Free Agent Frenzy - Part IV

New York Islanders

Adds or Resigns: D-Mark Streit, F-Mike Comrie, F-Doug Weight, F-Jeff Tambellini, F-Sean Bergenheim, F-Frans Nielsen.

Subtractions: Likely D-Bryan Berard and coach Ted Nolan.

Fantasy Impact: Unsure if the actual signings for the team will have as much of an impact as the loss of players coach Ted Nolan. Nolan was actually hired prior to GM Garth Snow it was evident that the two of them were not seeing eye-to-eye. For the poolie, Mark Streit should bolster a fairly anemic Islanders PP, but Doug Weight’s signing was about bringing in someone to get the team to the floor of the league salary cap, rather than actually believing the team will be better with Weight in the line-up. To date, the signings do little to inspire fantasy poolies to think the Islanders will get much better. Tambellini might be worth a very late round pick as Snow wants the team to play it’s young guys.

New York Rangers

Adds or Resigns: F-Markus Naslund, D-Dmitri Kalinin, F-Aaron Voros, F-Patrick Rissmiller, D-Michal Rozsival, D-Wade Redden, G-Stephen Valiquette, D-Paul Mara, F-Nigel Dawes, F Greg Moore, F-Fredrik Sjostrom, F-Nikolai Zherdev and F-Dan Fritsche.

Subtractions: Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Fedor Tyutin, Christian Backman, Ryan Hollweg.

Fantasy Impact: No Jagr, no Straka and potentially no Marek Malik appears to have sent the message that the NY version of team Czech Republic is over. Zheredev is an enigmatic talent who has the ability to really shine, while Naslund has not been a premier sniper now for 4 seasons. Watch for both those guys to be paired with either Gomez or Drury respectively. Redden will need to seriously rebound to make fans forget about Tyutin, as Redden offensive game has stalled for the past two season. Actually the stronger signing may have been Dmitri Kalinin from the Sabres, who’s defensive game is very strong and offensive game is developing. Voros, Rissmiller and Fritsche bring size and energy to the 3rd and 4th lines likely. The Rangers will certainly be a much harder team to play against. Currently the Rangers are still talking with Brendan Shanahan to see if he’ll re-sign.

Ottawa Senators

Adds and Resigns: F-Josh Hennessy, F-Antoine Vermette, F-Chris Kelly, G-Alex Auld, F-Shean Donovan, F-Jarkko Ruutu, D-Jason Smith.

Subtractions: G-Ray Emery, D-Wade Redden, likely D-Andrej Meszaros.

Fantasy Impact: Pretty uneventful signing period for the Sens, who reportedly were trying to land Brian Campbell and then, Marian Hossa. Biggest impact may be Jason Smith, who will very likely wear an A, and provide just a ton of grit and desire on the Sens back-end. Gone is uber-distraction Emery, replaced with “white bread” Alex Auld. The Sens are still rumored to be looking for a puck moving defencemen, or to try and off-load Martin Gerber contract on someone, but that will also come through trade. Super-pest Ruutu is a decent bet if you need non-goon PIMs.

Philadelphia Flyers

Adds and Resigns: F-Jeff Carter, D-Steve Eminger, D-Ossi Vaananen, F-Glen Metropolit, F-Nate Raduns, F-Riley Cote, D-Randy Jones, F-Arron Asham, F-Joffrey Lupul, D-Danny Syvret, D-Janne Niskala.

Subtractions: F-Vacalav Prospal, F-RJ Umberger, D-Jaroslav Modry, D-Denis Gauthier, F-Tristan Grant, F-Patrick Thoresen.

Fantasy Impact: the young Flyers will have a speedier, yet softer defence; come the start of play in 2008-09. Eminger was a very high draft pick for the Capitals that has yet to realize his potential. Umberger became expendable when the Flyers signed Carter. Carter should build on a very productive 2nd half of the season last year. Lupul will play with either Carter or Briere and should tally many goals if he stays healthy. We think the young Flyers will again be an exciting team to watch, as well as draft earlier in your pool, we are just not sold on the strength of their defence or goaltending in general.

Toronto Maple Leafs

Adds or Resigns: D-Jeff Finger, G-Curtis Joseph, F-Mikhail Grabovski, F-Dominic Moore, Matt Stajan, F- Jamal Mayers, F-Ryan Hollweg, F-Ben Ondrus.

Subtractions: F-Mats Sundin, G-Andrew Raycroft, D-Andy Wozniewski, F-Darcy Tucker.
Fantasy Impact: And let the gutting begin. Interim GM Cliff Fletcher is certainly making all the tough decisions; letting Tucker go, letting Raycroft go, trying to sign Sundin but he likely won’t be back. These are actually the pretty good moves. Jeff Finger is a bit of a noggin’ scratch – big $ for a guy that made it to the NHL as a 28 year old rookie. Mayers and Hollweg will try to ensure that the team plays tough, but we are not sure if Mayers has much left in the tank. All in all it’s going to be a lean season for the Buds.

Washington Capitals

Add or Resigns: D-Mike Green, G-Jose Theodore, F-Keith Aucoin, F-Sergei Fedorov, LW- Brooks Laich, F-Boyd Gordon, D-Shaone Morrisonn. Subtractions: G-Cristobel Huet, G-Olaf Kolzig, D-Steve Eminger.

Fantasy Impact: On an improving, young team the moves made by Caps management, save for the Green signing, are worrisome. Sergei Federov played very well for the 20 games that the Caps had him and into the playoffs, but we’ve seen this before and he’s going to be a waste of a roster spot by the All-Star break. Jose Theodore’s decent season last year for the Avalanche will not be repeated in Washington. He’s just not that good. No real improvements for the team. In fact, from a poolies view point it looks as though they’ve gotten weaker and that’s not good. Green’s a budding NHL offensive super-star, and he’ll need to be for the caps to repeat last year.