Craig Custance of ESPN: Offseason look at teams that were recently eliminated.
- Ottawa Senators Offseason Priorities: 1. Settle on a starting goalie: Andrew Hammond was 20-1-2 down the stretch. His agent put off contract talks till after the season. Hammond lost the starters role to Craig Anderson in the playoffs – has two-years left on his three-year $12.6 million deal. It may be in their best interest to let another team take a risk on Hammond and his small sample size. May only make sense if Robin Lehner has recovered from his concussion. 2. Bryan Murray’s future: does he want to continue to be the GM or move to an adviser role. 3. Mika Zibanejad, Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman will need contract extensions.
- St. Louis Blues Offseason Priorities: 1. Contract extension for Vladimir Tarasenko – could go the Patrick Kane route with a five-year deal around $6.3 million per season, and then go bigger on the next deal. 2. Take a hard look at their core – David Backes will be UFA after next season and an extension won’t be cheap. 3. Make a call on the coach – Hitchcock signed a one-year deal last offseason. Do they bring him back or go after someone new?
- Vancouver Canucks Offseason Priorities: 1. Start rebuilding their defense – could start by moving Kevin Bieksa or Dan Hamhuis and get younger. They have no-trade clauses and like Vancouver. Both will be UFAs after next season. 2. Trade a goalie – Eddie Lack has shown he can be an effective starter. Ryan Miller has two-years left at $6 million per. Jacob Markstrom is a RFA and could get some trade interest. 3. Create room for youth – may mean trading someone like Christopher Higgins for futures, opening up a spot for Sven Baertschi or Jake Virtanen.
- Nashville Predators Offseason Priorities: 1. Re-sign Mike Ribeiro to a short-term contract – should look to sign the 35-year to a deal no longer than two-years. May have to pay a little more to keep it at two-years. 2. Sign Mike Fisher to an extension – have already had some contract talks back in February. 3. Let Cody Franson walk – don’t need to pay big money to keep him around, let someone else pay it. Spend the money on re-signing Colin Wilson, Craig Smith and Calle Jarnkrok. Seth Jones can sign a contract extension after July 1st.
- Pittsburgh Penguins Offseason Priorities – 1. Enter the Mike Babcock sweepstakes – Mike Johnston may not deserve to be fired, but if Babcock hits the market …. Pittsburgh may interest Babcock. 2. Go young on defense – cap issues may force pending UFA Paul Martin to look elsewhere. Time to let some of their young blueliners play. 3. Trade Rob Scuderi – has two-years at a $4 million cap hit left on his deal. His salary decreases which may interest teams looking to get to the salary floor. Money saved could be used re-signing one of their free agent defenseman (Christian Ehrhoff is also UFA) or bringing in some forward depth.
