Michael DeNicola

Sir Joseph Bogle

We saw it last off-season with Ilya Kovalchuk. We're seeing this off-season with Steven Stamkos.

So which unrestricted/restricted free agent's gonna hit the market next summer and cause another enormous, dramatic splash that we all wish would just....go....away?

Joe Bogle and I took a gander on CapGeek.com at some of the UFA/RFA's in 2012. Considering some of their egos, their accomplishments, hype and/or age, we've come up with a possible Top 5 Candidates who the NHL nation won't shut the hell up about come mid-June next calander year. 

Now, it's not always the player's fault. Sometimes he truly deserves a significant pay raise  but his employer simply cannot afford to sign the check. 

Other times it's difficult not to blame the player. Like in Kovalchuk's case the summer of 2010; Everyone I know just wanted to waltz up to the 27 year old Russian and deck him so hard over the mouth that Joseph Stalin's femur bone would break in his grave. 

But then you've got these young, douchey looking defensemen who no one likes. Not even his own hometown fans. Of course by "douchey looking" I mean....