This is the part of the year when hockey GMs totally lose their minds. They throw huge contracts at average and good players as if they were superstars.
Several players signed big money and long term deals with new clubs. Likely all this spending did not create any new Stanley Cup contenders. Nobody bought a winner. This is because nobody of significance was for sale. In fact only one of last summer's top 50 players according to The hockey News was purchased at all (Ryan Smyth bought by Colorado).
It has led to the absurd situation that players who were the best of a weak UFA crop like Daniel Briere will get paid far more than the true stars in the NHL (like Sidney Crosby, Roberto Luongo, Nicklas Lidstrom, Martin Brodeur). If one test of a salary structure is that the best players in the NHL are the highest paid, then the NHL fails.
However, the cap prevents any team from buying their way to contention. In fact many of the top signings were by teams that did not make the playoffs. So obviously, although free agents talk about wanting to play for a Stanley Cup contender, when you sign with Toronto, Philadelphia, St. Louis or Washington, that's not going to be happening. They are going where the money is.
Looking at the top 15 contracts signed so far over the past 2 days, 9 players signed with teams that did not make the playoffs last season. A few teams have been weakened considerably - Buffalo, Atlanta, New Jersey and the Islanders come to mind. Obviously the Rangers and Colorado are much better but are not Cup contenders. It's still early and some of the later signings can have more of an impact than the big names.
12 years ago
