The summer shopping spree officially kicked off on July 1st and with it was a wild day of handshakes, financial transactions, and player movement that is bound to turn the league on its head. Like a high-stakes poker game, these signings can make or break a team as many try to either jostle for position as contenders for the upcoming Stanley Cup race or clear up cap space and rebuild their roster with younger players.
This year over $1 billion was spent on 100 players signing with new teams, highlighted by Steven Stamkos leaving the Tampa Bay Lightning after sixteen seasons. Inking a 4 year / $38 million deal with the Nashville Predators, the two-time Stanley Cup champion had his name all over the Lightning’s record books and was thought by many to be a player who finished his legendary career where it started.
Over the years, there have been numerous free-agent signings that have made a huge impact on the league, turning pretenders into contenders and contenders into champions. Whereas some players were offered big money to potentially help lead a team to a title, others took a chance and bet on themselves to eventually turn a small offer into something more substantial.
For some NHL fans, the excitement of the free agent shopping spree isn’t quite enough on its own, but thanks to some betting sites in Canada that offer odds and lines on potential free agent destinations, the off-season frenzy is taken to another level.
When evaluating a free-agent signing, it is not always about the cap hit or the box score stats, but also about how one contributes to winning through leadership and chemistry in the locker room.
Zdeno Chara – 5 years / $37.5 million
During his four seasons as an Ottawa Senator, defenseman Zdeno Chara had started to come into his own as an elite blueliner with a booming slapshot. At 6’9”, Chara’s impact on the game was felt far beyond the stat sheet, providing the Boston Bruins with a brand new captain (from day one) and a new identity as a top-tier team in the league. In 2011, Chara would help the Bruins win their first Stanley Cup since 1972. A Norris Trophy winner in 2009, Chara would also earn five of his seven All-NHL team honors during his fourteen years with the Bruins.
Marian Hossa – 12 years / $62.8 million
By the time Marian Hossa got to the Chicago Blackhawks in 2009-10 he had already been on four different teams in eleven years. At the time, Hossa’s deal would be the largest in team history and some thought that with the duration, it would be an extremely overpaid one. Although he was no longer a point-per-game guy, Hossa provided the Blackhawks with veteran leadership for a young core that included Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith. Hossa and the Hawks would win three Stanley Cups in the span of six seasons, becoming an NHL dynasty.
Ed Belfour – 3 years / $10 million
In his first three seasons with the Dallas Stars, goalie Ed Belfour backstopped the team to the Western Conference Finals, a Stanley Cup, and a second trip to the championship series. Not a bad deal for the Stars. During Belfour’s first two seasons with the team, they would capture back-to-back President’s Trophies posting the league’s best regular season record. On route to hoisting the team’s first Stanley Cup, Belfour outlasted fellow Hall-of-Fame goalies Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy, and Grant Fuhr.
Scott Niedermayer – 4 years / $27 million
Imagine getting paid a lot of money to play hockey with your brother, while helping your new team to a Stanley Cup championship and being awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as icing on the cake. For Scott Niedermayer (and his brother Rob), this would be the story when the Anaheim Ducks offered the three-time Stanley Cup and All-Star defenseman a free-agent contract in 2005. Niedermayer would spend the final five seasons of his career with the Ducks and retired as one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in History.
Adam Graves – 5 years / $2.44 million
Over the course of four seasons (217 games) split between the Detroit Red Wings and the Edmonton Oilers, Adam Graves netted 23 goals and 60 points. The New York Rangers would have been forgiven had they not offered the gritty forward a big free-agent contract. Sure he had a Stanley Cup from his time with the Oilers, but Graves was nothing more than a role player on the path the the title. Graves would wind up playing 772 games in the Big Apple, notching 507 points including a then-team record 52 goals in 1994, playing an integral part in the team’s first championship in 54 years.
