With the UFA market slowing down, the majority of the top news of the week came from the RFA side as players managed to avoid getting to an arbitration hearing.
Big Money For Goalies: Monday was a good day for goaltenders. First, Flyers netminder Carter Hart signed a three-year, $11.937MM contract, a payday that certainly reflected his performance over his first two years in the NHL over his struggles in 2020-21 that saw him post a 3.67 GAA with a .877 SV% in 27 games. Later that day, Rangers starter Igor Shesterkin landed a bigger deal, a record-breaking one even as his four-year, $22.6MM contract is the richest payday for a goalie coming off his first contract. Shesterkin has just 47 career NHL contests under his belt but has long been viewed as New York’s goalie of the future. With this deal, he’s certainly the goalie of the present as well. Shesterkin’s contract bought out two years of UFA eligibility while Hart will be RFA-eligible one final time in 2024.
Vrana Avoids Arbitration: Red Wings winger Jakub Vrana was the first to get to the point of actually having to make an arbitration submission but it never got to that point as he and the Red Wings were able to agree on a three-year, $15.75MM contract the day before the hearing was scheduled to occur. The 25-year-old was acquired from Washington at the trade deadline and had a strong finish to his year, picking up eight goals and three assists in 11 games which certainly didn’t hurt his negotiating position for this deal. The contract takes care of his two remaining RFA years plus one season of UFA eligibility.
Jets Re-Sign Two: There were questions about whether or not Winnipeg would be able to afford to re-sign both of their prominent restricted free agents and stay cap-compliant. They were able to accomplish that in the end, albeit barely. First, defenseman Neal Pionk inked a four-year, $23.5MM contract, buying out his final two RFA years plus two seasons of UFA eligibility. He nearly doubled his previous AAV in the process but deservedly so as he has put up 77 points in 125 games since joining the Jets two years ago. That meant that Andrew Copp had to settle for a one-year deal to keep his price tag as low as possible and he was able to do so at $3.64MM. If Winnipeg carries a 22-player roster instead of the maximum of 23, they should be able to stay under the cap.
Surgery For Matthews: Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews played through most of last season with a wrist injury, still managing to lead the league in goals with 41 in 52 games in spite of that. However, the rest and rehab approach wasn’t fixing the problem and after reporting some discomfort as he increased his off-ice training, it was decided that surgery was the best approach. Matthews has gone under the knife and will be out for at least the next six weeks. It’s still early enough in the summer that Matthews shouldn’t miss any regular season action (barring any setbacks) but it’s likely he will be very limited in training camp and the preseason.
Panthers Sign A Pair: The Panthers inked a pair of forwards, one in the prime of his career and the other not so much. First, they avoided arbitration with Sam Reinhart, inking their key summer acquisition to a three-year, $19.5MM contract, buying out two UFA-eligible years in the process. The 25-year-old has put up at least 40 points in each of his six full NHL seasons and has tallied between 22 and 25 goals in the last four campaigns. They then added some veteran depth with the signing of Joe Thornton to a one-year, $750K contract. The 42-year-old has seen his production dip sharply in recent years but he still managed 20 points in 44 games with Toronto last season though the bulk of that came early in the year. He’ll serve as a veteran mentor while giving them some extra depth in the bottom six.
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