4 RFAs Becoming Trade Candidates This Summer

New York Rangers defenceman Braden Schneider

While the unrestricted free agent market is pretty slim pickings this summer, there are some notable names listed as restricted free agents. Teams have turned their attention to the trade market this offseason, and pending RFAs are on the radar of some rival clubs around the league.

To that end, Harman Dayal of The Athletic has proposed four RFAs who will become trade candidates this summer. He calls them "four fascinating RFA dilemmas," as there is probably a gap between what the player and his agent feels is fair value, vs. what the team’s perceived value of the player is, or what their future role might be.

*Note: Jason Robertson isn't on this list, because there is no disagreement on the player's worth or his future value — Dallas just needs to perform some cap callisthenics to make it work.

Simon Nemec, RD, NJ Devils

While AFP Analytics projects Nemec to command, on a long-term deal, an $8M AAV over seven years, there's a problem with that from the Devils' perspective.

"The 22-year-old owns some of the worst defensive metrics in the league — as of now, he isn’t worth anywhere close to an $8 million cap hit," writes Dayal.

"If the Devils don’t believe he’ll reach his long-term ceiling (especially defensively), there’s strong merit to the idea of leveraging Nemec as a trade chip while his stock around the league is still high to land the high-end, top-six forward the club needs."

Braden Schneider, RD, NY Rangers

Schneider took a big step up in ice-time this season (20:27 average TOI, up nearly three minutes from his previous high), but at the same time, his breakout as "a stud top-four piece" that the Rangers had been waiting for for the last five seasons has not yet happened.

"There’s a strong case to be made that the Rangers should trade Schneider for a significant return. He’d likely still be highly sought after because he’s 6-foot-3, right-handed and has a strong draft pedigree (19th overall, 2020), which are traits teams salivate over."

AFP Analytics pegs him at a six-year deal for a $6M AAV.

Olen Zellweger, LD, Anaheim Ducks

An excellent puck-mover, the 22-year-old obviously wasn't trusted by head coach Joel Quenneville when the chips were down, as he was healthy scratched for the first nine games of the Ducks' playoff run.

"I’d be surprised if the Ducks are willing to pay Zellweger in the $6.5 million AAV range, which is his projected cap hit on a long-term deal," writes Hayal. "They could sign him to a significantly cheaper bridge deal, but does kicking the can down the road make the most sense? If Zellweger stagnates due to a lack of opportunity and trust from the coaching staff, his trade value could depreciate."

Michael Kesselring, RD, Buffalo Sabres

There are no massive long-range projected RFA deals for Kesselring. His season was a disaster due to injury and underperformance.

"Kesselring may not have a path to a future top-four role anymore after Mattias Samuelsson’s out-of-the-blue breakout this season, plus the continued two-way growth of Bowen Byram and (Owen) Power."

Pair that up with the fact that Sabres GM Jarmo Kekalainen doesn't have the ties to him that former GM Kevyn Adams did after trading JJ Peterka for him, and you can easily envision a trade and a fresh start for Kesselring elsewhere.