The Canucks will feel the salary squeeze
Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet: (mailbag) If Nils Noglander is good enough to the make the Vancouver Canucks next season he’ll be on the team. His entry-level deal will help him with that as they’ll have cap issues.
The Canucks would like to bring Nikita Tryamkin back to the NHL. It would likely take a one-way deal to get him here.
The Canucks previous priority under a salary cap of at least $84 million was to re-sign both Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli.
The Canucks have no chance of signing pending UFA defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
After the Canucks signed Tyler Myers last offseason, it seems they won’t be able to afford to re-sign Chris Tanev. They might be able to bring him back on a discounted deal like they did with Alex Edler.
The Sharks could have some cap space to work with … Scenario models for when the SAP center can re-open
Brian Witt of NBC Sports: The San Jose Sharks could have just under $15 million in salary cap space this offseason to work with. Some will go to their pending free agents – Joe Thornton and Kevin Labanc are their most notable ones – and neither will pull down big deals.
NHL free agents this offseason may have to consider taking longer deals at less money or take shorter deals than they may have hoped. The Sharks could look to capitalize on this in either situation.
Josh Schrock of NBC Sports Bay Area: San Jose Sharks president Jonathan Becher thinks the SAP center will be one of the last arenas to open and are planning on a number of different scenarios around the number of people allowed inside. They estimate that there could be eight to 10 possible scenarios.
Becher says there would be about 250 people in the building to televise a game with no fans. The 250 estimate would be including the players, coaches, doctors, etc. Could they be allowed more people for groups to use just the suites as their suites have glass enclosures?
They are building a variety of models to accommodate various numbers and situations. With being the first arena to close, Becher thinks they’ll be one of the last open.
“Whatever is decided probably won’t be one of our models. But the hope is that it’s a combination of things we’re already worked through, so we can be ready in a short number of days,” Becher said. “We build likely outcomes and one of those hopefully happens.
“What we’re not doing is starting from scratch.”