Team by Team Free Agent Breakdown Part one

Anaheim - While Anaheim did not sign a single free agent yet this off season, they may have made the biggest headlines. They did this when the news broke that Bobby Ryan was officially traded. Ryan, the target of much speculation when it came to trades over the past year or two, was finally traded. Ryan was shipped off to the Ottowa Senators in exchange for Jakub Silfverberg, Steffan Noesen and Ottowa’s 1st round pick in 2014. This trade makes complete sense for the Ducks, they were able to unload a considerable sum of money, while still adding a player who could easily be a 20 goal scorer next year. The ducks currently are just shy of 9.2M left under the cap, with only 2 more players to sign to get to a full 23 man roster. I don’t expect anything more from the Ducks, other than the re-signing of Palmieri and Beleskey, and of course Selanne retiring or electing to play one more season before breaking a hip in a tragic shuffleboard incident. Calgary - This is an interesting team to break down, as I question most of what Jay Feaster is thinking on a daily basis. They added Karri Ramo, Kris Russel, TJ Galiardi, and re-signed Brian McGrattan and Chris Butler. They lost Kiprusoof, Cervenka, and Babchuk. First of all, I do like the Galiardi signing. I don’t see him doing much more than 10G and 20A if he plays the full season, but what more can you ask from a guy who is only making 1.25M a year. Sending a 5th round pick to St. Louis for Russell was also a pretty smart move. This is a guy that could break the 20 point barrier this year, but more importantly can help keep the puck out of the net, which will have a new goaltender in front of it. Russell was a +6 last year and +13 the year before. This was a great pickup by Calgary. I still don’t believe that Calgary will do much better than 10th in the West, but they are improving. Edmonton - They did great, considering what they had to work with. They shaved about 4 million off their cap by offloading the way overpaid Horcoff in a trade that brought in Larsen. Larsen will likely be heading off to the AHL, as Edmonton now has 8 D-men on the roster, and his stats last season were unimpressive. He didn’t break 10 points, but he managed to finish with a -10 +/- rating. Not what you want from a D-man when you have shaky goaltending at best. Bringing in former cup winner Andrew Ference from the Boston Bruins was a great acquisition for the Oilers. He is a defenseman that brings leadership, mentoring, and experience to the party. He can easily be a 20 point scorer who last year was a +9 for the B’s. The only thing that I am put off by is the length of the deal. I am not a fan of a 34 year old player getting a 4 year deal. They overpayed for Boyd Gordon, but we will see if it pans out, I think not. I would not be surprised to see Hemsky and Gagner move over the next couple of weeks, as they are both big bargaining chips and can be used to bring in a goaltender, another solid D, or even a high powered scored. Great potential with this team once they get their situation in net figured out.rnrnTomorrow, be on the lookout for my article breaking down the moves from the other half of this division: LA, PHX, SJS, and VAN.rnrnI would like to thank you for your support in reading this. Please feel free to comment or email me at [email][email protected][/email]nrnAlso, follow me on Twitter: @BrianKoch_NHLrnrnThanks!rn