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Erik Karlsson

Tampa Bay May Still Be Looking For More Defense

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With the current high demands from Ottawa in a possible Erik Karlsson trade making it less and less likely that anything will happen, the Tampa Bay Lightning must choose whether they should be content with their defense or need to find another fit.

On paper, the team seems more solid than most as the team boasts Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh to go with promising Mikhail Sergachev and a host of solid blueline depth, including Anton Stralman, Dan Girardi, Braydon Coburn, Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek. Yet when looking a step further, their elite defensemen are all left-handed. Hedman, McDonaugh and Sergachev are all left-handed, leaving Stralman, Dotchin and Girardi on the right, which isn’t nearly as solid. While Sergachev has proven he can play on the right side, that isn’t ideal for the Lightning, which was another reason why the team was intent on adding the right-handed Karlsson.

In a mailbag segment, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) suggests the team needs to continue looking for a right-handed defenseman to even out both sides, suggesting the team should monitor the Jacob Trouba situation in Winnipeg since the stud defenseman refuses to sign a long-term deal with the Jets. Trouba, who received a one-year, $5.5MM deal from an arbitrator last week will have to go through the same process next year as he will be a restricted free agent again. If the two sides can’t reach long-term agreement then, he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2020-21 and might force his way out of Winnipeg.

Another option, Smith writes, would be prying Justin Faulk away from the Carolina Hurricanes. The right-shot defenseman has two years remaining on his contract at $4.83MM AAV, but with the acquisition of Dougie Hamilton and Calvin de Haan and the plethora of young defensive talent on the roster, including Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Haydn Fleury and Jake Bean, the team is expected to move Faulk for more help in other areas.

One final option and perhaps the cheapest would be to trade for Vancouver Canucks’ Chris Tanev. The 28-year-old stay-at-home defender has been solid for the Canucks, but is being overpaid at $4.45MM for the next two seasons. The right-handed defenseman would be a reliable presence.

Regardless, the team needs to shake up their defense. Coburn and Girardi, who have played bigger roles in the past, are better off as third-pairing defenders, while Sergachev played the best hockey of his career during the playoffs, suggesting he’s likely going to move into the top-four. Dotchin and Koekkoek are also both likely going to fight for time in the top-six, so something needs to change.

 

Snapshots: Dallas Trades, Milano, Armia

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The Dallas Stars have been deep in talks with the Ottawa Senators for the right to trade for Erik Karlsson this offseason, although negotiations seems to have died down after Ottawa supposedly insisted on Dallas including top defensive prospect Miro Heiskanen in the deal. However, Dallas, who has been rather quiet this offseason looks to be still working the phones on adding talent through the trade market, according to NHL.com’s Mark Stepneski.

The scribe writes that general manager Jim Nill said in an interview that he is still talking to teams about potential trades.

“I can’t name things, but there is still lots out there,” Nill said. “We’re talking to teams. There is still a lot of movement happening within the business. I can’t say there is anything happening overnight, but there is a lot of dialogue still.”

Nill has said that he likes the team, which has added former first-rounder Valeri Nichushkin, Heiskanen, Blake Comeau and backup goaltender Anton Khudobin. However, with many big names still available in trades, it wouldn’t be surprising if Dallas was looking to make one more big move.

  • The Hockey Writers’ Mark Scheig writes that if the Columbus Blue Jackets must part with Artemi Panarin, the team will likely have to look in their own organization for a potential replacement player who can take that next step on offense for them — namely Sonny Milano. While a year ago, the fans were ready to move on from the prospect after two long years in Cleveland with the AHL, Milano is the team’s best left wing offensive talent who could step in and replace Panarin. However, the scribe writes that the problem is that his defense has been holding him back, but if Milano shows that he can improve on that aspect of his game, he might thrive in a top-six role. The 22-year-old averaged just 11:39 ATOI per game last year and still managed to score 14 goals. If he could find better minutes, he might be the breakout player many thought he would be years ago.
  • With a new team and new opportunities in front of him, NHL.com’s Matt Cudzinowski interviews Joel Armia, who was acquired by the Montreal Canadiens a month ago from the Winnipeg Jets. The 25-year-old Armia said while his goal is to always improve on the season before, he is concentrating his training on improving his speed.  “I’ve been working a lot more on my skating and speed,” Armia said. “I think that’s going to help me more and more on the ice. The game is getting faster every year, so skating and speed have been the main focus. I’m training with a couple of guys in Pori who play pro in Finland. I’ve also been working in Helsinki with Teuvo Teravainen and Esa Lindell, and a couple of young guys who’ve been drafted. In Helsinki, they have some good skating coaches. That’s where I go every other week to work. I’ll spend about three days there at a time. I also get my off-ice workout programs there and train in Pori.”

Atlantic Notes: Marner, Karlsson, Larkin

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While Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews acknowledged recently that discussions have started regarding a contract extension, there hasn’t been a similar note for winger Mitch Marner, who also is entering the final year of his entry-level deal.  Ken Campbell of The Hockey News argues that the 21-year-old may be wise to wait until next summer to work out a new deal instead of doing an early extension.

Marner has been quite productive through his first two NHL seasons, recording 61 points in his rookie campaign and 69 last year.  He managed to do so despite not spending a lot of time with Matthews which is also notable.  With Toronto adding top free agent center John Tavares this summer, there’s a good chance that Marner will play with either him or Matthews which could result in a nice jump in his point total.  If that’s the case, he can likely get a bigger contract next summer with a bit more leverage than he currently has now.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

  • There is nothing imminent on the trade front for the Lightning when it comes to Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson. Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription required) characterizes the discussions as not having got particularly close to a deal and adds that some feel that Ottawa isn’t in any rush to move him and are prepared to wait to get the price they want.  Of course, further complicating things is that Tampa Bay may have to involve a third team to offload enough payroll to take on Karlsson’s $6.5MM contract as the Sens aren’t expected to be willing to take significant salary back in return.
  • While the Red Wings have yet to lock up RFA center Dylan Larkin, the soon-to-be 22-year-old told NHL.com’s Nick Cotsonika that there are no major issues thus far in their contract negotiations. Larkin is coming off of a career year that saw him collect 63 points to lead the team in scoring and will likely be bypassing the bridge contract.  It was reported earlier this month that Detroit is looking to do a five-year contract here but that they may have to go to six to get something done.

The Contract Each Team Would Most Like To Trade: Part II

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Nearly every team has one of those players: a top talent they were excited to sign and never thought could do anything but help them. In hindsight, history shows that more often than not, expensive, long-term free agent contracts don’t work out. It may look good at first (or it may look bad right away to the outside observer), but players struggle to make their value last throughout a lengthy contract. Those contracts come back to bite teams and are hard to get rid of. As teams begin to finalize their rosters at this point in the off-season, many are struggling to make everyone fit under the salary cap and are regretting these past signings that exasperate a cap crunch that can be tough for even a mistake-free club. We already took a look at the first third of the league; here are the contracts that each team would most like to trade, from Detroit to Ottawa:

Detroit Red Wings: Frans Nielsen – four years, $21MM remaining

As speculated by some readers in the comments section, it was no mistake that Part I ended with Dallas. Detroit deserved both some extra consideration and to lead off an article about poor contracts. There is an argument to be made that almost every single player age 28 and over on the Red Wings roster is signed to a bad contract for one reason or another. Detroit is a team that ranks towards the bottom of the standings and towards the top of the salary cap and that is not just bad luck. However, some are much worse than others and they are so bad that it is tough to choose between them. Take this scenario: Player A scored 35 points in 75 games last season. It was 14 points more than the season prior, including six more goals, and Player A also led the team in hits. He is 31 years old and signed for five more years at $4.25MM per. Player B scored 33 points in 79 games last season. It was eight points less than the season prior, and Player B also had the worst face-off percentage among the team’s centers. He is 34 years old and signed for four more years at $5.25MM per. Still undecided about which contract the team would rather trade? Player A is a Michigan native and career Red Wing and Player B is entering only his third year after signing a lucrative free agent contract. Player A of course is perennial whipping boy Justin Abdelkader. Yes, the Abdelkader contract is terrible. At no point in his career has he been worth his current contract value. Yet, he improved last season, is younger and brings a defensive element to his game, and is also loyal to the current administration – the call of the question after all is which contract the team would most like to trade. That would instead be Player B, Frans Nielsen, who at 34 is predictably declining and last year made more than Abdelkader for less production and there is no reason to believe that trend won’t continue. The team rewarded Adbelkader for years of service, whereas they took a gamble on Nielsen that hasn’t paid off. One of those moves is far more regrettable. Nielsen is the guy, but he only narrowly edged out Abdelkader and defenseman Danny DeKeyser, who also has relative age and Detroit roots to his advantage.

Edmonton Oilers: Milan Lucic – five years, $30MM remaining

The Oilers can refute trade rumors surrounding Milan Lucic all they want. The truth of the matter is that GM Peter Chiarelli signed Lucic hoping that he could both produce with and protect Connor McDavid in Edmonton as he did for David Krejci in Boston. The only problem is that the 30-year-old power forward can no longer keep up with a player of McDavid’s caliber. Lucic managed to score 34 points last season, tied for fourth on the team, but that is nowhere near what is expected of a $6MM player, especially when he scored 50 in year one with the Oilers and topped that mark many times with the Bruins. Edmonton still may be holding out hope that Lucic can turn it around and be just as much of a scoring threat as he is a physical threat, but make no mistake that the team would be quick to get rid of his contract if the right deal came along. In contrast, the team would be far more hesitant to move a hefty contract like defenseman Andrej Sekera who has been good and injury-prone, rather than healthy and underwhelming.

Florida Panthers: Roberto Luongo – four years, $18.13MM remaining

Florida is a tough one. Dale Tallon has done a good job of locking up his core long-term and, despite being right up against the cap, there are few egregious contracts on the roster right now. Give it a few years and maybe Michael Matheson will hold this title, but for now it goes to Roberto Luongo by default. Of course, Luongo is beloved in Florida and the team doesn’t even have to carry the whole of his cap hit, with the Vancouver Canucks retaining $800K each year. However, the reality is that Luongo will turn 40 this season and it will be only the first of four years left on his deal. The Panthers have almost $8MM committed to two goalies for the next few years and the other, James Reimer, is younger and outplayed Luongo in 2016-17 and in more games to boot. While they both fought injuries this past season, it was Luongo back on top performance-wise, but the impressive numbers he did post came in just 35 appearances versus Reimer’s 44. Florida paying over $4.5MM per year to a backup goalie in his forties just doesn’t make sense and the team would be better off moving forward with just Reimer and Michael Hutchinson if they could find a way to trade Luongo. Another reason this contract is bad: both the Panthers and Canucks will be hit with cap recapture penalties if Luongo retires prior to 2022.

Los Angeles Kings: Dustin Brown – four years, $23.5MM remaining

For the first time in years, Kings fans are feeling good about Dustin Brown. That is why now is the perfect time to trade him. Brown had been the bane of L.A.’s existence for four years, registering no more than 36 points each year while eating up $5.875MM in cap space, when he finally broke out of his funk in 2017-18 with a massive 61-point season and one of the league’s best plus/minus ratings. The question now is whether the past four years were an aberration with this season setting a new baseline or will Brown regress back to his bottom-six production. With a cap-strapped roster full of expensive contracts for older players, L.A. can’t take the risk of keeping Brown around if the right opportunity presents itself. They would be forced to trade the career King if a taker came forward rather than hold out hope that he doesn’t revert back to his old ways of being drastically overpaid.

Minnesota Wild: Zach Parise – seven years, $52.77MM remaining

When the Wild signed 28-year-old’s Zach Parise and Ryan Suter to matching 13-year contracts worth almost $100MM apiece, they knew that those deals would have dark days at some point in the future. However, they never could have imagined that Parise’s decline would come so soon. Parise remains one of the most popular players on the team, but injuries have kept him off the ice and affected his play when on the ice over the ice and his stock is falling quickly. Parise has never been able to reach the peaks he enjoyed in New Jersey, but he still produced at a high level over his first four seasons with the team. The past two years have been a different story and Parise appears to be trending in the wrong direction. Now 33, Parise isn’t totally beyond help and could turn it around. If back at 100%, Parise has enough natural ability and enough talent around him to still be a $7.5MM player. However, it would be nearly impossible for Minnesota to ever move the behemoth that is his contract so, if somehow they received an offer, they would take it without a second thought. Fan favorite or not, there is too much risk associated with Parise moving forward.

Montreal Canadiens: Shea Weber – seven years, $55MM remaining

I know what you’re thinking and yes, the Carey Price contract doesn’t look great right now. However, an extension of any length and value for any player coming off an injury-riddled season would bring a skewed perception. Price has been one of the best goalies in the league for years and one bad season doesn’t change that. Will he lose that title in the next eight years? For sure, but it would be a shock to see the Canadiens move their poster boy any time soon. Their #1 defenseman is another question though. When Montreal acquired Shea Weber for P.K. Subban, they never could have anticipated that his body would break down so soon after. Injuries cost Weber all but 26 games last season and he will miss the beginning of 2018-19 as well. Weber doesn’t seem like the type of player who will retire early, but there is no guarantee that these injuries won’t slow him down significantly for the remainder of his contract. In fact, the only guarantee is that he will slow down over the next seven years. At $7.86MM, the Canadiens need Weber to be his dynamic two-way self. The team already has one overpaid stay-at-home defenseman in Karl Alzner and can’t afford another. If they could move Weber, they would.

Nashville Predators: None

GM David Poile flat out doesn’t sign bad contracts. Criticize the deals for Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris if you like, but the bargain contracts throughout the rest of the lineup have allowed Poile to overpay for reliable centers and that is a team-building model that anyone can get behind.

New Jersey Devils: Corey Schneider – four years, $24MM remaining

The easy answer is that the Devils don’t feel any pressure to trade anyone on the roster. They currently have the lowest payroll in the league with nearly every player signed to a fair deal. Those who are overpriced – Travis Zajac and Andy Greene – play important leadership role and the only player signed to a substantially long-term deal is electric young blue liner Damon Severson. The one and only player that sticks out as a potential long-term cap problem is starting goaltender Corey Schneider. This may surprises some; after all Schneider trails only Tuukka Rask among active save percentage leaders. Schneider had been elite since arriving in New Jersey, but something started to change in 2016-17. His SV% fell to .908 and his GAA inflated to 2.82 and then things only got worse last season with a SV% of .907 and a GAA of 2.93. He was also limited to just 40 appearances this year and was outplayed by journeyman Keith Kinkaid. The Devils can’t count on Kinkaid to repeat his 2017-18 performance moving forward and if Schneider’s back-to-back bad years are more than a fluke, they can’t depend on him for four more years either. He’s not going to be a $6MM backup either. New Jersey will give Schneider the time he needs to return to form, but they may not hesitate if the right trade comes their way as well.

New York Islanders: Andrew Ladd – five years, $27.5MM remaining

The Islanders without John Tavares are a totally different animal. A six-year, $30MM extension for Josh Bailey now looks bad. A $5.75MM cap hit this season for free agents Leo Komarov and Valtteri Filppula signed to make up for Tavares’ lost production looks bad. The likes of Cal Clutterbuck, Casey Cizikas, and Matt Martin now look worse on a team that needs more offense and less grit. However, the one contract that looked miserable well before Tavares bolted to Toronto is Andrew Ladd and it is only going to get much worse. The veteran forward was intended to find chemistry with Tavares when he was signed to a seven-year, $38.5MM contract two years ago. Instead, Ladd has just 60 points over the past two seasons combined and has by all accounts been relegated to a bottom-six role. The 32-year-old will now be asked to take a bigger role in Tavares’ stead and that is a scary proposition. The Islanders aren’t in any cap trouble, but the team should be thinking rebuild and would likely take any offer at all to rid themselves of Ladd.

New York Rangers: Brendan Smith – three years, $13.05MM remaining

Has any free agent contract in recent memory soured as quickly as Brendan Smith’s? Smith signed a four-year deal with the Rangers last June and was expected to play a top-four role for the team for years to come. By February, he had been placed on waivers and buried in the AHL. Smith played in only 44 games with New York and saw less and less ice time as the season wore on and he continued to turn the puck over at an alarming rate and cost his team goals. Now what? One would assume that Smith will be given a second chance this season, but the relationship between he and the team may be beyond repair. There is no doubt that the Rangers would take a re-do on that deal and would move him if possible. Marc Staal is another player that New York wouldn’t mind moving, but as a player who can eat minutes and provide solid play most of the time, his $5.7MM contract seems like nothing next to Smith’s $4.35MM deal.

Ottawa Senators: Bobby Ryan – four years, $29MM remaining

No contract in the league has become as notorious for being labeled a “bad deal” that the team is desperate to trade like Bobby Ryan’s. The Senators are so determined to move on from Ryan that they are trying to force Erik Karlsson trade suitors to take the overpaid forward as well. At one point in time, $7.25MM per year for Ryan seemed like a fair deal. At 23 years old he was a 71-point player with the Anaheim Ducks and even after moving to Ottawa, Ryan started his tenure with three straight seasons in the 50-point range. However, the last two years have been very different. Ryan has only suited up for 62 games in each campaign and has looked like a different player on offense. At his best, he looks disinterested and lucky to be in the right place at the right time and at his worst he costs his team goals. Ryan has managed to register only 58 points combined over the past two years; he had 56 alone in 2015-16. Ryan may just need a change of scenery to jump start what used to be dynamic goal-scoring game, but the Senators don’t care about that. All he is to them is a waste of cap space and of owner Eugene Melnyk’s dwindling wealth. They want him gone at any cost.

Look out for Part III of this three-part series early next week…

 

Snapshots: Forsberg, Korn, Karlsson

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When the Chicago Blackhawks went out and signed Cam Ward this offseason, it created a situation where the team has three goaltenders on one-way contracts. Corey Crawford, the expected starter, is working his way back from an upper-body injury (most likely a concussion) and is expected to be ready for the start of the year—though today admitted he still is “not 100 percent” yet. The team also has Anton Forsberg, acquired in last summer’s Artemi Panarin–Brandon Saad trade on a contract worth $750K at the NHL level.

Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times spoke with head coach Joel Quenneville at today’s Blackhawks Convention, who admitted they won’t be carrying three goaltenders. As Lazerus explains, that means Forsberg will likely be placed on waivers at some point before the start of the season, giving every other team a chance at the 25-year old goaltender. Forsberg posted a .908 save percentage last season but simply wasn’t good enough to carry the load after Crawford was ruled out, something that Ward will have to try should the starter experience any setbacks or new injuries this year.

  • Mitch Korn will be joining Barry Trotz with the New York Islanders this season, after being named Director of Goaltending for the organization yesterday. Korn has been with Trotz for years, including during his time with the Nashville Predators. He’s been credited with developing (or at least polishing) goaltenders like Pekka Rinne, Braden Holtby and even Dominik Hasek over the years, a feat he’ll have to try and repeat in New York. The Islanders do have talent in their crease, especially with newcomer Robin Lehner who has shown brilliance at times throughout his NHL career but can’t seem to find much consistency. Though Korn will certainly work with Lehner and Thomas Greiss this season, his real task will be developing young Linus Soderstrom and eventually Ilya Sorokin into the elite goaltenders many believe both to have the talent to become. S0rokin is already one of the best goaltenders in the KHL, and could likely already step directly into the NHL as a starter if the Islanders could convince him to come to North America.
  • Anyone worried about Erik Karlsson’s health this season after a recovering ankle caused his play to suffer in the first half of 2017-18 need not worry, as the Ottawa Senators captain told Chris Stevenson of The Athletic (subscription required) that he’s all healed up. Karlsson dubbed his ankle 110 percent, saying that “it shouldn’t be an issue for me whatsoever” in 2018-19. You can be sure that any interested teams are listening closely, as the massive package that would be required to land Karlsson in trade would only be worth it for his former self. The 28-year old Karlsson still recorded 62 points last season after a late-season surge, but clearly wasn’t himself early on. If he’s back to the Norris-caliber defenseman he’s been for much of his career, he’ll make almost any acquiring team a powerhouse immediately.

Atlantic Notes: Karlsson, Pacioretty, Blashill, Kotkaniemi

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When looking across the spectrum at different sports, there are often situations that have similarities, which is what happened last week with the San Antonio Spurs when they were forced to trade their superstar basketball player Kawhi Leonard away, eventually trading him to the Toronto Raptors. While a very different sport, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) writes that the Spurs handled everything with class, even if they didn’t come out with the best return, and there are other general managers in the NHL, such as Montreal’s Marc Bergevin and Ottawa’s Pierre Dorion who should be paying attention.

The most comparable situation comes to Dorion who is tasked to move superstar defenseman Erik Karlsson as soon as possible. Just like in San Antonio, everyone knows Dorion has to trade him, making it more challenging to get a quality return. The Montreal’s situation with Max Pacioretty isn’t the same, but is similar to DeMar DeRozan, who the Spurs received from Toronto in the Leonard trade, who the team wants to move in fear of him leaving eventually. Regardless, Basu writes that both teams need to move on from their respective situations and the longer they wait the more desperate they are going to get. Neither team is going to want Karlsson or Pacioretty to show up at training camp in a few months. Both teams need to do the best they can and move on as quickly as possible.

  • In an interview with Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill, the Detroit Free-Press’ Helene St. James asks the coach about the importance of integrating youth onto their roster next season. The head coach says that there will have to be more advantages given to younger players this coming year. “I think one of the big keys is that when you are a playoff team on an annual basis, the right move is that when a young player and a veteran player are tied, the tie goes to the veteran,” Blashill said. “When you are a team that hasn’t made the playoffs for two years and a young player and a veteran player are tied, I think now the tie should go to the young player.” That could be a big advantage to some of the team’s top talents from Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek and Dennis Cholowski who will all be fighting for roster spots in training camp.
  • Sean Farrell of NHL.com writes that the Montreal Canadiens’ 2018 first-round pick, center Jesperi Kotkaniemi could make the team out of training camp. Bergevin said Kotkaniemi will be at training camp and didn’t rule out the third-overall pick from making the team. “He got better every day, so we’re going in with an open mind,” Bergevin said. “I don’t know, but just the fact that he’s signed and he’s coming to camp and he’s closer to the NHL. Where he’s going to be Oct. 1, I can’t tell you, but we see a lot of potential and growth in this young man.”

Pacific Notes: Neal, Montour, Brickley, Reaves

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The Calgary Flames have been extremely active this offseason after last year’s second-half collapse. The team went out and traded defenseman Dougie Hamilton for a pair of younger talents in Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm. They also added center depth with the addition of Derek Ryan. However, the key addition was the signing of veteran goal scorer James Neal.

The Athletic’s Kent Wilson (subscription required) looks into the five-year contract that Neal received, which was worth $28.75MM. At 31 years old, the Flames are taking a big risk that the deal will eventually drag the team’s salary cap situation down when he no longer is productive. However, with the Vegas Golden Knights as well as other teams moving up the Pacific Division race, Calgary feels that a goal scorer who has tallied at least 20 goals for the past 10 seasons is worth the risk as well as the fact that Neal has a history of making the players around him better.

  • Eric Stephens of The Athletic reports that Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray told season ticket holders today that he is flying to Toronto for defenseman Brandon Montour’s arbitration hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday. However, Murray said he is interested in locking up his 24-year-old blueliner to a bridge deal before that, if possible. The two sides gave up on a long-term extension and are hoping to come to an agreement before the hearing. Montour is an interesting case as he has only played for one and a half seasons for Anaheim, but already has arbitration rights, which makes this a more challenging deal to get completed.
  • The Los Angeles Kings will be in desperate need for blueline depth this season and they have high hopes in Minnesota State University-Mankato star Daniel Brickley. The Athletic’s Josh Cooper (subscription required) writes that the 23-year-old defenseman has taken an unusual route to get to the NHL, but might be heavily needed this coming year with no veterans signed for depth purposes. He signed with the Kings in March and with his size (6-foot-3, 203 pounds) and abilities (95 mph shot), he has a good chance to make the team, which is quite possible as the team is known for taking talent and inserting it into their lineup immediately. Last season, the Kings placed forward Alex Iafallo on the first line for a large chunk of the season.
  • Ken Boehlke of the SinBin writes that enforcer Ryan Reaves, who procured a two-year, $5.55MM deal, played a great game of poker with the Vegas Golden Knights this offseason when the team gave him three years of money, but with only a two-year term. While the deal gives Vegas more flexibility with just a two-year term and the fact that they have extra money after not acquiring Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan in a big offseason trade, the move doesn’t look so bad, but Reaves made the most out of his situation. He was evidently offered a one or two year deal after the season, but Reaves believed he could garner a three or four year deal. A team offered the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder a three year deal and Vegas general manager George McPhee offered equal value, but refused to go past two years, eventually adding the third year in money, but not in term. Regardless, it was a well-played hand by Reaves.

Poll: Who Will Be The Next Big Name To Be Traded?

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We’re getting close to the slowest time of the year for NHL news, as arbitration cases start to be wrapped up and teams are finished their free agent shopping. Through August there won’t be a ton of intrigue in terms of new contracts, but it’s shaping up to be a very interesting month with regards to the trade market.

The biggest name remains Erik Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators captain who is heading into the final year of his current contract. Still a superstar defenseman, Karlsson could command a huge package from nearly any team in the league if he’s willing to sign an extension, but his feelings on the situation still aren’t entirely clear. Now 28 years old, Karlsson has always maintained his love for the city of Ottawa and it’s not exactly apparent where else he would want to spend the next chapter of his life and career. To give up a package including top prospects, an acquiring team would want to know they have him for more than just one year.

Other than Karlsson though, there are other huge names still floating out there. Artemi Panarin, Max Pacioretty and Jeff Skinner have all been rumored as available in one sense or another and could supply a big offensive boost to any acquiring team. Panarin especially could draw a huge package given his overall offensive repertoire, but all three are marked with the same issue that hurts Karlsson’s trade value—each of them has just one year left on their current deals.

It seems unlikely that all of them will begin the year on their current teams, but the market has been quiet for some time as teams deal with other things. That might change in August after arbitration ends, and teams have a full concept of where their financial situation and roster structure has landed. Who do you think will be the first to move? We’ve included a list of oft-rumored players, but feel free to share your idea in the comments below!

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Atlantic Notes: Larkin, Lightning, Moore

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The Detroit Red Wings have two options in regards to signing restricted free agent Dylan Larkin this summer. The team could go short-term or long-term. With a solid, but hardly spectacular season, the Red Wings might want to wait and see how the 21-year-old develops over the next year or two and hand out short contracts to see if he’s worth the money. That makes sense considering the team is capped out with so many long-term deals having been handed out to veterans over the past few years.

However, NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that the team needs to look at the long-term option instead and lock up Larkin as quick as possible as he compares Larkin’s situation to that of Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers, who signed an eight-year, $68MM deal a year ago, which is starting to look like a bargain after the many signings since then.

Larkin, who has shown that he’s one of the few answers in Detroit still hasn’t broken out with the Red Wings. While his rookie campaign showed plenty of promise with 23 goals, he’s failed to duplicate that number since. However, while he did just tally 16 goals a season ago, his 47 assists was a career-high along with his 63 points, suggesting he might be due for a breakout season. Signing Larkin to a long-term deal now while his value isn’t through the roof might be better than waiting another two years when they will be forced to shell out top dollar in the future with the cap constantly increasing.

  • While it’s already been reported that the eight-year, $76MM extension that Nikita Kucherov signed will not take the Tampa Bay Lightning out of a potential Erik Karlsson trade, the team will have to make some moves if it does pull the trigger on a trade as the team has less than $3MM in cap space for this coming year. Brandon Schlager of the Sporting News writes that the most obvious candidates that would have to be moved would be forwards Ryan Callahan ($5.8MM AAV for two more years), Tyler Johnson ($5MM for six more years), Alex Killorn ($4.45MM for five more years) and defenseman Braydon Coburn ($3.7MM for one year).
  • Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe attempts to break down what the Boston Bruins defense will look like next season as well as what the team should expect out of their top free agent target, John Moore. The scribe writes that general manager Don Sweeney hasn’t struck gold yet with his long-term free agent deals, pointing to the contracts handed out to Matt Beleskey and David Backes. Beleskey was an outright failure, while Backes has been average, at best. Moore is just 27 years old and will be playing already for his fifth team, which isn’t a good sign. What the team’s plans are for his usage is also unknown as if the team intends to put him on the team’s second-line defensive pairings, then the team would force either Torey Krug or Brandon Carlo to the third-line pairing, which doesn’t make sense either unless the team intends to move Krug. However, there is still no proof that Moore is good enough to be a top-four player.

East Notes: Karlsson, Devils, Kotkaniemi

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Ottawa’s contract extension offer to defenseman Erik Karlsson came in close to the $11MM per year that Drew Doughty received from the Kings, reports Chris Stevenson of The Athletic (subscription required).  Previously, it was reported that the Senators had offered an eight-year deal worth $10MM per season.

However, one of the reported concerns Karlsson had with the offer was the lack of signing bonuses.  The inclusion of high signing bonuses with low salaries has picked up considerably in recent years, most notably with the John Tavares contract with Toronto earlier this month.  Whether the Senators weren’t willing to put them in or they were leaving it as something to potentially be negotiated remains to be seen but the quick rejection of that offer has led to an increase in trade speculation, especially since other teams have received permission to speak with Karlsson’s camp about an extension.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • The Devils plan to finalize their coaching staff within the next week or so, head coach John Hynes told reporters, including Chris Ryan of NJ Advance Media. New Jersey has a pair of vacancies to fill after Geoff Ward left to take the same role with Calgary while Ryane Clowe was named head coach of Newfoundland’s new ECHL team, an affiliate of Toronto.
  • While the Canadiens are eligible to send their top pick from the draft to the AHL level, that does not appear to be in their plans. In a mailbag column on Montreal’s team website, GM Marc Bergevin stated that if center Jesperi Kotkaniemi does not make the opening night NHL roster out of training camp, they will opt to loan him back to Assat in Finland over sending him to AHL Laval.  Kotkaniemi spent all of last season with Assat and finished third on the team in scoring with 29 points which helped make him the third overall pick last month.

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