The Stars didn't have a single free agent signing among all those signings that happened yesterday. I was annoyed at first, but then I looked at the deals these guys were signed to. Briere got an 8 year (!!!!), $52 million contract from the Flyers, Gomez got 7 years and $51.5 million from the Rangers, and Drury got 5 years and $35.25 million from the Rangers (how are they going to be able to pay for the rest of their team?). The one contract that I wouldn't have minded the Stars signing was the Avalanche's signing of Smyth for 5 years and $31.25 million (still steep, but Smyth would be worth it). The rest of those signings are just insane working under a salary cap. Jason Blake even got a 5 year, $20 million deal from the Maple Leafs. Kariya was also signed by the Blues for an undisclosed amount. The only FA left from my earlier posts is Yashin. Looks like other teams are as worried about him as I'd hoped. Now I'm just praying the Stars are at least in talks with him.
Doug Armstrong made a comment that free agent signings on the first day of free agency tended to be bad deals for the teams. Looks like he wasn't kidding.
Oh, we did sign Zubov to a one year, $5.35 million contract extension. It does seem kind of silly to be signing him to a one year extension through 2009 though. I wonder why we didn't give him more than a year. He's long said that he doesn't want to play anywhere other than Dallas, so I seriously doubt he's planning to leave the team after 2009. Maybe it's just in case he feels like retiring in two seasons? He is getting to that point in his career.
That reminds me, it seems that Scott Niedermeyer is leaning towards retirement this summer. The Ducks signed Schneider to replace him if that does happen. Schneider's good, but no one can replace Niedermeyer. He's probably the best defenseman in the game. The Ducks should be considerably easier to beat if that happens.
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