Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 4.42

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Free agency certainly isn’t what it used to be for general managers looking to restock and change the fortunes of their team in a short period of time. Prior to the inception of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, players would not become unrestricted free agents until the age of thirty one but now when a player hits the age of twenty seven or accumulates seven years of NHL service, they are free to test the open market. In theory, more franchise-type players would become available to teams at a time in their careers where they were still young enough to change the direction of a franchise and not just act as a complimentary addition.

Funny thing is though; very few teams are letting their dynamic young talent come anywhere close to the open market, opting either to lock them up to long and I mean long term deals in advance of July 1st or trade away their rights to ensure they are not lost for nothing.

The Vancouver Canucks didn’t allow the Sedin twins to get to a point where other teams could negotiate with them. Jay Bouwmeester obviously wasn’t going to resign with the Panthers so his rights were dealt in advance of July 1st to the Flames, a team he had interest in signing with. A deal was eventually struck, the Panthers received a third round pick and the rights to UFA Jordan Leopold but Bouwmeester never became available to all thirty teams.

Many have said the Maple Leafs should set their sights toward landing Rick Nash when he becomes a free agent in 2010 but did anybody really believe Nash would ever come close to hitting the open market? I didn’t and I was right. A potential gold nugget for teams in the summer of 2010 is now off the market after signing a long term extension in Columbus. You’ll get some nice players through free agency but it’s not likely you’ll get a stud to change the fortunes of a franchise. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.