If there was any doubt on the league taking some time off, it was dissipated pretty quickly during this offseason. Multiple trades, new GM's joining the league and this is not counting the start of the RFA,UFA and draft.
Lets highlight the biggest moves up to now and try to look at what might happen this offseason.
On a side note, I expect to see a busier RFA season, with some quality players available, Gaudreau, Polak and Cowan. Those guys might have hefty bids on them or their respective teams might sign them for less than they were asking. This could be an offseason that might redefine how contracts will get negotiated. If these players were to stick and sign for less than their ask, then more and more GM's might opt for this route.
On the other hand, if those players are snatched by other teams and compensation goes the other way, GM's in the future might not follow this path. It will be very interesting to see what happens. The Cap did slighty move up and give some wiggle room to some teams, but controlling salaries for superstar players will be key in the future.
Looking at Duchene, the Hawks did offer sheet him and pay the compensation to Florida, 2 1sts, a 2nd and a 3rd. The contract was for 7 years at 7 million.
Biggest off season trade so far in my opinion was the following:
Buffalo Sabres send Brandon Dubinsky, Cameron Schilling, Dana Tyrell, BUF 2027 Rnd 2, BUF 2028 Rnd 2 to the Nashville Predators for Alexander Salak, Jaccob Slavin, Olli Juolevi, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Zemgus Girgensons, TB 2023 Rnd 1, BOS 2023 Rnd 2, MON 2024 Rnd 1, NAS 2026 Rnd 1
It could take me 1 hour to analyze this deal but what a big one. Nashvile, a contender every year just made a splash and their presence known in the West with the acquisition of Dubinsky and Tyrell especially, 2 cornerstone and superstars in this league. They do give up quite a lot of prospects with tremendous potential in Dubois, Girg and Juolevi.
I love the trade for both teams but really like what Nashville did here, getting Tyrell for a very manageable cap hit for 3 more years and the Dubs for 1 year, RFA next season. The Hawks definitely hate this trade being in the same division.
My title for this piece is what to expect in 2024, well I expect Nashville to win the Cup.
Vancouver Canucks send Nicklas Grossman, Noah Hanifin to the St Louis Blues for Jarred Tinordi, Matt D'Agostini:
The Canucks sure do love their Dmen and getting Tinordi makes them even more fearless on the back end, already in my eyes the best defensive team in the league, they get even better on the blueline and add Agostini. The Blues do get a great stay at home in Grossman but Hanifin was just in transit as he was shipped. The Canucks now have a top 4 of Nurse, Tinordi, Johnson and Vlasic, oh and they have a wall in goal in Irving.
The Penguins also made some moves, really like what they did and have a well balanced team with some veterans with great leadership and experience. They will be a force to reckon with in the East and their veteran presence might make them a contender.
This is a brief summary of what has happened until now. As i said, its still early in the offseason but there might be even more moves coming up and that might not have even been posted. I will be paying extra attention of what comes out of the RFA process as it might end up being a way to lower player salaries, especially with so many teams over/close to the salary cap.
2/19/2019 - 627 words
If there was any doubt on the league taking some time off, it was dissipated pretty quickly during this offseason. Multiple trades, new GM's joining the league and this is not counting the start of the RFA,UFA and draft.