NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – August 1, 2022
A former NHL scout claims Nazem Kadri is heading to the Islanders, a list of the coming season’s cap-crunched teams, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
COLORADO HOCKEY NOW: Adrian Dater cited a tweet by the Barrie Colts director of player personnel claiming free agent center Nazem Kadri is heading to the New York Islanders.
Former Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri (NHL Images).
Mark Seidel, a former NHL scout with the Minnesota Wild, tweeted Sunday that he believes Kadri has a deal done with the Islanders. “They have to clear out some cap room & then it’ll be announced,” wrote Seidel. “I’m FAR from an Insider but I’m very confident it’s done.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: No confirmation yet of this anywhere else. As Dater observes, Seidel’s an experienced hockey man so I doubt he’s posting this up just for laughs. Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello has reportedly been in the market for a scoring forward this summer. Nevertheless, this remains speculation until the Isles announce that a deal with Kadri is done.
Cap Friendly shows the Islanders with $11.1 million in cap room with restricted free agents Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov to re-sign. Adding Kadri will drive them over the cap even if Dobson and Romanov get affordable short-term bridge contracts. Lamoriello will have to make a cost-cutting trade to ensure he’s cap compliant when the regular season begins in October.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Ian Kennedy recently listed several NHL teams that are already facing a salary-cap crunch before the season begins in October.
The Vegas Golden Knights are already over the cap with just two-thirds of their roster signed. The Philadelphia Flyers could be forced to move a player such as James van Riemsdyk to get under the cap. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Kings could bury some of their promising waiver-exempt players in the minors to free up room to sign their remaining restricted free agents.
Other clubs that could face shedding some salary include the Toronto Maple Leafs, Tampa Bay Lightning and the Islanders if they add a scorer like Kadri.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kennedy observed that some of the clubs on his list, such as the Edmonton Oilers, could put players on long-term injury reserve to be under the cap when the season begins. Still, we could see some of them attempt to dump some salaries through the trade market by the time October rolls around.
SI.COM: Speaking of the Leafs, David Alter believes they don’t have to make a trade to become cap compliant for 2022-23.
They could decide to carry 20 players on their roster to start the season. A player put on waivers for the purpose of sending him to the minors could be claimed by another club. A player injured in training camp or preseason could be placed on long-term injury reserve if the injury is serious enough to sideline him for a lengthy period of time.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Leafs GM Kyle Dubas doesn’t have to rush into anything right now. Teams are allowed to sit above the cap by 10 percent during the offseason but must be under it when the regular season begins in October. That provides him with sufficient time to evaluate his options.
SPORTSNET’s Elliotte Friedman took to Twitter on Sunday to report on the arbitration filings for Nashville Predators forward Yakov Trenin. The team is seeking a two-year deal at $1.35 million annually while the Trenin camp seeks $2.4 million on a one-year deal.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Trenin’s arbitration hearing is slated for Tuesday, Aug. 2.
Trade Sweeney … fire Zucker … err, no, wait …buy-out Sweeney … demote Zucker … no, that’s not it – aww hell, why not just trade Zucker for Sweeney
(sorry, couldn’t resist – preemptive strike)
Good one, George. And what’s just as funny is that RWM still doesn’t realize that he’s become the joke.
No. He realizes it. Apparently you haven’t realized that by responding about him you are giving him exactly what he wants. You got your who’s who of clueless backwards in this case Paul.
I disagree because he frequently makes poor attempts at insults. RWM is a one note joke.
Plus one. The unprovoked ad hominem is far more tiresome than the ax grinding. Whatever happened to live and let live, not to mention a reader’s ability to skip a post?
Why do you feel the need ? You let something like that bother you maybe you should stop reading his stuff …just saying
And why can’t any of you see that he’s a source of humor?
Paul. We see him for what he is. And Rick knows exactly what he is doing.
I like how people defend this with saying “skip the post”.
So it’s okay for some to be repetitive to the point of nauseam, but it’s not okay to point out that someone’s being repetitive to the point of nauseam?
Maybe people should skip the posts of those who should be skipping posts? I’m not sure anymore?
I mean seriously, the same copy and paste / off topic posts daily are beating this board into the ground.
How many ways do we have to suffer from the daily Sweeney / Zucker garbage?
Yes, we get it. We’ve seen every project lineup possible for Pittsburgh (excluding Zucker) we all know Sweeney is not signing every single free agent out there, or trading for every available player.
I think Moderator LR must , must , mustard and hot sauce put a stop to it.
I’ve seen plenty of off topic conversations get shut down. Why not this daily dead horse?
Unless Lyle tells me to stop, I’m going to keep making fun of RWM.
Stop. And that goes for RWM and everyone else. You’re all supposed to be adults. Act like it.
I’ll bet you that Sweeney for Zucker straight up doesn’t happen; at least not without some serious salary retention on Zucker and a case of Sam Adams going to PItt.
Loser of the bet drinks a pint of lighter fluid.
The both of you, LMAO!!! I like your joke George it was funny but the icing was the drinking of lighter fluid.
Good job guys. Embrace the funny.
Aww, I was just having fun with Rick and Pengy … both have a good sense of humor and, I’m sure, took no offense – Rick already warned me of the continuing rant a couple of days ago
I am hearing Chychrun to Ottawa .
Not sure if anyone else is hearing the same possibility .
Zaitsev , top 4 minutes , that has to come to an end .
Teams running Chabot , their only only really skilled defenseman -putting him on injury reserve ….
Dorion has to do something with this area of concern
I was looking at their lineup last night , slot of high end talent up front in that lineup
Not sure what their cap is like ?
Ken, while I’ve heard nothing specific about Chychrun to Ottawa, whenever his name pops up in a media article as a trade possibility out of Arizona, Ottawa is usually mentioned somewhere – usually in the context of them needing a RD to play alongside Chabot.
Right now Ottawa has 19 signed with $7,940,119 in cap space and still with 2 RFAs to re-up – LW Formenton, coming off an ELC of $747,500 (18g 14a 32 pts) and D Brannstrom. coming off an ELC of $863,333 (og 14a 14 pts -4).
Both will likely be signed to bridge deals totally somewhere near $4 mil, which would leave them just under $4 mil in cap space with 21 signed.
A deal for Chychrun could be done – in terms of numbers – if Zaitsev (2 years left @ $4.5 mil per) was part of the package – a necessity for Arizona who, although they will be comfortably over the cap floor once RFAs Crouse and Hayton are re-upped, would fall back below if Chychrun ($4.6 mil for 3 more years) was dealt.
The package could include a combination of picks/prospects and a roster player, along with Zaitsev (e.g. Formenton and one of Brannstrom, Bernard-Docker and Thompson, and a high pick in 2023
@George
Seems like a very Do- able deal , without disturbing their pool of front end talent .
Removing Zaitsev from the lineup is a HUGE accomplishment, does he have a NTC , which would be a real DOWNER
Ken, he has a modified 10-team no-trade clause – which could very well include Arizona, unfortunately. Of course, they could always try and get him to waive that … which, if there’s fire to that Chychrun smoke, could be what Dorion is working on with he and his agent. 2 years at full salary is better than riding the buses in the AHL – even at full salary.
Re Kennedy’s piece on teams facing salary cap crunch, I posted a similar theme a week ago – and here it is with updates since then factored in (no less than 15 teams needing some adjustments in cap)
Tampa – 21 signed – $7,195,833 over the cap – LTIR probability Seabrook $6,875,000
Washington – 22 signed – $6,321,666 over the cap – possible LTIR Backstrom $9.2 mil
Florida – 23 signed – $3,375,834 over the cap – no LTIR candidate
Edmonton – 19 signed – $2,931,333 in cap space – RFAs to re-up – McLeod, Yamamoto – LTIR – Klefbom $4,167,000 – possibly Smith – $2,200,000
Vancouver – 20 signed – $2,751,686 over the cap – LTIR Ferland $3.5 mil
Philadelphia – 22 signed – $1,598,107 over the cap – RFAs to re-up – McEwen – LTIR candidates – Ellis – $6,250,000 – Couturier – $7.750,000
Toronto – 22 signed – $1,493,116 over the cap – RFA to re-up – Sandin – no LTIR candidate
Pittsburgh – 24 signed – $1,480,175 over the cap – no LTIR candidate
Vegas – 16 signed (SIXTEEN!) – $1,394,643 over the cap – RFAs to re-up – Kolesar, Roy, Hague – LTIR – Weber $7,875,143
Columbus – 24 signed – $958,333 over the cap – RFA Bemstrom – LTIR possibility – Jenner ($3.750,000)
NY Rangers – 21 signed – $1,008,531 in space – LTIR – Blais ($1,575,000)
Montreal – 22 signed – $248,334 in cap space – No LTIR candidate
St. Louis – 22 signed – $ 625,000 in cap space – No LTIR candidate
San Jose – 22 signed – $2,049,166 in cap space – RFAs to re-up – Gadjovich, Gregor, Ferraro – LTIR candidate – Labanc – $4,275,000
Los Angeles – 21 signed – $2,338,333 in cap space – RFAs to re-up – Anderson, Durzi, Vilardi – no LTIR candidate
George, if you look a little deeper at the Jackets’ roster, you will see that Daniil Tarasov, who will be going to Cleveland for the season, and two or three tweeners who will only play for the Jackets if several injuries happen at roughly the same time and so will be going to Cleveland. Remove those salaries and the Jackets are under the cap.
And possibly also playing with a 20 or 21-man roster – which is usually no problem in the early going … the only problem with that is, if early season injuries occur of the 2 or 3-game nagging type – i.e., not serious enough to go on long-term – they can’t bring anyone up if their NHL salary puts them over the cap.
Oops – that Edmonton entry should read “$2,931,333 over the cap …”
Every off season there’s the gloom and doom cap predictions and the schadenfreude of team troubles while citing the constraints of teams…..yet they seem to pull it off.
The GMs and their capologists know a wee bit more than the “experts” and the pundits who feed them.
Oh, no one – including me – is saying it won’t be done in each and every case … it has to be … all I’m pointing out is the situation with those teams where it MUST be done … so either they’ll cover with LTIRs or, there will be deals. Can’t be any other way in most of the above.
Habfan30, to Leafs fans, you’re preaching to the choir. One difference though, that list should also reflect the team’s final standings. When you combine the two, ie a poor performance on top of being over or close to the cap is a much more daunting feat.
Boston has $4,758,333 in cap space.
21/23 players signed
Allowed to have 7.5% in bonus ($6,187,500)
Waiting on 3 players
Zacha, Bergeron, Krejci
Capspace $4,758,333 + Bonus $6,187,500 = $10,945,833 dollars available
Bergeron $6m
Krejci $6m
Zacha $3m
total $15M
shortfall of $4,054,167
as mention above they have 21/23 contracts adding the 3 players means you have to move someone.
The most logical choice is between Forbort $3m cap hit or Reilly $3m cap hit.
I suspect Zboril to take Reilly spot and Forbort who played within his limits in the playoffs to stay.
With Reilly being moved the Bruins will have $1m of cap space to clear. Done if either or both Bergeron and/or Krejci split the difference.
Charlie Coyle is also a move Boston should be considering and unfortunately Foligno is going nowhere without a sweetener.
I believe the Bergeron and Krejci deals are done, but Sweeney is trying to clear cap space before he makes the announcements.
Caper
Under your scenario. They can send Wagner back to AHL. And save the $ they need. Bout I think buying out Foligno would be better. I would rather see Griz moved vs. Rielly. He always seams injured and more cap savings
I would think Krejci would come in a bit lower of a salary than Bergeron. Patrice is coming off another stellar, Selke winning year while Krejci played in Europe. While both have had amazing careers Bergeron is the better player (despite actually having a smaller salary than Krejci for most of their careers).
If Bergeron is at $6M, I’m thinking Krejci is at $4.5-5M.
Coyle will be a tough move with salary and his clause he’s at best a 3rd line player right now….. and at end of summer last season he was talked about and was their 2nd line center ….With Charlie out Forbiort might be a need right now
Agreed Joe. Coyle’s a good player but certainly overpaid for what he brings. I think that contract was based on what they team was hoping he would be rather than what he’s actually proven.
He’s hardly untradeable but the return might not be anything special and probably $1-2M retention probably needed.
Better off buying out Foligno to make cap space. I’m sure he’s a great guy in the dressing room and all but he’s an overpaid boat anchor on the ice.
Nice to see past Bruins still hang together
https://7mn523lq2b11i634b2g98kt1-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2022/07/1-e1659118098579.jpg