Erik Karlsson back to the Sharks, frankly I don't get how anyone would have thought differently. Jumbo's retirement or pay cut might pay for this raise. Today they dealt Justin Braun away (they have some good D prospects) to maybe pay for Meier's raise. Labanc due for a bump also. Pavelski is UFA, you have to wonder how that will play out. I think they will find a way to keep him.

The Jets have to pay Laine and others so they are doing the cap crunch thing. They already traded Trouba coming off a career season for Pionk and the No. 20 pick. I think that's nice return. Pionk can fill the void left by the decline of Enstrom as a guy who can really pass the puck and play the PP. No. 20 is also a decent pick. The Rangers get a big potential score but give up a piece of their D to do it. They are now looking at moving Ehlers, who might be a nice fit for a team looking for a forward with speed and some finish.

The Flyers have been active, they picked up two right-shot veteran defensemen with Niskanen and Braun. Both guys are in their 30s and trending in the wrong direction, but they are the *type* of players the Flyers need. Braun I think has decent bounceback potential, Niskanen might be in actual decline. Cost was Gudas, a 2nd and a 3rd for both so not exactly breaking the bank. They need bridge guys on defense. They will have those two plus Provorov, Ghost, Myers and a TBD guy to start the year. The Flyers are also close to signing Kevin Hayes, so Fletcher has been busy.

The Blackhawks got Olli Maatta from the Pens. Theoretically he is the kind of player they need--they could strike in a hurry but not defend for shit last year--but I suspect this might be a bust. Maatta is headed in the wrong direction and Kahun on an ELC plus a pick is pretty good return for him. The Pens want to reduce salary and reconfigure, they get both done here and will find a spot for Kahun in their top 6.

Speaking of the Penguins, Phil Kessel was nearly traded to Minnesota but he nixed the deal. It now looks as though he is staying but I wouldn't take that as a concrete fact. Sometimes a guy will get yanked from the market to invite offers. His situation is complicated though, mainly because he doesn't want to leave.

The Leafs are in a big cap crunch and are exploring ways out of it. It doesn't look like anyone will let them off the hook for the colossally stupid third year of Marleau's contract.

You can't base his value on scoring alone because he gives you size and versatility (both positional and situational) but this seems like a pile of money anyway. I have a lot of repugnance toward FA signings where the guy has a career year and gets paid like he will automatically keep it up or even augment his production. That said I do think the Flyers have become a better team this summer with the moves they have made (Hayes, Niskanen, Braun), and more will come (probably another skater, definitely a No. 2 goalie).

It's a decent deal for the Flyers, with the potential to be a great one if Nisk can bounce back just a little bit. He's been a fantastic mentor to Orlov.

It's a great deal for the Caps. Clears $3M+ in cap space, plus brings in a surprisingly decent RHD who slots in on the 3rd pair and takes tons of PK minutes.

GMBM is extremely good at his job.

His first moves when he was hired was signing Orpik and Niskanen to huge deals which people, myself included, criticized for length. He's now managed to dump both of those contracts, while getting great years and a championship from those players.

First order of business with the new cap room was resigning Hagelin (4 years, $2.27M aav). Vrana is an RFA but might get a long term deal. I really hope we bring back Burakovsky. Connolly deserves a raise and someone else will overpay him for it. Love the guy though.

No one likes the Rangers or the Devils. They don't deserve good things.

Damn.

Jeremy Davies is a C-level prospect but I would classify him as a B-Level, he's come a long way since his draft year. Santini is nothing special, basically a No. 7/8 defenseman who could be a No. 6 defenseman. Obviously two second-round picks is OK return but nothing great. The Preds are thinking about making a big offer to Duchene (which they'll regret two years in, three max) and also looking ahead to when they have to pay Josi and Eckholm what they are actually worth. More so the former. Do I think dumping Subban's final three years and giving the same money or more to Duchene for seven years is a smart idea? No. But they have a firm sense of how PK's health is, I guess, and this trade isn't a strong indicator. Still, he's only 30, so for New Jersey this is a modest risk with a huge potential payout. Not only is he potentially a 60-point guy who breathes life into a power play and gets back on pucks like a panther, but that's EXACTLY what the Devils need. They were in desperate need of a dynamic right shot D when they got Vatanen and are still in almost equally desperate need now since he's been hurt a bit and of course can only play 25-ish minutes in any case. The Devils also had a glut of cap space that roller over from last summer and they don't have any guys in line for big raises. They were an ideal partner here. Nashville was rumored to be willing to eat $3M of the salary but only if they didn't take any salary back. Here they neither retained salary nor took any back. Other teams with space like Arizona and Philly probably couldn't have made that deal, especially since Philly went out and jumped onto two older, worse right-shot DMen at roughly the same combined cost as Subban here.

The Leafs didn't want to give a first or a top prospect to unload Marleau's contract, but WTF did they expect? In the end, they had to give a lightly protected first. It was worth it because now they can sign Marner, Johnsson and Kapanen. The Marleau association was totally worth it for them IMHO. He helped Marner and Matthews along. He was a figure in the Tavares wooing. He also scored a little for them. Odd signing that looks terrible on paper, but in reality was pretty smart. The 'Canes make out great. They were another team with some unlikely-to-be-used cap space and now they use it another exemplary vet opposite Justin Williams. Marleau will give them a little production, too, should boost their second PP unit. The 'Canes were huge winners. Maybe not the marquee names like the Devils--Hughes and Subban--but here they get a bridge player for the short run plus a first-round pick, and if they fall flat they can move him at the deadline for a third-rounder or more. They also had an awesome draft, loved their picks in the first three rounds and liked almost all their picks, really. Having been to the conference finals they were hardly in a position to snag a guy like Hughes, but they got two top 20 talents at 28/73, which is pretty good.

Lastly Tampa Bay scores big first with the timely but unfortunate news that Ryan Callahan's career may be over (LTIR for a guy they have been trying to trade forever) and now the J.T. Miller trade. Unlike Subban and Marleau, Miller actually had a good contract. He is 26 with a deal that pays him 5.25M annually through age 30. Four more years, prime years, at a fair price for a second-liner. The Canucks are pretty set at center so I assume he'll be playing wing there, which he's done in his career already. But for Tampa, wow, that's almost $11M in cap hits off the books. Hello, Point extension; hello, Vasi extension.

I'm concerned with PK's long term health

GMGM killing it again, great cap hit for a rock solid 1A/1B center. The term isn't great--he's signed until age 34--but it isn't too bad and eight years seemed like a given. They get him locked in at least year's salary, which was quite fair for what he gave them and a steal for what he gave them a year earlier.

And it seems these days any contract is movable in the final couple years. GMs are just helping each other out.

Take the Subban trade, they have a guy with a huge number and three years left, so they dump his salary to sign another guy who will have a huge salary that will motivate them to dump with three-ish years left.

In this case he might be more or less worth it at 34. He's a bargain at that price now.

Lack of state income tax in Nevada is nice. To make the same take-home money in Toronto, he'd have to make $8M. $7M+ in New York.

First they get Maatta from the Penguins, now De Haan from the 'Canes.

They traded D prospects to do it though. Seems kind of short-sighted. I think they probably lost the Maatta deal. De Haan is a decent value, but I think the 'Canes also wanted some cap space. They seem to have a plan of attack for July 1. They also won big in the draft. I'd say Carolina, Montreal were the big winners, you could say New Jersey also given the totality of what they did.

Fittingly the news of the salary cap implications here (especially for Vancouver) overshadowed the actual retirement news here.

Much as Luongo's contract dictated a good portion of his career, temporarily sticking him in Vancouver and ultimately leaving him back in Florida, meaning the last several seasons of his career were spent with bad teams because his onerous contract dictated it.

Of course he started his career on bad teams in New York and Florida, where he routinely led the league in shots against and had to to be great for them to be average, too.

I think he was a helluva goalie. He had a great build for the position, strong, lanky, flexible, long-limbed. I think he was also a pretty influential goalie in getting guys to play the blocking style that's common in today's game. He was also pretty quick, really technically and athletically he had all you could ask for in a goalie.

The cap recapture thing does merit comment--$3M or so for the Canucks for three years, $1M or so for the Panthers--is that it seems like an odd decision to retire rather than go on LTIR. If he had done that, not only would the teams have their cap space in tact, but Luongo himself would have stood to earn over $3.5M for doing absolutely nothing. I guess he kind of stuck it to the Canucks. For the Panthers, they'd have to deal with a big salary on LTIR and pay out the cash. I am slightly surprised the Canucks didn't try to make a deal with them to smooth that over somehow. $9M in cap space over three years is pretty significant.

Vegas frees up some cap space for a guy they weren't going to sign anyway, I guess, but the return is just OK. They figure their top 6 is pretty set so they could Roy who is bigger and kind of a banger for the bottom six, if not this year than I guess next. Carolina takes a very mitigated risk here. They might get a very solid player with a very reasonable salary. They might get a guy who relied on speed and then fucked up his knee and lost some of it. If so, he's a UFA after the season anyway. The Canes are having a nice offseason, but the real question is what goalie will they sign. Both Mrazek and McElhinney seem to be trying to cash in on last season. That's a blessing in disguise because neither is a good option as your No. 1 goalie and there are, potentially, some good ones on the market.

St Louis's second from the O'Reilly deal and a fifth was the price for Miller. Vegas seems to have an FA target having now trimmed a good bit of salary moving Miller and Haula for picks.

Toronto re-signs Kapanen and Johnsson, bridge deals to pay them a combined $6.6M AAV. Marner still without a contract but appears to be close. In related news, the 'Canes bought out Marleau's final season and he is now a UFA.

Burakovsky got tendered a $3.25M offer, kinda high for a 25-point player though obviously he could do more. He asked for a trade and the Caps accommodated him, they get a second and a third from Colorado. Pretty good return under the circumstances. We'll see if the Avs move him back to the right side. He now takes Colin Wilson's place as "let's see if can play more consistently" guy in their lineup.

He never quite put it together and I always hoped it would happen with the Caps.

He lands in a great spot on a great young team who needs 2nd line scoring.

Caps get decent return for a guy they couldn't really afford.

I always liked his potential but he never quite put it together. His defenders will say the move to LW hurt him and he never got consistent top six time and so forth. I'm glad to see him get a chance to put it together somewhere else. I also get why the Caps were ready to move on. The guy I think could make them sorry is Madison Bowey. Hope he has a big season in Detroit because he showed some nice flashes but never seemed to get consistent duty.

but every time he got ice time he was absolutely awful. Both in eye test and metrics.

Caps needed a solid top 4 defender, so they compromised on Bowey's future talent for a good 2nd pair defender now.

And once Kempny got hurt, it turned out to be a brilliant move. Otherwise they'd be playing someone like Brooks Orpik on the second pair.

One thing people forget about Bura is that he had two wrist injuries in two years. For a guy who was originally a shooter, that's a tough spot.

Maybe it's permanent. Or maybe he comes back strong this year. I'm curious to see.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/penguins-trading-star-winger-phil-kessel-coyotes-alex-galchenyuk/

Good deal for Coyotes, they desperately need some consistent scoring. Pittsburgh wanted to move certain guys for a combination of contract and the direction they were heading as individuals. Gally will probably put up points there and they probably like his versatility.

I get the sense this was a cap move, a locker room move and a "better too early than too late" move by the Penguins. I'll trust their judgment based on track record. For AZ, they get exactly what they need now, we'll see what happens long term. Tocchet's presence there is certainly a plus.

I guess 1A/1B type thing with Koskinen. Pretty good move for them, he had a rough patch to start the year but then leveled out nicely. The thing is that he was playing behind a very good defense and good possession team. The Oilers can't really offer that.

They also bought out Andrej Sekera in perhaps the least surprising buyout of the offseason. He really fell off after two severe injuries, unfortunately.

Pavelski's agent made it known he wouldn't be heading back to San Jose a few days ago. The Avs were also in on Pavs. Three years $21M-ish. Surprising the Sharks didn't make more of an effort to keep him at that price but they have some huge contracts now and plenty of medium ones behind them. This is a fair deal for sure, even if they might have to eat the third year of it. Fitness is not a question with Pavelski, nor is durability. The Stars did not score consistently last year, but have the ability to. Now they add arguably the most versatile offensive weapon out there (maybe Burns I'd put ahead of him) because he can play all three F spots and three spots on the power play (point, wall, net front).

Dallas is also scooping up Corey Perry off a buyout from Anaheim. Hard to say what he has left in the tank. He had a major knee injury and while his knee got better, he never got his legs back to the level they were. He's shown flashes here and there but there were obviously no takers for his onerous deal. Here he makes way less money and will have a reduced role. Third-liner and second PP unit guy make him a solid option potentially.

"An NHL GM on what he’s trying to accomplish today: "I’m trying to move out bad contracts so I can give out some more tomorrow.""

Earlier this week the package deal fell apart and now this is the all but certain outcome.

Pretty good chance that the Cats sign a different forward now, most likely Connolly.

with NYR trying to make a last ditch offer

I hate to see the Rangers improve but oh well

ouch.

Fuck sports.

Spezza signs a one year deal to go home. He's kind of washed but the price was right for a swing bottom-six/top-six guy.

Tanev to PIT, got a nice pay day at 3.5M per. I wouldn't be surprised to see him break out. He has some speed and he's a ballsy player. Not elite finishing skills but he gets to the spots and their centermen can take care of the rest for him.

Cam Talbot to the Flames, $2.75M deal. Obviously a steal if he recaptures his form from his 72-start season. He could also be completely washed. The Flames are very calculated in handing out money and want to keep their core going forward. I wouldn't expect big spending today.

pretty surprised the Stars didn't commit money to him.

Great for him, unlikely success story and a great guy, but that's too much money per year and worse yet too long of a term.

Pavs for another $1M per year and two fewer years on the deal? No-brainer.

I can't even recall the last time a team couldn't get out from under a bad contract.

Sometimes you have to give up assets, but still.

Myers signed a six-year, $36M deal that he frankly never played up to. So what do NHL GMs do? Give him a five-year, $30M deal this time around! He also gets a full NMC that fades into a partial NTC over the course of the deal.

He is a massive, right-shot defenseman so I am hardly surprised but I wouldn't pay him this much. I guess in Van they aren't going to have one No. 1 D, more of a by committee thing but still.

The Jets lose Trouba and Myers in the same offseason. That definitely hampers their RD depth, to put it mildly.

The Lightning didn't have the money for him, with Panarin not coming, the Cats did. Not totally final yet but close, sounds like 3/16.5M or so

Saw a breakdown that worked out to 9.42M AAV but included bonuses. Base is 8M or so it sounds like.

Interestingly the two most active teams at the deadline, CBJ and NSH, don't appear to be re-signing many or maybe any of their guys.

Granlund, Boyle and Simmonds are all but certain to move on from the Preds. Nashville consolidates those salaries into Duchene here.

The Blue Jackets obviously lose Duchene (and in turn keep a first round pick) and already lost Kinkaid. We'll see what happens with Dzingel and McQuaid

Granlund not a ufa, has one more year on his deal. We’ll keep Boyle if possible but obvi wayne is off to Nj

At least three teams and possibly as many as five are working on an offer sheet for RFA forward Sebastian Aho. The 'Canes have talked to some teams and said they might look at trades. Losing Aho would be a huge blow. He is their best forward and still in his early 20s.

They went right up to the border of tier 3 compensation which would be a first, second and third.

Some are saying they should have gone past it, which would cost them another first rounder but incentivize not matching by 1) offering another first and 2) making the deal slightly more expensive.

The second thing seems stupid, I mean another $100K isn't going to do it and of course it would cost them a pretty valuable pick. If they were to push the boundary of tier 2 comp, that'd be over $10M and a heavy cap hit, basically just punishing themselves.

I think the 'Canes have got to match here. The deal is frontloaded like crazy, $21M paid out in the first calendar year (!) but the total payout is very reasonable for a 21-year old who works his ass off, scores a point per game, plays D and is improving.

It's not actually a crazy amount

They were offering around $7.5M per year and knew they had to go higher. This is actually a fair deal given his production to date and the fact that he will get better. Pekka Rinne works out at the same facility as him during the summer and he said that Aho is about the hardest-working player he's seen.

Meier gets a fair price, SJ locks up a really good forward who's still getting better.

Blue Jackets get something up front. It was a foregone conclusion that he was a rental for the Sharks.

Looks like they are going for depth over star power here. Donskoi seems a little pricey at nearly $4M AAV but he does have production upside. Wilson fit in pretty well there last year, good secondary scoring option and now expectations will be a little lower. Bellemare I like as a checking center, one of the few (typically) fourth-line guys that's worth paying for.

but Caps have no money

I was pondering this the other day and based on a few different conversations I figured Wayne would get a "show me" deal.

It seems colossally unfair that someone who played multiple seasons under market is not getting and may never get the big payday, but $5M is a very good deal for a guy who really struggled to score as last season went on. Of course his contributions go beyond scoring--he is still tough as hell, awesome in the locker room and takes care of his guys--but you don't get paid big money for those things alone.

Nice to see him and PK staying together and it'll be interesting to see if they fare better on the power play than they did in Nashville. I thought Simmonds was actually very good there but the rest of the team was just totally aimless.

The only saving grace is that I think they put together a very good coaching staff. Otherwise all they did was stick some duct tape on a lineup that was falling apart with a couple veteran D who are in decline.

Lee's return seemed logical when Panarin fell through.

What doesn't seem logical is why the Islanders would offer Lehner, coming off a great season, a two-year contract and then turn around and sign Varly for FOUR years coming off, well, his entire career of being oft-injured and inconsistent.

Let's grant that Lehner is a "system success," well, it happened in THEIR SYSTEM.

Also telling that he shot that down and then took a one-year deal for the same amount per year with Chicago. Didn't have a lot of faith in the Isles' organization, I guess.

Seems like Toronto is realizing you actually need a decent defense.

Meanwhile Colorado continues to put together a hell of a roster.

The Leafs get immediate cap relief and trade a position of depth for a position of need. If they lose Gardiner (already lost Hainsey) then they just run in place here, but with the cap room and Gardiner hanging around it's possible this is a big upgrade for them.

But Barrie is heading toward FAgency so they kind of kick their cap problems down the road. It's a constant struggle for them because they are going to have three HUGE contracts up front. So maybe this is a coup, maybe it's just a placeholder. Best-case scenario they keep Gardiner, find a way to unload Nylander and later sign Barrie long term. That would be incredible.