Sens would take BPA if their two first-round picks were in the top three
Haily Salvian: Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion said that if the Sens get the second and third overall picks in the 2020 draft, they would selected the “two best players” and not draft by position.
Top free agent Pietrangelo may have to sign a short-term deal
Jeremy Rutherford: If the salary cap goes down next year, St. Louis Blues pending UFA defenseman Alex Pietrangelo might have to sign a short-term deal and then look to sign a long-term deal in a couple of years when the salary cap increases. This could be the case if signing with the Blues or with any other team.
Top free agents going to impacted heavily by the shutdown
Frank Seravalli of TSN: A player agent said that things are changing for free agents, and they may have fully grasped yet how much this pandemic will impact things.
A flat salary cap that could last a couple would severely limit the number of teams that would consider signing Taylor Hall to a long-term $10 million deal.
“There’s not going to be a big market for top UFAs,” another agent said. “Teams like St. Louis and Tampa Bay – they have no available cap space. It’s the bottom feeders that will have the most money to spend, but they usually aren’t attractive to top free agents, and their owners don’t like to spend dumb money anyway. How many teams are going to be able to give you what you want? So many players are kicking themselves, wishing they had signed last year.”
The St. Louis Blues may have difficulty in re-signing Alex Pietrangelo. The same can be said for for the Boston Bruins and Torey Krug, and Jacob Markstrom and the Vancouver Canucks.
Top 25 pending free agents
1 Alex Pietrangelo – RD
2. Taylor Hall – LW
3. Torey Krug – LD
4. Jacob Markstrom – G
5. Robin Lehner – G
6. Mike Hoffman – RW
7. Evgeni Dadonov – RW
8. Tyler Toffoli – RW
9. Braden Holtby – G
10. Tyson Barrie – RD
11. T.J. Brodie – LD
12. Sami Vatanen – RD
13. Kevin Shattenkirk – LD
14. Brenden Dillon – LD
15. Erik Haula – LW
16. Chris Tanev – LD
17. Erik Gustafsson – LD
18. Justin Braun – RD
19. Travis Hamonic – RD
20. Joel Edmundson – LD
21. Corey Crawford – G
22. Ilya Kovalchuk – RW
23. Cody Ceci – RD
24. Marco Scandella – LD
25. Anton Khudobin – G
