The line everyone's going to chew on from the April 20 availability: Yzerman flat-out said the team 'won't be able to sign all our free agents,' and pointedly would not even guarantee re-signing ANY of them.
The pending UFA group he's talking about:
- Patrick Kane
- David Perron
- James van Riemsdyk
- Cam Talbot
- Shayne Gostisbehere
Read the room here. That's a lot of veteran offense and a starting-caliber backup walking potentially out the door, with a center need still unaddressed. Either he's setting up cap flexibility for a bigger swing, or he's bracing the fanbase for a quieter, younger summer. Per the tone in the room it read more like managing expectations than teasing fireworks. We'll see July 1.
every offseason. EVERY offseason I have to live through this with Kane. Four straight years a UFA, four straight years of mutual-interest reports and me not breathing until the ink dries. He put up 57 in 67 and was a point per game after the Olympic break. RE-SIGN HIM. please. July 1 is going to take a decade off my life again.
Let's be sober about it. Of that five, Kane and Perron are the ones with real on-ice value left, JVR and Ghost are depth-priced, Talbot's a backup whose numbers slipped (.883, 3.19 in 34). You're not keeping all five and you shouldn't want to. The smart play: re-up Kane on another short term if the AAV's right, let Talbot walk and find a cheaper 1B behind Gibson, decide on Perron by his ask. 'Can't sign everyone' is just honest cap reality, not a doomsday quote.
Right. And the unspoken part: the center need. If you're letting vets walk to free up money, that money has to go toward an actual 2C, not just be 'flexibility' that sits unused. We've heard 'cap space for a big swing' before. Show me the swing.
Even at his age Kane is the most skilled guy on the roster and it's not close. The thing he does on the power play when Larkin was hurt kept entire games alive. If they let him walk to save a couple million I'll be sick about it.
Cam gets a bad rap for the .883 but go look at the defensive structure in front of him in the back third. Half those goals were odd-man rushes he had no business facing. I get the business decision, UFA goalies age fast, but blaming the crease for the season is lazy. The D got worse, not the goalie.