William Nylander is looking to get some security with his next contract.
The Toronto Maple Leafs forward is a restricted free agent and wants a long-term contract as opposed to a bridge deal.
"Of course I want long term, that's what I want to do," Nylander said, according to theScore's John Matisz.
Nylander is the first of the Maple Leafs' three young stars to finish their rookie contracts. Both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have one more year left on their entry-level deals, but are eligible to sign extensions at any time.
The 22-year-old is coming off his second full season in the NHL. He's remained consistent in those two years, posting identical 61-point seasons.
The deal is reportedly worth $2.3 million and will see him paid $1 million this season and $1.3 million during the 2019-20 campaign, according to Cap Friendly.
Hagg put up three goals and nine points in 70 games in his first full season in the NHL last year. The 23-year-old was drafted in the second round by the Flyers in 2013.
The Arizona Coyotes are set to pay homage to the longest-serving player in the franchise's history, as longtime captain Shane Doan will have his No. 19 raised to the rafters Feb. 24, the team announced on Wednesday.
Doan's number is the first to ever be retired in Coyotes' team history, and will be honored with the Winnipeg Jets - who drafted him seventh overall in 1995 - in town for the ceremony.
"I am extremely grateful to be the first Coyotes player to have his jersey retired," said Doan. "I am so proud to have played my entire career for the Coyotes because loyalty and commitment mean everything to me. I want to thank the entire Coyotes organization for this incredible honor. It means so much to my family and me. I have so many great memories wearing the Coyotes jersey and I look forward to celebrating this special night with friends, family, and all our great Coyotes fans. I can't wait."
Doan retired in 2017 after 21 seasons with the organization, doing so leading virtually every major offensive category in the team's record books, including games played (1,540), goals (402), assists (570), points (972), and game-winning goals (69).
The St. Louis Blues defenseman, fresh off a one-year, $3-million extension, is so impressed by general manager Doug Armstrong's summer shake-up that he's confident the club will be one of the league's best in the coming campaign.
"We think we're top-five in the NHL right now," Edmundson told Louie Korac of NHL.com. "We want to come into camp and from camp on, we want to be one of the top teams in the league. We were middle of the pack last season, but with the team we have and the confidence we have, we're excited to come to camp with a new team, new look."
St. Louis was a middle-rung team last season before a costly year-end skid saw them win just one of their final six games, ultimately missing the postseason by a single point. The hope is that the new faces, including free-agent additions Tyler Bozak, David Perron, and Patrick Maroon, plus big-time trade acquisition Ryan O'Reilly, will help prevent a similar outcome in 2018-19.
As for Edmundson, he's coming off a career-high 17 points, while his nearly 21 minutes in average ice time ranked third on the Blues behind only captain Alex Pietrangelo and Colton Parayko. The 25-year-old is likely to play alongside the captain again next season, and improved numbers should only help his cause when he's due for an extension again next summer.
"The second half of the year and the start of summer, I was thinking long term," Edmundson said. "But then I saw the trade they made and guys we signed and then my agent said it could be one year and it could work out better for me, so I had no problem signing for one year."
Edmundson won't have to wait much longer to see if the Blues can live up to his offseason expectations, as St. Louis opens the season Oct. 4 against the Winnipeg Jets.
Detroit is in dire need of bottoming out and 2018-19 might be the season to do so. Its defense is a trainwreck and a large chunk of its forward group is either old and regressing or young and underperforming. While many players have negotiated no-trade/no-move clauses, the Wings should still try to sell assets - Gustav Nyquist, for one - during the season.
The Habs are in a world of hurt right now. Between GM Marc Bergevin's eternal search for a first-line center, the Max Pacioretty rumors, Shea Weber being sidelined until December, and a pedestrian roster in front of Carey Price, there is a lot of negativity to pass around. They could use another top-five pick, so a loss-filled season may be best.
If the most dysfunctional organization in the league trades its best player prior to November, it will have parted ways with Erik Karlsson, Mike Hoffman, Derick Brassard, and Kyle Turris in the span of a year. Starting goalie Craig Anderson apparently wants out, too. Things are bound to get worse before they get better in Sens land.
The post-Sedin era is off to a rocky start. The Canucks signed veterans to long-term deals this offseason, despite not being in a position to even think about contending. Bo Horvat, Brock Boeser, and Elias Pettersson are fantastic pieces to build around, but as currently constructed, they are probably the worst team in the Western Conference.
The Alex Galchenyuk-Max Domi swap made Arizona a better team. Youngsters like Clayton Keller, Christian Dvorak, Dylan Strome, and Jakob Chychrun provide hope and should collectively move the needle in 2018-19. Antti Raanta appears to be a legitimate No. 1, which is a massive development for a Coyotes squad with a steep hill to climb.
After years of hopelessness, the Sabres are finally headed upstream. Winning the Rasmus Dahlin sweepstakes helps, as does Casey Mittelstadt's progress. Goalie Carter Hutton and winger Conor Sheary were nice offseason additions. Everybody expected more wins in 2017-18, so nothing is guaranteed here. Head coach Phil Housley has much to prove.
No more John Tavares, plus no more Calvin de Haan, plus no surefire goaltending fix equals a plummet down the standings. Mat Barzal's encore should be a treat, and incoming veterans might keep them afloat, but the Isles will struggle to both score and stop the opposition from scoring. For the wrong reasons, their terrible penalty kill is something to monitor.
The elephant in the room for this playoff-starved franchise has been and continues to be goaltending. It's tempting to label Carolina a sleeper due to its tremendous shot-suppression numbers, bulletproof defense corps, and selection of Andrei Svechnikov, but it always seems to disappoint. Last year, starting goalie Scott Darling took the fall.
On the expectation scale, there might not be a club with greater variance than the Avs. They lack depth up front and on the back end, yet last year managed to finish 10th in goals for and 14th in goals against. Their special teams flourished in head coach Jared Bednar's second year, though their five-on-five metrics were ugly. In a word, unpredictable.
Is it realistic to expect the 'Hawks to miss the 2018-19 playoffs? Yes. Is it also realistic to expect them to make it? Yes. Chicago is the archetype for wanting to win ASAP but just not having the high-end prospects - or cap space - to supplement a solid core. Shedding Marian Hossa's deal helps, however, it's offset by Corey Crawford concerns.
Jim Montgomery replaces Ken Hitchcock behind the bench. Miro Heiskanen and Valeri Nichushkin are moving to Dallas. John Klingberg is tasked with building off a Norris Trophy-caliber season. Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn, and Alexander Radulov can't keep dragging the forwards along. No playoff games since 2016. Intrigue is written all over this Stars team.
Connor McDavid has the ability to lift a team - any team - into the playoffs. He's dominant for 20 minutes a night, and someone could write a book about what happened last year during the other 40. The supporting cast, which didn't receive any significant reinforcements via free agency, needs to be better. Special teams is a sore thumb.
No offseason splashes for a group that is decidedly strong enough to play spring hockey but lacks the type of game-breakers typically required to go on a deep run. The same old story for the Wild, who are stuck in the Western Conference's icky middle. And, as expected, those matching Zach Parise/Ryan Suter contracts have not aged well.
The Devils played it coy this summer. Out are forwards Michael Grabner, Brian Gibbons, and Patrick Maroon, and defenseman John Moore. In is ... no one of significance. Nothing wrong with being cautious - especially amid a rebuild - however, reigning MVP Taylor Hall and well-respected coach John Hynes will need support sooner than later.
The Rangers, who allowed the fourth-most goals last year despite employing Henrik Lundqvist, could actually remain moderately competitive thanks to a decent core. Or, as laid out in plain terms by management in February, they could fully transition into teardown mode and sell off Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, etc. A course-setting year ahead in NYC.
Stone is scheduled for a hearing Friday. While the parties typically work out a deal beforehand, arbitration is likely in this case given the gap in negotiations - the Senators have countered with a $5-million offer.
Should Stone be awarded his salary demands, it will be the largest amount in arbitration history, topping the $7.5 million that Shea Weber was granted in 2011. Stone, 26, is coming off a three-year agreement that carried a $3.5-million cap hit, per CapFriendly.
Working in Stone's favor is that he tied for the team lead in scoring last season, notching 20 goals and 42 assists. However, knee and leg injuries limited him to just 58 appearances on the campaign, which brought his nightly production to 1.07 points per game, a career high.
While the Senators will continue to work toward a deal with Stone, they'll first face an arbitration case with defenseman Cody Ceci later Wednesday. The two sides were more than $2.6 million apart as of Monday.
The following five players have each been pegged as a breakout candidate in recent years. Instead, they plateaued or regressed and are now flying under the fantasy radar.
However, it's possible those predictions were just a year or two early. Now that the hype has died down, here are five sleeper candidates whose past disappointing performances can translate into great value.
G Robin Lehner, Islanders
Fantasy expectations are low for newly acquired Islanders goaltender Lehner, who joins a team that was historically bad defensively last season and lost John Tavares this summer. But there's one reason why he could drastically exceed those expectations: Barry Trotz.
Trotz is a defensive wizard. His teams have ranked in the top 10 in goals against nine times during his coaching career. While it helped he had Braden Holtby in Washington, many of those top-10 seasons came in Nashville with goalies such as Mike Dunham, Tomas Vokoun, and Chris Mason manning the crease before defensemen Shea Weber and Ryan Suter came into their own.
It remains to be seen whether Trotz can turn this group of misfits into a competitive bunch, but if he can make Dan Ellis fantasy relevant, it's more than worth taking a chance on the once highly touted Lehner in the late rounds as your third goaltender.
C/RW Elias Lindholm, Flames
Lindholm seems to top breakout lists before each season, but after five largely unproductive years in Carolina, the hype train has come to a screeching halt.
A fresh start could be exactly what Lindholm needs to finally live up to his potential. Predominately a center the last couple of seasons, he'll likely shift to the wing in Calgary with the Flames already set with centers Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund, Derek Ryan, and Mark Jankowski.
Lindholm has averaged more shots per game in his career on the wing. He will also deal with less defensive responsibility and could wind up on the team's top line alongside Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. The addition of James Neal may prevent this, but it's possible the veteran sniper slides down the lineup to provide depth and secondary scoring, which the Flames lacked a season ago.
RW Oliver Bjorkstrand, Blue Jackets
Bjorkstrand was another sexy pick to be a breakout candidate a year ago, but his 11-goal, 40-point campaign was rather underwhelming.
The Dane has been a sharpshooter his entire career. He filled the net in junior, did the same in the AHL, and scored at better than a 20-goal pace through his first two NHL seasons.
His disappointing goal total last year was largely due to a 6.7 shooting percentage, well below the league average and almost half of his career mark heading into last season.
Bjorkstand averaged only 14:18 of ice time in 2017-2018, but that should increase in his second full campaign, especially if Artemi Panarin gets traded, which would also lead to more power-play time. More opportunities to shoot the puck with his quick release could result in a 25- or 30-goal campaign.
C Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Oilers
Nugent-Hopkins isn't in the same category as the other players on this list, but there's a strong chance he gets overlooked on draft day.
He averaged 0.84 points per game in his rookie year, and while many predicted he'd make positive strides, he has since failed to match that number.
The 25-year-old has, somewhat amazingly, been in the league for seven seasons now, but he may have just recently found the key to a new level of success: playing alongside Connor McDavid.
Nugent-Hopkins spent the end of the 2017-18 season playing left wing on McDavid's line, and the results were sensational. He tallied nine goals and nine assists in his final 18 games, shooting the puck at a higher rate than he ever has in his career.
If he can stick on McDavid's wing for a full season, 80 points is in the cards.
LW Andre Burakovsky, Capitals
Last offseason, the Capitals had to part ways with forwards Justin Williams and Marcus Johansson to stay under the salary cap. Many assumed this would be Burakovsky's chance for an increased role, but he failed to take advantage in what was an injury-riddled campaign.
Vrana excited fans with his blazing speed last year, but he did nothing to cement himself in the top six. A strong camp from Burakovsky could help him steal that spot, and playing alongside an excellent two-way forward in Oshie, as well one of the premier playmakers of this generation in Backstrom, could result in 50-60 points for the big Swedish winger.
Some of the NHL's biggest names are signed to contracts that leave fans dumbfounded as to how a player of such high quality could be paid so little. With that in mind, we've put together a salary-cap compliant team filled with players on the most team-friendly contracts in the NHL, but with two exceptions:
Players on entry-level contracts are excluded. Otherwise, the roster would simply be filled with the game's elite young players who've yet to reach their second contract.
Any players in the last year of their current deal are excluded, whether they are set to hit free agency next offseason (e.g. Tyler Seguin), or already signed to a big-money extension that will take effect beginning in the 2019-20 season (e.g. Nikita Kucherov).
So, without further ado, here is the best possible team we can fit under the 2018-19 salary cap ($79.5 million) that's made up of players signed through at least 2019-20 on their current deal and who are beyond their entry-level contracts:
Forwards
Line 1
LW
C
RW
Brad Marchand - BOS ($6.125M)
Nathan MacKinnon - COL ($6.3M)
Mark Scheifele - WPG ($6.125M)
It's quite remarkable all three of these superstars are signed at their bargain cap hits through at least the 2022-23 season. Scheifele, of course, is a center, but the depth down the middle on this team is outstanding, so he shifts to the wing to compliment two Halifax natives in Marchand and MacKinnon.
Line 2
LW
C
RW
Taylor Hall - NJ ($6M)
Aleksander Barkov - FLA ($5.9M)
Rickard Rakell - ANA ($3.789M)
Hall is the reigning Hart Trophy winner, and yet he somehow winds up on the second line here. Meanwhile, Barkov and Rakell are two of the more underrated players in the NHL. Barkov finished fourth in Selke Trophy voting as the league's best defensive forward, while Rakell is quietly coming off back-to-back 30-goal seasons.
Line 3
LW
C
RW
Erik Haula - VGK ($2.75M)
Sean Couturier - PHI ($4.3M)
Josh Anderson - CBJ ($1.85M)
The Flyers gambled on Couturier - handing him a six-year, $26-million contract after a ho-hum 37-point season - but they sure look like geniuses after a breakout 76-point campaign in which he finished second in Selke voting. The third-line wings feature Anderson, a prototypical power forward who can score, and Haula, who had a breakout 29-goal year in the inaugural Golden Knights season.
Line 4
LW
C
RW
Blake Coleman - NJ ($1.8M)
Nazem Kadri - TOR ($4.5M)
Austin Watson - NSH ($1.1M)
Having an effective matchup center in Kadri who's also potted consecutive 32-goal seasons is a luxury, but this team can afford it. Putting him between a takeaway master in Coleman and one of the league's better penalty killers in Watson - despite the latter's off-ice issues - would create an impressive fourth line.
Josi's salary could realistically triple when his contract expires after the 2019-20 season. For comparison, Drew Doughty will become the NHL's highest-paid defender with an average annual salary of $11 million when his extension kicks in a year from now, and while Josi may be a notch below him, he could sign an even bigger contract on the open market due to the rising salary cap. Meanwhile, Jones is coming off a breakout year and is locked up for four more seasons.
Pairing 2
LD
RD
Shayne Gostisbehere - PHI ($4.5M)
John Klingberg - DAL ($4.25M)
The Flyers locked up Gostisbehere after his 2016-17 sophomore slump, but he bounced back with a ridiculous 65 points last season, and he's still just 25 years old. And besides stealing Seguin from the Boston Bruins, Jim Nill's best move as Stars GM was signing Klingberg to a seven-year, $29.75-million contract after his rookie year.
Pairing 3
LD
RD
Mattias Ekholm - NSH ($3.75M)
Ryan Pulock - NYI ($2M)
Ekholm makes it three (and counting) Predators on this squad. Meanwhile, Pulock might be the weak point on the back end of this team, but he's an up-and-comer with one of the league's hardest shots.
Vasilevskiy's 2017-18 campaign was a tale of two seasons, as he starred in the first half but faded down the stretch. Nonetheless, a Vezina Trophy nominee at $3.5 million is an absolute steal. And Saros is seemingly ready to take the reins in Nashville whenever Pekka Rinne gives them up.
Sum of total contracts: $79.44M 2018-19 NHL salary cap: $79.5M
The biggest takeaway from this exercise is that some of the best contracts in the NHL are a result of foresight by general managers who showed faith in young players by locking them into long-term deals before they reached their peaks.
Sure, many contracts on this roster are simply bridge deals, but the most valuable (in terms of length) were signed when question marks remained about whether a player would ever reach his full potential. Couturier, Kadri, Rakell, Josi, and Ekholm are all great examples.
For an in-depth example, let's look more closely at Couturier, who was highly touted and signed his current deal after four seasons of solid defensive work but middling offensive production. His $4.3-million cap hit would've easily been tradeable even if he never progressed, and in the first two years after signing the extension, he yielded similar results. Then, at 25, Couturier found his game a little later than many expected, but now the Flyers have an absolute steal on their hands for four more years.
Sure, there are examples of long-term contracts signed by young players that went horribly wrong. But as long as the annual value isn't outrageous, these sort of risky, long-term contracts tend to age well over time as the salary cap rises - an observation all general managers should be making.
Nashville's David Poile is clearly one of the GMs most willing to hand out such contracts. The Predators lead the way with four players on this roster, and it's no coincidence they've been one of the league's most successful teams over the last few years - and should continue to be - as a result.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images) (Salary information courtesy: Cap Friendly)
