Latest On P.K. Subban’s Free Agency
More than two weeks into free agency, one player that hasn’t received a lot of coverage is veteran defenseman P.K. Subban. The 33-year-old’s eight-year, $72MM contract expired earlier this month, allowing him to hit the open market for the first time but he hasn’t really been linked to teams at this point.
However, his agent Don Meehan of Newport, told Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette that while the rumor mill has been quiet for his client, it hasn’t been for a lack of interest and that he, like quite a few other free agents, are waiting for the financial picture for certain teams to get cleared up:
P.K. just came back from vacation and I talked to him today about the free-agency marketplace and I’ve indicated to him that we’ve had expressions of interest. I’ve told him that there are teams moving money — assessing what kind of cap space they have, analyzing their depth scenarios to determine just exactly what they can do. Some of these issues are in play as we speak, so I can’t get a definitive response from some teams in terms of moving ahead, but I have had expressions of interest for him to date. But the teams that have expressed interest aren’t in a position to contract now because they’ve got other things in play.
Subban has seen his production dip considerably over the past three seasons compared to his time with Montreal and Nashville and is coming off a 22-point campaign with the Devils in 77 games. Notably, his average playing time dipped under 20 minutes a night for the first time in his career as he averaged 18:18 which put him fifth among New Jersey’s blueliners. That was a drop of more than four minutes a game compared to 2020-21, hardly ideal for someone heading into free agency. A year ago, Subban had a case that he could still be a top-four defender but it will be harder for his camp to make that argument now.
Meehan also indicated that Subban is particularly focused on finding the right fit:
Without sounding too aggressive, I think he’s earned the privilege to be somewhat selective in terms of where he would play so that it works for the team and it works for him. In other words, he doesn’t just want to play anywhere. He has that measure of independence.
While Subban isn’t at the level he was back when he was in his prime as a three-time Norris finalist, he could still help teams in more of a limited role while it also helps that he and Anton Stralman basically represent all that’s left of right-shot defenders that are available on the open market. But with it proving more difficult than before for teams to free up salary cap space, Subban’s search for the right fit could drag on a little longer yet.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: DiPietro, Morehouse, Labanc
While he works to help facilitate a trade for his client Michael DiPietro, Quartexx’s Darren Ferris voiced some frustration to Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province about how the Canucks have handled the young goaltender so far:
There are occasions where they’ve dropped the ball on his development. The truth of the matter is that the bulk is more on the organization that (sic) it is on the player in this instance. Hopefully, we can get him in the right position.
The 23-year-old basically had a lost season in 2020-21 as his presence on Vancouver’s taxi squad for most of the year limited him to just four games played, hardly ideal for development. Last season, he lost playing time to Spencer Martin (who’s now Thatcher Demko’s backup) while the Canucks brought in Collin Delia to partner up with Arturs Silovs with AHL Abbotsford next season, making DiPietro the odd man out. He accepted his qualifying offer earlier this month that will pay $840K in the NHL and $70K in the minors.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- The Sharks are expected to announce the hiring of Chris Morehouse as their new Director of Amateur Scouting next week, reports Corey Masisak of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 35-year-old has spent the last nine years in various scouting roles and had been with the Rangers for the last two seasons as their North American Director of Scouting where he would have likely crossed paths with Mike Grier, now the GM in San Jose.
- Still with San Jose, Grier told reporters, including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, that he gave no consideration to the idea of buying out winger Kevin Labanc when the second buyout window opened up recently. The 26-year-old has two years remaining on his contract which carries a $4.725MM AAV. Over the first two years of that deal, Labanc has just 15 goals in 76 games and was limited to just 21 games last season due to a shoulder injury. A buyout would have freed up nearly $4MM in extra cap room this summer and next but instead, he’ll look to rebound under new head coach David Quinn.
Central Notes: Plante, Jets, Maxwell
Derek Plante’s time away from the Blackhawks is going to be relatively short as Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune reports that Plante is expected to rejoin Chicago as an assistant coach on Luke Richardson’s staff with an official announcement expected next week. Plante has spent the last two seasons as the Associate Coach with Minnesota-Duluth of the NCAA but before that, he spent five years as a Player Development Coach with the Blackhawks. He’ll join former interim head coach Derek King and Kevin Dean as Richardson’s assistants. Plante briefly spent time as a player with Chicago back in 2000 when he was acquired (with Dean) in a trade near the trade deadline.
More from the Central:
- When Danton Heinen opted to re-sign with Pittsburgh on a one-year, $1MM deal, it seemed a little on the light side relative to his production. He was, after all, coming off an 18-goal, 33-point season. However, it wasn’t the biggest offer he had as Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe relays (Twitter link) that several teams, including the Jets, tendered higher offers. Heinen would have made some sense for Winnipeg – they have some cap flexibility this summer that they haven’t had in recent years which gives them the flexibility to upgrade their depth. Fortunately for them, there are several similar wingers still on the market and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them pivot to one of those before long.
- The Blues are set to add to their scouting department as Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that St. Louis is expected to hire Kevin Maxwell. Maxwell had spent the last decade as the head professional scout for the Rangers while also spending time with the Islanders, Stars, Flyers, and Whalers.
Yauheni Aksiantsiuk Clears Unconditional Waivers
July 27: After clearing and seeing his contract terminated, Aksiantsiuk has signed with Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL.
July 23: It will be one-and-done for Yauheni Aksiantsiuk‘s time with the Stars as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the Stars have placed the winger on unconditional waivers for the purposes of terminating the remainder of his contract.
The diminutive 21-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Dallas back in 2020 after an impressive season with OHL Flint that saw him put up 33 goals and 45 assists in 58 games. He spent the 2020-21 campaign playing back home in Belarus where he struggled and then decided to return to North America, signing a three-year, entry-level deal back in June of 2021.
Aksiantsiuk spent most of last season with ECHL Idaho, notching 19 goals and 15 assists in 40 games with the Steelheads while adding two goals and two assists in eight AHL contests. Overall, those numbers aren’t terrible but when coupled with his tough showing back home the year before, there were certainly questions about whether or not he’d have much of an NHL future. Aksiantsiuk seems to have the same question as this termination – which can be completed on Sunday once he passes through waivers – will likely be followed up by a contract somewhere overseas.
Dallas won’t have any lingering cap charge from Aksiantsiuk’s termination while they will free up a contract slot, bringing them down to 41 out of the maximum of 50. That number will go up at some point this summer with the Stars having a trio of restricted free agents still to sign, winger Jason Robertson, defenseman Ben Gleason, and goaltender Jake Oettinger.
Five Key Stories: 7/18/22 – 7/24/22
While the free agent frenzy has slowed down, there was still plenty of notable news around the NHL over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.
Sharks Zeroing In On Quinn: The Sharks appear to have found their next head coach with multiple reports suggesting that David Quinn will be their new bench boss with an official announcement expected sometime this week. This will be Quinn’s second stint running an NHL bench after he was in charge with the Rangers for three seasons from 2018-19 through 2020-21 with the team posting a 96-87-25 record during that stretch. Last season, Quinn coached Team USA internationally at the Olympics and World Championship with the team not medalling in either event. He’ll now be tasked with helping to turn around a San Jose franchise that has fallen off in recent years and traded away their top defenseman in Brent Burns to Carolina earlier this month. Toronto’s Spencer Carbury and Pittsburgh’s Mike Vellucci were believed to be the other finalists for the position.
Nino To Nashville: The free agent market for winger Nino Niederreiter didn’t exactly develop quickly but the 29-year-old has found a new home after signing a two-year, $8MM contract with Nashville. The deal actually represents a pay cut after playing on a $5.25MM AAV the past five seasons, a sign of how stingy the market has become very quickly. Niederreiter is coming off a solid showing that saw him put up 24 goals and 20 assists in 75 games despite averaging less than 15 minutes a night of ice time. He has reached the 20-goal mark in six of the last eight seasons, consistent production that Nashville will certainly enjoy as they look to augment an offense that finished 12th in the league last season.
Tkachuk To Florida: After informing Calgary that he wouldn’t sign a long-term contract with them, Matthew Tkachuk has a new home as the Flames traded the winger along with a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick to Florida for winger Jonathan Huberdeau, center Cole Schwindt, defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, and a top-ten protected 2025 first-round pick. Right before the swap, Calgary inked Tkachuk to an eight-year, $76MM agreement, making it the first-ever true sign-and-trade in NHL history. Tkachuk is one of the premier power forwards in the league and will be Aleksander Barkov’s new running mate for the foreseeable future but the Panthers gave up one of the top point-getters last season in Huberdeau and a quality defenseman in Barkov (plus the prospect and draft pick). Calgary did well to recover plenty of talent for Tkachuk but it’s worth noting that both Huberdeau and Weegar are a year away from unrestricted free agency. GM Brad Treliving will certainly be hoping to get both of his newcomers locked up on long-term deals by next summer.
Blue Jackets Make Moves: From the moment he was acquired, there have been questions about whether or not Patrik Laine would be willing to stay with Columbus past his RFA years. The answer to that question was yes as the winger signed a four-year, $34.8MM contract, a deal that bought out three years of UFA eligibility. That will ensure that the Blue Jackets have two high-end wingers for the foreseeable future after they added Johnny Gaudreau in free agency. However, those two contracts put them well over the salary cap which resulted in them moving winger Oliver Bjorkstrand to Seattle for a 2023 third-round pick and a 2023 fourth-rounder. Bjorkstrand finished second on the Blue Jackets in scoring last season with 28 goals and 29 assists and he’ll immediately step into a key role for the Kraken at a low acquisition cost. The 27-year-old has four more years on his contract with a $5.4MM AAV which means that Columbus dealt with their cap issues with this one move and is now set to be cap-compliant for next season.
Three Years For Vanecek: After acquiring Vitek Vanecek to give them another option between the pipes, the Devils worked quickly to give the netminder a three-year contract worth $10.2MM. The deal, which allowed the two sides to avoid salary arbitration, buys out two years of UFA eligibility. Vanecek has just 79 career NHL appearances under his belt but had two quality seasons with Washington (playing for the league minimum) before the Capitals decided they wanted a more proven option between the pipes which led to the addition of Darcy Kuemper this summer. New Jersey, meanwhile, will bring back Mackenzie Blackwood while Jonathan Bernier hopes he’ll be ready for training camp after missing the bulk of last season after undergoing hip surgery. It’s rarely ideal for an NHL team to carry three goaltenders but after the injury trouble the Devils had between the pipes in 2021-22, it’s certainly understandable that they’re taking no chances this time around.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Sami Niku Linked To Finnish League
It appears that Sami Niku’s time in North America may be coming to an end. Ilta-Sanomat’s Sasha Huttunen reports that several teams in Finland’s SM-liiga have shown interest in the defenseman with JYP Jyvaskyla considered the favorite to sign him.
The 25-year-old elected to terminate his contract with Winnipeg back in September in the hopes of landing with a club that would give him more of a chance at the NHL level. In doing so, he walked away from a one-way deal with the Jets to take a two-way deal with the Canadiens.
While Niku broke camp with Montreal, injuries and some early struggles limited him to just 13 NHL contests. While he was relatively productive in those contests with six assists, he went unclaimed on waivers in late January, resulting in him being sent to AHL Laval where he remained for the rest of the season. For someone that has been billed as an offensive defender, Niku didn’t put up many points in the minors, recording just 13 in 36 games down the stretch although he managed to pick up 11 assists in 15 playoff contests.
Still, for a player that was named the AHL’s best defenseman in 2017-18, Niku’s fall from grace has been fairly quick, going from a player viewed with a lot of upside to basically being out of the league just a few years later. With that in mind, returning home and perhaps to the organization he called home before being drafted by Winnipeg certainly makes some sense. Playing time should come more consistently and a good showing for a year or two could have him back on the NHL radar should he decide to try playing in North America down the road.
PHR Mailbag: Maple Leafs, Red Wings, Dubois, Ducks, Canadiens, Offseason Winners, Subban
Topics in this edition of the mailbag include Toronto’s goaltending situation, discussion on whether or not Detroit should have another move in them this summer, early offseason winners, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in next weekend’s mailbag.
lapcheung39: If the Murray/Samsonov experiment fails, do you see the Leafs trading for a goalie who is capable to handle the load?
I don’t see that happening. To this point, GM Kyle Dubas has shown an inability or an unwillingness to commit to any long-term goaltending solution. There are no real trade options that meet all of the following criteria – a clear and proven upgrade on both netminders, affordable on the cap, being on a team that’s likely to sell at the trade deadline, and on a short-term contract (since they want to keep flexibility for when the contracts for their core forwards expire). Unless one of those somehow becomes available, Toronto won’t really have an opportunity to upgrade during the season.
I’m not as down on Toronto’s goaltending moves as some are. Knowing the need for affordability and flexibility, their options were going to be limited. While there’s certainly a risk of this blowing up, there is definitely an upside play as well. If one of Matt Murray or Ilya Samsonov shows that he can live up to the promise of just a couple of years ago, the Maple Leafs will have a good goalie on their hands. Good isn’t great but considering the limited amount they’re able to commit to the position, good will have to be good enough.
gowings2008: Yzerman obviously added some nice pieces to the Red Wings in the past couple of weeks, but they still lack that true star up front. I think Raymond could develop into that, but is there a chance they maybe trade for that type of player? Maybe a Barzal or Tkachuk, for example, as they both fit the core age group.
Johnny Z: I still see at least one more move this summer for Stevie Y. Would it be taking on a bad contract with a huge sweetener, or signing one of the 2 top FA’s left and then clearing out someone in that roster spot, or bidding for a Matthew Tkachuk or a Chychrun…What say, you oh Swami?
What’s the old saying, you have to learn to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run? That’s what comes to mind when I think of Detroit. Their offseason signings thus far look like GM Steve Yzerman saying the time has come to try to get back to a playoff spot and get their young core some postseason experience. Their rebuild has been a crawl (a long crawl, at that) and getting to the playoffs is the learning to walk part. It’s hard to skip that stage and go right to running (becoming a year-in, year-out contender).
Could they trade for that player? Absolutely. Will that trade come this summer? I’d be surprised if it did. If I’m Yzerman, I want to see how their young core handles their first taste of a playoff push and perhaps a series or two to help determine what type of star player they need. It’s hard to make that determination now.
If they want to get in on the bidding for the top free agents, that’s another thing. (I still could see John Klingberg fitting there, even with Moritz Seider and Filip Hronek.) If you can get a core piece for free without having to trade for it, that’s great. But I don’t think the time is right for them to make the type of franchise-altering splash on the trade front. And if they want to take on a pricey expiring contract with a sweetener, that wouldn’t be the worst outcome either as long as they keep enough cap space to build enough in-season room to add at the trade deadline.
W H Twittle: What realistic options do the Jets have with Pierre-Luc Dubois? Should they offer 8M$×7 or something similar to see whether it really is “Habs or nothing” for Dubois? Or should they focus on trading him? And which teams could be interested in Dubois for possibly only two years?
I’ve been intrigued with the Dubois situation and the fact he accepted his qualifying offer at $6MM is curious. If that was the plan all along, he could have just filed for arbitration and likely got more money. Was not filing a leverage play that went wrong? If Dubois hopes this route helps facilitate a trade to Montreal, I’m not sure it does. All things equal, the Canadiens probably would have preferred a long-term deal that had two RFA years in it to knock a few hundred thousand off the AAV of a max-term agreement instead of one which is the best they (or any other team) can do now.
I think it also needs to be noted that there’s an important word missing from the various leaks saying Dubois wants to play in Montreal. The word that’s missing is ‘only’. At no point has it been definitively been said that he only wants to play in Montreal. Is that his preference? It sure seems like it. But it’s not a Montreal or bust scenario. At least, that’s not what his camp is indicating.
What does appear to be clear is that his long-term future isn’t with the Jets. That means the options are to trade him now, trade him midseason, or trade him next summer. Dubois accepting the qualifying offer makes the second option much more plausible. If they try to move him at the deadline, there’s a lot less salary remaining for a team to take on plus the potential for retention is higher (unless Winnipeg is in the thick of the playoff hunt in which case trading him next summer becomes the likely scenario). A trade deadline move would have several contenders interested and ready to pay a sizable return. Even if a long-term agreement isn’t guaranteed, two playoff runs and a chance to try to extend him is still worth quite a bit. They’re still in good shape to get a good return.
The trade deadline scenario makes it hard to peg teams as we don’t know who all will be in the mix yet and, more importantly, who will have cap space to do it. But if you want a wild card team for a trade this summer? I’d say Colorado. If Nazem Kadri doesn’t re-sign, could the Avs flip someone like Samuel Girard (a young top-four blueliner signed for five more years) and J.T. Compher to get a two-year improvement down the middle and potentially even an insurance policy if they can’t get Nathan MacKinnon signed for some reason? (That’s not a precise trade proposal, by the way, just a general thought.) I could see that being a Plan B for them or any other team that wants but doesn’t get Kadri.
JustPete: The new Ducks GM recently said that he’s not done and that they are looking to add a forward and a defenseman. The Ducks are also below the minimum cap level. It sounds to me that he is looking to pick off some solid players from teams that are over the cap and must shed some contracts. If true, who are the most logical teams/players in your view? Thanks.
Their lack of activity this summer tells me they’re not looking to win now. That makes them a prime candidate for this type of move although they’d be looking for future assets, not necessarily solid players. In other words, they’ll take on an overpriced expiring or short-term contract if they’re properly incentivized; they don’t have to be looking for impact players at this point. That gives them a lot of options right now.
Off the top of my head, Patric Hornqvist (Florida), Tanner Pearson and Jason Dickinson (Vancouver), Jason Zucker (Pittsburgh), Warren Foegele (Edmonton), Scandella (St. Louis), and Jonathan Drouin (Montreal) stand out as options as players that are on short-term deals (one or two years each) and could provide some utility to them while they’d still likely be able to pick up a future asset or two. A player or two off that shortlist could be possibilities.
There’s also the ability to facilitate a Kadri or Klingberg signing or a trade if a team needs to free up money. Those are harder to peg down in terms of which contract(s) could go but there should be an opportunity to get involved on that front as well.
big boi: Do you see the Habs trying to move Price and Gallagher’s contracts in the near future? If so, how?
Carey Price is coming off a season that saw him play in five games, several of which he didn’t play all that well in. He then admitted that if his knee doesn’t get any better, he doesn’t see how he could play again. That’s not the profile of a goaltender that has any trade value before factoring in that he’s the highest-paid goalie in NHL history and has four years left on his contract. I simply don’t see a team wanting to offer anything for him, even those who are trying to get creative with LTIR space. And while the Canadiens likely need to trim money, they’re not going to part with multiple high picks and prospects to move Price at a time when they’re firmly in a rebuild. Nothing happens trade-wise on his front for a while, if it ever happens at all.
As for Brendan Gallagher, what’s the market for a player coming off a seven-goal season? Not very good. Then you add in the five years left on his contract at $6.5MM per. That changes his market value from not very good to non-existent. Similar to Price, it’s a contract that would require retention and/or future assets to move. They shouldn’t be doing that with where they are in the rebuilding process.
There are easier contracts to move. They have several veterans on expiring contracts that could be flipped for someone making a little less to free up cap flexibility or they could look to move someone like Drouin, Joel Armia, or Mike Hoffman, either taking a cheaper player back or with a smaller incentive than it’d take to get out of Price and Gallagher’s contracts. Those are much more plausible moves for Montreal to make.
Snapshots: Texier, Panthers, Devils, Wise
After missing the end of last season due to personal reasons, Blue Jackets forward Alexandre Texier is expected to be back with the team in training camp, GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated in a press conference today (video link). The 22-year-old had a strong first half of the season, picking up 20 points (a new career-high) in 36 games before suffering a fractured finger in late January and then being granted an indefinite leave of absence back in March. Texier will be entering the final year of his contract next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer with a qualifying offer of $1.75MM so there will be a lot riding on his performance in 2022-23.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Panthers are set to hire Jamie Kompon as an assistant coach, reports Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). The 55-year-old is no stranger to working behind an NHL bench having been an NHL assistant for all but two years dating back to 1997; those two years when he wasn’t in the NHL came when he was the head coach of WHL Portland. Kompon had spent the last six seasons with Winnipeg, working with Paul Maurice for most of that time so Maurice will have someone he’s quite familiar with as he embarks on his first season at the helm in Florida.
- The Devils were among the teams aggressively pursuing Matthew Tkachuk before he was eventually traded to Florida late Friday, notes TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link). New Jersey was expected to once again make a big splash this summer a year after handing out the biggest UFA contract to Dougie Hamilton but instead, they’ve largely opted to go with trades to add to their roster, making a trio of deals so far while Ondrej Palat received a five-year contract in free agency.
- Blackhawks prospect Jake Wise has opted to return to Ohio State for his fifth and final college season, relays Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. As a result, Chicago will retain the rights to the 22-year-old center. Wise, a 2018 third-round selection, had more points with Ohio State last season (28) than his first three with Boston University combined (17), and a similarly strong showing in 2022-23 might be enough to help him earn an entry-level deal.
Bruins And Pavel Zacha Making Progress On Contract Talks
While Pavel Zacha filed for arbitration earlier this month, it appears that there’s a good chance that his case won’t come to a hearing. The center’s agent – Darren Ferris of Quartexx – told Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald (Twitter link) that a new deal for his client “should be completed in short order”.
Boston acquired the 25-year-old from New Jersey just hours before free agency opened up earlier this month in exchange for Erik Haula. Zacha hasn’t been able to live up to his draft billing as the sixth-overall selection in 2015 but he has shown improvement over the last couple of seasons and is coming off a year that saw him collect 15 goals and 21 assists in 70 games with New Jersey; his 36 points were a career-high.
That was good enough for Boston to acquire and qualify him at a $3MM cost although that number is likely going to go higher on his next contract. Zacha is in his final season of RFA eligibility since he already has six seasons of service time under his belt so it stands to reason that the sides are working on a multi-year agreement at this point which would at least give them a bit of depth down the middle.
It would also give them the cost certainty needed to move forward with the rest of their offseason planning. The Bruins have stated their interest in re-signing Patrice Bergeron if the soon-to-be 37-year-old is open to returning for a 19th NHL season. They’ve also been in talks with David Krejci about bringing him back to North America. But until Zacha’s deal gets done, GM Don Sweeney won’t know what exactly he has left in cap space.
Either way, it won’t be much. CapFriendly currently projects Boston to have $4.758MM in cap room, the bulk of which will go to Zacha. Not surprisingly, Sweeney acknowledged earlier this month that if Bergeron and Krejci return, it will need to be on a low-salary deal with performance bonuses. They will likely need to clear out a contract as well, even with several veterans (Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk) likely to start the year on LTIR. Ferris also told Conroy that there’s “lots going on” so a Zacha contract may be the domino that gets things going on the rest of their offseason moves.
Flames Re-Sign Matthew Phillips
The Flames have avoided arbitration with one of their remaining restricted free agents as the team announced they’ve re-signed Matthew Phillips to a one-year deal. The two-way contract will carry a cap hit of $750K in the NHL. PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that Phillips will make $140K at the AHL level.
The 24-year-old is coming off a career year at the AHL level. After failing to reach the 40-point mark in his first three professional seasons, Phillips picked up 31 goals and 37 assists in 65 games with AHL Stockton; his 68 points led the Heat in scoring. He also chipped in with eight points in 13 playoff contests. However, he didn’t see any action with Calgary and has just one career NHL appearance under his belt from the 2020-21 campaign.
The league minimum cap hit in the NHL means that Phillips ultimately accepted less than his qualifying offer. The arbitration filing simply stood to try to get him a higher price tag in the minors (he received a $60K bump from a year ago) and ensured he’d have a contract in place long before the start of next season. Phillips will once again be waiver-eligible next season and while he passed through unclaimed a year ago, it may not be as much of a guarantee this time around after finishing ninth in AHL scoring last season.
Flames GM Brad Treliving still has a lot of work to do with his restricted free agents. Andrew Mangiapane and Oliver Kylington are among those that are scheduled for arbitration hearings next month while Adam Ruzicka and Martin Pospisil also are in need of new contracts.