Tkachuk looking for a bridge?
The Cam & Strick Podcast: Andy Strickland said that the Ottawa Senators want to do a seven- or eight-year deal with Brady Tkachuk. Tkachuk is looking for a bridge deal.
Bruce Garrioch: The Senators don’t want to re-sign Tkachuk to a bridge deal as they want him to be a part of their core long-term.
Do the Maple Leafs lock up Rielly now or let things play out?
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period: The salary cap is expected to go up by $1 million, which would currently give the Toronto Maple Leafs about $15 million in salary cap space for next year.
Their free agent list consists of Morgan Rielly, Jack Campbell, Jason Spezza, Ilya Mikheyev, Ondrej Kase, Pierre Engvall and Rasmus Sandin.
Fitting in a long-term Rielly extension won’t be easy, especially since it could come in between $8 and $9 million.
Rielly has said he’s going to leave the contract negotiations up to his agent and only focus on hockey. If something is important, then he’ll get an update from his agent.
The Leafs could lock him up to an extension now and then just deal with the salary cap situation next offseason, or they could treat him as their own ‘rental’ and let things play out.
Devils could add at the deadline if in the playoff race
Anthony DiMarco of The Fourth Period: Mike Morreale of NHL.com on the “Brotherly Pod” last week said that he believes if the New Jersey Devils are in the playoff race GM Tom Fitzgerald will look to add at the NHL trade deadline in March.
“If the Devils are there (in the playoff mix) and looking to maybe climb into that number eight, seven spot, a wild-card spot, in the East, I think he makes that move,” Morreale said. “If they’re not in the hunt, it’s not going to happen.
“If the Devils are there, I think Fitzgerald will look at that and look to improve the team even more.”
The Devils currently have $12 million in salary cap space which projects to just under $62 million at the deadline.
They would likely look for help upfront, possibly a veteran center. Adding a winger wouldn’t be a surprise either.