Hello everyone!  I will be filling in this week for the Capped article.  I would like to think that I am the proverbial backup goalie, but more than likely should be considered the emergency backup (aka Zamboni driver).  Some background on me: I am an avid Chicago Blackhawks fan. I also assist with Goalie Post.  The likes of Ian Gooding and Alex MacLean know me, although they might not admit to it.  Living in South Carolina, I got to see Braden Holtby pass through town as well as Colorado coach Jared Bednar play and coach here as well.  And now that the introduction is out of the way, on to the article!

Congratulations to the Tampa Bay Lightning for winning the Stanley cup.  That is back-to-back championships, which is a very difficult thing to do in the salary cap era.

Thus, the NHL offseason now begins. Starting with the Tampa Bay Lightning in this regard, they yet again have some tough offseason decisions to make regarding the cap.  As in the previous few years, they are up against the proverbial "cap wall".  The good news is their core players are locked up for the time being.  Where they will have issues is with their depth.  Last season they were able to circumvent their cap issues by placing Nikita Kucherov on LTIR, and then activating him for the playoffs.  Barring any sort of repeat scenario with a player, they will not have this luxury for the upcoming season.  Depth forwards such as Barclay Goodrow and Blake Coleman are UFAs.  They got them on budget deals in the past.  But, now that those two can add the Stanley Cup to their resume and bucket list, they might try to cash in on their success with contracts that the Lightning cannot afford. 

RFA's such as Ross Colton and Alex Barre-Boulet will likely try to be re-signed on team-friendly contracts to attempt to replace them.  Defenseman David Savard is also a UFA.  It is doubtful they will be able to afford his services next year either.  This could open up a full time slot for RFA Cal Foote, who will more than likely tried to be signed to a team-friendly deal as well.  The Seattle expansion draft could also be an avenue for Tampa Bay to free up some cap space as well.  Thus, there could be some opportunity for the aforementioned RFAs to have bigger roles next season.  In a capped league, this could produce secondary scoring and peripherals at a budget rate on a high-octane championship caliber team.

There was a trade that had some cap relevance the past week as well.  The Edmonton Oilers acquired defenseman Duncan Keith from the Chicago Blackhawks.  From a cap perspective, the key here is that Chicago did not retain any of the $5.5 million AAV for the next two seasons.  This almost assures that Tyson Barrie will not return next season to Edmonton either and become a UFA due to cap implications with the Keith trade. 

This trade also frees up a lot of cap room for Chicago, as well as a top 4 defensive pairing position, which the Blackhawks could choose to fill this via free agency or trade.  Some free agent candidates could include Dougie Hamilton or the aforementioned Barrie.  Or, they could attempt to trade for Seth Jones.  This could also open up a bigger role for someone like Nicolas Beaudin, who was impressive in a small sample size last season.  Beaudin could be a sneaky low-budget option in cap leagues. Albeit it a small sample size, he provided some peripherals and secondary scoring.  While PP1 time is doubtful for Beaudin, if he could sneak onto PP2, it could give him some more value.  An offseason UFA signing or Adam Boqvist will likely get first shot at PP1 time, but if they falter, Beaudin did run PP1 for a few games and did not look out of place.

Sticking with Edmonton, they re-signed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a $5.125 million, 8-year contract.  This is an excellent signing for Edmonton in real life as well as for cap leagues.  Anyone who owns RNH in a cap league should be breathing a sigh of relief and grinning from ear to ear.  Continued exposure to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl through their prime years at around $5 million AAV is a steal in cap leagues in my opinion.

Some signings of relevance in Boston and Pittsburgh as well: 

Teddy Blueger signed a $2.2 million, 2-year AAV contract with Pittsburgh.  This pretty much prices him out of relevance in all but the deepest of cap leagues.  At best, he is a 3C, but more than likely the everyday 4C. A lot here will depend on the expansion draft and what happens to Jared McCann. 

Boston signed Brandon Carlo to a $4.1 million, 6-year AAV contract.  This a great real-life signing for Boston (especially with Kevan Miller's retirement), but not so much for fantasy-capped purposes for a defensive-minded defenseman.  That contract is a steep price to pay for peripherals and minimal scoring in a cap league.