In just under 24 hours, the free agent period will officially open.
On the Canadian side, management may be calm, but that doesn’t matter, we have Ivan Demidov.
For the other clubs, they are trying to free up money to make acquisitions in July. Earlier today, Jack Campbell (Oilers), Nate Schmidt (Jets) and Adam Boqvist all saw their respective teams decide to buy out their contracts.
In Edmonton, Campbell is not the only player whose contract is in the hands of the management.
This is also the case for Evander Kane’s pact, which expires after the 2025-2026 season. The forward earns $5.125 million per year. And as Elliotte Friedman mentioned, the Oilers want to lift his no-movement clause to submit him to waivers or trade him.
Obviously, Edmonton is not far from winning; Connor McDavid’s squad was one game away from winning the Stanley Cup.
This competitiveness is largely due to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitil. The latter will become a free agent in a year and I imagine the Oilers want to free up money for the German. McDavid’s pact also completes…
Boss Jeff Jackson would also like to retain the services of the nine players who will become unrestricted free agents tomorrow and the two who will become RFAs.
Igor Shesterkin est gourmand
Since he entered the NHL, Igor Shesterkin has simply been one of the best goalies in the NHL.
His contract expires next year and he wants to be paid.
In his text of the day, Larry Brooks wrote that the Russian’s camp wants the next contract to take 14% of the salary mass… in 2025-2026. And 14% of the cap which will be $92 million, that’s $12.9 million annually.
If the Rangers gave him such an amount, he would obviously become the highest paid goalkeeper of all time both per season and for the entire contract (if he signs for seven or eight years).
Currently, Carey Price ($10.5 million), Sergei Bobrovsky ($10 million) and Andrei Vasilevskiy ($9.5 million) are the highest paid goalies in the league per season.
One thing is certain, for Shesterkin, the matter will have to be resolved before the start of the next season, assures Brooks.
Steven Stamkos is approaching Nashville
On the final day of the draft, Julien BriseBois really caught everyone off guard by trading Mikhail Sergachev and Tanner Jeannot.
These trades only meant one thing, in my opinion: freeing up money for Steven Stamkos.
But today, with the acquisition of Jake Guentzel, this money risks being used for the former Penguins and Hurricanes forward. I don’t want to doubt BriseBois, but I have a hard time believing that he will be able to sign both attackers.
The Lightning captain therefore seems to be heading quietly (more than ever) towards Nashville.
In any case, Friedman thinks it will be the Preds, who want to win now.
And, with Juuse Saros’ contract extension, the players seem to have accepted the recovery plan.
A lot of
– Belle petite signature.
– Quel but!
– The Jays need arms.
