While awaiting the complete official list of UFA players, here's a projected assortment of the kinds of players that might be available starting this coming Sunday.
Ideal first liners:
68Jaromir JagrRW 19 Joe Sakic C L OK 60 80 71 76 90 80 84 86 81 57 79 95 99 81 37 13 Mats Sundin C R OK 69 77 74 76 82 73 77 80 80 64 75 92 99 80 35 82 Martin Straka C/LW L OK 65 77 68 75 89 86 76 74 81 61 76 83 87 78 34 11 Mark Recchi RW/LW L OK 71 76 68 75 90 75 76 74 81 60 70 95 99 78 38
Ideal second liners:
20 Mike Sillinger C/LW R OK 65 74 73 74 89 80 75 68 74 77 72 85 89 78 35 44 Jason Arnott C R OK 66 73 74 71 84 76 75 68 78 60 77 83 86 77 32 32 Jozef Stumpel RW/C R OK 67 73 68 74 83 87 72 71 73 75 72 83 84 77 34 39 Doug Weight C L OK 66 74 70 72 85 77 77 73 79 57 63 88 93 75 35
Second/third liners:
96 Tomas Holmstrom LW L OK 68 67 70 66 88 75 69 64 77 55 77 77 78 74 33 31 Martin Rucinsky LW L OK 60 74 67 69 63 71 74 68 74 60 66 83 85 73 35 11 John Madden C L OK 67 70 70 73 87 89 70 64 56 77 61 73 78 72 33 37 Michael Peca C R OK 69 70 73 70 64 51 71 65 60 79 59 78 82 72 32 33 Steve Rucchin C L OK 63 68 70 72 69 87 67 66 71 71 59 78 80 72 35 23 Scott Walker RW R OK 70 68 71 68 67 80 67 67 74 58 68 77 77 73 33 61 Cory Stillman LW L OK 67 65 64 70 67 80 67 73 77 56 60 79 85 71 33
Third/Fourth liners:
8 Geoff Sanderson LW L OK 60 76 67 64 77 75 77 65 73 57 63 89 91 72 34 10 Dallas Drake LW L OK 71 70 74 62 70 78 70 58 56 77 59 84 93 71 37 16 Chris Simon LW L OK 81 70 82 58 79 66 70 63 68 54 61 78 78 72 34 26 Stephane Yelle C L OK 72 70 67 65 74 80 71 63 60 78 62 79 83 72 32 94 Yanic Perreault C L OK 60 68 70 67 77 81 70 63 73 57 72 80 80 72 35 7 Derek Armstrong C R OK 68 70 66 66 74 71 71 72 72 52 61 67 67 71 33 41 Stu Barnes C R OK 63 70 64 68 89 82 70 60 60 77 61 87 90 71 36 97 Jeremy Roenick C R OK 71 70 70 64 73 83 70 63 68 61 61 95 98 71 36 77 Anson Carter RW R OK 67 68 68 64 82 87 68 64 73 60 62 76 76 71 32 88 Eric Lindros RW R OK 77 70 76 65 54 58 71 69 75 56 59 79 76 72 33 38 Dean McAmmond C L OK 65 76 66 58 89 85 73 61 60 69 62 80 80 71 33 10 Peter Bondra RW L OK 65 71 67 60 60 77 73 63 69 59 61 88 89 70 38 16 Trevor Linden RW R OK 67 66 72 61 90 83 67 60 68 70 61 95 99 71 36 19 Scott Mellanby RW R OK 67 66 73 63 79 71 66 66 76 54 62 98 99 72 40 Fourth liners/extras/call-ups:
77 Pierre Turgeon C L OK 60 68 66 57 53 79 68 61 67 56 67 94 96 69 37 93 Petr Nedved C L OK 66 66 62 66 64 77 67 63 71 65 57 85 85 69 35 16 Kevyn Adams C R OK 66 77 68 58 84 85 74 59 60 66 57 72 74 69 33 87 Donald Brashear LW L OK 73 64 86 52 86 44 63 59 60 53 57 81 81 68 34 34 Jim Dowd C R OK 63 67 66 53 81 87 68 57 56 71 58 76 77 67 38 8 Brad May LW L OK 81 60 75 56 53 72 62 60 56 59 56 82 83 67 35 21 Bryan Smolinski LW R OK 67 67 8 71 90 83 67 65 69 75 65 86 86 67 35
Top pairing defensemen:
43 Philippe Boucher D R OK 79 71 72 81 80 60 73 69 77 77 68 76 77 79 33 5 Nicklas Lidstrom D L OK 62 75 74 89 89 80 80 78 85 77 61 91 99 80 36 4 Rob Blake D R OK 73 68 76 84 86 66 74 64 81 76 63 87 92 78 37 36 Roman Hamrlik D L OK 72 64 75 85 72 65 65 68 80 71 58 86 87 76 32
#3/#4 second pairing d-men:
7 Karlis Skrastins D L OK 65 63 76 78 84 83 65 60 56 84 56 73 75 74 32 5 Mattias Norstrom D L OK 70 66 78 77 86 78 69 59 60 81 57 81 84 75 34 6 Bret Hedican D L OK 72 80 66 75 71 76 80 61 69 70 56 84 86 74 36 8 Aaron Ward D R OK 84 63 72 76 85 71 64 60 56 79 57 75 79 74 33 3 Jaroslav Spacek D L OK 72 70 70 74 80 70 71 63 73 67 58 73 76 73 32 71 Patrice Brisebois D R OK 67 70 63 74 67 77 68 65 73 68 57 83 83 72 35 25 Ken Klee D R OK 73 64 67 77 87 73 63 61 65 75 57 80 80 73 35
#5/#6 third pairing dmen:
4 Glen Wesley D L OK 72 60 72 67 75 74 62 61 60 81 56 97 99 74 38 3 Keith Carney D L OK 67 63 72 67 89 76 64 60 56 72 57 85 89 71 36 #7/extra/call-up dmen: 5 Frantisek Kaberle D L OK 65 69 67 67 63 76 71 62 73 57 58 69 72 69 34 22 Luke Richardson D L OK 68 57 75 51 58 79 60 58 56 65 56 95 95 68 37 Starting goaltenders: 39 Dominik Hasek G L OK 80 89 78 80 72 62 93 68 75 NA NA 86 97 79 41 35 Nikolai Khabibulin G L OK 83 86 85 81 77 77 80 66 74 NA NA 82 80 77 33 30 Dwayne Roloson G L OK 82 89 80 86 75 76 78 72 77 NA NA 77 74 78 37
Tandem/Back-up netminders
26 Ed Belfour G L OK 82 86 83 79 74 75 75 70 76 NA NA 99 97 77 41 8 Tim Thomas G L OK 81 87 78 83 73 80 83 66 70 NA NA 67 67 76 32 32 Curtis Joseph G L OK 79 82 80 76 76 73 86 66 75 NA NA 95 87 76 39 31 Martin Gerber G L OK 79 81 80 62 71 87 77 68 77 NA NA 71 68 74 32 30 Chris Osgood G L OK 77 81 76 58 60 67 77 64 76 NA NA 84 83 73 34
Call-up/farm goalies:
30 Mike Dunham G L OK 80 75 86 56 58 90 75 66 80 NA NA 73 73 72 34 41 Patrick Lalime G L OK 78 75 84 53 59 90 77 64 75 NA NA 77 79 71 32 14 Johan Hedberg G L OK 76 76 80 57 58 66 76 70 74 NA NA 72 69 70 33 Hope this helps you as a starting point of analysis as it was for me.
I predict that ideal first liners will be signed for 8-12 million per year, second liners for 6-8 million, second/third liners 3-6 million, third/fourth liners 1-3 million, call-ups up to 1 million, top defensive pairings 6-8 mill, 2nd pairing guys 4-6 mill, starting goalies 6-10 million.
it's all about supply and demand and team resources. Many teams can afford to pay more, have competing needs with scarce resources, hence high market price. It's just plain economics.
You don't mean $12M + a signing bonus of $6M do you?
Islanders GM wrote:
I predict that ideal first liners will be signed for 8-12 million per year, second liners for 6-8 million, second/third liners 3-6 million, third/fourth liners 1-3 million, call-ups up to 1 million, top defensive pairings 6-8 mill, 2nd pairing guys 4-6 mill, starting goalies 6-10 million.
it's all about supply and demand and team resources. Many teams can afford to pay more, have competing needs with scarce resources, hence high market price. It's just plain economics.
-- Edited by Islanders GM at 04:31, 2007-08-16
__________________
2007-08 - missed playoffs (29th overall) 2008-09 - missed playoffs (26th overall) 2009-10 - 7th place in Western Conference (99 pts), Conference Semi-Finals 2010-11 - missed playoffs (19th overall) 2011-12
It's going to be an interesting FA period. Judging by the "needs" I am hearing from many teams, there will be much more demand than supply. Some teams are going to be bitterly dissapointed when they are not able to grab the guy(s) they want. It seems every team is looking for a #1 forward, a #1 defenseman, and a #1 Goalie... maybe some of you guys should take a good hard look at your team and instead of just going for the big names because they are available, look at addressing what it is your team really needs... we can't all land the big names...
Judging by the "needs" I am hearing from many teams, there will be much more demand than supply. Some teams are going to be bitterly dissapointed when they are not able to grab the guy(s) they want. ... we can't all land the big names...
Excellent point.
"I'm-a-gonna-get-'em" = Armageddon
Much better deals can be had the trade deadline but many won't be patient, and can't be, with a few teams below the league minimum in salary level and several near it.
Those who most need it will get significant assets.
it's those who hoped to be only partial players in UFA, thinking could add a star player at a reasonable salary level that will be most disappointed. The power is with L.A., Vancouver, Washington, Anaheim, etc, teams that NEED some talent!!
(So those teams that already have several stars on their roster, don't whine too much when you're outbid in unrestricted free agency.)
What I am curious to see is if teams that miss out on the big-time players will continue to throw money at crappy players that aren't worth it. Everyone knows Sakic and Jagr are getting a boatload. If Anson Carter gets $3,000,000 then people are insane.