After an exciting awards ceremony in Las Vegas, the NHL continued its fun in the sun with Friday night's draft in Los Angeles. Unlike the NFL, hockey's prospects are drafted as teenagers, meaning that only a handful of first rounders will make the big squad, let alone have any impact. As a result, Saturday's coverage of rounds two through seven will not affect the upcoming season, allowing me to feel no shame in ignoring the selections. Instead, I will focus on Round 1 and its impact on free agency, which begins July 1st.
The Edmonton Oilers got the ball rolling with the first overall selection. Unable to acquire the second pick from Boston, general manager Steve Tambellini was forced to choose between Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin, the consensus top two prospects. The Oilers ended the anticipation by immediately selecting the Windsor Spitfire's Hall, despite the Central Scouting Association's decision to rank Seguin as North America's top skater.
Boston was forced to "settle" for Seguin, adding another center to their deep supply of middle men. Goaltender Tim Thomas has been the focus of numerous trade rumors after losing his starting role to NHL SV% leader Tuuka Rask. It would come as no surprise to see the Bruins package Thomas and one of their current centers in a deal to acquire a winger. Their blue line has a vacancy after the trade of Denis Wideman.
San Jose's decision to let goaltender Evgeni Nabokov walk will have the greatest effect on signings this July. Labeled as a choker, Nabokov compiled the league's sixth best SV% (.922) in the regular season. But his poor performance in big games frustrated the Sharks' front office. Instead of re-signing the native of Kazakhstan, who will turn 35 in July, San Jose will trust their goaltending duties to the German Thomas Greiss.
What most "experts" overlook is Nabokov's excessive playing time. In the regular season alone, Nabby made 71 starts, in addition to his time in the Olympics and the preseason. It should come as no surprise that he is fatigued each April, when his game total nears 100. The 2008 playoffs will forever be remembered as a major choke for Nabokov, who started 77 regular season games and logged 4,560:56 minutes between the pipes. Should he go to a team where he can be allowed nights to rest, the guru expects him to maintain his high level of play well into the playoffs.
He may have that opportunity in Philadelphia. In the Flyers goaltender carousel, no individual started more than 29 games in 2009-10. While this was likely due to numerous long-term injuries, GM Paul Holmgren cannot be confident in his current goalies. Playoff starter Michael Leighton is an unrestricted free agent. Ray Emery is returning from a serious injury. Brian Boucher has played for six different teams since the lockout, which tells you all you need to know about how he is viewed by GMs. The Flyers have over $11 million left in cap space, giving them significant funds to throw Nabokov's way. There are still some holes on the blue line after the team could not come to terms with restricted free agent Dan Hamhuis. He was dealt to Pittsburgh for a third round selection in 2011.
The guru will return to continue the free agency discussion. As a reminder, there is a link to NHLnumbers.com under "sites to check out." There you can find accurate salaries and contract information for all thirty teams.
