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Chicago Blackhawks Acquire, Extend Corey Perry

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06/30/23, 9:30 AM: Chicago has now officially announced that they’ve signed Perry to a one-year, $4MM deal.

06/30/23, 7:30 AM: Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Blackhawks have reached an agreement on a one-year contract extension with the Blackhawks. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun confirmed that the deal is a one-year, $4MM pact, an identical deal to what Nick Foligno received from Chicago just a few days ago.

While $4MM is likely quite a bit more than what most teams would bid on Perry’s services, the Blackhawks aren’t in a similar financial position to most teams. With Perry signed to this deal they’re still projected to have over $20MM in cap space by CapFriendly, meaning they’re in a perfect position to pay veteran players high sums of money in order to convince them to play for a team barely anyone expects to make the playoffs.

More than anything else, this type of cap space allows the Blackhawks to pay higher prices for free agents in order to secure them on one-year deals, thereby saving their financial flexibility in future years where the team might have plan on making a playoff run.

06/29/23: The Chicago Blackhawks have acquired the rights to pending UFA forward Corey Perry from the Tampa Bay Lightning, sending a 2024 seventh-round pick in return.

This deal seems to fit the Blackhawks’ recent strategy of targeting respected veterans to support their growing crop of impressive prospects. Perry, 38, is a veteran of nearly 1,300 NHL games and numerous long playoff runs. While his skating ability has largely evaporated, he still has soft hands and some offensive skill, along with the edge he plays with that has become his trademark. He can still provide some value as a net-front player on a power play, and just a year ago he scored 19 goals and 40 points.

Even if Chicago gets production more in line with what Perry did this past season (12 goals, 25 points) that’s still a decent player to have on any team. The Blackhawks still need to sign Perry, of course, and Perry could always prefer to sign with a contender.

But the Blackhawks have a stockpile of cap space and the ability to offer Perry a deal he can’t refuse, meaning he’s likely to end up in Chicago, one would assume. For Tampa Bay, getting a pick (even a very late one) for a player they were not planning on extending is impossible to argue with.

Minor Transactions: 06/30/23

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We’re in the heart of the NHL offseason now, with free agency set to open tomorrow. As NHL clubs ready for the free agent frenzy tomorrow, numerous clubs in minor and foreign leagues are signing players and completing transactions. We’ll keep track of those here.

  • Four-time NHL 15-goal scorer Brett Connolly has signed with SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers, leaving his former club HC Lugano after one season. The 31-year-old 2010 sixth-overall pick scored 12 goals and 38 points in 45 games for Lugano, and now joins former NHLer Victor Rask on a club set to play in the Champions Hockey League next season.
  • Zaccharya Wisdom, a prospect who was drafted by the Seattle Kraken 212th overall yesterday, has committed to Colorado College to play NCAA hockey. He’ll join NHL draft picks such as Noah Laba of the New York Rangers, and will hope to carry over the success of his final USHL season (28 goals, 48 points) to his collegiate career.
  • Washington Capitals 2021 fifth-round pick Haakon Hanelt has signed a contract with the German DEL’s Cologne Sharks. The Capitals have the exclusive rights to sign Hanelt until June 1st, 2025, and will now track his development in a men’s pro league. Hanelt spent the last two seasons with the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL, and this past year scored 18 points in 34 games.
  • Veteran Liiga defenseman Mikko Niemela has signed with the Lahti Pelicans, a club he played six games with in 2014-15. Niemela is a three-time Liiga champion who has played over 500 games in Finland’s top league, meaning he’ll bring a wealth of experience to the blueline of Liiga’s runner-ups. Niemela split last season between Karpat in Liiga and Brynas in the SHL, and although he played well he could not save Brynas from relegation to the HockeyAllsvenskan, and now he heads back to Liiga.
  • ECHL All-Star forward Mathew Santos has signed a deal to play in Slovakia next season, per a social media post from his new team HK Dukla Michalovce. Santos is a 28-year-old Canadian winger who has been an electric scorer in two seasons with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners. He’s scored 103 points in 91 games for Maine, earning AHL call-ups for three teams, including 17 games with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. He only scored one point in that 17-game span, though, and now with his chances at climbing the North American pro hockey ladder potentially drying up, he’ll head to an overseas club for the first time.
  • Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect David Gilbert will not be returning to EIHL Champions Belfast Giants for next season, according to the team. The 32-year-old forward signed with Belfast a year ago after a high-scoring year with Rouen in France’s Ligue Magnus. Gilbert is a former high-scoring ECHLer who has 54 games of AHL action on his resume, and career highlights that include a championship in Belfast as well as a three-year stint in Czechia that included winning his club promotion to the country’s top league.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Metro Notes: Hanifin, Petry, Wilson

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The Pittsburgh Penguins just spent the last two days re-stocking their relatively thin prospect pool at the 2023 NHL draft, and with that process over their new front office’s focus shifts to improving their roster for next season. One of the ways new hockey operations boss Kyle Dubas can improve the Penguins is by revamping their defense, which could mean adding a top blueliner on the trade market such as Noah Hanifin. The Athletic’s Rob Rossi reports that “the Penguins are on a short list of teams to which Hanifin would approve a trade,” and that “Hanifin would be willing to sign an extension with the Penguins if acquired.” (subscription link)

Adding a top-end left-shot defenseman to pair with Kris Letang is a priority for Pittsburgh, especially seeing as head coach Mike Sullivan “repeatedly pushed” for the team to acquire Jakob Chychrun from the Arizona Coyotes last season. The issue the Penguins face in acquiring Hanifin is twofold: firstly, one wonders if Pittsburgh has enticing enough assets to be able to win a bidding war with other teams to secure a trade with Calgary, and secondly it could be a tight fit for the Penguins to be able to sign Hanifin to a pricey long-term extension given the current money on their books.

Some other notes from the Metropolitan Division:

  • As Pittsburgh contemplates acquiring and then ideally extending a top-end player like Hanifin, they’re looking to move money out in order to be able to do so. Defenseman Jeff Petry underwhelmed in his first season in Pittsburgh, and set to turn 36 years old he remains under contract for the next two seasons at a $6.25MM cap hit. Rossi reports that Dubas “has tried to trade” Petry, but “found few interested parties” and Petry’s modified no-trade clause to be a barrier to the possibility of a trade getting completed. The Athletic’s Josh Yohe confirmed his colleague’s report, writing in his own piece that Pittsburgh is “dangling” Petry “pretty heavily in trade offers” but that “there isn’t considerable interest in the veteran.” (subscription link) It would certainly help Pittsburgh more dramatically reshape its blueline if they were able to trade Petry, but given the league-wide lack of cap space among contending teams a Petry deal seems unlikely.
  • Another trade that seems extremely unlikely is one involving Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, at least according to Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan. MacLellan told the media, including The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson, that the team “we haven’t had one discussion about” trading Wilson this summer. Some have speculated that Wilson, a 29-year-old winger with a $5.16MM AAV deal that expires in a year, could be a player Washington dangles in trade talks, but it appears in actuality the team has zero interest in dealing the three-time 20-goal scorer, despite an injury-plagued 2022-23 campaign.

Latest On Boston’s Pending Unrestricted Free Agents

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Veteran center David Krejci indicated after the playoffs that he’d take some time to think about his future.  While he hasn’t made a final decision about retiring yet, he told Dominik Dubovci of hokej.cz that when the puck drops on the 2023-24 campaign, he will not be playing, either in Boston or back home.

The 37-year-old returned to the Bruins this past season after spending a year back home.  He basically picked up where he left off, notching 16 goals and 40 assists in 70 games, providing Boston with an important secondary scoring boost which helped play a role in them taking home the Presidents’ Trophy during the regular season.  That performance helped earn Krejci the 16th spot on our Top 50 free agents list, even with the expectation that it would be the Bruins or retirement for him.

Krejci admitted that Prague hosting the 2024 World Championship is particularly appealing to him so he’s not ruling out playing at some point next season.  While it’s possible that it could be with the Bruins, signing with them would run the risk of not being able to play in the tournament if Boston was able to pull off a long playoff run.

If that’s the case, it’s possible that Krejci could opt to play for part of next season back home, get named to Czechia’s entry for the Worlds, and call it a career on home ice.  It’s a scenario that Krejci himself didn’t think was feasible back in May when he said he’d either play in Boston or retire.  But a chance to go out on home soil while representing his country certainly is an enticing scenario.

Either way, the Bruins will be entering this weekend’s free agent period with certainty now that Krejci will not be on their roster in October when 2023-24 gets underway.  It remains to be seen what happens with fellow veteran middleman Patrice Bergeron and with his future also being in question, Boston will undoubtedly be looking to try to fill two center spots over the coming days.

They also will be looking to fill a key winger slot as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relays (Twitter link) that Tyler Bertuzzi will be heading to the open market on Saturday.  When they moved Taylor Hall to Chicago on Monday to free up $6MM in cap space, there was some expectation that Boston would then turn around and try to get something done with Bertuzzi and then make another cap-clearing move.  Clearly, that hasn’t happened.

The 28-year-old is coming off a quiet season, one that saw him manage just eight goals and 22 assists in 50 games.  However, Bertuzzi is only a year removed from a 30-goal campaign while he also has two other 21-goal campaigns under his belt so it’s believed that this was a blip and not a sign of things to come.

Bertuzzi’s performance with Boston certainly helps to fuel that belief.  After being acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline, he picked up 16 points in 21 games down the stretch before tying for the team lead in scoring in their first-round loss to Florida with five goals and five assists in seven contests.  That performance landed him in the tenth spot in our rankings, fifth among wingers.

Barring any moves being made tomorrow, Boston will enter Saturday’s free agent period with a little over $11MM in cap space, per CapFriendly.  However, with six forwards to sign with that money along with re-signing netminder Jeremy Swayman, a lot of their shopping is likely to come at the lower end of the market even though they have several prominent players to try to replace.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Sabres Notes: Jost, Draft, Rochester

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With the deadline for tendering a qualifying offer now less than 24 hours away, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams told Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that the ball is in Tyson Jost’s court as the two sides try to plug away at a new contract.  The 25-year-old was claimed on waivers back in November from Minnesota and had some success with his new team, picking up 22 points in 59 games.  However, he’s owed a $2.25MM qualifying offer tomorrow, one that also grants him arbitration eligibility.  That offer is a bit on the pricey side for someone who has yet to have a lot of offensive success in the NHL, not to mention the risk of the arbitrator adding to that.  Adams noted that discussions have been ongoing for several weeks now so it’s clear that Buffalo would like to keep Jost in the fold but if a deal can’t be reached by 4 PM CT on Friday, there’s a decent chance that the center will be non-tendered.

More from Buffalo:

  • The Sabres were among the teams that were trying to move up into the top ten last night, Adams noted (video link). However, those efforts were rebuffed but in the end, they wound up with the player that they were trying to move up to get as forward Zach Benson, a consensus top-ten selection heading into the draft, wound up slipping to Buffalo at the 13th pick.
  • Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester has added a pair of youngsters for next season as the Americans announced that they’ve signed 21-year-old forward Riley Fiddler-Schultz to a two-year contract and 21-year-old defenseman Nicolas Savoie to a one-year deal. Fiddler-Schultz just finished up a five-year career with WHL Calgary and notched 31 goals and 44 assists in 64 games this past season.  Savoie, meanwhile, spent his five-year junior career with Quebec of the QMJHL, picking up 48 points in 65 games in 2022-23 while helping lead the Remparts to the Memorial Cup.

Offseason Checklist: Vegas Golden Knights

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The offseason is now fully underway after Vegas took home the Stanley Cup which means that it’s time to examine what each team will need to accomplish over the coming months.  We wrap up our series with a look at what the Golden Knights have left to do.

When team owner Bill Foley talked about winning the Stanley Cup in six years after their expansion team started, the idea seemed far-fetched.  But in the end, that’s exactly how it played out as they took out Winnipeg, Edmonton, Dallas, and Florida to take home the title.  GM Kelly McCrimmon is now tasked with trying to keep as much of his Cup-winning core intact as possible.  He has already made some moves that were on the original version of this checklist but here’s what’s left for them to work on.

Goalie Moves

It’s interesting that Adin Hill’s reported two-year extension that was reportedly agreed to over the weekend has yet to be registered with the league compared to someone like Ivan Barbashev, whose deal was agreed to and registered on Wednesday.  Speculatively, this could be related to tagging space since LTIR players (like Robin Lehner) count against that limit.  Because we’re not in the new league year yet, the tagging rate is 10% above the $82.5MM cap.  In the offseason, you can go 10% above the new cap level, or $83.5MM while offseason LTIR is also an option if needed.

Not registering the deal now gives them some extra flexibility in the short term as they have $1.1MM less in spending allowance before Saturday to fit Hill’s contract into.  This likely played a role in Barbashev’s deal getting announced only after they moved Reilly Smith.  This isn’t anything to be concerned about if you’re a Vegas fan as this is just a bit of CBA minutia but they will have to get Hill’s contract finalized in the coming days.

Speaking of goalies, they need to make a determination about Lehner’s future.  With Hill’s pending new contract, it appears that they don’t think Lehner will be able to return next season.  If that happens, they can put him on LTIR as they did this past season.  But it’s also possible that they want to clear that contract off the books as they did with Shea Weber’s deal at the trade deadline.  Deciding if it’s worth parting with an asset to free up the contract slot will be a small item on McCrimmon’s list.

They will also need to decide if they want to carry a veteran third-stringer behind a tandem of Hill and Logan Thompson which is still relatively inexperienced all things considered.  They’ve had one in place the last two years with Laurent Brossoit and Michael Hutchinson but among the three other netminders signed for next season, none have any NHL experience while pending RFA Jiri Patera has just two appearances.  This is another small item on the list but with free agency almost here, it’s a decision that will need to be made quickly.

Work On Marchessault Extension

It’s safe to say that Jonathan Marchessault has worked out well as their expansion pick from Florida back in 2017.  The 32-year-old is their franchise leader in goals, assists, and points and is coming off a playoff performance that saw him lead the league in goals with 13, helping him take home his first Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.  That’s certainly a nice ending to his campaign and will give him some extra leverage as he becomes eligible to sign a contract extension as of Saturday.

Marchessault signed a six-year, $30MM deal just months into his tenure with Vegas and it has held up well through the first five seasons.  However, it’s safe to say that it’s going to take a higher AAV for him to put pen to paper on an extension, especially this far out from his free agent summer.  Yes, the Upper Limit of the cap is expected to jump but he turns 33 in December and wingers don’t typically show offensive improvement at that time.

Marchessault has reached the 30-goal and 60-point mark just once in the last five years and as he gets older, he should move more into a middle-six role.  Is that a lineup spot that they should be committing a pricey long-term contract to?  On the other hand, he’s one of the original ‘misfits’ and while the Golden Knights have made some moves that could be described as callous along the way, it’s possible that they could allow sentimentality to come into play with Marchessault.  At this point, an AAV of around $6MM on a medium-term extension might be needed.  Expect discussions on a new deal to happen at some point this summer.

Try To Create More Cap Space

At the moment, Vegas has around $7.6MM in cap room for next season, per CapFriendly.  That amount includes them using Lehner’s full LTIR space and does not count Hill’s expected contract, one that is expected to carry an AAV of around $4.9MM.  Basically, they’re going to have around $2.7MM at their disposal and that’s with a couple of forward spots to try to fill.  It’s a manageable situation but is one that would leave them in a spot where they’d have limited flexibility for any in-season activity.  While they’re more than used to being in that situation, it’s still one that they might want to avoid.

To do that, they’re probably going to look at dealing from their defensive depth.  Veteran Alec Martinez has a $5.25MM AAV and one year remaining on his deal.  The 35-year-old is still a serviceable piece but is better served as being more of a depth defender at this stage of his career.  In this market, clearing the full contract would be difficult but even if they’re able to move him with some retention, it’d help to free up some wiggle room.

Failing that, they can look to their depth players.  Ben Hutton has an AAV that’s just $25K above the league minimum that could be appealing to a team looking for cheap depth.  Meanwhile, prospect Brayden Pachal is now waiver-eligible and if the Golden Knights envision him not breaking camp with them, trying to move him now for a waiver-exempt asset would open up a bit more flexibility.  Doing something like this isn’t necessarily a must but a bit more wiggle room on the cap wouldn’t hurt.

Decide Howden’s Future

Vegas has a couple of RFA forwards to re-sign, center Brett Howden and winger Pavel Dorofeyev.  Dorofeyev’s contract should be somewhat straightforward as the youngster only has 20 NHL games under his belt so he’ll be signing for close to the league minimum of $775K.  But Howden’s will be a little trickier to navigate.

The 25-year-old is owed a $1.5MM qualifying offer by tomorrow’s 4 PM CT deadline.  However, the offer also carries salary arbitration eligibility which is something they might want to avoid.  Howden’s coming off a quiet year offensively with just 13 points in 54 games but with 279 career regular season appearances under his belt, he has enough of a track record to land a raise in a hearing.  Obviously, Vegas can’t afford to give him too much of one.

Do they manage to get something done in the next 24 hours that takes away the arbitration risk?  If not, are they comfortable tendering the qualifier?  Howden is coming off a nice playoff run and is someone they will want to keep around but there comes a point where he’s going to cost too much for the role he fills.  He’s not all that far from that spot so getting something done soon would certainly be desirable.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: DeBrincat, Maple Leafs, Hornqvist

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While many expected that the Senators would try to move pending RFA winger Alex DeBrincat at the draft with the hopes of getting a first-round pick, that clearly didn’t come to fruition with nary a single trade involving a first-round selection occurring.  However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Ottawa is trying to get someone that can help the team win now instead of a futures-based package.  The 25-year-old had 27 goals and 66 points in his first season with the Sens in 2022-23 and was owed a qualifying offer of $9MM.  However, the team got around that by filing for club-elected arbitration earlier this month, allowing them to offer just 85% of that amount ($7.65MM).  DeBrincat is not believed to have asked for a trade from Ottawa but has indicated that he is not interested in signing a long-term agreement to remain with the team.

More from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Maple Leafs don’t plan to execute a buyout before the window closes on Friday, GM Brad Treliving told reporters including Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. Veteran goaltender Matt Murray has long been a speculative candidate to be bought out, a move that would free up $4MM in flexibility to work this summer but they won’t go that route.  At least, they won’t for now.  Treliving noted that there is a second window to be made available as long as they have an arbitration filing.  Toronto has three arbitration-eligible players in goalie Ilya Samsonov plus defensemen Victor Mete and Mac Hollowell with the former being the most likely to file.  If that happens, Treliving and the Maple Leafs could re-assess Murray’s situation later in the summer.
  • It appears that winger Patric Hornqvist has indeed played his final NHL game as Panthers GM Bill Zito told George Richards of Florida Hockey Now that the veteran has now moved his family back to Sweden. The 36-year-old was shut down in early December after taking an elbow to the head but remained with the team during their run to the Stanley Cup Final.  Zito indicated that there are discussions underway about Hornqvist remaining with the team in some capacity.

Shayne Gostisbehere To Test Free Agency

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It’s been a busy week. There have been several significant trades, the sell-off of high-priced assets, and buyouts exercised to clear cap space. Oh yeah, and the 2023 NHL Draft, where all 32 teams added young, exciting talent to their prospect pipelines.

One thing that may have slipped under the radar was a note at the very bottom of Pierre LeBrun’s Tuesday column for The Athletic: Shayne Gostisbehere “will not be re-signing with Carolina.”

Gostisbehere, 30, finished 13th on our list of the Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents after an interesting season. He started the year with the Arizona Coyotes, continuing to provide strong offensive production from the back end. His 31 points finished eighth in Coyotes scoring, despite only playing 52 games for the team.

A deadline deal took him from the bottom of the standings to the top, as he joined the Carolina Hurricanes to try and fix a struggling powerplay. In 23 games with Carolina, Gostisbehere added three goals and ten points, posting insane possession numbers in a sheltered role.

That sheltered situation positions Gostisbehere as such an intriguing free agent. He is not a strong defender, and takes too many risks to be trusted as a top-pairing option (at least on a contender). But few defensemen in the league can generate offensive chances as efficiently as him, and he routinely tilts the ice in his team’s favor when played in the right situation.

Since entering the league in 2015, Gostisbehere sits 17th in points from defensemen, ahead of names like Aaron Ekblad, Shea Theodore, and Josh Morrissey. Over that stretch, he ranks even higher in powerplay points, ahead of players like Morgan Rielly and Dougie Hamilton.

There is a role for Gostisbehere on a contending team, but it’s unclear how much teams will want to pay. The six-year, $27MM contract he received from Philadelphia in 2017 is probably out of the question, but it will be interesting to see how much he can secure this time.

Edmonton Oilers Qualify Five Players

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The Edmonton Oilers have decided to negotiate with all five of their pending restricted free agents, issuing qualifying offers to Ryan McLeod, Raphael Lavoie, Noah Philp, Evan Bouchard, and Olivier Rodrigue.

According to CapFriendly’s qualifying offer calculator, that means each received the following:

  • Evan Bouchard: One-way, $874,125
  • Raphael Lavoie: Two-way, $874,125
  • Ryan McLeod: One-way, $837,900
  • Noah Philp: Two-way, $787,500
  • Olivier Rodrigue: Two-way, $787,500

For Bouchard and McLeod, in particular, this comes as no surprise. Each has become an important part of the Oilers’ lineup, giving them the depth needed to advance further in the playoffs.

Bouchard, 23, registered his second straight 40+ point season in 2022-23, effectively making Tyson Barrie redundant enough to trade at the deadline. The 10th overall pick from 2018 has grown into one of the most effective puck-movers in the league and showed off some incredible vision in this year’s postseason, racking up four goals and 17 points in just 12 games.

McLeod, meanwhile, grew into a valuable depth center option this season, scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 57 games. His elite skating ability and tenacity make him a nice fit on a third line, and his offensive number are trending upward. He was held goalless in the playoffs but still contributed five points, playing mostly in a defensive role.

Despite the Oilers’ release indicating otherwise, it is actually McLeod—not Bouchard—that is eligible for arbitration this summer, according to CapFriendly. The young forward is a candidate for a bridge deal, given the tight nature of the Edmonton cap situation.

The other three, Lavoie, Philp, and Rodrigue, have yet to make their NHL debuts are will likely be retained on short-term two-way deals to maintain organizational depth.

Free Agency Notes: Kings, Kurashev, Merkley

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The Los Angeles Kings have been busy over the last couple of months, shipping out Calvin Petersen and Sean Walker to the Philadelphia Flyers, as well as acquiring and extending Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets most recently. After those moves, the Kings have a little over $4.5MM in cap space, with only 15 roster spots filled, according to CapFriendly. Due to the nature of their cap situation, it is more than unlikely that trade deadline acquisition, Joonas Korpisalo, will be retained by the team.

Los Angeles, who currently only has Pheonix Copley under contract to mind the net, will be looking for another goalie to pair with him next season. Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period has shed some light on how exactly the Kings are looking to fill that hole in their lineup, reporting that Los Angeles is looking for a goalie in the $1MM-$1.5MM range. It is unknown at the time if the Kings are planning on using Copley as their main starter next year, but it will be tough to find a goalie better than him at that price.

Many teams still have time to qualify their eventual restricted free agents, so Los Angeles may have some options available to them after that list is more well-known. At the time, in that range of salary, the Kings will likely be looking at goalies such as Alex Stalock or David Rittich, and even a potential bounce-back candidate in Alex Nedeljkovic.

Other notes:

  • Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Chicago reports that the only restricted free agent on the Chicago Blackhawks to receive a qualifying offer will be Philipp Kurashev. This means that Anders Bjork, Austin Wagner, and Caleb Jones will all go to the open market on Saturday. Jones is one of the more surprising players not to receive a qualifying offer, as he was originally brought in from the Edmonton Oilers to play with his brother, Seth Jones. Caleb is not a game-breaking player by any means but did eat just over 19 minutes a night for Chicago this season while also bringing quite the physical presence to their back end. Given that his qualifying offer would have been $1.35MM, and the Blackhawks are not in a cap crunch, it is likely that he will be playing for another team next season.
  • The Colorado Avalanche did not issue a qualifying offer to defenseman Ryan Merkley, as reported by Peter Baugh of The Athletic. Merkley was originally acquired by the Avalanche along with Matthew Nieto from the San Jose Sharks for Martin Kaut and Jacob MacDonald. Coming into the 2018 NHL Draft, Merkley was one of the most talented players in the draft, but questions about his attitude and work ethic led to his slide to 21st overall. Failing to turn a corner in his professional career, Merkley will head to unrestricted free agency this Saturday.

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