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THN.com Blog: Top free agents for 2010

Ilya Kovalchuk, the first overall selection by Atlanta in 2001, has one year left on his contract with the team. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NHLI via Getty Images)

Edward Fraser
2009-08-20 12:19:00

I’m sure it comes as no surprise that here at THN we contemplate and debate the ins and outs of the hockey world 365 days of the year. So with the remaining UFA crop best described as slim, thoughts turn to next off-season and who’s available to jump ship on July 1, 2010. Here’s a look at who tops the list.

FORWARDS
Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta
2009-10 cap hit: $6.4 million
Thrashers GM Don Waddell has and will desperately try to get the 26-year-old’s name on a contract extension, but if the Dirty Birds don’t show any signs of improvement this season, look for Kovalchuk to find bluer skies. With two 50-goal and three 40-goal seasons to the left winger’s credit in seven NHL seasons, he’ll have plenty of suitors.

Marc Savard, Boston
2009-10 cap hit: $5 million
The league’s second-best setup man behind Joe Thornton, Savard has become an all-around No. 1 center after developing a defensive conscience under Boston bench boss Claude Julien. With the Bruins handcuffed by the salary cap, the B’s aren’t likely to be able to afford the 32-year-old’s services even if he wanted to return.

Patrick Marleau, San Jose
2009-10 cap hit: $6.3 million
Oft criticized for a lack of playoff success and recently stripped of the team’s captaincy, 2009-10 will be a show-me season for the soon-to-be 30-year-old center. A repeat of his bounce-back campaign of last season, one in which he potted 38 goals, will cement his place as a premier top-six forward. If the Sharks fall short of expectations again, he won’t be back.

Alexander Frolov, Los Angeles
2009-10 cap hit: $2.9 million
The Russian sniper will only be 28 years old when July 1 rolls around and with more 30-to-40-goal seasons ahead of him than behind him, a GM in the market for offense will surely open the purse strings for this left winger. Frolov sports a desirable frame, too, at 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds.

Olli Jokinen, Calgary
2009-10 cap hit: $5.3 million
The big Finnish center hardly impressed during his first foray into the playoffs last season (his regular season wasn’t much to write home about, either), but a return to form in 2009-10 and all will be forgotten. It feels like he’s been around forever, but at just 30 years old, there’s still lots time for Jokinen to put it all together.

DEFENSEMEN
Paul Martin, New Jersey
2009-10 cap hit: $3.8 million
One of the league’s most unheralded blueliners, Martin – who averages more than 24 minutes per game – is the leader of the Devils no-name defense corps. The 28-year-old late-bloomer will be the most desirable asset in a thin pool of free agent blueliners.

Anton Volchenkov, Ottawa
2009-10 cat hit: $2.5 million
Top 10 in blocked shots for the past four seasons, the 27-year-old isn’t going to put up a lot of points – his career high is 19, set in 2006-07 – but tough-as-nails, hit-anything-that-moves blueliners were a hot commodity this summer and will be again in 2010.

Related Links

Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim; Sergei Gonchar, Pittsburgh
2009-10 cap hit: $7.5 million; $6.8 million; $5 million
Any one of the trio would be a welcome addition to a team’s blueline, but the likelihood of any of the three switching teams – assuming they don’t retire – is next to zero.

GOALTENDERS
Jonas Hiller, Anaheim
2009-10 cap hit: $1.3 million
After grabbing the No. 1 reins from J-S Giguere, the 27-year-old was out-of-this-world during a first round upset of the Sharks. If he can put in a similar effort this season, he’ll enter the UFA foray as the cream of a saturated crop.

Pekka Rinne, Nashville
2009-10 cap hit: $725,000
Similar to Hiller, the largely unproven Rinne supplanted the incumbent starter and, though he couldn’t lead the Preds to a playoff spot, he should have been a Calder Trophy nominee. At only 26 years old, the Finn could just be coming into his own.

Marty Turco, Dallas
2009-10 cap hit: $5.7 million
He turned 34 last week and this could easily be a do or done season in Big D for the eight-season NHL vet. If he puts up good numbers and the Stars still let him walk, don’t expect a Khabibulin-esque contract to come his way with the plethora of top ‘tenders available.

Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose
2009-10 cap hit: $5.4 million
Another keeper getting up in years with a lot to prove, the 34-year-old, whose name is already making the rounds in the rumor mill, will need to lead the Sharks deep into the playoff waters to stick around on the west coast or get a big payday on the open market.

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver
2009-10 cap hit: $6.8 million
Don’t expect the world’s premier goalie to get anywhere near July 1 without an extension.

Edward Fraser is the editor of thehockeynews.com. His blog normally appears Thursdays.

For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.

COMMENTS (18)

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brian_kemp Posted
(2009-08-22 14:20:41)

scubasteve, I was actually thinking more as Thorntons winger. He'd probably excel in a second line center role there, but I like Pavelski in that role, and for my money at least, Drury's best play was riding shotgun for Forsberg. Thornton's not the player Forsberg was, but maybe his play in the post season would take a pretty big step up if he had a a truly clutch type guy on his line. I always hated seeing Forsberg with the puck during the best days of the Wings/Avs rivalry, because I knew that Drury was open somewhere and Forsberg could find him. Thornton might lack in a lot of other areas, but passing is not one of those areas. I think Drury would make Joe a lot better, a lot more productive when it matters, and I just don't ever see the Sharks winning a cup with both Thornton and Marleau.

imanism Posted
(2009-08-22 04:06:31)

No way Savard leaves Boston...you've gotta be kidding.

alexinca Posted
(2009-08-21 17:42:50)

In perusing the Dallas Stars free agents for next year, Lehtinen and Modano will probably retire. Eriksson, Brunnstrom, Neal, Grossman, and Niskanen will be RFAs, and Turco, Auld, Robidas, Barch, Petersen, and Hutchinson will be UFAs. Sort of makes me glad that the Stars can't spend to the cap due to Hicks' financial situation... a lot of money will need to be available to upgrade the contracts of Eriksson, Brunnstrom, Neal, Grossman, Niskanen, and Robidas.

scubasteve Posted
(2009-08-21 14:37:44)

I agree with you Brian, they're not going to resign Marleau if they don't win the cup next year because if they don't they really do need to change this team around to have a chance at winning and Marleau just happens to become a free agent after this season. Chris Drury would also do much better on the Sharks then his current situation in N.Y has he would be an actual #2 center instead of NY where he has yet to have a true number 1 center infront of him.

brian_kemp Posted
(2009-08-21 09:12:21)

For what it's worth, Marleau shouldn't be getting any more than 5 million a season, and neither one of him or Joe Thornton are the kind of guys to lead their team to the final, let alone a Cup. Marleau is a better leader than Thornton, but no one will ever be confusing either one of those guys for Yzerman or Messier. Personally, I'd dump Marleau and try to trade for an actual clutch player to ride shotgun with Joe, like the also overpaid Chris Drury. At least with Drury, he's overpaid relative to his regular seasons, not his playoffs.

scubasteve Posted
(2009-08-21 01:34:11)

All that Thornton winning an Art Ross and the Hart does for the Sharks is get them a better chance at home ice advantage during the playoffs which he then chooses to disappear for. You cannot deny the fact that he's a terrible playoff performer and if you don't agree with that then you should at least understand he's a terrible performer in retrospect to how he performs in the regular season. At least Marleau has had a few good playoff runs, something that Joe has never done. Maybe you should also read my post and look for where I say that he should be making the 6.3 he is making now. I solely dispute you're idea that he should only be making as little as 3.5mill when there are plenty of teams that he could be a first line center for.

fieldmarshal Posted
(2009-08-21 00:54:15)

I can't believe you're actually defending Marleau's play and criticizing Thornton's. Maybe once Marleau wins an Art Ross or Hart Trophy, we can compare them on equal terms. I will concede that the Sharks have made it once to the conference finals... Only to be eliminated by the Flames. *insert sad face* Since Marleau has been captain, the Sharks have finished no worse than 2nd in their division and have only one conference finals appearance to show for it. Pretty sure there's a reason why the organization decided to take the captaincy away. Most GMs probly notice that the NHL is not generating the television revenue that was expected, meaning the salary cap will have to decrease if not next season, then the one after. Marleau's current $6.3 million cap hit will NOT continue with any team is what I'm saying and any GM who signs Marleau to a long-term deal at that amount as a cap hit is insane. With the decline of revenue and multiple NHL franchises in severe economic peril, don't count on Marleau to be making what he was before. Even Sather is gonna be tied up with Redden, Gaborik and Drury and he's the worst overpaying GM in the league. Don't mention it for the spelling assistance - next time you're gonna label someone as 'quite the idiot', maybe make sure you're not the hypocritical one first. Anyway, no hard feelings.

noahtavlin Posted
(2009-08-21 00:32:43)

fo the first time in a while, that offseason, unless they magically trade redden, the rangers woon't have the cap space to sign any of the top guys here

scubasteve Posted
(2009-08-21 00:04:50)

Fieldmarshal maybe you should read my post. "If you ask me Thornton is more to blame for the sharks PLAYOFFS failures as he has yet to have an impactful POST SEASON his entire career." Thornton is just as big as a reason why the Sharks haven't advanced past the second round of the playoffs seeing as he only has 12 career playoff goals (only 6 since he became a shark) in 76 games compared to the 37 Marleau has scored in 92 (18 since Thornton was acquired). Also did you watch Thornton in the playoffs last year? I think it was game 4 where he stood still during 3 goals against instead of playing some defence. He did make a beautiful pass from his own zone though; too bad it was to Getzlaf who fired a pass to Perry for a quick goal. It was pathetic but the usual type of play Thornton does in the playoffs whether it's with the Sharks or when he was in Boston. Also you saying Marleau hasn't lead his team to the conference finals? Maybe you should Google the 2004 Western Conference finals then. Yes you never did compared what Marleau gets paid compared to other players but your 3.5million dollar salary is extremely unrealistic considering every player in the NHL is overpaid through free agency unless they take a hometown discount. Even if Marleau takes a hometown discount it will be for more than 3.5 a year seeing as Ryan Clowe would be making more money than him on the same team. Also way to point out all my one letter typo's, I appreciate the spell checking. With regards to Kovalchuk and Savard, did you ever learn that two independent thoughts with no correlation to each other are supposed to be divided into two separate sentences?

fieldmarshal Posted
(2009-08-20 22:14:43)

I'm the idiot, but you're the one with the screen-name from an Adam Sandler movie. That's rich. How is Thornton more responsible for the Sharks' problems? I guess winning the Art Ross and being in the top ten for points pretty much every season isn't good enough? Yah, that makes sense. Should the captain not hold the brunt of responsibility if a team ENDLESSLY underachieves in the playoffs? You wanna know what his ongoing struggles are? HE CAN'T GET HIS TEAM TO THE CONFERENCE FINALS. THAT'S HIS ONGOING PROBLEM. What's your rebuttal to that? Its acceptable to have a good regular season and then just go for a skate once the team makes the playoffs? Shows me Marleau doesn't have the heart or drive to motivate his team past the 2nd round of the playoffs. I never compared what I would consider adequate for Marleau to what Antropov and others are paid. GMs tend to overpay. Marleau is overpaid RIGHT NOW. Maybe you can provide an 'educated opinion' to the correct spelling of the words 'salarys', 'affored' and 'Kovalchuck'? And maybe you should actually READ what I wrote about Savard - I wasn't comparing the two in any sense, their names just happened to be in the same sentence. Thanks, though Scubasteve. Always amusing to get a rise outta you!