Seven Notable RFAs Still Remain Unsigned
It’s September 5th, which means that NHL preseason hockey is now less than three weeks away. Teams have been dealing with the realities of a flat salary cap for two offseasons now, but for some teams, it’s crunch time as their young star (or stars) remain in need of a new contract for the 2021-22 season.
While it’s obviously preferable for teams to get these players signed so they can join the team right away, teams do technically have until December 1st to sign any RFAs for them to be eligible to suit up this season. However, waiting into the season to sign the RFAs will increase the cap hit for the first year of the deal, something the league saw with William Nylander‘s contract in 2018-19.
For some teams, mainly the Vancouver Canucks, that could be an issue. They’re the team that faces the largest potential cap crunch with both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes to sign. The team currently carries $10.7MM in cap space, but that number could increase to as much as $14.2MM with Micheal Ferland being placed on long-term injured reserve. Pettersson and Hughes both struggled at times this season, but it’s hard to take results from any Canuck into account too much due to the team’s large-scale COVID-19 outbreak. Pettersson was limited to just 26 games because of injury, scoring 21 points. Hughes netted 41 points in 56 games. However, it’s still a hard argument to make that these two aren’t elite talents. Because of this, it’s likely impossible for Vancouver to afford both on long-term deals. One of them will likely be receiving a two-to-four-year contract with a much lower cap hit, but the contracts need to be signed before the start of the season in order to avoid any inflation on the already tight cap hits.
Then there’s two teams who’ve had long, drawn-out negotiations with their respective stars this offseason – the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators. Both Kirill Kaprizov and Brady Tkachuk remain without deals. There appears to be some amount of hope for one team, though. Multiple reports in recent days have suggested the Wild are making progress on a deal, especially considering the deadline has now passed for Kaprizov to sign back home in Russia. The same can’t be said for Ottawa, as Tkachuk has claimed he hasn’t received a legitimate offer from the team and is beginning to get frustrated with the situation (as reported here by TSN’s Shawn Simpson). Ottawa does still have a great amount of salary cap flexibility, though, and they can afford for contract negotiations to stretch into the season.
Staying in Canada, the Edmonton Oilers still have Kailer Yamamoto to lock down in order to fill out their top-six forward group. When Oscar Klefbom is placed on LTIR and Alex Stalock is presumably sent down to the minors, the team will still have just around $1.8MM in cap space. Yamamoto likely won’t be signing anything longer than a two-year deal due to the situation. And though they can create some additional flexibility by not operating with a full roster, Edmonton will still be very interested in avoiding a prorated cap hit as the salary cap situation will remain tight no matter what.
Then there’s the remaining duo of youngsters playing for American teams – Rasmus Dahlin and Robert Thomas. Dahlin’s negotiations will be interesting to watch, purely to see if the team will commit to him long-term or not. The Sabres likely want to pay him more as the team still hasn’t reached the salary cap floor, as they still need to add roughly $2.5MM in cap hits to be cap-compliant. Dahlin will receive much more than that on any deal he signs. The Blues are in a bit of a pickle with Thomas, as the team has just $1.5MM in cap space remaining to ink the promising young forward. Thomas had only 12 points in 33 games this year and spent time injured, but had 10 goals and 42 points the season prior. It’ll likely be a one-year or two-year deal for Thomas, who finds himself in a very similar situation to Yamamoto in Edmonton.
All seven of these players will be watched with a keen eye by many in the hockey community as each day passes before camps open across the league. As the league emerges from the quiet part of the offseason, these players will likely dominate headlines sooner rather than later.
All salary cap figures via CapFriendly.com.
Colton Parayko Signs Eight-Year Extension
The St. Louis Blues have locked up one of their best players, signing Colton Parayko to an eight-year extension. The new contract will start in the 2022-23 season and keeps Parayko in St. Louis through 2029-30. The big defenseman will carry an average annual value of $6.5MM on the new deal, which totals $52MM. Parayko explained just what made him sign now:
I can’t wait to wear the Blue Note for another nine years. St. Louis has been my home now for six seasons, and this is where I want to be. All the relationships I’ve gained, the teammates I’ve had, and the organization have all had a big impact on me. Winning here in 2019 was special, and I want the chance to stay here and do that again.
Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest provides the full breakdown:
- 2022-23: $7.25MM
- 2023-24: $8.0MM
- 2024-25: $8.0MM
- 2025-26: $8.0MM
- 2026-27: $6.35MM
- 2027-28: $4.8MM
- 2028-29: $4.8MM
- 2029-30: $4.8MM
Parayko, 28, was entering the final season of a five-year, $27.5MM deal he signed in 2017 and could have become an unrestricted free agent next summer. The team seems to have created something of an internal cap, as his new deal will match the AAV of both Justin Faulk and Torey Krug at $6.5MM. That may actually represent a bargain for Parayko, though he hasn’t quite taken the step forward that many expected over the last few seasons.
Standing an imposing 6’6″, the 2012 third-round pick has everything you want in an NHL defenseman. He’s big, physical, can skate well, and has an incredibly accurate shot from the point. There’s no doubting his value to the Blues, which was perhaps demonstrated best in 2019 when he averaged more than 25 minutes a night during the Blues Stanley Cup run. But there also hasn’t been that giant leap offensively that some were expecting, with just 40 points combined over his last two seasons (96 games).
That’s not to say it couldn’t still happen, but Parayko appears to have settled in as a rock-solid top-four option, instead of a true number one defenseman. This deal represents exactly that, as he’ll be paid quite a bit less than some of the other pending free agent defensemen that have re-upped this summer. Still, getting an eight-year term is huge for Parayko, who could very well ride this contract through to the end of his career.
He’ll be 37 when the extension ends, which is where this contract brings plenty of risk for the Blues. Though he’s an extremely important player right now and very likely could have received a higher AAV on the open market, they’re going to be paying him as a top-four option throughout his decline phase and even into his late-thirties. That’s the price you pay for extra flexibility now, when GM Doug Armstrong believes his team can still compete for the Stanley Cup.
In fact, when you consider that Krug (30) and Faulk (29) are heading into just the second year of their own seven-year deals, this is a blueline that is going to be testing the limits of the aging curve in the NHL. All three players are going to carry a $6.5MM well into their thirties, meaning the time is now to strike at a league championship.
The Blues now have nearly $70MM already committed to just 14 players for the 2022-23 season, though Vladimir Tarasenko‘s deal is still expected to be traded at some point. Armstrong went out and landed Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich this summer to add to the group, pushing his chips to the middle even if a few years down the road might look a little more difficult.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
St. Louis Blues Agree To Terms With Tanner Dickinson
The St. Louis Blues have agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract with prospect Tanner Dickinson. CapFriendly reports that the deal will carry a cap hit of $848K.
Dickinson, 19, is a fourth-round pick, 119th overall, of the Blues from the 2020 draft. He was picked out of the OHL after scoring nine goals and 40 points for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, but may be better known from his recent World Junior Summer Showcase performance with Team USA.
In 2020-21, since the OHL was not in session, Dickinson played three games with the Utica Comets of the AHL. He was held scoreless and still has quite a bit of work to do before he’s really to be considered an NHL prospect. The undersized forward was last listed at 6’0″ 170 lbs, but that’s very generous and it remains to be seen how he will handle the grind of a full professional season.
For now, he’ll likely head back to junior hockey–he’s not yet eligible for the AHL–where he can continue to build on the performance he showed this summer. His entry-level deal will slide forward should he fail to play in the NHL.
Robert Thomas Seeking A Higher AAV Than Jordan Kyrou's $2.8MM
- Blues RFA forward Robert Thomas is believed to be seeking a higher AAV than the $2.8MM that Jordan Kyrou received earlier this season, reports Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic (subscription link). The 22-year-old is coming off a tough injury-riddled season that saw him post just a dozen points in 33 games but with 75 points in 136 contests over his first two seasons, he has enough of a track record to try to get that on a bridge deal. Louis doesn’t have that much cap space but with Oskar Sundqvist headed for LTIR to start the season, that would give them enough of a buffer to get Thomas under contract although they’d need to get cap-compliant by the time Sundqvist returns.
A Case For St. Louis To Keep Vladimir Tarasenko
There has been an expectation of a trade involving Vladimir Tarasenko for several months now with both sides admitting that a change of scenery would be beneficial. However, between his $7.5MM AAV and his injury history, the interest hasn’t been strong and the veteran remains with the Blues. Benjamin Hochman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests that at this point, St. Louis may be better off just holding onto the 29-year-old in the hopes that a good start to next season would boost his value around the league and remove some of the question marks surrounding his health. That would be an outcome that is better than moving him with retention and/or taking a minimal return just to grant Tarasenko his wish to play elsewhere even though there could be some awkward moments given how public his trade request is.
St. Louis Blues Agree To Terms With Zack Bolduc
The St. Louis Blues have agreed to a three-year, entry-level deal for first-round pick Zack Bolduc. The young forward was picked 17th overall in 2021 and is coming off a strong season with the Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL.
Bolduc, 18, had 29 points in 27 games this season for Rimouski, following his 30-goal 2019-20 campaign that earned him the QMJHL Rookie of the Year honors. The former linemate of 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere, Bolduc is a talented offensive player in his own right who has been compared to players like Sean Monahan in the past. His ability to play the middle of the ice is an important one, as true center prospects are difficult to acquire, especially ones with the upside that Bolduc represents.
That’s not to say he’ll be in the NHL right away. In fact, it seems very likely that the young forward will be back in the QMJHL this season to continue his development with the Oceanic and really try to dominate the league offensively. He’ll also be a candidate for Team Canada at the World Juniors and was recently at the team’s summer camp.
If he does return to junior, Bolduc’s contract will slide forward, meaning the first year of his three-year deal will not be burned in 2021-22. That could actually happen again is 2022-23 should he go back to the QMJHL once again, meaning this contract gives the team plenty of control.
Zdeno Chara Unlikely To Sign With Blues, Wants To Stay In East
While the Blues are believed to have shown interest in Zdeno Chara, it doesn’t appear to be mutual. Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland notes (Twitter link) that if the 44-year-old decides to play next season, his intention is to stay in the Eastern Conference to be closer to his family. Chara still logged more than 18 minutes a game with Washington last season and led the team in shorthanded ice time so he can still contribute in a limited role. But at this stage of his career and knowing he’s going to be signing for the minimum salary or close to it (plus possible bonuses) for cap purposes, Chara can afford to be selective about where he wants to go and if the right fit doesn’t materialize, he can simply call it a career.
Offseason Extension For Colton Parayko Unlikely
Players signed until the end of the 2021-22 season are eligible for contract extensions and there have been some notable ones handed out already. One player that can get that next deal is Blues defenseman Colton Parayko but Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests it’s unlikely that such a move would happen anytime soon. While St. Louis would undoubtedly love to keep the 28-year-old around, Parayko is coming off a tough injury-plagued year and accordingly, his value is far from its peak. Waiting to see if he can bounce back is the more prudent move from Parayko’s end as doing so would allow him to get a bigger contract in the end. He’s carrying a cap hit of $5.5MM for next season and he’ll need to get back to being a top-pairing performer if he’s going to get a sizable raise next summer.
Latest On Zdeno Chara
With one more full season, Zdeno Chara would take the lead among all NHL defensemen in career games played. He currently sits in fifth, just 43 games behind the leader Chris Chelios, who played until he was 48. Chara isn’t quite that old at 44, and is coming off a relatively effective season with the Washington Capitals. If he intends on playing again this season as expected, there’s an old rival interested in his services. According to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic, the St. Louis Blues have expressed interest in Chara, as they did in the 2020 offseason before he signed with the Capitals.
Chara and the Blues know each other very well from their 2019 Stanley Cup Final, which went the full seven games and resulted in St. Louis’ first franchise championship. As usual, the veteran defenseman was dealing with injuries by the time the title series came around—this time playing with a broken jaw—but still managed three points in the seven games. Chara is up to 200 playoff games in his career, but hasn’t been able to hoist the trophy since 2011.
It also wouldn’t be the first defenseman from that 2019 series that the Blues would be targeting; they signed Torey Krug to a seven-year, $45.5MM contract last fall after losing captain Alex Pietrangelo to free agency. But as Rutherford writes, Chara is a long-shot for the Blues, as the veteran defenseman would like to stay as close to his family in Boston as possible with everything else equal.
There is still a place for Chara in the league, as a defenseman that is deployed almost solely in the defensive zone and on the penalty kill, but he’s obviously not what he used to be. He agreed to a one-year deal last season that paid him just $795K in base salary with another $730K in potential performance bonuses, but even that may be more than he gets this time around. He averaged just over 18 minutes this season for the Capitals, the first time since 1999 that he was under the 21-minute mark over a full season.
St. Louis Blues Sign Zach Sanford
The St. Louis Blues have agreed to terms with Zach Sanford on a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration with the young restricted free agent. The deal will carry a salary of $2MM. Sanford was one of 17 players who elected salary arbitration earlier this week.
With a $2MM Sanford in tow, the Blues now have just about $1.5MM in cap space with Robert Thomas still to sign. That number can be finessed a bit by dropping the number of players on the roster, but realistically will need a Vladimir Tarasenko trade if the Blues want to sign Thomas to a long-term deal. Otherwise, they could go short-term with him as well, just as they have with Sanford and Jordan Kyrou, who recently inked a two-year deal.
This contract for Sanford is interesting though, because it will walk the 26-year-old forward right to unrestricted free agency next summer. The 6’4″ forward is coming off a disappointing season which ended with just 16 points in 52 games. That’s a big step backward from his 2019-20 campaign that included 16 goals and 30 points in 58 games.
With that in mind, this is kind of a “prove it” deal for Sanford, to establish himself as a valuable secondary scoring threat or simply a bottom-six depth player. If he can do more than just contribute at the defensive end of the rink, he’ll could be one of the most sought-after free agents next summer. If those scoring totals don’t come up though, there’s no guarantee he even gets more than the $2MM St. Louis is comitting to him this time around.