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Pittsburgh Penguins Re-Sign Sam Lafferty

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After making a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Sam Lafferty, the Pittsburgh Penguins have now come to terms on a contract extension with the young forward. The team has announced a two-year, $1.5MM contract for Lafferty. The 25-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent when the deal expires following the 2021-22 season.

While Lafferty’s new $750K AAV is actually a reduction from his prior NHL cap hit of $768K, it is a one-way contract that promises the local product more guaranteed money than his entry-level deal. Lafferty’s low cap hit will also make him a more valuable asset to the cap-strapped Penguins this year. Lafferty played 50 games with Pittsburgh in his rookie season, recording 13 points, and he will look to win and retain a full-time role again next season. If he can provide positive contributions on a consistent basis, the Penguins will appreciate his affordable impact.

Lafferty is still waivers-exempt and could potentially be sent down to the AHL,but  it is a safe bet that he is in Pittsburgh for good. GM Jim Rutherford stated the following in the team’s press release announcing Lafferty’s extension: “We have been very pleased with Sam’s development. His size and speed are big advantages in today’s game, and we like what he brings to our lineup.”

Columbus Blue Jackets To Buy Out Alexander Wennberg

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After getting their new second-line center locked up yesterday, the Columbus Blue Jackets will be clearing some room today. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic and Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch are both reporting that the Blue Jackets will place Alexander Wennberg on waivers today for the purpose of a contract buyout. This is the final day a team can use the buyout system in the current window. Because Wennberg has three years remaining on his current contract, meaning the Blue Jackets will incur cap charges for the next six seasons. However, given his age, the Blue Jackets will only be responsible for paying 1/3 of the remaining salary, drastically reducing their cap charges moving forward. Those charges will be:

  • 2020-21 $441,667
  • 2021-22: $441,667
  • 2022-23: $441,667
  • 2023-24: $891,667
  • 2024-25: $891,667
  • 2025-26: $891,667

Saving nearly $4.5MM of cap space over the next three seasons is obviously worth more to the Blue Jackets than Wennberg, who after an outstanding 2016-17 season has been disappointing in each of the last three. A capable defensive center, he has always struggled to score at the NHL level and even his above-average playmaking ability has waned. With just 15 goals and 82 points over his last 198 games, Wennberg’s $4.9MM price tag was simply too high for the Blue Jackets to keep and since he turned 26 last month, this was the last chance they had to buy out his contract at the 1/3rd rate.

Still, this hardly means that Wennberg’s time in the NHL is over. While some buyout candidates are nearing the end of their professional careers, the 26-year-old center will immediately become a sought after asset on the free agent market instead. Again, even though his offensive production has been underwhelming, Wennberg is still a strong two-way option when played in the right circumstances. He saw his best production when used as a catalyst on the Columbus powerplay and regularly posts strong possession numbers regardless of linemates. Though his faceoff statistics are not strong, he does provide solid play at the center position and has penalty killing experience.

The Blue Jackets acquired Max Domi to slot in behind Pierre-Luc Dubois as a much stronger offensive weapon, and still have several other options for the bottom-six center positions. Boone Jenner and Riley Nash are both still under contract at lower prices than Wennberg, while newcomer Mikhail Grigorenko could potentially give a different look after several successful years in the KHL.

Nashville Predators To Buy Out Kyle Turris, Steven Santini

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After trading away Nick Bonino, the Nashville Predators are clearing even more space down the middle. The team has placed Kyle Turris on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract buyout. With four years remaining on his contract, the Predators will incur a cap charge of $2MM for the next eight seasons.

The team has also placed Steven Santini on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract buyout. Since Santini is still just 25, the Predators will only have to pay one-third of his remaining salary. That will result in a cap charge of just $41,667 in 2020-21 and $275K in 2021-22.

The big news here is Turris, who signed a massive six-year, $36MM contract with the Predators in 2017 after coming over from the Ottawa Senators in that infamous three-way Matt Duchene deal with the Colorado Avalanche. Remember, the Predators gave up Sam Girard, Vladislav Kamenev and a second-round pick to be involved in that trade, a brutal price to pay when looking back with the benefit of hindsight.

Not only did Turris not pan out, but the team will now have a $2MM cap charge for nearly a decade just to make sure he doesn’t play for them anymore. Getting out from under his contract was important, but this is a hefty penalty to deal with in a flat cap environment.

Amazingly though, Turris now becomes an interesting option on the open market, given his experience at center and previous success. This is a player who scored at least 24 goals in three different seasons for the Senators and could now be available for a very low price. You can bet that someone will take a chance on the 31-year-old when he becomes a free agent.

Detroit Red Wings To Buy Out Justin Abdelkader

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Detroit Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman continues his cleaning of the team’s cap situation, this time placing Justin Abdelkader on waivers for the purpose of a buyout. Abdelkader has three seasons remaining on his contract, meaning the Red Wings will incur cap charges for the next six years. Those charges will look like this:

  • 2020-21: $1,805,556
  • 2021-22: $2,305,556
  • 2022-23: $2,305,556
  • 2023-24: $1,055,556
  • 2024-25: $1,055,556
  • 2025-26: $1,055,556

There was a time not too long ago when Abdelkader looked like exactly the kind of powerhouse winger that every team was looking for. In 2015-16 he scored 19 goals and 42 points while racking up 120 penalty minutes and 207 hits. A wrecking ball on the ice with a scoring touch around the net was extremely effective and it landed him a new seven-year extension during that season.

Unfortunately when you play that style, if the goal-scoring falls off you’re suddenly just an overpaid fourth liner. That’s basically exactly what happened to Abdelkader, who almost immediately struggled under his new contract. Since the start of the 2016-17 season he has scored just 26 goals in 259 games despite averaging more than 15 minutes a night. Only 15 of those have come at even-strength and Abdelkader failed to score a single goal in his 49 games during the 2019-20 season.

That’s not to say this move comes without a bit of surprise. The Red Wings are not in any sort of cap trouble and could have kept Abdelkader on the roster as an overpaid veteran presence. But Yzerman has a clear plan to sweep out all the bad money and install his own vision of the Red Wings.

With Abdelkader gone, Dylan Larkin is the only player in the organization signed to a one-way contract through the 2022-23 season. Every other contract is either an entry-level deal or will expire by the summer of 2022. That freedom will allow Yzerman to do anything he wants to the roster, likely relying on the draft-and-develop strategy that served him so well in Tampa Bay.

Montreal Canadiens To Buy Out Karl Alzner

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Another buyout is on the docket for today, as the Montreal Canadiens have placed Karl Alzner on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. With two years left on his deal, Montreal will incur cap penalties for the next four seasons. Those charges will look like this:

  • 2020-21: $3,958,333
  • 2021-22: $1,958,333
  • 2022-23: $833,333
  • 2023-24: $833,333

Alzner, 32, was actually signed to the longest contract on day one of free agency just three years ago, inking a five-year deal with the Canadiens that carried a cap hit of $4.625MM. That deal, which was considered extremely risky right from the start, resulted in just 95 games played for Montreal.

In 2017-18 Alzner spent the entire season in the NHL, suiting up for all 82 games and averaging more than 20 minutes a night. Unfortunately, those minutes weren’t all that effective, with the defensive defenseman recording just 12 points and poor possession statistics. By the next season, he was buried in the minor leagues where he has spent the majority of the last two years.

That risky deal turned into an albatross for the Canadiens, though the team was never really in cap trouble as they slowly rebuilt their team around a younger core. Now that they are ready to start competing again, getting at least some of the Alzner money off the books was an obvious choice.

Still, because of the front-loaded nature of the deal, the Canadiens will not receive much relief this season. They do however save quite a bit of actual money, paying Alzner just $833K in each of the next four seasons.

It’s hard to see an NHL future for the veteran defenseman, though perhaps at a much lower cost another team would take a chance on him as a depth option.

Pittsburgh Penguins To Buy Out Jack Johnson

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have placed Jack Johnson on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract buyout. Johnson has three years remaining on his contract, meaning a buyout will carry through the 2025-26 season. The full cap hits will be as follows:

  • 2020-21: $1,166,667
  • 2021-22: $1,166,667
  • 2022-23: $1,916,667
  • 2023-24: $916,667
  • 2024-25: $916,667
  • 2025-26: $916,667

Quite frankly, this contract was a disaster from the very first day it was signed. Penguins GM Jim Rutherford signed Johnson to a five-year contract on July 1, 2018 despite the veteran defenseman’s recent struggles with the Columbus Blue Jackets. When it was pointed out that Johnson had even been made a healthy scratch by the Blue Jackets, Rutherford told reporters:

I don’t think he had a bad year. He was a healthy scratch at the end of the season. I know the reason why. It wasn’t because of how he was playing.

That comment got an explosive response from Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella, who said Rutherford must be a “(expletive) magician” for having insight into the team’s decision making from “three hours away.” Unfortunately, it appears as though the Penguins have come to the same conclusion the Blue Jackets did.

Johnson, 33, recorded some of the worst possession metrics in the NHL during his time in Pittsburgh, struggling at both ends of the rink. In 149 games with the Penguins he recorded 24 points while averaging more than 19 minutes a night, adding zero in the seven postseason games he was included in. A third-overall pick in 2005, when Johnson’s offensive output declined his effectiveness went with it, to the point where it will be interesting to see if he even receives a new NHL contract.

Of course, he’ll be making money even if he doesn’t sign a new deal thanks to this buyout. The Penguins do save a little more than $2MM in cap space for each of the next two seasons (and about $1.3MM in 2022-23) but will have to carry a penalty for three extra seasons thanks to the unfortunate contract.

Arizona Coyotes To Buy Out Michael Grabner

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Sunday: Friedman reports that Grabner has cleared waivers and now is an unrestricted free agent.

Saturday: The desperate cost-cutting in the desert has begun. The Arizona Coyotes are in arguably the worst salary cap position of any NHL team heading into this off-season and had to make moves to be compliant ahead of next season. The first casualty is veteran winger Michael Grabner. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Grabner has been placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout.

With just one year remaining on his current contract, the Coyotes will face penalties for just two years for buying out Grabner. Rather than deal with an AAV of $3.35MM this season, Grabner will count for just $833K against the cap in 2020-21 for a savings of over $2.5MM. This brings CapFriendly’s cap space projection to about $3.6MM (which still won’t go very far with seven roster spots to fill and a number of restricted free agents to sign). In 2021-22, the buyout will cost Arizona just over $1.25MM.

Unlike most buyouts, there is a small chance that Grabner does not clear waivers. Even at 32, Grabner still plays with tremendous speed and is a dangerous penalty killer. However, he has not played a full NHL season in two years and his offensive production, even if healthy, is likely limited to 20-30 points at most. Teams will likely take their chances at getting Grabner at a lower cost on the free agent market than claiming his $3.35MM contract. Grabner will surely draw attention if he does make it to market.

Trade Rumors: Kuemper, Laine, Penguins

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There are many factors that have contributed to Darcy Kuemper being one of the most talked-about names on the rumor mill over the last couple of months. The first and most important is simply that the Arizona Coyotes must shed salary this off-season. The team is arguably in the worst salary cap situation of any NHL club, lacking any room to maneuver under the cap ceiling but with several restricted free agents and superstar trade acquisition Taylor Hall in need of new contracts. One area where they can trim the fat is in net, where Kuemper and Antti Raanta combine for $8.75MM against the cap and Adin Hill is also signed to a one-way contract and will need to clear waivers this season. Of the three, not only does Kuemper carry the highest cap hit, he is also undoubtedly the most valuable on the trade market. The 30-year-old was one of the best goalies in the NHL this season and is signed for two more years at a bargain relative to his performance. While this is seemingly a perfect storm of reasons why Kuemper should be dealt, new GM Bill Armstrong won’t let him go that easy. AZ Sports’ Craig Morgan reports that after Armstrong was hired last week, the asking price for Kuemper went up. An offer must now surpass the value of just one first-round pick in order to pry the talented netminder out of Arizona. If they are not satisfied, the Coyotes will not trade Kuemper. Although his trade value is depleted after a pair of injury-plagued seasons, the team could get nearly as much cap savings from moving Raanta, whose contract expires after this season. While Kuemper is the morename, don’t be surprised to see Raanta move instead barring a top-notch offer.

  • Patrik Laine is another one of the hot names on the rumor mill right now, with reports that the Winnipeg Jets are “serious” about moving the young scoring forward. However, Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe doused those flames somewhat by stating that the Jets’ priority is still to re-sign Laine. It would be difficult for the team to get fair value for Laine and although they have more pressing needs than winger elsewhere on the roster, they could very well be better off holding on to the 22-year-old. A restricted free agent after next season, Laine will command a substantial salary that Winnipeg may find difficult to afford. Yet, Wiebe believes that current trade talks may be overblown so long as the two sides are still amenable to an extension, believing a trade to be more likely next summer – if a deal cannot be reached – rather than pulling the trigger early this off-season. Unless the Jets get exactly what they ask for in exchange for Laine, they have time before they need to get too serious about a trade.
  • The most active team on the trade market so far has been the Pittsburgh Penguins, but things may begin to slow down for GM Jim Rutherford and his club. In a radio interview on Friday, Rutherford stated that his recent acquisition of defensemen Michael Matheson is not a precursor to another major trade regarding his top defensemen. Although there is a considerable logjam on the left side of the Pittsburgh blue line, top-four lefties Brian Dumoulin and Marcus Pettersson will not be traded. Matheson is expected to play on the left side of the team’s third pair, forcing Jack Johnson and Juuso Riikola to compete for a starting job on their off-side with righty Chad Ruhwedel. Matheson’s acquisition has also squashed the Penguins’ interest in free agent defenseman Chris Tanev and others, as Rutherford added that he does not anticipate adding to his defense corps on the open market.

Ottawa Senators Buy Out Bobby Ryan

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After clearing waivers on Saturday, the Senators announced that they have officially bought out the final two seasons of Bobby Ryan’s contract. GM Pierre Dorion released the following statement on the move:

This was a decision that required a lot of consideration. Bobby’s long been a deserving fan favourite in Ottawa. While we’re appreciative of his efforts on the ice, it’s outweighed by how proud we are of him for the courage that he has demonstrated off of it. As we continue to take strides in our rebuild, this decision was one that we felt was best for the organization. We wish he and his family the best as he moves forward.

The Masterton Trophy winner had two years remaining on a seven-year, $50.75MM contract he signed back in 2014 ($7.25MM AAV). The buyout saves the Senators $3.67MM in each of the next two seasons, but apply a $1.83MM penalty for the following two. The full cap hit will now be as follows:

  • 2020-21: $3,583,333
  • 2021-22: $3,583,333
  • 2022-23: $1.833,333
  • 2023-24: $1,833,333

Ryan, 33, had been with the Senators since the 2013-14 season, scoring 107 goals and 266 points over 455 games. This year he suited up just 24 times, leaving the team for a chunk of the season to deal with his addiction problems. Upon his return, he provided one of the most emotional moments of the year when he notched a hat trick in his first game back in Ottawa.

Coming into the league as a dominant presence for the Anaheim Ducks, Ryan recorded 30 or more goals in four straight seasons, hitting a career-high of 71 points in 2010-11. His deteriorated play in recent years made this an easy choice for the Senators though, one that was even discussed in years prior as his goal totals fell. The simple fact was that he can no longer provide the kind of value required for a $7.25MM cap hit, especially as finances are tightened league-wide.

That said, Ryan now becomes an unrestricted free agent that is able to sign a new contract with whatever team he chooses. For a much lower cap hit, perhaps someone believes they can bring back some of his production. After all, Ryan did score four goals in eight games after returning from the Player Assistance Program.

For the Senators, it’s not so much about the cap space (as they have more than they’ll ever need) but the actual salary owed. Ryan was due $7.5MM in each of the remaining two seasons, a total of $15MM that will be reduced to $11.3MM after the buyout.

His removal from the roster will also provide more minutes for the young Senators core, a group that is actually quite impressive. Not only do they have one of the best prospect systems in the league already, but Ottawa also has seven picks in the first two rounds and thirteen overall this year.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report that Ryan’s deal was being bought out.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Qualifying Offer Deadline Set For October 7

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Given the added pressure applied by the flat salary cap, restricted free agent negotiations will take on even greater importance this off-season. That process is set to begin in just over four weeks, as TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that the deadline for teams to submit qualifying offers to their restricted free agents has been set for 4pm CT on Wednesday, October 7.

In order for any team to retain their rights to a restricted free agent, the team must submit a qualifying offer. This value is based on the RFA’s expiring contract; a base salary greater than or equal to $1MM is only owed a matching offer, while a base salary less than $1MM is owed a qualifying offer of 105% of the base (a base salary less than $660K is owed 110%). New this year is also a rule pertaining to those contracts signed after July 10 for the purpose of burning an entry-level contract. Those players may receive a qualifying offer up to 120% of their base salary.  A qualifying offer must also be a one-way contract if the player has played in at least 171 NHL games over the past three seasons combined and at least 51 NHL games in 2019-20, and did not clear waivers this season.

Those RFA’s who do receive qualifying offers are then able to sign those offers when the new league year begins at 11am CT on Friday, October 9. Those offers expire on Sunday, October 18 at 4pm CT. Even if a player does not sign their QO, the issuing team maintains the player’s rights simply by making the offer. A restricted free agent can only be signed to a new team by way of an offer sheet.

As for those RFA’s who do not receive qualifying offers, they become unrestricted free agents and join the open market on October 9. Given the cap crunch that many teams are facing, this has a chance to be an unprecedented year when it comes to the RFA market. Teams will have to seriously think about the opportunity cost of extending or in some cases increasing the salaries of some of their current young players. It will be interesting to see what happens when the deadline approaches on October 7.

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