Will Martin Necas price himself out of Colorado? Will Patrik Laine opt out for Montreal?
Michael Amato of Sportsnet: Martin Necas scored a career-high 83 points last season and could break the 90-point mark this season playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon. With the salary cap continuing to rise and recent comparability, Necas’s season salary will be over $10 million. He may be within striking distance of Mikko Rantanen’s $12 million. Will Necas price himself out of Colorado like Rantanen did?
Necas likely won’t make more than MacKinnon’s $12.6 million, but an extension with Cale Makar will be more. Makar is eligible for an extension this offseason and could be in range for Kirill Kaprizov. A purchase price of $10-11 million for Necas could make things tense.
Will the AV play with Necas this year and potentially lose him for nothing, or will they move him at the deadline like they did with Rantanen?
Patrik Laine appears to have fallen out of favor with head coach Martin St. Louis, dating back to the end of last season. Ryan is in the final season of his contract, worth $8.7 million, and has been playing on the fourth line. If the 27-year-old doesn’t turn things around, he could be looking for a change next season.
Unanswered questions and family hinder Evgeny Kuznetsov’s NHL return this season
Sammy Silber of The Hockey News: 33-year-old Evgeny Kuznetsov said that he did receive offers from the NHL, but in the end he decided to sign with Metallurg of the KHL. He told MatchTV he wants to play in the KHL for at least another year because questions about his game have yet to be answered.
There were rumors that the Pittsburgh Penguins were one of the teams interested, but Kuznetsov said that wasn’t true.
“I had no choice with Pittsburgh — they said no immediately.”
Kuznetsov told Sport Express that he also wanted to stay close to his family.
“I don’t know why no one believed I had an offer from the NHL. I just didn’t want to go back there myself. Like I said, there were too many questions about my game from people who, in my opinion, didn’t understand hockey. I didn’t want to prove anything to them but to please (my) relatives and friends with a good season. So I didn’t want to go too far – I wanted to be with my parents, my kids, my wife, maybe even my grandma could come and watch the game.”
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