Insider Ranks 2023 UFAs in Weakest Free Agent Class in a Decade

Frank Seravalli is not a fan of this summer’s upcoming unrestricted free-agent class. Calling Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Michael Bunting the cream of the crop, he argues the fact that Bunting holds the No. 1 spot shows just how weak this season’s group actually is.

For teams looking to add to their rosters by signing players and not having to give up assets to do so, this isn’t exactly the best news.

Seravalli noted that there was a chance this could have been a strong summer for free agents, but the injury questions surrounding Jonathan Toews, or the fact that Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci won’t go anywhere but Boston put a damper on things. He adds that much of what Patrick Kane gets will be determined by how he performs in the playoffs, and Seravalli doesn’t think names like Tyler Bertuzzi (Boston), Damon Severson (New Jersey), and Ryan O’Reilly (Toronto) bring this year’s list where it needs to be to rank it among the better markets of years past.

He notes that Alex Killorn and Vladimir Tarasenko have been productive “but there will be hesitancy trying to chart their course on the age curve.” He adds that the previous injury histories of Jason Zucker, Nick Foligno, Jonathan Drouin, and Sean Monahan will all affect how much interest there is in these players.

As for goaltenders, he’s only got two netminders in his Top 20. He’s got just three centers in his Top 10, none of which are arguably difference-makers.

What Does This Mean for Teams Needing Players?

Two things could come out of a crop that looks like this. Either players who aren’t deserving are going to receive huge paydays. Or, there won’t be a lot of action in the free agent market and trades could be a more popular building mechanism for GMs, many of which are already hamstrung by salary cap issues.

For teams that have most of their roster built, this year’s crop being weaker means they’re in a good spot. For teams that have very few players signed to contracts and need to add to their rosters, they won’t have a huge surplus of players from which to shop and that’s assuming the ones who are available aren’t choosy given the demands outweighs the supply.

Servalli’s list is below (his full article is here):

Rk	Player	Pos	Age	GP	G	A	Pts	Team	AAV
1	Michael Bunting	LW	27	73	21	25	46	TOR	$950K
2	Damon Severson	RD	28	73	6	23	29	NJD	$4.17M
3	Patrick Kane	RW	34	66	20	33	53	NYR	$10.5M
4	Ryan O’Reilly	C	32	48	15	9	24	TOR	$7.5M
5	Dmitry Orlov	LD	31	59	6	26	32	BOS	$5.1M
6	Alex Killorn	RW	33	75	23	33	56	TBL	$4.45M
7	J.T. Compher	C	28	73	16	32	48	COL	$3.5M
8	Jordan Staal	C	34	72	17	14	31	CAR	$6M
9	Vladimir Tarasenko	RW	31	61	16	28	44	NYR	$7.5M
10	Tristan Jarry	G	28	40	2.98		.908	PIT	$3.5M
11	Max Pacioretty	LW	34	5	3	0	3	CAR	$7M
12	Tyler Bertuzzi	LW	28	42	5	15	20	BOS	$4.75M
13	Semyon Varlamov	G	35	22	2.71		.913	NYI	$5M
14	Vladislav Gavrikov	LD	27	64	4	11	15	LAK	$2.8M
15	Ryan Graves	LD	28	71	6	16	22	NJD	$3.17M
16	Carson Soucy	LD	28	70	2	11	13	SEA	$2.75M
17	Scott Mayfield	RD	30	75	5	16	21	NYI	$1.45M
18	Ivan Barbashev	LW	27	74	14	26	40	VGK	$2.25M
19	Joonas Korpisalo	G	29	34	2.92		.914	LAK	$1.3M
20	Matt Dumba	RD	28	72	4	9	13	MIN	$6M
21	Frederik Andersen	G	33	29	2.45		.904	CAR	$4.5M
22	Max Domi	C	28	72	19	35	54	DAL	$3M
23	John Klingberg	RD	30	59	9	19	28	MIN	$7M
24	James van Riemsdyk	LW	34	52	10	16	26	PHI	$7M
25	Connor Clifton	RD	27	71	5	16	21	BOS	$1M
26	Alex Kerfoot	LW	28	73	9	21	30	TOR	$3.5M
27	Shayne Gostisbehere	LD	30	66	12	26	38	CAR	$4.5M
28	Evan Rodrigues	C	29	60	14	20	34	COL	$2M
29	David Kampf	C	28	73	7	18	25	TOR	$1.5M
30	Frederick Gaudreau	C	30	74	14	19	33	MIN	$1.2M
31	Jason Zucker	LW	31	70	25	20	45	PIT	$5.5M
32	Gustav Nyquist	LW	33	48	10	12	22	MIN	$5.5M
33	Pierre Engvall	RW	27	69	16	11	27	NYI	$2.25M
34	Tomas Tatar	LW	32	74	17	24	41	NJD	$4.5M
35	Justin Holl	RD	31	71	2	15	17	TOR	$2M
36	Luke Schenn	RD	33	62	3	18	21	TOR	$850K
37	Ian Cole	LD	34	71	3	13	16	TBL	$3M
38	Garnet Hathaway	RW	31	76	12	9	21	BOS	$1.5M
39	Nick Foligno	LW	35	60	10	16	26	BOS	$3.8M
40	Evgenii Dadonov	RW	34	65	7	22	29	DAL	$5M
41	Jesper Fast	RW	31	71	8	17	25	CAR	$2M
42	Nick Bjugstad	C	30	70	16	12	28	EDM	$900K
43	Radko Gudas	RD	33	64	2	11	13	FLA	$2.5M
44	Erik Gustafsson	LD	31	69	7	32	39	TOR	$800K
45	Erik Haula	C	32	74	9	25	34	NJD	$2.38M
46	Sean Monahan	C	28	25	6	11	17	MTL	$6.38M
47	Lars Eller	C	34	75	9	10	19	COL	$3.5M
48	Jonathan Drouin	C	28	50	2	26	28	MTL	$5.5M
49	Teddy Blueger	C	28	54	4	11	15	PIT	$2.2M
50	Connor Brown	RW	29	4	0	0	0	WSH	$3.6M