While there weren’t as many big moves around the league, it was still quite the busy week. On top of the announcement of the NHL Awards, the salary cap getting set at $79.5MM, and 217 prospects being drafted, there were still several other notable stories around the league over the past seven days.
1) Kovalchuk To Kings: While the contract can’t officially be signed until July 1st, the first major domino of the free agent market has already fallen as the Kings have agreed to terms on a three-year, $18.75MM contract with winger Ilya Kovalchuk. The 35-year-old was one of the top goal scorers in the NHL before he departed for the KHL five years ago. He has been quite productive during that stretch and clearly, the Kings believe that he will be able to produce at a high level in his return. It’s worth noting that this contract will not absolve the Devils of any of the salary cap recapture penalties that they incurred when he ‘retired’ back in 2013; they will continue to carry an annual $250K penalty through the 2024-25 season.
2) Hoffman Traded, Then Dealt Again: With some behind the scenes making it a guarantee that the Senators would move winger Mike Hoffman, the deal came to fruition when he was dealt to the Sharks along with minor league defender Cody Donaghey and a 2020 fifth-round pick for winger Mikkel Boedker, prospect blueliner Julius Bergman, and a 2020 sixth-rounder. In Boedker, the Sens pick up a speedy winger that they hope can fill a middle-six role for the next couple of seasons.
However, Hoffman’s journey didn’t end there. San Jose then flipped him to the Panthers along with their seventh-rounder from this weekend’s draft in exchange for a trio of draft picks – Florida’s fourth- and fifth-rounders from this past weekend plus their 2019 second-round pick. From San Jose’s perspective, they wind up clearing out Boedker’s $4MM for the next two years while adding some draft picks; they’re going to be factors either in free agency or the trade market over the next week or two. As for Florida, Hoffman should fit in nicely on their second line and makes an already decent attack that much deeper.
3) Flames, Hurricanes Make Five-Player Trade: There wasn’t a whole lot of player movement at the draft but there was one deal of significance. The Hurricanes, who have been looking to shake up their roster all offseason, dealt defenseman Noah Hanifin and center Elias Lindholm (both pending restricted free agents) to Calgary in exchange for defender Dougie Hamilton, winger Micheal Ferland, and the rights to prospect blueliner Adam Fox. The Flames hope that Lindholm will be a better fit in their top-six than Ferland who is more better suited to be a bottom-six player while Carolina is counting on Hamilton, a more offensive-minded defender to make a bigger contribution than Hanifin over the next few years.
4) Trotz Leaves Capitals, Joins Islanders: Barry Trotz’s contract situation with the Capitals was a storyline for most of the year. He was entering the final year of his deal with no extension on the horizon. It turns out that winning the Stanley Cup gave him an automatic two-year, $3.6MM extension. At the time his initial deal was done, that was closer to market value for coaches but with the recent explosion in coaching salaries, that’s no longer the case. Unable to come to terms with the Caps on a revised deal, Trotz decided to resign.
However, he wasn’t on the open market for long. Just days later, he was scooped up by the Islanders, who handed him a five-year deal worth roughly $4MM per season which gives him more than double the amount per season than he’d have received on his Washington deal. While the hiring didn’t stop top UFA John Tavares from saying he’d meet with teams during this week’s interview period, his addition certainly shouldn’t hurt New York’s chances of keeping him around while giving them some stability behind the bench regardless.
5) Carlson Stays Put: The top defenseman in free agency isn’t going to make it to the open market after all. While he did get a little bit of interest when the interview period, Capitals defenseman John Carlson focused on getting a contract done in Washington and they did just that, agreeing on an eight-year, $64MM pact. Just a few days ago, it seemed like they would have difficulty being able to afford to keep him but they were able to include veteran blueliner Brooks Orpik as part of the Philipp Grubauer trade to Colorado to free up the necessary funds. With Carlson off the market, Detroit’s Mike Green becomes the top offensive blueliner available.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Fun week