from Justin Bourne of Sportsnet,

When I agreed to write two sentences on every signing from UFA day in the NHL – something I’ve done numerous times in the past – I hadn’t banked on there being 63,000 signings. We got our work cut out for us here folks, so let’s dive in.

We’ll start with the first registered deal, and work our way up to most recent.

Brandon Montour, D, Florida
Contract: Three years, $3.5 million AAV

Florida made a similar bet to the one they made with Sam Bennett here. That’s that the player who excelled for them over a small post-deadline sample is indeed that player, and not the guy he had more commonly been in the years prior.

Blake Coleman, RW, Calgary
Contract: Six years, $4.9 million AAV

When you hire Darryl Sutter to coach your team, you’re not putting him in a position to succeed if you don’t get him some players who play the brand of hockey he wants to play. This is too much money, but Coleman’s exactly what they’re looking for, so in a way it’s like smart clothes shopping – you’re better off spending more for something you’ll actually use than less for something you won’t wanna put out there.

Frederik Andersen, G, Carolina
Contract: Two years, $4.5 million AAV

Andersen became polarizing to Leafs fans, but I’ve long been Team Freddy. He’s a big, solid, quiet, bonafide NHL starter, and while there are real signs of decline there, he’s as good a bet as any UFA goalie out there to have a good season in 2021-22.

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