Rosters are starting to take shape around the league with the exception of a few big(ger) names out there yet to land a team.
Outside of Jake Gardiner, Michael Ferland and Ryan Dzingel, there isn’t a ton out there. The belief is that those guys are still out there because teams are trying to find cap space.
The Hawks aren’t likely to add a big name through free agency (although they have been linked to Dzingel) with the more plausible scenario of one more trade or two to tweak their roster.
Stan Bowman still has to get Brandon Perlini under contract and around July 1st it sounded like they were just in preliminary talks at that time.
But what’s the hold up? It shouldn’t be that difficult of a negotiation. By all accounts, Perlini should be in the $1.5M-$2.0M AAV range. Maaayyybe he wants closer to $2.5M but he doesn’t have a lot of leverage.
The Hawks also don’t have the cap space now.
There is still a feeling that Anisimov gets moved at some point in July. If he is still not moved by August, there’s a good chance he stays on the Hawks – for now.
How would the Hawks gets get Perlini in under the cap though? They would still have that problem.
Well, Calvin de Haan is slated to go on the IR to being the season – even though he states he’ll be ready for camp – but the Hawks can’t bet on that little cap space. Also, Stan Bowman likes to have a little more flexibility with savings to use in-season.
So, while the dust has settled for the most part around the league, there still are those big(ger) names out there, some role players and teams that need to get creative with their cap space – looking at you Vegas.
There’s not much other chatter around the Hawks these days – other than Marcus Kruger signing in Europe and Andreas Martinsen with the Ducks – so that’s all I have right now.
I have a couple more articles coming out this week and working on some series’ to keep you all entertained throughout the long summer days of hockey.
Lastly, I know some of you have reached out with blog ideas you would like to see and I always welcome those suggestions! If anyone else has anything you would like me to write, shoot me a DM.
See ya out there!
TC