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Free agents getting one last chance
- Updated: July 20, 2016
1:58 PM ET
They don’t earn major headlines, but the summer hockey landscape is littered with veterans who have signed a one-year contract with the goal of impressing a team enough to earn just one more multiyear deal. And if it doesn’t work out? Ask Alexander Semin, who last summer signed a one-year contract with the Montreal Canadiens after being bought out by the Carolina Hurricanes. He played 15 games, was placed on waivers by December and was last seen winning a KHL title.
“Players used to get paid for what they had done in the league. Now they’re paid for what we predict they’re going to do in the league. The cap has changed the mentality of how we look at players,” said former New York Rangers and Islanders GM Neil Smith. “If you don’t fit into one of two groups — young, up-and-coming star or veteran superstar — then you’re going to have to sign a short-term deal because no one wants to use up their cap on a guy they’re scared of.”
Here are the players who have signed deals and are looking at a similar make-or-break season in 2016-17.
Thomas Vanek, LW, Detroit Red Wings: Vanek appeared to be a crucial piece when the Minnesota Wild signed the high-scoring winger to a three-year, $19.5 million contract in 2014. At the time, he was fresh off a productive 68-point season and a trip to the Eastern Conference finals with the Canadiens. But Vanek never made it to the third year of that contract, being bought out by Minnesota last month before signing a one-year deal with the Wings. The two-time 40-goal scorer struggled mightily last season, scoring 18 goals and posting a minus-10 before going goalless in 10 Wild playoff games. Vanek, 32, isn’t being signed to be a bottom-six forward, meaning he must recapture his scoring touch to stick around. He’ll have every opportunity to do that with the Red Wings, who boast talented centers in Darren Helm, Dylan Larkin and fellow free-agent signee Frans Nielsen, not to mention scoring wingers in Henrik Zetterberg and Gustav Nyquist.
P.A. Parenteau, RW, New York Islanders: The one-year deal Parenteau signed to return to the Islanders makes it four teams in four seasons for the veteran. But Parenteau might have found the perfect landing spot after navigating …
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