7 Underrated Players Available in 2023 NHL Free Agency
The big-ticket items are always an easy grab.
But it takes a skilled shopper to stock a pantry with thrifty quality.
The concept is no different in NHL free agency, when the arrival of the summertime signing period will likely result in significant deals inked by the high-profile likes of Patrick Kane, Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko.
Still, with all due respect to those players and their accomplishments, that's not the only way to build a championship team. In fact, many a Stanley Cup contender this spring has a roster galvanized by guys who make far less but still play an important role.
The B/R hockey team scanned the list of players on the verge of unrestricted free agency come July and came up with a list of seven underrated contributors who'll help build a successful puzzle somewhere next season at a far more feasible cost.
Take a look at what we came up with, and drop a thought of your own in the comments.
Laurent Brossoit, Vegas Golden Knights
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If you came into the 2022-23 season expecting Laurent Brossoit to have a huge impact on the Vegas Golden Knights, well...let's just say you were in the minority.
He was 29 years old in October and barely mentioned when it came to Vegas' goaltending rotation, having played parts of eight seasons with three different teams and posting a pedestrian 42-41-8 record across 106 career appearances.
Fast-forward six months, and it's startling how things have changed.
Now 30, Brossoit assumed a part-time starter's role down the stretch and emerged from 11 games (10 starts) with a sterling 7-0-3 record alongside a .927 save percentage. The run made him the No. 1 guy as the Pacific Division champs opened the playoffs, and he won two of his first three starts heading into another Monday night date in Winnipeg.
The two-year, $4.65 million deal he signed two summers ago is on the verge of expiring, and though he won't (and shouldn't) command the sort of cash of more established goalies, there's little reason to doubt he'll provide value in the right spot on a manageable salary tier.
Michael Bunting, Toronto Maple Leafs
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It's not been the best playoff week for Michael Bunting, given his three-game suspension for an illegal hit, but it shouldn't overshadow the fact that he's provided remarkable value for a guy signed as a bottom-sixer two years ago.
Toronto inked the then-25-year-old to a two-year deal worth less than a million annually after he'd scored 11 goals in 26 games across parts of two seasons with the Arizona Coyotes.
The Maple Leafs have seen him emerge as a dependable source of top-six offense, resulting in two 23-goal seasons on a team already chock full of highly-skilled offensive producers.
Toronto was third in the league in per-game scoring across those two seasons, and it'll be interesting to see if GM Kyle Dubas manages to slide Bunting in at an agreeable number within a payroll featuring four players already signed for $7.5 million or more for 2023-24.
If nothing else, he's got sentiment on his side.
"I'm a Toronto boy. I love playing for the Maple Leafs," Bunting said last year. "It's so much fun putting on that sweater every single night, and that's what I will say about it. I hope everything else figures out itself."
Pierre Engvall, New York Islanders
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Pierre Engvall is a champion of the underlying stats crowd.
The 26-year-old Swede debuted in 2019, five years after he'd been selected by Toronto with a seventh-round pick at 188th overall. He posted career highs for the Maple Leafs in goals (15) and points (35) across 78 games in 2021-22.
The production earned him a one-year, $2.25 million deal last summer, but he was on the salary chopping block earlier this year when Toronto sent him to the New York Islanders for a 2024 third-round pick to help make room for Ryan O'Reilly and others at the trade deadline.
The Maple Leafs typically earned the majority of scoring chances with Engvall on the ice, and the 6'5", 219-pound winger is consistently successful at getting the puck out of his defensive zone with either passes or controlled exits, and he logs minutes on the penalty kill as well.
He had five goals and nine points in 18 games with the Islanders after the trade and was a plus-three through four games of New York's opening-round series with Carolina. There are some who have suggested he could parlay his success into a deal worth $4 million annually.
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Shayne Gostisbehere, Carolina Hurricanes
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It's been a busy two years for Shayne Gostisbehere.
The Florida-born defenseman was drafted by and played his first 381 NHL games for the Philadelphia Flyers before he and his $4.5 million annual salary were shipped to the Arizona Coyotes in the summer of 2021. He then spent a season-and-a-half in the southwest before heading to the Carolina Hurricanes at the most recent trade deadline in March.
He had three goals and 10 points to close out the regular season with the Hurricanes and had logged no fewer than 23 shifts and 15 minutes of ice time in each of the first four games of the team's opening-round series with the New York Islanders.
Carolina has three other defensemen (not to mention three forwards) signed for $5 million or more next season, so there's no guarantee he'll stay in Raleigh after his six-year, $27 million contract runs out after this season.
That'd mean the 5'11", 180-pounder may have the chance to take his high-level puck-moving and power-play quarterbacking talents to the open market for the first time in his career.
Erik Gustafsson, Toronto Maple Leafs
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Go ahead and take a guess.
Among the NHL defensemen on the verge of unrestricted free agency this summer, which one was tops in points scored in 2022-23?
You'll be forgiven if Erik Gustafsson wasn't your first (second or third) suggestion.
But there it is in black and white.
The 6-foot, 197-pound Swede scored seven times and assisted on 35 other goals over the season to compile 42 points, one more than fellow UFA-to-be Shayne Gostisbehere, across 61 games with the Washington Capitals and nine with Toronto.
The Maple Leafs snatched him in a trade that sent youngster Rasmus Sandin and his $1.4 million salary for next season to the Capitals, while Gustafsson is on the tail end of a one-year, $800,000 contract he signed with Washington—his fifth NHL team.
He routinely logged first-pairing minutes with John Carlson for the Capitals and produced his highest single-season point total since hitting 60 with Chicago in 2018-19.
Whether he'll replicate those numbers again at age 31 remains to be seen, but locking him up for an uptick from last year's salary seems a low-risk move with potentially sound rewards in the form of offensive skills and power-play prowess.
Evan Rodrigues, Colorado Avalanche
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Evan Rodrigues has been flying comfortably under the radar.
The 5'11" forward spent parts of six non-descript NHL seasons with Buffalo and Pittsburgh before breaking out as a 19-goal scorer with the Penguins in 2021-22.
The sudden offensive burst—he totaled 34 goals in those first six seasons—earned him a 100-percent raise over the $1 million he'd been making when the Colorado Avalanche inked him to a one-year, $2 million deal shortly before the 2022-23 season began.
His 16 goals and 39 points in 69 games helped the defending Stanley Cup champs win the Central Division, and he's been elevated to some top-line minutes early in the postseason, producing two assists, a plus-three rating and 60-percent faceoff efficiency in three games.
Whether it'll be enough to keep him in Denver next season, though, leaves coach Jared Bednar sounding noncommittal.
"Just thinking about contract decisions and what our team looks like next year and beyond, like there are so many cap issues that you have to deal with," he said in January. "So I can't speak long term, but, for right now, he's really important."
Damon Severson, New Jersey Devils
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Damon Severson is certainly good. And he's undeniably lucky.
The veteran of nine seasons on the blue line with the New Jersey Devils played a significant role in the team's sudden return to relevance this season, consistently logging better than 20 minutes per game and posting his career's first plus rating (plus-nine) across 81 games.
The fact that it came in the final throes of a six-year deal paying him just shy of $25 million is where the luck begins. Severson will hit the market as an unrestricted free agent as a 28-year-old coming off a successful year at a time when the rest of the field makes him look even more attractive.
The Devils have 13 other free agents (eight restricted, five unrestricted) to decide upon and two other signed defensemen—Dougie Hamilton and John Marino—already making more than Severson's $4.17 million per season.
The Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli ranked him second behind Toronto's Bunting among all would-be UFAs this summer, and Nick Villano of PucksAndPitchforks.com suggested some team could offer Severson as much as $6 million or even $8 million per season.
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