Snapshots: Outdoor Game, Fedun, Bonuses

After a report yesterday that the 2018 Winter Classic would be played at Citi Field in New York, there is some more news about outdoor games next season. Tomorrow, according to a report from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, the NHL will announce a game between the Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens that will take place at TD Place, the home of the Canadian Football League’s Ottawa Redblacks. The stadium, which sits in Lansdowne Park right along the Rideau Canal, will host the CFL’s Grey Cup just a few weeks prior and will have expanded seating still installed.

This would be the Senators first time hosting an outdoor game, and just their second appearance in one. In 2014, they were part of the Heritage Classic in Vancouver (where the Sens won 4-2) but will obviously welcome a chance to host their own. Honoring the first NHL game played in Ottawa on December 19th, 1917—when the original Ottawa Senators were in existence—the game is expected to be played around the same date. It will be Montreal’s fourth appearance as a visitor in an outdoor game, though they’ve never hosted one themselves.

• As rumored yesterday, the Buffalo Sabres have brought up Taylor Fedun from the AHL today prior to their game in Los Angeles. The team is in the middle of a four-game rad trip, and will not have Justin Falk in the lineup tonight or tomorrow against the Anaheim Ducks. Fedun has 25 games with the NHL club this season, recording seven points. A prolific point producer at the AHL level, Fedun has just 37 games under his belt in the NHL and has never been able to find a consistent role.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs have used their cap space over the past two years as something of an asset, acquiring bad contracts and burying them in the minors in order to get better returns on transactions. Brooks Laich, Milan Michalek and Colin Greening were all examples of this, and they now find themselves right up against the cap. As Chris Johnston of Sportsnet writes, that may end up costing them at least a few million next season as the bonuses for their young players will be taken as a penalty. Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and Nikita Zaitsev will all likely max out their Schedule A bonuses this season, and Matthew may trigger a $2MM Schedule B if he finishes in the top 10 for goals. If they decide to be big players in free agency, that Matthews bonus could be a big factor.