Fringe Signings (July 22)

On Tuesday, the Calgary Flames successfully avoided arbitration with restricted free agent forward Joe Colborne, signing him to a 2-year deal worth $2.55 million.  Colborne, who has bounced from Boston to Toronto to Calgary over the past few seasons, has found a home with the Flames, playing in 80 games in 2014, scoring 10 goals and 28 points.  Now that he has found himself a home in the NHL, I would imagine that he'll be able to improve upon those numbers, which saw him rank 203rd among all forwards in scoring last season.  There may be some value in him for this coming season's hockey pools.

The Toronto Maple Leafs saw some reasonable return from a former Vancouver Canucks forward in 2014, so for the 2015 season, they'll take a flyer out on two players. The Leafs already have Mike Santorelli in the fold from the free agent frenzy and on Tuesday, they went ahead and signed bought out forward David Booth, giving him a 1-year deal, worth an undisclosed amount.  In 2014, Booth was only good for 9 goals and 19 points in 66 games with Vancouver and did have to deal with injuries and healthy scratches through the year.  His value in Toronto will be largely based on where he fits in the line-up, but will be a fringe player, at best.

Vatanen Signs Back With Anaheim

On Tuesday, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they had re-signed defenseman Sami Vatanen to a new 2-year deal, reportedly worth $2.525 million.  The deal should work about to be about $1.26 million per season against the cap.

The 23-year old Finnish defender was up and down in the 2014 season with the Ducks, but made pretty good when he was up, scoring 6 goals and 21 points in 48 games with the club, ranking 87th among all defensemen.  If Vatanen is good enough to stay up with the club for the entire year, his stock is destined to improve.

The rub with Vatanen's situation is that he may still be considered somewhat of a bubble player, given what he was able to play last season and now there are a couple of new names in the mix on the blueline, who he'll have to compete with.  Vatanen has a more offensive edge to his game, so he may get a better opportunity paired up with a stay-at-home defender, which the Ducks have a few of now.

Right now, I have the Ducks with eight viable options for their blueline on their projected roster and they come in at a very cap-friendly $18.8 million as a whole. Ideally, I think most teams will be rocking seven defensemen on their active roster on any given night, but since the team doesn't have as many forwards on their side quite yet, eight defensemen will work.

This brings their totals up to 21 players on the roster, including a goaltending tandem, with a cap cost of $54.2 million, leaving lots of room for their two remaining options at the forward position.  The Ducks will be dangerous, especially if they continue to win and go looking for more talent at the trade deadline.

2014 Draft Class Signings (July 22)

Teams are not waiting terribly long to get some of their draft picks signed up this off-season, giving an idea of just how important they are. On Friday, the Arizona Coyotes signed up the 12th overall pick in forward Brendan Perlini.  Perlini was one of the few picks I had got right out of my mock draft, believing that his natural scoring skill was something that the Coyotes should have been looking for and they should take a chance on a player that may have some conditioning issues, but the upside would be too great to pass up.  Perlini received the rookie maximum in salary at $925,000 over the next three years, but there will be all kinds of bonuses attached.


On Monday, the Montreal Canadiens put pen to paper with their 1st round draft pick in the Summer, Nikita Scherbak, the 26th overall selection. Scherbak dazzled the scouts on a woeful Saskatoon team in the WHL last season and his skill set should be very complimentary of a Habs team that doesn't rely on size, but more speed and finesse.  The 6', 172-pound Russian should fit in just fine with this club.  Scherbak also received the rookie maximum in salary for his 3-year entry-level deal, working out to $925,000.

One player I had in my mock draft to possibly go in the 1st round, but didn't, he fell to the 2nd round, was Russian forward Ivan Barbashev, who was then picked by the St. Louis Blues. He was taken 33rd overall and he signed a new deal on Monday, which will have a base salary around the $803,000 mark for his three seasons.  Barbashev's game has been described as a very good two-way game, which will have to excite Head Coach Ken Hitchcock, who enjoys a two-way game from his players, so there may have been a great fit found there.

Leafs Re-Sign Franson, Avoid Arbitration

Restricted free agency has been somewhat of a process for defenseman Cody Franson. Between his days in Nashville and the last few Summers in Toronto, Franson hasn't had the easiest time with signing new deals, but fortunately, the deal that he signed on Monday will be the last time he'll face restricted free agency, as he will be eligible for unrestricted free agency in 2015.

Franson's new deal is a 1-year deal, worth $3.3 million, getting a raise from his $2 million deal he signed for the 2014 season.

In the 2014 season, Franson played in 79 games for the Leafs, scoring 5 goals and 33 points, which was good enough for 43rd among all defensemen in scoring.  Franson had a really strong year in the shortened 2013 season, where he ranked 8th among defensmen in scoring, so there may be a little bit of justified anxiousness giving him a long-term deal, but he has been decent in the past couple of seasons and worthy of some greater expectations.

The signing of Franson means that there is only a couple of key restricted free agents left on the Leafs' docket in Jake Gardiner and James Reimer and Reimer is due for arbitration next week.  I currently have the Leafs projected roster up with 16 players, not including some of the European talent they have signed in the off-season, tallying $54.5 million against the cap.  The team has some players on the list who will likely fill in some of those gaps, but I wouldn't feel comfortable saying who will fit in and who will go home sulking.

The Leafs have $14.5 million in cap space to fill those seven spots, including Gardiner and Reimer's spot, although the likely trade of Reimer will adjust those numbers again, after it is all said and done.

Fringe Signings (July 20)

On Friday, there was one fringe signing worth possibly having a look at, as defenseman Simon Depres was re-signed from restricted free agency, given a 2-year deal, worth $1.8 million.  Despres has been in the fold for a little now, touted early as another one of those good young defensemen, but has yet to live up to that billing in his NHL career... granted, it's still rather early.  In 2014, the 22-year old finished 214th among defensemen with 5 assists in 34 games for the Penguins and the 2015 season could be a good chance for him to really break out.  The Penguins have re-tooled their defense, seeing a couple of major pieces leave to free agency and bringing in one of their own, which leaves a spot open for Despres.  Definitely something to consider.

The New York Rangers still have a lot of work to do on their projected roster and on Saturday, they took another step to help their cause, signing forward Lee Stempniak to a 1-year, $900,000 deal.  Stempniak split the 2014 season between the Flames and the Penguins, scoring 12 goals and 34 points in 73 games, finishing 170th among all forwards in scoring.  The depth for the Rangers will be quite interesting, once they have all of their restricted free agents signed on, because they have added a bit more rough & tumble type players that should make for a grinding bottom six.  Stempniak will be the kind of guy that can move anywhere from the second to fourth line on the team, so he'll be an important piece next season.

Florida Re-Ups Kulikov

The Florida Panthers haven't been shy with their money and their cap space in this off-season and on Friday they were active again. To finish the work week, the team signed restricted free agent defenseman Dimitri Kulikov to a new 3-year deal, worth $13 million.  The new deal will see the 23-year old blueliner with a cap hit of $4.333 million over the next few years and much like the team thinks, he should be coming around into a top end player in that time.

The 2014 season was already was the Russian's 5th year in the NHL, drafted in the 1st round in 2009 and has been able to make the jump fairly quickly, despite a couple of speed bumps along the way.  Last season, Kulikov played in 81 games for the Panthers, scoring 8 goals and 19 points, which was good enough for 91st among defensemen in pool scoring in the year.

Kulikov really showed some flashes in the 2012 season, where he finished the year in 47th among all defensemen with 28 points on the year and there could definitely be a return to those kind of scoring levels and there is still some potential to better that.  If the Panthers can harness that kind of potential, their team will certainly be more well-rounded in 2015 and could be a wild card hunter by season's end.

The Panthers don't have many spots left on their projected roster, according to my list, as they have 20 players already expected to make the team in 2015 and they now sit 4th among all teams with their projected cap hit, rounding out at $65.7 million for those players. The Panthers still need a couple more defensemen, which is their biggest need at the moment and they only have $3.3 million left to do it with, which is still quite of bit of space.

Florida is spending money these days and it will be interesting to see if all these investments pay off.

Sabres Ink Ennis For Five

The Buffalo Sabres took care of their last main restricted free agent on Thursday, signing scoring forward Tyler Ennis to a new 5-year deal, reportedly worth $23 million, which works out to be a $4.6 million cap hit.

With some of the money that the Sabres are throwing around in this off-season, there is very little reason to think that they will throw the 2015 regular season for a chance at the number one pick in the NHL Entry Draft.

Ennis finished the 2014 season with 21 goals and 43 points, ranking 108th among all forwards in scoring.  It wasn't Ennis' best season to date, as he did rank 73rd overall in the shortened 2013 season, so there is definitely some potential for improvement, according to his previous numbers.

Ennis could potentially line-up with Cody Hodgson and Matt Moulson to form the team's number one line, which could have some offensive punch and provide their opposition with a reason to check a little bit harder.  With the team adding Brian Gionta for leadership and some more blueline strength in Josh Gorges and Andrej Meszaros, the Sabres will be an interesting team to watch at the start of the year.

The Sabres don't have many spots to fill on their projected roster, as I have them in with 20 players already signed on to it for a reasonable cap figure of $52.7 million.  Buffalo has a number of prospects that are waiting in the wings and I would imagine that they will be drawing from that resource to fill out the rest of their roster.

Fringe Signings (July 17)

The Colorado Avalanche took care of a number of restricted free agents on Wednesday, including defenseman Stefan Elliott, who still has some potential to be a pretty good hockey pool defenseman in the NHL.  Elliott didn't feature in the league last year, staying the entire 2014 regular season in the AHL.  Most notably, Elliott had 13 points in 39 games for the Avalanche in the 2012 season and with a spot still open on the blueline, there is a shot there for Elliott to take.  There will be some stiff competition, however, as Tyson Barrie still remains unsigned and there is also veteran Bruno Gervais and another prospect Duncan Siemens vying for that spot as well.

By virtue of not quite playing enough games between Chicago and Florida last season, forward Brandon Pirri didn't quite get the numbers to be immediately considered a hockey pool-type player, but he has more than enough potential to be realized and will make that jump in 2015. Pirri signed a 2-year deal with the Panthers on Wednesday, each season worth $925,000 against the cap.  The 23-year old forward had 13 goals and 25 points in 49 games between the Blackhawks and the Panthers, being dealt at the trade deadline last year.  With the youth direction the Panthers are moving in, there could be some real excitement there in 2015.

An interesting signing in St. Louis, as the Blues picked up defenseman Chris Butler from unrestricted free agency on Wednesday, signing him to a 1-year deal, reportedly worth $650,000.  Butler played in all 82 games for the Calgary Flames in 2014, scoring 2 goals and 16 points, and he'll challenge for a spot on the blueline, which already features a few of the more prominent players, including three Olympians.  If you're looking at depth defenders like Carl Gunnarsson, Jordan Leopold or Ian Cole for some last minute pick-ups in your pool, you may want to adjust your projections with this move.

In Toronto, the Maple Leafs signed a couple of restricted free agents in Peter Holland and Carter Ashton, giving them a 2-year and 1-year deal, respectively.  Neither player got a substantial raise in their pay, but they are at least locked in to challenge for a roster spot in the 2015 season.  Currently, I have the Leafs with only 10 forwards on their projected roster, but in line to fight for those last three or four spots will be the two that signed here, Leo Komarov, Petri Kontiola, Tyler Biggs and a 4th-liner in Troy Bodie.  The Leafs should have been looking for more bluleiners, since Cody Franson and Jake Gardiner are taking their sweet time to re-sign, but what can you do?

Demers Re-Signs in San Jose

On Wednesday, the San Jose Sharks took care of their last major restricted free agent, signing defenseman Jason Demers to a 2-year, $6.8 million deal.

Demers was a productive blueliner in the 2014 season, scoring 5 goals and 34 points in 75 games for the club, ranking 37th among all defensemen in scoring and should be a mid-to-late round pick-up for a hockey pool team this Fall.

The Sharks should have a decent blueline again in the 2015 season, with their top six already locked in.  Brent Burns is going to move back to the point, while Marc-Edouard Vlasic should be good to eat up a ton of minutes.  The planned departure of Dan Boyle has still left a hole, but the team is likely looking at some more youth to fill that gap, possibly in the form of prospect Mirco Mueller or recent free agent signing, Taylor Fedun.

The Sharks are not in bad shape, having 20 players now on their projected roster and they still have $9.6 million left to spend to the cap ceiling. If any of those trade rumours for Joe Thornton or Patrick Marleau are true, there is a good chance that those numbers improve.

2014 Draft Class Signings (July 16)

The Dallas Stars nailed down their 1st round pick on Sunday, as Finnish defenseman Julius Honka signed his rookie maximum deal, which will give him a base salary of $925,000, if he was to jump into the league right away. Honka was widely considered to be the most offensively talented blueliner of the draft class, despite being somewhat undersized.  The Stars' depth chart along the blueline does have a few openings, so it will be interesting to see what kind of maturity level Honka has to possibly make that jump into the big leagues.

The Boston Bruins appear to be very high on their 1st round pick, David Pastrnak, an 18-year old Czech forward, who was taken with the 25th overall pick. The Bruins signed him to the 3-year entry-level deal, but salary wasn't disclosed, although it would come to no surprise if Pastrnak received the full benefit.  There is a chance that Pastrnak could get a long look at training camp, as the Bruins will have to be wise with their remaining cap space, which they don't have very much of.  If this kid, who was playing in Sweden with the men already, has a good camp, he could find himself with a job, thanks to his entry-level deal.

The Nashville Predators were really busy on Tuesday, after signing a couple of cagey veterans, the team signed a couple of 2014 draft picks, including their 1st round pick, Kevin Fiala, and their 4th round pick, Viktor Arvidsson.  Both Fiala and Arvidsson, despite being three rounds apart, have some very similar scouting reports.  Both are creative offensive players that can do some wonderful things with the puck, but both are considered to be undersized and may have a tougher time breaking into the NHL.  The Predators don't have many roster spots open, regardless, as their projected roster filled up with those veterans, so it does seem unlikely that these two will figure in during the 2015 season.

Another offensively skilled European kid taken by the Washington Capitals?  Go figure.  The 13th overall pick for the Caps was Czech forward Jakub Vrana, who was playing in Sweden last season with the men, so he should have a good jump on training camp already.  There is a lot of top end offense on this Washington team, so how could they go wrong with just a little bit more?  The Capitals don't have many spots left on their projected roster, nor do they have a lot of cap space to work with, so I have my doubts that Vrana will figure into the 2015 season too, but he should get a good look in camp to see what they'll have in the future.

Fringe Signings (July 16)

The Minnesota Wild re-signed restricted free agent forward Jason Zucker to a new 2-year deal on Tuesday. Zucker hasn't quite lived up to the hype of his arrival in the NHL, hardly figuring into the everyday line-up for the Wild in 2+ seasons with the club, last season only playing in 21 games, scoring 4 goals and adding an assist.  With the team giving him a new deal, there must be some belief that the potential he showed in his college career can still be realized.

The New Jersey Devils and their prospect pool is really hit or miss, but their depth is so shallow that some of those misses just keep hanging around. Jacob Josefson has been far from a hit in the four seasons he has appeared in for the Devils, last season scoring 1 goal and 3 points in 27 games.  The 2009 1st round pick will get another shot at making the NHL roster, signing a deal on Tuesday, which was likely a 1-year deal, probably in the neighbourhood of $600,000, if I had to guess... since there were no numbers disclosed.

The New York Islanders were busy re-signing restricted free agents on Tuesday and a couple of fringe hockey pool players popped up in forward Casey Cizikas, who signed a 2-year deal and defenseman Calvin De Haan, who signed a 3-year deal.  Cizikas became a full-time roster player last season, getting into 80 games and picking up 16 points, and should have a little bit of upside with a bit more experience.  Possibly a sleeper?  De Haan, on the other hand, has a pretty good shot at making the roster out of training camp, as he did manage to play in 51 games last season, picking up 3 goals and 16 points in that time.

By default, the signing of Matthew Lombardi by the New York Rangers moves the speedy forward into their projected roster, which now has only six forwards on it, including the new signing.  Lombardi's last few seasons in the NHL were very poor, which forced him out of the game after the 2013 season, but a resurgence in the Swedish Elite League has turned some heads and it had earned him a 2-year deal in the Big Apple.  There are no guarantees that Lombardi will be a hockey pool-type player in the 2015 season, but he could sleep his way into another look or two.