The NHL offseason is almost over and preseason games are just a few weeks away. Even so, the restricted free agent market has yet to thaw and there are still unsigned free agent names out there like Jake Gardiner and Ben Hutton. It seems unlikely that these situations will continue through September, but neither show any signs of change in the coming days.
With the offseason moving at a snail’s pace 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 on the weekend.
If you missed our last edition it was split into two parts you can read here and here. In the first, Brian tackled questions regarding Kevin Shattenkirk’s fit in Tampa Bay, the early extension of Samuel Girard in Colorado and predicted what contracts the top restricted free agents would eventually get. The second part took a look at the possible next moves for the New York Rangers, David Backes’ future in Boston and speculated on some trade candidates that may be brought up in the future.
Which teams will surprise everyone and make or contend for a playoff spot and which teams will disappoint and shock us all?
Why haven’t other teams made offers to the remaining RFAs? I understand there are draft picks connected to them but this standoff looks like it will playing into the season.
Multi-part question:
What is your best guess at the new cap number when the TV deal kicks in, and when is that supposed to happen?
When that happens, what tier of players benefit most; the star players, the middle six type guy’s, or do teams start using more money to add better quality depth guy’s? Or do you think it’s somewhat even across the board?
Are you surprised the pens haven’t made a move to make room to get Petterson back here? How do you see them making it happen?
Are the Rangers a potential match for Puljarjvi?
Which players do you see having a bounce back season after a poor 18-19 season and which players are just in decline and will continue to get worse
Do Nick Backstrom or Braden Holtby get signed or do they hit the free agent market and what do you think their contracts would look like? Seems to me that the comparable for Backy is the Joe Thornton deal while Holtby is looking at a Bobrovsky style deal.
How do you think the Ranger goalie situation will play out?Which Russian will be Lundqvists’ partner?What happens to the odd man out?
What impact will the upcoming expansion draft have on this season? What potential moves could you see teams making to compensate for the expansion draft?
With the Wild kind of stuck in no-man’s land, will Parise (or Suter) agree to be traded to a contender; and if so, how much salary will the Wild need to eat? On a side note, is there any chance Zuccarello hasn’t signed that contract yet?
How does Boston get out from under the Backes contract? Taking into account his movement control, do you think it would be possible for Sweeney to find a buyer who will take on the entire contract if he was to package him with Torey Krug? I don’t see how they will manage to fit Krug into the budget if he is projected to be a 7-9 mil a year player after this season. The B’s have McAvoy and potentially Gryz to fill the PP void, do you see any potential matches for this scenario?