Archives for June 2021

Expansion Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning

June 15, 2021 at 8:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 11 Comments

Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, who will likely warrant protection, and which ones may be on the block to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing? Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4:00 PM CDT on July 17th. The full eligibility rules can be found here, while CapFriendly has an expansion tool to make your own lists.

Back in 2017, Tampa Bay made a side deal with Vegas to force them into taking defenseman Jason Garrison. The price they paid was fairly steep in Nikita Gusev plus second and fourth-round draft picks but it allowed them to retain two young blueliners in Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek. With their salary cap situation, it seems quite likely that the Lightning will be making a trade with Seattle to get them to pick a specific player.

Key Decisions

There are some problems that are good to have and having too many good players is certainly one of them. Without a side deal in place, it means that Tampa Bay is going to lose a good one no matter which route they go.

Let’s look at their defense first. Hedman and Sergachev are sure-fire bets to be protected but that’s about it. McDonagh is a key cog on their back end and logged nearly 22 minutes a game during the regular season and that has gone up slightly in the playoffs. He’s a big part of the puzzle. However, he’s also 32 years old and signed through 2026 at a $6.75MM AAV. With that term and price tag, could he safely be left unprotected?

That would leave at least one opening for a younger blueliner although there are a couple of players to consider for that potential last spot in a 7/3/1 scheme. Cernak took another step forward this season, spending a lot of it inside Tampa’s top four. He’s signed on a team-friendly bridge deal for two more years at $2.95MM and making him available would be very enticing for the Kraken.

Then there’s Foote. He only made his NHL debut this season in what was a very limited role but he’s also not that far removed from being a first-round pick as he was selected 14th overall back in 2017. He’ll need waivers beginning next year so he should be a full-timer on the roster at what should be a price tag of under $1MM on a short-term contract. Given their cap situation, it would be hard to part with a cheap roster player.

That cap situation will certainly dictate their approach with their forwards as well. Kucherov and Stamkos are automatic protectees while Point and Cirelli don’t have to be protected but are safe bets to be.

Normally, finishing fourth on the team in scoring would make a player be a safe bet to be protected but that’s not the case with Gourde. The small center played at a 25-goal, 52-point pace this season which is quite good but he’s on the books for four more years at $5.167MM. That’s not a bad return on the contract but knowing that they need to free up some money, he could be left unprotected.

Palat finished second in scoring behind only Point and even that isn’t enough to make him a lock to be protected. His price tag is certainly reasonable at $5.3MM and he only has one year left so it’s not a long-term drag on Tampa Bay’s cap. But if they want to protect four defensemen, Palat could very well be squeezed out.

Killorn is another long-time Lightning veteran that could feel the squeeze. He played at a 40-plus-point pace again this season and would have gotten there had it not been for the pandemic-shortened campaign which would have been the fourth straight year of getting to that mark. At $4.45MM, he’s not overly expensive either and with only two years left, it’s certainly a manageable deal. But again, they’re facing a situation where they simply have to move money out.

Before looking into some of the other forward candidates, let’s get to the obvious veteran on this list in Johnson. Tampa Bay clearly tried to move him last fall and when they couldn’t find a taker, they put him on waivers but had no luck there either. It’s not that he’s a bad player by any stretch, he’s just too expensive for the role he provides. He’s a capable middle-six center and if he was a free agent tomorrow, there would be plenty of interest. But the 30-year-old isn’t a free agent, he has three years left at a $5MM cap hit. The expectation is that the Lightning will try to make a deal to entice Seattle to take that contract off their hands but it will have to be a sizable premium paid as there will be quality players to pick from.

Knowing they will need some cost-efficient forwards as well, there could also be an inclination to try to protect one or more of them in a 7/3/1 scheme. Barre-Boulet held his own in his first taste of NHL action this season after being a consistently high scorer in the AHL. Joseph had a dozen goals this season while primarily playing on the fourth line while Stephens was a regular for more than half of last year. Even Katchouk, who doesn’t have any NHL experience, showed a lot with AHL Syracuse this season and should be in the mix for a roster spot next year. They all have some NHL upside and are all affordable which is a combination that they need to try to hold on to. Having said that, it would be hard to see those players crack their protected list.

Projected Protection List

F Anthony Cirelli
F Nikita Kucherov (NMC)
F Brayden Point
F Steven Stamkos (NMC)

D Erik Cernak
D Callan Foote
D Victor Hedman (NMC)
D Mikhail Sergachev

G Andrei Vasilevskiy

Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist

When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined. Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019/20 and 2020-21 combined. In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.

Forwards (6): Yanni Gourde, Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson, Mathieu Joseph, Pat Maroon, Ondrej Palat
Defensemen (2): Ryan McDonagh, Jan Rutta

In terms of who’s available from this list, Palat would be the most tempting choice and if they can’t find a side deal to force them to take Johnson (or another similarly-priced player), they could be at risk of losing their second-leading scorer. This was put together with the assumption that they’ll want to keep Foote, who will almost certainly play a bigger role next season, in the fold but if they are okay with losing him, they would be safer flipping to the 7/3/1 scheme with Palat, Killorn, and Gourde seeming like the safest bets to be protected. Either way, with so many talented players, they’re going to lose someone of note so expect GM Julien BriseBois to be active in trying to make a side deal control which one joins Seattle.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Otto Leskinen And Kalle Kossila Sign In KHL

June 15, 2021 at 7:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

A pair of pending free agents have decided to not wait to test NHL free agency and have instead opted to sign overseas. Jokerit of the KHL announced today that they’ve signed defenseman Otto Leskinen and center Kalle Kossila to two-year contracts.

Leskinen signed with Montreal as an undrafted free agent back in 2019 and has spent the majority of his two seasons with them at the AHL level, only getting into six NHL games along the way. However, the 24-year-old had 17 points in just 33 games with Laval which was enough to earn a recall to their reserve squad for the playoffs. The Canadiens will be able to retain his NHL rights with a qualifying offer and considering that Leskinen won’t be UFA-eligible until 2024 (a year after this contract expires), they likely will do so.

As for Kossila, he last saw NHL action back in 2018-19 when he was with Anaheim and he has 19 career NHL contests under his belt. While he hasn’t been able to lock down an NHL job, the 28-year-old has been quite productive in the minors which was enough to earn a two-year deal from Toronto back in 2020 with this season being a one-way deal. While he led the Marlies in scoring this season, he may not have been able to command another one-way deal so he’ll instead try his hand back home with Finland’s lone KHL squad. He was set to be an unrestricted free agent late next month.

Oskar Lindblom Wins 2020-21 Bill Masterton Trophy

June 15, 2021 at 6:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Over the next couple of weeks, the NHL will be revealing some of their award winners during the pregame show or intermission of games in the semifinals. Today was the Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey”. This year’s recipient is Flyers winger Oskar Lindblom.

Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, back in December 2019, causing him to miss the rest of the regular season. However, with the pandemic delaying the playoffs until the summer, he was able to get into a couple of games in the bubble while he was a finalist for the Masterton as well. This season, the 24-year-old played in all but six of Philadelphia’s 56 games this season, recording 14 points while averaging a little over 13 minutes per game. More importantly, he was ruled cancer-free at the one-year anniversary of his diagnosis.

Lindblom is the fourth Flyer to win the award, joining Bobby Clarke (1972), Tim Kerr (1989), and Ian Laperriere (2011) as Philadelphia recipients.

The other two finalists for the award were San Jose’s Patrick Marleau who became the all-time games played leader and Minnesota’s Mathew Dumba, a co-founder of the Hockey Diversity Alliance.

Offseason Checklist: Dallas Stars

June 15, 2021 at 6:50 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The offseason has arrived with roughly half of the league missing the playoffs and several more having since been eliminated. It’s time to examine what those teams need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Dallas.

Just one season removed from an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final, the Stars wound up missing the playoffs altogether in 2020-21. Injuries from their run in the bubble certainly contributed to that although they also had several veterans that underachieved. Nevertheless, with Ben Bishop and Tyler Seguin returning next season, Dallas will be adding a pair of important pieces back to their lineup without needing to make many moves. However, there are still some items for GM Jim Nill to accomplish this summer.

Add Scoring Winger

With Seguin, Jamie Benn, Joe Pavelski, Roope Hintz, and Radek Faksa, Dallas is pretty well set down the middle for next season. At least one of them will have to move to the wing and while it may have seemed like it was going to be Benn, it doesn’t appear as if he will be the one doing so.

The Stars also have Alexander Radulov and Jason Robertson and on paper, it’s the makings of a pretty good offense. However, despite the collection of talented threats, they’re typically a middle of the pack team when it comes to scoring. And despite paying Benn and Seguin more than $19MM combined, they’re more of a score by committee type of team.

With Andrew Cogliano and Blake Comeau coming off the books, they have $5.65MM in money that could be put towards potentially adding another top-six piece on the wing that will score more than the nine goals those two veterans combined for this season. (Some of that will also go to their top RFA who will be covered momentarily.) That coupled with a return to health for Seguin and Radulov should be enough to push them from a team that’s a bit below average offensively to one that’s a bit above average. That should be worth a few more wins in the standings.

Re-Sign Heiskanen

Generally, a 21-year-old defenseman that averages basically half a point per game, has positive possession stats, and logs nearly 25 minutes a night would be viewed as having a great season. Yet for Miro Heiskanen, it almost felt like a bit of a letdown considering how dominant he was in the bubble. By no means was it a bad season – he played quite well – but the expectations were understandably so high that he underachieved a little bit.

It will be interesting to see if that affects Heiskanen’s contract talks as he enters restricted free agency for the first time (he does not have salary arbitration eligibility). Heading into the year, it felt like he was on a path to earn a max-term eight-year extension that bought out four UFA seasons but still gave him a shot at reaching the open market while being in the prime of his career.

That could ultimately still happen but his step back offensively poses some questions. Was his performance in the bubble an aberration? Was his dip this season a one-off or a sign of things to come? From Heiskanen’s point of view, if he believes he can get back to improving on his numbers in his first couple of seasons, he may be better off waiting a year or two and opting for a bridge deal. While it would take away some earning power when he reaches UFA eligibility, he’d certainly earn more signing a long-term deal then than he would now with this cap environment.

Meanwhile, Nill should still want to push for as long of a contract as possible. Even with him not quite living up to the very lofty expectations, he is still undoubtedly their franchise blueliner for years to come so if the opportunity presents itself to lock him up, it’s one they need to take.

If they wind up on a short-term pact instead, they’ll have a bit more flexibility to add a short-term win now piece as well but that’s basically only if they can get something done before the UFA period as it’s harder to add closer to the start of training camp. There is technically plenty of time to get a deal done between now and the start of next season but if they can get something done in the next six weeks, they’ll be better off for it.

Extension Talks For Klingberg

On top of working on Heiskanen’s file, the Stars will also be eligible to sign John Klingberg to an extension once the calendar flips to the 21-22 campaign in late July. The 28-year-old has been a fixture on their back end for the past seven years and their gamble in handing him a seven-year contract after his rookie season has panned out better than they could have hoped. Klingberg has given them plenty of production at a $4.25MM price tag which has wound up being well below market value.

He will be 30 when his next contract begins which presents Klingberg with a tough decision to make. Locking into a long-term deal now (or next summer with the cap likely still at $81.5MM) isn’t going to give him a higher AAV than if he waits. However, if he opted for a higher-priced, short-term contract extension, he’d then be too old to command a contract close to the maximum term when that deal came to an end. What’s better for him, locking in long-term and potentially leaving a bit of money on the table or bank on a cap increase over the next few years and the possibility for a slightly better payday?

In terms of cap planning, it shouldn’t be an issue for Dallas as Radulov and Pavelski ($13.25MM combined) will be coming off the books at the same time. Those veterans shouldn’t be able to command the same price tags they have now so some of the savings there will be able to go to Klingberg. With him having another year left, this isn’t something that has to get done but Nill has already indicated he’d like to work on this file this summer.

Add Defensive Upgrades

Between Heiskanen, Klingberg, and Esa Lindell, Dallas has a strong top half defensively. It falls off fairly quickly after that, however. Jamie Oleksiak is set to hit the open market this summer and after hovering around the 15 minute per game mark the previous two seasons, he logged over 20 minutes a night this year. Some of that was him stepping up but some of that was also out of necessity. Either way, he has positioned himself to earn more than the $2.1375MM he made this season so he’ll need to be brought back or replaced.

In terms of depth, Andrej Sekera is more of a sixth option at this point while Joel Hanley should be seventh or eighth on the depth chart. Sami Vatanen and Mark Pysyk don’t seem likely to return so this could be an opportunity for Nill to upgrade the third pairing. If they’re unable to bring in another top-four defender, raising the floor of that third pair will be needed, especially if they want to hedge against injuries. Thomas Harley could be in the mix at some point next year which would help but he’ll need some more time in the minors first and shouldn’t be counted on to make an immediate impact.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Snapshots: Hanley, Marlies, Kirk

June 15, 2021 at 4:35 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

In April, the Dallas Stars decided to hand depth defenseman Joel Hanley a two-year contract extension. At the time, it was clear that the deal had at least some level of expansion draft motivation, given he needed just three more games to fill the exposure requirements for Dallas. He did end up playing those games, finishing with 35 contests on the season, but will now face a long rehab. Hanley underwent successful surgery to repair a core muscle injury today. He is expected to be recovered in time for the 2021-22 season, though these surgeries are notorious for keeping players at less than full strength for some time after they are cleared to return.

Even though that extension was at least partially due to the expansion draft, it’s not like Hanley didn’t deserve it. The 30-year-old has been a perfect extra defenseman for the Stars the last few seasons, coming in and out of the lineup when necessary to provide bottom-pairing minutes. He even played in 12 games during last year’s bubble playoffs, scoring his first NHL goal to open the scoring in game one of the Stanley Cup finals.

The Toronto Marlies have signed a pair of forwards, inking Antti Suomela and Ryan Chyzowski to AHL contracts today. Suomela, 27, has played in 51 NHL games, all with the San Jose Sharks and was acquired by the Maple Leafs in a deal for Alexander Barabanov at the deadline. Chyzowski perhaps is the more interesting of the pair, if only because of his age. The 21-year-old undrafted forward has spent the last five seasons with the Medicine Hat Tigers and scored 11 goals and 29 points in the shortened 2020-21 campaign. Chyzowski is on a two-year minor league deal, while Suomela signed for just one.
When Liam Kirk was selected by the Arizona Coyotes 189th overall in 2018, he became the first player born and trained in England to be drafted. The Sheffield Steelers product then spent two seasons in the OHL, before heading overseas once again in 2020-21. Just recently, Kirk put the NHL on notice when he scored seven times to tie for the lead at the World Championship, despite his Great Britain team only 13 goals in the whole tournament. Now, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports, Kirk has been given permission to speak to other teams around the league despite still being under the control of Arizona. His draft rights will expire next June, so a trade would actually have to happen before he could sign an entry-level contract.

Vancouver Exploring Short-Term Deals With Elias Pettersson

June 15, 2021 at 3:14 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 5 Comments

The Vancouver Canucks have more than $66.5MM in cap hits committed to next season. Their two best players are still unsigned. Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes will both become restricted free agents this summer and will be demanding substantial raises off their entry-level contracts. Today, agent J.P. Barry of CAA Sports spoke with Rick Dhaliwal of the Athletic and CHEK TV, explaining that the two sides are exploring shorter-term deals with Pettersson:

We’re going to look at everything, but I think that anything for Pettersson will be five (years) or under, and we will have to look at with Quinn whether we can do a little more or not.

Barry was clear that the comparables for Pettersson, at least most of them, have taken short-term deals around the league. Mathew Barzal, for instance, agreed to a three-year $21MM deal with the New York Islanders coming off his entry-level contract, while Brayden Point was a three-year $20.25MM deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning. That three-year term was mentioned specifically by Barry, as he explained that the Canucks cap situation likely isn’t set up to do long-term deals for both young players.

Even coming off a disappointing season in which he played just 26 games, buying out any of Pettersson’s unrestricted free agent years would dramatically drive the average annual value of a contract up. The Canucks already have plenty of bad money on the books for the 2021-22 season and would obviously have a tough time fitting both players in under the flat $81.5MM cap. Going the bridge route with Pettersson would give them an opportunity to clear some of their troublesome contracts off the roster, while also retaining control of the player as a restricted free agent.

That’s not to say he will come cheap. Since he entered the league in 2018-19, Pettersson has recorded a points/game rate of 0.93, higher than veterans like Nicklas Backstrom, Ryan O’Reilly, and Claude Giroux, while also ahead of younger talents like Kyle Connor, Matthew Tkachuk and Teuvo Teravainen over the same period. It’s not just empty assists either, as his goals/game rate of 0.39 puts him just behind names like Artemi Panarin and Aleksander Barkov, while ahead of the likes of Mark Stone and Nikolaj Ehlers. There’s no doubt that Pettersson can be one of the league’s best offensive talents and even with an injury-shortened season, he’ll be looking to get paid like one.

Jakub Pour Signs With Chicago Blackhawks

June 15, 2021 at 1:41 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

The Chicago Blackhawks have added some more international talent, agreeing to terms with Jakub Pour on a two-year entry-level contract. The deal carries an average annual value of $842,500 and runs through the 2022-23 season. Pour explained exactly why he chose the Blackhawks to start his NHL journey:

It is a hockey dream come true. Every boy who puts on skates wants to start in the National Hockey League one day. I know that I have not reached this goal yet, but by signing the contract I have taken an important step towards it. I’m happier even more that I just signed with Chicago. Ever since Dominik Kubalík started playing for the Blackhawks, I have been following the club in great detail, the whole organization seems very nice to me. Great players, traditions, great triumphs. I’m excited and looking forward to it.

In the summer, I will prepare myself at home to be 100 percent ready for a new challenge. In Chicago, I will do my best to fulfill my dream of playing in the NHL. I believe it will be sooner than later, but I will be patient. Whether the chance comes after a month or in the second year of the contract, I have to be prepared.

Kubalik was Pour’s teammate with Plzen HC in the Czech Republic and is a great path to try and follow if you’re an undrafted European free agent. Though Kubalik was actually selected in the seventh round in 2013, he didn’t come to the NHL until 2019 with the Blackhawks. By scoring 30 goals in his rookie season, he was a finalist for a Calder Trophy and is now inspiring other young Czechs to sign with Chicago.

Pour, 22, is another big frame, standing 6’3″ with a long reach. He scored 12 goals in 48 games with Plzen this season setting a new career-high in scoring. While those numbers don’t inspire greatness, he represents another lottery ticket for the Blackhawks to test at training camp. Having only turned 22 a few months ago, he still has plenty of time to develop his offensive game or establish himself as a legitimate bottom-six option in Chicago.

Snapshots: Shore, Ward, Nelson

June 15, 2021 at 1:02 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

It’s the end of the road for journeyman forward Drew Shore, who announced his retirement today on Instagram. The 30-year-old forward was originally selected by the Florida Panthers in the second round of the 2009 draft and bounced around the hockey world over the last decade. Starting at the University of Denver, Shore became a collegiate star, while also helping the U.S. secure a bronze medal at the World Juniors. Upon signing with Florida he became an NHL regular, playing 43 games in his first season.

Unfortunately, that would be the highest total of his career, as Shore then bounced around the minor leagues and took his talents overseas in 2016. He has since played in Switzerland, China, Russia, Slovakia and Belarus, but most recently signed with the Carolina Hurricanes. He played four NHL games this season but was held scoreless and will now hang up his skates. In 98 career NHL games, Shore recorded 26 points.

Geoff Ward, who was let go by the Calgary Flames earlier this season, will now be joining the Anaheim Ducks as an assistant coach. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Ward will join Dallas Eakins staff for next season after the team had previously shown interest in new Flames associate coach Kirk Muller. The 59-year-old Ward ended up behind the bench for just 66 games in Calgary, taking over for the outgoing Bill Peters in 2019 and then replaced by Darryl Sutter earlier this year. In those games, he posted a 35-26-5 record and actually got Calgary through the qualification round in the bubble, only to fall to the Dallas Stars in six games. Update: The Ducks have confirmed the hire along with the addition of Mike Stothers to their coaching staff.
The Arizona Coyotes will have Todd Nelson in for a second interview tomorrow, according to Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider. Nelson is one of many candidates the Coyotes are looking at and hasn’t been an NHL head coach since his one partial season in Edmonton. The 52-year-old is a well-respected assistant that has spent the last three seasons with the Dallas Stars however and has plenty of experience as head coach in the AHL. Morgan notes that the timeline for a hire in Arizona isn’t clear, though something should be done before the draft.

Lucas Wallmark Signs In KHL

June 15, 2021 at 11:33 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

The Florida Panthers won’t be bringing back trade deadline acquisition Lucas Wallmark, at least not next season. The restricted free agent forward has signed a one-year deal in the KHL with CSKA Moscow, ending his NHL career for the time being.

Wallmark, 25, was half of the return the Panthers received from the Chicago Blackhawks for Brett Connolly, Henrik Borgstrom, and Riley Stillman. The team used him just four times down the stretch and didn’t dress him in the playoffs, meaning they’ll receive very little in the trade. His rights can be retained with a qualifying offer, but it’s not clear whether he’ll actually be back in time for them to actually receive any benefit from that. Wallmark will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2022, regardless of where he spends the next two seasons.

It was an interesting move at the time, given how little the Panthers seemed to value Wallmark the first time they acquired him in 2020. Part of the deal that saw Vincent Trocheck head to Carolina, Wallmark played seven games for the Panthers that season, played twice in the bubble qualification round, and then was left without a qualifying offer. He became an unrestricted free agent, signed a one-year deal with the Blackhawks, and ended up back in Florida by the end of the year. It’s not really like anything changed during that time; in fact, Wallmark failed to score even a single goal in his 16 games with Chicago.

The fact that he has signed a deal in the KHL this early could suggest that he already knows the Panthers were going to leave him unqualified once again. While this could change that decision, it doesn’t appear as though he has much of a future in Florida. In 187 regular season games, Wallmark has 23 goals and 59 points.

New Jersey Devils Showing Interest In Rasmus Ristolainen

June 15, 2021 at 11:19 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 7 Comments

The Buffalo Sabres are a team to watch on the trade market this summer and not only because of Jack Eichel. At their end-of-year press availability, Sam Reinhart and Rasmus Ristolainen both expressed some frustration with the organization’s lack of success and knew their names would be brought up in the offseason. Ristolainen in particular has been involved in trade speculation for years, as his blunt way of speaking his mind has led to some choice quotes.

Now, Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News is reporting that the New Jersey Devils have shown interest in the 26-year-old defenseman, noting that the team has a glaring hole on the right side because of the pending free agency of Connor Carrick. Of course, Carrick only played 11 games for the Devils this season and has been used sparingly since arriving, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the Devils wouldn’t do well to upgrade their defense. Even the right side, which already has P.K. Subban and Damon Severson on the books, could be improved if the Devils want to compete in the Metropolitan Division next season.

Is Ristolainen the right way to go about that? The Sabres defenseman has just one year left on his six-year, $32.4MM contract, meaning he’ll carry a cap hit of $5.4MM next season. He has long been criticized for the analytical community given his brutal possession numbers, but at least some of that poor shot suppression comes from being asked to carry the load as the Sabres top dog. Since he debuted in 2013-14, the eighth-overall pick has averaged nearly 24 minutes a night over 542 games. He has been given defensive starts more often in all but one of his NHL campaigns, with this most recent season being the most lopsided. He is a -163 in that eight-year career and has failed to make the playoffs even a single time, but perhaps there is more to draw out of his game if he goes somewhere else.

When trading players that are a year away from free agency, teams will often look for a suitor that can offer an extension in order to maximize the return. While the Devils have enough cap space to do that with Ristolainen, the defenseman has been clear about his desire to end up with a winning program. He’s tired of missing the playoffs, and going to New Jersey–even with their exciting young core–certainly doesn’t guarantee he’d see the postseason anytime soon. Though he doesn’t have a no-trade clause, the idea of a possible extension with a winning team would give the Sabres the most assets in return.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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