Frenzy to Snorefest

The first 24 hours of Free Agency did not disappoint. Big ticket players were signed, trades were made,  lots of money was spent and there was no shortage of drama.

Since then? *Crickets*. 

It had been pointed out ad nauseum that this was a relatively weak free agent class but I don't believe many realized just how weak until July 5th passed. 

Now we are left with a handful of complementary players who still need contracts and a long summer until hockey starts.

Let's take a look at which players are already on the move:

Going to the East:

• Boston trades C Tyler Seguin and C Rich Peverley in a seven-player deal to land LW Loui Eriksson
• Columbus signs RW Nathan Horton to a seven year contract
• Detroit signs RW Daniel Alfredsson* to a one year deal and C Stephen Weiss to a five year deal
• Montreal signs recently bought out RW Danny Briere and acquires tough guy George Parros
• New Jersey (one of the more active teams this off season) signs LW Ryane Clowe and RW Michael Ryder to five and two year deals respectively while trading their 9th overall pick at the draft to acquire G Corey Schneider from the Vancouver Canucks
• New York Islanders add RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard via free agency on a one-year deal while trading former first-round pick RW Nino Niederreiter for RW Cal Clutterbuck
• Ottawa signs LW Clarke MacArthur to a two-year deal and trade RW Jakob Silfverberg, RW Stefan Noesen and a 1st round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for RW Bobby Ryan
• Philadelphia adds C Vincent Lecavalier on a five year deal and also bring back G Ray Emery into the mix via free agency
• Pittsburgh brings back D Rob Scuderi who was a key member of their defense when they won the cup in 2009. He signs for four years. 
• Tampa Bay adds a second-line center in C Valterri Filppula 
• Toronto signs RW David Clarkson to a huge seven-year contract and also acquired C David Bolland from the Chicago Blackhawks for draft picks at the 2013 NHL Draft

Going to the West:

• Anaheim adds RW Jakob Silfverberg, RW Stefan Noesen (via Ryan trade)
• Chicago brings back G Nikolai Khabibulin  to backup Corey Crawford
• Dallas adds C Tyler Seguin, C Rich Peverley, C Shawn Horcoff and G Dan Ellis
• Edmonton signs D Andrew Ference, C Boyd Gordon, G Jason LaBarbera, LW Jesse Joensuu, G Richard Bachman
• Los Angeles signs D Jeff Schultz
• Minnesota brings aboard LW Matt Cooke, RW Nino Niederreiter and D Keith Ballard
• Nashville adds LW Viktor Stalberg, C Matt Cullen, LW Eric Nystrom and LW Matt Hendricks
• Phoenix signs C Mike Ribeiro and G Thomas Greiss
• San Jose acquires and signs LW Tyler Kennedy
• St. Louis sign C Derek Roy and C Maxim Lapierre
• Winnipeg adds RW Devin Setogouchi, Michael Frolik, D Adam Pardy

As you can see, since the Draft, there has been some shuffling of players. While there may not be top level players left via free agency, look for teams to be exploring opportunities for trades (as we have already seen teams like Dallas, Ottawa, Boston and Anaheim do).

Next time we'll be looking at some of the biggest story lines in the off season so far including Vancouver, Ottawa, Boston and more.

Thanks for reading!