NHL Free Agency: The Most Important Addition for Each Team This Offseason

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Three NHL teams have already done about as much as one move can to embolden their outlook by plucking off a piece of last year’s Phoenix Coyotes within the first six weeks of free agency.

That widespread trend could be retracting now, or it could still be approaching its head-turning peak. It all depends on the destination of Phoenix captain Shane Doan.

With that storyline unanswered, but enough marquee moves already finalized, here is every NHL team’s most significant free-agency import through the halfway mark of the summer.

Anaheim: Sheldon Souray

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With Sheldon Brookbank and Lubomir Visnovsky both gone, the Ducks turn to a veteran defenseman who turned in a solid 2011-12 campaign considering he was on a non-playoff team and had been in the AHL throughout 2010-11.

Boston: Aaron Johnson

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The acquisition of Johnson, in lieu of the exiled Joe Corvo, ensures that the Bruins will have six defensemen who saw regular NHL action last year.

As much as one might like to bank on the likes of Dougie Hamilton and Torey Krug, Johnson is a viable option to fall back on in case both rookies are slow to assimilate.

Buffalo: Kevin Porter

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Porter was signed on the same day as Mark Mancari, putting both in slim company with John Scott as the only new free-agent faces coming to Buffalo so far.

Of those three forwards, Porter has the best potential to offer productive insurance in the event of an injury bug bite to the top 12.

Calgary: Jiri Hudler

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The Flames’ loss of Olli Jokinen only magnifies the bigger-fish, smaller-pond opportunity for Hudler as he transfers from Detroit to Calgary. On his new squad, he figures to join team captain Jarome Iginla and Mike Cammalleri as the most leaned-on producers.

Carolina: Alexander Semin

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If Semin, signed by the Hurricanes on July 26, turns his production back in the right direction, the one-two summer punch of himself and Jordan Staal should make an instantaneous impact on the Southeast Division landscape.

Chicago: Sheldon Brookbank

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Although he has not been a big-minute blueliner, Brookbank did place second on a non-playoff Anaheim team with a plus-10 rating in 2009-10 and then led another postseason no-show with a plus-11 rating in 2011-12.

His final year as a Duck before signing with the Blackhawks this summer also saw him reach career highs with 120 hits, 110 blocked shots and a nightly average of 15 minutes and 36 seconds on the ice.

Colorado: PA Parenteau

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Parenteau’s signing takes him from one team looking for more offensive output on Long Island to another one in Denver. As it happens, his final point total of 67 last season was good for third on the Islanders, but it eclipsed every member of the Avalanche.

Columbus: Adrian Aucoin

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As the nhl.com staff noted when it broke the news of Aucoin’s signing: “The Jackets were seeking a veteran presence along the blue line following the trade of Marc Methot.”

Indeed, Aucoin is the only Blue Jacket blueliner who is in his 30s, and his cumulative NHL experience trumps that of any of his new defensive colleagues.

Dallas: Ray Whitney

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Whitney is coming off a 77-point regular season, in sheer defiance of the 40th birthday he observed in the middle of the last playoffs, and knows the Pacific Division from having spent the past two seasons in Phoenix.

None of Whitney’s plus points―age, experience, leadership and aptitude―have shown any sign of inhibiting one another. On the contrary, they were all a key fueling force in getting the Coyotes the regular-season division title, let alone their first trip to the second round in a quarter-century, let alone the third round.

In a similar fashion, he can now be counted on to immediately halt Dallas’ playoff drought of four years going on five.

Detroit: Jonas Gustavsson

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Granted, Gustavsson’s transcript from Toronto is anything but delectable, his career highs in goals-against average (2.87) and save percentage (.902) both coming in his rookie campaign of 2009-10.

Although, part of that can be attributed to the fact that his now-former team has been a perennial playoff no-show. Furthermore, the fact that he has been on a sub-.500 team didn’t stop him from posting a personal record of .500 or better in 42 games played in both 2009-10 and 2011-12.

As Jimmy Howard’s presumptive backup, a role that ought to have him assuming roughly half the workload he got last year, Gustavsson should be in a position to better serve himself and his employers.

Edmonton: Dane Byers

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As of this past weekend, Byers is the only new signee the Oilers have picked up this summer.

Florida: Peter Mueller

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Desperately needing depth up front if they want to sustain their playoff viability, the Panthers will be banking on Mueller to stay healthy and finally improve upon his rookie output of 22-32-54 from 2007-08.

Los Angeles: Andrew Bodnarchuk

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Bodnarchuk is the Kings’ only free-agent acquisition entering Monday morning. For what it’s worth, he has acquired plentiful AHL seasoning with the Providence Bruins, which means he can at least be a welcome veteran addition to the Manchester Monarchs.

Minnesota: Zach Parise And Ryan Suter

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Yes, it’s an obvious choice, but that doesn’t diminish the logic of the selection. The two July 4 signees are the foundation for what the Wild can hope will be a steady ascension to contention.

Montreal: Colby Armstrong

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Twice in his career Armstrong has cracked 40 points, including his rookie year in 2005-06, when he was permanently called up from the AHL in late December by the Penguins and played under midseason replacement coach Michel Therrien.

Therrien has since been hired for a second stint with the Habs, but Armstrong’s familiarity factor doesn’t end there. Having been in Toronto for the past two seasons, he knows the Northeast Division well enough.

If he can bring the best of his fruitful physicality, Armstrong ought to give Montreal one of the league’s more formidable fourth lines in multiple senses of the adjective.

Nashville: Chris Mason

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Although Mason’s signing preceded Anders Lindback’s departure for Tampa by five days, the timeline does not diminish the importance of having an NHL-seasoned stopper to back up Pekka Rinne.

New Jersey: Bobby Butler

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When his potential is sized up against that of the Devils' other two free-agent signees, Phil DeSimone and Krys Barch, Butler stands the best chance of making an impact in the immediate and longer-term future.

N.Y. Islanders: Matt Carkner

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The bottom echelon of the Islanders’ blue-line brigade needed more seasoning, and they got it in the form of Carkner.

N.Y. Rangers: Taylor Pyatt

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In a career that has already spanned roughly a decade, Pyatt has been an ideally productive third-line-caliber player. Exactly the type of piece the Rangers needed to add to shore up their odds of getting past the third round of the playoffs, a goal they share in common with Pyatt after his Coyotes were zapped in the Western Conference finals.

Ottawa: Guillaume Latendresse

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Assuming his recent injury history is over, Latendresse is a critical pickup to lend the Senators more scoring threats beyond the top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza.

Philadelphia: Bruno Gervais

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This isn’t saying much from a quality standpoint. But after the Flyers were denied Shea Weber and are now projected to be missing Andreas Lilja until midseason, Andrej Meszaros for an unknown period and most likely Chris Pronger, the addition of Gervais at least adds some quantity.

Phoenix: David Moss

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When healthy, Moss can be a reliable depth forward. Although, Coyotes fans are doubtlessly hoping the most significant free-agent signing of the summer will not be the external acquisition that Moss is, but rather a certain re-signing.

Pittsburgh: Benn Ferriero

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After three seasons split between the AHL and NHL levels of the Sharks' organization, Ferriero enters the Penguins' system with a chance to provide intense competition for roles in the bottom six.

St. Louis: Jeff Woywitka

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The choice for this slide was between the second-time Blues blueliner and minor league goaltender Mike McKenna. Woywitka easily stands the better chance of making a splash in St. Louis at any point in the near future.

San Jose: Adam Burish

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In each of the previous two years, Burish had an altogether respectable scoring output for a physical fourth-liner who missed upwards of 17 to 19 games on a non-playoff team in Dallas.

Immediately before his stint with the Stars, he partook in the better part of a run to the Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks, including all four games in a third-round sweep of San Jose.

Tampa Bay: Matt Carle

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Although they do not play the same style, Carle’s arrival should help to alleviate Lightning fans who are dealing with the specter of Mattias Ohlund being forced to retire.

Toronto: Jay McClement

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If the Leafs’ projected depth chart is any indication, McClement will be a smooth fit in the role of third-line center. That spells an opportunity he did not previously have in the Colorado crowd of Paul Stastny, Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly.

Vancouver: Jason Garrison

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With Kevin Bieksa, Alexander Edler and Dan Hamhuis, the Canucks have an abundance of defensemen who can make plays from the point. All of them can and have finished seasons in the 30-point range.

Garrison, however, has the distinction of scoring 16 goals in the past year on a fairly offensively challenged Florida team, no less. That career-high campaign in the “G” column exceeds the career highs of each of his fellow Vancouver blueliners in the same category.

As much as the Canucks need to get deeper on offense, especially for their next playoff run, having a firsthand scoring threat hovering before the blue line is almost equally recommended. They addressed that in the acquisition of Garrison.

Washington: Wojtek Wolski

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As his stat line from the 2009-10 season proves, the 26-year-old Wolski is capable of putting up top-six caliber numbers. Assuming he stays healthy and makes good on the opportunity for a bounce-back year with a new club, the Caps should reap rewards from the sizable winger.

Winnipeg: Olli Jokinen

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The Jets added a healthy dose of productive seasoning in the form of the 33-year-old Jokinen, who is coming off a U-turn back in the right direction, as he hit the 60-point range for the first time in four years.