While the sports world gears up for the frenzy of a two-week NFL free agency period, the NHL is recovering from some offseason insanity of its own. A thin crop of unrestricted free agents, combined with front offices eager to make a big offseason splash, led to a free agency period that more closely resembled a bunch of drunk millionaires making it rain in Vegas than a group of talent evaluators making savvy business decisions.

Still, if you sort through the James Wisniewskis and Tomas Kopeckys, there were a number of reasonable, smart signings, even if their contract numbers were slightly inflated by the nature of the market.

5. Buffalo Sabres sign Christian Ehrhoff (10 years/$40 million) – Yes, 10 years is a very long time, but $4-million a year isn’t a huge paycheque for an offensively gifted defenseman who appears to be just entering his prime (career-high 50 points last year as a 28-year-old). The Sabres really opened the chequebook this year, and locking up Ehrhoff was their best move.

4. Toronto Maple Leafs sign Tim Connolly (2 years/$10-million) – Leafs’ GM Brian Burke spent the opening weekend of free agency visiting Canadian troops in Afghanistan, perhaps to distance himself from what he accurately predicted would be an orgy of overspending. Burke did consider going after Brad Richards, the big fish in this off-season’s small pond, but didn’t want to mortgage the future of the franchise to land a 31-year-old forward. Instead, Burke extended a much smaller offer to Tim Connolly, an exceptional playmaker who has been beset by injuries throughout his career. When healthy, he scores nearly a point-per-game – which would be a great value at $4.75 million per year. Of course, if he ends up on the disabled list again, the short length of the contract won’t handcuff the franchise.

3. Chicago Blackhawks sign Andrew Brunette (1 year/$2-million) – The Hawks lost a lot of the grit that helped win them the 2009 Stanley Cup when they started bumping up against the salary cap, resulting in a disappointing 2010 season. GM Stan Bowman set out to surround his talented core of forwards with guys willing to do the dirty work, and signing Brunette was an excellent step in that direction. The reliable 37-year-old left wing has averaged 60 points per season over the last 6 years, and his rugged style should contrast nicely opposite Marian Hossa on the Hawks second line. He hasn’t missed a game since the 2001-2002 season.

2. New York Rangers sign Brad Richards (9 years/$60-million) – Richards was the big target this offseason, a legitimate first-line centre and leader who brings Cup-winning credentials and a broad skill set to New York. The front-loaded contract will allow the Rangers to buy him out during its last few years if his skills have noticeably deteriorated (he’ll be in his late 30s).

1. Washington Capitals sign Tomas Vokoun (1 year/$1.5 million) – The cheapest deal on this list could be the one that makes the biggest difference in 2011-2012. The Capitals were hamstrung by the lack of a reliable option in net, as neither Semyon Varlamov or Michal Neuvirth really staked a claim to the job. Even at 35, Vokoun is still one of the league’s top netminders, and joining the Capitals should give him the best opportunity of his career to play deep into the playoffs.

MLB betting players sometimes choose to look at the darkhorses in their sport if they think that team can overcome the odds and lead them to a big sports betting payday. You can do it in any sport, and in hockey, a team can ride a hot goalie all the way to the promised land. Here are three underdogs to watch for the 2011-12 season.

Chicago (+1400): The Blackhawks barely made the playoffs last year after winning the Stanley Cup as they disassembled their team due to cap issues, but they did give Vancouver all they could handle in the first round. Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and company will be back, and goalie Cory Crawford is more experienced now.

Los Angeles (+1800): A healthy Anze Kopitar will make a huge difference for the Kings, who also have to re-sign young defenseman Drew Doughty. But reports are stating that the contract negotiations aren’t going well, and that would be a huge blow to the Kings’ hopes.

Anaheim (+2500): The Ducks stormed to the playoffs on the back of Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry, who was extraordinary down the stretch, and ageless wonder Teemu Selanne should be back, as well as Ryan Getzlaf (who missed some time last year) and Bobby Ryan. But the Ducks have to sort out a crowded goaltender situation, and if Jonas Hiller/Ray Emery/Dan Ellis can hold up, Anaheim are worth a wager when you bet on sports this fall.

Unlike top NBA draft picks, who – for the most part – are expected to step in and contribute right away, young hockey players often spend a year or two developing their games after being drafted before stepping into the big leagues.

Case in point: the two highly-touted scorers taken at the top of last year’s draft, Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall, combined for only 64 points in their rookie seasons as they adjusted to the much bigger, much faster, and much tougher competition at the NHL level.

The Edmonton Oilers made Ryan Nugent-Hopkins the first pick in this year’s draft, but at 170 pounds – and that’s being generous – he’ll need to bulk up to be ready for the rigors of pro hockey. Same goes for the Florida Panthers 3rd overall pick, Jonathan Huberdeau.

There are some players from this class, though, who could be ready to make an impact early in the season, if not right from day 1.

Gabriel Landeskog, LW, Colorado Avalanche

Size certainly isn’t a concern for Landeskog, who at 6-1, 207 pounds certainly won’t be physically overwhelmed as a pro. The former Kitchener Ranger has been called the most NHL-ready forward in this draft class not just for his impressive two-way skills but for his confidence and attitude – traits that could very likely make him the Avs’ captain in the very near future.

Adam Larsson, D, New Jersey Devils

Another big Swede ready to play tomorrow, Larsson has been contributing in the Swedish Elite League for two years, holding his own despite being a boy playing amongst men. Having already adjusted to the rigors of professional hockey, he should have as easy a transition as anyone in this draft. Having the most complete skill set of any defender in this class won’t hurt, either.

Dougie Hamilton, D, Boston Bruins

As if the Stanley Cup Champions needed to get better – and remember, Tyler Seguin is still a year or two away from becoming a star – they added the massive, smooth-skating Hamilton to their strong back line. Boston scores less on the power play than most contending teams, so Hamilton’s big body and big shot could have a real impact on their second unit. He probably won’t be a top-four defender this season, but will play a role.

Sean Couturier, C, Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers, sudden, drastic renovation of their franchise included the acquisition of the eighth pick in the draft, and most expected them to look for defensive help. But when Couturier fell to them, they snapped up a player who could become an excellent first- or second-line centre very soon. He was considered a front-runner for the first pick entering 2010-2011, and despite leading the QMJHL in scoring he inexplicably slipped on most draft boards. With great hands, good size and good skating, he’ll look to make seven GMs rue the day they passed on him – and he’ll do so sooner rather than later.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, mired in so negativity for so long now, emerged from the 2011 NHL All-Star Break as a suddenly competitive, energetic young team, coming within a few games of stealing the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Led by the surprisingly stellar play of rookie goaltender James Reimer – he of the league’s greatest nickname, Optimus Reim – the Leafs went 18-7-6 after February 1st, possibly giving Toronto’s rabid fanbase a sneak preview of the team Brian Burke is trying to build.

Phil Kessel, expected to be the Leafs’ top scorer, rounded into form after a first half spent battling inconsistency and the media, finishing with 64 points and captain Dion Phaneuf starting looking like the top-pairing defenseman he’s supposed to be.

Naturally, the run sent the Toronto-centric hockey world into a tizzy, as the Leafs’ efforts headlined NHL news sites for weeks. While they still ended up missing the playoffs for a franchise-record sixth straight season, hockey’s most valuable team ended the season amid an atypical cloud of optimism.

“Next year, it’ll come together next year,” was the mantra repeated by fans in April and May, and then in June the conversation turned to what GM Brian Burke would do with the team’s valuable cap space in a thin free agent market. Would he break the bank for Brad Richards? Would they land a top-four D-man like James Wisniewski?

Who would be the piece that finally propels the Leafs out of the cellar of the NHL standings and back into the post-season?

Turns out the answer is, um, Tim Connolly.

Burke wasn’t going to be baited into handcuffing himself with a bad contract or two in the irresponsible 2011 free agent market, so instead focused on making small tweaks here and there while locking up Reimer for the foreseeable future, rewarding his second-half efforts with a reasonable 3-year, $5.4-million contract. The talented but injury-prone Connolly was the closest thing to a “splash” Burke made. When healthy, Connolly is a borderline first-line centre who makes plays and scores very naturally; unfortunately, he hasn’t played over 73 NHL games in a season since 2002-2003.

Burke’s smaller deals involved getting rid of overpaid players like Brett Lebda and Jean-Sebastian Giguere while adding affordable pieces like John-Michael Liles and Cody Franson.

It’s evident that Burke is counting on the upward trend of last season to continue in 2011-12 and crossing his fingers that young players like Clarke MacArthur, Nazem Kadri and Kessel continue to improve.
Naturally, the most important question for next season is whether Reimer can prove his successful run last year wasn’t just a fluke. He’s going to be under intense scrutiny now, and the Toronto hockey media can be vicious. If he turns out to be the real deal, the pieces Burke has assembled might be able to come together in front of him and slip into one of the lower playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.

If Edmonton were a baseball betting option, they would be Washington, choosing to build their team through the draft, and even though there may be some tough times in the immediate future, they have enough young offensive stars that the Oilers should start making noise soon, and probably sooner than you think.

The Oilers snagged forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with the first overall pick in the draft, adding to a group that already has Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle and Linus Omark. Eight of the top 10 skaters in the final rankings from the International Scouting Services went in the top 10, with only Mark Scheifele (No.7 to Winnipeg) and Jonas Brodin (10th to Minnesota) failing to rank with the ISS. The best pick of the first 10 may be Adam Larsson, who went fourth to New Jersey after coming in as the No.2-ranked skater by the ISS, and the Devils now have a blueliner that they can build around for the next 10 years as he as earned comparisons to countryman Nicklas Lidstrom.

Fellow Swede Oscar Klefbom was the farthest to fall as he came in ranked 10th, but he was drafted 19th by the Oilers, who picked up that selection in last year’s trade with Los Angeles for Dustin Penner. This works out great for the Oilers, who need some defense to go with their attacking talent, and now they have a player who should be motivated to prove some of his critics wrong. Watch out for Edmonton’s sports betting odds over the next couple of seasons in your best online sportsbook.

The first weekend of the NHL’s 2011 free agency period was an orgy of excess, with GMs around the league throwing money around like it was a Vegas bachelor party. Yes, it was an unusually thin free agent class, but the lack of patience and reason demonstrated by the league’s front offices was staggering.
Perhaps seeing all the press the NBA and NFL have been getting for their labour disputes has made the NHL jealous, because this weekend reeked of North America’s fourth “major” sport screaming, “Hey, we can screw up our business model too!”

By Friday evening, after only one day, owners had shelled out over a quarter of a billion dollars in contracts, and that’s before Brad Richards signed a $60-million deal with the Rangers on Saturday.
While a few teams certainly made themselves better, at least in the short term, several franchises are going to find themselves stuck in salary cap hell thanks to some head-scratching decisions.
Taking into account not just what teams chose to spend, but what they chose not to spend, here’s a rundown of the smartest teams from the first weekend of free agency.

1. Washington Capitals – It says something about this year’s free agency mania that a team can hand out one of the more puzzling contracts of the weekend (Joel Ward for $3 million per season) and still come out looking like one of the smarter franchises in the league. While Ward will be making about double what he’s worth, he scores in the playoffs and brings some much-needed grit. The Capitals best moves, involved their goaltending. They had three underperforming netminders in 2010-11, and had to clear the logjam. They fleeced the Colorado Avalanche by sending injury-prone Semyon Varlamov west in exchange for first- and second-round picks. The first-rounder could likely be a lottery pick given the sorry state of the Avalanche. Then, not intent on counting on Michal Neuvirth as their No.1 goalie, the Caps landed veteran Tomas Vokoun, one of the best in the league over the last 5 seasons or so, for only $1.5 million. Adding veterans Roman Hamrlik and Jeff Halpern is just icing on the cake for a team that needed to get better in the playoffs.

2. Philadelphia Flyers – It’s been quite the strange off-season in Philly. Perceived franchise stalwarts Jeff Richards and Mike Richards were traded, Ilya Bryzgalov was signed to stop pucks until 2021, and Jaromir Jagr, late of the Flyers’ arch-rival Pittsburgh Penguins, decided to make his NHL return wearing orange, black, and white. Their extensive trade haul brought intriguing prospects in Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn and eighth-overall pick Sean Couturier to the City of Brotherly Love, and the signing of Maxime Talbot is yet another slap in the face of Penguins fans. It might take some time for all the new pieces to gel, but it’s certainly an interesting young team in Philadelphia.

3. Chicago Blackhawks – The ‘Hawks were forced to gut their Cup-winning team in the summer of 2010 as several large contracts had them jammed against the salary cap. While they were able to retain most of their young, goal-scoring talent, they lost the toughness that was crucial to their 2010 Stanley Cup win. GM Stan Bowman set out to address that very issue, and the signings of Daniel Carcillo and Jamal Mayers did so in a very cost-effective way. Bowman’s best move, however, was the relatively cheap signing of underrated veteran Andrew Brunette, a consistent producer who should add some veteran leadership to a still-young squad.

4. Buffalo Sabres – Who knew that Buffalo was such a rich hockey market?! New owner Terry Pegula really opened the chequebook, demonstrating that he has every intention of doing whatever it takes to make the Sabres a championship-calibre team. Twenty-seven million is a lot of money for Ville Leino, who has only been a consistent producer since the 2010 postseason, but he was arguably the second-best forward on the market and is still fairly young. Adding Robyn Regehr and Christian Ehrhoff to a defence that already featured Tyler Myers and Jordan Leopold should make them one of the stingiest teams in hockey, and if they can get decent offensive production they should find themselves right near the top of the NHL standings.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs – The Leafs did well by doing relatively little. They took a stab at Brad Richards, but Brian Burke doesn’t believe in the kind of long-term contract he was looking for, so it’s just as well they missed out. Their biggest move was the signing of former Sabres centre Tim Connolly for around $4.75 million per season. The salary might be slightly inflated because of the money being tossed around elsewhere, but Connolly is a proven commodity – when he’s healthy, (and that’s no Bet Online scam). If he’s on the ice, he’s the Leafs’ best playmaker. If he’s shelved with concussions, well that’s a big contract to be sitting on your bench.