Grading the free agents Goals, assists and points

All right, here are the basics. Potential free agent forwards who had 35 points or more and defencemen who had 20 points or more this past season (RFAs in red):

	Name	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-
1	Mats Sundin	TOR	74	32	46	78	17
2	Jaromir Jagr	NYR	82	25	46	71	8
3	Marian Hossa	PIT	72	29	37	66	-14
4	Kristian Huselius	CGY	81	25	41	66	10
5	Cory Stillman	OTT	79	24	41	65	-15
6	Pierre-Marc Bouchard	MIN	81	13	50	63	11
7	Brian Rolston	MIN	81	31	28	59	-1
8	Andrew Brunette	COL	82	19	40	59	5
9	Radim Vrbata	PHO	76	27	29	56	6
10	Markus Naslund	VAN	82	25	30	55	-7
11	Pavol Demitra	MIN	68	15	39	54	9
12	Corey Perry	ANA	70	29	25	54	12
13	Andrei Kostitsyn	MON	78	26	27	53	15
14	Antoine Vermette	OTT	81	24	29	53	3
15	Patrick O'Sullivan	LOS	82	22	31	53	-8
16	Ryan Malone	PIT	77	27	24	51	14
17	R.J. Umberger	COB	74	13	37	50	0
18	Mark Recchi	ATL	72	14	34	48	-18
19	Wojtek Wolski	COL	77	18	30	48	10
20	Brendan Shanahan	NYR	73	23	23	46	-2
21	Martin Straka	NYR	65	14	27	41	5
22	Sergei Fedorov	WAS	68	11	30	41	-5
23	Miroslav Satan	NYI	80	16	25	41	-11
24	Niklas Hagman	DAL	82	27	14	41	4
25	Joe Sakic	COL	44	13	27	40	-4
26	Marek Svatos	COL	62	26	11	37	13
27	Brooks Laich	WAS	82	21	16	37	-3
28	Jason Williams	CHI	43	13	23	36	-2
29	Valtteri Filppula	DET	78	19	17	36	16
30	Jarret Stoll	EDM	81	14	22	36	-23
31	Paul Gaustad	BUF	82	10	26	36	-4
32	Daniel Paille	BUF	77	19	16	35	9
33	Jan Hlavac	NAS	80	12	23	35	-1
34	Josef Vasicek	NYI	81	16	19	35	1
	Name	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-
1	Mark Streit	MON	81	13	49	62	-6
2	Brian Campbell	SAN	83	8	54	62	8
3	Mike Green	WAS	82	18	38	56	6
4	Michal Rozsival	NYR	80	13	25	38	0
5	Wade Redden	OTT	80	6	32	38	11
6	Jay Bouwmeester	FLA	82	15	22	37	-5
7	Andrej Meszaros	OTT	82	9	27	36	5
8	Ron Hainsey	COB	78	8	24	32	-7
9	John-Michael Liles	COL	81	6	26	32	2
10	Randy Jones	PHI	71	5	26	31	8
11	Rob Blake	LOS	71	9	22	31	-19
12	Joni Pitkanen	EDM	63	8	18	26	-5
13	Brad Stuart	DET	72	6	17	23	-10
14	Bryan Berard	NYI	54	5	17	22	-17
15	Christian Ehrhoff	SAN	77	1	21	22	9

This is what they mean when you hear it's not a strong free agent class: Only two players with more than 66 points last season, and quite a few guys coming off of down years.

Sundin and Rolston are the only 30-goal scorers, and there are only nine UFA defenders with 20 points or more.

The trick, in my mind, when it comes to free agency, is not necessarily getting the big fish. Rather, the players you want to add to your team (presumably one that's already near contention) are the undervalued ones.

Sundin, Jagr, Hossa — huge paydays. Campbell, Streit, Redden — ditto.

But someone like Rolston, who the Wild hard having a heckuva time signing, or Vrbata, who broke out for 27 goals despite big ice time with meagre linemates, could be closer to a home run, dpending on what the interest is like in their service.

On the blueline, Rozsival continues to be underrated, and players like Hainsey and Liles are young enough that you're getting potentially breakout years given the development timeline for defenders.

Note where Ryan Malone is on the list, despite the fact he lined up beside Sid Crosby or Evgeni Malkin all season.
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