It’s been pretty quiet on the UFA market for weeks now.
All the names from our list of top 50 UFAs are signed and have been for quite some time. We’re starting to see names settle for professional tryout agreements, with Sammy Blais (Canucks), Tanner Pearson (Golden Knights) and Jakub Vrána (Capitals) some of the notable names to ink early PTOs. The last UFA signing was depth netminder Magnus Hellberg
to the Stars over two weeks ago.
Winger Max Pacioretty is one of the top remaining names. He missed the cut for our top 50 after being limited to just four goals in 47 games with the Capitals last season, indicative of his largely forgettable stint in the nation’s capital. But before back-to-back Achilles tendon tears tarnished his career in 2022 and 2023, he was one of the league’s better snipers when healthy.
That pre-injury form is still helping out his market value a tad. He’ll likely be the next UFA domino to fall and won’t appear to need a PTO to land a deal for 2024-25, with Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reporting last week that Pacioretty was mulling offers from at least three teams. It’ll likely be a league-minimum salary with some potential performance bonuses.
Veteran forward James van Riemsdyk was a narrower miss on our top 50 list and led remaining UFAs in points per game last season with 0.54. He could be due for even more production this year after shooting a career-low 7.7% with the Bruins in 2023-24, still managing 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games in third-line minutes. If he shot at his 11.8% career average, JVR would have lit the lamp six more times for 17 goals.
Van Riemsdyk had only 29 points in 61 games with the Flyers the year before and settled for a one-year, $1M pact in Boston. After a bit of a rebound year in Beantown, he’s likely looking for a small raise, but his search may be in vain this late in the summer.
The most appealing unsigned defenseman is likely Kevin Shattenkirk, JVR’s teammate with the Bruins last season. He’s no longer the fringe Norris contender and offensive force he was with the Blues in the mid-2010s. Still, he’s remained a capable puck-mover for the Bruins, Ducks and Lightning the past few years and kept his head above water defensively in third-pairing minutes in Boston.
Here are some other UFAs who’ll likely generate interest from NHL teams before the season begins.
Goalies
Kevin Lankinen has been an extremely serviceable backup for Nashville the last two seasons, recording a .912 SV% in 43 games for the Predators. Martin Jones and Antti Raanta are veteran netminders with loads of NHL experience (466 and 277 NHL GP, respectively). However, Raanta’s usually solid tandem play plummeted to a horrific .872 SV% in 24 games last year with the Hurricanes, leading to the netminder ending up on waivers and going unclaimed.
At this stage, Aaron Dell, Michael Hutchinson, Keith Kinkaid and Dustin Tokarski are all AHL depth options. However, they could still land a two-way NHL deal as a mentor for an organization’s up-and-coming netminders and provide an experienced call-up option in a pinch.
