Who are the most interesting restricted free agents going into the offseason?
Frank Seravalli was joined by Colby Cohen to discuss some of the most interesting restricted free agents this offseason on the latest episode of Daily Faceoff Live.
Frank Seravalli: Time for our AskDFO inbox questions, we’re going to throw up the top ten scoring restricted free agents this summer and it is a fascinating class. There are a lot of really good players on here that are going to be due some significant paydays. Who is the most interesting to you in terms of a negotiation factor or in terms of how does all of this work and what does he get paid?
Colby Cohen: This is an easy one for me, number three on the list Alex DeBrincat you probably could have guessed that’s where I would have gone with this. The reason for that being his qualifying offer is close to $10 million. He had a good season, he didn’t have a great season, 27 goals which is a good number but a far cry from the 40-goal pace he was on with Patrick Kane in Chicago over the last couple of seasons.
A lot of people have talked about the fact that he wants to maybe play in Detroit, he wants to be back in Michigan. This is an American player who is probably looking for a long-term deal but why hasn’t he signed yet? The ownership change is part of it but also that he’s in a wait and see mode, he’s in a good spot with an almost $10 million qualifying offer walking him to UFA. So for me Frank, Alex DeBrincat is the most intriguing name that I see on this list, who I do believe will be on the move at some point.
Frank Seravalli: Okay, so Devils fans are going to roll their eyes when I give this answer but I’m going to say Jesper Bratt. It’s not Timo Meier, his qualifying offer is $10 million, DeBrincat is $9 million, but after a second consecutive 73-point season for the Devils you look at Bratt and they’ve went the short-term route last year. They signed him to that deal and I think there was some frustration on both sides in getting to that point. A one-year deal at $5.45 million and they kick the can down the road and now they’re going to have to pay big time.
What does that longer term deal look like, I would say at this point you’re looking at a long-term contract that is probably north of what Jack Hughes is getting right out of his entry-level deal in terms of an AAV. Probably north of $8 million, so it’s going to be expensive for New Jersey. And they’ve got a lot of things to figure out and you take all of those contracts together and it will be expensive and a team that once had a lot of cap space is going to have some considerations to make. For me, Bratt, not Meier is the guy I’m intrigued by on the RFA front.
You can watch the rest of the episode here…