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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