Ten Free Agents Impressing in Europe for NHL Teams to Consider

Not every player playing overseas is interested in the NHL or will become another Andrei Kuzmenko. But this group of free agents is worth a closer look.

Andrei Kuzmenko has turned out to be a first-year sensation for the Vancouver Canucks.

Last off-season, the Russian forward was being recruited by several NHL clubs as the consensus top free agent outside North America, and he hasn’t disappointed. 

Other overseas free agents who jumped from leagues like the KHL, SHL and Liiga to the NHL this season include Denis Malgin, Fredrik Olofsson, Pavol Regenda, Lukas Sedlak, Anton Levtchi, Lawrence Pilut, Marcus Bjork and Filip Roos. While some sputtered out and returned to Europe while another crop never touched NHL ice, there’s always hope of landing a Kuzmenko, Artemi Panarin or Sergei Bobrovsky.

Many of the top players outside the NHL are under contract for next season with their current clubs, but there are still plenty of ‘prospects’ to consider. Here’s a look at a group of non-North American free agents who could draw interest from NHL teams in the coming months.

Aktell appears to be the consensus top European free agent on the market. A late bloomer, Aktell has a lot going for him, including being only 24 years old and his burgeoning offensive output with Vaxjo in the Swedish League. 

Couple his ability to play on the power play and his physicality in his own zone with the fact Aktell is 6-foot-4, and you can see why scouts are again excited about Aktell. He was originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 draft by Nashville before falling off the NHL radar. This time around, NHL teams will be fighting to sign Aktell.

Smejkal’s name has been in this discussion since before the 2022 Olympics and World Championships, where he represented Czechia. After scoring nearly a point per game last season in Finland’s Liiga, he stepped up his game and repeated his scoring pace this year with Oskarshamn in the SHL, notching 23 goals and 43 points in 49 games. 

At 6-foot-4 and 26 years old, Smejkal has an NHL frame, and as an older player, he could step into an NHL bottom six now. Having played in the WHL, Smejkal already has experience on North American ice. It’s now or never for a shot at the NHL.

It seems overdue for an NHL club to give Hugg a chance. The 24-year-old captained Sweden’s U-18 team, was an assistant for Sweden’s world junior team, captained the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers and just put together back-to-back impressive seasons in the SHL. 

He’s an excellent playmaker but only an average skater. Still, the 5-foot-10 forward finds ways to produce. He’d almost certainly need to work his way up from the AHL and is a better fit in the top six, a role he’ll struggle to grab in the NHL, but Hugg has earned a shot.

A mountain of a defender at 6-foot-6, Pulli is a late bloomer with decent skating skills for his size. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, Pulli put up good numbers for TPS in Liiga, notching 17 points in 53 games. It was a breakout party offensively. Pulli would start and likely stay in the AHL for at least a season, but the upside is big on this monolith of a blueliner.

Almost nothing has gone right for the Columbus Blue Jackets this season, including allowing the rights to Johannesson to expire in the summer after drafting the defender in 2020. Immediately after that decision, it looked like a light came on in Johannesson’s game (coupled with more responsibility playing with Brynas than he got in Rogle). 

He has good speed, patience with the puck, a calm and calculated game and now, the offensive production some saw as a cornerstone to his game. Johannesson could have a number of NHL teams calling to give him the contract Columbus would not.

Hear me out here. Jeremy Bracco, for multiple seasons, was one of the best players never to get a shot in the NHL. Primarily, that was due to the Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward depth. 

He just completed his third season overseas, recording 40 points in 59 games in the KHL. With abundant cap constraints across the NHL, there should be a few teams interested in seeing if the former second-round NHL pick, who possesses high-end passing skills and deft edgework, can finally produce at the NHL level.

Let’s file Okulov under “could be in the NHL already but chooses not to come.” Perhaps, however, after seeing Kuzmenko’s season and resulting payday, Okulov could be tempted into giving North America a shot. 

Having just put together a career-best season in the KHL, after years of NHL clubs trying to court him, teams will take another kick at Okulov, who had 54 points in 60 games for CSKA Moskva this year.

He plays with an edge, and at times, he flashes eye-catching skill, but there are also incomplete portions to Sylvegard’s game. That said, his willingness to compete for pucks and to play in difficult areas of the ice would fit well in a bottom-six role. 

He had a breakout offensive campaign with 41 points in 52 games for the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks, more than doubling his previous career high, hinting at more scoring to come.

Playing for Magnitogorsk in the KHL, the left-shot 6-foot-3 defender is injury prone. But when healthy, Dronov has an upside that looks like he could be a bottom-pair NHL defender. He has represented Russia internationally at both the world juniors and World Championships and will draw interest from clubs this off-season. 

If not now, Dronov’s NHL future will depend on the length of contract he signs in the KHL.

It seems strange to call a move to North America a comeback story for a 23-year-old, but that’s exactly what it would be for Joni Ikonen. Once considered a top prospect, drafted 58th overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2017, Ikonen suffered substantive injuries following his draft year. 

Only five players selected above him that year have not played in the NHL, some closing in on 400 career games. Ikonen, however, had injuries derail his path in 2018-19 when he was off to an incredible start in Finland’s Liiga, scoring 10 points in 13 games. 

Since then, it’s been a long road back. This season, Ikonen finally started putting the pieces together, scoring 19 goals in 56 Liiga games. At 23, he’s still got time, and it would not be unthinkable for an NHL team to bet on the upward trajectory Ikonen is on.

Other Free Agents To Watch: Nick Merkley, Dominik Kahun, Libor Zabransky, Waltteri Merela, Linus Nassen, Isac Brannstrom, Denis Alexeyev, Thomas Gregoire, Stepan Starkov, Niko Ojamaki, Jere Innala, Sergei Tolchinsky, Jakob Stenqvist, Artyom Minulin, Dmitri Shugayev, Eero Teravainen, Christoffer Rifalk, Mans Forsfjall, Oskar Stal Lyrenas, Sami Niku, Linus Andersson, Joseph Duszak, Adam Liska, Igor Geraskin, Ivan Nikolishin, Igor Larionov, Alexander Yaremchuk, Vladimir Alistrov, Leon Huttl, Sergei Sapego.