Ranking the Best NHL Players on the Waiver Wire as the 2014-15 Season Approaches

Colin Fraser has had a pretty good NHL career. The 29-year-old centre has 358 games of NHL experience under his belt and has been a part of three Stanley Cup-winning teams. He played 33 games with the Cup-winning Los Angeles Kings a year ago.

Now he's one of 20-odd players available for free on the waiver wire, as reported by TVA's Renaud Lavoie. Is he the best player available on waivers, or are there better players out there?

In compiling our list of the best available players, we've taken into account both future and present performance. In other words, a 23-year-old prospect is going to trump a 30-year-old veteran if the skills of the two are close because of where they are in their respective career arcs. 

Read on for our ranking of the top players free to find a good home on Monday.  

Missing the Cut

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Enforcers: The waiver wire this time of year always overflows with big men willing to throw punches. Pierre-Cedric Labrie (46 career NHL games, 13 in 2013-14) is the most notable name on a list that includes Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond, Joel Rechlicz and Brett Gallant. 

Louis Leblanc: Montreal's 2009 first-round draft pick fetched a fifth-round pick in a trade from Anaheim in June, but his second NHL home has rightly decided the underwhelming forward (28 points in the AHL last year) should head back to the minors. 

Mark Cundari: The 5'9" defenceman does a lot of things right, but he's still a 5'9" defenceman.

Christopher Breen: He's the carnival-mirror image of Cunadari, a 6'7" defenceman with lots of negatives who will still be 6'7" no matter what else he does. 

Ryan Craig: Once a reasonably good player for the Tampa Bay Lightning coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, he's been mostly out of the NHL for the last half-decade. 

8. Sean Collins, Columbus Blue Jackets

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By the Numbers: Now 25 years old, Collins is getting long in the tooth for prospect status, and that's a problem because two full seasons into his professional career he's only a mediocre scorer in the minor leagues. 

Skill Set: He's a big forward who isn't overly physical and doesn't post big numbers; realistically he'll be fortunate if he evolves into a No. 13/14 forward somewhere. He's reasonably good at a lot of things but lacks a standout quality. 

NHL Experience: 11 career games, six in 2013-14.

7. Colin Fraser, St. Louis Blues

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By the Numbers: His underlying numbers have been terrible pretty much since he left the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, which not coincidentally is the last time he cracked double digits in points. He had all of two assists in 33 games with L.A. last season. 

Skill Set: A point-per-game guy in junior and a decent scorer in the AHL, Fraser made it to the majors because he was willing to do whatever it took. He can play any position, kill penalties, throw hits and even fight at times and at his best was a decent all-purpose fourth-line pivot. 

NHL Experience: 358 career games, 33 in 2013-14.

6. Justin Falk, Minnesota Wild

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By the Numbers: Falk's underlying numbers cratered in New York last season, and over the course of his career they've generally not been very good. Minnesota got decent use out of him in 2012-13; he posted a positive relative Corsi while playing lots of defensive-zone minutes. 

Skill Set: He's a big (6'5", 215 lbs), physical, stay-at-home defenceman who can fight a bit too. He's not an everyday player but is a serviceable fit in the No. 7 slot.

NHL Experience: 129 career games, 21 in 2013-14.

5. Philip Samuelsson, Pittsburgh Penguins

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By the Numbers: The 23-year-old Samuelsson has never been a big scorer, but he has developed a bit of an offensive touch in the minors, posting 22 points in 64 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in 2013-14.

Skill Set: A big positional defender, Samuelsson lacks the nasty edge of his father Ulf. He's a responsible stay-at-home guy with some puck-moving ability who could improve his speed. 

NHL Experience: Five career games, all of them in 2013-14.

4. Chris Butler, St. Louis Blues

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By the Numbers: He played more than 20 minutes per game in, amazingly, all 82 Calgary Flames contests one year ago. He's gotten steadily worse over the years, and over the last couple of seasons his underlying numbers were among the worst on a lousy Calgary team. 

Skill Set: He looks like a hockey player in that he's a solid skater and has reasonable skill with the puck, but he's a guy best-suited to somewhere south of No. 6 on an NHL depth chart because his results don't match his tools. 

NHL Experience: 349 career games, 82 in 2013-14.

3. Troy Bodie, Toronto Maple Leafs

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By the Numbers: Bodie actually posted pretty decent numbers for a depth guy with Toronto last year. He had decent scoring totals (he went from 16 points in the AHL a season earlier to 10 in the NHL in fewer games), and his underlying numbers were better than the Leafs' average. 

Skill Set: He's a big, physical depth guy who can play a bit without hurting his team but who doesn't drive scoring. If he was trusted to kill penalties in the majors he'd probably be a regular fourth-liner.

NHL Experience: 154 career games, 47 in 2013-14.

2. Jonathon Blum, Minnesota Wild

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By the Numbers: Blum's point totals are never overwhelming, but he's evolved into a guy who posts monster Corsi totals. He led the Wild in relative Corsi a year ago (with a heavy offensive push) and actually did not bad in his last year with the Nashville Predators without the help of a high zone-start number. 

Skill Set: Size and strength have always been Blum's listed weaknesses, but a bigger problem might be his inability to post big offensive totals. He's perceived as a high-end offensive defenceman with good puck skills and mobility, but when a guy like that doesn't notch points it can be a career-killer.  

NHL Experience: 106 career games, 15 in 2013-14.

1. Stefan Elliott, Colorado Avalanche

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By the Numbers: The most important number is that Elliott is only 23 years old. He's been a Corsi monster during a couple previous NHL stints, but he's also been very, very carefully sheltered and hasn't contributed a lot offensively. 

Skill Set: A two-way defenceman with good mobility and puck skill, Elliott has failed to evolve into the high-end offensive player the Avs thought they were drafting in the second round of 2009. That doesn't make him a bad player—there are many good reasons to question whether point totals accurately quantify a defenceman's offensive contributions—but for a slighter player who can be outmuscled it's a real problem.  

NHL Experience: 58 career games, one in 2013-14.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work. Statistics via NHL.com and Behindthenet.ca.