Mid-July typically isn’t the busiest on the NHL calendar but there was quite a bit of notable news over the past seven days. Unfortunately, not all of it was good with former NHL netminder Ray Emery passing away at the age of 35 on Sunday. Here are five other big stories from the past week.
Kucherov Signs Long-Term: For the second time this month, the Lightning wasted little time signing a key player to a long-term extension. This time it was their top scorer in Nikita Kucherov getting locked up as he inked an eight-year, $76MM contract, making him the eighth highest-paid forward in the league for 2019-20 when the deal kicks in. The contract also contains a no-move clause beginning in 2020-21, the first season that he is eligible for one. Tampa Bay now has nearly $66MM tied up in just a dozen players for 2019-20 so they will likely have to do some salary cap manoeuvering between now and then.
Hossa Traded: While his playing days are finished, winger Marian Hossa has seen his NHL rights get traded from Chicago to Arizona in a seven-player deal. As compensation for taking on the contract, the Coyotes most notably picked up young forward Vincent Hinostroza while veteran center Marcus Kruger was the highlight of the return going to the Blackhawks. Chicago now has freed up some salary cap flexibility as Hossa carries a $5.25MM cap charge for three more years on his heavily frontloaded deal so many believe they have another move on the way. Meanwhile, the Coyotes add an intriguing player in Hinostroza and will only be responsible for paying $200K of Hossa’s $1MM in salary in each season with insurance picking up the remaining 80%.
Hellebuyck Signs Six-Year Deal: Winnipeg is going to be a busy team in the next few weeks as they still have several players to re-sign. That list is now one player shorter after they put pen to paper on a six-year, $37MM contract with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. The 25-year-old is coming off the best season of his brief NHL career; he led the league in both games played (67) and wins (44) last season while helping lead the Jets to the Western Conference Final. Hellebuyck will have a new backup playing behind him next year with the departures of Steve Mason (trade to Montreal and subsequent buyout) and Michael Hutchinson (signed with Florida). Laurent Brossoit, who cleared waivers midseason, will now back him up and given his limited NHL track record, there’s a decent chance that Hellebuyck will be among the league leaders in playing time once again.
Canadiens Won’t Pursue A Pacioretty Extension: Montreal winger Max Pacioretty has been part of trade speculation for a while now and that picked up even more following a report that said that the captain has been told that the team will not be signing him to a new deal and that they intend to trade him as soon as possible. The 29-year-old has one year left on his contract with a $4.5MM cap hit and is believed to be looking for a significant raise on his next deal after being one of the more consistent goal scorers in the league heading into last season. However, he’s coming off of a fairly quiet 2017-18 campaign that saw him score just 17 times in 64 games which certainly doesn’t help his leverage for a new deal and Montreal’s leverage in trade discussions.
Vegas Locks Up Fleury: Last month, Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made it known that his preference was to stay with Vegas for the rest of his career. That goal has come one step closer to becoming a reality as he signed a three-year, $21MM extension that is set to commence in 2019-20. Fleury had a very strong first season in the desert as he posted new career marks in goals-against-average (2.24) and save percentage (.927), numbers that he duplicated in the Golden Knights’ improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final. If Vegas gets even close to that type of play from Fleury over the life of this new deal, they’ll be in good shape between the pipes for a while.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.