The Winners and Losers of NHL Free Agency So Far

Photo courtesy of zimbio.com. The New Jersey Devils are one of the big winners in this years free agency period due largely to the fact that they resigned star goalie Martin Brodeur (pictured above).

By Nick Craddock

Two weeks ago the NHL free agent frenzy (not sure if you could call it that this year) began, and in the spirit of prematurely judging things, here is a compilation of the winners and losers of the free agency period thus far.

Winners

New Jersey Devils: The Devils lost captain Zach Parise to his home state Wild (see below), but every true hockey fan knows that the real heart, soul, and leader of the Devils is Martin Brodeur, who resigned with the team for two years. Brodeur’s contract all but guarantees that the 40-year-old goalie will see out his Hall of Fame career with the only team that he has ever known.

Replacing the void of Parise will not be an easy task, but as the old adage goes: Defense wins championships, and Brodeur’s stellar play almost won the Devils a Stanley Cup title this past June.

One thing’s for sure: People in the Garden State will be able to forget about Parise much quicker than they would have been able to forget about their starting goalie for the past two decades had their beloved Marty left.

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Winnipeg Jets are back in business. Finally.

Photo courtesy of truthfullylying.wordpress.com. The Atlanta Thrashers are moving to Winnipeg and becoming the new version of the Winnipeg Jets.

By Nick Craddock

The Jets are back.

In the past month, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg, an NHL franchise-less city since 1996, a new general manager was named, a new coach was appointed, and before the relocated franchise began its first draft on Friday, it was announced that the team would once again be referred to as the “Winnipeg Jets” (jerseys and logos will follow at a later date).

Bringing back the old “Jets” moniker is not only nostalgic, but this link to the past symbolizes the professional hockey hiatus in Winnipeg that never should’ve happened.