5pm yesterday evening (about six hundred hours into the second day of the NHL Draft), teams were required to provide the list of players they have sent a qualifying offer to in order to retain their RFA rights. This is a thing that happens every year, but with the COVID-19 pandemic drying up the vaults on so many teams and forcing the cap ceiling to remain at $81.5 million, more players than usual have been essentially cut rather than getting the natural pay raise a qualifying offer would provide.
There are 68 players this offseason that were not tendered qualifying offers, here is the full list. I’ve bolded some names who jump out to me as potential signees with the Maple Leafs. GM Kyle Dubas has made it clear that he thinks there is value to be found this year in non-qualified RFAs. I’ve also italicised all the former Leafs or Leafs organization players, just for fun.
Note: list updated to show the current 70 listed on Cap Friendly, some are still in question. As of this afternoon, CF shows 76 players on the list, but at least 2 have signed contracts with their team. Obviously a difficult job to get to this fully updated as some GMs only announced their lists today.
Anaheim Ducks
All Qualified.
Arizona Coyotes
All Qualified.
Boston Bruins
- Brendan Gaunce, 26, LW
- Wiley Sherman, 25, LD
- Brett Ritchie, 27, RW/
Buffalo Sabres
- Remi Elie, 25, LW
- Matthew Spencer, 23, RD
- Dominik Kahun, 24, LW
- Brandon Hickey, 24, LD/
Calgary Flames
- Nick Schneider, 22, G
- Andrew Nielsen, 23, LD
- Mark Jankowski, 25, LW/
Carolina Hurricanes
- Callum Booth, 23, G
- Jacob Pritchard, 25, LW/
Chicago Blackhawks
All Qualified.
Colorado Avalanche
All Qualified.
Columbus Blue Jackets
- Justin Scott, 24, RW
- Michael Prapavessis, 24, LD
- Paul Bittner, 23, LW
- Maxime Fortier, 22, RD
- Ryan Collins, 24, RD
- Devin Shore, 25, C/
Dallas Stars
- Landon Bow, 24, G
- Tony Calderone, 25, RW
- Josh Melnick, 24, RW/
Detroit Red Wings
All Qualified.
Edmonton Oilers
- Logan Day, 25, RD
- Cameron Hebig, 23, C
- Nolan Vesey, 25, LW
- Angus Redmond, 24, G
- Ryan Mantha, 24, RD
- Ryan Kuffner, 24, LW
- Matthew Benning, 26, RD
- Andreas Athanasiou, 25, LW/
Florida Panthers
- Lucas Wallmark, 24, C
- Philippe Desrosiers, 24, G
- Dryden Hunt, 24, LW
- Thomas Schemitsch, 23, RD
- Dominic Toninato, 26, C/
Los Angeles Kings
All Qualified.
Minnesota Wild
- Stepan Falkovsky, 23, LD
- Hunter Warner, 24, RD
- Mat Robson, 24, G/
Montreal Canadiens
- Antoine Waked, 24, RW
- Aaron Luchuk, 23, C
- Andrew Sturtz, 25, RW/
Nashville Predators
All Qualified.
New Jersey Devils
- John Hayden, 25, RW
- Mirco Mueller, 25, LD/
New York Islanders
All Qualified.
New York Rangers
All Qualified.
Ottawa Senators
- Andreas Englund, 24, LD
- Jayce Hawryluk, 24, LW
- Anthony Duclair, 24, LW —> please, Leafs./
Duclair has decided to represent himself....two sides could not agree on an extension.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 7, 2020
Philadelphia Flyers
- Nathan Noel, 23, C/
Pittsburgh Penguins
- Graham Knott, 23, LW
- John Nyberg, 23, LD
- Dominik Simon, 25, LW/
San Jose Sharks
- Jeremy Roy, 23, RD —> maybe a Marlies pickup?
- Andrew Shortridge, 25, G/
St Louis Blues
- Derrick Pouliot, 26, LD
- Jake Dotchin, 26, RD —> maybe not a Marlies pickup./
Tampa Bay Lightning
- Carter Verhaeghe, 24, LW —> A rare double!
- Dennis Yan, 23, LW
- Devante Stephens, 23, LD/
Toronto Maple Leafs
- Frederik Gauthier, 25, C
- Jeremy Bracco, 23, RW
- Max Veronneau, 24, RW
- Evan Rodrigues, 26, C/
Related
UPDATED: Maple Leafs issue Qualifying Offers to 2 RFAs
Vancouver Canucks
- Francis Perron, 24, LW
- Reid Boucher, 26, LW
- David Pope, 25, LW
- Troy Stecher, 26, RD/
Vegas Golden Knights
- Nick Cousins
- Brett Lernout/
Washington Capitals
- Connor Hobbs, 23, RD
- Kris Bindulis, 24, LD
- Travis Body, 26, C/
Winnipeg Jets
- Michael Spacek, 23, C/
So that’s the list. Of course, for a lot of these players, their former NHL teams are using the lack of a qualifying offer to avoid arbitration and get a better deal, but it’ll only be for a a fraction of players on this list.
Here is my list of players I would be interested in again:
Remi Elie
I’m a big fan of his AHL resume, namely his series against the Toronto Marlies in the Calder Cup Finals. Give him a chance, he’s a pain in the ass for the other team and he has dynamic offensive talent. I watched him play against a Sheldon Keefe thinking the whole time how much I hate him and how good he would be on a Sheldon Keefe team.
Dominik Kahun
Played a third line role on Pittsburgh and put up good numbers. One of the few N/QO free agents with positive shot numbers.
Lucas Wallmark
Another one of the few good shot share players. Also played a third line role but in Carolina. Expected goal suppression on both sides of the ice but with a little less of the Gauthier taste in your mouth.
Jayce Hawryluk
Fourth line energy guy with surprisingly good stats.
Anthony Duclair
23 goals last season. A diamond in the rough called Kanata, this guy just needs some love and a safe place to play. I don’t know how much he wants for a contract, but I would pay anything up to Kasperi Kapanen’s cap hit.
Dominik Simon
Sidney Crosby’s winger. Mark Donk. We gotta have one on the roster, right?
Carter Verhaeghe
Fourth line energy guy with a Stanley Cup ring. He has the best shot share numbers of any N/QO free agent this offseason.
Evan Rodrigues
The Leafs have been clear that they want to reach an agreement with Rodrigues, but they just can’t do it with the $2+ million qualifying offer on the table. They’ll probably offer him term with a cap hit in the range of what Pierre Engvall got and what Ilya Mikheyev will get.
Various Hockey Branches
So the Draft was yesterday. We posted a lot of pictures of Kyle Dubas staring intently into the distance, we hope you enjoyed that. Here is a recap of the draft where you can find links to all the prospects we adopted on Tuesday and Wednesday. Let’s never do a weekday draft over Zoom ever again. That took years off my life.
Related
Toronto Maple Leafs 2020 draft recap
2020 NHL Draft: First round recap
