Grubauer went 18-12-4 with a 2.63 GAA and .916 SV% in 36 starts in 2020. Grubauer comes into 2021 as the No.1 netminder for one of the best teams' in the NHL but Pavel Francouz is one of the more capable backups in the league, so he will need to play well to earn himself a large share of the starts. Grubauer was 2-2-0 with a 3.26 GAA and .882 SV% in four starts vs. the Blues a season ago.
Grubauer went 18-12-4 with a 2.63 GAA and .916 SV% in 36 starts in 2020. Grubauer comes into 2021 as the No.1 netminder for one of the best teams' in the NHL but Pavel Francouz is one of the more capable backups in the league, so he will need to play well to earn himself a large share of the starts. Grubauer was 2-2-0 with a 3.26 GAA and .882 SV% in four starts vs. the Blues a season ago.
Dunn was the last of the Blues unsigned RFAs and gets a one-year contract for a very good number for a team tight up against the salary cap. Dunn's numbers dipped a bit in 2020 and he still has plenty of competition for playing time with Torey Krug coming over to replace Alex Pietrangelo. Still, he's scored 21 goals over the last two seasons and should continue to be a good source of goals with modest assist totals in 2021.
Gaudreau played 55 games with the Predators in 2019 but played the entire 2020 season in Milwaukee (AHL) where he had 11 goals and 17 assists (28 points) in 42 games. Gaudreau is a fourth line centre at most at the NHL-level and with that role filled in Pittsburgh, he'll be heading to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) to start 2021.
Schultz had a breakout year in his first season with the Penguins, posting 51 points (12G / 39A) in 78 games. He struggled from that point on, he dealt with injuries, averaging just 46 games played from 2018-2020. During that stretch he had just 54 points (9G / 45A), barely matching his output from year-1 alone. Schultz fills a need as a right-handed defenseman but his health is a concern and $4.0M is a hefty cap-hit for a player that may only play half the games.
Gibson was steady in net for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) in 2020, going 10-8-5 with a 2.78 GAA and .914 SV%. Gibson has played very sparingly in the NHL throughout his seven-year pro career, going 3-4-3 with a 3.45 GAA and .904 SV% in 14 career games. Gibson will likely be the No.1 netminder in Syracuse (AHL) in 2021 and would come up if something were to happen to Andrei Vasilevskiy or Curtis McElhinney.
Hayden had just three goals and one assist in 43 games as a fringe player for the Devils last season. Hayden has just nine points (6G / 3A) in his last 97 NHL games, so he offers almost no offence but will be a big, physical presence on the Coyotes' fourth line.
Murray was acquired from the Penguins on Wednesday and signed a four-year extension this afternoon. The signing makes Murray the seventh-highest paid goalie in the NHL for the 2021 season. Last year, Murray was tied for 34th in GAA (2.87) and tied for 45th in SV% (.899 SV%), so he has a lot of work to do to earn this contract.
The RFA got a $2.0M raise after posting a career-high 22 points (8G / 14A) while appearing in just 41 games. The 26-year-old forward was a Swiss Army Knife for the Golden Knights in 2020, playing up and down the lineup, on the wing or at centre, depending on what Vegas needed. Stephenson is best suited in a bottom-6 role and if he's their fourth line centre, they're in great shape.
The Penguins made their decision in net when they locked up Tristan Jarry last week. With so many free agent goalies becoming available on Friday it was a priority to get this trade done before then to maximize Murray's value. He is coming off of a down year, having posted a 2.87 GAA and .899 SV% in 38 starts but Murray is a huge upgrade in net for the Senators, who have improved drastically over the last 24 hours.
Stephens was a second-round pick (No.33 overall) in 2015 and graduated to the NHL in 2020. The 23-year-old centre had 10 points (5G / 5A) in 24 AHL games before getting promoted and picking up six points (3G / 3A) in 38 games in Tampa. He appeared in seven playoff games, scoring one goal en route to getting his name on the Stanley Cup.
Kempny had surgery for a torn hamstring in 2019 and struggled through most of 2020 and will now most, if not all of 2021 after suffering a torn Achilles’ tendon while training in the Czech Republic. After finding out about Kempny's injury, the Capitals re-signed Brendan Dillon to a four-year extension. Dillon filled in for Kempny next to John Carlson on the top-pair last year.
