The EURO League’s version of Black Friday in the US, where shoppers get more selfish than they have ever been, is almost upon us. Once the draft ends, we will move onto the Free Agent Frenzy, where teams can bid for the best puzzle pieces out there. 
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But before we start describing the mouth-watering entrees on this menu, let me issue a couple important reminders about the rules.
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Rule 7 is enabled in this league and that means veteran players who sign contracts in this step also get no-movement clauses. If you sign them, you will HAVE TO play them this season in your Pro or Scratch lineup. You won’t be able to trade them, or waive them, or send them to the farm club, or buy out their contracts. So be careful when you start considering players under 80OV. In the next step, also a free agent signing step, there will be no NMCs (No Movement Clause) and players will generally accept lower salaries because … well, they want to work.
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The system is like eBay or an online auction. If someone slides in during the last minute of a player’s thinking time and wins the auction, it’s legal. That possibility ticks off a lot of GMs, but that’s how the system is set up. The way I look at it is, if I can only afford to make one contract offer and I lose an auction on a good defenseman – and the only other good defenseman is 5 minutes away from deciding – I should be allowed to ask him to sign with me.
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OK, on to the players who are out there waiting to change your team’s fortunes this off-season. If you need an injection of experience and leadership, you have some candidates here. If you are looking for sheer shooting ability, you should be able buy it here. 
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If you are looking for a good goalie for this season, you will have many, many good ones to bid on. These starters all decided to test the free agency market at the same time, leaving you with some pro-level bidding and vigilance to conduct:

• Juuse Saros (Bern last season)
• Chris Dredger (Paris)
• Alexander Salak (Belfast)
• Jakub Kovar (Edinburgh)
• Andrew Hammond (London)
• Igor Shesterkin (Berlin)
• Andrei Vasilevsky (Prague)
• Ilya Sorokin (Gothenburg)
• Mackenzie Blackwood (Gothenburg)

And there is a chance these goalies won’t reach agreements with their clubs and also become available: 
Joonas Korpisalo (Copenhagen), Martin Jones (Tallinn) and Frederik Andersen (Gothenburg). As for Type 2 goalies who might be available, Milan’s Keith Petruzzelli still hasn’t agreed to return to the Don Vito Campana Family in Italy.
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Considering the other positions in a lineup, expect stiff competition if you are hoping for a defenseman who will make an impact.
While three good ones are still haggling with the teams, only four blueliners over 80OV will definitely be available: Travis Dermott (Bratislava), Rasmus Ristolainen (Minsk), Hampus Lindholm (Madrid) and Matthew Dumba (Bern). There is a chance Ryan Pulock (Milan), Shayne Gostisbehere (Bern) and Dougie Hamilton (Copenhagen) will also be available. 
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At center, one of the biggest (and longest) names in the game has decided Berlin might have become too exhausting for him. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the fifth-leading scorer of all time, has decided to test the free agent market. If you don’t think you can land RNH, there are other good options in Matt Duchene (Dublin), Sergei Mozyakin (Helsinki), Loic Lamperier (Berlin), Radek Faksa (Oslo) and Tyler Seguin (Helsinki).
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Need wingers? You might be in luck. Fifteen players who are 80OV or higher are testing the free agent market and another seven could join them. The one player who should cash in the biggest salary in the next couple of weeks is Alexander Aitken, the speedy waterbug LW of the Copenhagen Tridents. He’s 33 and he scored 83 points last season. Beneath him on the list are:

• Brendan Gallagher (Dublin)
• Vadim Shipachyov (Berlin)
• Sam Reinhart (Edinburgh)
• Alexey Toropchenko (Lisbon)
• Danton Heinen (London)
• Fyodor Malykhin (Minsk)
• Jake Virtanen (Berlin)
• Par Arlbrandt (Liverpool)
• Ondrej Palat (Paris)
• Dmitrij Jaskin (Madrid)
• Connor Brown (Tallinn)
• Teuvo Teravainen (Oslo)
• Timo Meier (Dublin)
• Tobias Reider (Stockholm) 

And there is some intrigue to come in the next day or two because Dublin has not reached an agreement with William Nylander, so the the skillful 31-year-old might be available to shoppers. Other wingers who might be released to free agency if they don’t get contracts from their current teams include Alexander Galchenyuk (Liverpool), Miks Indrasis (Belfast), Eli Sherbatov (Copenhagen). Nick Schmaltz (Belfast), Anthony Duclair (Minsk) and Mattias Sjogren (Belfast)