Spending frugally on July 1 has its perks.
The big spending to begin free agency leads to the secondary trade market when cap-strapped teams part with quality players for reasonable costs.
The St. Louis Blues performed a masterclass in this subtle art.
They first acquired center Radek Faksa and his $3.25-million cap hit from the Dallas Stars for future considerations, which gave Dallas more room to re-sign RFA Thomas Harley. Faksa’s won at least 54 percent of his faceoffs in each of the last four seasons.
St. Louis then acquired Mathieu Joseph and his $2.95-million cap hit from the Ottawa Senators to re-sign RFA center Shane Pinto. Joseph is a quality third-line right winger who kills penalties and recorded a career-high 35 points last season.
The Blues likely won’t be the only team to acquire useful pieces for cheap. The following four NHL players could be trade options if their teams want or need to clear cap space.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, C, New York Islanders
$5-million cap hit, two years remaining
The New York Islanders have gone home in the first round in the last two playoffs. Their goals-for and goals against also ranked in the bottom half of the NHL last season at 22nd and 18th place, respectively.
Even the most optimistic observers would attest the Islanders need another top-six winger to improve next year, although they’ve got just $1.075 million in cap space.
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-The likely future of Pageau@TheHockeyNews https://t.co/v5jJ4OXh07— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) July 8, 2024
Pageau is overpaid for a center whose career-high points in a season is 43. That said, the 31-year-old plays with an edge and has a career faceoff win percentage of 54 percent. GM Lou Lamoriello would surely have to attach some sort of asset or retain salary to offload Pageau, which could be enticing for a rebuilding team or a playoff group with cap space to spare. Pageau has a 16-team no-trade list.
Ross Colton, C, Colorado Avalanche
$4-million cap hit, three years remaining
There’s probably no part of Avalanche GM Chris McFarland that wants to move Ross Colton just one year after acquiring him, but he may have to for cap flexibility.
The Avalanche would be $1,337,500 over the salary cap if Gabriel Landeskog is healthy and the roster doesn’t change when Valeri Nichushkin is cleared by the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program during the season. Otherwise, they still only have about $3.9 million in space and could use one or two more additions to their fourth line.
Colton is a high-end, speedy third-liner who generates a high volume of scoring chances during 5-on-5 play and plays with some jam. As painful as it’d be, moving him is their best chance to leave room to upgrade the roster, net at least a mid-round pick and have flexibility when there’s clarity for Landeskog and Nichushkin’s situations.
Brayden McNabb, D, Vegas Golden Knights
$2.85-million cap hit, one year remaining
If the Vegas Golden Knights want to wheel and deal at the trade deadline like they usually do, they’ll need to free more cap space and acquire more trade ammo, too.
Trading Brayden McNabb would do just that.
The Knights have four other left-handed defensemen in Noah Hanifin, Shea Theodore and Nicolas Hague. Theodore’s had to play on the right side as a result, and he told the Athletic earlier this year it’s a harder game than just having a right-handed defenseman there.
With that, the Golden Knights could deal from a position of strength and recoup assets they can eventually flip for a top-six winger to replace the void left by the departures of Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault. Alexander Holtz and Victor Oloffson are low-risk, high-reward additions, but they aren’t top-six locks at the moment.
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McNabb, 33, is a tough-as-nails, stay-at-home defenseman who logs heavy minutes at even strength and on the penalty kill. He’s still an effective defenseman, but with Vegas only being cap-compliant if Robin Lehner starts the season on LTIR, they could consider McNabb as a trade chip this summer or closer to the NHL trade deadline.
If McNabb does hit the trade block, it wouldn’t be all that shocking to see him go for a pair of mid-round picks and a prospect.
Evan Rodrigues, F, Florida Panthers
$3-million cap hit, three years remaining
Fresh off scoring the most goals in the 2024 Stanley Cup final with four, Evan Rodrigues is a valuable depth forward. That said, the Panthers lost Brandon Montour.
The 30-year-old Rodrigues is a stellar middle-six piece who delivers in the playoffs, with 26 points in 40 career post-season games. But the Panthers need another top-four defenseman, and they’re currently $933,334 over the salary cap, according to PuckPedia.
Florida did sign Adam Boqvist and Nate Schmidt to try to help fill their gaps on defense, but as of right now, Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola make up Florida’s second pair. That likely won’t cut it if they want to win the Stanley Cup again.
Eetu Luostarainen and his $3-million cap hit could be another option, but he’s five years younger than Rodrigues, and it’s unlikely the latter’s value will ever be as high as it is now.
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News Summary:
- Four NHL Players Who Could Be Trade Options for Salary Cap Reasons
- Check all news and articles from the latest NHL updates.