Metro Division Part 4

Late breaking....the Flyers re-signed UFA center Jordan Weal who had been rumored to be headed to Vancouver.  The Rangers had been mentioned as a potential destination as well.  Columbus also has bought out Scott Hartnell, whose better days are behind him.

There are still two teams in the Metropolitan Division we haven't discussed.  They are not likely contenders for the playoffs, but both teams are making strides towards contention.  As they get better, they will only strengthen the toughest division in the NHL.   What most observers don't take into consideration is that in an age of hockey parity, it will be even harder for Metro Division teams to beat each other, suppressing their records while other weaker divisions teams records are inflated.   We'll see how the regular season plays out, but first let's look at the Carolina Hurricanes.

Carolina Hurricanes

Carolina finished with 87 points last season, only one point behind the Flyers and eight points out of a playoff spot.  The Canes are an interesting team.   They're a combination of cheap, young prospects and an amalgamation of veterans and utility type players (like Lee Stempniak) along with three upper tier players in Jeff Skinner, Jordan Staal and Justin Faulk.

Every year another young player makes his debut in Raleigh with Sebastian Aho and Noah Hanifin two good examples. There's no obvious choice this year, but the Canes are chock full of young talented players. They already have made some waves on the trading front.  They acquired Scott Darling from Chicago to replace the aging Cam Ward, bolstered their defense with Trevor Van Riemsdyk from Las Vegas and made room for him by sending Ryan Murphy and Eddie Lack to Calgary.  These trades are in the same vein as the deal they made with Chicago that netted them Teuvo Teravainen in exchange for assuming the salary of now-retired Bryan Bickell.

The Hurricanes enter free agent frenzy with a lot of cap space, over $25 million.  They are $6 million shy of the cap floor (they even assumed some of Eddie Lack's salary in their deal with the Flames). They only have two UFA's on the roster and no RFA's.  One UFA is 34 year old Jay McClement and the other is depth defenseman Matt Tennyson who suited up for 45 games last season.  They will have a number of RFA's up next summer, but with the current roster, the Hurricanes don't have to worry about exceeding the salary cap.

With ten NHL forwards on the roster, the team will need to add some bodies.  They have six defensemen under contact. They have some ECHL players who can make the jump, but if the past is any indication, the team will seek to sign low cost free agents like Stempniak and Viktor Stalberg. An intriguing name that has been mentioned is Justin Williams who won a cup with Carolina.

There's been a lot of talk about the Hurricanes making a return to playoff contention. Young star forwards like Aho, Teravainen, Elias Lindholm and Victor Rask and defensemen like Hanafin, Brett Pesce and Jacob Slavin will all be a year older and better, but the question is whether the Hurricanes will have enough to make the jump.

New Jersey Devils

All Ranger fans were pretty unhappy with the Devils when they pulled their name out of the hat and they were awarded the first pick in the entry draft.  Nico Hischier may be a great player, but he is not Connor McDavid and the Devils remain a team with a handful of serviceable players surrounding an even smaller number of outstanding hockey players (most notably Taylor Hall and Cory Schneider). They are no longer the oldest team in the league and are making great strides towards exploiting their youth, but they still scored the fewest goals in the division last season and allowed the most.  That may change, but not this season.

With a cap hit of $51 million, the team doesn't hit the cap floor, but with only eight NHL forwards under contract that number will rise.  They have two UFA's in center Jacob Josefson (who looks to be a former first round bust) and winger Beau Bennett (who wasn't given  a qualifying offer, but that doesn't mean anything) and an RFA in right wing Stefan Noesen.  On defense, they will have to ante up for RFA Damon Severson who played 80 games and has developed into a reliable backliner.

On the free agent front, there have been some stories that the Devils will be in the Kevin Shattenkirk sweepstakes and are also interested in Tomas Vanek and Cody Franson.

In the pipeline, you may see Mirco Mueller, a former first rounder acquired from San Jose along with homegrown centers Joe Blandisi and John Quenneville, both of whom saw action in Newark last season.  Only Steve Santini appears to be NHL ready on defense.

It's tough to get excited about the Devils.  They are a long way from contention and although Hischier and Hall will be fun to watch, the team has too many holes on the third and fourth lines and most critically on defense where the two stalwarts are the aging Ben Lovejoy and Andy Greene.  Hischier's impact will probably be more like the effect of Jack Eichel on Buffalo, as opposed to the more positive results achieved by Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.

Looking Ahead

Free agent frenzy begins on Saturday at noon.  We should have a pretty good idea of where the Rangers will be headed this off-season by the end of the weekend.  Kevin Shattenkirk?  Sam Gagner? Patrick Marleau? Nick Bonino? Backup goalie?  There a lot of questions, but by Monday most of our questions will be answered. Stay tuned.

Metro Division Part 3

Before we start on our look at the rest of the Metropolitan Division, a bit of Ranger news. The team announced today that they have finalized a new contract with Brendan Smith, They signed him for four years at an annual cap hit of  $4.35 million.  It's a good deal for the team.  That salary is $1.5 million less than they are paying Marc Staal.  He is  in his prime at 28 so they are not locked into a longterm contract for an aging defenseman.  And he will be a Ranger for four years so the two draft picks they dealt to Detroit will pay off long term (unlike their deadline deals for Eric Staal and Keith Yandle).

The signing leaves the team with $15.6 million in cap space ($18.5 million if Kevin Klein retires) and they still need to ink RFA's Mika Zibanejad, Jesper Fast and Nicklas Jensen. Gaping holes in the roster still include a backup goaltender, a third and fourth line center and a right handed defenseman. First round pick Lias Andersson has made it clear that intends to try to make the team, but that is not a sure thing.  All indications are that the Rangers are still all in on Kevin Shattenkirk and the rumors about UFA Joe Thornton have been replaced by rumors that they are interested in Thornton's teammate, Patrick Marleau.  Although Marleau is 37 years old, he still potted 27 goals.  His last contract with the Sharks was for $6.6 million, so he won't be cheap.

Pittsburgh, Washington and Columbus are clearly the class of the division (the Blueshirts as well, of course).  The Islanders should be contenders and this season, they will be joined by at least one team, the Philadelphia Flyers.

Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers are an interesting team.  They hung around the playoff picture until the last week of the season, a season in which they had a 10-game winning streak and were poised for the post-season. Before they lost to Dallas on December 17, their record was 19-10-3.  From that point on they were 20-23-7.  Decidedly mediocre.  Still, there is a huge upside for this team as they boast two of the best young defensemen in the game (Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov) and a solid group of forwards.  That group will be bolstered by #2 overall pick Nolan Patrick, a stud center who should make the varsity this season.  Of course, the Flyers' achilles heel is in goal where Michal Neuvirth is their number one with longtime top goalie Steve Mason likely to leave as an UFA.  Although there was a blip when Ron Hextall led the Flyers to the Finals in 1987, it seems that when Pelle Lindbergh crashed his car into a wall in 1985, the team was fated to never have a star goalie.  Just look at the 2010 Flyers who lost in the finals to Chicago.  Who was in net for the Flyers?  The immortal Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher.   So, for the Flyers it looks like same old same old.

The Flyers go into the post-season with $11.5 million in cap space.  Their UFA forwards are Chris Vandevelde and center Jordan Weal who has been the subject of a LOT of rumors (Vancouver is interested).  He showed a lot of potential with eight goals in 23 games and is a BC native, so the Canucks rumors have some merit. Vandevelde is a useful fourth line forward who played all 81 games for the Flyers.  On the RFA front, the Flyers have to re-sign Russian forward Roman Lyubimov and Union College standout Michael Vecchione. The fact that he is already a RFA after signing and playing two games in the NHL is a little weird. Vecchione passed on the Rangers to sing with Philadelphia, a decision he may regret since his slot on the big team may be taken by Nolan Patrick.  They will also want to sign minor league RFA Scott Laughton who has a shot to make the big club.

The Flyers have two UFA defensemen in Michael Del Zotto and Nick Schultz.  Schultz is 34 and Del Zotto has been injury prone so the Flyers may look elsewhere for defensive depth.

At any rate, the Flyers have ten NHL forwards and five NHL defensemen under contract so their limited cap space will make it imperative for their youth movement to step up.

The Flyers already had an impressive pipeline before they added Nolan Patrick.  Swedish left wing Oskar Lindblom appears ready to make the jump from the Swedish elite league.  Anthony Stolarz is their best home grown back up goalie option after a brief and impressive stint in the NHL.  They also enticed Russian center Mikhail Vorobyov to make the move to North America.  He's only 20 with a lot of potential.  Flyer fans were spoiled as they introduced Gostisbehere and Provorov the last years. The best option to make the varsity is Samuel Morin who is a big (6 '7") stay-at-home defenseman.

The future looks good for the Flyers.  Their youth core is one of the best in the league and they still have vets Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Jacob Voracek locked up.  Questions in goal remain and there is always the intangible ability of the Flyers to always screw things up.  It's been 41 years since they won a Stanley Cup...there's no way to know if this is the season that changes.

Since I spent so much time on the Ranger news, we'll look at the Hurricanes and Devils in the next post.

Metro Division Part 2

Okay, we looked at two of the best teams in hockey in the last post.  Now, we take a look at two teams that promise to cause some headaches for the Rangers, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Islanders.

Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets got a ton of experience last season, but were disappointed when ousted by the Penguins in five games in the first round.  It was a season highlighted by a spectacular winning streak and the Vezina Trophy winning goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky.   The Jackets have not stood pat this off-season, already making a blockbuster deal with Chicago to acquire Artemi Panarin, sending Brandon Saad back to the Windy City.   The trade was fascinating with a highly skilled scoring winger coming to Ohio in exchange for a well rounded player who is a better defensively (and more in the mold of coach John Tortorella).   They also made another deal the same day, acquiring center Jordan Schroeder from the Minnesota Wild for a prospect.

The Jackets enter free agent frenzy with less than $10 million in cap space.  Fortunately, they have practically their entire team under contract.  The UFA's are center Sam Gagner and ex-Ranger winger Lori Korpikoski.   Trade deadline acquisition defenseman Kyle Quincey is the sole UFA on the backline.   They will have some work to do to get RFA's Josh Anderson (17 goals)  and Alexander Wennberg  (13 goals) under contract.  Both had excellent seasons and need to be paid.  The Jackets problem is next season when they have to go high to retain UFA's Cam Atkinson and Jack Johnson.

At any rate, the team has 12 NHL caliber forwards under contract and eight NHL defensemen.   Newly acquired Schroeder will step in at center for Sam Gagner who will be looking for a big payday based on his 18 goals and 50 point season for which he was paid a measly $650k.    The pipeline should provide some depth with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Sonny Milano ready to step in and play regularly.  They still have to replace William Karlsson,  a center who was drafted by Las Vegas.

I wouldn't be surprised if  Columbus sits back and works on signing their own RFA's as their roster is set with the two deals they already made.  One year older and with a solid roster, the Blue Jackets will be as good if not better than last season.  The big question is how Panarin meshes with his new team (and his new coach) and if Bobrovsky can get over his mediocre Stanley Cup playoff and replicate his outstanding 2016-17 season.  The other factor is the "Tortorella Factor" as he enters his third year with Columbus.  It's about the time that it starts going bad for Torts unless he has learned his lesson

New York Islanders

With the Islanders, it is all about John Tavares.  With him entering his final contract year, the team pledged to get a renewal done this summer.  In order to demonstrate their seriousness and to convince Tavares that he wants to stay, the team has made a number of moves.  This is no easy task.  The team was a mess last season though a late season recovery came close to redeeming the bad year.  With Doug Weight at the helm, the team has some consistency in management.  Garth Snow has been working like a madman to get out from under a salary cap horrorshow while running a team that doesn't know where it will be playing in a few years.

After all of these machinations, the Islanders have cleared almost $10 million in cap space.  To get to that number, they gave up Travis Hamonic for draft picks and orchestrated a deal with Las Vegas that could come back to haunt them in future years.  On the surface, the deal looks awful for NY.  In exchange for LV taking backup goalie J.F. Berube, the Isles traded their 2017 first rounder, prospect Jake Bishoff and a second round 2018 pick.   They were also able to get Las Vegas to take on the $5 million contract of injured forward Mikhail Grabovski.  Think about it.  They were able to shed $9 million in salary to get to a number that will barely allow them to spend freely.

Snow then turned around and made the deal  with Edmonton for five-time 20 goal scorer Jordan Eberle, swapping young forward Ryan Strome.  The sole purpose of acquiring Eberle and his $6 million salary was to provide Tavares with a stud winger.   What's most interesting is that Garth Snow is not done.  Insiders say that Hamonic was offered along with a 2018 first round pick to Colorado for Matt Duschene and the Avalanche turned that deal down, leading to the trade of Hamonic to Calgary.  

The only UFA on the team is Stephen Gionta who will probably not be retained.  The sole RFA is defenseman Calvin De Haan who is due a decent payday.   At any rate, the Islanders will have $5-6 million to spend in the free agent market and you can bet that Snow will try to get rid of his goalie headache by trading Jaroslav Halak.  The draft picks that the Isles collected the last few years will start paying off as players like Josh Ho-Sang and Michael Dal Colle will bid for fulltime jobs.  Look for Mathew Barzal, the Isles best prospect, to get a long look at training camp.

The future looks bright for the Islanders as these young players start making an impact. That is essential as they are still saddled with a number of onerous contracts for years, most notably Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy who combined will cost the Isles $11 million annually for another five years.  The other crazy contract is for Andrew Ladd, who has SIX more years at an annual hit of $5.5 million.   That contact will look really bad in three years when he is 34 years old.   Count Cal Clutterbuck among the overpaid with an annual $3.5 million hit (a lot to pay for 5 goals and 20 assists).  The 29 year old only has FIVE more years on that contract.  When you combine those deals with a potential $10 million annual salary for John Tavares, the Isles have to hope that their young talent can come through,.

We'll have to see what Snow has up his sleeve before we can predict exactly how good the Isles will be next season.  Coaching stability will go a long way, but there are a ton of question marks about the Fishsticks.

Next up...the pretenders (at least for now), the Flyers, Hurricanes and Devils.

Metro Division Rivals

I'm going to be taking a look at the Metropolitan Division teams to see how our heroes stand up against the competition.   I'll try to get to all of the teams before free agent frenzy begins on Saturday. Let' start with the best team in hockey...the Pittsburgh Penguins and the would-be best team in hockey...the Washington Capitals.

Pittsburgh Penguins

I'll say it right here.  The Penguins have as good a chance at a threepeat as any team has ever had. Their nucleus will remain intact and they have two of the best players in hockey along with a very impressive supporting cast.   How good are the Pens?  Look at it this way.  Going into the playoffs, most hockey mavens wrote them off.  They were missing Kris Letang and their number one goalie was hurt.  Sure, they were extended to seven games by the Capitals and Ottawa, but they persevered and won it all.  The Penguins have a distinct advantage in Crosby and Malkin that no team in hockey (except maybe Chicago) can overcome.

Check this out.  The Penguins have played ten playoffs with both Crosby and Malkin healthy and playing together.  In those ten years, they have won three Stanley Cups.  One year they lost in the Finals.  In the other six years, they were beaten three times by teams that ultimately went to the Finals and lost.  They were beaten twice by teams that made it to the Final Four.   Only once were they beaten by a team that didn't get to the Conference Finals or better.  What that tells me is that the only teams that can get past the Crosby/Malkin Penguins have to be the elite, the best teams in the NHL. Furthermore,  consider this. In round 1, they beat the league's best goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky, in five games. scoring 21 goals. He had a very pedestrian .882 save percentage and his GAA was 3.88. In round 2 they beat the second best goalie, Braden Holtby, in seven games, scoring 18 goals.  While allowing only 18 goals in seven games is impressive, the Pens scored 14 goals in the four Washington losses and he was pulled in one game.   Finally, in the Finals, they beat Pekka Rinne who was one of the best goalies in the playoffs through the first three rounds, scoring 17 goals in the four Pittsburgh wins.

What the Penguins did was make three of the best goalies in the NHL look absolutely mortal.  And they did this with a number of crippling injuries.  Nothing will change about that next season.  I will point out that the ONLY team to beat the Penguins in the playoffs twice in the Crosby/Malkin era was the New York Rangers.

Okay, so what does next season look like for Pittsburgh?  They go into the off-season with $18 million in cap space. Their UFA's are Matt Cullen (likely to retire), Nick Bonino, Chris Kunitz, Trevor Daley, Ron Hainsey and Mark Streit.  RFA's are forwards Conor Sheary and Josh Archibald and D-men Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz. They have 11 NHL forwards under contract and only four NHL defensemen.  They may need to find a backup for Matt Murray.

On the prospect front, they have one defenceman who could make the big club in Derrick Pouliot who is an RFA and 22 year old Tristan Jarry has a chance to be the back-up to Matt Murray.

The $18 million will go pretty quickly when they re-sign Pouliot, Sheary, Dumoulin and Schultz. The 37-year old Kunitz may return at a salary much lower than the $3.8 million he was making. The same goes for the 33-year old Trevor Daley who made $3.3 million.  However, he may get similar dollars (or more than Pittsburgh can afford) from a team looking for playoff experience and leadership.

The bottom line on the Penguins is that they are hard against the cap, but they have the nucleus to win again. Their top three lines and their defense will remain intact and as they demonstrated this year, they have the know how to make saavy rental acquisitions to get them through the post-season (Hainsey, Streit).  The cap situation helps explain the trade of Oscar Sundqvist to St. Louis for tough guy winger Ryan Reaves.  Reaves comes with a salary a little over $1 million while Sundqvist had a much better offensive upside, but was a RFA.  Of course, the explanation for the acquisition of Reaves was a desire to provide some "protection" for Crosby.   There may be something to that as Reaves has scored all of 27 goals in 419 NHL games while accumulating 695 penalty minutes.

So, for Ranger fans, don't look for a big drop off in play by the Penguins, ugh.

Washington Capitals

We've written about the Capitals ineptitude in the post-season quite a bit, so no need to get into that except to say that they retained the overrated Barry Trotz as they try yet again to get past the second round.  They do have a problem and that problem is their window for winning is closing faster than the Rangers.

The Capitals are going into free agent season with $17.5 million in cap space. That may seem like a lot, but they have some serious issues with free agency.  Incredibly, they just signed T.J. Oshie to an eight year, $46 million contract.  In 2024-25, the last year of this deal, the 38 year old Oshie will still be making almost $6 million a year.  Sheer insanity...unless they believe that they will be able to get out of the deal due to new buyout rules in the next CBA.  Okay, so that leaves them with with $17.5 million. Who do they have to spend it on?

They have two UFA's in forwards Daniel Winnick and Justin Williams.  Defense UFA's include Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk.  It's the RFA's who will be most costly to Washington.  They include forwards Andre Burakovsky and Evgeny Kuznetsov and defenseman Dmitry Orlov.  Backup goalie Philip Grubauer is also an RFA.  They have eight NHL forwards under contract and four NHL D-men signed for 2017-18.

On the prospect front they have a trio of forward prospects who have been developing in the AHL in Riley Barber, Travis Boyd and Chandler Stephenson.  The latter two are both RFA's who should be cheap signees.

The big contract will be going to Kuznetsov.  Tarasenko signed a longterm deal with St. Louis at $7.5 million per year.  Kuznetsov won't get as much, but he should be looking for Oshie-money.  If he signs for $6 million that leaves a little over $11 million to be spent on Burakofsky, Orlov, Grubauer, Boyd and Stephenson.  That's why there is chatter that the Caps won't even try to sign Alzner. Shattenkirk has become nothing more than an expensive rental who cost the Caps top prospect Zach Sanford and a first round pick.  The bottom line for Washington is that they are paying the price for the big contracts they doled out to Alex Ovetchkin  and Nicklas Backstrom (worth it) and Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik (not worth it).   They may try to re-sign 35 year old Justin Williams who scored 24 goals, but if he won't take less than the $3 million he made this season, he is a goner.

Thye bottom line is that the Caps have troubles.  They had the best record in the league last year, but look to lose two of their top six defensemen with no replacements in sight. They will be hard pressed to retain Williams and Daniel Winnick and will be forced to go with cheap, young players.  If these forwards are Jake Guentzel or Conor Sheary clones, they have a shot at remaining at the top of the league, but if not, they will lose ground.  And if Alex Ovetchkin doesn't rebound from a sub-par (for him) season at age 31 the Capitals are screwed.

More tomorrow.

Wow...now THAT was a busy Friday

It's the day after the entry draft and since the Rangers don't have 2nd or 3rd round picks there won't be much to talk about today (unless the trade winds blow). It's time to look at the Stepan trade and the consequences and also look at the two first round draft picks.  Since it is simpler, let's look at the draft.

The Draft

The Rangers had a first round pick for the first time since Brady Skjei in 2012.  They had two first round picks for the first time since 2004 when they picked Al Montoya and Lauri Korpikoski.   How significant are first round picks?  Here are the last 20 years worth of first rounders:

Brady Skjei, J.T. Miller, Dylan McIlrath, Chris Kreider, Michael Del Zotto, Alexei Cherepanov, Bob Sanguinetti, Marc Staal, Montoya, Korpikoski, Hugh Jessiman, Dan Blackburn, Jamie Lundmark, Pavel Brendl and Manny  Malhotra.

Out of those 15 players, eight became legitimate NHLers, six were busts and one died.  The good news is that four out of the last five picks panned out.

With the seventh overall pick, acquired from Arizona in the Stepan deal, the Rangers selected Swedish center Lias Andersson. He's been described as a sure thing top six forward who is solid defensively.  There is no one who doesn't like this pick, the only criticism is that it was too "safe" a pick.  He had been predicted to go at 15-20 in the draft, so the seventh pick was deemed by many to be early.   He's been playing in the Swedish Elite League and many believe he is ready to play in the NHL now.  He is under contract to Frolunda for two years, so don't expect to see him until next fall at the earliest.

With the 21st pick the Rangers selected center Filip Chytil from the Czech Republic.  Initial response to this pick was abject horror from Ranger fans as he was not in anyone's top 30.  A gifted forward with an excellent scoring touch, he has a tremendous upside, but he is a risk.  Here's the good news.  If he had been born one week later, he wouldn't have been eligible for the draft this year.  As the youngest player in the draft the word is that if he had had to wait until 2018 he would be a top ten pick.  He has always been able to score in leagues above his age level, so the risk is there, but he could be the steal of the draft.

At any rate, we won't see either player until next season at the earliest, but it's clear that the Rangers greatly revitalized the proverbial pipeline.

The Trade

This trade had been brewing for a while and it was done for one simple reason.  Cap space.  Jeff Gorton obviously didn't want to get stuck with another longterm contract so the deal had to get done before July 1.  He wanted the Coyotes' first rounder and young, puck moving defenseman. He got the pick and hopefully, got the player the Rangers coveted in Anthony DeAngelo.

We've discussed the pick so let's look at DeAngelo.  There are some negatives.  For starters, he was selected in the first round of the 2014 draft.  Two years later he was swapped by Tampa to Arizona for second round pick in the 2016 draft.  Now, since Arizona stinks, their second rounder is a virtual high first round pick so there was some value, but the trade is curious.  According to published reports at the time, he had fallen out of favor with the Lightning, the question is why.

Another negative is that had experienced some issues with his "character."  He was suspended twice in the OHL for using a slur against a teammate.  There are no details about that except that he violated the league's attempt to keep "homophobic, racist and sexist language out of the game."  The second suspension was for eight games.  That cannot be good.  Also in the OHL, he was suspended once for abuse of officials.  Then, in January of this year while with the Coyotes, he was suspended three games for abuse of officials.  He was being restrained by a linesman during a scrum and tried to break free.  Is there a pattern here?

The last negative is that he is from New Jersey (just kidding).

It's on offense that DeAngelo stands out.  After a full season in the AHL where he notched 43 points in 69 games, he split last season between the AHL and Phoenix.  With the Coyotes he was 5-9-14 in 39 games.   Two of those goals and 8 of the 14 points came on the power play.   In reading about DeAngelo's offensive abilities, the words that stand out are "dynamic,big time plays and  potential,"  It's when discussing his defensive abilities that you see the words "reckless, liability and regression."

Clearly, Jeff Gorton and his staff did their homework and believe that it's a matter of maturity. Hopefully, as he gets older he will get past these issues and be able to control his emotions.

Trading Stepan and Raanta created two gaping holes in the Ranger roster.  They have no viable back up goalie and they are very thin at Center.  Mika Zibanejad has ascended to the role of top line center and Kevin Hayes slots in as number two.  J.T. Miller can be moved to his natural center position as well, but with no Oscar Lindberg there is no fourth line center.  In the minors there is Boo Nieves, but the other option, Marek Hrivik, is reportedly not being offered a contract.  That is thin.

Outside of trade, the only other answer is free agency.  The list is short with Martin Hanzal, Joe Thornton. Brian Boyle, Sam Gagner and Nick Bonino at the top.   I've previously mentioned Hanzal as a solid option for NY as second or third line center.  The 30 year old can contribute offensively and is an excellent faceoff man. He is injury prone with the 71 games he played for Arizona/Minnesota last season the most he has played since 2010.

If the Rangers sign Joe Thornton, they are just plain nuts. He is 38 years old and coming off surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL he sustained in the playoffs.  He did play 79 games with seven goals and 43 assists (five more than Derek Stepan) and his leadership is undeniable, but he is old and will be expensive.

If the Blueshirts want to bolster their center ice and hurt their Metropolitan Division opponents, they should go out and sign Nick Bonino from Pittsburgh and Sam Gagner from Columbus.   Bonino is 29 years old, solid on faceoffs and scored more goals than Stepan in each of the last two seasons.

Sam Gagner is 27 years old and had a breakthrough season in Columbus, with 18 goals and 32 assists for 50 points.  Stepan had 17 goals and 38 assists for 55 points.  A former first round draft pick of Edmonton, he is not a strong faceoff man (but had a better winning percentage than Stepan).  Perhaps he is a late bloomer like his father, former Ranger Dave Gagner. Dave played sporadically for three seasons after being a first round pick, then was traded to the Minnesota North Stars where he averaged 35 goals per season for the next six years.  The two players (Paul Boutilier & Jari Gronstrand)  the Rangers got scored a grand total of three goals on Broadway.  Most fans don't remember how BAD that trade was for New York. It was one of the many lousy deals Phil Esposito made while GM of the Rangers (it seemed like he made one trade a week).

Brian Boyle is an option as a fourth line center if he wants to make a return to NYC.

The bottom line is that Hanzal and Bonino are excellent options for a couple years until some of the youth is ready to debut on Broadway.  Gagner could be an option for a longer term.

The position of back up goaltender is a pretty important one for New York considering Henrik Lundqvist's age and history of injury.  The team needs a goalie who can step in as a number one and there are a few names on that UFA list.  Brian Elliott is on the outs in Calgary (with their acquisition of Mike Smith).  Chad Johnson went to Arizona in the Smith deal, but with the acquisition of Raanta, they may not sign him.   Other notable UFA's include Jonas Enroth of Anaheim, Darcy Kuemper of Minnesota, Steve Mason of Philadelphia, Ottawa's Mike Condon and Anders Nilsson of Buffalo.

The only home grown options are Brandon Halverson who had a mediocre season in the AHL, MacKenzie Skapski who also had a so-so season and may not be offered a contract as an RFA and Bowling Green graduate Chris Nell who was signed out of college last month.

There may be some UFA's out there who are not big names (just like Raanta was to many of us before last season) who could be nurtured by goalie coach Benoit Allaire.  You just have to hope that Gorton knows what he is doing.

While the goalie situation may seem a little bleak, the Rangers have two blue chip prospects in Adam Huska who just finished his first year at UConn and the goalie of the future, Igor Shestyorkin who is excelling in the KHL and is only 21 years old.

The biggest positive to  come out of the Stepan deal is the salary cap.  If Kevin Klein retires (as is expected) the Rangers will have $23 million in cap space.  With that $23 million, they have to sign RFA's Mike Zibanejad ($4.5 million) and Jesper Fast ($1.75 million).  If they can get those two for those dollars that would leave $16.5 million to sign Kevin Shattenkirk, Brendan Smith, a center and a back up goalie.  That should be enough.

The smart money says that Gorton is far from done and he has six days to get the roster set through trades so he can focus on free agents.   Meanwhile, the Isles traded Travis Hamonic to Calgary for draft picks and the Flyers traded Brayden Schenn to St. Louis for Jori Lehtera.  And on the bench, the Rangers announced Lindy Ruff will be replacing Jeff Beukeboom as defence coach. It will be an interesting week.

Expansion Draft - Meet the Las Vegas Golden Knights (at least for tonight)

Just  in case you missed it, here are the players the Las Vegas Knights ended up with after making all of their selections.  This is certainly not going to be the team that takes the ice in October...I am sure that there are a number of deals are still coming down in the next few days.

A handful of players made appearances in Golden Knights uniforms and they are the only ones guaranteed to be with the team when they make their debut.   There were no forwards in that group.  Marc Andre Fleury will be the top goalie for Las Vegas.  Three defensemen appeared at the ceremony.  They were Deryuk Engelland (a Las Vegas resident), Jason Garrison and Bryden McNabb.  Outside of those four players, anyone could be had in a deal.  According to CapFriendly.com the combined salaries of all of these players leaves them with less than $1 million in cap space.  They HAVE to get rid of some of these players.

Centers
Connor Brickley, 25 (Hurricanes)  AHL
Cody Eakin, 26 (Stars)  3-9-12   60 games
Mikhail Grabovski (Islanders)    DNP Injured - Salary dump
Erik Haula, 26  (Wild)  15-11-26   72 games
William Karlsson, 24 (Blue Jackets)  6-19-25  81 games
Oscar Lindberg, 25 (Rangers)   8-12-20  65 games
Jonathan Marchessault,  26 (Panthers)  30-21-51  75 games
Tomas Nosek, 24 (Red Wings)  1-0-1  11 games

Left Wingers
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare,  32 (Flyers)  4-4-8  82 games
William Carrier, 22 (Sabres)  5-3-8  41 games
Nikita Gusev, 24 (Lightning)  KHL
Brendan Leipsic, 23 (Maple Leafs)  AHL
James Neal, 29 (Predators)  23-18-41  70 games
David Perron, 29 (Blues)  18-28-46  82 games
Teemu Pulkkinen, 25 (Coyotes)  2-0-2  13 games


Right Wingers
David Clarkson, 33 (Blue Jackets)   DNP Injured - Salary dump
Reilly Smith, 26 (Panthers)  15-22-37  80 games  (Brendan's brother)
Chris Thorburn, 34 (Jets) 3-1-4  64 games
Alex Tuch, 21 (Wild)  0-0-0  6 games

Defense
Jake Bischoff, 22 (Islanders)  NCAA
Alexei Emelin, 31 (Canadiens)  2-8-10  76 games
Deryuk Engelland, 35 (Flames)  4-12-16  81 games
Jason Garrison, 32 (Lightning)  1-8-9  70 games
Jon Merrill, 25 (Devils)  1-5-6  51 games
Marc Methot, 32 (Senators) 0-12-12  68 games
Brayden McNabb, 26 (Kings)  2-2-4  49 games
Colin Miller, 24 (Bruins)  6-7-13  61 games
David Schlemko, 30  (Sharks)  2-16-18  62 games
Griffin Reinhart, 23 (Oilers)  AHL
Luca Sbisa, 27 (Canucks)  2-11-13   82 games
Nate Schmidt, 25 (Capitals)  3-14-17  60 games
Clayton Stoner, 32 (Ducks)  1-2-3  14 games
Shea Theodore, 21  (Ducks)  2-7-9  34 games
Trevor Van Riemsdyk, 25  (Blackhawks)  5-11-16   58 games

Goalies
J.F. Berube 25 (Islanders)   3-2-2  14 games  3.42 GAA  .989 SV PCT
Marc Andre Fleury,  32  (Penguins)  18-10-7  38 games  3.02 GAA  .909 SV PCT
Calvin Pickard, 25 (Avalanche)  15-31-2  50 games, 2.98 GAA  .904 SV PCT

Draft Picks Acquired
2017  1st Round from Islanders
2017  1st Round from Jets
2017  1st Round from Blue Jackets
2017  2nd Round from Lightning
2017  3rd Round from Wild (could be 2018)
2017  5th Round from Hurricanes
2017  6th Round from Buffalo
2018  4th Round from Lightning
2019  2nd Round from Islanders
2019  2nd Round from Blue Jackets
2019  3rd Round from Jets
2020  2nd Round from Penguins

Draft Picks Surrendered
2017 1st Round to Jets (from Columbus)
2018 4th Round to Florida

Here is how the NHL Network predicted the LV forward lines:

Haula-Shipachyov-Neal
Perron-Marchessault-Smith
Bellemare-Eakin-Tuch
Karlsson-Lindberg-Carrier

Here are the NHL Network defensive pairings:

Methot-Theodore
Garrison-Emelin
McNabb-Van Riemsdyk

The expectation is that a number of players on the LV roster now will be dealt for draft picks in the next two days.  Since the Rangers are lacking in picks (they have a first round, but no 2nd or 3rd round picks) it's doubtful that they will be trying to acquire any of the Las Vegas players (though some of the defensemen are interesting).

Before anyone gets snarky about Las Vegas being better than the Rangers (oops, too late), the Golden Knights don't have a stud defenseman and no legitimate stars on the roster.   The face of the franchise is a back-up goalie, sure he won the Stanley Cup, but he was still the back-up.  James Neal and Jonathan Marchessault are both legit snipers, but which top six forward on the Rangers would you deal for either of them?  The LV defense is solid, but Jeff Gorton is not done remaking the Ranger defense...so let's wait and see what happens.

So, as before, stay tuned.

Expansion Draft News

According to Frank Seravalli (senior hockey reporter for TSN) the Golden Knights are taking Oscar Lindberg in the draft.  If this is true, it will make the next few days more interesting.

1. Antti Raanta remains a Ranger unless he is traded.  There is still chatter about Winnipeg. The word is that the pre-expansion offers for Raanta were not good enough for Gorton.   The reason Las Vegas won't take him is that there are a lot of good goalies available and they would only take Raanta to flip him in a trade.   Then, they got the word that he was undervalued in the trade market so they decided on Lindberg.
2. Without Lindberg, the Rangers are a bit thinner at center.  That makes trading Derek Stepan a little trickier as the Rangers need a center in return, not just defense.
3. If there is no Stepan trade, then Lindberg needs to be replaced as the fourth line center.  In the minors, options are Boo Nieves and Marek Hrivik.  Free agent options include Brian Boyle and Dominic Moore (to start).  
4. There is still a lot of chatter that the Rangers are talking trade with Arizona.  I have no idea what that could look like.  The Coyotes need a goalie (they have UFA Chad Johnson as their number one since they traded Mike Smith).  They could use some leadership from a guy like Stepan (especially since they booted Shane Doan).   So, would it be Raanta, Stepan and Holden for Christian Dvorak and one of their highly regarded young D-men (Murphy, Chychrun or Deangelo)? Dvorak and Murphy are young and talented with a tremendous upside and very reasonable salaries.  A trade like that would free up dollars for a Shattenkirk with enough to re-sign Brendan Smith.  Hmmmm.
5. Personally, I am glad that Grabner won't be taken.  I think his impact has been underestimated and replacing his 27 goals would be really difficult. Replacing his "one breakaway per game" would be even harder.  If he scores 20 goal he is a steal.  

So, if TSN is right, there won't be much Ranger suspense tonight when the expansion selections are revealed.  George McPhee has basically said that they have six trades already set as part of the draft negotiations....so we won't really know what the Las Vegas roster is probably until the Entry Draft begins on Friday night.  THAT will be fun to watch. McPhee could go into the draft with as many as five or six first round picks.

As of 645pm...here are the Las Vegas picks:

Centers NYR - Oscar Lindberg]
FLA - Jonatha Marchessault

Left Wing
PHI - PE Bellemare
STL - David Perron
NSH - James Neal

Right Wing

Defense OTT - Marc Methot MIN - Erik Haula
LAK - Brayden McNabb SJS - David Schlemko EDM - Griffin Reinhart
MTL - Alexei Emelin ANA - Shea Theodore
BOS - Colin Miller
CGY - Deryk Engelland

Goalies:
PIT - MA Fleury
NYI - JF Berube

That's NINE defensemen and only five forwards.  McPhee has to be moving some of these D-men for future assets.  Very smart.

So...as before...stay tuned.

Stay Tuned

The expansion draft is about  two days away and we will soon find out exactlywho the Rangers will have to replace.  Exposed and eminently draft-able are Oscar Lindberg, Antti Raanta, Jesper Fast and Michael Grabner.  Each of them is vulnerable.  Here's why.

Lindberg could be projected as a top six center and showed a decent offensive upside once he recovered from his hip surgery.  He had an excellent playoff, second on the team with three goals. Centers are highly valued and he is an RFA so a contract would have to be negotiated.

Antti Raanta was the subject of the most speculation, with a lot of discussion about a pre-draft trade to either Winnipeg or Calgary.  The Flames solved their goalie problems when they traded for Mike Smith of Arizona.  If not taken by Las Vegas, Raanta is still a possible trade target with Jacob Trouba of the Jets an option on defense (though it will take more than Raanta).  One factor that could influence Raanta's future are the number of quality goalies available to the Golden Knights. Marc Andre Fleury, Petr Mrazek and Philip Grubauer are available with Mrazek a total surprise (the Wings protected Jimmy Howard....seven years older).   LV could take Raanta instead of Fleury as well as Mrazek and be very well set in goal.  Pittsburgh exposed Carl Hagelin who could be a target for LV....instead of Fleury.

Jesper Fast was the front runner for selection going into the post-season, but his recent hip surgery has diminished his chances of being drafted.  With a number of solid, defensive forwards available, Fast has a good shot at remaining a Ranger.

Michael Grabner is an interesting option for Las Vegas.  A 27 goal scorer with dynamic speed, he is also on a one year contract that would make him a perfect trade deadline acquisition.  The negative is his inconsistent scoring.  If he descends to scoring levels of prior seasons, that value may evaporate. Nonetheless, he is an exciting player who would be perfect for the Nevada hockey fans...so he could go.  If LV takes Hagelin instead of Fleury, the odds increase that Grabner will remain a Blueshirt.

With the Girardi buy-out, the Rangers were able to protect Nick Holden.  What does that tell us?  The Rangers must have thought that if exposed, Holden would have been taken.  That means that they think highly of Holden who was a walking disaster in the playoffs.  In my opinion, I would have rather lost Holden and kept the other four players....now the team stands to lose a valuable everyday player (and Raanta).  Of course, Jeff Gorton may want to use Holden as trade bait and barring a free agent acquisition, the Ranger defense is very thin.  Hence the desire to hold onto Holden (no pun intended)...but the team could do better.

There are murmers of a first round pick from the Islanders going to LV since the Isles left Ryan Strome, Calvin de Haan and Brock Nelson exposed.  The latest from Newsday is that the Isles will sending a first round pick and Mikhail Grabovski to LV and they won't select any of those three.

There were a ton of quality players left exposed in the draft including an impressive list of defensemen That list includes Matt Dumba of Minnesota, Marc Methot of Ottawa, Trevor Van Riemsdyk of Chicago, Sami Vatanen of Anaheim, Nate Schmidt of the Capitals and Paul Martin of the Sharks. A defensive corps of those seven players would be pretty formidable.  Forwards include Eric Staal of the Wild, Jonathan Marchessault of Florida, Marian Gaborik of L.A. and James Neal of Nashville.   Looking at these options for Las Vegas, I really believe the Rangers will lose either Lindberg or Grabner.

There was no trade action around Derek Stepan, but his No Movement Clause kicks in on July 1 so if he is to be traded, it will be before that date.  There have been many arguments about whether Stepan should go and I am on the fence.  Statistically, he is among the top centers in the league, but it the team needs to clear cap space and shake up the forwards, he is as attractive a trade asset as any.  The one trade that was brought up was with Montreal for Alex Galchenyuk (and others).  Not a big fan of that deal.  Montreal really needs a top center and they believe that  Galchenyuk is not the answer.  He is a gifted scorer with outstanding potential, but it would a gamble to get him, specifically for Stepan. Now...if we were talking about Kevin Hayes, that could be interesting.

The NHL Awards and expansion draft will be televised on NBC Sports Network on Wednesday night....no Rangers are up for any awards, so not a lot of reasons to watch...except to see who the team will lost to Las Vegas.

In the next post, a look at the draft and a look at the salary cap situation for the Rangers' key competition.  The cap did not stay flat, but rose by $2 million to $75 million.

Stay tuned.

Good-bye Dan (and what it means)

The Rangers officially bought out Dan Girardi today meaning his career as a Ranger is over.  His annual cap hit of $5.5 million that was to extend through 2020 becomes a lesser cap hit, for a longer period of time. They save $3 million this year, $2 million the next two years and then his cap hit is a little over $1 million a year for three more years.  The Rangers also signed Matt Puempel to a contract extension for $725k and are now officially expansion draft compliant.

I will have more to say about Girardi in another post, but first it is worth pondering the possible impact this buyout will have on the team.  Let's look at the expansion draft implications first.

Teams are allowed to either protect 11 players (7 forwards, 3 defensemen & 1 goalie) or they can just designate eight players (defense or forwards) and one goalie.

The team is definitely protecting Ryan McDonagh, and Marc Staal on defense.  With Girardi gone, they can now protect Nick Holden.  Kevin Klein could also be protect, but there are rumors rampant that he will be retiring from the NHL and will play in Russia. Brady Skjei is exempt.

As for forwards, the protected seven will be Derek Stepan, Mika Zibanejad, Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes, J.T. Miller, Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider.  I don't see this changing..

Exposed will be Antti Raanta, Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Matt Puempel and Michael Grabner.

So, the Girardi buyout will have little effect on the expansion draft as the team will probably lose one of Raanta, Lindberg or Grabner.   Despite Holden's awful showing in the playoffs, he was a likely pick by Las Vegas as he is able to score and capable defensemen are harder to come buy than forwards.  Although Ranger fans cringed when he took the ice in the playoffs, his reputation this year was enhanced by his 11 goals, as many as Cam Fowler and Zack Werenski and more than Aaron Ekblad or P.K. Suban.

What the Girardi buyout (and Klein retirement) does give is $6 million in cap space for a total of $14 million (word is that the cap is supposed to remain flat next season).  With that $14 million, the Rangers have to sign Zibanejad, Fast and Lindberg and find defensemen to replace Girardi and Klein (that could include re-signing Brendan Smith).

Do the math....it won't be easy, especially if the team is expected to make splash and sign Kevin Shattenkirk.   That's why there are a ton or rumors flying about Derek Stepan.  He has a cap hit of $6.5 million and a no trade clause that kicks in on July 1.

The challenge facing Jeff Gorton is finding a cheaper top six center to replace Stepan. What does make sense is that Gorton is trying to swap Stepan for a defenseman from a team that has too many to protect in the expansion draft.   There are a few of those teams.   Minnesota has five quality defensemen under contract with Suter and Spurgeon must protects.  Can Matt Dumba be a target?

Anaheim is another team with a surplus of defensemen (though it was reported today that they cut a deal with Las Vegas to NOT take one of the defensemen).  Could Cam Fowler be a target?  Perpetual rumor subject Jacob Trouba from Winnipeg?   Even Nashville has an issue with their defense and the expansion draft.

So, the Rangers could trade Stepan to his hometown Minnesota Wild along with Nick Holden.  In exchange, the Rangers get Matt Dumba and a middle draft pick.  To replace Stepan, the Rangers sign UFA Martin Hanzal who ironically, plays for the Wild.  Hanzel could be had for around $3 million a year and Dumba is under contract for another year at $2.5 million.

That would free up an additional $4 million in salary giving the team $18 million to spend plus the salary of the player taken by Las Vegas, so let's assume the team has $20 million to spend. They could sign Shattenkirk, Zibanejad, Lindberg, Fast, Smith and have money left over (assuming Raanta goes to LV).

The forward lines would be:

Zibanejad-Kreider-Buchnevich
Hayes-Miller-Vesey
Hanzal-Nash-Zuccarello
Lindberg-Grabner-Fast/Puempel

The defense would be:

McDonagh-Shattenkirk
Skjei-Dumba
Smith-Staal/Bereglazov/Pionk

Goalies would be:
Lundqvist and free agent like Peter Budaj or Chad Johnson

In the other scenarios, replace Dumba with Fowler (or another Ducks defenseman) or Trouba.

To be honest, I like that team.  I believe that Stepan is underrated and is an excellent two-way center, but his cap hit and no trade clause will hamper the team's ability to be flexible.  Don't forget, in one year Miller, Hayes, Vesey and Skjei will need new contracts (Dumba too if they get him) with only Rick Nash's $7.8 million hit coming off the books.

Okay, this is all speculation.  The good news is that by July 1 we will know the results of the expansion draft and whether Stepan will be traded.

With the playoffs over it's starting to heat up. Stay tuned.

This and That

It's been a while since I posted and now the Stanley Cup has been awarded in one of the strangest Finals I have ever watched (and felt a lot like the 2015 Conference Finals vs. Tampa).   It was a series of disjointed games and blowouts that defied prediction. It's fitting that the Nashville Predators were robbed by a fast whistle in their last contest.  When that first goal was disallowed it changed the whole  game.  However, the Preds had a lot of power play opportunities and never could get that next goal and that is on them.  Hornquist's winning goal was off the side of the netting and then banked in off Rinne's elbow...all I can say is that the Penguins live a charmed life.  And who scored the backbreaking empty net goal?  Carl Hagelin.  I join all Ranger fans in your agony.

At any rate, now that the season is officially over it is time to start thinking very seriously about the off-season and what moves the team will make. There has been some news and in case you have been living under a rock...here is a summary:

• Jesper Fast had hip surgery that is expected to keep him out of action for about five months.  Similar to the surgery that Oscar Lindberg had (on BOTH hips), we can expect to see Fast back in action in November/December.  How that affects the likelihood that he will be a Las Vegas expansion pick remains to be seen.
• Antti Raanta may very well have played his last game as a Ranger. He is cheap and good and according to Larry Brooks, the Rangers have been contacted about him by at least two teams (Jets and Flames).  Here is the deal.  The Rangers have to expose him in the expansion draft.  The rumor is that George McPhee may actually be ready to pick four or five goalies and use them as trade bait.  So...the thought process is, trade Raanta and get something for him as opposed to losing him to Las Vegas for nothing.
• The goalie situation is a little sticker.  Number two backup Magnus Hellberg signed with Kunlun of the KHL.  Yes,  Helberg will be playing in China next season. If that isn't an indictment of Hartford....nothing is.  That leaves the Rangers with a squad of unproven backups.  MacKenzie Skapski (he of the 1.00 NHL GAA) is recovered from his surgery, but had an awful season in the minors.  Brandon Halverson backed up on the big club a few games, but never saw action.  He had very average numbers in the AHL.  The last homegrown option is rookie Chris Nell who was signed out of Bowling Green University a few weeks ago. He broke all kind of school records (okay, BGU is not Minnesota or Wisconsin).  He is 22 years old, got into four games in Hartford and did not do well.  So, a trade may be in the offing.
• Speaking of Hartford...the Rangers annointed Chris Drury as the new GM of the Wolfpack. His first move will be to replace longtime coach Ken Gernander, who was fired after the team had one of its worst years this season.  Jim Shoenfeld, the former GM will work exclusively with the Rangers this season.  Hartford is seeing the result of the trading of draft picks...as the coffers are pretty bare these days.  The team did pick up a bunch of undrafted college players and some of the few draft picks that they had are moving from Juniors to the AHL.  The success of the Penguins and Lightning in bringing up young players who are schooled in the parent team's systems is becoming the newest NHL strategic fad...and this is clearly the Rangers' attempt to follow.   The question is whether the Rangers can develop their own version of Connor Sheary, Brian Rust or Braydon Point. 
• Speaking of goalies...Henrik Lundqvist sustained a MCL sprain in his knee in the gold medal game at the World Hockey Championships.  He played with the injury, winning the gold medal. According to media reports, he will be fully recovered by training camp.   Hank is sustaining these "minor' injuries with some regularity (age is a big reason), another factor in the team's need for a strong back up.  
• There are some dates coming up to be aware of:
• Today, June 12 - Teams have until 5pm today to ask a player to waive his "no move' clause for the purpose of being exposed in the draft. 
• Thursday, June 15 - First buy-out period begins.  This is when the Rangers can make a move on Dan Girardi or Marc Staal. 
• June 15 - It is also the deadline for clubs to ask players with "no move" clauses if they watn to be placed on waivers for purpsoses of buy-outs before the expansion draft.
• Friday, June 16 - Last day to place a player on waivers prior to expansion draft.   Also the deadline for players to waive their "no move" clauses for purposes of the expansion draft.  
• Sunday,  June 18 - NHL delivers the list of protected players to Las Vegas. 
• Wednesday, June 21 - NHL Awards ceremony and Expansion Draft in Las Vegas.
• June 23-24 - NHL Entry draft where the Rangers actually have a first round pick, but no second or third round picks.
• July 1 - Free agency signing circus begins.
• The Rangers are not compliant with the Expansion Draft rules. They are short one forward who is under contract next season who played either 40 games this season or 70 games in the last two.  Fast, Lindberg, Pirri and Puempel all fit the bill,  but they are RFA's so look for one of them to be signed in the next week.  Another option is for the Rangers to sign UFA Tanner Glass to a contract strictly for exposure purposes.  No other UFA's fit the bill as teams cannot sign other teams UFA's until July 1. If the Rangers trade Antti Raanta, they will need to get a goalie back who is under contract or who is a RFA who has been offered a contract or they could also acquire a forward under contract who complies.  Yes, it is complicated.
• Trade rumors are rampant.  Raanta to Calgary or Winnipeg.  Kevin Hayes to Calgary (to re-unite with Johnny Gaudreau) for Dougie Hamilton.  Kevin Shattenkirk will be too expensive. Kevin Shattenkirk lost value in the playoffs so he will sign with New York. Ilya Kovalchuk's rights to the Rangers from the Devils.  Girardi or Staal will waive no movement and be selected by Las Vegas who will also get draft picks.  Brendan Smith will be re-signed.  Brendan Smith's value went up so much he will be too expensive. 

The good news is we will have answers in less than three weeks.   I will leave you with two additional rumors.  The first is that Tampa will protect Ryan Callahan (they sort of have to) in the expansion draft although his contract is an anchor that is killing the team's cap hit.  The second is that Florida is mulling requesting that Keith Yandle waive his no move clause so that they can expose him in the expansion draft.  My goodness...I guess every team has their version of Dan Girardi or Marc Staal.  And the latest news is that the salary cap will stay at the same level for 2017-18.

Finally, a prediction.  Now that the Penguins have won two straight Stanley Cups, they will miss the playoffs next season...and win the draft lottery and get the first pick.  They will then draft the successor to Cindy Crosby and Geno Malkin.  God help us.