Teams are in the process of getting their rosters set with some tough cuts to be made before the regular season officially gets underway. With that in mind, it’s a good time to open up the mailbag.
Our last mailbag was split into two segments. The first discussed the recent usage of deferred salary in contracts and if that’s a mechanism we should expect to see more often, RFA contract projections for Cole Perfetti and Lucas Raymond (coming in slightly below the actual amounts for both), if Anaheim can move two long-term veterans, and more. Among the topics in the second was my annual prediction for a breakout player, discussing Calgary’s potentially tradable veterans, and what to expect from Connor Bedard’s sophomore season.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter/X or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
So did Neely make the $64M contract offer to Jeremy Swayman and his agent sat on it and did not tell his client? Does Swayman take this offer and fires his agent? Will Neely take the offer off the table? Will Swayman end up on the trade block? What a mess!
Neely already said they made no such offer.
Neely literally said today that Swayman has 64M reasons to play. In a on camera press conference. Swaymans agent refuted it on X.
What’s the team touted to be a top contender for the Cup that blows up completely this year?
Oilers. Always do something they’re not supposed to do, then choke. IMO, they are a great regular season team this year are choke in the playoffs.
Look at them being the best regular season team this year, then blow it when the playoffs come.
But that’s just my prediction as an Oilers fan.
I think you’re talking about the leafs…. pretty sure finals appearance isn’t considered choking. I realize the first half of that series was trash by the oil but overall….
(Just to amend that, I don’t mean a 55+ win team that bombs out of the first round, but one *expected* to be one that blows up in the regular season and just barely makes the playoffs at all, if that much.)
@ wreckage: which is why calling the Oilers last season choke artists is way off base. How do you call coming back from 0-3 to lose Game Seven by a single goal “choking?” Thirty teams last year wish they’d choked as badly.)
The Ducks want to trade Fowler. Kings could have a need, even thought Cam is a lefty. Is there any chance Fowler moves up the freeway?
Consider everything you have said in this question. State rivals. Wrong side d-men of need.
Ask yourself the question now.
Hey wreckage did you read my comment?
Do you join these sections just to make an ass of yourself?
State rivals? Hahaha! Freeway rivals! That won’t stop the Ducks from unloading him if the return is right.
Ask yourself if you regret not understanding.
Look at your question and the fact you answered it yourself, then asked the question anyways.
Kings have 1.2M in cap space, Fowler costs 6.5M. Kings could use a right shot defenceman, Fowler is a lefty. They’re rivals so they’re not likely to do eachother any favors. The Ducks have been interested in ridding themselves of Fowlers contract for a couple seasons now, why would thr Kings do them the favor of picking it up, while giving up assets?
I understood completely. Now look at the conversation and ask yourself who is making themselves look ill informed? I won’t resort to name calling like you. But have a great day!
Seems that your skin is a bit thin for the give & take around here. But hey, epic name calling. You must dominate at recess.
Everyone knows and even Edmonton fans admit, they need to upgrade on Nurse as their 3D but it’s impossible at his contract, especially with his NMC. And now some certain ESPN guy is saying Seth Jones to EDM makes sense, despite the fact the time Caleb was there was tumultuous with their mother’s claims on the old Twitterverse. Does any of that rumor make sense? Even in the slightest?
NO
Do you expect Michkov or Bedard to be more impactful going forward? Bedard may have more skill, slightly. Michkov likely has a deeper team behind him at the moment. For the next 3 years… who has more impact in the NHL?
Is it crazy to think the Leafs are primed for a step back this year? There are so many question marks. Can Matthews, Nylander and Marner repeat career years? Will Tavares continue to decline and how fast? Will Chris Tanev’s body hold up? Are they getting Florida OEL or Vancouver OEL? Are Knies and Mcmann legit? Do they even have an NHL fourth line? Is Woll really the answer with just 34 career starts? I really think if just a couple of these things don’t bounce in the Leafs direction, they’ll be on the outside looking in come playoff time. The Atlantic is no walk in the park, especially this year.
Does Wreckage get more than one question answered in the mailbag?
No reason why not. They’re reasonable questions, right?
How long do you think it will take for the NHL/NHLPA to address LTIR? Because someone within the Vegas organization has found all the holes and is taking full advantage of them..
LTIR has been used to the advantage way before Vegas ever did. Actually, Vegas is just copying what Chicago did during their Stanley Cup run(s) & Tampa during one of their Stanley Cup runs did too.
The fans who seem to complain about this LTIR matter are the fans of teams who’s management are not crafty &/or clever enough to use it to their own team’s advantage for whatever reason(s).
Teams will take any advantage they can get & technically, what Chicago, Tampa & Vegas done is fair game.
The people who complain about LTIR are the losing teams in the Playoffs who are whining because they lost and got it used against them.
Why is it that, during the preseason, teams will cut and send a few players down to the A, only to recall them literally the next day? I see this happen every year, and it’s always perplexing. I don’t really understand the purpose of this move – why not hold on to these players for a couple more days if the plan is to just bring them back anyway?
And what is the real-world implication of this? Do they get a call halfway to Charlotte to make a u-turn and head back to Sunrise?
It’s just paperwork. They can still be used in the pre season games and won’t report to the AHL until the season starts.
There’s an interesting conversation happening right now about goalie salaries. Obviously, the argument for lower salaries is that aside from Hellebuyk, even top goalies play about 60 – 65 games (even though starting pitchers command high salaries despite only playing 30 out of 162 games). And how much does a goalie matter for a championship (or was Darcy Kuemper the Trent Dilfer of the NHL–just an anomaly in a rare system that usually favors Tom Bradys/Vasilevskys).
Another argument is that they are only as good as the system–how much will Ullmark regress behind a much worse Sens system and would Swayman regress that same amount? They’re also mercurial–Shesterkin could sign an 8-year, $104m contract and begin an 8-year slump.
The argument for higher salaries is that they may affect those games more than the other players. Great goalies sometimes open a championship window. They can represent a winning culture that other players want to play for.
Where do you fall on the goalie salary spectrum?
Second question is: do you know if players take player with goalies into consideration when they sign UFA contracts with new teams?
Third question: if you were in a legacy fantasy league, would you take Askarov, Cossa, or Wallstedt?
Who is the 1st player with the upcoming increase in Salary Cap , to ask for $20 million ?
Almost everyone picking NYR to win Metro, however, didn’t the NYR set an NHL record for most come-from-behind wins in 2023-24 en route to their division title? If so, shouldn’t we expect some “regression to the mean” this year meaning the Metro is wide open to NJD, CAR, and NYR?
Any chance of seeing a deep dive article in the future on AHL and ECHL contracts? Do those leagues have 2-way contracts like the NHL? Do the minor leaguers have to pass through waivers like the big clubs? Is there a good site that deals with this kind of information? ECHL future expansion rumors?