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Secondary UFA Market About To Blow Up |
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Its September 1.
The secondary unrestricted free agent will fire back up shortly.
The NHL is so tight that its squeaking right now.
Its a matter of "Haves vs. Have Nots" in the NHL right now.
Did you know that six NHL teams are over the $64.3 million salary cap?
Look for these teams to trade a contract or two in the next week and a half: Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks, and LA Kings.
There are twelve teams who currently sit with $1.1 million to $2.7 million in available salary.
The other twelve teams are in great shape in terms of their cap-o-nomics.
The NY Islanders have $15 million and change to work with. The Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators have $11 million in cap space while the Buffalo Sabres and Colorado Avalanche have $10 million in cap space right now. The Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues have $7 million to work with while the Phoenix Coyotes have $6 million and the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs and Nashville Predators have $4 million or so to work with. The New Jersey Devils currently are $3.8 million under the cap.
The recent signings of high profile UFAs Teemu Selanne and Mikhail Grabovski is a good sign for a secondary UFA market that was virtually dead a week ago. The second wave has formed and is about to make land fall.
I spoke with an NHL player this week that he believes that training camp invitations will be extended to the unsigned UFAs this week. For example, Damien Brunner, Brenden Morrow, Danny Cleary, Brad Boyes, Ilya Bryzgalov, Ryan Whitney should be expecting NHL teams to reach out to them via their agents this week, if they haven't already done so. How times have changed. Morrow and Cleary are decorated, made-men in the NHL Cosa Nostra. Its embarrassing that these vets have to wait for an invitation to attend an NHL training camp. Morrow and Cleary are warriors and have been fighting the battles in the NHL for 14 seasons. They deserve more respect than a chinsy invitation to tryout for a team that he knows that he's good enough to play for. Remember that this summer is like no other with the caving salary cap. I dare say that there will never be another NHL UFA market like this one again. Morrow and Cleary in normal UFA markets would likely be signed to new deals on July 1 or July 2. Guys this valuable rarely last long on the open market. They will never have to wait for an invitation to play hockey again. They may not have to. A smart team will sign him to a 2-3 year contract.
I'm told that the Sabres still have interest in Morrow. The reason for the lull in the UFA market right now is simply to explain. Many NHL teams are going to be focusing on and at Morrow can evaluating their young players in their training camps. For example, Darcy Regier, Kevin Devine of the Sabres already know what type of player that Morrow is and they also know what type of value that he can provide to their team. They have already reviewed the 13 year long body of work that Morrow has created. What they haven't seen yet is how rookie Joel Armia will perform in his first NHL camp. Nor have they seen Zemgus Girgensons or Johan Larsson in an NHL camp. They have seen Corey Tropp perform, however, they would like to see how his surgically repaired knee responds during the rigors of NHL exhibition games. In the case of the Sabres, they will get a good long look at Armia, Larsson, Tropp, Girgensons and their other top prospects at the Traverse City tournament next weekend.
Trust me when I tell you that the Sabres are among several NHL teams who covet the work ethic, leadership, and offensive production of Morrow and Brunner. They've already put a "ghost man on first" with each player. Meaning they've spoken with the player agents and have said that they will circle back to the agent at the appropriate time. The Sabres are not alone. Several NHL clubs would like to swoop in and sign a UFA right now, however, NHL GMs are in the process of keeping their word as many of them have told their young prospects that they will be allowed to compete for a roster spot in training camp.
NHL training camps open September 12.
GMs and scouts will know after one or two exhibition games against others NHLers if their prospects have what it takes to make an NHL roster. In the event that a young prospect struggles to impress, or if veteran becomes injured during the exhibition games, then the phone will ring. Morrow is a grinder-leader who led the Pittsburgh Penguins in scoring during their disappointing 2013 playoff run. He'll add immediate value to any NHL roster. Brunner is a proven goal scorer and play maker. He'll light the lamp immediately. Boyes, experienced a rebirth last season riding shotgun for John Tavares. He's a nifty play maker with a quick shot and finish. Strip away the side show routine and schticky comedic bits, and Bryzgalov can be an effective puck stopper. Whitney has struggled with injuries and inconsistency, however, NHL teams are always looking for veteran D.
Its just a matter of time and cap space until these UFAs sign on with new teams.
Source: Capgeek.com
****
Sabres fans, do you know where Cody Hodgson is?
Leafs fans, where's Nazem Kadri? How about Cody Franson?
Rangers fans, what's up with Derek Stepan?
Capitals fans, seen Marcus Johansson?
Blues fans, Alex Pietrangelo sightings?
Sens fan, seen Jared Cowen lately?
Yotes fan, yes fan.... whats new with Mikkel Boedker?
Why is this impressive crop of young players sitting ripened, on the vine? Any good farmer will tell you that the fruit will rot on the vine if its not harvested and delivered to the market on time.
The Restricted Free Agent Market, that is.
See a trend developing here? I do.
NHL GMs and RFA player agents have been negotiating at glacial speed all summer long. The game of serve and volley came to an end weeks ago. NHL GMs served qualifying offers out to their RFAs in late June. The agents reviewed them with their players, then counter-offered. Both parties tossed offers and counter offers back and forth throughout the month of July. Then, arbitration hearings began. Well, sorta. There were 21 NHL players who filed for player elected arbitration, however, not one of them made it to their hearings. In all 21 cases, the teams and players negotiated their deals before the arbitrator got to hear the arguments for and against each player. The comparables market formed quickly when players like Sam Gagner and Chris Stewart accepted their long term deals to remain employed by their current teams.
Then, August came and went, with very little fanfare, nor player signings. The Colorado Avalanche plunged head first into long term contract agreements with their two young cornerstone forwards, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene. Landeskog signed a seven year extension for an AAV of $5,571,429. Duchene signed the same five year, $6 million AAV per season extension that San Jose's Joe Pavelski signed for earlier this summer. Sorry folks, Jay Bouwmeester isn't worth $5.4 million per season, if you ask me. JayBo was rewarded with a long term extension while he has a year left on his current deal. Boggles my mind how the Blues paid Bouwmeester before they signed their Norris Trophy candidate 23 year old star Pietrangelo. if $Bouwmeeter is worth $5.M per season to the Blues, Pietrangelo should hold out for $7.5 to $8 million for 8 seasons.
Last week, the New Jersey Devils signed their RFA center Adam Henrique to a 6 year, $24 million contract extension, prompted eyeballs to pop. What happened to the "bridge contract" propaganda that NHL GMs had been selling all summer long? The cap caved from $70.3 million to $64.3 million for this season only. It won't be long until the salary cap balloons to $80-$81 million in the next three seasons.
No wonder the RFA centers like Hodgson, Kadri, Stepan, and Johansson haven't signed yet. It makes sense why Pietrangelo is sitting patiently. Why would they sign a contract that is less than fair market value? Why would they leave money on the table?
Why sign a "show me", short term deal when the market is bearing long term, higher dollar contracts?
***
I have two reasons to be happy on this Sunday.
My wife and I are celebrating out 23rd wedding anniversary today with our kids.
Also, I humbly accept Eklund's promotion from Sabres blogger to NHL correspondent. I will continue to cover the Sabres organization with the same zeal and passion as I have for the past eight and a half years in this space. In my new role, I will share my views on Eastern conference and Western conference teams. I'm very excited about this new opportunity.
Thank you for reading.
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