Barry Trotz isn't tipping his hand as much as his captain may have about Evgeny Kuznetsov's status for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night.
Trotz declared his top-line center day to day with an upper-body injury following a massive hit from Brayden McNabb in Game 2 that forced Kuznetsov to leave the contest, and he doubled down on his diagnosis after the 26-year-old surprisingly took part in the Capitals' optional practice Friday.
However, Ovechkin doesn't share the same opinion.
"I'm pretty sure he's going to play tomorrow," Ovechkin said of his linemate, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox.
Kuznetsov's health is a major factor heading into Game 3, as he leads the playoff in points with 25.
Ottawa Senators assistant general manager Randy Lee was arrested Thursday night in Buffalo and is being charged with harassment, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press' John Wawrow.
Lee is reportedly scheduled to be arraigned in court Friday.
The source told Wawrow that Lee was arrested after he took a shuttle bus back to his hotel from a downtown restaurant and bar. An altercation reportedly occurred on the bus.
Each of them has enough red flags that teams would ideally want to sign them to one-year contracts, but their upside is high enough that it will almost certainly take a multi-year deal to outbid fellow teams tempted by the ceiling.
Here are the top five boom-or-bust unrestricted free agents set to hit the open market on July 1.
Ilya Kovalchuk
Kovalchuk is set to make his return to North America after spending the last five seasons in the KHL. At 35 years old, the biggest question is if he has anything left in the tank.
The NHL is a different league from when he last played in it in 2012-13. It's faster and filled with youth. At 230 lbs, does he have enough speed to keep up?
He has remained prolific overseas, scoring 31 goals with 63 points in 53 games this past season, but the KHL is a much slower league and easier for an offensive player to put up gaudy numbers.
Also, how would Kovalchuk respond to a lesser role? His entire life, he's been the best player - or one of the best - on every single team he's ever played on. He's a highly competitive, fiery player who always wants the puck on his stick. How would he perform if the offense didn't revolve around him, and he was only playing 15 or 16 minutes a night rather than 20-plus?
If you had to guess who led the NHL in both goals-against average and save percentage this past season, nobody would've thought Hutton. Yet, with sparkling marks of 2.09 and .931, the Blues netminder was indeed the league-leader in both.
Were these numbers a total outlier, or did he figure something out in his age-32 season? In his 106 career NHL games prior to this season, Hutton owned a 2.51 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
In all likelihood, Hutton's true form probably lies somewhere between his pre-2017-18 self and his surprising breakout season. Even if it happens to be closer to the latter, can he perform near that level with a full starter's workload? He only played in 32 games last year and his career high is just 40.
As the best unrestricted free-agent netminder available - and the only one with legitimate starter upside - Hutton will be highly sought-after, and will likely sign a contract that will reflect the thin goaltender market.
Nash is in a similar situation to Hutton. He also just had a breakout season, but it came suspiciously late in his career at age 28. Was it a fluke? Or is he just a late bloomer? Coming into the 2017-18 season, his career high in points was 25, but he racked up 41 this past year with the Boston Bruins.
During Patrice Bergeron's 13-game absence in March, Nash filled in adequately, centering the team's top line and tallying 13 points. Was this a product of piggy-backing off Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak? Or proof that a player previously pegged as a "bottom-six guy" can actually produce when given a chance to play between talented wingers?
Even when Nash isn't contributing offensively, he's still helping his team, as he was the only player in the NHL with at least 50 takeaways but fewer than 15 giveaways this past season. As the third-best unrestricted free-agent center behind Tavares and Stastny, he's bound to get paid, but if he reverts back to his 25-point self, the contract will be a huge bust.
Boom: Defensively responsible second-line center who can produce offensively with right linemates Bust: Offensively-challenged bottom-six center
Mike Green
Green will turn 33 on Oct. 12 and has a long injury history. Since the 2010-11 season, he's missed an average of 19 games, and underwent season-ending surgery on his cervical spine this year.
He's failed to top 36 points in three seasons since joining Detroit, but is the aging and lackluster Red Wings supporting cast to blame? Or has he declined to the point which his offense no longer makes up for his defensive-zone deficiencies?
Right-handed shooting defensemen are in demand in the NHL, so there will be no shortage of interest in Green. He can still effectively quarterback a power play, but whether a strong team around him can revive his 45-point potential remains to be seen.
Since becoming a full-time NHLer in 2010-11, Grabner has been a productive, yet highly inconsistent goalscorer:
Time frame
Goals per 82 games
1st 3 seasons
28.8
Next 3 seasons
13.4
Last 2 seasons
28.4
Grabner relies heavily on his blazing speed to create scoring chances for himself. He might get more breakaways than anyone in the NHL not named Connor McDavid. Outside of being a capable penalty killer, he doesn't offer much other than scoring. Playmaking isn't in his vocabulary.
He could be an affordable source of speed and goals for a team in need, but if he starts to lose that explosiveness (he turns 31 on Oct. 5), a multi-year deal could look bad in a hurry.
If Brian Gionta is going to play in the NHL again, it won't be with the Boston Bruins, as general manager Don Sweeney announced Thursday that the diminutive winger won't be offered a contract.
The 39-year-old Gionta suited up in 20 games for Boston this season, recording two goals and five assists. He joined the Bruins after a five-game showing for the United States at the Winter Olympics, where he was held without a point.
Postma played 13 games with the Bruins, while Agostino suited up in just five. The latter, however, is coming off four straight productive seasons in the AHL.
Czarnik, 25, had four points in 10 games with Boston, and 69 points in 64 AHL contests.
Kuznetsov leads all players with 25 points during the postseason, including 11 goals.
The Capitals star left Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final after taking a high hit from Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb and did not return, with Lars Eller seeing increased minutes in his absence.
"He's been our best player in playoffs so far," Capitals forward Nicklas Backstrom said to Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post. "I mean, that's tough. We'll see what happens."
If Callahan recovers within the expected time frame, he would miss training camp, preseason, and the first month of the regular season.
The 33-year-old is no longer the offensive threat he once was, as injuries, age, and poor footspeed have caught up with him. He was relegated to fourth-line duties for most of the 2017-18 campaign, tallying five goals and 13 assists in 67 games.
Callahan still has two years remaining on his contract with an annual cap hit of $5.8 million.
The Vegas Golden Knights became a genuine contender faster than anyone could've anticipated, and are going to reap obvious unintended benefits, as a result, this summer.
Against all projections, Vegas made the Stanley Cup Final in its inaugural season and is now looking to topple the Washington Capitals, splitting the first two games of the series.
Since the vast majority of the Golden Knights' roster was accrued through the expansion draft, the team has ample cap space and will be a major player in free agency, owner Bill Foley indicated in an extensive Q+A with The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun.
Oh, we're going to make an effort. There's always transition on a team. There's always two, three or four guys that will want to do something else or who may want a little more term or a little more money than we're prepared to advance. We like all of our guys, we love our players. But we're realists. And they're businessmen just like we are. So we're planning right now. Vaughn Karpan, our director of player personnel, has been in the last week or so, we're analyzing all the free agents, we're thinking about who might be a UFA that might come our direction; we're thinking about other guys under contract with various teams that maybe get traded, maybe their contracts are a little heavy for that team. And we have $30 million in cap space, so we have a lot of cap space and we have the money to spend. We're not going to be shy.
Foley also indicated the Golden Knights exceeded his initial expectations.
"I first said three years, in three years we'd get there and be in the playoffs. I was sort of timing our draft picks we got last year, that those guys would start rotating in, in about three to five years and then we'd make a run in five. But I misjudged the character and the quality and dedication of our team. They're unbelievable."
The Golden Knights are undeniably one of the surprise stories of the North American sports calendar and it's a scary proposition that they could stand to significantly improve over the summer.
