We're only a few weeks away from crowning this year's Stanley Cup champion and we have learned so much on this journey. 

Justin Schultz abandoned the Anaheim Ducks and he had every right to do so.

Thanks to a loophole in the CBA, Schultz was able to become an unrestricted free agent before playing a game in the NHL. After completing his junior year at Wisconsin, he refused to sign with the Ducks and was courted by close to every team in the league, ultimately signing with Edmonton.

One seventh-round pick was used in the making of this photo.

A few weeks ago I wrote an article comparing the rebuilding efforts in Edmonton and Toronto, with the basis being that there are many ways to build a team, and the traditional tank hard and draft high method isn't always a guarantee for success.

I've thought a lot about how teams go about building a contender, mainly because the Maple Leafs are so routinely whipped for Brian Burke's current rebuild, and that led me to examine the league's top two teams, the New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings.

The last time either team had a lottery pick was in 1999, which is the year New York selected Pavel Brendl fourth overall. You have to go all the way back to 1990 for the last time the Red Wings selected in the top-5; that year they took Keith Primeau third overall.

Clearly, neither team has undergone the prototypical rebuilding method, which most fans view as the only true way to create a legitimate Stanley Cup threat.

Today's article at The Good Point looks at just how the Rangers and Red Wings came to sit at the top of the standings.

The NHL’s free agency period opened on Canada Day and GMs everywhere went mad. July 1st isn’t usually a day of tepid, reasoned action: it’s a day of all out anarchy. This year proved even more extreme than usual. Because of the increasing salary cap and a general lack of difference-makers on the market, teams were outbidding each other to throw crazy money at mediocre players.

Teams like the Florida Panthers desperately needed to make the escalating cap floor and spent an inappropriate amount of money on players like Scottie Upshall and Ed Jovanovski.

Not only was the amount for a former third-liner obscene, but the term given out was maddening. Max Talbot for five years? Ville Leino for six? Crazy.

The Leafs wisely chose to avoid getting into a bidding war on free agents like Joel Ward and Scottie Upshall, who they likely had interest, but not for the amount players of that ilk eventually signed for. Some people in Leafs Nation were upset with Burke's inactivity, but at that likely stems from their desire to see something happen. Some tangible evidence of "progress". In reality, avoiding these deals and allowing a young player like Matt Frattin or Nazem Kadri to grab a roster spot is much more prudent.

The one bidding war the Leafs did engage in was for the services of Brad Richards – the only legitimate star among this year’s crop of mediocrity.

Remember, if you want to keep up with Five Minutes for Fighting you can do so on both Twitter and Facebook.

Yesterday’s report that the Rangers intend to buy out the final year of Chris Drury’s contract signals the end of yet another Glen Sather mistake – something that is becoming a regular occurrence in New York.

For the past decade, Glen Sather has essentially dug a hole in the ground and thrown millions and millions of dollars into it. If there was an aging superstar entering free agency you could be sure that Sather was the most persistent suitor for their service. Even if there wasn't a superstar available, Sather would pay someone as if they were a superstar.

Now the hot rumour is that the Rangers are going to fall over themselves trying to sign Brad Richards to a lucrative contract. It almost seems unfair that a team can give someone a $7 million contract seemingly every season and wiggle out of these commitments when it becomes apparent they made a terrible mistake. (Note: my faux-outrage really stems from my yearning for the Leafs to sign Brad Richards).

What’s confusing is that aside from spending money, Glen Sather is an adept GM.

Sather has shown an ability to acquire superstars for close to nothing. He brought in Pavel Bure for two prospects and three draft picks that accumulated a mere 33 games in the NHL; Eric Lindros for Kim Johnsson and spare parts; and Jaromir Jagr for Anson Carter.

Injuries curtailed Bure's time in New York, but he scored 50 points in 51 games. Lindros suffered a similar fate, but still gave the Rangers a 70+ point season and a 50+ point one. Jagr was the true steal, scoring 123 points his first season (the 3rd best total of his career), 96 in his second, and 71 in his third. In total, Sather brought in close to 500 points for a bag of rocks.

Sather has also finally started building a solid young core of players that includes Brandon Dubinsky, Ryan Callahan, Marc Staal, Derek Stepan, and others.

Plus, he seems to find takers for some pretty unattractive contracts (which we’ll discuss in more detail later).

This is also a man inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He’s clearly great when given all-world talent to work with. He won four Stanley Cups with the Oilers in the 1980s and played a major role in building team Canada for the 1984 Canada Cup, 1994 World Hockey Championship, and the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.

However, his Hall of Fame induction was in 1997, three years before he became this free spending maniac GM.

Enough with the pleasantries; you’re reading this for a juicy trash session. Here are the (current) worst moves of the Glen Sather Era. Remember, as long as Sather has money to spend as the Rangers’ GM, this list is a work in progress.