Free agents still available, part one
This far into the National Hockey League off-season it is strange for free agents at the calibre of Maxim Afinogenov, Eric Belanger, Kim Johnson and Ray Emery to be available. Nevertheless, these NHL stand-outs have still yet to find a home for the 2010-11 season.
Maxim Afinogenov
Afinogenov singed a small one-year contract last season in the hope that strong play would help get him a long-term deal. Unfortunately, that has not seemed to work for the Russian winger. Instead Afinogenov finds himself without an NHL club in early August. What may be worse for the 30-year-old is that there is very little buzz around his name.
It is expected that Afinogenov will be signed to a similar contract as last season. Teams are still not willing to give a long-term deal to a player whose mind is so often absent during important games.
The other very viable option for Afinogenov is to return to Russia to get a short term deal worth big money in the Kontinental Hockey League.
Eric Belanger
It is surprising that Belanger’s name has not been mentioned in any rumours considering the 32-year-old had a very successful season last year, managing 41 points in 77 games.
Belanger is a third-line centre that is still capable of racking up points. Perhaps the recent signing of Dominic Moore by the Tampa Bay Lightning will begin to bring offers to the table.
At 32, Belanger still has about three more good years left in him, and can be expected to sign a two-year deal. He could be very beneficial to the St. Louis Blues who are still looking for responsible forwards to round out their line-up.
Kim Johnson
The 34-year-old Johnson has suffered several injuries, which could be causing teams to be more sceptical about singing the puck moving defenceman. Nevertheless, if Johnson remains healthy next season any team that takes a chance on him is going to be getting a very productive inexpensive defender.
He can no longer log the major minutes he did early in his career with the Philadelphia Flyers, but he would make a solid fifth or sixth defenceman.
It would not be surprising if the Blackhawks, with their recent salary woes, tried to re-sign Johnson to a cheap, short-term deal.
Ray Emery
Emery is a special case because no one has questioned his skill in net, but rather his attitude, and now his health.
With the Ottawa Senators it seemed as though a media circus followed Emery around everyday with a question about being late for practice, or getting into a fight with a team-mate. In the end Ottawa let him go and he disappeared to Russia for a season, only to come back and join the Flyers. With the Flyers, not a great deal changed during the first half of season, and Emery ended up sustaining a season ending injury.
Nevertheless, the fact that his name has been omitted from most signing rumours is still surprising. At only 27 years old Emery has yet to hit his prime, and would be an inexpensive signing with his stock so low. Furthermore, the pool of goaltenders this off-season was incredibly small, and with Evgeni Nabokov heading to Russia, it dwindled even smaller still.
Look for Emery to get signed late in the off-season, or even early into the year as an injury to a starter or back-up could be the only thing able to get him back in the NHL.
The 2010 NHL off-season has been strange. Teams have taken longer than ever to get major pieces of their line-up ready for the next campaign. Look for these four players to be brought-on somewhere in the near future.
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