Bruins need to add to their blue line
Joe Haggerty of Boston Hockey Now: After Torey Krug leaving via free agency and potentially Zdeno Chara as well, and no blue line additions to date, it’s obvious that the Boston Bruins need to add another defenseman before the start of next season.
Landeskog comparables
Adam Gretz of NBC Sports: Gabriel Landeskog‘s seven-year, $39 million – a cap of $5.5 million – is coming to an end after next season. He’s going to need a nice raise and his value is high.
He’ll be 29-years old when his new deal would kick in, which may present some risk down the road. He’s a first-line player who may become a “very good second-liner.”
New York Rangers Chris Kreider and St. Louis Blues Brayden Schenn are comparables. Seven or eight years at around $7 million per season.
Nothing really to worry about on an Ovechkin extension
J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington: Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said that any contract extension talks with Alex Ovechkin are on hold until at least training camp. Ovechkin has one-year left on his deal.
Ovechkin has said that he doesn’t want to play with any other NHL team. Dynamo Moscow is the only other team that he’ll play for, and believe that he’ll only head back to Russia to play is when he’s no longer as productive in the NHL.
It doesn’t make sense to sign a 35-year old to a $9.5 to $10.5 million per season deal. One complication will be that his next contract will be a 35+ deal, so it would stay on the books if he left before it expired. That may only be an issue if he signed for four or five years, and it may not even matter to the Capitals at that point as they’ll start a rebuilding phase.