Free Agency 2023: Updated Salary Projections for the Top-100 Free Agents
Alexander MacLean
2023-05-27
With the Stanley Cup finals soon to be underway, and only a month until the NHL draft, the offseason is really starting to sneak up on us. Soon after the draft we have the time of year where GMs really get crazy, throwing a whole bunch of excess money at older players they don't really need… yes, we're almost at NHL free-agency again.
As always, I have my final list of projected annual cap hits for each of the top free agents (100 this year as it seems like a shallower class). There are a bunch of intriguing RFAs, and some useful UFAs if you know how to use them and don't need them to fill key roles for your team, but even at this point we don't have any true game breakers hitting the open market. That is reflected in the projected salaries, with the highest projected number for a UFA going to Damon Severson, at $5.6 million.
Patrick Kane may be the biggest name on the list, but his play of last has really dropped his price tag. In addition, it's likely going to be less about the money and more about the fit for him. We could see him back in New York, but it's also possible that the Rangers think they may be better off spending that money elsewhere – like to lock up their all-around defender K'Andre Miller.
In addition to Miller, the RFAs are going to steal the show this summer, with a lot of the others rumoured to be on the shopping block. Could we see Timo Meier, P.L. Dubois or Alex DeBrincat traded again? How does Anaheim manage their two young scorers both up for deals at the same time?
There are always a few goalies available, and while Frederik Andersen is projected the highest, I think Tristan Jarry may be the jewel of the crop this year. On the RFA side, the negotiations with Filip Gustavsson will be interesting, as no goalie ever gets his big ticket contract right off of an ELC, but Gustavsson was debatably one of the top three goalies in the league in the regular season. On top of that, the Wild have some major cap issues. Could a team like the LA kings with their full prospect cupboard come along and think that the cost of an offer sheet may be worthwhile?
Regardless of how it plays out, I'm hoping for some fireworks!
Anyone not on the list below is projected somewhere between the $1.85 million mark, and the league-minimum cap hit of $775K next season.
| Rank | Name | Age | Pos | Projected Cap Hit |
| 1 | Jesper Bratt | 24 | F | $8,668,000 |
| 2 | Alex DeBrincat | 25 | F | $8,258,000 |
| 3 | Timo Meier | 26 | F | $8,234,000 |
| 4 | Pierre-Luc Dubois | 24 | F | $8,050,000 |
| 5 | Cole Caufield | 22 | F | $7,114,000 |
| 6 | Vince Dunn | 26 | D | $5,763,000 |
| 7 | K’Andre Miller | 23 | D | $5,627,000 |
| 8 | Damon Severson | 28 | D | $5,605,000 |
| 9 | Trevor Zegras | 22 | F | $5,550,000 |
| 10 | Dmitry Orlov | 31 | D | $5,262,000 |
| 11 | Frederik Andersen | 33 | G | $5,260,000 |
| 12 | Max Domi | 28 | F | $5,259,000 |
| 13 | Troy Terry | 25 | F | $5,230,000 |
| 14 | Tristan Jarry | 28 | G | $5,024,000 |
| 15 | Bowen Byram | 21 | D | $4,788,000 |
| 16 | Gabriel Vilardi | 23 | F | $4,728,000 |
| 17 | Ryan O’Reilly | 32 | F | $4,679,000 |
| 18 | Ryan Graves | 28 | D | $4,512,000 |
| 19 | Jeremy Swayman | 24 | G | $4,454,000 |
| 20 | Tyler Bertuzzi | 28 | F | $4,283,000 |
| 21 | Cody Glass | 24 | F | $4,272,000 |
| 22 | Joonas Korpisalo | 29 | G | $4,185,000 |
| 23 | Alex Killorn | 33 | F | $4,160,000 |
| 24 | J.T. Compher | 28 | F | $4,149,000 |
| 25 | Patrice Bergeron | 37 | F | $4,044,000 |
| 26 | Jonathan Drouin | 28 | F | $3,922,000 |
| 27 | Vladimir Tarasenko | 31 | F | $3,852,000 |
| 28 | Michael Bunting | 27 | F | $3,830,000 |
| 29 | Evan Bouchard | 23 | D | $3,731,000 |
| 30 | Matias Maccelli | 22 | F | $3,686,000 |
| 31 | Patrick Kane | 34 | F | $3,643,000 |
| 32 | Morgan Frost | 24 | F | $3,608,000 |
| 33 | Jack McBain | 23 | F | $3,599,000 |
| 34 | Noah Cates | 24 | F | $3,595,000 |
| 35 | Ilya Samsonov | 26 | G | $3,595,000 |
| 36 | Erik Haula | 32 | F | $3,527,000 |
| 37 | Vladislav Gavrikov | 27 | D | $3,484,000 |
| 38 | Ivan Barbashev | 27 | F | $3,446,000 |
| 39 | Filip Gustavsson | 24 | G | $3,442,000 |
| 40 | Radko Gudas | 32 | D | $3,405,000 |
| 41 | Shayne Gostisbehere | 30 | D | $3,396,000 |
| 42 | Alexis Lafreniere | 21 | F | $3,316,000 |
| 43 | Adin Hill | 27 | G | $3,287,000 |
| 44 | John Klingberg | 30 | D | $3,207,000 |
| 45 | Brian Dumoulin | 31 | D | $3,205,000 |
| 46 | Scott Mayfield | 30 | D | $3,191,000 |
| 47 | Jason Zucker | 31 | F | $3,114,000 |
| 48 | Matt Dumba | 28 | D | $3,058,000 |
| 49 | Tyler Motte | 28 | F | $3,046,000 |
| 50 | Tomas Tatar | 32 | F | $3,025,000 |
| 51 | Erik Gustafsson | 31 | D | $2,995,000 |
| 52 | Isac Lundestrom | 23 | F | $2,945,000 |
| 53 | Miles Wood | 27 | F | $2,849,000 |
| 54 | Max Comtois | 24 | F | $2,836,000 |
| 55 | Martin Fehervary | 23 | D | $2,818,000 |
| 56 | Trevor van Riemsdyk | 31 | D | $2,780,000 |
| 57 | Noel Acciari | 31 | F | $2,725,000 |
| 58 | Evan Rodrigues | 29 | F | $2,657,000 |
| 59 | Erik Brannstrom | 23 | D | $2,579,000 |
| 60 | Cam York | 22 | D | $2,536,000 |
| 61 | Ty Dellandrea | 22 | F | $2,535,000 |
| 62 | Alex Newhook | 22 | F | $2,524,000 |
| 63 | Joe Veleno | 23 | F | $2,500,000 |
| 64 | Shane Pinto | 22 | F | $2,495,000 |
| 65 | Klim Kostin | 24 | F | $2,488,000 |
| 66 | Calen Addison | 23 | D | $2,486,000 |
| 67 | Semyon Varlamov | 35 | G | $2,440,000 |
| 68 | Gustav Nyquist | 33 | F | $2,435,000 |
| 69 | Cam Talbot | 35 | G | $2,421,000 |
| 70 | Andreas Athanasiou | 28 | F | $2,404,000 |
| 71 | Yegor Sharangovich | 24 | F | $2,404,000 |
| 72 | Ross Colton | 26 | F | $2,404,000 |
| 73 | Jaret Anderson-Dolan | 23 | F | $2,397,000 |
| 74 | James van Riemsdyk | 34 | F | $2,391,000 |
| 75 | Jamie Drysdale | 21 | D | $2,359,000 |
| 76 | Nick Bjugstad | 30 | F | $2,294,000 |
| 77 | Jordan Staal | 34 | F | $2,292,000 |
| 78 | Oliver Wahlstrom | 22 | F | $2,283,000 |
| 79 | Nick Jensen | 32 | D | $2,264,000 |
| 80 | Conor Sheary | 30 | F | $2,243,000 |
| 81 | Trent Frederic | 25 | F | $2,225,000 |
| 82 | Luke Schenn | 33 | D | $2,211,000 |
| 83 | Mattias Janmark | 30 | F | $2,205,000 |
| 84 | Antti Raanta | 34 | G | $2,203,000 |
| 85 | Caleb Jones | 25 | D | $2,186,000 |
| 86 | Philipp Kurashev | 23 | F | $2,170,000 |
| 87 | Troy Stecher | 29 | D | $2,156,000 |
| 88 | Ethan Bear | 25 | D | $2,153,000 |
| 89 | Boris Katchouk | 24 | F | $2,144,000 |
| 90 | Martin Jones | 33 | G | $2,141,000 |
| 91 | Justin Holl | 31 | D | $2,124,000 |
| 92 | Jesse Puljujarvi | 25 | F | $2,114,000 |
| 93 | Pierre Engvall | 26 | F | $2,093,000 |
| 94 | Sam Steel | 25 | F | $2,090,000 |
| 95 | Alexander Kerfoot | 28 | F | $2,090,000 |
| 96 | Kevin Shattenkirk | 34 | D | $2,068,000 |
| 97 | Tobias Bjornfot | 22 | D | $1,977,000 |
| 98 | Daniel Sprong | 26 | F | $1,930,000 |
| 99 | Alexandre Carrier | 26 | D | $1,875,000 |
| 100 | Will Borgen | 26 | D | $1,872,000 |
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Doesn’t Valimaki have a 1M contract for next year ….according to Cap Friendly
Carson Soucy, Ian Cole, Connor Clifton, Niko Mikkola, Oliver Ekman-Larsson?
All these guys you’re asking for are under the $1.5M mark. Soucy and Clifton I could see getting more, but they’re not someone I would want to pay more.
OK Thanks Alexander. I definitely think Soucy will get middle pair money ($2-3 million range) unless he takes less to go to a contender. Clifton is one of those borderline players but being a Right Shot drives up his value. Also reports are the OEL has lots of interest and more than $1.5 million. Someone like him as a buy-out candidate is probably really difficult to project.
What are your projections for Ryan McLeod – Edmonton