Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – The Top Headlines Coming Out of the Holiday Freeze episode on players who are pending free agents and are eligible for new contracts after January 1st.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Friedman: “Just before we wrap up, you know, it’s, it’s gonna be January 1st, next Monday, and we’re gonna be in Seattle. And on the first, you know that there are, there are some free agents who can sign. Players who signed one-year deals, you know, they can, they can sign and I think there’s gonna be some interesting ones coming out of this.
I’m, I’m really curious to see, like Jeremy Swayman is one. That’s one that I’ve kind of wondered about.
NHL Rumors: Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Toronto Maple Leafs
You know, Shane Pinto, I assume, he’s not even signed yet, but he’s back in Ottawa. I assume he’s going to sign his QO this year and then they’ll kind of figure that one out.
But I am, I am really curious about some of these one-year guys, and where they’re going to end up and if they’re going to be extended. You know, I had said before, I thought that, you know, Tyler Bertuzzi was a guy that Toronto has talked about a long-term deal with. I don’t expect anything like that right now. To me, one of the guys I’m, I’m really watching is Swayman.
There’s a few others. The two in Dallas, you know, Joe Pavelski. He does one-year deals now. And you know, Dallas really likes him. Matt Duchene, I think Matt Duchene, Jeff is gonna be a really fascinating player. It’s been a perfect fit for him. And I’ve heard there’s nothing imminent there but I would expect at some point in time Duchene and the Stars to talk about, okay, do we extend this fit and what does that look like? I think that’s a that’s a pretty interesting one.
Sean Monahan is one that you brought up. And again, I’ve you know, last year, it worked out perfectly the way it was and although, and Monahan too he got hurt, so, it complicated matters at the end, obviously. I’ve heard teams have been scouting Monahan again. So at some point in time, both player and team are going to have a decision there. You know, obviously, that’s worked out really well for him. But again, I’ve heard teams have been scouting.
NHL Rumors: The Colorado Avalanche don’t have the salary cap room to make a deal just yet
You know, those are a few of the players starting, you know, January 1st that teams can re-sign. I’ll tell you this again, one of the other things I’ve heard around some of these contracts extensions for UFA’s. In some cases, like the ones we talked about with (Elias) Pettersson and (William) Nylander, I don’t think it’s going to matter, but I’ve heard in a couple of cases there’s been some, some real battle about term. Like teams are saying we want to keep guys but we don’t want to do it with term. So it’s going to be interesting.
