Free agency is where NHL general managers make some of their biggest mistakes.
A mistake could take the form of overpaying for a big name free agent that will never live up to the bidding war he sparked. Sometimes it’s a mediocre player cashing in after one good season or playoff run, like Ville Leino. Sometimes it’s a fading veteran making bank off his reputation, like Loui Eriksson and Milan Lucic.
There’s only one sure-fire way to avoid making mistakes in free agency: take your ball and go home. That’s pretty much what the Winnipeg Jets and Vegas Golden Knights did in building their teams that will meet in the Western Conference Finals. They stand in stark contrast to their Eastern Conference counterparts.
Between the Jets and Golden Knights, just skater has appeared in the playoffs this season after originally being acquired in free agency: the Jets’ Matthieu Perreault. The Eastern Conference finalists, the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning, have thirteen.
Editor's note: Let's make that two skaters. Brandon Tanev, who was signed as a free agent out of college in 2016, has also played a significant role for the Winnipeg Jets in the postseason.
Perreault was originally signed by the Jets as an unrestricted free agent (UFA) in 2014. He was signed on a three-year deal, worth an average annual value (AAV) of $3 million. He has since re-signed with the Jets on an AAV of $4.125 million.
While Perreault is a key player for the Jets, the rest of their lineup is comprised of players acquired via trading or the draft. It’s been a long, methodical rebuild for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and free agency has barely been in the picture.
Cheveldayoff made two significant free agent signings last off-season, adding veteran goaltender Steve Mason to backup the young Connor Hellebuyck, and defenceman Dmitry Kulikov. Mason played the third period of a first-round game against the Minnesota Wild after Hellebuyck gave up six goals, while Kulikov has yet to return from a significant back injury suffered in March.
Mason is making $4.1 million per year for two years, a pretty significant commitment to someone who will be a backup for both those seasons. Kulikov, meanwhile, is making over $4.3 million per year for three years. That’s over $8.4 million per year for two players the Jets haven’t really needed in order to reach the Western Conference Finals.
Aside from those two, the Jets have Shawn Matthias, who was signed in 2016 as a free agent, but was a healthy scratch for most of the season and hasn’t left the press box in the postseason.
That’s it, aside from assorted AHL signings. The Jets essentially have just four players on their NHL roster that were acquired in free agency. It’s not just that the core of the team was acquired through trades and the draft, but almost the entire team.
The Vegas Golden Knights, meanwhile, have none. Of course, there’s is a unique situation, with the vast majority of their roster coming via the expansion draft, but they had the same opportunity as every other team to dip their toes into free agency. They were active in the free agent market in the summer, even if most of their signings were for AHL depth.
Brad Hunt was one of their few free agent signings that played a significant number of games this season. The defenceman was signed for a league-minimum $650,000 per year for three years, but was a healthy scratch for much of the season and has yet to appear in the playoffs for Vegas.
Brandon Pirri, Tomas Hyka, and Vadim Shipachyov were the other free agent signings that played at least a couple games for the Golden Knights during the regular season. Shipachyov was the highest profile signing, as he was expected to be a top-six forward for the Golden Knights after he was signed out of the KHL. Instead, he barely played, was healthy scratched, and then had his contract cancelled so he could return to Russia.
The Golden Knights could have tried to amplify their lineup by spending big in free agency — they had the cap space to do it — but instead chose to roll with the roster they created in the expansion draft.
Over in the Eastern Conference, however, it’s a different story entirely. The Tampa Bay Lightning have generally avoided overspending in free agency, but free agents form a significant part of their roster.
That’s particularly the case on defence, where Anton Stralman and Dan Girardi are in their top four, making a combined $7.5 million per year. Stralman was signed in 2014, while Girardi was signed in 2017. They also have Andrej Sustr, originally signed out of the NCAA in 2013, but he’s been bumped out of the lineup and has yet to suit up in the playoffs.
At forward, the Lightning free agents have mainly come from outside of the NHL. There’s Yanni Gourde, signed out of the AHL in 2014. He’s currently making $1 million per year. Then there’s Tyler Johnson, originally a UFA out of the WHL back in 2011. He’s in the first year of a 7-year extension worth an AAV of $5 million.
Cory Conacher has also played in a couple playoff games this year. Conacher got his NHL start when the Lightning signed him out of the AHL in 2012, but he came back to the Lightning when they signed him out of the Swiss NLA in 2016. He’s currently on a league-minimum $650,000 AAV.
Their lone forward in the playoffs who was signed as a UFA out of the NHL is Chris Kunitz, who they signed in 2017 on a $2-million, one-year deal.
The Washington Capitals’ biggest free agent signings both come from 2014, when their newly-minted GM Brian MacLellan overhauled their defence. He spend big, adding Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik from their rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Niskanen was signed for $5.75 million per year on a seven-year deal, while Orpik was signed for $5.5 million per year for five years. They’re the two highest-paid defencemen on the team.
Apart from them, five forwards acquired via free agency have suited up for the Capitals in the playoffs, though none of the five are top-six forwards and all five are making under $2 million per year.
The longest-tenured one is Jay Beagle, who was originally signed by the Capitals’ farm team, the Hershey Bears, out of the NCAA, then signed by the Capitals back in 2008. He has an AAV of $1.75 million on a three-year deal.
Then there’s Nathan Walker, the first Australian to play in the NHL. He was originally signed back in 2014. He was claimed off waivers this season by the Oilers, but re-claimed by the Capitals when he was waived again. Walker has only appeared in one playoff game, but recorded a crucial assist. He’s making a league-minimum $650,000 per year.
Brett Connolly was signed in 2016 as a UFA, then re-signed for $1.5 million per year on a two-year deal.
This past summer, the Capitals didn’t make any big moves, but did tweak the bottom of their lineup, adding Alex Chiasson for $660,000 and Devante Smith-Pelly for $650,000, both on one-year deals.
So what’s the takeaway for the Canucks?
Others have written about what we can learn from the Golden Knights: their approach to free agency was a bit unique due to the circumstances.
We can look at the other three teams, however. It’s particularly fascinating to look at how the Jets have methodically built their team, focussing primarily on the draft and avoiding free agency almost entirely. As a rebuilding team, following that template requires a lot of patience, excellent scouting, and some good fortune.
The Canucks have not shown that patience in recent years, trying to jump start a rebuild with veteran free agent signings.
The Capitals and Lightning, meanwhile, have used free agency both to fill significant gaps in their lineup and to fill out the rest of their roster. That tactic has worked out well for both teams, even if they might have overspent on some of those contracts.
There is a bit of a pattern with those two teams, however: they spent bigger on defence than at forward. The Capitals spent $11.25 million on Niskanen and Orpik, who were signed as UFAs, while the Lightning spent $7.5 million on Stralman and Girardi. Their free agent forwards, on the other hand, were largely cheap signings, several of them at league-minimum salaries.
For the Canucks, that means looking for bargains to fill out needs in the bottom six, while trusting your drafting and trades for the core of your roster. That means avoiding dropping significant coin in free agency on forwards, which the Canucks have definitely done.
