One of the NHL's biggest pests remains unsigned nearly 1 month into free agency

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Cooper Godin
July 29, 2024 (8:12)

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One of the National Hockey League's biggest pests remains unsigned nearly one month into free agency and it's unclear when he'll land his next deal.

As the summer rolls on, there are still plenty of free agents available that spent considerable time in the National Hockey League during the 2023-24 season and one of those is Nick Cousins, who is coming off a Stanley Cup championship with the Florida Panthers.

Cousins, who's been a pest in the National Hockey League for quite a while now, saw plenty of criticism during the 2023-24 campaign, including from former defenceman and current Sportsnet analyst Kevin Bieksa, who called him a 'rat' during a telecast back in January.

Bieksa went off on Cousins earlier this year after a series of dangerous hits by the then-Florida Panthers forward and not standing by the code and dropping the mitts.

""What people don't wanna watch and see is kneeing, hitting a guys head into the boards, ramming a guy from behind and that is a common theme for [Nick Cousins]," Bieksa said. "I have never done this before but I have to do it, because this is a trend with this player."

He added, "Somebody has to hammer this guy from the department of justice and put an end to these crappy hits because I hate em and that's a rat to me, I'm sorry it is."

Despite his reputation around the league among some players not being the greatest, there still could be value from contending teams to bring him in, but it remains to be seen whether that could be through a guaranteed deal or a professional tryout contract (PTO). If he's able to not cross the line, Cousins can be an interesting fourth line piece and plays a style that's needed in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that all teams are looking for. But the main thing for Cousins is as mentioned, don't cross the line as he did on a number of occasions last season.

In 69 games during the regular season last year, Cousins put up 15 points (seven goals, eight assists), 64 penalty minutes and was a plus-one. He went on to add one assist and 20 penalty minutes during 12 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Source: Hockey Feed
The most hated man in the NHL is still unsigned.