Over the past few days, I’ve written blogs examining just a few of the numerous winger options available to NHL GMs on the 2021 UFA market, breaking the 13 players highlighted into one of two categories.
This list sweeps up the rest of the top 2021 UFA wingers – plus two guys who fit one of the other two blogs’ criteria.
The first overall pick in the 2010 draft, Taylor Hall is the top free-agent winger likely to be available.
Despite a torrid first half in 2020-21, Hall ended auspiciously after going from Buffalo to Boston at the trade deadline.
Like Hall, he became a first-time UFA last off-season, signed a one-year deal with a non-contender and found himself on the move by the trade deadline.
He plays at a 13-goal, 31-point pace for his career and has produced solid possession numbers aside from a 41-game blip with the Blackhawks this season.
Not bad for a guy who looked like he was on the precipice of being out of the league after Anaheim bought him out in 2019.
Perreault – originally a Washington Capital and then a one-year member of the Anaheim Ducks – came to the Jets as a UFA in the summer of 2014, when he signed a three-year, $9-million pact to join the squad.
He had a career-high 45 points in 65 games in 2015-16 but has gradually seen his offensive output fall away since.
Perreault has also seen his ice time reduced significantly over the past couple of seasons but has still produced generally positive results in limited opportunities.
Perreault isn’t more than a down-the-lineup player, but he can contribute offensively in a pinch , and he’s not a liability in the bottom six.
Alex Chiasson’s 5-on-5 game hasn’t cleared the “not a liability” bar during his tenure in the City of Champions, though the 30-year-old right winger has been a serviceable net-front power-play presence in three seasons in Edmonton.
The 6-foot-4, 208-pounder’s power-play efficacy may now be redundant with the emergence of the similarly sized, right-shooting Jesse Puljujarvi.
Gagner has transitioned to a role on the wing after entering the NHL as a center way back in 2007-08 during his first stint with Edmonton.
The 2020 Masterton winner is 34, with a history of hand injuries, but a team could do worse at the $1-million figure he earned in 2020-21.
Armia perfectly matched Ryan’s seven goals and seven assists in 2020-21, though he took an extra eight games to do it.
Gagner’s one-time roommate in Edmonton, Cogliano is the owner of the NHL’s seventh-longest consecutive games streak in history .
He scored 44 points in 66 games for the Devils that year but fell out of favor and agreed to a contract termination midway through 2020-21.
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