Daily Faceoff’s Top 75 Free Agents Available

Happy Canada Day. There is plenty to celebrate on Saturday, as July 1 marks the triumphant return of the hockey world’s most enjoyable holiday with the opening of Free Agency after a three-year layoff due to the pandemic.

And after preparing for an unusually thin free agent Class of 2023, a sudden influx of younger talent in the last 24 hours by way of buyouts and qualifying offers that were not tendered has spiced up Saturday.

Matt Duchene and Blake Wheeler were both bought out and they joined the Top 10 on our latest Free Agent rankings. Daniel Sprong, Mackenzie Blackwood, Tyson Jost, Noah Gregor, Morgan Geekie and Michael McLeod were all not issued qualifying offers by their respective clubs, allowing them to hit the open market early.

While the Class of 2023 may lack in sizzle, there is plenty of steak. In fact, ahead of a fourth straight season with a frozen salary cap, this might be one of the best years to go bargain bin hunting on the market to find ways to improve teams on the margins. There are smart, interesting buys – from Garnet Hathaway or Ryan Donato to one of the previously bought out players such as Oliver Ekman-Larsson – all over the board. Beauty will be in the eye of the beholder.

Whether you’re at the beach, on the lake, at the cottage or in your car, be sure to check out Daily Faceoff’s two-hour live stream Free Agent Special on YouTube from 11am to 1pm ET.

With the market set to open on Saturday at 12 noon, here are Daily Faceoff’s top free agents available:

Daily Faceoff’s Top 75 Free Agents

Contract Projections courtesy of @AFPAnalytics

Rank	Player	Pos	Age	Team	Cap Hit	GP	G	PTS	AFP Projection
1	Dmitry Orlov	LD	31	BOS	$5.1M	66	7	36	5 x $6.25m
2	Tyler Bertuzzi	LW	28	BOS	$4.75M	50	8	30	6 x $5.25m
3	J.T. Compher	C	28	COL	$3.5M	82	17	52	5 x $5.3m
4	Ryan Graves	LD	28	NJD	$3.17M	78	8	26	5 x $5.1m
5	Alex Killorn	RW	33	TBL	$4.45M	82	27	64	4 x $5.25m
6	Blake Wheeler	RW	36	WPG	$8.25M	72	16	55	2 x $3m
7	Ryan O’Reilly	C	32	TOR	$7.5M	53	16	30	3 x $5.5m
8	Matt Duchene	C	32	NSH	$8M	71	22	56	$3 x $3.8m
9	Vladimir Tarasenko	RW	31	NYR	$7.5M	69	18	50	3 x $5m
10	Michael Bunting	LW	27	TOR	$950K	82	23	49	5 x $5.25m
11	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	LD	31	VAN	$8.25M	54	2	22	3 x $3.25m
12	Max Pacioretty	LW	34	CAR	$7M	5	3	3	1 x $1.5m
13	Tristan Jarry	G	28	PIT	$3.5M	47	2.9	.909	4 x $4.8m
14	Connor Brown	RW	29	WSH	$3.6M	4	0	0	4 x $3.3m
15	Max Domi	C	28	DAL	$3M	80	20	56	5 x $4.75m
16	Patrick Kane	RW	34	NYR	$10.5M	73	21	57	3 x $5.75m
17	Scott Mayfield	RD	30	NYI	$1.45M	82	6	24	3 x $3.75m
18	Carson Soucy	LD	28	SEA	$2.75M	78	3	16	3 x $2.5m
19	Joonas Korpisalo	G	29	LAK	$1.3M	39	2.87	.914	2 x $2.6m
20	Frederik Andersen	G	33	CAR	$4.5M	34	2.48	.903	2 x $4m
21	John Klingberg	RD	30	MIN	$7M	67	10	33	3 x $4.6m
22	Semyon Varlamov	G	35	NYI	$5M	23	2.70	.913	2 x $2.75m
23	Matt Dumba	RD	28	MIN	$6M	79	4	14	3 x $4.4m
24	Radko Gudas	RD	33	FLA	$2.5M	72	2	17	3 x $3.3m
25	Luke Schenn	RD	33	TOR	$850K	70	4	22	1 x $1.6m
26	Jason Zucker	LW	31	PIT	$5.5M	78	27	48	5 x $5.4m
27	Connor Clifton	RD	27	BOS	$1M	78	5	23	2 x $1.75m
28	Shayne Gostisbehere	LD	30	CAR	$4.5M	75	13	41	4 x $4.8m
29	Alex Kerfoot	LW	28	TOR	$3.5M	82	10	32	4 x $3.5m
30	James van Riemsdyk	LW	34	PHI	$7M	61	12	29	1 x $1.8m
31	Garnet Hathaway	RW	31	BOS	$1.5M	84	13	22	4 x $2m
32	Gustav Nyquist	LW	33	MIN	$5.5M	51	11	27	2 x $3.2m
33	Pierre Engvall	RW	27	NYI	$2.25M	76	17	30	4 x $4.1m
34	Daniel Sprong	RW	26	SEA	$750K	66	21	46	3 x $3.36m
35	Max Comtois	LW	24	ANA	$2.04M	64	9	19	2 x $1.93m
36	Tomas Tatar	LW	32	NJD	$4.5M	82	20	48	3 x $3.3m
37	Evan Rodrigues	C	29	COL	$2M	69	16	39	3 x $3.7m
38	Ian Cole	LD	34	TBL	$3M	78	3	17	2 x $2.75m
39	Ryan Donato	LW	27	SEA	$1.2M	71	14	27	2 x $1.8m
40	Conor Sheary	LW	30	WSH	$1.5M	74	14	34	3 x $3.25m
41	Nick Bjugstad	C	30	EDM	$900K	78	17	29	2 x $2.3m
42	Erik Gustafsson	LD	31	TOR	$800K	70	7	42	3 x $3.4m
43	Justin Holl	RD	31	TOR	$2M	80	2	18	3 x $3m
44	Miles Wood	LW	27	NJD	$3.2M	76	13	27	3 x $2.6m
45	Antti Raanta	G	34	CAR	$2M	27	2.23	.910	2 x $3.2m
46	Jonathan Drouin	C	28	MTL	$5.5M	58	2	29	1 x $2m
47	Mackenzie Blackwood	G	26	NJD	$2.8M	22	3.20	.893	1 x $1.54m
48	Ryan Reaves	RW	36	MIN	$1.75M	73	5	15	1 x $886K
49	Matthew Phillips	RW	25	CGY	$750K	2	0	0	1 x $750k
50	Jonathan Toews	C	35	CHI	$10.5M	53	15	31	1 x $2.25m
51	Teddy Blueger	C	28	VGK	$2.2M	63	4	16	2 x $1.1m
52	Oskar Sundqvist	RW	29	MIN	$2.75M	67	10	28	3 x $2.4m
53	Tyson Jost	C	25	BUF	$2M	71	7	25	2 x $1.9m
54	Kailer Yamamoto	RW	24	DET	$3M	58	10	25	2 x $1.86m
55	Brian Dumoulin	LD	31	PIT	$4.1M	82	1	25	3 x $4.1m
56	Christian Fischer	RW	26	ARI	$1.13M	80	13	27	2 x $1.57m
57	Michael McLeod	C	25	NJD	$975K	80	4	26	3 x $1.94m
58	Denis Gurianov	RW	26	MTL	$2.9M	66	7	17	2 x $2.27
59	Pius Suter	LW	27	DET	$3.25M	79	14	24	2 x $1.85m
60	Noel Acciari	C	31	TOR	$1.25M	71	13	21	2 x $1.5m
61	Noah Gregor	RW	24	SJS	$950K	57	10	17	2 x $1.2m
62	Jaroslav Halak	G	38	NYR	$1.5M	25	2.72	.903	1 x $1.1m
63	Cam Talbot	G	35	LAK	$3.67M	36	2.93	.898	1 x $2.3m
64	Erik Johnson	RD	35	COL	$6M	63	0	8	1 x $975K
65	Morgan Geekie	RW	24	SEA	$1.4M	69	9	28	2 x $1.8m
66	Tomas Nosek	C	30	BOS	$1.75M	66	7	18	2 x $1.25m
67	Anthony Stolarz	G	29	ANA	$950K	19	3.73	.899	2 x $1.6m
68	Kevin Shattenkirk	RD	34	ANA	$3.9M	75	4	27	2 x $3m
69	Zack MacEwen	RW	26	LAK	$925K	56	4	10	1 x $775K
70	Denis Malgin	LW	26	COL	$750K	65	13	21	2 x $1.48m
71	Nathan Bastian	RW	25	NJD	$825K	43	6	15	2 x $1.6m
72	Sam Steel	C	25	MIN	$825K	65	10	28	1 x $1.4m
73	Jonathan Quick	G	37	VGK	$5.8M	41	3.41	.882	1 x $1.3m
74	Paul Stastny	C	37	CAR	$1.5M	73	9	22	1 x $1.6m
75	Phil Kessel	RW	35	VGK	$1.5M	82	14	36	1 x $1.1m

Next up: RD Travis Hamonic.

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Daily Faceoff’s Top 75 Free Agents Available

Daily Faceoff’s Top 75 Free Agents

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