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Central Notes: Wild, Loponen, Marques

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The Wild are closing in on hiring Greg Cronin as the new head coach of their AHL affiliate in Iowa, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link).  Cronin was the bench boss in Anaheim for the last two seasons before being let go after the season with Joel Quenneville taking over behind the bench for the Ducks.  Cronin has been a coach for more than 35 years and has lots of experience running the show in the minors.  Before joining Anaheim, Cronin used to coach Colorado’s affiliate, leading the Eagles to a 164-104-30 record over five years.  Iowa hasn’t won a playoff round since 2019 and has only made the playoffs once in that span so a proven developmental coach like Cronin would be a nice pickup for Minnesota to help try and turn things around on the farm.

More from the Central:

  • After spending a year in North America, Jets prospect Markus Loponen is heading back home. HPK in Finland announced that they’ve signed the center to a two-year contract.  The 19-year-old was a fifth-round pick out of Karpat’s junior system, meaning the two-year signing rights rule for CHL prospects doesn’t apply; Winnipeg will have until June 1, 2028 to sign him.  Loponen played with WHL Victoria this season, collecting 19 goals and 25 assists in 65 games.
  • Predators prospect Miguel Marques is the latest player to make the move from the CHL to college hockey. Larry Mahoney of the Bangor Daily News relays that the forward has made a verbal commitment to join the University of Maine next season.  The 19-year-old was a third-round pick by Nashville last year, going 87th overall after recording 74 points in 67 games with WHL Lethbridge.  Marques missed a good chunk of this season due to a broken arm and dislocated elbow but was quite productive upon his return, tallying 38 points in 29 regular season games plus 17 more in 16 playoff outings.

Ilya Samsonov Won’t Re-Sign With Vegas, Will Test Free Agency

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It will be a one-and-done stay for Ilya Samsonov in Vegas.  Sportsnet’s Luke Fox reports that the goaltender does not intend to re-sign with the Golden Knights and will instead test the open market when free agency opens up on July 1st.

Samsonov didn’t have a great tour through free agency last year.  After making $3.55MM in his final year in Toronto, the 28-year-old took nearly a 50% pay cut, inking a one-year, $1.8MM pact in Vegas.  Seeing his salary take a dip wasn’t surprising given that his 2023-24 performance was the worst of his career, one that saw him record a 3.13 GAA and a .890 SV% in 40 starts with the Maple Leafs while even clearing waivers at one point.  Joining Vegas seemed like a good idea for a soft landing spot to allow him to rebuild some value.

Whether he accomplished that to a significant degree is up for some debate, however.  While he shaved 31 points off his GAA (down to 2.82), his save percentage only went up by one point although his Goals Saved Above Expected went up by nearly nine, per MoneyPuck.  Instead of making the case that he can still be a starter or at least a platoon player, Samsonov basically cemented his status as being more of a backup goalie heading into his now third foray on the open market.

Still, Samsonov should be able to generate some interest in free agency in a UFA class that isn’t particularly deep.  Jake Allen is the headliner and in a tier of his own while Samsonov will be competing with the likes of Alexandar Georgiev, Daniel Vladar, and Anton Forsberg to try to secure a contract to be a second-string option for next season.

As for Vegas, it’s possible that they could be on the lookout for a new backup themselves.  While Adin Hill is now entrenched as the starter as he begins a new six-year deal next season, Akira Schmid is currently penciled as the backup but is coming off a rocky year with AHL Henderson.  If they want a more proven option behind Hill, they could look to free agency but if they want to keep as much cap space intact as possible, they might opt to give Schmid the first opportunity to secure the number two role.

Blackhawks Acquire Andre Burakovsky

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The Kraken and Blackhawks have made a swap of underperforming forwards.  Chicago has acquired winger Andre Burakovsky from Seattle in exchange for center Joe Veleno in a one-for-one move.  Both teams have confirmed the trade.

Burakovsky became a key secondary scorer when he was acquired by Colorado back in 2019.  Over three seasons with the team, he had two seasons of more than 40 points while his last one with them saw him record a career-best 61, allowing him to hit unrestricted free agency for the first time while being one of the better options available on the open market.

That helped him land a five-year, $27.5MM contract with the Kraken in 2022 and the deal has not gone particularly well thus far.  The 30-year-old produced at a similar rate in 2022-23 from a points per game perspective but while he had 39 points in 49 games, missing 33 outings due to injury made for a disappointing year.  2023-24 was more of the same on the injury front as he once again missed 33 games, but to make things worse, his output fell considerably, down to just seven goals and nine assists.

This past season, Burakovsky was able to rebound a bit.  For starters, he was able to play in 79 games, one shy of his career best in that regard.  Meanwhile, while he didn’t get back to the type of production he had back in Colorado, he was able to chip in with 10 goals and 27 assists.

Last summer, Chicago added wingers Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen in free agency, giving themselves some upgrades up front and some veterans to work with their young forward core.  This move appears to follow that same idea while they’ll be taking on the final two seasons of Burakovsky’s deal at a $5.5MM price tag to make that happen.

As for Veleno, he’s on the move for the second time in a matter of months.  The 25-year-old spent parts of five seasons with Detroit after being a late first-round pick by the Red Wings back in 2018 but he was moved to the Blackhawks at the trade deadline in exchange for goaltender Petr Mrazek.

This past season, Veleno played in 74 games between the two teams, notching eight goals and nine assists in a little over 12 minutes per night of playing time.  It was the first time in three years that he failed to reach the 20-point mark with his career high in that regard coming in 2023-24 when he had 28.  While he was a productive scorer at the junior level, Veleno has been more of a checker at the professional ranks.

Veleno has one year left on his contract at a $2.275MM cap charge and joins a center group that is starting to become a bit crowded.  They already have Matty Beniers, Chandler Stephenson, and Shane Wright down the middle while Jared McCann, a natural center, is already on the wing.  Top prospect Berkly Catton is expected to push for a roster spot in training camp as well.  While the Kraken solved one logjam by moving out Burakovsky following the recent acquisition of Mason Marchment, they’ve created another with this move.

Speculatively, Seattle has a relatively easy way to solve it.  If they’re primarily looking for cap flexibility and can’t move Veleno in the coming days, he could become a buyout candidate.  Since he’s still 25, the cost of buying out that final year would only be one-third, not the standard two-thirds.  That would cost the Kraken a cap charge of $795.8K next season and $295.8K in 2026-27, allowing them to effectively remove the majority of Burakovsky’s $5.5MM cost from their books.  Alternatively, they could give Veleno a chance to lock down the center spot on the fourth line as he has shown himself to be useful in that role for several years now and see what happens from there.  Either way, their early offseason shakeup continues.

Photos courtesy of Walter Tychnowicz (Burakovsky) and David Banks (Veleno)-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Focus: Toronto Maple Leafs

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

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Mitch Marner – It was a career year for the 28-year-old who reached the 100-point mark for the first time after coming up just short a couple of times recently.  He was second on the Maple Leafs in points in the playoffs.  And despite all that, it’s widely expected that he will reach the open market with both sides believed to be interested in a fresh start.  Players of Marner’s caliber rarely get to unrestricted free agency and the timing couldn’t be better with the big jump in the salary cap meaning that more teams have more cap flexibility.  As a result, while Mikko Rantanen recently set the NHL record for the highest AAV ($12MM) given to a winger, Marner is expected to eclipse that with speculation that multiple teams are ready to offer $14MM or more.  If he goes to free agency, he’ll be capped at seven years but if he and Toronto are open to it, a sign-and-trade by the end of June could allow him to get an eighth year and net the Maple Leafs a small return.

F John Tavares – Tavares eschewed pricier offers seven years ago in free agency to sign with his hometown team.  The seven-year, $77MM deal wound up aging pretty well as he had 493 points in 515 games with the Maple Leafs, being a high-end second option behind Auston Matthews.  Notably, he is coming off a particularly strong season that saw him notch 38 goals and 36 assists in 75 games.  His 74 points put him second among pending UFAs behind Marner.  While he’ll turn 35 in training camp, Tavares is well-positioned to land a multi-year deal at a price tag around the $7.5MM per season that Brock Nelson received to stay in Colorado since he’s the top center in a market that’s getting thinner in a hurry.  However, for the Maple Leafs to have enough cap room to truly shake up their roster, it’s reasonable to think they’ll be asking for him to leave some money on the table once again.

F Max Pacioretty – While it took until the eve of training camp to secure a deal last year, Pacioretty wound up being a serviceable depth piece for the Maple Leafs when healthy and then had a solid playoff showing with eight points in 11 games.  However, his days of being an every-game regular are likely over which will keep the contract offers closer to the $1MM mark in terms of base salary.  However, as long as he signs a one-year pact (which is the likeliest outcome at this stage of his career), he is eligible for performance incentives which is what he had in his deal this season which could push the total potential compensation more toward the $2MM range if a decent market for his services develops.

F Steven Lorentz – After playing a limited role with Florida in 2023-24, Lorentz became pretty much an every-game regular for Toronto this season, chipping in with 19 points in 80 games, matching those numbers from two years ago.  In doing so, he went from someone whose salary ceiling was at or near the league minimum to someone who should be able to surpass the $1MM mark next month on potentially a multi-year deal.

Other UFAs: F Nick Abruzzese, D Jani Hakanpaa, D Nicolas Mattinen (signed in Germany), D Dakota Mermis, G Matt Murray, F Alex Nylander, F Alex Steeves

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Matthew Knies – After a solid rookie season in 2023-24, Knies found another gear this season, notching 29 goals and 29 assists in 78 games while cementing a spot for himself on Toronto’s top line.  In doing so, he has become one of the top pending RFAs.  He’s the type of player the Maple Leafs would undoubtedly like to lock up on a long-term deal that buys some extra seasons of club control.  However, doing so could push the price tag around $8MM per season which would cut into their spending flexibility to reshape their roster.  As a result, it’s possible that the two sides look at a shorter-term bridge agreement.  The 22-year-old has five RFA-eligible years left so a bridge deal could be for two or three years with a price tag closer to the $4.5MM area, giving GM Brad Treliving more short-term flexibility while setting Knies up to cash in down the road when he’ll be closer to unrestricted free agency and have arbitration eligibility.

F Nick Robertson – A speculative trade candidate last year following his trade request, not a whole lot has changed since then.  The 23-year-old did collect a career-best 15 goals this season but once again failed to secure a full-time spot in the lineup and played just three times in the playoffs.  Accordingly, it’s believed that he’d still prefer a change of scenery.  Owed a qualifying offer of just under $919K, Robertson could get a bit more than that thanks to scoring 29 goals in 125 games over the last two seasons combined thanks to his arbitration eligibility.  That makes him a potential non-tender candidate if a new deal – with Toronto or elsewhere – can’t be reached by the end of the month as it’s unlikely a team will want to give him a chance to go to a hearing.

F Pontus Holmberg – Holmberg has worked his way up from being a depth player in the minors to one who has played in 122 NHL games over the last two seasons while also suiting up in all but one playoff game this spring.  His defensive game and positional versatility make him a useful depth player to have.  He’s owed a qualifying offer of just over $866K but his arbitration eligibility could give him a shot at doubling that, putting him into the same sphere as Robertson where the price tag could get a bit too high for a player who projects to be near the bottom of the lineup.

Other RFAs: G Dennis Hildeby, F Roni Hirvonen (signed in Finland), D Mikko Kokkonen, F Reese Johnson, D Topi Niemela, F Cedric Pare, D William Villeneuve

Projected Cap Space

The Maple Leafs are set to enter the summer with around $25.7MM in cap room, one of the larger amounts around the NHL.  It should be more than enough to dissuade an offer sheet for Knies, as well.  Of course, a lot of that stems from two of their top-four-paid players getting set to hit the open market as the top players at their respective positions.  The good news is that Treliving now has plenty of flexibility to work with but he also now has two significant holes to fill in his lineup and a pricey second contract for Knies to contend with.  But for the first time in a while, Toronto could look considerably different come October.

Photos courtesy of Nick Turchiaro (Marner) and Kim Klement Neitzel (Knies)-Imagn Images.  Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Flames Notes: Vladar, Andersson, Sutter

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Goaltender Daniel Vladar is arguably the most prominent pending unrestricted free agent that the Flames have and while Vladar said after the season that he’d like to re-sign, no deal is in place two months later.  Speaking with Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson, GM Craig Conroy noted that the two sides are still in discussions and are “continuing to plug away” at his file.  The 27-year-old started the season platooning with Dustin Wolf before the latter took over as the undisputed starter in the second half.  Vladar bounced back from a tough 2023-24 season, posting a 2.80 GAA and a .898 SV% in 30 outings this season.  At this point, he’s likely hoping for a raise from the $2.2MM he made over the last two seasons, especially since he projects to be one of the better options in what is a relatively thin free agent market for goaltenders this summer.

More from Calgary:

  • It appears that there’s a big gap to bridge in extension discussions with defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are not on the same page as things stand and while the team is content to have Andersson begin next season without an extension and potentially move him at the deadline, he could become movable now as well.  Andersson is entering the final year of a team-friendly deal that carries a $4.55MM AAV but he’s coming off a bit of a down year although he tied his career high in goals with 11 and averaged nearly 24 minutes a night of playing time.  It might make more sense for both sides to wait things out into the season to see if his early performance could shrink the gap with the potential to deal him increasing if they’re still not close at that time.
  • One of the AHL coaching vacancies has been filled as the Wranglers announced that Brett Sutter has been appointed as the third head coach in franchise history. The 38-year-old began his coaching career last season as an assistant with Calgary and will get his first chance to run a team in short order.  Sutter takes the place of Trent Cull who was promoted to a full-time assistant coaching role with the Flames earlier this offseason.

Offseason Checklist: Carolina Hurricanes

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The offseason has arrived with the draft and free agency fast approaching.  Accordingly, it’s time to look at what each team needs to accomplish this summer.  Next up is a look at Carolina.

For the fifth straight season, the Hurricanes advanced past the opening round of the playoffs.  For the second time in three years, they made it to the Eastern Conference Final but this time, they were quickly eliminated by Florida.  It’s not very often that a team that gets this far in the playoffs has the ability to take some big swings but GM Eric Tulsky is well-positioned to try to do just that to fill some big needs the roster has.

Add A Second-Line Center

With Sebastian Aho locked up through 2031-32, Carolina’s top center is in place for the long haul.  Jordan Staal is nearing the end of his career but was a reliable third liner this season and continues to be sharp at the faceoff dot so he’s a safe bet to be in that role again in 2025-26.  But in between those two, there’s an opening that needs to be filled.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi was supposed to be that piece for them after being brought over from Montreal via a successful offer sheet.  But over his four seasons with the team, he has yet to reach 20 goals and has only reached 35-plus points once.  If it weren’t for the fact that they enter the summer with a whopping $26.7MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, there might be a case to make for buying out the remainder of his contract since he still qualifies for a lower one-third cost instead of the standard two-thirds.  But with the flexibility they have, they can keep him around and continue to hope that the 2018 third-overall pick will break through.

But hoping for improvement can’t be Plan A down the middle for the Hurricanes next season.  Jack Roslovic was brought in as a low-cost piece to see if he could play his way into that role.  He had some good moments and a quiet 22 goals but it seems unlikely that he returns after being scratched multiple times in the playoffs.  With much more flexibility cap-wise, they can aim a lot higher this time around after being forced into looking at lower-cost pieces last summer.

The list of key center UFAs is well-known and pretty small.  John Tavares, Sam Bennett, and Mikael Granlund are the remaining headliners.  Landing one of them would solve the problem for a few years, at least.  Otherwise, they’ll have to turn to the trade market to try to fill that spot, something that a lot of teams will likely be looking to do with options in relatively short supply.  They haven’t had a reliable second option down the middle arguably since Vincent Trocheck, and that will need to change in the coming weeks.

Add A Top-Line Winger

When the Hurricanes surprised the hockey world by acquiring Mikko Rantanen midseason, they parted with a pretty strong winger as part of the return in Martin Necas.  Of course, they weren’t able to agree on a long-term contract with Rantanen to keep him around so Tulsky opted to flip him at the trade deadline to recoup some value.  All things considered, he did rather well, adding Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round selections.  But with all due respect to Stankoven, a solid youngster, the move was a pretty big step back in terms of short-term talent.

Part of the reason for being open to accepting a futures-based return knowing there would be some short-term pain was the knowledge that they have that cap space available to them.  When it comes to the open market, few can offer more than the Hurricanes.  That’s definitely an enviable spot to be in.

Now, they need to take advantage of it.  They were believed to have shown interest in Mitch Marner at the trade deadline but Marner wouldn’t waive his trade protection to go there.  Was that because he didn’t want to go to Carolina or because he wanted to stay with the Maple Leafs for the playoffs?  It stands to reason they’ll find out the answer to that very quickly as he’ll almost certainly be at the top of their wish list this summer.  Failing that, Brock Boeser and Nikolaj Ehlers should be getting calls as well.

This season, the Hurricanes had two wingers record more than 50 points which is a pretty low baseline for a top-six player.  One of those was Necas in the 49 games before the trade while the other was Seth Jarvis, who reached 67 for the second straight season.  Andrei Svechnikov has gotten there a few times before but had a bit of a down year this season.  He and Jarvis aren’t a bad duo to start from but they’re going to need a pickup of considerable significance if they want to have a shot at taking that next step.

Bring In A Top-Four Defenseman

This season, the Hurricanes had three blueliners average at least 20 minutes a game.  One was Jaccob Slavin, whose new eight-year deal kicks in July 1st, one that already looks like a below-market contract.  The others were Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov, both of whom are set to reach unrestricted free agency next month.  Accordingly, they’re going to need to be replaced on the roster.

It’s likely that at least one of the two spots will be filled internally.  Alexander Nikishin was long viewed as the top blueliner outside the NHL and held his own in four playoff games.  It’s safe to say that they don’t intend to start him in the minors next season and the hope is that he’ll be able to play his way into a top-four spot relatively quickly.  Prospect Scott Morrow could also be in the mix and could fill the vacancy on the right-hand side of the back end but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Carolina prefer to give him more time with AHL Chicago.

That leaves one spot to try to fill externally.  Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly deep crop of rearguards.  Offensively, only four players had more points than Burns and Orlov and one of them (Matt Grzelcyk) doesn’t fit with Shayne Gostisbehere already on the roster.  Basically, that limits potential upgrades to Aaron Ekblad, Ivan Provorov, and Vladislav Gavrikov, while Dante Fabbro, Cody Ceci, and Ryan Lindgren have handled top-four minutes before.  That’s not a lot of options.  Speculatively, knowing Nikishin and Morrow are pegged as key pieces for the future, it wouldn’t be too shocking to see Tulsky try what worked with Orlov two years ago, offering a short-term deal at a well above-market rate.  With the league projecting big jumps in the salary cap over the next two years, it’s possible one of the better blueliners would be open to the idea.

Failing that, it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Hurricanes look to the trade market to try to fill this spot.  They have a strong prospect pool and a pair of extra first-round picks in their pocket from the Rantanen deal that could help form the foundation of a swap.  Even if they are able to land a top winger and a top-six center, there should be ample money left to fill this vacancy as well.

Examine Goalie Options

With the Hurricanes re-signing Frederik Andersen to a one-year deal last month worth $2.75MM (plus $750K in potential performance bonuses), it looks like they have their goalie situation settled for next season with Pyotr Kochetkov signed for two more years as well.  With the youngster signed at $2MM per year, it seems like there isn’t anything left to do at that position.

But perhaps there should be.  Andersen has only played in more than 35 games once in the last five years.  Kochetkov hasn’t reached 50 yet and his play has been a bit more up-and-down than Carolina would like although that’s far from uncommon for young goalies.  This tandem isn’t the best in the league but there’s a solid floor.

However, that floor can be improved upon.  There probably isn’t an upgrade of significance in free agency but on the trade market, it’s possible some options become available.  Speculatively, Anaheim’s John Gibson comes to mind and he’s a player who they’ve been linked to before.  We know they can afford the short-term premium while they could afford to carry three goalies or send one the other as a salary offset.  This isn’t a must but Tulsky would be wise to sniff around to see if a goaltending upgrade could become available that would make their roster just a little stronger heading into next season.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

Kraken Sign Cale Fleury To Two-Year Extension

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The Kraken will be keeping a depth defender in the fold for a little while longer.  The team announced that they’ve signed Cale Fleury to a two-year contract extension.  The one-way deal will carry a price tag of $890K per season, representing a small increase on the $800K on his current contract which will expire at the end of the month.  GM Jason Botterill released the following statement:

Cale’s been an important player in our organization.  He’s developed into a steady and reliable defenseman, and we’re happy to have him under contract for the next two years.

The 26-year-old has been with Seattle for the past four years after being selected from Montreal in their expansion draft.  However, despite Botterill’s comments above, Fleury’s development hasn’t been enough to secure a foothold at the NHL level during that time; he played in more NHL games in one season with the Canadiens (41) than in the last four years with the Kraken combined (36).

This season, Fleury got into 14 games with Seattle, his highest single-season total with them.  In those outings, he had an assist along with 28 blocks and 30 hits in a little under 13 minutes per night of playing time.  However, he was much more impactful in the minors with AHL Coachella Valley, registering 26 points in just 39 games, earning himself an All-Star nod in the process.

It’s likely that Seattle will be relying on Fleury to play a similar role as he has in recent years, being a key piece for the Firebirds and a serviceable option when needed at the top level.  While he will have to clear waivers to be sent down next season, he has done so multiple times now and the one-way guarantee for two years could help dissuade any potential claimers.

Five Key Stories: 6/9/25 – 6/15/25

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With a maximum of just two games remaining in the playoffs, activity around the NHL is set to pick up considerably in the very near future.  In the meantime, there was still some news of note over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.

Calling It A Career: After missing all of the 2024-25 season due to a lingering back injury, veteran winger T.J. Oshie has officially announced his retirement at the age of 38.  A first-round pick by St. Louis back in 2005, he spent the first seven years of his career with the Blues before being traded to the Capitals back in 2015.  From there, Oshie became a long-term fixture of Washington’s top six, spending a lot of time on their second line.  Overall, he played in 1,010 career regular season NHL games between the two teams, scoring 302 goals and 393 assists.  Oshie picked up 69 points in 106 playoff contests while winning a Stanley Cup with Washington back in 2018.

Stars Shopping A Star? One of the themes of the week was the potential availability of Stars winger Jason Robertson.  With Dallas having less than $5MM in cap space per PuckPedia with several key players on expiring contracts, there were reports that they were at least exploring what Robertson’s market might look like although going this route is not their preference.  Robertson has had at least 79 points in each of the last four seasons and has one year left on his contract with a $7.75MM price tag.  At this point, GM Jim Nill’s preference is believed to be trying to move more intermediate contracts like Mason Marchment, Mathew Dumba, and Ilya Lyubushkin, incrementally opening up spending flexibility along the way.

Kreider To Anaheim: There was one trade of note in the NHL this week.  The Rangers had been trying to move winger Chris Kreider dating back to early in the season but with their cap situation requiring more flexibility, time was more of the essence.  They were able to find a move for him, sending the veteran along with the 104th pick in the draft to Anaheim for prospect forward Carey Terrance and pick 89.  Kreider had been a key part of New York’s forward group for more than a decade and has reached the 20-goal mark in 10 of the last 11 seasons.  However, with GM Chris Drury wanting to shake up his core group, Kreider’s $6.5MM cap charge (of which the Ducks are picking up in full), and his drop to just 30 points this season, the decision was made to move on from him.

Awards Week: The majority of the end-of-season awards were handed out this week.  First, Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson took home the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie following a 66-point effort that broke multiple franchise records.  Colorado’s Cale Makar won the Norris Trophy after being the first defenseman to reach 30 goals and 90 points in the same season since 1988-89.  Los Angeles center picked up the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the league’s most gentlemanly player in a particularly close race over several other contenders.  Then, it was Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck winning a pair of awards, collecting the Vezina Trophy for being the top goaltender along with the Hart Trophy for the player deemed to be the most valuable player to his team.

Sabres Listening On Peterka: Sabres winger JJ Peterka has always had plenty of suitors but Buffalo had been rejecting those overtures.  However, as his first foray into restricted free agent approaches, it appears the team is now more open to listening to offers for the 23-year-old amidst the belief that Peterka’s preference would be to move on.  He had his second straight 18-point jump this season, tallying 27 goals and 41 assists in 77 games and has established himself as a capable top-six player.  A long-term deal for Peterka this summer could push past the $8MM mark, a price tag that Buffalo can afford to give him but if they do opt to move him, they’ll command a significant price tag to part with his rights as well.

Photo courtesy of Danny Wild-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Focus: Pittsburgh Penguins

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

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Connor Dewar – Acquired at the trade deadline from Toronto, the change of scenery worked out rather well for Dewar as he had seven points in 17 games down the stretch while seeing his playing time jump up by more than four minutes a game.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that he finished the year with just 10 points in 48 outings.  The contract he was on was structured to allow for a lower qualifying offer ($819K) than his AAV ($1.18MM) but arbitration rights loom large as he has 238 career NHL appearances.  If the two sides can agree on a deal before the tender deadline that’s around what he made this season, that would be ideal but if it gets to the point of requiring the qualifying offer, it would be surprising to see it issued, which would allow Pittsburgh to avoid arbitration.

D Pierre-Olivier Joseph – Non-tendered by the Penguins to avoid the risk of an arbitration hearing last summer, Joseph made his way to St. Louis where he struggled, resulting in Pittsburgh bringing him back midseason for extra depth.  He got a few more minutes per game with the Pens but remained more of a depth piece than a full-time regular.  The same issue exists now as it did a summer ago.  He’s owed a $997.5K qualifying offer but with arbitration eligibility, he’s a non-tender candidate if something can’t be worked out before then.

D Conor Timmins – Also brought in from Toronto at the deadline, Timmins was more impactful down the stretch than he had been the rest of the year, also picking up seven points in 17 games while averaging a little under 19 minutes per night of ice time.  Like Dewar and Joseph, Timmins is arbitration-eligible as well but this was the only NHL season where he played in at least 35 games; the track record isn’t as much.  Accordingly, the risk of a qualifying offer isn’t as significant.  A one-year deal could earn him a raise closer to the $1.75MM mark but walk him right to UFA eligibility.  Accordingly, a two-year pact might be more desirable for GM Kyle Dubas in which case the offer could land closer to the $2MM range.

F Philip Tomasino – After playing time with Nashville was hard to come by, Pittsburgh acquired the 2019 first-round pick in late November and he largely played a regular role down the stretch.  While he wasn’t able to replicate his rookie-season numbers, he still managed 11 goals and 12 assists in 50 games in a little over 13 minutes a night with no power play time.  That’s worthy of a longer look.  The 23-year-old is owed a qualifying offer of just over $866K and, like everyone else on this list so far, is arbitration-eligible.  A one-year deal that allows both sides more time to evaluate could make sense here with a price tag landing around the $1.5MM mark, a two-year pact would push the AAV closer to the $2MM range.

Other RFAs: F Raivis Ansons, F Emil Bemstrom, G Taylor Gauthier, F Filip Lindberg (signed in Finland), F Vasiliy Ponomarev (signed in KHL)

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Matt Grzelcyk – The decision to take a one-year deal with Pittsburgh last summer in the hopes of rebuilding some value seems to have worked out quite well for Grzelcyk.  After a slow start, he found his footing and set new career-highs in assists (39) and points (40), making him the top point-getter among pending UFA blueliners.  Of course, it also needs to be noted that he’s one of the smaller defensemen in the NHL and that almost certainly will affect his market.  Nonetheless, after settling for $2.75MM last summer, he has a good chance of beating that while getting the multi-year deal that eluded him a year ago.  He had a cap hit of just under $3.7MM on his last deal with Boston and with the expectations of some higher prices on the open market this year, Grzelcyk should be able to set a new personal best on that front next month.

F Joona Koppanen – The term ‘key’ here might be a little misleading but Koppanen is just one of three of their pending UFAs to play at least 10 NHL games this season so that lands him a spot here.  He averaged a little under four hits per game in his limited action in 2024-25 and at 6’5, he has the size that some teams may covet for a depth spot in the lineup.  A one-way deal might be hard to come by but the 27-year-old should have several suitors for a two-way pact on the open market.

F Matthew Nieto – Once a valued bottom-six forward, injuries have really derailed Nieto over the past two seasons as he has played in just 54 games combined, managing just seven points.  A veteran of over 700 career appearances at the top level, he may be in tough to add to that by any significant amount next season.  At this point, he looks more like a training camp PTO candidate than someone likely to get a guaranteed deal over the next few months.

Other UFAs: D Nathan Clurman, D Mac Hollowell (signed in KHL), D Filip Kral (signed in Czechia), F Jimmy Huntington, F Marc Johnstone, F Mathias Laferriere, D Colton Poolman

Projected Cap Space

Pittsburgh has the type of salary cap flexibility that they simply haven’t had in quite some time with over $23MM in room heading into the summer.  That number shouldn’t be reduced by too much from re-signing their pending RFAs either.  Normally, this would seemingly position the Penguins to be active in free agency.  But Dubas has stated that he won’t be too active on that front while the hiring of Dan Muse as their head coach suggests they’re heading into more of a rebuild.  With that in mind, they might not be spending that money early this summer and it would be surprising to see them anywhere near the $95.5MM Upper Limit at the start of 2025-26.

Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images (both players).  Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Offseason Checklist: Washington Capitals

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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 Washington.

Last summer was an eventful one for the Capitals.  After a quick playoff exit, GM Chris Patrick made several moves to add to his core group.  They turned out to be some strong trades as Washington went from barely making the playoffs the year before to having the best record in the Eastern Conference before falling to Carolina in the second round.  It’s expected that this offseason will be much quieter for the Caps with their checklist primarily looking at tweaks to their group over another overhaul.

Add High-Skill Player

This was one of the goals that Patrick identified last month in his end-of-season press conference.  On the surface, that might seem a little strange for a team that finished second in the league in scoring but when you dig a little deeper, it does make sense.

Of their top six scorers from this season, five of them set new career highs in points: Dylan Strome (82), Aliaksei Protas (66), Pierre-Luc Dubois (66), Tom Wilson (65), and Connor McMichael (57).  That’s a great spot to be in but it would also be unrealistic to expect that to happen again in 2025-26.  Their team shooting percentage was also tops in the league at 12.6%, well above the league average of 10.7%. That number could very well come down as well after being just 9.9% in 2023-24.

There’s also the matter of Alex Ovechkin being in the final year of his contract.  He had a big season to get the all-time NHL goal record but he’ll turn 40 in training camp; his best days are behind him.  That’s going to be a big opening to try to fill next summer.

So, why not try to fill it now and get the best of both worlds next season?  Washington has a little under $9.4MM in cap space for next season, per PuckPedia, with only a couple of spots to try to fill.  With a bit of roster tinkering (more on that shortly), they could have enough to take aim at one of the better forwards in this year’s free agent class.  Patrick wouldn’t rule out a “big hack” this summer and it’s more plausible than it might have initially seemed.

Clear A Contract

Let’s take a look at that roster tinkering as there are two players that stand out as superfluous when it comes to their roster composition.  Moving out one or both of those would certainly allow Patrick more wiggle room to either take that big hack to add up front or make multiple secondary core additions this summer.

The first is defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.  More of a depth defender earlier in his career, he has found a home with the Capitals on their third pairing and at $3MM, his price tag isn’t particularly onerous.  However, he’s number three on the right side of the back end and was sixth in ATOI among Capitals defenders this season at 17:40.  It’s a nice luxury to have but is $3MM too much for a sixth defender when you’re already spending nearly $34MM on the back end?  (That number may yet go up with Alexander Alexeyev being a pending restricted free agent.)  Would they be better off spending less on that position and reallocating some money up front?  Plus, Ryan Chesley, one of their better prospects, is now signed and could very well play his way into the mix on the right side of the back end as well.  Since it’s an expiring contract, Washington has a chance to get good value for van Riemdsyk if they were to move him.

The other contract is one that will be trickier to move, winger Sonny Milano.  He was a frequent healthy scratch early on and then suffered an upper-body injury that kept him out for the rest of the season after suffering a setback in his recovery closer to the trade deadline.  His availability to start 2025-26 remains uncertain.  At a $1.9MM price tag, Washington could simply elevate Ethen Frank to a full-time role and use some of the savings on a more prominent player and the rest on a cheaper depth piece.  If he’s out to start the season, he could be an LTIR candidate but that would only be a short-term solution while waiving him when he’s healthy would shave $1.15MM off the books but not the full amount.  This isn’t overly pressing but getting Milano off the books altogether would help them.

Add Third-Line Help

This was the other item that Patrick mentioned at the end of the season about trying to find.  In the final game of their playoff run, that trio consisted of McMichael, Ryan Leonard, and Andrew Mangiapane.  McMichael and Leonard are both signed for next season already while Mangiapane is set to become an unrestricted free agent so it’s clear which spot he’s looking to fill.

There are a few different ways to fill the spot and it depends on what their plan is for McMichael.  A natural center, he spent most of the year on the wing.  What their plan is for him will dictate the position they try to fill, presumably on the open market.  While Nic Dowd is capable of moving up and anchoring that trio with McMichael on the wing, it’s fair to suggest that Washington’s preference would be to keep him on the fourth line where he has had plenty of success in that role.

While the UFA market will have high demand for the top centers, there are enough middlemen available to play a bottom-six role that should keep the costs relatively reasonable.  At that spot, players like Christian Dvorak, Luke Kunin, Sean Kuraly, and Trent Frederic would make sense.  Meanwhile, wingers like Brandon Saad, Brandon Tanev, Eric Robinson, and Joel Armia could all fit.  Anthony Beauvillier, their trade deadline acquisition, could also fit.  The upper end of the price range for this group should be somewhere around $3MM while others might check in closer to $2MM.  Depending on how much they want to spend on the top-six addition, Patrick should have plenty of options to fill this one if he wants to go that route to do so.

Get Younger

In recent years, the Capitals have been one of the older teams in the NHL.  With a veteran core that included Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and T.J. Oshie up front with John Carlson on the back end, that’s not much of a surprise.  They were the second-oldest team in the league in terms of average age in 2023-24 but that dropped to 11th this season.  There’s room for that to go down a little more next season.

Leonard should be around for the full season after turning pro in April.  Hendrix Lapierre, a pending restricted free agent, is waiver-eligible now and given his first-round draft pedigree and a point-per-game showing in 32 games with Hershey this year, it’s safe to say he won’t get through waivers so he’ll either make the team or be traded.  The former is much more likely than the latter.

Meanwhile, Ivan Miroshnichenko has seen NHL action in each of his first two seasons in North America and probably isn’t too far away from being ready for a longer-term look.  Andrew Cristall has lit up the WHL in scoring the last two years and made a real run at a roster spot back in training camp.  And, as noted earlier, Chesley probably isn’t going to need much time in Hershey before he’s pushing for a spot on the back end.

Patrick noted a desire to try to get his team a little younger and he’ll have a chance to do so.  If he keeps a couple of spots available for youngsters or even that opening on the third line (with McMichael moving back to center), it’s quite possible that the Caps could get themselves around the middle of the pack in average age.  Considering where they were just a couple of years ago, that would be an impressive turnaround while still keeping the core of a division-winning group intact.

Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports.

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