NHL Morning Coffee Headlines – September 1, 2024
The Carolina Hurricanes re-sign Seth Jarvis, Meredith Gaudreau posts a tribute to her late husband Johnny Gaudreau, the Bruins sign Tyler Johnson to a PTO contract, and more in today’s NHL Morning Coffee Headlines.
DAILY FACEOFF: Frank Seravalli broke the news on Saturday that the Carolina Hurricanes signed restricted free agent winger Seth Jarvis to an eight-year, $63.2 million contract.
Jarvis’ new contract is structured in a way that Seravalli suggests “may be important business” for the NHL’s other 31 teams. It will have a lower annual salary-cap hit than the typical average annual value (AAV) because the 22-year-old winger was willing to defer salary,

Carolina Hurricanes winger Seth Jarvis (NHL Images).
Instead of Jarvis’ AAV being $7.9 million, it will be $7.5 million, a savings of $400K per season. There is a deferred signing bonus payment scheduled for July 1, 2032, one day after his contract expires on June 30, 2032.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: PuckPedia shows the AAV at just over $7.42 million.
According to Seravalli, that payment is technically scheduled for Year 9 of the eight-year contract, meaning there is no Year 9 cap charge to the Hurricanes. The cap hit for the Hurricanes throughout the eight-year deal is charges on what is actually paid out during that time.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Seravalli goes into greater detail on this subject and I recommend following the above link. He also suggests other NHL clubs could follow suit to reduce the AAV on future major signings.
TSN’s Chris Johnston pointed out that deferred payments have been part of the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement (CBA) since 2005. However, they’ve been seldom used because players typically prefer getting as much money upfront as possible.
Johnston also explains that deferred salary deals lower the cap hit because of the present value of the money calculation. The Year 9 money that Jarvis is paid in 2033 won’t be worth the same value as it is today.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The effect of this could be felt on contract negotiations involving the league’s biggest stars. It wouldn’t be surprising if the Edmonton Oilers attempted to convince Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid to defer salary on their next contracts. The Toronto Maple Leafs could try to do the same with Mitch Marner.
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Meredith Gaudreau posted a tribute on Instagram to her late husband Johnny Gaudreau. The 31-year-old Columbus Blue Jackets winger and his brother Matthew were killed on Thursday while cycling when they were struck from behind by a drunk driver.
“Thank you for the best years of my life,” Meredith Gaudreau wrote on Instagram. “Despite losing you, I am the luckiest girl in the world to have been yours. I love you so much. You were perfect. Some days it felt too good to be true. I love every single thing about you.
“You are my forever and I can’t wait to be with you again. I love you so much forever and ever.”
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Tributes continued to pour in for the Gaudreaus around the sports world on Saturday. Sports teams across the US and Canada held moments of silence for the brothers. Hockey sticks and Gatorade were left in tribute to them near the New Jersey road where they died.
BOSTON HOCKEY NOW: The Bruins signed unrestricted free agent forward Tyler Johnson to a professional tryout offer. The 34-year-old spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks. A 12-year NHL veteran, he broke into the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning, helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021.
UTAH HOCKEY CLUB announced via “X” that they’ve signed defenseman Robert Bortuzzo to a one-year, two-way contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: PuckPedia indicates the AAV is $775K at the NHL level. Bortuzzo, 35, is a 13-year NHL veteran who split last season between the St. Louis Blues and New York Islanders. He won a Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2019.
NEW JERSEY HOCKEY NOW: James Nichols reports on Aug. 30 that Devils defenseman Simon Nemec was injured on Friday playing for Slovakia in their Olympic qualifier against Hungary. Team doctors said nothing was broken or dislocated and Nemec would undergo further tests on Saturday.
NHL.COM: The league released its US national TV broadcasting schedule on Thursday.
It commences on Oct. 9 with the Florida Panthers raising their 2023-24 Stanley Cup banner before their season-opener against the Boston Bruins. The night also sees the debut of the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City in their season-opener against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Great PTO. By Sweeney and Bruins. Would not be surprised if he makes the roster
If he does, Mrbruin4, at 5′ 8″ 180 lbs he won’t be hard to notice on a team that averages 6′ 2″ 206 lbs.
Meredith Gaudreau,as classy a person as your husband! God bless you and your children!
Very moving and brave post by Meredith Gaudreau
It certainly was very heartfelt and moving. The loss she feels now cannot be comprehended. May God indeed bless her and may she have a lifetime of joy from her beautiful children.
Carolina’s cap reserve disappeared with the Jarvis signing and, with 22 of 23 positions filled, according to PuckPedia (13F 7D 2G) , they now sit with just under $80,000 in cap space, but could get relief to bring up another player when Fest ($2.4 mil) goes on LTIR.
In Columbus, in the wake of the Gaudreau tragedy, it isn’t clear yet how his cap hit of $9,750,000 will play out. Puckpedia obviously isn’t sure yet either as they continue to show his cap, 23 of 23 on the main roster, and a cap reserve of $15,948,334.
With camps due to open mid-month it’s hard to imagine the Columbus management trying to conduct business as usual. I – and I imagine most who frequent this site not to mention Lyle himself – can get a remote and VERY miniscule sense of what they must be going through just by trying to get back to everyday and, by comparison for some time to come I fear, mundane topics.
But at some point they – and by extreme extension we in here – will have to come to grips with his untimely and totally unnecessary death and get back to the business at hand – preparing for a new season and posting out two cents worth on what transpires.
Frankly I could not care less about any of this at the moment, but as a non-roster player his $ should not count against the cap. For some bizarre reason Puckpedia has his death listed as a transaction. Might want to clean that up, fellas. RIP JG/MG.
I hear you Pupinabox. It’s so difficult to try and focus on normal events. But they’re still out there so what’s the answer? Nothing for a week, a month? Certainly on the day of the brother’s funerals.
Re his cap hit, as I understand it, the full amount of $9.750,000 comes off the books and, through the insurance set up his family gets a full year of that salary.
Added to the $15 mil + cap reserve they already has, this puts them at $25,698,334 in cap space, meaning, in total, their cap becomes $62,301,666 – just under $3 mil below the cap floor of 65,000,000.
Management will need to start scanning around for a deal or two in order to get them above the floor.
Not really that worried. The money comes off the books, maybe they league gives them a couple extra weeks to get above the floor. I dunno, it will all work out. As a Jackets fan (and human) this is just soul crushing. I think it’s particularly hurtfull because Johnny was a superstar and he chose Columbus. After Bob, Panarin, Ducshene, PLD (idiot) and now Laine have all decided to move on this City has a bit of an insecurity complex. When Johnny sought out Cbus to sign here it was a shot in the arm that this franchise and City really needed. And now he’s gone and we will all move on and things will eventually get back to whatever normal is. Perspective.