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Looking Ahead To 35+ Contract Situations

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In the NHL, signing players after they turn 35-years old comes with some added restrictions and capabilities. For one, those players are now eligible for one-year contracts that include performance bonuses, a way to mitigate risk for the team while still providing opportunities for previously successful players. The big restriction though, is that the cap hit of any contract signed after 35 will stay on the books regardless of what happens with the player. Whether their bought out or retire, the team will still face the full cap hit for the entire length of the deal.

This year, we saw Colorado swallow their pride and buy out Francois Beauchemin even with this extra clause, and they will face the full $4.5MM cap hit this season. Mike Cammalleri, who is now 35 himself and was similarly bought out will not fall under this rule because he signed his contract several years ago. Only if the contract is signed after 35 does it come into effect.

With that clear, let’s look at some of the players who will be under contract for the 2018-19 season and could potentially cause their teams a cap hit without actually playing for them. Here are all the 35+ contracts that will still be active after the coming season.

Patrick Marleau – Toronto Maple Leafs

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Patrick Marleau to a three-year, $18.75MM contract this offseason and took a substantial risk in doing so. Marleau turns 38 before the season starts, and though he has been known to keep his body in great shape throughout his career is clearly on the regular downward trajectory every player experiences. The Maple Leafs did an interesting thing to reduce some of their risk however, by front-loading Marleau’s contract and paying nearly the whole thing out in signing bonuses. Patrick Marleau

On July 2nd 2019, a few months before the final season of the contract begins, Marleau will have just $1.25MM left owed to him. Though he’ll be 41 for that season, and still carrying a $6.25MM cap hit, he’ll be a near-free option for a team struggling to hit the cap floor. That’s assuming he’s not still effective and the Maple Leafs want to keep him around, though they will be paying their young players like Auston Matthews a good chunk of the cap and may need the room. Marleau does have a no-movement clause, but if he’s set on retiring anyway it likely wouldn’t matter to him if his contract was traded.

Justin Williams – Carolina Hurricanes

Williams signed a two-year deal with the Hurricanes to return to the place he won his first Stanley Cup, and he comes with very little risk for the club in terms of retirement. Still a very effective scoring option, last season Williams actually registered his highest goal total since his days in Carolina a decade ago. It’s hard to see how he would fall so far in 2017-18 to make him think retirement was the only option.

That said, there is always a chance that a 35+ player could fall off a cliff production wise or just reach a point in his life that he wants to move on from hockey. If he did that next summer, the Hurricanes would be on the hook for a $4.5MM cap hit with no player to show for it. Luckily, the Hurricanes are one of those cap floor teams and an empty hit like that would pose no issue to their salary structure. They’d rather have an effective Williams in the lineup, but this deal came with almost no risk.

Ron HainseyRon Hainsey – Toronto Maple Leafs

Here come the Maple Leafs again, who handed out two multi-year deals to 35+ players this offseason. Hainsey comes fresh off a Stanley Cup victory with the Pittsburgh Penguins in his first taste of the playoffs, and will be expected to log difficult minutes in Toronto to take some pressure off their young group. His two-year, $6MM deal also comes front loaded should the team need to move him next summer.

Hainsey will be 38 when the contract expires, and some have already started to point out his deficiencies as the years roll on. With the Maple Leafs having to make decisions on James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak, William Nylander and Leo Komarov next summer, any further decline from Hainsey could be a problem. With no buyout relief available, the Maple Leafs would likely have to bite the bullet and keep him around through the end of the deal.

Alex Burrows – Ottawa Senators

It took a two-year extension from the Ottawa Senators to get Burrows to waive his no-trade clause at last year’s deadline, and that number will be tough to watch for the team should he continue his rapid decline. For a player who once scored 35 goals in a season, Burrows had just 24 the last two combined. While he did show some better jump in the Ottawa lineup, the team has several young players who will deserve more playing time over the next couple of seasons.

$2.5MM isn’t the end of the world, but when you’re a team who works on a tight internal budget like the Senators every dollar can mean a lot. Without the buyout option and the risk of Burrows hanging it up, that $2.5MM could haunt them next summer. Luckily, it will expire before the team needs to shell out the dollars for Erik Karlsson, who will be eligible for extension next offseason but won’t have his expected record-breaking deal kick in until 2019-20.

Ryan Miller – Anaheim Ducks Ryan Miller

Anaheim took a risk handing out a 35+ contract to Miller, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of him wanting to retire just yet. He’s now closer to his offseason home with actress Noureen DeWulf, and $2MM per season to backup John Gibson seems like a perfect scenario 37-year old goaltender. Even though he could suddenly turn ineffective, their faith in Gibson and his similar inexpensiveness (he’s owed just $2.3MM in each of the next two seasons) covers their back.

Derek MacKenzie – Florida Panthers

The two-year extension the Panthers gave their captain last summer was a surprising one, if only because you don’t usually see players of his stature receive a guaranteed contract a year before they’re due for one. MacKenzie signed his first 35+ contract, but it comes at such a small cost—$2.75MM total over two years—that it poses little risk. The team wouldn’t need to buy him out, and even if he were to hang up his skates next summer they would have plenty of cap room. Besides, the Panthers have had great success with 35+ contracts in the past—just ask Jaromir Jagr.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Aging Stars Left Behind

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Probably the most intriguing subplot of the NHL off-season this summer has been the total unwillingness of many teams to sign older players. Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton are two notable examples, but even in their cases there was a lot of unnecessary complication. Marleau had to leave the only franchise he’d ever played for to get an additional contract year, while Thornton had to settle for a single year in San Jose. While hockey fans are enamored by the seemingly ageless Jaromir Jagr, GMs aren’t so impressed. What gives?

The league is heading in a particular direction, and that direction is speed and puck possession. Analytics are absolutely dominating every conversation with NHL executives, agents, coaches, and scouts. For the first year however, we’re seeing this level of scrutiny drastically and obviously affecting player signings and market value. If you had said even three years ago that 46-point hall-of-fame winger would have difficulty finding a home on a cheap NHL contract, you’d have been laughed out of the room.

Shane Doan and Jarome Iginla are interesting cases, each for different reasons. Doan was the ultimate team player in Arizona, dealing with nearly two decades of ownership drama and poor-performing teams. He’s also fiercely disliked within his division for his skills in the art of aggravating. He hits, he plays defense, and he still has the offensive acumen to contribute to a third or fourth line. No takers. Iginla has certainly slowed down, but he looked like he belonged in Los Angeles. He has undeniable scoring ability, and 20 goals wouldn’t be out of the question. His leadership skills were lauded endlessly as the gritty, take-no-prisoners captain in Calgary. At the historically underappreciated left-wing position, he stands out in the new millennium as truly elite. Not to mention, he’s still desperate for that first Cup ring. No takers. Andrei Markov will be 39 years old, but he’s one of the most consistent powerplay quarterbacks in the post-lockout age. He can still skate relatively well and would even be able to handle second-pairing minutes. His shot is a bomb and it seems he never misses a pass when he has a lane. He can’t find a team willing to offer him a second year on his contract. No takers.

Then there’s Jagr. Jagr is easily within the top 50 players of all time. He’s flirting with 2000 points and he controls the puck better than almost anyone in the league, even at the ripe age of 45. He hasn’t posted a negative Corsi since the stat was tracked, and is only a season removed from 66 points, which helped propel Florida into the playoff for the first time in an eon. His foot speed is really his only drawback, and yet, he sits and waits. It’s questionable as to how much of the holdup is based on his desire for adequate compensation, but the fact remains that he is still unclaimed.

Ultimately, the issue for these players comes down to a combination of issues. Firstly, analytics. For those of us who aren’t particularly adept, this overwhelming trend may seem tiresome. There are certainly players in the league who agree that it leaves a lot to be desired. Still in its infancy, Fenwick and Corsi percentiles are really all that has been accepted by the mainstream of hockey fandom, while most front offices have entire positions dedicated to this developing field. A huge part of the disconnect between onlookers and organizations lies in that difference in emphasis of these advanced stats.

Secondly, many teams in the league simply don’t feel they are truly ready to compete for a Stanley Cup. At the moment, under 10 teams probably believe they can contend in the upcoming season, barring a Cinderella run. The league’s parity is arguably at an all-time low since 2004. Consequently, many teams are looking to rebuild or retool their teams, to gain young talent and speedy, dynamic players who will be a part of the future for multiple years. The aforementioned players are all seeking one or two year deals, and many teams simply aren’t thinking in that timeframe. Additionally, the few teams who do feel set to contend right now (Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington, etc.) are tight up against the cap and don’t want to allocate valuable dollars to a “declining” asset.

Whether this scenario is fair or not to aging players, it seems a dynamic that is here to stay. It would be wholly unsurprising to see this avoidance of over-35 contracts become a trend in the coming years. They’ve certainly bitten teams hard in the past, and perhaps general managers are backing away for good reason. Most of these players should still find a fit, but the prices could be exceptionally low.

PHR Originals: 7/3/17 – 7/9/17

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Here’s a look back at some of the original content from PHR last week.

  • Holger writes about how the Rangers may want to figure out how to pay Ryan McDonagh as he’s only a couple years away from free agency. Currently playing for the Rangers at a bargain, McDonagh may be off to another spot should the Blueshirts not have the cap room to pay him.
  • What else could a back-to-back champion need in order to three-peat? Brian offers the Penguins scouts the Pens as to what they should be looking for to keep their dynasty running into a third consecutive season.
  • Zach wonders if the San Jose Sharks need to make another move to bolster a roster now missing mainstay Patrick Marleau.
  • Seth profiled Jaromir Jagr to see what a team would be getting with the 45-year-old who still appears to have a little bit left in the tank.
  • Mike showed how many players are still being compensated by their former team who paid them to go away.
  • In addition to hosting his weekly chat, Gavin asked our readers which available free agent was the best choice for teams seeking help.
  • Finally, I looked to see  if both the qualitative and quantitative data really show that the Chicago Blackhawks’ window is closing. Though some of the numbers are harsh, I think that things are not as grim as many want to believe.

Leafs’ Cap Woes Not Yet Fatal

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Much has been made by the Toronto media in recent  months regarding the team’s future cap situation. Currently, they sit at $3.929 MM over the cap ceiling. That issue is relatively unimportant considering the players that will end up on long-term injured reserve, but the sudden pressure of being “in the red” has started to make analysts nervous about the team’s future. The man source of concern surrounds the three star youngsters, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander, who will all need contracts before 2019-20. The 21 year-old Nylander’s RFA year is 2018-19 so his contract will be the first domino to fall.

Recently, Howard Berger penned an article proposing the necessity of moving on from one of Marner or Nylander due to impending budget restraints, and he ultimately advocated for the movement of the latter. The Toronto Star’s Damien Cox takes a more comprehensive look at the situation, but ultimately comes down with a fatalistic view of the situation – that it can only be rectified by abandoning one of these players in their primes. The author postulates that an approximate “37 percent of Toronto’s payroll” could be sacrificed to just that trio, estimating that the cap will rise only moderately (likely true).

There’s a very solid possibility that Toronto is overvaluing their own players’ worth a tad. There is also the incredible probability that one of the three may have a setback year, at least points-wise, which will bring a contract back down into reasonable territory. Matthews may not even make $10 MM on his first deal, and Marner and Nylander look to be only slightly more valuable collectively contract wise than say, Tyler Johnson and Ondrej Palat. Will the contracts be expensive? Absolutely. But will the three earn $30 MM combined? Not likely.

Ultimately, Toronto has difficult decisions ahead. Cox was correct in his assessment that Toronto is “going for it” now – the Patrick Marleau and depth player signings confirm that the team wants to compete in the short-term. But the long-term prospects probably don’t include sacrificing any of these players. With a combined cap devotion of slightly above 30%, the situation is entirely manageable.  The go-to example for star-power, of course, should be the Pittsburgh Penguins who have successfully shuffled accessory pieces out as they begin to become overpaid. Their big three – Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang account for $25.45 MM of the team’s salary, a solid 34.8% of the allowable cap last season. Toronto fans shouldn’t start hitting the panic button, and internally the course ahead financially is likely already plotted. The team will need to find players on cheap contracts and hunt for bargains, while moving out older expensive pieces as the core group matures. Adding Marleau for a third season also wasn’t particularly helpful as 2019-20 will be the tightest fit. That said, Marner and Nylander shouldn’t start packing their bags just yet.

Will The San Jose Sharks Make A Move?

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It’s hard to make an argument for any other team in the NHL as having a less exciting start to the 2017 off-season than the San Jose Sharks. Yes, the Sharks are just a year removed from a Stanley Cup appearance and have re-signed Norris Trophy-winner Brent Burns as well as Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Joe Thornton, and Martin Jones since then. You can get excited about new deals for Ryan Carpenter and Tim Heed last month too if you like. Yet, other than re-signing their own players, what have the Sharks added to their 2017-18 squad?

We know what they’ve lost. Patrick Marleau, a career-Shark and the franchise leader in goals (power play, short-handed, and even strength), points, and games played, is now a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs. David Schlemko, a 2016 free agency addition, was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Expansion Draft and then flipped to the Montreal Canadiens. Micheal Haley (Florida Panthers) and Buddy Robinson (Winnipeg Jets) are also gone.

The only additions for San Jose thus far, as they look to plug the holes formed by lost free agents as well as improve upon their 2016-17 performance: left wing Brandon Bollig and goaltender Antoine Bibeau. Bollig, 30, is a physical, fourth-line caliber forward, but doesn’t produce enough on a consistent basis to be a regular player. Bollig hit his career-high in points in 2013-14 with the Chicago Blackhawks when he scored 14 points in 82 games. Soon after, he was traded to the Calgary Flames, where he scored just nine points in 116 games over two seasons before being buried in the AHL for the entirety of the 2016-17 season. The big winger posted 11 goals and 11 assists in 60 games for the AHL’s Stockton Heat, but still brings little to the the table for the Sharks other than grit and experience. As for Bibeau, the 23-year-old keeper was not tendered a qualifying offer by the Toronto Maple Leafs after a disappointing season. Bibeau had an .894 save percentage and 3.08 GAA in 32 regular season appearances for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies and performed even worse in his one playoff game. Bibeau had clearly fallen behind Garret Sparks and Kasimir Kaskisuo to fifth in the Leafs’ organizational depth chart, and so he was not retained. In San Jose, Bibeau will be no greater than fourth behind Jones, Aaron Dell, and Troy Grosenick and may never get another NHL start.

Bollig and Bibeau, two players destined for the AHL, are not exactly an inspiring pair, which begs the question: will the Sharks make another move? The team is far from perfect and could use some help. Jones and Dell proved to be a solid duo last season and the blue line is as deep as any in the NHL, but San Jose is not without needs up front. The Sharks ranked just 19th in scoring last season, and also boasted on of the worst power play’s in the NHL, below average face-off numbers, and poor possession stats. Burns (a defenseman) was the team’s leading scorer last year and tied for the team lead in goals, while the since-departed Marleau was fifth in scoring and third in goals. The rest of the top five scorers –  Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, and Joe Thornton – will return, but the 38-year-old Thornton is recovering from a torn ACL and MCL, an injury that occurred after he scored all *seven* of his goals. Beyond those three forwards, the production dropped way off in 2016-17 to the likes of disappointments such as Mikkel Boedker and Joel Ward and young, developing players like Chris Tierney and Tomas Hertl. The Sharks have a clear need for secondary scoring, especially with Marleau gone, and could use a power play catalyst as well. Brandon Bollig is not going to cut it and a full season of Jannik Hansen, acquired at the Trade Deadline, likely won’t either.

Top options for the Sharks include Thomas Vanek, Drew Stafford, and Jiri Hudler, while taking a waiver on a veteran like Jaromir Jagr, Jarome Iginla, P.A. Parenteau, or Mike Ribeiro or on a younger player like Alex Chiasson or Brandon Pirri could work as well. Given the Sharks’ scoring needs, their sufficient cap space, and the complete dullness of their off-season to this point, perhaps maybe two of those players could find their way to San Jose. If not, the Sharks do have pieces to make a move to acquire a scorer, potentially a Matt Duchene or Evander Kane, if they so choose. One way or another, GM Doug Wilson needs to do something, and quick, or not only will he have a team that has surely gotten worse since the end of the season, but he will have a disappointed fan base on his hands as well.

Snapshots: Franson, Cheveldayoff, Marleau

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We’re still all quiet on the Cody Franson front, which has many analysts stumped. Franson is a decent possession player when you look at career Corsi and Fenwick. He’s the youngest “big name” defenseman left un-signed in unrestricted free agency. He played 68 games for the Buffalo Sabres, who were admittedly porous defensively, but finished with a minus 5 on a team where no one broke a plus 3. What’s most intriguing is his ability to skate combined with his overall size – 6’5 and 224 pounds. Franson also has a right-handed shot from the point, something many teams are lacking and actively seeking. He’s the prototype for a #4 defenseman in today’s NHL, and at only 30, has more hockey left in him. There’s been nearly no smoke around this player as we finish the third day of free agency, and that alone is befuddling.

  • Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff believes his Jets “are a cap team now”, and he’s willing to spend accordingly per Postmedia’s Ken Weibe. Cheveldayoff has been infamous league-wide for his reluctance to make too many roster moves – it took him the better part of three seasons to even make a trade. That said, he seems to be embracing a more proactive role in management. On July 1st he signed defensemen Dimitri Kulikov and goaltender Steve Mason to expensive contracts, and moved on from veterans Chris Thorburn and Mark Stuart. With his core players entering their primes, the time to compete is apparently now.
  • Patrick Marleau had a quality radio interview with TSN 1050 Toronto earlier this evening. There were a few good quotes that resulted, but nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps the most humorous moment in the segment was when Marleau insisted that he’s still “full of (pee) and vinegar…just like these kids”. Marleau apparently mulled over the decision for more than a week, weighing the pros and cons of the decision to move on from San Jose, the only franchise he’s ever played for. Ultimately, he cited his confidence in the management team, the exciting younger players in Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and the aggressiveness of the team to compete right away as reasons which tilted the scales in favor of the Leafs. The third year on the contract offer, which will take him to age 40, probably provided him lots of incentive, as well.

Joe Thornton Re-Signs With San Jose Sharks

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July 2: The Sharks have officially announced the signing.  His agency, Top Shelf Hockey, reports via Twitter that Thornton will earn $8MM in 2017-18.  TSN’s Pierre LeBrun adds (Twitter link) that the base salary is $6.75MM while he gets a $1.25MM signing bonus as well.

July 1: After all of the rumor and intrigue surrounding “Jumbo” Joe Thornton seeking a three-year deal and speaking with many teams other than the San Jose Sharks, NBC Sports’ California correspondent Kevin Kurz is reporting that Thornton has actually re-signed in San Jose for just one year. According to Bob McKenzie, the deal is worth more than $6 MM, and Fox Sports Northwest’s Andy Strickland has the exact total at $6.5 MM. This is nowhere near the paycut many experts expected from his previous $6.75 MM. In a weak UFA class, however, he ended up getting more AAV than many of the larger names out there.

The probable future Hall-of-Fame center has 1007 career assists, good for 13th all time. He only had 7 goals last season make up his 50 points in 2016-17, however, his lowest total in a full season. It was anticipated by many that perhaps fellow long-time shark Patrick Marleau would sign first, but the offer from San Jose and the allure of home was too much to keep Thornton from signing on the dotted line.

Thornton is obviously slowing down a step, but he is still one of the best playmakers in the game. His work on the powerplay is masterful and he has jump-started many younger players’ careers. On a one-year deal, there seems to be little downside to the Sharks, as he can still be a productive member of a top-9 offensive unit while providing solid defensive play. The price is a bit high, and it remains to be seen whether that will affect any potential negotiations with Marleau.

Toronto Signs Patrick Marleau To 3-Year Deal

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they have signed unrestricted free agent Patrick Marleau to a three-year deal, $18.75MM with the average annual value set for $6.25MM. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston tweets he has a full no-movement clause included in his deal. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweets that the deal will include a large signing bonus, just as the case was for Carey Price’s deal earlier today. He will receive $14.5MM in signing bonus money, split up with $7MM coming to him in the first year, followed by $4.5MM in year two and $3MM in the final year of the contract. The three-year pact means that Marleau will be 40 during the last year of his $6.25 contract.

Reported earlier on PHR, the 37-year-old wing was considering several offers, including a two-year offer from San Jose, but the rumor was that Toronto had the most impressive offer and Marleau took it. Having spent the past 19 years in San Jose, he will move on to the young, rising Maple Leafs squad and team with the young core of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner to help them take the next step. With this move, it seems obvious that the Maple Leafs plan to go all-out in hopes of capturing a Stanley Cup while they have their young core under rookie contracts. It is likely Marleau will be paired with both Matthews and Nylander as their first line.

For San Jose, the veteran team loses one of its most important players in their history. Marleau accumulated 508 goals and 1,082 points in his tenure with the Sharks and was rarely hurt, having played every game for the last eight seasons and only missing a total of 31 games in his career, according to Johnston. Although the team was able to lock up38-year-old Joe Thornton yesterday to a one-year, $6.5MM deal (although that deal is not official yet), the team lost out on one of their top goal scorers and will be hard-pressed to replace him, especially after the team struggled in the playoffs and were bounced in the first round. Those two have been playing together for the last 12 years.

 

Marleau Deciding Between San Jose, Toronto

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Patrick Marleau’s name has appeared everywhere as one of the top free agents that remain after the first day of free agency. The 37-year-old wing, who will turn 38 before the season gets underway, has played 19 years in San Jose and hasn’t slowed down one bit. His 27 goals are his best since the 2013-14 season and the veteran has always been consistent and healthy. So, what’s taking so long?

NBC Sports’ Kevin Kurz says that while the Sharks offered him a two-year deal on Friday, Marleau is considering other offers, despite the fact that linemate and friend Joe Thornton has already agreed to a one-year deal with the Sharks. It seems that Marleau has received multiple offers that trump San Jose’s offer and Kurz writes that the Toronto Maple Leafs offer is quite a bit better. While it would have to be a tough decision to leave a place after 19 years, it might make sense. Even with Thornton returning, the Sharks failed to get out of the first round last year, suffering a loss to a young and emerging Edmonton team, and the Sharks seem to be developing into a franchise that may have to reverse course soon and begin a youth movement. Heading to Toronto and an up-and-coming team (along with the better offer) might be a better way to go. Playing with the young core of players like Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner could be enticing to the veteran. According to Kurz, no one has any idea of what Marleau will decide and there is genuine concern among Sharks’ management that he may leave.

On another note, while Thornton has agreed to a one-year deal that TSN’s Bob McKenzie writes will be a $6.5MM deal, it still hasn’t become official. Kurz said that there is nothing to worry about. He believes that Thornton is waiting for Marleau to make his decision so they can be announced together, like he did in 2014. Thornton agreed to a one year deal, although Kurz says he was offered a two-year deal, like Marleau, on Friday. It’s likely that the one-year deal offered more.

Best Of What’s Left

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As we close in on the end of an only moderately crazy July 1st, there are quite a few names that remain from our Top-50 Free Agents list. Here are the best of what remains, and an update on each:

 

Alexander Radulov (#2) – Radulov is apparently playing two serious suitors off one another – Montreal and Dallas. Nothing has substantially changed since that was reported by Pierre Lebrun at mid-day. Perhaps a deal is sorted out tomorrow, but the main issue seems to be term. Radulov had a solid season in Quebec, but perhaps his Nashville baggage is scaring the GMs away from a long-term commitment. Many might cite the Russian factor here as the holdup, but the bigger deal is that Radulov only has one successful NHL season under his belt this decade. 54 points is impressive, but it’s a small sample size.

Patrick Marleau (#6) – The longer this trails on, the more likely it would seem that Marleau is headed away from Northern California for the first time in his career. We at PHR generally believed he would remain, but other teams are pushing hard for his services. Darren Dreger reported hours ago that four teams were in the mix – San Jose, Dallas, Anaheim, and Toronto. Dallas seems intent on landing a big name, and Toronto has been active all afternoon. It’s hard to see Marleau going to the rival Ducks, but anything can happen. Kevin Kurz of NBC Sports California believes that the other franchises have offered the veteran winger more lucrative contract opportunities. It’s uncertain how much of this is posturing for a better deal from the Sharks, or whether he is serious about moving on.

Thomas Vanek (#9) – Vanek is apparently still in talks with multiple suitors, according to the Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta. There hasn’t been much smoke around Vanek, but I would expect things to heat up in the coming days. Although he’s slowed a step, he’s arguably one of the best forwards available and he won’t be exorbitantly expensive. He’s productive at 5 on 5 and he would be a solid fit in many teams’ top-six forward groups. Florida seems content to move on, but that could always change.

Jaromir Jagr (#13) – Perhaps the ageless wonder finally has worn out his welcome. According to his own twitter, he hasn’t received any calls. It’s shocking to see him go without any substantial interest, because he can certainly still produce. In this copycat league, it seems every franchise is trying to mimic the speedy model that has seen recent success. Perhaps a slowed Jagr is becoming a tougher sell. He’s definitely going to settle for less money than he was hoping for.

Andrei Markov (#14) – With the reports that Markov wants a two year contract with a $6 MM AAV, it’s not surprising that Montreal walked away. With Karl Alzner now in the fold, they have a lot of money already allocated to the blueline. They could always circle back, but Markov still provides a unique and valued skillset at his age and is likely to find a home elsewhere. Any team with a poor powerplay could be the one that gives the old-timer the contract he wants.

Mike Fisher (#18)  – With Nashville acquiring Nick Bonino, and hinting that he will be their second line center, it seems a safe bet that Fisher may retire. If he wants to return, it would be on a sweetheart deal. Fisher has shown little interest in moving away from Tennessee.

Drew Stafford (#21) – Stafford had a rough year, but it’s difficult to imagine he won’t be a bargain for whichever team snags him. His 21 points last season through 58 games were easily a career low, but he’s only one year removed from a 21-goal season in Winnipeg.  Boston GM Don Sweeney hasn’t cut off ties, apparently, according to CBS Boston’s Matt Kalman. Other than that, we’re pretty much in the dark. At this point, he’d be a low-risk top-nine player for any team looking to fill out their forward corps. Interest should pick up.

Cody Franson (#22) – Franson is arguably the most coveted defenseman that remains, as he performed admirably on a dreadful Sabres squad. It will be interesting to see the sort of money he will command. Today has been a day where both the money and term for most contracts has been remarkably reasonable. As the free agent bonanza drags on into day two, it begs the question of whether the prices will come down ever further. Franson can step in and contribute on a second pairing, but teams should be wary of giving him too many minutes. As a right-handed shot, his value is only increased, but will teams who missed out on Alzner and Shattenkirk be interested in allocating a good portion of that money to Franson instead?

 

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