This year's FA will be all about keeping the band together. I feel like there will be more thought put to 2023-24 summer and this one will kinda be an off-year. I wouldn't be surprised if Zito tried to find gems in the rough, though. Like Verhaeghe, Forsling or Marchment were.
The most obvious cap dump is Hornqvist. He still provides a ton of value and, the Athletic for example, places his market value just 100k below his cap hit. As nice as it'd be to keep him, there just isn't room. I put Noel as his replacement since I like that guy's game and think he'd be a great fit on the bottom-6. Kinda like Lomberg.
Montour is also a possible cap casualty. The sexy pick, especially among other team's fanbases, would be Weegar, but Montour is more expensive and plays on the 3rd pair. He played like a top4 dman so someone should snag him for little to no cost.
Gudas could also be sacrificed, but for 2,5M, I don't think that's worth the trouble. Gudas brings a lot more on the table than his cap hit suggests, especially since he has developed nice chemistry with Forsling.
Giroux's deal is a tough one. I feel like he just wants to win at this point at could take a discount. Still, I just gave him Malkin's deal.
I also signed ZAR and Lindbohm to deals because I personally like their game. I feel Lindbohm is a shot in the dark, though, and most likely should be swapped for a more experienced option. Maybe DeHaan?
This team is likely a bit worse than last year's on paper, and won't score 4,11 goals per game. But, if the guys learned anything after getting their faces shoved into sand by Tampa, this team should be more playoff-ready.
Ott, nyr, mtl, la, van, phi, buf, ari, njd, cbj, nsh, det, ana.
Those are the teams whose fans have shown interest in paying for Horny or taking him for free. I'd love to see him lead a young pack of kids and give them identity like he did with the Panthers. That's why I traded him to Ottawa, but anything goes, really.
A lot of teams need a left defenseman, and preferably one that can score. Montour can play both sides and scored 37 points last year, good for a tied 39th place among defensemen. He is no John Klingberg, but the market for defensemen seems to be a bit dry. For 3,5M, you can't find a better player in this year's FA pool. I could see ~7-8 teams interested. I gave him to Anaheim because I'm lazy and they lost defensemen at the deadline. I feel like some support would benefit Drysdale's development
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