Reprinted with permission from hockeybuzz.com
Mid-July through August are truly the dog-days of summer for the NHL as teams step back from a long season and events of the past few weeks to refresh themselves. This is not to say that the front office is out and about enjoying the great outdoors or getting in a early round of 18 before an evening cookout daily, it's merely a downshift from the overdrive that was the NHL draft and the beginning of free agency.
Most teams have concluded their prospect evaluations via development camps (if they have them,) and sent their youngins on their merry way. Left are the impressions as to who where each player lies on the developmental curve and the timeline for their potential debut in the NHL. When taken as a whole, events at the NHL draft, free agent signings and a close look at a team's pipeline give the personnel department a good idea as to what they'll have going into training camp.
In general, teams likely have a good idea as to where they are and what they'll need personnel-wise to get to where they want to be this fall. For free agents who've yet be signed, there's a reason they haven't been signed and summertime doesn't necessarily represent livin' easy. Rather, it can be an unsettling time where younger veterans are trying to maximize their worth and older veterans are wondering whether or not they're still wanted.
Last year from July 16, 2014 to August 29, 2014 there were 81 signings in the NHL with only 14 players signing on with another team. All 14 were one-year deals and all but five were of the one-year/two-way variety. Those who signed one-year NHL deals were F, Lee Stempniak ($900K, NYR,) D, Andre Benoit ($800K, BUF,) F, Daniel Winnik ($1.3M, TOR,) D, Michael Del Zotto ($1.3M, PHI) and F, Devin Setoguchi ($750K, CGY.)
Del Zotto is an interesting case-study as he was considered "radioactive" after the Nashville Predators moved on from him. He took a $1.25M pay-cut when he signed his one-year deal on August, 5th put together a solid season in Philadelphia last year and was re-upped for two years by the Flyboys to the tune of $3.875M per season.
Which brings us to an unrestricted free agent that the Buffalo Sabres are said to be interested in--D, Cody Franson.
Word on the street is that Franson has been looking for a long-term contract in the $5-6M range similar to that of Montreal Canadians rear-guard, Jeff Petry. The Canadians traded for Petry at the trade deadline and liked him enough to re-sign him to a 6yr./$33M contract extension. But this is a bad time to be a middle-pairing defenseman in search of a new team while looking to cash in after years of paying his dues.
For the past three seasons the soon to be 28 yr. old Franson has been on one-year, "show-me" contracts and he's produced rather well. The 6'5" 215 pounder is considered more of a puck-mover with offensive acumen than a brute and put up 98 points (16+82) in 202 games for Toronto and Nashville during those three years, but he was unable to help boost the Preds in the playoffs last season. He had two assists in five games as Nashville was bounced in the first round of the 2015 playoffs.
Now he finds himself possibly overvaluing his worth and staring at the possibility of another one-year contract as he remains unsigned.
The Buffalo Sabres are in search of a top-four d-man, although GM Tim Murray would prefer a lefty as opposed to a righty, of which Franson is. There's also been speculation that the Sabres have offered Franson multi-year deal at or near $5M/season. Yet, he remains unsigned.
One would be hard-pressed to justify Murray doling out a long-term contract beyond three years for a second-pairing, right-handed defenseman when what he's really looking for is a top-pairing lefty. As it stands, righties Rasmus Ristolainen and Zach Bogosian are slated to anchor the defense while LHD, Josh Gorges and RHD, Mark Pysyk look to be filling out the top-four. Also in the top-four mix is veteran LHD, Carlo Colaiacovo.
One of the suggestions from our hockeybuzz comment section had the Sabres signing Franson to a rather lucrative one-year deal, which is something to consider.
Although Franson still wouldn't have the long-term security he desires, on a team like the Sabres, he should be able to put up some numbers, especially on the powerplay. There's also the possibility that he could also be a rental at the deadline with an opportunity to make enough of an impact for a playoff team to warrant a long-term deal next off-season.
Adam Gretz of cbssports offers this take. "Franson finds himself still available after more than two weeks on the open market," he wrote today. "He has quickly gone from being a player who might get overpaid to one who is almost certainly going to be underpaid for what he can potentially provide."
As to why he's still unsigned, Gretz writes that two things come to mind, "Franson may have set too high of an asking price for himself at the start of free agency and scared potential teams away and the other possibility is that teams are horribly overreacting to what they saw most recently from him when he struggled in Nashville following the trade from Toronto and are placing more emphasis on that, as opposed to his entire body of work in the NHL.
"Surely there is a team out there that can find some kind of use for a right-handed defenseman who has averaged more than 35 points per 82 games and has been one of the most productive blue-liners in the league in recent years."
But I doubt Buffalo is that team. Unless it's for a one-year deal which is something Franson might not be interested in doing for the Sabres.
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