There's an interesting twist on the free agents this year - thanks to the lockout pushing back the trade deadline, they'll be playoff elligible if signed quickly enough as their season will end before the deadline. Are there any that the B's should look at for depth? Unlike most years the prized ones aren't small, in fact they're huge.
Here's four that McKenzie profiled on TSN today. Any the B's should pursue?
McKenzie: Big is the operative word. There are a lot of really big, strong, physical college free agents that are going to become available as soon as their college seasons end. The first one is Kellan Lain from Lake Superior State, a 6'6 centre. This is a guy that in the next number of days is going to choose a team, probably in the Western Conference. Teams like Anaheim, Vancouver, and Phoenix are interested, but he's not among the top three guys that I have as a consensus from NHL teams.
That would be this group: Danny Dekeyser, who everybody wanted to come out of Western Michigan last year. Eight NHL general managers have been in to see the 6'3 mobile defenceman in the last couple of weeks. I think that Detroit, St. Louis, and Tampa Bay are among the frontrunners for Dekeyser; he's high profile.
Andrej Sustr, a 6'8 Czech defenceman who plays at Nebraska-Omaha, is on the All-WCHA team this year. Lots of teams are lining up to get him signed as soon as his season ends.
And Montreal-area product Antoine Laganiere from Yale is a big winger – 6'4, 215 lbs – who projects as a third- or fourth-liner.
This year's college free agent crop is not outstanding, but Dekeyser is the best of that group.
