Neuvirth turned down guaranteed deals
James (@Account4hockey): Elliotte Friedman said on Sportsnet 590 that Michal Neuvirth had turned down offers of with a guaranteed contract to sign a PTO with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Gardiner may have to take a short term deal to prove his value
James (@Account4hockey): Friedman said on Sportsnet 590 that he believes free agent Jake Gardiner may have to sign a short (one-year) deal to re-establish his value. The market for Gardiner was a lot worse for him than they had expected.
Friedman is unsure if the Maple Leafs would still be interested, or if he’s that interested, as he could end up being on their third pairing which may end up limiting a future deal.
Moving Clarkson helps Gusev case a bit
SinBin.Vegas: The trading of David Clarkson to the Maple Leafs creates more salary cap flexibility for the Vegas Golden Knights. It can only help in potential re-signing of Nikita Gusev. It may not help a lot, but it does help some.
Jets have a second buyout window opening up
Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Sun: The Winnipeg Jets will have around $15 million in salary cap space and could go with 22 rosters spots for a bit instead of 23.
They also will have a second buyout window open that opens on Friday and lasts until Sunday. They may not take advantage of the window though. Buying out defenseman Dmitry Kulikov may not provide a huge savings – down to a $1.4 million cap hit for the next two years, but you’d still need to fill his roster spot.
They could look to make a salary dump trade.
Signing free agent defenseman Jake Gardiner is a pipe dream.
Getting restricted free agents Kyle Connor and Patrik Laine could take until the end of the summer to get done. The group of big named RFAs will likely wait it out in hope of maximizing their next deals.