Kaprizov unlikely to be eligible to play this season when he’s signed
Michael Russo of The Athletic: The NHL has told the Minnesota Wild that if/when they sign Kirill Kaprizov to an entry-level deal, he won’t be eligible to play in the 2019-20 season. Kaprizov needs to officially hire an agent.
There have been some hope that they could sign him and have to play this year to burn a year of his contract.
When the NHL halted the season in mid-March, they told teams that any contract signed by draft picks or any other free agents wouldn’t be eligible to play for the current season.
“Kirill is aware of (the NHL’s likely decision), but we haven’t heard 100 percent ‘no’ and we haven’t heard 100 percent ‘yes’ (on the 2019-20 season),” Wild general manager Bill Guerin told The Athletic on Monday. “More than likely, he won’t be able to play this summer, but until it’s a 100 percent ‘no,’ there’s really no rush on his part to sign for the sake of signing. Kirill just wants to know.”
It’s possible that if the 2020-21 NHL season is delayed into December, Kaprizov could sign in the KHL for another year, to Wild GM Bill Guerin said he’s not losing “any sleep over it.”
Pierre LeBrun: The NHL hasn’t shown any indication that they are considering changing the rule.
Predators may be not able to re-sign everyone
Adam Vingan of The Athletic: (mailbag) It will not be easy for the Nashville Predators to re-sign free agent forward Mikael Granlund. If the Predators can re-sign Granland and if he can bounce back under coach John Hynes, the Granlund – Kevin Fiala trade could be a win-win for both teams.
The Predators likely won’t have enough salary cap space to bring back both Granlund and Craig Smith. It may be easier and cheaper for them to re-sign Smith.
The Predators could be able to re-sign Colin Blackwell at under $1 million.
Defenseman Dan Hamhuis could return.
Could see them re-signing one of Korbinian Holzer or Yannick Weber and giving a younger player like Alexandre Carrier a shot.