The NHL’s Top 10 Best RFAs Still on the Market
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James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay Lightning fans, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You’ve got Mikhail Sergachev on a bargain deal. It’s amazing how Julien Brisebois continues to make things work.
But the pain isn’t over: the team still needs to sign Anthony Cirelli.
Tampa Bay is currently over the salary cap by about $2 million and Cirelli won’t come cheap after proving himself as a reliable two-way center. Add in Erik Cernak’s potential new deal on the point and the next few moves will not be easy to put together.
The Lightning moved on from Zach Bogosian and Kevin Shattenkirk which cleared a few million each, but not enough to make everything work just yet. The Lightning were unsuccessful in their search to give Tyler Johnson a new home via the waiver wire in October and despite a solid scoring background, his play has dropped off over time. Seattle would be a fantastic dumping ground for Johnson, but the Lightning can’t wait a year if they want to secure Cirelli.
That’s the issue the Lightning face moving forward, and Ryan Kennedy does a great job at highlighting the challenge ahead after the Sergachev news. But what about the rest of the league’s top RFAs? Here’s a look at the best players still available as we head into December:
Mathew Barzal, C (New York Islanders)
Barzal is the centerpiece of the Islanders, bar none. He’s going nowhere, period. Barzal has recorded at least 60 points in all three of his NHL seasons, highlighted by a superb 85-point rookie campaign in 2017-18. At 23, what’s his next contract going to look like? Matt Larkin suggested that Barzal would make close to Jack Eichel’s $10 million deal in a non-COVID-19 world, but nobody’s making that this off-season. The Isles have just $3.9 million in cap space as it stands, but that’s about to change. But things might be ready to get just a bit more interesting. Long-time NHL defenseman Johnny Boychuk was forced into early retirement due to an eye injury, opening up about $6 million in free space to give them nearly $10 million in cap room to play with. That’ll be enough to land Barzal in this COVID-19 contract landscape, but what about the length?
Pierre-Luc Dubois, C (Columbus Blue Jackets)
The Blue Jackets have shown true promise with first- and qualification-round victories the past two seasons. Now it’s time for the Jackets to continue towards a successful long-term future and Dubois is one of the biggest pieces of that puzzle. The Jackets have $9.23 million in available cap space so landing Dubois shouldn’t be an issue. But GM Jarmo Kekalainen needs to be mindful of Columbus’ cap situation moving forward, too: only Cam Atkinson, Gustav Nyquist and Vladislav Gavrikov are signed past 2021-22, meaning the Jackets still need to deal with Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Max Domi, among others over the next two years. Dubois is a No. 1 centerman at the age of 22 with a 61-point season to his credit – give him time and Dubois will be a true…
Read More: The NHL’s Top 10 Best RFAs Still on the Market 2020-11-28 17:34:00