The 5 Best and Worst Signings of 2024 NHL Free Agency

The 5 Best and Worst Signings of 2024 NHL Free Agency

the frenzy of free agency has come and gone with teams having spent a collective billion dollars to acquire new Talent on the open market some teams spent their money very very wisely others spent it quite poorly but there were 10 contracts given out that stood out to me as incredible value five on the positive side and five on the negative so let’s look at the five best value signings of free agency so far and the five worst value signings and we’ll start on the negative side with what I believe is the fifth the worst value signing of free agency so far that being the Columbus Blue Jackets adding Senator Shawn Monahan for a 5-year 27.5 million contract that averages out to a capit of $5.5 million per year now while I do think some people are being a little hyperbolic as to how bad this contract is it’s still really bad now on the positive side this contract does lock up Shawn minahan for most of the remainder of his prime starting at age 30 going till age 35 the other positive to this contract is that Monahan has been pretty durable over the course of his career excepting the 2022 23 season he’s played at least 50 games in every year of his NHL career and he’s usually been good for about 20 goals and 50 to 60 points a year excepting those last couple years in Calgary the problem with this contract is quite simple it’s the money his cap hit is the same next year as Zack heyman’s was this year and obviously Zack he’s contract looks like incredible value right now but another way of looking at it is that Shawn Mahan just got signed to the same C hit as Jake debrusk a player who is 3 years younger but In fairness is a 40 to 50 point guy whereas Monahan’s regularly been like I said a 50 60 point guy the fact is his contract will probably be decent value for the first few years but in years four and five it could start to look pretty ugly for Monahan now the fifth best contract that was signed this offseason in my opinion was by the defending western conference champions the Edmonton Oilers who signed Jeff Skinner to a one-year deal for 3 million bucks after being bought out by Buffalo to me the is just incredible value yes Skinner is going to be 32 this year but it’s only a one-year contract like Monahan there are no major injury concerns in fact he’s played at least half of the games in a season for every year of his career he two years removed from a 30 goal 80 Point season and last year which was a down year he still put up 24 goals and 46 points his contract is the epitome of lowrisk low reward to me because even if Skinner has another down year like he did last year for 3 million bucks to get 4050 points out of a guy I think it’s probably worth it and if he booms kind of the way that Hyman did when he came over to Edmonton and potentially becomes a 70 80 even 90 point dare I say player in Edmonton playing alongside dry cidal and McDavid this is going to be an incredible value contract so I like this deal from Edmonton number four in terms of the worst value contracts that were signed belongs to the Minnesota Wild who side forward Yakov Tren to a four-year contract worth $14 million rounding out to a 3.5 million cap hit per year trenin right now is currently projected to be a third or fourth line Winger for the wild he’s never put up more than 25 points in the season and he has a career Coursey 4% of 45.8 even though he’s been on some very good teams in Nashville and Colorado it’s definitely more of a defensive Warrior and penalty killer which is fine if you want to bring in a guy who’s in his prime to do that but I don’t think you need to be paying that guy $3.5 million a year for four years considering that’s the exact same contract that the New York Islanders gave to Anthony duclair a career for fre Point player who is arguably just as good defensively as trenin is back to the positives we go to the Detroit Red Wings who signed one of my favorite players in the NHL one of the most underrated defenseman Eric gustofson to a 2-year deal worth $4 million total gustofson is one of the most quietly efficient defensemen in the NHL a career course he for percentage of 55.6 he actually had a 60o season in his second year in Chicago and the last couple years he’s been a consistent 30 40 Point guy the only knock on Gus in is that there are some durability concerns but to get a guy who can play bottom pairing minutes and potentially quarterback your power for 2 million bucks and who might be able to replace or at least offset some of Shane gosis Bear’s production from last year is a great bargain now the third worst contract that was signed this last offseason should come as no surprise to anybody it’s the Los Angeles Kings who signed defenseman Joel Edmonson to a 4-year deal with a cap hit of almost $4 million 3.85 million a year to be exact as many people online have pointed out this signing has Mark Ban’s fingerprints all over it because at this point Joel Edmonson is nothing more than a a stay-at-home defenseman who has had cratering Puck possession stats playing bottom pairing minutes in fact his last three seasons in the NHL he did not have a COR C4 above 45% in any of those years and signing Edmonson to a contract with a higher average cap hit than Shawn Walker got in Carolina who’s two years younger and just playing it simply better defensively is just egregious malpractice by the Kings now in my opinion the third best value signing by any team in free agency so far was the biggest golden Knight signing Victor Olson to a one-year $ 1.07 million deal Olson has had four straight seasons of at least 30 points with three of those Seasons having 20 goals and 40 points unlike in Buffalo he’ll be playing with much higher quality offensive players so you can expect that his offensive numbers will go up meaning we could potentially be looking at a 25 goal 60p Point guy who’s making only a million dollar hell even if he only produces 30 points this year which would be on the low end for him in his career the value is just so good it doesn’t even matter now the second worst contract that was signed this free agency period was by my Washington Capitals who signed Brandon du H to a 2-year deal worth $3.7 million a $1.85 million average annual salary I of the opinion that you never overpay role players and non Elite goalies and duim is the epitome of a role player he’s going to project to be a fourth ler in Washington he’s been a bottom six guy in Minnesota and Colorado and despite playing on those very good teams he has a career cory4 percentage of 43 he’s never eclipsed 20 points in his career and basically the only thing that he is good at is killing penalties and I’m sorry you do not need to pay a guy owns $2 million a year to get a good penalty killer you let Nick Al kubel walk for $1.5 million on a one-year deal to Buffalo that would have been a way better deal and in fact you signed another player to a great value deal in Taylor radish you got a one-year deal for a million dollar radish is as good if not better than Brandon Dame yet somehow duim Warren’s making almost twice as much and getting twice the term as him and when you’re a team that is up against the cap like the Caps are you just cannot afford to waste money on guys who can be replaced by guys off the scrap heat now the second best value contract signed this offseason will surprise a lot of people it’s the Tampa Bay Lightning who signed Cam Atkinson to a one-year deal for less than a million dollar 900k on the deal I know ainson is a bit older he’s going to be 35 during this contract but the guy is still good for at least 10 goals and 25 to 30 points and again going off of value getting that offensive production for under a million is a great bargain deal on top of the fact that Atkinson can play both on the power play and the PK he can slot anywhere within the bottom six and potentially the middle six in a pinch he adds leadership and in his declining age he’s generally still been a positive possession player putting up a 52.6 cory4 last year and even in his bad years were like 48 49% cory4 so he’s not a possession black hole he can Flex around in your lineup admirably and do a good job doing it for a very minimal cost and then we reach reach in my opinion the worst contract that was handed out this off season and it’s going to surprise a lot of people it belongs to the Edmonton Oilers who resigned Matias Yanmar to a three-year deal worth $4.3 million a 1.45 average annual value like I said with d you don’t overpay role players which is what EDM did off of a great performance in the playoffs but this contract is not borne out by any of Yen Mark’s production over the last few years now he is a better offensive producer than duim put up two 25 Point Seasons a couple years ago but his Cy 4 has been on a steady decline over the past few years to the levels of brandid duim and he’s probably about as good of a penalty killer as to so the question you might be having is why is yanar ranked lower when he’s essentially the same player but making about 400k a year less well the problems are he’s locked up to a three-year term as opposed to do hes 2 and Yan Mark is going to be 32 entering the start of this contract whereas Dame is going to be 28 those physical role players can hit a steep Decline and the fact that yanar is the same player that duim is now doesn’t mean that he will be the same level of player throughout the course of this contract just like for the Caps Edmonton is tight to the cap I don’t think that they really can afford to be paying a declining fourth line plugger to kill penalties for them then we get to in my opinion the best value contract signed by any team this offseason and it belongs to the defending Champions Forida Panthers who make the incredibly shrewd move to pick up Nate Schmidt from the winipeg Jets for a one-year $800,000 contract this is basically the augustson contract but on steroid n is an incredibly effective defenseman who can log bottom pairing minutes and play on the power play he had an average cory4 of 52.5% in Winnipeg and only had two years in his entire career with a cory4 below 50% and even though he’ll be 33 during this contract is for one year and the value of the cap hit is so low that this contract is almost certain to get 23x the value of signing a guy like a TJ Brody who is a better player to be clear but is making almost $4 million a year Florida is getting about half that production at ement for barely a quarter of the cost which is why this is the best value signing of any team in free agency thus far

Looking at all the players signed to contracts this offseason, which deals are going to turn out to be shrewd moves and which will be regretted in a few year’s time.

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