NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 17, 2021

by | Aug 17, 2021 | News, NHL | 7 comments

Juuse Saros and Kevin Fiala among four players to avoid arbitration, Alex Nedeljkovic remains eligible for the Calder Trophy plus an update on Jack Eichel in today’s NHL morning coffee headlines.

Nashville Predators goaltender Juuse Saros (NHL Images).

  THE TENNESSEAN: The Nashville Predators and goaltender Juuse Saros agreed to a four-year, $20 million contract.

STARTRIBUNE.COM: Winger Kevin Fiala inked a one-year deal worth $5.1 million with the Minnesota Wild.

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES: The Blackhawks reached an agreement with winger Alex Nylander on a one-year deal worth just over $874K.

THE DENVER POST: Defenseman Dennis Gilbert signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Colorado Avalanche. He’ll earn $750K at the NHL level.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: By re-signing with their respective clubs the four avoided salary arbitration. Only two players – Calgary’s Nikita Zadorov and Philadelphia’s Travis Sanheim – are now slated for hearings, both on Aug. 26.

It’s unsurprising that the Predators invested that much in Saros. After all, he took over as their starting goalie from Pekka Rinne last season. Cap Friendly shows them carrying over $12 million in cap space with restricted free agent winger Eeli Tolvanen to sign.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin hoped to sign Fiala to a long-term deal but the two sides couldn’t find common ground. They’ll get another opportunity next summer when the winger once again becomes a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.

How much the Wild can pay Fiala beyond this season depends on the cost of signing Calder Trophy winner Kirill Kaprizov. That’s when the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter start biting deeply into their cap room.

DETROIT HOCKEY NOW: 2021 Calder Trophy Finalist Alex Nedeljkovic remains eligible for the award this season. That’s because he played less than 25 games last season, in fewer than six games in each of the previous two seasons and doesn’t turn 26 until January.

WGR 550: “Blueshirts Breakaway”, a New York Rangers-based podcast, attempted to pressure the Buffalo Sabres into trading Jack Eichel (preferably to the Rangers) with a billboard near KeyBank Center in Buffalo. The billboard, in Rangers colors, reads, “Aren’t trade requests a pain in the neck? #FreeJack”. It refers to Eichel’s well-publicized standoff with Sabres management and medical staff regarding treatment for a herniated disc in his neck.

SPECTOR’S NOTE: Scene: A headshot of Jack Eichel. Narrator: “Blueshirts Breakaway got their wish but it wasn’t the result they expected.” The camera pulls back revealing Eichel wearing an Anaheim Ducks jersey. Cue end music and credits.







7 Comments

  1. Lyle, I believe that Broadway or maybe Hollywood lost out when you didn’t become a screen play writer! Thanks for a smile and a giggle

    • Glad you enjoyed it, DB. 😀

  2. Re “ That’s when the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter start biting deeply into their cap room.”…. I’ll say…. after this upcoming year…. almost $13M in dead Cap; followed by 2 years of almost $15 M in dead cap…. Y I K E S!!

    Re…. “ The camera pulls back revealing Eichel wearing an Anaheim Ducks jersey. Cue end music and credits.”….. Lyle DeMille? Lyle Kubrick? Lyle Scorcese? 👍😀

    • Couldn’t resist!

  3. Eichel is being restrained by a leash he’s fastened himself. It’s likely that the doctor’s of any team feel no differently about his injury and its treatment than the Sabres’ doctors do. It’s just not worth the Sabres’ while to trade him as an “opened box” item.

  4. The Eichel trade scenarios of draft picks and prospects and people looking at who has the best prospect pool to draw on is totally unrealistic.

    The risks in signing him go without saying ans make it a non-starter in my opinion.

    Buffalo has issues reaching the cap floor even with Eichel on the books, they have 21 players at $53 million.

    Prospects and picks won’t do it and they haven’t loaded up on UFAs to reah the cap floor.

    RFAs like Dahlin, Mittelstadt, and Jokiharju will cost money but it won’t bring them to the cap floor.

    In other words an Eichel trade needs to bring back salary, be it bad contracts, or contracts teams want to unload like Erik Karlsson, Matt Duchene or Evgeny Kuznetsov and willing to take the risk

  5. Just catching up:

    “SPECTOR’S NOTE: Scene: A headshot of Jack Eichel. Narrator: “Blueshirts Breakaway got their wish but it wasn’t the result they expected.” The camera pulls back revealing Eichel wearing an Anaheim Ducks jersey. Cue end music and credits.”

    Made my day!