Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for June 2025

Karson Kuhlman Signs With Sweden’s Rögle BK

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Former NHL winger Karson Kuhlman has signed a one-year contract with Rögle BK of the Swedish Hockey League, the club announced. There won’t be a return to North America in 2025-26 for the Minnesota native, who spent last year in Finland with Lukko.

Kuhlman, whose season in Finland this year was the first overseas one of his career, did well to rejuvenate his production. His most recent season stateside was an exceptionally difficult one. Kuhlman inked a two-way deal with the Islanders for 2023-24 but was buried in the minors for the entire season after clearing waivers, putting together a lowly 12-10–22 scoring line with a -29 rating in 72 games for AHL Bridgeport. That’s garish production for someone with nearly 150 games of NHL experience, even for a depth piece.

The former NCAA championship tournament MVP found much more offensive success in Finland. He served as an alternate captain for Lukko and led the club in scoring with a 21-25–46 line in 60 games, helping them finish atop the Liiga regular-season standings for the first time in four years. He was Liiga’s player of the month in December while posting the highest points per game rate of his professional career in any league.

Instead of searching for an NHL two-way deal this summer and battling it out for a roster spot in training camp, he’ll opt for more security in what will presumably be a top-six role with Rögle. The team has been a middle-of-the-pack one in the SHL for the past few years, but has been active this offseason, landing ex-NHLers Mark Friedman and Fredrik Olofsson in recent weeks. They’re still rather light on offensive firepower, though, and Kuhlman has a chance to play the same starring role for them as he did for Lukko.

Kuhlman, undrafted, last saw NHL action in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs with the Jets. He has a 12-18–30 career scoring line in 147 games with Boston, Seattle, and Winnipeg.

Egor Sokolov Linked To CSKA Moscow

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Winger Egor Sokolov is set to be a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. After spending this season under contract with the Mammoth, it doesn’t appear he’ll return to the organization for 2025-26. Sokolov is expected to sign a contract with CKSA Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, according to Sport24.ru.

Utah acquired Sokolov’s signing rights in exchange for those of forward Jan Jeník in a trade with the Senators shortly after free agency opened last summer. A restricted free agent at the time, Sokolov put pen to paper on a one-year, two-way deal with the Mammoth days later that paid him a $190K minors salary.

Sokolov had hoped to get another NHL try in Salt Lake City after appearing in 13 games for Ottawa across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. However, the 6’3″, 222-lb Russian cleared waivers and spent the entire season in the minors for the second straight year.

The 2020 second-round pick by the Sens played in all 72 games for Utah’s AHL affiliate in Tucson, finishing third on the team with a 22-22–44 scoring line but posting a club-worst -20 rating. It marked Sokolov’s second straight year with declining minor-league production after he notched a career-high 38 assists and 59 points in 70 games with the Belleville Senators in 2022-23.

While Sokolov had legitimate top-nine upside a couple of years ago, that’s likely gone with his AHL development stalling out. Instead of continuing in his current role as a top-nine minor-league piece, he’ll return home to play in Russia for the first time since 2016-17. He played junior hockey with QMJHL Cape Breton for three years before turning pro with the Senators in 2020.

Offseason Checklist: Los Angeles Kings

at CDT | by 6 Comments

The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming weeks with free agency fast approaching.  Next up is a look at Los Angeles.

Nothing much has changed in Hollywood in recent years. In 2023-24, a streaky regular season dotted by a coaching change ultimately led to a familiar fate – a first-round elimination at the hands of the Oilers. With a full season under head coach Jim Hiller and strong play from offseason and in-season pickups to bolster the forward group, most thought this would finally be the year L.A. escaped a first-round date with Edmonton after three failed tries. Instead, after their best regular-season record in 50 years, they blew a 2-0 series lead and headed for the exits early again. That triggered a big change with new GM Ken Holland succeeding Rob Blake, and he’s got some things to address in his first summer on the job.

Look Ahead To Kempe, Kopitar Expiries

Two years ago, franchise center Anže Kopitar put any retirement speculation to rest early when he signed a two-year, $14MM extension five days after becoming eligible to do so. After an age-37 season in which he saw the lowest average ice time of his career but was still a top-10 defensive forward in the league, he becomes extension-eligible again on July 1. Given his slow decline so far, it’s likely he has more than one season left in him.

While it may make sense for the Kings to wait to see how Kopitar starts next season to gauge where he’s at in his aging curve, it would also be smart to get what will likely be a short-term, team-friendly extension for Kopitar out of the way now. That’s primarily because winger Adrian Kempe’s contract expires following next season and, on the heels of a second straight 70-point season, will shatter his current $5.5MM cap hit on a new deal with Los Angeles.

Of course, the Kings could flip-flop their priorities and enter talks on a long-term deal with Kempe now while kicking Kopitar’s contract down the road until they have cost certainty on the former. Jumping the gun on an older player with less earning potential signing a short-term deal is a smarter financial move than over-committing to Kempe too early, though, especially with the rising cap, meaning extension projections for Kempe fall in the $9MM range (per AFP Analytics).

L.A. has enough cost-effective deals with term, particularly at forward, that they don’t have to stress too much about losing one of the two next summer outside of a surprise retirement decision from Kopitar. Still, knowing both top-liners have contractual business to attend to in the next 12 months will certainly impact how Holland doles out his cap space this summer.

Be Aggressive With Gavrikov

The Kings made an unlikely win-win trade with the Capitals involving Pierre-Luc Dubois and Darcy Kuemper last offseason, opening up around $3MM in cap space for them in the process. That increased flexibility will be pertinent for them this offseason as they try to land more of a game-breaking forward to help put them into the league’s upper echelon of offensive clubs. They have nearly $22MM in projected cap space this summer to do so, but while they can let all of their pending UFAs at forward walk with mostly no ill effect in pursuit of a higher-caliber addition, the same can’t be said on the blue line.

Vladislav Gavrikov was a rock on L.A.’s defense this season, particularly with Drew Doughty missing over half the campaign. Unlike the Kings’ top UFA forward, trade deadline Andrei Kuzmenko, there’s no backup plan involving a similar-caliber UFA pickup if the Kings can’t come to terms with Gavrikov on an extension. From now until July 1, working on numbers with him will presumably be priority No. 1 for Holland.

They simply don’t have another player with his skillset and ceiling in their system, and he provided legitimate top-pairing value this year with 30 points, a +26 rating, and 140 blocks while playing all 82 games and averaging over 23 minutes per night. But with most of the top UFA defensemen signing extensions and taking themselves off the market early, he’s the top left-shot option available. That could drive up his extension price, although the Kings have the benefit of being able to offer him an eighth year on his contract to award him the same (or higher) total compensation while keeping his cap hit down.

AFP Analytics’ open market projection for Gavrikov is a seven-year deal at $7.6MM per season for a total value of $53.25MM. The Kings could offer Gavrikov $55MM total on an eight-year deal while keeping his cap hit at a much lower $6.875MM per season, though. That’s a significant difference as they try to keep their options open for going big-game hunting at forward.

Decide Clarke’s Future

Gavrikov isn’t the only name potentially in flux on L.A.’s blue line. Righty Brandt Clarke, the 2021 eighth-overall pick, is slated to be a pending RFA coming off his first full-time NHL season, but still found himself as trade fodder at the deadline.

That’s despite the 21-year-old serving as the offensive cornerstone of the Kings’ defense in Doughty’s absence. He put together a 5-28–33 scoring line in 78 games and managed a +13 rating to boot, but never seemed to earn the organization (or Hiller’s) full trust. He averaged decidedly bottom-pairing minutes at just 16:17 per game.

With the Kings’ questionable usage of their top U-22 player, the feeling might be mutual if Clarke doesn’t feel Los Angeles is the right environment for him to maximize the rest of his development years. He would have immense trade value this summer, not just for his potential impact in a top-four role for a club next season, but because he’d be doing so on a six-figure cap hit in the final year of his ELC.

His trade value would be enhanced further by a weak UFA market, even more so among right-shot defenders than lefties. He would presumably be the No. 2 target at the position if he were on the open market this summer behind Aaron Ekblad, taking both his 2024-25 performance and his still-untapped ceiling into consideration.

If Holland strikes out on the upper echelon of UFA forward talents like Nikolaj Ehlers and Mitch Marner, expect him to leverage Clarke again as he pursues a higher-ceiling winger, potentially Buffalo’s JJ Peterka. In any event, it’s highly unlikely the Kings commit resources to a Clarke extension this summer, particularly with some aforementioned bigger fish to fry.

Sign Laferriere Quickly

Moving away from UFA talk, the Kings do have one notable RFA to deal with this summer. That would be winger Alex Laferriere, whose negotiations could become a headache if the Kings get a Gavrikov extension done and blow the rest of their cap space on a big forward pickup.

The 23-year-old is a highly intriguing top-six winger with a physical edge, finishing third on the team with 124 hits this season. He also logged a +22 rating, put together a 19-23–42 scoring line in 77 games, and averaged 16:32 per game – a legitimate needle-moving depth piece the Kings would likely prefer to retain given his age.

Getting cost certainty on Laferriere, even if it’s a bridge deal to keep his cap hit down, is important for Holland to know if he needs to make any cap-clearing moves to maintain flexibility for Gavrikov and their clearly desired forward pickup. Locking him in could make an older player with a similar price point and offensive ceiling, such as winger Trevor Moore, an expendable asset if L.A. needs to open up some roster space or spending money.

Image courtesy of Robert Hanashiro-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Focus: Montreal Canadiens

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Free agency is now under a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Canadiens.

Key Restricted Free Agents

G Jakub Dobes – Dobes’ NHL career couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. He won his first NHL start against the eventual Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers, stopping 34 of 34 shots. He finished the season with a 7-4-3 record in 15 starts with a .909 SV% and 2.74 GAA. If he were allowed to remove three difficult starts against the Rangers, Kings, and Kraken, Dobes would have finished the year with an impressive .924 SV%. Unfortunately for Dobes, with Sam Montembeault signed through the 2026-27 season and prospect Jacob Fowler rising through the ranks, he likely doesn’t have a long-term future with Montreal.

F Emil Heineman – Heineman came exactly as advertised to the Canadiens this season. Despite missing a chunk of games due to injury, the Leksand, Sweden native scored 10 goals and 18 points in 62 games, while averaging 11:24 of ice time per night. He was one of the most physical forwards on the team and managed solid possession metrics. Like many younger players, he has a few things to clean up in the defensive zone, which he’ll want to prioritize during offseason training if Martin St. Louis continues to utilize him in a defensive role next season.

D Jayden Struble – Struble serves as one of the more obvious non-tender candidates on the Canadiens’ roster. Montreal already has six defensemen signed through next season, and that’s without taking into account David Reinbacher competing for a spot on the roster during next year’s training camp. Still, Struble is an effective depth option, scoring two goals and 13 points in 56 games this past season while averaging nearly 15 minutes of ice time, with 124 hits.

Other RFAs: F Rafaël Harvey-Pinard, F Sean Farrell, F Xavier Simoneau, D Gustav Lindström, D Noel Hoefenmayer, D William Trudeau, G Cayden Primeau

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Christian Dvorak – Before the 2024-25 campaign, the Canadiens had been looking to offload Dvorak and his $4.45MM salary. Dvorak rewarded Montreal for keeping him, scoring 12 goals and 33 points in 82 games, while leading the team with a 55.6% faceoff percentage by a healthy margin. He’s becoming a better defensive player as he ages, and the Canadiens could use Dvorak’s skill set as a veteran player as they become more competitive, albeit at a far lower price point.

F Joel Armia – Similarly to Dvorak, Armia has been the subject of trade rumors for the last few years. Montreal went as far as to pass Armia through waivers at the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign in an attempt to rid themselves of his $3.4MM salary. In almost identical fashion, Armia rewarded the Canadiens for keeping him, scoring 11 goals and 29 points in 81 games, with many of those points coming at even strength. Still, Armia has significantly poorer possession metrics compared to his peers, and Montreal may look elsewhere for secondary scoring this offseason.

Other UFAs: F Michael Pezzetta, F Brandon Gignac, F Alex Barré-Boulet, G Connor Hughes

Projected Cap Space

The situation in Montreal becomes more convoluted when looking at their salary cap availability. The team only has around $6MM to spend, with much of their core intact. According to PuckPedia, the Canadiens already have 13 forwards, six defensemen, and two netminders penciled on next year’s roster. Still, if the Canadiens are looking to capitalize on their surprise return to the postseason this season, they could look to trade Carey Price’s contract with it’s $10.5MM (with a sweetener, of course) to a team like the San Jose Sharks, giving Montreal the capability to pursue nearly any player they’re interested in this summer.

Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Photo courtesy of John Jones-Imagn Images

East Notes: Duclair, Marner, Marchand

at CDT | by 2 Comments

After being limited by injuries through much of the 2024-25 campaign, New York Islanders forward Anthony Duclair took a leave of absence from the team for the remaining eight games of the regular season due to a relatively public conflict with head coach Patrick Roy.

Still, in an interview with Andrew Gross of Newsday, new General Manager Mathieu Darche doesn’t believe Roy’s comments and Duclair’s leave from the team will have any long-standing implications. Gross quoted Darche, saying, “I have a little bit of a relationship with him. I did talk to him. He was in a good mood. We’re going to sit down, like I do with every other player.”

Darche went on to say that he’s hopeful Duclair will be ready for training camp in September. Regardless of his relationship with Roy, the Islanders’ front office will be expecting more from Duclair next season after scoring four goals and 11 points in 44 games shortly following a four-year, $14MM agreement with New York on the free agent market.

Other notes from the Eastern Conference:

  • Being the only team that can offer Mitch Marner an eight-year term before July 1st, Cam Robinson of EliteProspects has indicated the Toronto Maple Leafs could entertain a sign-and-trade scenario with Marner this offseason. The motivation behind the idea would be for Toronto to recoup some trade assets for Marner, rather than seeing him leave for nothing. However, a sign-and-trade at that level hasn’t been recorded since the Calgary Flames signed and traded Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in 2022 for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. Given that any interested team could sign Marner to a seven-year deal, without having to give up any prized players, means this scenario is highly unlikely to play out this summer.
  • A few days ago on The Chris Johnston Show, TSN’s Chris Johnston shared his belief that Panther Brad Marchand will get a raise this summer. Aside from the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, and the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, Marchand has played fewer than 70 games in one season since his sophomore campaign, showing a quality level of longevity entering his age-38 season. Coupled with his impressive run to the Stanley Cup Final with the Panthers that’s seen Marchand score seven goals and 17 points in 19 contests, Johnston believes Marchand will earn an AAV of $8MM on his next contract, albeit on a shorter-term deal.

Free Agent Focus: Minnesota Wild

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Free agency is now under a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Wild.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Marco Rossi – Much has already been made of Rossi’s trip through restricted free agency this summer. The former ninth overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft is reportedly looking for a seven-year, $49MM contract with the Wild this summer, and the team has countered with a five-year, $25MM deal. It doesn’t seem like a bridgeable gap at this point, though much can change over the summer months. Despite having his name in the rumor mill for a few years, the trade rumors surrounding Rossi are reaching a peak, meaning it’s more than likely he’s moved this summer.

F Declan Chisholm – Minnesota acquired Chisholm on waivers from the Winnipeg Jets last season, and he quietly had a productive season for the Wild in 2024-25. He reached a career-high in scoring with two goals and 12 points in 66 contests, averaging just shy of 17 minutes of ice time per game. Furthermore, even though he started many of his shifts in the defensive zone, Chisholm finished the season with a quality 50.4% CorsiFor% at even strength, and a 91.5% on-ice save percentage at even strength. Chisholm would make for a reliable depth option to retain on a saturated defensive core.

Other RFAs: F Graeme Clarke, F Adam Raska, F Michael Milne, F Luke Toporowski, D Ryan O’Rourke

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Gustav Nyquist – The second iteration of the Nyquist experiment in Minnesota didn’t go as well as the first time. The last time the Wild acquired Nyquist at the 2022-23 season, he scored one goal and five points in three regular season contests, with another five assists in six playoff games. This time around, the Halmstad, Sweden native scored two goals and seven points in 22 games after a trade from the Nashville Predators, and went scoreless in the Wild’s opening-round matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. There will be better options available to Minnesota on the free agent market to address their secondary scoring needs.

F Justin Brazeau – Like Nyquist, the Wild acquired Brazeau at this year’s trade deadline from the Boston Bruins. He was tasked with giving Minnesota more grit and defensive prowess in their bottom-six for their playoff push, and that’s exactly what he gave them. His ice time was cut by more than four and a half minutes when he was moved to the Wild, and his scoring followed. Still, Brazeau managed nearly two hits a game for Minnesota, and added 22 more in six postseason contests.

D Jon Merrill – Merrill is unlikely to sign another contract with the Wild. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do all that much aside from eat limited minutes. He managed a quality 91.4% on-ice save percentage at even strength in 70 games, but that was only good for fifth on the team among blue liners, meaning the Wild can easily replace his value internally.

Other UFAs: F Travis Boyd, F Devin Shore, F Tyler Madden, D Cameron Crotty, G Troy Grosenick, G Dylan Ferguson

Projected Cap Space

The time has finally come for Minnesota to forget about the buyout burden from Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. After paying the pair of former-veterans nearly $15MM last season, the Wild’s payment drops down to $1.7MM for the 2025-26 season, giving them nearly $16MM in salary cap flexibility with few roster spots to fill. Minnesota have already placed a priority on signing superstar Kirill Kaprizov to a long-term extension this summer, so they’ll have to game out any free agent additions with that extension in mind.

Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Photo courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

Contract Negotiations Begin Between Blue Jackets, Daniil Tarasov

at CDT | by 4 Comments

According to a new article from Daria Tuboltseva of RG, the Columbus Blue Jackets have started contract negotiations with Daniil Tarasov. Tarasov’s three-year, $3.15MM contract concluded at the end of the 2024-25 campaign.

The Blue Jackets are in the driver’s seat for the negotiations. After a quality 2023-24 campaign, Tarasov had the worst season of his brief NHL career this past season, making him a candidate to be non-tendered this offseason if Tarasov doesn’t agree to Columbus’s offer.

In her interview with Tarasov, Tuboltseva quoted Tarasov saying, “Negotiations are ongoing. My agent is talking to the team’s management. There’s nothing concrete yet — just early discussions. The NHL season is still going, and the final is ahead. A lot will be decided later.”

It’s an interesting revelation given that Tarasov lost his role as the team’s backup toward the end of the season in favor of younger netminder Jet Greaves. The Russian goaltender concluded the 2024-25 season with a 7-10-2 record in 20 games with a .881 SV% and 3.54 GAA.

While already having Elvis Merzlikins and Greaves signed through next year, one could reasonably assume that the Blue Jackets will offer Tarasov no more than a league-minimum contract on a one-year deal. Tarasov didn’t give them confidence to re-sign him to a multi-year deal, and it may be the most he could find on the open market, anyway.

Still, that would be a healthy pay cut for Tarasov who made an AAV of $1.05MM for the last three years. He has not indicated if he’d return to the KHL if he doesn’t re-sign with Columbus, but it may be the most advantageous option for his professional career.

New York Rangers Expected To Have Busy Offseason

at CDT | by 5 Comments

According to Arthur Staple of The Athletic, the New York Rangers are expected to be one of the busier teams this offseason, along with the Buffalo Sabres, Seattle Kraken, and Utah Mammoth.

That wasn’t the only assertion Staple made in his report. He indicated that General Manager Chris Drury will look to shake up the roster and lists Igor Shesterkin, Adam Fox, and Artemi Panarin as the only true untouchables on the roster.

The news comes with little surprise given that the trio was inarguably the top three performers on a disappointing Rangers team this past season. Still, outside of those three, it would make little sense for New York to part ways with the likes of J.T. Miller, Vincent Trocheck, or Gabriel Perreault, either, for various reasons.

Additionally, moving on from higher-priced players such as Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafrenière could prove difficult this offseason, given the Rangers would undoubtedly be selling low on either piece. However, if New York frees up some cap space, Staple believes they already have a target in place.

Vladislav Gavrikov, who has spent the last two-and-a-half years with the Los Angeles Kings, would immediately become an interest for the Rangers with more cap flexibility. Gavrikov has already indicated he’d like to sign a longer-term extension with Los Angeles, but the new regime led by Ken Holland could have different ideas.

The Russian defensive defenseman would immediately become one of the top options on the blue line in a thin free agent class. Gavrikov averaged above a 50.0% mark in CorsiFor% at even strength during this time with the Kings, and an on-ice save percentage at even strength of 91.6%.

Given that the Rangers finished 27th in the league in shots against and 25th in high-danger scoring chances against during the 2024-25 season, Gavrikov would help alleviate many of their issues. Still, assuming Gavrikov signs around the projected mark between $6.5MM and $7.5MM, the Rangers would have difficulty making that work at the present with only $8.4MM in cap space heading into the offseason.

Senators Not Planning To Use Full Amount Of Cap Space This Summer

at CDT | by 4 Comments

With a $7.5MM increase to the Upper Limit of the salary cap for next season (from $88MM to $95.5MM), there is a big expectation of spending going up across the league.  But not every team is obviously going to spend to the new ceiling and it appears the Senators will be one of them.  Speaking with reporters including Postmedia’s Janson Duench, GM Steve Staios indicated that he’s not expecting to spend to the maximum:

“It’s probably not going to be up there and we’ll leave ourselves a little bit. You got to remember, when I first got here, we had no room and it’s nice to be able to create some flexibility, lengthen the roster, lengthen the lineup and give ourselves some options.”

While Staios spoke of staying enough below the cap to create some flexibility for in-season movement, owner Michael Andlauer went a step further, noting to Sportsnet’s Alex Adams that they are a “cash over cap” team at the moment in terms of their spending which is playing a role in things.

Per PuckPedia, the Senators have just over $80.47MM in cap spending for next season.  However, their actual cash spending on their roster and dead cap spending (between a salary retention and a buyout) is a fair bit higher, checking in at $85.675MM.

Notably, the Sens still have several roster spots to fill, including re-signing RFA winger Fabian Zetterlund and UFA forward Claude Giroux with discussions underway on both those fronts.  Between getting new deals done for them and rounding out the group, it’s quite possible that their actual cash spending runs closer to the $100MM mark.  For a smaller market team like Ottawa, it appears that’s a concern.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Staios trying to backload some contracts where possible to try to balance out the cap and cash spending numbers to an extent which could also open up more budget room to spend closer to the Upper Limit.  Not all players are open to doing so, of course, which could limit them in free agency.  Alternatively, if there is a player-for-player swap that presents itself, acquiring someone with a cash cost below the cap could become more appealing.

With more than $15MM in cap space, it’s fair to say that the Sens likely still have considerable spending capacity within their budget.  But as names start coming off the board over the next couple of months, it appears that Ottawa won’t be using all of its spending flexibility during that time.

Oilers Working On Extension With Trent Frederic

at CDT | by 4 Comments

The Oilers acquired Trent Frederic from Boston leading up to the trade deadline with an eye on bolstering their bottom six for the playoffs.  A pending unrestricted free agent, it appears he could be sticking around in Edmonton a little longer.  In today’s 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman relays that word around the rink on Friday is that the forward might be sticking around for next season although an extension isn’t expected to be announced during the Stanley Cup Final.

The 27-year-old had a breakout year in 2023-24, notching 18 goals and 22 assists in 82 games with Boston while also chipping in with 204 hits.  Considering he put up 17 goals and 31 points the year before, it looked like he had arrived as a key bottom-six piece for the Bruins while making his $2.3MM cap charge a team-friendly one.

But things didn’t go as well this season.  His production dropped to just eight goals and seven assists in 57 games before the trade deadline but Edmonton liked his track record enough to send a second-round pick, a fourth-round selection, plus prospects Shane Lachance and Max Wanner in a three-team trade to acquire him at 75% retention along with winger Max Jones.

Frederic was injured at the time of the trade and had to wait nearly a month to make his Edmonton debut.  It wasn’t a great one as he was injured once again after just 7:10 of playing time, keeping him out of the lineup for the rest of the regular season.

However, Frederic was cleared to return for the playoffs and he has played a regular role for them, playing in all 18 games thus far.  His production in those outings has been limited to just one goal and three assists in 11:32 per night of action although he also has 66 hits.  While he’s doing alright, he’s also not building back some of the value he may have lost during the regular season.

That makes the possibility of an extension look a little more palatable for the Oilers.  They will have a little over $12MM in cap space this summer, per PuckPedia.  However, a significant chunk of that will need to go to pending RFA Evan Bouchard.  That won’t leave a lot of room to pay Frederic a price tag around what his value might be on the open market.  But if he’s open to a short-term deal to try to rebuild some value and play on a contender, that might be enough to make something work between Frederic and the Oilers over the next few weeks.

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

scroll to top