While cap space is next to non-existent for St. Louis right now, they did make an offer to pending unrestricted free agent Alex Pietrangelo this week, reports TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link). The veteran is the top defenseman available in this free agent class and that should keep his market rather robust, even in the face of a flattened salary cap. The Blues already have more than $79MM in payroll commitments for next season which doesn’t leave much room to work with on an $81.5MM Upper Limit and Pietrangelo likely commanding anywhere from $8MM to $10MM per season. However, teams can be over the cap by up to 10% in the offseason so if they can reach an agreement with the 30-year-old, they can have him sign it and then focus on freeing up cap room to be in compliance once 2020-21 gets underway.
Elsewhere out West:
- The Coyotes will be parting ways with a pair of coaches next week. Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider reports (Twitter link) that assistant coach John MacLean and video coach Steve Peters won’t have their contracts renewed next week. MacLean spent the last three years in Arizona as an assistant while he also has NHL coaching experience with New Jersey and Carolina. Meanwhile, Peters had been in his role since 1996.
- Avalanche goaltender Adam Werner is expected to start next season on loan to HC Vita Hasten of the Allsvenskan in Sweden, notes Henrik Sjoberg of HockeyNews.se. The 23-year-old made his NHL debut this season as he got into two games with Colorado but spent most of the season in the minors, posting a .909 SV% along with a 2.92 GAA in 33 AHL contests. He’ll be able to join them as soon as the loan agreement is finalized as he is not among the three goalies on Colorado’s playoff roster.