My Mock Entry Draft

Team	Player Name	POS	Pick
	Nolan Patrick	F	1
	Nico Hischier	F	2
	Callan Foote	D	3
	Gabriel Vilardi	F	4
	Casey Mittelstadt	F	5
	Michael Rasmussen	F	6
	Miro Heiskanen	D	7
	Cody Glass	F	8
	Cale Makar	D	9
	Kristian Vesalainen	F	10
	Owen Tippett	F	11
	Ryan Poehling	F	12
	Connor Timmins	D	13
	Lias Andersson	F	14
	Erik Brannstrom	D	15
	Juuso Valimaki	D	16
	Timothy Liljegren	D	17
	Martin Necas	F	18
	Robert Thomas	F	19
	Pierre-Oliver Joseph	D	20
	Nick Suzuki	F	21
	Urho Vaakanainen	D	22
	Elias Pettersson	F	23
	Morgan Frost	F	24
	Klim Kostin	F	25
	Isaac Ratcliffe	F	26
	Jesper Boqvist	F	27
	Kailer Yamamoto	F	28
	Nicolas Hague	D	29
	Eeli Tolvanen	F	30
	Shane Bowers	F	31

After running through the Pool Outlooks, this is what I've come up with as my first run through of the mock entry draft.  I will admit that this mock draft was started back when the draft lottery had happened and there hadn't been any combine as of yet, so thoughts about some players may have changed between then and now, but I will stand by how I got to most of these picks.

There is plenty of buzz around trades, especially with Vegas, possibly shifting a 1st round pick or two around, so if that happens, I may go back and revamp my mock draft, as we draw closer to the actual draft itself, which will start on Friday, the 23rd.  That leaves me a little over a week to tinker, but I do like what I've done here so far.

Fringe Signings (Jun 13)

The Winnipeg Jets announced on Tuesday that they have re-signed forward Marko Dano to a new 1-year, 1-way deal, reportedly worth $850,000. Dano, 22, was a 1st round pick for the Blue Jackets back in 2013 and he made 38 appearances in the 2017 season, scoring 4 goals and 11 points, ranking 343rd among all forwards in scoring.

Dano is still thought to be a part of the youth movement in Winnipeg, but with a new deal in place for the 2018 season, he could be an attractive pick-up for Vegas at the expansion draft, as he could be one of the required 20 signed players that the Golden Knights need to take during this weekend's proceedings.

If he remains with the club, he'll be a cost-efficient option for the team and definitely a late round option for the hockey pool draft.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Nashville Predators announced that they had re-signed defenseman Yannick Weber to a 1-year, $650,000 deal, rewarding the rearguard for his work during their playoff run.  Weber was used as one of the final pairing defensemen during the run and was quite serviceable in that role.

Last season, Weber scored 1 goal and 8 points in 73 games, which doesn't make him much of a hockey pool option, but who knows?  Someone might snap him up eventually, if something drastic was to happen in Nashville next season.

Pool Outlook for Pittsburgh

The first back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in the salary cap era.

To me, that's probably the most impressive feat out of many of the statistics that we've heard about this championship for the Pittsburgh Penguins, because the teams that have been winning and/or have been coming close, have needed a season or two to get their salary cap situation sorted, before they could truly make another good run at it.  The Penguins management team impressed, when they were able to keep a very good core, lose a piece here and there in the off-season, replace those losses and still compete with a diminished blueline until the bitter end.

While the Washington Capitals have dominated the NHL, Eastern Conference and Metropolitan Division in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Penguins, albeit no slouches in the regular season either, have proved that championships are not won with regular season honours.

On top of regular season and playoff successes, the Pittsburgh Penguins were able to do both while still overcoming injury concerns through their lineup, from the crease to the blueline and even up front from time to time.  A lot of credit has to go to the management team for building a very strong foundation of players, from the superstars down to the role players.  Everyone contributed to this championship and that's what makes them one of the league's best teams.

Now, the question is... were us poolies paying any attention to how big this snowball was getting, as it started to roll down the hill?

There's no denying that the Penguins are a popular bunch, come draft time, they have just managed to draw so much talent under their umbrella through the years.  This draft was no different, as they were one of the three most popular teams at the draft, taking 14 players to start the year.  They also led the league in 1st round picks with three, including both of their goalies, which I don't believe has ever happened before.  Injuries and a cold start for some led to three drops and two picks at the first swap, while the second go-around saw one drop and one pick-up.  The Penguins then acquired defenseman Mark Streit at the deadline, bringing their numbers back up to 14 to finish the year.

Sidney Crosby, the 13th overall pick in the draft, did not disappoint his pool team, finishing 7th overall in pool scoring, 2nd among all forwards, scoring 44 goals and 89 points in 75 games.  As long as he can get those 70+ games in a regular season, he remains one of the best bets for us poolies and if it wasn't for the huge draw on goalies this year, his pick position would have been higher, not that Brenda & Seward were complaining.

The Penguins did have three players worthy of being 1st round picks, but there was only one goalie out of those three, as Matt Murray was good enough for 23rd overall, while Marc-Andre Fleury was 221st, but still worthy overall at 36th in his position.  Evgeni Malkin was the other 1st round worthy player on the team, leading the rest of the forwards, which also included Phil Kessel, Conor Sheary, Patric Hornqvist, Nick Bonino, Jake Guentzel, Matt Cullen and Chris Kunitz.  Nine forwards in total, with a couple of emerging names, to boot.  The blueline was stacked by the end of the year, having a full compliment of six worthy defenders and in order they were Justin Schultz, Kris Letang, Mark Streit, Ian Cole, Trevor Daley and Ron Hainsey.  The Penguins were a hockey pool power house in the regular season and the pool didn't capitalize on all of it.

What I Said Last Year, At This Time...

It is going to be very difficult for the Penguins to justify keeping Marc-Andre Fleury around at nearly $6 million per year, but his deal is one that could also be difficult to trade, if they went looking for one.  I can't see the Penguins moving Fleury this season, well... not until Murray gets a little bit more action as the number one guy, if that is the way they decide to go.  The Penguins, with Fleury or Murray, have the right pieces in place to be a contending team again and much like other Cup winners in recent memory, there won't be as much of an onus on winning every regular season game, rather just trying to get hot at the right time at the end of the year.  I like where the Penguins are as an organization, there is potential in their system to replace what they'll lose and they'll be back in the playoffs next year, but how far they'll go will solely be determined on how their off-season goes.  Can they strike it rich again?  That could be just as difficult as repeating as Cup champs.

Well, how about that?  That's not bad at all.  It was difficult for the Penguins to repeat, but they sure as hell did it, thanks to a very solid core group of players.  How that core is going to be tested this year is a different story altogether, but what I said last year was pretty well bang on.

2018 Pool Outlook

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Evgeni Malkin	9.500	Kris Letang	7.250	Matt Murray	3.750
Sidney Crosby	8.700	Ian Cole	2.100	Marc-Andre Fleury	5.750
Phil Kessel	6.800
Patric Hornqvist	4.250
Jake Guentzel	0.734
Carl Hagelin	4.000	Olli Maatta	4.083	Sean Maguire	0.705
Zach Aston-Reese	0.925	Jeff Taylor	0.743	Tristan Jarry	0.631
Thomas DiPauli	0.743	Ethan Prow	0.730
Theodor Blueger	0.705	Lukas Bengtsson	0.705
Dominik Simon	0.693
Daniel Sprong	0.693
Bryan Rust	0.640
Scott Wilson	0.625
Tom Kuhnhackl	0.625
Carter Rowney	0.613

With the expectation that Fleury is going to be gone, the Penguins should make enough room to make their roster complete again.  The pieces that are remaining are going to be very popular, thanks, in large part, to the Crosby and/or Malkin effect.  The blueline remains a bit of a mystery, but with Murray slated to be the number one, most spots are pretty well checked off as another good year to come for the Penguins.

Potential Losses in the Expansion Draft

The expansion draft is going to be a very big focal point for the Pittsburgh Penguins, probably even more so than free agency, not to say that when the market opens, it isn't interesting.  The current no-movement clause for Marc-Andre Fleury is probably the biggest overhanging cloud in this event and something is likely going to happen, since the Penguins do not want to lose Matt Murray.  The easiest thing to do, in a matter of steps, is asking Fleury to waive the clause and protect Murray, but who knows how much more complicated it could get?

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

Free agency will be very beneficial to the Penguins, in terms of flexibility and that begins with the unrestricted free agents.  Six pool worthy players could head to the open market this July, including Nick Bonino, Matt Cullen, Chris Kunitz, Mark Streit, Trevor Daley and Ron Hainsey, who had a combined annual cap hit of nearly $18 million.  Bonino and Daley are the likely candidates to return, but at what cost?

Two pool worthy players are both headed to restricted free agency and they are Conor Sheary and Justin Schultz, each could be looking for significant raises to their cap hit for the coming season as well.

Before any expansion draft nonsense, the pool worthy group above in green, nine players, are coming in at $48.8 million, well below the cap ceiling, but we've already outlined where the cap struggles are going to be and they will come.

The Penguins may need to tap into their system to find some bodies that could make the jump and pick up that full-time spot and knowing the Penguins, that could make them very intriguing, come draft time.  The Penguins dipped in there pretty hard already, taking Guentzel and Sheary out, not to mention Carter Rowney as well, but a back-up goalie, like Tristan Jarry, might carry a lot of weight in the 2018 season, if the team doesn't want to spend the big bucks on their back-up.  Jarry has been around a while already, he has seen some minimal time in the NHL, he's 22 years old and could find himself a spot by default.

Needs at the 2017 Entry Draft

The Penguins still have their 1st round draft pick, at this point in time, and their cupboards are looking pretty bare, so they'd be wise to keep it and make a selection.  Out of the three positions on the board, forward, defense or goalie, the Penguins could do well picking the best player available and moving forward that way.  Down at the 31st overall pick, it does get awfully difficult to find someone that may work better than the others.  Out of three pretty good lists I've seen, Shane Bowers of the USHL's Waterloo Black Hawks, seems to have the upside of an everyday NHLer and on the Penguins, that could be at just about any spot.

About this time last year, I thought it was a lot easier to project the Penguins, because they had a lot more key pieces in place and that's what made them look so appealing at prediction time.  This time around, they don't have many pieces on defense signed on, we know they're going to lose Fleury and free agency gets even more difficult with the excitement of Vegas rolling around.  Nevertheless, the Penguins do have an experienced core group of veterans, a 2-time Stanley Cup winning goaltender and still some cap room to dabble with, but with the salary cap ceiling not expected to go up by much, it's a tough sell to say they're going to three-peat.  The Penguins should find a way to get something back for Fleury before the expansion draft, which should ease the burden, the off-season should atract some help, but that blueline... that will be the make-it or break-it point for this team.  Playoffs, sure... success in those playoffs?  Seems very doubtful today.

Pool Outlook for Nashville

The Nashville Predators' 2017 season was the best they ever saw, but there isn't going to be any way of getting that awful taste of being two wins away from the Stanley Cup out of their mouths any time soon.

The Predators' regular season was, by no means, bad or even mediocre, at that.  A team stuck inside one of the toughest divisions in the league, their route to the playoffs was going to be difficult and there is no shame in being the last wild card team heading into the Spring Dance.

Once they had arrived, their route wasn't going to get any easier, but they were really able to buckle down and show their true colours, sweeping the number one team in the West from Chicago, followed by the number two team in the division, knocking the Blues out in six games and then in the Conference Finals, they beat the Pacific Division best, the Anaheim Ducks, in six games to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Predators got the tough task of taking on the reigning Cup champs and boy, did they put up a great fight in what was a remarkable series.  The Predators couldn't put a game together while they were in Pittsburgh, but they were certainly formidable at home, until Game Six.  The Predators had no answer for the bad breaks they got, nor did they have an answer for the Penguins defense late on in the penultimate game, when their hearts were broken late and the season came to a crashing halt.

It has been a slow build for the Nashville Predators and for their organization, it has to be a relief that they found that they were going in the right direction and they now have a foundation that should be able to carry them deep into the playoffs.  It will certainly be interesting to see how popular they become in the hockey pool next season, because you know their blueline will be picked clean, for sure.

The Predators didn't do badly at the draft last October, having 12 players taken, which was about the middle of the road for most of the league.  They had one 1st round pick in Pekka Rinne and then there was a good spread throughout the draft, a few up top, a few in the middle and plenty of depth taken late.  There was plenty of action from Nashville at the first swap, as there were a couple of drops done to three picks, a definite plus for the team.  The second swap was a bit more even, two drops to two picks and then the Predators added PA Parenteau at the trade deadline, giving the team 14 players active in the pool, by the end of the year.

Rinne was the team's top player, but surprisingly, he didn't end up in the top 25 in scoring, rather he was 38th overall, 13th among all goalies with 31 wins and 68 points in only 61 appearances.  The Predators were the last seed in the Western Conference and his numbers certainly show that.  On the plus side in the pool, Rinne belonged to the duo that won the goalie survivor pool, much to the delight of Stacey M..

The goaltending duo, include Juuse Saros, was completely worthy in the hockey pool, as Saros finished 44th among all keepers in the year.  Nashville also had eight forward that were good enough for pool consumption, including Viktor Arvidsson, Ryan Johansen, Filip Forsberg, Mike Fisher, James Neal, Colin Wilson, Calle Jarnkrok and Craig Smith.  The blueline was the jewel of the team, as Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm were all worthy players, the top three all in the top half of the defense scoring standings.

What I Said Last Year, At This Time...

Nashville will have to improve their offense, if they are going to improve their standing, both in the regular season and in the playoffs and it could very well be that they are coming to the point where they have to start concentrating on winning now and not quite staying the course, as they have set themselves up for some playoff success, if they can get those extra pieces.  Those pieces will cost a lot and some sacrifices will have to be made.  This could be the point where the loss of Jimmy Vesey really hurts them, but they can manage.  I think it has been proven already.

More offense was definitely on the priority list for the Predators management last summer, as they revamped the entire system in that notable Weber-Subban trade, which is still all the rage to talk about.  Yes, the loss of Vesey was a tough one, as he was a serviceable rookie for the Rangers this year, but they were able to piece together a better offense, thanks to a full season from Ryan Johansen and the improvement seen in both Viktor Arvidsson and Filip Forsberg.  That improvement saw them grow to where they finished... Stanley Cup finalists.

2018 Pool Outlook

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Filip Forsberg	6.000	P.K. Subban	9.000	Pekka Rinne	7.000
James Neal	5.000	Roman Josi	4.000	Juuse Saros	0.693
Craig Smith	4.250	Mattias Ekholm	3.750
Colin Wilson	3.938	Ryan Ellis	2.500
Calle Jarnkrok	2.000
Kevin Fiala	0.863	Frederic Allard	0.718
Victor Ejdsell	0.834	Jack Dougherty	0.687
Vladislav Kamenev	0.833	Alexandre Carrier	0.668
Cody McLeod	0.800	Matt Irwin	0.650
Yakov Trenin	0.762	Trevor Murphy	0.640
Emil Pettersson	0.743	Anthony Bitetto	0.613
Justin Kirkland	0.718	Petter Granberg	0.613
Anthony Richard	0.668
Andrew O'Brien	0.650
Colton Sissons	0.625
Cody Bass	0.613
Miikka Salomaki	0.613
Trevor Smith	0.613

With Subban, Josi, Ekholm and Ellis already signed on and likely protected for the expansion draft, they will be very popular options at the hockey pool draft and they will all likely go in the early defenseman rush that we've seen in the last few drafts.  If Nashville is going to be popular early on, how much of their depth will be taken in the middle or at the end?  Probably enough.

Potential Losses in the Expansion Draft

I don't think the Predators can honestly afford to lose one of their four pool worthy defensemen, as they are all sitting in their prime or just before and that's the lynch pin of this franchise, so I'm wagering that they are a team that goes 4F/4D/1G in their protection scheme, which could open the door for Vegas to add a decent forward from Nashville.  Forsberg, Johansen and Arvidsson are locks to be protected, but who would be the last forward on the list?  I think you save Neal, save the goal scoring and hope for the best from Vegas.  Craig Smith, Colin Wilson and Calle Jarnkrok all have reasonable contracts and were helpful in the run of 2017, all left to the Golden Knights' discretion.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

There's a fair bit of work to be done in free agency this year, as the Predators have three worthy players up for new deals this summer and it starts with restricted free agency, where both Johansen and Arvidsson are in need of new deals and they won't likely come very cheap.  The third player on the list is Mike Fisher, who will head to the open market without an extension signed before July and it will be a matter of where he'll fit on this roster going forward, more than money.

According to CapFriendly, the Predators aren't quite struggling for cap space, just as yet.  With 18 contracts projected to be on their roster next season, the Predators are currently running with about $17 million in cap space, which will be eaten up significantly by the three main free agents, but some clever managing could help that.

In terms of rookies for the 2018 season, the Predators don't appear to have many options, if you're looking at some of the publications out there.  One of the darlings from the Finals, Freddie Gaudreau, is still considered to be a rookie, and the 24-year old may have made enough of an impact in the last series of the playoffs to get a really long look at camp in September.  Now, the question will be whether or not he's just a playoff performer or if he can translate that into a regular season full-time job.

Needs at the 2017 Entry Draft

Finishing in the Cup Finals means they get one of the last two picks in the draft and since they didn't win it all, they get the 30th overall pick this year.  At this point, I'm thinking they'll be taking whatever they can possibly get as the best available option.  The Predators are not screaming for immediate talent to come through the draft, so an NCAA committed player may not be a bad option for them, opting for Finnish forward Eeli Tolvanen, a smallish skilled forward that may slip due to his size and his skating, but could end up being a diamond in the rough, if he goes all the way through the college route.

Having been built from the back out, the Predators have a strong shot at repeating much of their playoff success, but the Western Conference is a tricky maze to work their way through and it remains anyone's game to take, riding that hot goaltender and strong system.  The Predators still don't have that consistent top six, in terms of scoring, so their regular season still may not be too amazing, but all they have to do is make the playoffs and let their crowd guide them deep into the playoffs.  If they can get their hands on one more bonafide scoring forward, on top of a healthy Ryan Johansen, I would like them a lot more to repeat in the West, but that'll be a tough task with Vegas now coming on the scene.

Gostisbehere Signs Extension

The key restricted free agents are starting to fall off the list, as the Stanley Cup Finals wind down and we near the true beginning of the NHL's silly off-season.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Friday afternoon that they have re-signed defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to a new multi-year deal.  The deal works out to be a 6-year, $27 million contract, which works out to be a $4.5 million cap hit per season, one hell of a deal for a premier defenseman.

The 24-year old finished his sophomore season without the same kind of fanfare his rookie season finished with, but it was still more than pool worthy, as his scoring totals were good enough for 28th among all defensemen, scoring 7 goals and 39 points in 76 games.

The Flyers blueline is starting to develop into quite the powerhouse, as the youth movement has proven to be quite lucrative, when it comes to their offense.  Between Gostisbehere and 2017 rookie Ivan Provorov, these two will be the catalysts for a good portion of the team's offense in the next few years (and possibly more), which is a great way to work your franchise.  This signing means the Flyers now have four of their five pool worthy defensemen in the 2017 season signed on, but the jury is still out on whether or not they'll bring back Michael Del Zotto, who is likely headed to unrestricted free agency on July 1st.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Claude Giroux	8.275	Andrew MacDonald	5.000	Michal Neuvirth	2.500
Jakub Voracek	8.250	Shayne Gostisbehere	4.500
Brayden Schenn	5.125	Radko Gudas	3.350
Valtteri Filppula	5.000	Ivan Provorov	0.894
Sean Couturier	4.450
Wayne Simmonds	3.975
Matt Read	3.625	Brandon Manning	0.975	Carter Hart	0.793
Dale Weise	2.350	Travis Sanheim	0.863
Michael Raffl	2.350	Mark Friedman	0.749
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	1.450	Reece Willcox	0.680
Oskar Lindbolm	0.925	TJ Brennan	0.625
German Rubtsov	0.925	Philippe Myers	0.623
Travis Konecny	0.894
Pascal Laberge	0.843
Mikhail Vorobyev	0.784
Connor Bunnaman	0.747
Danick Martel	0.680
Radel Fazleev	0.675
Nicolas Aube-Kubel	0.673
Greg Carey	0.650
Colin McDonald	0.633

Fringe Signings (Jun 9)

The Columbus Blue Jackets made a trio of contract extension signings on Friday, including goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, forward Zac Dalpe and defenseman Dean Kukan.  Korpisalo and Dalpe each signed 2-year deals, while Kukan's deal was only for a single season, helping to round out the roster, ahead of the expansion draft.

Korpisalo is the player of interest out of these three, as he was the backup goalie to Sergei Bobrovsky in the 2017 season and the team aims to have him in the position again for next season.  Now, being behind Bobrovsky isn't exactly what makes a guy pool worthy, quite the opposite, actually, but he is the number two... just in case!  That still makes him one to watch, especially with Bobrovsky's injury history.

The 23-year old Finn finished 57th among all goalies in pool scoring, picking up 16 points in 14 appearances.

Kings Re-Sign Toffoli

The Los Angeles Kings announced on Wednesday night that they had re-signed forward Tyler Toffoli to a new 3-year, $13.8 million deal, keeping him in the fold for the next few years, at a reasonable cost, no less.

Toffoli, 25, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1st and was certainly one of the highest priorities for the Kings to have signed and ready for the 2018 season.

A lower-body injury cost the speedy winger 19 games in the 2017 regular season, but he was still able to maintain pool worthy status, scoring 16 goals and 34 points in 63 games for the Kings.  Those numbers were good enough for 253rd overall in pool scoring, 170th among all forwards and with a healthy campaign, his numbers should boost up a fair bit.

Now that Toffoli is locked up for the next three seasons, the biggest contract that needed to be done from their 2017 season, the team can now focus on the expansion draft and getting all their numbers in order for next season.  The Kings' cap situation isn't exactly healthy at the moment and if they are going to want to be competitive in the 2018 season, their framework is going to need an overhaul.

Top Prospect Signing (Jun 7)

The Chicago Blackhawks are hoping they've hit another home run for the 2018 season, signing undrafted free agent defenseman Jan Rutta on Wednesday morning. The 26-year old Czech was one of the big standout players at this year's World Championship and teams were beating down his door to bring him over to North America for the coming season.

Rutta has played the last four seasons in the Czech League, putting up some reasonable numbers from the blueline and he brings some quality size to the table, 6'3" and 190 lbs., which should give him a pretty good shot at making the club.

Given his age, Rutta has signed a 1-year entry-level deal (cap hit not disclosed), which will immediately bring him to unrestricted free agency next summer, but for the right price this year, it's worth it for the Blackhawks.

Off-Season Injury Notes (Jun 5)

This one comes a bit more from the fringe, but New York Rangers forward Jesper Fast underwent successful hip surgery and his current timetable for a return is in the range of five months.

Fast, a restricted free agent this summer, played in 68 games last season with the Rangers, scoring 6 goals and 21 points, ranking him 259th among all forwards in scoring, a fair ways from the top 200, but who know what those other 14 games would have given him as well.

His current timetable will likely mean that he'll be out until November, meaning he'll miss the first month of the season and not really be worth picking up in the draft right away, he'll be more of a mid-season swap kind of guy.

Top 10 Potential Pool Worthy Unrestricted Free Agents

This whole off-season doesn't quite have the same linear path that the last number of years have had on the blog site, especially since it has been 17 years since we've had any expansion into the NHL, but here we are, awaiting the arrival of the Vegas Golden Knights and they too, will have a serious effect on everything in this off-season, including unrestricted free agency.

So, when we're taking players and their possible destinations into consideration, even today, everything does get a bit cloudier with the open nature that the Golden Knights will provide, having an extra window to negotiate deals and use those deals as their picks in the expansion draft.

Now, these top 10 players are based on their hockey pool scoring numbers, not quite their perceived value in the market place, where it could go just about any which way.

Peter Budaj split time between the Los Angeles Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2017 season and got the bulk of the work when Jonathan Quick went down with his serious lower-body injury, giving him plenty of opportunity to play, win games and pick up points, to which he did a pretty good job.  Getting dealt at the deadline to the Lightning put a kibosh on to his string of starts, but he still finished with more than enough points to take top spot on this list.

Even with 30 wins and 75 points last season, 9th among all goalies, there are very few places that even would consider him for a starting role, which will likely keep him from getting that big pay day that you would think a goalie with those sort of numbers would get.

There's no doubt that he was a bargain at $600,000 last season, but if he's looking for that big pay day, like starting money, my guess is that he'll be heading back to Europe to find it.  Even a team like Buffalo, Calgary or Vegas, all of which need goaltending today, won't likely spend the big bucks to have him in their net.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $1.25 million

The up-and-down career of Steve Mason has fairly well-documented and as much as he has shown some flashes of brilliance, he certainly hasn't shown the steadiness of a goalie that is going to give a team confidence through the long haul of the regular season and into the playoffs.

The 2017 season was much of the same, as he split time with Michal Neuvirth and was kind of spotty, when his platoon partner went down with injury for an extended stretch, leading to the Flyers not being in the playoffs at the end of the year.

Mason is now coming off of a deal, which paid him $4.1 million per year over three seasons and he provided no value in there, as the Flyers only made the playoffs once, in 2016, losing in the 1st round, in that time.  This will certainly hurt Mason's market value and maybe even hurt his possibility of finding a job where he can be a number one as well.

Last season, he was still good for 26 wins and 59 points, but I would suggest that those numbers, much like Budaj's, are about to take a tumble with whatever new assignment he finds.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $2.5 million

The top forward of the bunch on this list, could be considered one of the top prizes of the summer, if someone was to land T.J. Oshie.  He leads the unrestricted free agent pool, as it can happen today, with 33 goals and had 56 points in 68 games for the Washington Capitals.

Oshie has hovered in the low-to-mid 50's in points over the last three seasons, also dealing with minor knocks and injuries as well in that time, playing between St. Louis and Washington.  There is just something about his game, however, that screams, "he should be putting up much better numbers than he actually does."

When the Capitals brought him to town in the summer of 2015, we were all thinking that the offensive system could really tap his potential as a scorer, but all we have really seen is the same ol' thing for the last two seasons.

His numbers make him one of the more highly sought after players, surely, in this off-season, and some team is likely going to improve upon his $4.175 million cap hit he had last season with the Caps, but I would question whether or not that team is going to get real value for their investment.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $5.5 million

The top rental player possibly available, come July 1st, is defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who the Washington Capitals paid a pretty penny to have come in and help anchor their blueline for a playoff run this spring.  Of course, as we all know, Shattenkirk did not provide the offense that was expected of him, which may or may not have lifted the Capitals past the Penguins in the 2nd round of the playoffs, and here he sits, awaiting his fate in the marketplace.

There is very little doubt that Shattenkirk is a very gifted puck moving defenseman, but his numbers, although trending in the right direction, are not exactly showing that he is among the elite scoring defenders... yet.  He has publicly argued that he needs a spot on a team, where he can have those top minutes and then his numbers should improve, and that is what he'll be looking for in negotiations with teams in this off-season.

His 2017 campaign between St. Louis and Washington saw him score 13 goals and 56 points, which was good enough for 4th among all defensemen in scoring, but he was still 20 points behind Brent Burns and 16 points behind Erik Karlsson for elite scoring numbers.  Vegas would do quite well to have him tapped as a possible UFA to talk to and give him a contract offer, as they don't have any defensemen yet, let alone a stud for Shattenkirk to play behind, and it would give the player the minutes that he needs.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $5.75 million

There are nine pool worthy goaltenders, potentially hitting the free agent market, but Brian Elliott is the last of them to be in the top 10 for scoring among all players.  The goaltending market is going to be a bit crowded and it will be more like a game of musical chairs, before it is all said and done.

Elliott had a pretty rocky start to the 2017 with the Calgary Flames, but his game and his familiarity with his new team came around at the right time and the guy who was signed on to be the number one in Calgary, did just that and helped guide them into the playoffs.  The hard-working style of Elliott is going to make him into one of the more sought-after goalies on the market, if he makes it, but it won't -necessarily mean he's going to get a number one job, unless it is in a city like Buffalo, Vegas or he re-signs in Calgary.

The underappreciated 32-year old keeper doesn't have the flash of some of his fellow crease monkeys, but he can get the job done when called upon.  Elliott was good for 26 wins and 56 points in 49 appearances for the Flames, also dealing with injury and cold spells throughout, which did hinder his numbers, but he still finished 80th overall in pool scoring, 21st among all goalies.

Teams that need goalies, often have the need for a better blueline corps as well, but the Flames were certainly coming around, so I could certainly see him re-sign for a bit more than last season, especially since he finally did come around and feel more comfortable with the team.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $3.5 million

We could be seeing a fair bit of Radim Vrbata on these lists over the next couple of years, as the 36-year old is now getting to the point of his career that it will be a lot of 1-year deals.  Any potential deal that would give him term, would be a risky cloud that overhangs over a team's cap budget, as the 35+ deals are hard to shake, if anything was to happen to his game.

Nevertheless, Vrbata did see a resurgence in his game in the 2017 season, when he rejoined the Coyotes in the off-season, doubling his point total from a year ago and finishing with 20 goals and 55 points in 81 games with the desert dogs.

Arizona has some money to spend and some learning curves to still manage in their lineup, so a return would be most favourable to both player and team, giving them some much needed veteran leadership, as long as the price is right.  Vrbata took a solid pay cut to join the Coyotes last season, only signing for $1 million for the season, but he showed that he still has some game left and could be a serviceable player to any team in the NHL, if used appropriately.

I don't necessarily see him as one of the first players to come off the list on July 1st, but his 20 goals is tied for 5th among UFA's this summer, so he won't be on there too long.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $3 million

The return of Alexander Radulov to the NHL was a much to-do story line, as the Montreal Canadiens were able to sway his services their way, offering up a very significant package for a 1-year deal to see if he could play in the North American style and succeed after his failed attempts in Nashville.  The style and systems that the Canadiens offered up to him were quite beneficial to his game and he was able to make an impact with the club, scoring 18 goals and 54 points in 76 games, good enough for 92nd overall in pool scoring.

Sure, those aren't the kind of numbers that he saw while playing in the KHL, where he was among the league leaders in scoring, but they were impacting numbers in a league that is arguably much tougher to play in.

The negotiations between Radulov and the Habs have been made semi-public, as the 30-year old forward is looking for an extended term on a new deal and his potential cap hit is going to be fairly significant, likely more so than the $5.75 million he had last season.  Although, with Vegas in the picture and the Golden Knights already luring a top end Russian to their side in this off-season already, Montreal may have some real competition in putting pen to paper with this enigmatic player.  Only time will tell.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $6.25 million

Another rental player set to hit the open market in July is forward Patrick Eaves, who split his 2017 season between the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks.  Eaves was a huge contributor to both teams in the season, but he couldn't carry the Stars to any sort of success, so they dealt him away for futures to help Anaheim move forward in the playoffs.  Unfortunately for the Ducks, injury struck and he was of very little help, even though the team made it all the way to the Conference Finals, eventually losing out to the Predators.

Eaves scored 32 goals in the 2017 season, ranking him just behind Oshie in the category for UFA's, but the 33-year old doesn't quite have the youth behind him like his fellow free agent goal scorer, although it isn't by much.  Eaves finished 113th overall in pool scoring with 51 points in 79 games, so no matter where he lands, he should be good enough to contribute at a reasonable level and if he can see those 2017 numbers again, he could be a great pick-up this summer.

At 33 years old, however, he'll likely be looking for a deal that gives him some security in years and his numbers should dictate a good raise over his $1 million deal from last season, but will a team overpay to get his services?  Probably.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $4 million

The Columbus Blue Jackets took a measured gamble on forward Sam Gagner, giving him a very cheap deal (1 year at $650,000) after a 2016 campaign split between the Flyers and their AHL club and the gamble paid off.  Gagner found a team and a system that he could play in and he became relevant once again at the top level.

Gagner rewarded the Jackets' gamble with 18 goals and 50 points in 81 games, still playing his streaky ways, off and on, but helped the club excel in the Metropolitan Division in the regular season, but he may have disappeared in the playoffs, which isn't too surprising, given his history.

Nevertheless, given that he is on this list, he had himself a pretty good year and if I were him, I wouldn't let it get to his head too much, because it can come and go, just like that for him, as we've seen in the past.  There's lots of talent there, but desire and consistency is one thing he desperately lacks.  I think the Jackets would do well to bring him back, but only at a cost that makes sense to them.  If Gagner is going to take the money and run, it will likely be somewhere else and it would be fair to guess, that it would come with far poorer results.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $2.5 million

There will be lots of eyes on the San Jose Sharks and their potential free agents this summer and with Joe Thornton still being among the top 100 forwards in pool scoring as a 37-year old, he may still have some relevance in the league, of course you will likely be arguing "how much?" throughout the summer.

Thornton only put up 7 goals in the 2017 season and it wasn't until the midway part of the season until he was actually able to score a goal on an actual goaltender, so his playmaking abilities were what kept him afloat in this conversation, as a whole.

The Sharks have been showing that they are moving in a direction of youth over the last couple of seasons, appointing Joe Pavelski as captain and lessening the ice-time of both Thornton and Patrick Marleau, so it is very likely that they won't be interested in signing either of them, if either intend to return for another twirl.

Thornton has yet to win the big prize and a chance to do so would be in his best interest, even if it isn't with the Sharks, who are not that far away.  If I had to guess, I would think that Thornton could be a late summer signing for a competitive team, who is good with taking his leadership on and giving him a limited role for a reasonable dollar, as I just don't see the cap-strapped league giving him big dollars for a large role on a playoff-bound team.

Estimated cap hit for the 2018 season (and beyond): $2 million