Faceoff Factor

As the Dust Begins to Settle: The Eastern Conference

Michael Farkas | National Hockey League

Jul 8, 07:35 PM | Hype this story!

One week has ticked by on the annual occurrence that we have aptly named, “free agent frenzy.” Some teams were ripped apart, while others added a ton of new faces and still others remained relatively stagnant. In a two-part segment, I’ll examine the biggest winners and losers of what was another wild first week of July.

Eastern Conference:

Buffalo Sabres: Lost; management drug their feet and lost their superstars, time to call Rochester for a fresh shipment.

Lost:
C – Chris Drury (N.Y. Rangers)
C – Daniel Briere (Philadelphia)
C – Dainius Zubrus (New Jersey)

Gained:
G – Jocelyn Thibault (Pittsburgh)

The Sabres could have had Briere on a five-year, $25 million contract last season, they passed that up, electing for the one-year arbitration award. The Sabres offer to Briere this season following his 95-point season…five years, $25 million…Darcy Regier can take that contract and mail it last year when Briere might have cared. Chris Drury had agreed to a contract with Buffalo, but the Sabres never got around to making it official. Which is understandable, because he’s not the best player on your team or anything and he wasn’t willing to take a discount to stay in Buffalo (notice he didn’t go far from home)…oh wait…Dainius Zubrus was a rental and wanted to try free agency anyway, they didn’t give up much for him anyway (a first round choice in an unpredictable draft and Jiri Novotny who was not even qualified by Washington).

On the plus side, Jocelyn Thibault should be an upgrade over Ty Conklin and they did stave off an offer sheet from Edmonton for young star Thomas Vanek. We also got a new front office rivalry between Edmonton and Buffalo (too bad they’ll only play each other once a decade or whatever under the new scheduling format). While I’m on the subject, let’s take a look at some quotes from Edmonton’s “Lowe Blow.”

“We were never not going to match an offer for Thomas Vanek,” Sabres GM Darcy Regier says assuredly.

Regier not mincing words, “I explained why he shouldn’t do it, why it was pointless to do it.”

“We were pretty sure this was coming based on the attitude of the agent for the last month” – citing why Vanek and the Sabres could not come to terms because Vanek’s agent was fishing for an offer sheet.

“We have a philosophy that you draft your players, develop your players…some teams buy other team’s players,” he went on to say that this doesn’t work in the NHL. Later he followed up with, “They can expect it (an offer sheet) if it’s in our best interest…just Edmonton…we’re really unhappy with the Edmonton Oilers.”

Clearly the offer sheet is as welcome as cancer and Kevin Lowe couldn’t lure flies to Edmonton if he had a bag full of…honey.

New Jersey Devils: Lost; Losing Gomez was a given, losing Rafalski left even Lou scrambling a bit.

Lost:
C – Scott Gomez (N.Y. Rangers)
D – Brian Rafalski (Detroit)
D – Brad Lukowich (Tampa Bay)
G – Scott Clemmensen (Toronto)

Gained:
C – Dainius Zubrus (Buffalo)
D – Karel Rachunek (N.Y. Rangers)
G – Kevin Weekes (N.Y. Rangers)

It was common knowledge that Scott Gomez was not coming back to New Jersey, the slap in the face is when he signed with the Devils’ biggest rival, the Rangers. Rafalski said that he wanted to be back, but was lured away by a big time contract back to his native Michigan. Even losing a guy like Lukowich, a sound defenseman, is just salt in the open wound that is the Devils’ blueline. Zubrus came at a pretty good bargain all things considered and Rachunek adds some offense to the blueline allowing Paul Martin to get a bit of a rest on the power play, but he’s still projected to play about 44 minutes a night to be on the safe side. I think the Devils’ back up goalie position should be donated to a needy family, that free $475,000 could go a long way in someone’s life, and who knows, they might do a better job than Kevin Weekes anyway.

Atlanta Thrashers: Draw; they couldn’t sign Tkachuk anyway, there’s nothing of any great consequence coming or going.

Lost:
LW – Keith Tkachuk (St. Louis – traded exclusive negotiating rights)
C – Eric Belanger (Minnesota)
D – Greg DeVries (Nashville)
D – Shane Hnidy (Anaheim)
LW – Jon Sim (N.Y. Islanders)

Gained:
C – Todd White (Minnesota)
D- Ken Klee (Colorado)
C – Eric Perrin (Tampa Bay)

The Thrashers shrewdly gave themselves a better chance of re-signing Keith Tkachuk, it was all for naught, but at least the move was in the spirit of being positive. Just a lot of depth going back and forth, the damage was done to Atlanta at the deadline. The best move they probably made was retaining Slava Kozlov. However, Tampa Bay was deeply hurt by the loss of Eric Perrin. Lightning coach John Tortorella, the guy who gave Perrin his rather late shot at the NHL, had this to say, “He can kiss my [butt].”

Ottawa Senators: Lost; top six forward and top four defenseman in the NHL, for a top six forward and top four defenseman in the AHL.

Lost:
C – Mike Comrie (N.Y. Islanders)
D – Tom Preissing (Los Angeles)

Gained:
LW – Denis Hamel (Philadelphia)
D – Matt Carkner (Pittsburgh)

I also expect the Senators to let left winger Oleg Saprykin go on July 15th, so that would be another hit to their NHL roster. Comrie wanted to come back, but GM Bryan Murray couldn’t get rid of the salary he needed to and Comrie became impatient (although he is permitted to go ten-percent over the cap as long as it returns to normal before training camp). Preissing was not going to return anyway, see Brian Pothier’s departure, same exact situation. Ottawa still has a talented roster, but they didn’t help themselves much. An offer sheet to Ray Emery (who is reportedly asking for $4.5 million in arbitration) could be a blessing in disguise.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Win; a one-dimensional player upgrade and a slight defense upgrade outweighs the backup goaltending downgrade.

Lost:
RW – Michel Ouellet (Tampa Bay)
G – Jocelyn Thibault (Buffalo)
G – Nolan Schaefer (Minnesota)
D – Micki Dupont (St. Louis)
D – Matt Carkner (Ottawa)
D – Wade Brookbank (Carolina)

Gained:
RW – Petr Sykora (Edmonton)
D – Darryl Sydor (Dallas)
G – Dany Sabourin (Vancouver)
C – Nathan Smith (Vancouver)

Ignoring the hit that Wilkes Barre/Scranton (AHL) took on the blueline, the NHL Penguins faired pretty well in the first week. They cut cost and skill at goaltender, but upgraded a slow spot in the ever-altered top-six to a fast spot (not too mention Sykora is a bonafide top-six forward, Ouellet, well, not so much). Darryl Sydor is a moderately effective defensive upgrade over the minor-leaguers the Pens employed last season and is capable of moving the puck instead of playing “hot potato” with it. The loss of Nolan Schaefer after acquiring him for a draft pick is odd, especially because he went to a rather assured goaltending situation in Minnesota. Pittsburgh’s making their moves under-the-radar and calculated, something much healthier for a young organization than the injection of Ziggy Palffy, Sergei Gonchar, Mark Recchi, John LeClair, Lyle Odelein and Jocelyn Thibault all in one fell swoop.

New York Rangers: Win; trying to buy another all-star team, did it actually work this time?

Lost:
C – Michael Nylander (Washington)
D – Karel Rachunek (New Jersey)
RW – Jed Ortmeyer (Nashville)
LW – Brad Isbister (Vancouver)
G – Kevin Weekes (New Jersey)

Gained:
C – Chris Drury (Buffalo)
C – Scott Gomez (New Jersey)

Losing Michael Nylander in exchange for Chris Drury and Scott Gomez is nothing but a step up. Scott Gomez is a phenomenal puck carrier and even better passer and Drury is just clutch and clutch is everything. Karel Rachunek was too expensive for his role and became expendable, not a big loss. Losing Ortmeyer is a hit to the bottom-six but not one that is irreplaceable. Losing Brad Isbister and Kevin Weekes leaves Glen Sather sarcastically pleading, “oh, no, please, not them…”

Tampa Bay Lightning: Draw; effectively they canceled their losses with their gains, status quo.

Lost:
D – Cory Sarich (Calgary)
LW – Ruslan Fedotenko (N.Y. Islanders)
C – Eric Perrin (Atlanta)
LW – Mathieu Darche (San Jose)

Gained:
D – Brad Lukowich (New Jersey)
RW – Michel Ouellet (Pittsburgh)
C – Craig MacDonald (Chicago)
D – Dan Jancevski (Montreal)
D – Jay Leach (Boston)
D – David Schneider (HPK Hameenlinna)

The Lightning take a bit of a downgrade from Sarich to Lukowich, a relative draw between Fedotenko’s inconsistency and Ouellet’s disinterest in skating. The rest is just unpredictable depth moves, however, I did enjoy typing HPK Hameenlinna. Since Tampa has their life savings invested in their big three, it’s going to be tough to bring anyone significant into the fold for a little while.

New York Islanders: Lost; as in, lost everyone.

Lost:
RW – Ryan Smyth (Colorado)
LW – Viktor Kozlov (Washington)
RW – Jason Blake (Toronto)
RW – Richard Zednik (Florida)
D – Tom Poti (Washington)
D – Sean Hill (Minnesota)

Gained:
C – Mike Comrie (Ottawa)
RW – Bill Guerin (San Jose)
LW – Ruslan Fedotenko (Tampa Bay)
LW – Jon Sim (Atlanta)
D – Matthew Spiller (Phoenix)
RW – Darryl Bootland (Detroit)
RW – Tim Jackman (Los Angeles)
G – Joey MacDonald (Boston)
LW – Kip Brennan (Hershey)

Well, here’s lesson number one Garth Snow, when you’re not a playoff team, don’t sell off your future to make a Cup run. Thankfully for the Nassau Coliseum faithful the Islanders bought a replacement team later in the week. You can smell the desperation half-a-continent away (or they’re just overspending to make it to the cap floor, but I think that’s the sugarcoated version). Bill Guerin at $4.5 million a year will leave Isles fans craving Alexei Yashin. Ruslan Fedotenko got $2.9 million for 12 goals and four healthy scratches. Jon Sim got a three-year deal, no offense to Jon Sim, but three years? Jon Sim? That rings up “no sale” on my register for some reason. Losing Ryan Smyth and Jason Blake is an ironic lesson for trade deadline uncertainty (I’ll refer back to it again, three future assets for a rental, but trading Jason Blake for a pick and a prospect a minute too late). Kozlov and Zednik is a loss of solid forward depth that can be a pain to replace. Tom Poti and Sean Hill are not big loss, if I’m an Islanders fan, I’m more disappointed in the loss of Denis Grebeshkov (traded for Marc Andre Bergeron) than I am with either of those two.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Won; not that Jason Blake is great, but it’s better than nothing, plus they actually got a competent goalie re-signed.

Lost:
C – Yanic Perreault (Chicago)

Gained:
RW – Jason Blake (N.Y. Islanders)
G – Scott Clemmensen (New Jersey)

Yanic Perreault comes back in February or March of every year just like the swallows return to Capistrano. Jason Blake will never score 40 goals again unless Sundin is banking them in off of him, but he adds speed to the lineup. Hopefully Scott Clemmensen stole Marty Brodeur’s “How to Be the Best Goaltender Ever” book on the way out and will read it to Justin Pogge before he goes to bed at night. With 279 defensemen on long-term, high paying, un-tradable contracts, the Leafs were prevented from doing anything too terribly damaging to themselves.

Montreal Canadiens: Won; the Habs have such a good young core, they may have overpaid for Hamrlik, but it’s better than giving Souray that money.

Lost:
C – Radek Bonk (Nashville)
D – Dan Jancevski (Tampa Bay)

Gained:
D – Roman Hamrlik (Calgary)
C – Bryan Smolinski (Vancouver)
RW – Tom Kostopoulos (Los Angeles)
D – Jamie Rivers (St. Louis)

I think the only way Montreal does a bad job is if they give Sheldon Souray $7 million or sign too many forwards. They did neither (so far). Replacing Bonk with Smolinski adds a touch more offense and saves just a bit of cap space. Hamrlik over Souray is a move towards a more well-rounded player, although the former first overall pick was certainly no bargain. TK will quickly become a fan favorite for his tenacity. The Canadiens have a lot of potential built up in the organization, if they stay the course they’ll be in good shape starting this season.

Carolina Hurricanes: Draw; apparently Rutherford likes his team, no changes in free agency or last trade deadline.

Lost:
RW – Shane Willis (Nashville)

Gained:
C – Jeff Hamilton (Chicago)
LW – Trevor Gillies (Anaheim)
D – Wade Brookbank (Pittsburgh)
C – Brandon Nolan (Vaxjo HC)
D – Joey Mormina (Los Angeles)

Apparently this is the eye of the storm? The ‘Canes cared a lot about their new minor league affiliation as opposed to their NHL club. Rutherford puts a lot of confidence in his group from last season with this lack of activity. Even Jeff Hamilton just made his first NHL team at age 30, which is a bit unsettling. This team isn’t phenomenally different than the one that won the Cup in ’06, whether that’s good or bad is yet to be determined.

Florida Panthers: Won; all smart pickups to add to a young team, not to mention Tomas Vokoun.

Lost:
N/A

Gained:
RW – Radek Dvorak (St. Louis)
LW – Richard Zednik (N.Y. Islanders)
C – Brett McLean (Colorado)

I think Radek Dvorak is capable of scoring 20 goals on a regular basis in the NHL, so that’s a good addition. The depth that Zednik and McLean provide is desirable to a young hockey club like the Florida Panthers. They acquired Tomas Vokoun for peanuts at the draft. This team is on the rise and should have no trouble at all claiming a playoff berth for the first time since the Pavel Bure era.

Boston Bruins: Draw; they would need to do something in order to get a decision.

Lost:
G – Joey MacDonald (N.Y. Islanders)
D – Jay Leach (Tampa Bay)

Gained:
RW – Shawn Thornton (Anaheim)

Losing Joey MacDonald is nothing of consequence, he’s not exactly NHL-quality. Shawn Thornton is a pretty tough customer, so Boston takes to the old philosophy of…”if you can’t beat’em…beat’em…” Once again Glen Murray slows the progression of a potentially emerging franchise. In light of Martin Brodeur quitting the NHL’s Competition Committee, Tim Thomas has joined as the lone goaltender for the meetings, his first suggestion: “smaller nets, bigger, inflatable pucks and bonus points for being out of position.”

Washington Capitals: Won; steps in the right direction and a creative center will keep Alexander Ovechkin happy.

Lost:
C – Jiri Novotny (Columbus)
D – Trevor Byrne (Dallas)

Gained:
C – Michael Nylander (N.Y. Rangers)
LW – Viktor Kozlov (N.Y. Islanders)
D – Tom Poti (N.Y. Islanders)
RW – Jame Pollock (Sinupret)
C – Kyle Wilson (Hershey)

Michael Nylander has been fairly successful in all of his east coast ventures, and with Alex Ovechkin on his left he shouldn’t have too much trouble putting up decent numbers once again. Handing a pass to Ovechkin in the neutral zone and then watching the red line go on from 50 feet away sounds like a great game plan for coach Glen Hanlon. Viktor Kozlov adds some talented, if complacent, scoring depth and a veteran Russian for the Alex’s (Semin included) to relate to and learn from. Tom Poti is…um…hmm… Losing Jiri Novotny for nothing two months after getting him is an odd choice, but I’m sure GM George McPhee knows something I don’t. Caps could really benefit from an outstanding young goaltending prospect to complete their evolution down the road.

Philadelphia Flyers: Won; the sign outside the Wachovia Center reads “6” Days Since Last Roster Overhaul.

Lost: *D – Joni Pitkanen (Edmonton – trade) *LW – Geoff Sanderson (Edmonton – trade)
LW – Denis Hamel (Ottawa)

Gained:
C – Daniel Briere (Buffalo)
D – Kimmo Timonen (Nashville) *RW – Joffrey Lupul (Edmonton – trade)
LW – Scott Hartnell (Nashville) *D – Jason Smith (Edmonton – trade)

Well, Philadelphia fans, you either made a mistake of colossal proportions or you have totally turned around a dead-last team in one season. Remember the Rangers tried to buy a Stanley Cup ever year in the 90’s only to end up picking between 4th and 12th in seemingly every draft for a decade. You still have to hope this mish-mosh of players from different teams and conferences work well together or you have a lot of years of Daniel Briere and his no-movement clause. Briere was waiver wire material in the Coyotes big lineup, so who knows what he does for Philly. There are a lot of long-term, very expensive deals in this lineup, which is a bold strategy for sure. If it works, they’re set for the better part of a decade, if not, they’re the league’s laughing stock.

The Eastern Conference went 7-4-4 by my count, I can’t tell if I need to raise my standards or lower them for the West.