Will someone be interested in Subban?
Larry Brooks of the NY Post: New Jersey Devils right-handed defenseman P.K. Subban has a year left on his contract at $9 million. If the Devils were to retain half his salary, there might be a contender interested. He’s having a decent season so far.
Will be tricky for teams to navigate the trade deadline this year
Dan Rosen of NHL.com: The Tampa Bay Lightning are one of many teams who don’t have a lot of salary cap space to work with at the trade deadline. Lightning GM Julien BriseBois:
“That supply and demand equation, I don’t know what it looks like right now. I know a lot of teams are in the same situation we’re in where they literally have no cap space or very, very little, not enough to add a player without subtracting. At the same time, the schedule matrix and the divisional format, there’s a lot more four-point games. The teams on the bubble, I don’t know what’s ultimately going to guide their decisions. Are they going to add or try to sell? Will there be more teams standing pat? I don’t know. It’ll be interesting to find out.”
The cost to acquire a rental player appears to still be high, maybe a high draft pick and prospect for the likes of Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Kyle Palmieri and Ryan Getzlaf. Nashville Predators Mattias Ekholm and Filip Forsberg have a year left and would cost more.
Adding a player at the deadline that has term left on his deal is a little more complex this year according to Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas.
“Usually you’d put a premium on getting a player that has future years, but it’s a little bit more complex this year knowing the cap is very likely going to be at $81.5 million. Anything that is taken from next year’s allotment, it impacts a number of things.”
New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello looking for scoring help but won’t mortgage the future.
“If we have the opportunity to get a scorer, we certainly will do that without sacrificing what is coming for the future.”