Pre-Free Agency contracts are coming fast and furious; starting with those that happened Draft Weekend and are sure to continue right up until July 1st as teams negotiate with their own free agents and trade for the rights of others. Many believed negotiations for a contract extension for Sidney Crosby may be difficult given his injury history, but there didn’t appear to be any difficulty whatsoever as news seemingly came out of nowhere that a contract was agreed to. The terms: 12 years, $104.4M for a cap hit of, you guessed it, $8.7M (same as his current contract). The 24-year-old face of the NHL will be 37 at the conclusion of his next contract, essentially making him a Penguin for life. There will be a lot of questions about how wise this investment was considering his concussion history and lack of insurance, and rightfully so. But did Pittsburgh have any other choice? Crosby is almost single-handedly responsible for the franchise being able to build their new arena, and he and Malkin are the reason free agents will take less money to play there. And there was no way they were going to trade Sid, this generation’s version of Wayne Gretzky. Ownership never would have signed off on it, as the fan base would have turned rabid, resulting in lost ticket sales and concessions, and probably some sponsorships. Concussion history aside, Crosby is the best player in the NHL. Over his last two injury-shortened seasons, his numbers are still ridiculous: 40-63-103 in 62 games. 62! Only one player had 100 points this year in an 82 game season. He is also playing more two-way hockey than ever before, committing himself in the offseasons to improve defensively and in the faceoff circle, where his success rate has skyrocketed. No, Pittsburgh was never going to let Crosby go, and thanks to Crosby’s superstitions about the number 87, they don’t have to worry about paying him the maximum (over $14M based on the current CBA and salary cap). For Crosby, this was simple. He makes millions in endorsements, so his salary is almost irrelevant here. This was about getting security for the rest of his career without worrying about his concussions. With the next CBA possibly shortening contracts, it was important to get the 12-year deal agreed to ahead of time. He likely never has to think about a contract again, and can just continue doing what he does: be the best player in the world. Grade for Pittsburgh: A- Grade for Crosby: A+ Shortly after the Crosby signing was announced, Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick reached an agreement with the Stanley Cup champion L.A. Kings on a new 10-year contract reportedly worth $58M, which would slot him seventh in between Miikka Kiprusoff and Ilya Bryzgalov as far as cap hits go for goalies. The $5.8M cap hit is actually fairly team-friendly given the season he just had. In addition to being named the Playoff MVP, the 26-year-old was a Vezina nominee. He led the league with 10 shutouts, was second in GAA (1.95) and fifth in SV% (.929). Those numbers actually look terrible compared to his playoff run (1.41, .946). In what could be his last contract, Quick will get to remain on a team with a fantastic young nucleus that could contend for the next 5 years, has owners willing to spend to the cap, and get to be in the fantastic city of Los Angeles. Yes, he is better than seventh at his position, but with the next CBA he may not have been able to sign a contract this lucrative. Grade for Los Angeles: A Grade for Quick: A- Speaking of goalies, the Winnipeg Jets reached an agreement with their own pending RFA Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec’s camp put the Jets in a pretty big pickle during these negotiations by indicating there was a huge offer on the table from the KHL north of $4M per season. The 24-year-old Czech native has shown glimpses of awesomeness over the last two seasons, but has lacked consistency. Yes, the Jets/Thrashers were more up-tempo teams that lacked quality defensive depth, but a 2.91 GAA is unacceptable when there are guys registering almost half of that (Brian Elliott’s 1.56 led the league). Pavelec led the league in goals allowed, but he also faced the fifth most shots in the league. He was better in 2010-11 (2.73, .914). And given his age, there is some upside left for him to reach, and the Jets have escalated his contract to pay him more toward the end of his deal as he hopefully he improves to justify it. He signed a five-year deal worth an average of $3.9M. I calculated the cap hits of the projected starting goalies given the current roster situations, and the league average is $4.1M with Quick’s new extension, or $3.99M without. So while it may seem like a lot, paying Pavelec like a slightly below average goalie is actually the right move for Winnipeg, especially if the KHL was offering more. Grade for Winnipeg: A- Grade for Pavelec: B+ Vancouver essentially confirmed that Roberto Luongo is going to be traded by signing Cory Schneider to a three-year contract worth $12M. This deal allows the 26-year-old to be paid like a starting goalie for the next three years while he tries to establish himself as elite, so that he can cash in bigger before he’s 30-years-old. The Canucks smartly didn’t give out a ridiculously contract (like Luongo’s) to handcuff themselves a second time incase things didn’t work out for Schneider when he turned into a full-time starter. At the same time, it is surprising that Vancouver didn’t let other teams put an offer sheet on him (that was probably less) and match it. Grade for Vancouver: B+ Grade for Schneider: A Despite the entire world outside of Calgary knowing the Flames really need to blow it up and rebuild and give poor Jarome Iginla a chance at a Cup, GM Jay Feaster traded for the rights to Dennis Wideman and made him a very rich man. The 29-year-old agreed to a five-year, $26.25M contract. Wideman is a fine defenseman and valuable power play guy, but the cap hit is the same as Keith Yandle’s and just short of Duncan Keith’s, two players undoubtedly superior; Wideman is a second pairing guy, not a top-2. The contract is reminiscent of Columbus overpaying for James Wisniewski, or Calgary previously giving over $6M a year to Jay Bouwmeester, which clearly has not worked out. Kudos to Wideman though, but setting the bar for his contemporaries instead of allowing one of them to set the bar lower on July 1st. You have made agents for Matt Carle and Jason Garrison very happy men. Grade for Calgary: D Grade for Wideman: A+ Kudos should also be handed out to the L.A. Kings once again for locking up an important piece of their championship team in third-line center Jarret Stoll. He is extremely valuable in his role as a defensive specialist, penalty killer and faceoff guy, but if he reached July 1st, no doubt there would be some team out there willing to pay him like the second-line offensive guy he used to be. Stoll accepted a three-year deal for $3.25M per season, which is still a good chunk of change for a third-line guy. But I think this contract is more about the fit and the team being a legitimate Cup contender than Stoll feeling the need to cash in on the open market. Grade for Los Angeles: A Grade for Stoll: A Lastly, one contract that didn’t get nearly any headlines was Colorado signing franchise cornerstone Matt Duchene to a paltry two-year, $7M deal. It was Duchene, remember, that was taken third overall in 2009 and had many believing he would be better than John Tavares (who went first and signed for $5.5M per season) after his 67-point sophomore season. But Duchene disappointed last year, registering just 28 points in 58 games before injury ended his season. So I guess the fact that he will be getting $3.5M per year should be a positive given those stats, but everyone in the world knows he is a far better player than last year indicated. If he regains his All-Star form, he is sure to cash in two years from now. Good job by Colorado not overpaying based on potential until they see the results. Grade for Colorado: A- Grade for Duchene: B+ Nick is RealGM’s NHL Feature Writer. You can reach him by email nick.obergan@realgm.com or on twitter @NickObergan