No. 3: Marcus Johansson
To me, Johansson is one of the most underrated players in the NHL and should be making more money than what he currently is.
However, as a pending UFA, he’ll probably sign a contract for less than $2M and make one lucky team very happy.
Hopefully that’s Toronto.
Johansson has a skillset that any hockey player would love. He can score, he has size and can be physical. Not only that, but he can play up and down your line-up and play multiple positions.
Instead of keeping Alex Kerfoot at $3.5M, it would be more beneficial to sign Johansson for a fraction of the price and use that cap-space to upgrade another position.
It’s been awhile since he was a 20-goal scorer, but the skill is still in there. Not only that, but with over 100 games of NHL playoff experience, Johansson is a reliable source in the most important games.
If someone in the top-six goes down to injury, Johansson can fill that void no problem, but he would be best suited on the wing in the bottom-six. Essentially, if he’s healthy, Johansson could be another Ondrej Kase-type player and be very effective, especially at his price.