Five Takeaways from Day 1 of Free Agency

The first day of free agency was a busy day around the NHL. With contract signings and money moving, what were the big takeaways, themes and player signings? We take a look.
Some may refer to this time of year as the off-season, but when the clock hit 9 a.m. Wednesday, NHL Free Agency was off to a roaring start with a flurry of players moving to new teams, contract signings and overall excitement.

The action doesn't stop Wednesday, of course. Players and organizations can continue to explore options through the summer. But with many NHL general managers finishing media availabilities, it signals an unofficial end to the first day of free agency.
Here are some trends, lessons learned and what might come next:

1. Fast and Furious

In a year in which there was hardly any increase in the total amount of dollars a team could spend to stay within the salary cap, we weren't sure how much activity we'd see in Free Agency.
But teams didn't waste much time getting to work on signing who they could. As of 5:30 pm Pacific time, 127 contracts had been signed on Wednesday alone.

According to Cap Friendly, 30 of those were signed 30 minutes into free agency for a total of 73 contract years and $248 million contract dollars.
Once organizations were two hours in, another 30 contracts had been signed worth 63 more contract years and $203 million more contract dollars.
Two hours after that, 34 more contracts had been signed bringing the total number of contracts to 94, with a corresponding contract value of $594 million and 198 contract years. OK, take a breath!
That's an aggressive start to free agency, no doubt, particularly when you compare it to last season. How much dealing went on out of the gate? Remember those two-hour totals from Wednesday: 60 contracts, 136 contract years, $405 millon contract dollars? By comparison, in 2020, two hours into free agency, teams had committed to just 22 contracts for 41 contract years and $94 million contract dollars.

2. Bolstering Blue Lines

We know there was a lot of player movement to start free agency, but what was noticeable was how many defensemen found a new home-and for good money too. A third of of all players who changed teams were defensemen.

On top of that, three of the highest annual cap hits belonged to blue-liners (Dougie Hamilton to New Jersey, Alex Gologoski from Arizona, Alec Martinez re-signing to Vegas).

3. Goal-Line Stands

Teams didn't just change a lot defensively in terms of the skaters on the roster, the goaltending merry-go-round was quite a ride. Eighteen goaltenders switched teams on Wednesday, including ex-Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen moving to Carolin and ex-Carolina backstop heading to Toronto.
Boston, Toronto, Carolina, San Jose, Vancouver and even Seattle made changes in net - the Kraken signed 2021 Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer. Some teams, especially Colorado, will still be shopping for goalies.

4. Dismantling the Champs

Tampa Bay built a roster strong enough to win the Stanley Cup two years in a row, but it wasn't strong enough to survive the demands of a salary-cap economy.
With contracts expiring and the aforementioned minimal growth in available dollars to spend, the Lightning had to face what everyone knew was coming: a dispersal of their Cup winning roster around the league.
Blake Coleman is now in Calgary. David Savard signed in Montreal. Tyler Johnson was traded to Chicago; Barclay Goodrow headed to the Rangers. Yanni Gourde, of course, comes to Seattle via the Expansion Draft, though injuries and July 21 shoulder surgery will push his Kraken debut into later 2021.

"[Gourde] will be out for a few months, probably miss the first couple months of the season," said Ron Francis. "But we still think he's that good a player that we wanted to pick him. When he comes back healthy and ready to go for us, he'll be a big addition to our team."
Don't feel too bad for Tampa Bay. The roster still features a lot of talent, especially with Brayden Point signing an eight-year, $76 million/$9.5M AAV extension Wednesday. The $9.5 million cap hit matches teammates, forward Nikita Kucherov and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy.

5. Key Signings

Some of the other notable signings that happened around the league Wednesday:
- To New Jersey from Carolina: Dougie Hamilton: 7 years, $9M cap hit. - To Edmonton from Toronto: Zach Hyman: 7 years, $5.5M cap hit. - To Los Angeles from Montreal: Phillip Danault: 6 years, $5.5M cap hit. - To Boston from Buffalo: Linus Ullmark: 4 years, $5M cap hit. - Extension in Edmonton: Tyson Barrie: 3 years, $3M cap hit.