Best of the Rest, Plus Re-Signings

Happy Canada Day! If you live in Canada, hopefully you enjoyed our country’s 150^th birthday celebration! I know I’m biased, but those of us who are Canadian should feel fortunate that we live in this great land.

There’s a lot that happened today beyond the familiar names finding new homes, many of which we covered in our many Fantasy Take articles today. I won’t provide anything further on these signings, simply because we have enough to cover from other events that happened on a busy July 1.

Some signings didn’t receive their own Fantasy Take article, mainly because either the player is not that fantasy relevant or because the player is simply re-signing with his own team. I figured that this is a good place to mention these signings. Although the fantasy implications might be minimal, it’s worth having a run-through anyway. Of course, these aren’t all the signings, but ones that either have a significant cap impact or could have a minor fantasy impact this season.

New teams

Curtis McElhinney – 2 years, $850,000 cap hit, Toronto

McElhinney has averaged just 20 games over each of the last two seasons. With workhorse Frederik Andersen expected to shoulder most of the load, don’t expect to see a whole lot of him aside from back-to-backs.

Ondrej Pavelec – 1 year, $1.3 million cap hit, NY Rangers

Pavelec is a downgrade from the departed Antti Raanta as the backup to Henrik Lundqvist. As such, don’t expect him to push King Henrik for the starting job. Expect Lundqvist to earn at least 30 wins for the 12^th consecutive full season in spite of declining ratios.  

Karl Alzner – 5 years, $4.625 million cap hit, Montreal

This signing was one of the biggest of the day, even though Alzner is basically a non-factor in pure scoring fantasy leagues. The Canadiens had already lost Nathan Beaulieu and Alexei Emelin on the blueline, which made the Alzner signing an important one. He finished 12^th in the NHL in blocked shots (162), which could help Carey Price.

Brian Boyle – 2 years, $2.55 million cap hit, New Jersey

Boyle provides help in the veteran leadership department as well as with faceoffs. But in spite of the Devils’ lack of scoring depth, Boyle should fill a role on the bottom six, making his fantasy value virtually nil.

Matt Hunwick – 3 years, $2.25 million cap hit, Pittsburgh

Ron Hainsey – 2 years, $3 million cap hit, Toronto

The Leafs and Penguins essentially swapped bottom-pair defensive defensemen here without actually making a trade. So there’s not really much else to say fantasy-wise.

Dmitri Kulikov – 3 years, $4.33 million cap hit, Winnipeg

The Jets needed a left-shot defenseman and were willing to pay a hefty price for one. Although Kulikov showed some fantasy upside earlier in his career, he was held to just five points and a dreadful minus-26 in 47 games last season with Buffalo. In other words, fantasy owners should hope Joshua Morrissey and not Kulikov is in the top 4.

Chad Johnson – 1 year, $2.5 million cap hit, Buffalo

Johnson was at times the better goalie in the Calgary tandem with Brian Elliott last season. He probably won’t wrestle that title away from Robin Lehner in Buffalo, but he could receive more than a handful of starts should Lehner suffer yet another injury.

Jonathan Bernier – 1 year, $2.75 million cap hit, Colorado

Bernier might be the biggest fantasy loser of the day. Signing to be a backup on the league’s worst team will do that. Avalanche management is committed to Semyon Varlamov as the starter, but it’s only a matter of time before injuries and poor play force Bernier off the bench. Calvin Pickard is a solid goalie with a bright future, but you didn’t want him anywhere near your fantasy team last season.

Antti Niemi – 1 year, $700,000 cap hit, Pittsburgh

We now know Niemi isn’t going to get it done as a starter anymore. But what about as a backup? Matt Murray has two Stanley Cups on his resume, but he still hasn’t proven that he can perform for long stretches without getting injured. If you grab Niemi after Murray’s next injury, just be aware that the wins that you are chasing could surely come at the expense of your ratios. Empty calories indeed. 

Alexander Burmistrov – 1 year, $900,000 cap hit, Vancouver

Burmistrov is an underrated potential power-play option for the Canucks. After moving to Arizona from Winnipeg last season, Burmistrov scored four power-play goals in 26 games. During his time in Arizona, he was also on a half-point-per-game pace (14 points in 26 games). There’s some deep sleeper potential if he can advance beyond Vancouver’s fourth line.

Jean-Francois Berube – 2 years, $750,000 cap hit, Chicago

In case you thought you saw Berube’s name in the news recently, he was actually drafted by the Golden Knights from the Islanders. Berube’s signing results in a true goaltending battle for the backup position behind Corey Crawford, as the Hawks also acquired Anton Forsberg in their blockbuster trade earlier this offeseason.

Seth Griffith – 1 year, $650,000 cap hit, Buffalo

Griffith can score at over a point per game in the AHL, but he’s been a non-factor during his time in the NHL with three teams (16 points in 58 games). Still, he’s only 24, so he’s worth keeping an eye on if the Sabres suffer a rash of injuries.

Alexei Emelin – traded to Nashville from Vegas

The Predators have their new fifth defenseman, so he’ll be in tough to receive the kind of icetime that he did in Montreal (21 minutes per game). For fantasy purposes, he’s a one-category wonder in the hits category. He may also provide decent plus-minus if the Predators continue with their success from the postseason.

Re-signings

Martin Jones – 6 years, $5.75 million cap hit

Marc-Edouard Vlasic – 8 years, $7 million cap hit

Joe Thornton – 1 year, $6 – 6.5 million (reported)

The Sharks went on a spending spree, signing three important players. We knew that Jones and Vlasic would be re-signed, although the Vlasic amount seems higher than expected. Yet Vlasic is one of those players whose real-life game is better than his fantasy game. Ability-wise, he’s at a top-pairing level. But he’s at best a third defenseman in 12-team fantasy leagues.

The Thornton signing is the most interesting one. Thought to maybe be leaving San Jose earlier in the day, he has reportedly agreed to return, although the contract hasn’t been finalized. Assuming he follows through, the likelihood of Patrick Marleau also returning to the Sharks also increases.

Thornton had perhaps the league’s largest point drop for a non-injured player, plummeting from an unexpected 82-point season in 2015-16 all the way down to just 50 points (and only seven goals) last season. But what other center options did the Sharks have in free agency? It still makes sense to bring Big Joe back, even with declining point totals and what should be a slightly reduced role going forward. It’s clear that the contract is for past returns as opposed to future returns.

Cam Fowler – 8 years, $6.5 million cap hit

In just one season, Fowler has gone from the trade block to the Ducks’ cornerstone defenseman. With nearly 25 minutes of icetime per game last season, it’s obvious that Randy Carlyle prefers Fowler over Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen. As such, he’s Anaheim’s best fantasy option on the blueline heading into the season. Fowler receives a raise from the $4 million of his current contract, which still has one more year left. So cap league owners will have time to prepare for the increased cap hit.

Justin Schultz – 3 years, $5.5 million cap hit

Schultz appeared to be damaged goods after his Edmonton experience. But he’s the perfect example of how a player’s fantasy value can improve big time with a move to another team. His production was aided by the absence of Kris Letang, but he was still producing even with Letang in the lineup. The only downside is that salary cap leaguers will now have to budget for a $5.5 million cap hit instead of the $1.4 million “prove it” contract he signed with the Penguins last summer now that he has proven it.

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