- May 21, 2026
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With the NHL Draft in the rearview and plenty of offseason trades already, teams are ramping up to July 1 and the official opening of NHL Free Agency.
While it might not be a superstar-laden class up for grabs, there are some sneaky talents that could intrigue some teams across the league. Yes, some teams may overpay — but others might find key value pieces to help build towards contention.
On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton welcomed Daily Faceoff managing editor Matt Larkin to the show to break down the top names that may be available, zoning in on who could be the most enticing value option.
Carter Hutton: Who is the value free agent? Who is the guy that you get at a good number that really adds some value to your team?
Matt Larkin: I’m excited about this one. It’s Patrik Laine, okay? If you look at the last three years, power play per 60 minutes, he is the leading scorer in the NHL in shots on goal on the power play. He has four more shots per 60 minutes than the second-place guy in the entire league over the past three years. He is the best per-capita power-play scorer in the NHL, even in this sort of broken-down version of who he is, so I think if you can find an incentives-laden deal, you use him as just a specialist. Maybe you play him Ovechkin-style, you put him out for power play one and two, you use him only for that purpose. He could bag you 25 or 30 goals on the cheap, and to me, he’s someone I feel like has sort of been forgotten because he was mothballed for the playoffs with the Montreal Canadiens. He can still do one thing very well, and it really is one thing; he can’t do anything else well anymore, but he’s so good at that one thing, so he intrigues me.
You can catch the rest of Matt Larkin’s appearance and free agency breakdown, as well as the full episode here…
Continue reading...
While it might not be a superstar-laden class up for grabs, there are some sneaky talents that could intrigue some teams across the league. Yes, some teams may overpay — but others might find key value pieces to help build towards contention.
On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, co-hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton welcomed Daily Faceoff managing editor Matt Larkin to the show to break down the top names that may be available, zoning in on who could be the most enticing value option.
Carter Hutton: Who is the value free agent? Who is the guy that you get at a good number that really adds some value to your team?
Matt Larkin: I’m excited about this one. It’s Patrik Laine, okay? If you look at the last three years, power play per 60 minutes, he is the leading scorer in the NHL in shots on goal on the power play. He has four more shots per 60 minutes than the second-place guy in the entire league over the past three years. He is the best per-capita power-play scorer in the NHL, even in this sort of broken-down version of who he is, so I think if you can find an incentives-laden deal, you use him as just a specialist. Maybe you play him Ovechkin-style, you put him out for power play one and two, you use him only for that purpose. He could bag you 25 or 30 goals on the cheap, and to me, he’s someone I feel like has sort of been forgotten because he was mothballed for the playoffs with the Montreal Canadiens. He can still do one thing very well, and it really is one thing; he can’t do anything else well anymore, but he’s so good at that one thing, so he intrigues me.
You can catch the rest of Matt Larkin’s appearance and free agency breakdown, as well as the full episode here…
Continue reading...