Time To Get That Money: It's The NHL Free Agent Frenzy Live Blog
Happy Friday to you and yours. Happy Canada Day to our friends up north. And Merry Christmas to hockey fans all across the world. July 1. Free Agent Frenzy. The unofficial start to the 2016-17 season. When fanbases from 30 different teams think their team will finally go out and grab that final piece of the puzzle to make them a serious threat to make some noise next season.
Now obviously today is going to be like a movie that was completely spoiled by the trailers with Stamkos resigning in Tampa on Wednesday. Imagine the total anarchy if Stammer had waited until today to choose between Tampa, Toronto, Buffalo and Detroit? We thrive on anarchy. But that’s not the case anymore. Luckily there are still plenty of names that will be on the move today. The first name you’ll see off the board will probably be Milan Lucic taking his talents to Edmonton to fill that LW hole left by Taylor Hall. Kyle Okposo will be looking to get drastically overpaid by some team heading into his 4th of July weekend. Loui Eriksson will be floating around out there looking to get picked up by a contender. You’ll see Chief probably have to part with Andrew Ladd again while picking up Brian Campbell in return so the rich keep getting richer. Hockey Twitter and stat nerds everywhere are going to laugh their butts off with whoever picks up Kris Russell. Backes may be on the move so wakey wakey because the metaphoric shit is about to hit the fan. Sit back, relax, and let the chaos begin.
Quick reminder on how this works: every single signing is BAD. Ever signing is an overpayment that will blow up in a team’s face after the first few seasons of that contract. Unless it’s your team making the signing. In which case, your GM is a genius and got that player at a steal of a price. Let’s get to it. Make sure to follow @TSNBobMcKenzie, @Real_ESPNLeBrun, @DarrenDreger and @BarstoolJordie on Twitter all day to keep up with the mayhem. And keep refreshing this page as I’ll do what I can to keep it updated while drinking 40 Molsons to celebrate Canada Day.
10:35am: First move of the day seems to have already went down on holy fuck balls is it a doozy.
Does this immediately help Montreal with their piss poor offense? Yeah, obviously. But remember when those clowns just traded away PK Subban because of “character issues”. Well Happy Canada, Montreal. Here’s all the character issues you can handle with Alex Radulov.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody. Brian Campbell wanted to go back to Chicago and now he’s got himself a year to hopefully catch the tail end of the dynasty. Between Keith, Seabrook and now Brian Campbell, life is pretty good for Corey Crawford and Scott Darling. Bastards.
11:30am – Half an hour to go before the Free Agency window actually opens up. All signs and talk so far are pointing toward Okposo going to Buffalo, Lucic going to Edmonton, Loui Eriksson to Vancouver, Andrew Ladd to the Islanders, and now there’s talk of the Flyers landing Dale Weise. So hold on to your butts here, people. We’re about to get weird, we’re about to get wild, it’s time to get that money.
12pm EST: Aaaaaaaand we’re off.
Well NHL GM’s were quick to whip out their check books today. Trying to get all these deals out of the way so they can head to their cottages in time for a late lunch. Andrew Ladd getting 7 years seems like a pretty Andrew Badd idea for me but the guy still has some gas left in the tank so that contract won’t look like shit for at least another 3 years. As for Loui Eriksson to Vancouver… well I guess that means that Vancouver is now Stockholm Jr. Sein – Sedin – Eriksson will be the line and I guess we’ll see how that goes at the World Cup this summer. Good for the Canucks, bad for Loui. Fuck the Canucks. They suck.
LUCIC TO EDMONTON
7 years, $42 million for Looch. And all I can say is poor, poor Connor McDavid. Because Milan Lucic is going to annoy the hell out of him for the next 7 years. Is Lucic going to “protect” him out there? Yeah, sure, maybe. But he’s still agitating as hell. The value of this contract is pretty good for Edmonton. No idea what they were thinkng with that term.
FRANS NIELSEN TO DETROIT
6 years, $5.25 million AAV. Frans is a nice player. Nice little addition to Detroit’s group of forwards. A bit of an overpayment but if they weren’t going to get Stamkos and it doesn’t look like they’re getting Radulov… well then they have the money to blow.
WAKEY WAKEY BOSTON
At first it looked like Don Sweeney actually did something right for a change. At first it looked like they were able to go out there and get David Backes on a 1-year deal. Control the term, control the player. But then…
OKPOSO TO BUFFALO
Ha. Don Sweeney must be celebrating a little early today because my man is DRUNK. Outrageous term for Backes. He’s a good player, sure. But 1 year is perfect. 2 is fine. 3 is manageable. But 5? Get the fuck out of here.
That Jimmy Vesey – Jack Eichel – Kyle Okposo line is going to fuck. That’s America right there for you. That’s college hockey. That’s how you celebrate 4th of July weekend the right way. Also, if you’re an Islanders fan then please look away real quick…
Good thing they let Okposo walk…
STAAL TO THE WILD
Honestly… this actually might work. Eric Staal is far from the player that he used to be. But he’ll bring plenty with him to Minnesota and should be a great addition for Boudreau to work with. The price is fine on this contract. The term is good as well. This was a good signing.
BROWER TO THE FLAMES
Brouwer had himself a nice little run in the playoffs. Obviously contracts that come off the back of a playoff run like that rarely go as well as expected. But that’s the risk you take.
PERRON BACK TO ST. LOUIS
The Blues signed David Perron to a 2×7.5 contract. This tweet made me laugh.
MICHAEL DEL ZOTTO, NHL INSIDER
Still no confirmation on this one yet but it sure seems like Dale Weise is coming to Philly. The number being thrown out there is a 4-year deal. I don’t love it, to say the least. But I also don’t hate it. He’s an upgrade from Ryan White and will be a huge addition to that 4th line. Also you don’t have to worry about any locker room issues with that guy because he will certainly not be banging anybody’s wife.
The Young Guns In Florida Are Getting PAID
Not exactly a part of Free Agency, but Aaron Ekblad signed an extension in Florida for 8 years at $7.5 million AAV earlier today and then Victor Hedman just signed an extension in Tampa for 8 years at $7.875 million AAV. And just like that, Steve Yzerman has become a better general manager than he was a player. To be able to get Stamkos to stay for $8.5 was HUGE. To get Hedman to sign today instead of letting it go until until next summer was HUGE. The Tampa Bay Lightning have to be one of the early Cup favorites at this point and Stevie Y is flexin his big ol’ dick on everybody. But yeah, between Ekblad and Hedman staying in Florida for the next 8 years, then the Norris Trophy better start to invest in some sun tan lotion.
Hour Number 2
A lot has gone on so far this afternoon and I need to get myself another coffee so I’m just going to post a few more signings here without any quick analysis.
TFW Shea Weber realizes he has to play with Alex Radulov again…
