Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Edmonton’s core is under contract already but they have quite a few depth players in need of new deals for next season. Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.
Key Restricted Free Agents: F Jesse Puljujarvi – The Finnish winger isn’t on this list because he had a really strong season but for where he was drafted three years ago when he went fourth overall. Puljujarvi underwhelmed considerably in Edmonton’s lineup but there is still optimism that he can become more of a consistent impact player. While he has been bandied about in trade speculation going back to before the trade deadline, the likeliest scenario at this point is that he signs a one-year bridge contract and hopes that new head coach Dave Tippett can unlock some of his potential.
F Jujhar Khaira – Khaira’s never going to be a big point producer at the NHL level but he can play both center and the wing and brings a physical edge to the bottom six. There’s still some value to that particular skill set and it’s notable that at least one team had interest in him as a sweetener to take on the final year of Brandon Manning’s contract. Unlike Puljujarvi, Khaira is eligible for salary arbitration and should get a small raise on the $700K salary he received last season; his qualifying offer checks in at $735K.
Other RFAs: F Colin Larkin, D Robin Norell, F Ty Rattie, F Tobias Rieder, G Shane Starrett, F Tyler Vesel
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Alex Chiasson – Considering he needed training camp PTO deals the last two seasons, not many were expecting much from Chiasson in 2018-19. However, he took advantage of the opportunity to spend some time in the top six and responded with a career year. He had more goals (22) than he had points in the previous season (18) and logged just shy of 17 minutes a night. He also was particularly strong with the man advantage, scoring eight times on the power play which is more than he had the previous four seasons combined. That’s going to generate more interest in Chiasson than he has seen in recent years as a potential late-bloomer. Edmonton would undoubtedly like to bring him back but it’s going to take more than the league minimum to get him to sign this time.
D Kevin Gravel – Of Edmonton’s other unrestricted free agents, Gravel was the only one to play more than a handful of games with them. He cleared waivers at the beginning of the season but by the beginning of November, he was up on a full-time basis. However, his playing time wasn’t as permanent. Gravel was in and out of the lineup the rest of the way, winding up with 36 games played and an average of 14:43 per night. That’s enough for him to get another contract but it will likely wind up being the two-way variety.
Other UFAs: F Mitch Callahan, F Brad Malone, G Al Montoya, D Alexander Petrovic, F Patrick Russell, D Ryan Stanton, G Anthony Stolarz
Projected Cap Space: Edmonton presently has a little over $72MM committed to 17 players for next season, per CapFriendly. A good chunk of that roughly $10MM in cap room will be earmarked for a second goaltender to work with Mikko Koskinen, whose new contract worth $4.5MM per year kicks in for next season. After that, they will once again be shopping around the bargain bin with an eye on trying to find a player or two that can do like Chiasson and produce with more of an opportunity. Unless new GM Ken Holland can find a way to free up some cap space, the roster for 2019-20 will look a lot like the one that finished last year, just with a different cast of role players.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Trade Puljujaarvi to the Habs.. hehe
Eriksson for Lucic
trade Puljujuj for a D man (say, from Carolina or New York Rangers – Pionk?)