July 1 is a day on the hockey schedule that brings hope to many NHL franchises.

It's a day when teams can stalk and retool for the upcoming season, seizing players looking for new homes. But while the excitement of nabbing a cornerstone player keeps fans enthralled, the fact is not every signing is a winner and not every deal makes a team better.

Here are three teams that fit such a card and are now worse off after Friday's free-agent frenzy:

Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are worse off after Friday's action, less for what they did and more for what they didn't do.

The club was active, coming to terms with six players, but all six will have little impact on the team's NHL roster as nearly all are projected to start with the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League.

Following his flurry of action Friday, general manager Pierre Dorion told reporters that the majority of the players the Senators had targeted in free agency were still on the market, which demands the question, what exactly were the Senators hoping to achieve in free agency?

Given that more than $630 million was spent on more than 100 players and nearly all of the big names are off the board, it's quite easy to see that the Senators were not big-game hunting.

Factor in that nearly every other club in the Atlantic Division made moves to make themselves more competitive and it appears the Senators may have been left in the dust.

Detroit Red Wings

For the Detroit Red Wings, Plan A far exceeded Plan B.

The Red Wings made it no secret that they were hopeful to land Steven Stamkos on July 1. With the Tampa Bay Lightning captain slated to hit the open market, the club did everything in its power to make a possible signing work.

They dealt the remaining year of Pavel Datsyuk's contract and in turn freed up $7.5 million. Unfortunately, once Stamkos decided to remain with the Lightning, the Red Wings' plan went off the rails.

Things got off to a bad start when they elected to pay Darren Helm just south of $4 million a season over five years, a player who during his six full seasons in the league has only surpassed the 30-point mark twice.

The team then added a previously bought-out Thomas Vanek and a player who failed to score a single goal last season in Steve Ott. They did manage to ink Frans Nielsen to a deal, but at six years and more than $5 million per season, it's a risk for a player who will be 38 when the contract expires.

The Red Wings have now left themselves with just over $4 million in cap space and with Teemu Pulkkinen, Danny Dekeyser, and Petr Mrazek all restricted free agents, it appears the Red Wings may have pushed themselves into a corner that will require roster moves to get out.

New York Rangers

Similar to the Senators, the New York Rangers are worse off after making many moves with little significance.

The Rangers' grab bag included forwards Michael Grabner and Nathan Gerbe as well as defenseman Adam Clendening.

Grabner spent last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he set career-lows - in a full season - managing just nine goals and nine assists in 80 games.

As for Gerbe, the 5-foot-5 forward suited up in just 47 games for the Carolina Hurricanes and in turn also hit career-lows with just three goals and four assists.

Finally, in Clendening the Rangers get a defenseman who has played in just 50 career games, 29 of which came last season split between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Edmonton Oilers where he compiled just one goal and five assists.

In fact, some Rangers fans felt the club's hiring of former player Jeff Beukeboom as assistant coach was the best deal made.

While the Rangers certainly didn't break the bank - with Grabner's two-year $3.3-million deal being the most lucrative of the three - the club failed to make a significant improvement and used up valuable cap space which could be needed to lock-up restricted free agents Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller, and Dylan McIlrath.

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