July 1st Free Agents

[442scotty]

It has probably been discussed and I just missed it but what happens to players who supposedly become free agents July 1 with the remainder of the season/playoffs about to start?

[getbak]

Everything will be pushed back until after the playoffs are over. No dates have been announced yet.

[Robbob]

On that some note, how are they dealing with the contracts? Sure they can push it back, but what about bonuses that are due?

[Sylvanfan]

^^^
Yeah, of all the years to have that big signing bonus, now all these guys are going to be squirming about losing half of it to escrow after waiting 3 more months to get it.

I think it was Le Chateliers Principal from Grade 11 chemistry....What you try to do...Nature tries to undo.

[McG]

Escrow is tossed around as if it is some form of loss to the players. It isn’t. Escrow is intended to balance player payments with anticipated revenue.

Should league salaries exceed revenue Targets, then amounts are held back. If revenue targets are exceeded, then all funds are returned to the player.

Escrow is intended to help balance the uncertainty between contracts being signed into the future, while revenues cannot be known until the year actually happens.

Players should always sign contracts without consideration of escrow.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by McG

Escrow is tossed around as if it is some form of loss to the players. It isn’t. Escrow is intended to balance player payments with anticipated revenue.

Should league salaries exceed revenue Targets, then amounts are held back. If revenue targets are exceeded, then all funds are returned to the player.

Escrow is intended to help balance the uncertainty between contracts being signed into the future, while revenues cannot be known until the year actually happens.

Players should always sign contracts without consideration of escrow.

I think this becomes an exceptional case where it is creating a loss. If you have a contract that is more heavily waited to a specific year and Escrow is higher in that specific year you lose more money than if you had structured your deal with even payments per year.

So guys who structured their deals to avoid losing money in potential lock outs and as a result have a larger Salary than their AAV this year or next will take a bigger loss than if they hadn’t planned around a lockout.

[Poe969]

I know a bunch of guys who are up for UFA will likely re-sign with their current team but what is the list of available UFA and RFA players.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Poe969

I know a bunch of guys who are up for UFA will likely re-sign with their current team but what is the list of available UFA and RFA players.

Here's my top 75 UFAs list.

1. Alex Pietrangelo (D, STL)
2. Taylor Hall (LW, ARI)
3. Torey Krug (D, BOS)
4. Mike Hoffman (RW, FLA)
5. Robin Lehner (G, VGK)
6. Jacob Markstrom (G, VAN)
7. Tyson Barrie (D, TOR)
8. Tyler Toffoli (RW, VAN)
9. Braden Holtby (G, WSH)
10. Evgenii Dadonov (RW, FLA)
11. TJ Brodie (D, CGY)
12. Chris Tanev (D, VAN)
13. Mikael Granlund (RW, NSH)
14. Craig Smith (RW, NSH)
15. Travis Hamonic (D, CGY)
16. Vladislav Namestnikov (RW, COL)
17. Radko Gudas (D, WSH)
18. Sami Vatanen (D, CAR)
19. Kevin Shattenkirk (D, TB)
20. Carl Soderberg (LW, ARI)
21. Dylan DeMelo (D, WPG)
22. Corey Crawford (G, CHI)
23. Anton Khudobin (G, DAL)
24. Erik Haula (C, FLA
25. Erik Gustafsson (D, CGY)
26. Ilya Kovalchuk (LW, WSH)
27. Derick Brassard (C, NYI)
28. Brenden Dillon (D, WSH)
29. Justin Braun (D, PHI)
30. Cam Talbot (G, CGY)
31. Justin Schultz (D, PHI)
32. Tyler Ennis (RW, EDM)
33. Jesper Fast (RW, NYR)
34. Josh Leivo (LW, VAN)
35. Joel Edmundson (D, CAR)
36. Andy Greene (D, NYI)
37. Zdeno Chara (D, BOS)*
38. Cody Ceci (D, TOR)
39. Thomas Greiss (G, NYI)
40. Joe Thornton (C, SJ)*
41. Patrick Marleau (RW, PIT)
42. Jason Spezza (C, TOR)
43. Mike Green (D, EDM)
44. Cody Eakin (C, WPG)
45. Alex Galchenyuk (RW, MIN)
46. Matt Nieto (RW, COL)
47. Mattias Janmark (LW, DAL)
48. Conor Sheary (C, PIT)
49. Jimmy Vesey (LW, BUF)
50. Carson Soucy (D, MIN)
51. Aaron Dell (G, SJ)
52. Mikko Koivu (C, MIN)*
53. Wayne Simmonds (RW, BUF)
54. Derek Grant (C, PHI)
55. Pat Maroon (RW, TB)
56. Tyler Pitlick (C, PHI)
57. Corey Perry (RW, DAL)
58. Ron Hainsey (D, OTT)
59. Zemgus Girgensons (C, BUF)
60. Mike Smith (G, EDM)
61. Dmitry Kulikov (D, WPG)
62. Jon Merrill (D, VGK)
63. Andrej Sekera (D, DAL)
64. Trevor van Riemsdyk (D, CAR)
65. Dustin Byfuglien (D, UFA)
66. Brad Richardson (C, ARI)
67. Brian Elliott (G, PHI)
68. Ryan Reaves (RW, VGK)
69. Michael Frolik (RW, BUF)
70. Ryan Miller (G, ANA)*
71. Craig Anderson (G, OTT)*
72. Mark Pysyk (D, FLA)
73. Tomas Nosek (C, VGK)
74. Mark Borowiecki (D, OTT)
75. Zach Bogosian (D, TB)

*ranked lower because he is likely to either stay with his current team or retire

And here are the top 75 RFAs:

1. Mathew Barzal (C, NYI)
2. Pierre-Luc Dubois (C, CBJ)
3. Ryan Pulock (D, NYI)
4. Tyler Bertuzzi (LW, DET)
5. Tristan Jarry (G, PIT)
6. Victor Olofsson (LW, BUF)
7. Anthony Cirelli (C, TB)
8. Max Domi (C, MTL)
9. Sam Reinhart (RW, BUF)
10. Jake DeBrusk (LW, BOS)
11. Dominik Kubalik (LW, CHI)
12. Mackenzie Blackwood (G, NJ)
13. Dylan Strome (C, CHI)
14. Ryan Strome (C, NYR)
15. Tony DeAngelo (D, NYR)
16. Vince Dunn (D, STL)
17. Andre Burakovsky (LW, COL)
18. Mikhail Sergachev (D, TB)
19. Devon Toews (D, NYI)
20. Connor Brown (RW, OTT)
21. Kevin Labanc (RW, SJ)
22. Matt Murray (G, PIT)
23. Ilya Mikheyev (LW, TOR)
24. Josh Anderson (RW, CBJ)
25. Andreas Athanasiou (RW, EDM)
26. Denis Gurianov (LW, DAL)
27. Jesper Bratt (LW, NJ)
28. Andrew Mangiapane (RW, CGY)
29. Jared McCann (C, PIT)
30. Jake Virtanen (RW, VAN)
31. Alexandar Georgiev (G, NYR)
32. Roope Hintz (C, DAL)
33. Matt Grzelcyk (D, BOS)
34. Adam Gaudette (C, VAN)
35. Luke Kunin (C, MIN)
36. Ryan Graves (D, COL)
37. Oskar Lindblom (LW, PHI)
38. Chris Tierney (C, OTT)
39. Phil Myers (D, PHI)
40. Casey Mittelstadt (LW, BUF)
41. Tyson Jost (C, COL)
42. Vladislav Gavrikov (D, CBJ)
43. Linus Ullmark (G, BUF)
44. MacKenzie Weegar (D, FLA)
45. Brandon Montour (D, BUF)
46. Nikita Zadorov (D, COL)
47. Erik Cernak (D, TB)
48. Travis Dermott (D, TOR)
49. Ethan Bear (D, EDM)
50. Dominik Kahun (LW, BUF)
51. Robby Fabbri (LW, DET)
52. Jack Roslovic (C, WPG)
53. Warren Foegele (LW, CAR)
54. Victor Mete (D, MTL)
55. Valeri Nichushkin (RW, COL)
56. Troy Stecher (D, VAN)
57. Chandler Stephenson (RW, VGK)
58. Jesse Puljujarvi (RW, EDM)
59. Jordan Greenway (RW, MIN)
60. Lucas Wallmark (C, FLA)
61. Sean Walker (D, LA)
62. Sonny Milano (LW, ANA)
63. Radek Faksa (C, DAL)
64. Vinnie Hinostroza (LW, ARI)
65. Dominik Simon (LW, PIT)
66. Brendan Perlini (RW, DET)
67. Mark Jankowski (C, CGY)
68. Nick Cousins (C, VGK)
69. Christian Fischer (RW, ARI)
70. Jacob Larsson (D, ANA)
71. Jonas Siegenthaler (D, WSH)
72. Madison Bowey (D, DET)
73. Drake Caggiula (C, CHI)
74. Brendan Lemieux (LW, NYR)
75. Adam Erne (RW, DET)

[MrMike]

Just give us Hall and Markstrom or Lehner. Not asking for much am I jeeze

[djsFlames]

Probably looking at October for free agency.

Hall and some promotions from the farm (Valimaki, Phillips) will suffice for me.

[TheScorpion]

I would have big interest in a couple reclamation projects like Schultz and Galchenyuk. If even one of those guys works out, you could have a 25-goal scorer or a 40-point dman on your hands.

[Harry Lime]

Pietrangelo #1 target (along with every other club), but other than that I like Gudas and Demelo on the right side defense. Either go big money or go smart money. Unfortunately, I think that Brodie and Hamonic fall equally between those two goalposts.

One or two year 'show me' contract with Galchenyuk wouldn't be bad, for an upgrade on the Reider's of the world, if needed.

[Sylvanfan]

This year's RFA group is a massive step down from last year. After Barzal it's a bit of a step down to Dubois, than another step after him. I wonder if that promotes a bit more activity in the UFA market since more teams don't have the young cornerstone guys trying to reset their market values.

[1qqaaz]

This seems like a strong UFA class again.
A lot of the best players aren't even very old.

Good list btw.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Thanks for the list, Scorp!

I would like the Flames to throw money at either Hall or Pietrangelo. If you can land one of those guys, you can figure out the cap situation later.

[Jacks]

If he can be signed to a reasonable deal I wouldn't mind Toffoli.
I think whoever signs Hall to a huge contract is going to regret it.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Jacks

If he can be signed to a reasonable deal I wouldn't mind Toffoli.
I think whoever signs Hall to a huge contract is going to regret it.

I think the biggest mistakes teams make is when they pay market price for mid-tier talent.

Elite talent? Sure, it may not work out perfectly but it's very rarely an absolute disaster like what we've seen with Brouwer and Neal in recent years here.

Don't pay market price for players unless they're elite, because elite players generally remain useful late into their careers while other players generally collapse once they get north of 31/32.

[Sandman]

Brendan Dillon would be good to look at if Hammer and Forbort move on-huge, physical,can fight, moves good.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by Sandman

Brendan Dillon would be good to look at if Hammer and Forbort move on-huge, physical,can fight, moves good.

I think the biggest mistakes teams make is when they pay market price for mid-tier talent.

Don't pay market price for players unless they're elite, because elite players generally remain useful late into their careers while other players generally collapse once they get north of 31/32.

[dino7c]

I would give Jacob Markstrom a big offer...worst case it forces Vancouvers hand

and yeah sign Hall...you will never get top end player if you don't pay. Plus then you won't have cap space to burn on bad players.