Panthers adding a KHL free agent
Igor Eronko: KHL defenseman Artyom Sergeyev has told the GM of Salavat Yulaev that he won’t be re-signing with them and that he’ll be signing with the Florida Panthers.
George Richards: Sergeyev is a 27-year old right-handed defenseman.
Will Tryamkin make an NHL return?
Rick Dhaliwal: Nikita Tryamkin‘s KHL contract expires on April 30th and he’s eligible to sign an NHL deal.
Will he sign with the Canucks?
Penguins not interested in any KHL free agents
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now: Sources are saying that the Pittsburgh Penguins are “not interested” in any of the KHL free agents that are eligible to sign with any team after April 30th. This could be the second consecutive year they haven’t had any interest.
The Penguins may not be doing a lot of scouting in Russia, but a source adds they have been scouting Scandanavian teams.
For the last Russian player to be signed by the Penguins, you’d have to go back to before the 2015-16 season – Sergei Plotnikov.
Penguins may not have a lot of cap space to work with next season
Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The Pittsburgh Penguins currently have 15 players under contract for next season at about a $68 million cap hit.
At an $81.5 million ceiling or less, the Penguins won’t have a lot of space to work with, especially with having pending restricted free agent goaltenders in Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry. It may not be possible for the Penguins to keep both goaltenders. Jared McCann is also an RFA.
If the salary cap declines teams could get a compliance buyout, but they may not get the option if the cap stays flat.
Fans may be hoping for a Jack Johnson buyout. If a regular buyout and not a compliance buyout, he’d carry a $2.2 million hit for the next two years, $1.3 million for one, and then three years at just over $900,000.
