Perhaps the most surprising development in the NHL this summer is the amount of restraint that has been shown by the league's 30 general managers during the free agent signing period.Other than Devan Dubnyk's new deal with the Minnesota Wild in late June, the biggest contracts that have been signed over the past week were by teams re-signing younger restricted free agents they had recently acquired in trades (Brandon Saad in Columbus for and Ryan O'Reilly in Buffalo for ) that might still have their best hockey ahead of them.When it comes to the unrestricted market, usually a place where declining stars get paid huge dollars for things they already did for another team and not nece sarily what they will do in the future for their new team, there really wasn't anything that stood out as an obviously bad decision that might cripple a team for years into the future. In other words: There was no David Clarkson or Ville Leino contract this summer. There wasn't even a Dave Bolland or a .Only two players ended up signing a contract that was at least five years in length and worth at least $20 million (Andrej Sekera received from the Edmonton Oilers, while was given by the ). There were such contracts signed on the first day of free agency just last summer. Some that are already looking like mistakes, or at Keynan Middleton Jersey least not what the team expected to get in return for that type of investment. This summer, players that seemed to be on the verge of getting too much money in a thin market (like, say, Matt Beleskey) ended up signing what turned out to be very fair deals. Players like Cody Franson are available on the open market a week into the signing period. Even as recently as a year or two ago, Franson seems like the type of player that might have been able to land a six-or seven-year deal for major money on the first day of free agency from a team that was desperate for a top-pairing defenseman.So why all of a sudden did NHL teams stop paying that type money in the free agent market this summer? As we examined back on July 1, pretty much everything that was done around .Are team simply getting smarter about what they spend money on and how they spend it in free agency? It is worth pointing out that this might have just been a one-time thing, and that by next summer teams could easily start throwing money around again in a reckle s manner on July 1. This was, after all, an extremely thin group of free agents that was short on impact talent.But even that really wasn't a new development.Teams put such an emphasis on keeping their own star players and are usually able to sign them to long-term deals before they are ever able to reach the free agent market. That leaves the rest of the league to fight over mid-level players and pay them like stars. It seemed to be especially true this summer. Nothing against Beleskey, who is a really good player that can help a lot of teams in the right role, but when he is widely considered to be one of the top forwards available that is probably a pretty good sign that it's a weak group of free agents.But thin groups of free agents haven't nece sarily stopped teams from going crazy in the past and spending too much on the wrong player. Free agency has always been a risky path for teams to follow because there is a limited supply of talent -- and it's very rarely top-line talent still in the prime of its career -- and 30 teams are trying to add the right piece to their roster to complete a Stanley Cup team, get back to the playoffs, or even just reach the NHL's salary floor (and a handful of teams still need to do that this summer). In many cases the big contracts that are signed on July 1 turn out to be tomorrow's buyouts, salary dump trades or cap headaches. In a recent article over at the Hockey News, Matt Larkin spoke with NHL superagent Allan Walsh about and how much they have changed what is brought up and what is meaningful. It stands to reason that if they are using that information (even if for only themselves) in contract talks, that they also have it when it comes to player evaluation and making decisions on who to sign and how much to pay them. And that can make a huge difference.They can identify players that might be coming off of a fluke season that they might not duplicate it in the future because of a sudden and unsustainable bump in shooting percentage. They can ask questions about players that may have put up big numbers because they were constantly put into favorable situations (better linemates, more power play time, sheltered minutes where they are put into offensive situations) they may not get on another team and what that will do to their production. And, conversely, they can find players that might have struggled to score because they were put into tougher situations and were incorrectly used by their previous team.All of that matters in a cap world because every dollar a team spends is important. A bunch of little mistakes and small overpays can very quickly add up into big mistakes and can leave a team in a tough spot when it comes to re-signing a superstar, keeping a core player, or adding the nece sary complementary pieces. With a growing number of teams hiring analytics expects and analytical staffs, general managers have more information at their disposal right now than ever before when it comes to making roster decisions. And the more information they have, and the more they know about why players score, why they succeed, why they "fail," and why they end up working out, the better decisions they can make for their team. And this offseason might have been an example of teams putting it into practice. Nolan Gorman Jersey