Teams to watch this offseason
The Stanley Cup has been handed out. The offseason is here. From captight teams such as Boston, Vancouver, and Tampa Bay walking tightropes, to wide-open teams such as New Jersey, Carolina, and Seattle strolling into July 1 ready to make deals, this summer should be wild. Here are five especially fascinating situations to follow:
Winnipeg — No team has more star power that wants out, or more opportunity to remake a roster that has fallen short of expectations.
First on the agenda should be 24year-old center Pierre-Luc Dubois ,arestricted free agent who told management he doesn’t want to stay. Montreal is the obvious destination, but the Canadiens won’t be pushed into a Jetfriendly deal. There should be a market for Dubois, who is due a $6 million qualifying offer and reportedly wants closer to $9 million on a long-term deal. Los Angeles makes a lot of sense. Carolina and Colorado are still looking for No. 2 centers, the latter after potentially losing J.T. Compher in free agency. Minnesota would need to shed salary, but it desperately needs an offensive-minded center for Kirill Kaprizov.
Netminder Connor Hellebuyck, who turned 30 last month, enters the last year of a six-year, $37 million deal ($6.167 million per year) and like Dubois has told management he wants out. He would be an upgrade for nearly every team, and makes short money for a perennial Vezina Trophy finalist. Five teams immediately come to mind: the Kings, who could grab him for a Cup run and let him walk; the Sabres and Devils need top-flight netminding, and have plenty of cap space and assets; the Senators are in a tighter spot, but a true No. 1 goalie would likely push them into contention; and the Flyers could power their rebuild with a Carter Hartfor-Hellebuyck swap.
Mark Scheifele, a legitimate No. 1 center who scored 42 goals this past season, should have interest from a bunch of teams (10 are on his no-trade list). The Jets’ forward group would be in deep without him. The team looks like it is moving on from Blake Wheeler, who has a five-team trade list. Scheifele, 30, makes just $6.125 million next season, the 36-year-old Wheeler $8.25 million. Also possible rentals for someone next season: rugged forward
Nino Neiderreiter and defensemen Brenden Dillon and Dylan DeMelo.
Detroit — The Red Wings have some $30 million in cap space, with a bunch of holes and a franchise-legend general manager (Steve Yzerman) who has seemingly grown a bit unhappy with how his plan is progressing.
Forwards? Alex DeBrincat or Clayton Keller could join captain Dylan Larkin, who signed an eight-year, $69 million extension. The 25-year-old DeBrincat’s $9 million qualifying offer is less appealing than the 24-year-old Keller’s deal, which carries a $7.15 million cap hit through 2028. Both are Midwestern guys; DeBrincat is a Michigan native, Keller is from the St. Louis area.
Defense? The Red Wings are in a good position to make a run at Erik Karlsson. The likely Norris Trophy winner, signed through 2027 at $11.5 million, could waive his no-trade clause to run the power play (both giving Moritz Seider a break from that duty, and helping teach the young German a few things offensively).
Goaltender? They could make Hellebuyck a long-term solution, though handing a multiyear deal to one of the heaviest-workload goalies in the league doesn’t seem like an Yzerman move.
Ottawa — Mostly for the DeBrincat situation and fresh ideas coming from the new ownership group — a bidding reportedly won by transportation magnate Michael Andlauer, rather than contenders Snoop Dogg, Ryan Reynolds or Abel Tesfaye, the Canadian pop star formerly known as The Weeknd.
No matter who’s running the show, DeBrincat doesn’t want to sign with Ottawa long term, according to the Ottawa Sun, so the Senators opted to take him to arbitration, trying to get a discount on his $9 million qualifying offer. If they win, they can get as much as 15 percent, or a one-year, $7.65 million deal. That would make it even easier to trade him.
They’re also hurting for a netminder, as noted. What is Stanley Cup champion (and UFA) Adin Hill worth on the open market?
Buffalo — As usual, the Sabres left a lot of points on the table, and they’re looking to turn a hot few months into a fully competitive season.
Goaltending would go a long way toward that. The Sabres were shoddy in net behind Eric Comrie, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and the since-retired Craig Anderson. Northeastern product Devon Levi is the future, but are the Sabres committed to the 21-year-old for a full season? They might need an ace to break him in, and help the team push Boston, Toronto, Tampa Bay, and Florida in the Atlantic Division.
Hellebuyck wouldn’t be a long-term fit there, since he’d block Levi, but for a few years, there are few better solutions (John Gibson wouldn’t be one of them) to pair with Levi.
On defense, Owen Power needs a partner. Connor Clifton could be had in free agency, or DeMelo could be a trade fit.
Toronto — Of course. New GM Brad Treliving was hopeful to convince Auston Matthews to stay, and the hiring of Matthews’s childhood hero, Shane Doan, (with whom Treliving worked in Arizona) as a special adviser won’t be the last of his ideas.
July 1 is when full no-move clauses for Matthews and Mitch Marner kick in, and William Nylander earns partial protection. Matthews and Nylander, entering the last years of their deals, can sign extensions then.
By all indications, Matthews wants to remain a Maple Leaf. Smart money has him signing for a few more years — at perhaps $13 million-$14 million per — and try his luck again when the salary cap rises. It is expected to go up by $1 million this season, and $9 million over the next two seasons.
Will Matthews see what Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk did previously — and Dubois and Hellebuyck are doing now — and tell management they’d better find a trading partner, because he won’t sign long term? No indication there. But Treliving, who dealt Tkachuk from Calgary to Florida last summer, could reshape Kyle Dubas’s Core Four approach and be aggressive in dealing Matthews — and/or Nylander, who will seek a significant raise from his current $6.96 million cap hit.
Fortune, Vegas reminds us, favors the bold.
Loose pucks
The Devils, who agreed to an eightyear, $63 million extension with Jesper Bratt, got good value ($7.875 million) for a winger who put up 73 points in each of the last two seasons. They entered the weekend still talking with Timo Meier, a restricted free agent due a $10 million qualifying offer . . . Vancouver hopes 102-point center Elias Pettersson, a restricted free agent next summer, will stick around. His agent, J.P. Barry, and David Pastrnak took a patient approach last year, with Pastrnak’s contract expiring in Boston.