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Salary Cap Deep Dive: Nashville Predators

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the most important tasks for a front office.  Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful.  Those who don’t often see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2025-26 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of PuckPedia.  We’re currently covering the Central Division, next up are the Predators.

Nashville Predators

Current Cap Hit: $86,158,961 (below the $95.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Zachary L’Heureux (one year, $863.3K)
F Fedor Svechkov (one year, $925K)
F Matthew Wood (two years, $950K)

Potential Bonuses
Svechkov: $212.5K
Wood: $500K
Total: $712.5K

Wood signed late last season after finishing up his college campaign and held his own in limited action.  Assuming he remains in his bottom-six role to start this year, it seems unlikely he’ll hit either of his ‘A’ bonuses and that would have him safely on the path to a bridge deal.  Svechkov came up in late November and never looked back although his production was rather limited.  It seems likely he’ll get a bigger opportunity this season which could give him an outside chance at his ‘A’ bonus.  But barring a huge uptick in production, he’s also likely heading for a bridge deal, one that should push past the $2MM mark if he remains a regular this season.

L’Heureux spent most of the season with the Predators where he brought plenty of physicality but not a ton of production to the table, understandable given his limited role.  Like the others, the offense simply isn’t there to justify a long-term deal so he’s also heading for a bridge deal, one that again should come in around $2MM if this season is a repeat of last.

Signed Through 2025-26, Non-Entry-Level

G Justus Annunen ($837.5K, RFA)
D Justin Barron ($1.15MM, RFA)
D Nick Blankenburg ($775K, UFA)
F Michael Bunting ($4.5MM, UFA)
D Andreas Englund ($775K, UFA)
F Erik Haula ($3.15MM, UFA)
F Michael McCarron ($900K, UFA)
D Jordan Oesterle ($775K, UFA)
F Cole Smith ($1MM, UFA)
D Spencer Stastney ($825K, RFA)

Bunting was brought in near the trade deadline with GM Barry Trotz opting for a player-for-player swap instead of being a straight seller.  He hasn’t had the same type of success offensively since leaving Toronto and will need to push that point total more toward the mid-40s if he wants any sort of notable raise.  Otherwise, another contract in this range seems likely.  Haula came over from New Jersey this summer following a tough year although he’s averaged 40 points over the previous three seasons.  If he gets back to that range, he should be able to get a raise and another multi-year pact, even at 35, which he’ll be in March.  If this winds up being a repeat of last season, he might still be able to get two years but it’d be surprising to see him match let alone beat this price tag.

Smith saw his point total drop by nearly half last season despite nearly identical playing time.  Still, he’s a big part of their penalty kill and throws the body around.  A late-bloomer (he wasn’t a regular until 27), Smith has enough of a track record now that he could conceivably double his current price tag even with the limited output.  McCarron hasn’t lived up to his draft billing but has settled in as a serviceable bottom-six checking center who is above-average at the faceoff dot and plays with an edge.  Those elements will be appealing which could plausibly allow him to push past $2MM next summer.

Barron was acquired from Montreal midseason in another player-for-player swap, this time with veteran Alexandre Carrier going the other way.  While the change of scenery allowed Barron to play a much bigger role, he didn’t do a whole lot with it.  Still, he’s likely to push past the 200-game mark this coming season and will have arbitration eligibility this time around with a $1.2MM qualifying offer.  Doubling that might be tough but he could come close.

The other four blueliners are all in a similar boat.  They’ve been fringe third-pairing defenders in recent years while also seeing time in the minors.  Two or three will make the team and if one stands out, he could push past $1MM next summer.  The rest will likely stay at the league minimum salary which jumps to $850K in 2026-27.  Notably, Stastney will need to play in at least 29 NHL games this season to retain his RFA rights.  Otherwise, he’ll become a Group Six unrestricted free agent.

Annunen played a little better after coming over in an early-season trade from Colorado but his numbers were still below average.  Just 25 with a fairly limited track record at the top level, it’s not a situation where Nashville should be looking to give up on him but he hasn’t shown enough to earn a long-term pact either.  He has one RFA-eligible year left after this and the prudent move for both sides might be another two-year deal, one that would push the price to around $1.5MM, giving him a bit of stability while allowing the team a bit more time to evaluate his longer-term fit as the second-string option.  If he bounces back with more of an NHL-average year, the cost could come closer to $2MM on that deal.

Signed Through 2026-27

D Nicklaus Perbix ($2.75MM, UFA)
F Ryan O’Reilly ($4.5MM, UFA)

As was the case with most of their veterans last season, O’Reilly underachieved offensively but he was still a two-way contributor.  Between that and his contract, he was highly sought after at the trade deadline but nothing materialized.  Even with the drop in production, this is a more than acceptable price tag for O’Reilly for now but at 34 with a lot of miles on him, that could change.  Assuming he stays in this range a little longer, he could still beat this on a short-term deal two years from now.

Perbix comes over from Tampa Bay where he saw his playing time drop by more than two minutes a game last season.  However, he has shown himself to be a capable third-pairing option, with some underlying numbers suggesting he could be capable of more.  This contract suggested teams weren’t willing to bank on that just yet but if he can latch on to a bigger role, his next deal could land closer to the $3.75MM mark.  If not, this is a reasonable floor for a third-pairing right-shot piece.

Signed Through 2027-28

D Roman Josi ($9.059MM, UFA)
F Steven Stamkos ($8MM, UFA)

Stamkos leaving the Lightning last summer was quite a surprise for many but his performance last season suggests Tampa Bay was wise to hold firm to their number which was lower than what Stamkos wanted.  While 53 points is still respectable, that’s not worthy of an $8MM price tag and at 35, there is some concern that the decline will continue.  If so, this could be a troublesome contract before long while a rebound would only delay those concerns a little longer.

When healthy, Josi remains a legitimate all-situations number one defenseman.  And this price tag for that type of role is a team-friendly one.  However, Josi missed a big chunk of last season with what was eventually labelled as Postural Tachycardia Syndrome and while the team announced that he is recovering well and should be ready to start this season, it’s something that doesn’t have a cure, only treatments.  Now 35, a decline in performance should be coming at some point soon and there could be some lingering concern from his diagnosis.  With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team try to manage Josi’s minutes a bit more moving forward, perhaps not having him in that high-end number one role.

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Snapshots: Denisenko, World Cup, Perreault, Robins

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Although he decided to return home and play in the KHL this season, winger Grigori Denisenko hasn’t given up on playing in North America just yet.  In an interview with Championat’s Lev Lukin, the 25-year-old indicated his dream is still to get back to the NHL.  He hasn’t spent much time there lately, however, getting into just seven NHL games over the past two seasons with Vegas.  He spent most of last season in the minors with Henderson and Milwaukee, collecting 17 goals and 21 assists in 65 games and rather than accepting a two-way deal as a Group Six unrestricted free agent and likely starting in the minors again, he’ll try to work his way back with a big season with Ak Bars Kazan.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Speaking to reporters including NHL.com’s Dan Rosen at the media tour earlier this week, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly provided an update on the 2028 World Cup of Hockey. They have whittled through expressions of interest from both North American and European cities and are about to begin the bidding process.  The belief is that there will be round-robin games on both continents before moving to North America only for the medal round.  Daly added that while they hope to have a qualifying round down the road, that won’t be in place for this particular event.
  • UFA winger Jacob Perreault has a team for the upcoming season as the Bruins’ AHL team in Providence announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year deal. The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by Anaheim in 2020, going 27th overall but he has struggled considerably in the pros.  Last season, he spent time with Montreal and Edmonton’s farm teams, collecting just three goals and 11 assists in 44 games, leading to a non-tender in late June.  Perreault has made one NHL appearance, that coming back in 2021-22.
  • After being non-tendered by Ottawa this summer, unrestricted free agent winger Tristen Robins has reportedly found a place to play. Inside AHL Hockey’s Tony Androckitis reports (Twitter link) that the 23-year-old is set to sign in Czechia with Kladno.  Robins was a 2020 second-round pick by San Jose and was moved to the Sens as part of the Fabian Zetterlund trade at the deadline.  Robins played in 56 AHL games last year, picking up eight goals and 16 assists.  He has three career NHL games under his belt back in the 2022-23 season.

Metro Notes: Sillinger, Foerster, Flyers Rookies, Kolosov

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Columbus Blue Jackets center prospect Owen Sillinger is expected to return from a February knee surgery early into the 2025-26 season, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. The Blue Jackets will hold him out of contact throughout the preseason to help ensure that target, general manager Don Waddell told Portzline.

Waddell’s wording suggests that Sillinger will begin ramping up his contact at practice beginning in the regular season. That timeline could make a return in the final week of October, or early November, a feasible target. He is almost certain to start the year on the AHL roster, after potting 11 goals and 29 points in a top-six role with the Cleveland Monsters last summer. That will be no slight to Sillinger though. He has served an important role on the Monsters throughout the last three seasons – and scored 11 goals in each year, despite fewer games every seasons. There will be a spot in the top-six held for Sillinger when he returns, and a hot return could quickly push him up Columbus’ call-up chart. If he gets moved to the NHL, he’ll regroup with younger brother Cole Sillinger, who has filled a role in the Blue Jackets’ top-nine for the last four seasons. Owen made his NHL debut last season, in a game that Cole sat out of due to injury.

Other notes from around the Metropolitan Division:

  • Philadelphia Flyers forward Tyson Foerster is still on pace to be ready for the start of the season, president of hockey operations Keith Jones shared with Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. Foerster sustained an elbow injury that got infected and required surgery while playing for Team Canada at the 2025 IIHF World Championship. He was the second-highest goal-scorer on the Flyers last season, with his 25 goals in 81 games falling one short of Matvei Michkov’s team-leading total. Foerster seems set to return to a top-six role throughout Philadelphia’s 2025-26 season. With this news, the Flyers can rest assured that he’s tracking to begin making that impact right out of the gates.
  • The Philadelphia Flyers are confident that rookies Oliver Bonk, Denver Barkey, and Jett Luchanko will be ready for the start of training camp despite summer injuries, per Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Spiegel points out that Luchanko faced a groin injury, Barkey faced a high ankle sprain, and Bonk faced bumps and bruises after a long 2024-25 season. All three players could have shots at making the 2025-26 roster. Luchanko made the Flyers out of training camp last season before returning to the OHL, while Barkey and Bonk went on runs to a Memorial Cup championship with the London Knights last season.
  • During his press conference, “Jonesy” also shared that the Flyers are confident they’ll have goaltender Aleksei Kolosov at training camp this year, again captured by O’Connor. Kolosov spent the 2024-25 season split between the NHL and AHL rosters, after playing through his fourth and final season in the KHL in the year prior. Kolosov posted an .867 save percentage in 17 NHL games, and an .884 in 12 AHL games. He posted five wins in both leagues. It seems he’d be a reasonable bet to start the season as the AHL starter, though O’Connor points out that there’s no telling where his camp performance could land him. He’ll likely be competing with Samuel Ersson and Daniel Vladař for NHL minutes.

Blues Sign Justin Carbonneau, Nikita Susuev

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The St. Louis Blues have signed 2025 first-round pick Justin Carbonneau to his entry-level contract. The team also announced they’ve signed 2023 seventh-round pick Nikita Susuev to his entry-level deal. Carbonneau was one of 33 forwards named to the Blues’ 2025 training camp roster on Wednesday. Reports suggest that he could even have a chance at making the NHL roster straight out of camp, per Marco D’Amico of RG Media.

PuckPedia reports that Carbonneau will have a cap hit of $975K before performance bonuses and an AAV of $1.392MM with those bonuses factored in.  They add that Susuev, who doesn’t have any performance bonuses in his deal, will have a cap charge of $855.

Word that Carbonneau could be headed for pro games sooner rather than later comes as no surprise. He was the main standout at the team’s 2025 rookie camp, held immediately following the NHL Draft. Fans were quickly tuned into the high-energy, hefty, and aggressively-physical style that Carbonneau brings to the ice. He was perhaps the best play-driver in the QMJHL last season, and finished the year with 46 goals – tied for the league-lead – and 89 points – second in the league – in 62 games played. Carbonneau was also the only player in the league to record more than 60 points and penalty minutes (61).

Draft pundits praised Carbonneau’s heft and strength throughout the season. He already stands at 6-foot-2, 205-pounds – plenty of size to cushion an early move to the NHL. If he doesn’t make the Blues, or if the team opts to return him after nine games, he will return to the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada for a fourth season. He has already amassed 168 points in 162 games with the team.

On the other side, Susuev – often spelled Susuyev – could finally make a push away from Russian hockey. He has bounced around the country’s major, minor, and junior leagues over the last three seasons. He’s also bounced around organizations, and ended up suiting up for five different clubs – helped along by three different loan-outs – last season alone. His stat line became a slog as a result – officially sat at 12 points in 21 MHL (junior) games, five points in 14 VHL (minor-pro) games, and one point in seven KHL (major-pro) games.

Susuev did spend the majority of the 2023-24 campaign, his age-19 season, on the KHL’s Spartak Moskva. He only racked up six points in 40 games from a depth forward role, but nonetheless gained invaluable experience on a team that finished fourth in their conference. He’s a high-skill winger, with the flash to beat defenders and the instinct to crash the net. His hockey IQ was praised by Russian scouts ahead of the draft, and he could quickly become an interesting player to follow if and when he joins the AHL ranks. For now, Susuev has officially missed the start of Spartak’s season due to injury, and it is unclear what his next step will be.

Blues’ Zach Dean Enters NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program

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St. Louis Blues prospect Zach Dean has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program and will be out indefinitely, per a release from the NHL Public Relations department. The announcement mentions that Dean will not be eligible to return to the ice until he is fully cleared by program administrators. This will likely hold him out of the duration of St. Louis’ training camp and the start of the regular season.

Dean is a former first-round pick, hearing his name called by the Vegas Golden Knights with the 30th pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. He was coming off a promising, albeit shortened, QMJHL season that he spent the next two years vindicating. Dean graduated from the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques after the 2022-23 season, having accrued 188 points in 177 games, and four seasons, in the league. By that time, Vegas had traded Dean to the Blues in a one-for-one exchange for NHL winger Ivan Barbashev.

That move pushed Dean to start his career in the Blues’ minor-league system. He joined the AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds for the 2023-24 season, and began a slow process of climbing his way up the organization’s depth chart. He only scored one point in his first 11 pro games, but managed to pull things together enough to total 14 points in 49 games by the end of the year. That was just enough to push the Blues to call-up Dean for the first nine games of his NHL career towards the end of a lost season. He didn’t manage any scoring in the spot starts, and returned to the minors for the 2024-25 season.

Dean seemed ready to repeat his climb towards an NHL call-up, but ended up outside of the lineup after just three games due to a nagging, undisclosed injury. He returned in late-January, after a three-month absence, but was reinjured after just six games back. That forced Dean out until late-April, and ultimately limited his season to just four points in 11 games. The uptick in scoring was an encouraging sign, but it now seems Dean will need a little longer to get back into the right mindset after a difficult season. He’ll have all the time he needs in the NHL/NHLPA Player’s Assistance Program, and will look to show St. Louis the responsible, two-way playmaking style that earned him a first-round selection on the other side. Dean should return to Springfield’s middle-six at some point this season.

Assessing The Mammoth’s Path To The Playoffs

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The Utah Mammoth had an eventful second summer in their NHL journey, making significant progress to position the team as a playoff contender. General manager Bill Armstrong made minor adjustments last summer, but this summer he took a bold step. He balanced that gamble with well-planned extensions and depth moves, demonstrating a clear plan to follow. Armstrong and the Mammoth seem ready to build around their talented young core by adding experienced veterans, aiming for long-term success.

The Mammoth made a statement in late June by acquiring JJ Peterka from the Buffalo Sabres and signing him to a five-year, $38.5MM extension. Armstrong and his team paid a fair price for the young forward, but they are confident that Peterka’s skill, speed, and two-way play will make him a good fit alongside Utah’s promising forward core, which includes Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and Clayton Keller. The move to acquire Peterka demonstrated to Mammoth fans that the team is aiming to contend sooner rather than later in the Western Conference.

At 23 years of age, and coming off back-to-back 20-goal seasons, Buffalo was never going to let Peterka go cheap, especially given the intangibles he brings to couple with the offense he produces. Peterka is not only relentless on the forecheck, but he can tilt the ice for the Mammoth along with their other top young forwards. The $ 7.7MM AAV is pretty reasonable for what Peterka can produce going forward, but Utah will be happy to pay it, given that he could be a bargain over the next few seasons.

Shortly after finalizing the Peterka deal, the Mammoth executed another trade involving a young player, this time sending Matias Maccelli to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a conditional third-round pick in 2027. The trade is a risk for both teams, as Maccelli is only a year removed from scoring 57 points in 82 games. However, he managed just 18 points this past season in 55 games, as his offense dipped significantly, and Toronto hopes he can rebound to fill the gap left when Mitch Marner departed. Maccelli could regain his form in Toronto, and if he does, it may appear to be a costly miss for Utah. But if his stats are similar to last season, it will have been a practical move to shed a smaller player who doesn’t play much of a physical game, and the outcome of this trade remains uncertain.

Utah might have missed the playoffs last season, but that didn’t stop them from re-signing many of their pending free agents, including forward Alex Kerfoot and defensemen Ian Cole and Olli Määttä. Utah also signed goaltender Karel Vejmelka and centre Jack McBain to five-year contract extensions. McBain’s deal provides the Mammoth with some cost certainty on a physical centre who is a good forechecker and can handle tough matchups. He won’t score many goals and isn’t overly talented with the puck, but Utah believed his other qualities justified the $21.25MM over five years.

Vejmelka’s NHL stats aren’t anything extraordinary. He has maintained a .899 SV% over his career and has a record of 70-97-19 with a 3.22 goals-against average. However, last season, the 29-year-old recorded 14.2 goals saved above expected in 58 games (as per MoneyPuck). Vejmelka isn’t among the top goaltenders in the league, but should give the Mammoth league-average goaltending (or better) for a very reasonable $4.75MM per season. Considering that Vancouver re-signed the perfectly average Kevin Lankinen to a five-year deal at $4.5MM annually, Utah secured a solid agreement for Vejmelka.

The Mammoth also addressed their goaltending depth this summer by signing Vitek Vaneček to a one-year contract worth $ 1.5MM. Vaneček recently won a Stanley Cup as a backup for the Florida Panthers and should give the Mammoth a reliable veteran presence behind Vejmelka. Stability in goal for Utah will be essential this season as they aim to climb the standings into a playoff spot. The 29-year-old is coming off two inconsistent seasons and hopes to re-establish himself with the Mammoth this year. His numbers with San Jose and Florida last season weren’t impressive, but despite the recent lack of success, Vaneček is only two years removed from posting a .911 save % in 52 games with New Jersey.

The Mammoth are still in the early stages of establishing themselves in Utah, but are trending in the right direction by being cautious with their depth players and aggressive in adding to their top six. Looking at the bigger picture, Utah has made significant progress over the past year and should be in the playoff hunt this season. Some might see their summer moves as patchwork or a mixed bag, but they clearly identified a need at forward and were pleased with what they saw in their veteran defensemen.

Utah has plenty of potential star power at the top of their lineup, has stabilized the middle of the ice, boasts a lot of experience on their blueline, and should receive decent goaltending this season. I wouldn’t call the team a Stanley Cup contender, but with some internal improvement and average goaltending, they will be in the thick of the Western Conference playoff picture.

Photo by Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Sharks Sign No. 2 Overall Pick Michael Misa

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The Sharks have signed No. 2 overall draft pick Michael Misa to his entry-level contract, the team announced. Unsurprisingly, he receives close to the maximum allowable compensation. Per PuckPedia, he’ll receive the maximum base salary of $877.5K, signing bonus of $97.5K, and up to $1MM in Schedule “A” performance bonuses each year. His potential Schedule “B” bonuses are up to $2.25MM, $250K short of the max.

Misa was essentially a slam-dunk selection for San Jose after the Islanders took defenseman Matthew Schaefer with the first pick, although there was some smoke that the Sharks were also considering Swedish center Anton Frondell, who ended up going No. 3 to the Blackhawks. Misa, an OHL Saginaw product, was the early favorite for the top choice in the 2025 draft, gaining exceptional status and beginning his OHL career with the Spirit at the age of 15. However, a semi-conservative showing in his pre-draft year had tempered projections for Misa entering last season.

But in 2024-25, Misa looked more like the franchise-level phenom that his early hype awarded him. The left-shot center served as Saginaw’s captain and clicked at nearly a goal per game, totaling a 62-72–134 scoring line in 65 appearances to lead the entire CHL in points and, unsurprisingly, received CHL First All-Star and OHL MVP honors. He was also named the league’s Scholastic Player of the Year. That had him as the consensus No. 2 prospect in the class behind Schaefer, according to every major public ranking, by the time the season came to an end.

There will still be those out there who argue Misa deserved the top selection, especially considering Schaefer’s season ended after just 17 appearances due to a collarbone injury in December. He was the first OHLer to crack 130 points in nearly 20 years, and the last player to score more points in that league as a draft-eligible player was Patrick Kane’s 145 points in 58 games in 2006-07. Elite Prospects’ Lauren Kelly even labeled him the most complete forward in the class in June.

He thus enters his first professional season with a similar level of hype to San Jose’s No. 1 overall pick in last year’s draft, Macklin Celebrini, had 12 months ago. While the Sharks’ flurry of forward pickups in free agency indicates they aren’t necessarily banking on him being on their opening night roster, there’s plenty of flexibility for him to play meaningful minutes or, at the very least, earn a nine-game trial to start the season before burning the first year of his deal.

Kirill Kaprizov’s Camp Rejects Eight-Year, $16MM AAV Offer

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The Wild are indeed prepared to make pending UFA winger Kirill Kaprizov the highest-paid player in NHL history, but even that may not be enough to get a contract extension across the finish line. His representation turned down an eight-year, $128MM offer from the Wild yesterday that would have carried a cap hit of $16MM, Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report relays. That would have been a record-setting deal in terms of both AAV and total value.

It’s the first marginal indication that the 28-year-old superstar’s time in Minnesota may be coming to an end. Wild front office staff and ownership have projected extreme confidence in their ability to get a long-term deal across the finish line ever since he became eligible to sign an extension on July 1. Michael Russo of The Athletic reported last month that the club would essentially let Kaprizov dictate the structure of his contract as long as it was at least five years in length.

Yet that was with the assumption that a $16MM cap hit, a whole $2MM clear of the record-setting $14MM AAV that Leon Draisaitl signed for with the Oilers one year ago, would be enough to get a deal done. If it’s going to take closer to the maximum salary of $19.1MM, it could be back to the drawing board.

While a jarring headline, it’s important to note the Wild and Kaprizov are still extremely early in the negotiating process. Talks didn’t begin in earnest until Kaprizov arrived back in Minnesota ahead of training camp in the last several days.

Seravalli’s report also doesn’t clarify what the basis was for the rejection. It might be a change in salary/bonus structure or trade protection that will take some time to work out, or a desire from Kaprizov to sign a shorter-term contract and give himself another chance to cash in on a deal in his early 30s. While a general hesitance to commit to the Wild, who haven’t won a playoff series during Kaprizov’s tenure, could be the driving force, it’s far too soon to write off the notion of an extension entirely.

In any event, the Wild must ask themselves how far above market value they’re willing to award Kaprizov. While he’s a true superstar and the brightest offensive talent in franchise history, he simply doesn’t have the resume that led names like Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon to receive record-setting contracts in recent years. He’s never hit the 50-goal mark, only broken 100 points once, and has never finished top five in MVP voting. All that combines to make his actual market value likely closer to the low $14MM range – even adjusted for the projected salary cap increase to $104MM, according to AFP Analytics.

Since entering the league in 2020-21, Kaprizov’s 386 points in 319 career games are 15th in the league. His 1.21 points per game are 10th. That’s still a whole 224 points less than what Oilers star Connor McDavid, also a pending UFA expected to sign in the $16MM range if he extends in Edmonton, has over the last five years.

Stars Sign Adam Erne To PTO

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The Stars have signed Adam Erne to a professional tryout, according to the training camp roster they announced today. It will be his third consecutive season attending an NHL camp on a tryout basis.

Erne has skated in parts of eight NHL seasons as a checking winger. He spent his first three years with the Lightning, breaking out as a full-time piece with 20 points in 65 games in 2018-19. Luckily for Erne, that was a contract year. Tampa couldn’t afford to give him a seven-figure cap hit, so they traded his signing rights to the Red Wings the following summer. He spent four years in Detroit, including a career-best offensive performance that saw him produce 11 goals and 20 points in only 45 games in the shortened 2020-21 season, before tumbling down the depth chart in 2022-23 and ending up on waivers.

Initially, it was puzzling to see the lack of interest in Erne on the open market in 2023. His waiver clearance could have been chalked up to his previous $2.1MM cap hit, but he still looked like an effective NHLer with 18 points in 61 games for the lowly Wings while averaging 13:23 per game and laying 161 hits. Nonetheless, he had to settle for a tryout with the Oilers, and he was successful in converting that into a two-way deal with Edmonton for 2023-24. He only managed two points in 24 games for the Oilers, though, ending up back on waivers and spending most of the season in the AHL.

Erne landed another PTO last summer with the Rangers, although he only managed to squeeze an AHL tryout deal out of that. He only had one assist in 10 games before sustaining a lower-body injury and getting released from his tryout in November, so it’s been around 10 months since he last played. Dallas’ forward depth remains a strong suit, so he’s unlikely to be in consideration for an NHL roster spot. He’ll use this tryout opportunity to angle for a two-way contract or AHL deal to get his career back on track in the minors.

Among Dallas’ other PTOs announced today who weren’t already signed to minor-league contracts are forward Cross Hanas and goaltender Antoine Bibeau, both of whom will be looking for AHL deals. Hanas was a second-round pick by the Red Wings in 2020 and had 50 points in 146 AHL games over the three seasons of his entry-level contract before getting non-tendered this summer. Bibeau, 31, is a veteran depth option with four games of NHL experience who spent the last two seasons in Europe. He played for Finland’s KooKoo last season, recording a .905 SV% in 35 Liiga games with a 20-13-0 record.

Canadiens To Sign Kevin Mandolese To PTO

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The Canadiens are bringing goaltender Kevin Mandolese to training camp on a professional tryout, reports Frank Seravalli of Bleacher Report. He was scouring the KHL market for a guaranteed deal earlier in the summer but never landed one.

Mandolese, fresh off his 25th birthday, is a former Senators sixth-round draftee who’s since emerged as a steady minor-league presence. He’d spent his entire career in the Ottawa organization until last summer, when the Sens issued him a qualifying offer but ended up trading his signing rights to the Avalanche a couple of weeks later.

The Quebec native’s only NHL action came in 2022-23 amid a rash of injuries in Ottawa’s crease. He made three starts in February and March, performing above expectations with a .916 SV% and 3.29 GAA – only allowing 10 goals despite facing nearly 40 shots per game. For whatever reason, that strong initial showing never landed him another NHL opportunity.

Mandolese also didn’t play very much in the Colorado system last year. He made 19 appearances for the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, where he served as the primary backup to No. 3 option Trent Miner and had an 11-6-0 record in 19 showings with a .903 SV%, 2.87 GAA, and one shutout. The Avs did not issue him a qualifying offer at the end of last year, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Montreal is likely looking for a more experienced AHL option to have under contract. Starter Sam Montembeault is set in stone, but youngster Jakub Dobes will be battling with veteran free-agent pickup Kaapo Kähkönen for the No. 2 job in camp. If Kähkönen doesn’t make the team and is lost on waivers, that would leave Montreal with just three goalies under contract and top prospect Jacob Fowler without much help in AHL Laval as he kicks off his first professional season. As such, Mandolese will take a PTO with the Habs to start while they sort out whether they want to offer him a two-way NHL contract or only extend him a minor-league offer.

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