Five unqualified restricted free agents the Canes should sign
Today marks the start of the free-agent chaos and mayhem that we see every July. It had been relocated in previous years, but this is one of the most exciting days of the year. We’re getting to the conclusion of the previous season and at 12 PM ET or Midday on Wednesday, July 13th, the free agents across the NHL will be free to sign deals with whoever they want to as they search for their next paycheck.
For some, it will be a bittersweet feeling. Some of the unrestricted free agents every year are younger than the 26-year-old barrier that separates the RFA’s from the UFA’s. For those that do not know or understand why this is because they do not receive a qualifying offer. A qualifying offer has to be offered by the team and is equivalent to 100% of a player’s salary from the previous year, or 105% if it is $1 million or less.
This year, due to cap concerns, there were a lot of eye-catching restricted free agents that just were not qualified. Whether that was due to their qualifying offer being too high, or just because the organization they were with does not value them enough to keep them around, they will be eligible to sign anywhere they want for free as an unrestricted free agent. This is where a lot of teams get a chance to be smart.
In theory, if you can find a quality unqualified restricted free agent and get them to come along a little bit within your organization, you’re going to end up doing quite well for yourself. Carolina is an organization known for willing to work with reclamation projects so this very much fits the thought process of the team. The issue becomes picking the select group out of this talented haul of players.
Sonny Milano
When we talk about players coming off a flashy year, Sonny Milano has to be the cream of that crop. Known for his scoring of “the Dishigan” or the lacrosse move pass that happened out in Anaheim. A player that has always been touted as someone with great skill, Milano has kind of bounced around this league as a young player, and Carolina becoming a permanent home may help him.
At 26, Milano isn’t likely to wake up at the start of next season and become a point-per-game player and challenge for major awards. However, he could be a very solid under-the-radar pick-up to replace some of the players the Hurricanes are losing from their roster. With talent in all three zones and being exceptionally solid defensively, he seems like a fit for the Hurricanes system.
Milano can do much more than just keep the puck out of the net too. In 66 games this year, Milano had 14 goals and 22 assists. Half-a-point a-game players are not common and if he can take that next step and get to a 40-45 point pace consistently, he could be a good player to support the core of this team. Beware, many other organizations have had this thought process with Milano and there’s a reason he is still a free agent.
By no means is Sonny Milano a player the Canes should go out and spend the big money on. If you can get him around the $2 million mark for a year or two, it’s worth it. If you can get him on a flier, there are not a lot of reasons to avoid it. Carolina currently sits with $20 million available and will need to flush out the roster anyway. A solid player who fits the Canes system and wasn’t qualified would be very on-par for this front office.
Dylan Strome
One player that Chicago opted not to qualify is center Dylan Strome. When I mentioned that Carolina like reclamation projects, this is who I had in mind. In 2015, Strome was taken third overall. A friendly reminder that 2015 was the McEichel year. He was the first non-obvious pick made, and there’s a reason for it. He has a lot of raw talent and it has been tapped into a little recently.
Since the change of coaching staff for the NHL team in the Windy City, Strome seems to have had a new lease on life. His painfully mediocre stats at the halfway mark of the season ended with 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points in just 69 games. By no means is that a bad feat. That is a player that scores 50-60 points over 82 games. When I say Strome has a lot of room to grow, he’s got so much more to offer than this.
A centerman turned winger, working under a two-time Selke Winner would help his two-way game drastically. Not to say it is bad at this moment in time, but it could become other-worldly. Combine that with the ridiculous pedigree that he’s got to be a third overall pick that Arizona invested so highly in all that time ago and maybe you’ve got something going.
As an unqualified RFA, I do not know what to make of Strome. He’s going to sign somewhere. 48 points don’t just disappear from this league. Especially when there’s really nothing to talk about regarding Dylan Strome off the ice. He’s going to be a very sought-after individual. However, if there is a slim chance to buy low on the Mississaugua, Ontario native, why not do it?
Dominik Kubalik
You wanna see me talk about an unqualified restricted free agent that I have no idea why Chicago is letting hit the market? Do you want to see me do it again? Honestly, that is how this feels. Like his teammate Dylan Strome, Dominik Kubalik is one of the more gifted players available from the unqualified free-agent class. With a heavy shot and some gifted offensive attributes, his stock seems to be waning.
Kubalik has struggled after having a fantastic rookie year with the Chicago Blackhawks. He hit 30 goals as a rookie and has been struggling to hit 30 points since then, but the 2013 7th-round draft pick of the LA Kings has shown his pedigree time and again. If he can develop that little bit of consistency in his game, he will be a very nice player. Plus, for a team that needs scoring, he’s an option.
While he was not qualified by the Blackhawks, that shouldn’t harm his value to other organizations. Yes, he’s not going to score 40 goals, and he’s not going to win the Selke for the league’s best defensive forward and he is not going to be a fantastic penalty killer. But he’ll put the puck in the net. If you can get that and add him to the powerplay, it’s going to help a ton moving forward.
If you can get Kubalik for less than $1 million, there is no reason not to. That is a deal you can bury entirely in the AHL if things go wrong, If you can get it to work, then you find yourself a player. If not, there’s no foul. Don’t go above anything that can’t be entirely buried in my mind. That was it is entirely risk-free. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, you had nothing before and you have nothing now.
Ondrej Kase
Moving quickly onto one of the long-term targets of the Hurricanes organization and Czech winger Ondrej Kase. He went unqualified because he had arbitration rights and Toronto had issues with their cap space. Kase has been a very long-term target, going back to 2019 when Carolina was rumored to have a trade fall through with Anaheim for him. He’s been so good for so long that you might wonder why he went unqualified.
It’s not a lack of talent. It’s the question marks regarding his health. When Kase puts it together, there’s not a lot Kase cannot do. From the perspective of underlying numbers, he’s been one of the best players in all three zones for a substantial amount of his career. Ondrej Kase is going to be one of the biggest analytical darlings in this free-agent class and that will have teams looking at him.
During his time in Toronto last year, Kase collected14 goals and 13 assists in 50 games. He’s another really good depth player that can fill needs throughout the lineup in any role. When he is healthy, he’s going to be one of the most consistent players in the lineup. His issue is that his injury history leaves him in a position where one more concussion could have him considering retirement.
I really like Ondrej Kase and if there is a way for the Hurricanes to land him, I will scream and shout a lot, but I’m not sure how this would work given his previous status with concussions, he has a lot to like, but balancing the risks with the reward here is difficult. This for me would entirely depend on his contract. He’s well worth anything up to around the $3 million mark when including UFA inflation.
Evgeny Svechnikov
Yes, he is Andrei’s brother, but that is not everything you need to know about Evgeny Svechnikov. While he will not be the biggest name even among unqualified restricted free agents, uniting the set of brothers in Raleigh would be kind of neat. Plus, there is some talent with Evgeny Svechnikov. He is a former first-round draft pick you know. While he didn’t have the best of years this year with Winnipeg, it doesn’t mean he’s bad.
With just 7 goals and 12 assists in 19 games with the Jets this year, it became clear that scoring was not the strong suit of Evgeny Svechnikov. While he is still quite young, injuries have derailed his career and there’s not a lot that can be done about that. These have been freak injuries like sticks and pucks to the head and broken legs. Not muscle tears from working too hard. These are so unfortunate.
This does likely mean E Svech will never hit the heights he was once projected to but that doesn’t mean he has to be considered a useless player. He would need to adapt his game, but do you not think that he’d be more likely to find success adapting his game when his little brother is one of the best players on his team? We may never know but it is fun to think about.
If you Evgeny Svechnikov on a one-year, league-minimum deal, or even go as high as 850k, 900k. There’s no reason not to. Obviously, if the demands are the sun and the moon, you let him find a different place, but if everything lines up just right, the money and the team need to finish completing the roster, this would be a transaction I’d enjoy seeing. Even if Evgeny was just the extra forward.
Question for Cardiac Cane readers: What unqualified RFA would you like the Canes to target?
Next. Canes sign Noesen. dark