TOP REMAINING UFA'S

Nicholas D'Agostino

Nazem Kadri

The best free agent that is still on the market is All-Star centre Nazem Kadri. Fresh off a career year, it has been a bit of a surprise that in early August Kadri hasn’t been signed yet. It has been known that there was a lot of interest in Kadri going into free agency which begs the question of why isn’t he signed yet? One answer to that could be that teams are waiting to offer Kadri a deal after they make some kind of trade that would give them some cap space.

For example, most teams in the NHL are close to or are over the salary cap, which makes signing a guy like Kadri this late into the offseason a challenge. Regardless of what happens over the next couple of weeks Kadri will find a team as he is a terrific player that any team in the league would happily have on their roster. Some teams that are rumored to be linked to Kadri are the New York Islanders, the Calgary Flames and his former team the Colorado Avalanche.

Phil Kessel

The 3x Stanley cup winner has yet to join a team for the upcoming 2022-23 NHL season. This past season, the 34-year old had another solid year, scoring 8 goals and 44 assists for a total of 52 points in 82 games. With Kessel, I believe he is still left unsigned as at this point in his career he has some pros and cons with his game.

The pros are he is still a consistent scorer, he stays healthy throughout the season and he is a good pro and teammate. Throughout Kessel’s career, he has been a productive forward who can stay healthy and provide offense for his team. In fact, Kessel currently holds the longest active Ironman streak in the NHL today with 968 consecutive games played and counting.

While this is also a pro, some teams may see this as a con when they see Kessel on the open market. Some GM’s might be hesitant to sign Kessel and if he underperforms they don’t want to be one who caused his streak to end. As we know, Kessel is still a good player but he is nowhere near as good a player as he used to be. Nonetheless, some team will give Kessel a shot this season.

P.K Subban

An interesting player that has gone unsigned so far is defenseman P.K Subban. The 2013 Norris winning defenseman is coming off of a massive 8-year 72 million dollar contract where he had both ups and downs during the past 8 years. For the first half of the deal, Subban was playing at a near elite level but in the past few years and specifically since his trade to New Jersey he hasn’t looked like his old self.

With 22 points last year and poor defensive results Subban probably won’t get significant money with his next deal but besides that Subban can still be valuable with the right fit.

Subban is a defenseman who can do a bit of everything which is extremely valuable to most teams. I believe that in a sheltered role on a d-core where Subban doesn't have to do any heavy lifting he can be a valuable piece to a contending team.

As it seems that he won’t be too expensive to sign, Subban can go to a contender and try and help them succeed while also building up his value. Many have suggested that he would be a fit with his hometown team the Leafs but with a plethora of defensemen and an unsigned Sandin, it doesn’t look like the Leafs will be adding another d-man. If not the Leafs, teams like the Rangers, Capitals or Panthers would make some sense.

Paul Stastny

The consistent scorer Paul Stastny is still unsigned this offseason. The longtime NHL veteran will be looking to continue his career with a contending team for a shot at the Stanley Cup. Still to this day at 36-years old Stastny is a decent middle 6 scorer who can provide offense further down in a lineup. For the past couple of seasons in Winnipeg, Stastny proved that he is still a good player to have in your organization both on and off the ice.

Stastny is a versatile forward who can play bothe centre and wing effectively. While Paul will be looking for a team to join for this upcoming season it does not surprise me that he is still unsigned to date. As he is an older player, I am sure NHL GM’s might be hesitant to give him a deal and then there is some clear and evident decline. Either way I don’t see Stastny getting anything other than a one year deal with a low aav which would make a signing very low risk. Some contending teams that would make sense for Stastny are the Flames, Penguins and Carolina,

Some honorable mentions are David Krejci, Sonny Milano and Evan Rodrigues.