July NHL News - Free Agency

cshea

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Ah good point, I didn’t consider that.

Get it done, Rangers. It would free up $1 million in space for both the Rangers and Bruins.
 

NYCSox

chris hansen of goats
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Not sure I would’ve done it, but at least Vasilevskiy is 25. Their goaltending is now set for the next 8 years. I think it is a little less risky than the Price and Bobrovsky contracts. Also, bad goaltending can derail a season no matter how good the skaters are. I kinda understand just locking the guy up and not worrying about the position for the next several years. I may have chosen to ace money at that position and then roll the dice on finding a Dubnyk, Lehner type in UFA or the draft but I do understand where Tampa is coming from in locking him up.

Elsewhere, NYR signed Buchnevich over the weekend for 2 years, $3.25 AAV. NYR now $4.1 million over the cap with Tony DeAngelo left to sign. They have a new buyout window that closes soon, some speculation that Shattenkirk could get bought out but I don’t think that happens since the year two buyout cap charge is like $6.3 million. I was hoping for a Beleskey buyout but as far as I can tell he isn’t eligible. According to Cap Friendly any buyout during the 2nd window has to be someone with a cap hit north of $3.45 million.
They have yet to sign Brendan Lemieux.
 

burstnbloom

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For a team that still isn't very good, they certainly have themselves in cap trouble. It'll get worse next year if any of their young players reach their bonus incentives. They probably need to buyout Staal as the year 2 hits on Smith and Shattenkirk make it almost untenable. If they buyout Staal, trade Kreider and Namestnikov (negative value) and bury Beleskey, they can probably get through the end of all of those terrible contracts to prosperity in 2021. Signing Panarin was kinda dumb.
 

cshea

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Vegas trades Nikita Gusev to New Jersey for a 2020 3rd and 2021 2nd. Gusev signs with New Jersey, 2-years $4.5 AAV.

NJ has had a nice offseason.
 

PedroSpecialK

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McPhee acquired Gusev with a 2nd and 4th at the expansion draft in exchange for not selecting Slater Koekkoek or Jake Dotchin. Signed him to a one-year ELC this April, Gusev doesn't play a single game, gets him to RFA, and McPhee gets another 2nd and a 3rd for him.

The man is en fuego
 

scottyno

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McPhee acquired Gusev with a 2nd and 4th at the expansion draft in exchange for not selecting Slater Koekkoek or Jake Dotchin. Signed him to a one-year ELC this April, Gusev doesn't play a single game, gets him to RFA, and McPhee gets another 2nd and a 3rd for him.

The man is en fuego
Unless Gusev ends up being the top 6 forward immediately VGK fans were hyped up to believe he is and they couldn't afford him because they're overpaying mediocrity like Reeves and Holden.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Unless Gusev ends up being the top 6 forward immediately VGK fans were hyped up to believe he is and they couldn't afford him because they're overpaying mediocrity like Reeves and Holden.
That's a fair point, but at the same time the $5m between those two for this year isn't going to sink them, and they have expiring deals they can move around the deadline if they need to make an addition. It could also be the case that Gusev didn't want to play in Vegas, but McPhee got him on the 1 year ELC in exchange for getting assets back once Gusev hit RFA status. I think their top 6 is pretty much set without Gusev so not sure how much ice time he would've gotten:

Pacioretty - Stastny - Stone
Marchessault - Karlsson - Smith

Tuch, Eakin, Pirri etc set them up well for secondary scoring as well. Gotta agree that they look extremely thin on D though, even if Whitecloud can break into the top 6.
 

cshea

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Gusev is probably somewhere between Dadonov and Panarin. He outscored both at the KHL, but is closer to Dadonov’s age when he made the jump.

I think it was a nice bit of business by both teams. I’m sure Vegas would’ve loved to have him, but they would have to move 2 more players to fit him in and he’d be more of a luxury and play further down the lineup. Getting 2 top 100 picks for a player that never appeared in a game seems like a good return. They have 9 picks in the first 3 rounds over the next 2 drafts so they have enough draft capital to continue to be active in the trade market or just keep building their farm system.

NJ was in need of star power and game breaking offensive talent. They basically used their cap space to add Subban and Gusev at reasonable acquisition costs to fill those holes. Landing Hughes and Hischier kinda lets them be a bit more liberal in spending draft picks in trades like this. If they can get someone in net to stop the puck, they could be on to something. I’d also imagine the additions will help keep Taylor Hall in the fold.
 

cshea

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Tampa trades Ryan Callahan’s $5.8 million cap it and a 5th round pick to Ottawa for Mike Condon and a 6th. Condon owed $3 million in real cash but carries a $2.4 million cap hit. Callahan’s playing days are over so presumably insurance is picking up most of the remaining salary owed to him ($4.7 million).

Condon will likely be buried in the minors, so that puts Tampa at just shy of $9 million in cap space with Point and Adam Erne left to sign. They’re probably good with some demotions.
 

NYCSox

chris hansen of goats
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Already buried according to CapFriendly. They'll probably do likewise with Domingue for another $1 million or so.

Edit: That Ottawa roster is hot garbage. In a tough division they will be lucky to crack 45 points.
 
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cshea

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The Sens Cap Friendly page is my favorite. I’ve said it before, but Ottawa would be fascinating if Melnyk sold the team today and a new competent owner came in and cleaned house. The new owner/FO would inherit the shitty roster, but they also have a mountain of picks, an above average prospect pool, and very little in long term salary commitments.
 

Salem's Lot

Andy Moog! Andy God Damn Moog!
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With all of these cap hits getting moved Sweeney will be in for some serious scrutiny if he can’t figure out a way to trade Backes and get McAvoy and Carlo signed.
 

Haunted

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With all of these cap hits getting moved Sweeney will be in for some serious scrutiny if he can’t figure out a way to trade Backes and get McAvoy and Carlo signed.
I agree completely. Every situation is different but... get it done Chia!
 

cshea

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The Wild fired Paul Fenton after 1 season as GM, per the Athletic.

Interesting tidbit from the article- The B’s were supposed to get Eric Staal at the deadline last season, presumably in a bigger package with Coyle. Doesn’t really say what happened, but a fun what-if.
 

j44thor

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The Wild fired Paul Fenton after 1 season as GM, per the Athletic.

Interesting tidbit from the article- The B’s were supposed to get Eric Staal at the deadline last season, presumably in a bigger package with Coyle. Doesn’t really say what happened, but a fun what-if.
I though it was widely reported around the deadline that Staal blocked a trade to Boston. Didn't realize Coyle was also part of it at the time, assumed he was plan B when plan A (Staal) fizzled.
 

PedroSpecialK

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It appears the Rangers will buy out Kevin Shattenkirk according to his agent, not yet official though. Headscratcher for me, given they'll be on the hook for a $6,083,333 cap hit next year ($1,483,333 this year, as well as 2021-22 and 2022-23).

The alternative of burying him and paying $5.575m for each of the next two years seems more palatable, but this is an easier way to open up cap space than trading Kreider I guess... it'll just limit their flexibility next offseason. They have $60m* almost on the dot committed to the following roster for 2020-21, leaving ~$21-25m in cap space:

Forwards (7): Panarin, Zibanejad, Buchnevich, Kakko, Chytil, Andersson, Howden
Defense (6-7): Trouba, Staal, Skjei, Smith (lol), Fox, Hájek, DeAngelo (unsigned)
Goalie (1): Lundqvist

RFAs: Strome, Nieves, Georgiev

They'll probably need Staal to retire / be LTIRed, ditto Lundqvist, to avoid trading a significant piece - but yeah they're gonna be in cap hell soon and for a while most likely

*Not including whatever DeAngelo signs for... they could also be in bonus hell with Kakko, Chytil, Andersson, Fox, and Georgiev eligible for a combined $4.83m in performance bonuses this year
 

cshea

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It is official now. Probably doesn’t bode well for Backes trade options that the Rangers couldn’t move a still somewhat useful Shattenkirk on a similar deal.

Good summary- I’d add Vitaly Kravstov in on the ELC side with bonus’.
 

McDrew

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I have a lot of sentimental attachment to Shattenkirk (for obvious reasons), but I'd honestly hoped that a carlo->forward depth move coupled with a low # on Shattenkirk would help alleviate the B's cap issues.