NHL Rumors: Detroit Red Wings and the Winnipeg Jets
Can the Winnipeg Jets afford to re-sign Paul Stastny when they have pending RFAs in Connor Hellebuyck, Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey among others?
On the Detroit Red Wings …

Craig Custance of The Athletic: The Red Wings are stuck with a bunch of bad contracts that they’ll eventually be burned off, but for now there won’t be a lot of turnover. There will be some trade options.

The Untouchables – Henrik Zetterberg and Dylan Larkin.

The Almost Untouchable – Anthony Mantha, Niklas Kronwall, Tyler Bertuzzi and Justin Abdelkader.

Staying Put … I think – Darren Helm, Jonathan Ericsson, Frans Nielsen, Evgeny Svechnikov, Joe Hicketts, Trevor Daley and Jimmy Howard.

Potentially On The Move – Gustav Nyquist, Luke Glendening, Danny DeKeyser, Andreas Athanasiou, Luke Witkowski, Nick Jensen, Martin Frk and Mike Green.

Likely The End – Xavier Ouellet and Jared Coreau.

So Long – David Booth.

On the Winnipeg Jets …

Matt Larkin of The Hockey News: Trade deadline acquisition Paul Stastny has fit in very nicely in Winnipeg, but it may take a small miracle for them to bring him back.

The Jets have pending RFA defensemen Jacob Trouba and Josh Morrissey that need to be re-signed.

Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is also a pending RFA. They Jets also have goaltender Steve Mason under contract at $4.1 million.

When GM Kevin Cheveldayoff acquired Stastny, he precieved it as a “rental.”

Would Stastny want to return to the Jets? If Stastny wants to stay in Winnipeg, can they even afford it?

Stastny would be the No. 2 free agent center that is set hit the open market on July 1st. He could easily make $5 million plus on his next deal.

The Jets could have about $25.6 million in cap space to work with this offseason. Hellebuyck will be at, at least $5 million. Trouba could get $5 million plus as well. Trouba and Morrissey could easily make $8 million combined. Other RFAs that could total $6 million – Brandon Tanev, Joel Armia, and Adam Lowry.

That leaves around $5-$6 million for other RFAs Joe Morrow, Marko Dano and Tucker Poolman.

To bring back Stastney, the Jets may have to trade someone like Bryan Little, which won’t happen. Mathieu Perreault has a modified no-trade clause (can block a trade to five teams) and carries a $4.13 million cap hit.