Kyle Dubas very busy in Pittsburgh without the restraints of being under Shanahan in Toronto
With the first day of free agency in the books, there was a lot more movement than anticipated, even with a relatively weak free agent class. Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Vladimir Tarasenko, Matthew Dumba, and Patrick Kane remained the top free agents available coming into day two.
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost Ryan O'Reilly and Luke Schenn to Nashville despite their attempts to keep both. Noel Acciari signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Justin Holl signed a 3-year deal with Detroit, Alex Kerfoot went to Arizona, and Erik Kallgren signed with the New Jersey Devils. In response, the Leafs signed Ryan Reaves and John Klingberg.
Speaking of Acciari to the Penguins, the Pens had a very busy first day of free agency with Kyle Dubas at the helm. The former Maple Leafs general manager retained UFA goaltender Tristan Jarry with a substantial new deal. Ryan Graves, Lars Eller, Matthew Nieto, Alex Nedeljkovic, and the aforementioned Acciari also signed with the Pens. Kyle Dubas also swung a deal for Reilly Smith before the draft and then selected Moose Jaw Warrior winger Brayden Yager in the first round of the draft.
Jarry signed a 5-year with an AAV of $5.375 million, Graves signed a 6-year deal with an AAV of $4.5 million, Eller signed a 2-year deal with an AAV of $2.45 million, Nieto signed a 2-year deal with an AAV of $900,000, Nedeljkovic signed a 1-year deal with an AAV of $1.5 million, and Acciari inked a 3-year deal with an AAV of $2 million.
The Penguins addressed their defense with the addition of Graves, they went after depth forwards with the likes of Eller, Nieto, and Acciari proving to be dependable and responsible bottom-6 players, Jarry was a necessity with the goalie market being relatively quiet, Nedeljkovic adds depth in case Casey DeSmith stumbles out of the gates, and the trade for Smith adds a veteran winner to their top-6.
The Maple Leafs look a little worse for wear after the first day but have signed Tyler Bertuzzi on day two and are still involved in talks with the Max Domi camp. Klingberg is a great offensive defenseman but he doesn't really add anything in terms of the actual defensive play. Reaves will provide great locker room leadership and physicality, but 3 years was a little rich for a 36-year-old enforcer.
It was an interesting day to say the least but the Penguins look poised to bounce back after missing the playoffs for the first time in the Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang era. They want to capitalize on their shortening window and depth was the name of the game from their ownership group even before they hired Dubas.
The Leafs have a lot of holes in their roster to fill-in. Matt Murray not being bought out was a little mystifying considering the $4 million dollar savings towards the cap that a buyout would have provided, but they should have cap alleviation with Jake Muzzin once placed on the LTIR.
Treliving and Dubas have had very different starts to their respective free agencies for their teams, but one only has to look at how much more active Dubas has been than Treliving to determine which GM has done a better job of addressing needs so far - though Treliving has narrowed the gap substantially with the Bertuzzi deal.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 2 | 231 ANSWERS Kyle Dubas very busy in Pittsburgh without the restraints of being under Shanahan in Toronto Who has had the better start to free agency thus far; Kyle Dubas or Brad Treliving? | ||
| Dubas | 106 | 45.9 % |
| Treliving | 125 | 54.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
