The Stanley Cup may only have been handed out at the beginning of the week, but we’re already flying into the offseason with the draft kicking off on Friday night and free agency beginning July 1st.
There have already been plenty of notable moves – the New Jersey Devils and the Ottawa Senators hope to have found their goalies of the future by trading for Jacob Markstrom and Linus Ullmark respectively, while the Nashville Predators have reportedly taken goalie Juuse Saros off the market by inking him to an 8 year deal worth $62 million.
There isn’t much intrigue to kick off this year’s draft – as there’s a 99.9% chance that the San Jose Sharks will be selecting Macklin Celebrini with the top pick, adding the dynamic centre as a key piece to their rebuild. After Celebrini, however, the draft is wide open with plenty of intrigue.
Details
Round one will kick off on Friday, June 28th at 7pm ET, while rounds 2-7 will be on Saturday June 29th, beginning at 11am ET. The event will be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas, so you can rest assured there’ll be some extra pomp and circumstance surrounding this year’s festivities.
The intrigue starts at #2.
As stated, there’s little doubt who will be heading to San Jose with the number one pick. Celebrini became the youngest player to ever win the Hobey Baker award as the best player in college hockey and has been on the radar of scouts for multiple years. While he doesn’t have the “generational talent” label that gets thrown around all too often, he’s a fantastic all around player who’s game is comparable to that of Jonathan Toews.
After Celebrini, the Chicago Blackhawks will have a tough decision to make after selecting future superstar Connor Bedard first overall last season. How they want to rebuild this roster will be a major factor into that decision. They can give Bedard an impact winger by selecting Ivan Demidov, try and build the middle of their forward group by selecting center Cayden Lindstrom, or look at getting immediate defensive help by selecting Artyom Levshunov, who might be the most pro ready prospect in this year’s draft class.
Levshunov seems to be the consensus pick at number two, but Demidov is probably the most talented player behind Celebrini. Having him next to Bedard for the next 10 years or so might just be too tantalizing for the Chicago brass to pass on.
Will the Leafs Break Up Their Core?
A team who never stays out of the headlines in NHL circles has some legitimate roster decisions to make. And those decisions could be made as soon as this coming weekend.
After yet another year of regular season dominance and playoff disappointment, the Toronto Maple Leafs have moved on from head coach Sheldon Keefe and are looking to get this roster over the proverbial playoff hump. However, with so much money tied up with their top forwards, they can’t be big players in free agency unless they get active in the trade market.
The most rumoured candidate to get moved is Mitch Marner, especially when you consider that he’s set to enter the final year of his current contract. Marner’s $10.9M salary and the trade protections that were built into his last deal make him a difficult player to move. However, he’s an extremely valuable asset and there’ll be plenty of suitors for Marner that are willing to entertain preliminary trade talks this weekend.
Toronto also needs to improve their goaltending, but that ship might have already sailed after the latest transactions this week. John Gibson is probably the best available candidate now that the dust has settled, with Tristan Jarry and Frederik Andersen also rumoured to be available. However, these aren’t the franchise altering goaltenders that the Leafs should be in the market for.
What does the future hold for Edmonton?
While Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl led the Oilers to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, there have been persistent rumours regarding the superstars potential departure from Edmonton if the organization didn’t continue to make “win now” moves.
Ownership opted to not re-sign GM Ken Holland so change is already afoot. With Draisaitl entering the final year of his contract, and McDavid just two years away from entering free agency, there’s an immediate need for the organization to prove to their two superstar forwards that they can bring in enough talent to get them over the hump and bring Canada it’s first cup in 32 years.
Will Utah Become Immediate Spenders?
Enough has been said about the struggles of the Arizona Coyotes and their ownership group. After mercifully moving out of the desert, they’ll be a team to monitor under new owner Ryan Smith. Whether they want to take advantage of a rising cap and shake up an underperforming core remains to be seen.
The team still has plenty of holes on their roster and focussing on building through the draft will remain a priority. But with over $43 million in cap space available this season, no NHL blue liners under contract for next season and a need to draw in a new fanbase, Utah could be looking to swing for the fences this offseason.
-Devon Gallant
Twitter: @DevGallant
Photo: Brandon Zeman. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.