PHR Originals: 8/19/19 – 8/25/19

Here’s a rundown of the original content here at PHR over the past seven days.

Our 2007 redraft poll series continues and there has already been a big departure from the actual results of the first round.  James van Riemsdyk dipped from going second overall to the number eight selection while Wayne Simmonds, the final pick of the second round that year (61st), jumped all the way to ninth.  Florida is currently on the clock with the number ten pick and there’s still time to vote on their selection.

We continue our look at the Metropolitan Division with our Salary Cap Deep Dive series.  I took a look at the situations for the Blue Jackets and Devils while Holger did the same for the Islanders and Rangers.  Even after buying out Kevin Shattenkirk earlier this summer, the Rangers still have some work to do to get cap compliant and at least reduce the risk of being hit with a big bonus overage penalty for 2020-21.  Accordingly, they’ll be a team to watch for in the coming weeks.

Gavin held his weekly Thursday live chat.  Topics included potential trade candidates in Boston, some unsigned veterans that could find a new home, Bill Guerin’s hiring with Minnesota, the futures of a pair of blueliners that have been speculative trade candidates in Rasmus Ristolainen (Buffalo) and Justin Faulk (Carolina), and the slow RFA market.

With the NHL continuing to release their listing of best players by position, we continue our series of polls to compare the opinions of our readers with the list from the league.  Our poll this past week has been about the top defensemen in the NHL.  The current leaders are Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay), Brent Burns (San Jose), and Erik Karlsson (San Jose).

With the end of August quickly approaching, training camps are now only a few weeks away.  That means plenty of veteran players will be looking to secure a guaranteed deal in the coming days to avoid having to go the PTO route.  I reviewed the case for center Riley Sheahan while Holger broke down the potential suitors for veteran defenseman Marc Methot who missed most of last season due to injury but has started skating again.