Contracts will slide past June 30th
Michael Russo of The Athletic: A source is saying the NHL and NHLPA will agree to slide contracts that are set to expire on June 30th until when the 2019-20 NHL season is over. This would also apply to minor league players that are on two-way contracts that could be recalled when the NHL expands their rosters for the playoffs.
It may be different for coaches and other employees within each organization. Teams may address this individually. Things would be normal for the seven non-playoff teams.
Free agent and trade options for the Jets blue line
Ken Wiebe of The Athletic: The Winnipeg Jets have pending unrestricted free agent defenseman in Dylan DeMelo, Dmitry Kulikov, Nathan Beaulieu, Luca Sbisa and Anthony Bitetto.
The Jets will look to re-sign DeMelo, but he’ll get interest in the open market if he gets that far. Marco Scandella‘s four-year, $13.1 million deal and Ben Chiarot‘s three-year, $10.5 million deal could be comparables.
The Jets won’t be in the market for high-end free agent defensemen like Alex Pietrangelo or Torey Krug.
Pending UFAs that could make sense for the Jets include Brenden Dillon, Travis Hamonic, Tyson Barrie, Joel Edmundson, Jan Rutta, and Kevin Shattenkirk.
Potential trade targets that could interest the Jets include Josh Manson, Jake Gardiner, Damon Severson and Matt Dumba.
Manson has two years left at $4.1 million per year and would be a top-four guy. He has good trade value for the Ducks.
Gardiner has three years left at $4.05 million per season. He has a modified no-trade clause but may be okay with a move for a bigger role.
Severson has three years left at a $4.2 million cap hit.
Dumba has three years left on his deal at a $6 million cap hit. The Minnesota Wild wouldn’t move him out at a discount. Dumba would be a long-shot for the Jets.