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Poll: Which Team Will Trade For Yaroslav Askarov?

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The top goaltending prospect of the Nashville Predators, Yaroslav Askarov, made waves around the NHL a few days ago as he publicly requested a trade out of the Predators’ organization. Askarov and his agent assert that if he is not moved by the end of training camp and is sent down to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, he will not report.

Askarov has seen his name come up in trade chatter a few times over the last two summers, primarily at the NHL draft, with the Predators attempting to acquire a top-five selection. No general manager was willing to meet the asking price of general manager Barry Trotz, so Askarov stayed with the organization at the AHL level, where he put up monster performances. Now that Nashville has committed to Juuse Saros on the heels of an eight-year, $61.92MM extension and also signed Scott Wedgewood to serve as the team’s backup for the 2024-25 campaign, Askarov is looking for an opportunity elsewhere.

The most immediate team that comes to mind is the San Jose Sharks, who are rebuilding their organization from the ground up but have very little in the way of goaltending prospects. By acquiring Askarov from the Predators, San Jose could cut bait with Mackenzie Blackwood or Vitek Vanecek at any point during the regular season, assuming Askarov develops into a starting goaltender. A little over a week ago the assistant general manager of the Sharks, Joe Will, detailed that San Jose is still looking for a third-string goaltender on the younger side.

Another team in a similar position to the Sharks lies 2,000 miles inland in Chicago. The Blackhawks are only a year removed from selecting with the first overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft and are also looking to bring their organization back to contention. As much as Chicago would want to complete their prospect pool with Askarov, the Predators won’t be quick to help out a divisional rival. The Blackhawks would likely have to pay a higher premium than most teams if they hoped to acquire Askarov and may look for their goaltender of the future down the road.

Unlike San Jose and Chicago, one surprise candidate for Askarov may come from Sin City. The Vegas Golden Knights have always had a fair for the dramatics and with both of their netminders headed for unrestricted free agency next offseason, the Golden Knights may look for a cheaper option. As one of the more cap-strapped teams in the NHL, the aggressive addition of Askarov would give the Golden Knights a cost-controlled netminder for the next several years, with the team able to invest in other areas of the roster. Unfortunately, without a first-round pick until the 2027 NHL Draft, Vegas may not have the resources to acquire the young netminder.

Although Askarov publicly requested a trade out of Nashville, the team is in no rush to trade him. Since the Predators could theoretically hold onto him for the next several years, the public nature of the trade request should not hamper his trade value on the market. There will be several teams looking to poach Askarov from the Predators, but if recent history has taught us anything, Trotz will get his money’s worth in any trade.

Which Team Will Trade For Yaroslav Askarov?
Other (comment below) 45.83% (759 votes)
San Jose Sharks 24.34% (403 votes)
Chicago Blackhawks 19.93% (330 votes)
Vegas Golden Knights 9.90% (164 votes)
Total Votes: 1,656

Igor Shesterkin, Rangers In Extension Talks

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The 2024-25 goalie free-agent class may take a major hit in the coming weeks as the New York Rangers continue engaging Igor Shesterkin in extension negotiations. Shesterkin was recently asked about the prospect of a new deal with the Rangers in an interview with RG.org where he said, “My agent, Maxim Moliver, is talking to the general manager. I can’t say anything else. For me, the most important thing now is preparing for the season and being 100% ready mentally and physically. An exciting season is ahead, and the agent will discuss the contract“.

Shesterkin is letting his agent do most of the heavy lifting like many players of his caliber. The 28-year-old Russian netminder is coming off a tremendous five years in New York with a 135-59-17 record in 208 starts with a .921 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average. Shesterkin is seeing his four-year, $22.67MM contract expire after the 2024-25 NHL season where he would become the best free-agent goaltender in some time.

According to HockeyReference, Shesterkin holds similar similarity scores to goaltending greats such as Roberto Luongo, Connor Hellebuyck, and Sergei Bobrovsky through the first five years of their career. All three netminders landed handsome contracts throughout their career and Shesterkin is set to match or exceed their salary markers on his next contract.

The Moscow native will surely be looking for north of $8.5MM season given that Helleybuyck landed an $8.5MM AAV over seven years last summer with the Winnipeg Jets. A few months ago, Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic speculated that Shesterkin could seek as high as $12MM a year to set a new yearly average for goaltenders. The Rangers could theoretically shell out that asking price but have several other contracts to work through next summer, as well.

Realistically, Shesterkin should land anywhere between $9MM-$11MM annually with Evolving-Hockey predicting a $9.455MM salary on an eight-year deal. With Shesterkin’s agent handling most of if not all the extension negotiations, these talks could drag on well into the 2024-25 NHL season. Nevertheless, the Vezina-trophy-winning goaltender has confidence it will get done before he can hit the open market next offseason.

Oilers Pathway Toward Cap Compliancy

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If their cap struggles weren’t already bad enough this summer, the Edmonton Oilers were struck a significant blow last week when the St. Louis Blues signed defenseman Philip Broberg to a two-year, $9.16MM offer sheet and forward Dylan Holloway to a two-year, $4.58MM offer sheet. Oilers’ general manager Stan Bowman has until tomorrow to match both or either respective offer but could allow both to walk and receive draft compensation in return.

PuckPedia gave a solid breakdown of how Edmonton could find its way back to salary cap compliance after the separate trades that brought Vasily Podkolzin to Alberta and sent Cody Ceci to the San Jose Sharks. The salary cap website asserts that if the Oilers place Evander Kane on long-term injured reserve to start the year, send down Troy Stecher and Derek Ryan, and call up prospect Matt Savoie to the NHL, they will be compliant to start the 2024-25 NHL season if they choose to match both offer sheets.

All things considered — this is a decent scenario for Edmonton. Savoie gives the team a low-cost option to plug into the top six and allows the team some flexibility with newcomers Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson on the wing. By moving either Skinner or Arvidsson down to the third line, Holloway could play the wing on the team’s fourth line while moving Mattias Janmark to fourth-line center in this scenario.

The team would still have seven available defensemen to choose from to start the year and Stecher likely would have been light on playing time regardless. Josh Brown and Ty Emberson could split time based on matchups leaving Edmonton’s only glaring hole at the fourth-line center position.

Edmonton is not necessarily out of the woods just yet as it’s uncertain when Kane will ultimately return from his offseason surgery. It’s expected he will be placed on LTIR to begin the season which will keep him out of the lineup for the first 10 games and 24 days of the 2024-25 NHL season. Once the season begins, however, the Oilers will again be in a situation where tough decisions must be made. The Oilers could still allow both players to walk giving them just over $6MM to start the year after placing Kane on LTIR.

It will be interesting to see how aggressive GM Bowman is in bringing back two pieces that haven’t had much opportunity with the organization up to this point. All in all, even with clearing Ceci’s salary and having a clear pathway toward cap compliance to start the year —  it will take some time for Edmonton to exit this precarious scenario.

New Jersey, Dawson Mercer Working Toward Extension

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The New Jersey Devils kick-started a busy offseason by acquiring goaltender Jacob Markstrom earlier in the summer from the Calgary Flames. Once free agency opened on July 1st, the team brought Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, Stefan Noesen, and Tomas Tatar around an already talented roster. The Devils only have one item left on their plate before training camp opens up in September — the looming extension for forward Dawson Mercer.

In an interview yesterday with RG.org, the general manager of the Devils, Tom Fitzgerald said, “We are working towards an agreement after exchanging proposals“. This quote is a good indication that the two sides will get a deal done before training camp starts as it confirms the two sides are far enough down the line where they have exchanged offers. Although the Devils may have gotten an offer sheet scare last week with the deals made between Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, and the St. Louis Blues, the relationship between New Jersey and Mercer may nix any idea of that happening.

Given the Devils’ current salary cap situation, the deal will likely be on the shorter term. New Jersey currently has just under $5MM in salary cap space according to PuckPedia. Unless Mercer is willing to take a sizeable discount to stay with the Devils organization, a long-term deal appears out of the question.

Fitzgerald may take a similar approach to Mercer’s teammate Jesper Bratt, who signed a pair of short-term deals before agreeing to an eight-year contract extension last summer. Mercer has scored 64 goals and 131 points in 246 regular season contests during his entry-level contract which makes for a similar point-per-game percentage as Bratt during his entry-level contract. Once Bratt’s first contract ended after the 2019-20 season, he and the Devils agreed to a two-year, $5.5MM deal.

If New Jersey hopes to sign Mercer to a similar contract, it will likely land in the $6MM range over a two-year deal. The salary cap has increased by $6.5MM since Bratt signed his deal and Mercer should look for a similar percentage of the available cap space. A $3MM AAV would give the Devils just under $2MM of cap space to work with during the regular season giving them plenty of flexibility to make in-season additions.

Mercer is a valuable asset to New Jersey as he slots in well on the team’s second line and second powerplay unit. He has also not missed a game since his rookie campaign in the 2021-22 season which is a bonus to a Devils’ team that has struggled with injuries in recent years.

Poll: Who Will Be The Top Free Agent Option Next Summer?

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As things currently stand, the 2025 free agent class is set to be headlined by Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, Mikko Rantanen of the Colorado Avalanche, and Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like most years and particularly at the top of the free agent market, all three players are expected to reach extensions with their current clubs in the coming weeks with other potential candidates taking the same approach.

However, even outside of the three-headed monster at the forward position, there will still be quality names available next summer. Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs has seen his name pop up numerous times in trade rumors this summer without anything coming to fruition. The Maple Leafs are expecting head coach Craig Berube to get the most out of Marner (particularly in the playoffs) and may look to extend him during next year’s campaign.

Toronto could also give in to the pressure and allow Marner to walk next offseason especially if the team fails to make waves in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Marner would quickly become one of the premier playmakers to have entered the open market and would certainly get a lucrative offer. Being nearly unstoppable during the regular season over the last six years, Marner has accrued 417 games for the Maple Leafs in that span while scoring 356 assists and 509 points. He is not limited to his offensive prowess either as Marner has earned Selke Trophy votes as the league’s best defensive forward every year since 2018-19.

Dissimilar to Marner, it is almost entirely out of the question that Nikolaj Ehlers will sign an extension with the Winnipeg Jets. Ehlers has been a part of the Jets organization since being drafted by the club with the ninth overall pick of the 2014 NHL Draft and has put up 201 goals and 457 points in 605 games in Winnipeg’s uniform. There have been rather public reports out of Winnipeg that Ehlers won’t be re-upping with the organization and immediately became one of the top trade options available this offseason. The native of Aalborg, Denmark excels in passing the puck but also regularly puts up some of the best possession numbers in the game.

Lastly, Brock Boeser of the Vancouver Canucks could be the top goal scorer to enter the free-agent market next summer. His market and projected contract will be more difficult to ascertain however as he averaged between 28-29 goals through the first seven years of his career before rifling off 40 markers this past season. Boeser’s shooting percentage was also up 7.1% last year compared to his career average which may be a sign of regression next year. If he can get anywhere near 40 goals again this season with the Canucks, he may cement himself as one of the top-five options next summer.

The proposed list is not constrained to these three players as the likes of Carter Verhaeghe, Brock Nelson, John Tavares, and Jamie Benn could all be available as well as the three players initially listed. The list will thin considerably over the next calendar year but who do you think will be the top option available once the season turns over to July 1st, 2025?

Who Will Be The Top Free Agent Option Next Summer?
Mitch Marner 55.98% (557 votes)
Nikolaj Ehlers 15.98% (159 votes)
Brock Boeser 14.97% (149 votes)
Other (comment below) 13.07% (130 votes)
Total Votes: 995

Summer Synopsis: Calgary Flames

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The Calgary Flames are in a season of transition for the first time in quite some time. The organization is only three years removed from knocking off the stingy Dallas Stars in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs before losing at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers in five games. Since that run in the playoffs, the Flames have traded away the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, and Andrew Mangiapane while also seeing franchise icon Johnny Gaudreau leave the team via unrestricted free agency. Not many teams can sustain that level of talent walk out the door but Calgary is fortunate that they didn’t let many find greener pastures for nothing in return.

Draft

1-9: D Zayne Parekh, Saginaw (OHL)
1-28: F Matvei Gridin, Muskegon (USHL)
2-41: F Andrew Basha, Medicine Hat (WHL)
2-62: F Jacob Battaglia, Kingston (OHL)
3-74: D Henry Mews, Ottawa (OHL)
3-84: G Kirill Zarubin, Tula (MHL)
4-106: C Trevor Hoskin, Cobourg (OJHL)
5-150: C Luke Misa, Mississauga (OHL)
6-170: C Hunter Laing, Prince George (WHL)
6-177: D Eric Jamieson, Everett (WHL)

The Flames picked in the top 10 of the draft for the first time since the 2016 NHL Draft. They used the ninth overall selection on Parekh who was listed in the top five of North American skaters and the third-best North American defenseman. He’s a very talented offensive-minded defenseman coming off a season with the Spirit in which he scored 33 goals and 96 points from the blue line in 66 games. He doesn’t project to have the same defensive awareness as Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche — but his puckhandling skills and ability to create holes in the ice are eerily similar.

Calgary used their second first-round selection on Gridin who shares a similar ability in opening up space in the offensive zone. Playing for the USHL’s Lumberjacks the past two years after coming over from his native Russia, Gridin has scored 46 goals and 104 points in 100 appearances. He may take a bit longer to develop compared to Parekh as the Flames will see how he fares against stiffer competition but he projects to be a solid scoring option to place in the middle-six.

One of the better picks for the Flames after Day One was the selection of Battaglia from the Frontenacs. He’s an impressively quick player from his footspeed to his passing ability and could feature in Calgary’s top six if his development continues upward. He scored 31 goals and 65 points in 67 games for Kingston this past season but his goal-scoring ability may decrease as he climbs to the NHL.

Trade Acquisitions

D Kevin Bahl (New Jersey)

Bahl was the only player acquired by the Flames this summer but the team also added notable draft picks. In the trade that saw Bahl join the Flames organization, the team also acquired New Jersey’s 2025 first-round pick. Furthermore, Calgary traded Mangiapane to the Washington Capitals a few days before the start of free agency with Washington’s second-round pick in 2025 headed to Alberta.

Because of New Jersey’s depth on the blue line, it took Bahl several years to become a regular fixture in the lineup. Last season, he played in all 82 games for the Devils and scored one goal and 11 points while averaging 17:24 of ice time per night. Due to the departures Calgary saw on their blue line last season, it stands to reason that Bahl could crack the top four with the Flames and receive close to 20 minutes a night.

UFA Signings

D Jake Bean (two-year, $3.5MM)
G Devin Cooley (two-year, $1.55MM)*
F Martin Frk (one-year, $775K)*
F Justin Kirkland (one-year, $775K)*
F Ryan Lomberg (two-year, $4MM)
F Anthony Mantha (one-year, $3.5MM)

* denotes a two-way contract

As expected, the Flames were not very involved in the free agent market this summer and did not sign any deal longer than two years. Bean, Lomberg, and Mantha project as the biggest signings of the offseason with the former being an interesting bounceback candidate. Bean skated in 73 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season and scored four goals and 13 points overall but is not far removed from being a top-15 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

Lomberg spent much of the last four years serving as a depth piece for the Florida Panthers but should earn a regular bottom-six role with the Flames. Over the last three years in Florida, Lomberg skated in 212 games while scoring 26 goals and 45 points but the most notable aspect of his game became his physicality. Lomberg amassed  445 hits over those three years with the Panthers and should make Calgary’s bottom six much more annoying to play against.

Mantha is another potential rebound candidate for the Flames and should get regular minutes in the top six and the team’s powerplay. Before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights last year, Mantha scored 20 goals in 56 games for the Washington Capitals but floundered dramatically after being traded. The Golden Knights went as far as to make Mantha a healthy scratch for the playoffs but now has an opportunity to rebuild his value in Alberta.

RFA Re-Signings

D Jonathan Aspirot (one-year, $775K)*
F Adam Klapka (one-year, $775K)*
D Yan Kuznetsov (one-year, $775K)*
F Yegor Sharangovich (five-year, $28.75MM)
G Dustin Wolf (two-year, $1.7MM)

* denotes a two-way contract

As the main piece acquired in the trade that sent Toffoli to the Devils last offseason, Sharangovich greatly impressed with the Flames this year leading to a heavy commitment from the organization. With a bigger opportunity in Calgary, Sharanovich averaged nearly two more minutes of ice time per night as compared to his time in New Jersey and scored 31 goals and 59 points for the Flames in 82 games. The young forward finished second on the team in scoring as well as leading the team in goals. He will have his work cut out for him if he plans on being the leading scorer for Calgary but he is exactly the type of forward they need if they hope to keep their head above water.

The other notable re-signing for the Flames this summer is Wolf who’s contract may already be a bargain. Wolf has struggled in his brief time in the NHL up to this point but he is firmly the goaltender of the future after the team sent Markstrom packing for the East Coast earlier this offseason. His play in the AHL over the last several years has earned him quite the pedigree as a prospect as he’s accrued a record of 97-32-10 in 141 games played while averaging a .926 save percentage and 2.29 goals against average.

Departures

D Dennis Gilbert (Buffalo, one-year, $825K)
F A.J. Greer (Florida, two-year, $1.7MM)
F Ben Jones (Minnesota, two-year, $1.55MM)*
D Oliver Kylington (Colorado, one-year, $1.05MM)
F Andrew Mangiapane (traded to Washington)
G Jacob Markstrom (traded to New Jersey)
D Jordan Oesterle (Boston, two-year, $1.55MM)*
D Colton Poolman (Buffalo, one-year, $755K)*

* denotes a two-way contract

Thanks to their actions on the trade market throughout the 2023-24 NHL season, the Flames didn’t have much in the way of departures on the free-agent market. The most notable departure in free agency came in Kylington who the team had previously expressed a desire to keep around. The Swedish defenseman spent the entirety of his career in the Flames organization since being drafted in the 2015 NHL Draft and chose to leave for a more competitive opportunity in Colorado.

The deal sending Markstrom to the Devils had been in the making for several months as the two teams were close to a deal at last year’s trade deadline. The return for Markstrom seemed underwhelming as the Flames only acquired a first-round pick in 2025 and Bahl as previously mentioned. However, the team already had Wolf waiting in the wings and the team can get out from under Markstrom’s $6MM salary for the next two years.

The departure of Mangiapane was more surprising than the deal sending Markstrom to New Jersey as it fully committed the Flames to a rebuilding year. He has not lived up to his $5.8MM salary but has been a consistent secondary scoring option for Calgary over the last three years. Mangiapane struck as a player the Flames may look to keep through the long haul of the rebuild but the team is opting to give his minutes in the top six to one of their younger options.

Salary Cap Outlook

Now that Calgary has moved out a decent chunk of their salaries over the last two years, the team has the second-most cap space in the NHL with $19.2MM. That leaves the Flames nearly $4MM above the salary cap floor and this is something they should weaponize throughout the 2024-25 NHL season.

For teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, and Florida Panthers, the Flames could serve as a dumping ground for some of their bloated contracts so Calgary can effectively purchase draft and prospect capital. The team shouldn’t be near contention next season in an always difficult Pacific Division so the Flames would do well to utilize their cap space.

Key Questions

Is There More Selling Coming?

Circling back to their salary cap space for the 2024-25 season, the Flames will be limited in their ability to sell again. Depending on the team’s organizational window for getting back to contention, Calgary would do well at looking at the markets for Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar. The Huberdeau contract in particular has already become one of the worst in the league so the Flames would have to add some sort of kicker going back the other way.

Because the team has such a narrow window of being above the salary cap floor, they will need to take on a bad contract in return if they want to stay cap-compliant. Since the team projects to be one of the worst in the NHL this season, the Flames should do everything they can to build up their prospect and draft capital while transitioning more veteran players out of the organization.

When Will The Prospects Come Up? 

Calgary has opened up several opportunities on the roster with the amount of trades they’ve made over the last calendar year. However, although training camp has yet to take place, Wolf and Connor Zary project as the only two top-level prospects on the roster heading into next year.

Because of the trades, the Flames have built up a notable farm system and they should see what they have sooner rather than later. Calgary would be doing a disservice to their prospects if they didn’t open up a full-time opportunity for Matthew Coronato at some point during next season and should create the flexibility to get notable 2024 draft picks Parekh and Basha into the lineup once their junior seasons end next year.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Carolina Hurricanes Make Front Office Changes

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General manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, Eric Tulsky, continues to organize his front office after former general manager Don Waddell resigned from the team in late May. The organization announced today they have hired Tyler Dellow as assistant general manager and promoted Darren Yorke to associate general manager and GM of the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

Dellow has been in the NHL for the better part of the last decade as he served as an analytic consultant for the Edmonton Oilers from 2014-16 and as the vice president of hockey analytics for the New Jersey Devils from 2019-24. In his shift over to the Hurricanes organization, Dellow’s analytical background is eerily similar to Tulsky’s with the latter serving as an analyst and director of analytics in Carolina from 2014-20.

Adding to his strong portfolio, Dellow earned a law degree from the University of Toronto and served as a civil litigation lawyer in Toronto before moving to hockey. The Hurricanes are making Dellow responsible for overseeing data analysis and compliance with the salary cap and the current collective bargaining agreement given his strong background.

Yorke has been a longtime fixture in Carolina’s front office with his first role coming in 2010-11 as a video scout. After seven years as a scout, Yorke briefly became the director of scouting in Carolina for one year before becoming the team’s director of player personnel in 2018-19. Tulsky and Yorke were named assistant general managers in 2020-21 and Yorke’s scouting and developmental background should make him an ideal candidate to oversee the AHL operations.

Jeremy Swayman Confident He Will Stay With Boston

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One of the more outwardly difficult negotiations this summer has been between the Boston Bruins and goaltender Jeremy Swayman. Neither Boston nor Swayman opted to go through salary arbitration this offseason but the organization may have gotten a jolt to their system after the hockey world watched the St. Louis Blues make offer sheets to two members of the Edmonton Oilers a few days ago.

It doesn’t appear Swayman is worried about the lack of a contract up to this point with him asserting confidence he will remain with the Bruins in an interview on NESN earlier this week. In the interview, Swayman was quoted, “There’s a lot of confidence. And I say that because I’ve treated it like business as usual this year. I’ve been at Warrior, I’ve been working out with our guys, our staff, our players. And I know that there’s something special building in this locker room this year, and I can’t be more excited about that. I know that it will take care of itself with time, and all I can do is control how I’m going to be a better goalie for the Boston Bruins this year. So, that’s all I’m focused on. And I know, again, it will work out, and I couldn’t be happier to be a Bruin“.

Cap space won’t be an issue for the Bruins with these negotiations as they still own approximately $8.6MM according to PuckPedia. The only reason Swayman’s contract would become a major concern for the salary cap is if a team takes the same approach as St. Louis and signs Swayman to an offer sheet north of their current allotment.

Earlier this week on ’32 Thoughts’, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet argued that Swayman and the Bruins weren’t close on a new contract, and the negotiations have been challenging. The exact reason for the strife is unknown but it’s likely due to Swayman’s camp potentially overestimating the value of the young netminder up to this point.

That’s not to say Swayman hasn’t been an exceptional goaltender up to this point in his career, but he’s largely shared the net with goaltender Linus Ullmark. Once a contract gets done between the two sides, the 2024-25 season will be his first as the undisputed starting netminder. Since sharing the net with Ullmark in the 2021-22 season, Swayman has only started in 46.7% of the regular season games for Boston.

Because of this, Evolving Hockey projects Swayman to land a four-year contract worth an average annual value of $6.25MM. He may land closer to $7MM if the Bruins can get him on a long-term deal. A similar contract would give Boston plenty of cap space to add during the season. As much as Swayman’s camp may be arguing at the moment, he simply has not proven himself to be in the same echelon as Igor Shesterkin, Andrei Vasilevskiy, or Connor Hellebuyck so far.

West Notes: Broberg, Pospisil, Abbotsford

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There is no clear outline of how the Edmonton Oilers will approach the offer sheets signed by forward Dylan Holloway and defenseman Philip Broberg earlier this week. Still, some pundits in the media are already theorizing about their futures in St. Louis. Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal reported earlier today that if Broberg were to become a player for the Blues organization eventually, he would supplant Scott Perunovich on the second pairing and play next to Justin Faulk.

The main problem with this hypothesis is that Perunovich has arguably been the better defender over the last two years and has grown as a prospect through the Blues farm system. Perunovich has accrued 23 assists in his first 73 games in the NHL while Broberg has only potted 13 points in total through his first 81 games. Perunovich also appears to be the better defensive player at face value and in the advanced statistics with his 91.2% on-ice save percentage compared to Broberg’s 87.3%. In Broberg’s defense, he has been rarely utilized thus far by Edmonton as he’s only managed to average 12:42 of ice time per game with Perunovich receiving nearly three minutes more on average.

Head coach Drew Bannister should have plenty of flexibility on the blue line even if the Oilers decide to match Broberg’s contract. St. Louis already has nine defensemen signed to one-way contracts for the 2024-25 NHL season; with five being left-handed shots. Broberg would give the Blues a total of 10 one-way contracts on the back end with six left-handed shooting defensemen.

Other West notes:

  • Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospisil is looking to continue his impressive run with Team Slovakia — this time in the 2026 Winter Olympics (Article Link). Later this month, Slovakia will host a three-game round-robin tournament against Austria, Hungary, and Kazakhstan with the winner receiving an automatic bid for the Olympic Games in Milan. The Slovakian Olympic team will likely rely heavily on Pospisil as he is coming off an impressive international tournament earlier this summer. In the 2024 World Championships, Pospisil scored three goals and seven points in seven games and helped Slovakia reach the playoff round for the first time since 2022.
  • The Abbotsford Canucks, the AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks, made several staff hires today according to a team announcement. The team brought in Harry Mahesh as an assistant coach, Andrew Shaw as a video coach, and Ross MacEluch as an assistant athletic therapist. Mahesh is the most significant hire of the group as he previously served as a development coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs last year.

Gilles Léger Passes Away At Age 83

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The NHL is mourning the passing of Gilles Léger, a long-time executive who spent time with three organizations in a career spanning from 1979-2020. Outside of his work in the NHL, Léger spent time as a coach and a general manager in the CIAU and WHA.

After the World Hockey Association ceased operations at the end of the 1978-79 season, Léger made his way to the Quebec Nordiques as a director of player development in their first year of operations. Advancing to the role of assistant general manager for the team in 1984-85, Léger helped acquire the likes of Peter Forsberg, Guy Lafleur, Joe Sakic, Peter Stastny, and Mats Sundin to the expansion franchise. Unfortunately, with financial hardships leading to a sale of the Nordiques to COMSAT Entertainment Group after the 1994-95 season, Léger was not brought along with the team in their relocation to Denver, CO.

It would take three years for Léger to pick up another opportunity at the NHL level, this time with the Edmonton Oilers as a pro scout. When legendary general manager Glen Sather left the Oilers to take on the GM vacancy with the New York Rangers, Léger came along as a pro scout. The move to New York ended up being Léger’s last stop along his NHL journey. After two decades serving as a pro scout in the Rangers’ organization, Léger retired at the end of the 2019-20 season at 79 years old.

Léger’s story is of tremendous success as he parlayed a head coaching role with St. Francis Xavier University into four decades of work in the NHL. PHR sends our condolences to the Léger family.

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