2019 UFA Primer
Top 10 Forwards, Top 10 Defensemen & Top 5 Goalies Available in UFA
2019 UFA Primer
Below are the top 10 UFA forwards, the top 10 UFA defensemen and the top 5 UFA goaltenders for the 2019/20 season.
These rankings are based on averaging a number of key ratings, while excluding others; i.e. ST since that’s mainly based on how tall a player is.
This also means that a guy like Krejci only gets “Honorable Mentions” instead of finishing in the top 10 despite his 92 PA rating because he’s deficient in other areas.
Here we go:
Top 10 UFA Forwards:
|
|
Player |
Pos |
Key Ratings |
||
|
1 |
Alex Ovechkin |
LW |
95 PH |
83 PA |
97 SC |
|
2 |
Mats Zuccarello |
RW |
89 PA |
76 SC |
76 DF |
|
3 |
Zach Parise |
LW |
82 PH |
82 PA |
87 SC |
|
4 |
Ryan Getzlaf |
C |
96 FO |
85 PA |
72 SC |
|
5 |
Eric Staal |
C |
91 FO |
78 PA |
78 SC |
|
6 |
Brian Boyle |
RW/C |
85 CK |
76 SC |
83 DF |
|
7 |
Frans Nielsen |
C |
76 CK |
77 PA |
75 DF |
|
8 |
Mikko Koivu |
C |
82 PA |
70 SC |
77 DF |
|
9 |
Brad Richardson |
RW/C |
96 FO |
80 SC |
92 DF |
|
10 |
Paul Stastny |
C |
96 FO |
89 PA |
77 SC |
Honorable Mentions: Alex Steen (82 DF), David Krejci (92 PA), Cal Clutterbuck (86 DF)
Key Stats:
- Only 2 forwards – Ovechkin and Parise – in this UFA class have a SC and PA rating > 80
- There are only 3 forwards, again, Ovenchicken, Parise along with Brad Richardson, that have a SC > 80 with another 12 forwards with a SC rating between 79 & 75
- There are 8 forwards with a PA rating of 80 or over and only another 6 with a PA rating between 79 & 75
- There are 15 forwards with a DF rating > 80, but only about only 6 of those players have either a SC or PA rating a70 or above to go along with that high DF rating
Top 10 UFA Defensemen
|
|
Player |
Pos |
Key Ratings |
||
|
1 |
Mark Giordano |
D |
91 PH |
86 PA |
86 DF |
|
2 |
Shea Weber |
D |
87 CK |
79 PH |
90 DF |
|
3 |
Keith Yandle |
D |
88 SK |
92 PH |
82 PA |
|
4 |
Ryan McDonagh |
D |
86 SK |
72 PA |
92 DF |
|
5 |
Dustin Byfuglien |
D |
86 PH |
82 PA |
76 DF |
|
6 |
Alex Goligoski |
D |
81 SK |
74 PH |
83 DF |
|
7 |
Matt Niskanen |
D |
86 CK |
79 SK |
91 DF |
|
8 |
Andy Greene |
D |
93 DI |
99 DU |
99 DF |
|
9 |
Justin Braun |
D |
81 CK |
82 SK |
90 DF |
|
10 |
Ron Hainsey |
D |
91 DI |
98 DU |
90 DF |
Honorable Mentions: Marc Staal (94 DF), Anton Stralman (89 DF), Zdeno Chara (90 DF)
Key Stats:
- Only Giordano, Yandle and Big Byf have PA ratings greater than 80 with McDonagh the lone 70+ PA rated Dman
- Of those 4, only Giordano and McDonagh have DF ratings over 80
- Highest rated SC Dman is Weber at 64 SC with Giordano coming 2nd with his 62 SC. SC rating drops off a cliff after those two
- There are 12 UFA Dmen with a 90+ DF rating and only another 8 with DF ratings between 80 and 89 DF
Top 5 UFA Goalies
|
|
Player |
Pos |
Key Ratings |
|||
|
1 |
Ben Bishop |
G |
98 AG |
90 RB |
93 HS |
97 RT |
|
2 |
Thomas Greiss |
G |
97 AG |
84 RB |
90 HS |
92 RT |
|
3 |
Devon Dubnyk |
G |
75 AG |
86 RB |
81 HS |
83 RT |
|
4 |
Marc-Andre Fleury |
G |
77 AG |
84 RB |
82 HS |
83 RT |
|
5 |
Jimmy Howard |
G |
83 AG |
77 RB |
80 HS |
79 RT |
Honorable Mention: Henrik Lundqvist
Key Stats:
- None worth mentioning. Outside of the 5 tenders listed, there’s not much there unless you’re looking for a backup.