Daily Roundup: What’s next for the Lightning and Islanders, Craig Button worries 2021 season could be in jeopardy, and more
Welcome to Daily Faceoff’s daily NHL roundup where we bring you the NHL’s most important news and rumours every day.
Boychuk’s retirement gives Islanders flexibility
@Johnny Boychuk announced that his NHL playing career had come to an end on Wednesday due to an eye injury.
With an incredibly tight cap situation (only ~$4 million in available cap space), Boychuk’s retirement is a bit of a blessing in disguise for the Islanders. The team still has to sign restricted free agent @Mat Barzal to a new contract and they reportedly have deals lined up for unrestricted free agents @Matt Martin, @Andy Greene, and @Cory Schneider.
Boychuk’s retirement means that Lou Lamoriello will have $6 million more to work with.
Barzal will likely take up a good chunk of that space so Lamoriello might have to sign his star RFA to a bridge-deal rather than locking him up long-term. A lower-AAV bridge deal would give Lamoriello more room to sign those aforementioned UFAs to add depth to the roster.
Another thing to mention, of course, is how the Islanders need to find replacements on the blueline for both Boychuk and @Devon Toews, who the team moved to the Colorado Avalanche earlier in the off-season. Re-signing Greene would replace Boychuk as a veteran, shutdown defenceman, but replacing an underrated play-driving defenceman in Toews won’t be easy. Maybe 2018 first-round pick @Noah Dobson is ready to step into an NHL role.
Lightning must clear room to sign Cirelli and Cernak
The Tampa Bay Lightning got one of their restricted free agents signed yesterday as they inked @Mikhail Sergachev to a three-year deal worth $4,800,000 annually.
Even with Sergachev signed, there’s still plenty of work ahead for general manager Julien BriseBois this off-season as both Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli remained unsigned.
Even though the Lightning have zero cap room to work with right now, BriseBois isn’t worried about getting either player signed. He knows he’ll have to move other players off of the team’s roster to open up room, though.
“Not keeping them [Sergachev, Cirelli, and Cernak] was never something we would seriously consider,” BriseBois told The Athletic. “I know I have to move players to make that happen, and I’m confident I’ll be able to move the players to create cap space.”
The likely play for the Lightning seems to be moving @Tyler Johnson and his $5,000,000 cap hit. Johnson scored just 31 points last season and money is tight all around the league, so BriseBois might have to attach an asset like a prospect or a draft pick to get somebody to take on Johnson. If that doesn’t work, BriseBois could look into dealing Ondrej Palat or Yanni Gourde, who are better players than Johnson.
The Wild are ready to name a captain
With Mikko Koivu moving on from the organization this off-season, the Minnesota Wild will need to find a new player to serve as captain. Koivu had been captain since the 2008-09 season, far and away the longest tenure of any player in franchise history.
“We’ll name a new captain and we’ll move forward,” general manager Bill Guerin said. “Big shoes to fill, but my personal belief is it’s an important position to fill and you just don’t want to leave the team in limbo.”
Ryan Suter or Zach Parise would be the likely bets to be named captain.
Craig Button worries about 2021 NHL season
The NHL and NHLPA return-to-play discussions have gotten off to a terrible start.
The league made the PA an offer last week that left the players feeling “shocked” and “betrayed” and no common ground has been reached since.
Craig Button appeared on TSN Radio in Vancouver and suggested that he believes there’s a chance that the sides might not be able to reach a deal…
I think it’s going to take real significant collaboration to understand that it’s nobody’s fault here and that maybe what’s being asked for is not out of the question but that gives the players an opportunity to ask perhaps for some things that are important to them.
But, if you ask me about the jeopardy of the season. Listen, the NHL does not have the benefit of the NFL and NBA where the TV money is so significant that it can cover off your expenses, you can afford to play without fans. The NHL does not have that luxury.
Given the fact we’ve seen a season-and-a-half wiped out due to lockouts in the past 15 years, there’s obviously always some worry with the NHL when it comes to work stoppages. Button also does have a point when he says that the league doesn’t boast the same revenue from TV deals as the other major North American Sports leagues.
But playing a season is better than not for both sides. The players want to play and get paid something and the owners surely know that taking a season off would be disastrous for the league’s brand and it would kill any momentum of growth from the previous few years.