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Tyler Ennis, Steve Mason Officially Bought Out

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The Minnesota Wild and Montreal Canadiens have taken some money off the books, announcing the buyouts for Tyler Ennis and Steve Mason respectively. Both players now become unrestricted free agents and can sign with any club.

In Ennis, the Wild free up $2.2MM from their salary cap for this year. Ennis was in the last year of his deal in which he was going to receive $4.6MM. Acquired from Buffalo last offseason, Ennis got in almost a full season, but failed to put up impressive numbers as he finished the year with eight goals and 22 points. With new GM Paul Fenton in charge, he didn’t waste too much time determining that Ennis’ deal wasn’t worth Ennis’ inability to put up points.

As for Mason, the Canadiens picked him up Sunday in a trade in which they acquired Mason, Joel Armia and two draft picks for AHL prospect Simon Bourque. Mason also one year on his deal at $4.1MM, but with Antti Niemi and Charlie Lindgren along with talent in their system, Mason was expendable. The team will take a cap hit of $1.367 over the next two years.

 

 

Jack Johnson In Talks With Pittsburgh Penguins

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The Pittsburgh Penguins are always one of the teams to watch in trade season and free agency, at least with Jim Rutherford in the GM chair. The veteran executive is no stranger to salary cap gymnastics and horse trading, and usually finds unexpected ways to improve his roster. One of those ways may now come in the form of Jack Johnson, who according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has had very positive talks with the Penguins as we get closer to free agency opening on July 1st. Johnson is a good friend of Sidney Crosby and would give Pittsburgh another veteran option on the blueline to help on another Stanley Cup run in 2018-19.

The cost of a Johnson contract isn’t clear. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman earned $5MM on the last season of his seven-year, $30.5MM contract in 2017-18, but lobbied for a trade in order to try and secure a better contract on the open market. The 31-year old was involved in a very public bankruptcy case in 2014, and simply wanted to ensure a healthy deal this summer knowing it may be his last multi-year deal in the NHL. He ended up staying with Columbus all season, but faced being a healthy scratch down the stretch—in part, somewhat ironically, because of the Blue Jackets’ acquisition of Penguins defenseman Ian Cole at the deadline—and didn’t suit up for a single playoff game.

Where his market currently sits is unclear, but the Penguins can’t be paying huge sums to a defenseman in their current cap situation. After re-signing Bryan Rust earlier today, Pittsburgh has around $5MM in cap space with Jamie Oleksiak and others still to sign. Though they can go up to 10% over that during the offseason, signing Johnson to a hefty multi-year deal would make it awful tricky going forward. Rutherford has made it clear that they will send out some salary at some point this season, but even trading Phil Kessel’s $6.8MM cap hit doesn’t create much room if a good chunk of it is taken up by a Johnson signing.

Tavares Notes: Toronto, San Jose, Boston

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While reports suggest that John Tavares and his representation are speaking to five teams in Los Angeles, there is some confusion of which teams Tavares’ camp is speaking to. It was reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars are three teams that are definitely meeting with him, while other teams such as Vegas and Tampa Bay have been suggested as possibilities.

The Maple Leafs have been interested in signing Tavares for a long time, years in fact. However, with the state of their salary cap in the coming years with contracts of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander on the books, there are a lot of questions whether the Maple Leafs are really true candidates to bring Tavares on board, especially after the team splurged a season ago when they pried Patrick Marleau away from San Jose.

The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) writes that trying to add a contract that at the moment is linked at $11MM per year for Tavares (possibly $12MM) might be challenging, but not totally impossible. Unlike two years ago, when they tried to sign Steven Stamkos when they were a struggling franchise, things are much different. For one, Tavares gets to come home, he can immediate play for a top team which has a legitimate chance to win a Stanley Cup, and lots of cap space in the first year of a contract, which is where the discussion ends.

Mirtle suggests one rumor that has been going around for week is to offer Tavares a one-year max deal, which would be worth $15.9MM. Then the team could attempt to lock him up to an eight-year deal after that. However, that could also be construed as cap circumvention as well as dangerous if Tavares gets injured in that first year. Another offer Toronto could add to the package is the captaincy, but that would also be an issue considering that Matthews has been in line for that role.

  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period confirms that the San Jose Sharks were the second team to speak with Tavares and his representatives. He writes that the Sharks are all-in on Tavares and the entire organization is on board to bring Tavares in. With more than $18MM in cap space, the Sharks have the money even after locking up winger Evander Kane to a seven-year, $49MM extension last month. With their defense and goaltending, alongside Tavares, Kane, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski as well as a bunch of talented younger players that are ready to break out, the Sharks would look like a perennial Stanley Cup contender.
  • Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports writes that while there is no word yet, the scribe gets the sense that the Boston Bruins haven’t been told yet whether they are one of the five teams that Tavares will meet with, but Boston definitely wants a meeting with the center. Boston has almost $12MM of cap space available and a team that is full of both veterans and young stars in which the addition of Tavares could take them to that Stanley Cup level as well.

Salary Cap Ceiling Set At $79.5MM For 2018-19

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It’s official now, the NHL salary cap ceiling will be set at $79.5MM for the 2018-19 season. The cap floor will be $58.8MM, just under where it was expected to land. The NHLPA exercised a 1.25% inflator, much smaller than the 5% maximum they are allowed each season.

The new limit will allow teams a little more flexibility this summer when looking to address problems on their roster, and should increase the amount of money free agents can ask for on the open market. The new maximum salary a single player can receive—20% of the cap ceiling—is $15.9MM, a number that no one comes close to around the league. Right now Connor McDavid is set to be the player with the highest cap hit at $12.5MM, though there is a possibility that John Tavares breaks that this summer if he reaches free agency and is involved in a bidding war.

With the release of the schedule, we also know how that daily cap hits are based on an 186-day season. CapFriendly has already updated their site and reflect these totals, giving you a clear picture of how much space each team has. At present, the Florida Panthers have the least amount of cap space with just over $8.3MM, while the New York Islanders lead the way with a whopping $32.8MM. That could obviously change with Tavares’ contract, though Lou Lamoriello and company will likely be active either way.

There are currently 14 teams that sit under the $58.8MM floor, but many would eclipse that just by keeping some of their minor league two-way contracts on the roster. For others like Carolina and Vegas though, there is quite a bit of work to be done just to meet the minimum. Vegas seems ready and willing to spend the money in free agency, but Carolina is more of a wildcard under owner Tom Dundon. The team has several restricted free agents to sign, but have been involved in trade talks for some of their more high-priced talent.

Latest On The Arizona Coyotes & Phil Kessel

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Part of Josh Yohe’s latest piece for The Athletic (subscription required) touched on the fact that Phil Kessel would be willing to play for the Arizona Coyotes due to his solid relationship with head coach Rick Tocchet. The problem, according to Yohe, was that the Coyotes are only looking to stay near the salary cap floor this season and had told the Penguins it likely wouldn’t be possible to take on Kessel’s salary. Now Arizona GM John Chayka wants to dispel any notion that he’d be stopped from going after Kessel because of financial reasons.

On Arizona Sports 98.7 today, Chayka sounded off about the report:

I’d like to know more about it, too. I think it’s terrible reporting. It’s inaccurate across the board from start to finish. I don’t know where some things come up. I’m the one having trade discussions, those discussions with the Penguins haven’t occurred. So unless someone else is making calls that I don’t know about, I’m not sure where his information is coming from.

I’m not sure where it’s coming from, but the basis of that reporting is not coming from anything tied to the Coyotes and certainly not anywhere close to factual.

Chayka by no means confirms that he is pursuing Kessel, but the fact that he reacted so strongly to the suggestion that the Coyotes are limited financially does make them an even more interesting team to follow this offseason. Arizona currently has around $57MM in salary obligations for next season, but that includes Dave Bolland’s contract that will be mostly covered by insurance and no real important restricted free agents to sign. If they had the full salary cap to spend, the Coyotes could go on a shopping spree in free agency and certainly afford to bring Kessel on board.

More likely though is that Arizona will sit somewhere in the bottom third of the league once again and could even be a landing spot for another bad contract at the draft. Similar to the way they took on Bolland and Pavel Datsyuk in the past, Chayka could use his cap space to take a contract like Marian Hossa’s off the books of Chicago in exchange for an asset.

It seems in this case as though a source was mistaken or perhaps was speculating on discussions between Pittsburgh and Arizona, though a trade between the two would likely benefit both. The Coyotes are looking to compete next season and could use another veteran star to support their young core, and the Penguins need to create some cap flexibility if they’re to do anything in free agency. Pittsburgh has several RFAs to get under contract, and currently less than $10MM in cap space to do it.

Salary Cap Ceiling Will Fall Between $79.5-80MM

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The NHL salary cap ceiling has been expected to fall somewhere between $78-82MM for some time, and though we got a more accurate estimate yesterday league commissioner Gary Bettman gives us an even closer guess. Bettman today said that though nothing has been finalized, the cap ceiling should land between $79.5-80MM for the 2018-19 season. That’s an extremely substantial raise from the $75MM mark used last season, giving teams plenty of money to play with this summer. The cap floor is expected to be just over $59MM.

With an extra $5MM in their pockets, teams should have ample budget to go after the top names in free agency. Even past John Tavares and John Carlson, there are plenty of names set to hit the open market that could command big dollars. James van Riemsdyk and James Neal are legitimate goal scoring threats that could get long-term contracts, while players like David Perron, Rick Nash and Paul Stastny will still have plenty of money flashed in front of them. The extra cap room will be exceptionally helpful to certain teams, while being used foolishly by others.

Teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens already had huge amounts of cap room and bottomless pockets, and another $5MM should make them even more dangerous on the open market. Though each have concerns going forward, they are in a position to spend if they so choose.

Other clubs, like the Carolina Hurricanes, may have trouble even reaching the cap floor. The Hurricanes are currently sitting at just over $47MM in player commitments for 2018-19, meaning they’ll have to spend quite a bit to even reach the league minimum. Luckily they have some good young restricted free agents to lock up, and there are always several dead contracts able to be passed around to help out the league’s most frugal clubs.

Snapshots: Trotz, Tavares, Salary Cap, Seattle

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As soon as Barry Trotz announced his resignation from the Washington Capitals, the vast majority of speculation pointed to him joining the Metropolitan Division-rival New York Islanders, now under the control of famed executive Lou Lamoriello. Recent events will only add fuel to that fire. Newsday’s Andrew Gross believes that Lamoriello prefers to have a coach named before the beginning of the NHL Draft in Dallas on Friday. While Gross notes that Lamoriello will not rush if time doesn’t permit him to fully consider his choice, it seems likely that Lamoriello knows who he wants and simply wants to finalize terms ahead of a major roster-building event. Yet there have been no reports of any candidates formally interviewing for the Islanders’ head coach vacancy, though several names have been brought up so far. However, who was spotted at an airport in Newark yesterday but Trotz. As expected, it seems Trotz is likely on his way in to New York to meet with Lamoriello and the Islanders and, if all goes well, Lamoriello will make the call prior to the draft.

  • Another important note for the pace of the Islanders’ head coach hiring is its impact on the John Tavares situation. With each day closer to the opening of free agency, the Isles lose control over their superstar player. If Lamoriello can land Trotz, one of the top coaches in the game, it could help to finalize an extension with Tavares. However, at this point it seems inevitable that Tavares will at least meet with interested teams. In fact, he and agent Pat Brisson have already whittled down the suitors. While no organizations have been specifically named, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that if Tavares entertains other offers, he will likely only meet with up to five other teams. This self-limited market could benefit the Islanders, but it could also indicate to each of the five teams that they have a legitimate chance of signing Tavares and could up the ante. Only time will tell as July 1st fast approaches.
  • As teams get ready to spend this summer, there is still some question as to what limit they will have. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly estimated earlier this month that the salary cap ceiling for 2018-19 would rise to somewhere between $78-82MM from its current $75MM. This would present quite a jump, but still leaves teams with a $4MM window of possibility. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston states that clarification is coming soon. He expects an official announcement in the next day or two, likely prior to the start of the draft on Friday. Johnston estimates a narrower range of possibility, speculating that the cap limit will be somewhere on the lower end to midpoint of the original projection, between $79-80MM.
  • Looking further ahead, Don Muret of the Oak View Group relayed information today from recently named CEO and President of the Seattle expansion team Tod Leiweke. Leiweke, the younger brother of Oak View CEO and part owner in the venture Tim Leiweke, has clarified the timeline of the expansion process somewhat over the next year or so. Leiweke stated that both the NHL Board of Governors and the city of Seattle will have their final vote in early September. Assuming the team is moving forward, they will break ground on a new stadium in October. Leiweke expects that construction will be a two-year project, likely meaning that Seattle’s inaugural season will be 2020-21. Regardless, Leiweke and company expect to reveal a name for the future team in the first quarter of 2019. This process is moving a bit slower than it did with the Vegas Golden Knights, but still seems to be full steam ahead.

Rutherford Eyeing Trade Market To Improve Penguins

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Changes are coming in Pittsburgh this off-season, but GM Jim Rutherford is “not even really thinking about free agency right now”. Speaking with Josh Yohe of the Athletic, Rutherford admits that “we won’t really have the cap space to do anything anyway. We’re going to re-sign some of our restricted free agents. And at that point, we’re around the cap.” The Penguins need to re-sign RFA’s Bryan Rust, Riley Sheahan, Daniel Sprong, Jamie Oleksiak and more and even with the expected increase to the salary cap limit will only have $8-12MM maximum to work with. The team could make a couple additional minor moves here and there on the unrestricted free agent market, but Rutherford is correct that team is strapped for the cap space to make any significant signings this summer, at least as things stand now.

As a result, it is the trade market that Rutherford is more interested in. The team has already stated that they don’t plan to buy out any of their current players, but they could look to move them via trade. Atop that list are likely wingers Carl Hagelin and Conor Sheary and defenseman Matt Hunwick. In fact, the blue line appears to be the most likely area for a player to be traded away, as the team enters next season with six veterans under contract and Oleksiak and Frank Corrado as restricted free agents. Rutherford stated to Yohe that defenseman Brian Dumoulin is the most untouchable player on the back end due to his invaluable defensive play, and also expressed his fondness for Oleksiak and Olli Maatta as well. Rutherford said that the front office is optimistic that Kris Letang and Hunwick will perform better next year and were happy with the play of Justin Schultz and Chad Ruhwedel as they made up for Letang’s and Hunwick’s shortcomings respectively this season. However, Rutherford added that his comfort with this group doesn’t mean that won’t make a change.

The goal in making any deal is to improve the depth and youth of the Penguins’ forward corps. This explains why the team was connected to Max Domi recently, before he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens last week. The team is seeking versatility and upside up front and are willing to move substantial assets to get it, but Rutherford wasn’t willing to part with the Alex Galchenyuk-level ask from the Arizona Coyotes for Domi. Rutherford knows that even if he does nothing this summer, Pittsburgh will still be a contender, and as such he does not need to overpay in any trade. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are not going anywhere and Rutherford has already confirmed that he is not shopping Phil Kessel. It’s safe to assume that young winger Jake Guentzel and new acquisition Derick Brassard are also safe. That is already shaping up to be a solid group yet again and the internal addition of younger players should add energy and potential. However, Rutherford’s preference still is to add depth and even more youth if he can to combat the injuries and fatigue that hurt his aging roster last year. Those are the moves he is looking to make this summer and it seems inevitable that at least one such transaction will be made by the expert executive. They may not be three-peat champions, but the Penguins are going to re-stock and be dangerous again in 2018-19.

Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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Free agency is now less than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of Anaheim’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Ondrej Kase — After just a 15-point season a year ago, Kase came on strong this year and proved to be invaluable for the Ducks in a season in which not much went right. The playmaking forward came out and put up 20 goals in his second season and that was despite playing in just 66 games. That’s not the best timing in terms of salary cap issues for the Ducks as Kase, who made $670K last season on the final year of his entry-level deal, could be due for a significant raise as he will likely fight for a spot on the team’s second line next season. The only real issue that Kase has is the injuries he’s dealt with over the years. He hasn’t played a full season yet for Anaheim as he just played 53 games the previous season and combined to play just 39 games over two seasons with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL between 2015-17.

D Brandon Montour — After a breakout season a year ago in which Montour came up to Anaheim to replace an injured Clayton Stoner, the young blueliner established himself quickly as a top young defenseman. The 24-year-old proved to management that they could part with Shea Theodore last season in an expansion draft deal and survive with Montour amongst their top four. The defenseman took that step and has been a reliable anchor to the Ducks’ defense, averaging 20:28 of ATOI this season. And now after making $925K last season in the final year of his entry-level deal, Montour should also get quite a pay raise and could walk away with a long-term deal.

Other RFA’s: G Kevin Boyle, F Nicolas Kerdiles, F Kalle Kossila, F Nick Ritchie, F Kevin Roy, D Andy Welinski.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: D Kevin Bieksa — At 37 years of age, Bieksa doesn’t have as much to offer the Ducks than he did in his prime. Now with his $4MM cap hit gone, however, there may still be quite a bit of interest for both parties to remain together as a depth option, albeit at a significantly lower cost. Bieksa did miss some time this season after undergoing hand surgery in March and while he did return by the end of the season, he wasn’t the same as he played in just one of the team’s four playoff games. Regardless, with some of the depth issues the team dealt with last year after trading away Theodore and Sami Vatanen, the team wouldn’t mind bringing the physical veteran back.

F Derek Grant — After years of bouncing around the NHL as a spare forward for many years, Grant has finally found a team that has brought the best out of him. The 28 year old managed to appear in a career-high 66 games where 40 was his previous best and put up 12 goals and 12 assists for Anaheim in a bottom-line role, averaging a career-high 11:06 in ATOI. After signing last year with the Ducks for $605K, he is in line to get a better deal. Throw in the possibility that top center Ryan Kesler might miss all of next season and the team may want Grant around even more.

Other UFA’s: F Jared Boll, F J.T. Brown, F Jason Chimera, F Chris Kelly, F Michael Liambas,  F Scott Sabourin, F Corey Tropp, F Antoine Vermette.

Projected Cap Space: The Ducks don’t have as much wiggle room as they would like as they have just over $9MM of projected cap space available to them. While they don’t have any significant unrestricted free agents they need to sign, some of the cap space will have to be devoted to their restricted free agent group, including Kase, Montour and Ritchie, which leaves them with little room to go out and add a high-profile free agent to bolster their veteran roster. With much of their money going towards their veteran core, the team may have to try to find some players in the bargain bin to bolster their roster for next season.

 

San Jose Sharks Likely To Buy Out Paul Martin

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With Evander Kane’s extension on the book now, the San Jose Sharks salary cap is much more constrained than it was a year ago. Now, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz reports there is a “strong possibility” the Sharks plan on easing their salary cap by buying out defenseman Paul Martin next week when the window opens on June 15th. A buyout would save the team approximately $2.8MM in cap space for next season.

The Sharks signed Martin to a four-year, $19.4MM contract back in 2015 to provide a veteran presence to their veteran team. Unfortunately after two solid seasons, Martin really struggled this year. The 37-year-old started the season playing two games, but he never recovered from an ankle injury from the offseason, prompting to miss the next two months of the season. When he returned in December, he found that his position had been taken by Joakim Ryan and the veteran was finally waived in January. He played with the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda for 18 games before returning to his usual spot alongside Brent Burns. However, he was too slow which showed during the playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights. He was responsible for the Golden Knights Game 3 game-winning overtime goal and lost his job for the rest of the series to Ryan again.

With a buyout, instead of taking Martin’s entire $4.85MM cap hit this year, the team would instead take a 2.02MM cap hit this year and a $1.42MM cap hit in 2019-20, which would save the team close to $2.8MM for next season. With Kane on the books for $7MM AAV for the next seven years and several restricted (Tomas Hertl, Chris Tierney) and unrestricted free agents (Joe Thornton, Eric Fehr, Joel Ward) they must deal with this offseason, as well as the potential extensions available to the Sharks for Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski, the team needs to free up as much cap as possible.

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