Tiering the 2021 NHL free agents
Eric Stephen of The Athletic: Looking ahead to the 2021 NHL free agent class and putting them into tiers.
Elite – Alex Ovechkin, Taylor Hall and Dougie Hamilton.
Top – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Frederik Andersen, Tuukka Rask, Jordan Binnington, Tyson Barrie, Gabriel Landeskog, Jaden Schwartz, Kyle Palmieri, and Phillip Danault.
Complementary Players – Zach Hyman, Antti Raanta, Alec Martinez, Brandon Saad, David Savard, Philipp Grubauer, Tomas Tatar, Paul Stastny and Blake Coleman.
Veteran – Joe Thornton, Ryan Getzlaf, David Krejci, Henrik Lundqvist, Eric Staal, Jaroslav Halak, Mikko Koivu, Jason Spezza, Alexander Edler, Travis Zajac, Wayne Simmonds and Pekka Rinne.
Affordable – Nick Foligno, Adam Larsson, Nikita Gusev, Tanner Pearson, Alex Goligoski, Ryan Murray, Alex Iafallo, Joel Armia, Brandon Montour, Scott Laughton, Casey Cizikas, Jamie Oleksiak, Nick Bonino, Marc Staal, Petr Mrazek, Ryan Dzingel and Stephen Johns.
Coyotes stuck in a tough situation
James Gretz of NBC Sports: Arizona Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong inherited a team who had been stripped of top draft picks for scouting violations, top 2020 pick traded to the Devils for Taylor Hall who left in free agency, and no salary cap space.
They weren’t able to find a trade this offseason for Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Though they had little cap space to work with this offseason, next offseason they have just under $50 million committed to 12 players. Derek Stepan is entering the final year of his deal at $6.5 million. Phil Kessel has two years left on his deal at $6.8 million.
Would Ekman-Larsson consider expanding his trade list from just the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks?
The 31-year old Antti Ranta carries a $4.25 million salary cap hit and is entering the final year of his deal. The 30-year old Darcy Kuemper is signed through 2022-23 at $4.5 million. Both goalies would help this team survive, but both also bring trade value so they could consider moving one or both of them.
Kuemper has the highest save percentage of all goalies since the start of the 2019 NHL season – .931 through 66 games. His stock is rising, and if they were to punt the 2020-21 season, moving Kuemper may be a smart move.
The Coyotes could have a competive season with players maintaining their trade value and the team could sell their competiveness to fans. If the team falters, it could diminish their trade value.