The NHL’s unrestricted free agent interview period is a bit of an odd time. Interested teams can talk to players they’d like to sign. They can fly them in and show them the best school systems. You can even talk about general parameters of what a deal might look like. But that’s the extent of it. You can’t sign. Offers made during this window aren’t binding. That leaves some gray area as teams look to check off their to-do lists.



“It’s a little weird,” agreed Capitals GM Brian MacLellan. “You get a sense of what they’re looking for, the environment they want, the role they want. You give a sense of what kind of room you’re going to have in your payroll structure.”



And miraculously, deals get done within minutes of the opening of free agency on July 1. One NHL executive on Monday joked that some teams may wait 20 minutes to announce the more complex contracts.



It’s how it goes. But...