Co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke were joined by NHL.com columnist Nicholas J. Cotsonika on Tuesday. They looked ahead at the questions facing the Avalanche in the offseason, including how they're going to handle the nine pending unrestricted free agents who played in the Stanley Cup Final.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper, defensemen Josh Manson and Jack Johnson, and forwards Nazem Kadri, Valeri Nichushkin, Andre Burakovsky, Andrew Cogliano, Nico Sturm and Darren Helm can all become UFAs on July 13.
Center Nathan MacKinnon is entering the last year of his contract, which carries a $6.3 million salary cap charge. MacKinnon's next contract and how it impacts the Avalanche this offseason was also a big part of the discussion.
In addition, they talked about the Tampa Bay Lightning and if they're still in a championship window or if losing in the Cup Final means they're going to dip after winning back-to-back Stanley Cup championships?
The conversation turned to the offseason for other teams, including the future of the Pittsburgh Penguins with center Evgeni Malkin and defenseman Kris Letang each heading toward unrestricted free agency, and what to make of the fact that pending UFA forwards Filip Forsberg (Nashville Predators) and Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames) are not signed despite their respective teams saying they want them back.
The podcast also focused on the Detroit Red Wings and who they could hire as their next coach, with Rosen and Cotsonika thinking general manager Steve Yzerman was waiting for the Stanley Cup Final to end to interview Lightning assistants Derek Lalonde and Jeff Halpern.
Yzerman hired Lalonde and Halpern when he was still Tampa Bay's GM.
The episode ends with Rosen, Roarke and Cotsonika discussing the Hockey Hall of Fame's Class of 2022, which was announced Monday and is made up of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Roberto Luongo, Daniel Alfredsson, Riikka Salinen and the late Herb Carnegie.
The NHL @TheRink podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
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