With the hockey world being squarely in the summer doldrums, there has been plenty of original content here at PHR over the past week.
Our look at the salary cap situation continued as we wrapped up the Pacific Division. I took a look at the numbers for San Jose and Vancouver while Holger did the same for Vegas. We also kicked off our look at the Metropolitan Division as Holger broke down Carolina’s situation; while their reputation is that of a lower-spending team, they’re going to be pretty tight to the $81.5MM salary cap for the upcoming season.
After polling our readers for their listing of the top centers in the league, we’ve done the same for the wingers. Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, Chicago’s Patrick Kane, and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov currently hold the top three spots but there’s still time vote.
While there aren’t many big names left on the unrestricted free agent market, there are some intriguing depth options and possible reclamation projects available. A player in the first category is defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who Holger profiled. While he was overpaid on his contract with the Flyers, he could still potentially fill a sixth or seventh role for next season. Meanwhile, a player in the latter category is winger Valeri Nichushkin who Holger also examined. The tenth overall pick in 2013 had a disastrous year in Dallas as he went the entire season without a goal but he’s not far removed from being someone envisioned as being a top-six power forward. He’d be a good candidate to consider for a rebuilding team.
Our 2007 redraft series continues. Winger Jakub Voracek moved up a spot to go number six to Edmonton which means Columbus is now on the board. Click here to cast your vote.
The back half of our mailbag is now available. Topics that I covered in this edition are what’s next for the Rangers, what may need to happen for a David Backes trade, teams that could surprise next season, possible trade candidates between now and the start of the preseason, and Ottawa’s lack of spending.
Last month, the Wild parted ways with general manager Paul Fenton. Which GM will be the next one to be let go? Make your prediction here.