Who did the best in Free Agency?

[Vacheron]

Dallas took a lemon of a goalie situation and made lemonade this offseason. They look better than the 1 seed two years ago.

 

[BHD]

it will matter in year two on the trade deadline.

Indeed. Some of them (Del Zotto, Gagner) could help them in a playoff push, but could also be traded later on.

 

[Ogrezilla]

I threw the below table together quickly from data in stats.hockeyanalysis.com. It's each team's "2016-17 Goal & Point Totals From Forwards Only". Shot% is in there too and it's ranked by total points right now.

It's not 100% accurate because it's not separating players' performance for teams pre-deadline and post-deadline if they were traded, however glancing at those trades I didn't see any major transactions that would have substantially moved any team's needle. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that.

My thoughts:

Holy crap Minnesota! Didn't realize their forwards were so offensively potent. The exchange of Pominville for Ennis & Foligno is a net loss in points but a net gain in goals. They were also riding the 4th highest shot % among forward groups in the league last year.

The next 4 teams seem expected (PIT, WSH, TOR, & EDM) but everyone other than Toronto has actually lost goal scoring and points. In PIT & WSH's cases it's actually a pretty significant amount. Only Toronto made a significant gain in their forward core with Marleau coming in and no other major trades or losses from their forward group. I also don't see Toronto as being particularly lucky given them having the 3rd lowest shot % among the Top 10 forward groups in the league.

So is Toronto guaranteed to have the best forward group in the NHL next year? No, because nothing is guaranteed. Do they look poised to have the best forward group based on how every team performed last year and what players they've added/substracted so far? Yes.

Ultimately, the idea of Toronto having the best forward group next year is not nearly as outlandish as many knee-jerkers made it seem in this thread.

In reality the craziest post about Toronto in this thread came from the guy who listed nearly 20 teams that could outscore the Leafs. All biases aside, the Leafs proved they're an upper echelon offensive team in the league last year and there's really nothing to indicate they'll massively drop in that aspect either in advanced metrics (shot percentages, scoring chance generation, etc) or in their personnel gains/losses in this off-season.

Interesting stuff. Though I think it's worth pointing out that the Pens only had Guentzel for half of last season, plus Malkin, Sheary, Hornqvist, and Hagelin all missing significant time. Plus Letang missing half the year, who helps our forwards score more than any of our other D. That said, I'm sure a similar list could be made for every team.

The Leafs definitely belong in the discussion for best forward group. My only real gripe is the guy saying they are without a doubt the best group, which I just can't see.

 

[TDK67]

Interesting stuff. Though I think it's worth pointing out that the Pens only had Guentzel for half of last season, plus Malkin, Sheary, Hornqvist, and Hagelin all missing significant time. Plus Letang missing half the year, who helps our forwards score more than any of our other D. That said, I'm sure a similar list could be made for every team.

The Leafs definitely belong in the discussion for best forward group. My only real gripe is the guy saying they are without a doubt the best group, which I just can't see.

I agree with all of that.

"Without a doubt" is strong phrasing and suggests there's a significant gap between the Leafs and other top groups which is just impossible to say right now. I think they're at least a Top 5 forward group on paper with clear potential to be #1 by the end of next year.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Marleau contract is better than the Okposo contract easily.

And BTW, Pominville did not outscore Marleau.

No it actually isn't. Okposo is nearly ten years younger and clearly better then Marleau now. Okposo played 17 less games then Marleau yet finished with ONE less point

And according to you mr stats and facts...

Patrick Marleau 82 games, 46 points
Jason Pominville 78 games, 47 points


BTW, Pominville did outscore Marleau. And makes $625k less. For a year shorter. And is 3 years younger.

 

[kylbaz]

Leafs could have signed no one and Leafs fans would have been coming up with reasons why they had the best UFA off season. It's unreal.

 

[NHL Dude 120]

Not sure who did the best, but after the Marleau signing it's very clear who did the worst. And I love it !!

As a Sens fan I have to defend Toronto, the Marleau contract is pretty good, roughly 75% is signing bonuses and in his last year hes only paid 1.5 mil. If he waives his NMC clause any team who needs to reach the capfloor is set.

 

[Nucks N Canes]

As a Sens fan I have to defend Toronto, the Marleau contract is pretty good, roughly 75% is signing bonuses and in his last year hes only paid 1.5 mil. If he waives his NMC clause any team who needs to reach the capfloor is set.

A player that most said was on his way out of the league the last two years signs for as much as Calgary's and Edmonton young studs were being paid is never a good contract. Yes they needed someone like him but they paid him too much and for too long.

 

[StatisticsAddict99]

Matthews/Marner/Nylander/Kadri/JVR/Marleau/Bozak/Komorov/Brown.

Who has that beat?

Wheeler/Laine/Scheifele/Little/Ehlers/Perrault/Lowry/Armia/Dano