Even with Steven Stamkos safely locked up by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the lead-up to July 1, there was still plenty of action in the opening days of NHL free agency.
It's always perilous to try and judge these deals immediately because we don't know how things are going to turn out. Nevertheless, NHL general managers have to make their decisions in the here and now and with imperfect information, so it's only fair we make do under the same conditions.
The following slides list the gains and losses of every NHL team, a summary of that club's situation following the opening days of free agency and our view on how the work of each franchise should be graded.
In each case, we're looking solely at work done since July 1, so teams such as the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers, who made big trades prior to free agency, are not getting marked for their work beforehand.
What we're looking for is improvement. Contracts we regard as bad will naturally earn poor grades, but teams that just sit out free agency don't get off the hook. There's value to be found, and other clubs in the league are getting better, so wallflowers aren ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis
NHL Free Agency 2016: Early Grades for Every Team
July 3rd, 2016 by Jonathan Willis Leave a reply »
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