NHL Free Agent Signings: West
Playoff Outsiders, Avalanche and Kings, Make Big Strides
While free agent losses and signings could shift the balance of power in the NHL’s Eastern Conference, the impact of free agent movement in the West likely won’t be so drastic.
With one notable exception, the teams signing the biggest names did so because of the loss, or anticipated loss, of star players, while a couple of others chose to spend their money locking up their own superstars before they could become unrestricted free agents next year.
The Stanley Cup Champion Anaheim Ducks plucked Mathieu Schneider off the Detroit blueline mainly because the brilliant Scott Neidermeyer has hinted at retirement. It’s hard to imagine GM Brian Burke letting that happen. But Burke is also smart enough to hedge his bets. Schneider is no Neidermeyer, but he’s a reasonable, if older, facsimile who handled a similar offensive role in Detroit.
The Ducks are perhaps the biggest, toughest team in the NHL already, so signing Red Wing forward Todd Bertuzzi is a curious move. Although he’s looked hopeless recently, it wasn’t that long ago that Bertuzzi was the NHL’s most feared power forward. A return to form would make Burke look like a genius and the Ducks that much harder to knock off.
Meanwhile, the Wings didn’t just replace Schneider. Signing New Jersey standout Brian Rafalski should be considered an upgrade. He’s younger than Schneider and will team nicely with either the great Niklas Lidstrom or 90-year old Chris Chelios.
Although the Wings backline may be better, they still have to find some scoring. Robert Lang, their 4th-leading point getter last year, flew the coop to Chicago where the money is better and seasons are traditionally much shorter.
Two other Western Conference playoff clubs spent big bucks, but not on any of the league’s unrestricted carpet baggers. San Jose re-signed Joe Thornton a year early for the, ahem, bargain rate of $21.6 million over 3 years. The Calgary Flames went the same way. They locked up Jerome Iginla for 7 million bucks annually for the next 5 and hard rock defender Robin Regehr for the same length at $20 million.
So who in the west really made waves in the free agent pool?
Out in LaLa Land, the Kings were nosed out of the playoffs by a scant 28 points. They don’t have holes. The Kings have chasms. With that in mind, GM Dean Lombardi went on a shopping spree, not on Rodeo Drive, but at the outlet mall, and came away with centers Michael Hanzus and Kyle Calder and winger Ladislav Nagy. The Kings also gave their blueline some attention. Former Flame Brad Stuart should stabilize things defensively while ex-Senator Tom Preissing has power play quarterback written all over him.
That’s 5 solid additions. It’s doubtful the Kings will be good enough to make a playoff run, but they’ll be able to give a lot more teams trouble now.
That brings us to Colorado. The Avalanche had the best record of any team that missed the playoffs, missing out by a single point.
The Av’s biggest problem was keeping the puck out of their net. Signing former Shark defender Scott Hannan should tighten things up in their own zone. Up front, they added former Oiler and Islander Ryan Smyth. He’s the kind of guy who brings it whether it’s the NHL, international play or in some pickup ball hockey in the parking lot.
Hannan and Smyth give the Avs instant Western Conference credibility and make them easily the Western Conference team that benefited the most in the unrestricted free agent market. Whether it pushes them into the Anaheim and Detroit stratosphere remains to be seen.
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