Daily Roundup: Bruins waiting on Zdeno Chara’s decision, Doc Emrick retires, and more
Welcome to Daily Faceoff’s daily NHL roundup where we bring you the NHL’s most important news and rumours every day.
The ball is in Zdeno Chara’s court
The Bruins are waiting for @Zdeno Chara to make a decision.
The team’s captain is a free agent and is reportedly exploring all options in regards to continuing his career. The 43-year-old is a surefire Hall of Famer but clearly wants to continue playing in the NHL.
“We’ve communicated consistently with Zdeno and (agent) Matt Keator,” Sweeney told reporters Saturday. “We’re just waiting for him to initiate what he’d like to do moving forward. I feel very comfortable allowing that to take the necessary time and let Zdeno make his own decisions along that route.”
The Bruins lost @Torey Krug in free agency as he inked a multi-year deal to join the St. Louis Blues. If Chara also ends up leaving, the Bruins will feature an incredibly young blueline.
They signed @Matt Grzelcyk to a four-year deal worth $14,750,000 over the weekend and still have nearly $7,000,000 in open cap space with Chara and restricted free agent Jake DeBrusk left to sign.
Chuck Fletcher talks about off-season challenges
Chuck Fletcher, the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, said over the weekend that this has been the most difficult off-season he’s ever witnessed in the NHL and that he expects next year to be even more challenging for teams.
“This is the most difficult offseason that I’ve ever seen,” said Fletcher. “As crazy as it is right now out there, I think next summer could be even worse in terms of having some paralysis in the market, and having just too many teams having to move money.”
Fletcher has worked in an NHL front office since 1993-94 when he served as the assistant general manager for the expansion Florida Panthers. Since then, he’s worked in Anaheim, Minnesota, New Jersey, and, now, Philadelphia. Given the COVID-19 financial landscape and the NHL’s flat salary cap, more teams than usual are stuck near the cap ceiling.
There’s speculation that Fletcher would like to make more moves. The team recently inked offensive defenceman @Erik Gustafsson to a one-year deal worth $3,000,000 which opens up the possibility of moving on from @Shayne Gostisbehere, who plays a similar role. But Gostisbehere is paid $4,500,000 annually for three more years, so finding a team to take on that much salary won’t be easy.
The Islanders need to clear cap room
Speaking of salary cap difficulties, the Islanders badly need to clear cap room.
The team reportedly wants to re-sign unrestricted free agents @Matt Martin and @Andy Greene but they only have $8,900,000 in cap room and @Matt Barzal, who’s reached the end of his entry-level deal, will eat up most of that.
Arthur Staple of The Athletic mentioned that the Islanders could use the two second-round picks they acquired by trading Devon Toews to the Colorado Avalanche to entice another team to take on one of their big contracts. The name being mentioned is Johnny Boychuk, who carries a $6,000,000 cap hit for two more seasons.
There was word on Tuesday via The Fourth Period that a Johnny Boychuk trade could be close after the Islanders picked up those 2021 and 2022 second-rounders from the Avalanche. Those two picks might entice a team to take Boychuk’s $6 million cap hit each of the next two seasons rather than the Isles’ 2021 first-rounder, which was the likely ask for any team entertaining the idea of taking Boychuk off the Isles’ hands.
The Islanders could also get some salary cap relief by putting @Andrew Ladd on the Long-Term Injured Reserve.
Legendary broadcaster Doc Emrick retires
After 47 years of calling professional hockey games, Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick is hanging up his microphone.
NBC Sports posted on Twitter that the legendary broadcaster has announced his retirement on Monday. He voiced over 3,750 NHL games, 22 Stanley Cup Finals, six Olympic Games, won eight Sports Emmy Awards for play-by-play, and became the first hockey broadcaster inducted to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
After 3,750+ Professional and Olympic hockey games, 100 different verbs used to describe a pass or shot, and 22 Stanley Cup Finals, the legendary Mike "Doc" Emrick has announced his retirement from broadcasting.
From hockey fans around the world, we say #ThankYouDoc! pic.twitter.com/Pt27Dp63TW
— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) October 19, 2020