Interesting trade this morning.
Niskanen dealt to PHI for Radko Gudas.
And right about now you all go who? Is he a prospect?
He's a veteran stay at home defenseman (they learned their lesson after having 5 offensive D-men at one time for a bit there), in the last year of his contract. Making 3.35m. So we save almost $2.5m just straight up in this move this year AND the full 5.75m next year.
For anyone who saw him play this past year, that's a solid move before things get worse. Freed up money to secure young players and get some more balance on Defense. Now they've got 3 D-first guys (Kempny, Gudas and Jensen) and 3 Offense guys (Carlson, Orlov and Siegenthaller).
With guys like Hagelin hitting UFA (would be a solid resign at the right price), Connolly who probably priced himself out of our range like Beagle last year with a great year, and Burakovsky and Vrana both RFA, they need that $12.5m in cap space they have right now. Then you've got Nicky coming up on a new deal next year, Ovi and Holtby after that.
Interesting start to the new year, it's nice to see they aren't just going to ride things out and let them fall apart on their own. Nice to see a competently run franchise in our area.