Fringe Signing (Jul 16)

On Friday afternoon, the San Jose Sharks came to terms with restricted free agent Matt Nieto, signing him to a 1-year, $735,000 deal.  It is a one-way deal, which suggests that Nieto should have a roster spot prepared for him, but there are certainly no guarantees in there for anyone.

The 23-year old forward appeared in 67 games for the Sharks last season, scoring 8 goals and 17 assists for the club, a scoring rate that may need a slight kick in the pants to be pool worthy, but he's moving in the right direction for it.

The Sharks are operating up tight to the salary cap ceiling, so it will be players like Nieto who will need to provide more value than their cap hit suggests for this team to really succeed this coming year.

Schwartz Signs For Five

Hey may have the 2016 point totals to be thought of as a fringe player, but St. Louis Blues forward Jaden Schwartz is anything but a fringe player.

The Blues signed one of their key pieces to a new deal on Friday, as the restricted free agent signed on to a 5-year deal, reportedly worth $26.75 million, a round cap hit of $5.35 million per season.

His 2016 season was marred by a fractured ankle injury, which kept him out for more than half of the season, a 49-game absence in total.  In 33 games played, he was able to pick up 8 goals and 22 points, but couldn't quite get into the swing of things, once he had returned from his injury.  Nevertheless, the Blues have identified him as a core piece of their puzzle and that is being reflected in his new contract.

With a Summer to get completely healthy and a training camp to get his legs fully underneath him, one would imagine that he will be back to his 2015 form, where he picked up 63 points in 75 games, if not a little bit better.  My early projection for him will be in the 70-point range, which was pretty close to where I had him last season.

The winger was the last big piece of the Blues' Summer that needed to get taken care of and now they have the framework for a full 23-man roster.  The pool worthy players from last season in green, will be supplemented or joined by the assumed roster players in yellow.  Schwartz and possibly Berglund should be able to jump up to pool worthy in 2017, while the rest provide solid depth.

I have the 23-man roster below coming in at a cap commitment of $69.8 million, which would leave about $3.2 million to play with down the road.  By the trade deadline, that would be a very good number to have.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Vladimir Tarasenko	7.500	Alex Pietrangelo	6.500	Jake Allen	2.350
Paul Stastny	7.000	Jay Bouwmeester	5.400	Carter Hutton	1.145
Alexander Steen	5.800	Kevin Shattenkirk	4.250
Jori Lehtera	4.700	Colton Parayko	0.925
David Perron	3.750
Robby Fabbri	0.894
Jaden Schwartz	5.350	Carl Gunnarsson	2.900
Patrik Berglund	3.700	Joel Edmundson	1.050
Ryan Reaves	1.125	Robert Bortuzzo	1.050
Dmitrij Jaskin	1.000
Kyle Brodziak	0.950
Scottie Upshall	0.900
Magnus Paajarvi	0.700
Landon Ferraro	0.700
Mackenzie MacEachern	0.925	Jordan Schmaltz	0.925	Ville Husso	0.848
Ivan Barbashev	0.742	Thomas Vannelli	0.712	Luke Opilka	0.662
Adam Musil	0.736	Petteri Lindbohm	0.637	Pheonix Copley	UD
Samuel Blais	0.703	Dimitri Sergeev	0.619	Jordan Binnington	UD
Conner Bleackley	0.700	Morgan Ellis	0.575
Justin Selman	0.678	Chris Butler	0.600
Zach Pochiro	0.663	Brad Hunt	0.575
Ty Rattie	0.650
Kenny Agostino	0.625
Andrew Agozzino	0.600
Jacob Doty	0.575
Wade Megan	0.575
Alex Friesen	0.575

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Fringe Signings (Jul 15)

The New York Rangers avoided arbitration yet again, this time with defenseman Dylan McIlrath, inking him to a new 1-year, $800,000 deal, bridging the gap a little bit between where he is as a player and where the team will be a year from now, with him in the fold.

The 24-year old was the 10th overall selection in the 2010 draft, but only started to crack the lineup in the 2016 season, where he played in 34 games, scoring 2 goals and 4 points.

Now that he has some experience at both the AHL and NHL levels, it is about time that he cracks this roster or it could be his time to move on.  The kid is a bit of a monster, with a 6'5" frame and 220 lbs. worth of hitting power, so he'll be a presence, if he can get on full-time.

Could Garret Sparks possibly take the reins of the Toronto Maple Leafs backup goaltending situation?  Despite signing a 1-year deal on Friday, it does sound like the Leafs will try to find a veteran backup for Frederik Andersen for the coming season, but Sparks did more than expected last season, when called upon in some tough times for Toronto.

Last season, the 23-year old keeper appeared in 17 games for the Leafs, posting 6 wins and 14 points and even picked up a small stretch of starts, while their goaltending situation was really up in the air.

The deal is a two-way deal, which means he will have a much different AHL salary when he is in the minors, rather than being paid his 6-figure deal that he would earn with the big club, which is usually a sign that it would be more likely that he would play down in the minors, if push came to shove.  For now, however, he is the backup on the depth chart.

World Cup Player Notes (Jul 15)

The Dallas Stars announced on Friday that their superstar forward Jamie Benn had undergone successful surgery to repair a core muscle injury and his recovery will be in the 6-week range.  Six weeks would put the recovery at the end of August/beginning of September and it will be there, that the team will decide what his participation will be like for the World Cup of Hockey tournament, which will go in the month of September.

Among all forwards on Canada's entry to the World Cup, Benn had the most points in the 2016 regular season and if healthy, will undoubtedly go in the opening round of the World Cup of Hockey pool draft I will be having later on in the Summer.  Canada wouldn't be short on replacements for Benn, if needed, but you could understand the disappointment of losing a forward that is firing on all cylinders in his career.

Top Prospect Signings (Jul 14)

The Detroit Red Wings are looking after their blueline with some of their prospects right away, signing their 2nd round pick from this past June's draft, Czech defender Filip Hronek.

Hronek has already been playing in the top league in the Czech Republic and is known as a puck moving defenseman with some definite upside.  He was ranked 10th among European skaters by the Central Scouting Bureau and the Red Wings do have a decent draft history behind them, so he could be one to watch in a couple of years.

The Los Angeles Kings were also in on the act for 2016 draft prospects, as they signed their 4th round pick, defenseman Jacob Moverare to his entry-level deal on Thursday. The 112th overall pick will get this customary 3-year deal, but cap hits and bonuses have yet to be released.

A brief scouting report on him suggests that he is a good-sized player already at his age, has a decent eye for his game, but his speed may not be quite up to par just yet.  There likely won't be a big rush to get him going, but they obviously really liked what they have seen to get him inked.

The Philadelphia Flyers put pen to paper with their 2nd round pick from this year's draft, forward Pascal Laberge, on Thursday afternoon. Laberge was taken with the 36th overall pick and was admittedly projected to be a 1st rounder here on this blog in the mock draft, but slipped a little bit.

The 18-year old already has a good deal of size and plays an offensive style of game from the centre position, with a little bit of grit for flavour.  A couple of key elements that the Flyers can certainly mould into their own stylings in a year or two's time.

Fringe Signings (Jul 14)

On Thursday afternoon, the Carolina Hurricanes took care of all of their North American restricted free agents, signing them to new deals and sitting on the fringe is defenseman Ryan Murphy, who signed a 2-year deal, worth $1.575 million in total.

Murphy was the 12th overall pick in the 2011 draft, but he hasn't been able to crack the Hurricanes blueline on a full-time basis just yet, appearing in four seasons in limited roles, some more limited than others.  In the 2016 season, he only appeared in 35 games and picked up 10 assists, but a 2-year deal does suggest that he should be moving in the right direction and that the team does have some patience for his development.

He will be pushed a lot this season, as they continue to load up on prospects on the blueline, so as much as they will keep him around, he will have company for the last two or three spots left to fill.

The Buffalo Sabres also inked one of their depth forwards on Thursday, giving Marcus Foligno a new 1-year, $2.25 million deal, extending his stay with the team a little bit longer.

The youngest Foligno brother in the league has now featured in four full seasons with the Sabres and also had a brief 14-game appearance in the 2012 season, debuting for the club.  He hasn't quite found the potential one may have ranked him with, but he is turning into a valuable bottom six asset.  Last season, he finished with 10 goals and 23 points in 75 games for the club, not astounding numbers, but if one was desperate enough at a mid-season swap, he could be considered.

If the Sabres are going to make a push for the playoffs, they will need Foligno to keep chipping in when he can.  A 10-goal season is okay, but it could be better.

A Guide to the Injury Prone 2016

It's that time again! Time to go over the injury prone list, something that should help your drafting process a little bit, because every little bit counts.

The annual additions to the list are a combination of reputation and a brief look at the numbers, where I usually like to try and add about 10 players to the list, but that doesn't happen to always be the case, like this season, where I am only adding seven.  You can never be too safe with your drafting list, as there usually is a correlation between the number of games played by your players and where you will finish in the standings, unless you're a riverboat gambler, taking nothing but really dark horses.  Then there is nothing I can do for you.

Of course, I'm not saying that you should avoid these players completely, but rather I would exercise a little bit of caution when ranking these guys.  Usually, when I do my annual projections, I am trying to consider those top players as healthy for the entire year, knowing full well that every player playing every game is an impossibility.  That's why some of those depth players will get a small projection, as they are the ones expected to fill in at some point in the year.

And after we add our new players to the list, we'll do a quick recap over the players who have been previously added, see how they have managed through the season previous.  I like to stand by my selections, even if I'm wrong.

I really hate to paint a player as injury prone too early in his career, but Aleksander Barkov of the Panthers has played in three seasons, now entering a 6-year contract extension, but he has yet to play a full season and he has suffered eight injuries, landing on the Injured Reserve with five of those injuries.  The 20-year old Finn is an offensive dynamo and he is improving year after year, not to mention the team around him continues to grow and become better.  He will be an attractive player in any draft, but I can't help but wonder about whether or not he will be able to play an 82-game season.

A poor 2015 season saw him drop in the draft, all the way down to the 8th round, 207th overall, but his talent, despite some injuries, lifted him up to 62nd overall in overall scoring.  28 goals and 59 points in 66 games was a huge turnaround, but if you're going to project him at that scoring pace, be sure you take into account his injury prone nature.

There isn't a long history of injury for Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, but three spells on the Injured Reserve, due to a groin problem, is more than enough for me to add the talented Russian backstop to the list. This hockey pool has been synonymous with starting goalies being blue chip pieces to a team, so one should take extra care around them and Bobrovsky's groin has given more cause for concern than a calming sensation.  With Columbus starting to put things together in their franchise, their number one goalie will be a high priority pick, but take heed of these warnings.

"Bob" was a bust pick in last season's pool, thanks to his groin problems, as he was taken with the 13th overall pick and he pretty well sunk his pool team's season with his injury problems.  I don't think you can argue that he has the talent of a 1st round pick, but his 257th overall finish in 2016 might take his stock down a bit.

In his current state, unrestricted free agent forward Brandon Pirri is one of those guys that should have realized some of his potential, but has failed to do so, despite a number of chances with a few different teams in his relatively short NHL career.  Last season between Florida and Anaheim, an ankle injury cost him 13 games and an upper-body injury cost him his participation in the last few regular season games and the playoffs with the Ducks and he may not move from the free agent market, unless it is a minor-league deal to get his game back.

Last season, Pirri's value wasn't all that high at the draft, taken in the 13th round, and it actually paid off a little bit, as he finished above his draft ranking, almost 60 spots better, in fact.  Nevertheless, his upside was supposed to be much higher, coming out of the Blackhawks' system and into better ice-time situations.  Will be interesting to see where he lands, but don't be too keen on picking him in the draft.

Nick Bonino turned out to be a key piece of the Penguins' Stanley Cup run, which is all well and good, but his regular season record has more than its fair share of little knocks and time spent on the Injured Reserve, something us poolies find hard to ignore.  Last season, Bonino missed 19 games in total and 17 of those games were missed to a hand injury and that time was spent on the IR.  The previous season in Vancouver, he spent seven games on the shelf with a foot injury and he missed a smattering of games in his time in Anaheim, including a 21-game stretch in 2013, thanks to a lower-body injury.

In last year's pool, Bonino was one of those few players taken in the correct round, drafted 297th overall in the 11th round and finished 292nd in pool rankings.  It's hard not to look at his playoff success with Carl Hagelin and Phil Kessel, as the three will return to the lineup next season, and think they'll be huge contributors.  Be weary of Bonino, he's on the list now.

The Florida Panthers signed defenseman Jason Demers to an unrestricted free agent contract, adding depth to their blueline for the coming season, but his transaction record is definitely littered with injuries (and suspensions), enough to add his name to the list this Summer.  Last season with the Stars, Demers missed 20 games between injury and suspension, including a 13-game stint on the shelf, thanks to an upper-body injury.  Demers did play 81 games in the 2015 season, but otherwise, he has missed good portions of time in previous seasons, which doesn't add up in his favour.

The free agent signing was projected for 25 points last year and came up with 23 points, thanks to his injury and that actually dropped him below his draft ranking overall.  Demers was taken in the 12th round, 313th overall, but ended up 354th, which isn't too bad, but expectations were certainly higher for him last season.  I don't know if making them any higher will help.


It has been a real tough go for Pittsburgh defenseman Olli Maatta, as the talented youngster has not been able to string together a lot of healthy games in the early part of his NHL career and it has now landed him on the list.  There's no question that this kid has some real upside to him, but a multitude of injuries, placements on the Injured Reserve and even a cancer scare have really added up to a bit of a reputation.  In the 2016 season, he was still able to play 67 games, but he wasn't able to find any consistency, which led to some lower scoring numbers.  If he could get a bit luckier, he could really shoot up the rankings.

At last season's draft, Maatta was taken in the 9th round, 237th overall, but his injury plagued season dropped him down to 399th in the rankings.  He should be a 40-point player, if not better, when healthy, but that's asking a lot right now, it would seem.


I don't think that there is any doubt that Kris Russell is going to find a job, but the current unrestricted free agent is sitting without a contract and now he belongs to this list, which can't be good news, right?  The shot-blocking defenseman is bound to get hurt, given the nature of what he does best, so it shouldn't come as any surprise he landed here.  Last season, after his arrival in Dallas, he missed 15 games over two stints with a lower-body injury and has suffered some other major injuries in the past, like a sprained MCL and a concussion in years previous.  He's not quite a sure thing to play in 75+ games a season.

When Russell was drafted last Fall, he was still a member of the Flames, taken up in the 10th round, 258th overall, but his season was mired under pending free agency and a glutton of defenders on the Calgary blueline, so his numbers suffered.  The injuries in Dallas didn't help and he finished down in 403rd spot, with 19 points.

Now, we get to the portion of the list, where we recap the previous additions, going all the way back to the Summer of 2008, when I started my list.

There are still three players in the league from the initial list, Kari Lehtonen and Ales Hemsky in Dallas and a current UFA, David Legwand.  All three were very steady for their teams in the year, where Lehtonen split time in a platoon situation, while Hemsky and Legwand each appeared in 75+ games in the year.  Would I trust them any more?  Probably not.

Only two names remain on the list from 2009, as Paul Stastny of the St. Louis Blues and Marian Gaborik of the Los Angeles Kings are still kicking around and neither of these guys had a good season in 2016.  Stastny missed 18 games and Gaborik missed 28 games, both due to injury, so the bug certainly knows where to bite them.

Andrei Markov, a member of the 2010 list, played in all 82 games for the Canadiens last season and finished 20th among all defensemen in scoring, so he was a beauty pick, if you wagered on him last season.  Joffrey Lupul of the Maple Leafs and Johan Franzen of the Red Wings were not good bets, playing in 46 and 2 games, respectively, thanks to a sports hernia and a concussion.  Both players are both signed on for next season, but there's no word if Franzen will even play.

Kevin Bieksa, a 2011 addition to the list, is set to play another season with the Anaheim Ducks and he managed to only missed 11 games for them last season.  A lower-body injury cost him a pair of games and then an upper-body injury kept him out of the team's last eight games of the season.  His numbers were not necessarily impressive, despite playing in most of the games either.  Tomas Fleischmann, another 2011 player, split time between Montreal and Chicago last season, currently unsigned, was healthy all year, but still only played in 76 games.  Hard to say if he'll be back next season.

The Summer of 2012 didn't see a list, thanks to the lockout season and the uncertainty that there would be any hockey being played, so we can quickly skip over that year.

In 2013, we had a pretty big add and nine of 10 players will suit up again in the 2017 season, the only one who won't will be Vincent Lecavalier, who retired this year.  Jeff Skinner and Mikael Backlund each had 82-game seasons, increasing their confidence, and Sidney Crosby played 80 games as well, but you know he's a marked man.  Newly-minted Washington Capitals forward Lars Eller even managed a 79-game season, while defensemen Mike Green and Kris Letang missed time, but not nearly as much as years previous.  Martin Hanzal, Evgeni Malkin and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins were all back on the shelf on a regular basis in 2016 and continue to be risky picks.

The 2014 edition of the list saw a couple more 82-game seasons, former Boston forward Loui Eriksson and Nashville forward James Neal both made it through the 2016 season without incident.  A few stops on the shelf cost Tampa forward Ryan Callahan nine games in the season, while a concussion cost Mathieu Perreault of the Jets the last 10 games of the year.  Alexander Steen of the Blues, Zach Bogosian of the Sabres, Tyler Bozak of the Leafs and Mike Cammalleri of the Devils were all below 70 games on the season, Cammalleri barely making half the games, thanks to an upper-body injury.

It doesn't look like last year's list was too happy with me, as five of the 10 entries all played 77 games or more and really pushed through.  Still, I'm not sure I would trust Taylor Hall, Max Pacioretty, Mark Giordano, Michael Grabner, Kyle Okposo or P-A Parenteau... even if they have switched teams.  They'll all come back around, I'm sure.  I added a couple of goalies last year, Craig Anderson and Steve Mason and both appeared in a solid number of games each, both missing minimal games in 2016.  Pascal Dupuis had to retire due to complications of his injury and James Wisniewski is now a free agent thanks to a buyout after a season-ending knee injury in the first game of the season.

Whether or not you heed these warnings are really up to you.  I think you've got to try and find players that you're going to trust, which will instill some confidence in your team after the draft.  You're going to stare at it for a few days before the season gets started and you'll drive yourself mad, if you don't trust their ability to stay healthy, let alone accumulate points.

Fringe Signings (Jul 13)

The Boston Bruins signed a pair of fringe defensemen, one maybe closer than the other to being pool worthy, but still fringe.  Colin Miller signed a 2-year, $2 million deal and the other was Joe Morrow, who signed a 1-year deal, but no numbers were leaked out in the evening.

Miller was just on the outside looking in on the pool worthy rankings, finishing 110th among blueliners, but didn't get the confidence of the coaching staff to play everyday and spent a good deal of time in the minors as well.  He played 42 games and picked up 16 points, only about 2 points out of worthiness, playing half the season.

Morrow, on the other hand, only played in 33 games and picked up 7 points, slowly coming around in his second season in the NHL, making strides towards a full-time gig.  Right now, the Bruins' depth at defense does work in Morrow's favour, so he could be on the way in, if all goes well.

Rangers Avoid Arbitration With Miller

On Wednesday, the New York Rangers avoided arbitration with one of their restricted free agents, coming to terms with forward J.T. Miller, signing a 2-year, $5.5 million deal.  Miller's hearing wasn't going to happen until August 2nd, but that was just some posturing for the player, as the two sides were able to agree well ahead of time.

The 2011 1st round pick has now appeared in four seasons for the Rangers and this was the first on a truly full-time basis, so he's started to really make his mark for the club.  In the 2016 season, he finished with 22 goals and 43 points in all 82 games, ranking him 160th overall in pool scoring and 112th among all forwards.  That puts him right in the middle of the pool rankings.

At the end of last season, Miller was the pivot between Derick Brassard and Rick Nash on the team's second line, which should probably play a big part on where the team decides to play him to start this coming season and by those indications, he should have some good linemates.

As for the rest of the Rangers' Summer, they have a lot of work left to do, namely their remaining restricted free agents, Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Dylan McIlrath, all of which are potentially headed to arbitration as well.  There isn't a great deal of space left under the ceiling, as their potential 23-man roster, as it stands, only has $7.7 million left.  Of course, for some of those fill-ins in blue, their cap number will be taken out, when replaced by a new signee.  Those names in blue are very much open for interpretation and/or replacement, they do act as good placeholders though.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Rick Nash	7.800	Dan Girardi	5.500	Henrik Lundqvist	8.500
Derek Stepan	6.500	Ryan McDonagh	4.700	Antti Raanta	1.000
Derick Brassard	5.000	Kevin Klein	2.000
Mats Zuccarello	4.500	Nick Holden	1.650
J.T. Miller	2.750
Oscar Lindberg	0.650
Tanner Glass	1.450	Marc Staal	5.700
Michael Grabner	1.600
Nathan Gerbe	0.600
Pavel Buchnevich	0.925	Brady Skjei	0.925
Ryan Gropp	0.808	Adam Clendening	0.600
Adam Tambellini	0.803
Nicklas Jensen	0.600
Cristoval Nieves	0.755
Adam Chapie	0.800	Calle Andersson	0.662	Brandon Halverson	0.773
Steven Fogarty	0.750	Ryan Graves	0.633	Mackenzie Skapski	0.663
Malte Stromall	0.743	Michael Paliotta	0.600	Magnus Hellberg	0.625
Chris Brown	0.575	Chris Summers	0.600
		Mat Bodie	0.600

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Top Prospect Signing (Jul 13)

The Edmonton Oilers and Jesse Puljujarvi agreed upon their entry-level commitments on Wednesday afternoon, as he becomes the 8th player taken in the 2016 draft to sign his first deal into the NHL and by all accounts, he should be dressed for opening night, if what we've seen about this kid is true.

It was confirmed later in the evening, that the 3-year deal will carry the maximum cap hit of $925,000 for each of the three years and he will also have plenty of bonuses to try and make, which could lift him over the $3 million mark, if all goes well.

The lanky winger is already rocking an NHL-sized frame and a boatload of talent to go with it, so much so, there was some early talk at the beginning of last season, that he was the true challenger for 1st overall in the draft, but somewhat fell off a little bit, but only to Edmonton's gain.

Let's see what the rest of the Summer brings for the Oilers and we'll see where the projections fall for him, but I would imagine that if there is a rookie pool, he would be a good kid to pick-up.

Penguins Re-Sign Schultz

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced that they have re-signed 26-year old defenseman Justin Schultz to a new 1-year, $1.4 million deal and he'll return to the fold, where he played a small role in the Penguins' Stanley Cup run in the Spring.

Schultz was supposed to be a restricted free agent, but the Penguins were not going to tender a qualifying offer, as his salary numbers were somewhat inflated from his initial signings in Edmonton and his role didn't quite reflect those salary numbers.  With the signing today, his number looks a little more reasonable and with a single year commitment, he'll head to unrestricted free agency again and his number will become flexible again.

In the regular season last year, split between Edmonton and Pittsburgh, the offensive-minded rearguard played in 63 games, scoring 4 goals and 18 points, ranking 98th among all defenders in scoring, just within the pool worthy confines of our list.  With the Penguins, he had 8 points in 18 games, which was a better scoring rate than with the Oilers, so there is some upside, if he can stay in the lineup.

The Penguins will be relying on the Long Term Injured Reserve numbers, if this roster is to go forward, as their current cap number, with Pascal Dupuis on the books, is over $2.8 million beyond the cap ceiling.  The patience level with this club will be pretty high, despite their large price tag, but things can change in the blink of an eye and contracts could be moved, like that big one in their crease.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Evgeni Malkin	9.500	Kris Letang	7.250	Marc-Andre Fleury	5.750
Sidney Crosby	8.700	Olli Maatta	4.083	Matt Murray	0.620
Phil Kessel	6.800	Trevor Daley	3.300
Patric Hornqvist	4.250	Justin Schultz	1.400
Carl Hagelin	4.000
Chris Kunitz	3.850
Nick Bonino	1.900
Eric Fehr	2.000	Ian Cole	2.100
Conor Sheary	0.668	Derrick Pouliot	0.863
Bryan Rust	0.640	Brian Dumoulin	0.800
Tom Kuhnhackl	0.625
Oskar Sundqvist	0.701
Dustin Jeffrey	0.575
Tom Sestito	0.575
Pascal Dupuis	3.750
Theodor Blueger	0.705	Ethan Prow	0.730	Sean Maguire	0.705
Daniel Sprong	0.693	Lukas Bengtsson	0.705	Tristan Jarry	0.620
Dominik Simon	0.693	Reid McNeill	0.575
Josh Archibald	0.659	Tim Erixon	0.575
Scott Wilson	0.625	Steven Oleksy	0.575
Carter Rowney	0.613	David Warsofsky	0.575
Jean-Sebastien Dea	0.585	Cameron Gaunce	0.575
Kevin Porter	0.575	Chad Ruhwedel	0.575
Garrett Wilson	0.575	Stuart Percy	0.575

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Hurricanes' Rask Won't Blow Away

On Tuesday morning, the Carolina Hurricanes announced that they had re-signed forward Victor Rask to a new long-term deal, 6 years, $24 million.

The Hurricanes were far from being one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference in the 2016 season and the emergence of Rask had a good deal to do with that, as a blossoming scorer in the league.  The 23-year old Swede finished the year with 21 goals and 48 points in 80 games for the club and if the team can build well around him, he could certainly build on those numbers from season to season.

That improvement to the team does seem to be coming around at a pretty good pace, especially with the acquisition of Teuvo Teravainen from the Blackhawks, the signing of Lee Stempniak in free agency and finally getting to add draft pick Sebastian Aho to the mix.  The Hurricanes could definitely find themselves back in the playoff conversation, after finishing 10 points out of the wild card with one of the best young bluelines and a decent goaltending tandem at the back.  We should all expect better things from Rask and the Hurricanes, which would have me bump his projections up to about 55 points for next season.

This signing means that the Carolina Hurricanes are now above the salary cap floor with their projected 23-man lineup, which is in colour below.  Thanks to their $5.83 million in buyouts that they have on the books this season, they are now about $16.5 million away from the salary cap ceiling, still keeping them in 'budget team' status.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Jordan Staal	6.000	Justin Faulk	4.833	Cam Ward	3.300
Jeff Skinner	5.725	Noah Hanifin	0.925	Eddie Lack	2.750
Victor Rask	4.000	Jaccob Slavin	0.743
Elias Lindholm	2.700	Ron Hainsey	2.667
Lee Stempniak	2.500	Brett Pesce	0.809
Teuvo Teravainen	0.894
Bryan Bickell	4.000
Viktor Stalberg	1.500
Joakim Nordstrom	1.275
Jay McClement	1.200
Andrej Nestrasil	0.913
Sebastian Aho	0.925	Roland McKeown	0.745
Phillip Di Giuseppe	0.818	Matt Tennyson	0.675
Brock McGinn	0.812
Julien Gauthier	0.925	Jake Bean	0.925	Alex Nedeljkovic	0.812
Andrew Poturalski	0.859	Haydn Fleury	0.863	Daniel Altshuller	0.728
Dane Fox	0.831	Josh Wesley	0.695
Valentin Zykov	0.736	Tyler Ganly	0.640
Nicolas Roy	0.705	Jake Chelios	0.585
Clark Bishop	0.695
Lucas Wallmark	0.683
Erik Karlsson (F)	0.662
Patrick Brown	0.650
Andrew Miller	0.650
Derek Ryan	0.600
Sergey Tolchinsky	0.592

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Doan Ready to Go Again

One more year!  One more year!  One more year!

It shouldn't be unexpected that Shane Doan was going to come back for another season with the Arizona Coyotes, but it was fun to think that he could have found his way to a contending team and celebrated his 40th birthday in new colours, representing hope of a championship.  Just a thought.

We awoke on Tuesday morning to see that Doan had re-signed with the Coyotes, accepting a deal that could pay him upwards of $5 million after all of his incentive bonuses on his 35+ contract.  I suppose that would be enough reasons to come back and nearly complete (if not sew up) your career with one franchise, a rare feat these days.

The Coyotes were still getting very reasonable production out of their captain, as he was still able to register 28 goals and 47 points in 72 games with the club, which should have him considered as a 30-goal scorer these days.  This was actually an improvement on his 2015 season, where he only finished with 36 points in 79 games, so there was definitely a push of enthusiasm in his game, likely thanks to all of those fresh new faces in the lineup.

The lineup for the dogs in the desert is going to look a fair bit different again in the 2017 season and hopefully that will keep the youthful enthusiasm alive for their captain, but if these kids and some of these new faces can assume a bigger role, they may not need to lean on him nearly as much.  I would currently project Doan in the 40-point range, in the better safe than sorry thought process.

The Coyotes, as a whole, have managed their cap situation quite well and have taken on some assets to help other teams moving forward.  Even with Pavel Datsyuk and Chris Pronger on the books for one more season, the projected roster (in colour below) is still coming in $10.8 million below the salary cap ceiling.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Shane Doan	5.000	Oliver Ekman-Larsson	5.500	Mike Smith	5.667
Antoine Vermette	3.750	Alex Goligoski	5.475	Louis Domingue	1.050
Jamie McGinn	3.333	Kevin Connauton	1.000
Martin Hanzal	3.100
Brad Richardson	2.080
Max Domi	0.894
Anthony Duclair	0.773
Ryan White	1.000	Zbynek Michalek	3.200
		Klas Dahlbeck	0.750
Dylan Strome	0.894	Jarred Tinordi	0.700
Brendan Perlini	0.863	Jamie McBain	0.650
Christian Dvorak	0.839
Jordan Martinook	0.613
Craig Cunningham	0.600
Chris Mueller	0.600
Pavel Datsyuk	7.500	Chris Pronger	4.921
Nick Merkley	0.894	Anthony DeAngelo	0.863	Adin Hill	0.726
Henrik Samuelsson	0.894	Kyle Wood	0.718	Marek Langhamer	0.648
Christian Fischer	0.853	Dysin Mayo	0.653	Justin Peters	0.600
Ryan MacInnis	0.798	Justin Hache	0.640
Laurent Dauphin	0.776	Dakota Mermis	0.627
Michael Bunting	0.668
Conor Garland	0.663
Matia Marcantuoni	0.608
Garret Ross	0.600

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Fringe Signing (Jul 11)

The Philadelphia Flyers have managed to tap the Russian market for an undrafted forward, signing Roman Lyubimov to an entry-level deal on Monday morning.  Lyubimov, 24, was one of those Russian players that had a good showing at the World Championships, which is becoming a good spring board for those players that were never drafted in Europe.

The Russian prospect has some work to do, if he would like to crack the Philadelphia lineup in the 2017 season, but at this point in the Summer, I figure that there is about two or three spots that appear to be up for grabs on their projected roster, so that's a positive for him.

Top Prospect Signings (Jul 9)

The Carolina Hurricanes wrapped up their prospect development camp this weekend and it came to a close knowing that their top two prospects from this June's draft are now signed and sealed as players in their organization.  Forward Julien Gauthier (left) and defenseman Jake Bean signed their entry-level deals, which will carry early cap hits of $925,000 for at least the 2017 season, but both can slide, if they don't make the team out of training camp or play past their 9-game tryout.

Bean was taken higher of the two picks, the 13th overall selection, but Gauthier was not very far behind at the 21st spot in the order, thanks to a trade in 2015 with the Los Angeles Kings.

The club was obviously impressed enough by these two at camp to have them sign on the dotted line, but they are also 1st round picks and they do come with a high amount of expectation.  Both players could certainly find their way into the 9-game tryout at the start of the season, as the Hurricanes' depth may allow for it.

Avs Lock Up MacKinnon

Signing a franchise-type restricted free agent was somewhat of the flavour of the day, as the Colorado Avalanche joined in the fun, inking centre Nathan MacKinnon to a 7-year contract, reportedly worth $44.1 million, a $6.3 million cap hit for the duration of the contract.

MacKinnon was the 1st overall pick in the 2013 entry draft and has featured in each season since that draft, quickly becoming one of the key pieces of the puzzle for the Avalanche, but hasn't quite lifted the team to being a major threat, except in the 2014 season, when they had a good playoff run.

His 2016 season was decent, but nothing to really brag about as a former 1st overall pick.  In 72 games, the 20-year old finished with 21 goals and 52 points, finishing 98th overall in pool scoring, 70th among all forwards.

He did turn out to be a bargain pick in the pool last season, as Allan took him in the 4th round, 105th overall, but it wasn't a huge bargain.  With the Avalanche unable to pack any new punch into their lineup, it would take a great individual effort on the part of MacKinnon to become a top end player in the 2017 season and it will be up to him to help the Avalanche back into the playoff picture.

If the coloured part of the roster was to be the opening night team, the Avalanche would have about $6 million left to work with, but they still have Mikhail Grigorenko & Tyson Barrie to deal with in restricted free agency, which could really eat up that cap space.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Nathan MacKinnon	6.300	Erik Johnson	6.000	Semyon Varlamov	5.900
Matt Duchene	6.000	Francois Beauchemin	4.500
Gabriel Landeskog	5.500
Jarome Iginla	5.333
Carl Soderberg	4.750
Joe Colborne	2.500
Blake Comeau	2.400
John Mitchell	1.800	Fedor Tyutin	2.000	Calvin Pickard	1.000
Cody McLeod	1.333	Eric Gelinas	1.575
Rocco Grimaldi	0.925	Nikita Zadorov	0.894
J.T. Compher	0.925	Patrick Wiercioch	0.800
Mikko Rantanen	0.894	Chris Bigras	0.874
Andreas Martinsen	0.640
Mike Sislo	0.600
A.J. Greer	0.742	Ryan Stanton	0.600	Spencer Martin	0.925
Julien Nantel	0.680	Sergei Boikov	0.682	Jeremy Smith	0.600
Troy Bourke	0.632	Mason Geertsen	0.650
Reid Petryk	0.623	Cody Corbett	0.617
Trent Vogelhuber	0.613	Mat Clark	0.600
Jim O'Brien	0.600	Joe Whitney	0.600
Samuel Henley	0.587
Turner Elson	0.575

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Jets' Scheifele in Locked & Upright Position

The Winnipeg Jets have wrapped up one of their cornerstone pieces for the maximum amount of time allowable, as they have re-signed centre Mark Scheifele to a new 8-year deal, worth $49 million on Friday.

The 7th overall pick in the 2011 entry draft has certainly grown into his role as one of the faces of the franchise, completing his third full season with the team in the 2016 season, scoring 29 goals and 61 points in 71 games, ranking 2nd on the team in pool scoring behind Blake Wheeler.

The 23-year old centre will certainly be in the middle of talent in the coming season, depending on who the coaching staff elects to have him play with.  The potential of playing with an established talent and/or an up-and-coming talent like Patrik Laine has to be exciting for Jets fans and poolies alike, because there is plenty of potential for offense in this lineup.

The long-term deal gives a lot of security to a guy who has been groomed through their own system and he is identified as the centerpiece of the offense.  This should mean a lot more confidence moving forward and that generally translates into better point totals at the end of the season, which means his projections will improve for the 2017 season, starting at around 70 points.

The cap hit also remains quite pleasing to the bookkeepers, I'm sure, as the Jets still have about $10.25 million under the cap ceiling with the coloured roster below.  Jacob Trouba is still outstanding in the restricted free agent market, but with this deal signed, there may be a little less to worry about getting that deal done.

Forwards	Cap	Defense	Cap	Goalies	Cap
Mark Scheifele	6.125	Dustin Byfuglien	7.600	Ondrej Pavelec	3.900
Blake Wheeler	5.600	Tyler Myers	5.500	Michael Hutchinson	1.150
Bryan Little	4.700			Connor Hellebuyck	0.668
Drew Stafford	4.350
Mathieu Perreault	3.000
Shawn Matthias	2.125
Nikolaj Ehlers	0.894
Alexander Burmistrov	1.550	Toby Enstrom	5.750
Chris Thorburn	1.200	Mark Stuart	2.625
Marko Dano	0.925	Brian Strait	0.600
Patrik Laine	0.925	Joshua Morrissey	0.863
Kyle Connor	0.925	Ben Chiarot	0.850
Andrew Copp	0.925
Chase De Leo	0.875	Paul Postma	0.888	Eric Comrie	0.637
Brendan Lemieux	0.839	Jan Kostalek	0.693
Nic Petan	0.758	Brenden Kichton	0.600
Scott Kosmachuk	0.720
Anthony Peluso	0.675
Jimmy Lodge	0.668
Quinton Howden	0.650
Ryan Olsen	0.619
Axel Blomqvist	0.583

Pool worthy, non-pool roster players, assumed roster fill-ins,  injured/retired cap hits, in the system

Leafs Ship Bernier to Anaheim

To Anaheim	Pos	Age	GP	G/W	P	Years	Cap
Jonathan Bernier	G	27	38	12	30	1	$4.15 mil
----------------
To Toronto	Pos	Age	GP	G/W	P	Years	Cap
Conditional 2017 Draft Pick

The Toronto Maple Leafs answered a couple of questions heading into the 2017 season, the first being about their salary cap situation, where they were already looking to be above the ceiling and the second, who would be the likely starter on opening night, now that they have shipped Jonathan Bernier to the Anaheim Ducks for a draft pick.

Arguably, Bernier was the victim of circumstance, becoming the number one goalie of a team at the beginning of a rebuild and was hung out to dry in a market that dumps on their goalies, even in a time where they're not expected to win games.

The Anaheim Ducks, who lost the services of the Maple Leafs' new number one goalie, Frederik Andersen, now give themselves a little bit more support in the crease, as John Gibson gets prepared to take the mantle of the number one guy on the pond.  Bernier will give it a good fight and will certainly have a much better defense and system to play behind, which could make that goalie battle very interesting.

In terms of pool projections, Andersen's numbers will now increase, due to the increase in potential minutes to be played, while Gibson may take a bit of a tumble to more help, with Bernier possibly seeing an increase, thanks to playing behind a better team and still splitting time.

It's hard to believe that Bernier got a fair shake in Toronto and the impatience of the market was his ultimate downfall or the reason for this deal, at the end of the day.  I think he's a much better goalie than what the Leafs fans ever got to see, but that's the nature of the beast, I suppose.

As for the Ducks, I don't know what they're getting up to here.  I would think this is a little bit of a slap in the face of Gibson, who really has to ask what the play is here.  Did he really need this much competition to be a better number one guy?

Top Prospect Signing (Jul 7)

The Calgary Flames just completed their development camp for the Summer and to no one's surprise, they put pen to paper with their top pick in June's entry draft, the 6th overall pick, forward Matthew Tkachuk.

Tkachuk will be vying for a roster spot with the Flames in the 2017 season, thanks to his 3-year entry-level deal, but it won't necessarily be a sure thing this Fall, but he will give it a good go.  The kid has the size and the offensive instincts of a power forward, which will make him attractive to his employers, but he'll have to jump over some reasonable competition to get there and not be sent back to junior.

I don't think anyone would be surprised if he was one of the last cuts, if he doesn't get the 9-game tryout before losing his slide privileges in his entry-level deal.  Do tread carefully with this one, if you have no ability to move players right away in your pool.

Contract Extensions (Jul 7)

You might be able to argue that the Winnipeg Jets may be done with the free agent market now, since they're now looking at the potential market next Summer.  On Thursday, the Jets signed veteran centre Mathieu Perreault to a 4-year contract extension, keeping him away from unrestricted free agency a year from now.

The deal, which starts in the 2018 season, will set the cap hit back about $4.125 million for the four seasons, a good raise from the $3 million cap hit he'll use in the last year of his current deal this season.

Perreault, 28, has been coming along quite nicely for Winnipeg, scoring 9 goals and 41 points last season and he still has a little bit left to achieve, in terms of his potential and the Jets hope that their youth movement can help spark that along.  He should be a steady add for your pool team next year.

Before today, the Vancouver Canucks only had one goaltender signed on for the 2018 season, rookie keeper Thatcher Demko, who hasn't seen any NHL time yet.  On Thursday, they were also looking ahead for the years to come, signing Jacob Markstrom to a 3-year contract extension, potentially making a Markstrom-Demko pairing for the 2018 season and beyond.

Markstrom was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next Summer, but instead will also get a sizable raise to his cap hit, going from $1.55 million in this upcoming 2017 season to $3.67 million in the 2018 season.

The 26-year old Swede didn't exactly have a great season in Vancouver, only registering 13 wins and 28 points in 33 appearances for the club.  Nevertheless, his potential far outweighs what the team in front of him did last season, hence the extension and the future of the club on his shoulders.