With training camps now just a few weeks away, activity is beginning to pick up around the league. Here are the top stories from the past week.
Stafford Joins The Devils: After a tough season, Drew Stafford found himself on the outside looking in until New Jersey signed him to a one-year, $800K contract, one that’s more than an 80% pay cut compared to his contract from last season. Given that New Jersey’s depth on the right side isn’t particularly strong, Stafford could get a chance to play an important role which could set him up nicely to enter the open market with more leverage next summer.
Beauchemin Goes Back To Anaheim: After losing both Shea Theodore and Clayton Stoner to the Golden Knights in expansion plus Simon Despres to the KHL after a buyout and injuries to Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm that will likely linger into the start of the season, the Ducks brought back Francois Beauchemin for a third stint with the team. The deal is worth a guaranteed $1MM plus up to $500K in performance bonuses. Colorado opted to buy out the final year of Beauchemin’s deal back in June rather than pay him $4.5MM in 2017-18. The 37-year-old stated shortly after signing that he expects this to be his final NHL season.
College Signings: While the top player on the market waited until today to sign, three others inked their entry-level deals over the course of the past week. Most notably among those was center Alex Kerfoot joining the Avalanche where he will have a chance to play right away. Fellow pivot Blaine Byron had interest from multiple teams on a two-way NHL deal but opted to take a minor league pact with Florida that will preserve his eligibility to play in the Olympics. Columbus also got in on the action, signing blueliner Doyle Somerby to a two-year deal.
Zetterberg May Retire After 2018-19: While it doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering the structure of his contract, Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg acknowledged in an interview back in Sweden that he doesn’t expect to play beyond 2018-19. He also admitted that the final two years (which carry a $1MM salary) was basically included to artificially lower the cap hit. If he does retire at that time, the Red Wings will be hit with considerable cap recapture to the tune of more than $5MM for the two seasons. The news isn’t any better in Detroit when it comes to Andreas Athanasiou as contract talks aren’t progressing and he has a notable KHL offer on the table to consider.
Leafs Ink Brown For Three Years: Toronto locked up their last remaining free agent on Saturday when they signed Connor Brown to a three-year, $6.3MM deal. He’s coming off a strong rookie season with the team where he posted 20 goals and 16 assists while playing in all 82 games with the Leafs. Toronto remains well over the salary cap for now but will get into compliance when the season gets underway and they put one of Nathan Horton or Joffrey Lupul on long-term injury reserve (one of the two went on earlier this summer).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.