The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks made several important if non-groundbreaking moves on the first day of NHL free agency as destinations for top free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter shifted east.
The Kings re-upped with Dustin Penner for one year at 3.25 million dollars following the expiration of the five-year, 21.25 million dollar offer sheet that he signed with the Edmonton Oilers a month and a half after winning a Stanley Cup with the Ducks in 2007.
"I wanted to be on a championship team. In the past, when I was with Anaheim, I kind of flew the coop early," Penner said via conference call. "I didn't get to experience being a part of a championship team the following year, which is something that delayed my signing the offer sheet, because I wanted to be part of that."
With Penner and Stoll re-signing, the Kings have the option to return their entire Cup-winning roster intact. NHL sophomore-to-be Dwight King is a restricted free agent whom the Kings shouldn't have much hesitation in working out new contract details with after the burly winger forged a role on the team with an effective second half and playoff run. Los Angeles is more than eight and a half million dollars under the 70.2 million dollar salary cap that NHL is working under amidst the uncertainties of an expiring collective bargaining agreement, though they are not expected to land either Parise or Suter. Several media reports pegged the Kings as having pursued Parise.
Among the players from Los Angeles' championship team that are likely to have their name surface in trade discussions this summer include depth winger Brad Richardson, who has one year left on his contract at 1.175 million dollars, and backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier, who is worthy of a starting role on another team but may not be moved until the Kings receive a substantial enough package or until they can more acutely gauge which areas will be in need of improvement.
Anaheim injected some necessary size into their defensive corps on Saturday, signing former Hurricane Bryan Allen for three years and 10.5 million, and three-time All-Star Sheldon Souray for three years and 11 million, according to media reports.
Allen, a 6'5, 225 pound stay-at-home type, is coming off a one-goal, 14-point season with Carolina in which he earned a minus-one rating and gathered a team-high 76 penalty minutes while playing in all 82 games. Along with the 6'4, 237 pound Souray, the Ducks have adequately filled their biggest weakness heading into free agency: the lack of size, toughness and responsibility on their blueline.
"Just all around, this I think was the best fit hockeywise, and certainly the best fit on a personal level," said Souray, who retains family ties in Southern California. "Those two for me, historically, when I've had my kids around, and I've been able to combine those two things, it's made me a better hockey player and a happier person, and thankfully and luckily I'm going to have the opportunity to do that on a full time basis over the next few years. We're happy."
Souray was a mostly effective piece on a physical Dallas Stars blueline last season, recording six goals and 21 points in 64 games. Not including the entire 2002-03 season that he missed with a wrist injury or the 2010-11 season that was spent in the American Hockey League as an Edmonton salary dump, Souray has averaged 59.5 games played per season over the 12 years he has spent in the NHL.
Allen, Souray, Francois Beauchemin and Luca Sbisa are all signed through 2015, while Toni Lydman, Cam Fowler and Nate Guenin are signed through the upcoming year, with Fowler headed to restricted free agency in 2013. Skilled 21 year old Finnish defenseman Sami Vatanen will have to have a thoroughly impressive training camp in order to earn a spot the blueline, though he spoke of his development late last week at the team's development camp.
"I'm an offensive defenseman," Vatanen said to AnaheimDucks.com. "I like to be like Scott Niedermayer was. He wasn't [such a] big guy. I try to play like [him]: bring the puck up, and give easy passes, and try to make some points."
Though Justin Schultz was the name most Ducks fans were hoping to hear by this time, general manager Bob Murray filled several defensive gaps with suitable targets after having traded puck moving defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky for a 2013 second round pick at the NHL Draft.
Schultz, whom the Ducks selected in the second round in 2008, used a CBA loophole to become a free agent after two seasons with the BCHL's Westside Warriors and three NCAA seasons with the University of Wisconsin. He officially signed with the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday after choosing their services in a publicized courting period for the services of a heavily hyped 22 year old prospect yet to appear in his first NHL game.
Murray expressed strongly his desire to see the loophole that allowed Schultz to bolt for Edmonton to change.
"It sure better be, because this is very unfair not only to the organization, but it's unfair to the Anaheim Duck fans, and it's unfair to other fans, the Phoenix Coyotes fans on Blake Wheeler. We're all aware of other players coming along that are in this situation, and it's just wrong. I sure hope the NHL realizes they dropped the ball big time," he said.
The Ducks also signed 27-year old enforcer Brad Staubitz to a two-year, 1.275 million dollar deal after the forward appeared in 62 games with Minnesota and Montreal last season, scoring once and adding 121 penalty minutes.
Popular enforcer and power forward George Parros left the organization he had won a Stanley Cup with, accepting a two-year, 1.85 million dollar deal in Florida. With Parros' departure, Chris Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Beauchemin remain holdovers from Anaheim's 2007 championship team – Beauchemin left the Ducks through free agency in 2009 but rejoined the team via trade in 2011 – along with Teemu Selanne, whose loose July 1st personal deadline to decide if he would return for his 42 year old season, has passed.
"We've texted. He was playing a bunch of golf this weekend, and he said ‘OK, we'll talk Monday or Tuesday,'" Murray said of Selanne. "That's positive for me."
Parise indicated that he'll likely make a decision by Monday, and while the Kings were among the long list of teams pressing for his services, they aren't expected to be frontrunners to land the 27-year old forward who captained the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final but is likely to sign elsewhere due to financial restrictions that are likely to bring down New Jersey's payroll. Franchise goaltender Martin Brodeur is also a candidate to sign elsewhere, as is versatile top pairing defenseman Bryce Salvador.
Neither Los Angeles nor Anaheim appears to be in the running for 27-year old defenseman Ryan Suter, the Wisconsin native who set a career high with 46 points last season and is a plus-42 in his seven-year Nashville career.
According to several reports, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Detroit and Carolina are among the teams making a push for both Parise and Suter.
The largest deal of the day was awarded to 27-year old defenseman Jason Garrison, who accepted a six-year, 27.6 million dollar contract with Vancouver after the Canucks saw Sami Salo and Aaron Rome depart for Tampa Bay and Dallas, respectively. Garrison is coming off a breakthrough 16-goal, 33-point season.
40-year old winger Ray Whitney signed a two-year deal with Dallas worth nine million dollars after a 24-goal, 77-point season in Phoenix. Coyotes captain Shane Doan is also a candidate to leave the desert, though he'll likely wait until July 9 to make his decision. The Kings are one of the teams vying for his services, according to Pierre LeBrun.
