2017 Free agency thread.

Yeah, that's a huge contract they gave him. The real downside here is that all the Rangers fans will have one less player to speculate about, for the offseason. Poor guys...

 

Hurricanes not optimistic about signing Mrazek, McElhinney, says GM
Goalies can become unrestricted free agents July 1

LAS VEGAS -- Petr Mrazek and Curtis McElhinney will likely become unrestricted free agents on July 1 after the Carolina Hurricanes have been unsuccessful in their attempts to sign the goalies to new contracts.

"We're trying to sign them, but it doesn't look like we're going to get either signed," Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell said Tuesday. "So, if not, we'll go to the market and see what's out there for July 1."

A finalist for general manager of the year at the 2019 NHL Awards presented by Bridgestone on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN), Waddell reiterated at the NHL Awards Media Day on Tuesday that he'd like to keep Mrazek and McElhinney after each helped Carolina qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2009 and reach the Eastern Conference Final.

But with the unrestricted free agent interview period opening on Sunday, Waddell isn't optimistic.

Waddell didn't rule out one of the goalies circling back to the Hurricanes after talking to other teams.

"Sometimes guys test the market and then you find where we're at," Waddell said. "We'd like to have both guys back. I've publicly said that. But right now, we don't have deals done with them."


Mrazek agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract with Carolina as an unrestricted free agent last July 1. He went 23-14-3 with a 2.39 goals-against average, a .914 save percentage and four shutouts in 40 regular season games and 5-5 with a 2.73 GAA, .894 save percentage and two shutouts in 11 playoff games.

McElhinney was claimed off waivers from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 2 after Scott Darling was injured in the preseason. He went 20-11-2 with a 2.58 GAA, a .912 save percentage and two shutouts in 33 regular-season games and 3-2 with a 2.01 save percentage and .930 save percentage in five playoff games.

With Mrazek and McElhinney expected to leave, Waddell said prospect Alex Nedeljkovic will get a chance to earn one of the goalie jobs in training camp. The 23-year-old won the Aldege "Baz' Bastien Memorial Award as the American Hockey League's outstanding goalie and helped Charlotte win the Calder Cup this season.

Carolina's second-round pick (No. 37) in the 2014 NHL Draft, Nedeljkovic went 34-14-1 with a 2.26 GAA, .916 save percentage and four shutouts this season with Charlotte and made his first NHL start against the Vancouver Canucks on Jan. 23, making 24 saves in a 5-2 victory.

Waddell hopes to be active before the 2019 NHL Draft at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Friday and Saturday. Waddell would like to add scoring help at forward and said he'd be willing to deal from the Hurricanes depth on defense in the right trade.

"It's one of the things that if it's the right type of forward, we might look at it," Waddell said of trading a defenseman. "If not, if we don't do anything in the next week, then maybe it's through free agency." (NHL.com)
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Someone needs a goalie... wonder if I can find my old equipment.

 

Dust off the old Coopers Will

 

Flyers sign Kevin Hayes to a 7 year $50 deal. $7.14aav.
I give Fletcher credit for having enormous balls but that’s a lot of cash for a Hayes.

 

I wonder how long before a 20 goal scorer starts to get $10M AAV and the owners start to crying the blues where we get another lockout.

 

Too much money, and likely to drive the rest of the market up. Far too much.

 

Exactly. If Hayes gets $7.14 long term what’s Panarin looking at?....... $12+ long term?

 

Based on that comparison, probably. I definitely think it's $11+. Makes Buffalo's Skinner deal look pretty good, right about now.

 

They took the Hayes signing off the Flyers twitter feed, they were getting torched.

 

The key way to look at AAV has always been to look at AAV as a % of Total Cap - raw contract size is really not particularly relevant.

I think what's going on is that teams are looking at the future Cap with an expectation that it is going to be much * higher in a few years. If that proves to be the case, then 10% today will be a lot less a few years down the road. (* Legalized gambling - really NHL-sanctioned gambling is likely to add many $MM to HRR **; hence much higher Caps.) ** Of course the owners have to agree to share those revenues with the PA - unlike their decision to not share expansion fees. So that is not a given *** but the NHL does (reasonably - but not assuredly - so) expect to be rolling in a lot more dollars in the near future. The very contentiousness that big-dollars creates is likely IMO to lead to nasty wranglings - probably a protracted work stoppage, i.e. no hockey! - at the next CBA negotiations.

Note: *** I am not saying this will happen, but I think many GM's and owners expect much higher Salary Caps will happen, and that helps justify these contracts in their minds. We know that regardless of fiscal conservatism and sound business-policy, owners will always trip over themselves in trying to beat the others to a coveted player. The beautiful thing is the cabal runs the whole fu#@ing show and can make up rules as they go along. Remember the amnesty buy-outs from the last CBA? It's all funny money anyway, and the only thing that seems certain is that the value of each franchise is going a lot higher.

 

It is good to be an NHL owner. It is good to be an NHL player that has potted a few pucks.

But it is absolutely axiomatic that it is better to be a billionaire - even better than being a mere multi-millionaire.

 

Yeah, I agree entirely. Gambling that a big contract now will look like good value later based on rising league cap / spending can be a big payoff. However, if that gamble doesn't pay off, it can hamstring a team if, say, the cap doesn't significantly rise. What will be interesting is seeing which teams play it conservatively, and which don't. Do smaller market teams stay conservative, hoping that things go their way in the next few years before they open up the pursestrings? It's going to be interesting to watch. In the meantime, fans are crossing their fingers that their team will still upgrade their roster, regardless of anything else.

 

The NHL has historically expanded in BULK. I do not think thy're going to stop at 32. That has bought a lot of breathing room for more penurious owners since they got handled a huge bundle of cash and did not have to share it with anyone. This is my way of saying that I do not think they really care that much about: "if that gamble doesn't pay off, it can hamstring a team if, say, the cap doesn't significantly rise.".

They're going to spend as if the future cap IS a lot higher. If it isn't then they'll cry like bitches like they did last time and extract concessions from the PA. It's quite a thing they have going.

 

What will be interesting is to see how Panarin's and Marner's new contracts effect one another. Clearly the former is the prized F on the FA market. And clearly the latter has earned a massive contract, and will be demanding it.

 

It won't be worth it for a star player to sign for 8 years anymore (see draisaitl). These contracts date quicker than a quart of milk.

 

doesnt seem as though the cap has risen as much as many have thought it would. these big deals for middle-roster players are going to mame the league.

 

Speaking of terrible deals, Corey Perry bought out in Anaheim and will become a FA.

 

The cap has gone up $19M since the lockout, an average of $2.7M per year. More revenue will pour in from a big tv contract in the US, gambling products from Vegas and expansion fees.