Without A Single Doubt, This Year's Group Of NHL Free Agents Would Win The 2008 Stanley Cup
The majority of the hockey world right now is focused on John Tavares, and for good reason. If Tavares makes it to July 1st without re-signing with the Islanders, he will be one of the biggest players to hit the free market in a long, long time. (Sidenote: you idiots need to read a book and remember that Steven Stamkos never hit free agency. He had already agreed to a new deal with Tampa a few days before actually hitting the market). But while John Tavares is clearly the biggest target out there and most teams are waiting to see who he signs with + how much he signs for before making any splashes of their own, there are still plenty of names available once that first chip drops.
Guys like Rick Nash (34), Joe Thornton (38), Paul Stastny (32), Mike Green (32), Valtteri Filppula (34), Kevin Bieksa (37), Cam Ward (34), Chris Kunitz (38), Thomas Vanek (34), Antoine Vermette (35), Dennis Seidenberg (36), Johnny Oduya (36), Matt Cullen (41), etc etc. Technically you can add Ilya Kovalchuk (35) to that list of 2018 UFA’s even though he already has a deal in place with the Kings.
You take a look at that list of names. First of all–you have three former #1 overall picks in the NHL Draft. You’ve got Joe Thornton in 1997, Ilya Kovalchuk in 2001, and Rick Nash in 2002. You’ve got a Stanley Cup winning goaltender in Cam Ward. You’ve got Chris Kunitz who was able to win 4 Stanley Cups so far, 3 of them coming after being traded for Ryan Whitney. You’ve got Val Filppula who actually did win the 2008 Stanley Cup. You throw these guys on the same team, turn back the clock about 10 years, and this team goes 82-0 on their way to winning the 2008 Stanley Cup.
Unfortunately, however, that technology doesn’t exist yet. So instead, some teams are going to end up overpaying for an aging player who can certainly help round out your bottom 6 but certainly don’t quite have enough left in the tank now to play top 6 minutes effectively. The skill may still be there for some but the wheels are starting to fall off the wagon. But at least we can still sit here and think about what this free agent class could have looked like if this was 10 years ago.