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Free Agency Preview 2019
With this summer set to see the greatest free-agent class of all-time, we have everything you need to know in our Free Agency Preview: reports on all 31 teams; top 20 UFA Power Rankings; top 10 bargain UFAs; a history of offer sheets; features on Karlsson, Panarin and Bobrovsky; and much, much more. Also in the issue: our 2019 mock draft, we say goodbye to Red Kelly, and we count down the final 10 helmetless NHLers.
Meet A Mascot
DON’T LET THE BRIGHTLY colored, fuzzy giant fool you into thinking that this monstrosity is Gritty. The Montreal Canadiens’ mascot, Youppi!, is the original orange beast. As the Habs’ official mascot since September 2005, Youppi! is also the first mascot to switch from one major pro sports league to another. This furball was the highlight at Olympic Stadium from 1979 to 2004 for the MLB’s Montreal Expos. Should he be acting like he does as a 40-year-old? To each his own. Like Gritty, however, Youppi! is no stranger to hair-raising moments. On Aug. 23, 1989, he became the first mascot ejected from an MLB game after wreaking havoc on top of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dugout. Youppi!’s tenure as a mascot with the Habs has featured countless trips to the Montreal…
Florida Panthers
GM Dale Tallon said recently that team ownership has given him the green light to spend to the salary cap next season and vowed the Panthers, “are going to be aggressive” in the off-season. Most of that spending, and improvement, is expected to come from outside the organization because the Panthers have most of their core players under contract. On defense, where the Panthers need the most help, they have pending RFAs in MacKenzie Weegar and Ian McCoshen, both of whom are eligible for arbitration. RILEY SHEAHAN and Jamie McGinn, who combined for just 13 goals, are UFAs, the former of which was dealt to Florida in the trade that saw Nick Bjugstad moved. It’s not expected UFA Troy Brouwer will be back.…
Third Time Sweetest
ANNIE PANKOWSKI HAS belted out The Star-Spangled Banner while standing arm-in-arm with her USA teammates at the World Championship before. Twice before, in fact, she’s stood atop the podium at the tournament, capturing gold at the 2015 and 2016 competitions. So, to see her doing it again at the 2019 tournament was nothing altogether new. What was different about Pankowski’s gold-medal celebration this time around, however, was that she was the one who made it possible. In a sense, the 2019 World Championship was a coming-out party for 24-year-old Pankowski, who had the best big-stage performance of her career with four goals and seven points in seven games, the most important of which came in the final. Pankowski scored the Americans’ lone regulation tally in the gold-medal game, a pinpoint-accurate wrister…
15. Tyler Myers
AGE: 29 POS: D2018-19 CAP HIT: $5.5M Myers was on a star trajectory when he captured the Calder Trophy in 2009-10. He never got there but settled in as a useful middle-pair guy. Only Zdeno Chara can match or exceed Myers’ wingspan at 6-foot-8, and Myers is plenty mobile for his size, although he doesn’t muscle opponents as much as he could. Only 40 percent of NHL defensemen shoot right-handed, and Myers is the second-best UFA righty available. The term and cap number on his next deal thus might look like “overpays.” It won’t be his fault. High demand and low supply will force his suitors to outbid each other. Even if Myers isn’t a $5.5-million player, he could earn that AAV again. BEST FITS: TB, EDM, TOR…
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