NHL free agency 2017: Winners, losers from early frenzy

A week ago, the buzz around the NHL was that it was going to take a seven-year deal worth $7 million per season to land top unrestricted free agent defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk.

Today, the New York Rangers, a team in desperate need of the puck-moving expertise that Shattenkirk possesses, signed him to a four-year deal worth an average of $6.65 million per season.

The Rangers were among the big winners on the opening day of the free agent season.

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After buying out Dan Girardi's contract and trading Derek Stepan, the Rangers put themselves in a favorable salary cap situation this offseason. But the Rangers didn’t want to risk more salary cap torment by giving too many years to Shattenkirk.

It helped that Shattenkirk, a native of New Rochelle, N.Y., wanted to play in New York. The Rangers are landing a right-shot defenseman who had 56 points this past season, including 14 in 19 games with the Washington Capitals at the end of the season.

Earlier this week, the Rangers re-signed trade deadline acquisition Brendan Smith, also a defenseman. All of a sudden, the Rangers' defense has been upgraded from below average to intriguing.

Loser: Washington Capitals

The Capitals have lost defensemen Karl Alzner (Montreal Canadiens) and Shattenkirk to free agency and Nate Schmidt to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. They’ve also lost winger Justin Williams (Carolina Hurricanes) to free agency.

Meanwhile, most of the Metropolitan Division has been active, with the Pittsburgh Penguins adding defenseman Matt Hunwick, in addition to the Rangers' and Hurricanes' moves. The New York Islanders (Jordan Eberle) and Columbus Blue Jackets (Artemi Panarin) expect to be improved after offseason trades, and the Penguins will be just as good.

Will the Capitals be as dominant next season? Unless they make some moves, they could take a half-step back.

Winner: Sam Gagner

One year ago, teams were not lining up to sign Gagner to a free agent contract. After making $4.8 million per season, Gagner accepted a 2016-17 contract paying him $650,000 to play for the Blue Jackets.

Coach John Tortorella gave him enough playing time and he scored 18 goals and registered 50 points, both career highs.

He turned that into a new three-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks that will pay him more than $3 million per season.

The moral of the story: sometimes it pays off in the long run to accept the best opportunity and not necessarily the biggest paycheck.

Loser: General managers

By 6 p.m. ET, NHL general managers had signed 82 players for a cap hit of roughly $143 million, according to capfriendly.com. Calgary Flames president Brian Burke has said in the past that general managers make more mistakes on this day than any other day of the year, except trade deadline day.

As happy as GMs are today about their moves, history tells us that many of these deals are not going to work out.

Winner: Pittsburgh Penguins

At first glance, you would think the Penguins were losers because they lost Nick Bonino to the Nashville Predators, Trevor Daley to the Red Wings, Ron Hainsey to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chris Kunitz to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

But they signed defenseman Hunwick to a three-year deal at $2.25 million per season. GM Jim Rutherford said they believe he can have as much of an impact as Daley, who signed for more than $3 million per season.

They also added backup goalie Antti Niemi, and Rutherford re-signed defenseman Justin Schultz, a restricted free agent, to a three-year deal with a cap hit of $5.5 million. The Penguins’ salary cap situation is better than it has been in the last few seasons. The Penguins needed to shed veterans to make room for younger players.

Rutherford hasn’t yet found the No. 3 center he needs to fill out his roster but he joked that coach Mike Sullivan said he can get by as long as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are healthy.

“It’s important that we don’t panic and go after a center just to say we got a center,” said Rutherford, who indicated that he may have to wait until the season starts to find the player he wants.

This is why the Penguins have won two Stanley Cups in a row, and are a threat to win a third.

Loser: Connor Hellebuyck

The Jets still are bullish on their young goalie's ability, but they didn’t sign Steve Mason to a two-year contract paying him $4.1 million per season to be Hellebuyck’s 25-game back-up.

They obviously feel Hellebuyck, 24, isn’t quite ready to carry the load.

Winner: Dallas Stars

In this offseason, general manager Jim Nill secured the goalie he wanted in Ben Bishop, the defenseman he needed in Marc Methot and the center he coveted in Martin Hanzal, who was a free agent.

Hanzal, a 20-goal scorer with superb faceoff skills, joins Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza to give Dallas one of the top center groups.

Loser: NHL fans

Because July 1 fell on a Saturday and the free agent class was short on high-profile players, the day lacked the pizzazz of previous free agent days. No signing left us shocked, bewildered or wowed.

This year’s signing day seemed businesslike, a bunch of teams just getting the job done.