Hoping Moves Pay Off After Free-Agent Frenzy

It might have been a relatively weak class of free agents, but the spending frenzy that broke out across the N.H.L. last weekend said a lot about the financial and competitive state of the league. From noon Friday to 5 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, about 100 free agents signed contracts with new N.H.L. clubs or headed to Europe.

Only time will tell if any of the moves will have the positive effect of Boston’s signing of Zdeno Chara on July 1, 2006, or the negative effect of the Rangers’ signing of Wade Redden on July 1, 2008. But at this early stage, some teams and players already appear to have come out winners and losers.

RANGERS, BRAD RICHARDS Both emerged as winners. The Rangers got the playmaking center and power-play ace they sorely needed, and Richards got a big, front-loaded contract that will pay him $12 million next season, tops in the N.H.L. He could have made more elsewhere, but he also got his wish to play on a contender, and his presence makes the Rangers the third- or fourth-best team in the East.

FLYERS, JAROMIR JAGR Both emerged as losers. In his anxiety to sign a No. 1 goalie, Philadelphia General Manager Paul Holmgren blew up the team that reached the Stanley Cup finals in 2010 and finished second in the East last season, trading away Mike Richards and Jeff Carter for salary space and losing the wherewithal to re-sign Ville Leino. He signed Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to a huge contract — although goalies like Tomas Vokoun and J. S. Giguere could have been signed at a fraction of the cost — and Jagr, who at 39 is returning to the N.H.L. after three years playing in Russia, was the Flyers’ most significant offensive addition.

Jagr burned bridges by seeming to have misled Mario Lemieux, the Penguins’ owner, about his desire to return to Pittsburgh. “The Penguins seemed like I did something wrong or something bad,” Jagr said. “If I hurt somebody, I apologize, I didn’t mean it, but this is my life, and I want to make the choice.” Penguins fans already had mixed feelings about Jagr — great in the early 1990s, sulky and petulant in the late 1990s — but now they hate him.

PANTHERS One oddity of the collective bargaining agreement, which is scheduled to expire at the end of next season, is that it mandates a salary ceiling, set at $64.3 million for each team in 2011-12, and a salary floor, set at $48.3 million. Some teams have trouble reaching the floor and wound up overpaying free agents just to get there. The most vivid example is Florida — or Floor-ida, as it was jokingly referred to last weekend.

Before July 1, Panthers General Manager Dale Tallon took the skilled but overpaid defenseman Brian Campbell and his $7.1 million-a-year contract off Chicago’s hands. He then acquired or signed Ed Jovanovski, Scottie Upshall, Jose Theodore, Sean Bergenheim, Tomas Fleischmann and a few other players of middling achievement, all at inflated prices, in an effort to reach the salary floor.

Florida still has not reached it — and neither have Ottawa, Carolina, Winnipeg, Colorado, Phoenix, Nashville or the Islanders. Look for Montreal to trade the underproductive Scott Gomez and his $7.5 million salary to one of those teams before the season.

SABRES The team owner Terry Pegula probably overpaid to sign Ville Leino, a promising player who has never scored more than 53 points, to a six-year contract worth $4.5 million a year. The Sabres also paid a lot for the offensive defenseman Christian Ehrhoff: 10 years at $4 million a year.

What makes Buffalo a winner is the signal sent by Pegula that the Sabres are now willing to pay good players to make the club a contender. After the chaos of John Rigas’s tenure as the owner and the austerity of Tom Golisano’s reign, the Sabres were a tough sell to free agents. Pegula has changed that in his remarkably upbeat few months as owner.

BRUINS Boston lost only two players from its Stanley Cup championship roster: forward Michael Ryder, who signed with Dallas, and the expendable defenseman Tomas Kaberle, who signed with Carolina. Contrast that with last year’s salary-cap-stressed Blackhawks, who lost 10 players from their Stanley Cup-winning team.

JAMES WISNIEWSKI He may be the biggest winner of all. A steady, unspectacular defenseman, he started the season with the Islanders and was suspended for directing a vulgar on-ice gesture at the Rangers’ Sean Avery. Traded to Montreal, he scored 30 points in 43 games. His reward: a six-year, $33 million contract with Columbus.

Nice payday, made possible by a league structure that can encourage overpayment.


acai berry
silver charm jewelry