NHL Free Agency 2019: Biggest winners and losers from Day 1

Winner: Washington Capitals

The Washington Capitals quietly had themselves a solid day. They wanted to remake their forward core and they were able to do so. Richard Panik got a four-year deal worth $2.75 million annually. He has what it takes to be a huge bargain.

Next, Garet Hathaway got a four-year deal worth $1.5 million annually. Yes, the term is a little much. However, the cap hit is very reasonable. Hathaway should help the Capitals fix their penalty kill. He was very good there for the Calgary Flames last season.

The Capitals had a more aggressive penalty kill after acquiring Carl Hagelin in February. Hathaway fits that perfectly, as does Panik.

The Capitals ended their day by taking a flyer on pesty forward Brendan Leipsic. He’s only played in 126 regular season games and the Caps are his fifth different organization. There’s a reason for that.

But Leipsic is intriguing enough to warrant his $700,000 deal. He’s a skilled forward who had 18 points in 43 games last season. There might be something there. The Caps went bargain shopping in free agency and came out with some nice pieces. May this be a lesson to other general managers.

Loser: Pittsburgh Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins cleared up a bit of cap space when they traded Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes. I said at the time I would need to see what the Pens did with that cap space before judging the trade.

Well, it’s not good, as the Penguins used their new found cap space to sign Brandon Tanev to a six-year deal worth $21 million. Tanev is a fine player and is a decent bottom-six forward who can score and kill penalties. But yikes, at six years? That’s insane.