Free Agent Focus: Detroit Red Wings
Free agency is now less than 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 Red Wings, who have been quietly collecting assets for the last few seasons, could start to dip their toes into the UFA waters.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Jakub Vrana – At the deadine this season, instead of just selling, Red Wings’ GM Steve Yzerman took a bit of a different approach. Sure, he traded away core forward Anthony Mantha for a package that included two high draft picks, but the biggest piece coming back was Vrana, a 25-year-old forward who had already found a lot of success in the NHL. The deal immediately paid dividends (for both teams) as Vrana scored eight goals and 11 points in 11 games down the stretch in Detroit, including a four-goal effort against the Dallas Stars. He now enters the offseason as one of the team’s most important restricted free agents, though how Yzerman will handle his negotiation isn’t clear. With several seasons of NHL action under his belt, Vrana is arbitration-eligible and could reach unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2023. That means a long-term deal would be buying out most of the years with the highest earning potential, likely driving the average annual value way up. A short-term deal could be beneficial to both parties, especially if the Red Wings have any thought of flipping him for more futures at some point.
F Tyler Bertuzzi – Speaking of flipping an asset, Bertuzzi is now just a year away from unrestricted free agency and arbitration-eligible once again. That means he could potentially wait for the one-year contract given by the arbitrator and walk into UFA status at 27, but there is certainly risk on Bertuzzi’s part. For one thing, he played just nine games this season and underwent back surgery at the end of April. He is supposed to be healthy in time for the start of 2021-22, but who knows how his body will react after such a long layoff. There are other teams in the league who would covet the bang-and-crash style of the 26-year-old, and he very well could be a trade candidate in the coming weeks. Just like Mantha, Bertuzzi might be just a little too old to be part of the next wave in Detroit.
Other RFAs: F Adam Erne, F Evgeny Svechnikov, F Michael Rasmussen, F Mathias Brome, F Givani Smith, F Hayden Verbeek, F Chase Pearson, D Christian Djoos, D Filip Hronek, D Dennis Cholowski, D Gustav Lindstrom
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Luke Glendening – Is it finally time for the defensive specialist to leave Detroit? Glendening has been in trade rumors for the last half-decade, always a candidate to be moved to a contender at the deadline. It has never actually happened though, meaning the 32-year-old has played his entire 554-game NHL career with the Red Wings. One thing he hasn’t experienced much of during that time? Offensive zone faceoffs, as he has been hammered by defensive zone starts his entire career. There’s almost no offense there, and Glendening certainly isn’t the skater he once was, but his faceoff prowess is still a weapon on the penalty kill and in key defensive situations. He won nearly 61% of his draws this season, trailing only Patrice Bergeron in that category league-wide.
D Marc Staal – When Staal came to Detroit, it was a simple cap dump by the New York Rangers to free up more room on the back end for young players. Then he went and became one of the Red Wings most reliable defensemen, averaging more than 18 minutes a night against the opponent’s best. Suddenly, he seems like a realistic extension candidate for Detroit, who could help insulate some of the younger names that will be added to the lineup next season. The 34-year-old is nearing the end of his career and has made almost $55MM over the course of nearly 1,000 games; he shouldn’t be very expensive if Yzerman wants to bring him back.
G Jonathan Bernier – Undersized goalies can’t get it done? Tell that to Bernier, who has quietly been an effective NHL option for more than a decade. Now 32, he’s coming off another strong season in Detroit where he posted a .914 save percentage in 24 appearances. There’s a reasonable chance that Bernier could be a 1B option on a contending team, but there’s also a good argument to be made for the Red Wings to bring him back. He worked fine with Thomas Greiss this season and Detroit doesn’t have a minor league netminder truly banging down the door for an NHL opportunity.
Other UFAs: F Bobby Ryan, F Sam Gagner, F Valtteri Filppula, F Darren Helm, F Henrik Zetterberg, F Turner Elson, F Dominic Turgeon, F Kyle Criscuolo, F Taro Hirose, D Dylan McIlrath, D Joe Hicketts, D Alex Biega, G Calvin Pickard, G Kevin Boyle
Projected Cap Space
Part of the rebuild that Yzerman has done in Detroit, along with accumulating lots of draft picks, is clearing the books of any real long-term money. In fact, after trading Mantha, the team has just two players signed to one-way contracts through the 2022-23 season. That means nearly the entire cap is his to play with going forward, with more than $48MM this offseason in particular. If the team wants to sign players, they have the room.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Minor Transactions: 07/02/21
Game three of the Stanley Cup Finals is on tap tonight, as the Montreal Canadiens try to claw their way back into the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. “You’re not in trouble until you lose on home ice” reads the old hockey saying, something Montreal will try to avoid at the Bell Centre tonight. As all eyes focus on that game, we’ll keep track of all the other notable minor transactions around the hockey world.
- The Providence Bruins have signed Eli Zummack to a two-year AHL contract, bringing him in from the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. The 21-year-old undrafted forward was an unrestricted free agent after scoring 22 points in 21 games this season. Undersized, Zummack dominated the competition in 2020-21, scoring 86 points in 64 games.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Tom Dundon Becomes Sole Owner Of Carolina Hurricanes
The NHL’s Board of Governors has unanimously approved Tom Dundon as sole owner of the Carolina Hurricanes after he purchased all remaining minority shares. That includes those owned by the previous majority shareholder Peter Karmanos, and as the press release indicates, makes this the first time that Karmanos has not owned a piece of the franchise since 1994.
Quite simply, Dundon reiterated his desire to see the Stanley Cup return to Raleigh:
We are fortunate to have a passionate fan base that supports what we believe is a team that can compete every year for the Stanley Cup. That is the only option.
Dundon purchased a majority of the team in 2018 and restructured both the business and hockey operations departments. In the time since, the team has reached the playoffs three times, even making it as far as the Eastern Conference Final in 2018-19. The group of players currently on the roster has made an impactful connection with a rejuvenated fan base, while franchise icon Rod Brind’Amour quickly became one of the most beloved head coaches in team history.
Once again, Dundon will be asked to make a financial commitment to the team this summer as they currently have just 12 players under contract for next season. Young star Andrei Svechnikov is a restricted free agent for the first time, while veteran leaders like Jordan Martinook, Dougie Hamilton, and Petr Mrazek are all unrestricted free agents. Though it is unlikely all of those names will be returning, the Hurricanes are in a strong position to take advantage of the free agent market and add some support to their strong foundational pieces.
Chicago Blackhawks Working On Potential Duncan Keith Trade
The Chicago Blackhawks are working on a potential trade for Duncan Keith, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The team and player are working together, Friedman tweets, to send the veteran defenseman somewhere he wants to go in the Pacific Northwest or Western Canada.
Keith, 37, was born in Winnipeg but grew up in Penticton, British Columbia, where he played junior hockey before going to Michigan State. He has spent his entire NHL career to this point in Chicago, and has two years left on his current deal which carries a cap hit of $5.54MM. Notably, though the cap hit is hefty, he’s only actually owed $3.6MM in salary over the final two years. As Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch tweets, there had been reports in the past that Keith would only waive his no-trade clause to end up in Western Canada or “out in that direction.”
Of course, there is a new NHL team just about to start play in that area of the continent. The Seattle Kraken are arriving in the NHL next season and happen to be just about a six-hour drive from Penticton, though Friedman does not specifically state which teams are interested in the veteran defenseman.
If it is the end of the line for Keith in Chicago, it has been quite a run. Selected 54th overall in 2002, he had to work his way through college, the WHL, the AHL and a lockout before eventually making his debut in the 2005-06 season. He immediately became a regular for the Blackhawks and would quickly become a core piece for a franchise that would go on to win three Stanley Cup championships. He won the Norris Trophy twice as the league’s best defenseman, took home the Conn Smythe in 2015 as playoff MVP (after scoring the Cup-clinching goal) and won two Olympic gold medals for Team Canada.
There’s almost nothing left to accomplish in Chicago and with the Blackhawks transitioning to a younger group, his cap space could be used elsewhere. That’s not to say he’s irrelevant, however, as Keith still averaged over 23 minutes a night and could be a valuable addition, even if his best days are behind him. That kind of experience could be especially helpful for an expansion team like Seattle, who will be trying to get their feet wet with a group collected from around the league.
For the Blackhawks, who have been linked to Jack Eichel among other high-end targets this offseason, moving Keith would not only open up some cap space, but also minutes for their young defense corps. Players like Ian Mitchell, Adam Boqvist, and Nicolas Beaudin will all be vying for more playing time moving forward and without Keith there eating up 23 minutes a night, there will be plenty to go around. The other big benefit from moving him off the roster before the expansion draft is freeing up a protection slot, as currently the Blackhawks would be required to protect him because of his no-movement clause.
That doesn’t mean the team improves with him gone, but there was going to have to be a parting of ways at some point in the future–if Keith is on board, it might as well be now.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Expansion Primer: Florida Panthers
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.
One of the mistakes that is brought up most often in regards to the Vegas expansion draft was the one made in Florida, when the Panthers sent Reilly Smith to the Golden Knights to make sure they picked Jonathan Marchessault. That’s right, the Panthers traded away one top-six player just to ensure that they would lose another and provided the Golden Knights with two-thirds of a first line in the process. The idea was to protect players like Alexander Petrovic and Mark Pysyk, certainly not a decision that is looked back on kindly. This time, new GM Bill Zito surely won’t make the same mistake.
Eligible Players (Non-UFA)
Forwards:
Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau (NMC), Patric Hornqvist, Frank Vatrano, Noel Acciari, Carter Verhaeghe, Mason Marchment, Ryan Lomberg, Patrick Bajkov, Aleksi Saarela, Anthony Duclair, Juho Lammikko, Brad Morrison, Lucas Wallmark, Sam Bennett
Defense:
Aaron Ekblad, Keith Yandle (NMC), Anton Stralman, MacKenzie Weegar, Markus Nutivaara, Radko Gudas, Kevin Connauton, Noah Juulsen, Gustav Forsling, Lucas Carlsson
Goalies:
Sergei Bobrovsky (NMC), Sam Montembeault
Notable Unrestricted Free Agents
F Alexander Wennberg, D Brandon Montour, G Chris Driedger
Notable Exemptions
F Anton Lundell, F Grigori Denisenko, F Eetu Luostarinen, F Owen Tippett, F Nikita Gusev (UFA), G Spencer Knight
Key Decisions
Interestingly, the Panthers once again are faced with the decision on whether or not to use the standard seven forwards/three defenseman protection strategy. This time, it’s hard to justify going the eight-skater route, even if Yandle’s no-movement clause is going to force them to expose a valuable player from the blueline. There is just too much talent up front, and there’s no way they risk losing another Marchessault.
Things kick off as expected, with Huberdeau and Barkov leading the way. One has a no-move, but there’s no way either one would ever be exposed to Seattle. Beyond that though, things get a little more complicated. Verhaeghe broke out this season for 18 goals and 36 points in 43 games and will almost certainly earn protection, while trade-deadline acquisition Bennett seemed revitalized after bringing his talents to Sunrise. That’s four spots used up already, with the group of Hornqvist, Vatrano, Marchment, Acciari, and Duclair still to come. At least two of those players are going to be left unprotected, and it’s not at all clear which ones.
Hornqvist is the sort of in-your-face player that the Panthers targeted last summer, trying to add a little more bite to the lineup to compete in the playoffs. He had a good season too, scoring 32 points in 44 games, but is now 34 and costs $5.3MM in each of the next two seasons. He’s exactly the type of situation where a team might not want to lose him, yet wouldn’t be crushed if he were taken, meaning he may well be left unprotected by the Panthers.
Vatrano would have been an easy choice a few seasons ago, but recent acquisitions have dropped him further and further down the lineup. He averaged fewer than 12 minutes a night in the playoffs this season and may be deemed expendable despite scoring 18 goals in the regular season.
Marchment and Acciari are both still depth players, but the former showed an ability to move up and down the lineup while the latter is just a year removed from scoring 20 goals as a depth center. There’s a case for either one, including the fact that Marchment will cost just $800K this season and had a pair of goals in the team’s first-round exit.
Then there is Duclair, who has shown an ability to line up beside star players in the past and has excellent offensive upside. The problem is that he doesn’t have a contract yet as a restricted free agent, and could even be a non-tender candidate if the team doesn’t want to deal with a potential arbitration award. The 25-year-old Duclair also saw his role drop dramatically by the playoffs, where he failed to register a single point while averaging just over 12 minutes a night.
While there is a case to be made for several forwards, the defensive group seems much more straightforward, if only because of Yandle’s no-movement clause. Unless he agrees to waive it, the team will have to protect Ekblad and Weegar as the two integral cogs of their back end. The 27-year-old Weegar may still not be getting the recognition he deserves from some hockey fans, but there’s a reason why he ended up finishing eighth in Norris Trophy voting after an outstanding season. That means the Panthers will be exposing players like Gudas and Nutivaara, while not being able to protect restricted free agent Forsling either, who leapfrogged those veterans this season.
In goal, the Panthers will be forced to protect Bobrovsky, even if they probably would rather just re-sign Driedger and roll him out alongside Knight next season. There’s still five years and $50MM left on Bobrovsky’s deal, which would actually likely scare off Seattle anyway, but there’s really no need to ask him to waive the no-movement clause at this point.
Projected Protection List
F Aleksander Barkov
F Jonathan Huberdeau
F Patric Hornqvist
F Carter Verhaeghe
F Sam Bennett
F Frank Vatrano
F Anthony Duclair
D Aaron Ekblad
D Keith Yandle
D MacKenzie Weegar
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): Noel Acciari, Mason Marchment, Ryan Lomberg
Defensemen (3): Anton Stralman, Markus Nutivaara, Radko Gudas
The Panthers have more flexibility than most when it comes to the exposure requirements, with so many players under contract for next season. Even if Acciari or Marchment are protected, names like Hornqvist or Vatrano would also meet the requirements upfront. On the back end, even if they can convince Yandle to waive his no-move, the last protection slot would likely be used on Forsling, who doesn’t qualify for the requirement anyway. Basically, these shouldn’t be an issue for Florida no matter what they decide to do.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Sylvain Lefebvre Hired By Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets have officially hired Sylvain Lefebvre as an assistant coach, signing him to a three-year contract that will add him to Brad Larsen‘s staff through 2023-24. Lefebvre spent the last three seasons with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL, but does have experience on an NHL bench in the past. Larsen, who was only named head coach earlier this month, released a statement on his newest assistant:
Sylvain was an honest, hard-working defenseman who was undrafted out of junior, but turned himself into a player with over 1,000 NHL regular season and playoff games and a leader on a Stanley Cup championship team. He brings that same dedication and work ethic to coaching and will be a great asset for our players and our coaching staff.
The championship team that Larsen is referring to is the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche, with which Lefebvre served as an alternate captain. The former defenseman suited up more than 1,000 times in the NHL, and even won a Swiss title just before retiring in 2004. Now 53, he served as an assistant with the Avalanche in the past and was the head coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs, St. John’s IceCaps, and Laval Rocket in the AHL.
Now in Columbus, he joins a relatively inexperienced coaching staff with Larsen in the lead. The Blue Jackets bench boss has only two years of head coaching experience under his belt, coming several years ago with the Springfield Falcons of the AHL. Columbus also recently hired Pascal Vincent as associate coach, who has only been part of one other professional organization, serving as an assistant with the Winnipeg Jets and head coach of their AHL affiliate. Still, these three are all well-respected assistants or minor league coaches and could very well form quite the impressive trio for the Blue Jackets. In a year that is looking more and more like a rebuilding season for Columbus, they’ll be tasked with developing the young talent still in the organization and setting it up for success down the line.
Detroit Red Wings Hire Alex Tanguay
The Detroit Red Wings have a new assistant coach, as GM Steve Yzerman announced the hiring of Alex Tanguay today. The Stanley Cup champion has spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the Iowa Wild of the AHL and will now get his first chance behind an NHL bench.
Tanguay, 41, retired from a long playing career in 2016 after more than 1,000 games at the NHL level. Most of that time was spent with the Colorado Avalanche, though there were also stops with the Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning and Arizona Coyotes. A gifted playmaker, he recorded a career-high 81 points in the 2006-07 season and finished with 580 career assists. In 2001, he scored the Cup-clinching goal with the Avalanche but would lose to the Yzerman-led Red Wings in the Western Conference Final the following year.
Now behind the bench instead of on it, Tanguay is an up-and-coming coaching prospect that will quickly make the leap to the NHL. He’ll join head coach Jeff Blashill’s staff for the 2021-22 season, replacing the outgoing Dan Bylsma, who left the club earlier this year. Blashill was clear that in the search for a replacement the team would be looking for someone that can help the powerplay, which Tanguay is obviously qualified to do. In his career, he registered 244 points with the man-advantage, picking apart defenses with quick puck movement and precision passing.
He certainly can’t make it much worse, as the Red Wings had the league’s second-worst powerplay in 2020-21. At just 11.4% effectiveness, it sagged well behind everyone except the Anaheim Ducks. Even raising it to the league average of 19.8% would have resulted in 12 more goals in the shortened season.
2021 CHL Import Draft Results
The CHL held its annual import draft today, where teams from across the Canadian junior leagues get to select the rights of players around the world. Often these are recently drafted prospects, or those seen to have a good chance at next year’s draft. Being selected has no guarantee that the player will actually ever suit up for the team, as Filip Chytil proved in 2017. Chytil was selected seventh overall by the North Bay Battalion but ended up spending the year with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack after impressing in his first training camp.
There are clear benefits from picking at the top of the draft though, as the Sudbury Wolves found out in 2018-19. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was the third-overall selection and ended up winning the Red Tilson Trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player. Because things in the hockey world were so unclear last season, only 66 players ended up being picked in the 2020 draft. Even selections as high as tenth overall were forfeited. This time around things will be a little different as the CHL prepares for a return to a normal schedule in 2021-22.
Jonathan Toews Skating, Expects To Play In 2021-22
This season, the Chicago Blackhawks were playing without a captain. Jonathan Toews left the club with a mysterious medical condition, one that was never explained by the organization. Now, several months later, Toews has released a video telling fans exactly why he was gone and how excited he is to get back on the ice.
So what they are calling it was Cronic Immune Response Syndrome, where I just couldn’t quite recover and my immune system was reacting to everything I did. Any kind of stress, anything I would do throughout the day, had a stress response. So I took some time. That was the frustrating part, not knowing how or when we were going to get over the hump.
Toews is back on the ice in Chicago preparing for the 2021-22 season.
Without him, the Blackhawks finished the season with a 24-25-7 record and missed the postseason once again. It has been six years since Chicago last won a playoff round (not counting last year’s bubble qualifications), though that 2015 run ended in the Stanley Cup. The team has undergone quite a bit of transformation in that time, but the trio of Toews, Patrick Kane, and Duncan Keith remain on the roster trying to reach their previous heights.
Like in Montreal, where GM Marc Bergevin explained previously that he wanted to retool in time for Shea Weber and Carey Price to still be relevant instead of complete a full rebuild, the Blackhawks seem poised to try and compete for the playoffs again in 2021-22, not tear it down. A return to form from Toews would be integral to any success, especially considering how good he has been in recent years. During the 2018-19 season he recorded a career-high 35 goals and 81 points, and in the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign he added 60 points in 70 games.
Even if you hate the Blackhawks, it was hard to see Toews on the sideline and wonder what kind of medical issue he was dealing with. Hopefully, this can be put behind him or at least managed well enough to see him back on the ice next season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Free Agent Focus: Colorado Avalanche
Free agency is now just a little more than 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 Avalanche have their captain to sign, but he isn’t even the most important deal they have to complete.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Tyson Jost – Not the first player you think of when you think of pending free agents on the Avalanche, but an important negotiation just the same. Jost, 23, is an interesting case study to watch this summer after signing his qualifying offer last year. For one thing, he is now arbitration-eligible, meaning the negotiation will be taken out of their hands if necessary, but the young forward has still not taken the developmental step that many expected. Selected 10th overall in 2016, Jost quickly became a regular in the Colorado lineup, but has failed to record more than 26 points in a single season. His average ice time increased this year to over 14 minutes, but he still had just seven goals and 17 points to show for it. Can he be a long-term piece in the middle-six, or will Jost try to maximize earnings by reaching free agency as quickly as possible? Because he has already completed four seasons, he’s just three years away from unrestricted free agency and won’t have to wait until he’s 27.
D Cale Makar – This is the player that everyone is watching in Colorado as he gets set for his first contract negotiation. Makar has played two seasons in the NHL and could very well have two major trophies to show for it. After winning the Calder in year one, he is a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in just his sophomore campaign. There’s a very real argument to be made that he is the most valuable defenseman in the league right now and a contract indicative of that is likely coming down the pipe. As Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote yesterday, any talk of long-term extensions will have to start at Thomas Chabot‘s eight-year, $64MM extension in 2019 and go up from there. Makar (along with fellow young stars Miro Heiskanen and Quinn Hughes) is ahead of Chabot in terms of early-career success and any new contract could end up making him one of the highest-paid defenseman in the league straight out of his entry-level deal. Currently, there are only four defensemen in the league with an average annual value of $9MM or more; Erik Karlsson ($11.5MM), Drew Doughty ($11.0MM), Roman Josi ($9.06MM), and P.K. Subban ($9.0MM). If the Avalanche want to go max-term with Makar, that group is almost certainly going to grow.
Other RFAs: F Kiefer Sherwood, F Travis Barron, F Ty Lewis, D Dennis Gilbert, D Conor Timmins, G Peyton Jones, G Adam Werner
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Gabriel Landeskog – A second-overall pick steps directly into the NHL, wins the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, and is named captain before his sophomore season. That’s how Landeskog’s story started, and ten years into his career he has established himself as a true franchise icon. Even though there have been other players that take the spotlight at times, the 28-year-old winger has been a constant driving force behind any success the Avalanche have experienced and already sits among the franchise greats on many all-time lists. Seventh in games played, sixth in goals, eighth in points, even if Landeskog doesn’t play another game in an Avalanche sweater, he has made quite the impact on the franchise. That’s why it seems so unlikely that they let him go at this point, especially after another outstanding season.
The problem is that there is only so much money, and given how big of a contract Makar is looking at, the Avalanche won’t be dealing with a ton of cap space. Landeskog scored 52 points in 54 games this season and is the kind of physical, heart-and-soul player that would be coveted by every other team in the league. If he wants to check the open market there will be plenty of suitors waiting to snatch him up. That includes the Seattle Kraken, who will get a chance to speak with him ahead of everyone else should Landeskog still not be signed by 48 hours before the expansion draft. It seems entirely reasonable to assume Colorado already has a deal done with Landeskog that will be announced after that expansion draft is completed, but until those papers are filed, other teams can certainly dream.
G Philipp Grubauer – Oh that cap space problem? Don’t forget that the Avalanche don’t currently have a starting goaltender for next season, as their Vezina finalist is also a pending UFA. Grubauer put together the best season of his career at the perfect time, recording a .922 save percentage in 40 appearances. Though he has put up those kinds of save numbers in the past, one of the biggest questions that followed him was whether he could carry the load of a true starting goaltender. Well, strapping on the pads for 40/56 games in a condensed schedule certainly answers that question, especially when it results in 30 wins. Of course, there was a few slip-ups in the postseason, which may cause teams to hesitate when drawing up a long-term contract, but there is still little doubt that Grubauer will receive a substantial raise on the three-year, $10MM deal he signed in 2018. Still just 29, he is Colorado’s best option and at the same time could have played himself out of their price range.
Other UFAs: F Brandon Saad, F Liam O’Brien, F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, F Matt Calvert, F T.J. Tynan, F Mike Vecchione, F Sheldon Dries, D Patrik Nemeth, D Kyle Burroughs, D Dan Renouf, G Devan Dubnyk
Projected Cap Space
The good news: Colorado has nearly $25.5MM in cap space. The bad news: the rest is owed to just 11 players. Normally, players like Saad and Timmins would be front and center on any examination of pending free agents, but on the Avalanche they are secondary to the big fish that need new deals. GM Joe Sakic simply isn’t going to be able to keep everyone around to run back the same group in 2021-22, meaning difficult decisions will have to be made. Can they fit in a long-term deal for Makar alongside healthy extensions for Landeskog and Grubauer? What kind of cap space will that leave them with to fill out the rest of the roster? One important factor is the health and future of Erik Johnson, who ended the year on long-term injured reserve. He played just four games this season and though he skated with the team, didn’t appear in the postseason. His $6MM cap hit could be extremely useful to the Avalanche in other areas, but he’s also an important part of the leadership group in Colorado.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.