This week’s Capped touches on a few different offseason topics.

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There has been a lot of news recently, and biggest of all congrats to the Tampa Bay Lightning on winning the Stanley Cup. This was no easy achievement, and the players deserve a lot of credit. Credit also goes to the league for pulling off the entire tournament without any large-scale issues.

With the offseason seeming to be strangely compressed in a 'hurry-up-and-wait' situation, news will likely be flying fast and furious over the next few weeks with the draft and free agency both coming in the next 10 days. You can find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean where I will be churning out my thoughts on any relevant signings over the next few weeks.

In the meantime, let's get caught up with a few notes from the last week.

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I had a discussion with a reader about the aforementioned salary cap rankings, and how the 2020 rookie class plays into the rankings. Depending on your league they may seem a little high – and that might well be true in your case. If you're in a smaller league than what is targeted by the rankings or if you can't wait a year or two until a player can be plugged into the lineup, then the value isn't there for you to target getting these guys on your team right away.

The production value the rookies will provide will be excellent, however, it will be delayed for a few years until they can make their respective full-season debuts. This year Alex Lafreniere and possibly Marco Rossi look to be ready to make the NHL, and provide some immediate production. Over the next three years, they will continue to grow and produce some reasonable NHL stats on their cheap entry level deals. After that, the ones producing at a solid clip will usually sign contracts that they continue to provide value on, meanwhile the ones who haven't quite broken through end up signing bridge deals. The bridge contracts turn out to either be a bust without costing too much, or a bit success providing much more value than the money.

As a result, we often get at least four years of worthwhile production out of these rookies before there is even a question of them being too expensive. That value along with a player's youth and potential often make them excellent trade pieces, and some teams that aren't able to contend yet will often pay currently production for the promise of future production. The rankings that I put out try to balance the value of those that that whichever way you are dealing, you can try to extract some value out of the players you will be receiving.

Did that make things any more or less clear? Are there any other points about the rankings that readers would like me to follow up on? Let me know in the comments!

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Recent buyouts:

Bobby Ryan (RW)

Previous Cap Hit: $7,250,000

New Projected Cap Hit: $1,099,754

The former Anaheim Duck and Ottawa Senator has seen some mighty highs and lows over his career, especially in the last year. Now he has a chance to start fresh, albeit in a cap strapped market. This will likely mean that Ryan will be stuck taking a bit of a 'show-me' deal in order to build back up his value. As a result, he may end up providing excellent value in cap leagues this year, especially since he will want to choose a situation that will fit him, likely meaning he adds a fair amount of powerplay time. This would be on top of the higher shot and scoring rates he was showing upon his return last season.  

Henrik Lundqvist (G)

Previous Cap Hit: $8,500,000

New Projected Cap Hit: $835,971

The lifetime New York Ranger is going to have to join a new team if he wants to continue his playing career. If he does so, the it would likely be a top tier team in need of an experienced backup. With Hank already having made his money, and currently earning the money from his bought-out contract he won't need to haggle for a larger contract this year. I mentioned a few weeks ago in one of my articles that I thought Tampa Bay was going to move on from Curtis McElhinney in order to shed a small bit of cap. Hank could come in to a cap strapped team like that and take close to the league minimum for a chance to chase his cup. Tampa Bay, Washington, Philadelphia, and St. Louis seem to be the best possible fits.

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Recent signings

Jeff Petry (D) – Montreal Canadiens

Current Cap Hit: $5,500,000

Projected Extension Cost: $6,190,150

Extension Cap Hit: $6,250,000

Petry has been one of the best defencemen to own in multi-category leagues over recent years, and has proved his worth is all cap leagues. His extension cost is right on the nose of what should be expected, so he can continue to provide excellent production at fair value over the next number of years.

Robert Hagg (D) – Philadelphia Flyers

Projected Cap Hit: $1,059,794

New Cap Hit: $1,600,000

At best the fourth left-handed blue-liner on the Flyers roster (until Shayne Gostisbehere gets traded that is), Robert Hagg managed to bruise his way into a two-year extension for 150% of what my projections had him earning. He's a third pair defenceman, and as such it is surprising to see that he wasn't squeezed a little more with the flat cap and the depth of the Philly blueline. In fantasy, Hagg is excellent for hits, but not much else.  

Sam Gagner (C/RW) – Detroit Red Wings

Projected Cap Hit: $1,129,999

New Cap Hit: $850,000

I'll admit that this projection does look a bit high, but really nothing between $700k to $1.2 million would have surprised me for Gagner. As a 31-year-old veteran slotting into the Detroit lineup, he could be a powerplay specialist that ends up scoring 20 powerplay points in a full season if everything falls right. He posted 18 PPPs with Columbus a few years ago in a similar role, and it isn't as though there are too many other offensive threats in Detroit to keep him off of the top unit. Add in 20 or so regulation points, and he just might be worth a speculative add in your fantasy leagues. Low-risk signing for Steve Yzerman.

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All statistics are all pulled from FrozenTools, and all contract info from Capfriendly.

Stay safe!

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Previous Capped Articles:

Top-200 free agent salary projections – skaters

Projecting salaries for free agent goalies