Hossa leads limited free agency class

BOSTON, Mass. – While the recent NHL Draft was an exciting affair, the affect of the draft is usually not felt for at least two seasons. The free agency period in the salary cap era is a totally different thing as clubs can make huge strides with a couple of well-placed signings. The period will do more to shape the current roster of an NHL club than accumulated years of drafts will.

It appears the third year into the salary cap era NHL General Managers have basically learned to hold onto their assets and fill in as needed based on the unrestricted free agents (UFAs) on the open market.
After last season when players such as Daniel Briere, Chris Drury and Scott Gomez amongst many others were available, the biggest name is this year’s class is Pittsburgh’s Marian Hossa. The Penguins did their best to keep Hossa off the market, but he turned down a handsome offer from the club to hit the market.
There are other desirable players available, but they are not superstars in the pure sense of the word, although Jaromir Jagr, Teemu Selanne, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Ryan Malone and Steve Avery would be welcomed on each and every NHL club’s front line.
Defender Brian Campbell will see a lot of attention as will Wade Redden, J-M Liles, Brad Stuart, Ron Hainsey, Brooks Orpik and Dmitri Kalinen.
While it is easy to focus on the UFAs in the market, the biggest x-factor in the upcoming proceedings is the restricted free agents (RFAs). These player’s moves are restricted due to the fact they have not reached unrestricted status, but teams can sign them and give their respective former teams compensation. An excellent example of this situation was Edmonton’s signing of Dustin Penner from the Anaheim Ducks last offseason. Some players, such as Detroit’s Valtteri Filppula, Boston’s Dennis Wideman and Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury each have arbitration rights, which means a team, or the player themselves, can elect to have their salary set for the next season by an independent arbitrator.
In some cases such as Anaheim’s Corey Perry, Ottawa’s Andrej Meszaros and Philadelphia’s Jeff Carter are established players who are young enough for another team to mortgage some of their own future on. Another avenue could be to sign a player stuck in the minors such as Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson which would force their original team to give out a nice contract to a depth player.
Over the next week Pro Hockey News will cover the NHL Free Agency period with capsules of each NHL club. Follow PHN as our NHL staff tells you what to expect for your favorite team during this exciting period of time.