I'm going to update this throughout the day as…stuff happens…
Deal #1: Kris Versteeg and Bill Sweatt from Chicago to Toronto for Viktor Stalberg, Chris DiDomenico and Philippe Paradis.
Verdict: Versteeg @ $3M seems like a realistic valuation for him; at best he’s worth $4M. The big pieces going back the other way are Stalberg, whose career and scoring profile vaguely resembles Mason Raymond‘s before he got good and Paradis, who has already been traded twice this season and doesn’t exactly project as a big scorer. Chicago got salary relief and a few lottery tickets – Toronto got one of its better forwards. Seems like a fair deal in both directions.
Deal #2: Guillaume Latendresse re-signs with Minnesota for $5.1M over two years. That's an RFA contract, so he's being valued at $4M a season. For a third line guy (2nd line PP) without big defensive skills? Seems like an overpay.
Deal #3: Martin Biron to the Rangers, two years, $1.75M total. That's good value – better than Leighton, half the cash.
Deal #4: Sergei Gonchar to the Sens for three years, $16.5M. He's 36 with an injury history. This could turn out very badly. I'd have much rather they spent that money on Volchenkov. Ugh, NTC for Gonch.
Deal #5: Alex Tanguay to the Flames for 1 year, $1.7M. That's a great risk to take. Seriously, would you rather have Leighton, who you already know is bad? Or Tanguay, who might be great?
Deal #6: Andrei Meszaros to PHI for a 2nd round draft pick in 2012. Because a 7th round pick would have been too obvious?
Deal #7: Zybnek Michalek to PIT, 5 years, $20M. Great move by the Pens. Michalek has been a shutdown for two seasons now and succeeded despite dragging Jovo around the ice. No injury history, only 27. This is what you want in a free agent signing.
Deal #8: Alex Auld to Montreal for $1M. Slight overpay, but exactly what MTL should have done to begin with. Price is a real goalie, and you don't go after the #1 value free agent goalie when you've got that in the bag.
Deal #9: Antero Niittymaki to Sharks for 2 years @ $2M per. If you accept that his 2006-07 campaign was bad luck on a brutal team, then this is a good value deal. I am going to say "I told you so" on this one. Sharks are smart – they were never going to mid-30s goalies with overvalued league-average talent like Nabokov or Turco.
Deal #10: Manny Malhotra to the Canucks for 3 years, $2.5M per. Malhotra is a seriously underrated player – would much rather have him at $2.5M than Colby Armstrong at $3M.
Deal #11: Jody Shelley to PHI for 3 years, $1.1M. Ridiculously bad deal, but Shelley always wanted to be the richest man from Thompson, MB.
Deal #12: Dan Ellis to Tampa, 2 years, $1.5M per. When Ellis said he'd come cheap, he meant it. Absolutely ridiculous that Leighton is getting the same $$$.
Deal #13: I don't think I'd have the nerve to sign Paul Martin to a 5-year deal at $5M per. But you don't win the cup without filling holes with great players.
Deal #14: 4 years, $6.6M for Derek Boogaard to the Rangers? Are you kidding me? $6.6M for a guy who takes one 25-second shift a game?
Deal #15: Toni Lydman signs with Anaheim, 3 years, $3M per. Lydman and Tallinder did all the hard work in Buffalo for years, but the development of Tyler Myers made Lydman superfluous. I'd take this deal.
Deal #16: Ray Whitney signs for 2 years, $3M in Phoenix. The only question is what return they'll get for him at the deadline when their crappy team is 20 points out of the playoffs.
Deal #17: Henrik Tallinder, 4 years, $13.5M to New Jersey. Great pickup by the Devils. Tallinder is a great shutdown D-man.
Deal #18: Kurtis Foster to the Oil for 2 years, $1.8M per. Ouch. Why wouldn't he go to a team that might actually get a PP?
Deal #19: Hamhuis, 6 years, $4.5M to Vancouver. Definitely a good deal for yet another shutdown guy.
Deal #20: Anton Volchenkov, 6 years, $4.25M per to NJD. Part of a rash of reasonable deals for strong defensive defensemen – Hamhuis, Tallinder, Lydman, Michalek.
