Ceci and Sens Settle on Arbitration Ruling

I was preparing to add the Cody Ceci signing as a fringe signing, but since he was 101st among all defensemen, I thought that was close enough to get his own big post and do it up right.

Ceci and the Senators did indeed go all the way through arbitration proceedings this week and on Friday afternoon, the decision came down to award the defenseman a 1-year, $4.3 million deal, which will take him to the last year of restricted free agency next summer.

The 24-year old played in all 82 games for the Senators last season, scoring 5 goals and 19 points on a team that was a little lacklustre for the better part of the year and maybe it won't necessarily get better team-wise, but his experience is certainly growing and that could be the leading factor to a much better 2019 season.

With everything that is going on in Ottawa these days, it isn't hard to fathom that the team will likely look towards a guy like Ceci to take on a leadership role with the team and his ice-time should increase, if and when Erik Karlsson is eventually dealt out of town.  Now that the signatures are on the dotted line, maybe the team can start to think more seriously about that possibility.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Mark Stone	7.350	Erik Karlsson	6.500	Craig Anderson	4.750
Bobby Ryan	7.250	Cody Ceci	4.300	Mike Condon	2.400
Matt Duchene	6.000	Mark Borowiecki	1.200
Marian Gaborik	4.875	Chris Wideman	1.000
Clarke MacArthur	4.650	Christian Wolanin	0.925
Mikkel Boedker	4.000	Thomas Chabot	0.863
Zack Smith	3.250	Ben Harpur	0.725
Jean-Gabriel Pageau	3.100
Ryan Dzingel	1.800
Tom Pyatt	1.100
Colin White	0.925
Magnus Paajarvi	0.900
Logan Brown	0.894
Filip Chlapik	0.728
Max McCormick	0.650

Now with Ceci and Stone in tow, the Senators are now rocking a fairly full projected roster of 24 players and they are now coming in at $6.8 million under the salary cap ceiling.  There isn't a whole lot else to do internally, in terms of free agents, so now it will be that bit of tinkering that may or may not happen before the start of the regular season.  Until that sort of things happens, I'm quite comfortable to run with this group as the projected roster for my hockey pool projections.

Rangers Also Avoid With Spooner

And in the matter of only a few short days, the New York Rangers went from facing three arbitration hearings with some key restricted free agents to getting them all locked down for at least one more year, in other cases more.

Ryan Spooner would indeed be one of those cases, signing a 2-year, $8 million deal, ahead of his case later on this week, and with that, the Rangers are pretty much ready to roll on with training camp, give or take a few more minor-league signings.

The 26-year old was a breath of fresh air for the Rangers, after he was acquired at the trade deadline in an asset sell-off to Boston, picking up 16 points in 20 games to finish off the year.  In total, Spooner played in 59 games between Boston and New York and finished with 41 points.  He missed a considerable amount of time at the start of the season to a groin injury, but still fared pretty well by the end.

The Rangers do seem a bit skeptical about signing anyone for the long-term these days, likely part of their rebuilding plan, but a couple of seasons should be enough time for Spooner to show some value and I think he's poised to do just that.  I'm picking him to do some good things this season, which will be highlighted more in my pool projection posts in a couple of weeks time.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Mika Zibanejad	5.350	Kevin Shattenkirk	6.650	Henrik Lundqvist	8.500
Kevin Hayes	5.175	Marc Staal	5.700	Marek Mazanec	0.650
Chris Kreider	4.625	Brady Skjei	5.250
Mats Zuccarello	4.500	Brendan Smith	4.350
Vladislav Namestnikov	4.000	Tony DeAngelo	0.863
Ryan Spooner	4.000	Fredrik Claesson	0.700
Jimmy Vesey	2.275	Steven Kampfer	0.650
Matt Beleskey	1.900
Jesper Fast	1.850
Lias Andersson	0.925
Pavel Buchnevich	0.925
Cody McLeod	0.750
Boo Nieves	0.709
Peter Holland	0.675

I think the Rangers have done quite well in this off-season, as they have a fairly fast looking team, still fairly young, you know... not counting Lundqvist back there and they're coming in well under budget, with nearly $5 million in cap space with this current 23-man roster above.  Their rebuild may actually be a little more exciting than in some other markets, because I think they've done an okay job at being relatively competitive today as well.  Maybe we can call it more of a retool for now, despite how much work that wrecking ball did last spring.

Skjei Signs Long-Term

The New York Rangers took care of some business on Saturday, re-signing one of their last three remaining pool worthy free agents, defenseman Brady Skjei.

Skjei broke in with the Rangers back at the end of the 2016 season and really hasn't looked back since, posting two very good seasons with the club in 2017 and 2018.  His new deal is now of the 6-year variety, set to pay him $31.5 million, which works out to be $5.25 million per season.

The 24-year old has very good size and has some great offensive upside, posting 4 goals and 25 points in 82 games in his sophomore season, short of the 39 points of the season before, but I would be expecting a big breakout this coming season.

Even though the Rangers are in a rebuild/retool mode at the moment, their blueline still appears to be in very good shape, especially with the top three, which you can see above.  They should still keep themselves in a lot of games and stay competitive, despite going through this transition period.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Mika Zibanejad	5.350	Kevin Shattenkirk	6.650	Henrik Lundqvist	8.500
Chris Kreider	4.625	Marc Staal	5.700	Marek Mazanec	0.650
Mats Zuccarello	4.500	Brady Skjei	5.250
Vladislav Namestnikov	4.000	Brendan Smith	4.350
Jimmy Vesey	2.275	Tony DeAngelo	0.863
Matt Beleskey	1.900	Fredrik Claesson	0.700
Jesper Fast	1.850	Steven Kampfer	0.650
Lias Andersson	0.925
Pavel Buchnevich	0.925
Filip Chytil	0.925
Vinni Lettieri	0.925
Brett Howden	0.894
Cody McLeod	0.750
Peter Holland	0.675

But like I had mentioned at the top of the post, there are still two more pool worthy RFAs left to sign for the Rangers, forwards Ryan Spooner and Kevin Hayes, and they will have to do so with about $12 million in cap space remaining.  I'm not saying that it is a problem, it is just the statement of fact.  Neither player should be overly expensive, to the point that they'll drain the budget, but it's all something worth considering.  Both players have filed for arbitration, so the numbers shouldn't finish off too badly, one could assume.

Wilson Punches Out Big Deal

The week finished off with quite the bang, as the Washington Capitals finished off their major restricted free agent signings of the summer with an absolute whopper of a deal.  The announcement came fairly late in the evening, as the Capitals and Tom Wilson agreed upon a 6-year, $31 million deal, which works out to be roughly a $5.17 million cap hit per season.

Wilson is a multi-faceted kind of player, as he was not only pool worthy in the scoring department, finishing with 14 goals and 35 points in 78 regular season games played, but he is also the resident tough guy on the team, leading the team and 2nd in the league for penalty minutes with 187.

He is a fairly hard-working player and a guy that teammates love to play with, so there is value there, but the $5 million range per season does seem a bit steep.  Only Dustin Byfuglien makes more per season among those who collected more than 100 penalty minutes last season, but there are a decent collection of cap hits in that list as well.  Only one other player in that group was pool worthy, Colorado defenseman Nikita Zadorov.

We are moving into projections season and I'm not overly convinced that Wilson will keep up his 35-point pace exactly, but playing on the top line from time-to-time certainly helps his cause.  Keeping him at that 35-point range might be the compromise I have, between not believing he can do it again and playing on the top line.  He's the type of guy you pick, however, if you are hoping that the PIM pool reemerges as a mini-game, once the wheel spins.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Alex Ovechkin	9.538	John Carlson	8.000	Braden Holtby	5.100
Evgeny Kuznetsov	7.800	Matt Niskanen	5.750	Ilya Samsonov	0.925
Nicklas Backstrom	6.700	Dmitry Orlov	5.100
T.J. Oshie	5.750	Michal Kempny	2.500
Tom Wilson	5.167	Madison Bowey	1.000
Lars Eller	3.500	Brooks Orpik	1.000
Andre Burakovsky	3.000	Christian Djoos	0.650
Brett Connolly	1.500
Devante Smith-Pelly	1.000
Shane Gersich	0.925
Hampus Gustafsson	0.884
Jakub Vrana	0.863
Chandler Stephenson	0.650
Nathan Walker	0.650

The Capitals don't have much left to spend, bu that's okay, their free agent list is now wiped off of everyone important.  The current 23-man roster they have above is now coming in with only $1.5 million to spare and they could probably swap out some of those more expensive bubble players for someone a little cheaper to pinch those pennies.

Jarry Re-Signs in Pittsburgh

If we learned anything about the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltending situation last season, it was that no one was particularly a lock for the spot, especially in the second half of the season.  Fortunately for Tristan Jarry, he did get enough reps in the crease to put his stamp on being pool worthy, hence the big blog post today.

On Thursday, Jarry and the Penguins came to terms on a new 2-year deal, which will carry a cap hit of $675,000 per season and for now, he would have to be considered the favourite for the backup job at the start of the season.  His counterpart in the position, Casey DeSmith, didn't get nearly as many reps, but did get a string of starts when Matt Murray was hurt and does carry the same cap hit as Jarry for next season, so we'll have to wait until training camp to know for sure.

In terms of numbers, Jarry was pretty solid, finishing with 14 wins and 34 points in 26 appearances with the club last year, good enough for 40th overall among all goalies.  That's a top 10 backup, in theory.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Evgeni Malkin	9.500	Kris Letang	7.250	Matt Murray	3.750
Sidney Crosby	8.700	Justin Schultz	5.500	Tristan Jarry	0.675
Phil Kessel	6.800	Brian Dumoulin	4.100
Patric Hornqvist	5.300	Olli Maatta	4.083
Carl Hagelin	4.000	Jack Johnson	3.250
Bryan Rust	3.500	Jamie Oleksiak	2.138
Derick Brassard	3.000	Chad Ruhwedel	0.650
Riley Sheahan	2.100
Zach Aston-Reese	0.925
Dominik Simon	0.750
Daniel Sprong	0.750
Jake Guentzel	0.734
Matt Cullen	0.650
Derek Grant	0.650

The Penguins have to be close to closing up shop on this off-season, with only a couple of minor restricted free agents left to work out, I don't see this team adding anything more to their roster.  Even if they wanted to, it is going to be difficult, with only $745,000 left in cap space, with this 23-man roster above.  I think we can start working on the projections with what we've got here.

Islanders Avoid Arbitration With Nelson

The New York Islanders re-signed their last key restricted free agent on Monday afternoon, giving forward Brock Nelson a 1-year, $4.25 million deal.

Nelson, 26, had arbitration rights and had a hearing booked for August 3rd, but the two sides came together long before they had to go through the nasty process of making their case for their side.

In the 2018 season, Nelson regressed in his scoring numbers, dropping down to 19 goals and 35 points in all 82 games from 45 points in 81 games the season previous.  He was still pool worthy, ranking 170th among all forwards on the year, but his value has dropped a little bit.

The early projections for him will meet somewhere in the middle, as the lineup shuffles to the loss of John Tavares in this off-season.  Nelson found himself playing a lot with Andrew Ladd last season, which may or may not change, but it's hard to see where the offense really is going to stem from on a consistent basis in Brooklyn during the 2019 season.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Jordan Eberle	6.000	Johnny Boychuk	6.000	Thomas Greiss	3.333
Andrew Ladd	5.500	Nick Leddy	5.500	Robin Lehner	1.500
Josh Bailey	5.000	Thomas Hickey	2.500
Brock Nelson	4.250	Ryan Pulock	2.000
Anders Lee	3.750	Adam Pelech	1.600
Cal Clutterbuck	3.500	Scott Mayfield	1.450
Casey Cizikas	3.350	Sebastian Aho	0.770
Leo Komarov	3.000
Valtteri Filppula	2.750
Matt Martin	2.500
Jan Kovar	2.000
Ross Johnston	1.000
Anthony Beauvillier	0.894
Mathew Barzal	0.863

There's a big lump of salary cap space left on the board for the Islanders today, as I am showing the team with $10.5 million in space, which was probably earmarked for someone special this summer. 

Dumba Locks In

The list of pool worthy restricted free agents is slowly dwindling down, as Matt Dumba was the latest player to sign off on a new deal amongst those elite players.  Dumba and the Minnesota Wild agreed upon a 5-year, $30 million deal, late on Friday night, avoiding an arbitration hearing of his own and re-inserting his name into the Wild fold for the long-term.

The 24-year old really came into his own in the 2018 season, finishing in the top 20 among all defensemen in scoring with 14 goals and 50 points, playing in all 82 games for the Wild.  He's an all-situations type of player and that really showed in his increase in ice-time year over year, where he is now playing over 23 minutes a game.

Looking ahead to the 2019 season, the Wild still have a pretty good competitive team on paper, starting with the back end and working their way out.  Their top four defensemen can certainly hang with most of those in the league today.  I don't think I would go so far as to prognosticate a repeat performance for Dumba, however, the kid has plenty of talent, but now his name is really out there and he'll be a guy that other teams will focus on and try to take away at the point.  I can see this being a year, where he has to work his way around that.  It'll be tough, but he'll manage, just slightly below last year's pace.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Zach Parise	7.538	Ryan Suter	7.538	Devan Dubnyk	4.333
Mikael Granlund	5.750	Matt Dumba	6.000	Alex Stalock	0.650
Mikko Koivu	5.500	Jared Spurgeon	5.188
Nino Niederreiter	5.250	Jonas Brodin	4.167
Eric Staal	3.500	Greg Pateryn	2.250
Charlie Coyle	3.200	Nate Prosser	0.650
Marcus Foligno	2.875	Ryan Murphy	0.650
Eric Fehr	1.000
Luke Kunin	0.925
Jordan Greenway	0.917
Joel Eriksson Ek	0.894
Landon Ferraro	0.700
Matt Hendricks	0.700
Cal O'Reilly	0.700

The Wild have handful of RFAs left to re-sign in this off-season, but only one of any roster substance in Jason Zucker.  The Wild do have plenty of room for him, still holding onto about $6.45 million in cap space, after the 23-man roster that I have set up above here.  The Wild should be pretty pleased with where they are, in terms of the group that they have and the value that they have them in at.

Flames Ink Lindholm

Definitely one of the big deals that needed doing for the Calgary Flames was getting pen to paper with one of their recent acquisitions via trade, forward Elias Lindholm.  Lindholm was acquired from the Hurricanes in a sizable 4-player deal, both teams taking care of some business within their own dressing rooms, if you believe the reports out there, but free agency was looming for Lindholm, to which was taken care of on Monday.

Lindholm and the Flames agreed upon a 6-year, $29.1 million deal, which will see a cap hit of $4.85 million per season through the 2024 season.

The 23-year old didn't do too badly on a struggling-for-offense team like the Hurricanes last season, finishing with 16 goals and 44 points in 81 games with the club, which had him ranked 133rd among all forwards in scoring.  The idea will be for him to be on either one of the top two lines, depending on where he or James Neal fall in the new Flames lineup, but either way, it's an added bit of speed and scoring, which should help the Flames go a little further in 2019.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Johnny Gaudreau	6.750	Mark Giordano	6.750	Mike Smith	5.667
Sean Monahan	6.375	TJ Brodie	4.650	Tyler Parsons	0.759
James Neal	5.750	Travis Hamonic	3.857
Mikael Backlund	5.350	Michael Stone	3.500
Elias Lindholm	4.850	Dalton Prout	0.800
Troy Brouwer	4.500	Rasmus Andersson	0.756
Michael Frolik	4.300	Oliver Kylington	0.731
Derek Ryan	3.125
Sam Bennett	1.950
Austin Czarnik	1.250
Curtis Lazar	0.950
Matthew Tkachuk	0.925
Andrew Mangiapane	0.705
Alan Quine	0.700

The Flames still have some work to do, but they're cutting it nice and tight against the cap ceiling, if you ask me. Still with Noah Hanifin, Mark Jankowski and Jon Gillies to sign, this team is running out of cap space. I currently have them with a projected 23-man roster, like the one above and they only have $3.6 million left in space.  Hanifin is going to be on the expensive side, while Jankowski could request a fair bit and Gillies could make some money to be the backup and taking out three of the cheaper deals will only open up a little over $2 million in space over that, so it will be tight.  It'll be interesting to see what else the Flames have up their sleeves this summer.

Saros Rewarded in Nashville

There wasn't a great deal of goaltending on this year's pool worthy free agent list, but Juuse Saros did certainly make his mark with the Nashville Predators this season, giving the team a steady backup behind Pekka Rinne, offering the number one a confident rest on his scheduled days off.  For that, the 23-year old Finn was rewarded in his new deal from restricted free agency, earning a 3-year, $4.5 million deal on Monday.

Saros appeared in 26 games for Nashville in the 2018 season and posted 11 wins and 31 points in those games, which was good enough for 44th overall in pool scoring among goalies.  Giving him some quality minutes in the season, certainly helped his confidence and I would be expecting much of the same in the 2019 season as well.

The Predators also re-signed forward Ryan Hartman to a 1-year deal on Monday, giving him $875,000, but he was more like a fringe player in the year, but he'll feature on the team update below.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Ryan Johansen	8.000	P.K. Subban	9.000	Pekka Rinne	7.000
Filip Forsberg	6.000	Roman Josi	4.000	Juuse Saros	1.500
Kyle Turris	6.000	Mattias Ekholm	3.750
Viktor Arvidsson	4.250	Ryan Ellis	2.500
Craig Smith	4.250	Matt Irwin	0.675
Nick Bonino	4.100	Yannick Weber	0.675
Calle Jarnkrok	2.000	Anthony Bitetto	0.650
Austin Watson	1.100
Eeli Tolvanen	0.894
Ryan Hartman	0.875
Kevin Fiala	0.863
Frederick Gaudreau	0.667
Zac Rinaldo	0.650
Colton Sissons	0.625

The Nashville Predators remain a strong looking team, especially on paper, working from the back end outwards, so it's really in their best interest to remain cap friendly... and they are!  Without any major glaring free agents left to sign on their side, they are still coming in with $8.3 million in cap space with this 23-man roster above.  That's a pretty good number and one they can certainly use to their advantage.  They will certainly be looked upon favourably, once the projections come out next month.

Jackets Re-Sign Bjorkstrand

The Columbus Blue Jackets have now finished off all of their key restricted free agent signings now, with the signing of forward Oliver Bjorkstrand on Sunday.  The team and player came together on a new 3-year, $7.5 million deal, already rounding out the projected roster for the upcoming season.

The 23-year old Dane finally managed to put together his first full season with the Jackets, playing in all 82 games, scoring 11 goals and 40 points in the process.  Once he got the ice-time with the big club, he was certainly a hockey pool worthy player, ranking 150th among all forwards in scoring.

You would have to imagine that his role with the club is only going to increase in the coming seasons, especially with the uncertainty of Artemi Panarin's long-term role with the team, something that Bjorkstrand could really make good use out of, if the time came.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Artemi Panarin	6.000	Seth Jones	5.400	Sergei Bobrovsky	7.425
Brandon Dubinsky	5.850	David Savard	4.250	Joonas Korpisalo	0.900
Cam Atkinson	5.750	Ryan Murray	2.825
Nick Foligno	5.500	Markus Nutivaara	2.700
Alexander Wennberg	4.900	Zach Werenski	0.925
Boone Jenner	3.750	Gabriel Carlsson	0.894
Riley Nash	2.750	Scott Harrington	0.675
Oliver Bjorkstrand	2.500
Josh Anderson	1.800
Pierre-Luc Dubois	0.894
Sonny Milano	0.863
Lukas Sedlak	0.825
Markus Hannikainen	0.675
Anthony Duclair	0.650

Right now, the Jackets look like they could be a very hard team to play against, since they have a fair bit of grit on their roster, not to mention some natural scoring ability.  The early thoughts are fairly positive for this club, assuming that this is the lineup that opens the season.

Cap-wise, this team is very healthy heading into the dog days of the summer, with no key restricted free agents left to sign and still $6 million in cap space for the summer.  If they were feeling saucy enough, they could be in the mix for another unrestricted free agent, just to add a little bit more depth to their roster.

Golden Knights Re-Up Miller

The Vegas Golden Knights dipped into their salary cap savings in negotiating with restricted free agent defenseman Colin Miller and they came up with a 4-year contract extension, reportedly worth $15.5 million in total, a $3.875 million cap hit per year.

Miller was the team's leading scoring defenseman in their inaugural season, picking up 10 goals and 41 points in all 82 games for the club, ranking him 28th among all defensemen in scoring.  He was one of the few defensemen that found his way into the rotation of defenders throughout the regular season, managing to play in every regular season game.

The 25-year old also had a strong playoff campaign, picking up 7 points in all 20 games of the run to the Finals, which certainly helped to ramp up his value in his discussions.

The deal looks to be quite the positive, given his rankings, as he could have been making a little bit more, while giving up a couple of years of unrestricted free agency, so it was a strong case by Vegas that kept his cap number down moving forward.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Paul Stastny	6.500	Colin Miller	3.875	Marc-Andre Fleury	5.750
Tomas Tatar	5.300	Brayden McNabb	2.500	Malcolm Subban	0.650
David Clarkson	5.250	Nate Schmidt	2.225
Jonathan Marchessault	5.000	Nick Holden	2.200
Reilly Smith	5.000	Deryk Engelland	1.500
Cody Eakin	3.850	Jon Merrill	1.375
Ryan Reaves	2.775	Brad Hunt	0.650
Erik Haula	2.750
Oscar Lindberg	1.700
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	1.450
Alex Tuch	0.925
Cody Glass	0.894
Tomas Hyka	0.650
Ryan Carpenter	0.650
Brandon Pirri	0.650

The Golden Knights have been busy tooling their already potent lineup for another run at things next season, despite losing a couple of key veterans to unrestricted free agency.  With the Miller deal now done, they can now concentrate on William Karlsson and Shea Theodore, the two pool worthy RFAs left on their list of things to do and they still have about $15.4 million in cap space with the 24 players listed above, not to mention the potential to put David Clarkson's cap hit on LTIR relief, if needed.  Things are still looking up in Vegas.

Sharks Also Re-Up Hertl

The San Jose Sharks were not done after re-signing Joe Thornton, they also re-signed restricted free agent Tomas Hertl to a new 4-year, $22.5 million deal on Monday, bringing back the slick scoring Czech winger for another spin and three more on top.

The Sharks have now set up the better part of their core players with the two signings on Monday and then it will be more about sorting out their depth, both up front and on the blueline moving forward.

Hertl will be a welcomed addition back on the roster, since he posted 22 goals and 46 points in 79 games for the club, which ranked him 6th on the team in pool scoring, 120th among all forwards and there still seems like there is more to come out of him.

There's lots to like about the top half of this Sharks lineup, as you can see below, they have lots of firepower to spare up top, but the team's success could hinge on how well their depth comes along.  There's potential there too,

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Evander Kane	7.000	Brent Burns	8.000	Martin Jones	5.750
Logan Couture	6.000	Marc-Edouard Vlasic	7.000	Aaron Dell	1.900
Joe Pavelski	6.000	Justin Braun	3.800
Tomas Hertl	5.625	Brenden Dillon	3.270
Joe Thornton	5.000	Jeremy Roy	0.828
Melker Karlsson	2.000	Tim Heed	0.650
Joonas Donskoi	1.900	Joakim Ryan	0.650
Dylan Gambrell	0.925
Antti Suomela	0.925
Timo Meier	0.894
Maxim Letunov	0.834
Rourke Chartier	0.703
Marcus Sorensen	0.700
Barclay Goodrow	0.650

The Sharks now have a shade over $73 million committed to the lineup above, leaving them about $6.5 million left to play with.  Forward Chris Tierney is still on the list of free agents to sign, but he's a restricted free agent, so there isn't quite a push there yet.

Flames Sign James Neal

The Calgary Flames have made a big splash in this free agency period, already signing Derek Ryan to a deal and on Monday, they added another one of the big fish on the market, James Neal.  Neal, who helped guide the expansion Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, left through unrestricted free agency and signed a 5-year deal, worth $28.75 million.

Neal didn't take being exposed in the expansion draft sitting down, as he went to Vegas with a chip on his shoulder and it paid dividends, both for himself and the club.  In 71 games played, Neal potted 25 goals and 44 points, good enough for 129th among all forwards in scoring.

That goal total will certainly be what the Flames are looking forward to the most, as they will try and slot him in somewhere in the top six, maybe taking a spin on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan or perhaps dropping down a line and giving Mikael Backlund a capable scoring winger on his line.  Regardless, the makeup of this Flames team has certainly changed up front.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Johnny Gaudreau	6.750	Mark Giordano	6.750	Mike Smith	5.667
Sean Monahan	6.375	TJ Brodie	4.650	Tyler Parsons	0.759
James Neal	5.750	Travis Hamonic	3.857
Mikael Backlund	5.350	Michael Stone	3.500
Troy Brouwer	4.500	Dalton Prout	0.800
Michael Frolik	4.300	Rasmus Andersson	0.756
Derek Ryan	3.125	Oliver Kylington	0.731
Sam Bennett	1.950
Austin Czarnik	1.250
Curtis Lazar	0.950
Matthew Tkachuk	0.925
Spencer Foo	0.925
Andrew Mangiapane	0.705
Alan Quine	0.700

Let's not forget, the Flames still have to sign both Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin to new deals, which will likely round out this roster I've posted above and now the Flames know just about how much they have left to play with in doing so.  With the addition of Neal, this lineup above is now coming in at $71.9 million, leaving only about $7.6 million to play with.  Both Lindholm and Hanifin are likely to use all of that extra space up, but it should be very good value for their money.

Jackets Sign Riley Nash

The Columbus Blue Jackets added a player named Nash, but it wasn't the one that maybe everyone was expecting.  Riley Nash signed on with the club on Sunday, inking a 3-year, $8.25 million deal, moving over from Boston.

With the Bruins last season, Nash posted 15 goals and 41 points in 76 games, sneaking up the ranks to 143rd among all forwards and establishing himself as a solid offensive contributor.

The Blue Jackets needed to add some more help up front in this off-season and Nash is a pretty good start.  They will still need to look after re-signing a couple of key restricted free agents in Oliver Bjorkstrand and Boone Jenner, but they should still be in the market for some reasonably priced depth as well.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Artemi Panarin	6.000	Seth Jones	5.400	Sergei Bobrovsky	7.425
Brandon Dubinsky	5.850	David Savard	4.250	Joonas Korpisalo	0.900
Cam Atkinson	5.750	Markus Nutivaara	2.700
Nick Foligno	5.500	Zach Werenski	0.925
Alexander Wennberg	4.900	Gabriel Carlsson	0.894
Riley Nash	2.750	Dean Kukan	0.725
Josh Anderson	1.800	Scott Harrington	0.675
Pierre-Luc Dubois	0.894
Sonny Milano	0.863
Lukas Sedlak	0.825
Zac Dalpe	0.725
Nathan Gerbe	0.675
Markus Hannikainen	0.675

If the Jackets are indeed going to go shopping, they will do so with quite a bit of cap space to work with.  They are still rocking over $13.9 million in space, underneath the $79.5 million cap ceiling and that should provide them plenty of money to go out and accomplish a couple more key signings, including their own free agents in-house.

Namestnikov Re-Signs in New York

The retooling New York Rangers re-signed one of their latest acquisitions, forward Vladislav Namestnikov, who they picked up in the trade that sent Ryan McDonagh out of town.  Namestnikov and the Rangers agreed upon a 2-year, $8 million deal, putting him into the upper echelon of signed forwards on the team.

The 25-year old Russian didn't exactly make too much of an impact, upon his arrival in New York, but he has shown some promise in seasons past, which led them to believe that he will be worth the extension.  In 19 games with the Rangers, Namestnikov only posted 2 goals and 4 points, but between Tampa and New York, he totaled 22 goals and 48 points in 81 games.  That was good enough for 108th among all forwards, giving the Rangers some immediate scoring depth in their rebuild.

Besides the old hat in goal, the Rangers are beginning to look like a fairly young team, heading into the better part of the summer.  They have quite a bit of speed up front and a couple of good puck movers on the blueline, so they could be fun to watch next season.  Inexperience might be their overall downfall, if they don't sign some more veteran talent.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Mika Zibanejad	5.350	Kevin Shattenkirk	6.650	Henrik Lundqvist	8.500
Chris Kreider	4.625	Marc Staal	5.700	Marek Mazanec	0.650
Mats Zuccarello	4.500	Brendan Smith	4.350
Vladislav Namestnikov	4.000	Neal Pionk	0.925
Matt Beleskey	1.900	Tony DeAngelo	0.863
Jesper Fast	1.850	Fredrik Claesson	0.700
Lias Andersson	0.925	Steven Kampfer	0.650
Pavel Buchnevich	0.925
Filip Chytil	0.925
Vinni Lettieri	0.925
Brett Howden	0.894
Robin Kovacs	0.803
Ryan Gropp	0.803
Peter Holland	0.675

The retooling of the team can operate quite quickly, when you're cap costs are so low.  For a team that used to be nestled right up to the ceiling most years, it's really something to see them with $17.8 million in cap space after the first day of free agency.  The Rangers will still be shopping around, you'd have to believe, so we'll prepare to see more of them between now and camp.

The Leafs Land Tavares

There were four days of interviews.  There was all kinds of speculation.  There were about eight teams really in the mix.  In the end, the biggest prize of the free agency period, forward John Tavares, left Long Island for a return home to Toronto, where he signed a mammoth deal, 7 years, $77 million.

The Leafs were only reportedly in the mix for more of a short-term deal, but really surprised everyone, when they came away with a longer-term offer and likely less money than what other teams were offering, to get the services of the 1st overall in the 2009 entry draft.

The 27-year old took full advantage of his first year of unrestricted free agency, capitalizing on a season that was pretty impressive on the island.  Tavares finished the season with 37 goals and 84 points in all 82 games, which was only good enough for 21st overall in pool scoring, 16th among all forwards.

The Leafs, who are already holding onto some top end talent on their roster, add a huge franchise player in Tavares and they really cemented themselves as a potential favourite for the playoffs next season, on paper at least.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
John Tavares	11.000	Morgan Rielly	5.000	Frederik Andersen	5.000
Patrick Marleau	6.250	Nikita Zaitsev	4.500	Curtis McElhinney	0.850
Nathan Horton	5.300	Jake Gardiner	4.050
Nazem Kadri	4.500	Ron Hainsey	3.000
Matt Martin	2.500	Connor Carrick	1.300
Zach Hyman	2.250	Calle Rosen	0.925
Connor Brown	2.100	Travis Dermott	0.863
Auston Matthews	0.925	Martin Marincin	0.800
Par Lindholm	0.925
Pierre Engvall	0.925
Carl Grundstrom	0.925
Trevor Moore	0.925
Mitchell Marner	0.894
Kasperi Kapanen	0.863

The salary cap number for the 2019 season isn't really the biggest of concerns today, as the Leafs had plenty of space going into this summer, but the 2020 season, after extensions for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and others will have to be done as well.  You know that they won't come cheaply and it will be a push to get all of that talent signed on and agreeable moving forward.

I currently have the Leafs in with 21 players signed on for the 2020 season, with $22.2 million in cap space against the 2019 ceiling.  Matthews, Marner, Jake Gardiner, Kasperi Kapanen and William Nylander still to have new cap numbers added to that list.

Hurricanes Sign Mrazek

The remodeling of the Carolina Hurricanes continued on Sunday, with the addition of goaltender Petr Mrazek, signing him to a 1-year, $1.5 million deal, creating an interesting looking tandem in the crease with Scott Darling.

The 26-year old keeper had a pretty good season between Detroit and Philadelphia, helping the Flyers stay alive in the playoff race, eventually getting them in, when their other keepers were hurt.  Mrazek finished the year with 14 wins and 36 points in 39 appearances between both clubs, which was good enough for 36th among all goalies.

The Hurricanes struggled in the crease last season and with the departure of Cam Ward to the Blackhawks via free agency, this opened up a spot for another veteran keeper to come in and try to take the reins.  You would have to believe that Darling will still be the number one to start camp, but he should be watching over his shoulder for what could possibly happen when Mrazek gets hot.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Jordan Staal	6.000	Dougie Hamilton	5.750	Scott Darling	4.150
Jeff Skinner	5.725	Jaccob Slavin	5.300	Petr Mrazek	1.500
Justin Williams	4.500	Justin Faulk	4.833
Victor Rask	4.000	Brett Pesce	4.025
Teuvo Teravainen	2.860	Jake Bean	0.894
Jordan Martinook	1.800	Haydn Fleury	0.863
Micheal Ferland	1.750	Roland McKeown	0.745
Sebastian Aho	0.925
Martin Necas	0.925
Andrei Svechnikov	0.925
Julien Gauthier	0.894
Brock McGinn	0.888
Janne Kuokkanen	0.843
Warren Foegele	0.747

The new ownership group in Carolina is really looking to put their stamp on this team and that could mean more spending from this team.  The Hurricanes currently hold $16 million in cap space with the current 23-man roster that I have projected above, including their top draft pick from this summer's entry draft, Andrei Svechnikov.