Bridge deal likely for Nurse
Bob Stauffer: When Edmonton Oilers RFA defenseman Darnell Nurse re-signs it will most likely be a two-year bridge deal in the $2.75 to $3.25 million per season range. After his bridge deal, the Oilers and Nurse will have a better idea of how high his offensive ceiling could be.
It hasn’t been a good offseason for Senators fans
Chris Stevenson of The Athletic: It has not been a good offseason for Ottawa Senators fans. Erik Karlsson is awaiting a trade, Mark Stone didn’t sign a long-term deal, Matt Duchene has a year left on his deal, and they don’t have their 2019 first-round pick.
It is possible that all of Karlsson, Stone, and Duchene could be gone by the trade deadline.
Duchene cost them a first-round pick and the Senators chose to keep their 2018 pick and select Brady Tkachuk, therefore sending their 2019 first-round pick and possibly the right to select Jack Hughes to the Colorado Avalanche.
Fans are hoping for new ownership, and there are rumors out there that there are individuals or groups willing to buy the Senators, but as of now they are just “rumours and hope.”
Hurricanes lost offense
Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer: The Carolina Hurricanes trading of Jeff Skinner last week leaves two questions: How do they replace the lost offense, and do they trade defenseman Justin Faulk?
Faulk will carry a $6 million salary and $4.83 million salary cap hit to be on their third pairing, and will likely be stripped of his assistant captaincy.
The Hurricanes have plenty of salary cap space so they don’t need to move him for that reason, and he can still run their second power-play unit.
As for their offense, they lost 75 goals by moving on from/trading Skinner, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Derek Ryan, Lee Stempniak, Joakim Nordstrom, Josh Jooris, Martin Kruger and Klas Dahlbeck, while only bringing in 46 goals from Dougie Hamilton, Michael Ferland, Calvin de Haan, and Jordan Martinook.
How much scoring will Martin Necas and Andrei Svechnikov provide?