Day 1 of NHL free agency brought the usual splashy spending, but a few of the biggest moves already look like they could age badly. With the cap climbing and teams throwing real money around, some of the contracts handed out on this Canada Day felt aggressive in all the wrong ways.
Jacob Trouba is right near the top of that list. San Jose Sharks general manager Mike Greer made the move, and the fit is hard to square with what the Sharks are trying to build. Trouba, 32, landed a four-year deal with an AAV of $8.25 million after a modest bounce-back in Anaheim following his exit from the New York Rangers.
He did show more life offensively, putting up 10 goals and 25 assists in 81 games. That was only the third time in his career he reached 10 goals, and he still brings the heavy, physical style teams want on the blue line.
But the concerns are impossible to ignore. His defensive numbers were only around even during his minutes, and while that was better than the previous three seasons, his skating at this stage of his career is still a problem.
On a young, quick Sharks roster, that looks like a real scheme mismatch.
The Trouba deal also comes with the backdrop of San Jose sitting on $14 million in cap space after day one. That gives the Sharks room, but pairing this signing with the Darnell Nurse trade makes the direction of the defense corps difficult to read.
It’s not just expensive. It feels off.
Sergei Bobrovsky might be the biggest gamble of the day. Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Chayka took the swing, signing the veteran goalie to a three-year deal worth $7 million annually after Bobrovsky was not retained by the Florida Panthers when he reportedly asked for a long-term contract.
There’s no denying what he meant to Florida during three straight Stanley Cup appearances, including back-to-back championships. But last season was rough.
In 52 games, Bobrovsky posted an .877 save percentage, -23.66 goals saved above average, and -1.75 goals saved above expected. The Panthers were hit hard by injuries, which made everything tougher, but his performance was still poor.
The concern in Toronto goes beyond one bad season. The Maple Leafs are not the same defensive team Florida was at its best, and even with the bottom six being rebuilt and the blue line still in progress, the rosters aren’t comparable.
Bobrovsky’s age is an obvious flag, even if he’s known for taking care of his body. The bigger issue is the structure of the goaltending situation after the Dennis Hildeby trade.
Now the Leafs are counting on Anthony Stolarz, whose career high in games is 34, plus a 38-year-old goalie who would probably benefit from load management. That’s a lot of pressure with very little insulation.
Washington’s signing of Vincent Desharnais rounds out the list. The Capitals have made plenty of good moves this offseason, but this one doesn’t belong in that category. Desharnais got four years at an AAV of $4.2 million, and that’s a steep price for a third-pair defenseman.
The 30-year-old, 6-foot-7 blueliner did have a strong defensive season in San Jose, and he’ll bring size and physicality to Washington’s third pair. Those are real traits.
The issue is the term and money. If you’re going four years on a third-pair defenseman, the cap hit is supposed to come down, not sit above $4 million.
Bottom-pair defensemen are also the kind of players teams can usually replace without much trouble, which makes the urgency here even harder to understand.
With the cap rising, plenty of teams are acting like the market has changed completely. These three deals suggest there’s still a line, and these contracts crossed it.
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That approach has made camp feel unusually open, with very few spots looking truly safe outside the established core. Toronto has depth across the lineup, on the blue line and in goal, and the competition should be fierce from the first day of training camp, especially with Max Domi still working his way back after surgery. For a team trying to define its next step, the real question may not be who is on the roster now, but which players can force their way into it. [Read more 🡒]
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For a team that has spent too many seasons with its depth group feeling easy to play against, the change is hard to miss. The Leafs now have more options for a checking role and a clearer defensive purpose in those minutes, which should help shape a more defined identity behind the top scorers. The bigger question is how quickly all of those new pieces settle in and whether this is finally the kind of overhaul that sticks. [Read more 🡒]