5 Underrated NHL Free Agents Your Team Should Target This Offseason

Free agency can be a risky way to build a team in the NHL because you are often spending top dollar for players who have already played their best hockey for somebody else.

Most of the big, long-term deals in free agency tend to end poorly, and usually result in a cash-retained trade, a buyout, or waivers. 

That is especially true in a free-agent market like this year when almost all of the top players have already been re-signed by their respective teams.

We are looking at a situation where players such as Alex Tuch, Darren Raddysh, Anthony Mantha and John Carlson are likely to be the best available on the open market. While they are certainly good, they are also likely to get contracts that might exceed their actual on-ice value. That is great for the player, but not always ideal for the team in a salary-cap league.

That does not mean there are no good values to be had, though.

The Pittsburgh Penguins had some great success with under-the-radar free agents this past summer, getting forwards Mantha and Justin Brazeau, as well as defenseman Parker Wotherspoon, for low-money deals.

Sometimes it works out that well; sometimes it doesn't.

So let's take a look at a few potential under-the-radar free agents your team should consider this offseason. 

Eeli Tolvanen, Seattle Kraken

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Eeli Tolvanen is far from a star, but he is still a potentially useful offensive player who might be able to excel even more in the right circumstances.

Seattle is probably not the right circumstance given how mediocre the team's offense and offensive system has been for so long.

Tolvanen is just one year removed from a 23-goal season, but he has seen his goal total get cut in half this season.

He enters play on Tuesday with only 12 goals in 73 games, due in large part to a 9.4 shooting percentage that is quite a bit below his career average.

Prior to this season, he averaged 20 goals per 82 games with relatively strong possession metrics.

He will be 27 next season, and if you put him on the right roster with the right playmakers around him, he could bounce back with a big offensive season. Especially with a bit more puck luck when it comes to his shooting percentage.

Oliver Bjorkstrand, Tampa Bay Lightning

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Oliver Bjorkstrand is another player who could be had for a lower price due to a down year that is largely driven by shooting percentage.

Prior to this season, he was a near-lock for 20 goals and solid play every year. Many of the underlying numbers and possession metrics remain. He is still helping to drive play, but the goal-scoring has dried up at least in terms of his raw numbers.

Is that the result of a player who is now on the wrong side of 30 and potentially slowing down? Or is it simply a good player who is only scoring on eight percent of his shots this season instead of the 12-14 percent he usually scores on? He has only scored on just 2.4 percent of his shots during 5-on-5 play. That is a ridiculously low number and not really sustainable.

Do not discount the fact that by playing on a deep Tampa Bay roster, he is also getting less ice time than he typically has in the past.

Given some of the underlying numbers and how low a lot of his shooting percentage numbers are, Bjorkstrand could be a great bounce-back candidate next season and a potential steal.

Ryan Shea, Pittsburgh Penguins

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Ryan Shea has turned himself into a really strong contributor on a surprising Pittsburgh Penguins team and has put himself in a position where he could get a nice contract and raise this offseason on the open market.

Even with that, he still might be the type of player who slides under the radar on the open market.

The 2025-26 season has been Shea's first full-time year on an NHL roster, and he has made the most of it. Not only has he recorded a very respectable 31 points in his first 77 games, but he has also been a rock-solid defensive presence, helping stabilize whatever defensive pairing he has been part of.

The Penguins have a ton of salary-cap space to work with, so they could probably work out something with him if they want to bring him back.

If Shea does end up reaching the open market, though, he could be a strong defense addition who can play up and down the lineup and wouldn't break the bank.

Michael Bunting, Dallas Stars

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Michael Bunting is not going to light up the scoreboard or the stat sheet much, at least not to the point where it will get him a major contract in free agency, but he could still play a role on pretty much any team.

He can play in the top-six, the middle-six and the bottom-six. You know he is going to give you between 15 and 20 goals and post shot-attempt shares that are well above 50 percent. He helps tilt the ice.

But what makes him such an attractive and useful player is the way he plays and the energy he brings. He is a cage-rattler around the net. He will always get under people's skin and score some dirty goals around the front of the net.

You hate to play against Bunting. You like him when he is on your team. He is also the type of player who could randomly pop off with a big goal-scoring season if a few bounces go his way.

Scott Laughton, Los Angeles Kings

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Scott Laughton's run with the Toronto Maple Leafs over the past year was one of those situations where the team just got everything wrong.

They overpaid in terms of assets to acquire him at the 2025 trade deadline. When they got him, they misused him. Then they traded him for far less than they paid to get him. It was just a mess of a situation and a bad fit for everybody.

Now that Laughton is with the Los Angeles Kings, he has started to rediscover his game a little and is rebuilding his personal value for the offseason.

He is a good faceoff man (which NHL general managers love) and can play a strong defensive game while chipping in 10-15 goals and 35-40 points when things are going well for him offensively. In other words: An ideal bottom-six center.

Laughton is not going to move the needle a ton for a team, but a contender should be able to find a spot for him at the right price.