Blackhawks, Islanders still facing challenges with restricted free agents
NHL training camps are just around the corner and for the most part every team has a pretty good idea of what their opening night roster will look like.
A handful of teams still have some work to do when it comes to completing their roster thanks to unsigned restricted free agents.
As of Monday, there are only seven restricted free agents remaining without a new contract, and some of them can potentially be pretty significant players.
Here, we take a look at four of the biggest.
Marcus Kruger, Chicago Blackhawks: The biggest issue with Kruger and the Blackhawks continues to be cap space.
According to General Fanager, the Blackhawks only have about $231,000 to spend under the upper limit of the 2015-16 cap, and that is simply not going to be enough to sign anybody, let alone a player like Kruger who has become a valuable depth player and one that cost over $1 million a season ago. ESPN's Scott Powers reported over the weekend that Kruger remains optimistic that a deal can be reached before the start of training camp on Sept. 17, but the Blackhawks are probably going to have to make another move of some kind before that can happen.
Chicago has already had a tumultuous offseason that has seen the salary cap strip the team of several key pieces, including Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp, while the future of Patrick Kane remains uncertain given his ongoing legal issues.
Kruger, 25, scored seven goals and 10 assists in 81 games in 2014-15 for the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks and was also their top penalty-killing forward.
Given the Blackhawks' cap problems, as well as the fact that Kruger shouldn't be the type of player who would command a significant investment from another team, he would seem to be the type of player that would be vulnerable to an offer sheet from another team (assuming he was willing to sign it). The Blackhawks at that point would either be forced to allow Kruger to go for only a draft pick in return (and likely not a very good one) or force a trade in order to match the offer. Either way, the Blackhawks are going to have some work to do to get Kruger back in the mix for training camp.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers: The 2012-13 NHL rookie of the year, Huberdeau fell off a bit with his sophomore production before he took a huge step forward this past season.
His best play came on a line with Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr following the latter's acquisition from the New Jersey Devils. That line was perhaps the best trio of players the Panthers were able to put together on the ice at any time during the season and was one of the most productive lines in the entire league over the final month of the season.
When it comes to players like Huberdeau and their RFA deals the question always comes down to whether the team is willing to invest in a long-term deal right up front or if it would prefer to do a shorter bridge deal. The Panthers went long-term with Nick Bjugstad on his deal in 2014, signing him to a contract through the 2021 season that pays him over $4 million per season. If the Panthers can get Huberdeau to a similar deal it would probably end up being a great investment.
Last week Panthers beat writer George Richards reported that the two sides had reportedly agreed on the number of years, but were still trying to make the dollar figures work.
Florida is an interesting team this season because it has a number of veterans that can still play at a reasonably high level (Roberto Luongo, Brian Campbell, Jagr, Jussi Jokinen) to complement an impressive collection of young players still on the rise led by Barkov, Huberdeau, Bjugstad and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft, defenseman Aaron Ekblad. If they can reunite the Jagr-Barkov-Huberdeau line and recreate the same chemistry they had a year ago it's going to be a great place to start this season for the Panthers in an effort to get back into the playoffs.
Brock Nelson, New York Islanders: Nelson's situation with the Islanders might be the most fascinating of the bunch. The two sides remain in a stalemate, unable to reach a new deal, and it's possible that it could cost Nelson his entire season if a new deal isn't in place. The Islanders have had held an organizational policy that if an RFA does not sign before training camp that they will sit him for the entire season, a policy that is still apparently in place.
It's really difficult to see things getting to that point, but the fact the possibility is out there has to be at least a little concerning for Islanders fans given how important of a piece Nelson can be to the Islanders' depth. The 23-year-old forward scored 20 goals for the team a year ago, the third-highest total on the team behind only John Tavares and Anders Lee.
The salary cap isn't an issue for the Islanders at this point with still more than $8 million left to spend before reaching it, so you have to think the two sides can work something out before it ends up costing the Islanders a key piece of their roster for an entire season.
Micheal Ferland, Calgary Flames: Ferland became a wildly popular player for the Flames during their surprising postseason run in 2014-15 for his fast, physical play and crushing hits, especially in the first round against the Vancouver Canucks. He also scored three goals in the Flames' nine postseason games. But with the Flames starting to piece together what could be a pretty good hockey team, Ferland isn't a lock to be a regular contributor and still needs to prove that he can be a consistent NHL player. That's going to be impossible to do without a new contract that enables him to attend training camp. The Flames pretty much have all of the leverage here. For as good as he was against Vancouver, he has almost no extended track record of success in the NHL so he can't really command a significant raise. Especially since he is still a wild card at this point.
NHL training camps are just around the corner and for the most part every team has a pretty good idea of what their opening night roster will look like.
A handful of teams still have some work to do when it comes to completing their roster thanks to unsigned restricted free agents.
As of Monday, there are only seven restricted free agents remaining without a new contract, and some of them can potentially be pretty significant players.
Here, we take a look at four of the biggest.
Marcus Kruger, Chicago Blackhawks: The biggest issue with Kruger and the Blackhawks continues to be cap space.
According to General Fanager, the Blackhawks only have about $231,000 to spend under the upper limit of the 2015-16 cap, and that is simply not going to be enough to sign anybody, let alone a player like Kruger who has become a valuable depth player and one that cost over $1 million a season ago. ESPN's Scott Powers reported over the weekend that Kruger remains optimistic that a deal can be reached before the start of training camp on Sept. 17, but the Blackhawks are probably going to have to make another move of some kind before that can happen.
Chicago has already had a tumultuous offseason that has seen the salary cap strip the team of several key pieces, including Brandon Saad and Patrick Sharp, while the future of Patrick Kane remains uncertain given his ongoing legal issues.
Kruger, 25, scored seven goals and 10 assists in 81 games in 2014-15 for the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks and was also their top penalty-killing forward.
Given the Blackhawks' cap problems, as well as the fact that Kruger shouldn't be the type of player who would command a significant investment from another team, he would seem to be the type of player that would be vulnerable to an offer sheet from another team (assuming he was willing to sign it). The Blackhawks at that point would either be forced to allow Kruger to go for only a draft pick in return (and likely not a very good one) or force a trade in order to match the offer. Either way, the Blackhawks are going to have some work to do to get Kruger back in the mix for training camp.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers: The 2012-13 NHL rookie of the year, Huberdeau fell off a bit with his sophomore production before he took a huge step forward this past season.
His best play came on a line with Aleksander Barkov and Jaromir Jagr following the latter's acquisition from the New Jersey Devils. That line was perhaps the best trio of players the Panthers were able to put together on the ice at any time during the season and was one of the most productive lines in the entire league over the final month of the season.
When it comes to players like Huberdeau and their RFA deals the question always comes down to whether the team is willing to invest in a long-term deal right up front or if it would prefer to do a shorter bridge deal. The Panthers went long-term with Nick Bjugstad on his deal in 2014, signing him to a contract through the 2021 season that pays him over $4 million per season. If the Panthers can get Huberdeau to a similar deal it would probably end up being a great investment.
Last week Panthers beat writer George Richards reported that the two sides had reportedly agreed on the number of years, but were still trying to make the dollar figures work.
Florida is an interesting team this season because it has a number of veterans that can still play at a reasonably high level (Roberto Luongo, Brian Campbell, Jagr, Jussi Jokinen) to complement an impressive collection of young players still on the rise led by Barkov, Huberdeau, Bjugstad and the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 draft, defenseman Aaron Ekblad. If they can reunite the Jagr-Barkov-Huberdeau line and recreate the same chemistry they had a year ago it's going to be a great place to start this season for the Panthers in an effort to get back into the playoffs.
Brock Nelson, New York Islanders: Nelson's situation with the Islanders might be the most fascinating of the bunch. The two sides remain in a stalemate, unable to reach a new deal, and it's possible that it could cost Nelson his entire season if a new deal isn't in place. The Islanders have had held an organizational policy that if an RFA does not sign before training camp that they will sit him for the entire season, a policy that is still apparently in place.
It's really difficult to see things getting to that point, but the fact the possibility is out there has to be at least a little concerning for Islanders fans given how important of a piece Nelson can be to the Islanders' depth. The 23-year-old forward scored 20 goals for the team a year ago, the third-highest total on the team behind only John Tavares and Anders Lee.
The salary cap isn't an issue for the Islanders at this point with still more than $8 million left to spend before reaching it, so you have to think the two sides can work something out before it ends up costing the Islanders a key piece of their roster for an entire season.
Micheal Ferland, Calgary Flames: Ferland became a wildly popular player for the Flames during their surprising postseason run in 2014-15 for his fast, physical play and crushing hits, especially in the first round against the Vancouver Canucks. He also scored three goals in the Flames' nine postseason games. But with the Flames starting to piece together what could be a pretty good hockey team, Ferland isn't a lock to be a regular contributor and still needs to prove that he can be a consistent NHL player. That's going to be impossible to do without a new contract that enables him to attend training camp. The Flames pretty much have all of the leverage here. For as good as he was against Vancouver, he has almost no extended track record of success in the NHL so he can't really command a significant raise. Especially since he is still a wild card at this point.
