Day 1 of the 2023 NHL free agency went as expected: it was fairly uneventful.
The salary cap not increasing as projected and teams locking up star players before hitting the market made the official start of the offseason a bit of a dud.
Only a few notable names were available in free agency, and while some have signed, others — such as Tyler Bertuzzi, Vladimir Tarasenko and Matt Dumba — are taking their time with their decisions.
There were no major trades announced on Day 1, either, despite Erik Karlsson, Alex DeBrincat and Anthony Duclair all reportedly being on the block.
Talent is still available, but for the most part, the attractive options have already found homes for next season.
The Sporting News designates the winners and losers of Day 1 of NHL free agency.
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NHL free agency winners and losers
Winner: Carolina Hurricanes
Don Waddell continues to do good business in Carolina. The Hurricanes general manager landed Dmitry Orlov, the top defenseman on the market, with a two-year deal that carries a hefty $7.75 million AAV. The Russian will provide a big boost to the team’s two top defensive pairings.
Waddell also brought in Michael Bunting on a three-year contract, giving the team an agitator in the forwards group. In addition, the Hurricanes re-signed forward Jesper Fast and goaltenders Antti Raanta and Frederik Andersen. Waddell chose to run it back in net with the duo that played the majority of the last two seasons together.
Not only that, but Carolina reportedly remains in the running to land Sharks defenseman and 2023 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson. Even if the team misses out on Karlsson, the Canes have had a strong start to their offseason.
Loser: Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto was reportedly interested in bringing back Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn and Justin Holl. All three ended up elsewhere.
While letting Holl walk isn’t a huge deal, losing out on O’Reilly, especially considering the contract he signed with the Predators, is a major miss. He fit in well after being acquired at the deadline and added a different element to Toronto’s forward group. Schenn was steady on the top defense pairing with Morgan Rielly after being acquired as a rental at the deadline, but he, too, signed with Nashville.
GM Brad Treliving’s only signings thus far have been multi-year deals for fourth-liners David Kampf and Ryan Reaves and the risky decision to bring in all-offensive defenseman John Klingberg. This has not been a great start to the Treliving era in Toronto.
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Winner: Nashville Predators
Barry Trotz didn’t waste any time making big splashes in his first free agency as Nashville’s new general manager. Trotz landed arguably the biggest fish available in O’Reilly with a four-year deal and a team-friendly cap hit of $4.5 million per year.
He followed that up by signing Schenn to a three-year deal and giving the Predators physicality on the back end. Trotz also signed speedy winger Gustav Nyquist to a two-year deal.
Despite Nashville selling off a number of players in the last year, the core group of Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi and Juuse Saros remains the same. Adding players like O’Reilly, Schenn and Nyquist helps the team retool rather than rebuild.
Loser: Boston Bruins
Boston wasn’t going to be able to re-sign all four of its unrestricted free agents, headlined by Bertuzzi and Orlov. Few people thought the team wouldn’t sign any of them.
Moving Taylor Hall to the Blackhawks was a pure salary dump that seemed to make room for a Bertuzzi extension. Bertuzzi is still available, but all signs point to him going elsewhere.
The additions of veterans James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Shattenkirk and Milan Lucic on cheap deals were decent business moves. So was the signing of depth forward Morgan Geekie. But Boston failed to re-sign a skater who was its best playoff performer and had incredible chemistry with David Pastrnak. It has not yet found a top-six center, either.
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Winner: Dallas Stars
The Stars did not make much noise on Day 1, but their one lone signing made them a winner.
Dallas signed Matt Duchene to a one-year, $3 million contract after he was bought out by the Predators earlier this week. The Stars already had a strong top nine at forward; the versatile Duchene gives the group another fast playmaker.
As of now, Dallas can roll out these players in its top nine: Jason Robertson, Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, Wyatt Johnston, Evgeni Dadonov, Mason Marchment and Duchene. That is a big, talented unit.
Losers: Twitter users
Elon Musk’s decision to temporarily limit the number of tweets users could see on Twitter came at a less-than-ideal time for hockey fans.
The platform’s restrictions created all sorts of search issues. Tweets failed to load and users were unable to properly scroll through a timeline.
Fans who planned on spending the entire first day of free agency desperately refreshing their timelines to see the latest signings were rightfully annoyed with Musk’s newest feature.
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Winners: Scott Mayfield, Pierre Engvall, Ryan Graves, Miles Wood
Who had that quartet being the ones to sign the longest deals on Day 1 of free agency? Nobody, right?
This free agent class was one of the weakest in recent memory, but it was still shocking that so few long-term contracts were handed out. It was even more stunning to see which players actually did receive lengthy commitments.
Somehow, Mayfield and Engvall ended up landing the longest deals, each signing seven-year contracts to stay with the Islanders. Wood and Graves each got six years; Wood signed with the Avalanche while Graves got a deal from the Penguins.
Since teams are strapped for cash with the salary cap staying mostly flat, the thought process behind these deals is to lengthen them and lower the average annual value. That gives depth players like Engvall, Graves and Wood the opportunity to make some cash and gain long-term security.
