Which teams will regret their offseason decisions?
In the moment, every team leaves NHL free agency feeling like a winner. After all, each signing was made with the belief that it would make a team better, and there’s nothing to dissuade teams of that belief until the puck drops on the next season. A few years down the line, however, it becomes pretty clear which teams botched their free agent signings.
With the power of foresight, however, maybe we can predict which teams will regret their free agent signings just days after they happen. Now that the bulk of this year’s free-agent crop has been signed, we can project which teams will look back at their decisions with regret rather than satisfaction.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton were joined by Steve Peters to discuss which teams could be having second thoughts about their offseason moves so far.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Do you think there’s one GM who is sitting in his chair right now going “Oh boy, I might have messed up these last couple of days.”?
Steve Peters: The funny thing is, the GMs aren’t. There isn’t one guy, now a week after, going “Gosh, I made a mistake.” There are some guys that are nervous, but they want to see this play out. You’ve got to go to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Bowen Byram deal to me is one that, and I know people were upset about the fourth-overall pick, I get it, but I still think the price is the price, and if you want a puck-moving defenseman at 25 years old that can help get the puck on the power play and help Connor Bedard, I don’t mind that. I am concerned about the $12.5 million and making him the highest paid defenseman in the league right now, though I know they didn’t have a choice. That one’s a little scary.
Then you’ve got to go to San Jose, who has a great draft and a great season last year. Then they add Darnell Nurse, and they pick up the whole contract. You’ve got (Jacob) Trouba and you’ve got Mason Marchment. Do you want to be young and fast or do you want to be old and slow? You’ve got to make a decision. So I think those two teams and the L.A. Kings. Again, we talk about age in this league, you’ve got to be fast. You want to win? Watch the Carolina Hurricanes play, they are fast. And I think L.A. just got slower.
You can catch the full discussion and the rest of Friday’s episode here…