|
Best of the Undrafted Free Agents |
|
|
|
|
|
Every year there is a little bit of hype generated over the newest crop of undrafted free agents. Unless of course Brian Burke is the GM of the largest and most rabid fanbase in the NHL with forty thousand microphones in front of him and an ego the size of East Texas. Then the hype is nausea inducing. Regardless of failures, mediocrities or massive success, undrafted free agents are nice little depth moves with few tangible problems. The main problem comes with expectations from the player and more importantly his agent surrounding ice-time and NHL/AHL expectations. Though that isn't the case for every player.
Last season saw several players added and some are having successful seasons...others, not so much. Though if undrafted free agents and history teaches us anything, it's that they are the most likely to be flash in the pans when it comes to stability. Guys like Melker Karlsson, Jiri Sekac and Ronalds Kennins have had some early success. While Kontiola was sent packing back to the KHL in no time.
It's early, but there are several guys that should be on peoples radars as potential pick ups in the off-season.
Artemi Panarin - Left Winger, 5'11 170lbs, 23 years old, SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL
54gp 26g 36a 62p
I figured that a team would try to sign him last season after he was dealt to SKA from the more obscure Vityaz. SKA is a contender and people with longer memories might remember that is where our dearly departed Kovalchuk resides. Panarin led SKA in points and goals that year, but an injury near the end of the season that he attempted to play through led him to fade away and eventually get shutdown. This meant he couldn't play in the World Championships nor make an impact in the KHL playoffs. People underestimate how important a WC showing can be for guys like him.
This season however, he will need to be signed by somebody. He is having a fantastic season, yet again leading SKA in goals and points (yes ahead of Kovalchuk). He ended up fifth overall in KHL scoring while being the highest scorer under 24 years old. He has two assists in the playoffs right now as SKA took out Torpedo in 5 games. Blessed with excellent speed and extremely shifty moves. He's a flashy forward with skill to find openings and cut through opponents defenses. He's often the puck rusher on his line and likes to squeeze in behind the net for the cycle. I also find him interesting because while he's a shooter at even strength, he passes a lot of options on the PP, though I think this has to do with the set-up, which relies on the Kovalchuk one timer from the left point. He plays really low on the PP on the left side as a result. Mostly scoring on rebounds or on cross crease passes.
The things going against him should be fairly obvious from the description. He's small, highly skilled and not a good defensive forward. Despite that, I don't see why a team wouldn't want to at least give the guy a shot in their system. He has too much skill to ignore.
Nikita Zaitsev - Right Defenseman, 6'1 190lbs, 23 years old, CSKA Moskva in the KHL
57gp 12g 20a 32p +27 (league high)
Zaitsev has really turned heads this year after three seasons of solid, but unspectacular play. He was good, but not really providing enough impetus for a team to sign him. He led first place CSKA in goals and points by defensemen by a healthy margin, along with hits and blocked shots. He ended up with 11PPG's and while I'm not going to run through each one, they all look rather similar, a massive one-timer. He led the club in ice-time playing on the top-pairing for the second year in a row. He has always been viewed as a defensive defender who plays physical. This goes back to his World Junior days and his early KHL career. Since being moved to CSKA he has been allowed to explore his offensive game to great success while maintaining his defensive posture.
While he has yet to earn a point thus far in the KHL playoffs, he remains their all purpose rock on the back end playing over 20 minutes a night. Teams are always looking to add right handed defensemen and he could be an interesting guy to watch for.
Matthew O'Connor - Goaltender, 6'6 205lbs, 23 years old, Boston University in the NCAA
27gp 2.21GAA .927sv%
O'Connor is the player with the most hype these days surrounding him. Though his numbers are impressive, the real hype is the size. These massive goalies seem to be late bloomers if they ever make it at all. It always seems like they need to really get used to their size before they can compete. This goes for Rinne, Bishop and I suppose Markstrom* who all seem to have come into their own around ages of 26-27. Size and athleticism are always in demand for goaltenders and his steady progression year by year with incremental improvements shows a solid trend upwards. The Oilers have shown high interest in him and no doubt more teams will jump in the race.
Joel Kellman - Centre, 5'10 170lbs, 20 years old, Karlskrona in the Allsvenskan
49gp 17g 22a 39p
There seems to have been few guys who have shown such drastic improvement in one season like Kellman has. He went from a fourth liner struggling to find a place on any team. Bustling from the SuperElit, to the Elitserien then loaned out to the Allvenskan. Kellman led Karlskrona in points this year and was the top under 24 player in the league. His leap in scoring has been incredible. He finished tenth overall in scoring, which is very impressive for a 20 year old (he'll be 21 by the off-season). I've only seen him play once, so I don't really have a big grasp on him, but his speed and intelligence jumped out at me. He forced two ridiculous turnovers in the neutral zone by catching players from behind. He was pretty impressive. I'm not sure he will be picked up, but he's just a name I'll throw out there as an underrated acquisition.
Thanks for reading.
Join the Discussion:
»