While the Hurricanes are still waiting to hear from Justin Williams regarding his plans for next season, GM Don Waddell told Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer that he thinks the winger may be leaning towards returning and is hoping for a final decision in the near future. Williams had previously indicated that he’d either re-sign with Carolina or retire. The veteran is coming off a solid 2018-19 season that saw him collect 53 points in 82 regular seasons games and chipped in with seven more in 15 postseason contests. The Hurricanes have been relatively quiet with player movement up front this summer and it appears they’re waiting to see what Williams plans to do before doing much else.
Elsewhere around the Metropolitan Division:
- The Islanders are hoping to add to their center depth this offseason, GM Lou Lamoriello told reporters, including Newsday’s Andrew Gross. Three of their top four are set with Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson, and Casey Cizikas but a vacancy was created when Valtteri Filppula left for Detroit in free agency. Lamoriello indicated they could save the spot for one of their prospects (or a couple of college players they have interest in) but it’s possible that they could look to someone like Derick Brassard or veteran Brian Boyle, players that will likely require only a short-term commitment to bring into the fold.
- The contract that Sergei Bobrovsky received from Florida presents a bit of a conundrum for the Capitals, suggests J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington. Braden Holtby is now a year away from free agency and has comparable career numbers to Bobrovsky but Washington would have a tough time handing him a new deal with an AAV around the $10MM mark. However, given where they are in terms of trying to be a win-now team, trading him isn’t really an option either. That puts them in a situation where they could potentially be losing their starter a year from now for nothing but there is plenty of time for that to change.
The Capitals also have two really good goalie prospects in the minors. Ilya Samsonov is the more highly touted of the two & he had a great second half last season. Vitek Vanecek doesn’t get the press that Samsonov does, but he has turned into a really good goalie. The two played really well as a tandem in Hershey last season. Samsonov will have to be protected in the Seattle expansion draft & the Caps aren’t going to want to lose him. This is why I can’t see the Caps giving Holtby a long-term deal
Holtby isn’t worth anywhere near $10M a year. His last couple of seasons haven’t been good
Wouldn’t it be nice if Holts re-upped for a *reasonable* number & term? Unless, of course, the wheels come completely off this season for some unforeseen reason…
I was coming to the comment section to say this exact same thing but you beat me to it. Sadly, not a good chance holtby returns unless he takes a short term contract that makes him a free agent the year of the expansion draft
i can see that to be honest. he may want to avoid the Fleury situation of being forced to go to an expansion team simply because his contract forced his team to expose him
if he asks for a NMC in his next deal he cant be exposed to the expansion draft unless he approves.