Bill Clement

The NHL’s shopping spree for unrestricted free agents has begun and the big-ticket items — mega stars like Jaromir Jagr, Marian Hossa and Mats Sundin — will draw lucrative deals. But there will be some lesser names in the free-agent pool whose value to their teams will make their new salaries seem very cost effective. Here are my top remaining players who could fall into that category.

Markus Naslund
At one time in his 13-year NHL career, which began in 1993 in Pittsburgh, he was the premier offensive winger in the NHL. That was when he played with Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison in Vancouver, where he’s been since being traded to the Canucks by the Penguins in March of 1996.

Naslund made $6 million last season with the Canucks. Don’t expect him to land a deal for that kind of money but a change of scenery should give him added incentive as he still should have at least a couple of productive seasons left. He turns 35 in late July and last season had 25 goals and 30 assists. Some team could find Naslund a bargain with a real upside.

Since the Canucks dealt Bertuzzi in June of 2006, Naslund’s offensive production has been on the decline. But it’s time for a changing of the guard in Vancouver and hooking on with a new team could benefit Naslund, who would get new linemates. I believe he can still be a top-six forward on many NHL teams and that’s what he needs to be for his scoring capability to have its greatest impact.

Sean Avery
A lacerated spleen threw a big scare into the NHL’s super pest and it cost him playing time in the postseason. But this serious an injury might just alter Avery’s personality around his teammates. The edge on him could soften a bit and if he matures some – at least inside his own locker room – his value will only go up because it won’t be like when he was younger and drove his own teammates as crazy as he did the opposition. He may be slowly learning humility around his teammates and if that’s the case, it should serve him well as he hits the open market.

Avery is one of only a handful of players in the league who can pretty much singlehandedly disrupt an entire opposing team with his antics. Teams going against him have trouble focusing on their game plan when he starts in with his physical play and running his mouth. He disrupts as much with his words and he does with his actions.

Avery has played a season and half with the Rangers and he made $1.9 million last season. He’ll probably not exceed $2.5 million a year in his new deal so he’s a good buy for some teams. But Avery is a good fit only on a team that doesn’t mind confrontation because he always stirs things up when on the ice.

Matt Cooke
The Capitals got the 5-foot-11, 205-pound winger from Vancouver at the trade deadline for Matt Pettinger so Washington might very well not want to just let Cooke walk away even though part of the reason they dealt Pettinger is that he didn’t see things the same way as coach Bruce Boudreau.

Cooke was a top-six forward for Washington for a few of the games in the playoff series against Philadelphia but was dropped to the third line in Games 6 and 7. He made $1.5 million last season and teams should be able to land him for somewhere in the $2 million-per-season range.  

He comes of a 23-point campaign (10 goals, 13 assists) but what makes Cooke valuable to a team is he is difficult to play against because he physically hurts people and at times he does so intentionally. Those skating for teams playing against Cooke’s club always have to know where he is on the ice because if he has a chance to put a hit on an opponent he will do so and his intention will be to not leave that opponent standing. So general managers who feel their teams are on the soft side might take the lead in pursuing Cooke.