- Daily Faceoff ranks Nick Blankenburg the best bargain left in NHL free agency, above Vladimir Tarasenko
- Patrik Laine, Michael Bunting and James van Riemsdyk fill out the top five
- Read below for what each one should cost with training camps a month away
The best value left in NHL free agency is a 5-foot-9 defenseman almost nobody has called.
Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell ranked the five best bargains still sitting on the open market, and Nick Blankenburg landed at No. 1, ahead of a winger who scored 23 goals last season.
Blankenburg split 2025-26 between Nashville and Colorado and finished with eight goals and 24 points in 61 games. He added a point in five playoff games after the Avalanche picked him up for a 2027 fifth-round pick.
He shoots right, he moves the puck, and he turned 28 in May. Maxwell’s read is that his height is what chased teams away, and an analytics account made the same argument this week:
Tarasenko checks in at No. 2. His 23 goals and 47 points in 75 games with Minnesota were his best numbers since his St. Louis years, and the Flames and Canucks have already been floated as his best fits.
Maxwell figures the 34-year-old could go for under $2 million on a one-year deal at this stage of the summer, and might even need a tryout to get there:
Laine sits third, described as both the highest ceiling and the lowest floor of the group. He played five games for Montreal last season and has one assist to show for the year, and five teams have been linked to him since July 1.
His case comes down to one number. Maxwell points to 4.49 goals per 60 minutes on the power play, which leads every NHL player with at least 100 minutes of man-advantage ice time, and names Colorado, Los Angeles and Philadelphia as teams that could use it.
Check out how the market has been reading him:
Bunting is fourth after a 33-point season split between Nashville and Dallas. The $4.5 million cap hit he carried into last year is gone, with under $1 million the more realistic ask now.
Van Riemsdyk rounds out the list at 37 years old, coming off 15 goals and 31 points in 72 games with Detroit. Maxwell suspects a tryout is where that one starts.
The one name Maxwell does not see reaching camp unsigned is Blankenburg.
