Dater’s Daily: Teams Running Out Of Cap Space, Flyers Getting Ripped By Local Media

Good Friday to all. Another sunny, scorching day on tap here in metro Denver. With my red hair, I’m a bit of a vampire when it comes to being in the sun. I don’t like it much, not without layers of sunblock on at least. I’d rather be too cold than too hot too. Any hotel room I’m in, that thermostat is usually set at 62 and running. Let’s do some brief NHL notes:

• By my count, 19 of the NHL’s 32 teams have less than $10 million of cap space remaining. Most of the teams that are considered “good” right now are on that list. So, the market is getting tighter for the many middle-class free agents still out there (PuckPedia)
• A lot of “name” players are still out there, including guys such as John Klingberg, Phil Kessel, Paul Stastny…Nazem Kadri, lol. It’ll all sort itself out, but some guys who might desperately want to play on a “winner” next year might not get that chance.
• My colleague at Philly Hockey Now, Sam Carchidi, carved the performance so far in free agency of Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher, calling it a “failure” and going so far as to suggest the Flyers might try to “tank” the coming season (Philly Hockey Now)
• More on the “top 10” UFAs still available (Hockey News)
• J.T. Compher is getting his day with the Stanley Cup today, in Northbrook, Ill.
• Darcy Kuemper gets his day with the Cup Aug. 5 in Saskatoon.
• Kevin Allen on why the Red Wings are much better than they were a few days ago (Detroit Hockey Now)
• The Penguins are trying to move a couple of defensemen (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)
• Has anyone checked out the “Pluto” TV app? I’ve been going down a few rabbit holes on it lately, as they have a lot of classic TV channels playing a lof the stuff I watched as a kid who only got about seven or eight channels until cable became more of a thing around 1980 or so.
• I can’t get enough “Cannon” and “Barnaby Jones” re-runs man.
• Kiefer Sherwood signed a one-year, $750,000 one-way contract with Nashville. Good for him. The former Av and Colorado Eagle had a great season for the Eagles and got justly rewarded. Don’t be shocked if he has a double-figure year in goals for the Preds.
• The Avalanche organization also lost D-man Jordan Gross to the Preds.
• Thanks for keeping my “Blood Feud” book still in the top five nationally in sales (Amazon)
• Enjoy your weekend, and stay cool.