Week In Review

With the calendar having flipped to September, activity has picked up around the league with some retirements, big signings, and even a former MLB GM joining San Jose as a scout.  Here are the top stories around the league from the past seven days.

Gardiner To Carolina: It took two months longer than pretty much anyone expected but defenseman Jake Gardiner now has a contract for the upcoming season.  Where he landed came as a surprise as is the deal he wound up signing.  The veteran inked a four-year, $16.2MM contract with Carolina, a team that was already extremely deep on the back end.  On top of that, the $4.05MM AAV was considerably lower than most anticipated; it matches the one from his previous deal.  While his defensive warts are well-known, the depth the Hurricanes have means that they’ll be able to use Gardiner in a bit more of a limited role which should wind up being a good thing for him.

Williams Steps Aside: Gardiner’s deal couldn’t have happened without the announcement from winger Justin Williams that he “taking a break” from hockey.  That’s not to be considered as him retiring as he left the door open for a midseason return.  The Hurricanes wasted little time spending the money that was earmarked for him on Gardiner though, a move that puts them over the salary cap for now.  That will make it tricky to bring Williams back if he wants to come back later on.  If it does wind up being the end of the line for the 37-year-old, he’ll finish up with an impressive 786 points in 1,244 regular season games plus another 101 postseason points in 155 contests.

Eight Years For Keller: Clayton Keller’s sophomore season saw him take a big step back offensively as his output dipped from 65 points down to 47.  Despite that, Coyotes GM John Chayka continued his trend of signing players to early extensions, agreeing to an eight-year deal that carries a $7.15MM AAV.  That will give the winger the highest cap hit among forwards when the contract kicks in for 2020-21.  Despite the dip in production, Keller should be the focal point of their attack for years to come and while the deal may be risky now, if his point total jumps while playing alongside new acquisition Phil Kessel this season, it’s quite possible that the price tag would be higher a year from now.

Kronwall Retires: The Red Wings said they’d be patient when it came to a decision from veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall on his plans for 2019-20.  Despite having a pretty good season in 2018-19 that saw him log over 20 minutes a game, the blueliner has called it a career and but will remain with the organization as an advisor to GM Steve Yzerman.  Kronwall spent his entire 15-year career with Detroit, playing in 953 games and contributing 432 points and many crushing hits.  The decision makes Detroit’s decision to sign Patrik Nemeth earlier this summer that much more important as he’ll effectively take Kronwall’s spot on the roster.

Thornton Re-Signs: It took a while but Joe Thornton is once again a member of the Sharks, signing a one-year, $2MM contract.  Thornton had indicated earlier that he only wanted to return to San Jose so the fact he’s sticking around is no surprise.  What is a bit of a surprise is the pay cut that he agreed to take, dropping from a $5MM salary to $2MM; the deal doesn’t contain any bonuses either.  In doing so, the Sharks now have a little bit of salary cap flexibility as they look to round out their roster and keep a bit of space open for in-season acquisitions.

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With the calendar now having flipped to September, activity around the league should soon pick up.  The final week of August was relatively quiet but there were still a few headlines of note.

NHL Declines Opt-Out: The league had until September 1st to decide on whether or not to make this the final year of the CBA.  They decided against doing so which is the first step towards potential labor peace for a little while longer.  The NHLPA now has until the middle of the month to make the same decision although the two sides could agree to push back that decision.  If the NHLPA decides to opt out, the upcoming season will be the final one under the current CBA.  If they don’t, the expiration will come three years from now.

Retirements: While some veterans are still holding out hope to get a contract for the upcoming season, a pair of players have called it a career.  Goaltender Cam Ward signed a one-day deal with Carolina to retire as a member of the Hurricanes, the organization that he called home for 13 of his 14 NHL years after they made him a first-round pick back in 2002.  Meanwhile, defenseman Ben Lovejoy also announced his retirement.  While he was never drafted, he managed to carve out a solid 11-year career as a quality stay-at-home defender.

Puljujarvi Signs In Finland: True to his agent’s word, Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi has signed a one-year deal with Karpat Oulu (and picked up a goal and an assist in his first game).  The deal contains an NHL opt-out clause through December 1st which coincides with the deadline for restricted free agents to agree to an NHL contract for the current season.  His trade request is well-known and GM Ken Holland indicated that several teams have shown interest in his services.  However, the asking price remains a prospect with top-nine upside plus a draft pick or an established forward with team control.  While Puljujarvi’s draft stature as the fourth-overall pick in 2016 is still somewhat in play, that’s being viewed as too much of an asking price for someone who had just nine points in 47 NHL contests last season.

Two Years For Beauvillier: The Islanders have all of their players under contract after agreeing to a two-year, $4.2MM deal with winger Anthony Beauvillier.  The 22-year-old took a step back offensively last season as he dropped eight points despite playing in ten more games so the fact that he wound up with a bridge deal comes as little surprise.  It’s worth noting that the deal is a little back-loaded with a $2.4MM salary in 2020-21.  That amount will represent his qualifying offer that season where he will also have arbitration eligibility.

Hunwick Out For The Season: The Sabres appeared to be heading towards training camp with a logjam on defense and a bit of a precarious salary cap situation.  Both of those have been alleviated somewhat with the team announcing that Matt Hunwick will miss the entire 2019-20 season due to a neck injury.  The veteran was acquired from Pittsburgh last season but played in just 14 games due to multiple injuries including a neck issue that kept him out of 32 games.  Hunwick and his $2.25MM AAV will be eligible to be placed on long-term injured reserve which could give a Buffalo a little more cap flexibility than they expected to have.

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As the calendar creeps closer to September, activity around the league has slowly started to pick up.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Marner Contacts Swiss Team: Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner appears to be the one holding up the top of the RFA market with other players wanting to see what he ultimately gets before signing a deal of their own.  While the two sides continue to work towards a contract, Marner’s camp is trying to get a backup plan in place as they’ve contacted Zurich of the Swiss NLA to see if the 22-year-old could practice with them should the impasse drag on into training camp.  It’s worth noting that the request is only for practicing, not for game action with the Lions.  This has been a common tactic in recent years and there’s a good chance we’ll see it from another RFA or two in the coming weeks.

Kuznetsov Suspension: It will be a while before Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov will be able to participate in an IIHF-sanctioned event as he has been handed a four-year suspension for testing positive for cocaine.  However, this is not suspendable in the NHL and as things stand, he will attend training camp with Washington.  That situation could still change as Kuznetsov is slated to meet with league commissioner Gary Bettman in advance of camp.

Six Years For White: While Senators center Colin White wasn’t quite at the top of the current RFA class, he was coming off of a pretty good season with 41 points in 71 games and is considered to be a big part of Ottawa’s future.  Despite 2018-19 being his only full NHL season, the team decided to bypass a bridge deal, instead signing the 22-year-old to a six-year contract with a cap hit of $4.75MM.  The total value of the pact at $28.5MM is the richest contract that GM Pierre Dorion has handed out over his three years at the helm of the team although that will likely change when defenseman Thomas Chabot gets his next deal.  The Sens are now more than $10MM above the salary cap ceiling.

Minor UFA Deals: While there are still a handful of notable unrestricted free agents still looking for deals, there was some movement for some of the depth forwards still available.  The Islanders signed center Derick Brassard to a one-year, $1.2MM deal, well below the $5MM AAV he had on his last contract.  The Avalanche picked up winger Valeri Nichushkin for one year at $850K, a deal that gives them an extra couple of years of team control as well if he rebounds with his new team after failing to score a single goal last season.  Meanwhile, the Lightning landed veteran winger Pat Maroon on a one-year contract worth $900K.  He’ll give Tampa Bay some grit on the fourth line as he looks to go for a second straight Stanley Cup title.

Guerin To Minnesota: Although Wild owner Craig Leipold had suggested that his preference to replace former general manager Paul Fenton was someone with GM experience at the NHL, he opted for another first-time hire as the team named Bill Guerin as their new GM.  While this will be his first time in charge, he isn’t without front office experience as he spent the last five seasons as an assistant in Pittsburgh while also running their farm team in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the past two years.  Guerin will now be tasked with turning around a Minnesota franchise that has spun its wheels in recent years as they’ve missed the postseason but haven’t shown an inclination to try to rebuild either.

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While August has been pretty quiet in terms of big headlines, there were a few newsworthy items around the league over the past seven days.

Barbashev Looking Overseas: When the Blues re-signed defenseman Joel Edmundson following his arbitration award, their salary cap picture came into greater focus.  They still have to re-sign center Ivan Barbashev but with less than $2MM in cap room to do so, things could get a little dicey.  His agent Dan Milstein muddied the waters when he indicated that the 23-year-old is “looking at options on both sides of the ocean”.  It’s believed that Barbashev is looking for a four-year deal around $2MM per season which may be difficult to get if he opted to return home to play in the KHL.  Nonetheless, it’s possible that it could him just a little bit more leverage as he and the Blues try to get a deal done.

Priskie To Carolina: When the calendar flipped to August 16th, quite a few NHL-drafted players became unrestricted free agents.  The top player in that class was Quinnipiac defender Chase Priskie, originally a Washington draft pick.  He didn’t stay unsigned for very long as the Hurricanes signed the 23-year-old to a two-year, entry-level contract.  He was one of ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award in 2018-19 and is believed to be somewhat close to being NHL-ready.  However, with four established right-shot defenders in front of him on Carolina’s depth chart, he may have to bide his time in the minors for a little while first.

Torn ACL For Valimaki: Calgary’s back end was dealt a blow as youngster Juuso Valimaki sustained a torn ACL in summer training.  No timeline for recovery was announced but these injuries typically take six months or longer to recover from.  He was expected to contend for a full-time roster spot and potentially allow them to move defenseman T.J. Brodie to free up some cap room.  Instead, the Flames will now need to keep Brodie and they are now on the lookout to acquire another blueliner.  With Calgary needing to free up cap space to re-sign wingers Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane, expect GM Brad Treliving to be discussing trades involving some forwards in the coming days and weeks.

GM Extensions: The debate around whether or not Carolina GM Don Waddell should be able to operate without a contract can be put to rest now as the Hurricanes signed him to a three-year deal.  He assumed the GM duties last year and the team quickly turned things around so the fact he’ll be sticking around for a while should come as no surprise.  Meanwhile, the Canucks have also committed to their GM for three more years as they’ve agreed to terms with Jim Benning on a three-year extension.  Benning has been in the role since 2014 and while the team hasn’t had a lot of success during his tenure, he has assembled a very strong group of young players to give them a very promising core to build around.

Erne To Detroit: The Red Wings added some depth on the wing, acquiring Adam Erne from Tampa Bay in exchange for a 2020 fourth-round pick.  The Lightning weren’t likely to be able to afford to re-sign him given their salary cap situation (they’re saving room for RFA center Brayden Point) while they only have one contract slot available which is earmarked for Point so a move needed to be made.  Meanwhile, at 24, Erne could figure into Detroit’s plans for a while for what amounts to a pretty low acquisition cost.  Shortly after the trade, the winger inked a one-year, $1.05MM contract.

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Things have largely slowed to a crawl in recent days with the RFA market seemingly holding up most of what’s left on the UFA market.  Nevertheless, there were still a few notable headlines around the NHL over the past seven days.

Puljujarvi’s Future: It’s well-known that Oilers winger Jesse Puljujarvi is looking for a fresh start.  His agent Markus Lehto had stated that the RFA would stay overseas if Edmonton didn’t trade him but there was no word on where he’d actually play in that instance.  That’s no longer the case as Lehto indicated that Puljujarvi would play with Karpat Oulu in the Finnish SM-liiga.  He also noted that several teams have expressed an interest in acquiring the 21-year-old but didn’t want to speculate as to whether or not a trade would get done.  Puljujarvi was the fourth overall pick just three years ago so it’s certainly understandable that the Oilers are hesitant to move on from him.

Edmundson Award: There were three players that received salary arbitration awards with Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson being the most notable of them.  He was given a one-year, $3.1MM deal that will make him eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer.  The contract is only a raise of $100K but he is coming off of a bit of a down year that saw him be a healthy scratch at times.  St. Louis still has one more player to re-sign in center Ivan Barbashev but they have less than $2MM to get him signed and leave themselves with a bit of a buffer for any in-season movement.

Shattenkirk To Tampa Bay: It didn’t take long for Kevin Shattenkirk to find his new home.  Less than a week after being bought out by the Rangers, the defenseman signed a one-year, $1.75MM deal with Tampa Bay.  The deal also contains a full no-trade clause.  Shattenkirk has long been viewed as a quality offensive blueliner but struggled to produce with New York to the point where he was quickly dropped down the lineup last season.  He won’t be under anywhere near as much pressure with the Lightning as he’ll likely be asked to play a more limited role with some power play time.  The veteran will wind up receiving just over $3.1MM this season between the two teams which is less than half of what his original $6.6MM salary was before the buyout.

Ristolainen Trade Request? Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen has been at the forefront of trade speculation all offseason long, especially with the recent additions of Brandon Montour and Colin Miller who play the same side.  In an interview with Finland, the blueliner hinted that he has requested a trade although he wouldn’t go into any specifics and stated that he’d keep talks between him and the front office private.  Ristolainen has three years left on his contract with a $5.4MM cap hit and while his defensive play has been called into question, he has four straight seasons of over 40 points under his belt and at 24, many teams – Buffalo included – will believe that there is still some upside.

Waddell Interviews For Minnesota GM Job: The fact that people are interviewing for Minnesota’s vacant general manager position comes as no surprise.  However, when one of the people interviewing for that spot is currently working as a GM as Carolina’s Don Waddell did, it certainly raises some eyebrows.  Waddell is without a contract at the moment and if Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has his way, it will remain like that.  While Dundon is quite pleased with Waddell’s work, he’s not a big fan of contracts in general while he readily admitted that he won’t pay market value for his employees which is why he allowed Waddell to interview for the role.  However, he is expected to remain with Carolina.

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Although the early part of August doesn’t typically feature a lot of activity around the league, there were quite a few newsworthy headlines over the past seven days on top of a pair of late additions to the UFA market.

Callahan To Ottawa: The Senators have seemingly become a clearinghouse for injured players.  They already have Clarke MacArthur and Marian Gaborik in the fold and they will now be joined by Ryan Callahan as Ottawa acquired the winger in exchange for goalie Mike Condon.  In doing the deal, the Sens save nearly $2MM in actual salary as they’re only responsible for 20% of Callahan’s $4.7MM salary with insurance picking up the rest while Condon’s $3MM price tag (in cash) goes to Tampa Bay.  Meanwhile, the Lightning free up $3.4MM in cap space (Callahan has a $5.8MM AAV with Condon at $2.4MM) which will help as they look to re-sign RFAs Brayden Point and Adam Erne.

Fenton Fired: It’s extremely rare that a GM is let go midway through the summer but that’s what the Wild decided to do as they relieved Paul Fenton of his duties after just over a year with the team.  Owner Craig Leipold indicated that there wasn’t one specific thing or event that led to the decision but rather an accumulation of things over his tenure.  Minnesota made several puzzling trades, highlighted by dealing Nino Niederreiter to Carolina for Victor Rask.  Niederreiter did quite well with his new team while Rask continued to struggle.  Despite the trades suggesting they’d be rebuilding, Fenton was quick to give veteran winger Mats Zuccarello a new deal.  Assistant GM Tom Kurvers will handle the GM duties on an interim basis while the team looks for a successor.

Vasilevskiy Extension: Tampa Bay has often tried to get its top players signed to extensions early and they’ve done so again.  Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy signed an eight-year, $76MM extension, making him the third-highest paid goalie (in terms of AAV) in the NHL once it kicks in for the 2020-21 season.  The reigning Vezina Trophy winner is coming off of a career season and is in his prime so there shouldn’t be a lot of concern about falling off towards the end of the deal.  However, the Lightning, who already had to move out players for cap reasons, will almost assuredly have to do so again next offseason.  The team now has over $67MM in commitments to just 13 players for 2020-21, an amount that will only go up when Point eventually signs.

Gusev To New Jersey: When Vegas signed Nikita Gusev early in the postseason, their hope was that they’d be able to get him signed for next season.  However, the salary cap made that all but impossible unless they were to clear out some other players to free up cap room.  Instead, the opted to trade the 27-year-old Russian, dealing him to the Devils in exchange for second and third-round picks.  Gusev then quickly signed a two-year, $9MM deal.  He will add another gear to New Jersey’s attack that certainly has been bolstered this offseason with the addition of top pick Jack Hughes, winger Wayne Simmonds, as well as defenseman P.K. Subban.

Seven For Girard: While Colorado remains in a waiting game when it comes to RFA winger Mikko Rantanen, they took care of some other business as they signed defenseman Samuel Girard to a seven-year, $35MM extension that will begin in 2020-21.  The 21-year-old has impressed over his first two NHL campaigns and was a key part of the return of the original Matt Duchene trade.  He’ll likely push past averaging 20 minutes per night next season while he has shown signs of a developing offensive game.  Assuming he continues to hold down a spot in Colorado’s top four, this deal should hold up well in terms of value as it progresses.

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With arbitration hearings on the horizon, many of the top stories from the past seven days have involved players settling for contracts before meeting with the arbitrator.

Calgary Settlements: The Flames handed out a pair of short-term contracts to avoid arbitration.  Forward Sam Bennett received a two-year, $5.1MM deal while goaltender David Rittich inked a two-year, $5.5MM pact.  Bennett, the number four pick in 2014, has yet to live up to his draft billing and has been more of a bottom-six forward at this point of his career.  This contract will give him a chance to take another step forward but if he continues to play at the same level, it’s possible that he’ll be a trade candidate before long.  Meanwhile, Rittich had a breakout campaign in 2018-19 and ultimately wound up basically splitting starts with Mike Smith last season.  However, that was only his first full NHL campaign so he didn’t have a lot of leverage in talks.  It’s worth noting that his deal will take him to UFA eligibility, something that isn’t the case for Bennett.

New Arena Deal For Flames: The contracts weren’t the only good news for the Flames as they also reached a tentative agreement with the city on a new arena to replace the Saddledome, one of the oldest arenas remaining in the NHL.  This has been something that had been pursued for several years but each time it looked as if some progress was being made, things had fallen through but that isn’t the case here.  The new facility is expected to cost roughly $550MM with the team and city sharing the cost evenly.

Seven For Sissons: Several years ago, Nashville surprised many by giving center Calle Jarnkrok a six-year, $12MM deal.  The contract was largely unprecedented for a role player and not many have signed a deal like that since then.  The Preds are certainly happy with how that deal turned out and they have gone that route again by signing winger Colton Sissons to a seven-year, $20MM contract.  The 25-year-old is coming off of a career season with 15 goals and 15 assists although it’s the only time in his career that he has reached the double-digit mark in scoring so there is certainly some risk committing to that long of a contract.  Nonetheless, Nashville believes he can be a useful middle-six player for years to come at a price tag that is under what a lot of third line players have been getting.

Clarkson To Toronto: Back in 2015, the Maple Leafs dealt David Clarkson to Columbus for Nathan Horton with the belief that adding the injured Horton would aid their cap flexibility.  Four years later, they’ve reacquired him with the belief that adding the injured Clarkson will aid their cap flexibility.  Toronto intends to be strategic with the order of their placements of players on LTIR in an effort to maximize their in-season cap space, something that could come in handy with RFA winger Mitch Marner’s situation.  Meanwhile, the Golden Knights added goaltender Garret Sparks in the swap (while surrendering a fourth-round pick to Toronto).  Sparks will battle Malcolm Subban for the number two role in Vegas while the trade also freed up the ability for them to re-sign defenseman Deryk Engelland to a one-year, bonus-laden deal with a base salary of $700K with an extra $800K in bonuses.

Bridge Deal For Buchnevich: The Rangers avoided salary arbitration with Pavel Buchnevich, signing the winger to a two-year, $6.5MM contract.  The 24-year-old scored a career-best 21 goals last season and will look to build on that next season but with the addition of Artemi Panarin plus the presence of top prospects Kaapo Kakko and Vitali Kravtsov, he may be hard-pressed to reach the 15 minutes per game mark like he has the last two seasons.  As Buchnevich was New York’s final arbitration filing, the team now has a 48-hour second buyout window that opens up on Monday.  They’re several million over the Upper Limit already so they may be taking advantage of that in the near future.

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Although the summer crawl is in full effect, there were still some notable headlines around the league over the past seven days.  Those are highlighted here in our top stories of the week.

Colorado Signings: The Avalanche locked up a pair of their restricted free agents.  Center J.T. Compher was rewarded for the best season of his young career as he signed a four-year, $14MM contract, effectively bypassing a bridge deal.  However, in doing so, he’s setting himself up to hit the open market four years from now at the age of 28.  Meanwhile, offseason acquisition Andre Burakovsky signed a one-year, $3.25MM deal, the amount of his qualifying offer.  Colorado certainly believes he has potential considering they dealt a pair of draft picks for him but they clearly want to see how he fits in with them before committing on a longer-term pact.  The winger will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights again next summer.

Francis To Seattle: While Seattle won’t be entering their inaugural season for two more years, they have found the person that will lead them into the NHL as they have hired former Carolina GM Ron Francis as their first general manager in franchise history.  While expectations will certainly be high considering how Vegas fared in their first year, this decision suggests that the yet-to-be-named franchise will be taking a different approach.  Francis was known for his patience during his tenure with the Hurricanes and tried to build things up slowly.  It seems reasonable to believe that he’ll take a similar approach this time around.

Neal-Lucic Trade: Milan Lucic had been part of trade speculation for two years.  James Neal didn’t even get through his first year in Calgary before being suggested as trade fodder.  However, with both players having four years left on overpriced contracts, there wasn’t much of a viable trade market for them.  Accordingly, the Oilers and Flames decided to swap those bad deals with Edmonton retaining $750K per season of Lucic’s salary plus potentially giving up a conditional 2020 third-round pick if Neal scores at least 21 goals next season and scores at least ten more goals than Lucic.  By making the trade, the Flames add some grit up front with Lucic though it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to play a bigger role than he had with the Oilers.  Meanwhile, Neal figures to get a look in a more prominent spot than he had with Calgary.  Edmonton’s depth on the wing is somewhat shallow so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him deployed in a top-six role when the puck drops on the regular season in October.

Seven Years For Trouba: After being traded to the Rangers, the expectation was that defenseman Jacob Trouba would quickly sign a long-term deal, something he wasn’t willing to do with Winnipeg.  While it took a little longer than expected, a deal was eventually reached as he inked a seven-year, $56MM deal.  The contract contains a no-move clause in years two through five (he’s not eligible in the first season) and a partial no-trade clause in the final two seasons.  While Trouba didn’t spend much time on the top pairing with the Jets, he’ll get the opportunity to serve as New York’s top defender which should give him the chance to build on his career-best 50 points last season.

Senators-Blackhawks Swap: Artem Anisimov had been in trade speculation for the last couple of seasons and once his $2MM signing bonus was paid at the midway point of July, his value was expected to go up.  Not surprisingly, a trade was agreed on shortly after the bonus was paid as the Senators acquired the center in exchange for forward Zack Smith.  Ottawa adds an offensive upgrade for a relatively low cost on two fronts.  Smith cleared waivers earlier in the season and Anisimov is only owed $5MM in total money over the final two years of his deal despite a $4.55MM AAV.  Meanwhile, Smith adds some grit to Chicago’s bottom six, something GM Stan Bowman has clearly identified as a need this summer.  The move also frees up $1.3MM in cap space in each of the next two seasons.

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The frenzy has died down but there were still a few newsworthy headlines over the past seven days which are headlined in our top stories of the week.

Cullen Retires: As expected, veteran center Matt Cullen has decided to call it a career.  The 42-year-old spent last season with Pittsburgh as a regular on their fourth line and held his own.  However, while he could still probably hold his own in a similar role, he’s moving on to his post-hockey days.  Cullen wound up playing with eight different teams over his 21-year NHL career, recording a respectable 731 points.  He cracked the 1,500 games played mark late in 2018-19 and his 1,516 career regular season games played put him 19th in that category in NHL history.

Labanc Puzzler: The fact that the Sharks re-signed winger Kevin Labanc should come as no surprise.  He’s an emerging key part of their attack and is coming off of a 56-point season.  The surprise is that he only signed a one-year, $1MM contract, a deal that is well below market value.  It’s true that he didn’t have salary arbitration eligibility which didn’t help but still, that’s a serious underpay.  It gives San Jose some extra flexibility to work with this summer as they look to fill out the rest of their roster (likely including a new contract for veteran center Joe Thornton).  There has been plenty of speculation already that he’ll be rewarded for taking one for the team when he’s eligible to sign a contract extension in January.

Sabres-Blackhawks Swap: Although Henri Jokiharju cracked Chicago’s roster to start last season, he didn’t get much of a chance in the second half and was frequently speculated as trade bait.  A trade ultimately came to fruition as the defenseman was dealt to Buffalo for winger Alexander Nylander in a swap of first-round prospects.  Nylander is coming off of his best season in the minors and the Blackhawks are hoping that a change of scenery will help unlock his offensive potential.  Meanwhile, the Sabres add another quality young right-shot blueliner to the mix and in doing so, they have ultimately increased the trade speculation around Rasmus Ristolainen as GM Jason Botterill has now brought in three notable righties over the past few months.

UFA Winger Deals: Two of the top wingers left on the open market have found new homes.  Micheal Ferland signed a four-year, $14MM deal with Vancouver.  The $3.5MM AAV is certainly a reasonable price tag for a player with back-to-back 40-point seasons but the addition has created a bit of a cap crunch with Brock Boeser and Nikolay Goldobin still needing new deals.  Meanwhile, Carolina wasted little time replacing Ferland as they inked Ryan Dzingel to a two-year, $6.75MM pact.  He had a career year offensively with 56 points but his struggles upon being traded to Columbus certainly lowered his market value.

Binnington Re-Signs: With his rather limited NHL track record but a Stanley Cup under his belt, Jordan Binnington’s restricted free agency case was going to be one of the more interesting ones to follow in the coming weeks.  However, it won’t make it to salary arbitration as the Blues handed the 25-year-old a two-year, $8.8MM contract.  Notably, his deal comes in slightly higher than Jake Allen’s $4.35MM AAV.  Both netminders are signed for two years and will be unrestricted free agents after that.

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Not surprisingly, this past week was extremely busy around the NHL as there were many free agent signings around the league.  Several of those plus a notable trade are at the forefront of the top stories of the week.

Panarin To The Rangers: It didn’t come as much surprise that Artemi Panarin is on the move despite a late effort from the Blue Jackets to keep him in the fold.  The winger signed the richest contract for a winger in league history, inking a seven-year, $81.5MM contract with the Rangers that has a full no-move clause.  The 27-year-old has hovered near the point-per-game mark in his three seasons in the NHL and is coming off an 87-point campaign to lead all unrestricted free agents.  He’ll immediately step in on the top line in New York with heavy expectations as they have clearly put an end to their rebuild and are now looking to get back into contention quickly.

Bobrovsky Joins Florida: The Panthers were looking to make a big splash in free agency and they did just that as they inked goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to a seven-year, $70MM contract, the biggest deal ever handed to a netminder that actually made it to the open market.  Bobrovsky is actually coming off of a bit of a down season with a .913 SV%, his lowest mark in three seasons but he was a lot better in the playoffs, posting a .925 SV%.  He still represents a significant upgrade on what Florida had between the pipes in recent years and for a team that was 28th in the league in goals allowed last season, his addition will go a long way towards vaulting them back into the postseason discussion.

Toronto-Colorado Trade: The biggest trade on July 1st came from the Maple Leafs and Avalanche.  After months of speculation, defenseman Tyson Barrie was indeed on the move as he was dealt to Toronto along with center Alexander Kerfoot and a 2020 sixth-round pick for center Nazem Kadri, defenseman Calle Rosen, and a 2020 third-round selection.  The Avs are also retaining half of Barrie’s $5.5MM contract.  The Maple Leafs add a much-needed upgrade on the back end at a very low price tag on the cap plus a capable young pivot in Kerfoot who quickly inked a four-year, $14MM contract.  Meanwhile, in Kadri, Colorado adds a two-time 30-goal center on a team-friendly contract for three more years, giving them a big improvement down the middle while Rosen should slot in nicely in a depth role on their back end.

Offer Sheet: The last offer sheet in the NHL was back in 2013 when Ryan O’Reilly, then of Colorado, signed with Calgary.  That is until Monday came along when Montreal signed Carolina center Sebastian Aho to a five-year, $42.27MM offer sheet.  In an effort to make it more difficult on the Hurricanes, the contract was heavily front-loaded with signing bonus money but less than 24 hours later, Carolina indicated their intention to match it but waited until Sunday to make it official.  With one team taking the plunge, will another follow suit with one of the other notable RFAs?

Duchene To Nashville: The pillaging of the Blue Jackets wasn’t limited to just Panarin and Bobrovsky as key deadline acquisition Matt Duchene is also on the move after signing a seven-year, $56MM contract with Nashville.  The Predators have made several attempts to shore up their center position in recent years with the acquisitions of Ryan Johansen and Kyle Turris plus the signing of Nick Bonino but it has continued to be an area of some concern.  Nashville is hoping that Duchene, who reached the 70-point mark for the second time in his career in 2018-19, can form a one-two punch with Johansen and give the team the stability they’ve been craving down the middle for several years to come.

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