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Devils Rumors

Poll: Which GM Will Be Fired Next?

August 16, 2019 at 7:53 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 11 Comments

Despite missing the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, the Vancouver Canucks decided to extend GM Jim Benning today. The reasons for that are complicated—and obviously do not hinge entirely on his postseason record—just as they were when the Minnesota Wild made the decision to fire Paul Fenton just 14 months into his tenure with the team. The inner workings of an NHL front office are almost never made public (unless there is an intrepid reporter like Michael Russo of The Athletic who gets the incredible story), and it is hard to see why some decisions are made.

Still, even the most casual fan can see the seat of specific executives and coaches heating up. When the Edmonton Oilers decided to move on from Peter Chiarelli during another disappointing season, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. On the other hand, it was easy to see why the Carolina Hurricanes recently locked up Don Waddell after he interviewed for another job.

Looking around the league, who is next? Which GM will be let go, either this year or next summer?

It might be easy to look at the teams that have struggled recently, but many of them have replaced their top hockey operations executive over the last few seasons. The Oilers brought in Ken Holland to change the culture in Edmonton, while Steve Yzerman returned to the Detroit Red Wings to bring a new voice to a stagnant team. Florida has gone through quite a bit of turmoil in the front office since their ownership changed but Dale Tallon now seems to be entrenched as a veteran leader.

There are others though that may not be so lucky. The Ottawa Senators are heading in a new direction after shedding their previous core, but if the young talent doesn’t develop as hoped Pierre Dorion could be held responsible. John Chayka was the youngest GM in history when he took over the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, but they still haven’t made the playoffs under his watch and now have new ownership of their own. Jason Botterill was expected to have success in Buffalo after finding so much of it in Pittsburgh, but the Sabres haven’t been able to build a full roster around Jack Eichel despite some outstanding individual players.

Nothing is certain when it comes to front offices however. Cast your vote below and explain just why you think they’ll be the first to go!

Which GM will be fired next?
Pierre Dorion, Ottawa Senators 9.00% (256 votes)
Marc Bergevin, Montreal Canadiens 8.54% (243 votes)
Stan Bowman, Chicago Blackhawks 8.50% (242 votes)
Kevin Cheveldayoff, Winnipeg Jets 7.94% (226 votes)
Bob Murray, Anaheim Ducks 7.73% (220 votes)
Jason Botterill, Buffalo Sabres 6.54% (186 votes)
Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings 6.36% (181 votes)
Jarmo Kekalainen, Columbus Blue Jackets 5.59% (159 votes)
Kyle Dubas, Toronto Maple Leafs 5.20% (148 votes)
Jim Rutherford, Pittsburgh Penguins 5.13% (146 votes)
John Chayka, Arizona Coyotes 4.88% (139 votes)
Brad Treliving, Calgary Flames 3.27% (93 votes)
Jim Benning, Vancouver Canucks 3.02% (86 votes)
Jim Nill, Dallas Stars 2.60% (74 votes)
Chuck Fletcher, Philadelphia Flyers 2.39% (68 votes)
Ken Holland, Edmonton Oilers 1.93% (55 votes)
Doug Wilson, San Jose Sharks 1.72% (49 votes)
Jeff Gorton, New York Rangers 1.62% (46 votes)
Don Sweeney, Boston Bruins 1.23% (35 votes)
Dale Tallon, Florida Panthers 1.02% (29 votes)
David Poile, Nashville Predators 0.84% (24 votes)
Julien BriseBois, Tampa Bay Lightning 0.84% (24 votes)
Doug Armstrong, St. Louis Blues 0.67% (19 votes)
Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings 0.63% (18 votes)
Lou Lamoriello, New York Islanders 0.56% (16 votes)
Don Waddell, Carolina Hurricanes 0.53% (15 votes)
Kelly McCrimmon, Vegas Golden Knights 0.53% (15 votes)
Brian MacLellan, Washington Capitals 0.53% (15 votes)
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche 0.39% (11 votes)
Ray Shero, New Jersey Devils 0.28% (8 votes)
Total Votes: 2,846

[Mobile users click here to vote]

*We’ve used Kelly McCrimmon as the Vegas GM, though he won’t officially take that title from George McPhee until September

Brad Treliving| Chuck Fletcher| Dale Tallon| David Poile| Detroit Red Wings| Don Sweeney| Doug Armstrong| Doug Wilson| Edmonton Oilers| Jarmo Kekalainen| Jason Botterill| Jeff Gorton| Jim Benning| Jim Nill| Jim Rutherford| Joe Sakic| John Chayka| Kelly McCrimmon| Ken Holland| Kevin Cheveldayoff| Kyle Dubas| Lou Lamoriello| Marc Bergevin| Pierre Dorion| Polls| Ray Shero| Rob Blake| Stan Bowman| Steve Yzerman Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

11 comments

Boston, New Jersey Renew ECHL Affiliates

August 15, 2019 at 10:16 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

The Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils have both renewed partnerships with their respective ECHL affiliates, the Atlanta Gladiators and Adirondack Thunder. Devils assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald released a short statement on the extended relationship with the Thunder:

On behalf of the New Jersey Devils, we are pleased to continue our partnership for the 2019-20 season with our ECHL affiliate, the Adirondack Thunder. Giving players consistent ice-time and exposure in all situations at the ECHL Level will help them develop throughout all levels of the New Jersey Devils organization and its affiliates. We are excited to work together with the management, players and coaches for our third consecutive season in Adirondack.

The Gladiators franchise has been partnered with the Bruins for several years now, starting in the 2015-16 season after they relocated from Gwinnett and parted ways with the Arizona Coyotes. During that time they’ve made the Kelly Cup playoffs just once and have an overall record of 124-133-31. Still, they are a valuable place for the Bruins to continue to develop their raw or long-shot prospects before bringing them into the AHL.

Meanwhile the Thunder have made the playoffs in each of their four seasons in the ECHL, all with some sort of partnership (informal or not) with the Devils. Last season saw them go 37-26-9 under head coach Alex Loh despite using a total of nine different starting goaltenders throughout the year.

Boston Bruins| ECHL| New Jersey Devils

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2019 Arbitration Figures And Results

August 6, 2019 at 7:30 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 3 Comments

August 6th: All arbitration cases have now been completed. In total, six cases were decided by an arbitrator’s award this year. That number, though seemingly not many, actually presents a 50% increase over last summer and more than the past two off-seasons combined. Of those six decisions, the teams and players received the favorable decision an even three times apiece, and each award landed within $150K of the midpoint. All things considered, there were few surprises in arbitration, even though there were more awards than expected. Now the question is where the relationships between those teams and players go from here.

Originally published on July 19th: Friday marked the start of the arbitration season in the NHL, with Brock McGinn first scheduled for his hearing with the Carolina Hurricanes. The appointments will come fast and furious after that, with 23 cases left on the books. When we asked our readers how many would actually get to the hearing stage more than 36% of voters thought 3-4 was reasonable, the same number that reached last year.

We know now that at least one will, as Andrew Copp’s agent Kurt Overhardt told Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press that their camp will “look forward to” the hearing scheduled for Sunday. Copp and the Jets exchanged figures earlier today. It is important to remember that the two sides can actually work out a deal in the short period after the hearing and before the actual decision is submitted by the arbitrator. For every case except Ville Husso, who the St. Louis Blues took to arbitration, the team involved will be allowed to choose the duration of the contract awarded. They can choose either one or two years, unless the player is only one year away from unrestricted free agency, at which point only a one-year deal is available.

Here we’ll keep track of all the hearings still on the books and the figures submitted. This page will be updated as the numbers come in:

July 20:

Brock McGinn, Carolina Hurricanes – Team: $1.75MM AAV, Player: $2.7MM AAV
Settled: Two years, $2.1MM AAV

July 21:

Andrew Copp, Winnipeg Jets – Team: $1.5MM AAV, Player: $2.9MM AAV
Awarded: Two years, $2.28MM AAV

July 22: 

MacKenzie Weegar, Florida Panthers
Settled: One year, $1.6MM AAV

Zach Aston-Reese, Pittsburgh Penguins
Settled: Two years, $1.0MM AAV

Ville Husso, St. Louis Blues (team-elected)
Settled: One year, two-way, $700K AAV

Christian Djoos, Washington Capitals – Team: $800K, Player: $1.9MM
Awarded: One year, $1.25MM AAV

July 23: 

Evan Rodrigues, Buffalo Sabres – Team: $1.5MM, Player: $2.65MM
Awarded: One year, $2.0MM AAV

July 24: 

Oskar Sundqvist, St. Louis Blues
Settled: Four years, $2.75MM AAV

Neal Pionk, Winnipeg Jets
Settled: Two years, $3.0MM AAV

July 26: 

Colton Sissons, Nashville Predators
Settled: Seven years, $2.86MM AAV

July 27: 

Sam Bennett, Calgary Flames
Settled: Two years, $2.55MM AAV

July 28: 

Mirco Mueller, New Jersey Devils
Settled: One year, $1.4MM AAV

July 29: 

David Rittich, Calgary Flames
Settled: Two years, $2.75MM AAV

Pavel Buchnevich, New York Rangers
Settled: Two years, $3.25MM AAV

August 1: 

Remi Elie, Buffalo Sabres
Settled: One year, two-way $700K AAV

Chandler Stephenson, Washington Capitals
Settled: One year, $1.05MM

August 2: 

Linus Ullmark, Buffalo Sabres – Team: $800K, Player: $2.65MM
Settled: One year, $1.33MM

Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils
Settled: Three years, $3.73MM AAV

August 4: 

Jake McCabe, Buffalo Sabres – Team: 1.95MM, Player: $4.3MM
Settled: Two years, $2.85MM AAV

Anton Forsberg, Carolina Hurricanes – Team: $700K/$70K, Player: $833K
Awarded: One year, $775K AAV

Sheldon Dries, Colorado Avalanche
Settled: One year, two-way $735K AAV

Rocco Grimaldi, Nashville Predators – Team: $700K/$70K, Player $1.275MM
Awarded: One year, $1MM

Joel Edmundson, St. Louis Blues – Team: $2.3MM, Player $4.2MM
Awarded: One year, $3.1MM

Arbitration| Buffalo Sabres| Calgary Flames| Carolina Hurricanes| Colorado Avalanche| Florida Panthers| Free Agency| Nashville Predators| New Jersey Devils| New York Rangers| Pittsburgh Penguins| Schedule| St. Louis Blues| Washington Capitals| Winnipeg Jets Andrew Copp| Anton Forsberg| Brock McGinn| Chandler Stephenson| Christian Djoos| Colton Sissons| David Rittich| Evan Rodrigues| Jake McCabe| Joel Edmundson| Linus Ullmark| Mirco Mueller| Neal Pionk| Oskar Sundqvist| Pavel Buchnevich| Remi Elie| Rocco Grimaldi| Sam Bennett| Sheldon Dries| Ville Husso| Will Butcher| Zach Aston-Reese

3 comments

Calgary Has Options On Where To Move Michael Frolik

August 4, 2019 at 1:00 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

  • The Calgary Flames may have $7.76MM in projected cap room still, but with Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane still unsigned, the team will be forced to offload a contract to bring both forwards, especially Tkachuk under contract. While there has been plenty of talk of Calgary trading away a defenseman such as T.J. Brodie or Travis Hamonic, The Athletic’s Kent Wilson (subscription required) writes that another option would be Michael Frolik. The middle-six forward is still just 31 and is coming off a 16-goal season, which might make him more palatable than many of the veteran free-agent options remaining on the market. Frolik has one year remaining at $4.3MM. Wilson suggests that Ottawa might make a good fit. The Senators are way under the cap, but Frolik will actually be paid just $3MM in salary despite his cap hit number, something that the budget-focused Senators love to acquire. The scribe adds the New Jersey Devils, Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers as alternative options for Calgary.

Calgary Flames| Columbus Blue Jackets| Edmonton Oilers| New Jersey Devils| Ottawa Senators| Philadelphia Flyers| Utah Mammoth Cam Talbot| David Rittich| Michael Frolik

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Metropolitan Notes: Jones & Werenski, Capitals Goalies, Shattenkirk

August 4, 2019 at 11:32 am CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg 2 Comments

After years of being paired together, Seth Jones and Zach Werenski saw some time apart. Over a three year period, Jones and Werenski spent 75 percent of their 5-on-5 time together and were almost inseparable. The two star defenseman stayed together on the top pairing line. However, that changed a bit last year. Jones and Werenski were split up sometimes as the two ended up spending just 57.7 percent of the time as Werenski, who was working on his defensive game, was often paired with Ryan Murray or David Savard.

The Athletic’s Alison Lukan (subscription required) analyzes whether the pair should be kept together or the split should finally be made and have each one of them on separate defensive lines. She writes that while they were more successful when they were together, the Jones and Murray combination and the Werenski and Savard combinations were among the top three combinations in terms of getting good chances and converting. While the split up likely affected Jones and Werenski’s goal-scoring last season, it created a deeper defense overall.

However, Lukan does note that Werenski’s defensive numbers actually dropped last season when not playing alongside Jones and considering that’s his weakness, Columbus might have be better off keeping the pair together. The Blue Jackets overall defense is improving and the combination of Murray and Markus Nutivaara actually put up solid numbers together as well and might serve the team even better as the second pairing. Of course, no one really knows what head coach John Tortorella is thinking.

  • In his most recent mailbag series, The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir (subscription required) comments on the goaltending depth in the Washington Capitals’ system. The team has a number of young goaltenders, including Ilya Samsonov, who they hope is the goaltender of the future. The team also houses Pheonix Copley and AHL All-Star Vitek Vanecek. However, El-Bashir points out that trading away some of their goaltending depth is extremely unlikely considering the team doesn’t know what will happen with current starter Braden Holtby, who will be an unrestricted free agent next season. With starting goaltender salaries beginning to skyrocket, it seems unlikely the team would be able to retain him, but if the Capitals win another Stanley Cup title this year, then things might change. Of course if Holtby does leave, then is Samsonov ready? If not, then the team might have to turn to Copley or Vanecek or even look elsewhere.
  • Chris Ryan of NJ.com writes that it’s highly unlikely that the New Jersey Devils consider signing defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who became a free agent after the New York Rangers bought him out last week. The Devils courted back in 2017 when Shattenkirk was the top defensive free agent and might be inclined to add him once again. However, considering the changes in the last two years, there is little need to bring Shattenkirk in. In those two years, the team has brought in P.K. Subban, Sami Vatanen, and Will Butcher as well as drafted Ty Smith and seen the emergence of Damon Severson.

Columbus Blue Jackets| New Jersey Devils| Washington Capitals Braden Holtby| Ilya Samsonov| Kevin Shattenkirk| Pheonix Copley| Ryan Murray| Seth Jones| Zach Werenski

2 comments

Will Butcher Avoids Arbitration

July 31, 2019 at 8:43 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

With the date of an arbitration hearing fast approaching the New Jersey Devils and Will Butcher have settled on a new contract. Butcher has signed a three-year deal with an average annual value of $3.73MM, making his scheduled hearing on Friday no longer necessary. The contract buys out the final three restricted free agent seasons for Butcher, leaving him an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2022. The full salary breakdown is as follows:

  • 2019-20: $3.5MM
  • 2020-21: $3.6MM
  • 2021-22: $4.1MM

Butcher, 24, has had an outstanding start to his professional career since signing with the Devils in 2017. After failing to reach an agreement with the Colorado Avalanche following his four-year career at the University of Denver, Butcher instead ended up in New Jersey where there was a more obvious need for a puck-moving defenseman and powerplay specialist. The relatively undersized Butcher ended up scoring 44 points in his rookie season but found himself in an outstanding Calder Trophy class and finished ninth—Mathew Barzal would take the award nearly unanimously after his 85-point rookie performance.

Butcher’s offensive numbers dropped in year two, but his role on the Devils increased and he was given more responsibility at even-strength. Playing a little over 19 minutes a night, he continued to drive play and possession with his skating ability. Always looking for a way to get the puck out of his zone with control, the Devils generate a ton of scoring opportunities when Butcher is on the ice. There are still some questions to be answered in the defensive end, but the team obviously believes the trade off is still one that results in their favor.

For under $4MM, the Devils have locked up one of the league’s most efficient offensive defensemen in his prime. Though they likely would have rather bought out a few UFA seasons, this contract gives them a chance to sink money into other parts of the roster. Butcher for instance has registered the same amount of points over the last two years as Jacob Trouba, who just received a $56MM contract from the New York Rangers. While comparing the two players directly may be a little unfair, there’s good reason to believe that Butcher’s deal can provide quite a bit more excess value over the next three years.

Part of the equation there however is how he will be used moving forward. The Devils just acquired another potential powerplay quarterback in P.K. Subban, who may steal away some time prime minutes with the man advantage. That kind of a player may also lift up Butcher even further at even-strength however, if the team decides to pair them together at any point. In all, the Devils blue line is looking quite strong with other names like Sami Vatanen and Damon Severson logging big minutes.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Arbitration| New Jersey Devils Elliotte Friedman| Will Butcher

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New Jersey Devils Acquire Nikita Gusev

July 29, 2019 at 1:18 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 15 Comments

Former Vegas Golden Knights forward Nikita Gusev was a restricted free agent, but he could not be signed to an offer sheet and was not eligible for arbitration. That left him in a tricky spot if he couldn’t reach an agreement with the Golden Knights on a new contract, and recently his Russian agent explained that there would be a deadline for him to consider a return to the KHL. That won’t be necessary, as instead the New Jersey Devils have acquired the forward in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick and a 2021 second-round pick. The Devils immediately signed Gusev to a two-year, $9MM contract. PuckPedia reports that the deal will break down as follows:

  • 2019-20: $700K salary + $4.3MM signing bonus
  • 2020-21: $4.0MM salary + modified no-trade clause

The 27-year old Gusev was originally drafted by the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2012, but has played his entire career in the KHL to this point. He signed a one-year entry-level contract with the Golden Knights earlier this year, but didn’t get into a game with the team down the stretch. His contract was still burned, leading to a difficult situation for Vegas. The team is in cap trouble this offseason and already had to trade away the likes of Erik Haula, Colin Miller and David Clarkson to get under the ceiling, making it tough to sign Gusev to a deal even approaching the $4.5MM average annual value he got from the Devils.

In New Jersey though, the Devils are be more than able to take a chance on a player that has shown an incredible offensive ceiling in the KHL. Gusev has routinely been among the league leaders in Russia, including a record breaking 82-point performance in 62 games last year. There’s no certainty to his game translating to the NHL, but the Devils have plenty of cap space and have built a nice core through the draft and trade market. Already this summer they have added first overall pick Jack Hughes, Norris-winning defenseman P.K. Subban and former powerplay specialist Wayne Simmonds to go along with names like Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier. Bringing Gusev in gives them another weapon to ice against the tough Metropolitan Division as they try to make it back to the playoffs.

For Vegas, recouping some draft picks is at least a way of keeping their franchise at a high level moving forward. The team has spent a ton of prospect capital to acquire players like Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty through trade, leaving their cupboard a little more empty than George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon probably want. The team is already a Stanley Cup contender without Gusev on the roster, making this a little draft bonus to what they had built.

Still, losing out on a chance to add him to the lineup may turn out to be a mistake down the line. If Gusev is able to bring the same level of offense to the NHL he may immediately become one of the most productive players in the league, something the Golden Knights (or anyone) could obviously use. The Devils though will only have a short time to find out, as Gusev will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this two-year deal.

Jesse Granger of The Athletic reported earlier that Vegas gave Gusev permission to work out a deal with New Jersey.

New Jersey Devils| Newsstand| Vegas Golden Knights Nikita Gusev

15 comments

Ryan Murphy Signs In KHL

July 27, 2019 at 5:08 pm CDT | by Holger Stolzenberg Leave a Comment

After spending seven years trying to break his way into an NHL lineup, Ryan Murphy, has decided to leave North America. The defenseman has decided to head over to the KHL as Igor Eronko of NHL.com reports that the 26-year-old has agreed to a one-year pact with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk.

Murphy, who was the 12th overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, has never managed to earn himself a full-time NHL role. Murphy has only played in 175 NHL contests in his seven years in the league, the most being with Carolina, where he was a part-time player, but always spent a large chunk of his seasons in the AHL. However, he had a rough season this past year after signing a one-year, two-way deal with the Minnesota Wild. Murphy started his season with the Iowa Wild in the AHL and did make two appearances with Minnesota, but was traded after the all-star break to New Jersey. Minnesota, who was desperately looking for defensive depth at this point in the year, didn’t think that Murphy was part of their solution and went out and acquired a number of depth defensemen, including Brad Hunt and Anthony Bitetto, prompting the team to ship out Murphy. He didn’t fare much better in New Jersey. He played just one game for the Devils before sent back to the AHL where he played 23 games for Binghamton, He finished the season there with 10 assists there and a career-worst minus-16 plus-minus rating.

In the KHL, he will join former Iowa Wild teammate Zack Mitchell, who signed with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk earlier this summer, and will hope to play regular minutes for a team that missed out on the playoffs last season.

 

KHL| Minnesota Wild| New Jersey Devils Ryan Murphy

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New Jersey Devils Still “Wheeling And Dealing”

July 25, 2019 at 4:57 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 10 Comments

The New Jersey Devils have made some real improvements to the roster this offseason, drafting Jack Hughes first overall, trading for P.K. Subban and signing Wayne Simmonds in the span of just a few days. It certainly sounds like more is coming though as at a press conference to introduce Subban, Devils’ owner Josh Harris told the media that the team is “not done” and that GM Ray Shero is “wheeling and dealing.”

Obviously what exactly they’re planning remains unclear, but the Devils are certainly in a position to do a lot of things this summer. The team still has to re-sign restricted free agents Pavel Zacha and Will Butcher, but even after taking on Subban’s huge contract the team still has nearly $17MM in cap space. That’s even more impressive when you realize that they have several young players like Michael McLeod, Jesper Boqvist and Ty Smith who may end up making the club while still on their entry-level contracts. If New Jersey is looking to spend up to the cap ceiling this year they could still add several substantial pieces.

The question is do they want to sacrifice some of their future to get better right now. Star forward Taylor Hall is only signed for the upcoming season, and the team actually has just a single player—Damon Severson—signed past 2021-22. While Hughes, Nico Hischier and others represent a great core to build around, there may not be a need to spend right now if they aren’t going to also keep some of their more veteran assets. In fact, considering that a Hall and Hischier will both need new contracts next summer the risk of taking on too much salary in any trade is a real one.

Still, you have to think that Shero is checking in on ways to improve in the short-term even if only to convince Hall to stick around. There are obvious fits for names like Nikita Gusev, Jason Zucker and Chris Kreider who have all been included in trade speculation over the last few months, but whether the Devils will actually go after any of them is still not clear.

At the very least, Harris’ confidence that the team will make a move of some sort gives the hockey world another team to watch over the coming weeks. As arbitration dates come and go, the dog days of summer are just around the corner where hockey news is difficult to come by.

New Jersey Devils

10 comments

Tampa Bay, Dallas Among Teams Facing Contract Limit Crunch

July 22, 2019 at 8:01 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 21 Comments

The Tampa Bay Lightning are not only up against the NHL’s $81.5MM salary cap upper limit, but also the league’s 50-contract limit. They’re not alone either; in addition to the Bolts, the Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings, Ottawa Senators, and Anaheim Ducks each have 48 players already signed to contracts next season as well. Six other teams have 46 or 47 players signed. The closer a club gets to 50, the less roster flexibility they have during the season. When it comes to making trades, claiming players on waivers, or signing college or junior free agents, teams without room can be hamstrung and forced to either pass up on possibilities or make desperation moves to free up roster space. It’s not an ideal situation and could force more than a few teams to make a move or two as the summer wears on.

Tampa Bay is in the worst position of all, as not only do they have just two contract slots available, but they also have two NHL regulars who remain unsigned restricted free agents in need of contracts – Brayden Point and Adam Erne. It’s hard to imagine that the Lightning, who also need to open up considerable cap space, don’t move out a player or two to help clear things up in both regards. One other possible saving grace could be sending 2019 first-round pick Nolan Foote or fellow prospect forward Gabriel Fortier back to their respective junior teams. Even if under contract, 18- and 19-year-old junior players who are still slide-eligible do not count against the 50-contract limit once returned to the junior level. If Foote and/or Fortier don’t crack the Tampa lineup, they would additionally clear up some room. A surefire contender, who also could use some affordable support where they can get it, the Bolts will definitely be a player on the trade and waiver markets this upcoming season, assuming they have the means to do so.

Dallas is in a similarly difficult situation. With just two contract slots available, the Stars need to re-sign (or do something with) defenseman Julius Honka. If the team signs Honka or trades him for another signed player or prospect, they are down to just one open space. Fortunately, unsigned RFA Niklas Hansson is expected to spend the season in Sweden and will not need a contract to become Dallas’ 50th man. Junior forwards Ty Dellandrea and Riley Damiani would also no longer count against the contract limit if sent back to their respective teams, although many in Dallas would like to see Dellandrea push for a spot on the roster.

L.A. has just one unsigned RFA remaining, promising forward Adrian Kempe, so they aren’t in danger to hit 50 at this time. The Kings also have a number of young players under contract who will battle for roster spots, which could force Akil Thomas back to juniors for one more year, removing his contract from the mix. L.A. has been a highly active team on the college free agent market of late and will want some contract room later in the season for potential additions.

Similarly, Ottawa has just Colin White left to sign, so barring further additions are not at risk of hitting 50 contracts. However, the Senators are just narrowly over the league’s salary cap floor, which could prompt them to add another contract so that they don’t have to risk falling below the floor during the year due to a trade. Right now, only Jonathan Gruden is a candidate to go back to junior and remove his contract from limit calculations, so if Ottawa does make another addition, they’ll likely look to make a subtraction or two as well to remain flexible in-season.

The final team at 48 contracts is the Ducks. Fortunately for them, Anaheim has no one left to sign and by all accounts are not looking to make any other moves this off-season. They should be safe, but may look to move a contract just in case the opportunities present themselves to add on during the season.

One team who isn’t at all worried about the contract limit: the New Jersey Devils. New Jersey currently has just 39 players under contract, third least behind Carolina and Winnipeg, but also have just two unsigned RFA’s in need of contracts while the Hurricanes and Jets each have a handful. The Devils project to enter the season with the fewest players under contract, as well the smallest payroll other than Ottawa. That could change though, as the team continues to be included in rumors pertaining to many of the top unsigned UFA’s and top trade targets this summer.

Anaheim Ducks| Dallas Stars| Los Angeles Kings| New Jersey Devils| Ottawa Senators| RFA| Tampa Bay Lightning| Waivers Adam Erne| Adrian Kempe| Brayden Point| Colin White| Gabriel Fortier| Julius Honka| Salary Cap

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