Lighting the Lamp: Making sense of NHL free agency moves so far

Welcome to Lighting the Lamp, a year-round NHL column. This week, we’re attempting to make sense of the whirlwind of free-agency signings.

Tavares Watch 2018 is over. We survived.

It’s unclear, however, if New York Islanders fans are still alive. When John Tavares revealed that he would be taking his talents to Toronto to join his hometown Maple Leafs, some Isles fans reacted not well. There was the classic jersey burning, from a Twitter user who has since changed his display name to “JT IS A FRAUD.”

There were also those who suggested that Tavares tarnished his Islanders legacy with the way he handled things, or that he put the team in a tough spot by waiting until July 1 — you know, the day that NHL free agency actually opened — to inform New York he’d be moving on.

But what’s done is done; for the first time in his career, Tavares will don a new sweater come October. All hockey fans, excepting those rooting for the Islanders, have to be excited to see how Tavares looks on a team with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and (for now) William Nylander.

Of course, though #TavaresWatch consumed us this weekend, he was far from the only player who will be lacing up his skates for a new team this season.

In the span of a few hours, we saw the following big names get moved: James van Riemsdyk (TOR to PHI), Paul Stastny (WPG to VGK), Tyler Bozak (TOR to STL), Riley Nash (BOS to CBJ), Michael Grabner (NJD to ARI), Thomas Vanek (CBJ to DET), James Neal (VGK to CGY) and more, while John Carlson (WSH), Drew Doughty (LAK) and Mike Green (DET) were just a few of the players who re-signed with their current teams.

Let’s get into some of the other notable moves from early in the free agency period — from the ones that made us applaud to the ones that made us cringe.

NHL power rankings

Teams killing it so far in free agency

10. Arizona Coyotes

9. Chicago Blackhawks

8. Dallas Stars

7. Columbus Blue Jackets

6. Detroit Red Wings

5. Tampa Bay Lightning

4. St. Louis Blues

3. Vegas Golden Knights

2. Philadelphia Flyers

1. Toronto Maple Leafs

Lamp Lighters: John Tavares’ best goals

To state the obvious, this hockey column is, after all, called Lighting the Lamp — and yet, in the offseason, there are no goals to celebrate. A paradox!

However, this week, at least, we can go back and look at Tavares’ best lamp lighters with the Islanders. Since he came into the league, Tavares ranks fifth in goals (272), sixth in shots (2110) and ninth in points (621).

Leafs fans may need to lie down after this.

This behind-the-back stickhandling action vs. the Blues:

This shootout goal vs. the Flyers:

https://twitter.com/BarSouthNCelly/status/1013479214031310848

This game-winner in 2OT vs. the Panthers, probably his biggest all-time goal:

Actually, you know what? Let’s just look back at all 11 playoff goals he ever scored:

And finally — get out the tissues — his final goal as an Islander:

Coast to Coast: What you might have missed around the league

• John Tavares signed a 7-year, $77 million deal with the Maple Leafs! Just kidding. You already knew that.
• Perhaps lost in the free agency shuffle is the fact that the Ottawa Senators offered Erik Karlsson, who has one year left on his seven-year deal, a contract extension. As the story broke that the longtime captain was at the center of a bizarre and shocking controversy involving fellow teammate Mike Hoffman, many thought Karlsson would look to leave Ottawa. Though the Senators have traded Hoffman, how Karlsson feels about the culture or his current contract remains unknown.
• You already know that James van Riemsdyk returned to his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, on a five-year deal…but did you know that he wasn’t able to sign said contract because of printer issues? That’s right; JVR had problems with both the printer in his condo AND the one in his building. Technology!

5-on-5

1. So who’s left? With the frenzy of signings that were announced Sunday, you can now come up for air and wonder, “Who’s still out there?” Notable names include Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan, Bruins right wing Rick Nash, Sharks center Joe Thornton, Devils left wing Patrick Maroon and Penguins center Riley Sheahan. Nash is currently mulling his future and therefore opted to forgo a July 1 signing; the other names should be off the market soon.

2. How about them Blues? It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for St. Louis as the sun rose and fell on Day 1 of NHL free agency. Fans had an unwanted feeling of deja vu when St. Louis brought back forward David Perron…again. Sure, Perron put up 50 assists this past season in Vegas, but the Golden Knights were a high-scoring team. The Blues…not so much, at 2.72 goals per game. Fans’ minds weren’t swayed when St. Louis then brought in Tyler Bozak to address a gaping hole center — which he doesn’t, really — at $5 million per year to boot. But then, the trade! On paper, this looks like a haul for Buffalo: the Sabres sent center Ryan O’Reilly (see — even Doug Armstrong knew Bozak wasn’t going to cut it) to the Blues in exchange for (takes a breath) a 2019 first-round draft pick, a 2021 second-rounder, top prospect Tage Thompson and forwards Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka. But first, consider that St. Louis wanted to move Berglund and Sobotka anyway. Second, we learned that the 2019 first-rounder is lottery protected. Woo! Ultimately, this deal boils down to Thompson and picks for Ryan O’Reilly. Sure, losing Thompson is a little hard to stomach, but O’Reilly just may push this team over the hump.

3. Is the Bruins’ goaltending going to be their albatross this season? Sure, that’s a bit of an overreaction coming on July 2, but when the Bruins could very well be facing the Maple Leafs or the Lightning in the First Round next year, goaltending and defense are the name of the game. Sure, the Bruins are set — for now — in the latter category, but it’s hard to argue they didn’t just get a whole lot weaker in net. And I give Tuukka Rask all the respect he deserves; what he doesn’t deserve, certainly, is the ire Boston fans consistently direct at him when he posted a .917 save percentage last season, an improvement from his two previous campaigns. But let’s also not forget that Anton Khudobin pushed him for the starting job this past year, and the Bruins always had him as break glass in case of emergency option. Now Khudobin is off to Dallas, and the Bruins will replace him with…Jaroslav Halak, coming off a 3.19 goals against average and .908 save percentage with the Islanders. The Bruins’ window remains open, but that’s a lot of eggs to put in the Rask basket while the rest of the division loads up.

4. Devils players may be the best in the league at fan engagement. We covered how superfan Lauren Liff got a hospital visit from Travis Zajac (and NJ Devil!) earlier this year. This past week, Patrick Maroon organized a surprise mini-golf outing with his superfan, 12-year-old Tessa Collioufrom St. Albert, Alberta. He also presented her with her school award for inspiration. That is inspiring.

5. RIP to the offer sheet. At this point, it feels like we’ll never see one again. The last NHL player who had an offer sheet signed is — fun fact — Ryan O’Reilly! In 2013, he signed a two-year deal with the Flames. There’s no question that offer sheets are the most fun for fans of the team making the offer. But they don’t seem to tickle NHL GMs all that much. Right now, the Maple Leafs’ William Nylander seems like a slam dunk (sorry for the mixed sports metaphors) candidate for an offer sheet, right? Well, maybe not. If any team pulls the trigger on him, Toronto will have a week to match. That means the team making the offer has its capital tied up in one player it likely won’t get while every other player worth signing gets snatched up off the free-agent market. And even if the offer sheet isn’t signed, the targeted team — the Leafs, in this example — will remember it forever.

Tweet of the week

That’s just adorable.

Is there something you want to see more of? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter @MichelleBruton. Want more hockey? Follow @FanSidedNHL on Twitter.