While most of the Restricted Free Agent talk this summer has been about those with arbitration rights (we have updates on some of those cases below), there are still RFAs that don’t have those rights that still haven’t signed new deals. As of Sunday night the following young players were still without deals:
Morgan Frost – Philadelphia Flyers – Center
Trevor Zegras – Anaheim Mighty Ducks – Forward
Evan Bouchard – Edmonton Oilers – Defenseman
Jamie Drysdale – Anaheim Mighty Ducks – Defenseman
Anaheim has their hands full with a couple of their young players in Zegras and Drysdale likely needing large raises off of their entry-level deals. Zegras has posted back-to-back 23 goal, 60+ point seasons while regularly showing up on the highlight reels and in the nightmares of “old-school” hockey people. Drysdale had his most recent season wiped out due to injury, but is still just 20 years-old and had a strong 2021-22 season where he out up 28 points in 81 games as a rookie defender.
The Ducks have plenty of cap room($27 million and change) to get these deals done and it’s likely a matter of if they want to go in the direction of a shorter-term bridge deal or lock them in long term. Another team could force their hand by dropping an offer sheet on Zegras (Drysdale is not eligible to be offer-sheeted). For just a lowly second-round pick a team could offer Zegras up to $4.290 million and force Anaheim to match it. A first and third could get that total up to $6.435 million and there are 15 teams (not counting the Ducks) that have the picks to make a little excitement happen.
Morgan Frost may not have the same league-wide name recognition that Zegras has, but the 2017 first-round pick did have 19-goal season for a bad Philadelphia Flyers team.
For Edmonton you would think locking up a defender like Evan Bouchard would be a prime initiative. At just 23 he stepped up his defensive play to match the offense ability he has shown since entering the league.
Are you telling me that there isn’t a GM in the league that would take that on his team? Plus offer-sheeting the Oilers could put them in a bit of a financial predicament as they are looking at roughly $5.6 million in cap space with Bouchard and Ryan McLeod as their two remaining RFAs.
We know that historically NHL GMs hate causing drama or potentially alienating their fellow executives by using all the tools in their toolbox to build a better team, but with the influx of younger general managers that aren’t quite as tied to the old ways, maybe that will change. If a team has the cap space and draft picks to make an offer for an established NHL player that will make their team better, why shouldn’t they do it?
At the very least it’s something to watch over the next couple of months before hockey comes back into our lives.
Lightning / NHL
The Boston Bruins have two players that have arbitration hearings scheduled. As far as we can tell Jeremy Swayman held his on Sunday with the team reportedly filing a $2 million offer and the goaltender submitting a $4 million offer (bet the arbitrator settles at $3 million). Trent Frederic is scheduled to have a hearing on August 1 and Elliotte Friedman is reporting that he wants one year at $2.9 million while the team countered with 2 years at $1.4 million each.
One hearing that has been scratched is the one that was to be held between Jack McBain and the Arizona Coyotes. The team welcomed him back into the pack with a two-year deal worth $1,599,9999 per season. The 23 year-old had 12 goals and 14 assists last season for the ‘Yotes.
A Kessel is returning to the Pittsburgh Penguins. No, it’s not the multiple Stanley Cup-winning, hot dog enjoying, Phil. Instead it’s the Best Kessel. Formally one of the best hockey players on the planet, Amanda Kessel will be the special assistant to the president of hockey operations and general manager of the Penguins following a season in which she spent a role as an executive fellow in their executive management program.
In our latest example of why we can’t have nice things, the Wennberg family had to release a statement concerning the sexual harassment of Alex from a small section of “fans” on TikTok and Instagram. In short, Alex Wennberg became a focus for a niche community of users on the platforms focused around “Booktock” and those that enjoy hockey romance novels.
At first it was fun and somewhat harmless with even the Seattle Kraken promoting it. As with a lot of online communities some people took it way too far, to the point where the more sexually charged posts weren’t just tagging the Wennbergs, but also sliding into their direct messages. Felicia, Alex’s wife, posted a note on social media stating that a line had been crossed. Be better, people!
