Munich General Manager Jared Smith took his third big and bold stride in a rebuild and suddenly the Red Bulls look like a team that will make noise in Season 12.

After signing Thomas Powell and P.K. Subban earlier in free agency the Red Bulls added former Bern star Derek Stepan early Saturday. Stepan was one of the league’s better forwards in Season 11, scoring 91 points and compiling a turnover ratio of 147 takeaways to 91 giveaways. He was third in the league in assists. The 32-year-old playmaker had a few offers to consider and decided on Bavaria where he will anchor an offense that now includes Powell, Sean Monahan, Filip Forsberg and others. Monahan made a nice gesture to the longtime star Stepan, offering to give him the jersey number 21. Monahan will take the 23 he used to wear for Calgary in the NHL. Dustin Brown had that number when Monahan joined the club.

Free agency will continue through the weekend before the league advances to another free agent step where the players will accept cheaper contracts. But before then, we will see more big names sign contracts. It seems the Stepan signing triggered a few “Plan B” offers. For example, Patrick Kane’s agent announced the talented winger who played with Stepan last season has received an offer of more than $6 million. Once a player receives at least one offer in the this step, he will sign and be on a team before the next step begins.

Other forwards who are weighing offers this weekend include Marius Holtet, Nick Bjugstad, Jakub Silfverberg, Casey Cizikas and defensemen Roman Josi and Troy Stecher.

It has been interesting to watch the interest in Rasmus Andersson grow this past week. The 23-year-old Swedish defenseman was waived by Paris early in the process and 8 teams have now placed claims on him. The winner will be the team that finished lowest in the standings last season.