Senators exploring trading DeBrinat, Caufield signs 8-year extension, and more: Around the League

We. Are. Back.

We’ve got some legitimate news, and of course, we’ve got some juicy rumours to go along with it.

On Monday, the Montreal Canadiens locked up winger Cole Caufield on a max-term deal worth worth $7.85 million per season.

The deal will kick in next season and will last until 2030-31. Caufield tallied 26 goals and 10 assists through 46 games played last season and missed nearly half of the 2022-23 campaign due to shoulder surgery in January. Caufield was on pace for nearly 50 goals at the time, and Montreal clearly believes that he’ll match that goal-scoring pace for a long time.

American players on Canadian teams heading to restricted free agency has been a hot-button topic of late, with Matthew Tkachuk informing the Calgary Flames that he didn’t want to sign long term. The key difference with Tkachuk and Caufield’s situations is that Caufield is coming off of his entry-level contract, whereas Tkachuk was coming off a bridge deal with Calgary.

Montreal locking up Caufield is another signing in a growing trend of teams locking up their young players as early as possible. The Buffalo Sabres signed Tage Thompson, Robert Thomas, and Jordan Kyrou to long term contracts before each player turned 25.

Caufield is one of the game’s best young scorers and has been one of Montreal’s best players since the hiring of Martin St. Louis as head coach.

The Ottawa Senators have begun exploring the trade market for Alex DeBrincat, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reported on Monday that DeBrincat recently indicated to the Senators that he “wished to wait until the completion of the Senators’ ownership saga before thinking of committing to a long-term extension.”

The Senators have been for sale for some time now, but still don’t have a new owner. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said recently that the Sens’ sale should be complete in the next few weeks, so perhaps that will give us some more clarity on this situation.

DeBrincat put up 27 goals and 39 assists with through 82 games last season, his first with the Senators. Ottawa sent a first, second, and third round pick Chicago’s way ahead of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. DeBrincat is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent and is coming off of a three-year deal with a cap hit of $6.4 million.

On Monday night, the Vegas Golden Knights took a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final.

Following their 5-2 thumping of the Panthers in game one, Vegas stormed to a 4-0 lead before the halfway mark of the game and never looked back as they blew out Florida once again with a 7-2 win in Game 2. Bobrovsky, who has been a rock in goal for Florida during these playoffs, was pulled after the Knights’ fourth goal.

The talk of the game was this hit from Matthew Tkachuk on Jack Eichel in the dying moments of the second:

Somehow Eichel returned to the game for the third, and just like that, this series has some life in it!

What are your predictions for the rest of the series? Does Vegas pull off the sweep? Let us know in the comments section below!