[Critch]

A brief interlude before the playoffs.

FHM's Free Agents
One of the complaints about FHM all the way back to FHM1 has been that if you check the free agent market late in the year there'll be some top players who have sat out the year because nobody would pay them what they think they're worth. I'm not sure what the logic is, if two players think they're worth 7mil per year one will sit out the whole season saying "I want 7 mil per year" and the other will sign for a one year low value contract and be ready to reenter free agency the following year. I thought it might be driven by the "demands to be paid what he's worth" in the scout report, but not seeing that.

Early in the dynasty it was a problem that would mainly show up with goaltenders, you'd see a single top goalie sitting demanding 9mil per year late in the season. Sometimes he'd get a deal 2/3 of the way through the season, other times he'd sit out the season. Now it seems to be spreading, if I look at the free agents available now at the end of the regular season there are four 4.0 star players and two 3.5 star players just sitting there. The 4.0 star players are all wanting 8 or 9 million to sign somewhere.

I had read that the issue can be helped by adding a million or two to the salary cap every two years, and I'll be adding 6mil to the salary cap this year (if I remember) to make up for the years I've missed, but I dont think it's the main problem. Montreal are in the playoffs, they have an outlook of "Win it now", but they have $28mil cap space. NY Rangers are current champs, set to "win urgently" but have 18mil cap space. There are a few teams with "win now" and salary cap space available who aren't signing the UFAs.

So it's not a case that players sit in free agency because nobody can afford them. It's more a case that they sit in free agency because they ask for more than they're worth and they never reduce their asking price.

Looking at the list of free agents sitting unsigned rated 3.0 (NHL regular starter) and up, they're almost all North American. There's one Russian but everybody else is Canadian or American. I'm guessing that Euro UFAs are more likely to go off home to their home league, or to the KHL, if they don't get the NHL contract they think they're worth.

Anyway here's what the Anchorage free agents of the last few years have done after leaving:

2032/33
Aleksandr Yeremey - Went back to the KHL, plays for Dinamo Minsk
Ivan Korzhakov - Went to the Russian minor leagues for one year, but now plays in the KHL for Salavat Yulaev
Prokhor Poltapov - Signed for Philadelphia, played there for two seasons and now back in the KHL for Sibir Novosibirsk
Tomas Lavoie - Signed a 3 year contract with Calgary and still there as a regular player
Chris Collishaw - Never made it with Anchorage, third round pick who didnt make it as far as Juneau. Now plays for Savannah in the ECHL, a minor US league. (Sidenote ECHL doesnt stand for anything. It used to be the East Coast Hockey League, but now the league is just called ECHL. I just googled ECHL to see what it was obviously.)
Brandon Svoboda - Injury ended his NHL career, he's in semi-pro hockey now rated a 1.5 star player. A level he's too good for, 89 points in 36 games last season.

2033/34
Dylan Nolan - sitting at home saying "give me 2.5 mil!". Has never been paid more than 800k, hasnt played since leaving Anchorage.
Evan Maillet - He was the starting goalie on a Stanley Cup team last year, sat out for a few months before signing a one season minimum salary deal with Vancouver, he's their starter now and going to the playoffs.
Weston Knox - Same as Maillet, sat out the first half of the season then signed 1 year 750k with Nashville. He'll be back in UFA this summer, Nashville have already announced they wont be offering him a new contract.
Paul Mayer - Same again, sat out then took a 1 year deal to play in the KHL for Kunlun Red Star in Beijing.
Matthew Paranych - Still sitting at home saying he wants 6mil per year for 3 years. Has never earned more than 800k
Rick Claycomb - Still sitting at home saying he wants 5.5mil per year for 3 years. Has never earned more than 1.4mil.

Special Mention - Tarin Smith - he has now sat out three seasons, now wants 3mil per year for 3 years despite his last contract being 1.4mil per year.

So, in conclusion, Free Agency and player demands are a bit crap in the game.