Many players made themselves a new home and many cases richer on the first day of NHL Free Agency yesterday. Many bolstered their rosters with reloaded talent after losing some players of their own. There are still many players still out on the free agent market, but after the first day and a half of the free agency window opening, here are some of the highlights in case you didn’t have NHL.com on constant refresh yesterday.
IGINLA FLOPS TO BOSTON
If you can’t beat them join them right? If you remember, Calgary tried to trade Jarome Iginla to Boston at the trade deadline. But he blocked that trade and instead was traded to Pittsburgh because he thought it would give him a better chance at winning the Stanley Cup. But it was a gamble that didn’t pay off as the Bruins beat the Penguins in the Eastern final. But will this gamble pay off this time around? He signed a one-year, $6 million deal with a team that isn’t the same one that swept him just a few weeks ago. Boston lost Nathan Horton and Andrew Ference via free agency and traded away Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley, but acquired Loui Ericksson in that trade.
On the 1st day of NHL free agency, NHL teams made 63 signings involving 144 years of contracts worth $411,900,000 in total salaries.- via @ESPNStatsInfo
DETROIT LOSES FIN, RELOADS WITH SWEDE
There hasn’t been many teams who enjoys acquiring veteran players with a few years remaining in their careers than the Red Wings. Going back several years, they added Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, and Mike Modano in the twilight of their hockey career. The team did it again Friday by signing 17-year vet Daniel Alfredsson. The longtime Ottawa captain joins fellow Swedes Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, and Johan Franzen among others. This appears to be a good fit for Alfredsson as he played under former Detroit assistant Paul MacLean last season in Ottawa so it will be an easier transition to learn the system and playing style of Mike Babcock. The 40-year-old signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract. They offered a contract to Damien Brunner Friday morning before the transfer window opened, but he decided to swim and test free agency. Dan Cleary is also a free agent who remains unsigned by the club. But one player who did leave Detroit was Finnish player Valtteri Filppula, who received a $25 million deal from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Filppula receives some of the money the team saved by Vincent Lecavalier’s buyout.
Also on Friday, Ottawa traded for Anaheim forward Bobby Ryan. They initially planned on having Ryan play alongside Alfredsson, but once he departed for Detroit they realized Ryan would be a replacement.
PHOENIX WILL REMAIN IN TOWN, BUT COULD STRIKE OUT WITH RIBEIRO
It looks like Mike Ribeiro’s wife will be doing some more cross-country moving. He wanted a five-year deal with Washington but they knew he wasn’t worth that kind of money. So who was sucker enough to pay him four years with a $5.5 million cap hit? The Phoenix Coyotes. If there’s anyone who can get quality offensive production out of Ribeiro, it’s coach Dave Tippett who coached him in Dallas. He’s 34 years old and the team needs scorers to put butts in seats now that an ownership group appears to buy the team from the league. Last season Ribeiro ranked fifth in the league with 36 assists. He was second on the Capitals in 2012-13 with 49 points in 48 games, ably filling the role of second-line center for a team that won the Southeast Division. What could expose Ribeiro is he played on the power play with Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green. The power play numbers could seem a little padded, could he repeat the same performance with the likes of Shane Doan and Keith Yandle as he’s getting older?
