With NHL training camps set to get underway next week across the NHL, there are still a remarkably strong group of veteran players remaining unsigned with the official starting point of the hockey season just days away.
For the sake of this exercise, we won’t include restricted free agents like Elias Pettersson or Quinn Hughes, or Brady Tkachuk, who are eventually going to come to terms with their NHL clubs after some good, old-fashioned negotiating. Instead, these are veteran players with a proven body of work at the NHL level that are still looking for gigs with one of them, Erik Gustafson, just crossed off the list on Thursday after agreeing to a PTO with the New York Islanders.
Part of it is the ever-growing push for younger, cheaper players on entry level deals and the second sizeable factor is the flat salary cap due to the COVID-19 impact on the NHL economy. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly indicated that the salary cap will rise $1 million to $82.5 million for the 2022-23 NHL season, but that isn’t going to do much to help pro hockey players that will be required to sing for their supper for the upcoming NHL campaign.
“The push to play younger players and a flat cap is a double whammy for some vets,” admitted one prominent and highly respected NHL player agent on Friday.
Here are the top unsigned veteran NHL players with training camp quickly arriving on the hockey horizon:
Michael Grabner – the 33-year-old winger didn’t play in the NHL during last season’s truncated schedule after he had the contract year bought out by the Arizona Coyotes. The speedy 6-foot-1, 180-pounder still has the great wheels, however, and has kept himself in shape waiting for a call from an interested NHL employer after he posted eight goals and 11 points in 46 games with the Yotes during the 2019-20 NHL season. Grabner isn’t interested in any PTOs at this point, per a source, but could absolutely help out a team’s bottom-6 in a league that’s still built on speed, explosiveness and scoring ability that’s seen him post 175 goals during his NHL career.
Zdeno Chara – The 44-year-old had two goals and 10 points in 55 games along with a plus-5 rating with the Washington Capitals last season after 13 years as captain with the Boston Bruins. Clearly the 6-foot-9 defenseman has slowed a bit in recent years, and he isn’t the 25-minute a night workhorse that he was in his prime, but he’s still the most intimidating player in the league when everything is on the line. To this point, though, Chara hasn’t made any solid decision for this upcoming season and reports indicate he only wants to play on the East Coast to remain near his family. A reunion with Boston isn’t going to be in the cards unless he wants to return to the organization in a non-player role, but there are still some Eastern Conference teams that could use his toughness, leadership and penalty killing ability.
Alex Galchenyuk – The 27-year-old Galchenyuk had five goals and 13 points in 34 games for the Senators and Maple Leafs last season and ripped up the AHL in eight games with the Toronto Marlies as well. It feels like the lefty-shooting center is a long way from his 30-goal season with the Canadiens six seasons ago and he obviously hasn’t lived up to his standing as the third overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. But he’s got the ability to help somebody after posting 333 points in 583 games with six different teams during his career.
Sami Vatanen – The 30-year-old Vatanen has experienced a few injuries in the last few years that have slowed him down from his first few really impressive years in Anaheim, but he still managed to post two goals and six points along with a plus-3 rating in 39 games for bad Devils and Stars teams last season. Vatanen can move the puck as a right-shot defender and could really be a steal for an NHL team looking for an experienced third-pairing defender that could help out on the power play as well.
James Neal – The 34-year-old Neal did not have a great season in Edmonton with five goals and 10 points in 29 games last season but sits just two years removed from 19 goals in 55 games with the Oil. The 6-foot-3, 212-pounder brings size and offensive pop to the wing and should merit at least a PTO with a team, but there may have been enough “slow-down” in his game last year in his mid-30’s that hockey clubs are wary of using a one-way contract for the player.
Travis Zajac – There were a lot of assumptions that Travis Zajac was part of the quiet summer of New York Islanders transactions that flooded in over the last few weeks, but the 36-year-old center is still looking for work at this point after 8 goals and 20 points in 55 games for the Devils and Islanders. Zajac was solid for the Islanders during their playoff run and still brings experienced, hard two-way play to a bottom-6 center role for teams that could always use more of that down the stretch. Some of the intangibles and subtle parts of Zajac’s game are still there for the taking, but one would imagine there’s some hesitancy on a PTO for a player of that caliber with over 1,000 games in the league as well.
Alex Chiasson – The 6-foot-4, 208-pound BU product had nine goals and 15 points in 45 games with the Oilers last season but was also part of a steady progression downward of his numbers over the last three seasons with the Oil. Chiasson is still just 30 years old with a big body and a nose for the net but will have to prove he’s not too far away from the 22-goal breakthrough season he enjoyed in Edmonton just a couple of years ago. Hard to believe just a year ago the Bruins were talking about swapping Anders Bjork for Chiasson before opting against it, and instead including Bjork as a piece in the Taylor Hall trade with Buffalo at the NHL trade deadline.
Tyler Ennis – What is it about players on last year’s Edmonton team going unsigned at this point? The 31-year-old Ennis had three goals and nine points in 30 games for the Oilers last season in a bottom-6 role and is just two years from 16 goals and 37 points with the Senators and Oilers. The 5-foot-9, 160-pounder is probably no longer the player that put up 20 goal seasons with the Sabres early in his career, but he’s also a scrappy bottom-6 guy that’s scored 136 goals in 643 NHL games during a career with the Sabres, Wild, Senators, Maple Leafs and Oilers after being a late first round pick in the 2008 NHL Draft.
Devin Dubnyk – The 35-year-old garnered Vezina Trophy votes during his long stint in Minnesota and has won over 250 games in his 12-year NHL career, but things have been rough the last few seasons while kicking around San Jose and Colorado after being traded from the Wild. The .895 save percentage and 3.20 goals against average weren’t anywhere close to his career norms and certainly look to be a cause for concern that Dubnyk may no longer have “it” anymore. That being said, NHL goalies have shown an ability to perform at a high level into their late 30’s and there could be a spot for him as an experienced backup given how injuries and attrition impact the goaltending position.
Nikita Gusev – The 29-year-old really struggled in his second NHL season after coming over from the KHL and had just four goals and 10 points in 31 games for the Devils and Florida Panthers last season. Just two seasons ago he had 44 points in 66 games with the Devils in his first NHL campaign after a productive career in Russia and it would stand to reason that somebody else might give the 5-foot-9, 163-pounder a shot.
