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October 1, 2012
Howe and Why
Rating The Summer Signings

by Robert Vollman

Rating the Offseason Signings As part of the recent two-part series on best and worst signings of this past offseason, we asked a panel of statistical analysts around the league about every single unrestricted free agent signing that carried a cap hit of at least $1.5 million, and whether they basically liked, disliked, or were neutral on each deal.

As you're about to see in our complete list of results, our panel absolutely loved short-term contracts of one or two seasons. Since a team takes on a lot of risk when signing a player to a longer deal, only those that were either for proven and highly consistent players, and/or those that offered some kind of substantial discount were looked upon favorably.

The complete list, with the approval "record" in a Like-Dislike-Neutral format akin to Wins-Losses-Ties, is below.

Player              Team       Term CapHit Like? Approval
Dustin Penner       Los Angeles   1 $3.25 19-0-4   91.3%
Tomas Vokoun        Pittsburgh    2 $2.00 19-0-4   91.3%
Teemu Selanne       Anaheim       1 $4.50 17-0-6   87.0%
Peter Mueller       Florida       1 $1.73 17-0-6   87.0%
Alexander Semin     Carolina      1 $7.00 18-2-3   84.8%
Michal Rozsival     Chicago       1 $2.00 16-0-7   84.8%
Kyle Wellwood       Winnipeg      1 $1.60 16-1-6   82.6%
Jaromir Jagr        Dallas        1 $4.55 15-2-6   81.8%
Mikael Samuelsson   Detroit       2 $3.00 14-1-8   78.3%
Ryan Smyth          Edmonton      2 $2.25 13-0-10  78.3%
Steve Sullivan      Phoenix       1 $1.85 13-0-10  78.3%
Barret Jackman      St. Louis     3 $3.17 12-0-11  76.1%
Josh Harding        Minnesota     3 $1.90 12-0-11  76.1%
Daniel Winnik       Anaheim       2 $1.80 14-2-7   76.1%
Alexei Ponikarovsky Winnipeg      1 $1.80 11-1-11  71.7%
Jarret Stoll        Los Angeles   3 $3.25 10-2-11  67.4%
Lee Stempniak       Calgary       2 $2.50 10-2-11  67.4%
David Moss          Phoenix       2 $2.10 10-2-11  67.4%
Benoit Pouliot      Tampa Bay     1 $1.80  8-0-15  67.4%
Ruslan Fedotenko    Philadelphia  1 $1.75  9-1-13  67.4%
Adrian Aucoin       Columbus      1 $2.00  9-2-12  65.2%
Joe Corvo           Carolina      1 $2.00  9-2-12  65.2%
Hal Gill            Nashville     2 $2.00  9-2-12  65.2%
Jay McClement       Toronto       2 $1.50 10-3-10  65.2%
Jason Garrison      Vancouver     6 $4.60 13-7-3   63.0%
Olli Jokinen        Winnipeg      2 $4.50 11-5-7   63.0%
Greg Zanon          Colorado      2 $2.25  9-3-11  63.0%
Taylor Pyatt        NY Rangers    2 $1.55  8-3-12  60.9%
Ray Whitney         Dallas        2 $4.50  9-5-9   58.7%
Bryan Allen         Anaheim       3 $3.50  7-3-13  58.7%
Matt Carle          Tampa Bay     6 $5.50 12-9-2   56.5%
P.A. Parenteau      Colorado      4 $4.00 10-7-6   56.5%
Torrey Mitchell     Minnesota     3 $1.90  6-1-16  56.5%
Aaron Rome          Dallas        3 $1.50  6-3-14  56.5%
Francis Bouillon    Montreal      1 $1.50  5-2-16  56.5%
Brad Stuart         San Jose      3 $3.60  7-5-11  54.3%
Travis Moen         Montreal      4 $1.85  6-5-12  52.2%
Jim Slater          Winnipeg      3 $1.60  4-3-16  52.2%
Shane O'Brien       Colorado      3 $2.00  4-4-15  50.0%
Ryan Suter          Minnesota    13 $7.50  8-10-5  45.7%
Bryce Salvador      New Jersey    3 $3.17  4-6-13  45.7%
Gregory Campbell    Boston        3 $1.60  4-6-13  45.7%
Johnny Oduya        Chicago       3 $3.38  4-7-12  43.5%
Jordin Tootoo       Detroit       3 $1.90  3-6-14  43.5%
Adam Burish         San Jose      4 $1.80  3-6-14  43.5%
Filip Kuba          Florida       2 $4.00  3-7-13  41.3%
Zach Parise         Minnesota    13 $7.50  8-13-2  39.1%
Sami Salo           Tampa Bay     2 $3.75  3-8-12  39.1%
Chris Kelly         Boston        4 $3.00  2-8-13  37.0%
Matt Carkner        NY Islanders  3 $1.50  2-8-13  37.0%
Jonas Gustavsson    Detroit       2 $1.50  3-9-12  37.0%
Martin Brodeur      New Jersey    2 $4.50  4-11-8  34.8%
Jiri Hudler         Calgary       4 $4.00  3-10-10 34.8%
David Jones         Colorado      4 $4.00  2-9-12  34.8%
Sheldon Souray      Anaheim       3 $3.67  3-10-10 34.8%
Brandon Prust       Montreal      4 $2.50  4-11-8  34.8%
Cory Sarich         Calgary       2 $2.00  1-8-14  34.8%
Paul Gaustad        Nashville     4 $3.25  3-13-7  28.3%
Dennis Wideman      Calgary       5 $5.25  1-21-1   6.5%

The panel was especially tough on Calgary, who found three of their four deals in bottom seven, and with an almost incomprehensibly low 6.5% approval for Dennis Wideman's deal. Kudos to Lee Stempniak for a hearty 67.4% approval despite that handicap.

Calgary's Cory Sarich found himself with the third-worst ranking (ties were broken by the size of the contract) despite a short-term contract. Only four other two-year contracts received an approval rating below 50%, two of his fellow seventh defensemen and two goalies: Filip Kuba in Florida, Sami Salo in Tampa Bay, Jonas Gustvasson in Detroit, and Martin Brodeur in New Jersey.

On the flip side, there were a few long-term deals that were seen favorably, including 63.0% for Jason Garrison's six-year deal in Florida, and 56.5% for Matt Carle's in Tampa Bay. Among four-year deals, the panel approved P.A. Parenteau's deal with Colorado (56.5%) and Travis Moen's in Montreal (52.2%). The popular three-year deals included Barret Jackman in St. Louis (76.1%), Josh Harding in Minnesota (76.1%), Jarret Stoll in Los Angeles (67.4%), Bryan Allen in Anaheim (58.7%), Torrey Mitchell in Minnesota (56.5%), Aaron Rome in Dallas (56.5%), Brad Stuart in San Jose (54.3%), and Jim Slater in Winnipeg (52.2%). In most cases, the common theme is that these players can play tough minutes in the defensive zone and against top lines while still recording decent possession-based numbers.

Finally, the big news this offseason was in Minnesota, who signed exceptional second-generation superstars Ryan Suter and Zach Parise to identical 13-year, $7.5 million dollar contracts. While the dollars were agreeable, the long terms of those contracts involved too much risk for the majority of our panel, who gave Suter a 45.7% approval and Parise 39.1%.

Special thanks to the members of our panel, which included Jeff Angus, George Ays, Alex Calloway, Cam Charron, Marty Clarke, Matt Coller, John Fischer, Neil Greenberg, Dirk Hoag, Derek Jedamski, Josh Lile, Rob Luker, Brian MacDonald, Aaron Nichols, Jon "J.P." Press, Andrew Rothstein, Alan Ryder, Corey Sznajder, Eric T, Matt Wagner, Ben Wendorf, Jonathan Willis, and Kent Wilson.

Robert Vollman is an author of Hockey Prospectus. You can contact Robert by clicking here or click here to see Robert's other articles.

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