Free Agent Focus: New Jersey Devils
Free agency is now just under a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Yegor Sharangovich – A fifth-round pick of New Jersey in 2018, the Belarusian-born Sharangovich burst onto the scene in his first NHL season in 2020-21. His 16-goal, 30-point season was rather unexpected and was good enough to put Sharangovich 10th in this year’s Calder Trophy race. While Sharangovich had shown some promise in his past few AHL seasons, he scored at a better pace in the NHL this year than he ever has in the minors. His play this season was a continuation of a strong start to 2020-21 on loan with the KHL’s Dinamo Minsk. Serving as an alternate captain for his hometown team, Sharangovich scored and 25 points (17 of which were goals) in 34 games. Sharangovich seems to have secured a spot in the Devils’ top-six forward group for next season, but the Devils will be hesitant to plop too much money down too soon on the breakout forward. Expect general manager Tom Fitzgerald to sign Sharangovich to a bridge deal in the neighborhood of two years, making him an RFA again at the end of his next contract.
F Janne Kuokkanen – Kuokkanen was another surprise this season. The former Carolina Hurricanes prospect, acquired at the 2020 Trade Deadline in a package for defenseman Sami Vatanen, scored at a 41-point pace with New Jersey this year. Playing nearly 15 minutes a night, the 23-year-old Finn posted impressive possession numbers too considering the weakness of the team. Kuokkanen figures to be an important depth piece moving forward if his early performance is any indication. A lengthier extension, maybe three years, is in line for Kuokkanen in order to take him up to the very end of his restricted free agent eligibility.
Other RFAs: F Nicholas Merkley, F Michael McLeod, F Brandon Gignac, F A.J. Greer, F Marian Studenic, D David Quenneville, D Colton White, D Colby Sissons, G Evan Cormier, G Gilles Senn
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Ryan Murray – Acquired by the Devils in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick prior to the season, the injury-prone defenseman didn’t quite live up to expectations this season. While Murray was fine by his standards offensively with 14 points in 48 games, Murray’s defensive play slacked considerably from his time with the Columbus Blue Jackets. That’s not to say the Devils won’t re-sign him, though. Their blueline is relatively barren and weak as is, and with Murray likely taking a pay cut on his next deal, his play could improve along with his surroundings. There’s always been the feeling of untapped potential surrounding the former second-overall pick, and the Devils may hope that they’re the ones to unlock it on his next deal.
G Aaron Dell – Once one of the more highly-regarded backup netminders in the league with the San Jose Sharks, Dell’s rough go of it this year may have cost him another NHL deal. Originally signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs prior to the season to serve as their taxi squad goalie, Dell was picked up on waivers by the Devils after Toronto attempted to return him post-callup. Getting into five starts and seven games with the Devils while they also dealt with goalie injuries, Dell won just one game and put up a .857 save percentage and 4.14 goals against average, both the worst marks of his career by far. Now 31 years old, Dell may have to head overseas or to the minor leagues to find his next team.
Other UFAs: F Ben Street, F Brett Seney, F Mason Jobst, D Connor Carrick, D Matt Tennyson, D Josh Jacobs
Projected Cap Space
Despite the flat $81.5MM salary cap continuing into next season, New Jersey is one of the few teams with very little to worry about. The team has $35.7MM in cap space and, when combined with the low quantity of free agents to re-sign, the Devils have serious amounts of free space to use to their advantage in free agency. Combine that with the intrigue of playing with a young core that includes Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Ty Smith, and GM Fitzgerald is in a position to acquire real talent to assist the Devils on their journey back to contention.
Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Dominique Ducharme In Discussions To Remain As Montreal Head Coach
As the Montreal Canadiens hosted their end-of-season media availability, general manager Marc Bergevin said the team is engaging in talks with Dominique Ducharme to officially become the team’s head coach.
It was a tale of two seasons for Montreal under Ducharme. While Montreal started strong out of the gate, a short string of unexpected losses led to the firing of head coach Claude Julien. On February 24, 2021, Ducharme was named the team’s interim head coach. It didn’t seem that Julien’s firing had made much of an impact on the team’s performance, however. Under Ducharme in the regular season, the Habs posted just a 15-16-7 record, clinching a playoff berth as the league’s 18th-ranked team due to this year’s divisional alignments. It all makes Montreal’s run to the Stanley Cup Final, in which the team still went 13-9, even more impressive.
What Montreal saw from Ducharme this season, in their eyes, has been enough to earn him the job. While the team’s on-ice performance may not have blown off doors immediately, Ducharme was able to guide the group through a tough first-round matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs and onwards. Under his tutelage, the team gelled at the right time, losing to a team that’s now won back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in the Tampa Bay Lightning.
As Montreal makes an effort to bring back their core next season, things may look a little different. The flat salary cap may have an effect on who they can and can’t afford to bring back. Montreal is hoping that by potentially retaining Ducharme in his role, they can catch lightning in a bottle once again moving forward.
Tampa Bay Lightning Face Salary Cap Crunch
Much has been made over the Tampa Bay Lightning’s usage of LTIR loopholes this season, especially after winger Nikita Kucherov returned from injury to lead the team in scoring en route to a second-straight championship. But with Tampa Bay advantageously using the expiring contracts of both Marian Gaborik and Anders Nilsson to add to their LTIR relief, they won’t have the opportunity next season to do the same.
The Lightning currently sit $3.52MM over the $81.5MM Upper Limit, and that’s with an already depleted roster. There are multiple takeaways from this.
For one, it’s unlikely that any notable pending Lightning unrestricted free agent re-signs with the team. As their priority stands to clear salary, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the 2021-22 Tampa Bay Lightning squad won’t have the experienced depth of years past. While they did well to extend certain depth pieces like Patrick Maroon on cheap, multi-year deals into next season, others like Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow won’t be able to fit under the flat salary cap.
Conversely, it’s likely that the Lightning will rely even more on young, in-house depth to fill out the roster around their core pieces. They’ll need repeat performances from players like Ross Colton and steps forward from players like Mathieu Joseph and Alex Barre-Boulet in order to generate any level of depth scoring.
But what really sticks out is that aforementioned $3.52MM number. That’s only taking 16 skaters and one goaltender into account, meaning that the Bolts will need to clear multiple contracts in order to be cap-compliant and ice a full roster on opening night. It’s likely that two out of the trio of Yanni Gourde, Tyler Johnson, and Alex Killorn will have to be moved this offseason in order to fit salary constraints. Tampa probably prefers it to be the first two names on that list, as Killorn has been an indelible piece in their top-six in recent years.
There are options for the Bolts with the expansion draft looming. While moving any of those three players can be somewhat challenging due to their no-trade clauses, the Lightning can ship an additional asset to Seattle via trade to ensure that the Kraken will take a specific player at the draft. It might be a necessary solution, no matter how tough to swallow it is so soon after a Stanley Cup win.
All contract information is via CapFriendly.
Poll: Where Will Vladimir Tarasenko Be Traded?
While most of the hockey world was focusing on last night’s Game 5 and the ensuing Cup-clinching victory by the Tampa Bay Lightning, there was one large story brewing in St. Louis. The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford was reporting that Blues winger Vladimir Tarasenko had requested a trade from the club earlier in the offseason. While Tarasenko trade rumors were nothing new this offseason, the declaration of a trade request definitely put the writing on the wall for his tenure in Missouri.
With more clarity coming today on the Tarasenko situation, he’s reportedly frustrated on how the Blues organization has handled his shoulder surgeries and the corresponding recoveries. While Rutherford’s reporting claims that Tarasenko now comes with a clean bill of health, the uncertainty surrounding his post-injury ceiling has got to be a bit of a red flag for teams interested.
Speaking of teams interested, Rutherford notes that both the New York Rangers and New York Islanders, as well as the Edmonton Oilers are all teams who are potential suitors.
The Oilers seem like the most natural fit. After all, their struggles to find legitimate linemates for Connor McDavid in the past have been well-documented. With the Oilers getting some cap space to work with this offseason, they’ve been active in most trade rumors. Tarasenko’s no different. If the Oilers can swing a deal, it would likely consist of a defense prospect as well as a relatively high draft pick, as well as a roster player. Tarasenko would inevitably play on McDavid’s right wing, likely with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins or potentially Jesse Puljujarvi on his off-wing flanking them on the left.
The Islanders also stand as a natural fit for the Russian winger, as the team has lacked scoring punch in recent seasons to push them over the top. However, salary is a concern for the cap-strapped Islanders, who also have Adam Pelech and Anthony Beauvillier to sign to contracts this offseason. The Rangers also are an interesting idea, considering Tarasenko would get the opportunity to play with countryman Artemi Panarin.
So, PHR readers, we ask you – where do you think Vladimir Tarasenko ends up after all of this? Vote below!
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Free Agent Focus: Montreal Canadiens
Free agency is now just under a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. The Montreal Canadiens come bitterly into the offseason after a Stanley Cup Final loss, but a large amount of unrestricted free agents mean it’s a pivotal time for the franchise.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Artturi Lehkonen – An up-and-down season ended strongly for the first Finnish Canadiens RFA. While in part due to the shortened season, Lehkonen had his worst offensive season to date, failing to post either 10 goals or 20 points for the first time in his five-year NHL career. He didn’t fare too well under either Claude Julien or Dominique Ducharme, at least in the regular season. It resulted in the lowest usage of his career, being played just 13:25 minutes per game. However, when the opportunity arose during their playoff run, Lehkonen rose to the challenge. Taking the left-wing spot with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher, Lehkonen helped formed a line that shut down opponents’ top players for the majority of the playoffs. He added an overtime series winner to boot, as one of his three playoff goals sent Montreal to the Stanley Cup Final. Yet the reality stands that Lehkonen was inconsistent at best overall this season, and his next deal will likely reflect that. A shorter-term deal should be expected for a depth player like Lehkonen.
F Jesperi Kotkaniemi – It’s hard to know what to make of Montreal’s 2018 top draft pick at this stage in his career. Coming off of his entry-level deal, Kotkaniemi has broken expectations during each of his playoffs runs, totaling nine goals and 12 points in 29 games. Yet Kotkaniemi didn’t even score that amount in a full 56-game campaign this year, potting only five goals. While the young Finnish center has oozed potential during Montreal’s playoff appearances, he hasn’t been able to perform at the same level over the course of his regular seasons. With all that being said, it’s extremely unlikely that general manager Marc Bergevin commits to Kotkaniemi long-term this offseason. At just 21 years old, Kotkaniemi still has four more seasons of RFA eligibility. It’s impossible to imagine that Montreal would give him a deal longer than that, instead allowing Kotkaniemi to live up to his potential over the course of a lower-stakes bridge deal.
Other RFAs: F Joseph Blandisi, F Michael Pezzetta, F Ryan Poehling, F Jacob Lucchini, D Otto Leskinen, D Cale Fleury, G Michael McNiven
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Phillip Danault – Danault had largely been regarded as one of the more underrated defensive centers in the NHL over the past few seasons. That’s no longer the case. Danault’s shot-suppressing expertise was on full display throughout the regular season and playoffs. And while his offense took a backseat in the playoffs with just one goal and four points in 22 contests, he’s scored 124 points in 205 games over his past three seasons. The offense will come back next season if history is any indicator. It’s why Danault is expected to get a significant raise on his $3.083MM cap hit. With Danault possibly receiving offers over $5MM and even $6MM on the open market, Montreal will have to shell out the cash to retain their Quebec-born top-six center.
F Tomas Tatar – Montreal’s usage of Tatar this season, especially in the playoffs, was puzzling to many. It was just last year where Tatar had emerged to lead the Habs in scoring with 61 points in just 68 games. While Tatar was limited to just 30 points in 50 games this year, his line with Danault and Gallagher had performed extremely well from a possession standpoint. Even through the beginning of their first-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tatar’s line had succeeded at silencing Toronto’s top talent. Yet Tatar soon found himself scratched for the rest of the playoff run, with Lehkonen taking his role on that line. It’s hard to expect that Montreal will want to retain Tatar at this point, especially with outside teams knowing what they can get out of him. Expect Tatar to be in a top-six role again next season — just not with Montreal.
Other UFAs: F Corey Perry, F Joel Armia, F Eric Staal, F Michael Frolik, F Jordan Weal, F Alex Belzile, D Jonathon Merrill, D Erik Gustafsson, D Gustav Olofsson, G Charlie Lindgren
Projected Cap Space
While Montreal sits with a respectable $14.7MM in cap space, the team has a lot of expiring talent. Retaining the expected pieces and building on this roster’s weaknesses will likely bring Bergevin and Montreal into a tricky dance with the salary cap yet again next season. And while no drastic moves are expected from this year’s Stanley Cup finalist, it might be challenging for Montreal to navigate the free-agent waters after they’ve re-signed key pieces. However, Montreal’s camaraderie and team strength were on full display this season. It’s the type of performance that incentivizes players to take pay cuts to play for a winner, something that may very well be a reality for Montreal this offseason.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Poll: Was The Joel Eriksson Ek Contract Fair?
The Minnesota Wild locked up the first of their three big restricted free agents yesterday, signing center Joel Eriksson Ek to an eight-year, $42MM extension Friday afternoon. With a $5.25MM cap hit, it provides Minnesota with both long- and short-term cost certainty. As both Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala undergo contract negotiations of their own, the Eriksson Ek deal was a nice one to get out of the way.
Some were quick to defend the deal. After all, Eriksson Ek is just 24 years old and finished fourth in Selke Trophy voting on the back of his best offensive and defensive season yet. While he may not be classified as a bonafide first-line center, Eriksson Ek has already won the hearts of Wild fans with his responsible play.
However, some were quick to criticize the deal, calling it an overpayment and an overcommitment. And while $5.25MM does seem like a lot for a player who’s had a career-high of just 30 points, he was on pace for 44 in a full season this year and over 20 goals. Considering he remains one of the best defensive forwards in the league at such a young age, it’s not unexpected to see differing opinions of such a long-term contract.
So, we ask you, PHR readers, what do you think of the deal? Is it a smart investment by Wild general manager Bill Guerin? Is it too much term and money for a young player who hasn’t proven himself offensively? Or do you think that Eriksson Ek is worth more than the price tag given to him? Vote below, and feel free to comment.
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All contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Expansion Primer: Detroit Red Wings
Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, who will likely warrant protection, and which ones may be on the block to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing? Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4:00 PM CDT on July 17th. The full eligibility rules can be found here, while CapFriendly has an expansion tool to make your own lists.
The last time we gathered here to determine the Detroit Red Wings’ expansion draft considerations, the team was in a steep downward decline. Yet they still ended up losing a bit of a diamond in the rough, as the Vegas Golden Knights selected forward Tomas Nosek. Nosek’s been a contributor in a bottom-six role every season in Vegas’ history, robbing Detroit of some quality depth. Now, with Detroit having hit the rock-bottom of their rebuild, their expansion situation looks fairly clear-cut this time around. With a lot of young talent exempt (and no Jimmy Howard/Petr Mrazek goalie controversy), the Red Wings and general manager Steve Yzerman are in a good position coming into 2021’s Seattle expansion draft.
Eligible Players (Non-UFA)
Forwards:
Riley Barber, Tyler Bertuzzi, Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri, Dylan Larkin, Frans Nielsen, Richard Panik, Vladislav Namestnikov, Michael Rasmussen, Givani Smith, Evgeny Svechnikov, Hayden Verbeek, Jakub Vrana
Defense:
Dennis Cholowski, Danny DeKeyser, Christian Djoos, Filip Hronek, Gustav Lindstrom, Troy Stecher
Goalies:
Kaden Fulcher, Thomas Greiss
Notable Unrestricted Free Agents
F Valtteri Filppula, F Sam Gagner, F Luke Glendening, F Darren Helm, F Bobby Ryan, D Alex Biega, D Marc Staal, G Jonathan Bernier
Notable Exemptions
F Joseph Veleno, F Filip Zadina, D Jared McIsaac, D Moritz Seider, G Filip Larsson
Key Decisions
The key decisions start with Detroit’s young forward group. They’ll undoubtedly be going with the seven forwards/three defensemen protection scheme. Four of those forward spots are relatively clear-cut, with Larkin, Bertuzzi, Fabbri, and recent acquisition Vrana being protection locks. That leaves three spots remaining, but with a mix of four veterans and young forwards competing for them.
The veteran of those candidates is Namestnikov. Signed to a two-year, $4MM deal prior to 2020-21 to provide some veteran presence during their rebuild, Namestnikov had his worst offensive season to date with just 17 points in 53 games. His defensive metrics were mediocre, which is on-brand for the versatile Russian forward. Detroit was Namestnikov’s fourth team since the beginning of 2019-20, and if left unprotected, Seattle could be his fifth.
However, there’s a trio of three younger forwards who could also vie for those spots. Erne, Rasmussen, and Svechnikov all looked good with the Wings this season. It was an especially important season for Svechnikov, who’s struggled with frequent injuries. He rebounded this year for eight points in 21 games while posting incredibly impressive possession metrics. Erne had a nice rebound season after a ghastly 2019-20 performance, scoring 11 goals and 20 points in 45 games. While his 15.5% shooting rate doesn’t scream sustainability, the 26-year-old showed nice flashes this season. There’s also Rasmussen, who’s still a developing project despite already playing in over 100 NHL contests. Drafted ninth overall in 2017, Rasmussen’s now totalled 30 points in 102 NHL games, including 12 points in 40 games last season. He’s consistently posted decent possession results, suggesting that the goal-scoring touch he had in juniors could be coming.
Detroit faces a similar quandary on defense with three names fighting for two spots. Hronek’s protection is a foregone conclusion, but Stecher, Cholowski, and Lindstrom are names that could fall into those last two spots.
Stecher sits as effectively a more impressive Namestnikov. Joining Detroit as a free agent prior to this season, Stecher settled nicely into a top-four role, posting admirable defensive metrics considering the hacked-together situation that was Detroit’s defense. However, like Namestnikov, he’s under contract for just one more season and there’s no guarantee that he stays. There’s also a pair of younger defenders in Cholowski and Lindstrom. Cholowski was a first-round pick in 2016 and showed great potential in his 2018-19 rookie season, but has stagnated at all levels since then. Detroit is willing to play the wait-and-see game with the young defender, who may see a full-time role again next year after just 16 games played in 2020-21. Lindstrom’s a year younger and doesn’t have as much upside, but he’s cobbled together four assists in 29 NHL games and could have third-pairing potential.
Projected Protection List
F Tyler Bertuzzi
F Adam Erne
F Robby Fabbri
F Dylan Larkin
F Michael Rasmussen
F Evgeny Svechnikov
F Jakub Vrana
D Dennis Cholowski
D Filip Hronek
D Troy Stecher
Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist
When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined. Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019/20 and 2020-21 combined. In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.
Forwards (3): Vladislav Namestnikov, Frans Nielsen, Richard Panik
Defensemen (1): Danny DeKeyser
There are very few pickings here that the Kraken would be interested in, and Detroit is likely to emerge from the expansion draft unscathed. While Detroit will have some depth forwards exposed, Seattle can likely find cheaper and better options elsewhere. Seattle could end up taking an AHL skater with limited upside like Lindstrom or Smith, or take a pending UFA like Glendening if they really don’t like any of their options.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
West Notes: Kaprizov, Fiala, Pettersson, Harvey
There’s been a fair amount of news breaking in the Western Conference lately. Whether it’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins‘ and Joel Eriksson Ek‘s eight-year extensions, the Viktor Arvidsson trade, or the Duncan Keith drama, this past week has given fans of Western teams more than enough to chew on. That hasn’t changed today, as there have been many tidbits of information floating around the hockey sphere. Following up on some extensive rumors from last month, NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce reports that the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov are set to resume contract negotiations next week. Minnesota and general manager Bill Guerin come into this set of negotiations with a much better idea of their salary cap situation after devoting $5.25MM per season to Eriksson Ek on Friday. With some more cost certainty in hand, Guerin can come forward with some more solid offers to Kaprizov and his agent to give him a more realistic idea of their options. Guerin, who is “confident [they’ll] get a deal done at some point,” now has just $16.8MM in space to offer to Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, and any other free agents he’ll sign to fill out the roster.
- As a subset to that story, The Athletic’s Michael Russo is additionally reporting that contract talks with Fiala’s agent have now initiated. Guerin now finds himself in a unique position of negotiating the contracts of arguably his two best forwards simultaneously. With limited room to work with, it’s likely that one of Kaprizov or Fiala will have to take a bridge deal with a lower cap hit in order to give Guerin flexibility to add in free agency. Considering some previous Kaprizov rumors, it’s likely that the Russian forward will likely end up with that bridge deal. Guerin and Fiala’s camp are in a position to sign a contract similar to Eriksson Ek’s, exchanging some money up front in exchange for term and certainty for both sides.
- Another young forward, Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson, is also a pending restricted free agent in need of a new deal. Pettersson’s situation is slightly different, however, having played in just 26 games this past season due to injury. After reports from last month that the Canucks may want to sign Pettersson to a shorter-term deal, The Province’s Ben Kuzma reports today that Pettersson’s camp could opt for a short-term deal as well. Drawing on Brock Boeser‘s three-year, $17.625MM ($5.875MM cap hit) contract signed prior to 2019-20 as a comparable, a short-term deal could open the door for general manager Jim Benning to offer a much longer-term deal to another RFA in defender Quinn Hughes.
- The Canucks find themselves on here twice today after The Province’s Patrick Johnston reported that they’ve promoted Todd Harvey to be the team’s director of amateur scouting. Former director Judd Brackett departed the team prior to 2020-21 to accept the same role with the Wild, meaning that the Canucks have left the position vacant from then until now. Harvey, who’s served as an amateur scout for the team since the 2017-18 season, had effectively taken on Brackett’s role since his departure anyways. Harvey’s last NHL season was with the Stanley Cup Finalist 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers, and after a few seasons playing senior hockey, stepped away from the game until returning as an assistant coach for the OHL’s Guelph Storm in 2013. Harvey will be tasked with adding to a prospect pool that’s largely been drained in recent years with the graduation of players like Pettersson and Thatcher Demko.
All contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Latest On Duncan Keith
Duncan Keith trade rumors have been swirling ever since Wednesday. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet’s original report stated that Keith, who has a full no-movement clause in his contract, preferred to be dealt to either Western Canada or the Pacific Northwest. The story has only gained more specific details since then. It’s since been reported that the Edmonton Oilers and Seattle Kraken were Keith’s preferred destinations, but today, there’s been a lot of discussion on the Oilers’ side of the coin.
Now, a report by The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman is suggesting that Edmonton may only pull the trigger on a potential deal if certain conditions are met. Considering the Oilers and general manager Ken Holland‘s goal of being in ‘win-now’ mode, Keith’s steep $5.5MM cap hit is a complicating factor in any potential deal. So while Chicago won’t be giving him away for peanuts, for Edmonton to swing a deal, the cap differential needs to be close to even when all is said and done.
How that happens isn’t entirely clear. There’s a nearly endless combination of assets in play that could make a deal work here. James Neal‘s contract is similarly an albatross, and could get moved the other way with a couple of other pieces packaged in. Earlier reports today suggested that Caleb Jones could be part of a package to Chicago for Keith. Regardless, and especially if Jones is the centerpiece of a deal, Chicago will likely have to retain some amount of salary in a Keith trade. While Chicago is looking to contend sooner rather than later as well, one or even two million dollars against the cap in a retained salary transaction likely won’t be the end of the world.
It’s obvious the Blackhawks want to do right by Keith, who’s given more than anyone could’ve asked for to the franchise. But considering the 37-year-old’s restrictive demands, Chicago’s hands may end up being tied if they can’t get the return they desire — which is to say, a trade, while likely, is never a guarantee.
All contract information is provided by CapFriendly.
Seattle Kraken Ownership Give Ron Francis Green Light To Spend To Cap
In a Q&A post with The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark today, Seattle Kraken CEO Tod Leiweke said today that he’s encouraged general manager Ron Francis to spend to the salary cap, if possible, in order to build a contending roster out of the gate.
The statement from Leiweke comes amidst one of the most hectic and compact offseasons in recent history, especially considering the lack of a salary cap increase. The fact that Seattle will be able to take advantage of the full $81.5MM available to them already gives them a competitive advantage on a handful of teams for a variety of reasons. The majority of NHL teams are still dealing with either buyouts, overage penalties, or retained salary transactions that will lower their spending ceiling next season. For some teams, spending to the cap is currently impossible as they continue to suffer from COVID-related financial losses.
It also allows Seattle to add some assets to the franchise’s cupboards in exchange for helping other teams out of their cap trouble. They’ll likely be a trade partner for the cap-strapped Tampa Bay Lightning, who currently need to clear over $5MM in cap in order to be compliant in 2021-22. A name like Yanni Gourde or Tyler Johnson could easily find themselves playing in the Pacific Northwest next season. And with some top-end free agents still remaining, the full amount of usable cap space may better enable Seattle to make a run at some big names like Dougie Hamilton or David Krejci, if they so choose.
While it’s impossible to expect a 109-point run of terror in their first season, things are shaping up to make at least a playoff berth a realistic option for the Kraken in Year One. With the Pacific Division shaping up as a weak matchup, combined with their salary cap advantages, Seattle should be a great draw out of the gate.