So, you always read the scouting reports for the draft and watch the rankings go up and down, right? Well I have a theory, that although the draft is a great deal of fun (and a huge public interest story in Canada) it really doesn’t hold a candle to UFA DAY: July First.
Think about it:
“prospects who may or may not help us a few years down the line”
vs.
“players who are months away from possibly making us a serious contender.”
So it is in that spirit that I thought I would take Mondays for the next month or so and give you my, HockeyBuzz Central UFA Rankings.
What I will do is give you the top 30 UFA’s each week based on what I feel they will get on the open market July 1. I will base this number on the Rumors that I am hearing. Of course you could ask many insiders and you would never get the same list. Where they rank is highly subjective and based on several factors.
I will also give you all a peek into the
THE RUMOR CHART by telling you the current favorite to grab that player from the Chart. Although I have one team listed here, several of these players have several teams interested in them on the Chart, and the favorite changes every day. These are only 30 of the 270 players currently being tracked on the Chart. As with the Chart, I will not speculate or report on rumors regarding players still playing in the Cup playoffs.
Fair Enough? OK, have some fun...
THE HOCKEYBUZZ CENTRAL UFA RANKINGS, MAY 21, 2007
1. Chris Drury-Buffalo
2. Scott Gomez-Ottawa
3. Ryan Smyth-Calgary
4. Sheldon Souray-LA Kings
5. Daniel Briere-Montreal
6. Kimmo Timonen-Philadelpia
7. Peter Forsberg-Sweden
8. JS Giguere-STILL PLAYING
9. Petr Sykora-Edmonton
10. Brian Rafalski- New Jersey
11. Paul Kariya- Vancouver
12. Tom Preissing- STILL PLAYING
13. Gary Roberts- Toronto
14. Jason Blake- Toronto/NY Islanders
15. Dominik Hasek- STILL PLAYING
16. Michael Handzus- San Jose
17. Andrei Markov- Montreal
18. Mathieu Schneider- STILL PLAYING
19. Roman Hamrlik- New Jersey
20. Michael Nylander- NY Rangers
21. Ladislav Nagy- Edmonton
22. Niklas Backstrom- Minnesota
23. Dainus Zubrus- Dallas, Montreal
24. Brad Stuart- Calgary
25. Scott Nichol- Detroit
26. Bill Guerin- San Jose
27. Craig Rivet- San Jose
28. Mike Peca- Toronto
29. Keith Tkachuk- St. Louis
30. Mike Comrie- STILL PLAYING
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Go to the
THE RUMOR CHART for real-time updates. Now with
UFA's, RFA's and Trade Rumors,
THE RUMOR CHART has over
270 players that are updated the second new rumors hit. Your support of Hockeybuzz.com is HUGELY appreciated and helps keep this site alive, so Thank You.
Also please read below...KEEP YOUR STICKS DOWN
This is a plea for more respect and decency on the site. Hockey fans are passionate by nature and that is why the site is great. However, lately there have been too many idiots posting lewd language in the comments throughout the site. This site is read by many young readers, and we allow all to post comments with very little censorship. We don't want to have to change the rules, but we may not have a choice if this continues. Think of it like respect on the ice. If you go swinging your stick with only the attempt to injure, you will be suspended.
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