Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for September 2024

Maple Leafs, Mitch Marner Taking Extension Talks Slowly

at CDT | by 2 Comments

Entering a contract year, there still doesn’t appear to be a ton of urgency between the Maple Leafs and Mitch Marner to get an extension done. Darren Dreger of TSN said on TSN Toronto 1050’s “First Up” today that the relationship between Marner and the Leafs is “in a good place,” but no extension news is imminent with training camp beginning next week:

I don’t want to misconstrue that with the belief that an extension is looming, that it’s going to happen quickly. Obviously, it’s going to be a top-of-mind, big story from the beginning of training camp and probably until the day that an extension with committed and announced, but I don’t have the sense that that’s going to happen any time soon. And I think both sides are okay with that. Marner knows that this is yet another big year for that young leadership group, and he’s a big part of that. So, he’s focused on a good start for himself, for his team. I don’t get the sense that there’s contract pressure on Marner. He’s happy for it to be quiet. There’s good dialogue between Darren Ferris and Brad Treliving; they’ve got a good relationship, but they’re not in heavy negotiations. Again, both sides are okay with that. There doesn’t appear to be a rush, at this stage.

Trade rumors began dogging Marner this offseason almost immediately after Bruins winger David Pastrňák ended Toronto’s season in overtime of Game 7 of the First Round. The Predators were mentioned early on as a team that would be interested if Marner decided to waive his no-movement clause, a bit of news that foreshadowed their aggressiveness on the free-agent market.

But there hasn’t been much substantive reporting on Marner’s situation for weeks, even dating back to the beginning of free agency. Thus far, there’s still been no indication that he’s considering waiving his NMC to facilitate a trade, and at least initial extension talks have begun.

Marner, 27, is entering the final season of the bonus-laden six-year, $65.41MM deal he inked as an RFA late in the summer of 2019. Since inking the contract, Marner has averaged over 20 minutes per game in every season, finishing top-10 in Selke Trophy voting twice, and averaged 1.24 points per game – eighth in the NHL during that time. A top-five winger in the league, he’s a playmaking superstar on a team full of high-powered talent.

But whether Toronto, now with Treliving entering his second season as GM and Craig Berube entering his first as head coach, will be willing to give Marner enough of a raise on his current $10.9MM cap hit to make a long-term agreement remains to be seen. The team already has over $61.7MM in cap hit commitments for 2025-26 with nine open roster spots, and an eight-year extension for Marner at this stage would likely finish in the low $11MM range, Evolving Hockey projects.

Unfortunately for the Leafs, Leon Draisaitl’s recent eight-year, $14MM AAV extension likely bumped that number up. Marner’s 415 points over the past five years pale in comparison to Drasaitl’s 538, especially considering a similar amount of games played, but Marner is a far superior defensive talent with penalty-killing upside. He very likely won’t match that price tag, even if he does hit the open market next summer, but it could be enough to push his next deal into the $12MM range per season.

Predators Re-Sign Marc Del Gaizo To Two-Way Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Predators have re-signed defenseman Marc Del Gaizo to a two-way contract, per a team announcement. The restricted free agent will earn a $775K salary if on the NHL roster next season and $125K in the AHL, Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean reports.

Del Gaizo, 25 next month, was a fourth-round pick of the Preds in 2019. He made his NHL debut last season, recording three assists and a +2 rating while averaging 16:28 across nine appearances in a pair of call-ups in November and March.

The New Jersey native is coming off a career-best season in the minors with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. On assignment to the Ads, he set new career highs in goals (8), points (34), and rating (+18) in 60 appearances, leading or tying for the team lead in every offensive category. An undersized (5’11″/187 lbs) left-shot defender, Del Gaizo ended his 2023-24 campaign with seven points and a +6 rating in 15 playoff games for Milwaukee.

Del Gaizo was an RFA this summer after completing his entry-level contract. After the Preds signed Juuso Pärssinen this morning, he was one of two remaining RFAs Nashville had. Now, just forward Philip Tomasino remains without a deal.

Entering his fourth professional season, Del Gaizo is no longer waiver-exempt. On the cusp of challenging for more NHL minutes, there’s a non-zero chance he gets claimed if Nashville attempts to sneak him through and return him to Milwaukee to start the season. Spencer Stastney played more last season and has the inside track to lock down an extra defense spot on the Preds’ opening night roster, supplementing their six D-men signed to one-way deals, but he is still waiver-exempt. That could prove advantageous to Del Gaizo’s chances of starting the season in Tennessee instead of Wisconsin.

Latest On Brock Boeser

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

All signs point to Canucks sniper Brock Boeser being ready for the season after he told reporters today he’s off blood thinners and has been cleared for contact (via Noah Strang of Daily Hive Vancouver). He missed the final game of Vancouver’s season, a Game 7 loss to the Oilers in the Second Round after scans showed clotting that stemmed from a blocked shot earlier in the series.

However, Boeser, 27, isn’t entirely out of the woods yet. He made it clear the situation will be one to “monitor throughout this season,” Strang said. He also added that he’ll need to wear compression gear on flights to prevent additional clotting issues.

After a breakout 40-goal, 73-point regular season, the clotting issue didn’t impact Boeser’s usual offseason training routine too much. During Vancouver’s end-of-season media availability in May, the winger said that he anticipated being ready for training camp in the fall. He didn’t disclose today if his contact clearance was a recent development or if it came earlier in the offseason.

And, as expected, Boeser also said he hasn’t begun negotiations on a contract extension and will instead let those play out after the season starts (per Strang). That’s what Rick Dhaliwal and Thomas Drance of The Athletic indicated would happen last month, with a lack of talks coming across the wire thus far in the offseason. Boeser is entering the final season of a three-year, $19.95MM deal with a $6.65MM AAV, one he’ll eclipse by a significant amount if he can repeat last season’s showing.

It’s unlikely that will be the case, though. Boeser could still earn a raise, but expecting him to hit the 40-goal mark again seems unrealistic. The Minnesota native shot 19.6% last season – nearly six points above his career average. With an expected regression to the 13-14% range, the 30-goal plateau is still reachable.

He still projects to play a starring role on a new-look Canucks offense that now features Jake DeBrusk, Danton Heinen, and Daniel Sprong, replacing some outgoing names like Sam Lafferty, Elias Lindholm, and Ilya Mikheyev. He’s slated to start the season as Vancouver’s top right wing in first-line minutes alongside J.T. Miller.

Dreger: Bruins, Jeremy Swayman Closer To Deal Than Previously Reported

at CDT | by 11 Comments

After a long summer of contract negotiations between the Bruins and restricted free agent netminder Jeremy Swayman, cautious optimism is slowly building about the two sides coming to an agreement. Speaking on TSN 1050 Toronto’s “First Up” segment today, TSN’s Darren Dreger didn’t go so far as to say a deal before training camp is imminent but did report that “negotiations are probably closer than what we’re reading about” (stick taps to The Fourth Period).

As referenced by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on last week’s “32 Thoughts” podcast and first reported by Ryan Whitney of the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast, the Bruins hadn’t reportedly moved much from an initial four-year, $24.8MM ($6.2MM AAV) offer they used to open talks at the beginning of the offseason. Swayman’s camp, meanwhile, has been looking for a longer-term pact in the $8.5MM AAV range, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said last month.

Regardless of how highly the Bruins value the 25-year-old Swayman, whose .918 SV% ranks third in the league over the past two seasons among goalies with over 50 appearances, they can’t commit to his ask without making a corresponding transaction. They have one open roster spot left for the goalie, but cap space would become an issue with $8.64MM in projected room, per PuckPedia.

While Dreger thinks negotiations are closer than that multi-year, multi-million-dollar gap, he wasn’t clear about which side was more willing to deviate from their ask. Last month, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe opined a shorter-term deal with an AAV more similar to the Predators’ Juuse Saros, who inked an eight-year extension with a $7.78MM cap hit earlier this summer, could end up being what gets Swayman between the pipes before opening night.

And, while all indications still point to an agreement coming before then, it’s significantly less certain that Swayman will be in attendance when training camp opens next week. The netminder said on a podcast last month that he doesn’t want to drag down other goalies’ earning potential in the future by taking a lesser deal that could hurt their comparables.

With tandem partner Linus Ullmark out the door to the Senators, Swayman will be an undisputed No. 1 netminder for the first time this season – very clearly the root of Boston’s hesitancy to shell out superstar-level cash, even if his play has warranted it in lesser usage. He did make the slight majority of starts for the Bruins last season with 43, posting a 25-10-8 record and .916 SV% en route to finishing seventh in Vezina Trophy voting.

Latest On Alexei Kolosov

at CDT | by 5 Comments

Flyers prospect Alexei Kolosov continues to be shrouded in uncertainty about whether he’ll report to the club for training camp next week, and speculation persists about where he’ll play this season.

Philly’s front office reportedly met with Kolosov’s camp, now led by agent Dan Milstein, late last month. Since then, it’s been reported that the Flyers still don’t have a firm answer on whether Kolosov will report to their AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, but they’re operating under the assumption that he won’t.

If he doesn’t report and instead signs a contract with Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League for 2024-25, Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Di Marco reports the final two years of his entry-level contract will likely be tolled to the 2025-26 and 2026-27 campaigns. Notably, the situation very nearly mirrors the one the Flyers found themselves in when netminder Ivan Fedotov, who was signed to a valid NHL deal for the 2022-23 season, was prevented from reporting due to required military service in his native Russia and remained under contract with KHL club CSKA Moscow.

Fedotov’s deal instead went into effect for 2023-24. Although he signed an agreement last year with CSKA in violation of his NHL contract (which resulted in hefty sanctions to both parties from the IIHF), he managed to get out of his contract with CSKA and make his NHL debut for the Flyers in the closing days of the season.

Kolosov, a Minsk native, has made it clear he wants the Flyers to loan him back to Dinamo this season. The Flyers are still intent on having him log starts for Lehigh Valley, though, and that disconnect is what’s fueling their current dispute.

If Kolosov signs a contract with Dinamo for 2024-25 (or longer), violating his contract with Philadelphia, it won’t result in the same sanctions that Fedotov’s deal spurred. That’s because the KHL’s directors voted in July to make the league independent from the IIHF and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, meaning they no longer need either governing body’s permission to sign players from foreign leagues.

Kolosov, still just 22, was a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2021. While on the small end at 6’0″ and 185 lbs, that hasn’t stopped him from growing into his own as a starter in one of the world’s top professional leagues at a young age.

Before coming to Philadelphia to end last season, Kolosov recorded career-highs in appearances (47), GAA (2.39), shutouts (4), and wins (22) in the KHL regular season for Dinamo. He put a bow on the campaign with a spectacular .925 SV% in six postseason games as Minsk fell to Dynamo Moscow. However, he struggled in brief action after coming over to Lehigh Valley, limited to a .885 SV% and 3.03 GAA in a win and a loss in two appearances.

Predators Re-Sign Juuso Pärssinen To One-Way Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Predators are close to re-signing RFA center Juuso Pärssinen to a one-year, one-way deal, according to a team release. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the contract. The left-shot forward will earn the league minimum salary of $775K.

Pärssinen, 23, made his NHL debut with Nashville in 2022-23 – certainly coming ahead of schedule for the 2019 seventh-round pick. He stayed on the roster for the entirety of the season after his initial November recall, making 45 appearances before an upper-body injury ended his season in late February. He posted six goals and 19 assists for 25 points, finishing eighth on the team in points per game, and averaged 14:20 per night while winning 50.2% of his faceoffs and logging 76 hits with middling possession numbers.

Last season, Pärssinen made the team out of camp but couldn’t carry over his overall level of play into his sophomore campaign. He posted 12 points in 44 games with similarly below-average possession numbers and a much worse showing in the faceoff dot (37.5 FOW%) before being assigned to the minors in late January.

Pärssinen remained there for the rest of the regular season, making 36 appearances for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals with seven goals, 18 assists, 25 points, and a +12 rating. He was added back to the Preds’ playoff roster, and he did draw into the lineup for their season-ending 1-0 loss in Game 6 of the First Round against the Canucks.

An RFA at season’s end following the conclusion of his entry-level contract, Pärssinen is at a transitional spot in his development, making it difficult to work out a deal. His performance over the last few seasons in the minors has warranted his NHL looks.

The 6’3″ pivot’s production and physicality in a bottom-nine role certainly make it seem like there should be a consistent role for him down the line. Still, there are enough holes in his all-around game that warranted his demotion. As such, Nashville was likely angling for a two-way deal in negotiations here, likely with a slightly higher NHL salary should he spend time on the major league roster. Instead, Pärssinen lands a one-way pact that’s much safer financially.

It’s also indicative that he’ll make the Preds’ opening night roster for the second year in a row. With Pärssinen under contract, the Preds now have the minimum 12 forwards on their projected 2024-25 roster, per PuckPedia, and there are few (if any) forwards in the organization on entry-level or two-way contracts with a legitimate shot at starting the year in the NHL. They now have $1.5MM in projected cap space with two open roster spots and another RFA forward, Philip Tomasino, still left to sign.

Morning Notes: Blues Offer Sheets, Rossi, Gartner

at CDT | by 2 Comments

The Blues tendered the first successful offer sheet(s) in three years last month when they landed both Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway from the Oilers. Some thought the rich contracts may have been a ploy to snag one while Edmonton matched the other. That wasn’t the case, as Blues general manager Doug Armstrong told Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic that the team “structured it that way in an attempt to get both players.”

“We scouted them,” Armstrong continued. “We’ve watched their development. We thought there was a chance that we could get both when you looked at the Oilers’ contracts coming up, and it ended up working out that way.”

It all indicates Armstrong’s hope to end his tenure as GM by returning the 2019 Stanley Cup winners to championship contention without a total teardown. “We now have double-digit players drafted in the first round over a five-, six-year span,” he said. “Now, they’re not all going to make it, but consistently, you have 70 to 80 percent of those guys make it; they can actually play together for the better part of five, six, seven years. Building something that’s sustainable is what we’re trying to do here. Those two players fit perfectly into that.”

More from around the NHL as training camp nears:

  • Center Marco Rossi’s commitment to a solid sophomore season in the State of Hockey was evidenced last month when he declined to participate for his native Austria in this summer’s qualifying tournament for the 2026 Winter Olympics, instead focusing on starting his pre-season training in Minnesota. The 22-year-old spoke recently to Joe Smith of The Athletic, saying he thinks a 30-goal season is “of course possible” after lighting the lamp 21 times in his rookie year. He’s got his confidence back after demonstrating his floor as a perfectly acceptable top-nine pivot last season – which wasn’t a guarantee for the 2020 ninth-overall pick after complications from COVID-19 cost him virtually all of his post-draft season. That adversity “always makes you stronger mentally,” he said.
  • After a 10-year run as chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, Lanny McDonald’s tenure in the role will end in June 2025, thanks to term limits. He’ll be succeeded by nine-time 40-goal scorer and 2001 inductee Mike Gartner, as Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun relays. Gartner will enter a chairman-elect role next month to “support transitional matters and be on the search committee for a new president and CEO.” He’ll also preside over the induction of the 2025 class, which will be announced weeks after he takes over as chairman full-time.

Five Key Stories: 9/2/24 – 9/8/24

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Training camps are almost upon us but beyond an uptick in PTOs as expected, it was a relatively quiet week across the NHL aside from a record-breaking contract which is one of our key stories of the past seven days.

Off To Switzerland: Unable to secure a contract to their liking from an NHL team, a pair of wingers have opted to try their hand in Switzerland.  First, winger Filip Zadina inked a two-year contract with HC Davos.  The 2018 sixth-overall pick spent last season with San Jose after terminating his deal with Detroit in the hopes that a change of scenery would give him a better opportunity.  Instead, he put up just 23 points in 72 games along with a ghastly -44 rating.  Still just 24, a good showing in the NL could get him back on the NHL radar fairly quickly.  A few days later, veteran winger Dominik Kubalik signed a one-year deal with Ambri-Piotta.  The 29-year-old spent last season with Ottawa after being acquired in the Alex DeBrincat deal but struggled considerably, recording a career-low 15 points in 74 appearances.  His deal contains an NHL out clause should an opportunity present itself at the top level by December 15th.

Surgery For Krug: After the rehab period didn’t yield any improvement, Blues defenseman Torey Krug will undergo ankle surgery to address pre-arthritic changes in his left ankle, a procedure that will end his 2024-25 season before it even starts.  The 33-year-old had 39 points last season in 77 games while logging nearly 22 minutes a night and will effectively be replaced by offer sheet pickup Philip Broberg.  Krug will be eligible to be placed on LTIR should St. Louis need to put him there.  Meanwhile, while the hope is that Krug will be able to return next season, GM Doug Armstrong acknowledged that this injury could wind up being a career-ender for the veteran.

Draisaitl Sets A Record: While it may have taken longer than some in Edmonton would have liked, the Oilers and center Leon Draisaitl reached an agreement on an eight-year, $112MM contract extension, one that comes into place for the 2025-26 campaign.  The $14MM AAV is the highest in NHL history while it’s the second-richest contract in league history.  (The highest was Alex Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124MM pact, one that is now illegal with the maximum length being eight seasons.)  The 28-year-old has been one of the top scorers in the league for several years now; only his teammate Connor McDavid has more points than he does over the last five seasons.  That made it quite likely that he’d eclipse Auston Matthews’ record-setting $13.25MM AAV.  Draisaitl won’t hold the record for long, however, with McDavid being extension-eligible next summer.

Three Surgeries For Marchand: It was a busy summer for Bruins captain Brad Marchand but perhaps not in the way you might think.  The winger indicated that he had three separate surgeries over the offseason.  One was to repair a torn tendon in his elbow that he played through for most of the year while later having abdominal and groin surgeries to address injuries sustained late in the season.  Marchand managed to play through those issues, playing in all 82 games in 2023-24, recording 67 points.  It appears he might be limited at the beginning of training camp but he is expected to be ready to suit up when the regular season begins next month.

Veteran Defensemen Retire: A pair of long-time NHL blueliners officially called it a career in recent days.  Marc Staal spent most of his playing career with the Rangers and will begin his post-playing days there as well as it was announced that he has been hired as a player development assistant.  The 37-year-old played 17 seasons in the NHL, the first 13 of which came with New York.  Staal retires with 234 points, 1,448 blocks, and 1,643 hits in 1,136 career games at the top level.  Meanwhile, veteran rearguard Alex Goligoski confirmed that his playing days have come to an end.  The 39-year-old spent the last three seasons with Minnesota, his hometown team and he had no desire to uproot his family to attempt to keep playing.  Goligoski had 475 points, 1,777 blocks, and 1,164 hits in 1,078 appearances over his 17-year NHL career.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Dermott, Tucker, Zelenov

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

While there has been plenty of speculation surrounding the Oilers when it comes to adding a right-shot defenseman (either via PTO or a one-year deal) heading into training camp, Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins wonders if they might go a different direction.  He suggests that it might be more likely that veteran blueliner Travis Dermott could wind up in Edmonton for training camp.  While the 27-year-old is a left-shot player, he can play on the right side and he played for head coach Kris Knoblauch in his junior days with OHL Erie while Jeff Jackson, Edmonton’s CEO of Hockey Operations, used to be his agent.  Dermott played on a two-way deal last season with Arizona, picking up seven points in 50 games while logging over 17 minutes a night.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch assesses the defensive situation for the Blues. Even with Torey Krug’s season over before it even started, St. Louis has ample depth with nine players who could plausibly make a case for a roster spot.  Matthew Kessel is the lone waiver-exempt player which could hurt his chances while DeFranks suggests that Tyler Tucker might be the one with the most work to do to maintain his roster spot.  Unless St. Louis wants to carry eight blueliners to start the season, they’ll have to put one of their current rearguards on waivers barring an injury in training camp.
  • Sabres prospect Vasili Zelenov is generating a lot of NCAA interest, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 18-year-old was a seventh-round pick in June, going 204th overall after a strong season in Austria, one that saw him put up 37 points in 40 games.  Zelenov is playing with USHL Green Bay this season and will likely look to make the jump to college hockey for the 2025-26 season.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: St. Louis Blues

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those that don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2024-25 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We begin with a look at the Central Division; next up is St. Louis.

St. Louis Blues

Current Cap Hit: $86,732,208 (under the $88MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Jake Neighbours (one year, $835.8K)

Neighbours wasn’t expected to be one of the Blues’ top goal-getters in his first full NHL season but he did just that, notching 27 tallies, good for a tie for second on the team.  That said, it makes sense for both sides to see if it that’s repeatable before approaching extension talks.  A bridge deal at this point should check in around $3MM but another strong showing could push those discussions toward a longer-term agreement.

Signed Through 2024-25, Non-Entry-Level

F Radek Faksa ($3.25MM, UFA)
G Joel Hofer ($775K, RFA)
D Pierre-Olivier Joseph ($950K, UFA)
F Kasperi Kapanen ($1MM, UFA)
D Scott Perunovich ($1.15MM, RFA)
D Ryan Suter ($775K, UFA)
F Alexey Toropchenko ($1.25MM, RFA)
D Tyler Tucker ($800K, UFA)

Potential Bonuses
Suter: $2.25MM

Faksa was acquired from Dallas in a cap-clearing move but he still is a capable player in a checking role while consistently being above-average at the faceoff dot.  That said, his limitations offensively will hurt him on the open market.  His track record is good enough to secure another multi-year deal but the cap hit is more likely to start with a two than a three this time around.

Toropchenko has been a good depth scorer who has added plenty of physicality in his first two NHL campaigns.  That said, with a limited role, he shouldn’t be able to land too much more than this, even with arbitration eligibility.  On the high end, the 25-year-old might be able to get to the $2MM mark.  Kapanen’s first full season with St. Louis saw him struggle, resulting in him taking a sizable pay cut to stick around.  Now, the deal has a chance to be a team-friendly one if he can get back to the 30-point level.  He’ll need to do so in order to have an opportunity to get any sort of notable raise next summer.

Perunovich has shown flashes of the offensive ability that made him a touted prospect but staying healthy has been a consistent problem for him.  This contract buys both sides a bit more time for evaluation but he’ll need to stay healthy and be a consistent contributor to have a chance at a multi-year agreement.  Joseph comes over from Pittsburgh after being non-tendered (a fate that could await Perunovich if he has another injury-plagued campaign) where he had a limited role.  He’s likely to have a similar role with his new team so unless he’s willing to stay around this price point, he could be non-tendered again to avoid arbitration.

Suter signed with the Blues in free agency after being bought out by Dallas.  There are four levels of bonuses based on games played; if he maxes those out, he’ll receive $1.725MM if he gets to 60 games ($1.125MM at 40) plus another $500K if his team makes the playoffs and he plays in 60 games.  If the Blues are out of the playoffs and look to move Suter, that $500K potential bonus would transfer to the acquiring team which will be something worth noting.  It’s a creative contract structure to say the least and if Suter wants to keep playing after 2024-25, he could very well sign another one like this.  Tucker has had a depth role the last couple of years but hasn’t locked down a full-time spot yet.  He’s likely to be in a similar situation this season which won’t help his marketability.  If he plays in 28 games with St. Louis, however, the Blues can regain his RFA rights instead of him becoming a Group Six free agent.

Hofer did quite well in his first season as a full-time backup, putting up a GAA (2.65) and SV% (.913) that were better than league average.  Another showing like that could push the asking price towards the $3MM mark, especially if the Blues wanted to buy out a UFA year or two.  If he falters a bit this season, then the cost should check in closer to $2MM.

Signed Through 2025-26

D Philip Broberg ($4.581MM, RFA)
F Dylan Holloway ($2.29MM, RFA)
D Matthew Kessel ($800K, RFA)
F Mathieu Joseph ($2.95MM, UFA)
D Nick Leddy ($4MM, UFA)
F Brandon Saad ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Oskar Sundqvist ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Alexandre Texier ($2.1MM, RFA)
F Nathan Walker ($775K, UFA)

Saad hasn’t been able to get back to the scoring levels he had earlier in his career with Columbus but he has averaged 23 goals per season since joining the Blues.  This price tag for that type of production is pretty well close to market value.  That said, he’ll be 33 when his next deal starts so he’s probably not putting himself in position for a sizable increase next time out either.  Joseph was acquired from the Senators in a cap-clearing move and will look to build off a career year in 2023-24.  A capable checker, if Joseph could stay around that 30-point mark, he could earn a small raise two years from now.

Holloway came over from Edmonton in one of the offer sheets tendered earlier this month.  His production thus far doesn’t justify that price tag but if he can secure a regular spot in the top nine, the scoring output to warrant that cost should come fairly quickly.  Texier was acquired from Columbus and was quickly signed to this deal.  Offensive consistency has been a problem so far in his career and he’ll need to improve on that if he wants to get to the next level contract-wise.  He’ll be arbitration-eligible next time out and if his production dips a bit, he could get into non-tender territory as well but on the flip side, if the change of scenery helps, he could command at least $3MM in 2026.

Sundqvist had to settle for a minimum contract in 2023-24 and did rather well with it, earning this extension just before the trade deadline in March.  With the extra depth they’ve brought in, it’s hard to see him boosting his production enough to warrant a considerable raise down the road; he seems likely to stay around this price point moving forward as a result.  Walker has seen more NHL time than AHL time the last two seasons, giving him this two-year, one-way deal.  But with the additions they’ve made, he could be on the outside looking in before too long.  Any sort of extended AHL stretch on this contract could hurt his chances of a one-way agreement two years from now.

Broberg was the big addition via the offer sheet route as the Blues feel he can become a core defender down the road.  But right now, this is a fairly steep overpayment based on what he has accomplished so far.  He’ll have a chance to change that over the next two years and if he becomes the blueliner they think he can, he could be the next Blues defender to get a long-term deal.  Leddy has logged big minutes since joining St. Louis but it stands to reason that Broberg will start to cut into that with him being part of the long-term plans with Leddy, currently 33, not likely to be in those.  Even so, if he can play a steady role at 18-20 minutes a night, another short-term deal around this price tag could be doable.  Kessel held his own in 39 games with St. Louis last season but his waiver exemption is likely to work against him.  Until he can secure a full-time role, he won’t be able to make a case for much more than this.

Signed Through 2026-27

G Jordan Binnington ($6MM, UFA)
D Justin Faulk ($6.5MM, UFA)
D Torey Krug ($6.5MM, UFA)

Faulk took a bit of a step back offensively last season while injuries didn’t help either.  But for the most part, he has been an above-average contributor while spending a lot of time on the top pairing.  He might not necessarily be a true top-pairing piece on every team but Faulk has made it work in that role, giving St. Louis a solid return so far.  Krug hasn’t had as much success and now there are concerns about if he’ll be able to play again.  At a minimum, he’s out for the season so if the Blues have some injuries, he’ll be LTIR-eligible, giving them some flexibility on that front and in doing so, it takes him off the table for their potential worst-valued contract.

Binnington has been hit or miss in recent years when it comes to playing at the level of a starting goaltender, let alone one of the higher-paid ones.  Last season was one of the better ones as he finished sixth in the league in games played while being tied for eighth in save percentage (with Hofer, among others).  Unfortunately, that’s the highest save percentage he’s had in the last five years.  Binnington is the seventh-highest-paid goalie in the league in terms of AAV for 2024-25, sixth if you take Carey Price (who will once again be on LTIR) out of the equation.  While the Blues received a level of performance at least close to that range last season, they haven’t had that with enough consistency to get a good return on this contract.

Read more

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top