So when (or if) Curtis Joseph enters the Hockey Hall of Fame, will his days with the Calgary Flames be cited with teary-eyed nostalgia?

You scoff?

Cujo is going to be undefeated with the Flames. His goals-against average is going to be 0.00. He is going to leave without ever whining about the way the Calgary fans treated the ex-Oiler.

Is this weird, or what?

A year ago, the signings within a few hours of the witching hour -- midnight, marking the turning of the calendar to July -- were fire-off-flares significant. This time around, the machinations seemed to be unfolding in slow motion before the Rangers' signing of a Devils' center raised the question:

Was all Holik about to break loose?

The moves both as the deadline approached, and in the first stages of the free-agency period, didn't necessarily herald a major rewriting of the offseason game's standards. Bobby Holik's move to the Rangers, though, almost assuredly shoves New York back into the Eastern Conference picture and will turn out to be a good buy for the franchise that gives free spending a bad name.

At the very least, the first moves (or lack of them) seemed to represent further indications that the approach of the end of the collective bargaining agreement has injected a note of tentativeness into the proceedings.

Let us count some of the lessons so far.

	Hedican

	Francis

1. Wow, the Carolina Hurricanes mean business.

Maybe the 'Canes won't be one-hit wonders, after all. Ron Francis is older than dirt and barely younger than Igor Larionov, but his return was critical for both on-ice and in-the-room reasons, and the poker game at the deadline culminated in his two-year, $11-million deal. Over the years, Carolina has vacillated -- balking at paying Keith Primeau, throwing that huge offer sheet at Sergei Fedorov -- but owner Peter Karmanos largely has been a financial hardliner. But now that the Hurricanes have caught the fancy of The Triangle, Karmanos seems comfortable with heightened aggression, re-signing Francis and Bret Hedican.

2. Some team lawyer apparently finally made it all the way through the terms that have been on the books since the collective bargaining agreement that ended the lockout seven years ago. Yes, we can picture it: Some guy wearing a bowtie and bi-focals, walking into the office of an NHL general manager, with documents in hand, pointing at fine print and saying, "Say, boss. . . "

But the belated trend toward shipping potential unrestricted free agents, usually from teams that aren't eligible for high compensatory draft choices to teams that are, at least has made for some fun in the "agate" transactions.

Cujo to Calgary.

Mike Richter to Edmonton.

Theo Fleury, for years despised as an opponent in the Shark Tank, reunited (temporarily) with his favorite mascot in San Jose.

Tie Domi, who indeed sounds as if he should be second on the bill at the Grand Ole Opry or singing in a truck commercial, and Ed Belfour to Nashville.

Come to think of it, wasn't there a country hit called, "Officer, I'll Give You a Billion Dollars if You Don't Throw me in the Penalty Box?"

	Kasparaitis

3. Colorado general manager Pierre Lacroix's apparent refusal to tinker with what he proudly calls the franchise's "winning recipe" is puzzling, smacking of complacency. Lacroix blanches when anyone calls the Avalanche big-spenders, as if it implies he had kept Colorado among the elite with an open checkbook rather than ingenuity. He's right about this: The formula has been to acquire those pending free agents at the trading deadline, then -- if the player passes muster -- re-sign them before they enter the open market.

So the Avalanche's lack of aggressiveness in attempting to prevent Darius Kasparaitis from entering the market has to be considered an indication that Colorado wasn't enamored with the Lithuanian defenseman. That's strange, because Kasparaitis did adapt and play well for the Avalanche, especially as the playoffs progressed. Yes, Kasparaitis seems predisposed to move East, but the Colorado track record makes it apparent that if Colorado truly wanted him back, the Avs would have found a way to get it done. Before the deadline.

So unless Lacroix has something up his sleeve, which is not inconceivable given his track record for keeping his intentions quiet, Colorado will open the season painfully thin on defense, beyond Rob Blake and Adam Foote.

Plus, the Avalanche's lack of interest in checking whether Holik could be coaxed into signing with Colorado is puzzling. Forget the other bigger names. Holik would have been the best fit of all the free agents for Colorado, which needs a defensive center who also can score, even if that means loading up Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg on the same first line. Maybe Holik would have been determined to stay in the New York area, one way or another, but the Avalanche shouldn't have ruled out trying.

4. The above probably can be attributed to a belief -- one not unique to the Colorado front office -- that the Red Wings are going to regress significantly. Dominik Hasek is going home and half of the Wings' roster can get the special senior citizen deals at Denny's if Chris Chelios and Larionov end up back with Detroit, but it would be a mistake to buy into this Decline and Fall theory yet. Especially if one of the marquee goalies ends up wearing the winged wheel.

	McEachern

5. The nicest little deal is the Thrashers' acquisition of Shawn McEachern from the Senators. The veteran speed demon can help the dynamic young stars-in-waiting, Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley. His leadership isn't of the Kelly Buchberger or Ray Ferraro ilk, but he's a 32-year-old veteran voice who can be a grating hustler.

6. Paul Kariya has had more centers than the Dodgers have had third basemen, so Anaheim's signing of Adam Oates made a ton of sense. But it's going to take a lot more than this to get the Mighty Ducks out of the mire. Plus, the Flyers' decision not to re-sign Oates meant he was an expensive rental, even more so than Kasparaitis was for Colorado.

7. Jaromir Jagr also has a new center -- an old Penguins teammate, countryman Robert Lang, signed to a five-year, $25-million deal Monday. He has a new coach, Bruce Cassidy. Will he rediscover the passion for the game that he showed last season only at the Olympics?

8. There was no rush, really, since restricted free agency almost always isn't free at all. But the Sharks' re-signing of Patrick Marleau and Marco Sturm before the free-agency period helped them take stock, and all indications are that they still will be able to get Teemu Selanne back in the fold, too.

9. Gordie Howe.

Couldn't resist.

Terry Frei of The Denver Post is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. His book, "Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming," will be published by Simon and Schuster in December.