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Chris Kunitz

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Chris Kunitz, Cam Ward, Brandon Manning

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The Chicago Blackhawks have signed three players immediately after free agency began, inking Chris Kunitz, Cam Ward and Brandon Manning. Kunitz and Ward will get one-year deals, while Manning has signed a two-year contract. Ward’s deal will pay $3MM and include a full no-trade clause.

Kunitz, who spent last season with Tampa Bay Lightning on their shutdown line, provides the Blackhawks with a veteran defensive presence, who still seems to be successful even at age 38. He, along with Ryan Callahan and Cedric Paquette, were responsible for shutting down teams’ top lines and were quite successful at it. The line was also adept at scoring as well as Kunitz scored 13 goals and totaled 29 points last season with Tampa Bay. The veteran also has lots of playoff success with his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins as he played for the franchise for nine years, winning three Stanley Cup titles.

Ward was less of a secret as the team had been rumored to be close to a deal with him for a few days already. The 13-year veteran, who played all his years in Carolina, moved into a backup role last year as he helped mentor former Blackhawk Scott Darling. However, despite that role, he still managed to play 43 games for the Hurricanes. The 34-year-old didn’t thrive as he finished with a 2.73 GAA and a .906 save percentage, but his experience and ability to handle a big load was critical for the Blackhawks who struggled after starter Corey Crawford went down for the season with a head injury in December last year. The team attempted to move forward with Anton Forsberg and Jeff Glass as their two goaltenders, but couldn’t make that work. Ward should provide more stability for the Blackhawks now.

Manning adds more defensive depth for the Blackhawks as the former Philadelphia Flyers defenseman has continued to increase his production over the course of his career as he scored seven goals and 19 points last season in 65 games and even played a more safety-conscious game this past season. However, his numbers also indicate that he’s just an adequate defender and is likely to fill the team’s need for bottom-six defenders.

Free Agent Focus: Tampa Bay Lightning

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Free agency is now less than a day 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. Here is a breakdown of Tampa Bay’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agent: F Cedric Paquette — Nine points hardly seems like a lot of points for key restricted free agent, but the 24-year-old Paquette isn’t about offense. The defense-first forward has been a key part of the team’s bottom-six line, which included Ryan Callahan and Kunitz line that was constantly put against opponents’ top lines. Now that he’s been qualified, Paquette, who scored just five goals during the regular season (and one in the playoffs) might be more needed than ever with Kunitz likely headed elsehere. Regardless, he could be in line for a significant raise after making $812K last year on his two-year bridge deal. Now with arbitration rights, he could walk away with quite a bit more.

D Slater Koekkoek — The 24-year-old blueliner has worked hard to try and break into the deep defensive core of Tampa Bay and did manage to get into 34 games last season and avoid a trip down to the Syracuse Crunch, but Koekkoek’s usefulness came to an end after Tampa Bay acquired Ryan McDonagh at the trade deadline. From that point on, he appeared in just three regular season games and did not appear in the playoffs. While the team intends to bring him back, recent rumors that the team might consider trading the youngster are also a possibility. He made $800K last year on a one-year deal.

Other RFA’s: F Adam Erne.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Andrej Sustr — The 27-year-old depth defender could easily find himself on a new team with the amount of defenders under contract in Tampa Bay. The blueliner had been a regular on the Lightning’s defense over the past three years, but he found himself often a healthy scratch with the addition of players like Mikhail Sergachev, Jake Dotchin, Koekkoek as well as McDonagh. After making $1.95MM last season in the last of his restricted free agent years, the team must decide if they want to bring back the undrafted free agent they signed back in 2013.

Chris Kunitz — The 38-year-old winger was a big part of the Lightning’s shutdown line along with Callahan and Paquette in his one year with Tampa Bay, but there is little indication that Kunitz is expected return. Despite a productive season in which he tallied 13 goals and 29 points last season, rumors suggest he’s interested in a possible return to Pittsburgh.

Other UFA’s: D Mat Bodie, F Erik Condra, F Alex Gallant, D Jamie McBain, F Matthew Peca.

Projected Cap Space: The Lightning don’t have much cap space to work with this offseason as the team has just $5.3MM. On top of that, Tampa Bay has quite a few free agents they must deal with next year including Nikita Kucherov, McDonagh and Yanni Gourde to name a few, so they need to have as much cap room to maneuver with as possible. Despite their interest in John Tavares, don’t expect the team to dip heavily in the free agent market this year and more likely depend on their AHL depth to carry them through.

Penguins Interested In Signing Chris Kunitz

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have interest in signing veteran winger Chris Kunitz, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  However, at this time, the team is focusing on creating extra salary cap space.  The team presently has just over $9MM in cap room per CapFriendly but still has several players to sign to fill out their roster, including RFA winger Bryan Rust.

Kunitz is coming off of a quality regular season with Tampa Bay.  Despite playing in predominantly a fourth-line role, he managed to still be somewhat productive as he collected 29 points while also playing in all 82 games for the first time since 2011-12.  However, his output dipped to just a single assist in 17 postseason contests and the Lightning announced on Friday that they would not be bringing Kunitz back for 2018-19.

The 38-year-old is no stranger to playing in Pittsburgh as he spent parts of nine seasons with the Penguins and was part of three Stanley Cup runs.  If he was to return to them, he’d likely be in a similar depth role to the one he had in Tampa Bay and would garner a comparable contract.  This past season, he received $1MM in salary with an additional $1MM in performance bonuses.  By the time Pittsburgh fills out their roster, they should have that much room left in the budget but that would pretty much cap them out.  Accordingly, expect GM Jim Rutherford to be active these next few days to try to free up some additional funds to allow them to do more offseason shopping.

Tampa Bay Lightning Will Not Re-Sign Chris Kunitz

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The Tampa Bay Lightning will not bring back Chris Kunitz for the 2018-19 season. That’s what Lightning GM Steve Yzerman told reporters today when asked, though he noted that the 38-year old forward still wishes to continue his career and is not currently considering retirement. Kunitz is coming off a one-year $2MM contract with the Lightning, that also included $1MM in performance bonuses.

Kunitz is best known for his Stanley Cup heroics, including the overtime-winning goal against the Ottawa Senators to send the Pittsburgh Penguins to the finals in 2017. He has four cups under his belt, and was brought to Tampa Bay to provide some veteran leadership and experience to a group that was relatively unproven in the playoffs. The Lightning though have just too many young players ready to compete for roster spots, meaning Kunitz will have to look for employment elsewhere.

Even with his diminished effectiveness, there will likely be several suitors. Kunitz recorded 29 points this season but did it in just under 12 minutes a night and with almost zero powerplay time to speak of. That’s not exactly the 35-goal man he was with the Penguins a few seasons ago, but with his ample playoff experience and generally well-regarded locker room presence another team on the cusp of contention may bring him in to give their squad a boost next season. Willing to play in that diminished role, another performance bonus-laden contract seems appropriate.

One would have to wonder if the Penguins themselves would consider bringing him back on a reduced salary, as the team requires cheap, effective players to work within the constrains of the salary cap. Kunitz’ familiarity with the leadership group in Pittsburgh would only help his case there, though at this point nothing can be said about any potential Penguins interest.

A veteran of 966 regular season games, Kunitz has recorded 609 points and been to the playoffs every season since his rookie year in 2003-04. That kind of experience isn’t easy to come by, even among players who are at his age. It won’t be surprising to see someone snatch him up on July 1st.

Metropolitan Notes: Carlson, Kunitz, Islanders

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A strong showing in the playoffs could push Capitals defenseman John Carlson’s asking price to or above $8MM per season, TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested during an appearance on TSN 1260 (audio link).  That would put his next deal in line with the reported extension offer that the Coyotes have given Oliver Ekman-Larsson (eight years and $66MM).

While that would more than double Carlson’s previous cap hit, he has certainly made a case for that type of money.  He led all NHL defenders in points with 68 during the regular season while averaging a career-high 24:47 per night.  He followed that up with a near-identical showing in the playoffs, averaging the same points-per-game rate (0.83) and logged even more ice time at 25:38 per game.  That type of performance puts him in the discussion as a legitimate number one defender and with a weak free agent market, the Capitals will have to find a way to fit in another sizable contract if they want to bring him back for 2018-19 and beyond.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • The Penguins may have wanted to keep winger Chris Kunitz around last summer but expected to bring back center Matt Cullen instead and didn’t want two veterans on their fourth line, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Pittsburgh focused on getting Cullen locked up so Kunitz instead went to Tampa Bay.  (Cullen, meanwhile, wound up in Minnesota.)  One summer later, the scribe believes that Kunitz could be back on their radar as a fit on the fourth line.  The 38-year-old saw his ice time reduced considerably this past season but he still managed to put up 13 goals and 16 assists in his diminished role and the Pens would certainly welcome production like that on their bottom trio.
  • With the Islanders likely to be active in looking for help between the pipes, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard is someone they may go after. Washington’s Phillip Grubauer is the better fit long-term but he’ll also cost a lot more to acquire.  Howard would give New York a little more stability as they look to try to retain John Tavares and get back into a playoff spot next season.  However, he’s entering the final year of his contract so if they were to trade for him, it would only be a short-term fix unless they could agree on a contract extension.

Snapshots: Kunitz, Cameron, Anderson

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The Tampa Bay Lightning have some tough decisions to make this summer as they try to decide how to improve and get them to the next level, and Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscription required) examines the future of every player on the roster in his latest piece. When it comes to Chris Kunitz, who is one of the team’s few players scheduled for unrestricted free agency, Smith relays some comments from agent Ben Hankinson:

There’s no quit in [Kunitz]. He loved everything about the city, the team, the fans, and the direction they’re going. He’s wired for another run.

Kunitz, 38, registered 29 points for the second regular season in a row, but couldn’t find any of that playoff magic he had in Pittsburgh and Anaheim. Held to just a single assist in 17 postseason contests, it might be time for the Lightning to move on from the veteran winger. Whether they do is unclear at this point, but Smith does believe that Andrej Sustr, the only other roster player scheduled for UFA status, is as good as gone this summer. The towering defenseman played only 44 games in the regular season and was held out of the playoffs for the team.

  • Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that Dave Cameron, former Ottawa Senators head coach and recently a Calgary Flames assistant, has taken a job with the Vienna Capitals in Austria for next season. Cameron was a long time junior and minor league head coach, but will now journey to Europe for the next chapter in his professional career. We’ve seen it work for other NHL coaches in the past, including Marc Crawford who spent four years in Switzerland before returning to the NHL, and Bob Hartley who won a championship in Switzerland and recently had been leading the Latvian national team. Hartley is now headed to the KHL, another option for Cameron down the road if he isn’t given another opportunity in the NHL.
  • Speaking of coaches leaving for other opportunities, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild assistant coach John Anderson will not have his contract renewed. Anderson had come with the team alongside Bruce Boudreau two years ago, but will have to find another landing spot for the next part of his coaching career. A four-time 30-goal scorer during his playing days, Anderson was a long-time head coach of the Chicago Wolves and secured two Calder Cups for the team during his time in the AHL.

The Tampa Bay Lightning Can Get Even Better

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There’s not much doubt that the Tampa Bay Lightning are currently the best team in the NHL, and the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. Even with the outstanding performance of the Vegas Golden Knights so far this season, not many would choose to face the Lightning over them in the first round of the playoffs. With two potential Hart Trophy candidates up front in Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos, the Vezina front-runner in Andrei Vasilevskiy and a perennial Norris-level defenseman in Victor Hedman, the Lightning have impeccable strength at every position.

Taylor RaddyshAmazingly, it’s not just at the NHL level that they have talent. Brett Howden, Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh and Cal Foote take home gold at the World Junior Championship, all four Tampa Bay Lightning prospects. Libor Hajek, who was traded earlier today in the WHL, logged huge minutes for his Czech squad en route to a fourth-place finish. That’s to say nothing of Mikhail Sergachev who could have represented Russia if he wasn’t already in the NHL, and the four other prospects who suited up last year. The Lightning have a true pipeline of talent coming through their system, and should be able to replace any outgoing players from within.

But for this season, perhaps that load of prospect capital could be used to improve. Whether through dealing actual players, or the picks that Tampa Bay doesn’t desperately need this season, the Lightning could be big spenders at the deadline to make them even tougher down the stretch.

When looking for cracks on the roster, there aren’t many. If there was one worry it could have been the play of Peter Budaj, who struggled until his recent injury. Louis Domingue may have solved that, acquired from the Arizona Coyotes and looking refreshed in the AHL and his Lightning debut this weekend. While Vasilevskiy is the clear starter, having a capable backup is key for any team looking for a Stanley Cup.

Up front they possess perhaps more depth than any other team in the league. An incredible six forwards already have 30 points for the Lightning, with Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn additionally notching 27 and 24 respectively. Even though Chris Kunitz and Ryan Callahan aren’t scoring, they provide some experience for a Stanley Cup run. One more scoring threat could help, but it certainly isn’t necessary.

So then the last few spots on defense may be the easiest place to find an upgrade. Though Hedman and Anton Stralman are horses, they’re being relied on quite a bit for the Lightning both at even strength and on the penalty kill. Dan Girardi and Braydon Coburn, the other two penalty killing options for the club, aren’t very effective at even-strength. Both players have one more year on their contracts, but don’t seem particularly locked into a role for next season. Not, at least, if the Lightning can go out and find another top-4 option on the open market.

It’s not like they don’t have internal options. Sergachev and Jake Dotchin have their place on the club, and both are getting increased minutes of late. Slater Koekkoek and Andrej Sustr are both still there, but neither have shown that they’re ready to step into a bigger role.

Amazingly, the Lightning even have cap space to burn. Not going forward, as they’ll have to re-sign Kucherov before long and Vladislav Namestnikov is due for a new contract this summer. But for this year, according to CapFriendly they could add approximately $9MM in cap hits at the deadline and still stay cap compliant. That’s a huge number for a team that doesn’t have any glaring needs, and it could result in them stealing one of the top rentals to make them even better. That’s a scary thought for the rest of the Eastern Conference, and perhaps even the whole league.

Veteran Free Agent Contracts Not Working Out Well In 2017-18

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There is no doubt that the game of hockey is getting faster and, as a result, younger. Yet, in 2016-17 that didn’t stop 44-year-old ageless wonder Jaromir Jagr from outscoring his age, 40-year-old Matt Cullen and 37-year-old Chris Kunitz from contributing to a second straight Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup title, 39-year-old Zdeno Chara from skating in more than 23 minutes per game, or 36-year-old Henrik Zetterberg and 37-year-old Joe Thornton from finishing among the league’s best in assists. Several teams who witnessed the impact that older players had on their teams last year went out and signed older free agents this summer in hopes of a repeat performance. It hasn’t happened for most of those teams. The majority of players age 36 and older who signed with new teams this off-season have struggled to meet expectations.

Jagr, of course, is the poster boy of the anti-youth movement. The 28-year NHL veteran has somehow remained consistent throughout his career even into his mid-40’s, but despite a 46-point campaign last year, got little attention this summer and it looked like his illustrious career was over. However, the Calgary Flames swooped in at the last minute, signing Jagr to a one-year deal in early October. At $2MM for the year, it was a low-risk, high-upside singing. Yet, through 36 games, that upside has not shown up. Jagr has only been healthy for 19 games, in which he has only one goal and six assists. Even if Jagr was magically healthy for each of the Flames remaining games this season, he would be on pace for a career-worst 24 points. It seems that Jagr’s days are finally done.

He’s not alone though. The Penguins aging role players also decided to leave Pittsburgh this off-season, with Cullen heading home to Minnesota to join the Wild and Kunitz chasing a fourth Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Both players have been nothing short of a disappointment so far. Cullen, who was a major contributor to the Pens’ success last year as a dependable checking center and 30-point scorer. So far with the Wild, Cullen has been a non-factor offensively (7 points) and defensively (team worst -11) through 35 games and was even a healthy scratch earlier this month. Despite the incredible talent around him, Kunitz has just 10 points this season, a pace which is a far cry from his recent back-to-back 40-point seasons.

Who else is on the list? Defenseman Mark Streit was a complete disaster in Montreal, released by the Canadiens after just two games. Journeyman goalie Michael Leighton hasn’t done much better, already on his third team in 2017-18 and without an NHL appearance thus far. Despite the time-tested theory that Radim Vrbata always performs his best in Arizona, the aging scorer bolted the Coyotes for the Florida Panthers, who so far have only received 12 points and 29 games from the signing.

The jury is still out on a few veterans. Francois Beauchemin returned home to Anaheim this summer and many expected him to improve his game back on a familiar roster. While Beauchemin’s 7 points through 30 games pale in comparison to the better seasons of his career, it’s similar to the production he showed last year with the Colorado Avalanche. With the Ducks struggling as a team, it seems fair that Beauchemin’s play has also been a bit lacking. That hasn’t been the case for Ryan Miller, another aging addition in Anaheim. His .928 save percentage and 2.23 GAA has been very good. However, Miller has only gotten the win in four of his ten appearances and missed much of the early season due to injury. Miller has performed better than the rest of his team, but had he been healthy it may have reversed the Ducks’ fortunes early on. Matt Hendricks has already matched his point total with the Edmonton Oilers last season now with the Winnipeg Jets last season. He’s playing a valued energy role and the Jets likely don’t have many gripes. With that said, Hendricks needed only seven points to match that total from a down year in 2016-17 and has a been playing a less-physical game than he has in the past. Hendricks hasn’t been bad, but Winnipeg would undoubtedly rather see 2014-15 Hendricks, who posted 16 points and 220 hits.

The one team who has had great success with veteran signings in 2017-18 is the Toronto Maple Leafs. San Jose Sharks legend Patrick Marleau chose to sign in Toronto, leaving the only team he had ever played for, but the Leafs had to give him three years and $18.75MM to get it done. So far, it hasn’t been a bad investment. Marleau has 19 points in all 36 games, including 12 goals, and the 38-year-old should easily reach 40 points for the 18th time in his career. However, the real breakout veteran performance has been from the 36-year-old Ron Hainsey, whose signing was initially panned by many. Yet, Hainsey is on pace for one of, if not the best offensive campaigns of his career with 15 points so far. Forming a dynamic duo with Morgan Rielly, Hainsey seems rejuvenated late in his career and it has shown in an improvement on Toronto’s back end. But even the Leafs weren’t perfect though; the signing of Dominic Moore has been a disappointment. Moore has only nine points and has been a frequent scratch after a season with the division rival Boston Bruins in which he put up 25 points and played in all 82 games.

The NHL has been an increasingly difficult place for mediocre older players to find work. There has been a movement toward younger rosters, with veterans settling for minimum contracts, tryouts, or simply heading to Europe. Yet, exceptions continue to be made, especially for some talented older players. After the results this elderly free agent group has shown, veteran signings – especially those demanding big money and term – will surely become even less frequent.

Injury Notes: Lightning, Sabres, Jets

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Despite finishing the 2016-17 season with 94 points and missing the playoffs, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the favorite of many to win the Atlantic Division and possibly even the Eastern Conference. Why? It’s not because they added Dan Girardi, Chris Kunitz, and Michael Leighton this off-season. No, the real reason for the resurgence of hope in Tampa is of course the return of captain Steven Stamkos. The Bolts’ superstar is set to return to the team after missing nearly all of last season, and the first step is his preseason debut tonight at home against the Predators. Stamkos told the Tampa Bay Times’ Joe Smith that, more than anything, he’s feeling curious about his first game action since November 15, 2016, eager to see how he feels and how he plays. Lightning fans are eager as well; their season rides on the health and performance of Stamkos. When Stamkos returned from a broke leg in 2014, he tells Smith that he felt he was playing “the best hockey of my career”. However, the serious knee injury that sidelined him for much of 2017 could take a bit longer to work back from. Only time will tell how one of the best players in the game returns from his latest injury, but there is no doubt that the spotlight will be on him, starting tonight.

  • Smith also issued an update today on Anton Stralman, the Lightning defenseman whose undisclosed injury had kept him from even practicing this week and had some worried about the start of the season. That is, until today. Previously, Stralman had only been seen skating at practice in a red, non-contact jersey and was not taking part in drills, but Smith reports that he was back it today, cleared for contact and participating fully. Stralman told Smith that he expects to be back t full strength for the season opener, easing the fears of the fan base.
  • Another team with a pair of potential difference-makers currently sidelined are the Buffalo Sabres. The Buffalo News’ John Vogl reports that big off-season trade acquisition Marco Scandella was back at practice today after sitting out the last few days. Still recovering from hip surgery, Scandella said that he is preparing for the season mentally, even if he’s taking it easy physically. The Sabres plan to use Scandella on the top pair this season, and while they would love for him to be at 100% come October 5th, his long-term health and durability is of greater concern.
  • Unfortunately, Vogl’s article didn’t have as much optimism about young scorer Alexander Nylander. The team’s 2016 first-round pick has yet to take the ice in training camp after suffering a lower body injury in the Sabres’ prospect camp. Nylander’s status is up in the air, but it seems highly unlikely that he will be ready for the season if he is still watching practices from the stands. New head coach Phil Housley acknowledged that the team is letting Nylander move slowly with his recovering, but admitted that there is no definite time table for his return.
  • The NHL is trying to cut down on injuries this season and to achieve that goal they are ramping up the enforcement of penalties. That presents a substantial problem for the Winnipeg Jets, who have taken more penalties than any team in the league over the past four seasons and haven’t been very good on the penalty kill either. In a stroke of genius, the team hosted former NHL referee Paul Devorski in camp today, who provided some in-depth instruction on how to void penalties, especially those like slashing that have been given special emphasis by the league this season.

Performance Bonuses Around The League

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In the NHL, there are only a few ways you are allowed to have performance bonuses included in your contract. One way is to be on an entry-level contract, of which almost every one contains some sort of incentive. Young players can earn either Schedule A or B bonuses for various performance markers, though the really big numbers are only usually given out to the very highest of draft picks. Even Mitch Marner for instance, drafted fourth overall in 2015 can only earn up to $850K each season and doesn’t have any Schedule B bonuses in his deal.

The other contracts that can include bonuses are more rare, and they’ll be the focus of this article. These can be given out to players who sign a one-year contract after they turn 35, or a one-year deal coming off a substantial injury (the qualifications for such an injury are that they have already played at least 400 games in their career, and spent at least 100 days on injured reserve in the final year of their previous contract). Many of these have been given out, and we’ll detail them here.

Radim Vrbata – Florida Panthers Radim Vrbata

Vrbata was given a one-year deal with the Panthers this summer after a solid season with the Arizona Coyotes, and will earn $2.5MM in guaranteed salary. He also can earn a total of $1.25MM more through performance bonuses:

  • $250K for 10th goal
  • $250K for 15th goal
  • $250K for 20th goal
  • $250K for 45th point
  • $250K for making playoffs

Mark Streit – Montreal Canadiens

Streit was given a $700K contract from the Montreal Canadiens just this week to add some extra depth to a defense corps that was losing Andrei Markov. His deal includes $300K of unknown performance bonuses, that could take the total contract to $1MM.

Johnny Oduya – Ottawa Senators

Oduya earned a one-year $1MM contract from the Ottawa Senators, and while it’s not clear where he fits in exactly on the blueline he could earn much more should he find a prominent role. The deal includes $1.25MM of performance bonuses:

  • $250K for 41st game played
  • $250K for 65th game played
  • $250K if ranked in top-5 TOI for Ottawa defensemen
  • $250K if ranked in top-3 TOI for Ottawa defensemen
  • $250K for making playoffs

Chris Kunitz – Tampa Bay Lightning

Kunitz is looking for his fifth Stanley Cup this season with the Lightning, who gave him a one-year $2MM contract. The former Penguin can earn another $1MM in various unknown ice-time bonuses, likely tied to where he ends up among Lightning forwards.

Patrick SharpPatrick Sharp – Chicago Blackhawks

Sharp is returning to his old stomping ground this year after the Blackhawks signed him to a one-year $800K contract, but there is no guarantee he plays much of the season. Sharp’s been hurt by several injuries the last few seasons, and because of it Chicago included a $200K bonus for playing just ten games this year.

Mike Cammalleri – Los Angeles Kings

Cammalleri was bought out by the New Jersey Devils this spring, only to immediately find a new home with the Kings on the west coast. His $1MM contract has an additional $200K in performance bonuses, though the exact details are still unknown.

Deryk Engelland – Vegas Golden Knights

When the Golden Knights signed Engelland after the expansion draft, they were bringing back someone who knew the city and could help their young players get acclimated to their new surroundings. They signed him to a one-year deal worth $1MM, but it also includes another $1MM in unknown performance bonuses.

Thanks to CapFriendly for many of the performance bonus details.

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