NHL Free Agency: 4 best bargain UFA signings so far
By Jasmine Yen
NHL Free Agency isn’t exactly the best place to find bargain deals, but with all the movement so far, there have been some diamonds in the rough.
Typically, NHL Free Agency is when teams are notorious for over-spending on mediocre players. Almost a billion dollars have been spent so far this offseason. That’s a lot of regrettable dollars. However, some teams have gone against the grain by signing players to bargain deals.
Let’s take a look at the four best bargain signings so far in free agency.
1. Devante Smith-Pelly
Smith-Pelly emerged in the playoffs scoring two game-winners for the eventual Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. He was offered better money and longer term from other teams, but ultimately chose the Capitals for one-year and one million dollars.
"“It wasn’t worth it to leave somewhere where I’m happy and somewhere where I really want to be, The money to me personally is not that important if I’m not going to be happy somewhere else.”"
Whatever the reasoning, the Caps have just landed an established fourth-line forward for a million bucks. Smith-Pelly is a proven playoff scorer, which should help them as they try to defend their title.
2. Riley Nash
Riley Nash signed a three-year deal worth $2.75 million annually. He should help the Columbus Blue Jackets address their center depth. And Nash’s deal is even better if you consider the outrageous contract Jay Beagle got from the Vancouver Canucks.
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3. Anton Khudobin
The Dallas Stars signed the former Boston Bruins backup for two years and $2.5 million dollars per season. For the past few seasons, the Stars have been cursed with horrible goaltending with whoever they signed. With a goalie pair of Ben Bishop and Khudobin, they have fixed that problem and improved their team significantly.
Last season, he played for Rask 31 times, especially in the first half of the season when Rask was really struggling. Khudobin put up a .913 save percentage and a 2.56 goals against average. If Bishop falls to another injury, the Stars know their backup has the ability to step in a play for longer stretches than most backups.
Besides, with the offense Dallas has, the goalies just need to be is average for this team to be really scary.
4. Derek Ryan
Derek Ryan signed a three-year, $3.125 million dollar deal with the Calgary Flames. With the Flames coming off a disappointing season, they made a lot of moves to add depth to their offense. Ryan will be their third line center which gives this team an intimidating center core of Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund, and Ryan.
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$3.125 is quite a bit for a traditional third line center, but that’s not what Ryan is. He is a center who can play on both the penalty kill and power play. If any of the centers start to slip up, Ryan can easily slot into their spots. This adds some internal competition to motivate the players into playing to their maximum, something they lacked last season.
To get this kind of utility player for that money is quite the bargain for the Flames.