After the first day of NHL free agency, the Vancouver Canucks have to be the biggest winner on day one. They already have a solid group in place, and they added Dan Hamhius a very solid defender along with one of the best third line centers in the game Manny Malhotra (not a great scorer but fantastic on faceoffs and defense). Calgary brought back Jokinen and Tanguay at a reasonable price, but these are two players who were chased out of town by angry fans. The experts on the TSN panel were completely shocked at the news.
Toronto did well to add Versteeg Tuesday in a trade, and Colby Armstrong is a solid addition. The Leafs have to try to make the playoffs this season, as they have another first round pick heading to Boston. Edmonton got Kurtis Foster at a great price, but I don't see them as a playoff team next season. Ottawa added Gonchar, but lost Volchenkov. At age 35, I don't know how many extra wins Gonchar will bring in Anton's stead, and we know that the Gonch gets hurt quite a lot. Montreal is a little nuts to have shipped away Halak to sign Plekanec to a 6 million per year deal, and Alex Auld is far from a spectacular addition.
Vancouver improved their team the most today, not because they signed the best available players, but because they did the best to fill their specific needs.
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