The calendar has flipped to October and the regular season is now on the horizon. This is the time when there is often a lot of activity on the signing front and this week was no exception as a few signings are featured in our key stories.
Staying In Montreal: The Canadiens are once again expected to be near the bottom of the league this season and accordingly, it’s expected that several veterans on expiring deals will be moved at some point. That list no longer will include goaltender Jake Allen as the 32-year-old inked a two-year, $7.MM extension to stay with Montreal through the 2024-25 season. The deal contains limited no-trade protection in each season. With Carey Price’s playing future in doubt, Allen projects to be the starter for the foreseeable future and this deal, which represents a little more than a $1MM raise in terms of his AAV, cements that status.
Injury News: The Canucks will be without Brock Boeser when the season gets underway after the winger underwent hand surgery that will keep him out for three-to-four weeks. The 25-year-old is coming off his second straight 23-goal season and is fresh off signing a three-year contract but he’ll have to wait a little bit before making his debut on that deal. Meanwhile, Maple Leafs center John Tavares is also unlikely to be available for the start of the season due to an oblique strain. Toronto’s captain has averaged just shy of a point per game in his time with the team and is coming off a season that saw him win over 60% of his faceoffs for the first time in his career. It wasn’t all bad news on the injury front, however, as the Flyers learned that top center Sean Couturier won’t need surgery on his back after suffering a setback. He missed most of last season with that issue and remains listed as week-to-week but they’ve avoided the worst-case scenario for now at least.
Bridge For Knight: Starting in 2023-24, Florida’s goalie tandem is going to be considerably more expensive after the team signed Spencer Knight to a three-year, $13.5MM extension that begins in 2023-24. The 21-year-old has just 36 career regular season appearances under his belt but has been viewed as the Panthers’ goalie of the future from the moment he was drafted 13th overall in 2019. In those three seasons, their netminding tandem will cost $14.5MM once you add in Sergei Bobrovsky’s contract which directly goes against the more recent trend of trying to shave costs between the pipes. Notably, Knight’s deal is uniformly-distributed which means he’ll be owed a $4.5MM qualifying offer in the 2026 offseason. They’ll certainly be counting on the expected cap increase in 2024-25 to help offset those costs.
And Then There Were Three: The list of remaining restricted free agents has dropped to three as the Maple Leafs and defenseman Rasmus Sandin reached an agreement on a two-year, $2.8MM contract. The contract matches the one given to Timothy Liljegren which was what his camp was trying to beat in negotiations. Instead, he’ll settle for a higher 2023-24 salary which means his qualifying offer will check in at $1.6MM. Sandin should have an opportunity to earn a spot in Toronto’s opening night lineup with the team dealing with several injuries on the back end at the moment.
Three For Peake: Andrew Peeke had a strong first full NHL campaign last season with Columbus, becoming a key stay-at-home defender. The Blue Jackets believe there’s more to come from him as they signed the 24-year-old to a three-year, $8.25MM contract extension that runs through 2025-26. Peeke led them in blocks last season with 169 and led all Columbus defenders in hits with 191 while averaging over 21 minutes a game before putting forth a strong showing for Team USA at the World Championship. This deal buys up one year of UFA eligibility while Peeke is poised to hit the open market at 28.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.