Has Ilya Mikheyev priced himself out of Toronto?
Luke Fox of Sportsnet: Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ilya Mikheyev is a pending UFA and is having a career year. He’s closing in 20 goals and has played under 50 games.
“He’s one of those guys who every team needs,” boasts Milstein, Mikheyev’s agent. Maybe he’s selling, but he’s not wrong. “He’s just taken his game to the next level.”
Are Barclay Goodrow (six years at $21.85 million) and Blake Coleman‘s (six years and $29.4 million) deals comparables? His open market value could be between $4 and $5 million range but would likely need to take less to re-sign with the Maple Leafs or a legit contender.
“He’s going to be OK financially, no matter what,” Milstein says. “He’s just entering his prime.”
Mikheyev made a trade request last offseason but Milstein said he doesn’t think Mikheyev was ever not happy with the organization, but more dissatisfied with his own game.
The sides did talk extension in the offseason but shelved talks after Mikheyev broke his thumb in the preseason with the sides agreeing to wait until the season was over.
Will the Wild be able to fit in a Kevin Fiala extension?
Michael Russo: The Minnesota Wild gave contract extensions to Jordan Greenway, Jon Merrill and Alex Goligoski. They added Tyson Jost at the deadline and will have increased dead money from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts.
Unless the Wild trade often injured Matt Dumba, it seems likely the Wild would be able to fit in a Kevin Fiala extension. It wouldn’t be easy to replace Fiala and he would leave a big hole.
Fiala has scored 25 goals with 30 assists in their past 46 games.
The 25-year-old is on a one-year, $5.1 million deal, and a long-term extension could cost in the $7 million range. He’s trying not to worry about what could happen in the offseason.
“I mean, why should I?” he said. “There’s so much more in this season. We’re still in the (regular) season; we haven’t even started playoffs yet. And anything can happen. So right now, I think it would hurt me to think about something else than the team and the right now.”
The Avalanche are at home against the Capitals and are
-205 on the moneyline with Betway
