Week In Review

There were a couple of surprises around the league over the past seven days which are headlined in our top stories of the week.

Sprong Available: Penguins winger Daniel Sprong has shown flashes of his offensive upside in recent years but he hasn’t been able to lock down a full-time role in Pittsburgh’s top nine.  It appears that the team is at least willing to entertain the idea of moving him as his name has come up in trade talks recently.  Sprong has four assists in a dozen games so far this season despite spending the majority of his time on the fourth line.  GM Jim Rutherford hasn’t hidden his frustration over Pittsburgh’s start to the season so it will be interesting to see if something involving Sprong is all they’re looking to do or if there could be other moves on the horizon.

Duchene, Senators In Contract Talks: There has been an expectation that the Senators would likely have to move center Matt Duchene between now and the trade deadline but that may not be the case.  A report has come out that the two sides are in ‘substantive’ contract discussions and that there is mutual interest in getting a long-term extension done.  Duchene is certainly bolstering his value on the ice as he is over the point per game mark so far this season which should help him improve upon his current $6MM AAV on this next deal.

Coaching Change In Chicago: The Blackhawks decided to part ways with long-time bench boss Joel Quenneville, replacing him with Jeremy Colliton, the head coach of their AHL affiliate.  Quenneville had been with the team since taking over early in the 2008-09 season and won three Stanley Cups with the team.  However, after missing the playoffs last season and getting off to a slow start this year, GM Stan Bowman decided to make the coaching change.  The 60-year-old has indicated that he’d like to return behind the bench but to do so, an arrangement would have to be worked out with regards to his salary as Chicago owes him $6MM per year through 2019-20; presumably, any new team would have to take on the majority of that amount.

Canadiens Release Plekanec: In a move that was out of the blue, the Canadiens announced that they had reached an agreement to terminate the remainder of center Tomas Plekanec’s contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.  The 36-year-old returned to Montreal this summer as a free agent, inking a one-year deal with a $2.25MM guarantee plus another $1.25MM in bonuses but will now look to place elsewhere.  He indicated that he would like to retire from the NHL as a member of the Canadiens which suggests he will likely be looking for a deal to play overseas in the days to come.  Plekanec wraps up his NHL career with 1,001 regular season games played (all but 17 of which came with Montreal) and ranks seventh in franchise history in games played and 13th in points with 606.

Toronto Asking For Nylander Offers: As the William Nylander saga drags on, the Maple Leafs have asked teams to provide a list of players they’d be willing to move for the unsigned winger as well as what the framework of an offer would look like.  Toronto’s preferred option would still be to re-sign him but with the deadline to get something done now less than a month away, GM Kyle Dubas appears to be looking to see what his options around the league may be if they have to change gears and pursue a trade.

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As the calendar flips to November, a pair of teams will be missing core players for a while.  Those injuries highlight our top stories of the week.

Matthews Out At Least One Month: Toronto will be without top center Auston Matthews for at least a month due to a shoulder injury sustained last weekend.  Surgery was not required.  He was off to a torrid start before the injury, scoring ten goals while adding six assists in just 11 games.  While losing an elite player like Matthews will hurt any team, the Maple Leafs can certainly take some comfort knowing that they still have John Tavares and Nazem Kadri down the middle which is still one of the stronger one-two punches in the league.

Voynov Applies For Reinstatement: There has been some discussion about the possibility of former Kings defenseman Slava Voynov returning to the NHL.  The first step in that process is underway as Deputy Commissioner acknowledged that Voynov has applied for reinstatement and that the league is currently investigating his domestic violence incident from 2015, one that saw him plead no contest.  If the NHL was to approve his request, a significant suspension is expected to be imposed that he would have to serve before he could resume playing.

Six Years For Gourde: Lightning winger Yanni Gourde has been a late-bloomer.  He only cracked the NHL on a full-time basis last season but made an immediate impact, scoring 25 goals while adding 39 assists.  He has followed that up with a solid start in 2018-19 and was rewarded for his efforts, inking a six-year, $31MM extension with the team.  The contract also contains a full no-trade clause for the first three years and a partial one in the other three.  Considering the 26-year-old has less than 120 career regular season games under his belt, there is a bit of risk here but if he can continue to produce at the rate he has since last season, Tampa Bay will get pretty good value on this deal.  The team now has more than $72MM committed to just 14 players for next season so they will likely have to make a move or two to free up salary cap space at some point between now and October.

Coaching Change In Los Angeles: The first coach firing of the season came in Los Angeles as the Kings parted ways with head coach John Stevens and assistant coach Don Nachbaur.  Willie Desjardins takes over as interim head coach for the rest of the year while Marco Sturm has joined the staff as an assistant, his first NHL role since retiring in January of 2014.  Los Angeles has struggled out of the gate this season, posting the lowest points percentage in the league thus far with a 4-8-1 record.  Desjardins will be hard-pressed to get some early success as starting goalie Jonathan Quick underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus and has been placed on long-term injured reserve.

Extension For Rinne: Pekka Rinne decided to forego testing the UFA market, agreeing to a two-year, $10MM contract extension with the Predators.  The 36-year-old has been with Nashville his entire career after they drafted him back in the eighth round back in 2004.  The deal represents a notable drop from his current $7MM salary and cap hit but with Juuse Saros in the fold, it’s likely that the team will start to transition towards playing him more so the drop in pay isn’t particularly surprising.

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The final full week of October featured a fair bit of news away from the ice which is highlighted in our top stories of the week.

Wilson’s Appeal Denied, Appeals Again: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman upheld the 20-game suspension issued to Capitals winger Tom Wilson for his hit on Blues center Oskar Sundqvist back in the preseason.  Notable in the 31-page decision is that the NHLPA argued that a suspension was unwarranted and that Rule 48 was not violated.  With that in mind, it comes as little surprise that the appeal has now been made to neutral arbitrator Shyam Das with the hearing slated for Wednesday.

Seattle Realignment Determined: Even though Seattle hasn’t even officially been awarded an expansion franchise yet, the league has already determined its realignment plans for their eventual entry.  As expected, Seattle will go into the Pacific Division but rather than have nine teams in there and seven in the Central, the plan is to move Arizona into the Central.  As things stand, the plan appears to be to have Seattle join the league in 2020-21 although if their inclusion isn’t made official over the next few months, that could still be pushed back a year.

Schmidt Extension: After locking up Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore to long-term deals in recent weeks, the Golden Knights were at it again, this time inking defenseman Nate Schmidt to a six-year, $35.7MM extension.  The deal also contains a ten-team no-trade clause.  Schmidt played an instrumental role in the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup Final last season and has certainly earned the significant raise on his current $2.3MM salary.  The 27-year-old has yet to play in the 2018-19 season as he continues to serve a 20-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance over the summer.  Vegas now has more than $72MM in committed contracts on the books for next season already.

Namestnikov Garnering Trade Interest: The transition from Tampa Bay to New York has not been kind for center Vladislav Namestnikov.  He went from being a legitimate top-six forward with the Lightning to struggling to stay in the lineup with the Rangers.  Not surprisingly, he is starting to draw some trade interest around the league as he could be an intriguing buy-low candidate.  The 25-year-old is in the first season of a two-year, $8MM deal and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in the 2020 offseason.  Through ten games this season, Namestnikov has just a goal and two assists while logging just over 11 minutes per night.

Boyle’s Cancer In Remission: Saving the best news for last, Devils center Brian Boyle revealed that his cancer is in “full molecular remission”, just under one year since he returned to action.  The 2018 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy winner is off to a quality start to his year with three goals in eight games and really solidifies their depth down the middle.  While Boyle will still need to take medication to help ensure that it doesn’t return down the road, he appears to be well on his way towards a full recovery.

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This was a rough week around the NHL when it came to injuries as several prominent players are out long-term.  Those are highlighted in the top stories of the week.

Schultz Out Four Months: The Penguins will be without defenseman Justin Schultz for the next four months after he underwent surgery to repair a fracture in his left leg.  The injury was sustained back on October 13th against Montreal.  He’s a key cog on their back end but it doesn’t appear as if there are any plans to replace him externally for now with GM Jim Rutherford indicating that their current plan is to try to fill his spot from within.  Considering he is one of their better offensive threats and typically logs nearly 20 minutes a night for them, that’s going to be a tall task.

Ritchie Signs: The number of remaining restricted free agents around the league was cut in half after the Ducks and winger Nick Ritchie agreed to terms on a three-year, $4.6MM deal.  Ritchie was believed to be seeking a one-year pact but Anaheim wanted the three-year pact to give them some cost certainty.  It will still take a bit of time before he suits up as he has to get his immigration paperwork in place as well as get his conditioning up to playing shape.

Matheson Gets Two: Following his controversial throw down of Canucks center Elias Pettersson last weekend, the NHL suspended Panthers defenseman Michael Matheson for two games.  Those games were served during the week while Pettersson is currently in concussion protocol but isn’t expected to miss much more time.

Tuch Locked Up: The Golden Knights continue to lock up their core youngsters.  After inking defenseman Shea Theodore to a seven-year contract last month, they did the same with winger Alex Tuch on a deal that will carry an AAV of $4.75MM and a five-team no-trade clause in the final three years of the contract.  The 22-year-old has yet to play this season as he works his way from a lower-body injury and has just 84 career regular season games under his belt.  Tuch is coming off of a 37-point rookie campaign and still has plenty of upside so while there is certainly some risk to the deal given his limited experience, there is also a chance that this becomes a team-friendly contract over the next few years.

More Injuries: Schultz was hardly the only notable injury around the league.  Vegas will be without their top free agent acquisition in center Paul Stastny for up to two months due to a lower-body injury which certainly isn’t good news for an offense that is struggling to score.  Meanwhile, Coyotes pivot Christian Dvorak suffered a torn pectoral muscle while rehabbing the lower-body injury that held him out of training camp.  He has undergone surgery and is out indefinitely.  Meanwhile, even prospects were bit by the injury bug.  Ottawa winger Brady Tkachuk has seen his strong start to his rookie campaign delayed by a month due to a torn ligament in his left leg while Red Wings prospect winger Evgeny Svechnikov (a first-round pick in 2015) will miss five-to-six months due to a torn ACL.

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While it was a quiet week around the league on the transaction front, there was still some notable news which is highlighted in our top stories of the week.

Cap Range For Next Season: The preliminary range for the Upper Limit of the salary cap for next season is now available and it runs from $81.4MM to $85.4MM depending on how much of the annual inflator the NHLPA chooses to use.  In the past, the inflator was used at the maximum five percent but in recent years, it has been reduced in order to try to limit escrow.  Even at the low end, that would still represent a jump of nearly $2MM on the current Upper Limit and with a few teams projected to be capped out, every little bit will count.

Wilson Gets Non-Roster Status: While this largely flew under the radar, the NHL granted suspended Capitals forward Tom Wilson non-roster status.  This allows Washington to essentially replace Wilson on the active roster without him counting against the 23-player limit.  This is granted on a case-by-case basis by Commissioner Gary Bettman but rarely is it granted for suspended players.  For comparison, Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt is also on a 20-game suspension but has not been granted non-roster status.  This has the potential to be a precedent setter and it will be interesting to see if other teams petition the league for similar treatment for their players as the season progresses.  Meanwhile, Wilson’s appeal will be heard by Bettman this coming Thursday.

Nash Still Undecided About Future: Rick Nash was slated to be one of the more notable players available in free agency back in July but withdrew himself from consideration, citing he was undecided about playing this season.  While there was some speculation that the 34-year-old was about to retire, he indicated that he remains undecided about playing or not, adding that he is still dealing with the side effects from his latest concussion.  If he does decide to play, he’ll have to be on an NHL roster by the trade deadline in February.

Van Riemsdyk Injured: The Flyers will be without their key offseason addition for more than a month as winger James van Riemsdyk will miss five-to-six weeks with a lower-body issue.  The injury was sustained last Saturday against Colorado.  That’s not the start that the veteran was hoping for to kick off his second stint with the organization that initially drafted him second overall back in 2007.  Injuries have hit Philadelphia early as goalie Michal Neuvirth and center Nolan Patrick are also on the shelf.

Watson’s Suspension Reduced: The NHLPA’s appeal of Predators winger Austin Watson’s suspension for a domestic violence incident yielded a sizable reduction in his punishment.  Instead of missing the first 27 games of the season, he will now miss the opening 18 games of the season.  That means that Watson will be eligible to return in just over a month from now on November 15th against Arizona.  The NHL released a statement expressing their disappointment in the arbitrator’s decision but they are not able to change it.

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The beginning of the 2018-19 season led to an uptick of news around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Retirements: A pair of long-time NHL veterans officially hung up their skates as winger Scott Hartnell announced his retirement on Monday and hours later, winger Radim Vrbata did the same.  Hartnell spent 17 seasons in the NHL with Nashville, Columbus, and Philadelphia, recording 707 points while being one of the more prominent power forwards in the league in his prime.  Vrbata bounced around a lot more in his 16 years, spending time with seven different organizations (including three separate stints with the Coyotes) but turned a seventh-round draft slot into a productive career as he picked up 623 points in 1,057 career regular season games.

Lee Discussing Long-Term Extension: After losing John Tavares for nothing over the summer, the Islanders are hoping to not see their top goal scorer follow a similar path.  Accordingly, they’ve started discussions on a long-term contract extension with the 28-year-old.  Lee very quietly has tallied the sixth-most goals of anyone in the league since 2016-17 and more than the likes of Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and even Tavares himself.  That wasn’t the only notable story involving Lee, however, as the Islanders also named him as their new captain, replacing Tavares.  Accordingly, if they aren’t able to get a new deal done, they’ll be repeating that particular process one year from now.

Seattle Gets Expansion Recommendation: It was a very successful meeting with the league for the prospective NHL franchise from Seattle.  Following their sit down, the Board of Governors’ Executive Committee unanimously recommended continuing to move forward with their expansion application.  The target debut for the franchise is 2020-21, assuming they receive the required approval from the full board later.  Worth noting is that the Vegas Golden Knights will be exempted from losing a player in the Expansion Draft.  However, they will not be able to share the profits from Seattle’s $650MM expansion fee either.

More Captaincies: The Islanders weren’t the only team to name a captain this week.  Veteran blueliner Shea Weber received the nod in Montreal, taking over for Max Pacioretty who was dealt to Vegas last month.  He’ll have to wait a while to wear the ‘C’ in a game though as he’s out for at least the next two months following offseason knee surgery.  The fact he was named as their captain makes it less likely that the team will look to move Weber, even if they head further into a rebuilding situation.  Meanwhile, after going without a captain last season, the Sabres have decided on Jack Eichel for that honor.  Despite being just 21, he’s certainly an understandable choice given their commitment to him as he is in the first season of a new eight-year, $80MM contract.  Even with the three vacancies being filled around the league, there are still six teams without a captain this season.

Wilson Gets 20: Capitals winger Tom Wilson will be waiting quite a while to make his 2018-19 season debut.  Following a hit on Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist in their final exhibition game, the league handed the 24-year-old a 20-game suspension, one that carries a salary forfeiture of more than $1.26MM.  As things currently stand, he’s eligible to return to the lineup on November 21st.  However, Wilson and the NHLPA have filed an appeal which will be held by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman at a later date.

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With the regular season now just a few days away, there was a small uptick in news around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Gionta Retires: Veteran winger Brian Gionta officially announced his retirement at the age of 39.  He will remain with the Sabres in a part-time capacity after working with them over the offseason.  Gionta suited up in 1,026 regular season games over parts of 16 seasons between New Jersey, Montreal, Buffalo, and Boston, where he spent the final quarter of last year after suiting up for Team USA at the Olympics.  His 595 career points rank 42nd all-time among American-born NHL players.

Successful Tryouts: The majority of players attending training camps on tryout deals have already been cut but there are a couple that managed to get themselves a contract.  The Islanders added some defensive depth by inking Luca Sbisa to a one-year, $1.5MM contract, a sizable price tag for someone that went to camp with a non-guaranteed deal.  Meanwhile, the Blackhawks locked up defenseman Brandon Davidson to a one-year pact worth the league minimum $650K.  There are still a handful of players left on PTOs and decisions will need to be made on their respective futures within the next day or two.

Perry Out Long-Term: Anaheim will be without one of their more prominent forwards for the next five months as winger Corey Perry underwent surgery to repair damage to his meniscus and MCL.  The 33-year-old is coming off of a quieter season but still ranked third on the Ducks in team scoring in 2017-18.  The Ducks are still dealing with Ryan Kesler and Patrick Eaves working their way back into playing form as well so there are quite a few slots to fill up front heading into the season.  Considering that they will be able to put Perry on LTIR to start the season if they want, it will be worth watching to see if they try to swing a deal for some short-term help after they get RFA Nick Ritchie signed.

Seven Years For Theodore: The Golden Knights were hoping to get defenseman Shea Theodore locked up long-term and they did just that, signing him to a seven-year, $36.4MM deal.  It’s not very often that someone with just 114 games of regular season experience gets that much money but the 23-year-old has quickly become one of their top defenders and many believe he still has another level he can get to.  Vegas will now likely shift their focus towards getting a long-term deal done with Nate Schmidt although that will likely take a while to get done as they’d be wise to wait until he gets back from his 20-game suspension to start the season.

Jones Out Four-To-Six Weeks: While the Blue Jackets got some good news on the injury front with Zach Werenski returning, they’ll be without their other top defenseman for a while as Seth Jones will miss four-to-six weeks due to a knee issue.  He’s coming off of a career year that saw him post 57 points in 78 games while finishing fourth in Norris Trophy voting so his absence will be tough to fill.  Columbus is still dealing with some other injuries on their back end as well with Ryan Murray and Scott Harrington banged up at the moment.

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While the past seven days did feature as many significant headlines as last week did, there were still some notable stories around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Bridge For Nurse: It took a lot longer than many expected but the Oilers gave defenseman Darnell Nurse a two-year bridge deal worth $6.4MM.  Given Edmonton’s salary cap situation that seems them now with less than $800K in cap room, this was always the anticipated outcome as locking him up long-term would have forced them to deal away someone else.  It’s worth noting that there is no back-loading in this contract as some players push for to yield a higher qualifying offer; instead, he’ll receive $3.2MM in each year with that amount serving as his qualifier in 2020.

Domi Gets Five: Max Domi’s first game in a Montreal uniform was a memorable one but for all the wrong reasons.  A punching incident involving Florida’s Aaron Ekblad in the third period of their preseason game resulted in him receiving a match penalty and after a hearing with the league, he was suspended for the remainder of the preseason.  The decision has received a lot of negativity with some suggesting getting a pass on the rest of the exhibition schedule ultimately is a reward to Domi and not any sort of deterrent for others moving forward.

More On Dotchin: Tampa Bay’s decision to terminate the final year of Jake Dotchin’s contract for a material breach citing poor conditioning caught many by surprise.  More information has started to come to light, suggesting he came in significantly overweight and with a very high BMI percentage.  It will certainly be interesting to see what Dotchin’s market around the league will be with this information coming out as it’s going to take a while for him to get into playing shape while the NHLPA still has to decide whether or not they want to grieve this case.

Bridge For Reinhart: Sam Reinhart was believed to be hoping for a long-term deal but he too had to settle for a short-term pact, inking a two-year, $7.3MM deal with Buffalo.  Last year was a tale of two separate seasons for him.  He was very slow out of the gate with just 20 points in his first 50 games but when the calendar flipped to February, he was much more productive, collecting 30 points in his final 32 contests.  It’s that type of inconsistency that likely played a role in Buffalo’s hesitance to commit a big-money, long-term pact at this stage.  Instead, he’ll look to show that his late-season play is a sign of things to come.  Reinhart will earn $3.55MM this season and $3.75MM in 2019-20 with the latter number representing his qualifier in the 2020 summer.

Four-Year Deals: While Nurse and Reinhart had to take bridge deals, that surprisingly wasn’t the case for Devils winger Miles Wood.  Despite having only 49 career points over 137 games, New Jersey signed him to a four-year, $2.75MM contract, buying out the majority of his remaining RFA years.  The 23-year-old had a breakout campaign in 2017-18 with 19 goals in 76 games and if he can repeat that production moving forward, New Jersey will have a bargain deal on their books.  Meanwhile, Montreal winger Paul Byron has gone from potential trade bait to part of the long-term plans after he put pen to paper on a four-year, $13.6MM extension.  He has turned into one of the top waiver claims in recent years and has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last two seasons.  Byron will play out the upcoming campaign on his existing deal that carries a cap hit of just $1.167MM.

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The start of training camps usually makes for a busy week around the NHL and this was certainly no exception.  Here are the top stories from what was a headline-filled seven days around the league.

Pacioretty Dealt To Vegas: The trade rumors had been swirling around winger Max Pacioretty for quite some time and it had been reported previously that Montreal had no intention of re-signing him which made a trade a foregone conclusion.  That came to fruition as he was moved to the Golden Knights in exchange for winger Tomas Tatar, 2017 first-round pick Nick Suzuki, and a 2019 second-round pick.  Shortly after the swap was announced, he inked a four-year, $28MM extension.  His $7MM AAV is significantly higher than his current $4.5MM cap hit.

End Of The Road For Zetterberg: While it had been speculated for a while that it was unlikely that Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg would play in 2018-19, the team took it one step further, announcing that his playing days are over.  The 37-year-old played through considerable back pain last season and had been unable to train at all this summer.  He wraps up his NHL career with 960 points in 1,082 games, all with Detroit.  Zetterberg still has three years remaining on his contract with a $6.083MM cap hit (but salaries of just $3.35MM and two years at $1MM) so instead of retiring, he will instead spend the next three seasons on LTIR.

Extension For Seguin: Stars center Tyler Seguin had expressed disappointment recently regarding the last of progress made on contract talks but that seemed to get the ball rolling on them.  He’ll be sticking around for the long haul now after signing an eight-year, $78.8MM extension.  The $9.85MM cap hit makes him the seventh highest-paid forward league-wide for 2019-20 and beyond.  Dallas had one of the more exciting lines in the league last season when they put their big three (which also features Jamie Benn and Alexander Radulov) together and they now have that trio locked up through 2021-22 at a combined cap hit of $25.6MM.

Karlsson To San Jose: Defenseman Erik Karlsson had been in trade speculation for a while with Dallas, Tampa Bay, and Vegas the presumptive favorites to land him.  In the end, it was the Sharks that landed the Swedish star, acquiring him for a lengthy list of players and picks.  Among the notables going the other way to Ottawa are center Chris Tierney, prospect center Josh Norris, and one guaranteed first-round pick plus two others with plenty of conditions on them.  There is no extension in place for Karlsson at the moment but with a little more than $20MM in expiring contracts on the books, San Jose should have the ability to re-sign him if they’re willing to spend that much on their back end.  Meanwhile, this further cements the idea that the Senators are in a rebuilding process which should be great news for Colorado as they hold Ottawa’s unprotected first-round pick in 2019.

Yzerman Resigns: In a move that caught the hockey world by surprise, Steve Yzerman resigned as GM of Tampa Bay after holding the position for a little over eight years.  He cited family reasons as the reason for his decision as they remain in Detroit.  The 53-year-old will remain with the club as an advisor to new GM Julien BriseBois for the final year of his contract and has yet to decide on his future after that.  Speculation has already run rampant that he could be in line to take the GM job with the Red Wings once his deal with the Lightning expires but nothing is set in stone just yet.

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With preseason hockey set to kick off shortly, activity has started to pick up around the league.  Here’s an overview of the top stories of the past week.

Pacioretty Sets Extension Deadline: Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty has been at the forefront of the rumor mill in recent months with his eventual departure seeming like a foregone conclusion at this point.  While an extension with Montreal appears to be out of the question, Pacioretty indicated that he won’t negotiate a new deal with any team once the regular season gets underway on October 3rd.  It will certainly be worth watching to see if that deadline helps spur trade talks involving the winger.

Latest On Seattle: While representatives from Seattle’s ownership group (which was just bolstered by new minority investors) will be meeting with the NHL in October, their potential expansion franchise won’t be voted on at that time by the Board of Governors.  It’s not a given that it will be on the agenda for their December meeting either.  Shortly after that came out, it was noted that construction on the prospective arena won’t begin until a franchise is officially granted.  While this isn’t likely to ultimately quash things, it could certainly delay when the team enters the league.  Instead of 2020-21, the most realistic option now appears to be that they will start in 2021-22 at the earliest.

Jets Lock Up Wheeler: Winnipeg entered the summer with several core players entering the final year of their respective contracts and it was only a matter of time before they started to address that.  They got the ball rolling by signing winger Blake Wheeler to a five-year, $41.25MM extension ($8.25MM AAV).  That represents a significant raise on his current deal which carries a $5.6MM cap charge.  While the deal locks up Wheeler through his age-37 season which is a little risky, the captain has very quietly been one of the more productive players in the league in recent years; only four players have more points than Wheeler does over the past three seasons.

Kelly Retires, Rejoins Senators: Long-time checking center Chris Kelly split last season between the AHL, the NHL, and Canada’s Olympic team, has called it a career at the age of 37.  The veteran played in 845 career NHL games over parts of 14 seasons, collecting 291 points along the way.  His post-playing days have already started as he has signed on with Ottawa as a player development coach.  The bulk of Kelly’s playing career game with the Senators after being drafted by the team back in 1999.

Seguin Extension Talks: After previously declaring his disappointment with the fact he has yet to sign a contract extension, talks have picked up in recent days between center Tyler Seguin and the Stars.  GM Jim Nill expressed that he’s hopeful a deal can be reached in time for the start of the season.  If they can’t come to terms, Seguin projects to be the top unrestricted free agent forward in July and could follow a process quite similar to the one that John Tavares went through this summer.  It will be interesting to see if Jamie Benn’s $9.5MM AAV represents an internal cap on an offer to Seguin or if they’re willing to pass that mark to get the 26-year-old locked up.

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