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Tyler Bertuzzi

East Notes: Bertuzzi, Marino, Biondi

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Maple Leafs winger Tyler Bertuzzi is listed as a game-time decision for their game tonight against Edmonton due to illness, notes TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link).  Head coach Sheldon Keefe indicated that Bertuzzi will ultimately decide at game time if he will be good enough to go.  Bertuzzi wasn’t able to secure a long-term deal last summer, ultimately settling for a one-year, $5.5MM agreement with the hopes of having a big year to improve his value.  However, the 29-year-old has had a quiet first season with Toronto, notching 15 goals and 19 assists in 67 games, his lowest point-per-game average since his rookie year back in 2017-18.

More from the East:

  • The Devils are expected to welcome defenseman John Marino back to the lineup tonight, relays team reporter Amanda Stein (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has missed the last week with an upper-body injury.  Marino has fared better in his second season with New Jersey, putting up 23 points in 65 games so far while logging over 21 minutes a night.  Based on the morning skate, they won’t waste any time putting him back into a key role as he’s projected to play on the top pairing versus Ottawa.
  • Canadiens prospect Blake Biondi has entered the NCAA’s transfer portal, reports Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune. The 21-year-old was a fourth-round pick back in 2020 (109th overall) and has spent the last four seasons at Minnesota-Duluth.  Biondi had 19 points in 34 games this season and could have become a free agent in mid-August if he hadn’t signed an entry-level deal with Montreal by then.  Instead, he’ll push that deadline back by a year and play his bonus season at a new school in the hopes of finishing up strong.

Atlantic Notes: Johnson, Rafferty, Newhook, Bertuzzi, McMann

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Veteran Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson is drawing some interest ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast Friday. Johnson is currently on injured reserve and is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, although he’s eligible for activation and hasn’t been ruled out of Saturday’s game against the Sharks.

The 35-year-old is in his first season with Buffalo after signing a one-year, $3.25MM contract in free agency last summer. He hasn’t been the defensively-stabilizing force they hoped for, given the price tag. He’s playing a career-low 14:11 per game and, despite the restricted usage, has a poor 46.1% Corsi share at even strength, 5.5% worse than the Sabres’ share without him on the ice. He’s notched three goals and no assists through 41 games, although they weren’t expecting him to be a factor offensively at this stage in his career.

With Buffalo’s playoff chances down to below five percent, they won’t be buyers at the deadline. It’s unlikely they ship out any high-profile names, either, but Johnson’s role on the team has already dried up, and they could get some value back for him by retaining 50% of his cap hit. His 961 games of experience and a Stanley Cup ring with the Avalanche in 2022 are both points of emphasis for contenders looking to shore up their blue line this time of year, and he carries a small bit of added trade value as a right-shot defender.

Elsewhere from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Red Wings have assigned defenseman Brogan Rafferty to AHL Grand Rapids, the team said in a statement Friday. This is the sixth straight day that the 28-year-old Rafferty has been ferried between leagues. Detroit has brought up the minor-league mainstay on game days only to serve as last-minute injury insurance with Ben Chiarot sidelined with an undisclosed ailment. Rafferty has yet to play an NHL game this season despite his four recalls in January.
  • Canadiens forward Alex Newhook skated Friday for the first time since sustaining a high-ankle sprain in early December, the team said. The 22-year-old is nearly eight weeks into his 10-to-12-week recovery timeline, so his return to the ice today means he should have enough time over the next month to gear up for a return. Acquired from the Avalanche last June via trade, the 2019 16th-overall pick was on pace for a career-high 47 points before the injury.
  • Maple Leafs winger Tyler Bertuzzi is back with the team Friday after missing Wednesday’s 1-0 overtime win over the Jets for paternity leave, TSN’s Mark Masters reports. Bertuzzi will be available for the second half of Toronto’s home-and-home with Winnipeg on Saturday, although the Maple Leafs will need to clear a roster spot for him to return. He was placed on the non-roster list, which kept their active roster at 23 when Ryan Reaves was activated from injured reserve earlier in the week. Per The Hockey News’ David Alter, depth forward Bobby McMann was not at practice today, suggesting he may be headed for the waiver wire in the next few hours for the purpose of assignment to AHL Toronto. Bertuzzi has had strong possession impacts in his first season with the Leafs but has struggled to produce in a top-six role, scoring six goals in 45 games.

Atlantic Notes: Reaves, Bertuzzi, Johnson, Rafferty, Cernak

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In preparation for the team’s high-profile game against the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow night, the lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs will look a bit different. Jonas Siegel of The Athletic reports that the team has activated forward Ryan Reaves off of the injured reserve while designating forward Tyler Bertuzzi as a non-roster player as he prepares for the birth of a child.

With Bertuzzi not expected to miss a significant amount of time with the birth of his child, the lineup change will be short-lived. Suffice it to say, after having acquired both forwards in the offseason as unrestricted free agents, the Maple Leafs have not gotten a particularly good return on investment in either player.

Having been out for a little over a month with a lower-body injury, Reaves has scored one goal in 21 games for Toronto so far this year and still carries a team-worst -11 rating on the year after signing a three-year, $4.05MM contract with the Maple Leafs in July. Comparatively, as the highest-paid forward beyond the ’Big Four’ in Toronto, Bertuzzi has managed only six goals in 45 games played, on pace for his lowest-goal total in his career throughout a full season.

Other Atlantic notes:

  • Mike Harrington of Buffalo News Sports reports that Buffalo Sabres’ defenseman Erik Johnson will be out of the lineup both today and tomorrow. Although he would be eligible to return Saturday against the San Jose Sharks, Harrington points out that Johnson is only considered a possibility for that game, as the team may keep him out until after the All-Star break. Brought over in the offseason to shore up the right side of the team’s defense, Johnson has scored three goals for Buffalo this season while averaging the lowest total ice time of his career.
  • Prior to the team’s game tonight against the Dallas Stars, the Detroit Red Wings announced they had recalled defenseman Brogan Rafferty from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. This being his third recall of the year, Rafferty has yet to play in a game for the Red Wings although he already has two goals and 15 points for the Griffins this season.
  • Not included in the team’s game tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers, Erik Cernak has returned to practice for the Tampa Bay Lightning (X Link). Cernak has been out of the lineup since January 11th with an upper-body injury but could make his return before the All-Star break. In 39 games for the Lightning this season, Cernak has managed to tally five assists while averaging a touch over 19 minutes of ice time a night.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Detroit Red Wings

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Detroit Red Wings.

Who are the Red Wings thankful for?

Dylan Larkin.

Larkin had the opportunity to leave the Red Wings this past summer but opted to remain with the franchise signing a massive eight-year extension. Few people would’ve faulted the 27-year-old for bolting the only organization he’s ever known as his tenure in the Motor City hasn’t exactly been full of memorable moments. The Red Wings haven’t made the playoffs since Larkin’s rookie season back in 2015-16 and haven’t finished better than fifth in their division since that five-game ouster at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Larkin arrived in Detroit at a time when it seemed possible that the Red Wings could avoid a long rebuild and retool on the fly as they had a pile of emerging young talent to play alongside Larkin. However, many of Detroit’s top young players at the time failed to live up to expectations leading the Red Wings into a full-on rebuild that is in its eighth year.

Larkin has done his part through some very lean years in Detroit as he has led the team in scoring in five of the past seven seasons. As well as being their on-ice leader he has also become a leader in the dressing room when he was named their captain in January of 2021. Larkin has been a point-a-game player in each of the past three seasons and has done so without a ton of offensive help from his teammates.

Detroit should be thankful for Larkin, and thankful that the Waterford, Michigan native grew up in the metro Detroit area, which was probably a very big factor when it came to his decision to sign a long-term extension.

What are the Red Wings thankful for?

Scouting.

An argument can be made that perhaps the Red Wings scouting isn’t what it once was, but even if it is a fraction of what it used to be, that’s still better than most of the NHL. The Red Wings have historically been able to hit big on late-round draft picks and much of that credit belongs to Håkan Andersson who is the Director of European Scouting for Detroit. Andersson is largely responsible for the Red Wings drafting Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula, Tomas Tatar, Jiri Hudler, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, and Gustav Nyquist. While that list is impressive, even more impressive is that Detroit only drafted one of those players in the first round (Kronwall).

Unfortunately for Detroit’s scouting department, the NHL is very much a what have you done for me lately league and their drafting hasn’t been what it once was. That’s not to say they haven’t hit home runs. Tyler Bertuzzi was a late second-round pick, as was Filip Hronek, while Andreas Athanasiou was selected late in the fourth round. Unfortunately for the Red Wings, none of those players worked out in Detroit and they all find themselves in other uniforms.

At this moment, the Red Wings do have some emerging young forwards who could make an impact over the next few years. It will be interesting to re-evaluate the Red Wings scouting in five years to look back and see how they assessed their talent.

What would the Red Wings be even more thankful for?

A Patrick Kane return to form.

If Patrick Kane can be anything close to what he was before double hip surgery, the Red Wings will be a real threat in the Eastern Conference. If he ends up like many of his peers who have undergone a hip resurfacing procedure, he might not be able to make much of an impact.

Those are obviously very different outcomes, and it could ultimately be the difference in the Red Wings season. Kane is just two years removed from posting 26 goals and 66 assists in 78 games and if he can bring some of that offense to Detroit’s lineup, along with the leadership that comes with winning three Stanley Cups, then he could push Detroit to be among the contenders in the East. But, if he can’t, Detroit may not be able to outscore some of the subpar goaltending they have received from Ville Husso.

It’s too early to tell how Kane will hold up under the grind of the regular season, but so far, he has looked strong with a goal in two games. Despite starting a huge percentage of his shifts in the defensive zone, Kane has been able to drive play, and get some good looks at both five-on-five and on the power play. As he gets into better game shape, he could become a difference-maker for the Red Wings and that would be something for Detroit fans to be even more thankful for.

What should be on the Red Wings holiday wish list?

A starting goaltender.

Ville Husso isn’t it for Detroit. The 28-year-old has started the majority of the Red Wings games this year and has not been good. In 14 games thus far, the native of Helsinki, Finland has gone 8-4-2 with a .886 save percentage and 3.65 goals against average. Those numbers will not do for a team that is desperate to get back into the playoffs and who has a good enough lineup to do so if they can get the goaltending.

What complicates matters is that backups James Reimer and Alex Lyon have outplayed Husso by a very wide margin. Reimer is 2-2-2 in six starts and has a .922 save percentage with a 2.18 goals-against average, while Lyon is 4-2-0 with a .931 save percentage and a goals-against average of 2.13.

The wings are faced with several choices when it comes to their goaltending. They can ride it out with Husso and hope he finds his game while having Lyon and Reimer as backup options in case he falters. Or they can try and move Husso and his $4.75MM cap hit and then try and find another starting goaltender to replace him. Another option might be to add some additional depth, but with Lyon and Reimer already in the system it would become tricky to carry four goaltenders as one would have to be exposed to waivers. Carrying three goaltenders is already unusual, and if Detroit was to target a depth option, they would probably have to move one from one of their netminders.

Something that could work in Detroit’s favor is that they are one of the only contending teams that have a sizeable amount of cap space, meaning they could potentially acquire a goaltender and keep Husso if they wanted to, or move on from Husso and retain some of his cap hit in a trade.

If Husso does continue to struggle Detroit’s starting goalie job will be available, and it could become something to keep an eye on as we get closer to the trade deadline.

Injury Updates: Hurricanes, Boldy, Granlund, Bertuzzi

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The Hurricanes are likely to be without center Sebastian Aho tonight against Colorado, relays NHL.com’s Ryan Boulding (Twitter link).  The 26-year-old has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury but skated after the game-day skate today, suggesting he won’t be out much longer.  Aho has three points in his first three games so far this season and is coming off his fourth season out of the last five with at least 30 goals.

Meanwhile, while goaltender Frederik Andersen also took part in the morning skate today, he, too, isn’t expected to be available for this game.  He exited Tuesday’s game in San Jose early after taking a shot off the mask and hasn’t suited up since.  The Hurricanes brought up Pyotr Kochetkov earlier this week and he is currently serving as the backup to veteran Antti Raanta.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • Wild winger Matt Boldy skated on Friday for the first time as he works his way back from an upper-body injury sustained earlier this week in Toronto, notes John Shipley of the Pioneer Press. However, head coach Dean Evason was quick to point out that this doesn’t mean that Boldy is nearing a return; the week-to-week designation remains.  The 22-year-old had 31 goals last season and will be a big part of Minnesota’s attack when he’s able to return.
  • While Sharks forward Mikael Granlund is on San Jose’s five-game road trip, there’s still no timeline for when he might return, mentions Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News. The 31-year-old played in the season opener but has been out with a lower-body injury since then; with Logan Couture still out, San Jose is down two of their top veterans.  Granlund has already been on IR for the minimum of seven days and will be eligible to return as soon as he is cleared.
  • After being a game-time decision on Thursday, Maple Leafs winger Tyler Bertuzzi will suit up tonight in Tampa Bay, mentions TSN’s Mark Masters (Twitter link). Head coach Sheldon Keefe recently mentioned that Bertuzzi isn’t fully healthy which left his status for today’s game in question.  The 28-year-old is off to a quiet start with his new club, recording just one point (a goal) through his first four games.

Examining A Pivotal Offseason For The Boston Bruins

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Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Sports Hub wrote a piece today going over his thoughts on the offseason that was for the Boston Bruins. Anderson writes that while the offseason losses were a challenge for the team, he believes the club can still contend for a division title, and at the very least make the playoffs in the Atlantic Division.

While Anderson offers up many reasons for optimism, he does believe that if the Bruins were to falter, they should look to move on from the eight unrestricted free agents that the Bruins will be dressing on opening night and try to acquire assets for them rather than throwing assets after band-aid solutions. Boston does have an extensive list of unrestricted free agents at the end of this year including Jake DeBrusk, James van Riemsdyk, Milan Lucic, A.J. Greer, Matt Grzelcyk, Derek Forbort, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Jakub Zboril. Moving on from these players would help facilitate a re-tool should the Bruins opt to go down that path.

There is a belief with Anderson and others that the Bruins could be buyers in the summer of 2024 when the cap goes up and the bonuses come off Boston’s cap. An added bonus to selling at the deadline would be that any assets acquired at the deadline could help the team make moves next summer when they have cap space to play with. Now, while it seems silly to be looking at trade deadline moves when the season hasn’t even started, it is an interesting idea for the Bruins for the reasons mentioned above.

One final note, and this could be a big one, is that Boston’s first-round pick this season was dealt in the Tyler Bertuzzi trade. The pick is top-10 protected and if Boston were to fall down the standings, they could grab a top-10 pick this year in a re-tooling year and give Detroit their 2025 pick when they presumably have re-stocked the NHL roster. The risk there of course is that they falter again in 2025 and hand the Red Wings a top-10 pick, but that seems unlikely given that the team will still have some solid pieces in place and possibly some reinforcements to join them.

Tyler Bertuzzi Had Interest In Long-Term Deal With Maple Leafs

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This offseason, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ biggest add was arguably a one-year, $5.5MM deal for top-six winger Tyler Bertuzzi. However, it now appears both sides wanted a longer-term deal than what actually came to fruition, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet 590. “I’m of the belief that Toronto wanted to sign Bertuzzi longer and I think Bertuzzi wanted to sign longer. But, they just didn’t have the ability to do it now.”

Limited to 50 games last season thanks to hand and wrist injuries that cost him most of the first half of the campaign, Bertuzzi is widely expected to slide into a first-line role in Toronto alongside Auston Matthews, replacing the complementary role filled by Michael Bunting during the last two seasons. The latter departed for the Carolina Hurricanes in free agency two months ago.

Bertuzzi, 28, notched just eight goals last season but looked revitalized after a deadline deal from the Detroit Red Wings to the Boston Bruins, recording four goals and 16 points in 21 games down the stretch of the regular season and leading the team in playoff scoring with five goals and ten points in seven games. His blend of skill and physicality was one new GM Brad Treliving was clearly looking for this summer, also signing Max Domi to a one-year deal to play a bit lower in the lineup.

Even if the two sides could fit a long-term deal under the cap, a one-year pact was likely the wiser choice. Bertuzzi hasn’t been healthy for a full season since 2019-20, and the Leafs don’t exactly have money to throw around on players who could be coming in and out of the lineup with short-term injuries on a frequent basis. The team is still millions of dollars over the $83.5MM upper limit for 2023-24, even with Matt Murray and Jake Muzzin stashed on long-term injured reserve.

But if Bertuzzi has a strong season and stays healthy, it is worth examining what a potential extension could look like. He’s eligible to sign one as soon as January 1, 2024, but unless the Leafs anticipate getting a better deal by signing him early, they’ll likely wait until the end of the season to work out a deal. It’s fair to guess that with the cap expected to increase to $87.5MM in 2024-25, a mid-term (four to six years) Bertuzzi extension likely starts with a six. Is that something Toronto can reasonably make work with a new deal needed for William Nylander by next summer and another for Mitch Marner by July 2025?

Jake Debrusk Wants To Stay With Boston Bruins

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Boston Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk reportedly wants to stay with the team beyond this season as he is set to become a free agent on July 1st of next year. NHL.com Staff Writer Derek Van Diest writes that the 26-year-old told reporters at the Perry Pearn 3 vs. 3 Hockey Camp that he is hoping to stay with the team that he grew up with.

It’s a departure from how the former first-round pick felt about his future just a short time ago. DeBrusk requested a trade from the Bruins in November of 2021 after he was benched by former Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. He eventually had a change of heart and rescinded his request in 2022. Through all the ups and downs Bruins management supported DeBrusk, as did his teammates.

Last year DeBrusk rewarded the team’s support with the best season of his NHL career. He set career highs with 27 goals and 23 assists in 64 games while posting a +26. It was night and day with his 2020-21 season where he posted career lows with just five goals and nine assists in 41 games.

The Bruins have seen a lot of players depart from the team that won an NHL record 65 games last season. Gone are Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Tyler Bertuzzi and Dmitry Orlov, and while most teams would struggle to overcome those kinds of losses, the Bruins should be able to remain competitive.

Part of remaining competitive will be to extend their upcoming free agents starting with DeBrusk. The Edmonton, Alberta native has made it clear he wants to stay, but what will his extension look like? A lot of comparisons to Brandon Hagel have been thrown around since he signed his new deal last week. However, Hagel is almost two years younger and put up 30 goals and 34 assists this past season in 81 games. On the flip side, DeBrusk has a longer track record of success and is set to hit unrestricted free agency.

While the players aren’t a mirror image of one another, Hagel’s contract is a pretty good comparison for the Bruins and DeBrusk to utilize as a framework for an extension that both sides appear eager to sign.

Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Tyler Bertuzzi

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed unrestricted free agent winger Tyler Bertuzzi to a one-year, $5.5MM AAV deal. The contract carries a full no-movement clause and a signing bonus of $4.725MM, the maximum he’s eligible for with this AAV.

This contract is a major win for the Maple Leafs, thanks to the deal’s one-year term. Toronto’s biggest barrier to adding significant talent this offseason has long been seen as the looming expiration of the team’s major contracts next summer.

Since Toronto needs to preserve long-term financial flexibility in order to be able to afford those deals, it was generally believed that they wouldn’t be able to shop for the caliber of players typically earmarked for long-term deals. This will be a tight squeeze for the Maple Leafs’ salary cap, but with Jake Muzzin’s $5.625MM on long-term injured reserve, the team should just about be able to fit this deal onto their books.

The 28-year-old winger has played for two of Toronto’s Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, and excelled the last two years. Bertuzzi scored 30 goals and 62 points in just 68 games in 2021-22, and although he wasn’t great earlier this season for Detroit he managed 26 points in 28 combined regular season and playoff games after his trade to the Boston Bruins.

Bertuzzi’s combination of skill and sandpaper is coveted across the league, and his unique agitating style is similar to what Toronto lost when Michael Bunting signed with the Carolina Hurricanes tomorrow.

Assuming he can stay healthy (a potentially dangerous assumption given his injury issues over the past few years) Bertuzzi will comfortably slot into one of Toronto’s top scoring lines and be in a position to play with one of two high-end centers in either John Tavares or Auston Matthews.

His playoff performance for Boston, leading them in points in their first-round loss to the Florida Panthers, should give Maple Leafs fans hope that he won’t suffer from the same playoff demons their other star forwards seem to fall victim to year after year.

Not only is this a winning move for Toronto, but it’s also a savvy move for Bertuzzi to make the most out of a difficult situation. It’s likely that given Bertuzzi’s injury troubles and the lack of cap space across the league, Bertuzzi may not have received the type of pricey, long-term offers he may have entered the market expecting. Now, he’ll be able to play on a team well-stocked with offensive talent and potentially have the best season of his career.

That’ll set him up to potentially re-enter the market next summer, where he could really score if he remains healthy and plays in Toronto the way he played in Boston. This move isn’t without risk, but there isn’t a better player on the market for Toronto to acquire that could fill the void left by Bunting.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Boston’s Pending Unrestricted Free Agents

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Veteran center David Krejci indicated after the playoffs that he’d take some time to think about his future.  While he hasn’t made a final decision about retiring yet, he told Dominik Dubovci of hokej.cz that when the puck drops on the 2023-24 campaign, he will not be playing, either in Boston or back home.

The 37-year-old returned to the Bruins this past season after spending a year back home.  He basically picked up where he left off, notching 16 goals and 40 assists in 70 games, providing Boston with an important secondary scoring boost which helped play a role in them taking home the Presidents’ Trophy during the regular season.  That performance helped earn Krejci the 16th spot on our Top 50 free agents list, even with the expectation that it would be the Bruins or retirement for him.

Krejci admitted that Prague hosting the 2024 World Championship is particularly appealing to him so he’s not ruling out playing at some point next season.  While it’s possible that it could be with the Bruins, signing with them would run the risk of not being able to play in the tournament if Boston was able to pull off a long playoff run.

If that’s the case, it’s possible that Krejci could opt to play for part of next season back home, get named to Czechia’s entry for the Worlds, and call it a career on home ice.  It’s a scenario that Krejci himself didn’t think was feasible back in May when he said he’d either play in Boston or retire.  But a chance to go out on home soil while representing his country certainly is an enticing scenario.

Either way, the Bruins will be entering this weekend’s free agent period with certainty now that Krejci will not be on their roster in October when 2023-24 gets underway.  It remains to be seen what happens with fellow veteran middleman Patrice Bergeron and with his future also being in question, Boston will undoubtedly be looking to try to fill two center spots over the coming days.

They also will be looking to fill a key winger slot as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period relays (Twitter link) that Tyler Bertuzzi will be heading to the open market on Saturday.  When they moved Taylor Hall to Chicago on Monday to free up $6MM in cap space, there was some expectation that Boston would then turn around and try to get something done with Bertuzzi and then make another cap-clearing move.  Clearly, that hasn’t happened.

The 28-year-old is coming off a quiet season, one that saw him manage just eight goals and 22 assists in 50 games.  However, Bertuzzi is only a year removed from a 30-goal campaign while he also has two other 21-goal campaigns under his belt so it’s believed that this was a blip and not a sign of things to come.

Bertuzzi’s performance with Boston certainly helps to fuel that belief.  After being acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline, he picked up 16 points in 21 games down the stretch before tying for the team lead in scoring in their first-round loss to Florida with five goals and five assists in seven contests.  That performance landed him in the tenth spot in our rankings, fifth among wingers.

Barring any moves being made tomorrow, Boston will enter Saturday’s free agent period with a little over $11MM in cap space, per CapFriendly.  However, with six forwards to sign with that money along with re-signing netminder Jeremy Swayman, a lot of their shopping is likely to come at the lower end of the market even though they have several prominent players to try to replace.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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