Kukla's Korner Hockey
The All-Free-Agent-Leftover team
by George Malik on 08/15/15 at 12:52 PM ET
Comments (11)
From mid-August onward, the free agents remaining on the market tend to start signing either short-term deals or agree to pro try-outs--and with the NHL's teams "capped out" in large part due to the almost-flat salary cap, and the Columbus Dispatch's Aaron Portzline notes that there are still some solid free agents out there:
-- Veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar will attend camp with the Pittsburgh Penguins on a professional tryout offer. That's the best the 41-year-old could do. You wonder if other established NHL players might go the similar route. It's a bit of a gamble -- take the low-ball offers on the table now, or go to somebody camp without a contract, wait for the inevitable injuries to crop up around the league, and sign a deal that's right. Among the NHL players still out there: forwards Daniel Briere, Curtis Glencross, Stephen Weiss, Martin Erat, Martin Havlat, Brenden Morrow, Daniel Cleary, Olli Jokinen, Tomas Fleishmann, Erik Cole, Michael Ryder, B.J. Crombeen, Jiri Tlusty, Sean Bergenheim, Tyler Kennedy, Marcel Goc and Scottie Upshall, and defenseman Cody Franson, Jan Hejda, Andrej Meszaros, Marek Zidlicky, Bryan Allen, Eric Brewer, Michal Roszival, John Erskine, Keith Ballard, Tim Gleason and David Schlemko.
-- What would you think of this club?
F1: Curtis Glencross – Steppen Weiss - Daniel Briere
F2: Martin Havlat – Olli Jokinen – Michael Ryder
F3: Martin Erat – Tomas Fleischmann – Brenden Morrow
F4: Erik Cole – Marcel Goc - B.J. Crombeen
extras: Tyler Kennedy, Jiri Tlusty
D1: Christian Ehrhoff – Andrej Meszaros
D2: Jan Hejda – Cody Franson
D3: Tim Gleason – Marek Zidlicky
extra: John Erskine
G1: Josh Harding
G2: Jonas Gustavsson
G3: Ray Emery
OK, you've got some goaltending issues. And, yes, this group would look a lot better, say, in 2008-09 than it does now. But that, friends, is the the current all-UFA team. How many games does that team win?
Filed in: | KK Hockey | Permalink
Tags: andrej+meszaros,
b.j.+crombeen,
brenden+morrow,
bryan+allen,
cody+franson,
curtis+glencross,
daniel+briere,
daniel+cleary,
erik+cole,
jan+hejda,
jiri+tlusty,
jonas+gustavsson,
josh+harding,
marcel+goc,
marek+zidlicky,
martin+erat,
martin+havlat,
michael+ryder,
michal+roszival,
olli+jokinen,
ray+emery,
scottie+upshall,
sean+bergenheim,
sergei+gonchar,
stephen+weiss,
tomas+fleischmann,
tyler+kennedy
Comments
Vito, it looks like Portzline has him on the first line.
Posted by socalwingnut on 08/15/15 at 02:58 PM ET
—What would you think of this club?
F1: Curtis Glencross – Steppen Weiss - Daniel Briere
....
D1: Christian Ehrhoff – Andrej Meszaros
D2: Jan Hejda – Cody Franson
D3: Tim Gleason – Marek Zidlicky
I think if Stephen Weiss is your #1 center, you’re not going to score very many goals. On the other hand, the defense isn’t all that bad. I’d be more than happy to replace Ericsson and Smith with Ehrhoff and Franson.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids, MI on 08/15/15 at 02:59 PM ET
The defense isn’t that bad? That is probably the slowest defense group in the league if that was a team. My prediction is that team gets beat like a rented mule, and ends up playing mostly ahl players after all the injuries/retirements happen.
With the way GMs are willing to spend just to say they got a free agent or 2, there is a reason why those players are still sitting on the list.
Posted by Hootinani from the parade following Babs out of town on 08/15/15 at 04:11 PM ET
Sean Bergenheim - Olli Jokinen - Scottie Upshall
Tomas Fleischmann - Marcel Goc - Tomáš Kopecký
Former UFA Panthers make two decent 3RD lines…. Weiss never came back from that wrist injury. Too bad he was a very good player before he got injured.
Posted by Puckbubba on 08/15/15 at 05:42 PM ET
ex red wings make up a good portion of this rostor lmao.
Posted by brians neck on 08/15/15 at 07:44 PM ET
They’d probably finish ahead of the Leafs.
You are probably right. 
Posted by bigfrog on 08/15/15 at 08:34 PM ET
Ladies and gentlemen,I give you, your 2015-16 Las Vegas Gamblers/Quebec Nordiques!!!
Posted by tbuhg on 08/16/15 at 12:59 AM ET
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I would guess that half of this team is injured after the first month and Erik Cole is on LTIR / retired to start. I doubt this team wins much even if the goalies were better.
Posted by bigdee89 from The Great White North Eh? on 08/15/15 at 01:33 PM ET