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In normal times, the NHL regular season would just now be facing off. Instead the NHL just wrapped up the 2020 Draft on Wednesday and Free Agency officially began yesterday at noon. The Penguins, usually active on day one in normal times, made a few signings while the rest of the Metro had some surprising plot twists.
Check out who went where yesterday in the Metropolitan here:
Pittsburgh Penguins
In:
- C, Mark Jankowski (1 year, $700k)
- C, Evan Rodrigues (1 year, $700k)
- LW, Jonathan Gruden - Trade w/ OTT (three-year entry level contract)
- RW, Josh Currie (1 year, $700k two-way deal, $350k minor league salary)
Out:
- G, Matt Murray - Trade w/ OTT (4 years, $25 million; $6.25 million cap hit)
- LHD, Jack Johnson - NYR (Buyout; 1 year, $1 million)
- RHD, Justin Schultz - WSH (2 years, $8 million; $4 million cap hit)
- RW, Riley Barber - DET (2 years, $1.45 million; $750k cap hit)
- RW Conor Sheary - (free agent)
- LW Patrick Marleau - (free agent)
Cap room:
- $2.568 million (14 F, 7 D, 2 G)
- RFA: Anthony Angello, Pontus Aberg
Washington Capitals
In:
- RHD, Justin Schultz (2 years, $8 million; $4 million cap hit)
- G, Henrik Lundqvist (1 year, $1.5 milion)
- LHD, Brenden Dillon (Re-signed, 4 years, $15.6 million; $3.9 million cap hit)
Out:
- G, Braden Holtby - VAN (2 years, $8.6 million; $4.3 million cap hit)
- RHD, Radko Gudas - FLA (3 years, $7.5 million; $2.5 million cap hit)
- RW, Ilya Kovalchuk - (free agent)
Cap room:
- $575k* (11 F, 6 D,* 2 G) — plus Michal Kempny $2.5 million hit is an LTIR candidate after suffering a 6-8 month Achilles injury
- RFA: Jonas Siegenthaler
Philadelphia Flyers
In:
- RHD, Justin Braun (Re-signed, 2 years, $3.6 million; $1.8 million cap hit)
- LHD, Derrick Pouliot (1 year, $700k)
Out:
- RHD, Matt Niskanen - Retired (1 year, $5.75 million)
- RW, Tyler Pitlick - ARZ (2 years, $3.5 million; $1.75 million cap hit)
- C, Derek Grant - ANA (3 years, $4.5 million; $1.5 million cap hit)
- C, Nate Thompson (free agent)
Cap room:
- $8.685 million (11 F, 5 D, 2 G)
- RFA: Nolan Patrick, Philippe Myers, Mikhail Vorobyov
Carolina Hurricanes
In:
- None
Out:
- G, Anton Forsberg - EDM (1 year, $700k)
- RW, Justin Williams (retired)
- RHD, Sami Vatanen (free agent)
- RHD, Trevor van Riemsdyk (free agent)
Cap room:
- $7.782 million (10 F, 5 D, 2 G)
- RFA: Warren Foegele, Haydn Fleury
New York Islanders
In:
- LHD, Sebastian Aho (Re-signed, 2 years, $1.45 million; $725k cap hit)
Out:
- LHD, Andy Greene (free agent)
- G, Thomas Greiss (free agent)
- C, Derrick Brassard (free agent)
- LW, Matt Martin (free agent)
- RW, Tom Kuhnhackl (free agent)
Cap room:
- $8.905 million (12 F, 6 D, 2 G)
- RFA: Mathew Barzal, Ryan Pulock, Devon Toews, Josh Ho-Sang
Columbus Blue Jackets
In:
- C, Max Domi - Trade w/ MTL (2 years, $10.6 million; $5.3 cap hit)
- RW, Cliff Pu - Trade w/ FLA (1 year, $750k)
- G, Matiss Kivlenieks (Re-signed, 2 years, $1.45 million; $725k cap hit)
Out:
- Ryan Murray - Trade to NJD ($4.6 million thru 2020-21)
- Markus Nutivaara - Trade to FLA ($2.7 million thru 2021-22)
- Alexander Wennberg - FLA (Buyout, 1 year, $2.25 million)
Cap room:
- $14.208 million (11 F, 6 D, 2 G)
- RFA: Pierre-Luc Dubois, Kevin Stenlund, Ryan MacInnis, Gabriel Carlsson, Vladislav Gabrikov
New York Rangers
In:
- LHD, Jack Johnson (1 year, $1.15 million)
- G, Keith Kinkaid (2 years, $1.75 million; $875k cap hit)
- LHD, Anthony Bitetto (2 years, $1.45 million; $737.5k cap hit)
- C, Colin Blackwell (2 years, $1.5 million; $750k cap hit)
- C, Kevin Rooney (2 years, $1.5 million; $750k cap hit)
Out:
- G, Henrik Lundqvist - WSH (Buyout, 1 year, $1.5 million)
- RW, Jesper Fast (free agent)
Cap room:
- $19.729 million (10 F, 6 D, 1 G)
- RFA: Ryan Strome, Brendan Lemieux, Anthony DeAngelo, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Alexandar Georgiev
New Jersey Devils
In:
- G, Corey Crawford (2 years, $7.8 million; $3.9 million cap hit)
- LHD, Ryan Murray (Trade w/ CBJ; $4.6 million cap hit in 2020-21)
Out:
- C, Kevin Rooney - NYR (2 year. $1.5 million; $750k cap hit)
- G, Cory Schneider (buyout, $2.0 million cap hit in 2020-21)
- C, John Hayden - ARI (1 year, $750k)
- LHD, Mirco Mueller (free agent)
- LHD, Fredrik Claesson (free agent)
Cap room:
- $25.645 million (8 F, 5 D, 0 G)
- RFA: Jesper Bratt, Mackenzie Blackwood
Key Unrestricted Free Agents remaining around the league:
- Alex Pietrangelo
- Taylor Hall
- Tyson Barrie
- Mike Hoffman
- Tyler Toffoli
- Evgenii Dadonov
- Craig Smith
- Erik Gustafsson
- Mikael Granlund
- Mikko Koivu
*All contracts via Cap Friendly as of midnight Friday night
—
Overall between a flat cap and covid-related uncertainty it was a fairly quiet day in the Metropolitan division. Half the teams (the Islanders, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets and Flyers) added no one of NHL notoriety from the unrestricted free agent pool on day one.
Washington signed Justin Schultz in the biggest dollar free agent signing of the day in the Metro, helped in part by the hole they had left by the injured Michal Kempny for next season.
In net, the Caps also bolstered their depth by inking legendary former Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers responded in kind by signing less-than-legendary Penguin defenseman Jack Johnson.
The Devils acted quick to give the money they saved by buying out goalie Corey Schneider by adding former Chicago Cup winner Corey Crawford. Jersey also added talented but often-injured defenseman Ryan Murray in a trade earlier this week from Columbus in an intra-division move. Columbus spent all of that cap space cleared by Murray when they signed the recently acquired Max Domi from Montreal as a trade add.
The division still has several notable restricted free agents to come to terms with, including Mat Barzal, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Nolan Patrick and Ryan Pulock.
Several other older players have faded out into the free agent market like Patrick Marleau and Ilya Kovalchuk while Justin Williams and Matt Niskanen formally announced their retirements.