Brian La Rose

Free Agent Focus: NHL Utah

May 31, 2024 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 6 Comments

Free agency is now just 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 have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the franchise formerly known as the Coyotes.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Sean Durzi – Arizona took advantage of Los Angeles needing some cap space, flipping a second-round pick to land Durzi. The move worked out extremely well for the then-Coyotes. Durzi was thrust into a much bigger role than he had with the Kings and acquitted himself rather well, setting new career highs in assists (32), points (41), blocks (160), and ATOI (22:43). He’s owed a qualifying offer of $2MM but stands to land considerably more than that, especially with salary arbitration rights. A one-year deal could push past the $4MM mark but if Utah GM Bill Armstrong wants to try to lock him up to a long-term agreement that buys multiple years of club control, Durzi’s next contract could surpass $6MM per year.

F Barrett Hayton – After a breakout 2022-23 campaign, expectations were high for Hayton coming into this season. However, things didn’t go as planned. The 23-year-old missed 49 games due to a pair of injuries (hand and lower body) and when he was in the lineup, he wasn’t producing anywhere near the level that he was the year before, scoring just three goals while adding seven assists in 33 appearances. His qualifying offer checks in at $2.13MM with arbitration rights which should allow him to get more than that based on his 2022-23 performance. However, the long-term agreement that seemed likely a year ago probably won’t be coming this summer.

D Michael Kesselring – After getting a taste of NHL action last season, Kesselring played his way into a more prominent role in 2023-24. He started the year in the minors but was recalled less than a month in and was up with Arizona the rest of the way. Kesselring recorded a respectable 21 points in 65 games while averaging less than 16 minutes a night of ice time. Although this is his first trip through restricted free agency, he’s already arbitration-eligible which could push his next contract higher than it might seem at first glance. Without arbitration, his bridge deal could have been pegged around the $1.3MM mark but it should push past $1.5MM with his eligibility to go to a hearing where his 2023-24 performance would make a big difference in the award.

D J.J. Moser – Moser wasn’t counted on to play quite as many minutes this season but he still logged more ice time than everyone but Durzi. A rare player to go from being drafted in the second round to being an NHL regular the following season, the 23-year-old is now entrenched as a key part of Utah’s back end for the foreseeable future. He still has three years of club control remaining so Armstrong could opt for a second bridge contract which could still quadruple his $874K qualifying offer. If they do look to work out a long-term agreement, it should check in closer to the $4.5MM mark.

D Juuso Valimaki – After being waived out of Calgary back in 2022, Valimaki has settled in as a quality regular on their back end. However, he wasn’t able to match the 34 points he put up in his first season with the Coyotes who claimed him off the waiver wire, seeing his output cut in half this year. Still, his qualifying offer checks in at only $1MM and while he has arbitration rights, the award shouldn’t be high enough to have Armstrong thinking about a non-tender. He should at least double his salary from this season over the summer.

Other RFAs: F Curtis Douglas, F Jan Jenik, F Milos Kelemen, D Vladislav Kolyachonok, F Ben McCartney, D Victor Soderstrom

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Travis Boyd – When healthy, Boyd has been a decent secondary scorer. Heading into this season, he was coming off two straight years of 34 points but he wound up clearing waivers in training camp although he was never sent down. This year, he was limited to just 16 games due to a torn pectoral muscle although he still managed eight points despite averaging less than 10 minutes a night. He also has plenty of experience playing down the middle which should help his value in theory. That said, coming off a long-term injury, he’s likely heading for a contract around the league minimum. However, of the many players who will find themselves in that situation in the coming weeks, he’s one with a bit more upside than most.

D Josh Brown – After being in and out of the lineup at times, Brown signed with Arizona in 2022 with the hopes of establishing himself as a full-timer. While he played more than he sat both years, the 30-year-old was the seventh defender fairly frequently this season. He’s a capable shot-blocker and plays with some snarl which will get him some interest in the summer but it’s likely to be for a depth role. Those players will mostly be around the league minimum of $775K but Brown could check in slightly higher than that.

F Liam O’Brien – O’Brien led the NHL in penalty minutes this season while setting a new personal best in points (14) and hits (229). There is still a role for some fourth line fighters across the league and as someone who can produce a little bit while playing that role, he should be able to garner some interest if Armstrong doesn’t re-sign him. Having said that, this particular spot in the lineup is one that teams won’t want to spend much on so O’Brien might not be able to command too much more than the $800K salary he received this season.

Other UFAs: F Travis Barron, D Cameron Crotty, D Travis Dermott, D Steven Kampfer, F Justin Kirkland, D Patrik Koch, F John Leonard, F Bryan Little, F Ryan McGregor, F Nathan Smith, G Matt Villalta

Projected Cap Space

No team has more cap space than Utah this summer, checking in at over $43MM, an amount that could jump past $51MM if they were to fully utilized Shea Weber’s LTIR deal. That doesn’t seem likely to happen but the days of this franchise being at the bottom of spending in terms of salary should be over now. Their restricted free agents will take up a fair-sized chunk of this cap room but they’ll still have plenty of room to add multiple impact players this summer. They could be players in free agency and on the trade front as a result.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Senators UFA Jacob Larsson Signs In Switzerland

May 31, 2024 at 8:25 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Rather than see what a trip through unrestricted free agency in July would yield, defenseman Jacob Larsson has opted to head overseas. The Senators’ depth defender has signed a two-year contract with Rapperswil-Jona in Switzerland, per a team announcement.

The 27-year-old was a first-round pick by Anaheim back in 2015, going 25th overall but hasn’t been able to carve out a full-time NHL role just yet. He spent five years in their system, getting into 165 NHL games during that span. However, in 2022, the Ducks elected not to tender a $1.3MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights, making Larsson an unrestricted free agent.

Unable to secure a one-way deal on the open market, Larsson accepted a one-year, two-way deal with Ottawa that summer. While he got into seven games with the Sens, he spent the bulk of that year with AHL Belleville. This season, he only saw game action in the minors despite a pair of recalls in the first half of the season. With Belleville, Larsson played in 61 games, notching a career-best 33 points while adding five assists in seven playoff contests.

Considering the year he had in the minors, Larsson likely would have had strong interest on the open market from teams looking to make him a key defender in the AHL while being a serviceable recall if necessary. However, he instead will try his hand different where he’s likely to play a big role for the Lakers for the next two years. A good showing there could get him back on the NHL radar in 2026 if he decides to try his hand at playing in North America again.

Predators To Part Ways With Assistant Coach Dan Hinote

May 31, 2024 at 7:15 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

The Predators have elected to make a change behind the bench for next season. The team confirmed to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean that they will not renew the contract of assistant coach Dan Hinote when it expires at the end of June.

Hinote was an energetic winger over his nine-year NHL career split between Colorado and St. Louis. He opted to play in Sweden for one final season in 2009-10 before hanging up his skates.

However, Hinote wasn’t out of a job for long as after retiring, he was named an assistant coach with Columbus. The 47-year-old spent four seasons in that role before moving into scouting where he spent four more years with the Blue Jackets. From there, he spent two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program before former Nashville GM David Poile brought Hinote onto their staff back in 2020. After four years in that job, Hinote will now be on the lookout for another job.

While Hinote won’t be returning, their other assistants will. Daugherty added that Nashville’s two other assistant coaches, Tom Richards and Derek MacKenzie, are expected to return next season so there will only be one new voice behind the bench on Andrew Brunette’s staff.

Snapshots: Myers, Necas, Buyalsky, Yeo

May 29, 2024 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 7 Comments

Defenseman Tyler Myers is one of Vancouver’s many notable pending unrestricted free agents but that might not be the case for much longer. In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted that there is optimism that the Canucks will be able to work something out with the blueliner. Myers has spent the last five seasons in Vancouver after inking a $30MM deal with them back in 2019. He struggled in a prominent role but found some traction in more limited minutes this season, notching 29 points in 77 games along with 136 blocks and 110 hits in just under 19 minutes a night. It’s safe to say that a new agreement for the 34-year-old won’t reach the $6MM mark but half that on a multi-year deal could be double.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

The Canadiens are among the teams to have inquired about Hurricanes forward Martin Necas, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic recently reported in an appearance on RDS (video link). The pending restricted free agent has been frequently mentioned in trade speculation in recent weeks with Carolina having a lot of players to re-sign and not enough cap space to bring everyone back. Necas had 24 goals and 29 assists in 77 games during the regular season and added nine points in 11 postseason contests. He’s owed a $3.5MM qualifying offer but stands to earn much more than that this summer while also carrying salary arbitration rights.
Avalanche prospect Andrei Buyalsky entered the transfer portal back on April 1st and has now found a new place to play next season. However, it’s not at the NCAA level as Barys Astana of the KHL announced on their Instagram page that they’ve signed they forward to a one-year contract. The 23-year-old was a third-round pick of Colorado back in 2021, going 91st overall. Buyalsky spent the last three years at the University of Vermont but saw his production dip this season to just three goals and eight assists in 25 games.
After parting ways with Vancouver yesterday, veteran coach Mike Yeo might not be out of a job for long. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Senators have interviewed Yeo for an assistant’s job on Travis Green’s bench while suggesting that he could be on the Maple Leafs’ radar as well having worked with Craig Berube before. Yeo spent the last couple of years in that role with Vancouver and also has head coaching experience with Minnesota, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.

Offseason Checklist: Washington Capitals

May 29, 2024 at 7:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

The offseason has arrived for all but a handful of teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Washington.

The Capitals were able to pull off a late-season comeback to reach the postseason but they were quickly dispatched in a four-game sweep by the Rangers, ending their year on a low note. Washington is a team that’s more or less stuck in the middle so GM Brian MacLellan will need to figure out how to get this team moving in a more concrete direction. There are a couple of different paths to take obviously and their checklist will reflect both routes accordingly.

Examine Goalie Trade Options

This season was somewhat of a changing of the guard for Washington’s goaltenders. Darcy Kuemper was signed to be the long-term starter while Charlie Lindgren was brought in during the 2022 offseason as a low-cost backup. They flipped roles this year with Lindgren cementing himself as the starter while Kuemper struggled, landing in the second-string role as a result.

While both netminders are under contract for next season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see MacLellan try to shake things up. However, the route they take – retool or rebuild – will indicate which netminder would be the right one to move.

If they’re looking to win now, they might want to look at the market for Kuemper to see if there’s a taker for a swap of underachieving goalies. This could be an offseason that sees more musical chairs than usual this summer when it comes to goaltenders and there are a handful of teams with veterans who have multiple years left on their contracts with a price tag in the range of Kuemper’s $5.25MM. Since Kuemper (who does have a 10-team no-trade list as of Saturday, down from 15) doesn’t have positive trade value on his own, perhaps taking a flyer on someone else in a swap of bad deals could help their situation between the pipes.

On the flip side, if they pivot to a rebuild, then the idea of moving Lindgren stands out. Signing him to an extension now would carry some risks considering he’s coming off a career year but here’s a goalie who’s underpaid even by backup standards with a cap hit of just $1.1MM. With one year left on that contract, he could have some decent trade value for a team looking for a low-cost option in goal. With both Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson dominating at AHL Hershey, the Capitals could move forward with one of them splitting time with Kuemper or his replacement (they could look at the first swap idea in either route) and assess from there.

MacLellan suggested earlier this offseason that he’s planning as if both netminders will be back for next season. He should at least be exploring what other options might be out there in the coming weeks.

Re-Sign McMichael

After taking care of Aliaksei Protas earlier in the season, the Capitals got one of their young forwards signed early. They didn’t do that with Connor McMichael and therefore will need to get him signed over the next few months.

It has been an interesting first three years for the 2019 first-round pick. McMichael held his own in his rookie year in a fourth-line role but then in 2022-23, he was dispatched back to the minors for most of the season where he had a chance to play the offensive role he’s more suited to, not to mention getting in a long playoff run with the Bears. That helped propel him back to the NHL for this season and the 23-year-old was more impactful, notching 18 goals and 15 assists in 30 games while averaging just under 16 minutes a night. That goal total was good for a tie for fourth, a pretty good outcome for someone who played all of six NHL games the year before.

Generally speaking, this is the type of player profile where it makes a lot of sense to do a bridge contract. Here’s a player who only has a couple of years of NHL experience under his belt and likely hasn’t reached his offensive ceiling. More often than not, a short-term second contract is a straightforward solution. However, they gave Protas five years at $3.375MM per season with even less experience and less of a track record offensively and he would have been a logical bridge candidate as well. That means the potential for McMichael to sign a longer-term agreement certainly is there.

If it winds up being a conventional bridge contract, it should check in somewhere around the $2MM range, perhaps slightly backloaded to guarantee a higher qualifying offer at the end. That would also give them more money to work with if they’re looking to add to their roster this summer. Conversely, a bridge contract that buys up some UFA time likely pushes past the $4MM mark. If he develops as they hope, that would be a team-friendly pact before long but it would take away from their cap space this summer. If they decide to retool though, they may look more favorably on a longer-term agreement as they won’t need as much cap space for next season so they can more comfortably pay more now to potentially save later.

Utilize LTIR

This time last year, Nicklas Backstrom had done relatively well finishing up 2022-23 after returning from hip resurfacing surgery and while his $9.2MM price tag was high for the role he could fill, he could still fill a role. However, just eight games into the season, he shut it down, missing the rest of the season due to ongoing issues with his hip. At this point, it seems highly unlikely that he’ll be able to return. Accordingly, the Capitals can go into offseason LTIR and use that money either in free agency or on the trade front.

There’s also the potential for that number to go up. T.J. Oshie has been playing through some significant back pain and mused about the potential of not trying to play through it next season given the issues it gives him in his day-to-day life. If the determination is made that he won’t play either, that’s another $5.75MM that could be added to the LTIR pool. Given the potential that he could return, it’s unlikely that money would be utilized this summer (it might be more of an in-season decision) but it’s something that will need to be considered.

Now, how they use LTIR will be influenced by their direction. If they want to add win-now pieces, they can utilize it that way; we’ll get to some possible needs on that front shortly. But if the focus is on the future, then they can try to become a broker and take on a contract along with some future assets to help in the long term.

How much they have to spend remains to be seen with Oshie’s situation. But they will have LTIR at their disposal this summer if they want to use it.

Add Scoring Help

While this obviously is more of an issue if Washington is trying to push for another playoff spot next season, it’s an area that’s going to need to be addressed at some point. It wasn’t that long ago that the Capitals were one of the higher-scoring teams in the NHL. However, they only managed to finish 28th in that regard this season and with Backstrom likely not returning, Oshie’s status in jeopardy, and even long-time middleman Evgeny Kuznetsov now gone in a late-season trade, a good chunk of the previous core isn’t going to be around anymore.

This is something that Backstrom’s LTIR situation should help them with. By the time they re-sign McMichael and their other free agents, they’re basically going to primarily have just Backstrom’s (and maybe Oshie’s) money to play with.

How should that money be spent? They’re not in a spot where they need to be picky. While Dylan Strome has fared rather well in his two seasons with the Caps, he’s not a true number one center in an ideal world. McMichael still isn’t overly proven at the NHL level. With Backstrom and Kuznetsov out of the picture, there’s a definite need to add an impact piece down the middle. Ideally, that would be someone with some offensive creativity which could help unlock some of the sluggish scoring on the wing.

Speaking of that, the Capitals had just three wingers surpass the 15-goal mark last season. One is Alex Ovechkin who overcame a terrible start to put up 31 tallies but age is catching up with him. Another is Tom Wilson, a player who hasn’t reached 25 goals in a season in his career; he’s more of a secondary contributor from a points perspective. The third was Anthony Mantha who put up 20 goals before being moved to Vegas a little before the trade deadline. Suffice it to say, there’s a definite need for a scoring winger or two.

If MacLellan has any designs on trying to get back to the playoffs in 2024-25, he will need to find a way to add multiple impact point producers to this roster. If the plan is to retool, they can push that down the road temporarily but it’s an area that will still need to be addressed sooner than later.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Arthur Kaliyev Has Asked To Be Traded

May 29, 2024 at 6:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 16 Comments

This season was a rough one for Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev. After being a capable secondary scorer in his first two seasons, things more or less went off the rails in 2023-24. Now, the 22-year-old is believed to have asked for a trade, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.

Kaliyev put up a respectable 14 goals and 13 assists in his rookie year in 2021-22 and followed that up with an improvement in 2022-23, collecting 13 goals and 15 helpers despite missing 26 games. Accordingly, there was reason for optimism that he’d take another step forward this season while ideally being able to play a little higher in the lineup.

None of that happened. Instead, Kaliyev found himself a frequent healthy scratch, especially under Jim Hiller who had the interim tag lifted to become the full-time head coach earlier this month. Along the way, he managed just seven goals and eight assists in 51 games while logging less than 12 minutes a night of playing time. Then, when the playoffs came, he was scratched for all five games in their opening-round loss to Edmonton.

While his stock isn’t at its highest right now, Kaliyev could be an intriguing buy-low candidate for some teams. 71 points in 188 career NHL appearances is relatively decent for a player who has averaged just over 12 minutes a night over that time. Meanwhile, while he’s a pending restricted free agent, Kaliyev is owed a qualifying offer of just $874K and doesn’t have salary arbitration rights. Coming off the year he just had, it’s hard to see him commanding much more than that on a one-year contract.

The Kings were believed to be open to trading Kaliyev during the regular season (amidst speculation that Kaliyev himself would also be open to being moved) but a suitable swap never came to fruition. Now, they’re believed to be willing to move on from him altogether according to a recent report from Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription link) so the asking price will almost certainly be lower now. With Kaliyev wanting to move on and Los Angeles believed to be wanting to move on from him, he seems quite likely to be moved in the coming weeks.

Blue Jackets Name Don Waddell GM, President Of Hockey Operations

May 28, 2024 at 1:02 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 11 Comments

May 28: The Blue Jackets have signed Waddell to a multi-year deal to become the team’s GM, alternate governor and president of hockey operations, the team announced Tuesday. Interim GM John Davidson, who’s been the team’s POHO since 2021, is being transitioned into a senior advisory role.

May 25: After a search that has lasted more than three months, it appears that the Blue Jackets have zeroed in on their executive of choice to take over the front office. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Don Waddell is their choice to take over the top job in hockey operations. No agreement is in place as of yet with LeBrun suggesting that if all goes well, an announcement could be made next week. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the announcement could come on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The timing of this report doesn’t come as much surprise with Waddell having resigned from Carolina on Friday, less than 24 hours after reports emerged that he had been granted permission to speak to other teams. Generally speaking, you don’t make that type of move without having another job in place and the vacancy in Columbus is the only one in the league so it makes sense that they’re expected to reach an agreement.

Assuming everything goes well and the contract is finalized, Waddell will be tasked with reshaping a Columbus franchise that hasn’t had much success in recent years under former GM Jarmo Kekalainen.

The Blue Jackets have missed the playoffs in four straight seasons, entering an unplanned rebuild in the process. Kekalainen attempted to accelerate that with the additions of Johnny Gaudreau, Ivan Provorov, and Damon Severson in the last couple of years but Columbus wound up finishing last in the Metropolitan Division each time with the team struggling considerably in all three facets – offense, defense, and goaltending.

However, they do have a quality young core group to work with. Up front, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, Owen Sillinger, and Yegor Chinakhov have all has some success in the NHL already and are aged 23 or younger. On the back end, David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk give them some quality options to work within what has become somewhat of a veteran defensive group. They’ll also add a key piece of the future next month with the fourth-overall selection. That’s certainly a solid foundation to try to build off of.

One of the first decisions that Waddell will need to make when the hire is made official is on the fate of the coaching staff. The Blue Jackets have technically gone through four head coaches in the last four years with Pascal Vincent taking on the job late in the offseason before Mike Babcock had even coached a single game. Will Waddell want to bring in his own choice and make it five bench bosses in five years or will he let Vincent – who is entering the final year of his contract – stick around?

Assuming this hire is made official, it will be a significant change of direction for what Columbus has previously done in management. Their previous three general managers in franchise history – Doug MacLean, Scott Howson, and Kekalainen – were all first-time hires. That certainly isn’t the case with Waddell who has 18 years of GM experience – a dozen with Atlanta and six with Carolina – on top of holding other senior titles as well. There shouldn’t be any sort of learning curve for him as there was for the others.

In his resignation from Carolina, Waddell indicated that the time had come to move on to the next chapter of his career. That next chapter will be another Metropolitan Division team with Waddell having some work to do to get the Blue Jackets back on track.

Offseason Checklist: Minnesota Wild

May 25, 2024 at 3:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

After making the playoffs last season, expectations were relatively high for the Wild this season. They weren’t quite supposed to be at the top of the division but were squarely expected to be in the mix. That didn’t happen, resulting in an early-season coaching change. While they rebounded somewhat under John Hynes, they still came up short of making it back to the postseason. Now, GM Bill Guerin will be looking to make some tweaks to his roster although the bigger swings may have to come a little farther down the road. Here’s what should be on his checklist this summer.

Examine Gustavsson Trade Options

What a difference a year can make. This time last year, Filip Gustavsson was coming off finishing second in the NHL in GAA (2.10) and SV% (.931), albeit in just 39 games. Still, he did well enough to earn a three-year, $11.25MM contract after filing for salary arbitration and it looked like their goalie situation was relatively settled, at least for the short term.

This season, it was a different story. The 25-year-old saw his GAA jump by nearly a full goal per game, going to 3.06 while losing 32 points off his save percentage. He still picked up a few extra starts but simply failed to lock down the number one job as they were hoping for. That likely played a role in their decision to give Marc-Andre Fleury a one-year, $2.5MM extension last month for his 21st and final NHL campaign.

By all accounts, it appears that they feel Jesper Wallstedt, long viewed as their goalie of the future, is ready for full-time NHL duty. Clearly, they’re not trading Fleury (who has a no-move clause) after just signing him. Accordingly, unless they plan to carry three goalies (or shuttle Wallstedt) back and forth between Minnesota and AHL Iowa, it appears that Gustavsson may be the odd man out.

Early indications are that this could be a summer where there is more activity than usual on the trade front when it comes to goaltenders which is good news and bad news for the Wild. It’s good in that there will be more teams looking for options but with a larger supply of netminders potentially available, they’ll be hard-pressed to command a return of some significance, especially with Gustavsson coming off a down season. Guerin will need to determine what the best offer will be in the coming weeks and if that’s worth making a move now or potentially carrying three goalies into next season and see what the market looks like as the year goes on.

Work On Faber Extension

Last season, Brock Faber joined Minnesota for the final two games of the regular season and then suited up in all six playoff games in their opening-round loss to Dallas. He had a limited role in the postseason – perfectly understandable for someone just coming out of college – but showed enough to make it look like he could hold his own over a full NHL season in 2023-24.

Let’s just say he did better than that. A lot better, in fact. Instead of just holding his own, he became the Wild’s top defenseman pretty quickly. Not having Jared Spurgeon for most of the year due to injury certainly expedited that ascension but Faber more than earned the extra work as well. The end result was the 21-year-old leading all Minnesota blueliners with 47 points, 20 more than second-place Jonas Brodin. He logged nearly 25 minutes a night which not only led all Minnesota players but he had the sixth-highest ATOI in the entire NHL. He played big minutes on both special teams units as well. This is not the type of workload you’d expect a rookie who is now barely a year removed from playing college to be carrying.

The fact that he did so while playing on an entry-level deal was huge for the Wild. It’s great news for next season as well. But after that, the price tag is going to skyrocket and justifiably so.

The final year of Faber’s contract begins on July 1st, making him eligible to sign an extension at that time. While there is definitely some risk in handing out what would be one of the richest extensions in franchise history to a player with one full season under his belt, there’s also some risk in not signing him now and then Faber going and having an even better effort in 2024-25 in which case the price would go even higher.

Minnesota’s camp will likely try to use recent deals that Jake Sanderson ($8.05MM) and Owen Power ($8.35MM) signed as comparables but Faber has been more impactful in his early career which means his camp could push for $9MM or more, especially knowing that the deal won’t kick in until 2025-26 when the salary cap could be higher than $90MM. A new agreement doesn’t necessarily have to get done in the coming months but it stands to reason that this will be one of the higher priorities for Guerin.

Free Up Cap Space

The Wild have been operating well below the salary cap for the past several years thanks to the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise back in 2021. It was an outcome that Guerin knew he was getting into but he wanted to reshape the roster. While there are still five years left on their respective buyout charges, next season is the last of the whopping charges with each player carrying a dead cap charge of $7.371MM. (That number drops to $833K starting in 2025-26 which is much more manageable although a good chunk of the savings will be going to Faber.)

Guerin was aggressive with signing some veteran players to early extensions last season which has left Minnesota with minimal space to work with this summer assuming none of them are moved. Per CapFriendly, they have less than $6MM left in cap room with a handful of roster spots to fill. While it’s worth noting that of their pending free agents, none project to command a pricey contract, they also won’t have a lot of flexibility to work with to add to their roster.

Accordingly, finding a way to open up a bit more flexibility would certainly help. If they move Gustavsson and promote Wallstedt, that would free up $2.825MM to work with. Could they find a home for the final year and $2MM left on Marcus Johansson’s deal? Even flipping Jonathon Merrill’s $1.2MM elsewhere and carrying a cheaper seventh defender would give them some extra room. Every little bit is going to make a difference if they want to try to add an impact piece in the coming months.

Add Top-Six Forward

Speaking of impact pieces, they need one up front. After being in the top five in scoring in 2021-22, the Wild haven’t cracked the top 20 in that department over the last two seasons. While Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Joel Eriksson Ek gave them a solid 105 goals combined, the rest of their forwards tallied just 108 combined. That means the secondary scoring wasn’t there consistently enough.

Minnesota will be hoping there will be some internal growth to help bridge some of that gap. Marco Rossi had a solid rookie year and they’ll be counting on more from him. They’ll hope that Liam Ohgren and Marat Khusnutdinov can become capable producers in their first full seasons in North America and if that happens, their offense could get back toward the middle of the pack.

That said, they could certainly benefit from a more proven addition to the lineup. At a minimum, that player would serve as a bridge piece for some of the youngsters (a group that also includes Danila Yurov who could debut late in the 2024-25 campaign) to have some time to step up. If some of those younger pieces are ready sooner than later, then the veteran helps create a third scoring line which could only help things.

The good news is that there are plenty of these types of players available in free agency. Someone like David Perron would fit if they want just a short-term addition to let the youngsters get a bit more time to develop. Same with Adam Henrique if they want to add down the middle. If they want to aim higher, Tyler Toffoli, Teuvo Teravainen, and Vladimir Tarasenko stand out on the wing while someone like Chandler Stephenson would help at center.

The challenge, of course, is most of the players in this group will take up the majority (if not all of) Minnesota’s current cap space. That makes it a bit more important to open up some more flexibility on that front before the calendar flips to July and free agency opens up.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Sharks, Stauber, Hintz

May 25, 2024 at 2:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

Considering where the Sharks are in their rebuild, it might not make sense on the surface for them to be buyers this summer. However, Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now suggests in a piece for NBC Sports Bay Area that it would be advisable for San Jose to be buyers in certain circumstances, such as adding insurance down the middle with some uncertainty surrounding Logan Couture which could also take a bit of pressure off expected top pick Macklin Celebrini.

Additionally, there’s a case to be made that the Sharks should add multiple defenders to a group that struggled considerably this season. That would allow someone like Mario Ferraro to play in a more optimal spot on the depth chart which could help from a possible future trade standpoint while ideally creating a more competitive environment. With more than $38MM in cap room this summer per CapFriendly, GM Mike Grier can look to be active in free agency, take on some unwanted contracts while adding more future pieces or, more likely, a combination of both options will be utilized in the coming weeks.

Tyler Toffoli Expected To Test Free Agency

May 25, 2024 at 1:54 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The Jets will be now turning their focus to their roster after Scott Arniel was elevated to the head coaching position on Friday. With several free agents of note and not a lot of cap space to work with, they’ll face a situation of trying to pick between who to keep and who to let go. It appears that winger Tyler Toffoli will be among the ones that move on as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the veteran is expected to hit the open market in July.

The 32-year-old has moved around in recent years. This time a year ago, he was with Calgary before being moved to New Jersey after early extension talks went nowhere. Then at the trade deadline, he was on the move again with Winnipeg flipping a 2024 third-round pick and a 2025 second-rounder to get him as a rental to give their offense a boost in the tight Central Division.

The change of scenery bolstered Winnipeg’s attack but Toffoli saw his numbers dip somewhat. After putting up 26 goals and 18 assists in 61 games with the Devils, the veteran recorded seven goals and four helpers in 18 regular season games with the Jets. Like many of Winnipeg’s key forwards, Toffoli was somewhat quiet in their five-game loss in the opening round, recording just two goals.

Toffoli was one of the more prominent scorers available in his last trip through free agency back in 2020. However, in a deflated market, he wound up settling for a four-year, $17MM agreement with Montreal. Despite playing for four years on that contract, Toffoli wound up being pretty consistent, notching at least 20 goals each time while tallying 115 times in 287 games; that works out to an average of 33 goals per 82 contests. With a lot of teams looking to add scoring this summer, this should work out in Toffoli’s favor.

While the fact he has bounced around so much lately may raise some eyeballs (he played for two different teams in 2019-20 before signing with Montreal the following summer), Toffoli has shown that he can produce in a new system quite quickly. Accordingly, he should be well-positioned to earn another multi-year agreement and could push to land a contract in the range of last year’s top-paid forward Alex Killorn, who inked a four-year, $25MM agreement with Anaheim. That would be a nice improvement after how things went for Toffoli last time out.

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