Oskar Olausson Expected To Sign In Sweden
Wild pending restricted free agent forward Oskar Olausson is in the final stages of negotiations with Swedish Hockey League club Frölunda HC, Mattias Persson and Johan Svensson of Expressen report.
It’s a return home for the once highly-touted prospect, who spent most of this season in the Wild organization. Selected late in the first round (28th overall) by the Avalanche in 2021, he was traded to the Sharks for depth winger Daniil Gushchin last offseason before Minnesota acquired him less than three weeks into the season for defender Kyle Masters.
In a historically difficult environment to produce in AHL Iowa, he was limited to 12 goals and 29 points in 63 outings. That’s emblematic of what’s been a rocky developmental road for Olausson, whose NHL resume consists of just four appearances with Colorado in various recalls from 2022 to 2025.
The sniper’s AHL production never really popped, either. He looked like he maybe had some NHL potential left in the tank in 2023-24, when he put up 11 goals and 20 points in 39 games amid an injury-plagued season, but his points per game rate fell again after that brief surge. His underwhelming scoring line this season actually stands as a career high.
Provided Minnesota issues Olausson a qualifying offer, they’ll retain his NHL rights until 2030 if he indeed heads to Sweden. A breakout there could always preface a return to North America – he is still just 23 years old. It’s unclear how long Olausson plans to sign for with Frölunda.
Can The Lightning Remain Competitive For Much Longer?
The Lightning were bounced last week in Game 7 of their opening series against the Canadiens, in what was one of the most evenly matched series the NHL has seen in a long time. Still, it was a tale of two teams headed in opposite directions.
The Canadiens are at the beginning of their competitive window and are surging towards what could become a special era of hockey in Montreal, while the Lightning are on the downslope from their best era in franchise history. With the window to win closing and four straight first-round exits, it’s time to start asking how much longer the Lightning can remain a top team in the NHL.
The Lightning have been among the gold standard in the NHL for the past ten years, winning two Stanley Cups, reaching three Stanley Cup Finals, and making a fourth appearance in 2015. On top of that, they have sustained regular-season success and made hard decisions to let top players move to other teams.
All the while, they have found ways to replace the players who have moved on, either internally or through trades and free agency. Darren Raddysh is a great example of a free agent find who fits in seamlessly with the Lightning.
But with his pending free agency, plus Kucherov being 14 months away from free agency as well, and an aging core, it’s fair to wonder whether the salary cap, their aging stars, and a ton of playoff hockey have finally caught up to them.
Despite their stars aging, Tampa Bay’s core remains elite, and many of their best players are firmly in their primes, including Brayden Point and Brandon Hagel. Kucherov is on the wrong side of 30 but remains among the NHL’s best offensive players, and Andrei Vasilevskiy still gives the team elite goaltending. But are they still good enough to compete for a Cup?
At some point, the mileage on the players becomes a concern. Just look at what happened to the Penguins, Blackhawks and Kings after their Stanley Cup runs in the 2010s. All three teams had a few years of quick playoff appearances before their postseason run ended as they tried to hold on to their last bit of relevance. In all of those cases, the wear and tear caught up with the players. The veterans then aged out or moved on, and rough times followed.
It’s an inevitability in hockey; everyone ages out eventually. Tampa Bay is in the early stages of that cycle.
Not to mention, many members of the Lightning don’t get around the ice the way they once did, particularly on defense, which hurts the Lightning’s overall team speed and depth. Speaking of depth, it’s hard to imagine Tampa Bay replenishing it the way it has in the past, given that it has sent many futures out the door in win-now moves, which have also eroded its salary cap flexibility. Tampa Bay has done a good job of finding cheap replacements, but that becomes harder every year as depth pieces depart due to cap pressures.
The Lightning don’t have many high-end prospects in the pipeline and have one of the weakest prospect pools in the NHL, ranking 24th in The Athletic’s prospect rankings. While that ranking is an improvement from 29th place in 2025, it isn’t anything to write home about, and the Lightning don’t appear to have a ton of help coming in the way of prospects.
Forward Conor Geekie looks like a gamer after scoring at a point-per-game pace in the AHL this season. The 2022 11th overall pick was one of the pieces of the Mikhail Sergachev trade with Utah and could be ready for a full-time NHL role next season, which would be huge for the Lightning.
Tampa Bay would love a similar timeline for forward Sam O’Reilly, but he is likely a few years away from full-time NHL duty. The 2024 first-round pick (32nd overall) is in the midst of a terrific playoff run with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL, but he probably needs a year or two of AHL seasoning before he’ll be ready for the NHL. O’Reilly was just named the winner of the Red Tilson Trophy, awarded annually to the Ontario Hockey League’s most outstanding player, and is chasing a third straight OHL title and a second straight Memorial Cup.
Those big games will bode well for O’Reilly’s development, but his offensive ceiling has been limited, and he hasn’t significantly increased his scoring over the last two years. Wheeler projects O’Reilly as a 3C in the NHL, which is great, but if the Lightning want to extend their window of contention, they’ll need more from him.
The final point to consider when it comes to Lightning’s competition is the division they play in. The Buffalo Sabres have finally arrived and appear to be the real deal. The same can be said for the Habs, who are poised to go on a long run as a potential powerhouse. Ottawa still boasts a solid core of young players, and the Red Wings have some nice pieces that are itching to get to the NHL, and you figure they will put it all together at some point.
Then there are the Panthers, who have a deep core of champions and will be hungry to return to the playoffs next season after an injury-riddled campaign this year. It’s impossible to guess what the division will look like next year, but even the Bruins and Maple Leafs don’t feel like they are going to go away easily. The Atlantic Division is an absolute buzzsaw, and next year could be the toughest yet.
Can Tampa Bay overcome all of these obstacles and roll back the clock? Only time will tell, but extending their window starts this summer, and they will have their work cut out for them. GM Julian BriseBois has proven doubters wrong in the past, as his club has consistently adapted to challenges and kept the window to win open.
It helps to have the best coach in the game behind the bench in Jon Cooper, but at some point, the magic runs out, and a team’s window of opportunity to win slams shut. For the Lightning, that day is coming; it’s just a matter of when.
Penguins Not Expected To Re-Sign Kevin Hayes
The Penguins are not expected to offer pending unrestricted free agent forward Kevin Hayes a contract extension before July 1, Josh Yohe of The Athletic wrote last week.
Hayes, 34, arrived in Pittsburgh from St. Louis two summers ago in a cap-dump deal, with the Blues tossing in a second-round pick. That left the Pens taking on the final two years of the seven-year, $50MM anchor he landed from the Flyers in 2019 as a pending free agent. Philly was already on the hook for half his cap hit after retaining it in the trade that sent him to St. Louis in 2023.
Even for a reduced cap cost of $3.57MM, Hayes wasn’t providing great value. He was at least a semi-regular last season, offering some occasional secondary scoring and versatility as a bottom-six pivot, notching a 13-10–13 scoring line in 63 games.
Injuries became an increasing problem for Hayes this year, missing the first month of the season with an upper-body issue and missing a good chunk of March with one as well. In between them, though, he was still mostly a healthy scratch. He only suited up 28 times this year, with only seven of those coming after the Christmas break. Scoring four goals and eight points, his 0.29 points per game rate was the lowest of his 12 NHL seasons. His faceoff success took a nosedive, too, winning 40.3% of his draws after taking home a good 52.2% mark last year.
Hayes, once something of a trusted penalty-killer, has seen his defensive game decline for quite some time. That was the impetus for Philly shedding his contract three years ago. He still had 54 points in that final season as a Flyer, though, a mark he hasn’t come close to hitting since. With his impact as a scorer drying up, there’s little use for him left in any NHL lineup above a fourth-line role.
Beyond that, Pittsburgh has plenty of internal candidates looking to land bottom-six jobs (and even some press-box roles for a potential long-term depth candidate like Avery Hayes) in the fall. They’ve already moved to bring back fourth-line piece Connor Dewar and have restricted free agent Egor Chinakhov to re-sign as well, leaving them with 10 roster spots accounted for on one-way deals with entry-level players Benjamin Kindel and Rutger McGroarty being relative locks to take up two more. Tristan Broz, Ville Koivunen, and 2025 first-rounder Bill Zonnon will also be in the mix in camp.
Hayes’ limited showing this season was enough to help him clear the 800-game mark for his career. A first-rounder by the Blackhawks in 2010, he’s got a career 185-261–446 scoring line with the Rangers, Jets, Flyers, Blues, and Penguins. His positional versatility and experience might make him a fit somewhere for a league-minimum contract this summer, but a professional tryout or a deal overseas wouldn’t be surprising outcomes either.
Evening Notes: Cassidy, Subban, Islanders
Head coach Bruce Cassidy could find his way back to the Pacific Division sooner rather than later. He is believed to be in the mix for the Los Angeles Kings’ coaching vacancy after the club fired Jim Hiller in March, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period on The Hot Stove podcast. The Kings named D.J. Smith to the role of interim head coach. He led the Kings to an 11-6-6 record to close out the regular season, then oversaw Los Angeles in a first round sweep at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.
Cassidy has a track record of playoff success. He has made the postseason in 10 of his 12 years as an NHL head coach. Those squads made it past the first round in six of those appearances, made the Stanley Cup Finals twice, and won it all once. Where Cassidy goes, long seasons follow – and his experience leading an NHL bench could be invaluable for a Kings team in flux. Los Angeles added a superstar talent in Artemi Panarin this season – but he had to take on a heavy load after injuries to Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko. Good health for the entire lineup, and the presence of a seasoned head coach, could be enough to keep Los Angeles in playoff contention next season despite Anze Kopitar‘s retirement.
Other notes from around the NHL:
- Former Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban accomplished his goal of donating $10MM to the Montreal Children’s Hospital earlier today, per the Montreal Gazzette. It was the largest donation to the hospital by an athlete in the country’s history. Subban announced a mission to raise the funds in 2015, amid routine visits to children staying in the hospital. 11 years later, he has completed the feat, with 100 percent of the money raised going to the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation. Subban played 13 seasons in the NHL, including seven with the Canadiens. He scored 278 points in 434 games with Montreal and 467 points in 834 total games in his career.
- The New York Islanders have invited feisty Providence Friars forward Tanner Adams to their 2026-27 training camp per NHL.com’s Mark Divver. Adams wrapped up his junior year at Providence College this season. He filled an important, top-nine role on the offense – bringing aggression and physicality on the forecheck, even despite his sub-6’0 frame. Adams has totaled 28 goals and 67 points in 108 collegiate games so far. He will attempt to wow an NHL organization once again after attending the Toronto Maple Leafs’ training camp last season.
Avalanche Reassign Jack Ahcan, Josh Manson Remains Out
5/9: Despite being a full participant in morning practice, Manson did not suit up for Saturday night’s Game 3 against the Minnesota Wild, per Baugh. His absence will keep Sam Malinski on the second-pair and Nick Blankenburg in the lineup, while Manson will now aim for a return in Game 4 on Monday.
5/8: An important piece of the Colorado Avalanche lineup could be back in the near future. The team reassigned defenseman Jack Ahcan in anticipation for Josh Manson‘s return from an upper-body injury sustained in Game 3 of the first round per Peter Baugh of The Athletic. The Avalanche “feel good” about Manson’s chances of returning on Saturday, head coach Jared Bednar told Baugh.
Manson has operated as Colorado’s second-pair right-defenseman behind Cale Makar. His physical, two-way presence was a gut punch behind Colorado’s top pair all season long. Manson marked that impact with 31 points in 79 games, the most he’s scored since the 2017-18 season. He also recorded 99 shot blocks and 174 hits, both ranked second on the team. Manson added two assists, one block, and 10 hits through the first two-and-a-half games of Colorado’s playoff run, before running into injury after just five minutes of ice time.
Ahcan will return to the Colorado Eagles’ run in the Calder Cup Playoffs. He has played in three of the team’s playoff games so far, with no scoring or penalties. Ahcan racked up a career-high 50 points in 61 games with the Eagles this season. He has posted a new scoring peak in each of his three seasons with the Eagles, after beginning his career in the Boston Bruins organization. He will step back into an important, top-four role on an Eagles team already pacing the AHL postseason. The Eagles have won four of their five games and boast a playoff-best +12 goal-differential.
Flyers’ Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk Make Stanley Cup Playoffs Debut
The Philadelphia Flyers have made a surprising move in an attempt to avoid a second round sweep at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes. Rookies Jett Luchanko and Oliver Bonk made their Stanley Cup Playoff debut when the Flyers took the ice, playing over healthy scratches Matvei Michkov and Emil Andrae. Luchanko and Bonk now make 13 Flyers to play the first Stanley Cup Playoff game of their career in this postseason per NHL.com’s Adam Kimelman.
Philadelphia scratched Michkov in Game 5 of their first round win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has continued to underwhelm in four games back in the lineup since, still sat at just one point in the first eight playoff games of his NHL career. Luchanko will try to be the difference-maker in just his ninth NHL game. He began the season captaining the OHL’s Guelph Storm, then served as the two-way backbone to the all-out-offense of the Brantford Bulldogs after a mid-season trade. Luchanko ended the year with a combined 43 points in 38 games, a slight step down from the points-per-game pace he managed last year (56 points in 46 games) but still more than his 2023-24 season (74 points in 68 games). He has proved to be a tireless worker who can make a difference in the dirty areas of the ice – a knack that could make him a jammer in the Hurricanes’ breakouts.
Bonk played through his first season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this year. He had quiet results on both sides of the puck, finishing the year with 19 points and a minus-14 in 46 AHL games. It was an underwhelming introduction after a productive, two-way showing in three OHL seasons. Bonk curbed expectations when he scored one goal and one assist in the Flyers’ season finale and his NHL debut. He seemed to move with a bit more confidence on NHL ice and could stand as an X-factor puck-mover if he finds the same spark on playoff ice.
Whether they win or lose, the Flyers will face tough questions on the other side of the postseason. Michkov, the 2023 seventh-overall pick, has been benched twice in his first playoff run despite reaching 20 goals and 51 points in 81 games during the regular season. His 114 points in 161 games is the highest points-per-game from a U22 Flyers skater in the last 10 years. He has clear upside, though Philadelphia will have to find a way to bring it out – a task that could become even tougher if Luchanko can flex his might in the postseason.
Rangers’ Benoit Allaire To Retire After Free Agency
The 2025-26 season will be the last for longtime New York Rangers goalie coach Benoit Allaire, per a team announcement. Allaire will stick around the team through the NHL Draft and start of free agency, per Peter Baugh of The Athletic, before he calls a 29-year career in the NHL to a close.
Allaire has overseen some of the NHL’s top goaltenders as they rose to starting roles. His career began as a goaltending coach with the Montreal Canadiens in 1996. Right away, Allaire was involved in notable NHL careers, working with 20-year-olds Jose Theodore and Tomas Vokoun. Both were overshadowed by a 22-year-old Jocelyn Thibault, who played 61 games of the 1996-97 season.
Theodore and Vokoun went on to play in 647 and 700 games in their NHL careers, respectively, while Allaire jumped to the Phoenix Coyotes for their second season in 1997-98. He joined forces with Nikolai Khabibulin, who was in his third season as Phoenix’s starter. Khabibulin allowed the most goals in the NHL (184) in 1997-98, but, after a year with Allaire, reached a .923 save percentage in 63 games of the 1998-99 season. That mark would stand as the highest in Khabibulin’s 18-year NHL career, though he moved to the Tampa Bay Lightning for the 2000-01 season. Allaire stayed in Phoenix for five more seasons, leaning on Sean Burke to fill the Coyotes’ crease until Brian Boucher moved to Phoenix in 2002-03.
With the Coyotes goalie room stabilized by Boucher, Burke, and Brent Johnson, Allaire moved to the Rangers ahead of the 2005-06 season. It was on Broadway that Allaire would build his legacy. He took over goalie coach duties in Henrik Lundqvist‘s rookie season. Lundqvist finished the year as a Vezina Trophy finalist and fourth in Calder Trophy voting, after recording 30 wins and a .922 save percentage in 53 games.
He was an immediate star who would move through the 2010s as a perennial Vezina candidate with save percentages consistently north of .920. With Lundqvist’s career fading as 2020 approached, Allaire’s attention turned towards finding his next star. That successor would be Igor Shesterkin, who has seamlessly taken over Lundqvist’s spot on annual Vezina ballots. Shesterkin has a career .917 save percentage in 325 games, including a .912 in 51 games this season.
Allaire has molded countless goaltenders into long-term, NHL starters. He also worked with Kevin Weekes, Cam Talbot, Alexandar Georgiev, and Antti Raanta. His name rings loud in NHL circles, and the Rangers will feel the absence of their Director of Goaltending. New York promoted Allaire to a full-time director role in the 2024-25 season.
In the same year, they promoted Hartford Wolf Pack goalie coach Jeff Malcolm to the top flight. Malcolm is a veteran of the Hartford lineup as both a player and a coach – and has spent the last two seasons learning to make up for Allaire’s eventual retirement. He will take the reins moving forward, while the Rangers can rely on Shesterkin, who is signed through the 2032-33 season.
Topi Niemela Signs With IF Bjorkloven
Defenseman Topi Niemela will continue his career in Sweden. The 24 year old has signed with IF Bjorkloven who recently earned promotion to the SHL. Niemela moved to Sweden on a one-year deal with the Malmo Redhawks last summer. The deal marked a return to Europe for the former top Finnish defense prospect. Niemela’s NHL rights are held by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Niemela scored four goals and 18 points in 52 games with Malmo. He ranked second on the team’s blue-line in scoring – 21 points behind former New York Islanders prospect Robin Salo in the lead. Niemela fell short of his AHL scoring in his move overseas. He had a promising break into the Toronto Marlies roster in 2023-24, finishing the year with 39 points in 68 games and a solid lineup role. He hit a dip in his attempts to follow it up, scoring just 22 points in 61 games of the 2024-25 season.
After failing to find an offensive boost in the SHL, Niemela will test his talents in a bigger role with Bjorkloven. He shined as an effective puck-mover through a four-season stint in Finland’s Liiga, prior to his first AHL season. Niemela reached 32 points in 48 games of the 2021-22 season, two years after Toronto landed him with the 64th-overall pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. He fell back to 18 points in 58 games of the 2022-23 season, preluding a move to the Marlies lineup. Niemela would need a big performance to pop back up on the Maple Leafs’ radar, though a strong year in the SHL could be a promising start.
Central Notes: Wild, Schmidt, Engle
There is a mixture of good and bad news for the Wild as they head into the third game of their series against Colorado tonight. Michael Russo of The Athletic relays (Twitter link) that defenseman Zach Bogosian will indeed return from the lower-body injury that kept him out of Tuesday’s game. Meanwhile, after missing practice Friday due to illness, winger Mats Zuccarello took part in today’s morning skate and will be good to go for this game as well. However, the news isn’t as positive for center Joel Eriksson Ek. He didn’t skate today and has been ruled out for tonight’s contest, meaning that Minnesota will be trying to get back into the series without their top center once again.
Elsewhere in the Central Division:
- A promising Stars prospect is on the move for the second time in less than six months. Earlier this week, WHL Victoria announced that they’ve acquired winger Cameron Schmidt from Seattle in exchange for a pair of draft picks, including the seventh-round pick in the draft from a few days ago. The 19-year-old was a late third-round pick last year, falling due to his smaller stature. But Schmidt is coming off an impressive 2025-26 season, one that saw him reach 100 points in 72 games between Vancouver and Seattle. He’ll now get a shot at one more run at the junior level before likely turning pro for the 2027-28 campaign.
- Jets prospect Edison Engle has changed his college commitment. According to Illegal Curve’s David Minuk and confirmed by Brad Elliott Schlossmann of the Grand Forks Herald, the 19-year-old will now play for Western Michigan next season instead of Ohio State as originally planned. Engle was a sixth-round pick by Winnipeg last summer, going 188th overall. He played for OHL Brantford this season and in his first year at that level, he put up 28 points in 61 games during the regular season before adding five more in 15 playoff contests.
Offseason Checklist: Winnipeg Jets
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those eliminated in the first round. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Winnipeg.
After a 2024-25 season that saw the Jets finish first overall in the regular season and make it to the second round of the playoffs, expectations were high heading into this year. Yes, Nikolaj Ehlers was gone but the core group was expected to be good enough to keep them in a safe playoff spot. However, that certainly didn’t happen as they put up their lowest 82-game point total since 2015-16. Now, Kevin Cheveldayoff has several pieces to try to add to his group over the coming months if he wants to get Winnipeg back into a playoff spot. Unsurprisingly, that covers the bulk of their checklist.
Add A New Backup Goalie
With Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg’s starting goalie is in place for the long haul as the veteran is signed through the 2030-31 season. While Hellebuyck has called for some changes to the roster, one of those arguably should come at his position.
Eric Comrie has had three separate stints in Winnipeg’s organization over the years and has put up solid numbers overall, ones that are better than his career averages. But his usage has always been rather limited. When Hellebuyck was sidelined for 11 games with a knee injury earlier this season, Comrie got the opportunity to run with the number one job and the team promptly slumped, eventually falling into a hole they weren’t able to overcome.
Winnipeg’s cap situation in recent years necessitated a low-cost signing which made bringing back (or keeping) Comrie a logical decision. But they have plenty of flexibility this summer, with more than $20MM in projected cap room, per PuckPedia. That means instead of looking for a goalie near the league minimum salary, they can set their sights a little higher and even shop toward the upper tier of the backup market in the $4MM range.
While that would give them a very expensive tandem, that player should represent an upgrade on Comrie. Presumably, he’d be able to play a bit more than Comrie as well, keeping Hellebuyck a little fresher as he enters his age-33 season. Both of those situations could pay dividends down the stretch and be worth a few extra victories.
Re-Sign Perfetti
When the Jets opted to sign Cole Perfetti to a bridge deal two summers ago, it felt like a prudent move for both sides. Perfetti would get more time to prove that he’s worthy of the long-term deal he was seeking while Winnipeg got some shorter-term cap flexibility.
After the first season of the contract, it looked like Perfetti was in good shape. He was coming off a career-best 50 points and even repeating that would have put him in a good spot to at least double his current $3.25MM AAV. However, things didn’t go quite as well this season, as he notched just 12 goals and 20 assists in 68 games despite a small uptick in playing time to 15:37 per night. Ehlers’ absence clearly affected Winnipeg’s second line and Perfetti, in particular. Now, it’s not so clear what’s coming on his next contract.
The max-term (or close-to-max-term) deal that seemed likely last summer seems a lot less likely now as there are still questions as to his overall upside. Was the 50-point season an outlier or, with better linemates, does he have another level to get to?
Winnipeg has two years of team control left on the 24-year-old which takes another two-year bridge pact off the table as that would walk him to UFA eligibility in his prime. That leaves Cheveldayoff with two viable options: Sign Perfetti to a one-year deal and kick the decision down the road 12 months or try to work out a medium-term pact that buys a year or two of extra control. AFP Analytics projects that a one-year deal would cost around $4.26MM while a four-year agreement could run closer to $5.78MM per season.
How certain are the Jets when it comes to Perfetti’s ceiling and fit moving forward? They’ll have to make a call on that in the early part of the offseason as he’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer on top of his $3.5MM qualifying offer. Something will surely get done but it’s not as clear-cut of a call as it seemed a year ago.
Add A Top-Six Piece (Or Two)
The loss of Ehlers to Carolina clearly impacted the Jets more than they were expecting. They went from being one of the top-scoring teams in the NHL in 2024-25 (they tied for the lead in the West in that regard with Dallas, a pretty high-octane team) but saw their output drop by more than half a goal per game this season. Their top line was productive but Perfetti was ultimately fourth in scoring among forwards with output closer to the level of a third-liner.
Winnipeg has had a long-standing issue down the middle in terms of finding someone to play behind Mark Scheifele. The end result has been them moving high draft picks for short-term upgrades at that slot or taking a flyer on Jonathan Toews who proved to be overmatched in that role (though considerably more effective lower in the lineup). They briefly tried Perfetti there but abandoned that pretty quickly. At this point, it basically goes without saying that they need to fill the number two center spot. The problem is that few are available and the list of suitors is quite long.
At this point, the more realistic option might be to try to augment their winger situation. Yes, it would mean not solving the most important spot but they’re not in a position to be picky about how they upgrade their offense; it just needs to be upgraded. It’s not as if there’s a surplus of options available there either but generally speaking, there are more of those available in free agency than centers and they’re also typically easier to get in a trade. Adding one (or even two) of those to create a winger-driven second line could give them the secondary scoring they were clearly lacking this season.
Bring In A Top-Four Right-Shot Defender
When it comes to Winnipeg’s back end, there is a clearly defined top four – Josh Morrissey and Dylan Samberg on the left side with Neal Pionk and Dylan DeMelo on the right side. However, DeMelo has typically been at his best in a third-pairing role in his career while getting him to that spot would certainly help their overall defensive balance. Elias Salomonsson showed some promise this season but isn’t ready to jump into that spot on the depth chart just yet.
It’s not the deepest crop of free agents but there are a handful who could fit the bill, headlined by Rasmus Andersson, John Carlson, Darren Raddysh, and even former Jet Jacob Trouba. Landing one of those could even potentially make DeMelo expendable to try to flip him for some offensive help up front. This isn’t a must-get by any stretch but it would definitely get them a boost.
Failing that, adding a depth right-shot option would make sense. Colin Miller is a pending unrestricted free agent and probably won’t be back. Jacob Bryson (a lefty) is also set to hit the open market this summer. With Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn now in Buffalo and Ville Heinola on his way out the door, what was once a deep back end has been thinned out. Getting another righty in the mix (especially since their recall options for next season, as things stand, are primarily lefties) would be a prudent add. But a top-four pickup would be even better.
Photo courtesy of Terrence Lee-Imagn Images.