Winners
1. Colorado Avalanche ~ Picking up a top 3 forward and a top 2 defender without going too far overboard, earns Colorado top honours. Both Smyth and Hannan will bring some grit and offense to the team, and both of them have plenty of good years left in them.
2. Calgary Flames ~ No word yet on an upgrade up front, but adding Aucoin and Sarich to a defense core that includes Phaneuf, Regehr and Warrener is huge.
3. Philadelphia Flyers ~ I’m not fussy on the Briere contract to tell you the truth (nor the Timonen or Hartnell ones), but the Flyers get full marks on adding Lupul and Jason Smith. We should see a better season from them next go around.
Losers
1. New York Islanders ~ If only they had the foresight that many of us fans did that Ryan Smyth would not return to Long Island, they might have spent the day trying to improve their team elsewhere. Now all of a sudden, even the Yashin buyout is starting to look bad.
2. New Jersey Devils ~ Perhaps Lou didn’t have a whole lot of choice with this one, although he should have been able to at least match the Wings offer to Rafalski. There is still some names out there that can restore this club, but they have taken a huge hit losing their top 2 playoff performers.
3. New York Rangers ~ Betcha thought I was going to say the Sabres? Nope. The Rangers are quickly undoing the process that has lead them to respectability in the past couple of seasons. Both contracts to Gomez and Drury were beyond ridiculous, and now this team must worry about chemistry, money for role players, and the possible resigning of Henrik Lundqvist when the time comes. They better hope the cap does not drop in the next 5 years.
For a complete FA day recap, please check out The NHL Arena.
LS
