Fansided

25 top NHL free agents teams will be dying to sign in 2018

By David Rouben

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 30: James van Riemsdyk #25 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and John Tavares #91 of the New York Islanders battle for the puck during their game at the Barclays Center on October 30, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 30: James van Riemsdyk #25 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and John Tavares #91 of the New York Islanders battle for the puck during their game at the Barclays Center on October 30, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 26
Next
DENVER, CO – APRIL 18: Nashville Predators center Colton Sissons #10 fires a shot against Colorado Avalanche defenseman Patrik Nemeth #12 and scores on Colorado Avalanche goaltender Jonathan Bernier #45 in the second period during the fourth game of round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Pepsi Center April 18, 2018. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
DENVER, CO – APRIL 18: Nashville Predators center Colton Sissons #10 fires a shot against Colorado Avalanche defenseman Patrik Nemeth #12 and scores on Colorado Avalanche goaltender Jonathan Bernier #45 in the second period during the fourth game of round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Pepsi Center April 18, 2018. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images) /

24. Jonathan Bernier

Signing with the Colorado Avalanche gave Jonathan Bernier a new lease on life. His stint with the basement-dwelling Toronto Maple Leafs left a black mark on his career. But this year, he helped orchestrate a remarkable turnaround that saw the Avalanche go from worst team in the NHL to a playoff berth.

While the regular season didn’t go the way he would’ve liked — he only played 37 games because of injury — he was called upon to start in the playoffs once Semyon Varlamov went down. He didn’t have a great series against the Nashville Predators, but when Filip Forsberg is scoring highlight-reel goals every other play, there’s not much you can do.

Why he’s in demand: Bernier went down again in the playoffs, allowing Andrew Hammond to fill in for him and, briefly, steal the spotlight with a throwback Hamburglar performance in Game 5. Because of that, it’s possible the Avalanche would rather hold on to Hammond as their backup goalie while letting Bernier walk.

Bernier proved, in spurts, that he can contribute on a good team. A .913 save percentage and 2.85 goals against average is nothing to sneeze at. Even if he’s signed to be a back-up goalie, you could do worse than him as an insurance option.

Teams with the best chance to sign him: Given that the Philadelphia Flyers’ goaltending situation is constantly in flux, they should be in the mix to sign Bernier. The only question is if he’d be comfortable with starting games every other week.

The Carolina Hurricanes could be an attractive option — depending on what they do with Cam Ward, he could be in line to start for them. And the Edmonton Oilers should also take a shot at him, if only to give Cam Talbot a platoon partner — a big reason why they regressed last season was because Talbot’s heavy workload the season prior proved to be too much.

Home/NHL Free Agency