Associated Press – Page 2

By Stephen Whyno and And AP freelance reporter Denis Gorman contributed

Max Pacioretty was in a unique, if not uncomfortable spot going into NHL free agency coming off tearing his right Achilles tendon twice in the past year.

Turns out it was just the right time to hit the market.

The post-pandemic hockey landscape meant another year with just a $1 million increase to the salary cap, but everyone in the league knows it’s set for a big leap next summer. That made short contracts — many with performance bonuses like Pacioretty’s with the Washington Capitals — a popular route for players and teams willing to take moderate risks and kick money down the road.

“We had limited cap space, and we were trying to add certain elements to the team,” Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said Sunday. “That opportunity within the CBA to have a lower cap hit and carry over if those bonuses are achieved was appealing to us because we got him at a $2 million cap hit instead of a higher cap hit, which we might not have been able to afford.”

They weren’t alone. Of the 166 NHL unrestricted free agent contracts signed Saturday, 68 were one- or two-year deals. The Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Edmonton Oilers were also among the teams to hand out contracts with bonus incentives.

New York signed veteran winger Blake Wheeler, fresh off his buyout in Winnipeg, to an $800,000 contract with $300,000 more in bonuses and two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Jonathan Quick, fresh off backing up for Vegas on its title run, to an $825,000 contract with $100,000 more in bonuses.

That was certainly a plan going into the offseason for Rangers GM Chris Drury, who knew he’d be losing wingers Patrick Kane and Vladimir Tarasenko in free agency because of his team’s cap picture.

“You create your lists and get guys in order and start doing your homework,” Drury said Saturday. “I think everyone in this business — agents and players alike — are aware of the limited cap space we do have and did have.”

That’s a big club that includes everyone from the 2020 and ‘21 champion Tampa Bay Lightning to the Boston Bruins, coming off setting NHL records for wins and points in a regular season and losing in the first round of the playoffs.

“The flat cap is difficult for all 32 GMs,” Lightning GM Julien BriseBois said. “It’s not tougher for me than it is for them.”

Brisebois was sad to see big winger Alex Killorn leave for a lucrative deal in Anaheim and Ian Cole sign in Vancouver, but he added versatile winger Conor Sheary for three years, defensive center Luke Glendening for two and depth forward Josh Archibald and defenseman Calvin de Haan for next season.

The Lightning also traded three-time Cup winner Patrick Maroon and fellow forward Max Cajkovic to Minnesota for a 2024 seventh-round pick. Tampa Bay retained 20% of Maroon’s $1 million salary, which clears enough space to sign a player at the league minimum of $775,000 — perhaps with bonuses.

The Bruins similarly said goodbye to winger Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway and defenseman Dmitry Orlov: their three trade deadline acquisitions who helped them break the records. Boston, among several bargain contracts, brought back 2011 Cup winner Milan Lucic — on a bonus-heavy deal paying him $1 million with $500,000 in incentives.

Bertuzzi joined the one-year-contract trend, signing for $5.5 million with Toronto for next season.

With seasoned GM Ken Holland heading into likely his final season on the job and aiming to win right now, Edmonton was even more creative in signing winger Connor Brown, who’s coming off tearing the ACL in his right knee. Brown’s one-year contract is for $775,000 with $3.225 million in potential bonuses.

That’s how contenders need to operate in navigating a flat cap world. So many short-term deals could set up an interesting season of motivated players in contract years and potentially set up a bigger free agent frenzy next summer.

“We’re in a very fluid situation, especially with a flat cap essentially for three years, and all of a sudden getting some money back hopefully next year and continuing forward,” Cole said. “I think we’re kind of in some uncharted territories and I think it’s going to be an interesting landscape moving forward.”

Source: Associated Press

EDMONTON, ALBERTA – JUNE 06: Gabriel Landeskog #92 of the Colorado Avalanche shakes hands with Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly before the presentation of the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after defeating the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in overtime in Game Four of the Western Conference Final of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on June 06, 2022 in Edmonton, Alberta. (Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty Images)

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Artturi Lehkonen scored 1:19 into overtime, and Colorado rallied to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 Monday night, completing a four-game sweep in the Western Conference final and sending the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2001.

Colorado will take on the winner of the Eastern Conference final between the New York Rangers and two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The Rangers lead that best-of-seven series 2-1. Game 4 is Tuesday at Tampa Bay.

Cale Makar, Devon Toews Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Colorado. Pavel Francouz stopped 30 of 35 shots.

“Our main thing is just trying to be resilient, making sure that every single night we bring that same game,” Makar said. “Sometimes it might not be pretty, but at the end of the day we’re just going to try to get the job done.”

Zach Hyman scored twice for the Oilers. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor McDavid and Zack Kassian also scored for Edmonton. Leon Draisaitl had four assists and goalie Mike Smith finished with 36 saves.

The teams combined for six goals in the third period — four by Colorado, which rallied from a 4-2 deficit despite being outshot 15-13.

“It was a great comeback win, for sure,” Lehkonen said. “We were talking in the second intermission that we just got to find our game and we can pull through this.”

Rantanen appeared to complete Colorado’s comeback, scoring a power-play goal with just over five minutes remaining to give the Avalanche a 5-4 edge.

But the Oilers stormed back and forced overtime when Kassian scored at 16:38 and tied it at 5-all. Lehkonen scored 1:19 into overtime, a goal that stood up after review for a high stick.

“Cale took the shot,” said Lehkkonen, who scored the goal to send a team to the final for a second consecutive year after doing so in 2021 with Montreal “I got a tip on it. It landed straight on my blade. I basically had an empty netter in front of me, so tap it in.”

The Avalanche improved to 11-2 in the playoffs, including a perfect 7-0 on the road. Only six other teams in NHL history have strung together at least seven consecutive road victories in a post-season.

Colorado opened the scoring at 3:46 on a power play when Lehkonen stole the puck from Hyman and fed Makar before firing a shot through traffic and in off Smith’s left post for his fifth goal of the playoffs.

Trailing 1-0 after the first period, the Oilers got going at 7:39 of the second when Hyman took a pass from Draisaitl off the rush and beat Francouz with a backhand past the glove for his 10th goal of the playoffs.

Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton its first lead at 16:57 when Toews and MacKinnon got their signals crossed. The Oilers center jumped on the turnover and beat Francouz on another backhand move — this time to the blocker side — with his sixth as Draisaitl, playing with an injured leg, was getting treatment after hobbling to the bench.

Colorado rookie Alex Newhook was whistled for delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass late in the period, and Edmonton made the visitors pay when McDavid scored his 10th goal of the postseason, and 31st point, beating Francouz off another Draisaitl feed for a 3-1 lead with 1:06 left in the period.

McDavid and Draisaitl are the eighth pair of teammates in NHL history to each record 30 points in a playoff.

Colorado got one back 31 seconds into the third when Toews’ shot hit Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci in front as he was battling with MacKinnon. It was Toews’ fifth.

Hyman scored his second of the night and 11th overall on a 4-on-2 rush, sending a knuckling shot off a Draisaitl set-up past Francouz at 3:55 for a 4-2 lead.

Landeskog got Colorado back within one at 8:58 on a mad scramble in front after Smith turned the puck over.

Edmonton got a power play with under nine minutes to go looking to go back up by two, but Draisaitl’s shot off the side of Francouz’s goal was as close as the Oilers would get.

MacKinnon tied it with his 11th on a high shot Smith with 6:30 left in regulation, setting the stage for Rantanen’s go-ahead goal, his fifth of the playoffs.

But Kassian scored his second, firing home a puck in the crease after Draisaitl’s initial shot with 3:22 left.

Colorado got past the Oilers in four straight despite losing No. 1 goalie Darcy Kuemper and winger Andre Burakovsky to injury in Game 1, before Kadri went down Saturday. Kuemper returned to serve as the Francouz’s backup Monday.

NOTES: The Colorado Avalanche were without the injured Nazem Kadri. Kadri was hurt on an illegal hit by Edmonton’s Evander Kane in Game 3. Kadri didn’t return after Kane sent him crashing left arm-first into the boards 1:06 in, a hit that was reviewed and called a major penalty. Kane was suspended for Game 4 by the NHL. The Avalanche have not revealed what Kadri’s injury is or announced how long he’d be out. … The Oilers were also minus second-line winger Kailer Yamamoto for a third straight contest after he took a hit from Gabriel Landeskog in Game 2. … The Oilers were looking to become just the fifth team in league history to win a series after falling behind 3-0.