Free agent frenzy has come and gone, though several interesting names remain available. The market is being held up by a huge crop of outstanding restricted free agents, ready to demand expensive contracts that will eat up cap dollars and limit other opportunities to spend. The dog days of summer are almost here, and hockey fans are starting to put away their favorite sweater only to find out their local baseball team is already 90 games into the MLB season.
Still, there are minor signings happening daily and trade rumors still bubbling up now and again. The most hardcore fan may be dissecting the cap to find out just how much their team can offer Jake Gardiner and Micheal Ferland (update: apparently the answer is $14MM), while also figuring out a young player to target with their leftover draft capital. There are still teams that will improve over the coming weeks and set themselves up for a run at the Stanley Cup in 2020.
With that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of our mailbag. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. Make sure you get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through as many as possible when the mailbag runs this weekend.
If you missed our last edition, it was split into two parts that you can read here and here. The first tackled issues like Jacob Trouba’s next contract and predicted trades for both Phil Kessel and Cody Ceci, which each happened within just a few days. The second took a look at the free agent market and examined how the New York Rangers could be a good fit for Artemi Panarin.
Do the Rangers trade someone, like Kreider or Shattenkirk, or buy someone out, like Smith or Shattenkirk, to get more cap room to sign their RFAs?
If the Isles do not offer sheet Marner or Laine, what move(s) do you expect them to make this Summer?
Why aren’t we seeing more offer sheets this year? I understand everyone wants to “play nice” but with so many teams up against the cap and unlikely to match, its bizarre that no one but Montreal has tried to take advantage. If you have the opportunity to put out an offer sheet on a guy you want, the worst case scenario is you’re forcing a team to tie up cap space giving you a deadline advantage when they run into more cap challenges. Slims down the competition. Maybe I’m too cutthroat…
What’s the likelihood that the Blackhawks find a taker for Keith/Seabrook or Anisimov? What kind of return could you expect?
For teams up closes to the cap ceiling, what happens if a RFA with Arbitration rights is given more money than the team can spend, or would force a trade to be made in order to have him on the team. Can the team refuses to sign him? Or would you have to sign them, then waive them?
Whats with the hate for Ryan Dzingel? The biggest knock on the guy is that his production dipped when his ice time and exposure to top line guys went down. Seems that would be the case for anyone, doesnt it? One could make the case that even the leagues biggest stars would suffer a decline in production if they were relegated to third line minutes with third line talents around them.
What I’m getting at is, as an Avs fan, Sakic’s moves tell me that he thinks Burakovsy and Donskoi are ready to step up productivity with larger roles, why not go get Dzingel who has already proven he can do that? Doesnt make alot of sense to me.
Who will be the first high-profile RFA to sign (not names Aho)? Are they all playing the waiting game to see who gets what for leverage?
Are the additions of Bobrovsky, Connolly, and Quenneville and a full uninjured season of Trocheck enough to get the Panthers back in the playoffs? And how much will they regret that Bobrovsky contract next year when they are paying goaltenders 13+ million and still need to resign or replace Montembeault, Hoffman, Weegar, and Dadonov?
Is the fact that Gusev is an UFA after this next contract (even if it is only one-year) and that he would have to be protected in the expansion draft by any team (other than Vegas who is exempt) hurting his trade market? Also, we already saw how they deftly maneuvered in their own expansion draft (really the only mistake was drafting Oscar Lindberg over Antti Raanta), how might Vegas exploit the fact that they are exempt? I am assuming that they are already planning this.
What does the industry think of Evolving Wild’s model of contract projections. They seem to have done an overall decent job this offseason, I mean NOBODY was expecting Tanev to get 6 years, but their model was only $300k off in predicting what a 6-year contract for him would look like.
Are you as puzzled as I am that Carolina would take on Marleau’s full contract for this season instead of using that money to acquire a top 6 forward? The pick they got in the trade with the Leafs will likely be a low first rounder, seems to me that they could’ve that 6.25M for a better asset.
M34,
Dzingel sucks!
It does not appear the Blues have any intention of trading Jake Allen at this time. If that changes, what kind of trade value do you think he has? + or -?
The Sabres: Is it still possible that Risto Ristolanien could be traded for a forward. I like the moves so far but I think they need to add some grit up front like signing Ferland or acquiring a player in a trade. What do you think??
What are the Kings doing? We sucked last year and we have added none to make us better?
Greg S teams can walk away from an arbitrators ruling. the player would then become a UFA.
Does Pat Maroon resign with the Blues?
Where does DZING and Gardiner best fit (assuming they are still unsigned when you get to this)