from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

While signing Alex Pietrangelo and Taylor Hall made supposed winners out of Vegas and Buffalo, respectively, there are several players out there looking for contracts. Very good players, we might add. There is a top-20 goal scorer, a Stanley Cup finalist and a winger who has outscored Artemi Panarin and Jack Eichel the past three seasons....

Here are seven of the best:

Mike Hoffman, LW, 30

2019-20 cap hit: $5.65 million (Florida)

The best pure scorer available in free agency, Hoffman finished among the top 20 with 29 goals for Florida last season and had 36 goals two years ago. Did he struggle with inconsistency? Well, yeah. But this is still a player who has scored 26 or more goals in five of the six years he has been in the league, and who had three goals and five points in four playoff games against the notoriously stingy New York Islanders.

Anthony Duclair, LW, 25

2019-20 cap hit: $1.65 million (Ottawa)

I don’t know why Duclair chose to represent himself in free agency or why he didn’t go to arbitration with the Senators. But that, combined with the fact that he has played for five teams in six years, could be why he’s still unsigned. After all, he had a breakout year last season with 23 goals and 40 points in 66 games.

Possible destination:While some believe a return to Columbus, where Duclair could be reunited with former Arizona linemate Max Domi, is in the cards, Nashville’s lack of scoring wingers makes the Predators a more likely landing spot.

Evgeni Dadonov, LW/RW, 31

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