National Hockey League

Unrestricted free agent winners and losers

Published Jul. 4, 2009 1:52 a.m. ET

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Well, that was fun. At least for those who didn't have to work and try to keep a website up to date with the furious action that was the first day of the NHL's free agent frenzy.

But I digress.

It'll be the better part of the forthcoming season, or even upwards of a decade, to get the full lay of the land on each of the 49 deals (equaling more than $460 million) consummated Wednesday but while the dust is still settling, let's take a look at which GMs did well and which will have some questions to answer from their soon-to-be apoplectic owners.

Winners

Minnesota

At first blush it appears as though new GM Chuck Fletcher replaced one injury-prone goal guru with another, but signing Martin Havlat — for $2.5 million less than Marian Gaborik, I might add — was of the utmost importance as a building block in the Wild's new philosophy of up-tempo hockey.

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