The Blues have re-signed Colton Parayko to an eight-year extension worth $6.5 million per season.
Parayko, 28, has one season left on his current deal at a cap hit of $5.5 million. He had a rough, injury-filled season in 2020-21, but the Blues are banking on a bounceback.
Kevin Kurz of the Athletic reports that Tomas Hertl is disgruntled with how the Sharks failed to reign in Evander Kane’s behavior last season, and that he might prefer to play elsewhere if things don’t change.
Hertl, 27, has one year left on his contract at an AAV of $5.625 million, after which he can be a UFA.
Hertl has publicly expressed a desire to remain in San Jose.
Jack Eichel could have neck surgery soon, according to TSN’s Shawn Simpson.
He doesn’t clarify if he would be going through the fusion surgery, which the Sabres prefer, or the disc replacement surgery, as is Eichel’s preference.
Talks have quieted about any potential trade materializing.
Arthur Staple of the Athletic reports that Casey Cizikas’ deal with the Islanders is for six seasons at around $2.5 million per season.
Cizikas–along with Kyle Palmieri, Travis Zajac and Zach Parise–was believed to be informally signed by the Islanders, though terms had not been released.
The Chicago Blackhawks have signed Connor Murphy to a four-year extension worth $4.4 million per season.
Murphy, 28, had 3 goals and 12 assists in 50 games for the Blackhawks last season.
The Nashville Predators have re-signed RFA Eeli Tolvanen to a 3 year deal worth $1.45 million per season.
Tolvanen, 22, was once considered one of the top prospects in the league. He finally turned that into some NHL production last season, putting up 11 goals and 11 assists in 40 games.
Tolvanen will have two RFA seasons remaining after this contract.
Elliotte Friedman reports on the most recent episode of 31 Thoughts: The Podcast that he believes the Hurricanes and Jesperi Kotkaniemi have had discussions of what a framework of a long-term deal might look like, and have done so prior to signing yesterday’s one-year offer sheet.
Presumably the long-term deal would fall below the AAV of the one-year offer sheet, which would allow the Hurricanes to avoid giving Kotkaniemi a $6.1 million qualifying offer, or taking him to team-elected arbitration in lieu of a qualifying offer, where the floor of the arbitration award would be 85% of his $6.1 million AAV.
Friedman also said that the Hurricanes had been in the market for a center and had talked with Montreal about trading for Kotkaniemi. He says the Canadiens weren’t close on a contract with the young center, suggesting they were offering a 2-year deal in the range of $2.5 million per season.
Further, he suggests that Montreal is seriously considering letting Kotkaniemi go to Carolina and receiving Carolina’s 2022 1st and 3rd round picks in compensation. He says they are shopping the value of those picks around the league to see what they could bring back in a trade. He could envision them offering the picks to Arizona for center Christian Dvorak.
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet.
The offer sheet is terrible news for the Canadiens. If they choose not to match, they will receive first and third round picks in 2022. For that reason, Montreal is likely to match, which will put Kotkaniemi’s 2022 salary at a figure much higher than they were hoping, and they will need to give the young center a $6.1 million qualifying offer to retain his rights after the season is over.
Kotkaniemi, 21, has 22 goals and 40 assists in 171 games in his career.