NHL's top free agents could move
As the National Hockey League off-season moves further and further into July, the future of many coveted restricted free agents still remain undecided. The window for teams to retain such players is closing and as we progress it looks more and more likely that a couple of the most coveted RFA’s will end up changing teams before the beginning of the season in October.
An RFA is a player that does not have a contract and has not played in the league long enough to qualify for unrestricted free agency. Therefore the team that signed him to his original contract at the beginning of his career has certain advantages in trying to retain them.
The club has the opportunity to make a qualifying offer to the player in question. If no offer is made then the player moves into unrestricted free agency and is free to sign with any team he chooses. However, if an offer is made and the player rejects it, he is still an RFA. If the player wishes to stay with the franchise but does not agree with the proposed offer her can apply for salary arbitration, once arbitration is completed the team has 48 hours to decide whether or not they wish to sign him.
As an RFA the player can also be signed to an offer sheet by other interested clubs. The player’s current team gets the opportunity to match the offer and retain him, or they can refuse to match and the player moves, with a penalty to the signing team.
The 2010 trading season has a strong crop of RFA’s and with the deadline for arbitration slipping away it would not be far fetched to believe that one of these coveted youngsters could be poached.
Marc Staal: defenseman with the New York Rangers
This 22-year-old defenseman was a staple of the Rangers' blue line last season, playing on their top unit with fellow RFA Dan Girardi. The Rangers are very interested in signing Staal but they sit very close to the cap. Girardi having already applied for salary arbitration, means the Rangers are going to have to wait and see how much money is left over for Staal. However, Staal should be on the radar of several other NHL clubs. The Rangers may be forced into giving up Staal if a decent offer sheet it made.
Erik Johnson: defenseman with the St. Louis Blues
Erik Johnson is another solid defenseman that is an RFA this off-season. Also playing on a top pairing, Johnson is key for the Blues to re-sign. It appears they should have enough money to retain the rugged blue liner. However, with the recent signing of goaltender Jaroslav Halak, Alex Steen a pending RFA in David Perron, it is not clear how much money the Blues are going to have left over for Johnson, who has yet to file for arbitration. The Blues do have salary cap space, whether or not they will spend to the salary cap is unclear, also unclear is whether or not a team with space will make a play for the highly ranked prospect.
Carey Price: goaltender with the Montreal Canadiens
There is talk that the Canadiens are close to terms with Price. However, the deal is not finalized. Price is currently not in arbitration so he is available to any offer sheets that might come his way. There are not an abundance of teams looking to employ Price's services, as the youngster has not had a strong season since his rookie campaign two years ago. Nevertheless, his contract will go up and since Jaroslav Halak has been traded, Price now has a bargaining chip that could handcuff the Canadiens into a difficult signing, leaving them with less salary cap space than they first anticipated.
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