Proving that old school hockey isn't quite dead in this new age NHL, many of the opening day's moves featured teams adding enforcers, agitators and grinders to supplement their toughness and grit.
It was the kind of trend one might have expected to see last year after the Bruins battled their way to the Cup with a hard-nosed, physical style. This year's champs out of Los Angeles possessed a solid physical presence and played with an edge as well, but not to the degree that it would sand the rest of the league scrambling to compete in the arms race.
But the tough guys were definitely in demand. So much so that one heavyweight was claimed to have been signed by two different teams. The official Twitter feed of the Colorado Avalanche erroneously announced that the team had signed former Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner early in the day, only to see the rugged blueliner actually ink a three-year, $4.5 million deal with the Islanders a short while later.
The Isles needed to bulk up, as the Atlantic Division appears to be the epicenter of this latest tectonic shift in NHL thinking. The rival Rangers lost Brandon Prust, who tied with Boston's Shawn Thornton for the league lead with 20 fighting majors last year, but re-signed defenseman Stu Bickel (12 fights) and reloaded with Arron Asham (8 fights with Pittsburgh) and Michael Haley (7 fights with Islanders, plus 13 in AHL).
Pittsburgh countered the loss of Asham, who has now been a member of every team in the division, by signing Tanner Glass (7 fights) and re-signing superheavyweight Steve MacIntyre (6-foot-5, 250 pounds). The Islanders also signed veteran Eric Boulton (1,265 career penalty minutes), whose contract had been bought out by the Devils. New Jersey won't be outgunned though, they re-signed Cam Janssen (9 fights) just before the start of free agency and also brought back their gritty fourth line from the playoffs with new deals for Ryan Carter, Steve Bernier and Stephen Gionta.
Surprisingly, it was only the Broad Street Bullies that did not get in on the act. Of course, Philadelphia does already have Jody Shelley (1,538 career PIMs), Tom Sestito (7 fights in 14 games), Zac Rinaldo (15 fights, 232 PIMs) and Wayne Simmonds (10 fights), so the Flyers didn't need a lot of help in that area.
The Canadiens certainly did though, and adding Prust, along with recent new deals for Travis Moen and Ryan White (7 fights in 20 games), will go a long way toward shedding the Habs' image as a soft team. Newly-signed forward Colby Armstrong and defenseman Francis Bouillon will help add some sandpaper as well. The Sabres, whose lack of toughness was exposed last year when Milan Lucic ran goalie Ryan Miller without any response, addressed that need as well by signing John Scott (6-foot-8, 270 pounds).
Even the Red Wings, who have refused to employ any semblance of toughness in recent years, added some snarl to go with their skill as agitator Jordin Tootoo (725 PIMs in 486 career games) switched sides in Detroit's Central Division rivalry with Nashville, which re-signed enforcer Brian McGrattan itself.
Out West, Minnesota is still waiting on word whether Zach Parise will be lured home to Minnesota, but they've already acquired some potential protection by adding Zenon Konopka (76 fights the last three seasons) after re-signing heavyweight Matt Kassian earlier in the week.
Edmonton re-upped Darcy Hordichuk for another year to keep an eye on the Oilers talented youngsters, while Chicago signed rugged blueliner Sheldon Brookbank away from Anaheim. The Ducks also lost popular pugilist George Parros to Florida, but filled a bit of that void by signing Brad Staubitz.
It was an unexpected trend after fighting dropped league-wide to a five-year low this past season, but those numbers may begin to rise again next year after so many teams put a priority on adding toughness at the start of free agency. And when those stars like Parise and Ryan Suter do finally sign in the coming days, there's a good chance there will already be someone in place to look out for them on their new teams.
Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.