, Jon Bon Jovi says: We’re halfway there . . .)
WHAT ABOUT THE CUP WINNERS?
Lots of change in Florida.
Some good, some not so good . . . but that’s what happens when you hold the title – your guys that got you there are top of mind around the circuit.
Signing Sam Reinhart to a very reasonable cap hit of $8.625 million US over eight years was a typical solid Bill Zito move. Bringing back Dmitry Kulikov helps.
Zito did lose key cogs though in pest Ryan Lomberg (to Calgary) and defenceman Brandon Montour (to Seattle). Ekman-Larsson rediscovered his game in Florida but is off to Toronto.
DID TEAMS OVERPAY?
Of course, ‘tis the way of things every July 1st.
Money was flying out the door like Ted DiBiase was operating the cash register.
How this all plays out?
Haven’t a clue, but we’re eager to watch it unfold.
Bring on October.
thegrossgame@yahoo.com
Photo: Courtesy THN.com
