Here’s a rundown of the original content from PHR over the past seven days.
Sami Vatanen is one of the more notable UFA defensemen still on the market. He’s not far removed from being perceived as a core player but clearly, that has changed with him being unsigned. Injuries the last two seasons certainly haven’t helped his cause. Zach took a look at his situation to see where the right fits for him may be and how much lower his contract will be relative to our original projection of a $4.875MM AAV.
As the league trends towards younger and faster players, some veterans have been getting squeezed out in recent years and the state of the current market has made even more notable ones feel the pinch. Which one is the best one still left to sign? Cast your vote in our poll here. At the moment, Zdeno Chara and Corey Perry are battling for the lead.
Seattle’s entry into the NHL is still a season away although we have already seen some teams make moves with the expansion draft in mind. One of the teams that hasn’t is Anaheim. Gavin provided an overview of their goaltending situation relative to expansion rules and it’s clear that since they’re not going to want to expose John Gibson, they will have to make a move at some point to add one that meets the exposure criteria. Considering they’re one of the teams still looking for a backup goaltender, it’s possible that they go that route to fill that need although they do have other options.
Like Vatanen, Travis Hamonic is another notable blueliner that somewhat surprisingly doesn’t have a team as we reach the one-month mark of free agency. While he’s coming off a quieter year offensively, he can still log more than 20 minutes a night in a key defensive role. I assessed his situation and it’s clear that he’ll also be checking in with a contract that is lower than our initial projection of a $4.167MM AAV.
There have been some significant trades over the offseason as teams reshape their roster or cleared out sizable contracts. Which one will have the biggest impact? Make your pick by voting in our poll. Vancouver’s acquisition of Nate Schmidt from Vegas is the early leader.