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These Players Are The Best Value In The NHL

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A few weeks ago, we took a look at some of the worst-valued contracts in the NHL, and now today, we will do the opposite and look at some of the players that are giving the best value to their team in terms of performance compared to cap hit. For this, we will not utilize any players currently playing under an entry-level contract. We will only consider players playing under an agreement signed after their ELC has expired.

We begin in New Jersey with forward Stefan Noesen, who played last season under the first year of a three-year $8.25MM contract he signed as a free agent last summer. The 32-year-old journeyman did not have a perfect first year in his return to the Devils, but he did post over 20 goals for the first time in his career and was highly effective on the power play. His even-strength numbers were also good, and he set a career-high in hits with 152. Noesen played more than he ever has in an NHL jersey and was probably asked to do too much sometimes, leading to incredibly high turnover numbers (73 turnovers in 78 games). Overall, it’s not a bad return for a player making just $2.75MM per season.

Sticking in the Metropolitan Division, we move to Washington center Dylan Strome, who just completed a career year with 29 goals and 53 assists in 82 games. The 28-year-old was non-tendered by the Chicago Blackhawks in the summer of 2022, a move that has been a disaster for Chicago, given that the 2015 third-overall pick has developed into a top-six scoring center. Washington was happy to scoop up Strome on a one-year deal for $3.5MM, then extended him a short time later to a five-year, $25MM contract.

In the first two years of that deal, Strome has not missed a game and has averaged 28 goals and 46 assists while playing 17:40, which is not bad for $5MM annually. With three years left on that deal, it’s not impossible to imagine Strome replicating his production in the future, and there is an outside chance he will find another gear. Washington has Strome locked in for three more years and should be able to extract more value from him going forward.

Next up is defenseman Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes. Slavin’s game is somewhat unheralded, given that he is one of the top defensive defensemen in the NHL. Slavin was extended last July and will go into the first year of that eight-year deal in the fall. The contract is heavily loaded with signing bonuses, and the 31-year-old will carry an AAV of $6.395MM.

As good as Slavin has been defensively, his deal has a risk if the aging curve is not kind to him, which often isn’t with more defensively minded players. However, for at least next year, he will be underpaid for his elite work in Carolina’s defensive zone, and it should be a while before his game starts to slip dramatically.

Switching over to the Western Conference, Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey’s contract has been of incredible value to the team. The 30-year-old just completed his fifth year of the deal, and he has been unbelievable for Winnipeg, particularly in the past three years, where he has averaged over 24 minutes of ice time per game and has garnered Norris Trophy consideration every year.

Morrissey is making just $6.25MM against the cap, and with three years left on the contract, he will likely finish his deal just as his age begins to affect his production. He has remained a solid two-way defenseman who found another level offensively; that said, his offensive production has fallen a bit in the past two seasons, but he still produces points at a much higher level than when he initially signed his eight-year extension. The contract is a steal.

Next, we begin to get into some of the more obvious candidates, and it starts with Cale Makar, who just posted a career year offensively with 30 goals and 62 assists in 80 games. Aside from being elite offensively, Makar has developed a sneaky defensive side to a game that relies on his terrific skating and positional awareness. Makar is making $9MM annually for another two seasons and will be eligible for an extension next summer. Until he signs a new deal, Makar should continue to comfortably outperform his contract, which is saying something for someone making the kind of money he is.

Remaining in the West, we look at the best player in the world. Connor McDavid was once the highest-paid player in the NHL, but will enter next season possibly as low as fifth. That shouldn’t last long, though, as McDavid is eligible to sign an extension this summer and will most likely be the top-paid player in the game again in 2026-27 when his new deal kicks in. McDavid will carry a $12.5MM cap hit into next season and should considerably outperform it, given that he has posted 100 points in every season except for his rookie season (in which he was injured for nearly half of it) and the 2019-20 season (which was shortened due to the pandemic).

McDavid remains the best in the world, and if he indeed signs in Edmonton, he will top Leon Draisaitl’s $14MM AAV. McDavid has stated publicly that his first desire is to win, which, if true, means he will likely leave money on the table. However, if it does go for a significant number, it’s not impossible to imagine him getting close to the $20MM annual figure.

Moving back to the Eastern Conference and Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov. The soon-to-be 32-year-old has registered three straight 100-point seasons and has picked up plenty of hardware along the way, including back-to-back Art Ross Trophies in the last two years. Kucherov has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $9.5MM and should have plenty of good production left in him as he moves into his mid-30s. Kucherov’s eight-year $76MM contract has been a massive steal for Tampa Bay as Kucherov has done nothing but win cups and pick-up awards during this run.

Next, we have a pair of Hughes brothers, defenseman Quinn Hughes and forward Jack Hughes. Quinn is entering the second-to-last season of his contract, and at $ 7.85MM, he has been a massive bargain for the Vancouver Canucks. Quinn will hit free agency at 27 years old and should finally get a contract much closer to the value he is producing on the ice. In the meantime, Vancouver should continue to see incredible value from last year’s Norris Trophy winner for top defenseman in the NHL.

Vancouver could face an issue in talking extension with Hughes because he has expressed an interest in playing with his brothers, who are both currently in New Jersey. That takes us to Devils forward Jack, who, like his brother Quinn, has been outplaying his contract for quite some time. Jack has five years left on his contract and is making a tick more at $8MM annually, which should remain an excellent value for the Devils until he is a restricted free agent in 2030. Some might argue that Jack misses too many games, and it’s a fair point to bring up, but given the production on the ice the past three seasons, it’s fair to see that it is one of the best values in the NHL.

Finally, we wrap up with the most outstanding value ever in the NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby. Despite being the best player in the world for most of his 20-year run in the NHL, Crosby has never carried a cap hit higher than $8.7MM and just re-signed last fall on a two-year deal for the same number. Crosby might be turning 38 in a few months, but at this point in his career, he remains one of the most valuable in the NHL and should continue to put up points for the Penguins even if they stay in a rebuild for the entirety of his two-year deal.

Photo by Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Magnus Hellberg Signs With SHL’s Djurgårdens IF

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After a middling season in the AHL while on a two-way deal with the Stars, goaltender Magnus Hellberg is heading home to the SHL. Djurgårdens IF announced they’ve signed Hellberg to a three-year deal, bringing him back to Sweden through the 2027-28 season.

Hellberg hasn’t played in the SHL since 2011-12, back when it was called the Elitserien. He was a second-round pick by the Predators in 2011, for a time looking like he could be a long-term backup to Nashville stalwart Pekka Rinne. He was a solid AHL netminder for them, posting a .917 SV% and 2.36 GAA in his first three North American minor-league seasons, but only got one NHL relief appearance before a goalie crunch meant he was traded to the Rangers in 2015 for a sixth-round pick. His tenure in New York at least brought his first NHL start, but he only managed a .882 SV% and 2.44 GAA in three total appearances with the Rangers before reaching Group VI unrestricted free agency in 2017.

He opted for more opportunity overseas instead of trying to climb up an NHL depth chart elsewhere, signing with Kunlun Red Star of the Kontinental Hockey League. It was in the KHL that Hellberg finally established himself as an elite option in a high-level professional league. Across five seasons in China and Russia with Kunlun, SKA St. Petersburg, and HK Sochi, he posted a 2.00 GAA, .927 SV%, 24 shutouts, and an 81-64-14 record in 169 appearances. He was a two-time KHL All-Star and was rostered for Sweden at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, also winning a gold medal at the World Championship in 2018.

That prompted Hellberg to make an NHL return late in the 2021-22 season, signing on with the Red Wings. He’s spent the last few years as a journeyman, making stints as a No. 3 option for Detroit, Ottawa, Seattle (although he never played for them), Pittsburgh, Florida, and Dallas. He saw NHL action in three of those stops (Red Wings, Senators, Penguins), but only put up a .891 SV%, 3.12 GAA and a 7-8-1 record in 22 appearances over three years. He spent all of last season on assignment to AHL Texas after clearing waivers with Dallas, where he recorded a fine but unimpressive 2.69 GAA, .904 SV%, two shutouts, and a 24-14-1 record in 41 games.

Now 34 years old, this is almost definitely the end of the road for Hellberg in the NHL. He’ll aim to rediscover his KHL form with Djurgården, which just gained promotion back to the SHL after three seasons in the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan league.

Kings’ Anže Kopitar Wins 2024-25 Lady Byng Trophy

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Kings center Anže Kopitar has won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy for the 2024-25 season, the NHL announced Thursday. According to the league, the award is given “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” As with most other major trophies, it’s voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association at the end of the regular season.

As the full voting results show, Kopitar was far from a unanimous first-place vote and narrowly edged out Brayden Point, Jack Eichel, and Jaccob Slavin, all of whom had at least 27 first-place nods. It’s Kopitar’s third Lady Byng, putting him in a tie for fifth-most in league history. Frank Boucher (seven), Wayne Gretzky (five), Pavel Datsyuk (four), and Red Kelly (four) are the only ones ahead of him.

Others receiving first-place votes, listed in order of total points awarded, were Nick Suzuki, Cale Makar, Marc-André Fleury, Mitch Marner, Colton Parayko, Jake Sanderson, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Kirill Marchenko.

Kopitar, 38 in August, appeared in 81 games for Los Angeles in 2024-25 in what was his 19th NHL season, all with the Kings. Still an effective top-line piece, he also finished eighth in Selke Trophy voting after posting a 21-46–67 scoring line, a +14 rating, and 67 blocks while winning 57.2% of his faceoffs. As always important for Lady Byng voting, Kopitar took just two penalties all season – a holding call against the Devils in January and a cross-checking penalty against Utah in April.

The all-time great Slovenian pivot previously won the award following the 2015-16 and 2022-23 seasons. He was also a finalist back in 2014-15.

Image courtesy of Alex Gallardo-Imagn Images.

Ducks Acquire Chris Kreider From Rangers

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June 12: Both teams have made the trade official. The Ducks receive Kreider and their own 2025 fourth-round pick (No. 104), which they sent to the Rangers in the Trouba deal, while the Rangers receive the Maple Leafs’ 2025 third-round pick (No. 89), which the Ducks had acquired in last season’s Ilya Lyubushkin trade.

June 11: While the deal is agreed to in principle, Anaheim is on Kreider’s no-trade list, according to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The trade will remain in limbo until the Rangers gain clarity on whether he’s willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate the deal.

June 10: The Ducks and Rangers are in “advanced discussions” on a trade that would send winger Chris Kreider to Anaheim, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports Tuesday. New York is slated to receive a prospect and a pick in return, according to Vince Z. Mercogliano of USA TODAY Sports. The Rangers are not retaining salary on Kreider, who is signed through 2026-27 at a $6.5MM cap hit, if the deal gets across the finish line. Center Carey Terrance will be the prospect heading to New York if the deal formalizes, which isn’t expected to happen until Wednesday morning at the earliest, Seravalli later added.

Kreider, 34, has spent the entirety of his 13-year NHL career in New York. They nabbed him 19th overall in the 2009 draft – a solid piece of work considering he’d be a unanimous top-10 choice in a redraft – and has hit the 20-goal mark in 10 of his 12 full seasons with the club.

The 6’3″, 230-lb lefty had been incredibly effective, especially in recent years, as the Rangers exited their accelerated retool during the late 2010s. While always a consistent scoring threat, he erupted for a career-high 52 snipes and 77 points in 81 games in the 2021-22 campaign, leading them in scoring as the Blueshirts had their first 50-win season in seven years and firmly restablished themselves as contenders atop the Eastern Conference.

Kreider hasn’t hit 50 again, nor did anyone expect him to. However, he’s still been incredibly effective as New York’s second-line left-winger behind Artemi Panarin, scoring 75 goals and 129 points in 161 regular-season games across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, the latter of which resulted in a Presidents’ Trophy for the Rangers. He’s also been downright dominant in the club’s last three playoff appearances, scoring 24 goals in 43 games in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 postseasons.

This season was an obviously disastrous campaign for the Rangers, who missed the playoffs entirely and saw a 29-point drop in the standings. That included Kreider, who had his most injury-plagued season since pre-pandemic. A back injury, a hand injury that may have resulted in offseason surgery, and what he later revealed to be a bout of vertigo limited him to 68 games. When healthy, his production cratered. While never a playmaker by any stretch, Kreider still had just eight assists in addition to his 22 goals, giving him 30 points on the year.

That worked out to 0.44 points per game, the worst rate of his career, excluding a 23-game trial in 2012-13. His 0.32 goals per game was far closer to his career median and just a few ticks south of his career average, though. Considering he shot at 14.5%, 0.6% worse than his 15.1% career average, there’s reasonable hope for him to get back to 30 goals again next season for Anaheim, especially if he gels well with a much younger group of centers in Orange County.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury, who had been shopping Kreider as far back as the Rangers’ early-season slide last November, wasn’t going to wait to see if the aging winger would rebound and be worth his cap hit next season. While tough to swallow for a lifelong Ranger, it’s an understandable viewpoint. With limited salary cap flexibility this summer to retool his roster and higher-paid players having no-movement clauses, Kreider, who only has a 15-team no-trade clause, was always the most likely candidate to be moved this offseason to free up considerable spending money.

It’s presumably not how Kreider, whose 326 career goals rank third in Rangers franchise history behind Rod Gilbert (406) and Jean Ratelle (336), wanted his time in New York to end. It’s also an eerily familiar move. Former captain Jacob Trouba was made available for trade at the same time as Kreider and could now welcome his ex-teammate to Anaheim after the Ducks took him on, also with no retained money, mid-season.

It’s not yet clear where Kreider could fit into the Ducks’ left-wing depth chart, which includes Cutter Gauthier, former Rangers teammate Frank Vatrano, and now Trevor Zegras after the natural center was shifted away from the middle of the ice. Zegras is entering the final year of his contract and has been the subject of trade rumors for a few years now, while Vatrano is kicking off a three-year extension but has some experience playing the right side. If he shuffles over, that would make more room for Kreider to split top-six LW duties with the 21-year-old Gauthier, who’s coming off a 20-goal, 44-point rookie season.

The Rangers are at least slated to land a center prospect with moderate upside in Terrance. Anaheim selected the 20-year-old in the second round of the 2023 draft. He was the No. 10 prospect in their system, as opined by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, amid a strong season for OHL Erie, where he was promoted to captain and finished the year with a 20-19–39 scoring line in 45 games. His season ended in February after a hit into the boards sent him to the hospital, although he was discharged within 24 hours. He is under contract – Anaheim signed him to his entry-level deal in April. Otherwise, they would have lost his signing rights on June 1.

Image courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post was first to report Kreider had waived his modified no-trade clause. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to report the details of the draft pick swap.

Islanders Won’t Consider Trading Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat

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Ahead of the draft in which they hold the No. 1 overall pick, the Islanders have made it known that top forwards Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat will not be traded, reports Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun adds that new general manager Mathieu Darche has gone as far as to inform both players directly that their future on Long Island remains stable.

While the Isles’ front office change signaled a willingness for a new organizational approach, the prospects surrounding a full retool/rebuild took a big hit when New York won the draft lottery to move up from 10th to first overall. Doing so gives them an incredibly valuable stepping stone toward their next period of sustained playoff contention without needing to trade away one of their highest-valued players to acquire that type of asset as they would have had to do otherwise.

It would have been incredibly unwise to trade Barzal at this stage anyway. The 28-year-old’s value is likely at a low point after an injury-plagued season, limiting him to just a 9-11–20 scoring line in 30 games. Even on a per-game basis, it was the worst offensive showing of his eight-year run as a full-time NHLer. He still has six years left on his contract at a $9.15MM cap hit with a 22-team no-trade list. Considering he had an All-Star campaign with 80 points in 80 games while averaging over 20 minutes per night just one season ago, there’s legitimate reason to believe an offseason’s worth of rest provides the reset Barzal needs to get back to that level of production.

Trading Horvat, their leading scorer in 2024-25, would have been similarly surprising. He doesn’t have Barzal’s offensive upside but remains a high-end piece, even if he would be better suited as a second-line option on a championship contender compared to the No. 1 center honors he holds on Long Island. He’s scored 141 points in 192 games since being acquired from the Canucks ahead of the 2023 trade deadline and remains one of the league’s best faceoff men, coming off a career-high 58.2 FOW% in 2024-25. Like Barzal, Horvat is signed through the 2030-31 season.

As such, both will remain foundational pieces of the Isles’ forward group as they look to improve by refreshing their blue line and secondary scoring options. Barzal is a natural center but has shifted to Horvat’s wing frequently since the latter’s acquisition. Nonetheless, head coach Patrick Roy might do well to shift Barzal back to center to give them two legitimate top-six pivots in an effort to revitalize a New York offense that ranked 27th in the league last season.

If the Islanders do trade from their forward group to get younger and open up cap space, expect it to be a name like Jean-Gabriel Pageau. The 32-year-old center is entering the final season of his contract at a $5MM cap hit and has become expendable after the Isles landed their new top prospect (for now) in 2023 first-rounder Calum Ritchie, a strong candidate to start next year as their third-line middleman, from the Avalanche in this season’s Brock Nelson deal.

Canucks Have Shown Interest In Marco Rossi

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A handful of Canadian teams have spoken with the Wild regarding pending RFA center Marco Rossi, but the Canucks are the club with the highest level of interest in the youngster, writes Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun adds the Flames have also expressed a mild degree of interest but are looking for a pivot with more size to complement their top six, while the Canadiens have kicked tires but haven’t been remotely progressive in their pursuit.

Rossi is one of the biggest names to watch on the trade market over the next few weeks, especially among centers, unless Vancouver decides to shop their own Elias Pettersson again before his no-trade clause takes effect on July 1. Minnesota has been more aggressively soliciting calls on Rossi since the season ended, after previously denying they were looking to move the 23-year-old pivot. There’s been widespread interest so far, but no team has emerged as a true frontrunner.

That’s due mostly to Rossi’s disinterest in a bridge deal and a desire for a long-term contract worth $49MM over seven years for a $7MM cap hit, according to reports. He’s coming off a strong platform year, finally elevated into consistent top-six deployment and responding with a 24-36–60 scoring line in 82 games despite not having superstar Kirill Kaprizov available on his wing for half of the season. He was second on the Wild in points and only three goals behind Matt Boldy for the team lead. He also hasn’t missed a game since emerging as a full-time NHL option in 2023-24, a notable development for someone who experienced significant post-COVID complications shortly after being drafted No. 9 overall by the Wild in 2020.

Rossi’s leap in production, especially since he was able to shoulder the responsibility of being Minnesota’s top center for a decent portion of the campaign with Joel Eriksson Ek missing time as well, still points to the Austrian having a point-per-game ceiling (or close to it). There’s one limiting factor he has to overcome: his size. Checking in at 5’9″ and 182 lbs, teams generally prefer to have that type of skillset on the wing. Whether justifiable or not, his evaluation by the Wild has been negatively impacted. His minutes were slashed in the postseason as he was reduced to a fourth-line role, still managing three points in six games against the Golden Knights despite seeing a decrease of over seven minutes per game from his regular-season deployment.

The lack of cost certainty and the fact that Rossi only has two full years of NHL experience also hurt, not help, his trade value. As such, it’s hard to identify a solid comparable deal to speculate a return. The Wild have no intention of taking a step back in their competitiveness level next season, though, so as Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff speculated earlier this month, they won’t just be looking for futures in return. If they’re losing center depth, they’ll look to bolster their skill on the wings to compensate.

Few destinations make more sense for Rossi than Vancouver. The Canucks are in desperate need of more offensive depth at every forward position but particularly at center, where they took a temporary hit by swapping J.T. Miller for Filip Chytil in an in-season blockbuster with the Rangers. Slotting in Rossi as their No. 2 center behind Pettersson, as they await the latter’s return to form, would allow Chytil to drop down to a much more comfortable third-line role to begin 2025-26 and give Vancouver three legitimate scoring threats down the middle.

It’s unclear who Minnesota might want in return on the wing, though. They’d presumably prefer a similarly-aged piece to Rossi but the Canucks wouldn’t likely value him high enough to deem him worth parting ways with top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki. A return based around the 23-year-old Nils Höglander, plus other assets to equal Rossi’s higher trade value, would be more realistic.

That’s a decent step back in offensive ceiling for Minnesota, but Höglander is cost-controlled at a $3MM cap hit through 2027-28. That would still allow the Wild to be aggressive in pursuing a name like Matt Duchene or Mikael Granlund in free agency to replace Rossi down the middle, while the Canucks would still open up more flexbility compared to a futures-based return and might still have the space to pursue a replacement for Höglander on the wing on the open market.

Offseason Checklist: St. Louis Blues

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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 St. Louis.

It was an eventful year for the Blues who made an early-season coaching change and wound up going on a significant late-season run to propel themselves into a playoff spot before being ousted by Winnipeg in the opening round.  GM Doug Armstrong doesn’t have a lot of salary cap flexibility to work with but he will be tasked with making at least some tweaks to his group this summer.

Continue To Reshape The Defense

A good chunk of the back end for the Blues has been around for quite a while now with three veterans being around for at least the last four years.  While they made a key addition early in the season with the acquisition of Cam Fowler following the summer signing of Philip Broberg, there’s still some work to be done.

Colton Parayko isn’t going anywhere.  Neither is Broberg.  Fowler is heading into the final year of his deal but at this point, he’s more of an extension candidate than a trade candidate.  After that, there are some question marks.

Justin Faulk is no stranger to trade speculation and was even in some recent speculation heading into the trade deadline when it looked like St. Louis would be selling, not standing pat.  He has two years left on his contract with a $6.5MM cap charge.  Originally, it looked as if those last couple of seasons could be tough from a cap perspective but he’s still logging 22 minutes a night and is above-average offensively.  With the UFA class not exactly being deep, he’s a viable trade chip not just to clear money but to get real value in return.  With Broberg, Fowler, and Parayko being capable of playing the offensive roles, Faulk could become expendable.

Nick Leddy is entering the final year of a four-year, $16MM deal.  The first two years weren’t bad but he battled injuries this season and struggled when he was in the lineup.  It would be surprising if they could offload the final year of the deal but if they wanted to retain salary or take a player back in a change-of-scenery type of swap, there might be a chance to move him as well.

Torey Krug seems unlikely to play next season which could give them some extra flexibility.  They have around $5MM in cap space per PuckPedia although Krug landing on LTIR could give them up to $6.5MM in additional spending room.  Meanwhile, Matthew Kessel and Tyler Tucker have shown they can be useful players in a depth role but aren’t ready for top-four duty just yet.

In a perfect world, Armstrong would add a top-four defender, one who is a bit more geared toward filling a shutdown role.  If Faulk is still around, they’d be in a good spot of having five top-four blueliners.  Or if that acquisition makes Faulk expendable, they’d have a chance to cash in on a solid trade chip.  Broberg and Fowler have helped reshape the back end but there’s still some work to be done there.

Extension Talks For Bridge Deals

The Blues went with bridge deals for the two players they signed on offer sheets from Edmonton (Broberg and Dylan Holloway).  Both will be entering the final year of their respective contracts on July 1st, making them extension-eligible.  While getting both of them signed would be a tall task, getting a sense of what those next deals might cost would be worthwhile for long-term planning as Alex Steen gets set to take Armstrong’s spot as GM next year.

Broberg was a wild card coming over from Edmonton.  After not locking down a regular spot in the lineup in 2023-24 during the regular season, he played a little more often in the playoffs but even with that, his $4.581MM offer sheet was still a wild overpayment based on what he had to that point of his career.

But Broberg managed to not only live up to that deal this season but even make it look at least a little bit like a team-friendly pact.  He quickly became a top-four threat, logging over 20 minutes a night and did pretty well offensively considering the low power play time he had.  Basically, he lived up to his eighth-overall billing.  Now, it’s fair to say that an extension is going to be a step or two above this rate.  Broberg has two RFA years left after next season so this will be the contract they’ll want to go long-term on.  With the anticipated jump coming to the Upper Limit and the projection that Broberg can build off the year he had, that type of agreement could conceivably push past the $7MM threshold, if not a little higher.

As for Holloway, he was the bigger bargain of the two, taking a $2.29MM contract and finishing third in the team in scoring with 26 goals and 37 assists, numbers that seemed unfathomable given his usage with the Oilers previously.  We saw Calgary’s Matthew Coronato get seven years at $6.5MM without hitting the 50-point mark, a plateau that Holloway already has gone through.  Like Broberg, he’ll have two RFA years left after this contract and it wouldn’t be surprising to see his camp asking for something starting with an eight on a long-term deal.

It would be surprising to see either player sign this early after just one year.  But even knowing how much extra money they’re going to need to set aside for 2026-27 could affect how they approach this summer.

Find A ‘200-Foot Offensive Player’

If this seems like an oddly specific category, there’s a reason for that.  At the end of the season, when Armstrong was asked what he’d like to add to his roster, this was his answer.  With that being a stated goal, it’s fair to say they’re going to go out and try to add one of those pieces.

The Blues finished 13th in offense this season so this type of player doesn’t necessarily have to be a high-producing one, just one that can play a two-way game and move around the lineup when needed.  Speculatively, a 40-to-50-point player fits the bill, preferably a center to give them some extra depth while also giving them options if Brayden Schenn were to find his way back into trade talks.

Of course, this is not necessarily the easiest profile of player to find.  There are only six UFA forwards in that particular point range and realistically, only two of those profile as two-way players, winger Reilly Smith and center Pius Suter.  Each of them would likely take up the bulk of their remaining base cap space, forcing them back into using LTIR for Krug.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Armstrong try to land this type of player on the trade market.  While his second-round picks are off the table for the next three years, they still have all of their first-round selections and boast a prospect pool that has been improved as of late.  That should be enough trade capital for him to work with if he wants to swing a deal to add to his group up front.

Re-Sign Hofer

Joel Hofer has been one of the better bargain goalies in the NHL over the last couple of seasons.  Signed to a league-minimum contract, he has been an above-average backup to Jordan Binnington over that span, posting a 2.65 GAA and a .909 SV% in 65 games over that span.  It’s safe to say that the bridge contract worked for both sides; St. Louis got a team-friendly deal while Hofer got a chance to prove himself and did exactly that.

Now is the time for him to cash in.  That is, at least in theory.  Knowing their desire to add a 200-foot offensive forward and the speculated desire to continue to build up their back end, it’s fair to wonder how much they’re going to have left for the backup goalie position.

Armstrong probably wouldn’t mind working out a long-term deal with Hofer, giving the Blues at least some stability with Binnington only having two years left on his contract.  But the longer the contract, the higher the price tag will be, cutting into what they can spend elsewhere.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Blues pursue a second bridge deal with Hofer.  He has three RFA-eligible seasons remaining and though they’re all arbitration-eligible, they can use the extra club control to kick this one down the road.  A two-year deal would see him expire at the same time as Binnington and should cost around $3MM per season while a one-year pact would see the price tag go a bit lower, potentially around the $2.5MM mark.  Hofer is the lone NHL RFA St. Louis has so Armstrong can push this past the start of free agency and potentially let what happens there dictate what they do with Hofer.

Photo courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.

Golden Knights Not Shopping William Karlsson

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In recent weeks, there has been speculation that the Golden Knights would like to free up some salary cap flexibility heading into free agency next month.  While that may still be the case, one of the speculated potential casualties is actually not in play; Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that Vegas is not looking to move center William Karlsson.

Karlsson is one of the few remaining original members of the team after joining them in the 2017 Expansion Draft.  Throughout his time in Vegas, he has been a reliable two-way center and has signed two separate deals with the team.

However, the 32-year-old is coming off a rather quiet season.  Limited to just 53 games during the regular season due to injuries, Karlsson put up just nine goals and 20 assists while seeing his playing time drop to 17:01 per night.  His point total and ATOI were both the lowest they had been since he joined the Golden Knights.

With Jack Eichel entrenched as the number one center and a stated desire to sign him to a long-term extension this summer and Tomas Hertl in the fold for another five years, it’s understandable why some wondered if Karlsson could be in play.  And with just two seasons remaining on his contract with a $5.9MM price tag plus a strong track record, Vegas would have been in a great position to command a strong return for his services.

But center depth is difficult to part with if you can afford to keep it.  Both Eichel and Hertl have a track record of dealing with injuries themselves so having three top-six-caliber middlemen is a great luxury to have while keeping Nicolas Roy and Brett Howden in the bottom six.

Speaking of cap space, the Golden Knights presently have around $9.6MM in room, per PuckPedia.  However, they have several players to spend that money on with wingers Reilly Smith, Victor Olofsson, Brandon Saad, and goalie Ilya Samsonov all set to become unrestricted free agents next month, with Nicolas Hague, frequently mentioned in trade speculation himself, becoming an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in July.  But while it’s understandable that Vegas wants to open up extra cap space heading into free agency, it appears it won’t be coming from one of their longest-serving players.

Snapshots: Islanders, Andersson, Hrabal, Jedlicka

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With the Islanders missing the playoffs this season, some wondered if new GM Mathieu Darche might look to make a big shakeup on the trade front.  If he does, their two top forwards won’t be involved.  In his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link), Pierre LeBrun relays that Darche has told forwards Bo Horvat and Mathew Barzal that they will not be moved this summer.  Horvat would have been an intriguing name on the center market while Barzal, who has been more of a winger lately but is a natural middleman himself, also would have drawn a lot of interest but instead, they’ll remain the focal points of a New York group that Darche feels can get back into the playoff mix next season.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Extension talks between the Flames and defenseman Rasmus Andersson are expected to continue this week with the two sides exchanging numbers for the first time, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. Andersson is eligible to sign a new deal as of July 1st and it’s one that should carry a significant increase on his current $4.55MM price tag.  While he’s coming off a bit of a down year, he still managed 31 points in 81 games and as a right-shot rearguard who plays in all situations, he’ll be highly sought after should he hit the open market in 2026.
  • The Mammoth tried to sign goaltender Michael Hrabal after this season, his college head coach Greg Carvel stated in a recent Sick Podcast appearance (video link). The 20-year-old was the 38th overall pick back in 2023 and has spent the past two seasons at the University of Massachusetts.  Hrabal posted a 2.37 GAA with a .924 SV% in 36 games for the Minutemen which seemingly was enough for Utah to want to turn him pro.  Instead, Hrabal has decided to return for his junior year and seems like a strong candidate to sign after that.
  • While the Avalanche relinquished the rights to prospect Maros Jedlicka on June 1st, he’ll be remaining with the organization for now. Colorado’s AHL affiliate announced that they’ve signed the forward to a one-year contract for next season.  Jedlicka started this year playing at home in Czechia, collecting two assists in a dozen games for HC Kometa Brno before coming to North America in mid-November.  Jedlicka played in 18 games for the Eagles this season, picking up three goals and two assists and while that wasn’t enough to earn an NHL contract, it was enough for the Avs to keep him around in their system at least.

Senators Expected To Begin Extension Talks With Adam Gaudette Soon

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With free agency now less than three weeks away, the Senators have been busy trying to get their top pending unrestricted free agent, Claude Giroux, locked up before he hits the open market.  It appears that he’s not the only UFA that they intend to try to sign early as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens are expected to start talks on a new deal with Adam Gaudette.

The 28-year-old has largely bounced around his eight-year professional career, spending time with five different organizations.  Gaudette came back for a second stint with Ottawa last summer, inking a one-year, two-way deal with an eye on him being a key contributor with AHL Belleville and coming up for stints with the big club when needed.

That didn’t go quite as planned.  In fact, it went better.  While Gaudette cleared waivers in October, he never actually suited up in the minors this season.  Beyond a few one-day stints with Belleville, he was exclusively up with Ottawa.  Along the way, he played in 81 games, scoring a career-best 19 goals along with seven assists; that goal total is particularly notable considering he averaged just 10:25 per game of ice time.  He added three points in six games in their opening-round playoff loss to Toronto.

While Gaudette had 33 points back in 59 games with Vancouver, this was his first season of being a full-time NHL player.  Overall, he has suited up in 301 contests at the top level, notching 46 goals and 50 assists along the way.  All told, not a bad showing from a fifth-round pick.

However, despite the success he has had at times, Gaudette has yet to earn a seven-figure single-season salary throughout his career.  He should have a chance to do that this time around but he might not beat the $1MM mark by too much considering the limited ice time he had this season and the fact he had primarily been a minor leaguer the previous two years.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Ottawa, like a lot of teams, try to keep their spots at the end of the roster close to the minimum salary to increase their spending flexibility so it will be interesting to see if an early agreement can be worked out to keep Gaudette off the open market.

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