Free Agent Notes: Toews, Compher, Predators

There will be many free agents that sign within the opening few hours of free agency next Saturday if things play out as they usually do.  However, don’t expect Jonathan Toews to be one of them.  His agent Pat Brisson told Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli that the veteran will not be among those signing when the market opens up as he has yet to decide if he’ll continue playing.  Toews, a veteran of 15 seasons with Chicago, has battled Chronic Immune Response Syndrome in recent years, missing all of 2020-21 plus another extended IR stint this past season.  It was announced previously that he won’t be back with the Blackhawks so Toews will need to decide if he wants to stick it out and try to go somewhere where he’ll have a shot at winning a Stanley Cup or if the time is right to call it a career.  That choice won’t come in the next week.

More free agent news and notes:

• Even though the Avalanche picked up Ryan Johansen earlier today, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that they haven’t closed the door on re-signing J.T. Compher just yet. The 28-year-old had a career season, picking up 52 points while logging over 20 minutes a night which has him well-positioned to earn a nice raise on the $3.5MM he made on his set-to-expire contract.  The Avs have some flexibility to try to bring him back but if he’s looking for top dollar, it might not make much sense for Colorado to re-sign Compher, especially knowing that Devon Toews is a year away from needing a significant raise of his own.
• In a recent appearance on 102.5 The Game (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relayed that none of Nashville’s pending restricted free agents appear to be on the front burner right now. Center Cody Glass and defenseman Alexandre Carrier are the two notable ones for the Predators that have arbitration rights and the filing deadline is July 5th.  Accordingly, while incoming GM Barry Trotz might not be focusing on those two just yet, some discussions for those players will need to be held relatively soon.