Free Agency Grades

Please note: if the team resigned a player that became a UFA (i.e. Slava Kozlov, Teppo Numminen) they will not be listed under additions or subtractions. This list does include trades made. A player with (deadline) next to his name denotes someone who was acquired at the trade deadline.

Grading scale is determined on how well a team filled their needs and balanced out their losses, overpayment of players wont have a major impact on the ratings though mentioned at times. Losses of players who were acquired at the deadline do count, but not significantly. If a team has up and coming players is also taken into account.


Anaheim Ducks
Additions: Todd Bertuzzi, Mathieu Schneider
Subtractions: Dustin Penner, Ric Jackman, Teemu Selanne (?), Scott Niedermayer (?)
Grade: B-
The signings of Bertuzzi and Schneider seem to indicate that both Selanne and Niedermayer are heading for retirement despite still be top tier players. The move has also put them up against the cap with no contract for Selanne. I don’t think either of these two are sufficient replacements and there is a big question mark on Bertuzzi. Letting Edmonton have a chance to throw Penner an offer sheet was a mistake also.



Atlanta Thrashers
Additions: Ken Klee, Todd White
Subtractions: Greg DeVries, Andy Sutton, Keith Tkachuk (deadline)
Grade: D
What did the Thrashers need more than anything? Defense. What did they get? A defensive forward and a lateral move on defense from DeVries to Klee. Sutton being gone will help via addition through subtraction, but with Klee, Zhitnik and Havelid all 34+ years old, you cant expect these guys to still be playing at the top of their grades. Of course, if Wadell spent money wiser (like not paying Holik $4.25 million and trading for Rucchin) he would have more money to spend on improving his weakest position.


Boston Bruins
Additions: Manny Fernandez, Peter Schaeffer
Subtractions: Hannu Toivonen, Shean Donovan
Grade: D+
Chiarelli gets a bit of a reprieve since he really blew his wad last year on Savard and Chara. He at least corrected the goaltending problem for as long as Fernandez can hold up, though I disagree with trading Toivonen, even if Tuuko Rask is in waiting. Giving up on a talented goalie at 21 years old is just stupid, and I wont be surprised if Chiarelli deals Rask if he has a bad first year either. Schaeffer for Donovan is a steal because Ottawa needed to dump salary. They still have a lot of holes to fill though.


Buffalo Sabres
Additions: Jocelyn Thibault
Subtractions: Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, Dainus Zubrus (deadline)
Grade: F-
Regier dropped the ball horribly, especially with giving the Oilers a chance to give Vanek an offer sheet. Regier blamed the market place, but the reality is he blew his chance before the year started and didn’t react quick enough on July 1st. This is why I don’t think he is the great GM many portray him to be since his team was built for the lockout. Note to the Sabers front office: your policy of no contract talks during the season has now cost you McKee, Drury and Briere, and to fork over a lot of cash to Vanek. Drop the policy before it fully kills your team if it hasn’t already.


Calgary Flames
Additions: Adrian Aucoin, Owen Nolan, Cory Sarich
Subtractions: Roman Hamrlik, Andrei Zyuzin, Tony Amonte, Jeff Friesen
Grade: B
Sarich is the kind of big and physical blue liner Sutter likes, and Aucoin, if he regains his form, can replace the loss of Hamrlik, but that is a question mark. At $4 million Sutter has straddled himself with Aucoin until the contract ends most likely, and Phaneuf is up for a new deal after this year, along with Kiprussof. Too risky in my opinion. Zyuzin was rather ineffective so he wont be missed. Nolan had a decent year with Phoenix, and can add some grit, leadership and secondary scoring for the Flames.


Carolina Hurricanes
Additions: Matt Cullen
Subtractions: Anson Carter (deadline), David Tanabe
Grade: D
Cullen’s acquisition was in large part due to his role in the cup run, and while he will help the Canes need to do more; having an abundance of average defensemen wont make you a winner again. They needed to do more to shore up their team, but Rutherford is probably banking on less injuries to key players this year.


Chicago Blackhawks
Additions: Sergei Samsonov, Robert Lang, Yanic Perrault
Subtractions: Jassen Cullimore, Adrian Aucoin
Grade: C-
Talon was able to rid himself of the mistakes that were Cullimore and Aucoin, and is taking a chance that Samsonov just needs a change of scenery. The move could either reap rewards or blow up right in his face. Lang and Perrault can add depth, though paying $4mm for Lang is too much for a fading center. The moves should help the Blackhawks, but look for the team’s improvement to still lye with the young guys


Colorado Avalanche
Additions: Ryan Smyth, Scott Hannan
Subtractions: Pierre Turgeon, Patrice Brisbois, Ossi Vaananen, Brett McLean
Grade: A-
Giguere used his cap room to land two of the most prized players on the market. Both will add lots of grit and leadership, and I think those two alone will be enough to propel the Avs back into the playoffs. Turgeon and Briesbois were both non-factors, so their losses shouldn’t be felt at all. Add in a mix of burgeoning young stars like Statsny and Wolski, the Avs are pretty well off.


Columbus Blue Jackets
Additions: Jiri Novotny, Jan Hejda
Subtractions: Brian Berard
Grade: F
I know with a new GM and a low payroll there wasn’t much to be done, but just Novotny and Hejda? You can do better than that.


Dallas Stars
Additions: None
Subtractions: Ladislav Nagy (deadline)
Grade: F
Well what did you expect for a team that did absolutely nothing?


Detroit Red Wings
Additions: Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake,
Subtractions: Danny Markov, Mathieu Schneider, Todd Bertuzzi (deadline), Kyle Calder (deadline)
Grade: C
With Schneider leaving for the Ducks Ken Holland did good in finding a replacement in Brian Rafalski. Drake will help add some lower line depth and leadership. Hasek was resigned but Holland’s option were limited as Henrik Zetterberg is up for a new deal and he needed to set money aside for him. Losing Markov, Bertuzzi and Calder hurts depth regardless.


Edmonton Oilers
Additions: Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson, Sheldon Souray, Dustin Penner
Subtractions: Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul
Grade: C
If you’re about to land Souray, and you sign Dick Tarnstrom why deal for Pitkanen, another offensive minded defenseman, especially when it costs you a young winger and your best stay at home defender. Though Pitkanen does have potential still, their defense is too heavy on the offensive side of things. Lowe again failed to lure what he really needed to Edmonton, overpaying to get Souray, and I don’t think Sanderson is much of a difference maker anymore. We’ll see if Penner can live up to the contract Lowe has given him to pry him from the Ducks, but he should help regardless.


Florida Panthers
Additions: Richard Zednik, Radek Dvorak, Brett McLean, Tomas Vokoun
Subtractions: Chris Gratton, Alex Auld, Ed Belfour
Grade: B-
I call them futility signings because they have little impact on the team, and Florida makes them every year so I am considering renaming them Panther Signings. Zednik and Dvorak’s best years are behind them, and McLean is lower line depth. Not that none of them will help, but donte xpect huge impacts. Martin did make a good move in trading for Vokoun, giving them an established starter again, something that killed them last year (way to go Keenan). Vokoun will do his part, but other than that look for the younger players to step up to make this team improve.


LA Kings
Additions: Michael Handzus, Kyle Calder, Brad Stuart, Tom Preissing, Ladislav Nagy
Subtractions: Tom Kostopolous
Grade: B+
Adding four primary players like Dean Lombardi did is always risky because they just may not mesh. He also took a bit of a risk signing Nagy and Calder after both had terrible years, but at least Nagy is on a one year deal. Stuart and Preissing will definitely help the blue line, and Handzus is a good two way forward that can get you 20 goals. Add in that the young core of the team is getting better and you can look for some definite improvement but again, you still have Dan Cloutier as your starter.


Minnesota
Additions: Eric Belanger, Sean Hill
Subtractions: Todd White
Grade: D
Belanger is a good third liner and Hill is still decent, but will continue his suspension for the first quarter of the season. They didn’t really need much with some young guys stepping in, but it seems what holes they had they didn’t fill. Look for their young guys to continue to develop.


Montreal
Additions: Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski, Tom Kostopolous
Subtractions: Sheldon Souray, Radek Bonk, Sergei Samsonov
Grade: C
Souray was gone, we knew that, but no way should Hamrlik be paid $5.5. Bonk didn’t make enough of a difference to be missed, and all it took to get rid of Samsonov was to take Cullimore off Chicago’s hands and buy him out, so Gainey gets kudos for that. Smolinski will help in the secondary scoring role, but don’t expect a big impact.


Nashville
Additions: Radek Bonk, Greg Devries, Martin Gelinas
Subtractions: Paul Kariya, Thomas Vokoun, Peter Forsberg (deadline), Scott Hartnell, Kimo Timmonen
Grade: F
While I think it was smart to get a 1st from Philly for Hartnell and Timonen, who they were going to lose regardless, the ownership issue is really killing Poile’s ability to sign anything more than lower level guys. If the owner situation was resolved things may have been a lot different. Plus young guys like Weber are up for new deals at the end of the year. Poile really had nothing going for him this odd season.


New Jersey
Additions: Vitaly Vishnevski, Karel Rachunek, Dainus Zubrus, Kevin Weekes, Aaron Asham
Subtractions: Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski
Grade: D
Vishnevski has struggled quite a bit since the lock out, and Zubrus is over rated in both ends. Neither can hope to compare to Rafalski or Gomez. Not to say they won’t help, but major steps down. Asham should provide some good lower line depth and rachunek defensive depth. Weekes was the only real significant signing as he will allow the aging Brodeur to rest more than a handful of games if need be and be fresher for the playoffs.


New York Islanders
Additions: Bill Guerin, Jon Sim, Ruslan Fedotenko, Mike Comrie
Subtractions: Ryan Smyth (deadline), Tom Poti, Jason Blake, Viktor Kozlov
Grade: D-
The four players added don’t amount to much more than Ryan Smyth, who they paid a ransom for. Sim and the hugely overpaid Fedotenko are depth moves, Guerin has lost a step and Comrie is now on his sixth team before the age of 27. Theyw ere abel to add some useful warm bodies (though they overpaid for all), but it is a major step back.


New York Rangers
Additions: Scott Gomez, Chris Drury
Subtractions: Karel Rachunek, Michal Nylander, Matt Cullen
Grade: B
You’re probably wondering how I could give the team that landed two of the biggest names on the market a “B” grade. Two words: cap hell. That is exactly where Sather has put himself by giving both Drury and Gomez over $7 million a year. While both are good, I wouldn’t say either are the top flight money they are being paid. And don’t think for one second that when Jagr needs a new deal he will tolerate being paid less than either of them, and Sather won’t have the caps eating half of Jagr’s salary either. Look for the Rangers depth to start falling in the coming years, and Jagr’s days most likely numbered when his deal expires.


Ottawa Senators
Additions: Shean Donovan
Subtractions: Tom Preissing, Peter Schaefer
Grade: C
I give Murray some slack cause he had to resign Ray Emery this year and has Spezza and Heatley next year, both of whom will want quite a bit more than they make now. His hands were tied and he made an obvious salary dump by dealing Schafer for Donovan who probably won’t last past this year.


Philadelphia Flyers
Additions: Scott Hartnell, Kimo Timonen, Daniel Briere, Jason Smith, Joffrey Lupul
Subtractions: Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson
Grade: A-
Holmgrem overpaid for the first free, but the potential rewards are great. If Hartnell and Lupul can live up to potential, and Briere continues his scoring pace the Flyers will have a lot more firepower up front. The back end will always get a boost from smooth skating Timonen and the gritty Smith.


Phoenix Coyotes
Additions: David Aebischer, Mike York
Subtractions: Owen Nolan, Jeremy Roenick (if you really want to count him), Curtis Joseph
Grade: D+
I get you don’t want to sign guys over 30, but signing a goalie who cant meet his potential doesn’t help much, and after the year York had he probably wont have a big impact either. But at least they didn’t make the same mistake of adding a dozen more players to the mix.


Pittsburgh Penguins
Additions: Petr Sykora, Daryl Sydor, Ty Conklin
Subtractions: Michel Ouellet, Jocelyn Thibault, Josef Melichar
Grade: B-
Addition by subtraction is a great thing, especially since the Pens rid themselves of their two worst players in Ouellet and Melichar. In their place are much more effective Petr Sykora and Daryl Sydor. While not top tier guys they are far better than who they are replacing, and both cost just over $10 million for their contract durations. The problem with the Sydor signing is that he is on the decline and not the stay at home physical defenseman the Pens needed (though Shero did try for Hannan). Replacing Thibault with unproven Sabourin is a mistake though, but at least Conklin was signed for insurance.


San Jose Sharks
Additions: None
Subtractions: Scott Hannan, Bill Guerin (deadline), Mark Bell, Vesa Toskala
Grade: D+
Wilson got a lot of flak for not signing anyone other than Thornton to an extension, but he was smart. With a lot of young guys due for new deals in the next year or two, it was wise not to spend on big name free agents. However, it is very questionable spending $3.5 million on Craig Rivet and letting Hannan go for $4.5 million. Wilson also off loaded Mark Bell who was a major disappointment, and back up goalie Toskala and got a bevy of picks from Toronto in return.


St. Louis Blues
Additions: Paul Kariya, Keith Tkachuk
Subtractions: Curtis Sanford
Grade: C
Dealing back for Tkachuk and giving Atlanta their first round pick back was an idiotic move, and the major reason for this grade. A poor playoff performance hurt his market value, and chances are the Blues could have had him for the same, if not less if he hit the market. Kariya is no longer a $6 million player, and the Blues don’t have the talent the Preds did last year, so while he’ll help, don’t look for as productive a season from him.


Tampa Bay Lightning
Additions: Michel Ouellet, Chris Gratton, Brad Lukowich
Subtractions: Cory Sarich, Ruslan Fedotenko
Grade: D+
Feaster at least addressed the defense some, and if he signs Cullimore like rumored, the grade can go up a bit. Ouellet is nothing without good line mates and expect him to drag down Vinny or Richards in the process. Gratton, well there’s a reason they dealt him twice before and I doubt his third stint will be any better. Feaster thinks he did good, but he didn’t.


Toronto Maple Leafs
Additions: Jason Blake, Mark Bell, Vesa Toskala
Subtractions: Michael Peca
Grade: B+
Blake needs to prove he can keep up a 40 goal pace, but he will add much needed scoring outside of Sundin as he is at least a 20 goal guy. His feisty (read as “cheap”) style will fit right in to the Leafs style of play. Toskala should shore up the goaltending position over the inconsistent Raycroft, an dif Bell can regain his touch from his Chicago days can be a good asset, but if he plays like he did in San Jose will continue to be little more than a cap burden.


Vancouver Canucks
Additions: Curtis Sanford, Aaron Miller
Subtractions: Danny Sabourin
Grade: C
The C is more due to inactivity than anything else, and the inactivity was due to lack of cap room. Miller will help solidify their defense corps even though he is aging, and Sanford can be trusted for more games than Sabourin was, so Luongo wont have to be like Brodeur and play almost every night.


Washington Capitals
Additions: Michal Nylander, Tom Poti, Viktor Kozlov
Subtractions:
Grade: C+
Yeah, they got the center they needed, but they also overpaid for him, same with that puck moving blue liner in Poti. The three additions will help, but how much is a question as they are paying an awful lot for Nylander, and there is no way Poti can live up to his deal. I think Kozlov is the best bang for the buck of the signings, but Nylander will definitely have the biggest impact.


-Jordan (with some help from Omkar)

Penner and Burke

As anticipated Anaheim Ducks Gm Brian Burke declined to match the offer sheet to Dustin Penner by the Oilers and receives a 1st, 2nd and 3rd round pick in next years draft (which, if Edmonton has a bad year can be quite the bounty).

I believe Burke has made the right move, I do not think Penner will live up to that deal. Not that I have anything against Penner, who wouldn’t love a power forward who scored 29 goals at age 24? But the Ducks had a much stronger cast than the Oilers, so how well Penner will do is up in the air. Burke also loves to wheel and deal; never forget that. Don’t think for a second he wouldn’t hesitate to throw those picks to another team for a younger established player or deadline help.

Now, with this whole situation there has been much talk of Burke’s responses which are rather venomous albeit truthful. A lot of people want him to shut up and stop complaining already, and I fully understand where they are coming from. But I have to say, personality wise, he is the best GM to read about.

Let’s be realistic, hockey players and staff are very modest, few say what they are actually thinking unless they are incredibly pissed off. Many loved the likes of Brett Hull and Jeremy Roenick because they would say what they think, and that the NHL needs more of these guys. Yet here is a GM who is doing that, not giving you the normal cloak and dagger responses they always do, and he’s being told to shut up.

See, I don’t really get that. Yes, Burke may be excessive on his rants, but he is the ONLY GM who will do this. Bobby Clarke was the only other GM who would really speak his mind, but his comments were almost always of a defensive nature after being criticized first.

Plus, there is normally some truth to what Burke says in his rants. His latest comment, “I'd be as dumb as the team that extended the offer if I matched it now” is an outright attack and not really informative. But his one comment on the deadline of “they were short, profanity laced conversations” is rather accurate of how GM’s tend to feel when they get a call asking for one of their good young players in exchange for a 35 year old soon to be UFA.

So as people tell Burke enough and to shut up, I say let him go. He can be excessive, and sometimes beat a dead horse, but he’s also one of the few real personalities in the NHL. Let’s face it, when a GM has a press conference, any fan or writer can write the script of what the GM is going to say, or what a player will say in an interview. As much as I love Crosby, I pretty much know his response word for word in an interview, and that is a case for a lot of players and staff. Burke? Well we find ourselves saying “what is going to come out of his mouth next?” And that is what the NHL needs more of.

-Jordan