George Richards, FHN Publisher
It has been over two weeks since the market opened and yet a number of key NHL free agent players remain unsigned.
Mike Hoffman, the leading goal scorer for the Florida Panthers the past two seasons, is one of them.
With budgets tight and teams either working up against a flat salary cap or one of their own internal decision, the contracts players like Hoffman just is not out there.
Evgenii Dadonov, for instance, recently signed a three-year deal with Ottawa for an average of $5 million per season.
After the three-year stint he had with the Panthers, one would think Dadonov would have commanded more than a $1 million annual raise, right?
So where do the biggest remaining names on the NHL free agency market end up?
A lot of teams would love to sign a player such as Hoffman only do not have the means to do it. Right now, anyway.
More moves could be coming from some contending teams to free up some cash to make a run at Hoffman — who is said to be acceptive of taking a one-year deal.
The National Hockey Now network of NHL writers took a poll of where we all think the top remaining free agents will end up.
Adrian Dater, for instance, thinks Hoffman ends up back in South Florida. While I think Hoffman should, I do not think he will. The Panthers already would have figured this thing out, right?
I have Hoffman cooling his heels in New Jersey for at least the start of the season.
Sign a one-year deal with the Devils, perhaps go to a contender (if, indeed, the Devs are not this season) at the deadline and try this all again next offseason.
Anthony Duclair, who was not qualified as a RFA by Ottawa, could be a potential signing by the Panthers as he and Florida GM Bill Zito share a past in Columbus.
Christian Arnold, who covers the Islanders, thinks Duclair does end up in Sunrise; I have him landing in Colorado.
We’ll see.
Here are the rest of the free agent predictions from the Hockey Now network writers consisting of myself, Dater (Colorado Hockey Now), Dan Kingerski (Pittsburgh), Arnold, Sheng Peng (San Jose), Jimmy Murphy and Joe Haggerty (Boston).
