How About Some Free Agent Love for Oleg Kvasha?

With all of the humming and hawing about how insane the free agent market is, there are still great deals to be had. Yes, some players can help a squad and not break the bank.

While my colleague Mirtle had his little list of free agent bargains (though paying more than $5 for Andy Sutton is too frickin much), he keeps forgetting about poor old Oleg Kvasha.

That's right, the very Oleg Kvasha that inspired the worst music video of all time.

I am amazed that nobody has considered this 2-way, in-his-prime, smooth-skating forward as a free agent signing. For the money a team spends on the likes of a way-over-the-hill Bill Guerin, why not sign a guy who can play well at all facets of the game, and for half the salary?

SEASON TEAM GP G A PTS
02-03   NYI 69 12 14 26
03-04   NYI 81 15 36 51
05-06   NYI 49  9 12 21
05-06   PHX 15  4  7 11

I realize that Kvasha has frustrated some mediots and scouts because he hasn't put up huge offensive numbers, despite being able to do things like this.

Well, Oleg doesn't quite have THAT much talent. What he does have, though, is the ability to play all forward positions, the ability to kill penalties (He was Jason Blake's regular PK partner), and good playmaking skills.

Last season, Kvasha had to play in the Russian league because the New CBA worked against him and others like him. His salary range of about $1,178,000 (What he made before the lockout) made it hard for clubs to sign him. Teams either spent big (Martin St. Louis), or spent small (Josh Green).

Now with the salary cap at $50mil+, there is more than enough room for Kvasha and his 6'5" frame in the league. If an NHL teams wants a good bargain, they ought to sign this guy and stick him on the 2nd or 3rd line.