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.