The NHL is down to its last two arbitration cases as we reach the last month of the offseason. Anaheim’s Troy Terry and Pittsburgh’s Drew O’Connor are the last hearings that are scheduled.
Yesterday, we saw three signings. Boston signed depth forward Trent Frederic at $2.3 million (which is no longer too much for a bottom six forward), as well as goalie Jeremy Swayman to a number comparable with Ilya Samsonov and Filip Gustavsson at $3.475 million. Edmonton also got their third line center, Ryan McLeod signed to a two-year deal worth $2.1 million.
Outside the arbitration cases, there are a handful of prominent younger NHLers without contracts still. Alongside Troy Terry is his fun linemate Trevor Zegras who needs a contract for this season. Anaheim has $27 million to sign those two, as well as promising young defender Jamie Drysdale. I would be shocked if the three didn’t get offered eight-year deals to maximize low cap hits down the line.
Edmonton has Evan Bouchard sitting without a contract at the moment with $3.5 million in space.
Alexis Lafreniere is still without a contract, the 21-year-old former first overall pick had 16 goals last season and seems likely heading towards a bridge deal with the cap tight Rangers.
The Ottawa Senators have run out of money for forwards Shane Pinto and Egor Sokolov, with only $800k in space on a roster with 20 players (Norris and Forsberg are presumably going to be healthy for the season). Pinto had 22 goals last season in the absence of Norris up the middle.
Young defenders like Minnesota’s Calen Addison and Winnipeg’s Logan Stanley also need contracts this summer. Morgan Frost in Philly is also going to make some money, but the team should have enough money for him with $3 million in space.
Lightning Links
Josh Archibald and his family visited Amalie Arena and were introduced to their new digs.
Something to think about now that the Lightning’s summer work is done, what’s going to happen next summer and can any of the work be done ahead of schedule? Timing the Stamkos extension for the start of the season would be an excellent boost for a new season. On the Hagel front, I’m sure the team will need to know what the cap number is before they can commit to re-signing him, though they should move others in order to keep the top line winger.
This report and subsequent consequences have been dragged out for so long, just get it over with already. Several of the players from that WJC team have been left unsigned for the past summer or two, so the suspensions might not carry any teeth if teams are unwilling to hire those players. Max Comtois, Alex Formenton, and Cal Foote are among those unsigned players who were on the team. Some of the “bigger name” signed players might include St. Louis’ Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.
