While the big names from NHL free agency are off the board, there are still a few players looking for homes next season.
Among the top remaining unsigned players is forward Jack Roslovic, and it appears that there are a few teams interested in the 28-year-old, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Sunday’s season finale of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast.
“It makes sense to me because he has a history with Auston Matthews,” Friedman said. “ They played together at the U.S. national development team, so I could see this connection. Roslovic is also a right-hand shot. You know he is a veteran. He’s been around a long time. Matthews obviously knows him. I’m curious to see if that happens.”
Roslovic is coming off a productive season with the Carolina Hurricanes, scoring 22 goals and 39 points in 81 games.
However, he struggled to find a consistent role in the Hurricanes’ playoff lineup, which hurt his stock heading into free agency.
Toronto has the cap space to sign Roslovic, especially if he is looking for a deal similar to the one-year, $2.8 million pact he agreed to with Carolina last season.
But one factor is delaying the Leafs’ ability to sign Roslovic — and it also explains why Andrew Mangiapane ended up signing with the Edmonton Oilers despite reported interest from the Leafs.
“I think one of the reasons the Leafs didn’t get Mangiapane was because they kind of indicated, ‘We have to move some bodies out,’” Friedman explained. “And Mangiapane didn’t want to wait. So far, it looks like, at least for now, Roslovic is waiting. I assume one of them is [David] Kampf, another one could potentially be [Calle] Jarnkrok.”
Friedman also indicated that the Washington Capitals have looked at signing Roslovic, the Columbus native. The San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres could also be interested.
Oilers faced pressure to get Bouchard deal done
The Edmonton Oilers knew they needed to make Evan Bouchard‘s deal a priority this off-season, but it appears that their timeline was accelerated.
The threat of an offer sheet spurred general manager Stan Bowman to move quickly to lock up the 25-year-old to a four-year deal worth $10.5 million per season, Friedman reported.
“The Carolina Hurricanes threatened the Oilers with an offer sheet,” Friedman said. “We’ll find out some day what the truth is there. I think a lot of people kind of believe that Bouchard was going to come in around four (years) times 9.5 million, but if you look at his arbitration case, he could have gotten $10 million.
“I think the fact that the Hurricanes were lurking around there got that deal to four times, $10.5 million. So after Carolina didn’t get Bouchard, they pivoted to K’Andre Miller and the (New York) Rangers knew it. You know, the Rangers were aware of it and they got that deal done pretty similar to what an offer sheet would have looked like.”
Tough negotiation for Byram, Sabres
One of the top names on the restricted free agent board is looking to land a big payday, but the Buffalo Sabres have a decision to make.
Bowen Byram did not elect for salary arbitration, but the Sabres could decide to file with the deadline at 5 p.m. ET Sunday.
The risk, as Friedman reported, is that this would allow Byram to pick the term of the deal. If he picks a two-year award, he could walk right to unrestricted free agency.
“Taking him to arbitration, you risk him taking two years and going right to unrestricted free agency. Not going to arbitration, you risk another kind of battle,” Friedman explained. “It also does leave open the option of an offer sheet, whether or not anyone believes it’s actually going to happen.”
What’s different about the 24-year-old’s position from what the Sabres went through with J.J. Peterka is that the forward had requested a trade. For Byram, the issue is his contract as he wants a significant deal.
If Buffalo did trade Byram, the team would want to do something similar with Peterka.
“One of the things the Sabres have indicated is no futures,” Friedman reported. “They want something that can help them next year. And in the deal with Peterka, they felt they got that. I don’t know about the offer sheet here. Again, there are the two we talked about, the two kids, Gavin McKenna and Keaton Verhoeff, at the top (of next year’s draft). Teams are really nervous about that. I think there’s some teams that have already said no to the potential of an offer sheet because of that.”
Byram appeared in 82 games for the first time in his career last season, finishing with seven goals and 38 points while averaging 22:42 of ice time per game.
He was originally selected fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche in the 2019 NHL Draft.
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast
Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.
How Panthers plan to fit signings under cap
Just when it looked like the Florida Panthers were going to have a tough time bringing back core pieces of their Stanley Cup-winning roster, they made it work.
General manager Bill Zito proved doubters wrong by being able to get Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad locked up even when there was a strong belief that it would be nearly impossible to get all three back.
But bringing those players back does come with the challenge of making sure the team is cap compliant by the season opener. According to PuckPedia, the Panthers currently sit approximately $2.95 million over the cap.
One way that the Panthers could make space is by trading away Evan Rodrigues, who carries a $3 million cap hit for two more seasons.
However, it appears there are other avenues the Panthers could go down.
“There’s a lot of assumption that Evan Rodrigues is going to get dealt. I was told not to assume anything,” Friedman said. “Like they’ve got to figure out what Matthew Tkachuk‘s surgical plan is or recovery plan is. And as someone said to me, ‘guys always get hurt,’ and Rodriguez is a really popular player there. I could see the Panthers waiting.”
Tkachuk played the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs with a torn adductor muscle and a sports hernia suffered during the 4 Nations Face-Off.
“I don’t know yet,” Tkachuk told the Miami Herald about whether he will have off-season surgery. “I’ve gotta go through some steps here and then see if I need surgery or not. It’s gonna take a few weeks to determine if I need it. Probably 50-50 right now. I don’t know if it’ll be a normal summer or not. I hope so. I’m just gonna jump right into surgery without talking to everybody and going through everything. I mean, I have a few weeks here where I can figure it out.”
