Latest On Charlie Coyle Contract Talks
As the 2025-26 season progressed, more and more pending unrestricted free agents signed contract extensions to remain with their current teams. A free agent market that was once slated to feature big names such as Connor McDavid and Kirill Kaprizov has thinned out to a considerable degree, simultaneously hurting teams with big spending plans and helping the players who remain without a contract. One of the players who appears set to benefit most is Columbus Blue Jackets pivot Charlie Coyle.
Coyle, 34, is a pending UFA coming off of an extremely strong platform season. He’s set to be one of the top players available overall, and plays a premium position (center.) While his age might give some teams pause, he’s expected to receive significant interest on July 1 if he makes it until then without a new contract.
Yesterday, The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported that the Blue Jackets are determined to not let things reach that point. According to Portzline, a potential Coyle extension “is an immensely important contract for the Blue Jackets, such that Coyle could be seen as having a blank check to set his terms.”
On one hand, it’s not too difficult to see why Columbus would be desperate to extend Coyle. For much of Columbus’ franchise history, the team has battled a talent deficiency at the center position.
The Blue Jackets have been searching for a true No. 1 center for most of their existence in the NHL, and could very well have found one in Adam Fantilli. But Fantilli is still developing into that role, and the team’s No. 2 center, Sean Monahan, played through injury this season and was limited to just 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games. That’s a steep decline from his production last season, when he scored 19 goals and 57 points in 54 games. Monahan’s down season only further underscored Coyle’s importance to Columbus’ lineup.
Keeping Coyle would ensure the center position remains an area of strength in the Blue Jackets’ lineup. Part of why it may be seen as essential to team management is the fact that Columbus is under substantial pressure to reach the playoffs. They have very narrowly missed out on playoff hockey in each of the last two seasons, doing so in dramatic fashion this year.
The Blue Jackets have not made the playoffs since 2019-20, when they defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in a qualifying-round series. The club cannot afford to take a step backward or hurt their odds of competing next season, and most would argue that losing Coyle on the open market would be doing so.
With that said, on the other hand, it’s also fair to question whether investing in Coyle would be in the team’s best long-term interests. If Columbus do indeed feel backed into a corner with Coyle, as Portzline suggested, that’s not exactly an ideal position to negotiate from.
The team’s immense interest in keeping Coyle, combined with the anticipated heavy interest in his services from across the league, gives him a massive amount of leverage in talks with the Blue Jackets. Coyle spoke highly of his time in Columbus, but it still is likely to cost quite a bit to keep him from testing the open market.
Is paying top dollar for a talented veteran center the best move for the Blue Jackets to make if the goal is building a sustainable contender? That’s the question team management will have to answer over the next few months as it considers whether to extend Coyle.
These Pending UFAs Mishandled Their Prior Trips Through Free Agency
In the NHL, some players welcome the chance to bet on themselves when it comes to unrestricted free agency. But not every player likes taking that risk, because there is always the possibility that the bet doesn’t pay off or that the player and their representatives misjudge the market and miss out on a payday. Sometimes, these players land big contracts later in their careers, and that is the hope for the three players in this article, who are approaching free agency again this summer and have another chance to learn from their previous attempts and finally cash in.
The first player on this list and one of the most recent is Chicago Blackhawks defenceman Matt Grzelcyk, who had to settle for a PTO this past offseason after his market never materialized despite coming off a career year. Grzelcyk posted a goal and 39 assists last season, playing all 82 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and was projected by AFP Analytics to receive a three-year deal worth $3.77MM annually. However, he ended up with a PTO and eventually signed a one-year, $1MM deal.
It was clearly a massive disappointment for the 32-year-old, and it’s hard to say exactly what transpired in his negotiations. His market did not develop as expected, and his contract fell well below the projected market value. Nonetheless, it should have been evident to Grzelcyk’s representatives that his market probably wouldn’t be very strong after the Penguins were unable to trade him at last year’s trade deadline. Grzelcyk remained in Pittsburgh after the deadline despite the team being well out of the playoff picture at that point, which suggested that teams weren’t exactly eager to add him. In any case, Grzelcyk is a free agent once again this summer after a disappointing campaign with the Blackhawks, and it’s fair to wonder if he will get a multi-year deal this offseason. AFP Analytics has him pegged for a two-year deal worth $2.8MM per season, but that may be a touch optimistic given his struggles this year.
Another player who struggled to secure a contract last summer was forward Jack Roslovic. The then 28-year-old was coming off a solid year with Carolina, where he scored 22 goals and 17 assists in 81 games. While his scoring stats looked decent, Roslovic was not exactly a seamless fit with the Hurricanes and benefited from a 15.8% shooting rate, about 3% higher than his career average. For the second consecutive summer, it seemed Roslovic misjudged the free agent market but didn’t land as softly in 2024 as he did in Carolina. In summer 2024, Roslovic signed with the Hurricanes on July 4 for $2.8MM on a one-year deal, serving as a cautionary tale for players hitting the market in 2025. Roslovic was one of those players, and unfortunately for him, his luck was much worse this time, as he had to settle for another one-year deal with the Edmonton Oilers, this time for $1.5MM.
Roslovic was projected last summer to sign a three-year deal worth $4.094MM, making his contract just over 10% of his projected earnings. He eventually changed agents and signed a one-year contract, setting himself up to hit free agency again. This summer, AFP Analytics predicts he could land a four-year deal worth $4.434MM per season, and it seems more likely this will happen given his new agent and the rising salary cap, while the free-agent class remains very thin.
Now we come to John Klingberg of the San Jose Sharks, who just a few years ago was a top-pairing defenseman with the Dallas Stars and helped lead them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2020. Back in 2021, much of the conversation around Klingberg centered on his impending free agency, and he and the Dallas Stars were engaged in contract talks to keep him in Dallas long term. At the time, Klingberg reportedly wanted over $60MM on an eight-year contract, which would have him around an $8MM AAV, and while some sources said he turned down $7MM a season, he never came close to reaching those numbers on his eventual contracts and never even sniffed that kind of long-term security.
Klingberg finally reached free agency in 2022 and had to settle for a one-year $7MM contract with the Anaheim Ducks, then followed it up with a one-year $4.15MM deal with Toronto. Last season, he played part of the year under a one-year $1.35MM contract with the Edmonton Oilers before signing a one-year $4MM deal this season in San Jose. Regardless of what the contract discussions were like with Dallas, Klingberg left tens of millions of dollars on the table and could have avoided the stress of moving teams five times. Additionally, he went from a low-tax state like Texas to high-tax states and provinces such as California and Ontario.
The NHL is full of cautionary tales regarding free agency. For example, defenseman Cody Franson is a case from a decade ago, and Thomas Vanek is another. More recent examples include Anthony Duclair and Evan Rodrigues, who eventually secured their contracts after a few seasons of uncertainty. This summer, players like Grzelcyk, Roslovic, and Klingberg hope to cash in and recover some of the money they left on the table. The salary cap is expected to rise, which should benefit them, but none of these players have performed at their best this season, so they may face another challenging period in free agency.
Ryan Shea Aiming For Extension With Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins have been one of the more impressive teams of the 2025-26 season, currently in a strong position as the No. 2 team in the Metropolitan Division, a real bounce-back from last season, when they finished in seventh place.
First-year head coach Dan Muse has rightfully gotten a significant amount of credit for the Penguins’ rapid turnaround, but there have also been individual players who have fueled the team’s reversal in fortunes. One player whose emergence has greatly aided the Penguins has been defenseman Ryan Shea, who now finds himself a pending unrestricted free agent.
The Athletic’s Josh Yohe spoke to Shea about his expiring contract, and Shea was candid about his future, saying “I’m a UFA this summer, and it’s not like I don’t know that, I think I’ve done a pretty good job of setting myself up.”
According to Yohe, Shea is “team-oriented,” and the reporter noted that the player’s focus is singularly on getting the chance to play playoff hockey for the first time in his NHL career.
But when it comes to his future, Shea’s priority isn’t testing free agency and securing a bidding war between other clubs for his services.
He has made it clear he wants to remain a Penguin, telling Yohe: “I absolutely want to be in Pittsburgh moving forward, I want to be here. This is the only organization that gave me a shot. I’m a loyal guy.” Shea added that his expectation is his contract will be dealt with after the season ends, in the summer.
Per Yohe, negotiations on a new contract have not yet taken place between the Penguins’ hockey operations department and Shea’s representatives. Shea is a client of Win Hockey Agency’s Matt Keator.
As Shea himself indicated, his breakout performance in the NHL has positioned him very well entering free agency. Shea’s rise has been so notable that we even covered his case for a hefty pay raise in January.
Shea has signed three successive one-year deals with the Penguins, his first a one-way pact valued at $775K. Shea’s second deal in Pittsburgh was a two-way contract, despite the fact that he played in a then-career-high 31 NHL games in 2023-24. That deal carried a $425K AHL salary and $450K guarantee along with the standard league-minimum $775K NHL salary. Shea’s third deal in Pittsburgh, the contract he’s currently playing on, is a one-year, $900K contract.
Shea has done enough to easily surpass that value on his next deal. AFP Analytics projects Shea’s next contract at three years, $3.43MM AAV. At face value, that seems like a fair number for the role Shea has played, serving as a hefty pay raise while also not breaking the bank by any means.
Shea has been the Penguins’ No. 6 defenseman in terms of average time on ice per game this season, but that doesn’t tell the whole story, as that includes mid-season additions Brett Kulak and Samuel Girard. Among Penguins blueliners who have played over 25 games for the team, Shea ranks No. 4 in average time on ice per game with 18:46. He ranks No. 2 in time on ice per game on the penalty kill, playing 2:14 there per game, which places him just a shade behind Parker Wotherspoon.
It’s clear that Shea has not only earned the trust of Muse, but also his teammates. He’s been a valuable defensive presence, an insulator for the Penguins defensemen who possess more natural offensive talent. Connor Clifton, Shea’s current partner on the team’s third pairing, said of Shea “I don’t really think that people understand how good this guy is,” and “he does everything well, there aren’t any weaknesses there.” Muse also spoke to Shea’s value to the Penguins’ lineup, telling Yohe: “you see the key defensive situations that he’s put in, five-on-five and on the penalty kill.”
With the expiration of his contract looming, Shea looks set to reach a new level of compensation, one commensurate with the on-ice value he’s established. His qualities as an NHL player are no longer a mystery, and neither is his desire to remain in Pittsburgh. All that is left to figure out, for both Shea’s representatives and the Penguins themselves, is the exact price tag it’ll take to get a deal on an extension formally completed.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Will Depth Players Get Paid Again This Summer?
Something funny was happening in the summer of 2019. Depth players began getting serious term on multi-year deals to a level we’d rarely seen before.
Take the contract for depth forward Brandon Tanev, who signed a six-year, $21MM deal with the Penguins. At the time, that contract raised a lot of eyebrows, as Tanev had topped out at just 14 goals and 15 assists in any single season, and a $3.5MM average annual value was especially steep on such a long-term deal.
The deal was an outlier on July 1, 2019, with no close comparison other than the Panthers signing Brett Connolly to a four-year, $14MM deal. Connolly was coming off a 46-point season, which far exceeded any of Tanev’s offensive contributions.
There was a sense at the time that the NHL might shift, with depth players able to secure longer-term, higher-dollar contracts. When Colton Sissons signed his seven-year extension with the Predators a few weeks later, it certainly looked that way.
Sissons was two years younger than Tanev and an RFA, whereas Tanev was a UFA, yet their eventual contracts were comparable. However, the global pandemic in 2020 stalled the league’s growth and led to a flat salary cap, effectively shutting teams out of paying for depth and fringe players’ big-money deals.
The stars still got their money, as evidenced by 2020 free agency, when Alex Pietrangelo was still paid handsomely (seven years, $61.6MM), while depth players had to take one-year deals at or around the league minimum.
The stars have continued to get their money, and top salaries have escalated over the last few years, while second-line players have also been rewarded handsomely as the salary cap has eventually climbed. But the depth players in the NHL have continued to feel the squeeze to this point, and it does feel like that might change this summer, with another big cap jump coming, multiple teams with loads of cap space, and a very weak free agency market.
In previous summers, solid defenders such as Calvin de Haan and Matt Grzelcyk, as well as forwards Jack Roslovic and Evgenii Dadonov, have been part of a large group of NHL-caliber players who have experienced a very tight free-agent market when they have been available to all NHL teams. Now, it’s not unheard of for players to fall short of salary expectations in free agency, but it has become a common occurrence over the last six years, and it feels like this could be a summer where teams overpay for depth.
There has been a surge in signings in recent weeks, with the most recent being the Penguins locking up fourth-line center Blake Lizotte to a three-year deal worth $6.75MM total, and the Canadiens inking Alexandre Texier to a two-year deal worth $2.5MM per season. These deals were not massive signings, but they show that teams are moving to lock up their depth as they look to the summer UFAs and realize there isn’t much out there.
Center Christian Dvorak is another excellent example, having recently signed a five-year deal with the Flyers after settling for a one-year deal last summer. Dvorak has long been injury-prone and inconsistent, but the Flyers felt they had to ink him to an extension amid a career year in Philadelphia.
So, what depth players will get shocking contracts this upcoming summer, or will they? If you go by the old cliché that a rising tide raises all boats, it sure looks like the players at the bottom of the lineup will finally start to get a bigger slice of the pie.
Could a player like Ryan Shea, Connor Dewar, or Philipp Kurashev get a big-money, multi-year deal this summer? Or will teams continue to show restraint in the lower rungs of the free agency market, even though they have more wiggle room?
It’s hard to believe there won’t be some silly deals on July 1, 2026. There are always head-scratching choices NHL GMs make. But this could be a free agency unlike any we’ve seen in a decade or so.
July 1, 2016, is hard to forget for some teams, as massive mistakes were made that were clearly bad choices at the time. Loui Eriksson signed with Vancouver, Milan Lucic signed with Edmonton, and David Backes signed with Boston. Several other players were given ridiculous contracts relative to their future projections, which wasn’t anything new, especially for players with a history of being top-six NHL players.
However, some general managers watched those errors and learned a valuable lesson that carried through the COVID years, when there was a massive salary-cap squeeze. While teams didn’t have the salary-cap space to make the egregious contract offers, some GMs still did, and they usually paid the price for it.
A good example was Penguins GM Ron Hextall, who made some odd choices in free agency, particularly when he signed a Tanev replacement in the summer of 2021. Hextall inked Brock McGinn to a four-year, $11MM contract that was a poor value for the Penguins and was eventually traded along with a sweetener to the Anaheim Ducks in 2023.
That deal, along with contracts like Pierre Engvall’s, highlighted why many teams stayed away from giving terms to their depth players. But this summer, the stars are aligning for some wild contracts to be handed out to players who likely won’t last the length of the deal in the NHL. For fans of contending teams, or teams on the upswing who think they are just a player away from contention, you just have to hope your favorite team isn’t among the unlucky ones handing out the money.
Arbitration Schedule For Remaining Cases Finalized
The arbitration hearing dates for the few remaining unsettled cases have been finalized, PuckPedia reports:
F Kaapo Kakko, Kraken: July 25
G Arvid Soderblom, Blackhawks: July 28
F Maxim Tsyplakov, Islanders: July 29
D Dylan Samberg, Jets: July 30
D Conor Timmins, Sabres: Aug. 2
F Nicholas Robertson, Maple Leafs: Aug. 3
D Jayden Struble, Canadiens: Aug. 3
There are only seven out of this year’s initial 11 player-elected arbitration cases still without a resolution as the hearings approach. Winnipeg had three of the players on that list and has settled with two of them, reaching a two-year, $3.7MM settlement with Morgan Barron and a substantial six-year, $45MM deal for Gabriel Vilardi.
The Ducks also had two arbitration cases on that list, but settled with both of them in the past few days. Depth defenseman Drew Helleson got a two-year, $2.2MM contract, while emerging star goaltender Lukas Dostal signed a five-year, $32.5MM deal.
There were two team-elected arbitration cases this year, the Sabres’ Bowen Byram and the Mammoth’s Jack McBain, but both have been settled.
As for the seven players above, they can continue talks with their clubs on a new deal until the hearing begins. After that, they’re bound to the arbitrator’s decision.
Players who reach an arbitration hearing are only eligible to sign a one or two-year contract. Since the player filed for arbitration in all seven cases above, the team gets to choose the contract length after receiving the arbitrator’s decision on the AAV. However, only Robertson, Soderblom, and Struble would be eligible for two-year contracts. Everyone else is one year away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency status, so they can’t receive a multi-year arbitration award.
If the arbitration award exceeds $4.85MM in any case, the team can decline it and allow the player to become an unrestricted free agent.
Updates On Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad
Although the organization’s main sights are on winning its second Stanley Cup championship in as many years, the Florida Panthers have a few key pending unrestricted free agents to worry about. In an interview on NHL Network, David Pagnotta believes negotiations are going much better with one than they are with the other.
A few days ago, James Mirtle of The Athletic reported that virtually no teams are expecting Sam Bennett to reach free agency, and Pagnotta believes that’s the case. In the interview, Pagnotta shared that Bennett and the Panthers are negotiating a new deal that would pay him approximately $64MM over eight years. 
Bennett’s value largely comes from his postseason performances and the intangibles. AFP Analytics projected Bennett’s next deal around the six-year, $40MM range, which is reasonable given he’s only scored more than 50 points in one season. Still, he’s an extremely physical forward, has responded well to Florida’s possession-heavy scheme, and has a unique ability to get under the skin of opponents.
He’s been an instrumental part of the Panthers’ run to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. Since the start of the 2022-23 postseason, Bennett has scored 26 goals and 50 points in 60 games, and is leading this year’s playoffs in goals. Outside of putting pucks in the net, Bennett has made headlines this postseason for his extracurricular activity, particularly his somewhat egregious physicality toward opposing teams’ netminders.
Unfortunately, negotiations aren’t going as smoothly with defenseman Aaron Ekblad, according to Pagnotta. Despite Ekblad’s public desire to remain with the only organization he’s known, Ekblad and his representation are asking for a similar or increased salary on his current $7.5MM AAV, but the Panthers only feel comfortable paying him in the $6MM range.
In Florida’s defense, Ekblad has had significant injury issues throughout his entire career, only playing in a full campaign in three seasons out of his 11-year career. Still, offering him a 20% pay decrease as the salary cap rises projects as an unbridgeable gap.
Ekblad is only a few weeks away from reaching unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career, and he could become more amenable to a lower salary if his comfortability in Florida outweighs his salary demands. Still, as a capable top-four right-handed defenseman, Ekblad should be able to match or increase his salary on the open market.
Evening Notes: Sullivan, Penguins, Blues
Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote about the Pittsburgh Penguins freefall and what it means for head coach Mike Sullivan. Yohe wouldn’t lean one way or the other when it comes to Sullivan’s future but did concede that the Penguins’ current predicament is ripe for a coaching change. However, he doesn’t believe that general manager Kyle Dubas or Penguins ownership expected the team to make the playoffs this season.
Sullivan has been at the helm of the Penguins since late 2015 and has guided the Penguins to two Stanley Cup championships. That being said, the Penguins haven’t been out of the first round of the playoffs since 2018 and have missed the postseason in each of the last two years. Combine that with their horrific 7-12-4 start to this season, and it has people wondering if a coaching change is in order. Yohe casts doubt on that possibility but does add that if things get much worse in Pittsburgh, it could happen.
In other evening notes:
- TSN’s Darren Dreger spoke on TSN690 radio and mentioned that the Penguins have been heavily scouting the Montreal Canadiens. Dreger wonders if a trade could be brewing between the two sides, adding that nothing is in the works yet, but he does see a potential path to a deal between the two teams. Pittsburgh isn’t in fire sale mode yet, but with so many expiring contracts on the books and the playoffs falling out of reach with each passing game, the Penguins may begin to move players out with an eye toward the future.
- The St. Louis Blues didn’t expect to make a coaching change until Jim Montgomery became available a few days ago (as per Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press). Blues general manager Doug Armstrong spoke to the media today saying that the Blues viewed Montgomery’s free agency as an opportunity to grab a top coach in the NHL and improve the team’s prospects behind the bench. The move certainly came as a shock to many but can’t be that surprising given Montgomery’s coaching experience as well as his deep ties to the Blues organization.
West Notes: Joshua, Seguin, Montour
Canucks forward Dakota Joshua participated in a full practice on Friday as he gets closer to returning from testicular cancer, relays Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. The 28-year-old went from a depth player earlier in his career to a key part of Vancouver’s bottom-six forward group while setting career highs in goals (18), assists (14), points (32), and hits (235) in 63 games last season. That helped him earn a four-year, $13MM extension back in June to avoid free agency. Despite being LTIR-eligible, Vancouver never moved Joshua there so they won’t have to worry about having to get cap-compliant when he’s able to return which should happen sometime over the next few days. With Nils Aman on waivers today, it appears they’re getting ready to open up the spot for Joshua to return.
More from the Western Conference:
- Stars center Tyler Seguin was scratched from the second and final Global Series game today; the team announced (Twitter link) that he’s listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The 32-year-old is off to a good start to his season, notching five goals and four assists in seven games. However, this is already the second time he has missed time to a lower-body issue after missing three games last month as well which could be cause for concern if it’s a problem that might linger for Seguin.
- After missing Thursday’s game in Toronto for the birth of his second child, Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour has returned to the team and will play tonight versus Ottawa, notes team broadcaster Piper Shaw (Twitter link). The 30-year-old is in his first season with Seattle after signing a seven-year, $50MM contract on the opening day of free agency. He has fared quite well with his new team so far, picking up four goals and five assists in his first ten games while recording a hat-trick on Tuesday against Montreal. Since Montour was never removed from the active roster, no corresponding move is necessary for him to return.
Snapshots: Okposo, Kuznetsov, Wetsch, Mallory
Back in May, winger Kyle Okposo indicated that he wasn’t sure if last season would be his final one. Now three weeks into free agency and his first Stanley Cup title under his belt, the veteran told NHL.com’s Dan Rosen that he still hasn’t decided if he’ll return for an 18th NHL season. The 36-year-old played in 67 games last season between Buffalo and Florida, collecting 12 goals and 10 assists in 13:21 per night, the second-lowest ATOI of his career. Playing time was harder to come by in the playoffs as he averaged just 8:33 per contest in 17 appearances. After playing on a $2.5MM salary last season, Okposo would likely need to take a sizable pay cut if he wants to continue his NHL career in 2024-25.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Unrestricted free agent Evgeny Kuznetsov is expected to meet with SKA St. Petersburg next week to discuss a possible contract, his agent Shumi Babaev told Sport-Express’ Konstantin Belov. The 32-year-old asked for and was granted a contract termination from Carolina earlier this month but soon had some interest from other NHL teams. However, at the time of his termination, it was widely anticipated that he’d return home; SKA head coach Roman Rotenberg stated earlier this week that Kuznetsov would definitely be returning to the KHL.
- Sharks prospect Carson Wetsch has been added to Canada’s roster for the upcoming World Junior Summer Showcase, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link). The winger was a third-round pick last month, going 82nd overall after a quality sophomore year with WHL Calgary, one that saw Wetsch record 25 goals and 25 assists in 67 games before a stint with Canada at the World Under-18s.
- The Senators announced that they’ve hired Josh Mallory as an assistant video coach. This is the first NHL opportunity for the 27-year-old. Mallory spent the last three seasons as the video coach and manager of hockey operations with WHL Edmonton.
Oskar Steen Signs In SHL
Last month, the Bruins gave Oskar Steen’s camp permission to talk to other teams about trying to secure the pending free agent a contract to stay in the NHL and that his focus wasn’t overseas. However, a deal didn’t come to fruition so the middleman has decided to return home as SHL Farjestad announced that they’ve signed Steen to a five-year contract.
The 26-year-old was a sixth-round pick by Boston back in 2016, going 165th overall. He spent three more years in Sweden with Farjestad before coming to North America for the 2019-20 season.
Steen got his first taste of NHL action in the 2020-21 campaign but got a longer look the following season, getting into 20 games with the big club while adding 35 points in 49 games with AHL Providence. That earned him a two-year, one-way deal and seemingly had him in the mix for a full-time spot with Boston for the 2022-23 campaign.
Instead, Steen wound up clearing waivers and spent most of that season in the minors. He then cleared waivers twice more last season although injuries resulted in him getting into 34 games with Boston but he was limited to one goal on 24 shots while logging a little more than nine minutes a night on the fourth line. He was more productive in Providence with 12 goals in 25 games but Boston decided not to try to retain him, instead letting him walk to Group Six free agency.
With the length of this contract, Steen won’t become a free agent again until his age-31 season so it would be surprising to see him generate NHL interest at that time unless he becomes a top scorer in the coming years with Farjestad. If it is the end of the road for him at the top level, he leaves the NHL with four goals and four assists in 60 career appearances.