Matt Duchene, Blake Wheeler rocket toward the top of Daily Faceoff’s top 50 free agents

An unusually thin free-agent crop in another flat cap summer was injected with some much-needed intrigue on Friday when Blake Wheeler and Matt Duchene were bought out of the final years of their contracts with the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators.

Two $8 million players, who hadn’t quite lived up to their pay last season, will now hit the market on Saturday with a chance to double dip next season and get paid from two clubs simultaneously.

Both Duchene and Wheeler rocketed toward the top of Daily Faceoff‘s top 50 free-agents ranking on the eve of the free-agent window opening on Saturday at noon ET. (Be sure to check out Daily Faceoff’s two-hour live stream from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.)

Duchene, 32, scored 65 goals over the last two seasons, including a 43-goal campaign in 2021-22. Wheeler, 36, has very quietly averaged 71 points over an 82-game pace over the last four seasons. That’s down from the twin 91-point seasons he strung together for the Jets that earned him the $42 million deal recently bought out.

Wheeler is eligible for an “over-35” bonus-incentivized contract structure. It will be interesting to see what Duchene prioritizes on the market, whether it’s a chance to contend on a short-term, short-money deal that may set him up for next season when the cap increases or more stability and term with his young family.

Either way, the class of 2023 got a whole lot more interesting on Friday. Here are a few other nuggets:

• Sounds like there is significant interest in Max Pacioretty coming off a re-ruptured Achilles that limited him to five games in Carolina. Teams indicated the Canes have granted Pacioretty permission to peruse the market early. Pacioretty and Connor Brown (ACL tear) are both eligible to sign performance bonus-based deals by virtue of being on the injured list for more than 100 days last season.
• The San Jose Sharks have yet to make progress on a new deal with newly acquired goalie Mackenzie Blackwood, who can become a UFA on Saturday without a $3.36 million qualifying offer. Blackwood hasn’t made the board yet because he isn’t a UFA, but the goalie market will be fascinating. Cam Talbot, Laurent Brossoit, James Reimer, Anthony Stolarz, Jaroslav Halak and Martin Jones are just a few of the other goalies available outside of the top 50.
• Max Comtois joined the board as one of the pending RFA players not qualified by his club. He was due a $2.4 million qualifying offer. That list will go once teams officially decide not to qualify others on Friday at 5pm.
• Similarly, it sounds like Matthew Phillips will hit the market on Saturday. Calgary has made an offer to the Group VI UFA, believed to be a two-year deal, and the door isn’t closed on a return. But for a young player who has been one of the best in the AHL the last few years, more opportunity elsewhere has to be attractive.

Here are the top 50 pending free agents, with salary projections courtesy of @AFPAnalytics.