As July is pulling to a close, the unrestricted free agents remaining have few offers. A portion of those who remain will get some likely undervalued contract offers, but others will be forced into retirement or into other hockey leagues. Of those that remain, I think the best bet is clearly Nikolai Zherdev.
Zherdev played last season with the Philadelphia Flyers. In 56 games he scored 22 points. He wasn’t given much of an opportunity with the team but he did well in the time he was given. He only played 12:51 per game. He succeeded in that ice time. This is shown by his sixth best Corsi rate in the league.
Zherdev has a track record of bigger offensive success than he showed last year in his limited ice time. In 2008, he scored 61 points with the Columbus Blue Jackets and in 2009 he scored 58 points with the New York Rangers. That kind of player could help any team.
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