But this year, what happened? You can look at a couple of the biggest names as of late June and get a pretty good idea of the situation. Mitch Marner was traded on the 30th of June before signing an extension with his new team, the Golden Knights. Brock Boeser just signed himself a 7 year deal with his current and former team, the Vancouver Canucks.
This is a perfect example of a good problem, though. Teams have more room, so they are able to spend more money to keep their own. Boeser didn't mind Vancouver, so he stayed. Marner didn't care to spend more time in Toronto, and the Leafs made sure to get something in return. Neither needed to hit the open market because everyone has the ability to add players. There wasn't a particularly great need for Marner because nobody was looking to replace their top players.
This was a real let down for a team like the Wild (my team of choice) who has been in cap hell for years since jettisoning Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. They were supposed to be in a great position to start adding to a young and developing roster, but now, there just wasn't that much out there to attract them, nothing that was going to substantially improve the roster immediately or in the near future.
This is a blip, though, and not a symptom of the way things will always be. It is great news for players, because with a larger cap, teams will start paying them more. Eventually, the contracts in effect right now will expire, and expectations for those players is that they should make more money as well. Teams will spend nearer to their cap again, and more players will be forced into free agency to seek the best deal they can get.
But this year, I give you permission to stop refreshing SportsNet's free agency tracker. Stop refreshing the SportsNet tracker and enjoy your weekend.
