Generally speaking, NHL free agency usually comes with its fair share of poor contracts and teams overspending on players they shouldn’t be overspending on. While there was no shortage of poor contracts handed out on July 1 and in the few ensuing days, there weren’t many true losers in free agency this year, though there was one exception.
Most Teams Were Efficient in Their Free-Agent Spending
In past years, teams that hand out poor contracts usually get overzealous and hand out more than one. Perhaps it was due to the overall weakness of this year’s free-agent class, but most teams that handed out a bad contract kept it to that one bad contract.
Let’s take the Boston Bruins, for example. They signed Tanner Jeannot to a five-year deal worth $3.4 million per year. It was one of the worst contracts handed out in free agency this year, but it’s hard to argue with their other free-agent signings. They signed Michael Eyssimont and Sean Kuraly to cheap two-year contracts and took a one-year flyer on Matej Blumel, who lit up the AHL with the Texas Stars over the last two seasons.
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The Jeannot contract could have been a recipe for disaster for the Bruins, but they made a few solid depth signings in Eyssimont, Kuraly and Blumel. They might not be stars. Nor will they move the needle significantly, but Kuraly and Eyssimont are solid bottom-six forwards, and perhaps Blumel is something more.
The Seattle Kraken are another example. They signed Ryan Lindgren to a four-year contract worth $4.5 million per year, an extreme overpay for what he is at this point in his career. However, he was their only UFA signing this year other than goaltender Matt Murray, who signed a one-year deal worth $1 million. That’s a stark improvement compared to last summer when they signed Chandler Stephenson and Brandon Montour to pricey eight-year deals; Stephenson’s is arguably the worst contract in the NHL today.
In fact, most teams were pretty efficient with their spending in free agency. The New Jersey Devils signed Evgeny Dadonov, who’s coming off a 20-goal, 40-point season, to a one-year, $1 million contract, and they managed to get Jake Allen re-signed to a five-year deal at a cap hit of just $1.8 million.
Elsewhere, the Carolina Hurricanes spent big on Nikolaj Ehlers, but I’m not sure anyone will argue that his six-year deal worth $8.5 million per year is a burden. The St. Louis Blues needed help down the middle and inked Pius Suter and Nick Bjugstad to two-year deals at cap hits of $4 million and $1.75 million. The Toronto Maple Leafs got John Tavares signed to a cap hit below $5 million, as did the Dallas Stars with Matt Duchene. They were among some of the best contracts signed this summer.
Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has gotten himself into trouble in free agency in recent years, but he took a much different approach this summer. The Red Wings signed Jacob Bernard-Docker and James van Riemsdyk to cheap one-year deals and inked Mason Appleton to a two-year contract worth $2.9 million per year.
The Anaheim Ducks looked prime for a wild spending spree in free agency, but their lone signing was Mikael Granlund, who inked a three-year deal at a cap hit of $7 million. Is that an overpay? Maybe slightly, but the Ducks had a boatload of cap space (and still do) to work with on July 1. They could afford to sign Granlund to a $7 million cap hit, and a three-year term is far from burdensome.
Most offseasons, there are clear winners and losers in free agency. While some teams did better than others, it’s difficult to say there were many true losers. Perhaps it’s because there wasn’t enough supply for the demand, given how weak the free-agent class was, but most teams came away unscathed, though there was one exception.
Kings Fumbled the Bag
Ah, the Los Angeles Kings. They’re at a bit of a crossroads as an organization. They’ve successfully come out of a rebuild as a playoff contender, but they have not been able to get past the Edmonton Oilers in the postseason, having lost to them four consecutive times in the first round. As such, they hired former Oilers GM Ken Holland to take over for Rob Blake.
Holland didn’t waste any time retooling the Kings’ roster, but I can’t say he made many improvements. It started by trading a promising top-four defenseman in Jordan Spence, then replacing him with Cody Ceci, who signed a four-year contract worth $4.5 million per year. Ceci would be fine as a third-pair defender, but chances are he’ll play higher up the lineup, even though that top-four role should probably belong to Brandt Clarke.
Next, the Kings signed Brian Dumoulin to a three-year contract worth $4 million per year. Dumoulin was excellent with the Devils after the trade deadline, and I’d give him a better chance of succeeding than Ceci, but a left side consisting of Dumoulin and Joel Edmundson could prove problematic for the Kings’ blue line. Holland also signed forward Joel Armia and goaltender Anton Forsberg to two-year deals and Corey Perry to a one-year contract to cap off his free-agent spending spree.
Based on wins above replacement (WAR), the Kings lost three wins from last season’s skater group (Spence, Vladislav Gavrikov, and Jeannot) and added just 0.2 wins (Ceci, Armia, Dumoulin and Perry). Forsberg should be an upgrade over David Rittich as a backup to Darcy Kuemper, but this Kings team looks 5-6 points worse than they were a season ago, based on what they did in free agency.
The playoff cutoff in the Western Conference last season was 96 points, so the Kings could be in a more precarious spot in the playoff race next season, especially with teams like the Utah Mammoth and perhaps the Ducks ready to make a leap forward and push for a playoff berth.
2025 Free Agency Could Be a One-Off
Though most teams improved their rosters in free agency, or at the very least, didn’t make them worse, I wouldn’t expect that trend to continue with a salary cap rising to as much as $115 million in the next few years. It could change as soon as next year in what looks to be an absolutely loaded UFA and RFA class, so don’t get too comfortable with this year’s trend of most teams coming out of free agency unscathed.
Advanced stats from Evolving Hockey
