ST. LOUIS — The NHL offseason has officially kicked into high gear. Teams are negotiating with their potential free agents, eyeing trades ahead of the draft, clearing salary cap space and preparing to shop the marketplace.
The defending champion Colorado Avalanche would love to keep St. Louis fan favorite Nazem Kadri and power forward Valeri Nichushkin from unrestricted free agency, but both drove up their value with peak seasons.
The ‘Lanche should shrug off the loss of second-line winger Andre Burakovsky to free agency, but losing goaltender Darcy Kuemper would really sting. He could attract huge offers in the marketplace.
Useful players like Sam Girard and JT Compher could land on the trade block as the ‘Lanche try to make the cap numbers work for this season — and for seasons to come, when Nathan MacKinnon collects massive money on his next contract.
The Calgary Flames have moved massive dollars onto the table for potential free agent Johnny Gaudreau. So now Gaudreau must debate whether to stay in an optimal hockey situation — on a good team with an elite top line under a coach playing him big minutes — or relocate closer to his native New Jersey for family reasons.
The Nashville Predators, in “win now” mode, took on a $6.75 million cap hit while accepting defenseman Ryan McDonagh’s contract dump from the Lightning. The Preds are also making every effort to keep potential UFA Filip Forsberg out of the marketplace.
Having failed to woo defensive-minded Barry Trotz to be their next head coach, the Winnipeg Jets reached into the recycling bin to hire Rick Bowness instead. His task will be to restore defensive order in front of goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
Some roster work may be necessary, since forward Pierre Luc-Dubois has told the Jets that he plans to explore unrestricted free agency in two years rather than sign an extension in Winnipeg. Dubois could fetch a ton in the trade market this summer.
Bowness did an admirable job guiding the mish-mash Dallas Stars last season, but that team opted to hire Peter DeBoer as it continues its transition to its new nucleus of defenseman Miro Heiskanen, goaltender Jake Oettinger and forwards Jason Robertson and Roope Hintz.
While the Stars want to stay in the chase during this transition, the Chicago Blackhawks stand ready to drop the plunger on the roster. General manager Kyle Davidson has a huge trade chip to play with high-scoring winger Alex DeBrincat and he is listening to offers.
If the Cat goes, then Patrick Kane could ask out as well. He could move along to a contender to finish out his contract, Claude Giroux-like, and try build value ahead of his unrestricted free agency.
Kane is a Buffalo guy, the Sabres are awash in emerging talent and the ownership of that team must be tired of the franchise’s longstanding irrelevance. One way or another, a homecoming for Kane would make a lot of sense. Just saying.
The San Jose Sharks hired former Blues prospect Mike Grier as general manager, making him the first Black man to hold the position in the league. This overdue change at the top of the hockey operation explained why that team finally got around to firing coach Bob Boughner and his staff.
The Sharks went into the offseason pretending that they could still make a playoff run with the current nucleus, but perhaps the input gained from their GM interviews convinced them otherwise. It’s hard to imagine that any serious job candidate for the Sharks job shared that view.
The Sharks have tons of cap space allocated to declining veterans, so Grier will face a daunting task. Team ownership has been opposed to a Blackhawks-style reset, but it’s time to make tough decisions. Buying out the last four years of Marc-Edouard Vlasic’s contract ($7 million cap hit) would be a start.
The team has nearly $20 million per year sunk into fading defensemen Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns and both players are liabilities in their own end. So how will the next coach deal with that?
The Seattle Kraken could be a wild-card team in free agency. After blowing the expansion draft and suffering ritual beatings in their inaugural season, the Kraken stand ready to put their ample salary space to work. They could provide leverage to any number of players looking to drive up their price in the market.
The Pittsburgh Penguins remain in contender mode with Sidney Crosby still on top of his game, so expect them to make every effort to keep defenseman Kris Letang. Evgeni Malkin is less certain to get a contract allowing him to finish his career there. He would have to take a massive pay cut to make that happen and some other teams back East might be willing to pay more.
The Montreal Canadiens are ready to go into full rebuild mode. They hold the first overall pick in the draft, which is a great starting point. But they also face uncertainty with goaltender Carey Price (and his $10.5 million cap hit) in limbo due to his persistent knee problems.
While it seems certain they will keep former Blues goaltender Jake Allen, they could offload any number of players including defenseman Jeff Petry, winger Josh Anderson and center Christian Dvorak. Of those three, the bulldozing Anderson would offer the most trade value – and he would also be the toughest to give up.
The New Jersey Devils would like to shift into “win now” mode now that cornerstone center Jack Hughes is ready to produce at a high level. So that team could move the second overall pick for immediate help. DeBrincat could be a great addition IF he would be willing to lock in with a contract extension.
With Kevin Fiala off the board, DeBrincat and J.T. Miller are the top scorers available via trade. Miller just had a peak season with the Vancouver Canucks and his speed/skill package makes him a hot commodity in today’s game.
The Canucks locked in Brock Boeser and hopes to do the same with Bo Horvat, but paying Miller his market rate appears to be impossible with their cap scenario.
