Every offseason, teams are motivated to clear salary off the books or give one or two players a fresh start.
Many times it’s because a club is in a cap crunch and can’t address critical offseason needs until it creates flexibility. Or a player just may not be a fit for the team anymore, with both parties benefitting from a potential change of scenery.
This summer is no different — there are plenty of contracts teams will shop around. We covered a big chunk of those names last week in our list of buyout candidates, which included the likes of Conor Sheary, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Jack Campbell, Cal Petersen, Jacob Trouba, Cam Atkinson, Justin Holl, Nate Schmidt, Joonas Korpisalo and Philipp Grubauer. Teams will scour the trade market for exit options on these types of players before considering the buyout route. Chris Johnston’s trade board highlighted some other undesirable contracts that could get traded, including Jeff Skinner, Ilya Mikheyev, Reilly Smith, Torey Krug, Filip Gustavsson and Tanner Jeannot.
But there are more players on overpriced deals — closer to being a “slight overpay” than on an “albatross/anchor” of a contract — that teams could consider jettisoning this offseason. Here are 10 of those to keep an eye on.
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Even though the Oilers have made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, the right side of their blue line is a concern. Cody Ceci has handled a top-four role for large chunks of these playoffs and struggled mightily — Edmonton has controlled just 39.6 percent of five-on-five scoring chances and been outscored 18-12 during his minutes. It got so bad that he was a healthy scratch for Game 2 of the final.
There’s no way the Oilers can roll into next season with Ceci playing next to Darnell Nurse. Edmonton should push to acquire a bona fide top-four righty this offseason and if that player is on a sizable contract, it’d make sense to clear some room by shipping out the final year of Ceci’s deal, which carries a $3.25 million cap hit. As it stands now, the Oilers are only projected to have around $10 million in cap space with seven forwards, five defenders and two goalies signed for next season. Ceci’s name was already swirling the rumor mill back in March when the club was considering a top-four upgrade.
It shouldn’t be too challenging for the Oilers to find a suitor for Ceci because of his handedness, size and middle-of-the-lineup playing experience.
In a perfect world where the salary cap didn’t exist, the Stars would keep Radek Faksa. The veteran 30-year-old forward is excellent defensively, plays a physical, gritty style, is a quality penalty killer and is an ace in the faceoff circle.
He may be a luxury that Dallas can’t afford, however.
The Stars have around $16.2 million in cap space but with only nine forwards, three defenders and a starting goaltender signed. A big chunk of that cash will need to be reserved for Thomas Harley, who’s in line for a huge raise as an RFA after a monster breakout year. Extending Chris Tanev or finding a right-handed top-four shutdown replacement should be a top priority, too. There are also holes up front with Joe Pavelski retiring and Matt Duchene potentially walking as a UFA.
This is where shedding the final year of Faksa’s $3.25 million cap hit could do wonders. Paying a fourth-liner that type of money isn’t the best use of capital given Dallas’ needs further up the lineup.
By the end of the season, Alex Nedeljkovic had wrested control of the starter’s crease in Pittsburgh. Nedeljkovic played in 19 games from March until the end of the season compared to Tristan Jarry’s 11. And because the Penguins made a surprising post-trade deadline push for the playoffs, these weren’t meaningless, garbage-time games either. The stakes were massive. Jarry briefly missed time in early April due to illness, but Mike Sullivan continued rolling with Nedeljkovic as the No. 1 even when Jarry was healthy.
Do the Penguins have any buyer’s remorse about the five-year, $5.375 million AAV extension they signed him to last summer? This isn’t the first time Jarry has faded down the stretch and his durability has historically been a concern. Last year’s goalie market was very weak so there’s a chance Jarry’s original extension was partially motivated by the lack of alternative options and the pressure to make the playoffs in 2023-24 with their aging star core.
If Pittsburgh is concerned about how Jarry’s contract will age, now would be the time to find an exit. The 29-year-old’s long-term track record (four straight seasons of a .909 save percentage or better before 2023-24) is still strong enough that there’d likely be interest in him on the trade market. Plus, some of those cap savings could be used to address other roster needs, whether it’s beefing up the top-six forward group or adding a shutdown top-four defender.
Tristan Jarry will likely garner interest on the trade market this summer. (Sam Hodde / Getty Images)
It’s wild how much things can change in a year.
In 2022-23, Rakell was the Penguins’ second-best winger behind Jake Guentzel, piling up 28 goals and 60 points. This season, he fell to 15 goals and 37 points in 70 games. He was a big part of the Penguins’ secondary scoring problem this year and wasn’t driving play or contributing in other areas when he wasn’t producing. Rakell’s down year was the result of a horrible start where he mustered one goal in his first 20 games. He bounced back down the stretch with 10 goals and 19 points in 32 games but it was too little, too late.
Rakell is 31 and has four years left at $5 million annually; it’s a dicey contract.
On the other hand, maybe the Penguins believe Rakell can bounce back next season. The late-season surge he had coincided with some chemistry he built with newcomer Michael Bunting — Rakell, Bunting and Evgeni Malkin had dominant underlying numbers as a line down the stretch and outscored opponents 15-9 at five-on-five.
But ultimately, unless GM Kyle Dubas has full conviction that Rakell will bounce back, testing the market on him is a no-brainer.
How much longer can the Hurricanes keep waiting for Jesperi Kotkaniemi to break out?
The talented, rangy Finnish center has yet to prove himself as a quality, everyday middle-six center over three years in Carolina. He appeared to be turning a corner in 2022-23 when he scored a career-high 18 goals and 43 points, but that was followed up by arguably the worst season of his NHL career where he picked up 27 points in 79 games. Kotkaniemi averaged just 11:01 per game in the playoffs, scoring one point in 11 games.
Carolina could preach patience if he was on an affordable contract, but the problem is he’s already paid like an impact player at $4.82 million for the next six seasons. Every dollar matters for Cup-contending teams — especially this offseason, when the Canes have a ton of expiring contracts — and Kotkaniemi simply isn’t delivering enough value right now.
Kotkaniemi turns 24 in July, has the pedigree of being a top-five pick and is still only a year removed from a 43-point campaign, so even though his cap hit looks steep now, it could become fair value if he takes a step (or two) forward. The Canes have to quickly decide if they believe that breakout can happen on their team, otherwise, they’re best served flipping the contract to a buyer who still believes in Kotkaniemi’s upside. Because if he struggles again next season, this contract will likely become a lot more difficult to trade.
Timing is often everything. Andrew Mangiapane was coming off a career-high 35-goal season in 2021-22 when he inked a three-year, $5.8 million AAV extension. It proved to be a clear outlier as the 28-year-old winger hasn’t hit the 20-goal mark since then and is now entering the final year of his contract.
Mangiapane produces five-on-five points like a bona fide top-six player but his overall point totals suffer because he can’t produce on the power play (just seven power-play points combined over the last two seasons). He’s an above-average play driver and can contribute on the penalty kill, too. Mangiapane doesn’t produce enough to live up to his cap hit, but he’s still a very useful player.
It seems unlikely that Mangiapane is part of the Flames’ long-term plans, meaning he’s a potential trade candidate from now until next year’s deadline.
Ville Husso’s future hinges on whether the Red Wings — who were partially sunk by bad goaltending this past season — can land an upgrade in net. The 29-year-old was streaky during his first season in Detroit, rocking an .896 save percentage in 56 games. He was limited to just 19 games because of injuries this year.
GM Steve Yzerman said he “will look at the goalie market,” and the Red Wings are reportedly interested in Linus Ullmark. If Detroit lands a starter, you can bet that the final year of Husso’s contract at $4.75 million will immediately be on the trade block, especially because the club has a quality backup in Alex Lyon who only costs $800,000.
Husso would be an intriguing albeit expensive roll of the dice. A team short on goaltending could talk itself into believing Husso’s numbers faded in the second half of 2023-24 because he was overused and that he might bounce back with better health next season.
All that said, there’s also a decent chance that Yzerman simply signs a veteran No. 3 goalie instead of a big-name starter. In that case, Husso’s highly unlikely to get traded.
At his best, Nick Jensen can definitely live up to his $4.05 million cap hit. He’s typically been a rock-solid two-way driver on Washington’s second pair. The 33-year-old right-shot defender’s play fell off hard this year, though.
Jensen lost his matchups across the board (in shots, chances and actual goals) by fairly wide margins. Why? One reason he looked so off may be that his skating — which is typically one of his best assets — declined in 2023-24. NHL Edge data shows that his speed bursts over 20 miles per hour and top speed fell compared to the year prior.
Washington’s acquisition of PL Dubois signals that the club is likely going to be aggressive this offseason to keep the roster playoff competitive. The Caps currently have $12.9 million in cap space (which could go up if T.J. Oshie lands on LTIR). One way to clear cap room to chase more high-end talent would be to move a right-shot defender since Washington already has John Carlson, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Jensen, Vincent Iorio and Ethan Bear under contract for next season.
Moving Jensen, who has two years left on his deal, or van Riemsdyk ($3 million) could be a sensible option.
Cody Glass broke out with 14 goals and 35 points in 72 games during his first full NHL season in 2022-23. It was a dream campaign for a player who’d been through tons of adversity since being drafted No. 6 by Vegas in 2017 and he was rewarded with a two-year, $2.5 million AAV extension last summer.
This year, Glass battled multiple injuries and had an underwhelming 13 points in 41 games. He was a healthy scratch at times and sat for the Predators’ entire first-round playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks. It’s fair to wonder if he’s a stylistic fit with Andrew Brunette’s uptempo, speed-based system. Combine that with Barry Trotz’s potential desire to acquire high-end scoring talent this summer and Philip Tomasino’s expected full-time arrival next season and all of a sudden, Glass may be on the outside looking in for a 2024-25 lineup spot.
The Predators don’t need to trade Glass for cap purposes, but depending on their forward plans this summer, they could explore moving him to provide both sides with a fresh start.
With just one year left at a $2 million cap hit, Marcus Johansson’s contract is pretty modest. The Wild don’t have any margin for error with their spending because of the nearly $15 million in dead cap charges they have as a result of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter’s buyouts, however, and Johansson didn’t live up to expectations this season.
The speedy 30-year-old winger only contributed 30 points despite being fed consistent top-six minutes. He didn’t noticeably drive play or help the team aside from his underwhelming production. Minnesota is tight against the cap so if it can find a way to offload Johansson’s $2 million, that could immediately go toward finding a top-six upgrade.
Johansson is only a year removed from scoring 46 points, so the Wild should garner interest if they shop him. The 33-year-old has a full no-trade clause, though, meaning a potential move could take some convincing.
(Top photos of Cody Ceci and Rickard Rakell: Cooper Neill and Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)
