Blue Jackets will get offers for both goalies
Aaron Portzline of The Athletic: (mailbag) Feel that the NHL may be going back to a bit more physical brand of hockey. Teams may start looking at bringing in some bigger players. The Columbus Blue Jackets are much smaller now after the trading of Josh Anderson and Pierre-Luc Dubois, and less physical after the Nick Foligno and David Savard trades. It’s an area they need to address.
The Blue Jackets are expected to receive decent trade offers for both goaltenders – Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins. Both goalies have a year left on their deals and both believe they can be starters. Can’t see either being happy if both are back next season to share the net.
Some offseason decisions for the Penguins
Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has two years left on his deal which might help his case of coming back next year. For the most part they outplayed the New York Islanders but didn’t get the goaltending. Ron Hextall and Brian Burke are not tied to Sullivan and may favor a different brand of hockey.
Before the trade deadline Brian Burke said that only Sidney Crosby was untouchable. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang have a year left on their deals and there are three options – “extend, trade and play out the string.”
Trading forward Jake Guentzel ($6 million through 2022-23) likely wouldn’t make them better but he could bring back a return that would help kick-start a rebuild. Bryan Rust has a year left at $3.5 million and may have priced himself out of Pittsburgh. They could look to move him before so they don’t lose him for nothing.
The Penguins could leave Jason Zucker unprotected and possibly lose his $5.5 million contract through 2022-23.
They have six left-handed defensemen taking up more than $15 million in cap space. Marcus Pettersson is making $4 million on the third pairing and may not be easy to move. Trading Brian Dumoulin would net a good return. It might be impossible to trade Matheson’s contract.
Pending UFA defenseman Cody Ceci will likely sign a bigger deal somewhere. Pending RFA forward Teddy Blueger has likely played himself into a nice new deal.