The Free Agent Feeding Frenzy

The madness began Saturday. And I don't think it's going to stop any time soon.

Looking at the large and lengthy deals being thrown at the various UFA's this weekend, "madness" is certainly an appropriate term. It almost seems like "Mad" Mike Milbury imposed his habit of conjuring albatross-type-contracts upon a sizable portion of the NHL's general managers - which is all the more baffling in light of the salary-capped CBA.

So, without further foreplay...let's examine the wreckage.

Saturday:

- Boston inks Chara and Savard to a massive five year deals, each worth 7.5 and 4 million per season respectively. This looks to me like a green GM earnestly trying to make a big splash in his new position. Both contracts are too long and too fat - Savard can't play defense, has never seen the post season and has inflated offensive stats thanks to playing alongside guys like Hossa and Kovalchuk on the PP. While Chara is indeed a premium blueliner, his huge, lanky frame probably comes with more risk from wear and tear than other players - that, and he always seems to struggle in the post-season. If either of these guys stumble in their first couple of seasons with Boston, the Bruins are gonna be stuck with $11.5 million worth of onerus headaches per season.

- The Flames replace Jordan Leopold with Andrei Zyuzin. Zyuzin can play top 4 minutes and comes at the relatively low price of 1.4/season. The Sutter connection should have disuaded from picking the wrong Wild d-man in this post.

- Carolina signs John Grahame. Meh.

- Chicago picks up Patrick Lalime. Great, now they have two horrible former #1 goalies.

- Detroit re-signs Chris Osgood. YAWN. The Red Wings better start looking for a new starter pretty soon. At least they didn't sign Lalime.

- Edmonton picks up Pisani and Roloson to 4 and 3 year deals respectively. As mentioned previously here, that's just too long (and too much) for both players. Roloson, a career back-up until last season, is now being paid more than Kiprusoff - and he's 36. Pisani had a career season and superb play-offs, but let's face it; he's a third line forward who's a Shean Donovan away from averaging 9 goals and 25 points a season for the next 4 years.

- The Kings coax Rob Blake back into the fold with a well-paying, but short, 2 year contract. That sounds about right.

- The Wild revolution continues with Minnesota adding Mark Parrish, Keith Carney and Kim Johnsson. Yikes. It looks like the Wild have finally grown weary of finishing last in the NW division.

- The Devils re-sign Langenbrunner to a 5 year, 2.8/season deal. Decent amount of money for a play-0ff performer, which probably mitigates the excessive length of the contract.

- The Rangers lock up Matt Cullen and the oft-forgotten Karel Rachunek. Cullen's 4 year, $11.2 million contract isn't a terrible burden, provided his career season last year wasn't a total aberration. He'll bring some grit and balance to New York's line-up. Not sure about Rachunek's deal, but Im guessing it'll be a brief 1 or 2 year "try out" contract. Im sure the Rags are hoping for another Roszival-type revelation in Rachunek.

- Ottawa shores up their goaltending and defense by adding former Hurricane Martin Gerber and offensively minded d-man Joe Corvo. Expect Gerber and Emery to split starting duties in the Capital next season. Corvo will probably get first unit PP time with Redden. Corvo's 4 year, 10.5/season contract is a risk, but could become a steal should he flourish in the fertile soil that is the Ottawa Senators.

- Phoenix grabs Jovo-cop for a staggering $6.5/season for 5 years. Too much and too long for an incomplete rearguard. Jovo is a big, mean, give-away machine. They should have signed someone nice and defensive, like Witt or McKee. Maybe the desert dogs will have the last laugh if Jovo leads the league in points by a defenseman next year. Course, I may still have the last laugh if he's -15.

- Tampa Bay signs...Andy Delmore? Why do teams keep picking this guy up? They also snagged my coveted Filip Kuba for 3 years, 3 million per. Nice length, too much money. Why is T-bay in cap trouble again?

- And now for some laughers - Toronto signs Pavel Kubina to a 4 year, $20 million deal and Hal Gill to a 3 year, $6.3 million contract. Yup, Pavel Kubina, he who has never broken the 40 point total and has never been better than +9 is being paid 5 MILLION DOLLARS. PER SEASON. Then there's Hal "the Glacier" Gill. Over 2 million a year for a guy who can neither skate nor score. I hope they pair him with Belak.

So now the Leafs have nearly $20 million in cap space tied up in 4 defensemen - and none of them are what I would consider clear cut "#1" guys. Smart. S-M-R-T.

- Vancouver bolsters their depleted blueline with Willie Mitchell. While the Canucks were badly in need of some depth on the back-end, Im not sure that paying a defensive defenseman $14 million over 4 years is a wise choice. At least he's a combined +44 over his last 3 seasons I guess.

- Washington plucks Pothier from the FA pool for $10 million over 4 years. This helps the Capitals get closer to the salary-basement while getting better on the back-end.

Worst Signings of the day:

Kubina, Roloson, Chara. In that order.

Sunday:

- Boston grabs our own erstwhile checker, Shean Donovan. His speed, grit and gap-toothed grin will be missed. His maddening inconsistency and offensive-zone hooking penalties will not.

- Florida grabs Ruslan salei for 4 years/12.1 million. $3mill./year? For SALEI? Most points in a season =20. Best plus/minus = +17. Well...I guess if Kubina's getting 5 mill...

- Nashville inks Jason Arnott to a 5 year/$22.5 million contract. Looks like Nashville's wish to get bigger down the middle made them overpay a tad. Arnott is a career 20-goal scorer who had a big (read: contract) season last year. If he doesn't come close to replicating his 30 goal/70 point numbers in Predators colors, they may be left lamenting the length of this contract.

- The Devils exascerbate their cap concerns by re-signing Patrik Elias to a monstrous 7 year, $42 million deal. He'll be 37 at end of this contract! Now, Elias is an elite first line left-winger...but there are simply too many variables and thus too much risk involved with a contract of this length - if Elias' play suddenly drops off 3 or 4 years from now, which is a possibility (see: Bill Guerin), the Devils will be stuck with this albatross for another 3 or 4 seasons. I can understand the compulsion to re-sign your marquee forward...but come on.

- The Islander's snag the ultimate journeyman Mike Sillinger to a relatively sane 3 year/$6.6 million deal. While I doubt he will have a repeat of his 30 goal season, he will no doubt bring some experience, leadership and stability to the Islanders forward corps. Good signing (can't remember the last time I said that about an Islander's deal).

- Alyn McCauley goes to the Kings. Three years, 6 million, not too bad.

- St. Louis removes Jay McKee from the market with a 4 year/$16 million contract. Jay McKee, who's career high is 5 goals. Good defensive defenseman, great shot-blocker...worth $4 million a year? No. I guess the Columbus Blue Jacket/Adam Foote experience hasn't really taught anyone anything.

Worst Signings of the Day:

Elias, McKee, Arnott.

Monday:

- Atlanta grabs Steve Rucchin. 3 years for about $2.8million a year, the Thrashers add a veteran 2-way presence for a pretty decent price.

- Rangers sign Aaron Ward to a 2 year/$5.5 million contract. Ward is only 33, but already has a ton of post-season experience and should stabilize the Rangers bottom-two pairing. Seems a little pricey at 2.75/year, but considering some of the other d-man deals going down...

- The Blues pick-up Guerin, Weight and Dan Hinote. Heck, they might actually have a NHL caliber roster next year. Weight will return for 3.5 mill./season for two years, while Guerin nabbed a one year contract for some mystery amount. The details surrounding the hinote deal are still fuzzy.

While adding the likes of aging stars Guerin and Weight may seem like a gamble, the Blues had very little to lose and a lot to gain. At the very least, neither of the ex-Oilers are inked for a long period of time, so the risk is minimal.

- Mike Griere and Curtis Brown both sign with the San Jose Sharks. The Griere contract is $1.75 million over 3 years. Both players were probably brought in to fill the checking-line holes left by the departures of Scott Thornton and Alyn McCauley.

- The Islanders sign Witt to a 3 year $(?) contract. Hard to evaluate the quality of this signing right now without the dollar amount. Im sure it's something absurd, given what similar guys like Willie Mitchell and Jay McKee were able to obtain. At least it's "only" a 3 year deal.

Worst Signings of the Day...none.

More to come...