Unrestricted free agency is not exactly unrestricted. Players identified as UFA are limited to seven-year deals with any new club they sign as a UFA.
However, should they sign with their current club ahead of the midnight deadline Saturday night, they may sign an eight-year deal.
Logan Couture is expected to sign an eight-year deal with the San Jose Sharks keeping in place as the Sharks transition to a younger team roster.
Couture, 29, potted 34 goals this past season.
This also means John Tavares will need to inform the New York Islanders of his intentions soon.
NHL.com posted a quote from Tavares back in early April after the Isles’ season ended.
“This is obviously where I hope to be. I’ve always stated that,” Tavares said. “But obviously, I have some time to think about my situation and go from there.
“I’ve loved it here. The people have really embraced me, the team, the organization. It’s been first class since I’ve gotten here. There’s obviously some great talent and some great things ahead. Definitely a lot of positives. I’ll obviously have to take some time and figure out what I want to do and go from there.”
Hard to imagine that Tavares does not leave the Islanders and head for his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs.
But there is every expectation a statement will be released sometime today from the Tavares team.
The upcoming free agent signing frenzy will include more than a few goaltenders in the mix.
Philadelphia has become the location for goalies’ careers to suffer inglorious destruction.
The Flyers traded for Petr Mrazek this past season in an effort to replace the injured Brian Elliot. Mrazek ended up 6-6-3 with a mediocre goals against average.
Pro Hockey News’ Lewis Bleiman has often said it is not the goalies it is the Flyers defense. He may be right but Mrazek was not offered a qualifying offer the Flyers and is a UFA Sunday. Perhaps a team with a solid defense would be willing to sign the goalie to a one or two-year deal.
Robin Lehner did not receive a qualifying offer from the Buffalo Sabres and will head for free agency. Many have heaped much of the blame for the Sabres’ season on Lehner; he went 14-26-9 on the season with a 3.01 GAA and 0.908 save percentage.
The Sabres were dead last in the statistical averages this past season and scored 2.42 goals a game and surrendered 3.39 goals a game (third worst in the NHL). Blame what you want on the goalies in Buffalo but they are not responsible for scoring goals, or perhaps they might have been better off to put Lehner up front.
The biggest name in the goalie market is Carter Hutton of the St Louis Blues. Hutton has suffered form lack of support as well and was solid for the Blues this past season when their number one, Jake Allen, was seeing BBs instead of beach balls.
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