Day one of the NHL’s free agent frenzy was certainly frenzied.
Dozens of unrestricted free agents found new teams to play with, and some re-signed with their current teams, in what turned out to be an active start to what is commonly referred to as the National Hockey League’s “silly season.”
Silly, as in the silly amount of money that NHL general managers throw at players in an effort to improve their club’s fortunes in the years to come.
Nearly half a billion dollars in new contracts were agreed to in the first hour of free agency on Monday, none bigger than the seven-year, $81.5-million deal winger Artemi Panarin signed with the New York Rangers.
As expected, Columbus lost Panarin as well as goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (who signed for seven years and $70 million with the Florida Panthers) and centre Matt Duchene (who signed a seven-year, $56-million deal with the Nashville Predators) on the opening day of free agency.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs made some noise, most notably by trading centre Nazem Kadri, blue line prospect Calle Rosen and a third-round draft pick to Colorado for defenceman Tyson Barrie, centre Alex Kerfoot and a sixth rounder.
The Leafs also signed free-agent centre Jason Spezza and acquired defenceman Cody Ceci from Ottawa in a package deal that sends blue-liner Nikita Zaitsev and forward Connor Brown to the Senators.
The most interesting development of the day, however, wasn’t a free-agent signing, but an offer sheet.
Restricted free agent (RFA) centre Sebastian Aho has signed a five-year, $42.27-million offer sheet that was tendered to him by the Montreal Canadiens.
That means the Carolina Hurricanes have a week to match Montreal’s offer or decline it and receive the Habs’ first-, second- and third-round draft picks next summer.
The ‘Canes have said all along that they would match any offer sheet for their best player, but the intriguing part is the $8.454-million average annual value (AAV) that Aho would receive from Montreal in the deal.
I’m sure Hurricanes GM Don Waddell is happy that at least he knows what Aho is now worth, and it could also be a table-setter for other general managers who are interested in tendering offer sheets.
Other teams with point-a-game RFA’s (Toronto, Mitch Marner; Winnipeg, Patrik Laine; Tampa Bay, Braden Point; Calgary, Matthew Thachuk; Colorado, Mikko Rantanen) are watching this development very closely and wondering if they’re next on the offer sheet hit list.
I wouldn’t be surprised because this is the “silly season,” after all.
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