NHL Rumors: Breaking Down the Latest Pre-Free Agency Buzz

The NHL free agency period will start on July 1^st. Teams will be looking to add enough talent to bring home the Stanley Cup in 2013. With a possible lockout looming, teams will load their rosters before any possible work stoppage begins.

Here are some of the biggest free agents set to hit the market and the latest buzz surrounding them.

Zach Parise

Every team in the NHL should be figuring out if they have enough money to land the Devils captain. The left-wing superstar is the best player to hit the market in 2012, and he should have a long list of offers. Early front-runners for Parise include returning to the Devils, the Minnesota Wild and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

If he stays with the Devils, he will likely have to take less money then other teams can offer him. I could see Parise returning to New Jersey, but it will be tough for him to turn down the extra money.

The Wild are the wild-card team of the suitors. They have the ability to offer a very rich contract, which, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, would be front-loaded—and that could entice Parise away from the Devils.

Though the Devils went to the Stanley Cup this past year, the Penguins are interested in Parise and will pitch the chance to win the Stanley Cup as one of their, biggest pitching points. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the Penguins have the cap space to make a run at Parise after trading Jordan Staal.

The idea of having Parise, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is enticing for both the Penguins and Parise.

Ryan Sutter

The Penguins are also targeting top defenseman Ryan Suter. If the Penguins don’t land Parise, expect them to go all-in on Sutter. The Penguins are looking for a defenseman to pair with Kris Letang, and Sutter would be the perfect fit.

If the Penguins don’t land Sutter, I fully expect the Nashville Predators to retain him. Josh Cooper of The Tennessean suggests that Sutter would much rather stay in Nashville than leave town. Sutter has spent his whole NHL career with the Predators and might be the type of guy that wants to stay with the team that drafted him for the majority of his career.

Jaromir Jagr 

He may be 40 years old, but Jaromir Jagr is still a very talented hockey player. Last year, he came back to the NHL and tallied 19 goals and 35 assists for the Philadelphia Flyers. Jagr probably has one or two more years in the NHL, and if he does decide to come back, he would be a great addition to a locker room that is looking for veteran leadership. 

An interesting landing spot for Jagr would be the Montreal Canadiens, which were rumored as one of the landing spots last season when Jagr’s Omsk contract expired. As Greg Wyshynski reports, this would give the chance for Jagr to reunite with Tomas Plekanec, who performed at a high level while playing with Jagr during the 2011 World Championships.

Another team that has a chance of signing the veteran is the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings were one of the teams that Jagr’s agent pitched when Jagr decided to come back to the NHL.  The Wings would be a great place for Jagr to end his career and could use Jagr’s leadership to help fill the void that the retirement of Nicklas Lidstrom left.

Free agency will surely be exciting when it begins on the first day of July. With every team pulling out the stops to knock off the Los Angeles Kings next year, the dollar symbols will be flying at some of the game's biggest stars.