Free agency is off and running in the NHL. There have been plenty of deals and situations to discuss so here are some thoughts on them:
Tyler Johnson
Kudos to the 30 NHL general managers who held firm and have now put the Stanley Cup champions in quite a bind. So many times very good teams are bailed out of their cap hell by other general managers instead of putting the pinch on them. Tampa Bay now has a few choices:
1. Keep Johnson and his 5M cap hit and play him
2. Bury him in the AHL, but still on the hook for ~4M (not likely)
3. Trade him with salary retained or by adding quality sweeteners (likely)
Somebody should get a quality deal from Tampa to get a decent offensive player.
Another factor in acquiring Johnson is that you could “rent” him for one year. Seattle expansion is coming and unbeknownst to me earlier in the week is that he is from the state of Washington. Seems like an ideal move for Seattle who will have plenty of cap space to take his contract on.
Craig Smith
What a value for the Boston Bruins.
I thought he would get more term and money. This is a steal for the Bruins and their forward group is formidable
When you compare that with the Penguins it shows how far Pittsburgh needs to go in order to be truly competitive again. I don’t see McCann-Jankowski-Rodrigues matching up well with any of those lines.
Alex Pietrangelo/Torrey Krug
The Blues decided to go in a different direction and sign Torey Krug instead of their captain, Alex Pietrangelo. I don’t necessarily think it was the wrong choice. The term is tough being that it is for seven years and Krug is 29, but the term was going to be the same (or more) for Pietrangelo. The Blues were able to keep the cap hit at 6.5M which is more than fair. I’m guessing Pietrangelo was asking for a good chunk more than the ~7M range or the Krug signing wouldn’t have happened.
There really wasn’t an easy solution to navigating Pietrangelo’s free agency, but I think this was a decent compromise given the situation.
Chris Tanev
The Penguins being out of cap space prevented them from signing Chris Tanev to a four-year 18M deal. This is a good thing. Not sure what the Flames are going here considering the next player on the list
TJ Brodie
The Maple Leafs getting TJ Brodie on a four-year 20M deal is really good. They have some cap gymnastics to perform, but he is a much needed boost to their back end. Brodie is still incredibly solid and will give them more than Barrie did. The only question here is why didn’t the Flames do this?
Jon Merrill
The Red Wings signed Jon Merrill to a one-year deal worth 925k. In the grand scheme of things it isn’t a huge deal, but it shows it isn’t that hard to get a very competent bottom pairing defenseman with spending millions per year.
Paul Stastny
Teams with cap space are being rewarded. Paul Stastny isn’t quite the player he used to be, but is still a great get by the Winnipeg Jets to boost their forward depth. He was given away for a mid-round pick. The Golden Knights have really put themselves in a pickle with the goaltending situation even if they have chosen the correct one moving forward.
Josh Anderson
Yikes
Anderson has been held back by injuries, but this is an incredible gamble he returns to form. Even if he does return to form it is a stretch. No idea why the term and dollar amount had to be absurd on this one.
Troy Stecher
I talked about him the other day
The Red Wings are doing some nice work here acquiring capable defenders on the cheap. I wouldn’t be surprised if they flipped them for draft picks to help speed up the rebuild. Bobby Ryan falls into this category as well.
Kyle Turris
He is an Oiler with a two-year 3.3M contract. Turris has had some horrific seasons in Nashville, but for a team like Edmonton this is a good gamble for them. Beggars can’t be choosers. They also signed Tyler Ennis for one-year at 1M. I’m kind of surprised Ennis couldn’t find something with more term and money.
Kevin Shattenkirk
He’s moving on from Tampa and has landed with Anaheim for a three-year deal with a 3.9M AAV. It’s been quite a year for Shattenkirk. He was tremendous on the ice and was rewarded with a Stanley Cup. It earned him this raise to sign with a team he almost went to before deciding on Tampa. Oh by the way the Rangers will be paying him 6M this year to not be on their team. Shattenkirk is a Stanley Cup champion making 9.9M this year. Life is good!
Braden Holtby
I kinda like what Vancouver did here. I don’t think Holtby is poised for a bounce back to his past glory, but it is only a two-year deal for 4.3M and allowed them to move on from Jacob Markstrom who received 6M per year from Calgary. This does two things for Vancouver
Gives the team some insurance while transitioning to Thatcher Demko
Gives them a goalie to expose to Seattle in the expansion draft.
Thanks for reading!
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