The Los Angeles Knights have about $7 million in cap space to sign their top free agents, but it’s unlikely the team will be able to match the offer sheet the Buffalo Sabres made on defenseman Shea Theodore.
The Kings were looking for $6.25 million per season from Theodore, who turns 33 on July 10.
That’s not cheap, but the Knights are going to be paying the money, so they’ll be able get a solid return on that investment.
There are two teams that are likely to land Theodore in free agency: the Buffalo Bills and the Minnesota Wild.
The Sabres have a deal that gives them $6 million per year for two more years, but they could also go after Theodore for less money and still be able sign him.
If the Sabres were to match Buffalo’s offer sheet, they would have $8 million in space.
The Wild are going after Theodore because they want to add another defenseman and they have a cap hit of $6M next season.
If they’re able to re-sign him, they could match Buffalo for $7.25m per season.
The Knights would have to offer up $6,500 per day in cap room, and they’re unlikely to be able match that offer sheet because of the cap.
If the Sabres and Wild were to sign Theodore for that $7m, they’d have $10.25M in cap flexibility and be able use that to sign a player like Nikita Zadorov or Jordan Eberle.
But the Sabres would still need to offer Theodore a six-year, $44.75 million contract.
The Flyers have about a $3.8 million cap space that they could use to sign one of their top three unrestricted free agents.
That would include defenseman Adam Larsson, who is coming off his first full season with the Flyers.
The only question is whether the Flyers would be able and willing to match that price.
The Flyers have two teams in that group that are looking to sign Larsson: the Nashville Predators and the St. Louis Blues.
The Predators have a similar offer sheet as the Flyers, but unlike the Sabres, the Predators will likely be able do the signing.
If both sides can agree to the price, they’ll have a $7-8 million dollar cap hit.
The Blues have a few players who they could sign to that price, but no one who would be on the same terms as Larsson.
The only players that would make sense for the Blues would be center Colton Parayko and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
If both sides were able to agree to that deal, the Blues will have about an $8-9 million dollar salary cap hit and would have about six unrestricted free agent forwards on the roster.
