The Minnesota Wild and Bill Guerin have a challenge
Dan Myers of Wild.com: The Minnesota Wild and Bill Guerin still have issues beyond their free agents (Kevin Fiala, Kirill Kaprizov, and Joel Eriksson Ek). This will not be an easy offseason as “normalcy” will have to wait.
Bill Guerin addresses this as such.
“These things don’t just come up after the season ends,” Guerin said. “We’ve planned for each guy. Each guy that needs a contract, we have that planned out. We have it planned out for a couple years and what our cap will look like and who fits in where, who’s going to get what, all those things, so it’s just a matter of getting the process rolling with the players’ agents and hopefully getting things done sooner than later.”
The Minnesota Wild carries $22 million in cap space currently. Everything ties into one another which includes signings, trades, and yes the expansion draft.
Bill Guerin juggles a lot here in what is another crazy “summer”. Does Guerin sweeten the pot or lose a player for nothing? It appears the general manager will try for a deal but there are still three weeks until the expansion draft. There is a lot to do and plenty of slots to fill. Stay tuned.
Los Angeles Kings Expansion Draft Outlook
John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor: The Kings seem content with going for the 7-3-1 approach when it comes to protecting players. Los Angeles thankfully has most of their prospects exempt from the expansion draft. That is a huge plus.
Out of the non-protected players, Andreas Athanasiou will not be protected. Jonathan Quick will not be either. Would Seattle take on Quick’s contract? With the options out there, that is unlikely. Olli Maatta would be the biggest name from the defense.
After that, it comes down to if Los Angeles is willing to make some trades. Then, things change. If Los Angeles goes after a defenseman like Seth Jones or Zach Werenski, they would have to part with a defenseman, for example. That preserves the balance.
Either way, it will be a busy summer for the Los Angeles Kings. The expansion draft will be telling.
