If you have an NHL team and you’re close to the cap ceiling what do you do? Sometimes you can buy-out your mistakes, but that's not a fix that will last forever. Sometimes you can promote your younger, cap friendly, players and sometimes you can have your scouts scour the globe for undrafted free agents who cost a fraction of what UFA’s cost.
One of the most recent, post-millennium free agents is the New York Rangers top-pairing defenseman, Dan Girardi.
In 2013-14 Girardi will be entering his 4th NHL season, and now he’s well compensated, but at the time he was signed to a club-friendly
deal and he’s only missed a
handful of games and logged
ridiculous minutes, as well.
Girardi is a HUGE success story.
2003 was his draft year, and the
draft class was loaded, and he was a bit of a late bloomer.
This past season the Red Wings, yes they do this frequently, brought in Swiss pro, Damien Brunner for $750k. They saw something in him when he played with Henrik Zetterberg during the lockout. To say they got their monies worth is an understatement. The rookie pivot had 26 points in 44 games and he had 9 points in 14 playoff games.
Goalies are expected to be the most signed undrafted free agents in the near future. One of the most successful in recent memory is the Anaheim Ducks starter, Jonas Hiller. He started as the backup and eventually won the top spot. He’s been with the club since 2007! Again, that’s great value and a great signing. The Wild’s Niklas Backstrom is another.
Penguins reliable left winger, Chris Kunitz was undrafted. What? He’s had 20-plus goals for the last three seasons and there’s no end in site. Now, 33, it took a mammoth 79-point season at Ferris State University, as a senior, for him to get signed by Anaheim and sent to the AHL for part of the year until he made his NHL debut later in the 2003-04 season. Now he did kick around for a few years but he still produced 62 goals in Anaheim in 3 1/2 seasons in Orange County, not bad and he’s built on that.
There are plenty of examples, and so many quality players never get drafted. Most times players need to catch a break and get a chance to catch on with a team. Some players never get that shot. Goaltenders go through the not getting drafted phase of their careers and often keep playing for a long time after that because they don’t want to give up the dream and its a very specialized position.
Now that defenseman, especially offensive defenseman are in such great demand I expect this area to open up a lot in the coming years. We’ve seen teams beef up on their college and european scouts because there’s gold out there you just have to find it. It’s not knowing where to look its more of an issue of the more places you look, more games you view, the better your chances are.
Check out your favorite teams roster and see who went undrafted. The number might surprise you.
You can read more of Cohen’s articles on www.sportsology.info and you can check out his lastest books on Amazon.com. ◉