It’s been pretty quiet on the UFA market for weeks now. All the names from our list of top 50 UFAs are signed and have been for quite some time. We’re starting to see names settle for professional tryout agreements, with Sammy Blais (Canucks), Tanner Pearson (Golden Knights) and Jakub Vrána (Capitals) some of the notable names to ink early PTOs. The last UFA signing was depth netminder Magnus Hellberg to the Stars over two weeks ago.
Winger Max Pacioretty is one of the top remaining names. He missed the cut for our top 50 after being limited to just four goals in 47 games with the Capitals last season, indicative of his largely forgettable stint in the nation’s capital. But before back-to-back Achilles tendon tears tarnished his career in 2022 and 2023, he was one of the league’s better snipers when healthy.
That pre-injury form is still helping out his market value a tad. He’ll likely be the next UFA domino to fall and won’t appear to need a PTO to land a deal for 2024-25, with Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reporting last week that Pacioretty was mulling offers from at least three teams. It’ll likely be a league-minimum salary with some potential performance bonuses for ’Patches,’ eligible for a 35+ contract.
Veteran forward James van Riemsdyk was a narrower miss on our top 50 list and led remaining UFAs in points per game last season with 0.54. He could be due for even more production this year after shooting a career-low 7.7% with the Bruins in 2023-24, still managing 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games in third-line minutes. If he shot at his 11.8% career average, JVR would have lit the lamp six more times for 17 goals.
Van Riemsdyk had only 29 points in 61 games with the Flyers the year before and settled for a one-year, $1MM pact in Boston. After a bit of a rebound year in Beantown, he’s likely looking for a small raise, but his search may be in vain this late in the summer.
The most appealing unsigned defenseman is likely Kevin Shattenkirk, JVR’s teammate with the Bruins last season. He’s no longer the fringe Norris contender and offensive force he was with the Blues in the mid-2010s. Still, he’s remained a pretty capable puck-mover for the Bruins, Ducks and Lightning the past few years and kept his head above water defensively in third-pairing minutes in Boston.
Here are some other UFAs who’ll likely generate interest from NHL teams before the season begins:
Goalies
Kevin Lankinen has been an extremely serviceable backup for Nashville the last two seasons, recording a .912 SV% in 43 games for the Predators. Martin Jones and Antti Raanta are veteran netminders with loads of NHL experience (466 and 277 NHL GP, respectively). However, Raanta’s usually solid tandem play plummeted to a horrific .872 SV% in 24 games last year with the Hurricanes, ending up on waivers and going unclaimed.
At this stage, Aaron Dell, Michael Hutchinson, Keith Kinkaid, and Dustin Tokarski are all AHL depth options. However, they could still land a two-way NHL deal as a mentor for an organization’s up-and-coming netminders and provide an experienced call-up option in a pinch.
Defensemen
The list of solid two-way defenders left on the board is slim. Teams still looking for defense help on the UFA market are likely doing so for a power-play or penalty-kill specialist. Calen Addison fits the bill of the former and has the highest upside of any signing. He’s still just 24 but hit the open market after being unqualified by the Sharks. He struggled to produce last season, limited to a goal and 17 points in 72 games, but he was effective on the Wild’s second PP unit the year before with 29 points in 62 games.
A team interested in adding some puck-moving/offensive help on the blue line might also take a look at Shattenkirk, Justin Schultz (0.43 career P/GP), Tyson Barrie (0.62 career P/GP), Tony DeAngelo (0.57 career P/GP), or John Klingberg (0.65 career P/GP).
Veteran blueliners Robert Bortuzzo and Jarred Tinordi can provide some literal punch as No. 6/7 defenders but don’t provide any offensive upside. The former went pointless in 27 games with the Blues and Islanders last season.
Teams prioritizing a locker-room presence will consider Mark Giordano, who turns 41 in October. Giordano was the oldest active player in the league last season with the Maple Leafs, but the historical offensive force had only nine points in 46 games while averaging 16:37 per game. However, He boasts nearly 1,150 games of experience and has served as a team captain for nine of his 18 NHL seasons.
Forwards
Teams have the most UFA options up front. 2018 sixth-overall pick Filip Zadina has recently seen his name pop up in headlines, first as a rumored PTO signing by the Sabres, but that quickly fell through. There appears to be interest from at least a few other teams in signing him to a standard deal. He’s still just 24 years old and has that top-10 pick pedigree, but he’s never been able to eclipse the 25-point mark despite being given brief opportunities in a top-six role in Detroit before landing with the Sharks last season.
Wingers dominate the available names, but teams looking for a depth forward who can take reps at center have some veteran options in Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Nick Cousins, Sam Gagner, Tyler Johnson, and Chris Tierney.
Outside of the names already mentioned, some other decent bottom-six depth scorers available on the wing include Mike Hoffman, Kyle Okposo, Blake Wheeler, and Kailer Yamamoto.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.
JvR had a good first half, he was a non-factor after the all-star break. Shattenkirk was a zero after Christmas.
Honourable mention for goalies : Malcom Subban
(blinks) Got to think that Buff is kidding. Subban’s played exactly 5 NHL games in the last three seasons, and he was better than replacement value only in one season … and that was seven years ago. What he’s shown in the last couple seasons is that he’s a solid backup at the AHL level.
Come to that, the likes of Dell, Hutchinson, Kinkaid and Tokarski are of the same ilk. They played one NHL game between them last year, and even their ability to be solid AHL backups is questionable. I’d take Subban over any of them.