Whether it's players who were bought out or were unqualified RFAs, a new batch of players joined the UFA pool. Jacob Stoller looks at five players who stand out.
With buyout windows and deadlines for qualifying offers passing Sunday afternoon, we've got a new batch of free agents hitting the NHL UFA market.
Sometimes, the best free agent signings aren't the ones with the highest price tags. They're the bargain-bin deals that offer low-risk, high-reward upside.
The following five players are interesting buy-low candidates after they were bought out or were RFAs who did not receive a qualifying offer.
Jeff Skinner, LW, Buffalo Sabres
With the Buffalo Sabres buying out Jeff Skinner’s contract, another well-decorated sniper will hit the open market.
While the 32-year-old was no longer worth the $9-million cap hit on his last deal, he’s one year removed from posting back-to-back 30-plus goal campaigns.
Despite his defensive deficiencies, Skinner still has positive value, and it’s conceivable to think he can return to being a 30-goal scorer next season if he’s in the right environment and can be sheltered defensively.
Considering the 1,006-game veteran has never played in a single playoff game, odds are he’ll be deadset on signing with a contender on his next deal.
Erik Brannstrom, D, Ottawa Senators
While Erik Brannstrom never lived up to the hype in Ottawa, there’s lots of evidence to suggest he could thrive elsewhere.
The 2017 first-round pick — acquired as one of the centerpieces in the Mark Stone blockbuster trade with the Vegas Golden Knights — hasn’t become the second coming of Erik Karlsson as many expected. That said, his game has developed leaps and bounds over the last two years. The 24-year-old is a smooth-skating puck-moving defenseman who thrives at driving offense off the rush and can make a good first pass out of the defensive zone.
Over the last two years, when he was deployed primarily in a third-pairing role, Brannstrom has recorded a 54-percent expected goals-for percentage during 5-on-5 play — placing him in the 89th percentile among all defensemen who played at least 300 minutes, according to naturalstattrick.com.
Given Brannstrom's improvements to become a more all-around player, particularly his competitiveness and attention to detail defensively, one ought to think several teams will be lining up to give him a shot.
Blake Lizotte, C, Los Angeles Kings
Blake Lizotte is a coach's dream.
The 26-year-old center plays with an edge, is a tireless forechecker, can kill penalties and boasts a 50.4-percent career face-off win percentage. He’s arguably one of the better depth centers in the NHL.
But the Kings decided he was not worth the $1.675-million qualifying offer he was owed as they look to be big-time spenders in free agency, so the RFA becomes a UFA.
Several contending teams, such as the Colorado Avalanche, Vancouver Canucks or Tampa Bay Lightning, should take a swing at Lizotte, assuming they can sign him for somewhere around $1 million.
Adam Boqvist, D, Columbus Blue Jackets
After years of stops and starts in Columbus, Adam Boqvist is due for a change of scenery.
Boqvist was once a prized prospect acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in the Seth Jones blockbuster. But his development stagnated over the last three years in Columbus, where a slew of injuries and inconsistent play limited him to 52, 46 and 35 games in each season.
But there’s no doubt the 2018 eighth-overall pick has more to give, especially in an environment where he could run a team's power play.
The 23-year-old right-shot defender possesses elite offensive abilities, recording 56 points in 133 games with the Blue Jackets. But until he rounds out his defensive game, he’s mainly a specialty power-play weapon.
NHL teams always think they can fix damaged goods, though, so expect teams to give Boqvist a call.
Alex Nylander, RW, Columbus Blue Jackets
Seeing the Blue Jackets opt not to extend a qualifying offer to Alex Nylander was somewhat surprising, given his eyebrow-raising resurgence.
After being acquired by Columbus from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nylander recorded 11 goals and 15 points in a 23-game stint that featured several moments of brilliance – including a hat trick against the Vegas Golden Knights on March 4.
But for a young rebuilding team like Columbus — which has a plethora of young wingers slated for top-nine duty — re-upping Nylander would mean there’d be one less spot for a young forward.
While the 2016 first-round pick has bounced around over the years — spending time with the Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins before joining Columbus — he’s never produced anywhere close to the way he did this past spring.
Surely, that 23-game sample will incline a few teams to table an offer.
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