Week In Review

While there was one arbitration hearing, several more players reached deals to avoid arbitration.  Those moves highlight the top stories of the past week.

Five Years For Zucker: After avoiding arbitration with defenseman Mathew Dumba last week, Minnesota did so once again this past week, this time with winger Jason Zucker.  Following a career season that saw the 26-year-old record 64 points, the two sides agreed on a five-year, $27.5MM contract, one that carries a ten-team no-trade list in the final four years of the deal.  The pact makes Zucker the third highest-paid forward in terms of cap hit on Minnesota behind only wingers Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund.

Linden Out In Vancouver: In a somewhat surprising move, Trevor Linden stepped down as President of Hockey Operations for the Canucks.  He had been in that role since 2014 and the team had only made the playoffs once in that span.  However, the team has amassed a quality group of core prospects to build around so while they appear to be in a rebuild, brighter days are certainly on the horizon.  GM Jim Benning will now report directly to ownership and Linden’s role will not be replaced so it will be interesting to see if the team decides to change course in the coming months.

Washington Locks Up Wilson: One of the surprise non-filers for salary arbitration was Capitals winger Tom Wilson.  Instead of looking at short-term pacts, the focus was a long-term deal and they found one that both Wilson and the team liked as he inked a six-year, $31MM contract.  The deal has raised a lot of eyebrows given Wilson’s lack of offensive production prior to 2017-18 not to mention his reputation around the league and with the Department of Player Safety.  If Wilson can continue to help Washington’s top line, they should be okay with this contract but if his role diminishes, this could be a contract that they’ll come to regret before too long.

Skjei Signs: The Rangers have been a busy team this summer locking up their restricted free agents and knocked another one off the list on Saturday, signing defenseman Brady Skjei to a six-year, $31.5MM contract.  The 24-year-old played a big role with New York last season and with the departure of Ryan McDonagh back at the trade deadline, it’s quite likely that he will be asked to take on an even more significant role for 2018-19 and beyond.  Expect to hear more from the Rangers in the coming days with hearings on the horizon for centers Kevin Hayes and Ryan Spooner.

More Defensemen Deals: Skjei was hardly the only blueliner to sign a new deal.  Veteran Dan Hamhuis is going back to where it all began after he inked a two-year, $2.5MM deal with Nashville to stabilize their third pairing.  Meanwhile, Brooks Orpik’s time away from Washington didn’t last too long as he rejoined the Capitals on a one-year, $1MM pact with an extra $500K in games played bonuses.  On the restricted free agent side, Joel Edmundson avoided arbitration with a one-year, $3MM deal with St. Louis while the Ducks and Brandon Montour settled on a two-year, $6.775MM pact.

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With arbitration hearings kicking off this past week, there was an uptick in re-signings across the league.  Several of those headline the top stories from the past seven days.

Lindholm Locked Up: The Flames inked one of the two players they acquired from Carolina back at the draft, signing forward Elias Lindholm to a six-year, $29.1MM contract.  The 23-year-old has put up between 39 and 45 points in each of the last four seasons while largely playing down the middle with the Hurricanes.  There is a chance that Lindholm starts next season on the right wing on the top line alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan which means he could be in line for a sizable boost in production.

Holding Pattern For Skinner, Pacioretty: Two of the more prominent wingers available on the trade market are Carolina’s Jeff Skinner and Montreal’s Max Pacioretty.  However, while both have been available for a while, it doesn’t appear as if progress is being made in discussions involving either of them.  With both being known to be on the block, other teams can wait things out in the hopes that one of the Hurricanes or Canadiens will eventually lower their asking price.  It’s worth noting that Skinner has a no-move clause while Pacioretty doesn’t have any formal trade protection but there’s a good chance that a team interested in acquiring him will want him to agree to a long-term deal which gives him a bit of leverage as well.

Extension For Henrique: The Ducks clearly liked what they saw from center Adam Henrique after acquiring him midseason from New Jersey as they locked him up on a five-year, $29.125MM contract extension that will kick in for the 2019-20 season.  The deal also contains a ten-team no-trade list and represents a small raise on the $5.5MM in salary he’s set to earn this coming season.  He made an immediate impact with Anaheim as even though he didn’t suit up for them until December, he tied for second on the team in goals with 20 last season.  With Ryan Kesler’s playing future in some question, it became that much more important for them to get Henrique locked up and give them some insurance at that position which they now have.

Panarin Sets Deadline: Although Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen met with winger Artemi Panarin and his representation earlier in the week, no progress on a new deal was made.  That was then followed up by Panarin setting a deadline of September 13th for any ‘business matters’ which can certainly be interpreted to mean contract discussions.  It has been suggested that Panarin is hesitant to sign a max-term contract to stay in Columbus which has only fueled speculation that could be on the move once again.  This declaration from his camp could ultimately affect those discussions if whoever is interested in acquiring him also wants to try to work out a contract extension.

Deals For Defensemen: A pair of notable blueliners were set to go to arbitration but one settled in advance as Wild rearguard Mathew Dumba inked a five-year, $30MM contract.  He was coming off of a career year and with him and Ryan Suter both locked up long-term, Minnesota has their top pairing intact for the foreseeable future.  Meanwhile, Winnipeg and defender Jacob Trouba weren’t able to agree to terms and wound up going to a hearing with the arbitrator awarding a one-year, $5.5MM deal.  He will be eligible for restricted free agency once again next summer.

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Mid-July typically isn’t the busiest on the NHL calendar but there was quite a bit of notable news over the past seven days.  Unfortunately, not all of it was good with former NHL netminder Ray Emery passing away at the age of 35 on Sunday.  Here are five other big stories from the past week.

Kucherov Signs Long-Term: For the second time this month, the Lightning wasted little time signing a key player to a long-term extension.  This time it was their top scorer in Nikita Kucherov getting locked up as he inked an eight-year, $76MM contract, making him the eighth highest-paid forward in the league for 2019-20 when the deal kicks in.  The contract also contains a no-move clause beginning in 2020-21, the first season that he is eligible for one.  Tampa Bay now has nearly $66MM tied up in just a dozen players for 2019-20 so they will likely have to do some salary cap manoeuvering between now and then.

Hossa Traded: While his playing days are finished, winger Marian Hossa has seen his NHL rights get traded from Chicago to Arizona in a seven-player deal.  As compensation for taking on the contract, the Coyotes most notably picked up young forward Vincent Hinostroza while veteran center Marcus Kruger was the highlight of the return going to the Blackhawks.  Chicago now has freed up some salary cap flexibility as Hossa carries a $5.25MM cap charge for three more years on his heavily frontloaded deal so many believe they have another move on the way.  Meanwhile, the Coyotes add an intriguing player in Hinostroza and will only be responsible for paying $200K of Hossa’s $1MM in salary in each season with insurance picking up the remaining 80%.

Hellebuyck Signs Six-Year Deal: Winnipeg is going to be a busy team in the next few weeks as they still have several players to re-sign.  That list is now one player shorter after they put pen to paper on a six-year, $37MM contract with goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.  The 25-year-old is coming off the best season of his brief NHL career; he led the league in both games played (67) and wins (44) last season while helping lead the Jets to the Western Conference Final.  Hellebuyck will have a new backup playing behind him next year with the departures of Steve Mason (trade to Montreal and subsequent buyout) and Michael Hutchinson (signed with Florida).  Laurent Brossoit, who cleared waivers midseason, will now back him up and given his limited NHL track record, there’s a decent chance that Hellebuyck will be among the league leaders in playing time once again.

Canadiens Won’t Pursue A Pacioretty Extension: Montreal winger Max Pacioretty has been part of trade speculation for a while now and that picked up even more following a report that said that the captain has been told that the team will not be signing him to a new deal and that they intend to trade him as soon as possible.  The 29-year-old has one year left on his contract with a $4.5MM cap hit and is believed to be looking for a significant raise on his next deal after being one of the more consistent goal scorers in the league heading into last season.  However, he’s coming off of a fairly quiet 2017-18 campaign that saw him score just 17 times in 64 games which certainly doesn’t help his leverage for a new deal and Montreal’s leverage in trade discussions.

Vegas Locks Up Fleury: Last month, Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made it known that his preference was to stay with Vegas for the rest of his career.  That goal has come one step closer to becoming a reality as he signed a three-year, $21MM extension that is set to commence in 2019-20.  Fleury had a very strong first season in the desert as he posted new career marks in goals-against-average (2.24) and save percentage (.927), numbers that he duplicated in the Golden Knights’ improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final.  If Vegas gets even close to that type of play from Fleury over the life of this new deal, they’ll be in good shape between the pipes for a while.

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The first full week of free agency didn’t yield as many surprises and headlines as July 1st did but there was still plenty of news around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

San Jose Extensions: After not being able to sign John Tavares, the Sharks quickly turned their focus towards bringing back one of their own unrestricted free agents in Joe Thornton as they signed him to a one-year, $5MM contract.  The 39-year-old last played in January before suffering a knee injury that required surgery but when he played last season, he was fairly productive with 36 points in 47 games.  Meanwhile, winger Tomas Hertl agreed to a four-year, $22.5MM deal to stick around.  The 24-year-old set a new career high in goals last season with 22 while tying his best point output with 46.

Karlsson Saga: As expected, the Senators offered defenseman Erik Karlsson a contract extension as soon as they were eligible.  Not surprisingly, the offer was rejected and the team has now turned their focus towards trading him.  Early on, Dallas emerged as a potential frontrunner but later in the week, Tampa Bay became the leading candidate for his services.  However, given their salary cap situation, they need a third team to help facilitate a deal.  While there was some early speculation that the Rangers and even the Devils could be candidates to do so, talks appear to have stalled for the time being.  Given everything that has transpired over the past week though, this isn’t going to be the last we hear of trade talk involving Karlsson this summer.

Arbitration Filings: Thursday marked the deadline for player-elected salary arbitration and there were quite a few more takers than usual.  After 30 filed last year, 44 filed this time around.  (No teams opted to take their players to arbitration during the window that expired on Friday.)  Headliners on that list include Golden Knights center William Karlsson, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck plus defenseman Jacob Trouba, as well as Senators winger Mark Stone.  Of the 44, five have already agreed to new deals and many more will so in advance of the hearings which are scheduled to run from July 20th through August 4th.

Weber Out Long-Term: It hasn’t been a great summer for Montreal in terms of bolstering their NHL team and they got some more bad news when it comes to top defenseman Shea Weber.  A scheduled cleanup of his knee wound up resulting in surgery to repair his torn meniscus, one that carries a five-to-six month recovery timeline.  That means that their back end, which struggled mightily without him last season, will be asked to shoulder the load for the first couple of months next season.  Weber joins wingers Andrew Shaw (knee) and Paul Byron (shoulder) as regulars that are not expected to be available when the regular season kicks off in October.

Hurricanes Add Defense: Carolina’s back end has been a strength for them in recent years but it’s undergoing a notable transformation.  After adding Dougie Hamilton at the draft as part of a deal that saw Noah Hanifin go to Calgary, they then added UFA Calvin de Haan on a four-year, $18.2MM contract.  He should slide in well on their second pairing and take Hanifin’s old role.  There’s a decent chance that the transformation isn’t complete either as Justin Faulk continues to be involved in trade speculation.  With Brett Pesce and Hamilton both ahead of him on the depth chart, Faulk and his $4.83MM cap hit may be deemed too pricey for the third pairing.

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While there weren’t as many big moves around the league, it was still quite the busy week.  On top of the announcement of the NHL Awards, the salary cap getting set at $79.5MM, and 217 prospects being drafted, there were still several other notable stories around the league over the past seven days.

1) Kovalchuk To Kings: While the contract can’t officially be signed until July 1st, the first major domino of the free agent market has already fallen as the Kings have agreed to terms on a three-year, $18.75MM contract with winger Ilya Kovalchuk.  The 35-year-old was one of the top goal scorers in the NHL before he departed for the KHL five years ago.  He has been quite productive during that stretch and clearly, the Kings believe that he will be able to produce at a high level in his return.  It’s worth noting that this contract will not absolve the Devils of any of the salary cap recapture penalties that they incurred when he ‘retired’ back in 2013; they will continue to carry an annual $250K penalty through the 2024-25 season.

2) Hoffman Traded, Then Dealt Again: With some behind the scenes making it a guarantee that the Senators would move winger Mike Hoffman, the deal came to fruition when he was dealt to the Sharks along with minor league defender Cody Donaghey and a 2020 fifth-round pick for winger Mikkel Boedker, prospect blueliner Julius Bergman, and a 2020 sixth-rounder.  In Boedker, the Sens pick up a speedy winger that they hope can fill a middle-six role for the next couple of seasons.

However, Hoffman’s journey didn’t end there.  San Jose then flipped him to the Panthers along with their seventh-rounder from this weekend’s draft in exchange for a trio of draft picks – Florida’s fourth- and fifth-rounders from this past weekend plus their 2019 second-round pick.  From San Jose’s perspective, they wind up clearing out Boedker’s $4MM for the next two years while adding some draft picks; they’re going to be factors either in free agency or the trade market over the next week or two.  As for Florida, Hoffman should fit in nicely on their second line and makes an already decent attack that much deeper.

3) Flames, Hurricanes Make Five-Player Trade: There wasn’t a whole lot of player movement at the draft but there was one deal of significance.  The Hurricanes, who have been looking to shake up their roster all offseason, dealt defenseman Noah Hanifin and center Elias Lindholm (both pending restricted free agents) to Calgary in exchange for defender Dougie Hamilton, winger Micheal Ferland, and the rights to prospect blueliner Adam Fox.  The Flames hope that Lindholm will be a better fit in their top-six than Ferland who is more better suited to be a bottom-six player while Carolina is counting on Hamilton, a more offensive-minded defender to make a bigger contribution than Hanifin over the next few years.

4) Trotz Leaves Capitals, Joins Islanders: Barry Trotz’s contract situation with the Capitals was a storyline for most of the year.  He was entering the final year of his deal with no extension on the horizon.  It turns out that winning the Stanley Cup gave him an automatic two-year, $3.6MM extension.  At the time his initial deal was done, that was closer to market value for coaches but with the recent explosion in coaching salaries, that’s no longer the case.  Unable to come to terms with the Caps on a revised deal, Trotz decided to resign.

However, he wasn’t on the open market for long.  Just days later, he was scooped up by the Islanders, who handed him a five-year deal worth roughly $4MM per season which gives him more than double the amount per season than he’d have received on his Washington deal.  While the hiring didn’t stop top UFA John Tavares from saying he’d meet with teams during this week’s interview period, his addition certainly shouldn’t hurt New York’s chances of keeping him around while giving them some stability behind the bench regardless.

5) Carlson Stays Put: The top defenseman in free agency isn’t going to make it to the open market after all.  While he did get a little bit of interest when the interview period, Capitals defenseman John Carlson focused on getting a contract done in Washington and they did just that, agreeing on an eight-year, $64MM pact.  Just a few days ago, it seemed like they would have difficulty being able to afford to keep him but they were able to include veteran blueliner Brooks Orpik as part of the Philipp Grubauer trade to Colorado to free up the necessary funds.  With Carlson off the market, Detroit’s Mike Green becomes the top offensive blueliner available.

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With the draft now less than a week away and free agency on the horizon, activity has started to pick up around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past week.

Coyotes Agree To Terms With Ekman-Larsson: Arizona’s top player is sticking around for the long haul.  While a new contract can’t be signed until July 1st, the Coyotes have agreed to terms on an eight-year, $66MM extension with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson that will kick in starting in 2019-20.  The soon-to-be 27-year-old has been an anchor on their back end since he joined the league as a 19-year-old back in 2010 and will continue to be there for many years to come.  Assuming the deal is made official as expected next month, that will take one of the big-three potential UFA defensemen off the market (the others being Drew Doughty of the Kings and Erik Karlsson of the Senators).

Capitals Will Explore Trading Grubauer: While the UFA market has several goalies who could handle more than a typical second-string netminder, there isn’t someone who could plausibly step in as a full-time number one.  Teams looking for someone with starting potential will be looking to the Capitals, who revealed that they will look into dealing Philipp Grubauer.  The pending restricted free agent actually took over as the starter for a brief point this past season and even got the nod to start the playoffs.  It’s believed he would welcome an opportunity to take on a number one workload and that’s something that won’t be available in Washington with Braden Holtby signed for two more years and top prospect Ilya Samsonov also under contract.  Grubauer is only a year away from unrestricted free agent eligibility so wherever he winds up, he’ll likely sign a multi-year deal.

Galchenyuk Dealt For Domi: The first notable trade of the offseason was made on Friday with the Canadiens moving winger Alex Galchenyuk to the Coyotes in exchange for winger Max Domi.  Montreal then inked Domi to a two-year, $6.3MM contract.  Both players are natural centers and it appears that Arizona will try Galchenyuk in that role while Domi appears to be earmarked to stay on the wing with the Canadiens as things currently stand.  The move is a swap of a better natural goal scorer (Galchenyuk) for a better playmaker (Domi) which on the surface is a bit perplexing from Montreal’s standpoint as they already struggle to score.

Tavares Focusing On Extension With Islanders: The future of Islanders center John Tavares has been in question for well over a year.  The expectation lately is that he was likely to test the market but that may not be as much of a certainty now following a report that his focus now is re-upping in New York.  The center has long stated that his preference would be to remain with the Isles but given a lot of the off-ice questions, many expected that those would help push him out.  While there is still some uncertainty behind the bench, the well-respected Lou Lamoriello is now in charge while there is hope on the horizon for a new arena down the road which Tavares likely views as positives.  The free agent interview opens up on June 25th which becomes the next important date to watch for as this situation nears a conclusion.

The Hoffman Saga: The Senators have been shopping winger Mike Hoffman dating back to well before the trade deadline with a justifiably-high asking price.  His value now has likely dropped following an off-ice situation regarding his fiancée and comments that were allegedly made by her regarding Erik Karlsson and his wife Melinda.  Hoffman’s agent acknowledged that a change of scenery for his client is pretty much now a must which certainly doesn’t help Pierre Dorion’s leverage in negotiations.  Some around the league believe that Dorion’s reputation may also have been damaged as the asking price was believed to be dropped just before this situation went public.  At any rate, it was looking like Hoffman was a near-guarantee to be moved in the days and weeks to come but that may not be the case anymore.

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The Washington Capitals made headlines this past week as they won their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.  With the postseason now over, the offseason activity should really start to pick up.  There were some notable headlines from the past seven days which are highlighted in our key stories of the week.

Blackhawks, Hurricanes Have Talked Trade: It has barely been a year since Chicago moved goaltender Scott Darling to Carolina but it appears they have interest in bringing him back.  The Blackhawks have held trade talks with the Hurricanes when it comes to their former backup netminder along with defenseman Justin Faulk.  There’s no word on what the asking price for the pair is but considering they combine for a cap hit just shy of $9MM, Chicago would presumably have to send a notable player or two the other way as well given their tight salary cap situation.  With new ownership and management, Carolina is certainly worth keeping an eye on in the weeks and months to come whether it’s in this potential deal or others around the league as they are believed to be looking to shake things up.

Hurricanes Taking Svechnikov #2: Speaking of those Hurricanes, they’ve made their decision on who to pick with the second-overall pick later this month.  Assuming they keep the selection, GM Don Waddell stated that it is “safe to assume” that Barrie Colts winger Andrei Svechnikov will be their choice (assuming defenseman Rasmus Dahlin goes first to Buffalo as is widely expected).  Svechnikov had a very strong rookie OHL season with 40 goals in 44 games and is expected to make the jump to the NHL next fall.

Detroit Actively Shopping Ouellet: There was a time where defenseman Xavier Ouellet was widely considered to be a big part of the future plans for the Red Wings but he has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHL player.  It appears that Detroit doesn’t believe he’ll become a regular as they are actively shopping the 24-year-old.  Ouellet averaged just under 14 minutes of ice time in 45 games in 2017-18 and is signed at a $1.25MM cap hit for next season.

Snow, Weight Relieved Of Duties: Lou Lamoriello isn’t wasting his time putting his stamp on the Islanders.  After taking some time to evaluate the situation, he relieved GM Garth Snow and head coach Doug Weight of their duties while installing himself as the new General Manager.  Both are expected to remain with the organization in a yet-to-be-defined role as they work off their contracts.  Snow had been running the show in New York since 2006 despite not having a great track record of success while Weight had recently completed his first full season behind the bench.  Lamoriello and the Isles will now begin to search for their next bench boss and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that announcement made by the draft.

Oilers Trying To Move Lucic: At the time the Oilers signed winger Milan Lucic to a seven-year, $42MM contract, many expected that the final couple of years could be an issue.  Instead, after just the second season of the deal, the Oilers are trying to find a taker for him.  The 30-year-old struggled to keep up on an up-tempo Edmonton team and scored just ten goals despite playing in all 82 games in 2017-18.  With five years remaining on his deal (plus a no-move clause), the Oilers will likely have to include some sort of incentive or take a similarly-bad contract back in return if they want to move on from their prized free agent signing of the 2016 offseason.

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As the calendar turns to June, activity around the league is set to pick up in the near future.  Though there weren’t many transactions of note this past week, there were still several newsworthy stories.

State Of The Union: As is the annual tradition, Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly spoke in advance of the opening game of the Stanley Cup Final, providing updates on several things.  While expansion to Seattle is on the horizon, it won’t be a topic at the next Board of Governors meetings but could be discussed before the end of 2018.  Meanwhile, they acknowledged that Houston has expressed an interest in a team as well; however, it doesn’t seem likely that they’ll want to expand past 32 for a while.  Daly also confirmed that the salary cap for next season should fall between $78MM and $82MM.  (The exact amount won’t be known until all hockey-related revenues are calculated and the NHLPA decides on how much, if any, of the 5% inflator they have at their disposal.)

Ekman-Larsson’s Offer: Although nothing can officially be signed until July 1st, there’s nothing stopping teams from having discussions on extensions with players set to enter the final year of their contracts next season.  That’s the case with the Coyotes and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson and the team has made a substantial offer to their franchise player.  Arizona has offered an eight-year, $66MM contract and at this point in time, the ball is in Ekman-Larsson’s court.  The 26-year-old has averaged 45 points and nearly 25 minutes of ice time over the past five seasons and has become a legitimate number one defender.  If they can’t agree to terms, then GM John Chayka will have to decide on whether or not they should look into shopping Ekman-Larsson to avoid the risk of potentially losing him for nothing a year from now.

Kings, Doughty Progressing On Extension: Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is in the same situation as Ekman-Larsson and it appears little time is being wasted.  Signs point to progress being made on a long-term contract extension that could eclipse $10MM per year, the cap hit for captain Anze Kopitar.  This past season, Doughty made some headlines when he stated publicly that he expected both himself and Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson (also a UFA in 2019) to both surpass Predators blueliner P.K. Subban’s $9MM AAV on their next deals.

Penguins Interested In Domi: After paying a significant price tag for Derick Brassard back at the deadline, more center depth wouldn’t appear to be too high on the priority list for Pittsburgh.  However, they are among the teams to have shown an interest in Coyotes pivot Max Domi (who also spent time on the wing this past season).  The pending RFA is coming off of a bit of a quiet year; although he posted 45 points, just nine of those were goals.  There’s no word on what the Pens may be willing to move for the 23-year-old.

Draft Rights Expire For 33 Prospects: June 1st is an important day on the NHL calendar as it’s the signing deadline for CHL players drafted two years earlier or international selections from four drafts earlier.  For the second straight year, a total of 33 prospects went unsigned.  Most notable among the bunch was Florida’s 2016 second-round pick Adam Mascherin, who went 38th overall that year.  While the Panthers offered him a contract, it appears he wants to try his hand at going through the draft again.  Coming off another strong season offensively with 40 goals in 67 OHL games, it will be interesting to see where he gets picked this time around.

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As is often the case in the off days leading up to the start of the Stanley Cup Final, there was a fair bit of notable news around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past week.

Rangers Hire Quinn: It took some time but the Rangers now have their new head coach as they announced the hiring of David Quinn from Boston University.  This comes on the heels of them failing to land Jim Montgomery, another college coach who wound up going to Dallas earlier this offseason.  While Quinn has one year of NHL experience as an assistant under his belt, this will be his first chance at being the bench boss in the pros.  He’ll be tasked with navigating New York through the rebuilding stage that began back before the trade deadline so his experience working with younger players will certainly be helpful.

Kane Stays In San Jose: Following their elimination from the playoffs, Sharks winger Evander Kane said that he was open to remaining in San Jose and he was true to his word as he inked a seven-year, $49MM contract.  The deal also gives him plenty of no-trade protection as he is only required to submit a three-team list that he can be dealt to.  Kane fit in quite well in his limited time with the Sharks after being acquired from Buffalo at the trade deadline and now he slots in a core forward for them for the long-haul.  The Sabres also benefit from this decision as the conditional 2019 second-round pick they received back at the trade deadline is now upgraded to a first-round selection.

Fenton To Minnesota: The Wild filled a big vacancy in their front office as they hired long-time Nashville assistant Paul Fenton as their new general manager.  He replaces Chuck Fletcher who was relieved of his duties following their first-round elimination last month.   This will be Fenton’s first opportunity as a GM and he will have a pair of prominent restricted free agents to re-sign in the months to come in defenseman Mathew Dumba and winger Jason Zucker.  However, they won’t have much flexibility on the cap beyond that as the team already has more than $67MM tied up for next season per CapFriendly so one of his other tasks early on will likely be to try to free up some more financial wiggle room.

Lamoriello To Long Island: Although Lou Lamoriello had publicly stated his intention to fulfill his role as an advisor with Toronto, many expected him to look for opportunities elsewhere.  That’s exactly what happened as he has joined the Islanders as their new president of hockey operations.  He will have the final say in all personnel decisions which calls into question what GM Garth Snow’s role with the team will be in the new hierarchy.  He wasted little time getting started on his top priority as he has already met with captain and unrestricted free agent John Tavares, doing so before his hiring was even officially announced.

Kesler’s Season In Jeopardy? The Ducks didn’t have center Ryan Kesler in their lineup for a big chunk of this past season as he played in just 44 games after undergoing hip surgery last summer.  The pain continues to persist and Kesler is now giving consideration to an aggressive rehab regimen that could wind up resulting in him missing all of the 2018-19 campaign.  He would be eligible to be placed on long-term injured reserve in that instance which would Anaheim some flexibility to try to replace him.  Adam Henrique was added in a midseason trade but if Kesler is going to be out long-term again, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to add some more depth down the middle this summer.

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With the Stanley Cup Final (which will feature the expansion Vegas Golden Knights) fast approaching, activity is starting to pick up around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past week.

Hartnell, Emelin Unlikely To Return To Predators: Following their elimination at the hands of the Jets, Nashville has made a pair of decisions regarding two of their free agents.  They have decided not to offer another contract to rugged winger Scott Hartnell while they are unlikely to retain defenseman Alexei Emelin.  Hartnell was relatively productive in a bottom-six role for the Preds with 24 points (13-11-24) in 62 games despite averaging only 12:01 per night in ice time but he didn’t see much action in the postseason, suiting up just four times.  Meanwhile, Emelin was a regular on the third pairing but after Nashville re-signed depth defenders Yannick Weber, Matt Irwin, and Anthony Bitetto back in January, he became a likely candidate to be let go.

Oilers Sign Persson, Loan Him Back To SHL: Edmonton added some defensive depth into their system by signing Joel Persson to a one-year, entry-level deal.  That in itself isn’t particularly notable but what they announced at the same time is.  The team has already confirmed that Persson will be loaned back to the SHL for next season where he will burn that year of his contract and become a restricted free agent in July of 2019.  This enables him to effectively bypass the entry-level system despite being just 24 years of age.  Other teams around the league will undoubtedly be taking note and it will be interesting to see if anyone else makes a move like this in the weeks to come.

Hurricanes Will Be Making A Change In Goal: Don Waddell hasn’t been in place for long as the full-time GM of Carolina but he has already identified one position that will see some changes for next season.  He acknowledged that when it comes to goaltending the Hurricanes “can’t bring the same two guys back”.  Scott Darling didn’t fare well in his first season as a starter while Cam Ward was a little bit better but as a team, they posted a .893 save percentage which ranked them dead last in the league.  Darling has three years at a cap hit of $4.15MM left on his deal while Ward, who has been in Carolina’s organization since they drafted him in 2002, is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July.  On the surface, it certainly appears that Ward’s tenure has come to an end.   Still with Carolina, there may be more changes coming following a report that they are open for business and that winger Sebastian Aho appears to be the only untouchable from their current roster.

Coyotes Discussing Extension With Ekman-Larsson: While a new contract can’t be signed until July 1st, that isn’t stopping the Coyotes from discussing an eight-year extension with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  The 26-year-old has been a staple of their back end since he debuted back in the 2010-11 season and has emerged as a legitimate number one blueliner.  He has one year remaining on his contract (similar to Erik Karlsson of the Senators and Drew Doughty of the Kings, widely viewed as the top free agents of 2019) and he should be set to earn a considerable raise on his current $5.5MM cap hit; it’s believed the proposed contract is a little over $8MM per season.

Hossa Officially Won’t Return: While he was holding out hope that taking this past season off would give him a shot at playing later on, that won’t be the case for Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa.  He announced that his skin disorder (and the medication) will not allow him to return to the NHL which makes him effectively retired.  However, it appears that he won’t file retirement papers with the league which will allow him to be placed on LTIR for the remaining three years on his contract.  With his playing days now officially over, it wouldn’t be surprising to see if Chicago looks to find a taker for his deal with a small market team looking to get to the salary cap floor.

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