Jesse Granger of The Athletic: The Vegas Golden Knights will have about $6.375 million in salary cap space with 16 players under contract next season.
They’ll need to find some younger and cheaper options. The past few years they have handed out big contracts to Paul Stastny, Max Pacioretty, and Mark Stone. Now they need some entry-level deals partially because of the flat cap.
Don’t expect them to use the full 23-man roster next season. Having an AHL team close by will help.
Chandler Stephenson is an RFA and could be in the $2 to $2.2 million range.
Re-signing Robin Lehner is going to be really difficult, so they might have to go with Oscar Dansk as Marc-Andre Fleury‘s backup.
After next season Stastny ($6.5 million) and Alec Martinez ($4 million) will come off the books. The following season Reilly Smith ($5 million), Ryan Reaves ($1.75 million) Brayden McNabb ($2.5 million), Nick Holden ($1.7 million) and Fleury ($7 million) will be free agents.
Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet: The Vancouver Canucks have $65.2 million committed to 15 players next season. That is excluding Sven Baertschi who will likely be in the AHL. After bonus overages, buyouts and cap re-capture penalties, the Canucks will have about $16.3 million in cap space for seven or eight players.
At least two-thirds of the $16.3 million could go to pending UFAs Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli.
It’s unlikely the Canucks would be able to convince Loui Eriksson to terminate his contract and walk away from $5 million.
Micheal Ferland is attempting to come back, but it’s possible that he could eventually be LTIR’d if his concussion symptoms come back. He carries a $3.5 million cap hit.
The Canucks could look to trade Eriksson, Brandon Sutter ($4.375 million) or Jordie Benn ($2 million).
They may end up having to decide between Jacob Markstrom or Tyler Toffoli. Chris Tanev may end up leaving by free agency. Troy Stecher may not be qualified at $2.35 million and would become a UFA. RFA Jake Virtanen could be looking to triple his $1.25 million and could become a trade candidate. A “Nuclear option” would be trading Brock Boeser.
