With the Stanley Cup Final (which will feature the expansion Vegas Golden Knights) fast approaching, activity is starting to pick up around the league. Here are the top stories from the past week.
Hartnell, Emelin Unlikely To Return To Predators: Following their elimination at the hands of the Jets, Nashville has made a pair of decisions regarding two of their free agents. They have decided not to offer another contract to rugged winger Scott Hartnell while they are unlikely to retain defenseman Alexei Emelin. Hartnell was relatively productive in a bottom-six role for the Preds with 24 points (13-11-24) in 62 games despite averaging only 12:01 per night in ice time but he didn’t see much action in the postseason, suiting up just four times. Meanwhile, Emelin was a regular on the third pairing but after Nashville re-signed depth defenders Yannick Weber, Matt Irwin, and Anthony Bitetto back in January, he became a likely candidate to be let go.
Oilers Sign Persson, Loan Him Back To SHL: Edmonton added some defensive depth into their system by signing Joel Persson to a one-year, entry-level deal. That in itself isn’t particularly notable but what they announced at the same time is. The team has already confirmed that Persson will be loaned back to the SHL for next season where he will burn that year of his contract and become a restricted free agent in July of 2019. This enables him to effectively bypass the entry-level system despite being just 24 years of age. Other teams around the league will undoubtedly be taking note and it will be interesting to see if anyone else makes a move like this in the weeks to come.
Hurricanes Will Be Making A Change In Goal: Don Waddell hasn’t been in place for long as the full-time GM of Carolina but he has already identified one position that will see some changes for next season. He acknowledged that when it comes to goaltending the Hurricanes “can’t bring the same two guys back”. Scott Darling didn’t fare well in his first season as a starter while Cam Ward was a little bit better but as a team, they posted a .893 save percentage which ranked them dead last in the league. Darling has three years at a cap hit of $4.15MM left on his deal while Ward, who has been in Carolina’s organization since they drafted him in 2002, is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July. On the surface, it certainly appears that Ward’s tenure has come to an end. Still with Carolina, there may be more changes coming following a report that they are open for business and that winger Sebastian Aho appears to be the only untouchable from their current roster.
Coyotes Discussing Extension With Ekman-Larsson: While a new contract can’t be signed until July 1st, that isn’t stopping the Coyotes from discussing an eight-year extension with defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The 26-year-old has been a staple of their back end since he debuted back in the 2010-11 season and has emerged as a legitimate number one blueliner. He has one year remaining on his contract (similar to Erik Karlsson of the Senators and Drew Doughty of the Kings, widely viewed as the top free agents of 2019) and he should be set to earn a considerable raise on his current $5.5MM cap hit; it’s believed the proposed contract is a little over $8MM per season.
Hossa Officially Won’t Return: While he was holding out hope that taking this past season off would give him a shot at playing later on, that won’t be the case for Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa. He announced that his skin disorder (and the medication) will not allow him to return to the NHL which makes him effectively retired. However, it appears that he won’t file retirement papers with the league which will allow him to be placed on LTIR for the remaining three years on his contract. With his playing days now officially over, it wouldn’t be surprising to see if Chicago looks to find a taker for his deal with a small market team looking to get to the salary cap floor.
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