MTPS: Free Agency Preview—The Forwards

How shallow is the pool of free agent forwards? Jonny Brodzinski could be one of the most coveted options out there. Yes, that Jonny Brodzinski. But that's not to say there aren't players out there who could help the New York Rangers.

If the season started today, the Rangers forward lines would probably look something like this:

Perreault - Zibanejad - Lafrenière
Cuylle - Trocheck - Miller
Kartye - Laba - Sykora
Chmelar - Edstrom - Raddysh/Rempe

That's ... not good.

Now, to be fair, the season doesn't start today. Vincent Trocheck and Taylor Raddysh are likely to be traded in the coming weeks, and prospects like Liam Greentree, Dylan Roobroeck, Nathan Aspinall, and Brody Lamb could enter into the roster discussion with strong training camps. Even Juicy Parsnips himself (Jusso Parssinen) could theoretically work his way back into the circle of trust (but I doubt it).

That being said, the Rangers could still use some help up front and while there are plenty of players on the market, the question is, are any of them helpful?

Here are the currently available free agent forwards (ages in parenthesis)

Centers

• Rodrigo Abols (30)
• Noel Acciari (34)
• Teddy Blueger (31)
• Jonny Brodzinski (32)
• Nick Cousins (32)
• Joshua Dunne (27)
• Lars Eller (37)
• Brendan Gaunce (32)
• Claude Giroux (38)
• Luke Glendening (37)
• Jansen Harkins (29)
• Kevin Hayes (34)
• Adam Henrique (36)
• Boone Jenner (32)
• Ben Jones (27)
• Tyson Jost (28)
• David Kampf (31)
• Alexander Kerfoot (31)
• Justin Kirkland (29)
• Luke Kunin (28)
• Trevor Kuntar (24)
• Joseph LaBate (33)
• Tanner Laczynski (29)
• Sam Lafferty (31)
• Scott Laughton (32)
• Curtis Lazar (31)
• Zack MacEwen (29)
• Marc McLaughlin (26)
• Lane Pederson (28)
• Noah Philp (27)
• Kevin Rooney (33)
• Jack Roslovic (29)
• Colton Sissons (32)
• Kevin Stenlund (29)
• Jack Studnicka (27)
• Oskar Sundqvist (32)
• T.J. Tynan (34)

Left Wingers

• Viktor Arvidsson (33)
• Zach Aston-Reese (31)
• Alex Barre-Boulet (29)
• Jamie Benn (36)
• Sammy Blais (29
• Michael Buntin (30)
• Nicolas Deslauriers (35)
• Curtis Douglas (26)
• Adam Erne (31)
• Robby Fabbri (30)
• Nick Foligno (38)
• Nolan Foote (25)
• A.J. Greer (29)
• Noah Gregor (27)
• Carl Grundstrom (28)
• Brian Halonen (27)
• Rafael Harvey-Pinard (27)
• Erik Haula (35)
• Danton Heinen (30)
• Bokondji Imama (29)
• Calle Jarnkrok (34)
• Ross Johnston (32)
• Max Jones (28)
• Evander Kane (34)
• Boris Katchouk (27)
• Joel Kiviranta (30)
• Andrei Kuzmenko (30)
• Patrik Laine (28)
• Anders Lee (35)
• Ryan Lomberg (31)
• Beck Malenstyn (28)
• Jeff Malott (29)
• Mason Marchment (30)
• Hugh McGing (27)
• Georgii Merkulov (25)
• Sonny Milano (30)
• Tomas Nosek (33)
• Victor Olofsson (30)
• Alex Ovechkin (40)
• Tanner Pearson (33)
• David Perron (38)
• Pavol Regenda (26)
• Brandon Saad (33)
• Jaden Schwartz (33)
• Conor Sheary (34)
• Jeff Skinner (34)
• Josiah Slavin (27)
• Cole Smith (30)
• Riley Tufte (28)
• James van Riemsdyk (37)
• Jeffrey Viel (29)
• Garrett Wilson (35)

Right Wingers

• Nicolas Aube-Kubel (30)
• Nathan Bastian (28)
• Oliver Bjorkstrand (31)
• Matej Blumel (26)
• Mitchell Chaffee (28)
• Evgenii Dadonov (37)
• Walker Duehr (28)
• Brandon Duhaime (29)
• Vinnie Hinostroza (32)
• Mathieu Joseph (29)
• Patrick Kane (37)
• Kasperi Kapanen (29)
• Raphael Lavoie (25)
• Brett Leason (27)
• Nathan Legare (25)
• Matt Luff (29)
• Anthony Mantha (31)
• Ilya Mikheyev (31)
• Gustav Nyquist (36)
• Corey Perry (41)
• Jason Polin (26)
• Samuel Poulin (25)
• Ryan Reaves (39)
• Jonas Rondbjerg (27)
• Reilly Smith (35)
• Vladimir Tarasenko (34)
• Eeli Tolvanen (27)
• Alex Tuch (30)
• Kailer Yamamoto (27)
• Mats Zuccarello (38)

There are a lot of names there, and some of them don't even suck. The problem is that we just saw Bobby McMann, a 30-year-old with three seasons of NHL experience and a career high of 46 points (29 goals), sign for six years at $5.75 million per year, so if that kind of player is getting that kind of contract, how insane will the contracts for good players with track records be?

We're not going to cover all the players on that list (I've already covered a few options), but we do need to look at some of the more interesting choices.

Alex Tuch

Let's get this one out of the way first, as Tuch is clearly the best player on the board and fits a position of need for the Rangers as a true top-six scoring winger. Already we're hearing that Alex Tuch is seeking maximum term (seven years on the unrestricted free agent market) at a salary of north of $11 or $12 million per year.

I've said previously that in a landscape like the NHL where the salary cap has been stagnant for so long, fans have gotten used to player salaries being at a certain level. With the cap now exploding upwards, salaries are going to keep pace. What will be helpful for us is to look at what percentage of the salary cap a player's salary takes up rather than the raw dollar amount. So, if Alex Tuch is seeking $11.5 million then his salary would account for approximately 11 percent of the $104 million dollar salary cap, putting him on par with a player like Artemi Panarin.

Is Alex Tuch worth that kind of cap hit? Probably. He's proven to be a top notch scorer without the benefit of superstar support. Do I want to give Alex Tuch (30) a seven-year deal given where the Rangers are right now? Not especially. Could I see Chris Drury doing it? Absolutely.

Chris Drury is in a precarious position. He has buy-in from ownership for his retooling plan, but that will only last for so long. He needs to show progress or else owner James Dolan may get antsy and look to replace him. Tuch would absolutely help show progress, and if he doesn't well then his contract won't be Drury's problem to deal with anyway.