I'm mostly not including signing bonus in the article. Even though it played a large factor in almost all signings, there are many ways to attain cash.

Good: Dallas Stars - Ryan Miller - 1 year, 5,000,000 cap hit.

Let me start of by saying this is not cheap. It's also not expensive, especially considering where the market has gone since. Miller has decent starter rates, and should get Junya by in net. This signing is very good in the sense that Junya got in & out of the UFA goalie market in a flash, with a starting goalie.

Bad: Seattle - Jeff Carter - 2 years, 11,000,000 cap hit.

I know I said I wouldn't include signing bonus much, but in this case, YIKES. I could have understood an expansion team picking up a few UFAs on one year deals to either deal them, or try and be semi-competitive. I'm not sure what Rex's thinking was here, though. Loyalty is irrelevant to Rex in this case, as Carter will be old when the deal expires. Dealing him would require Rex to retain two years at 50%, which would be fine, except we can only retain a 15% of our cap. On top of that, he spent all of his cash in UFA, on two players he'll struggle to deal and get value for. He'll have to do league work, or save every cent of revenue he gets in order to afford the retention money on Carter and/or Subban. If he gets any value out of this Carter signing, I'll be surprised.

Bad: Seattle - PK Subban - 2 years, 15,000,000 cap hit.

I don't need to go into too much detail here, as most of what I could say is written above for Jeff Carter. All I will add is that signing Subban one year for loyalty, or long term, would have made sense. A two year deal at 15,000,000 doesn't make any sense to me. I'd be happy for Rex to see him prove me wrong, but to me, his UFA period has been filled with bad moves. There's a lot he could have done with his cash, retention slots. These insane contracts will make it very difficult for him to do as well as he could have.

Good: Columbus Blue Jackets - Dustin Byfuglien - 1 year, 10,000,000 cap hit.

I like this signing for Jesse. It's not cheap, but he went out and added a #1 defenseman early in UFA period. He's a huge add to a team on the rise. Well done with the signing and term, Jesse.

On The Fence: New Jersey Devils - Blake Wheeler, - 3 years, 12,800,000 cap hit.

I'll be honest, I don't know what to think of this signing. It's so prominent that I couldn't leave it out of the article, though. On one hand, Tim locked up arguably the best UFA available for 3 years. He's also got a good team. On the other hand, Wheeler needs to have three huge years to live up to this contract. To me, with the cap going up each year, and the usual craziness of UFA, I don't see this as a disasterous signing at all. At the same time, I'm not sure if it's a good one. Time will tell, but a one year deal would have been safer here.

Good: Pittsburgh Penguins - Mike Green - 2 years, 2,400,000 cap hit.

When I saw this signing was coming close to happening, it took everything in me not to up it. It was such a nice signing for Billy, and a great way to go out. Even though Green's rates won't blow you away, he's a decent offensive defenseman, and a really nice #5 or #6. Signing a guy with his capabilities for two years at just 2,400,000 is a really nice deal in my eyes. There's no risk in this contract whatsoever. Well done.

Good: Carolina Hurricanes - Henrik Zetterberg - 1 year, 4,500,000 cap hit.

This one is pretty simple. The Canes had to find a way to get their UFAs back to compete, and they did. Getting Zetterberg back at 4,500,000 is very reasonable, and there's no risk with the one year term. I like this signing a lot.

Good: Montreal Canadiens - Justin Williams - 1 year, 4,000,000 cap hit.

Not too much to write about here. A very nice middle 6 forward at a surprisingly reasonable salary. Steve's had a spectacular offseason that continues to get better as it progresses.

Bad: St. Louis Blues - Rick Nash - 3 years, 6,000,000 cap hit.

Rick Nash is declining, and rapidly at that. This term is disgusting, as is the cap hit. He's got a very useful scoring rating for this year, so I could understand a one year deal. Three years, though? This signing screams buyout.

Apologies to a couple of GMs who also had big signings that weren't mentioned in this article.