Full List of Players Who Did Not Receive a Qualifying Offer
The deadline to make a qualifying offer to a restrict free agent ended at 5pm today. Below is a list of players who did not receive an offer and sorted by team for easy reference. Any player that did not receive a qualifying offer is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
(as of writing the Toronto Maple Leafs were the only team not to confirm which players received QOs)
Anaheim Ducks
F Matt Bailey, F Brandon Pirri, F Charles Sarault, D Kevin Gagne, and D Martin Gernat.
Arizona Coyotes
F Sergei Plotnikov, , D Philip Samuelsson, F Christian Thomas, D Kevin Connauton, D Jarred Tinordi, D Klas Dahlbeck, and G Niklas Treutle
Boston Bruins
F Landon Ferraro and F Brett Connolly.
Buffalo Sabres
F Alex Guptill, F Colin Jacobs, F Jack Nevins, and Nathan Lieuwen.
Calgary Flames
F Kenny Agostino, F Bill Arnold, F Joe Colborne, F Turner Elson, F Josh Jooris, F Drew Shore, F Bryce Van Brabant, G Joni Ortio, and Kevin Poulin.
Carolina Hurricanes
F Zach Boychuk, F Anthony Camara, F Dane Fox, F Carter Sandlak, F Justin Shugg, D Danny Biega, D Michal Jordan, D Rasmus Rissanen, and G Rasmus Tirronen.
Snapshots: Blackhawks, Lightning, Vanek, Higgins
The Blackhawks may no longer be in salary cap hell, but they are certainly thinner up front writes the Chicago Sun-Times Mark Lazerus. With Andrew Shaw being dealt to Montreal, both Bryan Bickell and Teuvo Teravainen off to Carolina, and Andrew Ladd hitting free agency, the Hawks have a number of open spots to shore up. While Chicago can now collectively breathe under the repressive Cap that has had them selling off parts since the summer of 2010, the casualties have come in the way of losing skill players. Lazerus has the Blackhawks possibly bringing back Brian Campbell, who could carry a $2MM/yr cap hit. Meanwhile, the bottom six forwards would look very different than the pedigree most Hawks fans are accustomed to. Lazerus lists Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann as potential candidates to return, while naming P.A. Parenteau or Sam Gagner as possible options to add in free agency.
In other league news:
- The Lightning have tendered qualifying offers to Yanni Gourde, Kristers Gudlevskis, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Tye McGinn, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Nikita Nesterov tweets Erik Eriendsson. In the meantime, general manager Steve Yzerman has a number of decisions to make as the free agency window opens on Friday. Steven Stamkos is still the top priority as teams are lining up to make their pitch. But the equally intriguing angle is what to do with goaltender Ben Bishop. Entering the final year of a contract with a $5.95MM cap hit, Bishop was reportedly working on contract specifics after the Flames were given permission to do so. That was scrapped as soon as the Flames acquired Brian Elliott from the Blues.
- Jason Brough reports that both the Canucks and Rangers may have interest in free agent Thomas Vanek. Though Vanek would be a backup plan to the higher tier free agents, namely Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson, he could be a decent pickup at a reasonable price for both teams seeking scoring help. Vanek had 41 points (18-23) and will see a much lower offer than the three-year/$19.5MM offer he received from Minnesota, who bought him out last week.
- Elliotte Friedman tweets that Canucks winger Chris Higgins was placed on waivers for the purposes of being bought out. According to CapFriendly, the cap hit would be $833,333 through the 2017-18 season. CBS Sports listed Higgins as one of their buyout candidates, and the Vancouver Sun reported the Canucks actively shopping Higgins back in January. Higgins had 4 points (3-1) in 33 games last season.
Free Agent Profile: Steven Stamkos
In the salary cap era, it is extremely rare that legitimate star players make it to the free agent market. It’s also very rare that high end players become unrestricted free agents in the prime of their careers. Both of these apply to Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, making his potential entry into Friday’s opening of free agency the most highly awaited in quite some time.
Last season, Stamkos played in 77 games with the Lightning, scoring 36 goals, good for a tie for the 7th most in the NHL. He also added 28 assists for a total of 64 points which was two shy of the team lead (Nikita Kucherov had 66). Both of those represented drops from 2014-15, where he had 72 points (43-29-72) while playing all 82 contests.
Late in the year, Stamkos was diagnosed with blood clots which cost him the final few games of the regular season as well as all but Tampa Bay’s final postseason game, a loss to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins. While he was able to return, there will still be some questions as to his long-term health; is this now behind him or will it have the potential to linger or recur over the course of a long-term contract?
There’s no denying that Stamkos is among the best goal scorers in the game today and in an era where goals are at a premium, that can only stand to help Stamkos and agent Don Meehan in their quest to secure a new contract. Over the last 5 seasons, he has the second most goals in the NHL with 193, only behind Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin (224). However, Ovechkin has played in 38 more games over that span; if you break their goal totals into a goals-per-game rate, they’re nearly identical with Ovechkin at 0.615 per game and Stamkos at 0.592. Suffice it to say, he’s among the best at putting the puck in the net.
While Stamkos spent a big chunk of last year on the right wing, his natural position is center and that positional flexibility will certainly help his case as well. However, he has also made it known that he sees himself as a center and would like to return to playing that position moving forward.
Potential Suitors
To quickly sum it up, anyone with around $10MM or more in cap space or close to that amount that could use a top line sniper. If that sounds like just about every team in the league, it should, as that’s about how many will express some level of interest.
Buffalo is reportedly going to be “all in” when it comes to chasing Stamkos while Detroit now has the money to get into the bidding after shedding the retired Pavel Datsyuk’s contract over the weekend. Toronto is also likely to try to lure Stamkos to his hometown while Tampa Bay is attempting to re-sign him as well. Also, John Wawrow of AP reports that Boston and Vancouver expressed an interest in Stamkos over the weekend.
That’s only a shortlist of who will be courting Stamkos as well as more than half the league should make a pitch during the interview period between now and the opening of free agency on July 1st.
Expected Contract
We rated Stamkos as the top unrestricted free agent in our Top 50 list and have projected a max-term contract of eight years. For that to happen, Stamkos must sign prior to the opening of free agency.
While we have him taking that deal with Tampa Bay, GM Steve Yzerman told TSN’s Frank Seravelli that a sign-and-trade option to get Stamkos his eight years while getting an asset in return is also a possibility. We think he’ll take $9MM per year – less than he could get on the open market – to stick with the Lightning but if he does get to market, a cap hit in the double digit millions per year is a very realistic possibility.
Offer Sheet Candidates: Jones, Trouba, Lindholm
Offer sheets are an interesting wrinkle in the NHL’s free agency period; a rarely used but powerful tool to try and steal away young talent from rival clubs. Though we may not see any this season – the last one to be signed was by Ryan O’Reilly in 2013 – there are a few interesting names out there that could possibly draw interest from other teams. Let’s take a quick look at some of the offer sheet rules for this season:
- Teams can submit offer sheets to restricted free agents as of July 1st at 11:00 am central time. Players can choose to sign them at any point after that.
- If a player signs an offer sheet, his original team has seven days in which to match the deal or else accept the compensation. During this time they cannot be traded.
- Compensation is as follows (according to Elliotte Friedman):
Less than $1.239MM (average annual value of contract) – Nothing;
$1.239-$1.878MM – Third-round pick;
$1.878-$3.755MM – Second-round pick;
$3.755-$5.633MM – First and third-round picks;
$5.633-$7.510MM – First, second and third-round picks;
$7.510-$9.388MM – Two first, a second and third-round picks;
Over $9.388MM – Four first-round picks. - Teams must have the picks available before signing the player, or else the offer sheet will be considered null and void.
Some hefty prices to pay if a team goes after a big name to be sure, but sometimes deemed worth it; the Flyers would have faced stiff compensation penalties had Nashville not decided to match their 14-year, $110MM offer to Shea Weber in 2012 (one that would no longer be allowed under the seven-year contract limit). Here are some names that might just be worth the risk:
D Seth Jones – The Columbus Blue Jackets have huge cap issues at the moment and are desperately trying to rid themselves of some of their bad deals. After trading young star Ryan Johansen for Jones mid-season, they now need to find a way to re-sign the former fourth overall pick.
Jones is just 21, and has performed admirably in his first three seasons in the league, racking up 83 points in 240 games. If someone were to sign Jones to a long-term deal, the Blue Jackets would have a very difficult time matching it without finding a taker for some of their cap-hits. The team is already just $5MM under the cap, with close to $20MM committed to their blueline.
Whether Jones actually recieves any offers, or it’s just used as a negotiating tactic in order to pry some value out of the Blue Jackets in future trades, his name will surely come up in many talks this summer.
D Jacob Trouba – Another top-10 pick who is part of a deep defensive corps Trouba is considered available this summer on the trade market, and should be considered an offer sheet risk as well. While the Jets have much more cap room available, they already have three defencemen signed for over $5MM per season and might not be able to commit to a fourth.
Trouba has put up 72 points in 211 career games, and is considered a potential top-pairing blueliner in the future. Many teams could add him to their back end and thrust him into the spotlight in his fourth season. A long-term deal could be had, buying out free agent years and pushing that AAV up into un-matchable territory.
The Jets also have to worry about next year’s expansion draft, where they’ll be in danger of losing one of their young defencemen. Dustin Byfuglien and Toby Enstrom both have no-movement clauses that ensure their protection, leaving just one protection slot for both of Tyler Myers and Trouba (unless they choose the 8 skater option and risk some young forwards instead).
D Hampus Lindholm – The best player listed here, Lindholm has turned into an excellent defender for the Anaheim Ducks over the last few years. His case is one of worry for them as he could easily be offered a seven-year deal from teams around the league.
After signing Sami Vatanen last week, the Ducks now have five blueliners under contract for more than $3MM per season and adding a big deal that pushes $50MM could prove too pricey. If a team believes that Lindholm is the number 1 defenceman that he seems, they could decide to give up the picks in order to pry him away.
The Ducks have already dealt Frederik Andersen to save cap room and avoid losing him in the expansion draft, and they still have work to do before next summer. With Cam Fowler said to be on the market, perhaps he’ll be the victim of a looming Lindholm offer sheet.
Free Agent Focus: Vancouver Canucks
When the Vancouver Canucks entered the 2015-16 season, they were coming off a 101-point season and felt as though they had another strong shot at the playoffs, with Daniel and Henrik Sedin still in the mix and up-and-coming center Bo Horvat showing he was ready for a larger NHL role. What they got instead, was a disastrous season filled with injury and ineffectiveness, leading to a 31-38-13 record and finished ahead of only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers in league standings. This summer they’ve already started their re-tool, trading 20-year old Jared McCann to Florida for former third overall pick Erik Gudbranson. Here’s a look at what else they have to do this summer:
Key Restricted Free Agent: W Emerson Etem – After a deal that saw Etem move across the continent (for the second time), the former Ranger got into 39 games down the stretch for the Canucks. A prolific scorer in junior – who tallied 143 goals in three seasons for the Medicine Hat Tigers, including a 61 goal effort in 2011-12 – Etem hasn’t been able to find much consistency in the NHL.
Now six years removed from being draft in the first round (29th overall), Etem has to show that he can be the offensive force he was once seen as. Perhaps it will help that Canucks’ coach Willie Dejardins was Etem’s coach in Medicine Hat for two seasons before being hired on with the Dallas Stars.
He’s coming off a one-year deal worth $850,500 and shouldn’t cost much more than $1MM in his first season of arbitration eligibility. With the other young forwards Horvat, Sven Baertschi and Jake Virtanen, Etem could be a long-term piece for the Canucks if he can ever reclaim that scoring touch.
Other RFAs: F Linden Vey, F Michael Zalewski, D Andrey Pedan
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: RW Radim Vrbata – While the Canucks struggle through the last few years of their now 35-year old franchise twins, another veteran is hitting the open market after a terrible season. Vrbata seemed to have found the fountain of youth in 2014-15 after signing a two-year pact with the Canucks; he put up a career-high 63 points and broke the 30 goal mark for the second time.
This season, he lit the lamp only 13 times and collected just 27 points – his lowest mark since 2008 when he played just 18 games before heading back to his native Czech Republic to be with his pregnant wife. He’ll hit the open market as a 35-year old coming off his worst year and will probably have to settle for a one-year deal somewhere; it almost surely won’t be in Vancouver. Vrbata was ranked 27 on our list of the top 50 free agents available this year.
D Dan Hamhuis – After another injury shortened season (this time from a gruesome slapshot to the face), Hamhuis is hitting free agency as somewhat of a risk, given his age and durability issues. While those issues may be somewhat overblown, Hamhuis isn’t going to get the big money deal he did a few years ago.
Even so, he is a strong shutdown defender when healthy and there are many teams who would love to have him in their top-4. If Hamhuis decides to take his talents elsewhere, he’ll try to catch on with a team with deep playoff aspirations as the 33-year old has only progressed past the first round once in his twelve year career.
Other UFAs: LW Ronalds Kenins, D Yannick Weber, D Matt Bartkowski
Projected Cap Room: $9.2MM, 21 players under contract.
The Canucks will continue their tear-down as they wait out the last few Sedin seasons, and look for progression from their young players. If they do sign any free agents, it would have to either be young players or cheap veterans that they’d look to deal closer to the next deadline.
We predicted them to sign both Lee Stempniak and Matt Martin, but look at other players like Sam Gagner or John-Michael Liles that fit in one of those two categories. It should be another long season for Canuck fans.
Snapshots: Kane, Shattenkirk, Sharks
In some startling news, WCVB news reports that Boston Bruins’ legendary defenceman Ray Bourque was arrested on Friday night on driving while intoxicated charges after a collision occurred in the Andover area. No one was seriously injured, and Bourque was released on bail. Here are some more stories from around the league:
- Another player no stranger to legal trouble, Evander Kane‘s name was in the headlines again in Buffalo following an alleged incident involving the physical harassment of two women at a downtown bar. The Associated Press was told that Kane “grabbed the woman by the arm or shoulder early Friday morning.” For Kane, this is the second incident this year involving the police, after a three-month investigation into an alleged sexual assault concluded in March without any charges been filed. The Buffalo News spoke to GM Tim Murray on Saturday about it and he seemed frustrated with the situation: “If it’s true, then we have to deal with it the way we have to deal with it. If it’s false again, then I guess we have to come up with a different plan of attack on how to make sure that these accusations that may not be true, how we stop them.”
- In other news, St. Louis Blues’ defenceman Kevin Shattenkirk was shocked to leave Buffalo without having been traded. Craig Custance of ESPN spoke to Shattenkirk’s agent Jordan Neumann about the 27-year old’s future: “Based on the conversations we had leading into this weekend with St. Louis, we did expect Kevin to have been traded this weekend. We are a bit surprised to be leaving here without having a deal done.” The veteran blueliner has one year left on his deal at $4.25MM and is widely expected to be traded soon.
- In conversation with Sharks’ GM Doug Wilson, Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News was told that he expects their in-season acquisitions to reach free agency on July 1st. The Sharks brought in pending UFAs James Reimer, Nick Spaling, Roman Polak and Dainius Zubrus during the season, and now don’t look like they’ll be able to retain any of them. To replace the outgoing players, Wilson thinks it’ll be an internal competition: “We have a lot of guys internally that will be knocking on the door”.
Snapshots: Blues, Trade Targets, Radulov
St. Louis Blues beat writer Norm Sanders analyzed the situation the Blues find themselves in as the draft and free agency approaches. After signing both Scottie Upshall and Dmitrij Jaskin, the Blues still have a number of decisions facing them. Sanders writes that Jaden Schwartz will be signed first as he’s been dubbed a “priority signing” by general manager Doug Armstrong. He also names defensive Kevin Shattenkirk as a candidate to be traded since he’s approaching the final year of his contract. Sanders also makes note that his name has constantly been floated as being moved to another team. As for captain David Backes, Sanders writes that unless an agreement is had, Backes would be a much sought after free agent.
- Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury must feel like he’s either back in high school or in a hockey soap opera. Fleury has been the subject of trade rumors ever since the emergence of Matt Murray during the 2016 Stanley Cup playoff run. Interesting then that his name only comes up as #14 on Frank Seravalli’s TSN Top Trade Bait mentions. Fleury’s name was all over the hockey world as being moved to Calgary until Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford announced that he wasn’t aggresively shopping the former #1 overall pick. Seravalli put the aforementioned Shattenkirk as his #1 target to be dealt while Pavel Datsyuk‘s contract sits at #2. The Edmonton Oilers stand as having the most targets likely to be moved with Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Nail Yakupov, Jordan Eberle, and their 4th overall pick in this year’s draft being tagged.
- NBC Sports Pro Hockey Talk’s Ryan Dadoun scouted free agent Alexander Radulov and what it would take to land him. Dadoun writes that Radulov is purportedly looking for a 2-year/$15MM deal but that might not happen for a player who left the NHL for the KHL and was reported to be a locker room liability. Most teams are comfortable with a 1-year deal to see if Radulov’s KHL successes transfer across the ocean. PHR ranked Radulov as the 11th best free agent on the market and predicted that he would land with Capitals for just over $5MM.
Coyotes Sign Alex Goligoski To 5-Year Contract
The Arizona Coyotes officially announced the signing of defenseman Alex Goligoski this morning. The 30-year-old defenseman was acquired from the Dallas Stars last week for Arizona’s 2016 fifth round draft pick. Though the Coyotes are not disclosing financials, Yahoo reported that the deal was worth $5.5MM per year. Bob McKenzie tweeted that the deal was for approximately $5.475MM. CapFriendly mirrored McKenzie’s figure.
General manager John Chayka praised Goligoski as a smart puck moving defenseman who will make his teammates better. Arizona Central’s Sarah McLellan tweets that Chayka is trying to make Arizona a destination for hockey and that acquiring Goligoski’s rights was a “calculated risk.” Stephen Whyno tweets that this is the first of many moves the Coyotes expect to make.
Craig Morgan reported that Goligoski knew immediately that he wanted to sign with the ‘Yotes. McLellan tweeted how the Coyotes “checked all the boxes” for the veteran defenseman. Before his signing, he was one of the top free agent defensemen targets this offseason.
With Dallas, Goligoski had 37 points (5-32) and added 7 points (4-3) in 14 playoff games. He logged nearly 24 minutes per night on the ice. The same will be expected from him in Arizona as he joins a blue line that features young star Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
This is the first of many moves expected by the Coyotes. In addition to having the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft, Arizona is one of the three teams rumored to absorb Pavel Datsyuk‘s contract from the Detroit Red Wings.
Blues Ink Scottie Upshall To One-Year Deal
Per a team release, the St. Louis Blues announced that forward Scottie Upshall was re-signed to a one-year deal. Frank Seravalli reports that the deal is for $900,000.
Upshall was a training camp invitee for the Blues last season and made the most of that invite. After an injury plagued campaign with the Florida Panthers, Upshall rebounded in St. Louis, posting 14 points (6-8), and adding a wrinkle to a stingy Blues penalty kill. For $900,000, Upshall is a bargain signing for a team that has a number of names still looking to be signed.
Those names include Steve Ott, captain David Backes, Troy Brouwer and Kyle Brodziak.
Free Agent Focus: Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames were a team expected to make strides with young talent bursting at the seams. It was a team coming off optimism from a strong playoff showing. Instead, the Flames muddled through the season, missed the playoffs and fired head coach Bob Hartley. The Flames are constantly mentioned as a hunting for a goalie, and still have some unfinished business as they look to lock up some young players critical to the organization’s future.
Cap Space: $23,232,933 (Via CapFriendly).
Key RFA: Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. Both are under 23 years of age. Both finished one and two respectively in goals and points during the regular season. And both are restricted free agents. Monahan is expected to cash in, with some reports indicating he could get as high as $7MM annually, while seeking out a long term deal. For a player considered a captain in waiting, at 21, it would behoove both sides to get a reasonable long term deal finished. Meanwhile, Gaudreau’s stock continues to rise. In March, it was reported that he was working on the biggest contract in Flames history. In another, it was written that he and Monahan both wanted to be in Calgary for years to come. Any long term success of a franchise has included a dynamic one-two punch in terms of scoring forwards. Malkin and Crosby. Toews and Kane. Gaudreau and Monahan should be the next in line.
Other RFAs: G Joni Ortio, F Joe Colborne, F Josh Jooris, F Drew Shore.
Key UFA: G Karri Ramo. The goaltender, who was looked at to lead the Flames to another playoff appearance, struggled and then tore his ACL in February, casting doubt on his return to the Flames. Such a significant injury will hurt his stock in free agency, but a cheap deal in Calgary shouldn’t be thrown out. But with the Flames being constantly named as a team looking for goaltending, Ramo may be looking for a job elsewhere.
Other UFAs: D Jakub Nakladal
Outlook: If the Flames can add a premier, battle tested goalie, they can be a team that causes havoc in the Western Conference. They still have plenty of cap room to work with, even after signing cornerstones Gaudreau and Monahan to expensive deals that will keep them in Calgary for years to come.