We have already given our state of the union for the league’s offseason, and the NHL contract standoffs still sitting out there could change all of it. The grade was middling, but maybe the NHL has more in store for us. A few storylines remain and all could have large impacts to the league. Let’s get into them…
Nikishin Is The Loudest Of These NHL Contract Standoffs
Elliott Friedman decided to end his summer break the other day showing up on NHL network for a brief interview. Elliott, as usual, didn’t really spread any rumors but pondered certain storylines. As an aside, I do find Friedman’s language hilarious and I know that I’m not alone. Anyway, Carolina Hurricane’s Russian defender was brought up and it seems like a resolution is to occur within the next couple of weeks. Nikishin was once one of the most highly touted prospects in the league and he really didn’t do much to dispel that notion but Carolina seems hesitant to resign him. Nikishin is seeking more than 8 million dollars on his next contract, and maybe that’s why Carolina is hesitating. However, if you look around the league at the contract prices it really doesn’t seem crazy to expect Nikishin to get upwards of 10 million on a bridge deal. Leo Carlsson’s contract, and now Celebrini’s, have really shifted the way we need to start thinking about contracts. When Carlsson signed with Philly, and eventually was retained by Anaheim, one of the first players effected was Anaheim’s own Pavel Mintyukov. Mintyukov was likely a 3-4 million dollar player, then Calrsson signed, and all of a sudden Pavel received a contract worth over 7 million per season. If you simple apply the same math to Alexander Nikishin, it is really easy for his agent to command somewhere in the neighborhood of 9-10 million dollars.
The Simon Edvinsson Offer Sheet Nobody Will Send
Detroit has had a tumultuous offseason. I put them up there with Anaheim and Dallas as two of the worst offseason’s in the league. Their captain asked out. Their GM got kinda fired? They haven’t replaced the fired GM yet. They have brought no one of note into the team and they have already lost Patrick Kane. Rumors are swirling that Debrincat is going to leave after this season. Detroit is a complete mess and I haven’t even brought up Simon Edvinsson’s looming contract extension. Edvinsson, much like Nikishin, is a good young defender who is due a significant raise. He’s an offer sheet eligible RFA, and I am shocked no one has tried to scoop him via offer sheet. Detroit is a shit show right now and I can’t think of a more perfect time to attempt to poach a player for their roster. I assume that Detroit will hire their new GM within the next two weeks and the new GM’s first order of business will be Edvinsson’s contract. As a matter of fact, I assume every GM interviewing for the job has to pitch to ownership their thoughts on what the Edvinsson contract should look like. A team in the interim should absolutely put Detroit in a tough spot and offer sheet the Swedish defensemen. There is no one running the ship right now and it would force Detroit’s owner to immediately put the new GM behind the eight ball if he were to match an expensive offer sheet, or let one of the teams bright young players go elsewhere. No matter where Edvinsson ends up he is going to get a massive contract. Simon Nemec, Bo Byram, and the aforementioned Mintyukov have set a significant market and the question becomes is Detroit okay with the new market? This will be resolved one way or another before training camp begins and my guess is Simon signs somewhere between 10-11 million to stay in Detroit.
The Anaheim Ducks
The Ducks, much like Detroit, have just had a disaster of an offseason. The Leo Carlsson offer sheet was basically malpractice as they could have signed him for significantly less than 18 million if their GM was intent on playing hardball with all of their young players. Since they got forced to hand Carlsson that massive contract, they can no longer nickel and dime other RFAs on their roster. One of those RFA’s is Cutter Gauthier. Cutter scored 40 goals last season and is likely just as valuable as Carlsson. The Ducks have left themselves with under 10 million in cap space and now have a young winger who has every right to demand between 14 or 15 million dollars on his next contract. Anaheim currently cannot sign Cutter and are forced into making a trade or have Cutter simply sit out. The Ducks have already lost Owen Zellweger and Mason McTavish. They also lost Radko Gudas and Jacob Trouba. The defense in Anaheim is in complete shambles and there’s really no way for them to fix it. They haven’t been able to do anything to replace the departures because their entire offseason was put on hold to figure out the Carlsson debacle. More departures are bound to happen so they can fit in Gauthier. Anaheim took a huge step forward last season and now their team is beginning to deteriorate. As a Ducks fan I would be pissed because this situation seemed completely avoidable. Now, they are looking at a situation where they need to trade one, maybe two, of Kreider, Vatrano, or Killorn which will make them weaker at forward as well. It’s a terrible situation and the clock is ticking. Not only will the Ducks be forced into jettisoning someone from the roster, they are likely going to need to pay for someone to take the contract. Everyone in the NHL knows how much of a bind Anaheim is in and I cannot fathom anyone sending them a life raft. By the end of August I assume that Frank Vatrano is playing elsewhere and Cutter receives a 14.5 million dollar contract on a shorter term deal. Anaheim ownership should seriously consider a GM change if the team takes a step backwards this season because it will literally all be GM Verbeek’s fault.
