Grading Tambellini (free agent signings)

A couple days ago I made a post giving my take on Tambi's trades since he took over, today I want to focus on his free agent signings. Again this is only my opinion and in no way am I insisting I'm right in my scores. Im going to use the same scale (1-5) for ranking these signings/re-signings, total up the scores and give a percentage grade. Give your take on the poll at the end and please leave comments below. If you see an error please point it out and I will correct it ASAP. Again I'm only looking at impact signings and not spending time on AHL signings (while some has been important for the most part they have no real impact on the big club).

1. July 1, 2009

Nikolia Khabibulin 4 Years 3.75mil Cap Hit Score 2

Eeek... this one is just plain bad. He was old when we signed him and he's even older now. First season here so was solid for about 5 games then got hurt. The next season IMO he was surpassed by Devan Dubnyk based on poor play all the while fighting an appeal for an extreme DUI from the past year. This season Khabby was the best in the league for about a month posting a ridiculous 0.965S% before coming down to reality since then. He's been better than Dubnyk this season and only has a handful of awful games but I struggle with the idea we couldn't have found a cheaper/younger option until Dubnyk was ready to take over.

2. September 10, 2009

Mike Comrie 1 Year 1.25mil Cap Hit Score3

Say what you want about Comrie's first stay here in Edmonton the fact that this was a player that wanted to come back to Edmonton to make amends with his home town is impressive. He came here well bellow his market price and played above his contract when healthy. Only played 43 games but got 21pts, more than you expect for a guy of his cap hit. PS he brought Hilary Duff to town, bonus points.

3. July 1, 2010

Kurtis Foster 2 Years 1.8mil Cap Hit Score 2.5

He came cheap, and he was a solid offensive defense men hitting the 40pt plateau twice in his career, one year being the one prior to the signing. Foster was a giant let down here in Edmonton but that isn't Tambi's fault. He was big, puck moving dman, with an absolute cannon for a shot (unfortunately not an accurate one). He played 74 games and only recorded 22pts. Again this a case of player drastically underachieving here but can't be pinned entirely on Tambi.

4. August 6, 2010

Martin Gerber 1 Year 500K Cap Hit Score 3.5

He was brilliant in his 3 game stint with the big club and that is the only reason this makes the cut for this list, great signing for OKC. Score would be higher if he played more games in the NHL (as most fans wanted after those 3 games)

5. March 8, 2011

Taylor Fedun 2 Years 900K Cap Hit Score 3

This kid would have been an Oiler over guys like Corey Potter, Jeff Petry, and IMO Theo Peckham. If he didnt break his femur in freak incident in Mini in the preseason we could have seen more of what he has to offer. Hopefully he can recover fully. I love this kid (maybe the reason i score this so high for a guy who hasnt played an NHL game)

6. June 15, 2011

Lennart Petrell 1 Year 900K Capt Hit Score 2.5

He may never be an NHL regular but he killed penalties, hit, fought once, and put up a few points in his days with the Oilers. He likely will bounce around between OKC and the Oilers depending on injuries, trades, etc. I like Lennart but his NHL future is unsure.

7. July 1, 2011

Corey Potter 1 Year 525K Cap Hit Score 4

Might have originated as an AHL signing but he has stuck with the big club and thrived, with the exception being maiming Taylor Hall a week ago in St. Louis. He's calm, poise, has a cannon, and is a major cog in the powerplay. 16pts in 35 game this season for the low cost of half million? yes please. I'll address the re-signing later on but expect high scores there as well.

8. July 1, 2011

Eric Belanger 3 Years 1.75mil Cap Hit Score 4

Now before I get chewed out for the high score, how many of you liked this signing in July? My guess is in the +90% range. He has been abysmal as a 3rd line center and even worse on the power play. I personally blame his for MPS's slump and lack of confidence as well as Omark starting down in OKC this season but hey that has nothing to do with the signing. He belongs on the fourth line but again in July this looked like a terrific signing. Tambi can;t be blamed for the failure on the part of the player (or coach if you see it that way).

9. July 1, 2011

Cam Barker 1 Yeark 2.25mil Cap Hit Score 2

Now this was basically a hail mary signing with not a lot to lose expect for 2.25mil out of Katz's rather deep pockets. Barker hasn't been good IMO and I have yet to see the offensive flare that got him taken 3rd over all. He's a 3rd pairing dman on the Oilers which translates to an AHL dman on any other team, well maybe not CLM. We got pretty well what we sign him for, I dont like the high cap hit for a dman recently waived.

10. July 1, 2011

Darcy Hordichuk 1 Year 825K Cap Hit Score 3

He's cheap, he hit, he fights (well), and he hates the Canucks. He doesnt play a lot of games and doesnt get a lot of ice-time but thats more attributed to coaching philosophy than anything. We got what we paid for and he did increase the toughness on the team. Bonus: he hasnt done anything stupid/crazy yet.

11. July 1, 2011

Ben Eager 3 Years 1.1mil Cap Hit Score 2.5

He seems to be injury plagued this season and is often a healthy scratch. He's fast enough to keep up with on the first line but doesnt bring the toughness we was signed for. He hasnt snapped yet which is nice (or maybe not) and at least we know he can get in the Canucks heads.

So as of right now we have 11 signings (noteworthy ones) since July 31, 2008 when Mr. Tambellini took over as GM. Out of the possible 5pts possible Tambi (IMO) has scored a 32/55 for a grade of 58%. Drastically lower than the 75% Tambi received on my previous post on trades. This will be an interesting summer for Mr.Tambi if he is indeed re-signed (please no!) where he has Smid, Gilbert, Gagner all to re-sign and the possibility of Hemsky as well. Its going to be an interesting Trade Deadline and summer for the franchise and whoever sits in the GM chair.