After a red hot start to the NHL offseason, things have cooled off considerably the past couple of days. With most of the big name free agents off the market, that isn't all too surprising. However, there has been a recent spate of moves worth mentioning, even if a few of them are merely teams re-signing their restricted free agents.
Tomas Kaberle, the best defenseman who remained an unrestricted free agent, has now signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. The deal is for three years and averages out to $4.25 million per year. The 33-year-old Kaberle had four goals and 43 assists last season in Toronto and Boston. He's been one of the higher scoring defenseman in the league for years, and is an excellent playmaker on the power play. He may be a bit pricey, but getting him short term certainly helps. Additionally, Carolina traded away Joe Corvo to Kaberle's most recent team, the Bruins, for a fourth round pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. Corvo is a solid defenseman, but overall I think Carolina will be better off. With their offseason moves, they'll have another good chance at making the playoffs next season.
A couple more defenseman got re-signed recently. Anton Babchuk got a two year, $5 million deal from Calgary. He's a good defenseman, and he'll be getting less money than Detroit gave Jonathan Ericsson. A nice signing for the Flames, although losing out on Brad Richards has kind of left them in a rough spot. In a much bigger deal, the Coyotes re-signed Keith Yandle to a five year, $26.25 million contract. I like this deal for the Coyotes. Yandle is a great defenseman, and he's only 24. He was clearly deserving of a raise, but Phoenix got him for less than Columbus paid for James Wisniewski, despite the fact Yandle is probably the better player. They couldn't keep Ilya Bryzgalov, and they still need a goalie to replace him since Mike Smith won't cut it, but at least they locked down Yandle for a few seasons.
On the forwards side of things, the Winnipeg Jets signed captain Andrew Ladd to a five year, $22 million deal. Ladd had a career high 29 goals and 59 points last season, and he's only 25 so there is still some room for improvement. Still, this is probably too much money for a player of Ladd's current calibre, unless he proves last season wasn't a fluke. Speaking of having to prove last season wasn't a fluke, Toronto has re-signed Clarke MacArthur for two years and, reportedly, $6.5 million. MacArthur rode a fast start to a 21 goal, 62 points season. His previous career high in goals was 17 and in points was 31. So, naturally, there is reason to be wary of regression with MacArthur. Maybe he'll be a solid contributor for the next two seasons, or maybe he'll be a waste of money.
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