The regular season is underway and while it will be fairly quiet on the trade front in the early going, there was still plenty of news around the NHL which is highlighted in our key stories.
Successful Tryouts: Several players were able to land contracts off their professional tryout agreements. Ottawa inked veteran center Derick Brassard to a one-year deal at the league minimum, giving them some extra depth down the middle. Carolina did the same with veteran Derek Stepan, giving him the same contract for what will be his second season with the Hurricanes. Michael Stone is staying with Calgary as the Flames signed him to a two-way deal worth the minimum in the NHL. Lastly, Anton Stralman’s tryout was successful as he agreed to a one-year, $1MM contract although that deal has yet to be registered with the league. Couple that with the handful of veterans that signed earlier and this was one of the more successful PTO groups in recent history when it comes to landing guaranteed contracts.
Down To One: The list of remaining restricted free agents was cut in half when the Golden Knights agreed to terms with defenseman Nicolas Hague on a three-year deal worth just under $2.3MM per season. The 23-year-old was one of the first group of Vegas draft picks and he worked his way into a regular role fairly quickly while averaging 18:40 per night. The AAV of the contract lined up well in terms of allowing Vegas to maximize their LTIR pool as the Golden Knights will be deep into that once again this season. Hague will have one year of RFA eligibility remaining after this deal and will be owed a $2.7MM qualifying offer. Senators winger Alex Formenton is the last restricted free agent in the NHL.
Staying In Philadelphia: Travis Sanheim won’t be leaving the Flyers anytime soon as the two sides worked out a maximum-term eight-year contract extension that carries a $6.25MM AAV. The deal also contains a full no-trade clause for the first four years and a 12-team no-trade clause for the final four seasons. The 26-year-old is one of Philadelphia’s top defensemen and is coming off one of his best offensive years that saw him put up 31 points in 80 games while averaging just under 23 minutes a night. If Sanheim is able to produce at a similar level during this contract and continue to log the second-most minutes on the team, the Flyers should get a good return on this deal.
Sabres Signings: While the Sabres already had Don Granato signed through the end of next season, they decided to give him an early extension, signing him to a two-year deal that keeps him signed through 2025-26. The Sabres have played to a .438 points percentage since he took over late in the 2020-21 campaign and while that might not seem great at first glance, Buffalo has been rebuilding during that stretch and the team has been considerably more competitive with him behind the bench so this move was a vote of approval of how he has the team playing.
Meanwhile, later that day, the team announced another extension as they signed defenseman Mattias Samuelsson to a seven-year, $30MM deal that begins next season. The 22-year-old was an early second-round pick in 2018 and got into 42 games in 2021-22 where he averaged 20 minutes a game. Buffalo clearly believes this is only the beginning for Samuelsson who has yet to score in his young career. However, a $4.29MM AAV for a top-four defender is certainly reasonable and it’s likely that those will be his prime years as well. The contract might seem odd on the surface but it’s a logical move for them to make since they’re convinced that he’s a part of the long-term plans in Buffalo.
Key Injuries: Montreal has a pretty thin back end when the team is fully healthy. They were already missing Joel Edmundson due to a back issue sustained in a pre-camp scrimmage and now they’ll be without another key veteran as Mike Matheson will miss eight weeks with an abdominal injury. The end result is that the Canadiens are dressing four rookie defensemen at the moment. Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs will be without their presumptive starter Matt Murray for at least a month after he suffered an adductor injury in practice on Saturday. The fact he’ll be out that long (10 games and 24 days minimum) enabled them to place him on LTIR which opened up some short-term cap space to recall some extra skaters. Those moves were made Sunday with the recalls of wingers Nicholas Robertson and Wayne Simmonds plus defenseman Victor Mete.
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