The ink has dried on the contracts. The courtship of John Tavares has concluded with his return to Toronto. The 2018 NHL free-agent frenzy ended as it began: With some very wealthy people getting wealthier, general managers spending beyond logical means and fans stressing about the future.
So ... let's do it again in 2019, shall we?
Here's a way-too-early look at the 2019 NHL free-agent frenzy, placing 27 of the best available names into five tiered categories. As we've already seen with Drew Doughty, Logan Couture and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (to name a few), some players won't make it all the way to free agency.