PHR Originals: 8/21/23 – 8/27/23

With training camps on the horizon, many teams are enjoying their last few weeks of summer, resulting in a slowdown of activity league-wide.  But that hasn’t resulted in things slowing down here as our writers have kept busy with a wide range of original pieces which we’ll run through here.

Our 2009 Redraft series continues.  With the sixth pick, our readers assigned Nazem Kadri to the Coyotes over their original selection of Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  Now, the Maple Leafs are on the clock with the seventh selection (voting is still open) and with Kadri off the board, they’ll be getting a new player here as well.

Speaking of the Coyotes, they’ve been a busy team this summer with the team opting to add some short-term veterans to their roster.  I took a look at their offseason activity as well as Boston’s while Brennan did the same for Buffalo.

Each year, quite a few NHL players opt to try their hand at playing overseas or return there after spending some time at the top level.  Josh Eriksson provided an overview of some of the notable former NHLers who will be plying their trade in the SHL in 2023-24.

At the moment, Mark Scheifele doesn’t appear likely to sign an extension in Winnipeg but that doesn’t mean he won’t sign an extension period.  At this point, a team interested in acquiring the middleman would likely want an extension as part of the agreement.  Ethan ran the numbers to provide an idea of how much of a raise the 30-year-old is about to get.

We saw several players land PTO agreements throughout the week while many other veterans are likely to get one in the coming weeks.  Josh Cybulski assessed the markets for non-tendered winger Max Comtois and bought out winger Zack Kassian while Josh Eriksson looked into what teams might have a need for veteran netminder Brian Elliott.

Lastly, with camps coming up next month, there will be some teams with some tough decisions to make with their roster.  Ethan examined several of those, previewing the defensive battles that will be ongoing for the Rangers and Canadiens while the Blue Jackets appear to have an intriguing battle on the horizon for the final few forward spots on their roster.