Washington Capitals Win 2018 Stanley Cup Championship
For the first time in 44 years, the Washington Capitals are Stanley Cup champions. The 1974 expansion team won the first title in franchise history with a 4-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game Five. The long-suffering fan base that has seen more President’s Trophies than Conference Championships in the team’s history can finally breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate their team getting over the hump. The Stanley Cup belongs to the Capitals in 2018.
Leading the charge for Washington in the postseason and in the deciding game was of course Alex Ovechkin. The franchise leader in scoring fittingly led the team in playoff goal scoring and set the franchise record for goals in a playoff by notching his 15th en route to a win the first title in franchise history. Evgeny Kuznetsov led the team with 32 points in the postseason, adding an assist in Game Five and leading all forwards in ice time. Lars Eller potted the game-winning goal mid-way through the third period to cap off an excellent postseason in which he took his game to the next level and was a clutch presence for the Capitals. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the play of goaltender Braden Holtby, who won back the starter’s job early in the postseason after a tough regular season and went on to make brilliant save after brilliant save these past month, especially in the Final. Not to be forgotten are key contributors like long-time Capitals Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson and Jay Beagle, T.J. Oshie, Matt Niskanen, and Brooks Orpik among others. Head coach Barry Trotz should also be commended for his excellent work and on a career that, like his superstar forward, has always lacked one thing: a title. Not anymore, as Trotz and the Caps are champs.
However, this win is also about the players that came before this team who have long waited for a title to come to Washington. Peter Bondra, Mike Gartner, Dale Hunter, Olaf Kolzig and others can all enjoy what this team has accomplished and what the last four decades have led to.
The achievements of George McPhee, Gerard Gallant, and Vegas Golden Knights, an expansion team in their inaugural season, cannot possibly be overstated. Yet, this franchise has a bright future and is unlikely to have a long wait for their own title. Washington fans had waited long enough. After 44 years, the Washington Capitals are champs and D.C. is a title town once again after 26 years.
Evgeny Kuznetsov “Day-To-Day” With Upper-Body Injury
Friday: Amazingly, Kuznetsov is on the ice at the Capitals option skate this morning. No word on whether he’ll play tomorrow, as Trotz still claims he has not been cleared to return to game action.
Thursday: The Washington Capitals came away with a big road win in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final last night, but they also lost a key contributor in the match-up. The postseason’s leading scorer, Evgeny Kuznetsov, was forced out of the game early after he was the recipient of a hip check into the boards from Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb. Speaking to the media earlier, head coach Barry Trotz offered no update on Kuznetsov’s condition, other than to say that he is “day-to-day” with an undisclosed upper body injury, reports Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post. Trotz seemed unsure if Kuznetsov would be available for Friday’s practice as he deals with this injury, but hopes to give a more educated update tomorrow.
The hit in question (video) seems to show the brunt of the impact landing on the right elbow and forearm area of Kuznetsov. If Kuznetsov suffered a break of any kind in that area, it would severely limit his stick-handling ability and would likely mean the end of his season. If he cannot return in the series, it would be a major blow to Washington’s Cup hopes. Kuznetsov has 25 points this postseason, including eleven goals, and had been on an 11-game point streak as well. Should the Capitals go on to win the series, the 26-year-old center would likely be one of the favorites to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
For what it’s worth, Kuznetsov’s teammates do not seem overly concerned about his availability. Alexander Ovechkin told Khurshudyan that he’s “sure he’s going to be fine”, while Nicklas Backstrom offered an open-ended “We’ll see what happens”. If Kuznetsov does miss any time, it is also comforting to Washington players, personnel, and fans alike that Lars Eller performed well when he was forced to take over Kuznetsov’s ice time last night. Eller’s tenure in Washington has not been without bumps in the road, but he has taken his play to a new level in these playoffs. It would not be easy to fill the shoes of the postseason’s most dangerous forward, but Eller seems to be up for the task if called upon.
Capital Notes: Trade Deadline, Beagle, Grubauer, Burakovsky
Don’t expect the Washington Capitals to be “all in” at the trade deadline like they have been in recent years. While the team sits atop the Metro Division once again, it is believed that general manager Brian MacLellan is taking a more measured approach to this season. A good, but not necessarily dominant team that has very little cap room to wiggle with, the Capitals are making a lot of key decision with next season in mind as well.
The extension of center Lars Eller Saturday was a critical move for MacLellan, who needed insurance the team wouldn’t have to replace a center next season, according to the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan. If they hadn’t made that move, then the team would have been looking for a future center via trade using more of the team’s assets. The team has now started contract negotiations with pending unrestricted free agent John Carlson, which is their top priority. Depending on how negotiations go will have an effect of whether they pursue a blueliner at the trade deadline if they feel they can’t sign Carlson to an extension.
- In the same story, Khurshudyan writes that with Eller on board and if the team manages to extend Carlson, that could likely end the tenure of veteran center Jay Beagle. The 32-year-old fourth-line center has been with the Capitals for his entire career, but will be an unrestricted free agent next year. He has six goals and 11 assists in 54 games. He had a career best 13 goals and 30 points last year and currently makes $1.75MM.
- Khurshuyan also adds that the team is likely to trade backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer this summer. With starting goaltender Braden Holtby still under contract for another two years after this one, Grubauer has become expendable. The 26-year-old is ready for an increased role, which the team cannot provide. The backup will be a restricted free agent next year and should make quite a bit more than the $1.5MM he makes currently.
- NBC Sports’ Tarik El-Bashir writes that despite trade speculation surrounding youngster Andre Burakovsky, head coach Barry Trotz and MacLellan have given the 23-year-old votes of confidence. A winger with top-six potential, the former 2013 first-rounder has just four goals this year in an increased role and has spent some time in the press box as a healthy scratch. “[Burakovsky] got off track with his injury and missed some time and got out of sync,” MacLellan told reporters on Saturday. “I’m really confident that he’s going to be a good player here. He’ll find it down the stretch for us.”
Capitals Sign Lars Eller To A Five-Year Contract Extension
The Capitals have locked up Lars Eller for the long haul as the team announced that they have signed the center to a five-year, $17.5MM contract extension. The $3.5MM cap hit on this new deal matches his AAV on his current contract.
The contract breaks down as follows, courtesy of team writer Mike Vogel:
2018-19: $4MM salary, $1MM signing bonus
2019-20: $3MM salary, $1MM signing bonus
2020-21: $2.5MM salary
2021-22: $3MM salary
2022-23: $3MM salary
Eller is in his second season with Washington after being acquired from Montreal back at the 2016 NHL Entry Draft for a pair of second-round draft picks. He has been a mainstay as their third line pivot since then and is currently is on pace for a career year. He has 11 goals and 17 assists through 53 games; his career high in points was 30 (set with Montreal in 2012-13).
In his career, the 28-year-old has played in 576 games between St. Louis (who drafted him 13th overall in 2007), Montreal, and Washington, tallying 96 goals and 113 assists. He has been quite consistent over that span, notching at least 25 points in each of the last seven seasons.
As was the case last offseason, Washington appears to be heading towards a summer where they will very little flexibility to work with. This signing now gives them more than $62MM committed to just 14 players for 2017-18, per CapFriendly. Even with the salary cap expected to increase for next season, that won’t give them a lot of room to work with to try to add to their roster.
However, Eller’s extension ensures that the Caps will have their center situation under control for at least the next two seasons as Nicklas Backstrom is signed through 2019-20 while Evgeny Kuznetsov is under contract through 2024-25. It also takes one of the more prominent middle men off the open market for free agency this summer. While Eller didn’t make the top-20 in our midseason Free Agent Power Rankings series, he did receive an honorable mention.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
2018 Midseason UFA Power Rankings: Best Of The Rest
With the halfway point of the season now behind us and the trade deadline fast approaching, it’s time to take a preliminary look at the UFA Class of 2018. We ranked the top 20 pending unrestricted free agents based on votes from writers Gavin Lee, Brian La Rose, Nate Brown, Zach Leach and Holger Stolzenberg. You can find numbers 1-10 right here, and 11-20 here.
Today, we’ll look at those names that just missed the cut but will still be interesting options this summer. All of these players were included on at least one ballot, but did not accumulate enough points to crack the top 20.
Michael Grabner, F, New York Rangers — Included on three of five ballots, Grabner is a useful player that nevertheless doesn’t grab many headlines. Despite scoring 20 goals already this season and having a career-high of 34, there aren’t many teams who would slot Grabner into their top-six without hesitation. That’s because he’s best used as a straight speed threat and penalty killer, who counter-punches extremely well but has trouble creating opportunities for his linemates. In fact, Grabner has just 86 assists in 519 career games and has only once registered more helpers than goals in a full season. There’s no doubt he’ll be gobbled up quickly in free agency, but it’s hard to claim he’s one of the absolute top options.
Ian Cole, D, Pittsburgh Penguins — Included on two ballots, Cole is an interesting free agent case that may be clouded by his relationship with his coach this season. Despite being one of Pittsburgh’s more reliable defenders over the past few years, he’s clashed with head coach Mike Sullivan and spent time in the press box as a healthy scratch this season. Whether that plays a role in determining how much he can get on the open market is still to be seen, but there is certainly value in a two-time Stanley Cup defenseman that will be just 29 when he hits free agency.
Henrik Sedin, C, Vancouver Canucks — Amazingly, Sedin was included on just one ballot and was left out of the top 20 despite his twin brother Daniel making it in. He’ll be going wherever Daniel ends up, and you have to wonder whether it will be Vancouver or nothing. Today, agent J.P. Barry told Rick Dhaliwal of NEWS 1130 that he’ll have discussions with the Canucks on the future of the twins before the trade deadline, but there’s a real chance the club will decide to go in a different direction.
Lars Eller, C, Washington Capitals — Included on just one ballot, Eller is an example of how valuable centers are in the NHL. Though he’s never scored more than 30 points in a single season, his consistent effort at both ends of the rink will surely land him a multi-year contract around the league. Whether the Capitals are able to keep him around might be dependent on what happens with John Carlson, as the team doesn’t have a lot of money to give out on July 1st. If he’s able to convince people that he’s closer to Nick Bonino than Jay Beagle and not the other way around, he might be able to land himself a nice chunk of money for the next few years.
Erik Gudbranson, D, Vancouver Canucks — The fact that Gudbranson, the third-overall pick form 2010 was included on just one ballot shows how far he’s fallen. The rough defenseman doesn’t give you any offensive upside, but still could be sought after for his youth and physical play. He’s still logging lots of time in Vancouver, and has a really impressive pedigree to ride into at least one contract. What he does with it will determine his future in the league.
Luca Sbisa, D, Vegas Golden Knights — If Sbisa had been healthy all year and part of the Golden Knights run he may have been ranked higher, but his time on injured reserve has hurt his upside going into the summer. If he comes back and proves that he can still use his skating ability to help the team in the playoffs, teams will certainly add him as a depth defender with upside.
Leo Komarov, F, Toronto Maple Leafs — Komarov is still one of Mike Babcock’s favorites in Toronto, but the media and fans alike have started wondering why exactly that is. Though he’s physical, works hard and is one of the best penalty killers in the league, Komarov’s offensive game has fallen off a cliff with just 11 point on the season despite playing regularly with Patrick Marleau and Nazem Kadri. If those numbers don’t improve, he may find it hard to secure anything but fourth-line minutes (and money) on his next team, especially as he heads into free agency at 31.
Metropolitan Notes: Bailey, Hagelin, Stephenson
The New York Islanders may have come out of last night’s performance with a loss, but it definitely didn’t feel like one. For one, the team’s offense, particularly the power play, seems to have hit its stride and the team finds itself putting up solid numbers. A lot of that credit goes to their top line of John Tavares and Anders Lee. However, it’s the third man on that line that deserves quite a bit of credit, according to Newsday’s Arthur Staple, who gives much of the line’s success to Josh Bailey.
Bailey has been the key to the team’s offensive firepower, especially on the power play and has helped fix that power play which started the NHL season at a 0-for-20. The scribe points out that while Tavares and Lee have combined for five of the team’s nine goals, all coming since their Oct. 19th game against the New York Rangers, it is Bailey’s passing work that has made the difference. The 28-year-old winger is among NHL leaders with six power play assists since then and has had nine assists in the last four games, giving him 13 assists this season. In fact, since the start of last year (the 2016-17 season), Bailey has racked up 56 assists and only 10 players in the NHL have more than him, including names like Connor McDavid, Erik Karlsson, Patrick Kane and Niklas Backstrom.
Unfortunately, for the Islanders while that’s great to see him taking that next step, its also another cause for concern as he is in the last year of a five-year, $16.5MM deal. He undoubtedly will expect a raise, likely a significant one and suddenly along with Tavares, the team will have their work cut out for them this offseason.
- Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette writes that Pittsburgh Penguins’ fourth-line wing Carl Hagelin is well aware that his offense needs to step up. The recently scratched wing has struggled this year offensively. While he’s never been an offensive juggernaut, the 29-year-old has struggled with just a goal and an assist in 14 games. Add that to the $4MM the team owes his this year and next year, his struggles even stand out more. Mackey writes that it’s his shooting percentage that has fallen off a cliff since last year. His 4.4 percent shooting percentage is way down from his earlier career averages of 9.4 percent.
- Mike Vogel of NHL.com writes that the Washington Capitals’ line of Lars Eller, Tom Wilson and Chandler Stephenson is thriving in the three games that they’ve been paired together. Eller and Wilson have played together quite a while, but it has been the addition of Stephenson, who replaced the injured Brett Connolly that has made the difference in the line. The 23-year-old might finally be breaking into Washington’s lineup after only playing in 13 games combined in the last two years. So far, his one goal and two assists in four games looks solid. In the three games, the Eller-Wilson-Stephenson line has posted three goals and eight points, the most of all the Capitals lines. The success of the back-end line is welcome since the top six lines have struggled recently.
Capitals Not Discussing Extensions With John Carlson And Lars Eller
The Capitals have not discussed possible contract extensions with pending unrestricted free agents John Carlson and Lars Eller, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports (video link). Carlson is poised to collect a big raise as he’s on a team-friendly deal with a cap hit just shy of $4MM and was voted the top potential blueliner to hit the market in a poll on PHR earlier this week (and the vote wasn’t particularly close). He has collected at least 37 points in each of the last four seasons while averaging 23:31 per night and point-producing blueliners that can play top pairing minutes are always in high demand and short supply in free agency.
As for Eller, he is carrying a $3.5MM cap charge this season although it’s worth noting he’s collecting $4.75MM in salary. While he has yet to progress into the top-six center that he was projected to become, he is still more than a serviceable third line pivot for Washington and should command a fair amount of interest in free agency if he makes it there. While his game-to-game performance can be inconsistent at times, his production has been the opposite as he has ranged between 25 and 30 points in each of the last six years.
After coming off of a disappointing postseason last year, it’s not too surprising that extension talks with these two haven’t started. If this season doesn’t go well, it’s possible that GM Brian MacLellan could look to take the team in a different direction, something that would be harder to do if these two were already under contract by then.
However, the salary cap is also likely playing a role into this decision. The Caps currently have just shy of $59MM committed to just 13 players for next season per CapFriendly and signing Carlson and Eller to long-term extensions would eat up a significant chunk of the flexibility that they could potentially have next summer.
The two pending UFAs aren’t the only free agents of note that Washington will have to deal with either. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer and winger Tom Wilson highlight their list of restricted free agents while Jay Beagle headlines several other unrestricted free agents.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Washington Capitals
Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Washington Capitals
Current Cap Hit: $70,910,107 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Jakub Vrana ($863K, two years remaining)
This is where the Capitals have gotten themselves into trouble. Playing to win it all for the last couple of years has taken a toll on the depth of the team’s roster as they have chosen to go with veterans rather than allow youngsters to work their way into the lineup. Now that those contracts have become too much and the team has had to purge a number of free agents to stay under the cap, suddenly there is no depth to look to when they really need it.
Vrana, a former 2014 first-rounder returned to his team in Sweden after being drafted, but signed at the end of the 2015 season and joined the AHL Hershey Bears for three games, tallying five assists. He then added six points in 10 playoff games to establish himself as a top prospect. He scored 35 goals over the next two seasons in Hershey before being promoted to Washington last year. In 21 games, he tallied three goals and three assists and appears ready to step in to a bottom line role this year.
There are a number of minor leaguers that may be ready to step into the lineup such as defenders Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos, but none have seen any NHL action so far in their careers and there is no guarantee they will make the team out of training camp.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
D John Carlson ($3.96MM, UFA)
F Lars Eller ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Tom Wilson ($2.0MM, RFA)
F Jay Beagle ($1.75MM, UFA)
G Philipp Grubauer ($1.5MM, RFA)
D Taylor Chorney ($800K, UFA)
F Devante Smith-Pelly ($650K, RFA)
The team has already lost several key defenseman in the past few months, including Kevin Shattenkirk, Nate Schmidt and Karl Alzner. Could Carlson be next? While the team still has several veteran remaining on their roster, the team might be hard-pressed to avoid losing another veteran defenseman. Currently penciled in to play next to Orlov, at 27 years old, he would be a big loss if the team is unable to bring him back. However, the team will be paying Orpik, Niskanen and Orlov, more than $16MM combined next year. Will Washington find the money for Carlson?
Wilson is a player who the Capitals have high hopes for. The 23-year-old wing is a former 2012 first-rounder and has played four years with the team already, usually among the bottom-tier lines. However, with smoe of the team’s losses on offense, including Marcus Johanson and Justin Williams, this might be the year that Wilson breaks out. He is currently penciled in on the team’s second line and while he managed just seven goals a year ago, he did put up three playoff goals, showing he might be ready for an enhanced role. As a restricted free agent in 2018, the team will have some control on managing his salary.
Perhaps one of the more interesting decisions the team must make is what they plan to do with their backup goalie. Grubauer is considered to be one of the top-young goaltending prospects and while he was not chosen by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, many feel that he could be a solid starting goaltender. However, with Holtby in front of him and locked up for three more years, that role would not likely be given to Grubauer in Washington. With minor leaguer Pheonix Copley looking ready to become the team’s backup and the presence of 2014 second-round prospect Vitek Vanacek and 2015 first-round prospect Ilya Samsonov, the team is loaded with goaltending talent. It seems far more likely the team will move Grubauer at some point, maybe at the trade deadline next season to add much needed depth.
Eller is at best a third line center, who averages between 10 and 15 goals per season. Barring a breakout year and he’s already 28 years old so that seems unlikely, Eller at $3.5MM might be too expensive to bring back in a year, but it’s too early to tell. Beagle did have a career year last year and should challenge Eller for that third-line center job with the loser likely to man the fourth line. Beagle, a faceoff specialist, scored 13 goals last year. If the team can bring them back on relatively cheap deals, they might be able to retain them.
Chorney was used primarily as an extra defenseman last year and only managed 18 games last season. With the team’s lack of depth after their top four, Washington may have no choice but to give Chorney a chance to win one of the last spots. The 30-year-old did manage to get into 55 games a year ago. Smith-Pelly, a quiet free agent acquisition this offseason, scored four goals in 55 games for New Jersey last year. Their futures will be decided by whether they make the team and how they perform.
Early Expansion Protection News: Capitals, Kings, Flames, Predators, And More
The 2017 NHL Expansion Draft is an exciting process. If you’re too riled up to wait until the lists are officially submitted in the morning, you’re in luck. As could be expected, information leaks are flooding in on who was and wasn’t protected by their teams ahead of the deadline this afternoon. This list will be updated all night long as more news comes in:
- Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post was the first reputable source to release her team’s protection list, as she confirmed the Washington Capitals’ names not long after the 5:00 PM ET deadline. The lists includes the expected names: Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Marcus Johansson, Lars Eller, Tom Wilson, Matt Niskanen, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov, and Braden Holtby. While not surprising, the list does not include long-time Jay Beagle, promising young players Nate Schmidt and Brett Connolly, and a oft-rumored target of the Golden Knights, backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer.
- L.A.-based hockey writer John Hoven got the list of protected players for the Los Angeles Kings, which confirms that they will indeed protect eight-skaters, including four defenseman, rather than the 7/3 protection scheme. Among the safe are Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Tyler Toffoli, Tanner Pearson, Drew Doughty, Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez, and the key decision, Derek Forbort. Star goalie Jonathan Quick was also obviously protected. While the Kings succeeded in protecting the most valuable players on the roster, they still have left defenseman Brayden McNabb and a large assortment of forwards including Trevor Lewis, Nic Dowd, and Nick Shore open to selection.
- Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, who covers the Calgary Flames, has some key names for his team as well. Francis confirmed that the Flames did not protect 2016 free agent acquisition Troy Brouwer, but did opt to save younger assets like Sam Bennett, Micheal Ferland, and Curtis Lazar. Although Francis stops there, the rest of Calgary’s list is somewhat self explanatory with newly-acquired goalie Mike Smith, defensive core of Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, and Dougie Hamilton, and cornerstone forwards Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Michael Frolik, and Mikael Backlund as obvious choices.
- One not so obvious choice has been made in Nashville. Adam Vingan of The Tennessean answered a question on the minds of many, reporting that the Predators did in fact protect forward Calle Jarnkrok. With the rest of the eight-skater list all but set in stone with goalie Pekka Rinne, defensemen Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis, and Mattias Ekholm, and star forwards Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, and Viktor Arvidsson, the final forward spot came down to Jarnkrok, signed long-term, or James Neal, an elite scorer with just one year remaining on his contract. It seems that Neal will be open for selection, alongside names like Colton Sissons, Colin Wilson, and Craig Smith. Vignan adds that no deal has been struck between Vegas and the Predators to protect any of those players, with Nashville especially liking to retain Neal and Sissons.
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that, interestingly enough, young Detroit Red Wings defenseman Xavier Ouellet was not protected by his team. This is the first real surprise of the expansion process and the first protection news that doesn’t match up with PHR’s Expansion Primer projections. The 23-year-old skated in 66 games this season for Detroit, third most among defenseman, and his 12 points tied that of top-pair man Danny DeKeyser. Yet, Ouellett will not join DeKeyser and Mike Green in protection, instead beaten out by another teammate. GM Ken Holland, who has gotten the reputation of perhaps being too loyal, possibly chose aging veteran Niklas Kronwall over Ouellet. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite the rebuilding Red Wings.
- Another name confirmed to be unprotected is young Vancouver Canucks center Brendan Gaunce. Vancouver sports anchor Rick Dhaliwal was told that that Gaunce, a 2012 first-round pick, did not make the protection list for the Canucks, expected to be a 7/3 format, meaning that the team saw him as outside the top seven forwards on the team. The 23-year-old two-way specialist has upside, but after registering just five points in 57 games last season, no one will blame Vancouver for that choice.
Expected Extensions Prior To Expansion
Over the next few weeks, leading up to June 17th, when each team must submit their list of protected players from the Expansion Draft, there is going to be a flurry of activity. The Vegas Golden Knights are expected to make several side deals regarding the selection process, while the other 30 teams will be working through trade proposals with one another as well. Many teams will also make smaller moves, such as extensions and buyouts, to make the expansion process easier on themselves. Examples could include potential extensions by Carolina or San Jose if they decide they would like to protect Lee Stempniak or Mikkel Boedker respectively. However, there remain several teams that must re-sign a current player, following logic anyway, prior to Saturday the 17th, or else risk having to expose and possibly losing a major piece instead. Each team must expose two forwards and one defenseman that played in at least 40 games this season or 70 games over the past two seasons and also have term remaining on their contract. While meeting these quotas is not a problem for some teams, others lack the roster depth in long-term contracts to do so. No team wants to be pressured into exposing a valued player just to fill that quota, so instead they will sign another current player with the caveat that he will be left unprotected in the Expansion Draft. Such situations played out all year long, with Blackhawks’ forward Jordin Tootoo, Hurricanes’ defenseman Klas Dahlbeck, and, the most publicized of all, Flames’ defenseman Matt Bartkowksi. Yet, unsolved situations still exist. Below are some of the most dire situations and who could benefit from an extension in the near future in order for their team to comply with Expansion Draft rules:
Team: New Jersey Devils
Situation: The re-building Devils nonetheless have a solid core of forwards that they would like to keep together: Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, Travis Zajac, and Mike Cammalleri. New Jersey should be within their means to protect this group, expect that it leaves only Devante Smith-Pelly as a forward meeting the 40/70 qualification. Even for those who doubt the effectiveness going forward of the oft-injured 34-year-old Cammalleri, surely the Devils could find a better player to sacrifice than he or Smith-Pelly if they so choose.
Expected Extension: As a young team, the devils are chock full of impending restricted free agents. However, not all RFAs are created equal. Beau Bennett, Jacob Josefson, and Stefan Noesen are all candidates for extension and exposure, but Bennett played a bigger role for New Jersey than even Smith-Pelly in 2016-17 and Noesen played the best hockey of his young career after a mid-season trade from the Anaheim Ducks. Josefson has shown next to no progress in six years in New Jersey. Look for the Devils to try to work out an extension with the 25-year-old center to fill the hole in their expansion plan.
Team: New York Rangers
Situation: The Devils’ cross-town rivals are in a similar situation. The Rangers have put together a core of forwards that is the envy of most teams in the league, but it could soon be torn apart. Many feel that backup goalie Antti Raanta will be Vegas’ choice, but New York doesn’t want to give them any reason not to go that route and instead steal a good young forward. The team is already reserved to the fact that 2016-17 breakout star Michael Grabner has to be exposed, but they would rather protect all five of Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes, in addition to Rick Nash, whose No-Movement Clause prevents exposure, and impending RFA Mika Zibanejad. The only problem is that this protection scheme leaves only Grabner as a 40/7o forward.
Expected Extension: The Rangers are not without options for a forward to extend and expose. RFA’s Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Brandon Pirri, and Matt Puempel would all meet the quota criteria if handed a new deal, as would UFA Tanner Glass. While New York may not be eager to lose any of the four, none significantly outshine Raanta or Grabner in terms of selection value anyway, giving the team every reason to get an extension done with one or more. Fast seems certain to get a new contract from the Rangers anyway, so don’t be surprised if such a deal lands in the next week or two.