The trade market continues to be quiet with the deadline just over a week away but there was still some notable news on the transaction front which is highlighted in our key stories of the week.
Ristolainen’s Sticking Around: One of the more prominent potential unrestricted free agent defensemen is off the market as Rasmus Ristolainen signed a five-year, $25.5MM contract extension with the Flyers. The 27-year-old continues to be one of the more polarizing rearguards around the league. Philadelphia paid a significant price to get him at the draft including a first-round pick but his underlying metrics have never been good. Nevertheless, GM Chuck Fletcher clearly values Ristolainen to make this type of commitment to him, one that actually represents a small dip in pay compared to his current $5.4MM AAV.
Subban Won’t Be Sticking Around: The Devils have informed veteran defenseman P.K. Subban that they will not be retaining him beyond this season. The 32-year-old is in the final season of an eight-year, $72MM contract that at the time, made him the highest-paid defender in the NHL. However, his numbers have tapered off in recent seasons and he has just 18 points in 56 games this season. As a result of the decision to move on from him, New Jersey will likely try to find a taker for Subban’s services but since they can only retain $4.5MM of his AAV, that may be tricky to do and may require a third team to get involved to hold back another chunk. Either way, Subban will be hitting the open market in July.
Good And Bad News For Dallas: Joe Pavelski has certainly impressed since joining Dallas three years ago and is on pace for a career year at the age of 37 as he has 23 goals and 37 assists in 57 games. He decided he likes playing for the Stars and opted to turn down a shot at testing the open market, instead signing a one-year extension. The deal is worth a guaranteed $5.5MM with an extra $500K in games played bonuses – $100K for every ten games played up to 50. It’s a small decrease compared to the $7MM he’s making now while the bonus structure gives Dallas a bit of extra cap flexibility for next season since those can be rolled over to 2023-24 if needed. Unfortunately for the Stars, the news wasn’t all good as blueliner Miro Heiskanen is out indefinitely due to a bout with mononucleosis.
Another Injury For Fabbri: Red Wings winger Robby Fabbri has had some tough luck when it comes to knee injuries over the years and it looks like he will be dealing with another one as he is believed to have suffered a torn ACL. If that’s the case, his season will be over and he’ll be questionable for the start of training camp. Fabbri has done well to establish himself in Detroit and has been one of their more consistent secondary scorers. He has 30 points in 56 games this season and his performance was good enough for the team to give him a three-year, $12MM extension back in December.
McCann Gets Paid: Over the past few years, Kraken center Jared McCann had shown flashes of offensive upside but wasn’t able to put it together with any sort of consistency. The opportunity to play big minutes with regularity in Seattle has helped him to realize some of that potential and for that, he was rewarded with a five-year, $25MM extension. The deal contains a 10-team no-trade clause in the last four seasons of the deal, the only ones eligible for trade protection as the first year of the contract is an RFA-eligible one. The 25-year-old leads Seattle in goals with 23 and is tied for the lead in points with 35 in 53 games this season.