What is the cap league impact of Chris Wideman's new contract?

This past week has been a busy one as far as locking up some inexpensive options for a few NHL teams.  For one year leagues, these signings don’t mean much as they all don’t kick in until next season, but for those in keepers, these may be noteworthy in regards to filling a cheap roster spot for you cap league.

Taylor Chorney – Washington Capitals – Defense

This week, the Capitals rewarded Chorney for his hard work and re-signed him to a two-year contract extension worth a total of $1.6 million dollars; an annual cap hit of $800,000. The contract is a one-way deal.

The 28-year-old has tallied five assists and 17 penalty minutes in 45 games this season.  He has also set career highs in games played, assists, points and plus/minus (plus-11). 

The former second round pick of the Edmonton Oilers back in 2005 has taken a while to get the wheels going on his NHL career but is finally finding a home with Washington. It took an injury to Brooks Orpik to get his chance but once he got his foot in the door, he took off from there.

Chorney will never be much for fantasy relevance but if you need a cheap roster player, he can offer some hits and blocks (isn’t that all we really expect from our cheap defensemen anyway) and fill a roster spot without tying up a large sum of cap hit.

Colton Sissons – Nashville Predators – Center

The former second round pick in the 2012 draft is coming off his entry-level contract and will be sticking around Music City for three more years at an annual cap hit of $625,000. The first year of his new deal is a two-way contract but in years two and three, he’s on a one-way deal. 

A future third or fourth liner for the Preds, he hasn’t shown much for offensive skills in his 19 NHL games but does have some offensive abilities, scoring 25 goals in both of his previous AHL seasons. He is also a solid leader and is the captain of their AHL franchise in Milwaukee. In his 36 career NHL games, he has scored two goals and chipped in four assists.  He is a solid faceoff winner, boasting a career FO% of 0.537.

As it stands right now, the Predators three oldest players on their roster are all centers (Mike Ribeiro, Mike Fisher and Paul Gaustad) so it only stands to reason that the Predators are expecting Sissons to be a future cornerstone down the middle for them.  Gaustad is in the final year of his current contract and Ribeiro and Fisher are slated to become free agents in 2017/18 – the same season Sissons guaranteed NHL salary kicks in.

Paul Byron – Montreal Canadiens – Left/Right Wing

At the start of the 2015-16 season, the Calgary Flames tried sneaking Paul Byron through waiver and were unsuccessful. The Canadiens snatched him up and he’s been a pleasant surprise for the Habs all season long. So much so that they just re-signed him to a new three-year deal worth $3.5 million. With an annual cap hit of $1.167 million, the one-way deal is a way to reward him for bringing some stability to the team’s bottom six.

So far this season, Byron has eight goals and three assists in 40 games; three of those goals came while the Habs were short-handed.

At only 26 years of age, he still has plenty left in the tank and has easily earned this contract with his hard play this season. Again, he won’t bring much of fantasy relevance unless you are looking for the odd short-handed points but is a cheap option to fill a spot on your roster should you need it.

Chris Wideman – Ottawa Senators – Defense

The former fourth round pick from the 2009 draft finally got his break this season due to the various injuries on the backend for the Ottawa Senators and has played well enough to land himself a new two-year, one-way contract from the Senators worth $1.6 million total ($800,000 cap hit).

Wideman is a former Eddie Shore Award winner (given to the top defenseman in the AHL) and has tons of offensive potential but only plays a bottom pairing role for the time being with the Sens so his NHL numbers are far from flattering. So far this year he’s managed five goals and four assists in 44 games. That’s a far cry from the 19 goals and 42 assists (61 points) he put up last year in Binghamton. 

The 26-year-old has a bright future in the Nation’s Capital if the opportunity will allow it. As it stands, that time isn’t now but with Patrick Wiercioch coming due for a new contract, this deal may make trading Wiercioch a little easier for Sens GM Bryan Murray. 

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As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read.  Feel free to follow me on Twitter @chrispudsey where you will get lots of nuggets from all over the hockey world.