July 1st is always a busy day in the NHL. Free agency is open and every team was looking to boost their lineups ahead of the upcoming season, and no one disappointed. There were many free agents on the market looking for new homes, and here is a brief recap of who went where.
News broke on Saturday evening that the Pittsburgh Penguins traded Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes for center Alex Galchenyuk. On Sunday evening, free agent forward Matt Duchene signed a 7-year deal with the Nashville Predators, worth $56 million. Norwegian star Mats Zuccarello signed a five-year deal worth $30 million. However, once the free agency period officially began Monday, all hell broke loose.
Free agent goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and defenseman Anton Stralman both joined the Florida Panthers, signing seven and three year deals, respectively. Joe Pavelski, who spent a bulk of his career with the San Jose Sharks, signed a 3-year deal with the Dallas Stars. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed free agent left winger Brandon Tanev to a 6-year contract.
However, the biggest splash came courtesy of the New York Rangers. The Blueshirts traded forward Jimmy Vesey to the Buffalo Sabres for a third-round pick in next year’s draft. That wasn’t even the half of it.
At an AAV of a little over $11 million a year, the team signed highly sought after forward free agent Artemi Panarin. The move signals the Rangers are ready for a serious 2019-2020 campaign.
Rangers president John Davidson spoke about the Panarin signing, “He loves to score, he loves to win, and I think he’s going to love everything about playing for us. It’s a perfect fit, I’m ecstatic.”
It was certainly a wild day in NHL free agency with all these moves. It will be very exciting to see if these players live up to the much anticipated hype of their contracts. Bring on, October!
