It's been almost a week since the 2020 NHL free-agent market opened. A handful of unrestricted free agents, such as Alex Pietrangelo, Torey Krug and Jacob Markstrom, signed expensive long-term contracts despite a flattened salary cap and economic uncertainty generated by COVID-19 hanging over next season.
Whether those signings end up among the NHL's worst remains to be seen. A number of UFA signings, such as the Minnesota Wild inking Zach Parise and Ryan Suter or the Vancouver Canucks signing Loui Eriksson turned into expensive failures over the past 20 years.