Here is a rundown of some of the original content here at PHR over the past seven days.
The Devils tend to be one of the more overlooked teams in the Metropolitan Division but Gavin examined how they are slowly putting the pieces together to get themselves into contention. Meanwhile, after a very quiet summer thus far, I looked at why that’s not going to be the case for them next offseason.
The next wave of college free agency is set to open up on the 16th (players’ rights remain with their draft teams through the 15th). Zach provided an overview of the players that are set to hit the open market and projects which ones will be able to land NHL contracts in the weeks to come.
Gavin reviewed Edmonton’s offseason activity so far. After the disappointing year they had in 2017-18, some were expecting them to make a bigger move but that hasn’t happened. They still have some work to do in the coming weeks as defenseman Darnell Nurse remains in need of a new contract. Unless they find a way to free up some cap space though, he’ll almost assuredly be looking at a bridge deal.
Larger rosters are the norm in international hockey and now the NCAA as well but in the NHL, just 18 skaters get to dress each night. Zach made the case for the NHL to follow the same path and allow one extra skater to suit up per game.
Our Salary Cap Deep Dive series continued with a long look at the Metropolitan Division. I went over the situations for the Flyers, Hurricanes, and Islanders while Holger did the same for the Rangers and Blue Jackets.
Some teams will be heading to training camp next month with most of the roster set. Gavin noted that this won’t be the case for Anaheim who will have quite a few players battling for the final spots as several of their prospects are nearly NHL ready.
While most teams are set between the pipes, there is still bound to be some activity on the goalie market in the weeks to come. I broke down the current state of the market including the top free agent options available, potential players that could be in play to be dealt, and which teams may still be interested in adding to their stable of netminders.