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Free agency is the time of the year when teams get delusions of grandeur, offer giant contracts to players who probably don’t deserve them, and then end up buying out said player in a few years’ time, quietly admitting defeat.
There were plenty of winners this year, but a handful of head-turning transactions, too.
Columbus
Yes, they got Brandon Saad from Chicago, at a reported $36 million over six years, and didn’t have to part with any of the promising young talent they’ve nurtured for the last few years. But $36 million? That’s serious amount of money for a guy like Saad, who is obviously a special player, but yet to score more than 30 goals in a season.
Was he a product of that awesome, dynastical Chicago system? That’s the $36 million question, isn’t it? We’ll see how this deal works out.
Carolina
They’re buying out Alexander Semin’s contract (five years, $35 million) after the lockout-shortened 2013 season. Since then, we’ve seen little of worth from the Russian, and plenty of examples of why Washington let him go without a fight.
His 2014-15 season saw him play just 57 games, scoring six goals and tallying 19 assists. It was, in other words, unmitigated disaster.
Even with a buyout, the ‘Canes will still owe him nearly $14 million, with a cap hit of $2.33 million a season.
St Louis
Traded away reliable Barret Jackman to Nashville and TJ Oshie to Washington, and, for reasons that don’t make sense to me, wanted to trade star American defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk, too.
They got Troy Brouwer for Oshie, but got sweet nothing for Jackman, and that makes me shake my head. The Blues seem to be fading from relevance as far as a Stanley Cup championship goes.
If their Cup window was half-closed after this season’s one-and-done playoff appearance – as some tend to think is the case – then there’s barely any wriggle room now.
Boston
They handed a five-year deal to Matt Beleskey, whose career to this point has been uneven – streaky is perhaps another word you could use – but who also caught fire with the Anaheim Ducks this season, playing alongside Ryan Kesler there, and doing a good job of shutting down a lot of great players.
In that regard, he should fit in nicely. The money isn’t obscene at $3.8 million per year, but the length of the deal is interesting, given the lack of production from Beleskey prior to 2014-15. The Bruins will hope that he isn’t a one-season flash in the pan.
Chicago
Marko Dano and Artem Anisimov are both good players, but they aren’t of the same ilk as Brandon Saad, who they basically replace after the monster trade that kicked things off. The Blackhawks have also lost Brad Richards to Detroit, and the status of defenceman Johnny Odouya, who played a lot of time on the team’s second defensive pairing, is unknown at this stage.
There’s no guarantee that veteran faces Bryan Bickell or Patrick Sharp will be with the team next year, either.
San Jose
The Sharks got Joel Ward out of Washington. He’s a clutch player who doesn’t mind mixing it up physically, but he’s 34 years old. Defenceman Paul Martin is the same age, and was handed a four-year contract at $19.4 million.
Those two dependable players – read: dependable not superstar – join a San Jose roster with a lot of guys who’re on the wrong side of 30. Interesting moves by the Sharks.
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