The NHL salary cap will be set at $75 million next season, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
It's an increase of $2 million from last season's cap, which was set at $73 million. The cap floor next season has been set at $55.4 million.
The NHL introduced the salary cap in the 2005-06 season, when it was set at $39 million.
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The New York Islanders are willing to pay the piper.
The Brooklyn club is willing to send a first-round pick to the Vegas Golden Knights to keep the incoming squad from selecting one of its forwards in the expansion draft, according to TSN's Darren Dreger.
The Islanders opted to protect eight skaters from the expansion draft, including five defensemen, namely Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic, Nick Leddy, Adam Pelech, and Ryan Pulock.
New York also shielded forwards John Tavares, Anders Lee, and Andrew Ladd, plus goaltender Thomas Greiss.
That means the likes of forwards Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, and Ryan Strome are up for grabs to the Golden Knights. But as Dreger reports, the Islanders are willing to pay a price for Vegas to direct its attention elsewhere.
Fans of the Islanders will know the outcome soon enough, with the Golden Knights set to announce their selections June 21.
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It took a little longer than planned, but the lists finally came out.
After making fans and the media wait an extra half hour Sunday morning, the NHL released the lists of protected and available players for all 30 teams not named the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of the upcoming expansion draft.
Here's who each team is protecting heading into Wednesday's proceedings:
"(NMC)" denotes that the player has a no-movement clause in his contract.
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The NHL made fans wait a little longer Sunday morning, and the reaction on social media was, in a word, lit.
One minute before the league's much publicized scheduled reveal time for the highly anticipated expansion draft protected players lists, there was this.
UPDATE: The NHL will announce Available/Protected Lists for the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft today at 10:30 a.m. ET. #VegasDraft
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) June 18, 2017
Twitter predictably brought its A-game in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.
I'm going back to bed. https://t.co/u3io4IuUs9
— Bill Hoppe (@BillHoppeNHL) June 18, 2017
................... welp https://t.co/4KDtkvnqNX
— Michael Smith (@MSmithCanes) June 18, 2017
I was saying Boo-ettman.
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) June 18, 2017
What's another half hour after waiting for months, right? https://t.co/UR08OhhcpK
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 18, 2017
THAT IS EVIL.
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) June 18, 2017
Sorry folks, but the Montreal list has to have a 30-minute ceremony before it can come out.
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) June 18, 2017
Hold please while the NHL hurriedly looks for another America Online CD and tries to troubleshoot its Netscape browser.
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) June 18, 2017
Vegas is challenging offside on one of the lists
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) June 18, 2017
Did someone forget to press save? https://t.co/Mfw2hrBABd
— Chris Gordon (@Chris_Gordon) June 18, 2017
No Hurry League
— All The Kings Men (@KingsMenPodcast) June 18, 2017
So, how 'bout those Cubbies, huh?
— Tracey Myers (@TramyersCSN) June 18, 2017
All the lists were put in a safe and now they can't find the key.
— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) June 18, 2017
In true NHL fashion, this delay is caused by a lockout
— The Royal Half (@theroyalhalf) June 18, 2017
To be fair, 7 a.m. is an absolutely ludicrous time to be awake in Las Vegas.
— Sam Werner (@SWernerPG) June 18, 2017
Somewhere, Gary Bettman has a coffee, a newspaper, and is snickering as he opens his secret Hockey Twitter account
— Mary Clarke (@marycclarke) June 18, 2017
Today's #NHL Expansion Draft List release is brought to you by the Guardian Project.
— Section 328 (@Section_328) June 18, 2017
At least by adding a frustrating and inexplicable delay to something that seems like it should have been simpler the NHL is staying on brand
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) June 18, 2017
And scene.
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The Columbus Blue Jackets like what they see with John Tortorella.
So much so that the club is working to sign the fiery bench boss to a contract extension, reports Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch.
"He did a great job for us, together with his coaching staff," said Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen. "We have some great young talent, and I think he can bring our team to the next level. So hopefully we get it done."
Tortorella joined the Blue Jackets during the 2015-16 season following the early dismissal of Todd Richards. Flip the calendar a year later, with Tortorella getting the opportunity to instill his message from Day 1 of training camp, and it resulted in the best season in franchise history.
Columbus finished with 50 wins and 108 points for the league's fourth-best record, and advanced to the playoffs for just the third time since joining the NHL in 2000.
That performance has Tortorella nominated the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year. It is his fourth nomination, winning in 2003-04 while with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Covering head coaching stints with the Blue Jackets, Lightning, New York Rangers, and Vancouver Canucks, Tortorella ranks 22nd all time with 530 career wins. He won the Stanley Cup with the Lightning in 2004.
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He may not have used it that often in the NHL last season, but this summer Buffalo Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark found good use for his mask.
Saturday in his native Sweden, Ullmark did what most newly-married men do, he posed with his wife for photos after tying the knot. This wedding was a little different, however, as both bride and groom donned full goalie helmets for their photos.
Mrs. Ullmark may be a keeper, but with the expansion draft looming, the same cannot be said for Mr. Ullmark.
- With h/t to NHL.com
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The figurative rain fell on Mike Bales a day after the actual parade.
The Pittsburgh Penguins celebrated their latest Stanley Cup win in the city's streets Wednesday, and on Thursday, Bales was informed that he was being let go as the team's goalie coach after four years of service.
"I wasn't expecting that coming off two Cups in a row," Bales admitted to Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette.
According to Mackey, Bales was seen as Marc-Andre Fleury's guy, while his replacement, Mike Buckley, has a closer relationship with Matt Murray. With the former set to move on as the franchise presses on with the latter - and rightfully so - Bales suddenly became replaceable, even though both goalies combined for 16 wins, five shutouts, and a .929 save percentage during this year's Cup run.
It's yet another twist in what has been a unique goaltending situation in Pittsburgh over the past year.
"Sometimes if things aren't working out, the organization gets a new goaltender, and they weren't happy with their goaltending coach, they may ask the goaltender who they like," Bales said. "If it's a good fit for the team and the coaching staff, they'll make changes. I don't think it's very common what happened here."
Fleury, Bales added, was shocked by Pittsburgh's decision, and thought the goalie coach was goofing. Not so, and Bales was hired Saturday by the Carolina Hurricanes, for whom he's excited to work with.
"I'm genuinely really excited to go there and work with the goaltenders there in the organization," he said, with Scott Darling in line to be the starter. "They're a young, up-and-coming team. I'm going to go there and be successful there, too. Good things happen to good people, I always say. I know good things will happen there for me."
Fleury's next destination is yet to be determined, while Murray will get to work even more closely with his apparent goalie coach of choice.
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