This Date in History: Alfredsson signs with Red Wings

everal teams went a similar route, with a total of $149.3 million in long-term NHL salary-cap space invested to re-sign and/or extend Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning ($63 million over eight years), Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets ($32.4 million over six years), Torey Krug of the Boston Bruins ($21 million over four years), Sami Vatanen of the Anaheim Ducks (a reported $19.5 million over four years), and Radko Gudas of the Philadelphia Flyers (a reported $13.4 million over four years).

Among unrestricted free agents, the only major investment in a defenseman outside of Florida was made by another new GM, John Chayka of the Arizona Coyotes. He acquired Alex Goligoski from the Dallas Stars on June 16 in a trade for a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, and six days later signed him to a contract valued at $27.375 million over five years.

That contract can't be classified as a very high risk, because Goligoski is expected to be a perfect fit in Arizona. He is a versatile, two-way defenseman who can be trusted in all game and manpower situations, and will help share the tough minutes with last season's Coyotes scoring leader, Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Beyond that, the volume of free agent signings has remained high, but the risks have been kept small. For example, trusted veterans Brian Campbell of the Chicago Blackhawks, Fedor Tyutin of the Colorado Avalanche and John-Michael Liles of the Bruins each signed a one-year contract.