Be prepared for some player movement as the NHL draft and July 1st approach.

Friedman: "I think there will be a lot of trading. I really do." http://t.co/krHRE41Zl3

— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) June 4, 2015

Friedman: "In terms of player movement, I think this has a chance to be one of the wildest drafts that we’ve seen.” http://t.co/0PAkMccFWY

— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) June 5, 2015

For the first time we may see some offer sheets fly as well. With the salary cap not rising to levels that were previously predicted this has left some teams in a position that they can be taken advantage of.

Fasten your seat belts. Agent Steve Bartlett feels teams tight against the cap may be vulnerable for offer sheets. http://t.co/QYjEtmPt7O

— Chris Nichols (@NicholsOnHockey) June 4, 2015

From Bob McKenzie via Today’s Slapshot

“And the other thing – and I don’t know if we’ll see anything this bold – but with teams right up against the salary cap and in dire straits on a lot of fronts, what better time to throw an offer sheet out there and try and cripple somebody.

Here is a quick list of some interesting RFA’s:

Anaheim: Jakub Silfverberg, Emerson Etem
Arizona: Mikkel Boedker
Boston: Brett Connolly, Dougie Hamilton
Buffalo: Mark Pysyk
Chicago: Brandon Saad

Chicago looks like a team that is vulnerable on the surface but they aren’t. They have moveable assets, namely Patrick Sharp, that will create the much needed space for Brandon Saad. Brandon Saad will be a Chicago Blackhawk for a long time, end of story.

Signing KHL free agent Artemi Panarin will help keep costs down and currently it is believed that the Blackhawks are the front runner for pending college UFA Mike Reilly. Between Teravainen, Panarin, van Riemsdyk and potentially Reilly Chicago isn’t in as much trouble as some think.

Columbus: Matt Calvert
Detroit: Brendan Smith, Gustav Nyqvist, Tomas Jurco
Florida: Jonathan Huberdeau
Los Angeles: Tyler Toffoli, Martin Jones

Teams looking for a goaltender could potentially throw a double offer sheet at Los Angeles. Kings would definitely match Toffoli, but it would leave Martin Jones exposed (hello Sabres).

Montreal: Alex Galchenyuk
New York Rangers: Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin
Ottawa: Mark Stone, Mika Zibanejad, Mike Hoffman, Jean Gabrielle Pageau
Pittsburgh: Ian Cole
St. Louis: Vladimir Tarasenko
Toronto: Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Bernier
Washington: Braden Holtby, Evgeni Kuznetsov, Marcus Johansson

Something key to remember is that the Penguins have no second round pick in 2016


There are Rick Nash rumors as well

The Rangers may reportedly consider trading 42-goal scorer Rick Nash this summer. http://t.co/Lc6L0Y8MbP pic.twitter.com/4WrjF6QBxv

— theScore (@theScore) June 5, 2015

The New York Rangers are facing a potential cap crunch in the future. Rick Nash makes 7.8M for the next three years.

Lastly, the players look like they are going to do their part to make sure the cap ceiling is as high as possible.

NHLPA met this week, and it sounds like the players, after crunching the numbers, will consider using their full 5% growth factor.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 4, 2015

.

Should be fun to watch this all play out.

Thanks for reading!

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