End to End Hockey Free Agent list.
With free agency just a couple of hours away, here is my top 50 list of free agents after today’s moves in my opinion, and I will give a run down by position who some teams could target later tomorrow when I do my live video on my YouTube channel.
Now here is my run down on all the positions and who some teams could go after
Center’s: now there isn’t any 1st line Center’s in this years draft class as all who were going to free agency have signed and if a team need a top line Center, they would more then likely look to the trade market to get a guy like Lindholm or Scheifele, but while it is a weaker draft class then prior years, that doesn’t mean there isn’t good players, as in the Center group you have a couple of Veterans in O’Reilly and Toews who I think could still be solid 2nd line Center’s at the NHL level, then you have a couple of versatile forwards in Domi and Compher who are coming off fantastic seasons and could probably be some teams 2nd line Center if need be, and then is a team is looking for some depth down the middle, there are definitely some bottom six options as you have a guy like Drouin, Steel, Eller and Blueger who could still maybe be a 3rd line Center, and you also have some solid 4th line options in Geekie, Bjugstad, McLeod and Anderson-Dolan who have all had pretty good years and would really improve a teams depth down the middle, so these could be some guys I am looking at down the middle.
Left Wing: now if you are looking for a left winger this year, there isn’t too much top end talent, but there is one solid guy who should continue to be a top 6 winger in the NHL and that is Tyler Bertuzzi, who I think could be the best available player in free agency this year and would help a team who needs a top 6 goal scorer, then there are a couple of players who could step into a middle six role and help a team with some depth scoring, and that includes Bunting who has done well over the past couple of seasons, Tatar and Zucker who are both coming off of fantastic seasons and Comtois who the Ducks didn’t give a qualifying offer to, so any one of these 4 players could help a teams middle six and be either a 2nd or 3rd line winger, while there are definitely other options for teams looking for more bargain deals, as I think guys like Nyquist, JVR, Kerfoot and Kostin are all players who could be solid 3rd line players while you also have a few veterans like Motte, Nieto, Ritchie and Wood who could all be hard to play against bottom six forwards who can produce offensively for a team, so there are options there.
Right Wing: now after some buyouts and not given qualifying offers the Right wing position may wind up being the deepest position of those years free agent class, as there are four guys who I think would be solid top 6 forwards and maybe even have a shot at playing top line minutes, and that is Killorn who priced himself out of Tampa after a career year, Tarasenko and Kane (when he recovers from his injury) from NYR who may not be able to keep both or either, and Wheeler who was just bought out by Winnipeg, so these are all more veteran players but are still producing at high levels, then you have Matt Duchene who was bought out by Nashville who I think on the right deal could be a solid 2nd line player for a team looking for some 2nd line help, then you have Yamamoto, Gurianov, Sprong and Engvall who could all be solid middle six forwards and produce with their new teams, while there a Rw a couple of higher level bottom six forwards in Engvall, Fischer and Sundqvist who could fit quite well into a teams bottom six, while you also have some lower end bottom six forwards like Watson and Reaves who are going to be sought after for their physical play, so as you can see, while there isn’t any Gaudreau’s or Trocheck’s in this years draft class and it isn’t as deep as one in the past few years, I still think it is pretty solid and there are definitely some solid players who will be available tomorrow.
Defence: As for the defensive side we don’t have that elite top pair defensemen like a Hamilton that we have had the past couper of years, but there are a couple of solid defensive options, now if a team was looking for some help in the top four and was looking for a player with a little offensive upside, then I think Matt Dumba, Klingberg, Orlov or Gostisbehere could be of interest to them as all are coming off pretty good seasons offensively and Dumba and Klingberg are known as offensive defensemen while Gostisbehere and Orlov had fantastic showings offensively this year and all four would work well in a top 4 role, and if a team is looking for a more defensive top 4 player, guys like Dumoulin, Graves, Mayfield, Soucy and Shattenkirk may be of interest as all of these guys don’t put up too many points, but can be a good shutdown pair for a team looking to keep the puck out of their net late in games, then there are some players who could work in a 3rd pair role and put up points like Holl, OEL, Gustafsson and Bear as all of these guys are really good offensive defensemen but would most likely play lower in the lineup, while guys like Jones, Foote, Mikkola, Gudas, Schenn and Cole would all be solid 3rd pair additions who wouldn’t put up too many points and could help stabilize a 3rd pair and there are others too and I think this is a decent free agent class this year even though there aren’t and elite level ones.
Goaltender: now there is even a decent amount of Net Minders this year who could swap teams. Now there are about 10-12 goalies who could challenge for a NHL role this year and none have a higher ceiling then Jarry or Andersen, as both the former Pens and Canes Net minders are soild starters who do have injury troubles but are solid goalies and could be a number 1 for a team, then you have a couple of goalies like Remier, Raanta, Brossoit, Nedeljkovic, Stolarz and Korpisalo who have had a solid past couple of years and either in a 1A or 1B role, they could help take on the duties of a tandem goalie, while there are some older backups like Griess, Quick, Halak and Stalock who could be a good backup to a solid starting level goalie like Vasilevskiy or Shesterkin, so there will definitely be plenty of activity tomorrow in Net too.
So I hope you liked my analysis and my top 50 predictions for the free agency, and I hope you all toon in to the End to End Hockey Channel on YouTube to check out my live stream video on free agent frenzy.
End to End Hockey top 50 free agent list.
1.) Tyler Bertuzzi
Stats: 8-22-30 in 50 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Dallas, Detroit, Nashville
2.) J.T Compher
Stats: 17-35-52 in 82 games played
Position: C,RW
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Nashville, Seattle, Carolina
3.) Alex Killorn
Stats: 27-37-64 in 82 games played
Position: RW,LW
Age: 33
Potential landing spots: Calgary, Boston, New York I
4.) Dmitry Orlov
Stats: 7-29-36 in 66 games played
Position: LD
Age: 31
Potential landing spots: Pittsburgh, St.Louis, Buffalo
5.) Matt Dumba
Stats: 4-10-14 in 79 games played
Position: RD
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Seattle, Detroit, Buffalo
6.) Connor Brown
Stats: 0-0-0 in 4 games played
Position: RW,LW
Age: 29
Potential landing spots: Edmonton, Washington, Colorado
7.) Tristan Jarry
Stats: 24-13-2 .910 SV% and 2.90 GAA in 47 games played
Position: G
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Buffalo, Ottawa, Seattle
8.) Vladimir Tarasenko
Stats: 18-32-50 in 69 games played
Position: RW
Age: 31
Potential landing spots: Carolina, Detroit, New York I
9.) Shayne Gostisbehere
Stats: 13-28-41 in 75 games played
Position: LD/RD
Age: 30
Potential landing spots: Anaheim, Calgary, Vancouver
10.) Frederik Andersen
Stats: 21-11-1 .903 SV% and 2.48 GAA in 34 games played
Position: G
Age: 33
Potential landing spots: Buffalo, Carolina, Pittsburgh
11.) Ryan O’Reilly
Stats: 16-14-30 in 53 games played
Position: C
Age: 32
Potential landing spots: Toronto, Carolina, St.Louis
12.) Blake Wheeler
Stats: 16-39-55 in 72 games played
Position: RW,C
Age: 36
Potential landing spots: Florida, New York I, Boston
Ed Mulholland USA Today Sports
13.) Michael Bunting
Stats: 23-26-49 in 82 games played
Position: LW
Age: 27
Potential landing spots: Colorado, Boston, Chicago
14.) Jonathan Toews
Stats: 15-16-31 in 53 games played
Position: C
Age: 35
Potential landing spots: Winnipeg, Nashville, Minnesota
15.) Ryan Graves
Stats: 8-18-26 in 78 games played
Position: LD
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Anaheim
16.) Matt Duchene
Stats: 22-34-56 in 71 games played
Position: RW,C
Age: 32
Potential landing spots: Carolina, Dallas, Detroit
17.) James Van Riemsdyk
Stats: 12-17-29 in 61 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 34
Potential landing spots: Vegas, Washington, Toronto
18.) Scott Mayfield
Stats: 10-23-33 in 67 games played
Position: RD
Age: 30
Potential landing spots: Edmonton, Buffalo, New York I
19.) Antti Raanta
Stats: 19-3-3 .910 SV% and 2.23 GAA in 27 games played
Position: G
Age: 34
Potential landing spots: Winnipeg, Carolina, Buffalo
20.) Jason Zucker
Stats: 27-21-48 in 78 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 31
Potential landing spots: Detroit, Arizona, Edmonton
21.) Carson Soucy
Stats: 3-13-16 in 78 games played
Position: LD/RD
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Edmonton, Vancouver, Buffalo
22.) Gustav Nyquist
Stats: 11-16-27 in 51 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 33
Potential landing spots: Boston, Tampa Bay, Chicago
23.) Patrick Kane
Stats: 21-36-57 in 73 games played
Position: RW
Age: 34
Potential landing spots: New York I, New York R, Buffalo
24.) Oliver Ekman Larsson
Stats: 2-20-22 in 54 games played
Position: LD
Age: 31
Potential landing spots: Boston, Florida, Tampa Bay
25.) Kailer Yamamoto
Stats: 10-15-25 in 58 games played
Position: RW
Age: 24
Potential landing spots: Arizona, Washington, Calgary
26.) Max Domi
Stats: 20-36-56 in 80 games played
Position: C,LW
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Nashville, Chicago, Ottawa
27.) Radko Gudas
Stats: 2-15-17 in 72 games played
Position: RD
Age: 33
Potential landing spots: Colorado, Carolina, Nashville
28.) Patrice Bergeron
Stats: 27-31-58 in 78 games played
Position: C
Age: 37
Potential landing spots: Boston, Retire
29.) Laurent Brossoit
Stats: 7-0-0 .927 SV% and 2.17 GAA in 11 games played
Position: G
Age: 30
Potential landing spots: Los Angeles, Carolina, New York I
30.) Tomas Tatar
Stats: 20-28-48 in 82 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 32
Potential landing spots: Chicago, Pittsburgh, Edmonton
31.) Pius Suter
Stats: 14-10-24 in 79 games played
Position: C,LW
Age: 27
Potential landing spots: Arizona, Florida, Nashville
32.) John Klingberg
Stats: 10-23-33 in 67 games played
Position: RD
Age: 30
Potential landing spots: Buffalo, Edmonton, Chicago
33.) Joonas Korpisalo
Stats: 18-14-1 .914 SV% and 2.87 GAA in 39 games played
Position: G
Age: 29
Potential landing spots: Los Angeles, Carolina, Buffalo
34.) Max Comtois
Stats: 9-10-19 in 64 games played
Position: LW
Age: 24
Potential landing spots: Dallas, Vancouver, Calgary
35.) Miles Wood
Stats: 13-14-27 in 76 games played
Position: LW
Age: 27
Potential landing spots: Toronto, Boston, Tampa Bay
Stephen Brashear USA Today Sports
36.) Daniel Sprong
Stats: 21-25-46 in 66 games played
Position: RW,LW
Age: 26
Potential landing spots: Nashville, Arizona, Seattle
37.) Alex Kerfoot
Stats: 10-22-32 in 82 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 28
Potential landing spots: Dallas, Carolina, Anaheim
38.) Klim Kostin
Stats: 11-10-21 in 57 games played
Position: LW,RW
Age: 24
Potential landing spots: Buffalo, New York R, Seattle
39.) Kevin Shattenkirk
Stats: 4-23-27 in 75 games played
Position: RD
Age: 34
Potential landing spots: Edmonton, Vancouver, Nashville
40.) Evan Rodrigues
Stats: 16-23-39 in 69 games played
Position: C,LW
Age: 29
Potential landing spots: Carolina, Boston, Toronto
41.) James Reimer
Stats: 12-21-3 .890 SV% and 3.48 GAA in 43 games played
Position: G
Age: 35
Potential landing spots: Winnipeg, Carolina, Ottawa
42.) Ryan Reaves
Stats: 5-10-15 in 73 games played
Position: RW
Age: 36
Potential landing spots: Toronto, Ottawa, Minnesota
43.) Ethan Bear
Stats: 3-13-16 in 61 games played
Position: RD
Age: 26
Potential landing spots: Colorado, Dallas, Toronto
44.) Cal Foote
Stats: 2-5-7 in 50 games played
Position: RD
Age: 24
Potential landing spots: Vancouver, Carolina, Seattle
45.) Nick Bjugstad
Stats: 17-12-29 in 78 games played
Position: C,RW
Age: 30
Potential landing spots: New York R, Boston, Edmonton
46.) Niko Mikkola
Stats: 1-5-6 in 81 games played
Position: LD
Age: 27
Potential landing spots: Nashville, Carolina, Philadelphia
47.) Austin Watson
Stats: 9-2-11 in 75 games played
Position: RW,LW
Age: 31
Potential landing spots: Dallas, Minnesota, Colorado
48.) Alex Nedeljkovic
Stats: 5-7-0 .895 SV% and 3.53 GAA in 15 games played
Position: G
Age: 27
Potential landing spots: Buffalo, Winnipeg, San Jose
49.) Caleb Jones
Stats: 4-12-16 in 73 games played
Position: LD/RD
Age: 26
Potential landing spots: Buffalo, Carolina, New York R
50.) Morgan Geekie
Stats: 9-19-28 in 69 games played
Position: C,RW
Age: 24
Potential landing spots: Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, Seattle
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