NHL Transaction Madness Through 7/9

I’m just going to go over a few of the key free agent signings in the past week or so and talk about the relative impact for their teams.  I’ll also talk about some the big names that are still out there that could be good for our Boston Bruins.  Since the North East division has been kind of beefed up this offseason, I expect Chiarelli to make some kind of move for a forward or two.  Let’s get into the free agent madness though:

C Olli Jokinen – 2 years, $9M, from Calgary to Winnipeg

The 33-year-old Jokinen will be entering his 13^th NHL season this year with the Jets.  This is a pretty devastating loss for Calgary in my opinion because of the impact it will have on Jarome Iginla.  The Jokinen-Iginla 1-2 punch in Calgary had always been a great scoring combination, but once again Jokinen will be playing somewhere else.  The Jets have been having a pretty good offseason now after signing crafty center Ponikarovsky from the Devils and now Jokinen.  I predict Winnipeg’s first line consisting of the 20 year old Evander Kane (who had a breakout 57 point season last year), Jokinen and Blake Wheeler (who had 64 points last season).  I think that Jokinen will definitely bring Kane’s game up with him in Winnipeg next year, and there’s no doubt that the members of this line will all exceed 60 points next season.  Great move for the Jets, they’re going to have tremendous offensive depth next season.

LW Jiri Hudler – 4 years, $16M, from Detroit to Calgary

Nasty

Calgary lost Jokinen, but acquired Hudler who is coming off of a 50-point season in Detroit.  The 28-year-old has a great two-way game and can score, pass, play on the power play and penalty kill.  He also has some nasty dangles… check out his shootout videos on YouTube! When it comes down to it, he's a utility guy who will do whatever Calgary asks him to do.  I expect that he’ll stay behind Alex Tanguay on the depth chart only because of Jarome Iginla’s chemistry value with Tanguay, but he should be able to have a 40-50 point season with Calgary.  Despite being a little pricy, the 4-year contract will ensure strength at left wing for the Flames.

RW Jaromir Jagr – 1 year, $4.55M, from Philadelphia to Dallas

The Salute!

Yay! I can stop hating Jagr now that he’s no longer on the Flyers! Awesome move by Dallas, Jagr is well worth the price. Dallas has been having an incredible offseason so far with acquisitions including Derek Roy, Ray Whitney and now Jaromir Jagr. Jagr gives you physical play with added scoring and veteran experience.  Jamie Benn, Loui Eriksson, Michael Ryder and Ray Whitney are all 60+ point scorers for the Dallas Stars. Then you throw Derek Roy (44 points) and Jagr (54 points) in the mix and you’ve got yourself 2 exceptional lines of offensive production.  If Kari Lehtonen plays at the same level he did last season I believe the Stars have a good chance of making the playoffs.  Watch out for Dallas, they’ve got a lot of talent on the offensive end and two new old guys who will make everyone else look silly!

LW Steve Sullivan – 1 year, $1.85M, from Pittsburgh to Phoenix

This was definitely an attempt to fill the void left by Ray Whitney in Phoenix. The 38-year-old utility forward will be going into his 16^th season next year and brings a veteran presence plus leadership to Phoenix.  Phoenix had an incredible run last year, making it to the Western Conference Finals and giving the LA Kings a bit of a scare after winning two straight to come back 3-2 in the series.  However, with the loss of the Coyotes leading goal scorer, Ray Whitney, I’m not sure they will be the same team they were last year.  While Steve Sullivan is a guy who can put up between 40 and 50 points a season, he’s no Ray Whitney.  However, the Coyotes are a fairly young team (average age of 27 years old, not including goalies) and maybe Sullivan will have a bigger impact than I think in Phoenix.  He also knows how to play with superstar players like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.  This is a more important intangible than most people think.  All in all, however, I don’t see Phoenix having the same success that they did last year.

D Jason Garrison – 6 years, $27.6M, from Florida to Vancouver

Why the Canucks, Jason… Why?!

Curse you Canucks! Why do you take away the guy that I wanted to join the Bruins? So the ‘Nucks drop Aaron Rome and pick up Jason Garrison.  Not bad… but worth a $4.6M cap hit every year? No way! I think Garrison was way overpaid for.  While the 27-year-old Garrison did score 16G and 17A last year, I don’t think he’ll continue to put up those numbers for the next 6 years.  Maybe I’m wrong though… he did have a fantastic year last year running the Panthers power play and had the third most goals as a defenseman in the NHL last year.  He can also hit and play solid defense. He’s a physical defenseman with a wicked slap shot and a high hockey IQ.  Will he continue to score like he did last year though? Doubtful. Maybe I’m just bitter that the Canucks got him instead of us… At least they overpaid him and lost that cap space, I guess?

I also wanted to include that the Nashville ‘Messiah,’ Alexander Radulov, is headed back to the KHL for another 4 years.  The kid can score, there’s no doubt about that, but the lack of effort and poor attitude landed him back in the KHL.  He applied no defensive pressure whatsoever and had a terrible playoff run with the Preds.  Hopefully more time in Russia will help his two-way game.

Radulov's Defense…

By the way, if you're reading this wondering, "Where the hell is the Parise/Suter coverage?!" read a little further back in the blog and you'll find it.  Follow me at @bearbluni and follow the blog on @SportsBlaggah for more NHL transaction news.