43

67

159

2

6

1

34

01:26

27.5

18.6

15:20

25.4

The first round pick of the Boston Bruins was sent to the Toronto Maple Leafs and really never seemed to gain any traction with the Leafs organization. He is a big-bodied guy who just never seemed to know how to use it. 

Along comes the Calgary Flames and they sent a fourth round pick back in 2014 for Colborne and he hasn't looked back since. 

Don't get me wrong, he's still a bit of a work in progress, but his game has come a long ways since his Leafs days. While the offense never really seemed to appear as many had hoped, his two-way game has come full circle. That's not to say there still isn't another level to his game offensively, but he will still offer solid peripherals all around and considering many are disappointed in his offense, he could probably be acquired by a frustrated, impatient GM pretty cheap.

Justin Fontaine – MIN – $1M, one year remaining

Another undrafted, skilled player who was signed as an unrestricted free agent out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The 27 year-old isn't big, but isn't small either, clocking in at 5'10" and 177 pounds. 

Fontaine is one of those guys who can fit in anywhere on the Minnesota's roster. He's skilled enough to play at the top six level but also hockey smart enough to be relied on in the bottom six. Unfortunately, the Wild are a deep team and this is what holds Fontaine back a bit offensively. Considering he only averaged a little under 12 minutes per game, he still put up respectable numbers.

Not an aggressive player by any means, but certainly a responsible one. If injuries occur, he could easily be one of the guys called upon to create offense.

Jordin Tootoo – NJ – $825,000, one year remaining

Ray Shero's first move as new GM was to re-sign Jordan Tootoo to a very reasonable one-year deal. Tootoo is a good skater and loves to throw his weight around. He played a fourth line role for most of the year last year, but certainly has the ability to move up and down the line-up if needed.

At 31 years old, Tootoo is what he is. He will offer offensive numbers close to what he put up last year and will still contribute solid peripherals to other categories for the money he's being paid.

His age, if he is currently owned, should make him easy to acquire if you need cheap help on your roster. If not, he's a cheap waiver wire grab and worth a look if you need his type of services.

Brandon Pirri – FLA – $925,000, one year remaining

The Cy Young Award winner last year with a 22-2 record…  No seriously; Pirri scored a lot of goals in a short amount of games. He was quoted as saying it was the first time he can ever remember scoring more goals than assists in a season, at every level he's played.

To say Pirri had a roller-coaster season would be an understatement. He was a healthy scratch at various times last year, but still ended up as Florida's second leading goal scorer, trailing only Nick Bjugstad by two goals in 23 less games.

The skill level is there to put up similar goals and one has to assume the assists will come too. I have a hard time seeing him putting up another anomaly of a season like he just had. 

Michael Raffl – PHI – $1.1M, one year remaining

The runner-up in the Cy Young voting goes to Michael Raffl. 

Again, in all seriousness, like Pirri, he put up some serious goal scoring in a limited number of games. He also offered up a good helping of SOG, hits and blocks. 

At 26 years of age, one has to wonder if this is as good as it gets for Raffl. Personally, I think he still has more to show. For a guy who led the team in even strength goals (18), so why the Flyers didn't give this kid more power-play time is a real head-scratcher. The Flyers continued to offer guys like RJ Umberger and Vincent Lecavalier plenty of power-play time over a guy who's a proven scorer. I am wondering if this is part of the reason why former Head Coach, Craig Berube, was let go at the end of the year.

Hopefully the new Head Coach, Dave Hakstol, sees the ability and skill in Raffl and gives him the appropriate ice-time. The smart fantasy managers out there might want to jump on Raffl before this happens and his price becomes unrealistic. He has shown that he can play with the big boys on the top line. I do believe there's another level to his game and his numbers.

****

So there's a healthy dose of inexpensive forwards for you to go shopping for in your cap league, either via trade or if you are lucky, on the waiver wire. I am sure there are a few names I might have missed. Feel free to leave a comment with some others you think are worthy of mentioning.

Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on twitter @chrispudsey

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