Updates on contract negotiations of Steven Stamkos and Anze Kopitar, Kyle Quincey’s trade status and the latest on the Boston Bruins.
Updates on Stamkos and Kopitar.
What’s the delay in a new contract for Steven Stamkos?
TAMPA BAY TIMES: Joe Smith believes it’s not time for Lightning fans to panic because captain Steven Stamkos hasn’t been signed yet. Management wants to re-sign Stamkos, but he’s expected to seek a significant raise, which could have long-term complications for the club’s salary cap and efforts to re-sign other key players over the next couple of years. Smith cites the marginal rise in the salary cap combined with uncertainty over the value of the Canadian dollar as issues which are likely complicating the situation. He also notes the Los Angeles Kings are facing a similar situation with center Anze Kopitar. Like Stamkos, Kopitar is eligible next summer for UFA status. Smith claims it’s unclear how wide the gap is between Stamkos and the Lightning.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Ken Campbell also weighed in on the Stamkos and Kopitar contract negotiations, suggesting the decline in the value of the Canadian dollar and its effect upon the NHL salary cap as the culprit.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: For over two years now, I’ve sounded the warning multiple times about the impact of a declining Canadian dollar upon the NHL salary cap. I’m not surprised by what’s happened this summer. Barring a significant rally in the value of the “loonie” over the course of the upcoming NHL season, we can expect another marginal cap increase next summer. That will make it increasingly difficult for teams to re-sign their top stars to big raises whilst attempting to maintain the core of their respective rosters.
Regarding Stamkos and Kopitar, I believe they’ll be re-signed to expensive long-term contracts, forcing the Lightning and Kings to make some tough decisions regarding the remainder of their rosters. They’ll have to cut salary elsewhere in hopes of freeing up sufficient cap room to retain other important players. Indeed, they risk losing one or two of those players to free agency.
Latest on the Bruins.
BOSTON HERALD: Steve Conroy reports Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg acknowledged he didn’t like hearing his name bandied about in trade rumors this year. Conroy writes that Seidenberg “knew a deal was not happening because he has a full no-trade clause in his contract, and new general manager Don Sweeney never asked him to waive it.” Still, he vows to use the speculation as motivation to improve his performance. Even if the Bruins wanted to move the veteran blueliner, Conroy points out it won’t be easy, citing his age (34), contract (three years left at $4 million annually) and that he’s coming off his worst season as a Bruin.
CSNNE.COM: Joe Haggerty recently profiled Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly. Like Seidenberg, Kelly was the subject of trade speculation this year. Haggerty wondered if the Bruins might try to trade Kelly before training camp to free up cap space for other moves. As such a deal would be a salary dump rather than a hockey trade, he feels it doesn’t make sense to move Kelly, who will be a UFA next summer.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Seidenberg and Kelly were often cited this summer by rumor bloggers dreaming up package offers for Winnipeg Jets’ defenseman Dustin Byfuglien. It ain’t happenin’, kids.
Could the Wings shop Quincey this season?
DETROIT FREE PRESS: In a recent profile of defenseman Kyle Quincey, Helene St. James speculates the Red Wings could employ him on their third defense pairing, provided they keep him. She notes Quincey is entering the final season of his contract, suggesting the Wings could trade him if necessary to make room for a promising blueliner like Alexey Marchenko or Xavier Ouellet.
Anze stated pretty much the exact same thing Kessel did the year before he became a free agency – get it done before the season starts. If not, no discussion about it till after the season’s over. That certainly pressured MLSE into getting that deal done, because the risk of your best asset walking away for nothing was too great.
I expect at least one of the two will be signed before the start of the season. If however one or both of them are not signed at the beginning of the season I would expect the odds are greater that they will bolt (mind the pun) for cash elsewhere.
In my opinion Detroit should have traded Quincey in the offseason, as well as Brendan Smith prior to the end of the season last year. Instead they re-signed Smith to a two year contract, further ensuring there’s a logjam on defense, especially after signing Mike Green as a free agent. Trade Quincey, Smith and Lashoff for whatever the best return you can secure and start playing Marchenko and Ouellet
Couldn’t agree more, I thought both Quincey and Smith would be dealt for sure. I was surprised that Ken Holland gave Smith a 2 year deal because according to both Helene St James and Ansar Khan they both felt that Smith was going to be gone for sure. We need to get rid of both Quincey Smith and Kindl Holland needs to put kindl on waivers right before the season starts at least or make Smith a 4th line forard with Glendening and miller and open up a spot for either Marchenko or Ouellet. Kindl needs to be gone and open a spot for a 7th Dman for Jensen.
I disagree about Kindl. Look at his analytic numbers. I genuinely think that if he had a coach that would give him a fair shot at being an offensive minded d-man, he’d actually be worth his contract and then some. Now that Babs isn’t staplegunning him to the bench for the first mistake he makes, maybe he’ll have that chance to shine.
Well it sounds like Blashill is willing to give Kindl that shot but the only problem being is as of right now Kindl is our 7th Dman and the odds that he gets much playing time other then injuries isn’t looking very promising right now.
And that IS the problem. Look, Kindl isn’t going to become Lidstrom v.2.0, but if you pair him with someone a little more defensive minded, say DeKeyser, and give him the chance to produce from the blue line like everyone originally said he could, I think he could turn some heads and possibly become a trade chip again
Tampa probably feels a little hesitant after handing out big money to Vinny, but Stamkos should, and will get around 10 million per. If not he’ll easily get it elsewhere.
I think a lot of it has to do with the uncertainty of the salary cap and plus Yzerman has a lot more contracts coming up before to long and doesn’t want to cut himself short. With Hedman and Johnson and with other players coming up for big contracts. But as some on here had suggested Bishop, Filppula and possibly Callahan could be dealt to open up some money to resign Stamkos Hedman etc. It will be fun to watch and see how Yzerman approaches this matter.
True enough. Tampa will have difficult decisions but it is manageable. I suspect their back up will be seeing lots of starts this season as they try and decide if they can afford to move Bishop.
Not looking so likely. He just had a blood clot removed from his neck. He’s sitting for two months
I think the Kings need to strongly reassess their situation. They’re already up to the cap with no breathing room in sight, they’ll need young guys to not only step up but to be stars. I honestly think they should look a shopping Kopitar and a few others (not Doughty) to see what kind of return they could get. Same goes for Tampa, Stamkos is amazing a lot of teams would give up a kings ransom for him. I honestly don’t think the bolts would miss him that much and depending on the return they’d get, they could actually improve. They’re also going to have to sign a lot of key players so that cap space is extremely valuable.
In short, make trades so we have more to talk about!
I think trading any combination or all of Bishop, Filppula, Callahan and letting Coburn walk (or trade) would be a better option than trading Stamkos. That frees up an additional $22 million. And should leave plenty of room to re-sign Johnson, Hedman, Kucherov, Killorn, Drouin etc in the future.
I think this is exactly what Yzerman does, Pretty sure that both Bishop and Filppula days are numbered after this year. I could see both being dealt by the draft and I wouldn’t be surprised if Callahan gets dealt as well.
It’ll be tough to move Callahan and Filppula. They are both fairly overpriced. With the cap situation you can’t spend 5-6million on middling talent. I say middling cautiously and what I mean by that is that their departure from the team isn’t going to be catastrophic.
Everyone wants a raise but the cap simply doesn’t allow for it.
Some of the contracts like ROR, Niskanen, Phanuef, Bobby Ryan, spezza etc. are just crazy.
You mention below that Brown could be traded, so why do you think Callahan would be problematic to trade? He has all the same qualities that Brown has, a bit less expensive and much better offensive numbers.
Tough to trade doesn’t mean he’s untradeable. I personally would rather have Callahan on my team any day
They can’t trade Bishop. Vasilevsky has a blood clot in this lung. He will be out for awhile.
Oh really? That is interesting news as I prepare for my fantasy hockey pools. I will try and verify it. Yet if Bishop is out for any meaningful amount of time that may make it more probable he could be traded as Vasilevsky will be getting lots of starts in Bishops absence and could very well show he can be a started making Bishop’s more expensive contract expendable. The blood clot in the lung is treatable and Bishop will have interest from many teams around the league.
Oh silly me and my reading comprehension issues. Its Vasilevsky who has the clot. Go ahead Lyle and delete my stupidity haha.
Would the Kings try to move someone else with a big ticket instead of Kopitar like Dustin Brown? I love his game and he is the heart of the team,but it comes at a big price and a long contract. Would like to hear Canadian King weigh in on LA’s situation.
I think if the kings could give away Brown they would. He has a terrible contract and has little value to the team. Doughty would be the next captain and I don’t think his offense would be hard to replace. With young guys coming up, Brown is easily replaced.
I agree Paul. King and I had a short discussion about this a few days ago and the common theme was that Brown is tradeable but don’t expect much of a return. Maybe a shorter and cheaper contract coming back with moving pieces like 2/3/4th rounders
Murph, I absolutely think Brown will be traded, in fact I think this is Browns last year as a King. Taz is correct, Kings wont get much for him other than the cap space. he still has intangibles that he could offer other teams, especially younger ones. I also see Greene traded as well, with him and brown gone it will free up over $8 million that can go towards Kopitar and Lucic extensions.
It’s a new economic landscape. Teams are pretty much stuck with long term contracts that has little value. It will be really hard to find a partner to take on Browns contract. More than likely Kings will be saddled with it going forward and will have to look into trading another player instead out of necessity.
There are several contracts in the league that provide little dollar value. These players are available for years (Eller, Hemsky, Gagner and so on) and either don’t get traded, get traded during last contract year OR for is traded for another garbage contract in return. It has to be creative in order to happen. Maybe Kings can trade Brown to Philly for Lecavaliers garbage contract, then facilitate a mutually agreed contract termination that saves the Kings some cap space going forward.
Red Wings could have easily dealt with the Quincy situation – by not acquiring him in the first place. What a stiff.
Yep good ole Ken Holland panicked when he struck out in free agency he tried to go after Ehrhoff and he wanted to go to Pittsburgh he didn’t get Boyle who went to the Rangers supposedly he offered big money to Niskanen who chose to go to the Capitals instead and even tried for Strahlman but he chose Tampa instead so Holland went with a safe bet and resigned Quincey I would have rather gone with one of the kids in Grand Rapids Ouellet or Marchenko both bring a solid shut down game as well. Now Quincey will be relegated to the 3rd pairing line paired with Smith that will be a disaster waiting to happen. And now possible talk that he could be dealt to make room for either ouellet or Marchenko this wouldn’t even be a problem if Holland hadn’t panicked a couple seasons ago.
But Toronto (Insert leaf play here for more Toronto talk). :0
Everybody’s a comedian.
Tampa without a backup:
@CraigCustance: Lightning announce that talented backup goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy had surgery to remove a blood clot. Out 2-3 months.
They may have to make some changes soon
I get that both Stamkos and Kopitar are likely looking for long term security, and I am sure that both organizations are looking for the same. But given the current status of the loonie, those deals are extremely difficult obviously. Wondering if we don’t see a series of one year deals with nominal increases until such time there is a larger increase in the cap?
Not ideal (ask Franson lol) but certain an option if both sides are computed to each other.
You’re a little out to lunch here. If Stamkos or Kopitar hit UFA, they’d be signed at 12:00:01 July 1st and to huge contracts. Teams would line up for a chance to trade for either of those guys let alone sign them without giving up assets.
Franson is an over hyped 4-6 dman who thought he’d get a huge contract because the leafs were dumb enough to offer him one. Stamkos would get more than 10m per year and I think Kopitar would too…regardless of the cap situation.
Though I was not a fan of signing Quincy, he has been the most durable and reliable d-man on the Wings. He is not flashy, but is steady and relaiable. of the six d-man on the team last year he was easily the 3rd or 4th best. As a partner with Dekeyser he was fine. I really think they need a #2 to match up with Kronwall as Erickson is really a 2nd or 3rd line guy. If Green is the other #1 line guy, it limits Kronwall offensively because he will need to play more conservative. Green with Dekeyser on the 2nd line would be better. Smith is an enigma. Not sure what we will get from him. Appears to have loads of talent but not the right judgement at times. Next year we will see an influx of guys on the d-line from GR.
The Dustin Brown contract may the worst in the league. Last week, I mistakely stated brown would fetch a nice return. Then I saw the terms of his current deal – and was quick to withdraw my comment!
Horrible contract
Yes. I got some heat for saying Brown is essentially untradeable a few months ago in here so I broke down the Brown contract situation and went through why it will severely affect Kings wiggle room going forward. They will have an open window for a few years, then some players contract situation will be detrimental to their operation. Also, Kings can’t probably get out of the Richards situation without a substantial cap penalty. Their defense in that case is really thin. Kopitar will be very expensive to resign. Also, Quick is a good goalie now, but will 5.8M provide value in 3 years, then with 5 years remaining on that contract?
Regarding the salary cap, is it affected by new franchises in Quebec and Las Vegas? It could mean a boost in the cap for one year and more if the franchises take off. Quebec for sure would make money in the first year, not sure it would be sustainable though. It does depend on the upcoming federal election because if the Bloc Quebecois re take quebec, PKP (the money behind the Quebec bib and leader of the seperetist party) will be pushing harder for a referendum on seperation which will kill the Canadian economy.
the cap will go up once the owners clear out their bad contracts (2 years) as well as when the new teams join so that they can market the crap out of it
I don’t think Quebec or Las Vegas would affect salary cap at all. The only thing driving the cap up a little will be revenue from the franchise buying fees, spread out over a 10 year period.
With Voynov now being held by immigration what does that mean for the Kings and Salary cap relieve if he gets deported or held for a significant length of time. If anything at all?
Voynov is currently suspended by both the league and the Kings, so his cap doesn’t count against the cap, if he gets deported his contract will be completely off the books for good.
Thanks CK, I get a lot of knowledge from this site, that I’m otherwise to lazy to research.
As far as the salary cap goes I like hearing that teams are going to be in cap crunch regarding star players and contracts. This is what the cap was put in for to increase parity.
Like the stock market the salaries in the league are in line for a correction. It appears that is about to happen.
i agree and i just posted something similar earlier.
@ jaysin
Please don’t use analytics to make a point.. It’s a waste of time.
Also it would be nice to see the salary cap stay stagnant. It’s refreshing to see contracts that are more in line.. These guys are not worth 10 million dollars.
#LockOut
I’m assuming this is scathing sarcasm since you’ve added the hashtag ‘LOCKOUT’ at the end of your reply. I realize it was a silly thing to do, but hey, I gotta reach the kids somehow, and this seems to be the hip new way to do so!
It is becoming quite clear that Steven Stamkos will end up in Toronto either July 1, 2016, and very possibly sooner. Just makes sense for multiple reasons, and clearly has become Tampa, or Toronto. All indications are saying Toronto, and if you don’t agree with it, your at least thinking it could happen. I think it will, and pretty sure that’s what Stamkos wants too.
Stamkos will be Toronto, if you trade for him in NHL 16
stamkos or kopitar
who’s better overall?
I’ll say kopitar because he’s bigger, meaner, got a SC and better +/-
I guess it would depend on the makeup of your team. I love both players, but if I had to choose one, I would probably go with Kopitar since he’s the better ‘200 foot’ player, but really, you can’t go wrong with either one.