The Montreal Canadiens need to create some salary cap space
Marco D’Amico of RG.org: The Canadiens hope to avoid using LTIR (Carey Price) to start the year. They are currently $5.42 million over the cap with RFA Jayden Struble left to sign. A source said Carey Price‘s contract may be the easiest to move. Price is owed a $5.5 million bonus on September 15th and a $2 million salary next year. 60% is covered by insurance.
The San Jose Sharks could be one team interested as they look to get above the salary floor. The Pittsburgh Penguins are another team that could be looking to move a bunch of veterans/salary as they look to get younger.
A second buyout window will be open for the Canadiens as Struble elected for salary arbitration. Buying out Patrik Laine would save the $4.7 million next year, adding $2.3 million to 2026-27, but there is no indication of that happening.
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3 potential landing spots for Pittsburgh Penguins’ Rickard Rakell
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The NHL free agent market doesn’t have much left for teams looking to add scoring, so they may have to turn to the trade market.
Jason Robertson and Jordan Kyrou may be at the top of the list of possibly available forwards. Pittsburgh Penguins Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell could be in the second tier, but their acquisition price is “sky-high.”
3 potential landing spots for Rakell
Detroit Red Wings – They need a top-six forward and a top-four defenseman. Other teams in the East are improving while the Red Wings haven’t done as much.
Los Angeles Kings – Acquiring Rakell would bump one of Andrei Kuzmenko or Alex Laferriere out of the top-six. They likely aren’t moving Brandt Clarke. Center Francesco Pinelli only put up 46 points in 71 games.
Seattle Kraken – Lack high-end talent. The Penguins may have to take a more future-based potential return, Jagger Firkus (2022 draft) or Eduard Sale (2023 draft).
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The San Jose Sharks are a wild-card team that could look to add a veteran to their young core.
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