Top Three NHL Free Agents & Odds For Team Signing The Players

The NHL is putting a strict 81 million dollar salary cap in place this year and with the number of unrestricted free agents on the market it will lead to a lot of players moving this year. Not to mention, a lot of the players who are moving this year the contracts will not be as huge as what the players would normally land. So, who are some of the top free agents and where could they potentially land? Lets find out here.

Taylor Hall

Taylor Hall ended up leaving the New Jersey Devils in the middle of the season and went to Arizona. However, the Coyotes were unable to get Hall to sign to a long term deal before the off season. Now, Hall who put in 16 goals and 36 assist is a great player. Now, one team that could use Hall is the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are a +500, but Hall has played for the Oilers before and with the goal scoring threats on the roster it could definitely open up more scoring chances for Hall. Other teams are  Calgary

• Calgary Flames +375
• Edmonton Oilers +500
• Colorado Avalanche +700
• Carolina Hurricanes +1600
• New York Islanders +1200
• Pittsburgh Penguins +2000
• Any other team -260

Corey Crawford

The Blackhawks goalie from last year will most likely be moving on as Chicago has landed a good group of goalies this offseason. However, with the way that Crawford played last season it could be easy to see him moving on, but for a lot of teams they will have question marks surrounding Crawford and how well he can play still or if he lost his edge.  Last year Crawford posted a 16-20-3 record with only 91.7% of the shots saved with 2.77 goals allowed per game. With the lack of true interest it could be easy to see Crawford coming back to the Blackhawks for less money.

• Chicago Blackhawks EVEN
• Carolina Hurricanes +500
• Colorado Avalanche +1500
• Minnesota Wild +950
• Any other team  -140

Jacob Markstrom

The Vancouver standout player could really come into his own in the free agent market. Now, Markstrom is coming in a little bit older at 30 and some teams may not want to secure a big contract on an older player, but Markstrom did not show any signs of slowing down last year, but for a lot of teams in the market for a goalie they may look at the signing of Sergei Bobrovsky last year by the Panthers and have some reservations about how well Markstrom could come into the game. Last year Markstrom posted a 23-16-4 record while saving 91.8% of the shots and allowing only 2.78 goals per game. Now, the front runner to have Markstrom on the roster would be the Canucks who bring him back as Vancouver does not have a good candidate in mind to replace him.

• Vancouver Canucks +185
• Calgary Flames +750
• Edmonton Oilers +750
• Detroit Red Wings +1000
• Carolina Hurricanes  +1100
• Buffalo Sabres +1100
• Any other team  -130