Penguins may not be a cap team next year
Rob Rossi and Josh Yohe of The Athletic: The Pittsburgh Penguins have $68.2 million in salary cap hits for 16 players. There is some speculation from team and league sources that they Penguins will be looking spend in the low- to mid-$70 million range for next year.
They would need to clear out a bunch of salary if they want to hit that mark. Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said that he wants to keep Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, but one executive thinks they’ll listen to offers on Letang. Letang has a modified no-trade clause.
Top Unrestricted Free Agents
Emily Sadler of Sportsnet: Looking at the top 20 pending unrestricted free agents.
1. Alex Pietrangelo – D – St. Louis Blues
2. Taylor Hall – LW – Arizona Coyotes
3. Braden Holtby – G – Washington Capitals
4. Torey Krug – D – Boston Bruins
5. Tyson Barrie – D – Toronto Maple Leafs
6. Robin Lehner – G – Vegas Golden Knights
7. Jacob Markstrom – G – Vancouver Canucks
8. Mike Hoffman – RW/LW – Florida Panthers
9. Evgenii Dadonov – RW – Florida Panthers
10. Tyler Toffoli – RW/LW – Vancouver Canucks
11. Mikael Granlund – C/RW – Nashville Predators
12. T.J. Brodie – D – Calgary Flames
13. Travis Hamonic – D – Calgary Flames
14. Sami Vatanen – D – Carolina Hurricanes
15. Anton Khudobin – G – Dallas Stars
16. Corey Crawford – G – Chicago Blackhawks
17. Ilya Kovalchuk – LW – Washington Capitals
18. Erik Haula – LW – Florida Panthers
19. Wayne Simmonds – RW – Buffalo Sabres
20. Dustin Byfuglien – D – Winnipeg Jets
Top Restricted Free Agents
Luke Fox of Sportsnet – Looking at the top 16 restricted free agents.
1. Mathew Barzal – C – New York Islanders – 23 with no arbitration rights.
2. Anthony Cirelli – C – Tampa Bay Lightning – 23 with no arbitration rights. They may need to trade Alex Killorn or Tyler Johnson.
3. Anthony DeAngelo – D – New York Rangers – 24 with arbitration rights. Term may be tricky during talks.
4. Pierre-Luc Dubois – C – Columbus Blue Jackets – 22 with no arbitration rights.
5. Sam Reinhart – RW – Buffalo Sabres – 24 with arbitration rights.
6. Matt Murray – G – Pittsburgh Penguins – 26 with arbitration rights. Could be the odd man out in Pittsburgh
7. Mikhail Sergachev – D – Tampa Bay Lightning – 22 with no arbitration rights.
8. Max Domi – C/LW – Montreal Canadiens – 25 with arbitration rights.
9. Ryan Pulock – D – New York Islanders – 25 with arbitration rights.
10. MacKenzie Blackwood – G – New Jersey Devils – 23 with no arbitration rights. Could use Elvis Merzlikins‘ two-year, $8 million deal as a comparable.
11. Tyler Bertuzzi – LW – Detroit Red Wings – 25 with arbitration rights.
12. Dominik Kubalik – LW – Chicago Blackhawks – 24 with arbitration rights.
13. Jake DeBrusk – LW – Boston Bruins – 23 with no arbitration rights.
14. Ryan Strome – C/RW – New York Rangers – 27 with arbitration rights.
15. Tristan Jarry – G – Pittsburgh Penguins – 25 with arbitration rights.
16. Anthony Mantha – LW/RW – Detroit Red Wings – 25 with arbitration rights.