Unrestricted free agent winners and losers

Well, that was fun. At least for those who didn't have to work and try to keep a website up to date with the furious action that was the first day of the NHL's free agent frenzy.

But I digress.

It'll be the better part of the forthcoming season, or even upwards of a decade, to get the full lay of the land on each of the 49 deals (equaling more than $460 million) consummated Wednesday but while the dust is still settling, let's take a look at which GMs did well and which will have some questions to answer from their soon-to-be apoplectic owners.






Winners



Minnesota

At first blush it appears as though new GM Chuck Fletcher replaced one injury-prone goal guru with another, but signing Martin Havlat — for $2.5 million less than Marian Gaborik, I might add — was of the utmost importance as a building block in the Wild's new philosophy of up-tempo hockey.