A handful of interesting players were not signed to qualifying offers by Monday’s deadline. St. Louis Blues forward Nail Yakupov, Colorado Avalanche forward Mikhail Grigorenko, and Calgary Flames forward Alex Chiasson were all unsigned, and are set to become unrestricted free agents on Saturday. Each of those players have had a measure of NHL success, but their flaws mostly outweigh any potential upside.
The same cannot be said of New Jersey Devils right wing Beau Bennett. He’s flawed, sure, but is far more intriguing than other players who were not tendered qualifying offers. While he may never live up to his status as a 2010 first round pick, he demonstrated last season that he is a capable NHL player, and is worth exploring as a cheap, bottom six option.