Email a copy of 'PHR's Top 50 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents' to a friend
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at CDT | by Brian La Rose
Email a copy of 'PHR's Top 50 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents' to a friend
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cardoso97
How about Bryz?
AmonAmarth
1. Stamkos – Maple Leafs
2. Lucic – Oilers
3. Erikkson – Senators
4. Perron – Habs
5. Backes – Blues
koff
I think Stamkos to the Leafs and Lucic to the Oilers are logical destinations. The next three do not make a ton of sense to me. Perron being a small winger seems the opposite of Montreal’s needs. The Blues are attempting to shed dollars and it seems to me to be the right time to cut ties with a player that plays the style that Backes does. Age 30 plus does not treat those types of players well. I would also be hesitant to predict Ottawa spending the dollars and term it would take to sign Erikkson. Being a budget team, that hasn’t been their style to this point.
RWBlueshirts
Helm to the Rangers is a good call. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for Campbell and Liles. Gorton will probably fill defensive holes with a trade (Shattenkirk) or younger assets like Skjei or McIlrath. If they move Nash, Stepan, Hayes or Klein and clear some cap room, I could see a low ball run at Lucic as well.
Ryan Shipley
So you guys don’t predict the Blues to do anything at all in free agency?
koff
I would give little to no chance of the Maple Leafs signing Boedker, especially at that dollar amount. The Leafs are very much analytically driven in the front office and Boedker rates out horribly. In fact, Alex Tanguay, who was part of the package for Boedker primarily for salary reasons, was a more efficient player before and after the trade last season. Although the reasoning of a young UFA going to a rebuilding club makes sense; Boedker and the Leafs as a match does not.
I don’t believe the Leafs really even have room for him. They are loaded with young skilled forwards upfront (Marner, Matthews, Nylander, JVR, Soshnikov, Kadri, etc.) and although most of them are not NHL proven, they all provide higher upside at this point then Boedker does.
The Leafs also need to be careful to not throw around 5-6 million dollar contracts on 2nd to 3rd line players long term. They have put together a very strong young core of offensively gifted forwards that will need to be signed at relatively the same time. If they are going to spend significant dollars, I think its a homerun with Stamkos, or nothing significant at all.