While the Canucks were a team that was surprisingly linked to Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson earlier this morning, GM Jim Benning told Sportsnet’s John Shannon (Twitter link) that the team is not involved in discussions for the Ottawa blueliner. Given that Vancouver appears to be heading into at least a soft rebuild, giving up considerable assets for the pending unrestricted free agent would seem to be somewhat counterproductive. However, with more than $9MM in cap room at the moment (per CapFriendly), Vancouver would make some sense as a potential fit to get involved as a third party facilitator if someone needs to clear some short-term cap room or retain on Karlsson’s deal before flipping him, similar to what Vegas did with Derick Brassard last season.
Other notes from around the league:
- While this is the time of the offseason where veteran free agents typically have to take a tryout agreement to go to training camp, winger Jason Chimera told Postmedia’s Jim Matheson (Twitter link) that he’s unsure if he’d be willing to take a PTO. The 39-year-old is still a strong skater but saw his production drop considerably last season as he went from 20 goals and 33 points to just three and ten respectively. At this stage coupled with his struggles last season, it may be tough for him to land a guaranteed one-way pact so unless he’s open to the idea of a tryout, he will likely be on the outside looking in when the puck drops in October.
- UFA defenseman Terrance Amorosa has signed a one-year deal with San Diego of the AHL, affiliate of the Ducks, the minor league team announced. The former fifth-rounder of the Flyers became a free agent last week after failing to sign with Philadelphia and was one of the top players available in this free agent class.
Is “(Amorosa) was one of the top players available in this free agent class” in reference to the class of players that just became UFAs?
I think he means that Amorosa was one of the top collegiate free agents