Who are the best-value players in free agency?
With NHL free agency set to open on Wednesday, several players are going to be making big money across the board. However, there might be some players who might come as bargains for a potential suitor.
While players like Rasmus Andersson and Jacob Trouba (and possibly John Carlson) are going to be receiving large contracts, there are several players who are going under the radar, and might be cheap deals come July 1.
On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton name a couple of people who might be solid players, given a reasonable cap hit, through free agency.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Eeli Tolvanen, he was with the Seattle Kraken last year. You dig into his numbers a little bit, his shooting percentage almost fell in half last year, and the production obviously dips with that. He went from 23 goals to 12 goals, went from shooting 16.8% to 8.5%, but he’s a guy, five of his 12 goals came on the power play. If you’re a team who’s looking for a boost offensively, he’s not someone who’s going to play on your top line and score you 30 goals. I don’t think he has that level of upside, but he’s lower down on the board. His AFP projection is very reasonable. I think you’re a team looking for a little bit of a spark on the power play, and just want to toss someone in your middle six who can play with good offensive-minded players. I really like Tolvanen.
Another guy who’s really interesting is Oliver Bjorkstrand. He kind of got lost in the shuffle last year with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He played 80 games, but he only scored 12 goals. He’s similar to Tolvanen in the fact that you could look at a pretty drastic drop off in his shooting percentage year over year, but like last year, 12 goals in 80 games. Year before, 21 goals, 20 goals, 20 goals, 28 goals. 18 goals in 56 games, that’s well over a 20-goal pace…because he’s been in the league for so long, 700 games, I think people kind of look at him and are like, ‘Ah, he’s old. He’s passed his prime. He’s still only 31 years old…I think you can trust him at 31-32 years old to play 16-17 minutes a game.
Carter Hutton: The guy for me that I also am a big fan of…between the pipes is Connor Ingram. … When we looked at his numbers from last year – we had Kevin Woodley on, who’s great at breaking down the high details, how good his numbers were – he hasn’t had a career year where he’s totally broke in. He hasn’t really played in a big market that’s protected him either. He’s always kind of been hung out to dry, in a sense. So, I think Connor Ingram is a guy at 29 years old, you’re still kind of in that wheelhouse where you’re like maturing.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…