Yes I'm aware that there are still a good number of pretty good players left on the market, but most if not all of the top UFA's have signed somewhere. But this list may, and probably will look different when it's all said and done.
Winners:
Calgary Flames - Adding Jay Bouwmeester to a defensive core that already ices Robyn Regher, Dion Phaneuf and Cory Sarich gives the Flames the best top 4 in the league with three guys who can be #1 on almost any other team. They'll probably score less next year with the loss of Mike Cammalleri (Montreal, 5/30 mill), but they still have Jarome Iginla who is in the upper echelon of NHL forwards and Olli Jokinen who is just a cut below that group. Brent Sutter lives and dies by playing a defensive style, which will make under achieving goal tender Mikka Kipprusoff the happiest man in Alberta.
Tampa Bay Lightning - After another dismal season which was preceded by an awful offseason, the Tampa Bay Lightning finally got it right. Locking up veteran Mattias Ohlund to a cap friendly deal to mentor 2nd overall pick and fellow Swede Victor Hedman. Unlike most rebuilding teams, they have a legit #1 goalie (Mike Smith) and some very attractive assets in Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavilier who they can move for massive returns if they wish to speed up the rebuilding process.
Los Angeles Kings - Picking up Ryan Smith while unloading Tom Preissing's contract was Genius. Smith will provide leadership and add grit to the Kings top six as they prepare themselves for a run at a playoff birth. The contract they gave to Rob Scuderi was probably a bit of an overpayment, but he adds experience and depth to a young and extremely talented group of defencemen. They also have the liberty to lock up Jack Johnson if they want to.
Toronto Maple Leafs - I know, its a curious choice but Burke did exactly what he set out to do this offseason and added toughness and depth to the blue line. Signing Mike Komisarek not only makes the Leafs stronger but weakens the hated Habs and Garnett Exelby will be a very nice addition to the bottom pair of their top six. Burke can still move Tomas Kaberle for a good return this off season (and it will be a mild surprise if it doesn't happen at some point)and the Leafs are the front runners for Swedish sensation, Goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. They may not be much, if at all better next year, but this sets them up well for the future.
Anaheim Ducks - I know this happened on draft day, but the Ducks are winners for no other reason than the return they got for Chris Pronger from the Flyers. Luca Sbisa figures to be a top 4 defenseman, Joffery Lupul is a talented 2nd line winger who will be serving his second tour with the Ducks (Hes been traded for Pronger twice in his young career, how funny is that?) On top of that, the Ducks received a first round pick for 2009 (Kyle Palmieri, who was one of my favorite players in last years draft class) and 2010, so essentially, the Ducks received three first round picks (Sbisa was the Flyers top choice in 2008) and Joffrey Lupul, who himself was a top 10 pick in 2002, for an aging Chris Pronger, who has slowly started to show signs of decline the last two seasons. Grade A move by Anaheim.
New York Rangers - Am I basied? possibly (yes), but the trade of Scott Gomez to the Habs for Chris Higgins alone would have made me happy, the fact that they threw top prospect Ryan McDonagh as a sweetener made this one of my favorite trades ever, and I have no idea how Higgins is going to perform in NY or if McDonagh will ever reach half of his potential. I always felt that Scott Gomez's salary was the 2nd easiest to move in the group of Michael Roszival, Gomez, Chris Drury and Wade Redden (in that order), but I felt that the last 3 would be near impossible to move with out throwing in a first rounder. You could imagine the level of my elation when we moved Gomez with two AHL depth players for Higgins, a blue chipper and another prospect who also has NHL potential. Moving Gomez allowed the Rangers to take a risk on Marian Gaborik, who unlike the free agent signings of the past two years, will be deserving of the money that will be paid to him as long as he stays on the ice. If/When they dump Roszival's contract, they'll have even more flexibility to continue putting together a roster that may have a chance to do something pretty soon.
More than anything...
Staal, Girardi, Sanguinetti, Del Zotto, Gilroy, Kundratek and now McDonagh?!??!?
Excuse me while I go to the bathroom and rub a few out.
Losers:
Florida Panthers - First the Luongo trade and now this. Poor team has nothing to look forward to for the distant future. I know that they kept Jay-Bo around last year because they had a shot at the playoffs, but in hindsight, they would have been much better off moving him for what would have been at the least a decent return. Sometimes I wonder why there is still team in South Florida and by sometimes I mean always and by always, I mean they should be moved to Canada.
Chicago Blackhawks - They've got one of the best, if not the best, young core of players in hockey, none of whom are signed long term. They're already up against the cap and decide its a good idea to sign Marian Hossa to a long term deal. Don't get me wrong, the annual cap hit of 5.2 million for a player like Hossa is not a bad deal, but when you figure they have a ton of young players they'll need to resign in the next two years it really makes you wonder. Now its come out that their GM flubbed some paper work that may allow Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker to become UFA's...
They may have ended up losing one or both of them eventually, but they'd be losing them for nothing but cap space if this ends up happening. They better hope they can get Kane and Towes signed ASAP, because there will be a long line of GM's who will be more than happy to throw a lucrative offer sheet at either of them.
Edmonton Oilers - I think they made one of the best signings of the off season by bringing in Nikolai Khabibulin but the poor team just can't stay out of off season drama. They had to suffer through the Legend of Pronger after he decided he no longer wanted to live in Edmonton after signing a long term deal, and this year they had a deal set to bring Dany Heatley to Edmonton and after he strung them on for more than 24 hours, he nixed the trade at the last minute. I'm dubbing them the lovable loser of the off season, but a lovable loser is still a loser.
Montreal Canadiens - They've been a smaller team for quite some time and GM Bob Ganiey announced that he wanted to land a big center man this off season, that lead everyone to believe that Vincent Lecavilier may be on his way to Montreal....
Instead, they got Scott Gomez and his bloated contract. They followed up that doozy of a deal by signing Mike Cammalleri (5'9") and Brian Gionta (5'7", but I've stood next to him and hes closer to 5'5") to flank Scott Gomez (5'11") on his wings. Gomez, Cammy and Gionta are all nice complementary players who are going to be played 7+, 6 and 5 million dollars annually while being asked to form the top line of a team that is under more pressure from the media than any other team in the sport. They also added Hal Gill (who can barely skate) and Jaroslav Spacek (at almost 4 mill per year) who are hardly difference makers, though Spacek can play a little bit. All I know is that the Habs better hope that Yannick Weber and PK "twinkle toes" Subban (I'm not a fan, kid is going to get killed at the NHL level trying to pull the moves he did in Junior and he dives more than Sidney Crosby and Derek Roy combined) pan out because they're going to be hurting on D big time for years if they don't, and they may if they do anyway.
