It appears to be a major buyer’s market right now, which could mean a severe haircut in terms of what remaining UFAs will be paid.
After the usual feeding frenzy of July 1, where teams went after and signed up their biggest UFA targets, there were only five Big 12-quality free agents still available on July 2, Joe Thornton, James Neal, Calvin De Haan and, arguably, Robin Lehner and Patrick Maroon . They’re still waiting in limbo, just like Maroon was last year. In the end, Maroon had to settle for a one year deal at $1,750,000 million, even though he was coming off a year that saw him score 17 goals and 43 points in 74 games.Complicating matters this year is that the salary cap got only as high as $81.5 million per team, not the expected $83 million per team and it’s not expected to rise much next year.
Kenny Holland is not dumb enough to sign the NHL's worst defenceman, Jake Gardiner, is he? No other team has touched him as a free agent. He stinks.
please take Gardiner. Enjoy his mental lapses. Good times.