Shopping in unrestricted free agency is a lot like buying a car. It isn’t something you necessarily want to do, you know the value isn’t good, and you are always wondering when things are going to break down while you still owe on it. Sometimes you don’t have the money to buy the shiniest cars on the lot and need to find something with dings on it, but is reliable. Today we go bargain hunting.
These are players I think can still give a team some positive value while not breaking the bank. One of the toughest things to do is escape spending in unrestricted free agency without massively overspending. The following players have potential to give you proper return on investment. The list isn't long because there usually aren't a lot of good values on the market.
Brett Connolly
Here is a player who has been consistently good over the years in his depth role.
Points are solid. Results compared to his teammates are solid. The red on here shows that he was sheltered so you would have to keep that in mind if interested. Another plus is that he wasn’t just padding his offensive totals playing with some of Washington’s high end players. The last three years his most common linmeates were Lars Eller, Andrei Burakovsky, and Jakub Vrana. Not bad players by any stretch, but also not the players who are giving Connolly’s numbers a hollow bump.
He is coming off a contract that paid him 1.5M annually. I don’t think he’s going to be in that 4M range so you might be able to get a decent enough depth player for 3M or less.
Joonas Donskoi
Here is a player that can be the third wheel on a top six line at a decent cost. He will be able to keep up and he has the ability to chip in offensively. Last year he spent most of his time with Evander Kane and Thomas Hertl. It isn’t that the Sharks don’t want to keep them, it’s that they might not have enough cap space to do so. You can see Donskoi has a lot of blue on his chart including the usage section
Donskoi was making 1.9M with the Sharks. Even if he doubled his price to the 4M range you are still getting value. The key is making him the third wheel on a line and not somebody you depend on. For example placing him with Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner would probably work out quite well.
Jason Pominville
He’s coming off of a pricey contract paying him 5.6M so he’s going to need a drastic price cut. Pominville isn’t a permanent fixture in the top six anymore these days, but in a pinch he was still putting up offense with Jack Eichel. He’s a very smart player and positionally sound. He had a 2.01 points per 60 last year.
A team could do well to have Pominville as a depth player on a short term contract. I wouldn’t be looking to give significant term here with him being 35 years old. When the dust settles from unrestricted free agency and Jason Pominville is still available it would be worth having a conversation to improve a team’s depth.
Tyler Ennis
He’s still a pretty quick player and he used to have some offensive pedigree. This year he was on Toronto’s fourth line and had a decent season. He has been battling the injury bug a little bit the past few years only playing in 51 games twice, but that can work in a team’s favor keeping his cost down. His 1.87 points per 60 at 5v5 last year is great value for a fourth line. The key to an Ennis signing is understanding he’s a high end option for a fourth line. It gets tricky if you want to elevate him further. He put up those nice offensive numbers in Toronto playing some cushy minutes. His numbers the previous two seasons weren’t all that great. The value here is if you can get him cheap and place him on your fourth line. All it takes is for one team for this plan to fall apart and overpay and over extend his role. This is one of the UFA options you wait and don’t strike on July 1.
Thanks for reading!
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