As usual, the majority of NHL unrestricted free agents were signed within the first 24 hours they became eligible on July 1st. Several clubs appeared to strengthen their squads considerably while others took it on the chin and lost one or more key players. Perhaps the biggest surprise was an offer sheet to Carolina Hurricanes star forward and restricted free agent Sebastian Aho by the Montreal Canadiens. Montreal general manager offered the 21-year-old a five-year deal worth $42.27 million and was willing to give up a first, second and third-round draft pick to sign him.
However, Carolina GM Don Waddell basically had his work done for him by Bergevin as he announced on July 7th that the Hurricanes had officially matched the offer, which was their right to. This meant Waddell didn’t have to endure an agonizing contract-negotiation process with his team’s top scorer as he simply had to match the offer. It’s arguable if the player or club got the better of the deal as there are some experts who feel Aho may be worth more than the annual average of $8.454 million of the contract.
Montreal believed there was a chance Carolina may not match the offer since Aho is due half of the contract total in the first year. With an $11.3 million signing bonus he’ll be paid $21 million in year one of the five-year deal. Aho of Rauma, Finland, led his team in scoring this season with 30 goals and 53 assists in 82 games. He then added five goals and seven assists in the Hurricanes’ impressive playoff run. Aho has racked up 83 goals and 114 assists for 197 points in 242 career regular-season contests with Carolina with 12 points in 25 postseason outings.
There could be more offer sheets coming during the offseason as there are several other big-name restricted free agents who have yet to be re-signed by their clubs. These include forwards Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brayden Point of the Tampa bay Lightning, Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor of the Winnipeg Jets, Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks, Matthew Tkachuk of the Calgary Flames, Kevin Labanc of the San Jose sharks and Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche. There are also some fine defenceman yet to sign including Jacob Trouba of the New York Rangers, Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins and Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Jordan Binnington of the St. Louis blues hasn’t re-signed either and has taken the Blues to salary arbitration. As far as the unrestricted free agents go, most of the big names have been signed but some are still shopping their services such as Toronto blue liner Jake Gardiner, San Jose forward Joe Thornton, St. Louis forward Patrick Maroon, Columbus forward Ryan Dzingel and Carolina forwards Justin Williams and Michael Ferland.
Since we’re in the middle of summer many fans may have missed the original flurry of unrestricted free-agent signings so we’ll recap the biggest moves so far.
The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Marcus Johansson of Boston to a two-year deal worth $9million. The Chicago Blackhawks lured goaltender Robin Lehner away from the New York Islanders and signed him to a $5 million one-year contract. The Columbus Blue Jackets inked veteran forward
Gustav Nyquist from the San Jose Sharks to $22 million over four years. The Dallas Stars gave forward Joe Pavelski $21 million over three years to give up his captaincy in San Jose and head to Texas. They also gave former Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry a year-long deal for $1.5 million.
The Detroit Red Wings inked forward Valtteri Filppula from the New York Islanders for $6 million over two years and gave Dallas blue liner Patrik Nemeth the same deal. The Edmonton Oilers signed netminder Mike Smith out of Calgary $2 million over one year. The Florida Panthers signed goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, from the Blue Jackets Columbus for $70 million over seven seasons and added forward Brett Connolly from Washington for $13 million over four years.
The Panthers didn’t stop there as forward Noel Acciari was signed for three years for $5 million from Boston and veteran rearguard Anton Stralman came over from Tampa $16.5 million over three years. The Minnesota Wild gave former Dallas forward Mats Zuccarello $30 million for five seasons while the Nashville Predators inked forward Matt Duchene from the Blue Jackets for seven years at $56 million. The New Jersey Devils gave former Nashville forward Wayne Simmonds a one-year deal for $5 million while the New York Islanders signed goalie Semyon Varlamov from Colorado for four seasons.
The New York Rangers made a big splash by landing forward Artemi Panarin of the Blue Jackets for $81.5 million over seven years. The Ottawa Senators signed a couple of players from Toronto as blue liner Ron Hainsey agreed to a one-year deal for $3.5 million while forward Tyler Ennis signed for a year at $800,000. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed blue liner Brandon Tanev out of Winnipeg for $21 million over six years. Tampa Bay inked goalie Curtis McElhinney from the Hurricanes for two years at $2.6 million and Vancouver inked former Winnipeg defenceman Tyler Myers for $30 million over five seasons.