NHL free agents embraced familiarity on a day full of homecomings

Many former players reunited with old teams looking for a new start or one last shot at glory.

We’ve known for almost 80 years that there’s no place like home. Day one of the NHL’s free agency period — and the real start of the summer doldrums — really drove that point in.

More than 50 NHL free agents signed with teams on Saturday, July 1. There are still some high-profile names to be signed, but we know the fates of many of the NHL’s biggest stars after a hectic, but ultimately unsurprising first day of free agency.

And more than a handful of those big names went back to their roots, in a sense. The day started with Patrick Sharp rejoining the Blackhawks after spending two seasons with the Stars. News filtered in that Kevin Shattenkirk would — like many had theorized before free agency — go play with his hometown team in the New York Rangers. Justin Williams also went back to play with a former club, the Carolina Hurricanes, where he won a Stanley Cup with just over a decade ago.

We often get one or two players that go take hometown discounts or retread old ground, but it felt almost like a theme for the opening of free agency on Saturday. Scott Hartnell returned to the Predators, the team he was drafted by when he started his career, and Joe Thornton decided to stay on with the Sharks, despite other tempting offers elsewhere.

In total, 10 players throughout this offseason have gone back to former clubs, while Shattenkirk and Thornton kept with the theme.

There’s certainly a familiarity aspect that comes into play for veteran role players like Sharp and Williams. Both players won Stanley Cups during their times on the Blackhawks and Hurricanes respectively. Though Chicago looks to be more of a contender than Carolina, Williams can close out his career helping shepherd in a new — and hopefully successful — age for the Hurricanes.

Hartnell, too, likely felt that familiar pull to the Predators after being bought out by Columbus and sent to the free agent market. The veteran winger likely could have commanded a little more money somewhere else on the market, but said Nashville was No. 1 on his go-to list after all was said and done.

And while not every homecoming is made equal, it’s certainly something when four of the five biggest names that went back to well known territory are over the age of 35.

Stars general manager Jim Nill offered yet another reason for this homecoming surge when asked why there aren’t many big term, big money deals: "They want to go to the teams they want to go to now."

Shattenkirk may be the best example of that new player philosophy. The 28-year-old defenseman was the hottest commodity at the trade deadline this year and also the biggest catch in free agency. It was, however, no secret that the Rangers were the likely landing place for the cornerstone defenseman.

There were clearly many suitors for Shattenkirk, and the defenseman even admitted as much to reporters on Saturday as he called playing for the Rangers a dream come true.

Thornton also took less money and term for one last hurrah with the Sharks. It remains to be seen if teammate Patrick Marleau will join Thornton for a potential farewell tour in San Jose, but the incentive to stay is there now.

There is something to be said about returning to a familiar place too, after all. Players like Hartnell, Sharp, and Williams found success early in their careers with the teams they’ve returned to. With likely just a few more playing years left in them, it makes sense that they’d return to old stomping grounds which, coincidentally enough, are all contenders for success in the next few years.

And it’s clear playing for your hometown team, in the case of Shattenkirk, holds sway with some players as they look for marquee destinations in free agency.

Even for lesser talked about players like Anders Lindback going back to Nashville or Mike Cammalleri getting another shot to continue playing hockey back in Los Angeles and Dominic Moore returning to Toronto, home clearly seemed to be on the minds of many free agents this offseason.