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Checking up on the West’s free agents to watch

San Jose Sharks v Colorado Avalanche - Game Six

DENVER, CO - APRIL 24 : of the Colorado Avalanche of the San Jose Sharks in the third period of Game Six of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Pepsi Center on April 24, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. The Sharks won the game 5-2 and took the series 4-2. (Photo by Marc Piscotty/Getty Images)

Marc Piscotty

A couple weeks ago, I broke down the pending free agents (unrestricted and restricted alike) for each conference. (East here, West here) So let’s take a gander at how some of the most noteworthy free-agents-to-be fared up to this point. Obviously, for players on half the teams, they won’t get another chance to show off their skills. I’ll begin with the West in this post and then discuss the East later on. This might not be a comprehensive list, so apologies if your favorite pending free agent is left out.

San Jose

Joe Pavelski - 11 points/becoming the Sharks’ American hero.

Evgeni Nabokov - a 1.93 GAA and 91.9% save percentage. Not bad at all.

Devin Setoguchi - 7 points in 7 games played. Not bad, either.

Patrick Marleau - 3 points. Not so good.

Colorado

Peter Mueller’s concussion issues kept him from making an impact, but Chris Stewart and Kyle Quincey were solid in the playoffs.

Chicago

Antti Niemi - probably pricing himself out of Chicago with a fabulous (92.1 save percentage) playoff run so far.

Nashville

Patric Hornqvist had health problems so he gets an “Incomplete” while Dan Hamhuis had quite the checkered post-season, most notably being the victim of what should have been a more beneficial boarding penalty from Marian Hossa ...

Vancouver

Pavol Demitra’s been nicely productive (5 points) but Willie Mitchell has been injured.

Los Angeles

Alex Frolov produced a decent (1 goal, 3 assists) but unspectacular post-season. It seems likely that he’ll be wearing a different sweater next year.

Phoenix

Lee Stempniak - a rough playoffs with just 2 points and a -4 rating.

Wojtek Wolski - The team’s second leading scorer with 5 points, including 4 goals.

Detroit

Nicklas Lidstrom - 6 points in 8 games for the superhuman Swede.

Todd Bertuzzi - 5 points for the surprisingly effective brute.