NHL Free Agency: All the signings and analysis

by: Noah Love 

Friday marks the opening of NHL free agency. Throughout the day, we’ll list all of the signings and provide analysis.

The free agency window opens at noon, but a few key names were taken off the market on Friday morning. A quick Brad Richards note: the soon-to-be former Dallas Star is meeting with almost every team in the league Friday afternoon, so don’t expect him to sign until Saturday at the earliest. Update: TSN reports that the New York Rangers can match or better any offer for Richards, so it’s pretty obvious where he wants to end up.

We’ll list all of the deals here (all signings sourced from TSN), listed in order of importance:

Columbus signs D James Wisniewski to a six-year, US$33-million contract
Post take: “The Wiz” immediately becomes the best defender on the Blue Jackets’ blue line, providing a laser shot and power-play quarterbacking ability. A huge loss for the Montreal Canadiens, who traded Wisniewski’s rights to the Jackets for a seventh-round draft pick two days ago.

Philadelphia signs Jaromir Jagr to a one-year deal worth $3.3-million
Post take: Did not see that coming. The Flyers still need a centre or two, but that is an epic pickup for an already big team. Presuming Jagr’s skill level hasn’t dropped off too far after three years in the KHL.

Buffalo signs F Ville Leino to a six-year, $27-million deal
Post take: Leino is a good winger, capable of contributing goals and dishing out assists — BUT FOR REAL? It’s not like the Sabres need to reach the cap floor. And they have plenty of good wingers. And Buffalo was on such a hot streak, with Ehrhoff and Regehr.

Washington trades G Semyon Varlamov’s RFA rights to Colorado for a 2012 first-round pick and a 2012 or 2013 second-round pick.
Post take: The Avalanche must be convinced Varlamov is not signing in the KHL, because this is borderline insanity. Assume that Tomas Vokoun is going to a contender. Between this and Jan Hejda (see below), not a great day for the Avs.

Montreal signs F Erik Cole to a four-year, $18-million contract
Post take: The Canadiens find some size up front, but also an injury-prone player who barely had a bounceback season in 2010-11. Doesn’t Max Pacioretty do all of the things Cole does? A bit confounding.

Florida signs D Ed Jovanovski to a four-year, $16.5-million deal
Post take: Four years sounds like a long time for Ed Jovanovski, who has not played close to a full season since 2008-09, and whose offensive production has dropped off a cliff. They know
Sheldon Souray and
Wade Redden were was just sitting in the AHL, right? (Kidding.)

Florida signs F Scottie Upshall to a four-year, $14-million deal
Post take: Here’s another one of Dale Tallon’s “spend to the cap floor” contracts, after Tomas Kopecky’s four-year, $12-million deal the other day, and Jovanovski. Upshall is no slouch: he’s good for about 20 goals per season. But that is about it. Perhaps he can go further with Stephen Weiss as his centre.

Florida acquires F Kris Versteeg from Philadelphia for second- and third-round draft picks
Post take: Tallon continues to acquire the most useless pieces of the 2009-10 Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks! To be fair, Versteeg was pretty good for that team. He joins his fourth team in just more than a year.

Florida signs F Tomas Fleischmann to a four-year, $18-million deal
Post take: Tallon’s aggressive Mission: Cap Floor continues. Fleischmann is probably the most skilled forward the Panthers have acquired in this free agency bonanza. But also the riskiest, given his career-threatening health issues.

Washington signs F Joel Ward to a four-year, $12-million deal
Post take: Had a breakout playoff performance with Nashville this spring, and is the type of big, grinding forward you need for a long playoff run.

Washington signs D Roman Hamrlik to a two-year, $7-million contract
Post take: Not totally sure why the Caps need Hamrlik, since they’re committed to Dennis Wideman and Tom Poti already. Maybe they’re concerned about Poti’s health, which is fair.

Vancouver signs Marco Sturm to a one-year, $2.25-million deal
Post take: This is their decision for the top-six forward opening? Ouch.

Dallas signs D Sheldon Souray to a one-year, $1.65-million deal
Post take: Sheldon Souray is free! To go to Dallas, anyway, which is like NHL jail at this point. Interesting note: It wasn’t entirely Souray’s contract that prevented another team from picking him up on waivers while he was buried in the AHL.

Philadelphia signs F Max Talbot to a five-year, $9-million deal
Post take: Between this and Jagr, Paul Holmgren is really trying to screw with Ray Shero. Also: Talbot really wants to play against his former best buds in Pittsburgh six times a season, minimum? Really for real?

Dallas signs Michael Ryder to a two-year, $7-million deal
Post take: A big, experienced winger, and now a Stanley Cup champion, who has a tendency to disappear for long stretches. So, basically a replacement for James Neal in every way.

Chicago signs F Andrew Brunette to a one-year, $2-million deal
Post take: A decent pickup for third-line centre, presuming Patrick Sharp stays on the wing and Bolland centres the second line. Otherwise, he’s on the wing. Either way, Brunette has the versatility and skill to fit in wherever Joe Quenneville wants him.

Vancouver re-signs D Sami Salo to a one-year, $2-million contract
Post take: Salo said he would come back to the Western Conference champions for a discount and he was not lying. When healthy, he is an excellent offensive defenceman. But then, when is Salo healthy?

New Jersey re-signs D Andy Greene to a four-year deal
Post take: The Devils were lucky to hang on to their No. 2 defenceman. No. 3, by the way, is Adam Larsson.

Vancouver re-signs F Chris Higgins to a two-year, $3.8-million contract
Post take: Higgins was the Canucks’ best trade deadline acquisition, moving from the fourth line to the second, on Ryan Kesler’s wing, during Vancouver’s long playoff run.

Pittsburgh re-signs F Tyler Kennedy to a two-year, $4-million contract
Post take: The Penguins are not signing Jaromir Jagr, so Kennedy is back in the fold. And that’s good for them, as he is probably their fifth-best forward after Crosby, Malkin, Staal and Neal. You could make an argument for Chris Kunitz in there, but Kennedy is more versatile.

Phoenix signs F Raffi Torres to a two-year, $3.5-million deal, and F Boyd Gordon to a two-year, $2.7-million deal
Post take: The Coyotes are another team struggling to reach the cap floor, and a bit more hamstrung than some of their opponents, considering that the NHL is running the show. These two deals take them to 18 players, with $12-million to go. We hear Scott Gomez is totally available.

Colorado signs J-S Giguere to a two-year deal, $2.5-million deal
Post take: A good platoon mate for Varlamov, presuming he can successfully overcome groin injuries that have limited his mobility in recent seasons.

Phoenix signs G Mike Smith to a two-year contract worth $4-million
Post take: Dave Tippett said after the Coyotes’ playoff run ended in the first round that the ownership situation put the team at a competitive disadvantage. The phrase “Mike Smith, No. 1 goaltender” backs up that line of thought.

Florida signs G Jose Theodore to a two-year, $3-million deal
Post take: Still a good 1A option who had very good stretches in Minnesota and Washington in the past two seasons. But can Florida really go with just Theodore and young Jacob Markstrom next season?

Edmonton signs F Eric Belanger to a three-year, $5.25-million deal
Post take: Pretty solid addition for the Oil. An experienced two-way forward with size — kind of a poor man’s Shawn Horcoff. OK, that doesn’t actually sound like an endorsement. How about, a poor man’s Shawn Horcoff, circa 2005-09?

Florida signs F Marcel Goc to a three-year, $5.1-million contract
Post take: Goc is a speedy, efficient defensive forward. Not too shabby a signing. Certainly better than Jovanovski …

Pittsburgh signs F Steve Sullivan for one year, $1.5-million
Post take: If he can stay healthy, he’s probably a short-term upgrade over Max Talbot.

Carolina signs F Alex Ponikarovsky to a one-year, $1.5-million deal
Post take: Not gonna lie, really thought this was the year Ponikarovsky ended up in the KHL. Former coach Paul Maurice to save the day!

Tampa Bay signs G Mathieu Garon to a two-year, $2.6-million deal
Post take: Garon was very strong for the Blue Jackets this past season, backing up Steve Mason. He is the sort of reliable second option the Lightning need behind Dwayne Roloson, who turns 42 shortly after the 2011-12 season begins.

Carolina signs F Tim Brent to a two-year, $1.5-million deal
Post take: Was basically a perfect fourth-line centre for Toronto last season. They must really be chasing Max Talbot.

New York Rangers sign F Mike Rupp to a three-year deal worth $4.5-million
Post take: Will be one of the stars of this year’s HBO 24/7 series, along with new Flyer Max Talbot.

Edmonton signs F Ben Eager to a three-year, $3.4-million deal
Post take: You may recall Eager as the single worst forward for the San Jose Sharks in their Western Conference final series against Vancouver. No small feat given Dany Heatley’s lack of participation in those five games. Not really sure why the Oilers didn’t just keep Zack Stortini. Guess they need somebody to lay bad hits and protect the kids.

Colorado signs D Jan Hejda to a four-year, $13-million deal
Post take: And the Avalanche seemed so rational at the draft last week, taking the right players and everything. This will go down as one of the most head-scratching contracts of the summer.

Carolina signs G Brian Boucher to a two-year, $1.9-million deal
Post take: Hurricanes fans now immediately begin praying for Cam Ward’s long-term health. Well, they should have been either way.

Montreal signs G Peter Budaj to a two-year, $2.3-million deal
Post take: The long, illustrious history of Colorado and Montreal goaltenders switching places has a new, relatively boring chapter.

Detroit re-signs F Patrick Eves to a three-year, $3.6-million deal
Post take: Good role player/fourth-line guy; able to chip in a few goals. Not an impact signing, but far more reasonable than the deal GM Ken Holland gave Jonathan Ericsson on Thursday.

Detroit signs D Mike Commodore to a one-year, $1-million deal
Post take: Just bought out by the Blue Jackets, now Detroit’s sixth defenceman. Presuming they sign a No. 3 defenceman.

Dallas signs D Adam Pardy to a two-year, $2-million deal
Post take: Still have no idea how they’re going to make it to the cap floor with tiny, likely NHL-approved signings.

Washington signs F Jeff Halpern to a one-year, $850K deal
Post take: A good depth signing for the Caps. Halpern wins faceoffs and occasionally makes a good offensive play. Started his career in Washington.

Edmonton signs F Darcy Hordichuk and D Cam Barker
Post take: Depth and nothing but. And yet, $2.25-million for Cam Barker seems a little steep, given that he was just bought out by Minnesota.

Dallas signs forwards Vernon Fiddler and Radek Dvorak
Post take: Pity poor Joe Nieuwendyk. At least he has the Hall of Fame ceremony to look forward to.

Chicago signs D Sean O’Donnell to a one-year, $850K deal
Post take: He and Jamal Mayers will make an excellent pair of healthy scratches.

Chicago signs F Jamal Mayers to a one-year, $550K deal
Post take: No comment.