Sabres, James Wisniewski Among NHL Free Agency Winners, While Flyers, Tomas Kaberle Not as Fortunate

The free agency period is just three days old, but already most of the major moves have been completed. Some 86 players landed new deals between the opening of free agency at noon on Friday and Sunday afternoon. That’s after 25 others signed new contracts in the final week leading up to July 1.

It was a wild weekend of outrageous spending. Some of those dollars will have been spent wisely, with clubs putting the pieces in place for eventual Cup runs, just as the Bruins did when they began their march toward championship glory with their first serious foray into the free-agent waters by signing Zdeno Chara back in 2006. More teams will come to regret the money they tossed around this weekend when those excessive cap hits hamstring their efforts to compete.

It will take years for a true evaluation of many of the moves made this weekend, but there are some immediate conclusions that can be drawn.

Here is a sampling of some of the early winners and losers from the start of this year’s free agent frenzy >>