The NHL free agency signing period for 2021 is officially open.
For each key player who signs a deal, we’ll assess the player’s fit with his new team, weigh whether the terms of the deal make sense and serve up an overall grade for the team.
We’ll continue to grade the most notable moves through the offseason, so check back for fresh grades as deals are consummated; the newest grades will be up top.
More: Free-agency tracker
Draft recap: Every pick | Takeaways
Note: Advanced stats via Natural Stat Trick and Evolving Wild, unless otherwise noted.
Terms: Five years, $4.5 million average annual value
Where does he fit: The Blues said goodbye to Jaden Schwartz, who signed a five-year, $27.5 million free-agent contract with the expansion Seattle Kraken. They could slide Saad into Schwartz’s old spot on the left side of Brayden Schenn. Or, depending on the status of winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who has requested a trade, the Blues could load up a line with David Perron, Ryan O’Reilly and Saad, who can also play right wing.
Does it make sense? Absolutely. Outside of a couple of dips, Saad’s 10-year career has seen him as a model of offensive consistency and versatility. He can play up on a top line, he can play down the lineup too. He can play on the power play and has averaged more short-handed ice time than Schwartz did.
It’s hard not to compare the two players, as GM Doug Armstrong essentially did last offseason when Alex Pietrangelo left for the Vegas Golden Knights: He decided not to retain a beloved veteran player at a cost he wasn’t comfortable with, and then went to the UFA market for a cheaper alternative. Pietrangelo has an $8.8 million AAV with a full no-move clause with the Golden Knights; Torey Krug has a $6.5 million AAV and only a no-trade clause with the Blues as a replacement. Saad gets the same five years that Schwartz got with the Kraken, except for a million dollars less against the cap each season during that span.
Saad is one year younger and a more productive goal scorer, too. He averaged 0.97 goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 since 2017-18 while Schwartz averaged 0.61. Schwartz is the superior defensive player — it’s really no contest — but Saad could certainly be called the better offensive option. His game meshes well with the Blues’ system, too.
Grade: B-plus. Saad isn’t Gabriel Landeskog or Matthew Tkachuk, to name two pie-in-the-sky players that Blues fans were clamoring for their team to acquire. He’s probably not going to morph into a 30-goal scorer again, but he could get you 20 to 25 in a solid season. Like the guy he’s replacing in the lineup, Saad is a nice ingredient to the dish if not exactly the main protein you build it around.
Five years seemed too long at first, but that last season finds his salary dropping to its lowest total ($3.625 million) while his no-trade clause becomes a limited one. It’s seemingly designed to have them move him along after four seasons, and that’s fine. It’s a win-now team, and Saad can help them win now.
Terms: Seven years, $9 million average annual value
Where does he fit: Hamilton gives the Devils the elite, puck-moving defenseman and power-play quarterback that … well, that they probably thought they were getting when they made that trade for P.K. Subban in 2019, but things happen.
Hamilton, 28, is a top-tier puck mover. He has 165 points in his 266 games since 2017, ranking him 16th among all defensemen. But rather than being a pass-happy defenseman, Hamilton is also a shooting machine. He’s third in shots on goal (879) in that span behind Brent Burns (995) and Roman Josi (928). Because of that, Hamilton has been an analytics darling for years: a possession-driving, shot-generating machine.
Is he a defensive ace? No, but he’s also not a one-dimensional player either. He could use a solid defensive defenseman partner who could hold down the fort, like Jaccob Slavin did in Carolina. That might end up being Ryan Graves, whom the Devils acquired from the Colorado Avalanche earlier his month.
Does it make sense? It’s the most “making sense” thing that might have happened during the free-agent frenzy on Wednesday.
The Devils are a rebuilding team. They have Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Ty Smith on the roster, players such as Alexander Holtz and Luke Hughes in the system. They’re not ready to contend yet. When they are, there might not be a player the caliber of Hamilton available on the open market. So he makes them better now, and he certainly makes them better when they actualize as a contender again.
But here’s the thing about Hamilton. As someone in the NHL recently told me, he can be “a passenger.” The kind of passenger who brings delicious snacks and a great music playlist on the trip, but a passenger nonetheless. If you’re looking for a grizzled veteran, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for a fiery locker-room speech guy, this isn’t it. Hamilton marches to his own beat.
The Devils know this, of course. They know there are going to have to be veteran additions to add that element. But they also know that having a player of Hamilton’s abilities is essential for their eventual success. And now they have him.
Grade: A-minus. The value of this contract is going to remain fairly consistent during the term. Hamilton is in his prime and has a skill set that will help him remain productive well into the contract. The Devils wanted him at $8.25 million per year with more limited trade protection and less bonus money. They got him at $9 million and an absolute roller coaster of a contract structure:
Dougie Hamilton – #NJD
$9M x 7Breakdown
21-22: 750k + 5.55M SB
22-23: 3.3M + 3M SB
23-24: 10.6M + 2M SB
24-25: 10M + 2.6M SB
25-26: 1M + 10.55M SB
26-27: 1M + 7.4M SB
27-28: 5.25MTrade clauses:
NMC Throughout
M-NTC in last 3 years: 10 team trade listhttps://t.co/2u8L7kFFsI— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 28, 2021
Keep in mind that the current collective bargaining agreement runs through the 2025-26 season. Hamilton has $17.95 million in signing-bonus money from 2025 to ’27.
Hamilton isn’t a flawless player. He’s also a player who, for whatever reason, is on his fourth franchise in 10 NHL seasons. But for a player with his skill set, and with the Devils obviously needing an offensive force on the back end, it’s hard to judge this as anything but a coup for New Jersey. They convinced the hottest free agent available to join a team that’s still a distance from contention. That’s not easy, no matter how much money you throw at him.
Terms: Six years, $5.5 million average annual value
Where does he fit: The Kings are like that cicada that’s wiggling out of its exoskeleton after a long slumber. (Which I guess means they’re going to be ubiquitous and annoying in short order.) They haven’t made the playoffs since 2017-18, and in the meantime have amassed one of the best collections of prospects in the NHL. They’re about ready to turn the corner, and Danualt is a harbinger of that.
Anze Kopitar remains the Kings’ top-line center, signed through 2023-24. Danualt gives them much-needed depth in the middle, holding down the fort until Quinton Byfield, their No. 2 overall pick in 2020, and their other top center prospect, Alex Turcotte, are ready to move up the lineup.
In the meantime, they hope Danault, 28, can provide a more well-rounded offensive game to go along with his Selke Trophy-worthy defense. Can he be the guy who averaged more than two points every 60 minutes from 2018-19 to 2019-20? Or is he the guy who averaged 1.6 points per 60 minutes last season?
Does it make sense? Sometimes, teams have to make moves for the future that are slightly ahead of their own rebuild timeline. The New York Rangers did that with Artemi Panarin, signing him as a free agent before they were anywhere close to contending again. While it involves a much different player — much, much, much different, let’s be honest — this feels like a similar move for the Kings. Get the guy you want when he’s available, and hope he’s still viable when it’s time to compete.
Danault helps in the short term on the depth chart. He’s outstanding on faceoffs. He’s a great penalty killer. He’s a quality, veteran center on a team that didn’t have one beyond Kopitar.
But Danault could also help in the long term. He turns 29 in February. If the Kings turn the corner in, say, 2022-23, he’s still going to be a viable player, and slotted correctly in a third-line role. The Tampa Bay Lightning just won back-to-back Stanley Cups, thanks in part to a checking line anchored by Yanni Gourde. Danault might not be the goal-scorer that Gourde is, but the logic’s the same: Have two point-producing centers and then nail down the third line with a rock like Danualt. Again, when the time is right.
Grade: A-minus. His best season came in 2018-19 when he had 12 goals and 41 assists in 81 games. If they get that again from Danault, that $5.5 million cap hit will look pretty good. But given the youth movement, they could go a little higher on AAV and feel OK about it.
Danault is a perfect player for a burgeoning team. He does so many little things well, but he’s also a competitor and a tempo-setter for the younger guys. An unexpected but solid addition, and a nice piece of business by GM Rob Blake.
Terms: Six years, $5.9 million average annual value
Where does he fit: Poor Chris Driedger. The Kraken signed the free-agent goalie from the Florida Panthers during their exclusive negotiating period … while everyone was talking about how Carey Price could have buried him on the depth chart. That didn’t happen, and he proudly rocked the slithery “S” on his chest as one of the inaugural players at the expansion draft … and now Philipp Grubauer has actually buried him on the depth chart.
Grubauer gives the Kraken their Marc-Andre Fleury. Not necessarily in charisma or accomplishment — although Grubauer was a Vezina Trophy nominee this season — but in the kind of franchise goaltender whom the Vegas Golden Knights built around in their inaugural season.
Grubauer played 40 of 56 games this season for the Colorado Avalanche, with a .922 save percentage, a 1.95 goals-against average and a league-best seven shutouts. He followed that with a .914 save percentage and a 2.61 goals-against average in the playoffs, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons the Avalanche decided to play contractual hardball with him. Instead, the Kraken land arguably the best free-agent goaltender available this offseason.
If you has asked us which Avalanche star the Kraken would have acquired in free agency, we would have said Gabriel Landeskog. That he’s still in Denver is likely one reason Grubauer is now in Seattle, too.
Does it make sense? This is a tricky one to answer because, to paraphrase the “Chunky” sketch on “I Think You Should Leave,” we’re all trying to figure out what it is the Seattle Kraken do. Their approach to the expansion draft screamed “slow and steady, but with cap space.” Then they added Jaden Schwartz, Alex Wennberg and a goaltender in Grubauer, moves that scream “we aim to be competitive this season.”
Driedger, Vitek Vanecek and Joey Daccord — their expansion draft goaltending bounty — felt like a solid foundation for their inaugural season. Grubauer is a step up from that trio, theoretically. After playing with the Washington Capitals for six years — posting a .923 save percentage and a 2.29 GAA in 101 games — he was a standout for the Avalanche in three seasons, going 109-61-21 with a .920 save percentage and a 2.34 GAA.
He’s an upgrade and a goalie to build around. Potentially.
Grade: C-plus. The Vezina Trophy nomination aside, Grubauer is not an elite goalie. He’s a very good goalie elevated to great goalie status by virtue of the team on which he played. Did you know the Avalanche were the third-best defensive team in the NHL over the past two seasons, behind the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders? Is that a function of Grubauer or of the team in front of him? We’re guessing the latter.
That said, the analytics support him. Grubauer’s 29.9 goals saved above average was eighth best in the NHL during that span. He added 5.3 wins to the Avalanche. Oh, right behind him in both? Yeah, that’s Chris Driedger, with 26 goals saved above average and 4.7 wins above replacement.
One of the headaches over potentially adding Carey Price in the expansion draft was dedicating a large portion of their salary cap to the crease. At the moment, the Kraken have $9.4 million dedicated to their goaltending through 2023-24.
2:03
Philipp Grubauer shares what went into his decision to sign with the Kraken.
Terms: Six years, $4.9 million average annual value
Where does he fit? The Flames make a very interesting signing here because Blake Coleman was one of the most interesting names available on the unrestricted free-agent market. Along with Barclay Goodrow and Yanni Gourde, he created a checking line in Tampa that helped the Lightning win two Stanley Cups in a row. And by “helped” we mean “was arguably the fifth-most important on-ice factor in those championship runs behind Andrei Vasilevskiy, Victor Hedman, Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point.”
But one of the reasons Coleman was so effective in that role is that he was a top-six talent cast on the checking line. Coleman was playing over 17 minutes per game in New Jersey before joining the Lightning, scoring at a 20 goals-per-season clip.
That’s where one assumes the Flames will cast him: on the wing in their top six. He can play both wings. On a team with Johnny Gaudreau at left wing, that could mean Coleman slots in on the second line and Andrew Mangiapane slides down the lineup. More logically, it would be Coleman on right wing, where the next player on the depth chart behind Matthew Tkachuk is Dillon Dube. But Coleman also saw time at center for the Devils. He’s a versatile player.
Does it make sense? For the majority of this contract, absolutely.
Coleman is a dynamic offensive player who generates goal-scoring chances at a high rate, even when cast in a more defensive role. But he’s also an elite defender and one of the best penalty killers in the NHL — his 10 short-handed goals since 2016-17 were tied for fourth most among all players, as many as Patrice Bergeron scored. He joins a team that was 15th in the NHL on the penalty kill (80.2%).
This is a Darryl Sutter team. It’s going to defend well. It’s essential to have players who do it well and know how to generate offense from good defense. That’s Coleman’s forte.
Grade: A-minus. The AAV on this contract is actually pretty stunning. It’s just under what many felt was going to be market value for Coleman, given the totality of his game and the two Stanley Cup rings he’s collected in the past two years. The term on this contract is how they likely arrived at this AAV, and that’s the trade-off. Coleman’s best attribute is his speed. He turns 30 in November. Unless a player is a genetic marvel like Patrick Marleau, the legs are going to go at some point. But for now, it’s a very solid addition to a team that was 20th in the NHL in goals per game (2.77) last season.
Terms: Five years, $5.5 million average annual value
Where does he fit? Schwartz should slide into the top-line left-wing spot for the inaugural edition of the Kraken. There isn’t a player currently on the roster who has his offensive skill set on the left side. If you were fantasy-casting a top line for Seattle, it might have Schwartz and Jordan Eberle flanking a center-to-be-named-later — although adding Yanni Gourde to that line would make it a very difficult one against which to play.
If the Kraken are being modeled after GM Ron Francis, then Schwartz fits the mold. He’s a two-way player with a good hockey IQ. He plays extremely well against the wall despite being slightly undersized at 5-foot-10. From a puck-possession standpoint, there’s a lot to like here: Schwartz’s line has outpaced the rest of the Blues’ lines in shot-attempt percentage at 5-on-5 for the past three seasons.
While his power-play production is inconsistent, he played 2:04 per game on the man advantage for the Blues last season, while also making cameo appearances on their penalty kill.
Does it make sense? Yes. The Kraken clearly aren’t going about things in the same manner that the Vegas Golden Knights did. In 2017, Vegas collected most of its offensive talent either through the expansion draft or by leveraging teams so that they didn’t take certain players in the expansion draft. Seattle did some of the former (like Eberle) but none of the latter, ostensibly because teams had smartened up and weren’t giving away Alex Tuch-like players anymore. So while the Golden Knights didn’t dabble in the dark arts of unrestricted free agency, the Kraken had to do so.
No matter what Seattle’s approach is this season — and given the punting it did on expansion draft picks and the enormousness of its cap space, many believe it’s OK with not making the Stanley Cup Final in Year 1 — it needs players who can put the puck in the net. That’s something Schwartz can assist in doing … although doing that himself has perhaps not been his best attribute.
Grade: B. Obviously the Kraken can go a little higher in the AAV given their cap space. Schwartz gets a raise off a $5.35 million AAV on his last deal, despite the flat salary cap.
The biggest concern here for the Kraken is that Schwartz has never really met his expectations as a goal-scorer. He was 12th on the Blues over the last three seasons in goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 (0.52). He’s been unable to maintain that consistency from season to season. Some of that can be blamed on being out of the lineup with frequency, which is another risk. He has it in him — Schwartz hit 28 goals back in 2014-15. But that’s as anomalous as his 2018-19 season, when he shot 6%. He’ll likely start as a top-line player for the Kraken, and then settle into the supporting role he can thrive in as they add talent up front.
Where do they fit? One rarely sees a team nuke its entire goaltending depth chart after advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But then the Hurricanes don’t really follow the template on a lot of decisions. Petr Mrazek was an unrestricted free agent whom they let walk away to the Toronto Maple Leafs. James Reimer was also a UFA who ended up on the other coast with the San Jose Sharks. Alex Nedeljkovic, who was a Calder Trophy finalist for the Hurricanes last season, was shipped out to the Detroit Red Wings in a trade rather than Carolina handing him a contract through arbitration that it didn’t feel he had earned yet.
Exit that hydra of goaltenders, enter the two-headed monster of Andersen and Raanta.
Andersen, 31, ends his five-year run with the Maple Leafs having played 268 games, earning a 149-74-36 record with a .914 save percentage and a 2.79 goals-against average. He was a seventh-round draft pick by the Hurricanes in 2010. Fearing that he wouldn’t get his shot with Cam Ward as the incumbent, Andersen opted not to sign with Carolina, reentered the draft and was selected by the Anaheim Ducks.
Raanta, 32, finished up four years with the Arizona Coyotes, having played 104 games with a 46-42-11 record, a .921 save percentage and a 2.57 goals-against average.
Does it make sense? The Hurricanes have coveted Andersen for years. The problem is that the asking price was rather high — it was reported that the Leafs wanted Dougie Hamilton in return last year. They get a goaltender who has been one of the NHL’s hardest workers in the past several seasons, before an injury limited him to 24 games last season. Andersen averaged 64 starts in the previous three 82-game seasons that the Leafs played.
Andersen’s numbers have dipped in the last two seasons. He went from 35.3 goals saved above average in 2018-19 to 10.4 goals saved above average in 2019-20 to being a sub-replacement goalie for the Maple Leafs in 24 games last season. Much of that regression could be chalked up to struggles on the penalty kill, to which Andersen was a contributor in Toronto. But he arrives on a team that was third in the league with an 85.2% penalty kill conversation rate last season. Most of all, he arrives in a market that is a lot quieter than Toronto ever was, which will certainly be to the soft-spoken netminder’s benefit.
Raanta is a very interesting addition, and a classic low-cost, high-reward player. When he’s healthy, Raanta can be one of the better goaltenders in the NHL — witness his 33 games in 2019-20, when he added over three wins above replacement to the Coyotes. Operative phrase: When he’s healthy. Raanta has played just 12 games in two of the last three seasons. Those injuries cost him: His last cap hit was $4.25 million.
Combined grade: B-plus. For whatever reason, they didn’t believe in Nedeljkovic. He’s now making $3 million against the cap for Detroit. Mrazek is making $3.8 million against the cap for the Maple Leafs. So that’s $6.8 million in cap space for who might have been the Hurricanes’ primary goaltenders last season vs. $6.5 million for Andersen and Raanta.
I like what Carolina did here. I’m an Andersen fan, and feel like this change of scenery (and defense corps) is going to do him well. Raanta’s complete inability to stay healthy gives me pause, though.
The ultimate question is whether this duo is better than what was already there. Nedeljkovic’s upside aside, it certainly has a chance to be.
Terms: Four years, $3.65 million average annual value
Where does he fit? Most likely right next to franchise defenseman Miro Heiskanen. No one played more minutes as a tandem in the NHL last season than Heiskanen and Jamie Oleksiak, the hulking defenseman who was signed away by the Seattle Kraken before the expansion draft. The Stars were happy with the Esa Lindell–John Klingberg duo on their second pairing, so the priority was finding a partner for Heiskanen, who just signed an eight-year, $67.6 million contract extension this month.
Enter Ryan Suter. He was a surprise buyout by the Minnesota Wild this offseason — well, at least he was surprised, infamously hanging up the phone on GM Bill Guerin when he reached out with the news. Flush with the buyout money from the last four years of his deal, Suter wasn’t looking to break the bank in unrestricted free agency but rather sought term. GM Jim Nill has never shied away from handing that out — remember, he landed Suter’s Team USA teammate Joe Pavelski because he was willing to give the extra year that San Jose was unwilling to do — and Suter was a fit under the cap because of it.
Does it make sense? Absolutely. Suter is still a 24 minutes-per-game player. Last season was a rough one for him offensively, but he’s only one year removed from averaging 1.7 points per 60 minutes. He plays on the power play (2:40 per game) and on the penalty kill (2:14), where the Stars were 19th in the NHL last season (79.1%). He’s a 16-year veteran who can assist and bolster Heiskanen.
But it also makes sense because the Stars are still very much in a win-now mode. Like, maybe even a win-this-year mode. Pavelski and Alexander Radulov are both in their last contract year. So is Klingberg. The Stars have a real kick at the can this season, after last season’s horror show of injuries, COVID-19 interruptions and games lost to a winter storm in Texas. Suter helps.
Grade: B-plus. That fourth year is obviously one too many, but was likely essential in getting him in for the cap hit. But we do have visions of Patrick Marleau being shuffled off the Toronto Maple Leafs‘ salary cap by any means necessary in 2019 because he signed his contract as an over-35 player, just as Suter just did with Dallas.
Terms: Seven years, $5.5 million average annual value. No-move clause for the first five seasons, then a modified no-trade clause.
Where does he fit? Right next to either Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. One of the most underrated talents for an NHL player — by the general public, although not necessarily by front offices and player agents — is the ability to hang with high-end talent. During Hyman’s six seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he was a frequent linemate with Auston Matthews. He did all the little things you’d want a complementary winger to do: Playing with physicality, grinding in the corners and paying the price in front of the goal, creating open space for the skill guys. It’s an admirable talent and one that will easily transfer over to the Oilers’ top lines, preferably with McDavid.
Does it make sense? Yes and no. There’s proof of concept with Hyman as a top-line contributor, not just a passenger. He’s been better than a goal per 60 minutes of play in three straight seasons. He shot the puck more (8.3 shots per 60 minutes) last season than he had at any point since his rookie campaign in 2015-16. If he plays with McDavid, he plays with a player who led the NHL with 2.36 assists per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 last season. He’s not an elite finisher, but he can convert chances. Although as the Leafs found out in the playoffs, you’d rather not have teams taking away his more talented linemates so that Hyman gets all the chances.
But does this signing make sense? The $5.5 million annual cap figure isn’t terrible; it’s actually right above what Ryan Nugent-Hopkins received to stay with Edmonton ($5.125 million), and he’s a year younger than Hyman (29). Hyman would have easily found that money elsewhere. The problem with the contract is that no-move clause for five seasons. GM Ken Holland has never met trade protection he couldn’t dole out to a player, tracking back to his days in Detroit. Sometimes these deals work. Sometimes you revisit them in four years and realize they’re a boondoggle that you can’t remove from your salary cap.
Grade: B. The Oilers have a lot of problems. Hyman helps alleviate one of them as a winger in their top six, even if that contract is a bit specious. But the real sin here for the Oilers is their inability to create their own Zach Hyman. He was drafted in the fifth round by the Florida Panthers in 2010. The Leafs got him for Greg McKegg in 2015. Granted, he had the skill set to play the role, but they helped develop him into the top-line player that the Oilers just paid dearly to acquire. What separates the contenders from the pretenders in this league is their ability to produce internal solutions to lineup problems. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning had an assembly line of players to filter throughout their top six when the needs arose, whether it was a Jake Guentzel or a Bryan Rust or an Anthony Cirelli. The Oilers have failed to do the same, and now they had to find an external solution. And that’s one reason why they’re in such a pickle.
Terms: Three years, $3.8 million average annual value
Where does he fit? Petr Mrazek gives the Maple Leafs a goalie to partner with, and push, incumbent Jack Campbell. Mrazek, spent the last three seasons with the Hurricanes, going 50-32-8 in 92 games with a .911 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average. He’s entering his 10th NHL season.
Does it make sense? Yes, if the Leafs believe strongly in both Campbell and their own team defense. Mrazek is a known commodity at this point: He’s good for around 40 games, provided that he’s healthy — which he was not in 2020-21. There are some nights when he looks like a vintage Jonathan Quick, scrambling to make saves but posting a goose egg on the scoreboard for the opposing team. There are other nights when he reminds you why he’s a tandem goalie at best.
From an analytics perspective, he’s been a darling, as many on the Hurricanes end up being. Mrazek had 38.7 goals saved above average in his three seasons with Carolina, adding seven wins to the team in that span. These are no doubt numbers that GM Kyle Dubas has noted.
Grade: B-plus. This is a good fit for the Leafs, considering their salary cap constraints. He’s not as good as Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper, but he costs less ($4.5 million AAV) and now the Leafs have a goalie with term, while Kuemper goes UFA next summer. And he undoubtedly cost less than Philipp Grubauer would have. If the bet is that they have something in Campbell, this is a nice tandem — if not one that immediately inspires visions of a Stanley Cup. But as the Leafs attempted to show last season before the wheels came off in the playoffs (again!), it’s more about team defense for them than anything else.
Terms: One year, $1 million
Where does he fit? On the right side of a post-Dougie Hamilton defense in Carolina. The Hurricanes had four defensemen under contract and three of them are on the left side. Jaccob Slavin, who was Hamilton’s partner; Brady Skjei, who played with DeAngelo on the Rangers; and Jake Gardiner. DeAngelo fills their need for a puck-moving offensive defenseman on the right side, whose partner can make up for rather striking defensive deficiencies at 5-on-5.
But it’s easy to look away from those defensive lapses when DeAngelo has his offense going. Before his disastrous departure from the Rangers last season, he put together two very good point-producing campaigns: Scoring 30 goals in 61 games in 2018-19 and then 53 points in 68 games in 2019-20. He had 18.2 goals scored above average combined in these seasons. He can also quarterback a power play, which is something they lost in Hamilton, too.
Does it make sense? On the ice it makes a lot of sense for the Hurricanes to search for a cost-effective filler for a now-gaping hole in their lineup. Off the ice … well.
To summarize: The Rangers made DeAngelo persona non grata on their roster after six games last season, after signing him to a two-year, $9.6 million extension in October 2020. He was benched for the second game of the season after taking an undisciplined penalty on opening night. That set him off, with GM Jeff Gorton threatening the defenseman with waivers if there was another behavioral incident. On Jan. 31, 2021, DeAngelo got into a physical altercation with goalie Alexandar Georgiev as they left the ice, and the Rangers waived him. After six games, Gorton said DeAngelo had “played his last game for the Rangers.” They tried to trade him to no avail, and eventually bought out the last year of his contract this summer.
There was also his social media presence, on a since-deactivated Twitter feed. While he was labeled a COVID denier, DeAngelo clarified to the New York Post that he trying to be critical of the media’s coverage of the virus after the 2020 election, falsely claiming that coverage of the pandemic had disappeared.
Grade: D-plus. This is a high-reward signing at a low risk for the Hurricanes. Well, low financial risk, anyway.
The backlash from some pockets of their fan base has been palpable, as DeAngelo drags his off-ice reputation with him like an anchor to Raleigh. The fun-loving “Bunch of Jerks” that had become darlings of online hockey fandom had revealed themselves to be as calculated and callous as the Canadiens were in drafting Logan Mailloux last weekend. To that, GM Don Waddell says: “We’ve done a lot of background work on this player and we are confident that he can be a positive addition to our group.”
It’s valuing talent over morals, of business over the rightful indignation of some of their most loyal consumers. And that’s a hockey problem, not just a Carolina Hurricanes problem.