Five unrestricted free agents who’ve boosted their values in the 2022 playoffs

Players share a common priority during the Stanley Cup playoffs: winning a Stanley Cup. But they have plenty of secondary goals during postseason runs, especially the unrestricted free agents, who can use these high-stakes games to give their contract values extra pushes under national spotlight.

Which pending UFAs have increased their contract values the most during the 2022 playoffs? The list doesn’t have to include stars coming off career years such as Johnny Gaudreau and Nazem Kadri. Those two arguably launched their values so high before the playoffs that they didn’t have much higher to go. Instead, we’ll look at a few names that opened the postseason with a bit less fanfare but may have climbed into higher income brackets with their efforts.

Evander Kane, LW, Oilers

Talent has never really been in question for Kane. He was the 2009 draft’s fourth overall pick for a reason. In an era where true throwback power forwards in the Keith Tkachuk/Brendan Shanahan/Kevin Stevens mold are rare, Kane brings a special skill set to the table. He’s big, he’s strong, he’s fast, he’s willing to drop the gloves and he can score. Still, the question perpetually following Kane around for his career has been whether the production is worth all his off-ice transgressions and propensity to disrupt team chemistry. Those questions surfaced when, after the San Jose Sharks terminated his contract, the Edmonton Oilers signed him this January.

But Kane found a way to keep his head down and strike up tremendous chemistry with Connor McDavid, picking up 22 goals and 39 points in 43 games. Not even that run could have prepared us for what Kane has done in the 2022 post-season: 13 goals in 14 games thus far. He’s one of 59 players to score 13 times in a single playoff year – and he’s done so in about half a playoff run. If the Oilers can fight back in the Western Conference final and find their way to the Cup final, Kane has an outside chance to threaten Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri’s shared single-season playoff record of 19 goals. Even if Kane doesn’t, he’s shown what he’s still capable of producing when his head is right. That doesn’t mean he won’t implode again, as has been his career pattern, but what he’s done has been too impressive for teams to ignore. He’s 30 and far too risky to ever dream of another seven-year, $49-million pact, but he has a chance to score a medium-term commitment if he’s willing to take less money to remain an Oiler. Other suitors might be more reticent to hand him multiple years.

Nick Paul, LW, Lightning

We can all forgive ourselves for underestimating what Paul brings to a playoff run before this spring. Paul, after all, had never played a playoff game in his first six NHL seasons. After coming over to the Ottawa Senators from the Dallas Stars in the Jason Spezza trade, Paul bounced between the AHL and big club for a few seasons, and the Sens were out of their contention window by the time Paul stuck in the NHL for good. After he and the Senators couldn’t agree on a contract extension this season, they cashed him out in a trade-deadline deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Many assumed Brandon Hagel was going to be their new Blake Coleman or Barclay Goodrow, but Paul has fit the bill even better. He scored twice in Game 7 of the first round to help Tampa defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs. More importantly, Paul, all 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds of him, has been a physical and game-breaking presence on the penalty kill. He leads all Lightning forwards with 3:32 of average shorthanded ice time in these playoffs, helping the team kill 87.2 percent of penalties. We saw how much money Goodrow and Coleman got as UFAs last summer, with the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames paying the “guy you win with” premium, and Paul should get similar treatment come July 13.

Andrew Copp, RW, Rangers

Copp was a consistently useful member of the Winnipeg Jets’ top-nine forward group, capable of bouncing all around, playing multiple positions and killing penalties. He even got some long run on their top line this season. But did anyone expect Copp to be a true front-line winger from the moment he joined the New York Rangers in a trade-deadline deal? He didn’t just deepen the forward corps – he elevated it, instantly lighting it up with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Including 16 regular-season games and 16 playoff games, Copp has produced 14 goals and 31 points in 32 games. Copp and the Rangers already started working on an extension in April. Re-signing him would further justify the price New York paid to get him from the Jets, as reaching the Eastern Conference final meant Winnipeg received a 2022 first-round pick instead of a second-round pick. Keeping Copp could mean an AAV north of $5 million on a long-term deal and could price Strome out of New York, but Copp has been more than worth it.

David Perron, RW, Blues

Forwards with more goals than Perron this season: 61. Forwards with higher AAVs than Perron this season: 154. He continues to carve out a legacy as one of the game’s most underrated players. Perron, 34, has at least 18 goals and at least 46 points in six consecutive seasons. He averages 23 goals and 56 points per 82 games in his career. After a sizzling second half this season in which ripped off 19 goals and 36 points in 36 games following the all-star break, he was somehow even better in the playoffs, delivering nine goals and 13 points in 12 games for the St. Louis Blues. Perron, who is wrapping up a four-year, $16-million pact, has expressed a desire to remain a Blue, and GM Doug Armstrong has indicated the interest is mutual. But Perron was much more than a $4-million player over the course of his contract, which included winning a Stanley Cup in 2018-19. He’s particularly deadly on the power play. Over the past three seasons, in terms of power-play point production, only two players grade out better per 60 minutes than Perron: Connor McDavid and Leon Drasiaitl.

Brett Kulak, D

Kulak was acquired from the Montreal Canadiens at the trade deadline for a package including William Lagesson and a conditional 2022 second-round pick that changes to a 2023 second-rounder if the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup final. It felt like a relatively inconsequential move at the time, but Kulak, paired with Tyson Barrie, has been extremely valuable to the Oilers this postseason.

With Kulak on the ice at 5-on-5 thus far in the 2022 playoffs, the Oilers have outscored opponents 11-6 and hold a 51-43 edge in high-danger chances. Even with the Oilers dropping Games 1 and 2 to Colorado, Kulak has been the toughest Oiler defenseman at defending the Avs’ zone entries. With an underrated track record as a defensive defenseman even before this season, and given he’s just 28, Kulak has earned another multi-year pact as a second- or third-pair stalwart.

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Five unrestricted free agents who’ve boosted their values in the 2022 playoffs

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