Dan’s Daily Links: Best Free Agents Left, NHL Unconscionable Argument

There are still free agents left to sign. The Pittsburgh Penguins are up against the salary cap wall, again. The NHL is making a truly unconscionable argument in the Steve Montador family’s lawsuit against the NHL. And the Carolina Hurricanes, in the great tradition of the NHL, offered a passive-aggressive jab at the team which tried to sign one of their RFAs. That’s just the way it is done.

First, happy Fourth of July to everyone! Just 243 years ago, which is short by human history standards, a bunch of farmers and ordinary people took down the greatest army in the world for the simple right to exist. The American identity began to appear in the 1740s as people wanted to be free to pursue their own course and taste freedom they had never known and few parts of the world had experienced since the falls of the Roman and Greek empires. They marched without shoes through the snow, the risked all they had, to create their own destiny without an oppressive force directing existence, taxing their daily life, or imposing laws in which the colonists had no say. Then they wrote the greatest governing document in human history. Yes, call me an American fanboy.

Now, hockey.

The Top 10 UFAs remaining (Sportsnet)

The NHL is defending itself in a lawsuit filed by the family of deceased Steve Montador over the NHL’s culpability in head trauma. The league is making an extraordinary and nearly unconscionable argument–Montador brought it on himself. (TSN)

The Pittsburgh Penguins have $2.3 million of cap space left. Someone has to go if the Penguins hope to sign all three RFAs. What could the Penguins acquire? (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

Larry Brooks of the New York Post is usually writing about trades. However, this time he wrote about the trade which shouldn’t happen. Kris Kreider’s name has been in the rumor mill. Brooks says the Rangers need him now more than ever (NY Post)

The Carolina Hurricanes face washed the Montreal Canadiens after Habs GM Marc Bergevin tried to pluck RFA Sebastian Aho with a five-year contract. Carolina had some parting words for Montreal (Montreal Gazette)

Actually, Bergevin did Carolina a favor. Montreal went cheap on the offer. Had it been for another 500,000 or even a million per season, then things would have been interesting. An $8.5 million cap hit despite $21 million due in the next 12 months was not a great deterrent. Nor was the RFA compensation of a first, second and third-round pick enough to make Carolina pause.