Of course the Blackhawks did as little as possible around July 1 because of course the Blackhawks are going to tank for Gavin McKenna two years after they tanked for Connor Bedard, aren’t they? And when they go down that path again, they will perpetuate their identity as the most disreputable major market operation in pro sports.
We’re going to be charitable here, kind of holding out hope that perhaps the Bruins player personnel department was given Tanner Jeannot clips from 2021-22 that were mislabeled as current before signing the free agent winger to a five-year, $17 million contract ($3.5M AAV) that otherwise defies explanation.
But we’d also have to extend that same benevolence to the Oilers, whose GM, Stan Bowman, apparently thought he would impress now-pending free agent Connor McDavid by sewing up fourth-line center Trent Frederic for eight years at $30.5M ($3.85M AAV); and to the Kings, whose incoming GM Ken Holland showered journeymen defensemen Cody Ceci and Brian Dumoulin with contracts of four years at $18M ($4.5M AAV) and three years at $12M ($4.0M AAV).
Patience and understanding can only go so far, however, when it comes to Anaheim and GM Pat Verbeek, who actually granted 33-year-old center Mikael Granlund a three-year, $21M deal worth an AAV of $7M per.
