In today’s NHL rumors rundown, will the New York Islanders have to do some salary cap gymnastics to re-sign Pierre Engvall and Hudson Fasching?
Meanwhile, Columbus Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen has confirmed that he is looking to find a replacement for Vladislav Gavrikov and would trade one of his first-round picks to get the player he needs for next season. Finally, are the Toronto Maple Leafs open to moving Matt Murray this summer?
Can the Islanders Sign Both Engvall and Fasching?
Kevin Kurz of The Athletic cited comments from both Pierre Engvall and Hudson Fasching when it comes to their respective futures with the Islanders. Fasching said he wants to be back with the team because they gave him his first opportunity in the NHL and Engvall said he’s not even begun to think about free agency yet.
Kurz then talked about whether signing both was possible and explained:
So, is there a path to get these two players signed? Well, the Islanders don’t look like a team that’s going to have a ton of roster flexibility this offseason. In order to re-sign both Engvall and Fasching, assuming that’s something they want to do, they might have to engage in a bit of salary cap gymnastics in order to get it done.
source – ‘Can Islanders afford to re-sign Pierre Engvall and Hudson Fasching?’ – Kevin Kurz – The Athletic – 04/05/2023
He figured the price tag for Engvall would be four years and $16 million. As for Fasching, he writes, “Let’s go ahead and give him a three-year, $3.6 million contract with an AAV of $1.2 million.” To find the room, the assumption was that Semyon Varlamov and Scott Mayfield would leave in free agency and Josh Bailey would be bought out by the club. Even still, it could be tricky to get extensions done and Kurz noted that the Islanders might be forced to deal one of the established veterans.
Blue Jackets Confirm They’re Looking to Replace Gavrikov Via Trade
The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun did talk to Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalianen about the potential of trading a first-round pick this summer to get immediate help and the response was, “Oh, 100 percent.”
Kekalainen added:
“That’s the mindset that we’re going to take. We lost a real good defenceman in that deal who is UFA and wanted to see what that market brings along. So we’re looking to replace him. We already have three or four defensive prospects that are probably a little bit away … and defense is such a tough position to crack at a young age. So we want to explore every opportunity to replace Gavrikov with that pick.”
source – ‘LeBrun: Jarmo Kekalainen on a ‘horrible’ Blue Jackets season and the one thing that’d make it all worth it’ – Pierre LeBrun – The Athletic – 04/06/2023
Could the Maple Leafs Trade Matt Murray?
In a recent mailbag segment, Sportsnet’s Luke Fox was asked if the Toronto Maple Leafs might look to trade Matt Murray and go with the tandem of Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll for next season. Fox believes that’s a possibility if Samsonov plays well in the postseason.
If Murray can’t be dealt to a team looking to reach the salary cap floor (the first move they’ll try), the Maple Leafs could buy out the final season of his contract. The Ottawa Senators are retaining part of his salary so a buyout would cost just $687,500 for 2023-24 and $2 million in 2024-25. The latter year isn’t ideal but the salary cap is expected to spike during that time.
The team continues to say they have no idea what to expect when it comes to Murray and his current injury situation.
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