All the elements that have transformed July 1 into the most compelling day on the hockey transaction calendar were present in Western Canada Tuesday, as four Canadian clubs covered all the bases in hopes of fielding a playoff entry between them one of these days.
Edmonton spent $4 million per year on third-line winger Benoit Pouliot, which seemed insane. Then Calgary dropped $2.9 annually on Deryk Engelland, who averaged the least minutes per game (13:02) of the 11 defencemen used by Pittsburgh last season.
And, of course, the Vancouver Canucks had to make it all about goaltending, as they can now say they’ve had both goalies from the 2010 gold medal game, with Ryan Miller tugging on No. 30 inside Rogers Arena for the first time on Tuesday.
And the Jets? Well, they grabbed Mathieu Perreault. For the Jets, that’s about as exciting as it ever gets, isn’t it?
Here’s our tour through the Western clubs, after a July 1 that surely lived up to the billing.
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
GM Jim Benning did some fine work in the days heading into free agency, moving Ryan Kesler and Jason Garrison, buying out David Booth and bringing in Derek Dorsett. Then he capped it off by landing the top UFA goalie on the market in Ryan Miller.
If there are two things we’ve learned about the new GM, it is that he owns a distinct plan for what his roster is going to look like, and the one he inherited in Vancouver does not suit his eye one bit.
“We’re going to do everything we can do to … make this team into a playoff team this year,” he said. “I thought it was important to get a goalie with experience.”
Only the staunchest Canucks fan was happy to go forward with Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom, and as anyone who watched things unravel in Edmonton last year will attest, it doesn’t much matter what you’re doing with your roster of skaters. If the goalies can’t keep the puck out of the net, you are surely doomed. Miller makes this Canucks team much, much more competitive than it would have been.
CALGARY FLAMES
See above.
New GM Brad Treliving made it abundantly clear that this is the start of a three-year project in Calgary, and he signed goalie Jonas Hiller (two years, $9 million), winger Mason Raymond (three years, $9.5 million) and defenceman Deryk Engelland (three years, $8.7 million) on Tuesday. That puts the Flames, three years from now, where Edmonton is today — four years of rebuilding behind them and ready to turn a corner.
Again, nothing works without goaltending, and though Reto Berra showed us he is an NHL goalie last season, Hiller is better. The Flames lost 26 goals from Mike Cammalleri when he walked for New Jersey, so they’d better become even more adept at keeping the puck out of the net.
Are Raymond and Engelland pricey for what they bring? Sure, but on July 1, that’s the deal. Especially when you’re in Year 2 of a long rebuild. You have to overpay players to choose at least three seasons without a playoff game — it is as simple as that.
“Without goaltending you have no chance,” Treliving told the Calgary media. “This is a process. We’re eight hours into the summer. There’s lots of work to be done. Term, in a cap system, is what strangles you. I was adamant — three years or less — in the cycle that we’re in right now.”
EDMONTON OILERS
In the past few days, the Edmonton Oilers have added 6-foot-4 defenceman Nikita Nikitin, 6-foot-3 wingers Teddy Purcell and Benoit Pouliot, 6-foot-3 defenceman Mark Fayne, 6-foot-6 defenceman Keith Aulie, and drafted 6-foot-2 centre Leon Draisaitl.
Get the picture?
“We added a lot of size in the last two days,” began GM Craig MacTavish. He has seen his club strike out on big names enough, so this spring they made two realistic goals of Pouliot and Fayne, and reeled them in soon after noon ET on July 1.
“It was collaboration between our management, our coaches and our current players … to ultimately sign those two players. Fayne makes simple plays with the puck but makes them highly effectively. Pouliot is our most important add. We needed someone with speed … and he’s a guy who pressures the puck very well.”
Like everyone else, Edmonton overpaid. But the incoming players will play here — other than Draisaitl, who will return to junior if the Oilers can land another centre somewhere (Mikhail Grabovski?) Aulie, who may or may not make the Top 6 on defence, comes in at $800,000 on a one-year deal. Edmonton got better on July 1, and can afford the price they paid to do so.
WINNIPEG JETS
The Jets re-signed defenceman Adam Pardy and winger Chris Thorburn, who combined for 17 points in 115 games last season, and dipped into the UFA market for centre Mathieu Perreault, who emerged as a useful player for Anaheim this past season.
But as usual, Winnipeg kept the big moves holstered through the draft and opening of free agency, and it’s hard to see how a team that came up short of the playoffs last season improved itself markedly here.
Dustin Byfuglien and Evander Kane are still Jets, and Ondrej Pavelec is still the incumbent goaltender, though the defection of backup Al Montoya to Florida might open the door for that James Reimer trade with Toronto.
Jets fans can look to the west and laugh at some over-spending, sure. But they may like to see their own club do something — anything — to get better, other than draft 18-year-olds.