NHL Free Agency: Winners and Losers so Far

A week into free agency, and the majority of the action has passed. Most of the big names have been signed, with hundreds of millions of dollars being thrown their way.

Some teams have had major overhauls, while others have simply added some pieces to complement their existing roster. Now that the dust has settled, we'll look at the three biggest winners and losers so far.

Buffalo Sabres: Winner

The Sabres have been very active so far in free agency, and when was the last time you could say that about this organization? While they have been the model of small-market success in the post-lockout NHL, they have been conservative in how they spend their money in free agency. That is, prior to this offseason.

New owner Terry Pegula pledged he would be aggressively trying to improve this team, and so far, he hasn't disappointed.The Sabres flipped a fourth-round pick to the Islanders for the rights to Christian Ehrhoff after New York could not sign him, and then promptly stunned the league by giving the former Sharks and Canucks blueliner a $40 million deal.

Not stopping there, they went out and scooped up former Flyers forward Ville Leino, while also re-signing promising young forward Nathan Gerbe and team enforcer Cody McCormick. The only key loss the Sabres have suffered has been talented but oft-injured center Tim Connolly, who signed with the Maple Leafs.

However, the depth the Sabres have picked up both offensively and defensively has more than made up for it and has them poised to contend for a much higher spot in the Eastern Conference than the seventh seed they clinched before being eliminated by Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.

New York Rangers: Winner

While the Rangers have only made one big signing so far, it was for the best player available in free agency. They don’t necessarily belong on this list for that reason alone, though. Brad Richards gives the Rangers a solid, veteran center to complement the rising young group of players who call Madison Square Garden home.

Richards clearly makes this team better, particularly on the offensive side, where the Rangers were inconsistent last season, in part due to the underwhelming performance of last year’s free-agent addition, Marian Gaborik.

Richards’ 28 goals and 49 assists would have made him the team leader in both categories for the Blueshirts last year and his playmaking abilities should help the offensive flow more consistently this year. Add that into a mix of a solid defensive core and one of the league’s best goaltenders, and the Rangers will be a more balanced team next season, which means they will probably won’t have to go into the final weekend of the season fighting for their playoff lives like they have the last two years.

Washington Capitals: Winner

The Caps didn’t make any major splashes in free agency, but they went out and made some really smart moves that improved a team that finished first in the Eastern Conference for the second year in a row. They also had a disappointing playoff run for the second year in a row, getting swept by the Lightning in the second round, a year after blowing a 3-1 series lead and losing to the Canadiens in the first round.

The Caps signed Tomas Vokoun to probably the best bargain contract in free agency so far, a one-year deal worth only $1.5 million.

The signing also allowed the Caps to deal Seymon Varlamov to Colorado for what could very well end up being a high first-round draft pick. As a result, Vokoun will team with Michal Neuvirth to compose a pretty impressive netminding tandem. Washington also added some depth to their blue line, signing veteran Roman Hamrlik, who will provides a boost on the power play.

Florida Panthers: Loser

I really debated which list to put the Panthers on—winners or losers. They were by far the most active team in free agency, raising their payroll by over $20 million through their signings, and even more through trades.

However, while guys like Ed Jovanovski and Jose Theodore may give the team some recognizable names to market to their fans, they are not players who can significantly improve this team from their dead-last finish in the Eastern Conference last season.

Theodore is a downgrade over Tomas Vokoun, who took his talents out of South Beach and to the nation’s capital instead. Sean Bergenheim has never put up over 29 points in a season, and Tomas Fleischmann has been plagued by injuries and inconsistency throughout his six-year NHL career.

The worst part of Florida's free-agent signings is that they overpaid on most of them. The Panthers’ signings will make this team better, but when you spend the kind of money the Panthers did, it only pays off if the team is drastically improved. While their free-agent moves will improve the team, it will not do so enough to be a serious playoff contender in a deeper Eastern Conference than they bottomed out in last year. 

Toronto Maple Leafs: Loser

The Leafs had wanted to make a big splash in free agency, and targeted Richards as the guy to help them do so. However, GM Brian Burke showed a conservative approach in free agency. He was never a real player in the Richards sweepstakes, a product of his reluctance to offer the kind of heavily front-loaded deals that typically land superstar free agents in today's NHL.

He also declined to even send an offer sheet to superstar RFAs Steven Stamkos or Drew Doughty. True, the offer sheet to either player would have almost certainly been matched by their respective teams, but it would have at least indicated the team was willing to take the kind of aggressive approach needed to end the Leafs’ seven-year playoff drought.

Burke did sign Tim Connolly from the Sabres to a two-year deal. Connolly is a nice complementary player, but hardly the kind of difference-maker Toronto sorely needs to turn their fortunes around. Burke has said the Leafs are pretty much done with their offseason moves and will instead continue to see what the kids on the farm can contribute, which does not bode well for the fans of Toronto given how many holes this team still has.

Philadelphia Flyers: Loser

Technically, the Flyers were big winners in free agency, landing Ilya Bryzgalov and Jaromir Jagr. However, in order to clear the necessary cap space for Bryzgalov’s $51 million deal, they had to trade two offensive cornerstones—captain Mike Richards to the Kings, and Jeff Carter to the Blue Jackets—as well as complementary player Kris Versteeg, who was moved to the Panthers.

While the official line from the Flyers is that these deals were done to free up the cap, it is no secret that Richards and Carter had clashed with some Flyers veterans and their off-ice exploits were wearing thin on the Flyers brass.

Still, while the Flyers may have improved a glaring weakness in net and the locker-room environment, and gotten a little tougher with these deals, the bottom line is they sacrificed a significant amount of depth in order to do so. I am in the camp that believes Jagr still has enough in the tank to provide a meaningful contribution this year, but not nearly enough to make up for what the Flyers have lost.

While goaltending has long been an Achilles’ heel for this franchise, closing one big hole while opening several others is usually a pretty risky way to try and improve on a team that was in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2010.