The last few restricted free agents are now starting to miss out on some valuable training camp time, which will likely lead to missing preseason hockey and that's a tough hill to climb, when the season starts. Friday afternoon saw one more RFA drop, as the Avalanche and defenseman Nikita Zadorov agreed to terms on a 2-year, $4.2 million deal.
The 22-year old is slowly starting to find his legs in the NHL and last season, he was able to post 10 assists in 56 games for an underachieving Avalanche team, so with the promise of being a little bit better, there is an upside to snuggle up close to being pool worthy in the 2018 season.
The current projections across the board have him at the 15-point level, which is a bit short in the conversation, but that could be more about the team around him, more than anything. He'll be a guy to keep an eye on during the season.
It has been reported byt the Wild coaching staff as a minor tweak of the back, but Minnesota forward Zach Parise is already laid up a bit in training camp and today was the first full day of camp. It sounds like the injury occurred in the testing process, but he's only considered to be day-to-day, staying off the ice on Friday and they'll likely be playing this by ear as the days go on.
The Anaheim Ducks updated their three key injured players on Friday, as the team hit the ice for training camp sessions.
The threat of unrestricted free agency can weigh heavy on a player or a team in a contract year, but now that is something that Winnipeg Jets forward Bryan Little doesn't have to worry about, after signing a 6-year contract extension, which will take him through the 2024 season.
The Boston Bruins still had one of their deadliest snipers sitting at home in the Czech Republic this week, only days ahead of training camp opening up, without a new deal and not coming without one signed. The reports through the media were getting very nervous and somewhat uncertain that a deal would get done, but some frantic work overnight saw a deal done and now David Pastrnak will be a Bruins player for the next six years.
It was getting a bit sketchy, with Pastrnak unsigned this long, but the deal getting done has pushed him up near the top of the Bruins' projections for the year and he has pushed Peter Cehlarik down out of my projected 23-man roster as well. With training camps now opening up across the league, with testing and physicals today, we'll start to see some real movement in these projected rosters here soon. Get ready to adjust your projections accordingly.
The way I see this Bruins lineup shaking out sees them with only about $1.8 million in unused cap space for the rest of the season, which isn't a great deal, but the value does go up, the further that space is invested into the season. The Bruins have a pretty good looking team on paper and coming in under the ceiling does make it look even better.
Training camps for most teams, are set to get started tomorrow with testing and on-ice sessions to start on Friday. Ahead of the testing, the Columbus Blue Jackets will be without forward Boone Jenner to start, as he is suffering from what the team calls a middle-body injury and he's currently day-to-day. There doesn't appear to be anything in this report that would suggest that he will be missing any preseason action, but it does mean that he'll be held out of the first few days of camp.
The Ottawa Senators held their annual golf tournament on Monday, ahead of all the training camp festivities, and in doing so, the media got their pens ready for captain Erik Karlsson, who suggested that he is still two or three weeks away from getting back on the ice from his foot surgery and the recovery from said surgery has forced him from a lot of his off-season training and he is nowhere near game ready. 
With training camps set to open this week, the Pittsburgh Penguins received some good news on Sunday, as defenseman Kris Letang has been cleared to start camp, following surgery to repair a herniated disc in his neck last season. Letang wasn't able to compete in the Penguins' Stanley Cup run, but if they are going to have a chance at three straight Cups, he will be a very important piece of the puzzle.
My most intriguing player for the Buffalo Sabres in this off-season, rookie forward Alexander Nylander, was hurt during the Traverse City rookie tournament over the weekend, suffering a lower-body injury. The tournament should be concluding today and Nylander wasn't set to be a part of it, likely trying to save him for the start of training camp. 
Have no fear! Damon Severson will be in the New Jersey Devils training camp after all! Early on Monday morning, the restricted free agent agreed to terms with his club on a 6-year, $25 million contract, ensuring that the 23-year old rear guard will be in training camp, when it opens later on this week.
One of the top unrestricted free agent defensemen has found a home, but only on a tryout basis. 30-year old Cody Franson has signed on to join the Blackhawks training camp this month and he'll try to crack a blueline that might have an extra bubble player or two. The Blackhawks do have some projected open cap space, which could be ear-marked for Franson, but he's the kind of player that could price himself out of Chicago, if he's not careful.
The Vancouver Canucks understood that the contract negotiations for their new face of the franchise were going to take some time, but I'm sure there were a few fans and people in the organization that may have been white-knuckling through the days that Bo Horvat didn't have a deal in place. Well, on Friday, the relief came, when it was announced that Horvat and the Canucks agreed upon a 6-year, $33 million deal.
The mini-game wheel is ready to spin and we're only a few weeks away from doing so, but not before picking our hockey pool teams at the draft. We have been fortunate, in my opinion, to have seen the PIM Pool hit in the last couple of years, because that does add a much different element to the Waiver Drafts and it's really fun to watch during the year.
The Nashville Predators announced on Thursday that the recovery for defenseman Ryan Ellis, from off-season knee surgery, has not gone very well and he could be out of the lineup for upwards of six more months. Ellis went for surgery shortly after the Stanley Cup Finals and it was thought that it would only need the summer for a recovery, but that doesn't appear to be the case, as the diagnosis was showing that he's out for the next 4-to-6 month, which will limit him to coming back in the New Year.
The goalie survivor pool is probably my favourite mini-game of the bunch, since I instituted them a couple of seasons ago. It certainly helps to have a pair of starting goalies, but in Stacey M.'s case, the winner of last season's mini-game, you can certainly get away with a good starter and a very good back-up goalie as well.
I'm not sure there was any better of an example of a back-up that came through in the clutch, when the number one was down, better than Mike Condon in Ottawa. Acquired from Montreal earlier in the season, he was huge when Craig Anderson had to leave the team for family reasons and he ended up with a pretty good season of his own. Of course, Anderson eventually came back and stole the show through the playoff run, but they wouldn't have been there, if it wasn't for Condon.
The Calgary Flames have officially added Sam Bennett back in the mix, getting what they needed out of their negotiations with the 21-year old, a 2-year bridge contract.
There have been a few new names entered into the list as professional tryouts on teams, but one that really stood out was the Red Wings offering a training camp spot to veteran forward P-A Parenteau on Wednesday. Parenteau split the 2017 season between New Jersey and Nashville, also appearing in five games with the Predators in their run to the Stanley Cup Finals. 
A ways back on Sunday, the Arizona Coyotes and forward Anthony Duclair came to terms on a 1-year, $1.2 million deal, bringing the restricted free agent back into the fold for another season.
Friday also saw one of the big restricted free agents finally come off the list, as the Columbus Blue Jackets re-signed forward Alexander Wennberg to a big 6-year contract. The deal carries a cap hit of $4.9 million per season, which works out to be $29.4 million in total.
The slick scoring David Pastrnak has been the biggest focus of trade rumours since the middle of August, as the Bruins may struggle to convince the 21-year old, who scored 34 goals last season, that he may need to bridge out a deal to help the team's cap situation for a couple of years. With players at this age now getting paid, it could be a really tough sell. The latest from the beginning of the week was suggesting that the Bruins have offered up $6 million per season over numerous years, but it still sounds like it's a bit short.
One of last season's big bargain picks in the hockey pool draft, Alexander Wennberg of the Columbus Blue Jackets, may still be flying under the radar to some, but soon, he likely will be a household name.
A cornerstone piece in Vancouver is still left unsigned at this point in the summer, but the contract talks with Bo Horvat and the Canucks have been reported to be on track.
I think we're all in agreement, that this is a huge year for Sam Bennett and his future with the Flames. The first hurdle, however, is the contract that is going to allow him to play this season.
The Detroit Red Wings and their salary cap hell that they are going through this off-season has been keeping them from signing one of their key restricted free agents, forward Andreas Athanasiou, and there have been some rumblings that this could cause the 23-year old to depart to Russia for the year. There is allegedly an offer on the table from the KHL, but the player wants to stay in North America, if at all possible, and so we wait.
The Devils are not struggling with their cap numbers, if you were to believe they weren't a budget team, but they do have to determine how much of a long-term piece of the puzzle Damon Severson will be down the road.
Columbus forward Josh Anderson rounds out the list of players that were pool worthy last season and still unsigned. The 23-year old finally made the jump to the full-time roster last season after a couple of seasons making some brief appearances and he did not disappoint, when he finally made it. A 17-goal season was a good reward for the team that showed him some faith in having him up there.