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Free Agent Focus 2019

Free Agent Focus: Los Angeles Kings

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Los Angeles has a very small group of unrestricted free agents but they have a few notable younger players in need of new contracts.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Adrian Kempe – While Kempe saw his offensive numbers dip this past season, that’s something that can be said for just about everyone on the Kings so it would be tough to hold that against him too much.  He remains well below average at the faceoff dot but made improvements in that area this past season and he is still an effective checker.  The hope that he could potentially become a top-six forward is probably unrealistic at this point but there’s still enough upside for him to be a quality two-way third liner for quite a while.  Considering Kempe’s inconsistency at the offensive end though, a bridge contract is a very likely outcome here, particularly since he doesn’t have arbitration eligibility.

F Alex Iafallo – As far as undrafted college free agent signings go, Iafallo has been one of the better ones in recent years.  He spent a good chunk of time on the top line in 2018-19 and put up a respectable 33 points in his sophomore campaign.  It’s doubtful that he’s going to one day produce like a top line player but at the very least, the Kings should be able to pencil him as a capable secondary scorer for a few more seasons.  Although he’s just coming off his entry-level deal, he is eligible for arbitration already.

Other RFAs: F Michael Amadio, D Daniel Brickley, F Matheson Iacopelli, F Pavel Jenys, F Brendan Leipsic, D Alex Lintuniemi, G Cal Petersen, F Sheldon Rempal, D Matt Roy, F Nikita Scherbak

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Jonny Brodzinski – The bad news for Brodzinski is that a shoulder injury cost him nearly the entire season and in the process, it stopped him from getting an opportunity to play a regular role for the rebuilding Kings.  The good news is that the injury prevented him from getting to the 80-game mark for his career, allowing him to qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency.  While he hasn’t been overly productive at the NHL level, he has a decent track record of success in the minors which makes him one of the more intriguing players out of this group of free agents.

F Zack Mitchell – Mitchell played in precisely zero NHL games this past season but makes the list by default as the only other unrestricted free agent on the roster.  The 26-year-old had actually played in 34 games over the previous two seasons with Minnesota and will likely once again sign a two-way deal and serve as injury insurance if a team starts to get banged up.

Other UFAs: None

Projected Cap Space: With a little over $71MM committed to 19 players for next season per CapFriendly and not many notable players in need of new contracts, the Kings should have a bit of wiggle room to work with this offseason.  However, they’ll need to determine if they’re better off utilizing that space on a free agent or two or if they should look to take advantage of some teams in tough against the Upper Limit and take a contract back with some additional younger assets.  Considering that they appear to have embraced the rebuilding process for the time being, that may wind up being the more optimal route.  Either way, after being right up against the cap at the start of last season, Los Angeles shouldn’t be finding themselves in that situation at any point in 2019-20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Focus: Edmonton Oilers

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Edmonton’s core is under contract already but they have quite a few depth players in need of new deals for next season.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Jesse Puljujarvi – The Finnish winger isn’t on this list because he had a really strong season but for where he was drafted three years ago when he went fourth overall.  Puljujarvi underwhelmed considerably in Edmonton’s lineup but there is still optimism that he can become more of a consistent impact player.  While he has been bandied about in trade speculation going back to before the trade deadline, the likeliest scenario at this point is that he signs a one-year bridge contract and hopes that new head coach Dave Tippett can unlock some of his potential.

F Jujhar Khaira – Khaira’s never going to be a big point producer at the NHL level but he can play both center and the wing and brings a physical edge to the bottom six.  There’s still some value to that particular skill set and it’s notable that at least one team had interest in him as a sweetener to take on the final year of Brandon Manning’s contract.  Unlike Puljujarvi, Khaira is eligible for salary arbitration and should get a small raise on the $700K salary he received last season; his qualifying offer checks in at $735K.

Other RFAs: F Colin Larkin, D Robin Norell, F Ty Rattie, F Tobias Rieder, G Shane Starrett, F Tyler Vesel

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Alex Chiasson – Considering he needed training camp PTO deals the last two seasons, not many were expecting much from Chiasson in 2018-19.  However, he took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time in the top six and responded with a career year.  He had more goals (22) than he had points in the previous season (18) and logged just shy of 17 minutes a night.  He also was particularly strong with the man advantage, scoring eight times on the power play which is more than he had the previous four seasons combined.  That’s going to generate more interest in Chiasson than he has seen in recent years as a potential late-bloomer.  Edmonton would undoubtedly like to bring him back but it’s going to take more than the league minimum to get him to sign this time.

D Kevin Gravel – Of Edmonton’s other unrestricted free agents, Gravel was the only one to play more than a handful of games with them.  He cleared waivers at the beginning of the season but by the beginning of November, he was up on a full-time basis.  However, his playing time wasn’t as permanent.  Gravel was in and out of the lineup the rest of the way, winding up with 36 games played and an average of 14:43 per night.  That’s enough for him to get another contract but it will likely wind up being the two-way variety.

Other UFAs: F Mitch Callahan, F Brad Malone, G Al Montoya, D Alexander Petrovic, F Patrick Russell, D Ryan Stanton, G Anthony Stolarz

Projected Cap Space: Edmonton presently has a little over $72MM committed to 17 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  A good chunk of that roughly $10MM in cap room will be earmarked for a second goaltender to work with Mikko Koskinen, whose new contract worth $4.5MM per year kicks in for next season.  After that, they will once again be shopping around the bargain bin with an eye on trying to find a player or two that can do like Chiasson and produce with more of an opportunity.  Unless new GM Ken Holland can find a way to free up some cap space, the roster for 2019-20 will look a lot like the one that finished last year, just with a different cast of role players.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Focus: Calgary Flames

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  While Calgary doesn’t have a lot of notable UFAs, they have several important RFAs to get under contract.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Matthew Tkachuk – Tkachuk is among the class of high-end restricted free agents that will be coming off their entry-level contracts in July.  After not progressing a whole lot in his sophomore year, he had a breakout campaign in 2018-19, recording 34 goals and 43 assists in 80 games while establishing himself as a legitimate top line power forward.  Those players tend to get paid the big bucks and as a result, he will almost assuredly surpass the $6.75MM AAV mark that Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano have (the highest on the team).  Tkachuk is not eligible for salary arbitration.

G David Rittich – Rittich was one of the more pleasant surprises for the Flames in 2018-19.  He didn’t fare too well the year before in his first extended look in the NHL and to no one’s surprise, he inked a one-year, prove it deal.  He certainly proved that he can play at the NHL level, posting a respectable 2.61 GAA with a .911 SV% over 45 regular season appearances and went from the surefire backup to actually leading Calgary in goalie games.  While there are still questions as to whether or not he can be a legitimate starting netminder, Rittich’s 2018-19 performance should still have him in line for a considerable raise over the $800K he made, especially with him being eligible for arbitration.

F Sam Bennett – Two years ago, Bennett signed a bridge contract as there were some question marks as to whether or not he could become a legitimate top-six forward to justify his fourth overall selection in 2014.  Fast forward to today and there are still plenty of question marks.  He has been quite consistent offensively over the past three seasons, picking up 26 or 27 points in each campaign.  However, he was also their best performer in the postseason and seems to be finding his niche as more of a physical player than a scorer.  There’s still some value in that and with the flashes of upside he has shown over parts of his career, it’s likely that Calgary would like to give the arbitration-eligible winger another chance.

Other RFAs: F Spencer Foo, D Josh Healey, F Curtis Lazar, F Ryan Lomberg, F Andrew Mangiapane, G Mason McDonald, F Brett Pollock, F Alan Quine, F Kerby Rychel, D Rinat Valiev

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: G Mike Smith – The other half of Calgary’s goalie tandem, Smith was rather inconsistent in 2018-19.  He lost the starting role to Rittich for a while but recovered it in time for the postseason and bore the brunt of their defensive struggles against Colorado.  Now 37, Smith will be hard-pressed to land a starting role for next season but for teams looking for a veteran that can handle a larger workload that a typical backup, he’ll certainly be considered.  A return to the Flames in that role shouldn’t be ruled out.

F Garnet Hathaway – After being more of a depth player in 2017-18 (and a minor league recall before that), Hathaway established himself as a regular on the fourth line and provided a reasonable scoring touch in that role, picking up a career-best 11 goals in 76 games while leading the team in hits by a significant margin as well.  That type of combination will garner him some interest on the open market if the Flames can’t strike a deal to keep him around before then.

Other UFAs: D Oscar Fantenberg, F Tyler Graovac, F Anthony Peluso, D Dalton Prout, D Matt Taormina

Projected Cap Space: As things stand, the team has roughly $68.5MM committed to 19 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  Depending on what the increase to the Upper Limit is, they’re going to have roughly $13MM to $15MM to work with.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that re-signing their own restricted free agents will eat up most of that before even looking towards adding another goalie.  As a result, GM Brad Treliving is going to need to make a trade or two to try to free up a bit of cap space over the next month or so.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Focus: Arizona Coyotes

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  That’s not really the case for Arizona this summer as there are few big names for them to sign, but here is a breakdown of their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agent: F Lawson Crouse – While the team may not have any truly elite players who will be restricted free agents, the team will make it a priority to sign Crouse, who put together an impressive season with Arizona as a key member of the team’s fourth line. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound winger took off in his third season with the Coyotes. The former 11th overall pick in 2015 by the Florida Panthers, the Coyotes acquired Crouse along with the hefty contract of Dave Bolland, and finally are starting to the move pay off. Crouse, not only 11 goals and 25 points for Arizona this year, more importantly, he contributed 288 hits, giving the team some much-needed physicality.

G Adin Hill – While he isn’t likely to be considered among the starting tandem next year in Arizona, the team saw quite an improvement by the 23-year-old Hill, who was recalled after the injury to both Antti Raanta and Darcy Kuemper mid-year, and fared well in a stint as the full-time starter as he won seven games for the Coyotes. While teams eventually started to figure him out, it was a good sign that Arizona has a young netminder ready to fill in, especially considering the injury history of both goaltenders. Hill finished the season with 2.76 GAA and a .901 save percentage in 13 appearances and will need to be re-signed to continue his development and he could eventually replace Kuemper once his contract runs out after the 2019-20 season.

Other RFAs: F Josh Archibald, F Michael Bunting, F Nick Cousins, F Hudson Fasching, D Ilya Lyubushkin, D Dysin Mayo, G Hunter Miska, F Emil Pettersson.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Richard Panik – The Coyotes picked up Panik back in 2018 in hopes of adding a 20-goal scorer to their middle lines after he posted a 22-goal campaign with Chicago during the 2016-17 season. While Panik showed some flashes of offense, he has scored just 14 goals per season over the last two years. His ice time has also increased this year as he averaged a career-high 16:37. However, assuming general manager John Chayka continues to turn over his roster, Panik could be the odd man out and be a target for many teams looking for bottom-six production and a contract that goes with it. That doesn’t rule out a reunion, but when it comes to unrestricted free agents, the team doesn’t have too much to worry about.

Other UFAs: F Mario Kempe, D Dakota Mermis, G Calvin Pickard, D Robbie Russo, F David Ullstrom.

Projected Cap Space: The Coyotes have more than $74MM tied up in 20 layers for next season, per CapFriendly.  Even with the projected bump in the Upper Limit, the Coyotes don’t have as much room to maneuver as in previous seasons. The team does have two years remaining on the Marion Hossa contract, which should give the team an extra $5.275MM once the team places him on LTIR at the start of the regular season in October, but the team now has bigger contracts than in years past after new extensions for Nick Schmaltz, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Christian Dvorak, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jacob Chychrun kick in this summer. Many assume the team will try to get involved in the Phil Kessel discussions as Arizona is a team that Kessel has indicated he’d like to go to, but then Chayka may have to manipulate the cap again to free up some space. Regardless, don’t be surprised if Chayka doesn’t make several more moves to shake up this team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  That’s not really the case for Anaheim this summer but here is a breakdown of their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agent: D Jake Dotchin – This is going to seem like a stretch on the surface but they don’t have any restricted free agents from their end-of-season roster.  Dotchin joined Anaheim early in the season following a surprising release in Tampa Bay for a material breach of contract that was believed to revolve around his conditioning.  After a conditioning stint, he hung around for a couple of months in a limited role before clearing waivers in mid-January and being sent back to the minors.  Dotchin hasn’t seen a ton of ice time so far for Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in the postseason but considering he’s only owed a two-way qualifying offer of $840K, he could be worth re-signing to keep around as a potential fit for a depth spot in the lineup for the Ducks next season if the team feels some of their younger players need more minor league time.

Other RFAs: F Chase De Leo, F Justin Kloos, D Trevor Murphy, D Keaton Thompson

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: G Ryan Miller – While his second season in Anaheim didn’t go as well as his first, Miller still provided the Ducks with a reasonable showing between the pipes.  His .912 SV% and 2.76 GAA were both slightly better than the league average which isn’t too shabby for a 38-year-old.  It’s believed that Miller is only interested in playing for a California-based team which will limit his options in free agency.  However, Anaheim does have some interest in keeping him around but considering his age, it will almost certainly be a one-year deal.  A contract like that is eligible for performance bonuses and given their salary cap situation, a deal with bonuses (likely close to the $2MM he made this past season) could give GM Bob Murray a bit more wiggle room this offseason.

F Derek Grant – Grant was brought back in a midseason trade in an effort to shore up Anaheim’s bottom six forward group.  While his production dipped relative to his 24-point campaign the year before, he was still slightly above average at the faceoff dot and played a bigger role than expected due to injuries.  He was on a league minimum contract this past season and will likely be looking at that again next season.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Anaheim be the team to give it to him.

D Andy Welinski – Welinski isn’t someone that is going to jump off the table; he has just 33 career NHL regular season games under his belt.  However, he didn’t look out of place in his 26 games with Anaheim this season and he has played quite well for their AHL affiliate in San Diego, including their current postseason run.  We’ve seen teams be more aggressive with Group VI free agents in recent years and as a right-shot defender that’s on the cusp of cracking the NHL on a full-time basis, there will be a lot of interest in him on the open market.

Other UFAs: F Sam Carrick, F Adam Cracknell, G Chad Johnson, D Korbinian Holzer, F Kalle Kossila, D Jaycob Megna, F Kevin Roy, F Ben Street, D Andrej Sustr

Projected Cap Space: The Ducks have nearly $74MM tied up in 18 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  Even with a projected bump in the Upper Limit, that doesn’t give them a ton of room to make any big additions.  However, Ryan Kesler’s season-ending hip surgery will allow them to put him on LTIR which will effective buy them up to an extra $6.875MM in cap room for 2019-20.  That said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that money spent on one-year contracts in the event that Kesler is able to return down the road.  Patrick Eaves ($3.15MM) is another early LTIR candidate which would give them that much more room to work with.  While injuries are never ideal, it will give Murray some freedom to spend this summer, something that didn’t appear to be the case just a few months ago.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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