While everyone is busy over the holidays, and while we're also dealing with a scheduling upheaval, I wanted to take the time to put out some updated contract projections for the 2022 free agent crop. With the new year upon us, we could see a few more extensions signed as more players become eligible.

I have the top 150 listed below, from a Calgary Flames duo down to a Canadiens' cast-off claimed by Canada's capital. Anyone below that can be assumed to be projected at the league minimum for an extension. If you think someone is missing though, it's possible they got dropped off the list somewhere along the way, so let me know. Either I have missed them, or I have them projected for the league minimum – either way, you can laugh at me, so really it's a win-win for you.

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Before we get to that, just another quick reminder that the Midseason Guide will be out January 14. This Guide comes with your Ultimate Fantasy Pack or Gold/Platinum subscriptions. It does not come with the Keeper League Fantasy Pack nor the Silver subs. You can pre-order it here.

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Connor Bedard scored four goals last night in Canada’s 11-2 win over Austria at the World Juniors. The 2023 draft is loaded, and you want to have more than one ticket for that lottery in your leagues if you can.

A natural hat-trick for Connor Bedard and he completes it in style!#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/vzYcD16OOE
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 29, 2021

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Getting down to contract business, we see that Johnny Gaudreau is the highest projected free agent for this summer's class, and it's pretty tough to argue with his production this season. He is up over a point-per-game for the first time in three years, despite his ice time the last three seasons sitting at 18:30 per game compared to the 20 minutes per contest that he was seeing in 2018-19 when he put up his career best year. His shooting percentage, power play ice time, and underlying metrics all check out (they're even a bit low if anything). For Gaudreau, his shot rate is up at a career-high 3.3 per game, and it seems as though he has finally put things together on a line with Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm. Lindholm is also putting up career numbers, while Tkachuk is putting up a respectable season as well.

Ideally for Tkachuk though, he would also be putting up career numbers, as he is looking to cash in on a long-term deal here as well. He's still going to get paid, but he's likely leaving a few million on the table by not keeping up with the pace set by his linemates. From a fantasy perspective, it is nice to see Tkachuk back up over one PIM per game, in addition to a rising shot rate. On the flip side, since his line has the puck so much, Tkachuk's hit rate has plummeted to half of what it was last year.

John Klingberg rounds out the top three for us, and after we saw all of the big contracts given to top Dmen last offseason, Klingberg's $8.5 million price tag may look steep, but it actually fits right in. Zach Werenski is a very similar style of player, and will be making even more than that. The question is, will Klingberg be able to find somewhere on the open market where he can be that number one defenceman and command that money. It won't be in Dallas, where the Stars have decided that their number one is Miro Heiskanen, who is coincidentally making $8.45 million per season. There are a few landing spots that will be looking for someone like Klingberg in the offseason. Seattle, Pittsburgh, and a few others are either missing a big ticket defenceman, or will also have them hitting free agency. Klingberg would be best suited as the top-dog somewhere new, rather than sticking it out where he isn't able to be the go-to guy in all offensive situations. In fact, since Dallas will likely be losing him anyways, and since they have an in-house replacement ready to go in Tomas Harley, it wouldn't surprise me to see Klingberg moved at the deadline. It would be a win for Klingberg as he could up his value on a playoff team right before going for his big pay-day. If he does get moved, I expect him to have a very strong finish to the season.

Having mentioned the Penguins, it seems to be an easy lead in to the fact that they have a few big fish of their own. Both Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are in the final year of their contracts, and that puts Pittsbugh in a very interesting situation. The two are projected for pay cuts this offseason, which makes sense due to their age, declining production, and history of injuries. Both may take a discount to stay in Pittsbugh, but likely only if they know the team is committing to trying to win. At this point, neither is likely trying to max out their bank account, and I would expect both would be looking at the right situation more than anything.

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In Letang's case, he may benefit from taking a step back. He has been worn thin over the years, and this year he has been getting much easier minutes, although not reduced in number. The best-case scenario for him may be the opposite of what Klingberg needs, as Letang has been struggling with his possession numbers even against easier competition. He may be able to continue playing 25 minutes a night, but at 34 years old he is going to break down a lot faster with that usage. It would be in his best interest to step back to second pairing minutes, and let someone else take the lead. A $5.5 million price tag would fit that well.

For the rest of the old guard, we have the cup winners, and the cup chasers. The cup winners, like Patrice Bergeron, Phil Kessel, and Ryan Getzlaf are going to be looking for fit over fortune, and are more likely to stay where they are. All three will likely take pay cuts to make that work, and in Getzlaf's case this will be round two. However, for Coyotes' sniper Kessel, that discount may come from wherever he gets traded to at the deadline, as there is no reason for Arizona not to shop him. His fantasy value may actually go up, unlike most of these other players that are seeing them decline with age.

On the flip side we have the cup chasers, like Joe Pavelski, Alexander Radulov, and Mark Giordano. All three could be on the move to various new contending teams, and those veterans usually see a little spike in their production as the competing teams work to make sure they are afforded a place in the lineup worthy of their seniority. For Pavelski this means a continued top of the lineup spot, while for Radulov and Giordano this likely means a continued mirage that they have much left in the tank. Neither is putting up fantasy numbers to be worthwhile rostering, and their name value will likely drive the price up on their future contracts as well.

Moving on to the goaltenders, we have another whose age and cup status present an interesting scenario for his free agency status. I'm talking of course about three-time cup winner Marc-Andre Fleury, who also contemplated retirement after being traded to Chicago. Fleury could end up as the most sought-after goalie on the market, or he could end up walking away to his family in retirement. If he does stay on, his projected $2.7 million cap hit makes some sense, as it would be worthwhile playing for, but not too much to take up too much cap space on whatever team is deemed the best fit for him. It would be so much fun to see him win a cup in Colorado next year.

Speaking of, both Colorado goalies are up for new contracts, and it's possible that neither is back with the team next year (so the Fleury pipe-dream lives on!). Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz have underwhelmed overall, Kuemper with his play, Francouz with his inability to play. Kuemper's history and upside keep his contract projection at a nearly identical level to his current number. If he can't turn things around shortly this season, it might make sense for him to take a chance on himself with a one-year deal somewhere, before trying to cash in again in 2023. That being said, he won't get many better opportunities than with the team in front of him in Colorado, so maybe we just need some patience for the team to get healthy.

Francouz's small projection comes from not having a lot of games over the last little while. He's not the only one though, as that adds a lot of uncertainty to the projections of Malkin, David Perron, Max Domi, Ondrej Kase, Anthony DeAngelo, and others. These players have plenty riding on the second half of this season, so these kinds of players are interesting ones to look into if you want someone motivated on your fantasy teams. Usually production follows the players that have something extra to play for.

Well, now that I've rambled on enough, here are the projections:

Rank	Name	Age	Pos	Projected Cap Hit	Projected Cap Hit
1	Johnny Gaudreau	28	F	$9,956,710.91	$9,956,700
2	Matthew Tkachuk	24	F	$9,022,758.99	$9,022,800
3	John Klingberg	29	D	$8,522,505.30	$8,522,500
4	Filip Forsberg	27	F	$8,518,357.24	$8,518,400
5	Jared McCann	25	F	$7,996,551.66	$7,996,600
6	Vincent Trocheck	28	F	$7,852,956.59	$7,853,000
7	Claude Giroux	33	F	$7,460,995.50	$7,461,000
8	Nazem Kadri	31	F	$7,317,601.79	$7,317,600
9	Pierre-Luc Dubois	23	F	$7,150,887.57	$7,150,900
10	Patrice Bergeron	36	F	$6,559,897.20	$6,559,900
11	Hampus Lindholm	27	D	$6,438,927.85	$6,438,900
12	Brock Boeser	24	F	$6,109,541.09	$6,109,500
13	Tomas Hertl	28	F	$5,932,235.47	$5,932,200
14	Jason Robertson	22	F	$5,884,120.78	$5,884,100
15	Kevin Fiala	25	F	$5,782,962.83	$5,783,000
16	Valeri Nichushkin	26	F	$5,765,356.91	$5,765,400
17	Kris Letang	34	D	$5,693,487.69	$5,693,500
18	Jack Campbell	29	G	$5,662,775.34	$5,662,800
19	Ryan Strome	28	F	$5,632,634.33	$5,632,600
20	Martin Necas	22	F	$5,477,631.22	$5,477,600
21	Ondrej Palat	30	F	$5,473,880.78	$5,473,900
22	Andre Burakovsky	26	F	$5,395,339.26	$5,395,300
23	Joshua Norris	22	F	$5,194,428.50	$5,194,400
24	Andrew Mangiapane	25	F	$5,192,782.19	$5,192,800
25	Andrew Copp	27	F	$5,164,873.59	$5,164,900
26	Dominik Kubalík	26	F	$5,084,492.17	$5,084,500
27	Patrik Laine	23	F	$4,934,059.41	$4,934,100
28	Luke Kunin	24	F	$4,895,915.13	$4,895,900
29	Jesper Bratt	23	F	$4,895,654.26	$4,895,700
30	David Perron	33	F	$4,880,981.24	$4,881,000
31	Victor Olofsson	26	F	$4,714,996.31	$4,715,000
32	Joe Pavelski	37	F	$4,702,544.86	$4,702,500
33	Jesse Puljujarvi	23	F	$4,655,215.19	$4,655,200
34	Kirby Dach	20	F	$4,640,914.86	$4,640,900
35	Reilly Smith	30	F	$4,535,486.79	$4,535,500
36	Darcy Kuemper	31	G	$4,457,627.07	$4,457,600
37	Kasperi Kapanen	25	F	$4,423,418.38	$4,423,400
38	Josh Manson	30	D	$4,406,607.41	$4,406,600
39	Pavel Zacha	24	F	$4,380,478.27	$4,380,500
40	Nick Leddy	30	D	$4,332,770.12	$4,332,800
41	Adrian Kempe	25	F	$4,324,150.30	$4,324,200
42	P.K. Subban	32	D	$4,253,128.30	$4,253,100
43	Jordan Greenway	24	F	$4,215,485.43	$4,215,500
44	Boone Jenner	28	F	$4,209,920.98	$4,209,900
45	Phil Kessel	34	F	$4,208,421.35	$4,208,400
46	Nicolas Hague	23	D	$4,138,456.05	$4,138,500
47	Jesperi Kotkaniemi	22	F	$4,135,475.84	$4,135,500
48	Evgeni Malkin	35	F	$4,083,298.24	$4,083,300
49	Nino Niederreiter	29	F	$4,077,868.66	$4,077,900
50	Max Domi	26	F	$4,067,120.89	$4,067,100
51	Kaapo Kakko	20	F	$4,040,237.02	$4,040,200
52	Rickard Rakell	28	F	$3,979,822.93	$3,979,800
53	Bryan Rust	29	F	$3,969,503.62	$3,969,500
54	Sonny Milano	25	F	$3,876,723.17	$3,876,700
55	Rasmus Ristolainen	27	D	$3,804,404.53	$3,804,400
56	Alexander Radulov	35	F	$3,754,994.39	$3,755,000
57	Rasmus Sandin	21	D	$3,676,987.09	$3,677,000
58	Jake DeBrusk	25	F	$3,667,275.27	$3,667,300
59	Mario Ferraro	23	D	$3,428,715.50	$3,428,700
60	Mark Giordano	38	D	$3,369,618.74	$3,369,600
61	Ilya Samsonov	24	G	$3,149,149.03	$3,149,100
62	Ondrej Kase	26	F	$2,989,502.51	$2,989,500
63	Jeremy Lauzon	24	D	$2,838,284.71	$2,838,300
64	Alexander Edler	35	D	$2,824,819.63	$2,824,800
65	Morgan Frost	22	F	$2,803,763.83	$2,803,800
66	Vitek Vanecek	25	G	$2,777,297.81	$2,777,300
67	Marc-Andre Fleury	37	G	$2,746,088.69	$2,746,100
68	Scott Perunovich	23	D	$2,649,926.73	$2,649,900
69	Barrett Hayton	21	F	$2,579,051.53	$2,579,100
70	Owen Tippett	22	F	$2,558,017.61	$2,558,000
71	Jake Evans	25	F	$2,545,233.93	$2,545,200
72	Adam Boqvist	21	D	$2,524,310.27	$2,524,300
73	Justin Schultz	31	D	$2,516,824.08	$2,516,800
74	Noah Dobson	21	D	$2,494,575.06	$2,494,600
75	Frank Vatrano	27	F	$2,476,020.01	$2,476,000
76	Dustin Brown	37	F	$2,396,146.68	$2,396,100
77	Jeff Carter	36	F	$2,384,902.23	$2,384,900
78	Anthony DeAngelo	26	D	$2,381,910.39	$2,381,900
79	Jack Roslovic	24	F	$2,352,202.10	$2,352,200
80	Isac Lundestrom	22	F	$2,322,322.54	$2,322,300
81	Ben Chiarot	30	D	$2,174,936.33	$2,174,900
82	Denis Gurianov	24	F	$2,172,161.21	$2,172,200
83	Paul Stastny	35	F	$2,164,062.77	$2,164,100
84	Jake Oettinger	23	G	$2,123,719.44	$2,123,700
85	Michael Anderson	22	D	$2,115,458.52	$2,115,500
86	Alex Formenton	22	F	$2,114,894.37	$2,114,900
87	Ryan Getzlaf	36	F	$2,071,860.32	$2,071,900
88	Nico Sturm	26	F	$2,032,320.72	$2,032,300
89	Colin Miller	29	D	$2,006,002.28	$2,006,000
90	Sammy Blais	25	F	$2,005,234.61	$2,005,200
91	Kailer Yamamoto	23	F	$1,970,228.36	$1,970,200
92	Ilya Mikheyev	27	F	$1,949,866.94	$1,949,900
93	Alex Goligoski	36	D	$1,918,527.29	$1,918,500
94	Mathieu Joseph	24	F	$1,876,747.57	$1,876,700
95	Chris Tierney	27	F	$1,855,069.80	$1,855,100
96	Nikita Zadorov	26	D	$1,841,073.14	$1,841,100
97	Mattias Janmark	29	F	$1,806,199.12	$1,806,200
98	Cody Eakin	30	F	$1,803,803.09	$1,803,800
99	Filip Zadina	22	F	$1,786,938.02	$1,786,900
100	Nicolas Roy	24	F	$1,774,300.33	$1,774,300
101	Vladislav Namestnikov	29	F	$1,752,750.57	$1,752,800
102	Sam Steel	23	F	$1,750,142.03	$1,750,100
103	Ethan Bear	24	D	$1,719,382.16	$1,719,400
104	Lawson Crouse	24	F	$1,667,516.02	$1,667,500
105	Dylan Strome	24	F	$1,621,524.74	$1,621,500
106	Zach Sanford	27	F	$1,620,478.43	$1,620,500
107	Joonas Korpisalo	27	G	$1,598,050.06	$1,598,100
108	Carl Grundstrom	24	F	$1,556,625.93	$1,556,600
109	Thomas Greiss	35	G	$1,537,398.07	$1,537,400
110	Danton Heinen	26	F	$1,519,880.80	$1,519,900
111	Artturi Lehkonen	26	F	$1,508,234.64	$1,508,200
112	Calle Jarnkrok	30	F	$1,490,093.86	$1,490,100
113	Oliver Kylington	24	D	$1,473,876.39	$1,473,900
114	Pierre Engvall	25	F	$1,416,120.01	$1,416,100
115	Alexandar Georgiev	25	G	$1,413,549.42	$1,413,500
116	Nick Paul	26	F	$1,406,857.49	$1,406,900
117	Olli Maatta	27	D	$1,401,744.47	$1,401,700
118	Gabriel Vilardi	22	F	$1,394,962.83	$1,395,000
119	Daniel Sprong	24	F	$1,390,934.82	$1,390,900
120	Haydn Fleury	25	D	$1,384,646.81	$1,384,600
121	Evgeny Svechnikov	25	F	$1,383,780.24	$1,383,800
122	Brett Kulak	27	D	$1,363,323.71	$1,363,300
123	Zach Aston-Reese	27	F	$1,362,433.15	$1,362,400
124	Alexander Barabanov	27	F	$1,340,032.72	$1,340,000
125	Mikko Koskinen	33	G	$1,318,599.17	$1,318,600
126	Jacob Bryson	24	D	$1,317,170.87	$1,317,200
127	Kristian Vesalainen	22	F	$1,302,318.46	$1,302,300
128	Philipp Kurashev	22	F	$1,270,468.56	$1,270,500
129	Scott Wedgewood	29	G	$1,232,609.21	$1,232,600
130	Braden Holtby	32	G	$1,179,121.66	$1,179,100
131	Pavel Francouz	31	G	$1,154,866.67	$1,154,900
132	Jan Rutta	31	D	$1,139,218.87	$1,139,200
133	Will Butcher	26	D	$1,137,798.63	$1,137,800
134	Martin Jones	31	G	$1,105,235.39	$1,105,200
135	Kaapo Kahkonen	25	G	$1,082,899.89	$1,082,900
136	Vinnie Hinostroza	27	F	$1,056,831.62	$1,056,800
137	Kale Clague	23	D	$1,052,969.35	$1,053,000
138	Andreas Athanasiou	27	F	$1,052,770.38	$1,052,800
139	Casey DeSmith	30	G	$1,046,076.31	$1,046,100
140	Ryan Donato	25	F	$1,040,343.94	$1,040,300
141	Danny DeKeyser	31	D	$1,034,622.94	$1,034,600
142	Anton Stralman	35	D	$1,021,769.51	$1,021,800
143	Michal Kempny	31	D	$1,006,059.33	$1,006,100
144	Kevin Lankinen	26	G	$995,058.51	$995,100
145	Timothy Liljegren	22	D	$975,941.50	$975,900
146	Travis Boyd	28	F	$959,856.34	$959,900
147	Yakov Trenin	24	F	$955,481.72	$955,500
148	Brendan Lemieux	25	F	$902,942.80	$902,900
149	Victor Mete	23	D	$895,651.12	$895,700
150	Blake Lizotte	24	F	$894,885.66	$894,900