The Hockey News Free Agency Preview 2018

SHORTLY AFTER THE BRUINS were eliminated from the playoffs, pending unrestricted free agent Rick Nash was asked about his priorities for choosing his next landing spot. Winning, he told NHL.com, was “obviously No. 1.” No. 2? “A good place to live that my family enjoys.” At no time, for public consumption, did he holler, “Show me the money!” Perhaps that’s just implicit. Cash is king, and everything else is aces up sleeves. A veteran agent we consulted conceded that financials are typically alpha, but it’s rarely that straightforward. Planning and negotiating UFA deals, for those players who have the luxury of being choosy, will touch on combinations of the following factors: MONEY: This is as much about term as the annual average. “Sometimes fans and media get hung up on AAV,” said…

Since I acquired The Hockey News on Jan. 27, I set out to deliver a better experience for our readers. To date, I have added more pages to expand coverage of the NHL, CWHL, NWHL, IIHF, grassroots hockey and everything in between. In addition, I invested in a brand new state-of-the art app, now available at Google Play and Apple iTunes, which is a must-have for hockey fans. It allows our audience to get digital issues of The Hockey News, anywhere in the world, in a format specifically designed for their phones. Now that you’ve seen the difference in our product, you might notice with this issue that you actually feel the difference. We’ve teamed up with St. Joseph’s Media to print The Hockey News in Vaughan, Ont. With this change comes new…

To the Boston Bruins for a 2019 first-round pick, 2020 second-round pick, Torey Krug, Danton Heinen and Peter Cehlarik. – @kestabrooks86 Michael McLeod, Steve Santini and a first-round pick this year and next. The Devils have enough offense now to trade McLeod, and Santini isn’t much, but the two first-rounders should make it work. – AJ Rubin Karlsson and a second-round pick to Philly for its two first-round picks this year, Travis Sanheim and Wayne Simmonds. As a fan I’d hate to see Sanheim go, but Karlsson is an all-world difference-maker. – @rgoalie36 T.J. Brodie, Sam Bennett, 2020 first-rounder and 2021 first- and second-round picks for Karlsson and Bobby Ryan. Ottawa eats 25 percent of Ryan’s salary. Karlsson re-signs with Calgary. – @ColoradoFlames Karlsson to Edmonton for Oscar Klefbom, Jesse Puljujarvi, Ethan Bear and…

KEVIN CHEVELDAYOFF vividly recalls the conversation. It was about six weeks before the 2016 trade deadline, a potentially franchise-changing time for the Winnipeg Jets, when he spoke with soon-to-be free agent Dustin Byfuglien. The franchise was at a crossroads. One season removed from its first playoff berth since arriving in Winnipeg, the Jets were outside a wild-card position, and there were rumors were swirling that ‘Big Buff’ could be wearing a different jersey following the NHL’s trade freeze. But with the deadline in the offing and Byfuglien inching towards big-money free agency, pen hit paper on a five-year, $38-million contract that kept the blueliner in Aviator Blue. Byfuglien made his reasoning clear to the GM, too. “He talked about, ‘I like what we have going here,’” Cheveldayoff said. “‘I know it…

BAUER | SUPREME 1S I had originally just used the stock Joe Sakic curve my whole life. In my second or third year, I asked Bauer to make me one of Ovie’s curves just to see what it was like. From his curve they made me mine. I kind of stepped on it and molded it to a curve I could handle a little easier, but it was never quite right. There was about five years when I was using Bauer and Warrior that I had 30 different patterns. Then I came here and at the end of my first year in Washington, Ovie was messing around with his curve and just showed it to me. And I asked him if I could just try it in warmups. I was kind…

BACK UP THE BRINKS TRUCK JOHN TAVARES Tavares’ six-year deal with a $5.5-million AAV was a steal from Day 1. At that cap hit, he ended 2017-18 as the NHL’s 108th-richest player – but was the NHL’s seventh-leading scorer over the course of the contract. As a UFA, Tavares should become the NHL’s second-richest player behind Connor McDavid. CAPITAL TO GAIN JOHN CARLSON Carlson’s a right-handed shot in his prime in a brutally barren year for UFA blueliners, so his services couldn’t come at more of a premium. Given that he logs monster minutes and led all D-men in scoring this season, he deserves at least $7 million annually, but the suped-up market will bring him more than that. NOUVEAU RICHE RILEY NASH Nash was a $900,000 player in 2017-18. He’ll be a multimillionaire by summer’s end. He’s…