With the 2010 NHL Free Agency market set to open on Thursday, we’ll be listing the top unrestricted free agents in all three positions throughout the day. This isn’t the full list of free agents, but it’s a good chunk of them. The forwards:
Player | Age | Team | 09-10 cap hHit |
Ilya Kovalchuk | 27 | New Jersey | $6.389 million |
Olli Jokinen | 31 | New York | $5.25 million |
Ray Whitney | 38 | Carolina | $3.55 million |
Mike Modano | 40 | Dallas | $3.45 million |
Alexander Frolov | 28 | Los Angeles | $2.9 million |
Matt Cullen | 33 | Ottawa | $2.875 million |
Owen Nolan | 38 | Minnesota | $2.75 milion |
Coby Armstrong | 27 | Atlanta | $2.4 million |
Alexei Ponikarovsky | 30 | Pittsburgh | $2.1 million |
Matthew Lombardi | 28 | Phoenix | $1.816 million |
Ruslan Fedotenko | 31 | Pittsburgh | $1.8 million |
Brendan Morrision | 34 | Washington | $1.5 million |
Wayne Primeau | 34 | Toronto | $1.4 million |
Kyle Wellwood | 27 | Vancouver | $1.2 million |
Kirk Maltby | 37 | Detroit | $833,333 |
Maxim Afinogenov | 30 | Atlanta | $800,000 |
Adam Burish | 27 | Chicago | $712,000 |
Manny Malhotra | 30 | San Jose | $700,000 |
Aaron Asham | 32 | Philadelphia | $640,000 |
Quick analysis:
Obviously all of the focus is on Kovalchuk and where’s going, but after that this is obviously a bit of an underwhelming group of players. The bad news for some teams -- and the good news for these free agents -- is that teams will likely overspend for just “okay” players.
If Mike Modano does decide to come back this next season, he’s going to make a contending a team very happy. He’ll provide solid leadership and experience, and he still has that scoring ability that mkes him so special.
Let’s just hope that Kyle Wellwood ends up in a city that is known for being healthy. I don’t know if that city exists in North America, however.
Maxim Afinogenov will be a great pickup, as he was one of the most valuable forwards in the NHL last season. He’ll be looking for a raise, but he won’t be completely out of reach for teams in need of a scoring forward.