Flyers trade for rights to Dorchester’s own Kevin Hayes: https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/flyers/flyers-acquire-kevin-hayes-trade-jets
Based on last season, this isn't true. Niskanen's underlying numbers fell off a cliff. Gudas was a more valuable player by every metric I've seen. Historically Niskanen has been better, but the Flyers are betting on last year being an aberration and not natural decline. Which is a big risk for a 32 year old.I guess that’s a pretty fair swap. The Flyers get the better player but not by that much, and Washington gets about $3.3M in cap space, which they really need. The Flyers have about a billion dollars in cap space ($30M after Niskanen) so even with some big UFA signing and new contracts for Sanheim, Konecny, and Provorov they will have room that I expect Chuck to blow through pretty quickly (alas). Gudas has one year left, Niskanen two.
Huge deal for the Sharks. They've historically had a difficult time attracting marquee free agents.Erik Karlsson appears to be staying with San Jose.
https://twitter.com/tsnbobmckenzie/status/1140615322174664706?s=21
Also, the first buyouts over the weekend were Dion Phaneuf in LA and Andrew MacDonald in PHI.
They will almost certainly dump at least one of Braun and Dillon, maybe both; they are paying those guys a combined 7m next year, and they don't need to be paying their 4th/5th D-men that much. They won't get much in return but somebody might throw them a mid-round pick or 2. That clears up some room to pay the forwards.8 years at ~$11.5 AAV per McKenzie. I’d be a bit nervous about the term and money.
That leaves them with $12.5mm or so with only 16 guys signed. Guessing that if Joe plays another year he’ll do so on the cheap with a contract structured in bonus’ like Bruins have done with Chara to keep the cap hit down. It is going to be tough to keep Pavelski without moving money out. Meier and Lebanc’s new contracts will eat up most of the remaining cap space after the Karlsson deal.
This also closes the books on the trade with Ottawa. The final haul for other Sens:
Chris Tierney
Dylan DeMelo
Rudolf Balcers
Josh Norris
2019 2nd (FLA)
2020 1st (SJS)
2031 2nd (SJS)
That’s a really good haul. I’d be fascinated to see what a front office with competent ownership could do with what the Sens have now in terms picks, prospects and young roster players they got from this trade and all the others. They have an absolute mountain of picks headed their way, they already have 12 picks in 2020, 7 in the first 3 rounds(!).
Well that's only for the rights to Trouba. He's an RFA so they have to sign him too. Friedman said the Rangers weren't allowed to talk to him before trading for him. Taking a gamble that he wants to be there.Jets trade Trouba to NYR for Neal Pionk and #20 (which was WPG’s pick).
That seems...light?
That’s a win for the Bruins that he didn’t go to Toronto as was rumored.Rangers traded Neal Pionk and gave back the #20 pick to Winnipeg for the rights to Jacob Trouba.
https://twitter.com/NYRangers/status/1140767567440691206
They’ll sign him. He’s restricted, what’s he going to do, not sign? I guess worst case scenario for NYR is a 1-year arbitration contract that takes him to UFA, but even then the cost is a bottom pair defenseman and a mid-first round pick, which was acquired from the Jets in the first place. If things go south they can probably get a similar package in return at the deadline.Well that's only for the rights to Trouba. He's an RFA so they have to sign him too. Friedman said the Rangers weren't allowed to talk to him before trading for him. Taking a gamble that he wants to be there.
Oh it's a great trade no doubt. Just have to factor in signing him to a big-time contract is part of the acquisition cost as well. He should get like $7-$8 million/yr right?He’ll sign, no doubt.
They’ll sign him. He’s restricted, what’s he going to do, not sign? I guess worst case scenario for NYR is a 1-year arbitration contract that takes him to UFA, but even then the cost is a bottom pair defenseman and a mid-first round pick, which was acquired from the Jets in the first place. If things go south they can probably get a similar package in return at the deadline.
They essentially traded half a season of Hayes and Neal Pionk for a top pair defenseman. Good piece of business for New York.
I think Toronto giving Trouba the money he’s looking for would have been really bad for them. But I also think Trouba is overrated. He's not an upgrade over Jake Gardiner, imo.That’s a win for the Bruins that he didn’t go to Toronto as was rumored.
They’re also getting Kakko in the draft.They also got Brendan Lemieux in the Hayes swap.
Outstanding work by Gorton - he's jump-started that rebuild and has them in a place to make some noise on draft day and with UFAs. Bolded below are guys with expiring UFA deals who could be dealt mid-season for more futures, underlined are RFAs currently:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Namestikov
Chytil - Strome - Buchnevich
Lemieux - Nieves - Vesey
Andersson - Howden - Fast
Skjei - Trouba
Staal - Shattenkirk
Claesson - DeAngelo
Smith (oof)
Lundqvist
Georgiev
$4.5m also committed with Girardi's buyout and Spooner's salary retention
Currently committed: $63.9m
RFA Estimates: Trouba ($7.8m), DeAngelo ($3m), Buchnevich ($2.8m), Lemieux ($1.2m bridge), Claesson ($0.9m) = $15.7m
Estimated cap hit is $79.6m, so $3.4m in space with those estimates. However, it gets interesting if they can move Brendan Smith's corpse, he's only got a 10 team list at this point - that opens them up to $8m in cap space and lets them load up a bit more up front.
Fun fact: Brad Richards' amnesty buyout ($0 cap hit) is on the books through $2025-26 at just over $1.05m per year
That's a pretty good return for the Sharks in what was a pure salary dump of a 32-year-old with one year left on his contract. They badly need draft picks, too, having dumped so many picks to acquire Kane, Karlsson, and Nyquist.Flyers are back to being the Flyers! They acquire Justin Braun from SJS for a 2019 2nd and 2020 3rd.
When you put it all together it doesn't sound great. Wow. Chuck Fletcher, you're doing great, buddy.To recap, the Flyers gave up a year of Gudas, a high 2nd, and a high 3rd for the privilege of burning $9.55m on Niskanen and Braun, and $2.77m on the Gudas retained salary and MACDonald buyout. Unbelievable use of over $12m in cap space.
Massive overpay for a guy that hasn’t had more than 55 points in a season.7 years/$50 million for Hayes. Holy crap.
https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1141168846662803456
Well there’s a reason why some teams don’t win for 45 years.7 years/$50 million for Hayes. Holy crap.
https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1141168846662803456
I found this article to be pretty good regarding the cap situation the next few years.Dreger speculating $9.5m/y for Duchene. Yikes.
Also this mickey mouse league is still trying to figure out what the salary cap will be. Rumors it could be under $82m. It was generally expected to be $83m
Looks like it will be $81.5-82m, and teams that are hard up against it are pushing back and want it $83m.Teams may not know the cap ceiling until Saturday. What a league. Go into the biggest trade/signing period of the year without knowing exactly how much you can spend. But hey, they made sure they got the important stuff done like settling on the 2020 draft location today!
Can we have a moratorium on commenting about this subject? It’s too painful. This last week of Fletcher has been a replay of all the things that made Holmgren a bad GM. I have no idea why I thought they’d stay the course that Hextall set. Depressing.To recap, the Flyers gave up a year of Gudas, a high 2nd, and a high 3rd for the privilege of burning $9.55m on Niskanen and Braun, and $2.77m on the Gudas retained salary and MACDonald buyout. Unbelievable use of over $12m in cap space.