We're in the fun part of the offseason now where every day there seems to be a little bit of news, and the big events are looking in the foreground. The schedule is a little off this year, and additionally condensed with an expansion draft added to the schedule. Speaking of, yesterday was the deadline for teams to request that players waiver their no-movement clauses for the purposes of the expansion draft. Erik Johnson reportedly has, and that frees up a lot more flexibility for the Avalanche and their protection list. I have seen Ryan Graves exposed in a lot of places, but I think they keep him and risk losing a forward instead. Going the eight-skater route would see the protection list as: Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Nazem Kadri, and either Andre Burakovsky or Gabriel Landeskog at forward (Landeskog being a UFA, so he doesn't necessarily need to be protected – and is reportedly not close to a contract with the Avalanche); on defence we have Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Samuel Girard, and Graves; UFA Philip Grubauer is the only goalie worth protecting for the Avalanche.

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While we're on the topic of the expansion draft, I wanted to share a link to a giant undertaking over at The Hockey Writers, where a writer from each team acted as the GM, and an entire expansion draft process was completed. I acted as the Nashville GM for the exercise (trading Mattias Ekholm for Barrett Hayton and picks before Viktor Arvidsson was rudely traded out from under me) and the results from the entire session can be found here:

THW's Ultimate Mock Expansion Draft is now live. Check out our projected 2021-22 Seattle Kraken:

👥 Input from 30 writers/GMs
↔️ Pre-draft positioning trades
📞 Side deals with the Kraken#THW #SeaKraken https://t.co/UhYAhliYlR

— Tony Wolak (@TonyWolak) July 12, 2021

Let me know in the comments or on Twitter if you have anything to add to what was done, decisions you liked/disliked, or if you just want to debate the merits of certain strategies. I'm up to my eyeballs in Seattle Kraken thoughts and theories as we approach the draft, and I love it.

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Oh, and in case you didn't think that news was interesting enough, the bombshell dropped around lunchtime yesterday that Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were being bought out of their identical mega-deals. There is a whole lot to dissect here between the Wild cap situation, the fantasy values of Parise & Suter, the expansion draft ramifications, and I'm sure I'm going to miss another angle of it.

Salary Cap

The breakdown of the cap hits is as follows:

The buyouts of Parise and Suter will cost the #MNWild combined:

2022: $4.744M
2023: $12.744M
2024: $14.744M
2025: $14.744M
2026: $1.667M
2027: $1.667M
2028: $1.667M
2029: $1.667M

— Brandon Holmes (@BHolmes_Hockey) July 13, 2021

This means that from 2023-25, the Wild will be operating with close to 80% of the cap space that the rest of the league has to play with. That would be a death sentence to their competitive abilities as a team through those years, unless all of their young talent is able to join together and get them through it on their ELCs. Their farm system currently holds: Marco Rossi, Adam Beckman, Matt Boldy, Calen Addison, Ryan O'Rourke, and more. Unfortunately, most of their ELC years will be used up by 2023, meaning that it will have to be the next wave of prospects, and this group will need their first RFA deals, on top of players on the current roster needing to be paid, including Kirill Kaprizov. It's going to be a mess, but I for one am really curious how this will all play out.

Expansion Draft

In the meantime, the move frees up enough protection slots that the Wild can protect both Jordan Greenway and Matt Dumba, and are now set to either lose Cam Talbot or Carson Soucy to Seattle. Neither one would be a fatal blow (because you can't kill a team that's already dead from 2023-2025), but both are solid players and would be of interest to Seattle. Soucy makes more sense though, as there are other team that offer less in the skater department where the Kraken can go shopping for their goalies.

Fantasy Values

In cap leagues, the values for Parise and Suter do a complete 180, but in most leagues they are still just depth options. Suter has been a respectable contributor the last number of years, and is worth rostering in most leagues. Parise will be found on the waiver wire list in most leagues, and can probably stay there. If you have space and can add players over the summer though, he may be worth rostering in case he joins a team like Toronto, Edmonton, or Tampa Bay.

This does open up quite a few minutes on the back end, and Calen Addison should be the main benefactor there. Even in one-year leagues he's now someone to keep an eye on, because he should be the favourite to be running the top powerplay unit next season.

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The 2021 DobberHockey Prospects Report dropped on Friday, and after two read-throughs I can certainly say it's worth the time and the money. So much effort, time, and thought goes into this document, it's really something I wouldn't be able to get by in my dynasty leagues without. There's still time for you to pick it up while it's relevant, just hop on over to the Dobber Shop, the rest of the Ramblings will still be here when you get back. 

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On Monday, the Edmonton Oilers paid up to acquire an aging Duncan Keith, and though that horse has been beaten enough already in just two days, a nugget of news from it seems to have been missed by most. Word is that Oscar Klefbom isn't likely to return this season, as he is still rehabbing from his extensive shoulder surgery. I can't find it now, but I read somewhere that Klefbom still can't raise his arm above his shoulder, and from that stage it's still many months away. Maybe he is ready to return for a late-season push, or just in time for the playoffs, but I wouldn't be betting money on it.

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In the category of "bittersweet", longtime Predators goalie Pekka Rinne retired after 15 seasons. He finishes as the Predators' all-time leader in most significant goalie stats, and capped it off with a 30 save shutout in his final game. He has also won the Vezina in 2018, and the King Clancy in 2021. Hats off to an amazing career Peks!

He is retiring to spend more time with his son, and leaving the Predators' crease in the capable hands of his favourite teammate, Juuse Saros. Rinne also leaves us with this memory:

Thanks for all the memories, Pekka Rinne.

On Jan. 9, 2020, the @PredsNHL icon became the 12th different goaltender in NHL history to score a goal and first since Mike Smith (Oct. 19, 2013). #NHLStats pic.twitter.com/k0NKOgzKu4

📢 advertisement:

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) July 13, 2021

It's worth noting that the only realistic internal option to be backing up Juuse Saros next year is Connor Ingram. It's possible he gets a long look in camp, as he has put up solid numbers in his spurts at the AHL level. The Predators could also look to the goalie market, where options such as James Reimer, Brian Elliott, and others will be available to play a reliable backup role.

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The Canadiens officially announced that Dominique Ducharme will be their head coach next season after signing him to a three-year contract. Not too much changes for Montreal in the fantasy landscape, though whether Phillip Danault re-signs or leaves will have a big impact on the roster for next season. If he does not return, look for Jake Evans to take over the third-line centre role (behind Nick Suzuki and Jesperi Kotkaniemi) and it is a role he can thrive in. Likely not the most offensively inclined role or player, but he'll provide excellent on-ice value for the Canadiens.  

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The New York Islanders are reportedly shopping Nick Leddy. This is a cap-related move, as Leddy has one year left on his contract with a $5.5 million cap hit, while the Islanders are already up against the cap even before needing to re-sign a few key players. On defence, Adam Pelech is the only one of the main group needing a new contract, while incumbents Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, and Noah Dobson look to round out the top-four with Leddy likely on the way out. This could add some ice time, and therefore fantasy value, to the latter two, as well as opening up a spot for rookie Sebastian Aho to finally make his mark.

Yes, that is a different Aho than the one on Carolina. No, he's not as good as his name counterpart. Yes, you should at least look into the other Aho if your league is deep enough.

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A few injury updates trickled out from the Lightning yesterday:

–Nikita Kucherov – non-displaced rib fracture

–Victor Hedman – torn Meniscus

–Barclay Goodrow & Ryan McDonagh – broken hand

*Blake Comeau was also seen wearing a sling.

All are expected to be out for the regular season and will be healthy enough for the 2022 playoffs, saving the Lightning approximately $33 Million in cap space…

Can you imagine? The actual timelines for the known injuries listed above are all expected to be four weeks or less, so this shouldn't impact their off-season training even, and everyone should be healthy in time for training camps (and fantasy drafts).

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Speaking of Tampa Bay Lightning injuries, it looks like we have another upper-body injury:

The ⁦@StanleyCup⁩ did sustain some damage during today's festivities. It'll be sent to Montreal for repairs and be back to resume Cup celebration with ⁦@TBLightning⁩ next weekend pic.twitter.com/MEbZGZFxSD

— Joe Smith (@JoeSmithTB) July 12, 2021

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Feel free to either drop a comment, or find me on Twitter @alexdmaclean if you have any fantasy hockey questions.

In the meantime, stay safe!