James

Hutton. Who is pretty solid, really. They'll be a decently competitive team, I think... especially with the Habs and Sens just totally tanking. Wings probably won't be great either. They might have a shot at a wild card spot if the stars align.

Alright, neanderthals... welcome to 2018.

They usually strip it down in the summer to as few positions as possible, and then build up from there as players shift around. No idea how they actually determine it though.

Pens fans are still daydreaming about a brassard for pacioretty trade, especially with Cullen back in Pittsburgh. I don't like it, necessarily, because it puts sheahan up as your L3 center. But I guess it would give you a "third" line of pacioretty-sheahan-kessel, which isn't so bad.

Rutherford implied that JJ was benched in Columbus for reasons other than his play on the ice. JJ implied that Columbus is not a place with a winning culture. Tortorella went off in the press. And Kekalainen said he'd be calling Rutherford directly.

Things are getting very ugly between the Pens and Bluejackets... should be a fun season series between them.

Yeah from a fantasy perspective, that's a pretty big pill to swallow. In real life, I think he deserves it though.

They've got a ton of work to do to get that team back though... not sure how much space they'll have left after Trouba, Morrissey, and Hellebuyck. And you've still only got 9 forwards signed... You know Hellebuyck's gonna get paid... probably $7 mil at least, right? Morrissey you can maybe talk into a bridge contract, but when you look at comparables you've got Gostisbehere or Ristolainen pulling in 5+ years, 5ish million... he's gonna push for that. But he's not arbitration eligible, so. Trouba, on the other hand is also gonna get paid, like Hellebuyck. I think you're looking at 17-18 million, minimum, for those three players alone. That leaves you with 6 million to sign at least 4 F (maybe 5), and a D.

This place gets weird in the offseason...

Everyone's on his case about the Hunwick signing, but honestly if it's this easy to get rid of a player, then no harm no foul. Hunwick was worthless this year, and he still managed to shed that contract at no cost, and get half of a fourth rounder in return (ok, the pick was probably mostly for Sheary, but still). If giving JJ 5 years is what's allowing them to get him down to 3.5 mil, I'm all for it. As opposed to the alternative... 2 years at 5 mil.

Gotta factor Sprong in there at 0.750. They've already basically confirmed he'll be in the NHL next year. Which really only leaves a need for one more NHL forward. You'd have ZAR and Bluegers on two-way contracts to go up and down as needed. I like the idea of Duclair or someone with some upside. Don't really see the point of Kunitz...

Sheahan re-signed... 2.1 mil. So if my math is right, that leaves something like $3.85 million to sign Oleksiak and a bottom-six forward (maybe bluegers or kuhnhackl or rowney or duclair or someone else).

Penguins also shipped out Sheary and Hunwick this morning. Currently sitting with 6.5 mil in space to sign Oleksiak, Sheahan, Kuhnhackl, and Rowney.

A decent Ian Cole replacement, and an old buddy of Crosby. I like it.

Finally! Thanks

I think it's safe to assume Colin Miller was given a qualifying offer. It would've only been $1.1 million. After the season he had, that's a no-brainer, right? So I've gone ahead and updated Fantrax to release all of the above-mentioned players. Everyone else is safe. As it stands right now, Fantrax should be 100% accurate to get an idea of who will be available in the Re-Entry Draft.

Just found Boston. So the only player we're really waiting to hear about still is Colin Miller.

Thanks for this. Looks like the jury's still out on Boston and (most of) Vegas.

There's no way the NHL should allow this. It takes away the Islanders biggest bargaining chip, which puts it directly against the spirit of the rules. Dangerous precedent. The owners will be pisssssed (specifically pissed at the leafs, I'd say).

Should say CFHL, sorry. Texas Ice Cacti

Here are the players (so far) who will actually be lost by Capwise teams, along with the teams that will lose them: Robin Lehner LAB (PCFL) BRZ (ECFL) SCS (HUEL) LEO (NAFL) SHK (WCFL) BDS (IFHL) PCR (SFHL) PIH (GNFL) DAL (CFHL) Petr Mrazek ASK (PCFL) FCS (ECFL) LEO (NAFL) PRO (WCFL) BDS (IFHL) LFS (SFHL) DNC (GNFL) TIC (CFHL) Dylan DeMelo FTG (CFHL) Anthony Duclair TIC (CFHL)

So far, here are the players that will become UFAs in our leagues: Riley Sheahan Devante Smith-Pelly Tobias Rieder Joakim Nordstrom Nick Shore Robin Lehner Anthony Duclair Tomas Jurco Petr Mrazek Logan Shaw Scott Wilson Ryan Murphy Tom Kuhnhackl Brandon Davidson Derrick Pouliot Michael Chaput Dylan DeMelo Shane Prince Phillip Di Giuseppe Joe Morrow Nail Yakupov Any JV-eligible RFAs will not be dropped from your team, since you can just demote them. That includes players like Adam Clendening, Victor Antipin, and others.

I'm attempting to compile a complete list of RFAs who didn't receive a qualifying offer. Missing the following teams: Anaheim, Boston, Nashville, Vegas. If you come across a list of who those teams DID NOT qualify, post them here. Or, if you happen to come across a complete list for the whole NHL, post that here!

I find it hard to count LA out ever though. I know they're getting old (and even older with kovy in the fold) but I would not be shocked if they made a good run in the next 2 years.

Maybe Montreal will call them up and offer to trade Price for him though.