Stars could gain some salary cap space
Saad Yousef of The Athletic: The Dallas Stars saved about a $1 million in salary cap room when deciding not to protect/extend defenseman Jamie Oleksiak and signing Ryan Suter.
Signing goaltender Braden Holtby was a little surprising given they already have three goaltenders. Each have their issues though – Ben Bishop (health), Anton Khudobin (performance) and Jake Oettinger (development). Bishop seems ticketed for the LTIR.
The Stars didn’t get much consistency from scoring and ranked 24th in the league.
They are around $2 million over the salary cap but if Bishop’s $4.9 million is put on the LTIR, they’ll gain about $2.9 in space and have the option to add someone else. When they add would depend if Bishop is LTIR before or after the season starts.
Notes on the top 10 remaining unrestricted NHL free agents
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Rumors and notes involving some of the top remaining free agents.
1 Tuukka Rask – Has contemplated retirement before and after hip surgery in July, he’ll be out until January or February. He said back in June that he’ll only play for the Boston Bruins.
2. Kyle Palmieri – Nothing has been announced but reports have him signing with the New York Islanders.
3. Tomas Tatar – The Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken could have some level of interest.
4. Casey Cizikas – May have a handshake deal with the Islanders. Drew interest from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Seattle Kraken, Buffalo Sabres and San Jose Sharks.
5. Jason Demers – 33-year old logged over 17 minutes per game last year.
6. Marcus Johansson – Could be a good short-term signing for someone looking for a versitial forward.
7. Nikita Gusev – Can play either wing and has received some interest. KHL is an option if he doesn’t find anything to his liking.
8. Travis Zajac – It’s believed he has a deal in place with the Islanders.
9. Sami Vatanen – 30-year old right-handed defenseman could be a good third-pairing defenseman for someone.
10. Zdeno Chara – He’s in no rush to make a decision to play again next season or retire.