As cliche as a "winners and losers" post is, there was so much action around the free agent frenzy (which, refreshingly, actually was a bit of a frenzy this year) that it's easier just to boil all the action down to which teams improved...and which failed to achieve that goal.
Winner: Edmonton Oilers. It's hard not to like what the OIlers did during free agency. For years the team has been looking to add the right mix of veterans and grit players to support their young stars. Andrew Ference will bring the veteran leadership, toughness on the back-end, and a Stanley Cup ring certainly doesn't hurt either. Boyd Goron never got much press in Phoenix, but he's the quintessential third line winger that can win faceoffs and give you excellent two way play. Jason Labarbera has been a serviceable backup goalie throughout his careers, and can even spell Devan Dubnyk if the need arises during the season.
Loser: Florida Panthers. It's perhaps a bit strange, considering GM Dale Tallon went all in on free agents a few years ago, that the Panthers stayed pat on FA day. Adding depth players like Joey Crabb and Mike Mottau doesn't hurt, but the team lost Stephen Weiss and did nothing to address it, nor any of the other holes in their lineup.
Winner: Columbus Blue Jackets. Yes, at $5.3 million for seven years, they probably overpaid for Nathan Horton. However, he's the power forward that the Jackets were in dire need of, and he adds depth and a different look to their top six. That's not what makes this a win for Columbus though. It's that, for the first time in years, a top free agent actually chose to go to Columbus and play for them. The culture under new GM Jarmo Kekalainen is changing, and this is proof that the Jackets may not be the perennial bottom feeder for much longer.
Loser: Vancouver Canucks. To be fair, it's hard to point the finger at Vancouver for doing so little when the team is so close to the salary cap. But gone are Derek Roy, Keith Ballard, Mason Raymond and Max Lapierre, with only third liner Brad Richardson and depth defenseman Yannick Weber coming in. They also picked up Mike Santorelli, in the hopes he could rekindle some of the magic he had with David Booth when they were in Florida. However with the pressing need for a scoring winger and perhaps a backup goaltender, none of these moves particularly inspire confidence in GM Mike Gillis, a man who is already on shaky ground from his goaltending fiasco.
Winner: Detroit Red Wings. Traditionally the Wings are a little quiet on FA day. The team's organizational philosophy of bringing along young talent slowly and evolving them into stars means that the team rarely needs to make a splash, they just need to add pieces as necessary. I guess that after nearly defeating the eventual Stanley Cup champions in the playoffs this year inspired GM Ken Holland to bring in some star power and give this core a real chance at a championship before it gets too old. Not that there's anything young about Daniel Alfredsson, the ex-Ottawa (that's so weird to write) captain brought in as a hired gun for one last chance at the Cup. He'll get along great with the other Swedes on the team and can slide neatly into the top six. But they didn't stop there and added Stephen Weiss from Florida, another quality top six forward, and at a decent price too.
Loser: Tampa Bay Lightning. There is no doubt that GM Steve Yzerman was a brilliant hockey player, one of the best ever...but his performance has an executive has left much to be desired. Though the Lightning have one of the best stable of prospects in the league, that's two years in a row now that Yzerman has massively overpaid for a player. Last year it was defenseman Matt Carle, this year it's Valtteri Filppula. $5 million over 5 years for a guy that has only hit the 20 goal plateau once in his career. Maybe Yzerman and his ties to the Detroit organization know something about Filppula that we don't, but from the outside the optics of this one look terrible.
Winner: Dallas Stars. I'm stretching the format just a little bit here, since many of their moves were by trade during the free agency period, but it's hard not to love what GM Jim Nill did in the last few weeks. First was the acquisition of Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverly from the Bruins. It was hard to lose an all-star like Loui Eriksson as part of the deal, but Seguin is a potential franchise center and Peverly a great bottom six, utility type guy that every team needs. Then he went out and got Shawn Horcoff from Edmonton to give the team yet another versatile center, one who is familiar with new coach Lindy Ruff and should thrive under a change of scenery. Added to all that, they brought in Dan Ellis to backup Kari Lehtonen in net. The only caveat in all this is if the team can reign in Seguin's occasional misbehavior, or it might all be for naught.
Loser: Los Angeles Kings. With very little cap space the Kings weren't expected to do much, and they didn't. They lost key defenseman Rob Scuderi, and also third line center Brad Richardson. The only player they manged to bring in was Jeff Schultz, a player that was bought out by the Capitals. The real concerning part though for the Kings is that they haven't resigned any of their key RFA's yet, including Kyle Clifford, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin. I suspect that the Kings aren't done yet, but for now they're a loser.
Winner: Boston Bruins. The Bruins did really well to bring in Eriksson and Jarome Iginla (who famously spurned them at the trade deadline). I wouldn't be surprised if one or both of those players scored 30 goals next season. They also added a couple Johnsons, goaltender Chad and defensemen Aaron. But there was a lot of talent that left Boston, including Ference, Horton, Seguin, Anton Khudobin and Jarmoir Jagr. Why then is this a win? The Bruins have been to the final twice in the last three seasons, surely a shakeup wasn't needed? Well, for one thing, Seguin's attitude lately has been a bit of an embarrassment for the team. Sure he's got potential, but evidently the Bruins didn't like the kind of player he's become off the ice. Secondly, Horton, Ference and probably Jagr weren't going to be resigned anyways. But if you can bring in the perennially underrated Eriksson and a future Hall of Famer in Iginla, I'd say that a big win.
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