In the summer of 2005, Jim Rutherford went fishing for other teams' castoffs. Coming out of the lockout, teams were forced to adapt to the new realities of a salary-cap NHL, and talent was there on the market waiting to be snapped up by an ambitious team.
Rutherford wanted to be that ambitious team. He went into the market, made a few largely unheralded signings of players like Cory Stillman and Ray Whitney among others, and promptly won the Stanley Cup.
Some gambles, like those signings, pay off in spades. Some, like Rutherford's signing two summers ago of Alexander Semin to a long-term contract, don't.