Wild West: Early Look at UFAs in the West for 2022-23 – Part One

It is a little early but I always like to see what unrestricted free agents are on each team before the start of the season and see if the team will look to keep the player or trade them before the deadline. In addition, it is a huge incentive for the players to dig deep and put up very good numbers to ensure that they get the best contract they can going forward.

I've highlighted the key impending UFAs from each team in bold. I've also listed each player's best totals over the past three seasons to give us an idea of what point production they might still be capable of.

Anaheim Ducks

Rickard Rakell (W)- 28 years old; $3.79 million AAV expiring contract; 69-18-25-43 is his best year over the past three seasons.

Ryan Getzlaf (C) – 36;  $3 million; 67-14-34-48

Nicolas Deslauriers (C)  – 30; $1 million; 59-7-6-13 with 137 hits

Buddy Robinson (W) – 29; $750k; career 21-2-1-3 with 48 hits

Hampus Lindholm (D) – 27; $5.2 million; 76-6-22-28 with 133 blocks

Josh Manson (D) – 29; $4.1 million; 74-3-13-16 with 184 hits and 90 blocks

Kodie Curran (D) – 31; $1 million; no NHL games, 48-12-37-49 in the SHL in 2018-19

Ryan Kesler (C) – 37; $6.875 million LTIR; effectively retired

Sam Carrick (C) – 29; $750k; career 47-4-7-11 with 91 hits

Vinni Lettieri (W) – 26; $750k; career 51-2-6-8 with 72 hits

Trevor Carrick (D) – 27; $750k; career 7-0-0-0, 71-9-38-47 in the AHL in 2018-19

Greg Pateryn (D) – 31; $750k; 80-1-6-7 with 144 hits and 118 blocks

Brogan Rafferty (D) – 26; $750k; career 3-0-1-1, 57-7-38-45 in the AHL in 2019-20

The team can't look at Rakell and think about the 34 goals and 69 point year he had in 2017-18. They are better served to let some of the younger players like Troy Terry or Alexander Volkov absorb some of his top-six roles and move him before the deadline. Rakell's overall play over the past three seasons just hasn't been up to par for a top-six winger earning close to $3.8 million AAV. Getzlaf has an NMC and would need to waive to be dealt, but I'm sure a few contenders would love his experience in the playoffs. For a player that has earned over $92 million in his career, the $3 million salary for this year is not much of a discount for the 36-year old. It could be argued that his mentorship of Zegras is worth quite a bit.

The Ducks are going to have a pretty quick window of money available entering the 2022-23 season and if their young players progress as they hope, they might like to keep Lindholm for a similar salary cap hit of $5 million over four or five years. If the team can move Deslauriers and Manson before th