Speculation: Most interesting off season teams to watch.

[lwvs84]

Anaheim has a load of cap room and a few things they need (aside from a healthy lineup). Verbeek has identified a top 6 RHS RW and more scoring out of the bottom 6 (no, teams won't be able to dump their overpaid 4th liners on the Ducks for free or get assets in return just because they may be a bit better). Ducks also need a top 4 RHD. They'll probably offer a couple of high dollar, short term contracts or see if there are any (good) cap casualties available cheaper than their worth.

 

[Siludin]

Seattle is going to watch what Vegas has done, and they will make a big splash somewhere.

 

[Bond]

I have no idea what to expect from Calgary. If they give the reigns to Wolf and trade Markstrom they'll have a ton of cap space.

Like 25M and need to sign Kylington and likely a middle pairing defense. That's pretty much all they need to re-sign. Looking at contracts, add to that Montreal could end up with our first and the team isn't set up to tank for the next two years. They'll lose more value through age and losing a first than they'll gain on a top 5-10 pick.

I could see them going for Tavares or something. If they're out early again that's totally a Treliving move. NMC clause but if they want him out could waive it and where else would he even go? Nashville maybe

Flames are perfectly set up to tank unless you think Florida gets a top ten pick next year

 

[abo9]

Im really curious to see what Vegas does. They have 5 forwards becoming UFA: Stephenson, Marchessault, Carrier, Amadio and Mantha.

Plus Hanifin and Martinez on D.

these 7 players take up less than 20M cap space right now (19M), and with Stone and Hertl (combined 16M) in the picture next season, they'll need some movement to fit everyone.

And thats ignoring that they're courting Hanifin for an extension. How does it all work? Who moves out?

Habs are another team to watch. I don't expect any big UFA signings but we have a boatload of defenceman that we will have to make some decisions on this summer. Could make for some fun trades

Genuinely curious as a fellow Habs fan. Who are the boatload of defensemen and which ones might we be looking to trade for significant value?

Savard seems like the only obvious one but that will probably wait to TDL. Maybe Harris, Struble? But I doubt they fetch anything significant?

Personally, I dont think Montreal will have an eventful Summer. Development time for the kids, and the old guys left are probably valuable only as playoff rentals.

 

[Rpenny]

Any team who is upset in the first round

 

[AlexBrovechkin8]

I don't think Washington is rebuilding. They have injected some youth into the lineup this year and they are on the playoff bubble. They have depth in Hershey, who are the best team in the AHL. They have some good prospects in Cristall and Leonard.

And like Pittsburgh with Crosby, Washington isn't going to rebuild as long as Ovi is there and chasing the record. He has 2 years left on his contract. They have no significant UFAs and only 1 pending RFA of note. Assuming Backstrom remains on LTIR, they have plenty of cap space to add pieces.

Washington will have a ton of cap space too. Right now they’re looking at roughly $66.5M in cap hits for next season and the only UFAs are Pacioretty and Aube-Kubel. Connor McMichael will be a RFA but he wont command a huge raise. Getting rid of 50% of Kuznetsov’s cap hit + Backstrom going to LTIRetirement is really helpful for them.

 

[hockeykicker]

Washington is gonna have sooooo much cap space

 

[Captain Mountain]

Carolina has roughly 30 mil in cap space. They also have half their D-core UFA this off season (and the other half UFA the next off-season), TT, Guentzel and Martinook as UFAs and Necas, Drury and Jarvis as RFAs (and only Jarvis isn't arbitration eligible).

Given the rising cap (and that at least half the NHL has the ability to spend in the offseason) and Carolina's tendency to avoid spending like drunken sailors, I'm not sure there's a team that has greater potential to either look basically the same or completely different after this offseason.

 

[ManofSteel55]

Just imagine they trade Crosby,Malkin,Carlson,Letang and Jarry? How many First round picks and very good prospects they would receive.

They would never. They should be afraid of what happens to their ticket sales and sponsorships/advertisers when they don't have any superstars left. This is a team that was in huge financial peril before Sid and Malkin arrived. I think it will be interesting to see if they try to become a playoff team again with Sid and Malkin still there, or if they are going to re-tool on the fly, get rid of some depth pieces with value, and go from there. The fact that guys like Eller weren't moved at the deadline is a sign that they might be just wanting to re-load and get back to playoff contender status without a proper rebuild or retool.

With all of the goalies available, I predict a lot of disappointment in the returns for pretty much all of them.

I hope the Rangers finally buy out Goodrow, open up a spot for Edstrom full time

Would like to see them move on from Trouba and Lindgren, both are warriors, but I think we would be a better team with defenders more mobile with better puck moving ability.

Between the three of them, that is close to 14-15 million tjat we can use on improving the team.

It's interesting how so many teams were looking for goaltending this year, and at least one was rumoured to have been comfortable paying a significant price for a starter, and now they will likely have options this summer to get a high caliber goalie for a far lower cost.

 

[HabzSauce]

Genuinely curious as a fellow Habs fan. Who are the boatload of defensemen and which ones might we be looking to trade for significant value?

Savard seems like the only obvious one but that will probably wait to TDL. Maybe Harris, Struble? But I doubt they fetch anything significant?

Personally, I dont think Montreal will have an eventful Summer. Development time for the kids, and the old guys left are probably valuable only as playoff rentals.

With the big club:

Matheson
Xhekaj
Struble
Harris
Guhle
Savard
Kovacevic

In Laval next season:

Mailloux
Trudeau
Barron
Huston
Reinbacher
Engstrom
+ All the regulars currently on the team like Bisson, Keeper, etc.

Something has to give. We could theoretically keep all of these guys but we also want to develop them properly and give them the right amount of ice time

I can see Harris and Kovacevik being moved in the summer. Maybe as package deals because I don't think we're getting fair value for Harris if it's a 1 for 1.

 

[Unsustainable]

Carolina has roughly 30 mil in cap space. They also have half their D-core UFA this off season (and the other half UFA the next off-season), TT, Guentzel and Martinook as UFAs and Necas, Drury and Jarvis as RFAs (and only Jarvis isn't arbitration eligible).

Given the rising cap (and that at least half the NHL has the ability to spend in the offseason) and Carolina's tendency to avoid spending like drunken sailors, I'm not sure there's a team that has greater potential to either look basically the same or completely different after this offseason.

We've got a lot of off season work to get done.

I think post season and draft time Canes are going to be busy. 4of6 defense is up, 6of6 next season.

Chatfield has earned a pay raise, Skjei and Pesce definitely will have high value contracts

Out of the forwards, Turbo might sign a lower value contract to stay with Aho? Guentzel if we make it to the final, he might be convinced to stay, 8x9mish contract? Jarvis either a 3 year bridge or 8 year 6.5m? Necas 7m ish?

We have a lot of questions, a lot of trade equity.

 

[Freaky Styley]

From Colorado's POV, the playoffs will determine if they are in the goalie market. I would ere towards no,as it's never a position they want to spend cap space on. If anything, if Georgiev falters Annunen can prove himself worthy and maybe they just look for a cheap backup/1B to take pressure off him, but Georgiev is basically that.

Barring an unlikely Rantanen deal, the Avs probably look to move 1-2 of Colton/Manson/Girard for cap reasons unfortunately - dependent on Landeskog's availability.

Overall though I expect it to be a more active offseason league wide with a rising cap and time to plan for that

 

[DaveG]

I'm curious if they will have much UFA discount pricing - like does Turbo stay for a bit less than perceived market value, or maybe Pesce just to keep running it back since they are such a good team?

I think Turbo might come back on a discount, and Chatfield won't be too expensive.

Pesce and Skjei are looking to get paid though IMO. How the team re-structures its defense will be interesting to watch. Will also be worth watching if they try to keep Guentzel signed and if they move KK after bringing in Kuznetsov, assuming there are any takers there.

 

[AslanRH]

I think the Avalanche have 2 paths to consider
(this excludes the TBD LTIR possibilities)

1) Move depth pieces for cheaper and likely lesser depth pieces to shave about $4+m in cap
2) Maintain their depth and move Rantanen. Quantity for quality with the hopeful net results similar to the Duchene trade.

 

[dugg133]

Bruins will be an interesting team to watch. As of right now, if we only re-sign Swayman we'll have about 13mil is space with the following lineup, also accounting for at least on scratch at forward and defense:

Most likely need to move Ullmark and commit to Bussi as the backup. Do that and we're looking at around 17mil to fill 3 spots. Which isn't very much when you consider that the spots they need to fill are all top of the lineup spots that will likely be expensive. Could end up being a very active offseason for them.

 

[Lunatik]

I think the Flames will be boring.

I think we swap a winger for a defenseman. Otherwise I can see is standing pat (including re-signing Kylington)

 

[UnSandvich]

If the Rangers bow out early again this year, I can see big changes happening to the core. In particular, I’ll say that if Trouba is moved, HF will be surprised just how much he fetches.

 

[PettersonHughes]

I'm cautiously optimistic of how Allvin will find depth pieces for my Canucks, since he's done quite well (added Joshua/ DeSmith/ Soucy/ Cole/ Blueger/ Suter/ Zadorov, along with major add in Lindholm).

 

[Bond]

I think the Flames will be boring.

I think we swap a winger for a defenseman. Otherwise I can see is standing pat (including re-signing Kylington)

I think Markstrom is gone either way. Mangipane, Backlund, Kuzmenko, and Sharangovich could all be moved if the value is there as well.

 

[PAZ]

Colorado has to make some moves, but it’ll be interesting to see how big of a change they do. Lots of moves are contingent on how much Rants wants on his next contract and if Landy is healthy.

- Rants impending contract and Avs impending cap crunch, do they consider a trade?
- Landy potentially coming back next season
- Colton and Wood already losing minutes to the newcomers, are they potentially the odd men out?
- Drouin most likely willing to come back at a discount, but can the Avs afford him still?
- Trenin, Walker, and Duhaime have all transitioned to the team flawlessly. Are they brought back?
- Are Girard/Manson/Lehkonen cap casualties?
- Georgiev being very pedestrian this season, do they look for an alternative if he chokes in the playoffs?

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Hopefully Ottawa trades some big pieces. I would try to move Chabot, Batherson, Norris, and Chychrun

How many 1sts are you attaching to Norris to get someone to take that contract?

 

[Mathew Barzal]

If my Canucks know what’s good for them they’ll load up for a Cup run this next year. Lightning only lasts so long in a bottle.

 

[Majorityof1]

But the Blues too, if they miss the playoffs is Parayko really available? and what about Binnington? Hofer has played very well, has he done enough to make the Blues think about moving on from Binner is it rebuild time in St Louis?

As a Blues fan, I don't envision it being a crazy offseason. Ur GM will work the phones but he won't do anything unless its the right deal.

We'll try to sign or trade Buchnevich which could be exciting, but I could also see us pushing that to the TDL. We'll try to move Krug but I doubt there are any takers. We'll have $12M for a LD and top 6, hopefully C, but I doubt we'll committed to long term for free agents. We'll probably dumpster dive for existing contracts expiring soon, like we did for Hayes.

Our GM said before the season that he expected us to be in the middle 3rd of the league. He hoped it was the top of that 3rd and fighting for a playoff spot, but knew this wasn't a year we'd be a top team. I doubt he panics and trades Parayko or Binnington unless the offers are too good to be true.

 

[Derailed75]

I'm curious if they will have much UFA discount pricing - like does Turbo stay for a bit less than perceived market value, or maybe Pesce just to keep running it back since they are such a good team?

My thoughts as a Canes fan.

Turbo, good chance. He took a team-friendly deal on his last one and him and Aho are really good friends.

Pesce doubt it. His season hasnt been as good as his past but he is still a top pair (on most teams) guy

Chatfield Maybe. He was an after thought in the A but has become a solid mid pair guy in Carolina.

Slavin, he stays and gets whatever he asks for.

Drury and Necas probably get bridge deals

Skjei I dont think the Canes can afford him.

Jarvis gets locked up long term.

 

[ManofSteel55]

I think Markstrom is gone either way. Mangipane, Backlund, Kuzmenko, and Sharangovich could all be moved if the value is there as well.

I don't know about that. Seems like ownership might not want to part with their Vezina candidate goalie yet. I wouldn't be shocked if Markstrom is a Flame next year.