Fantasy Nhl Free Agency

Looking for a potential Fantasy League steal next season? How about Andrew Hutchinson, the ultimate power play specialist "defenseman" that the Tampa Bay Lightning just signed to a two-year free agent deal.

With Dan Boyle traded to the Sharks, the Lightning are woefully short of blue-line talent that can produce offensively. Filip Kuba led all Bolts' d-men with a whopping 31 points last season. That ain't gonna cut it, sister!

Hutchinson is clearly going to be given a chance to quarterback the Tampa power play, and after spending last season in the AHL (64 points in 67 games), he'll be a very cheap pick-up in any fantasy league you're in.

In 95 career NHL games, Hutchinson has put up 33 points, with 20 of those being on the ice during mad-advantage situations. Consider the fact that Hutchinson averaged just 12:13 of ice time per game, and you realize that the boy knows how to put points up on the board at an efficient and effective rate.

Yes, Hutchinson has many warts in his game, but Tampa has loaded up their forward corps with many offensive talents to feed the puck to. A team that features Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Ryan Malone, Mark Recchi, and Vaclav Prospal front is going to, potentially, do a lot of damage on the Power Play.

Jump on this guy while you can.

Every July, various team owners and GM's, despite their better judgment, lustily rush out to sign whatever slab of UFA meat they can catch to the biggest, longest contract that they possibly can afford.

Salary inflation? Dimishing returns? Chemistry concerns? Cap issues? Those factors mean little when a fairly good player is on the free agent market, and a bevy of other teams are vying for the same player.

So, which of these unrestricted free agent players have actually been a good investment thus far?

Chris Drury - 2007 salary of $7.1 mil (28GP 6-13-19 -2)
Despite the fact that Drury has never proven himself to be more than a pretty good second liner, the Rangers decided to fork over superstar money without a second thought. I wouldn't say Drury's production has been disappointing, given that it's in line with previous totals of his, it's just that Drury is definitely overpaid for the type of player he is.

Scott Gomez - 2007 salary of $10mil (28GP 5-16-21)
Gomez is definitely one of the better playmakers in the league, but has always had consistency and coachability issues. Again, the Rangers forked over large amounts of money for somebody who is not a superstar (he had only 60 points last season), and they aren't getting rewarded for their investment. Gomez just doesn't have the same chemistry with Jagr that Michael Nylander had, and will probably never live up to his huge contract.

Of course, it's always easy to pick on the Ranger$, so let's look at some other squads.

David Legwand had the blessing and curse of being the first player ever NHL Entry selected by the Nashville Predators, 2nd overall waaaaaaay back in 1998.

Despite the fact that the sale of the Preds is in limbo, and many other contracts were slashed and traded to greatly reduce payroll, the Preds seemingly had no problem coming up with the cash to lock Legwand down to a 6-year/$27mil deal.

"This is the first step moving forward under new ownership and is a sign of commitment, a desire to win and a desire to keep the core of our young team together in Nashville," said GM David Poile in a team statement.

Legwand is tied for second on the team this season in points (21) and assists.

Last season, he posted career-highs in points (63), goals (27) and assists (36), helping the Predators to their best finish in franchise history

$4.5mil per season for Legwand? That seems pricey, especially for someone know to have been a career underachiever.

Well, under the radar of most hockey fans, including myself, Legwand has greatly improved and developed over the past season-and-a-half, and has put up 84 points in his last 104 games.

From 1999 to mid-2006, Legwand was basically a guy with a lot of tools, but no toolbox to put them in. Putting up about a point every two games, Legwand was far from the franchise player that he was drafted to be, and was basically ye olde average player. Then, last season, Legwand finally found the spark and made the leap to being an impact player offensively, as well as a dependable defensive presence.

Legwand isn't a star by any stretch of the imagination, but he is important to the Nashville franchise, and his production merits a long-term deal of this nature. Let's not forget that Legwand is only 27 years of age, and still has many productive years ahead of him. Perhaps, he'll bring his game to another level and get to where he can reach the 70-point plateau.