Ranking Artemi Panarin and the Best NHL Free-Agent Signings in the Last Decade
The targeting and signing of free agents has become perhaps the most significant job of an NHL general manager since the arrival of the salary cap two decades ago, and it's one that—if done successfully—can change the direction of a franchise.
Of course, it can do the same thing if done poorly, too. This means on one side there's a title contender or a Stanley Cup winner and on the other, there's a cleaned-out office.
There have been many team-changing deals in either direction since the frenzy began and the B/R hockey team narrowed the timeline down to the last decade, that's 2014 and beyond for these purposes, on the way to coming up with the best of the best ones.
We considered the post-contract production of the player involved alongside his impact on his new team before whittling the collection down to a top eight. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments section.
8. Sebastian Aho, Carolina Hurricanes
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OK, we're starting off on a technicality.
Sebastian Aho was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2015, debuted with them a year later and has never played with another NHL team.
But he almost did.
The then-21-year-old was a restricted free agent after the 2018-19 season and signed an offer sheet with the Montreal Canadiens for a five-year, $42.27 million contract, meaning he'd be a Canadien unless the Hurricanes agreed to match/exceed the deal and keep him in Raleigh.
They did. And they've never looked back.
Already a 30-goal scorer once before the offer, Aho has reached that threshold in four straight non-COVID-addled seasons since and is on a 2023-24 pace that'll yield 36 goals and a career-high 92 points by the time the schedule ends next month.
That production has already earned him a lengthy extension that'll keep him in Carolina through 2032 at a tidy $9.75 million per season, meaning all that's left is the Cup.
7. Patrick Maroon, St. Louis Blues/Tampa Bay Lightning
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It's not always about MVPs and scoring titles.
Though some on this list have or will win those sorts of awards, Patrick Maroon is much more about the intangibles. His 27-goal, 42-point run with Edmonton in 2016-17 remains his best season but the heights to which he's climbed since are why he'll be remembered.
He was shuttled from the Oilers to New Jersey via trade after hitting his high watermark, then signed with St. Louis as a low-profile free agent making $1.75 million for 2018-19.
Eleven months later, he was a Stanley Cup champion.
Winning a title with his hometown Blues changed Maroon's profile to that of a rugged bottom-six forward capable of transforming a locker room, and he took his talents to Tampa Bay on a one-year, $900,000 deal that yielded another Cup in 2020. From that title came a two-year deal at the same annual clip, which brought another title in 2021 and another deep run that got the Lightning to the brink again before they were beaten by Colorado.
He became the fourth player to win three straight Cups with more than one team, for less money than Nathan MacKinnon makes for 18 games.
Money well spent.
6. Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights
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Speaking of guys with titles in multiple cities, an ex-teammate of Maroon in St. Louis, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, became a big-ticket free agent in the summer of 2020 and made a move to Vegas on a seven-year, $61.6 million contract worth $8.8 million a year.
He was a plus-20 in his first 41-game stint with the Golden Knights and logged a team-high average ice time of 24:39 in season No. 2, but it all came together for the group in 2022-23 as Pietrangelo matched a career-best 54 points during the regular season and posted 10 points in 21 playoff games on the way to a second Stanley Cup hoist last June.
He's a three-time second-team NHL All-Star and played in three All-Star Games before becoming just the second player in league history to score a Cup-clinching goal (for St. Louis) against one coach (Boston's Bruce Cassidy) before later winning a championship with the same coach.
Sometimes, the payoff is worth the price.
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5. Joe Pavelski, Dallas Stars
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The Dallas Stars haven't won a Cup with him yet, but that doesn't mean their initial $21 million reach for veteran San Jose Sharks forward Joe Pavelski wasn't worth it.
The former seventh-round pick played 963 games for the Sharks before inking a three-year contract with Dallas in the summer of 2019. He had 14 goals in 67 games in his initial season with the Stars but began paying off in the spring, scoring 13 goals as part of a 27-game playoff run that got the team to Game 6 of the Finals before succumbing to Tampa Bay.
Pavelski's 13th goal came in a Game 5 victory and tied him with Joey Mullen for the most ever (61) by a U.S.-born player, a record he claimed for himself the following year.
He spiked to 25 and 27 goals in the next two regular seasons and has since earned himself two more single-season extensions for $6 million and $5.5 million, respectively.
His 25 goals through 74 games this season have helped the Stars get to first in the Central Division and second overall, which means another deep run—and perhaps a first title in his 18th NHL season at age 39—could be a fitting finale.
4. Zach Hyman, Edmonton Oilers
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Folks can debate whether Zach Hyman has had the impact in Edmonton that Pietrangelo and Pavelski have had in Vegas and Dallas, but it's hard to argue he's exceeded expectations.
And that's why he's ranked here.
The former fifth-round pick had been a credible player in Toronto across parts of six seasons, maxing out at 21 goals and 41 points while netting 14 game-winners and producing consistently positive double-digit numbers in plus/minus rating.
When he got a seven-year, $38.5 million deal from Oilers GM Ken Holland, though, initial reactions suggested the veteran executive had overreached.
These days, not so much.
The 6'1", 206-pounder clicked instantly with high-profile talents in Edmonton's top six, exceeding his high watermark with 27 goals in his first season and ramping it to 36 in year two.
But it's all been just a prelude to 2023-24, in which Hyman has already become the third-oldest player in league history to produce his initial 50-goal season, working at a pace, in fact, that'll give him 59 goals by the time the season ends in April.
He's got four seasons remaining after this one and you can't blame Holland for smiling these days, every time Hyman raises his arms in a goal celebration.
3. Sergei Bobrovsky, Florida Panthers
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The Sergei Bobrovsky discussion typically begins and ends at salary.
He was a big-time goalie with a pair of Vezina trophies on his mantel and an All-Star Game appearance on his resume but when the Florida Panthers signed him on the opening day of free agency in 2019, it was the $70 million side of the seven-year contract that made news.
And given that he'd posted neither a goals-against average nor a save percentage at his career averages through 185 games in blue, red and tan, it wasn't hard to find folks already heralding 2019 first-round pick Spencer Knight as the goalie of the future... and present.
Then came the 2023 playoffs...and "Bob" was reborn.
Bobrovsky went 3-1 in four starts to help the Panthers overcome the top-seeded Boston Bruins in the first round of the Eastern tournament and 8-1 as Florida vanquished Toronto and Carolina in rounds two and three to reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time.
The end didn't match the start given a five-game ouster by the Vegas Golden Knights, but the 35-year-old's 11 wins and .935 save percentage before the title round would have warranted at least some Conn Smythe chatter had the Cup made its way to metro Miami.
If they finish the job this time around, the signing seems a no-brainer.
2. John Tavares, New York Islanders
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To appreciate the John Tavares signing is to appreciate the hometown hero.
The first overall pick in 2009 spent nine seasons building his NHL brand with the New York Islanders, playing in five All-Star Games and reaching 30 goals four times before heading back to his native Toronto to join the Maple Leafs on a seven-year, $77 million contract.
He's not delivered the Cup that fans of the blue and white have been craving since 23 years before his birth, but the 47 goals and 88 points he produced in his first 82-game season in front of Ontario's most hockey-crazed fan base immediately helped soften the financial blow.
Four subsequent seasons have provided 323 points in 348 games through Thursday's defeat of the Washington Capitals, but the deal's ultimate approval rating will hinge on whether there's a championship parade down Yonge Street before the pact runs out in June 2025.
The clock is ticking.
1. Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
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If you're the title character, you've got be to ranked first, right?
It's not just naming rights that make Artemi Panarin a logical choice here, though.
The Russian winger was a huge score for Chicago as an undrafted free agent in 2015, winning the Calder Trophy after his 30-goal season as an NHL rookie and scoring no fewer than 27 across two seasons each with the Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets.
He became a free-agent boon for a second time in the summer of 2019, heading from middle Ohio to midtown Manhattan and hitting a financial home run of his own with a seven-year deal that'll pay him a tick higher than $11.6 million per season through 2025-26.
A 95-point performance in just 68 games showed Panarin could make it there on the way to a third-place finish behind Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon in MVP voting that season, and the 349 more in 272 games since—including a career-best 103 through 73 games in 2023-24—almost guarantee he'll be in the Hart Trophy running again this spring, too.
But it's all about the Cup in New York, and if "Breadman" delivers in June to end a 30-year drought he'll join a memorable "Messiah" on the Original Six franchise's uppermost hero tier.
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