It took longer than many expected but the last big domino of the UFA market fell this past week, immediately resulting in a notable trade as well. Those are among the top stories from the past seven days.
Veteran Signings: Jack Johnson will soon be participating in his 17th NHL season as the veteran signed a one-year, $950K contract with Chicago. The 35-year-old had nine points in 74 games with Colorado in 2021-22 on their third pairing and should play a similar role with the Blackhawks, allowing them to keep a prospect in the minors for further development to start next season. Meanwhile, a pair of NHL veterans opted to head overseas. Winger Colton Sceviour opted to take a one-year deal with Bern in Switzerland after splitting last season between Edmonton and their AHL affiliate while Cedric Paquette is on his way to the KHL on a one-year pact with Dinamo Minsk.
Turris Retires: While those veterans found new homes on the ice, long-time NHL center Kyle Turris found a new home off the ice as he retired and was named a special advisor to the general manager and player development coach with Coquitlam of the BCHL. He hangs up his skates at the age of 33 after a 14-year NHL career that saw him put up 425 points in 776 games with four different teams. While he won’t be playing, Turris will still be collecting NHL money for a while yet as he will receive $2MM per season from Nashville through the 2027-28 season.
Kadri To Calgary: While there had been plenty of speculation (and seemingly even expectation) that Nazem Kadri would wind up with the Islanders, that wasn’t the case. Instead, the 31-year-old center inked a seven-year, $49MM contract with the Flames, one that contains a no-move clause in the first four years and a 13-team no-trade clause in the final three seasons. Kadri is coming off a career year with the Avalanche where he posted 87 points in 71 games while averaging over 19 minutes per game for the first time. He also played a big role in Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup as he collected 15 points in 16 games in the playoffs. While it took a while for his deal to come around, Kadri has the long-term security he was seeking, and interestingly enough, it comes with the team that he actually invoked his no-trade clause to avoid joining just a few years ago.
Monahan To Montreal: For the Flames to be able to afford Kadri’s $7MM AAV, they needed to create some salary cap space. They did just that, sending center Sean Monahan along with a first-round pick to Montreal for future considerations. The 27-year-old has one year left on his deal with a $6.375MM AAV and is coming off hip surgery for the second straight season while he had just 23 points in 65 games. The draft pick features plenty of various conditions that could make the pick convey anywhere between 2024 and 2026 and is certainly one of the more complex arrangements ever seen on a future draft choice. Meanwhile, the news isn’t good for Canadiens goaltender Carey Price as he won’t be ready to start the season with GM Kent Hughes suggesting it’s unlikely he’ll be able to play in 2022-23 if he is ever able to return. Montreal will place him on LTIR which creates the cap room for them to take on Monahan’s deal.
Talks Going Nowhere: At this point, most remaining restricted free agents are ones coming off their entry-level contracts that didn’t have any negotiation rights. One of those is Maple Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin and his agent, Lewis Gross, voiced his frustration with the lack of progress made in negotiations, stating that “negotiations are going nowhere”. The 22-year-old has long been viewed as a future long-term piece of Toronto’s back end and he had 16 points in 51 games last season but was scratched in the playoffs. With the depth that the Maple Leafs have on the left side of their defense corps, playing time will be difficult to come by which could also be playing a role. Toronto is in a spot where they’ll be hard-pressed to re-sign Sandin and stay cap-compliant so a resolution that comes sooner than later would be ideal to give them more time to make the money work.
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