Rakell_LaCombe

Here is the Feb. 5 edition of the weekly NHL.com mailbag, where we answer your questions asked on X and Bluesky. Send your questions to @drosennhl on X and @drosennhl.bsky.social on Bluesky, and tag it with #OvertheBoards.

Does Team Sweden adding Rickard Rakell to the 4 Nations roster increase the likelihood that Kyle Dubas tries to move him before the roster freeze? Also, any way my guy Bryan Rust gets a spot on Team USA? He very much deserves it. -- @baYsYckwrYteboY

There is no roster freeze during the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. Teams have to remain cap compliant, and players are subject to trades and waivers. That doesn't mean there will be, but there can be transactions.

It's an interesting and fair question about Rakell because we have seen enough trades to buy into the fact that the upcoming break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, which begins after the two games Sunday, is being viewed as the first trade deadline of the season. It's a soft deadline and nothing has to be done in advance, but Mikko Rantanen, J.T. Miller and Mikael Granlund have been traded in the past week-plus and all are going to the tournament.

That doesn't mean Rakell's addition to Team Sweden's roster should make the Pittsburgh Penguins feel pressure to act on a potential trade involving the forward before the tournament starts. If the Penguins are interested in moving Rakell, they have to make sure it's the right return and can't act swiftly out of fear he could get injured at 4 Nations. It would be different if Rakell was in the last season of his contract and being dangled in trade talks as a rental. The risk goes up, especially if the plan would be to trade him rather than try to re-sign him, but he has three seasons left on his contract with a $5 million average annual value.

The Penguins don't have to be in any hurry to test his market value, even though the prudent thing would be to do just that because his value might be at its highest right now based on the season he's having. He's leading Pittsburgh with 24 goals and is second behind Sidney Crosby with 46 points after he had 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) in 70 games last season. The Penguins don't want to punt entirely on this season with Crosby still playing at a high level, so they would have to be blown away by an offer involving Rakell and it doesn't make sense to use the 4 Nations break as a soft deadline for that. It's too soon.

As for Rust, it would obviously have to take a player having to pull out because of an injury or ailment for him to be added. He was likely on the short list of players who were the final cuts before the United States named its roster Dec. 4 and his familiarity with coach Mike Sullivan would likely give him an advantage if a replacement was necessary.

PIT@BUF: Rakell wires home a one-timer for a power-play goal

With Finland having suffered from injuries, where do you reckon they'll stand after the 4 Nations Face-Off? -- @BluesMechalo89

Losing Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen, month to month after having knee surgery Tuesday, is a crushing blow to Team Finland, whose depth already ranked fourth among the four nations competing. Finland has the smallest pool of NHL skaters at 4 Nations. There are 358 players from Canada who have played at least one game in the NHL this season, 258 born in the United States and 81 from Sweden. There are 41 Finns. They were already underdogs. It's just magnified now.

That said, never count out Finland in a best-on-best international tournament. They earned a silver medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics, and bronze in Nagano (1998), Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014). They took silver at the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, losing to Canada in the final. Finland turns its smaller NHL player pool into an advantage because the players all know each other well, many train together in the offseason, and it allows them to create chemistry quickly in these best-on-best tournaments. The same should happen at the 4 Nations Face-Off, especially with their familiarity in the NHL.

The forward group has three from the Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen. Rantanen and Artturi Lehkonen played together for a long time with the Colorado Avalanche. Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen did the same with the Carolina Hurricanes. Now Rantanen and Aho play together in Carolina. Roope Hintz and Mikael Granlund are now Stars teammates. There is familiarity and that should lead to chemistry.

The Finns could still finish fourth, but they won't get blown out. They will put up a good showing. They will be a tough opponent. They will challenge Canada, Sweden and the United States. Nothing about their status as a powerful team on the international stage will change in this tournament. They're too proud and too good to allow that to happen regardless of injuries.

With the announcement of salary cap numbers, do you anticipate salaries for elite players going to the $15-20 million per year range in the next few years? And, if so, which players could cash in? -- @MrEd315

Yes.

Salaries for top players were already creeping closer to $15 million before last week, when the NHL announced the salary cap numbers for the next three seasons are going to be $95.5 million in 2025-26, $104 million in 2026-27 and $113.5 million in 2027-28. Though the salary cap this season is $88 million, it's a good bet that we'll start seeing AAVs above $15 million soon.

Rantanen and Mitch Marner have a chance to be the first. They're both eligible to become unrestricted free agents July 1. Will they carry $15 million AAVs on their next contracts? There was likely no chance with minimal cap growth. Now there's at least a sliver of a chance. Connor McDavid can sign a new contract on or after July 1. His current contract carries him through next season. Expect him to set the market. Cale Makar has the rest of this season and two more on his current contract. He can sign a new deal July 1, 2027. Quinn Hughes is in the same situation. One, if not both, could set the market. Connor Bedard's entry-level contract expires after next season. His second deal should be massive. It won't set the market, but anything is possible in this new of a growing salary cap that is growing well north of $100 million.

Will Quinn Hughes re-sign with Vancouver, or will he be a Devil in 2027? -- @Beta360x

Well, you already know that it's way too early for anyone to know the answer to this question. The Canucks will show Hughes the love if they feel they are in the position to do that when his free agency storyline gets a larger spotlight. He's that important to the team, the franchise and the city. They want him to be a Canuck for life. For now, he's playing on his current contract that runs through the 2026-27 season. He's going to get a huge payday in the next deal. As mentioned above, Makar and Hughes will likely set the market together, possibly with historic contracts. They can hit free agency or sign their next deals in advance of the cap going up to a record $113.5 million.

The most relevant question looking far down the road to that point is where will the Canucks be? Will they be a contender, retooling, rebuilding? If they can maintain being a contender that will entice Hughes. If that's not where they are at that point, it's just as easy to see him want to leave, and with that likely be traded before he walks in free agency. The Canucks will not lose Hughes for nothing.

The question then goes to Hughes. Does he want to spend the rest of his career, or at least the prime years of it, in Vancouver, or does the appeal of playing with his brothers, Jack and Luke, for the New Jersey Devils drive him and his family? It would be a dream come true for the Hughes brothers and their family for them all to be together on the same NHL team in the prime of their careers.

The question then goes to the Devils. Can they afford Hughes, not just in terms on their salary cap structure but in actual dollars? You'd think they'd stop at nothing to make it work. The marketing alone of the Hughes brothers in New Jersey would be huge. And that's to say nothing about what they could accomplish together on the ice.

There is a lot to be ironed out here, but don't stop dreaming, Devils fans, because this one isn't totally farfetched.

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