Five other upcoming UFAs who could follow Fleury by inking big-money extension

The Golden Knights didn't even want to entertain the possibility of Marc-Andre Fleury hitting the open market, signing the netminder to a three-year, $21-million extension nearly a year before he was set to become a free agent. Other teams could soon follow Vegas' lead with their UFAs-to-be, too.

The Vegas Golden Knights went all-in on Marc-Andre Fleury ahead of the weekend, signing the veteran netminder to a three-year, $21-million extension that comes on the heels of the veteran keeper guiding the expansion club to the Stanley Cup final in their inaugural campaign.

That Fleury was re-signed by the Golden Knights comes as absolutely no surprise, of course. Acquired by way of the expansion draft, Fleury became the face of the franchise, the cornerstone upon which the team was built, and his presence gave Vegas instant star-power. That he turned in the best campaign of his career, positing a brilliant .927 save percentage, 2.24 goals-against average and four shutouts in 46 games, certainly didn’t hurt matters, either.

The contract does come with its questions, however. Fleury is set to turn 34 early in the coming season and will be 35 shortly after his new pact kicks in. And at $7 million annually, there will be a lot of money sunk into and a significant amount of cap space dedicated to a near-golden-years goaltender. Given Fleury boasts a .913 career SP, that he could regress back to career norms is a reason for some consternation among Golden Knights faithful. Fleury’s injury history is another concern altogether. True as all that may be, though, Fleury could go ahead and make all his naysayers look foolish if he continues to thrive in the late years of his career under coach Gerard Gallant and goaltending coach Dave Prior.

But regardless of his play from here on out, Fleury’s new deal ensures he’s locked in for four more years and that he won’t be eligible to hit the open market come July 1, 2019. For the Golden Knights, that’s some early housekeeping that removes one free agent concern for next summer. And other teams could follow Vegas’ lead in handing their pending unrestricted free agents new pacts before the summer is up in order to get any similar contract concerns out of the way early.

Here are five others who, like Fleury, could be in line for a big-money extension before the start of the season:

TYLER SEGUIN, DALLAS STARS
When the free agent frenzy surrounding Steven Stamkos died down upon his re-signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning, all eyes turned to John Tavares, who became arguably the most notable big-name free agent to sign with a new team when he inked his monster seven-year, $77-million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But with Tavares’ contract done and some setting their sights on the next crop of free agents, Seguin, 26, jumps to the head of the line as the most coveted player who could be primed to reach the open market.

Seguin has the credentials to warrant a contract similar to the one Tavares signed with the Maple Leafs, too. Both are pivots, and Seguin’s 99 goals and 223 points in 236 games put him one marker ahead and three points in front of Tavares in one fewer game over the past three campaigns.

Unlike Tavares, however, it seems unlikely that Seguin hits free agency. Dallas is set to have upwards of $45 million in cap space next summer and there’s been no sense of even the slightest bit of unhappiness for Seguin in Dallas. Sure, the team has fallen short of the post-season in consecutive campaigns, but the team has the talent, the opportunity and the cap space to entice Seguin to stay long term.

BLAKE WHEELER, WINNIPEG JETS
If Seguin is the top 2019 free agent, Wheeler isn’t far behind. Statistically, few players have been as consistent as the Jets captain over the past few seasons. Since the start of the 2015-16 campaign, Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane are the only players with more points than Wheeler, who has scored 75 goals and 243 points over that span. He also ranks eighth in points per game among players with at least one full season under their belt.

It’s hard to fathom Wheeler, 31, even sniffs the open market, however. Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has had a tendency to get these types of deals done sooner rather than later. Mathieu Perreault and Bryan Little were both inked several months before they were set to become UFAs, and even Dustin Byfuglien had his deal done with months to spare before he could test free agency. Keeping Wheeler in Winnipeg isn’t going to come cheap, however. He could be worth $8 million-plus given his growth over the past few seasons.

JOE PAVELSKI, SAN JOSE SHARKS
When Logan Couture signed his eight-year, $64-million extension on July 1, you probably could have started the countdown for Pavelski’s new pact. Chances are the San Jose captain won’t reach the start of the coming campaign without a new deal in place. He’s in line for a big payday, too. The 34-year-old is one of the most sneakily consistent goal scorers in the NHL. He has scored 20 goals — or at a 20 goal-or-better pace — in each of the past 10 seasons. And while Pavelski hasn’t been able to reach the 30-goal plateau since the 2015-16 campaign, he fell only a goal shy in 2016-17 and was the second-highest Sharks goal scorer last season with 22 tallies.

The tricky thing about a new deal for Pavelski is finding a way to make the term and money work for a player in the back half of his career. At 34, it’s likely this is the last significant contract Pavelski is going to sign, but a six- or seven-year deal would be awfully perilous with potential for a steep decline in the offing. That said, Pavelski is almost certainly due a raise on his current $6-million annual salary. It might be something in the $7.5-million range that eventually gets a deal done, and such a contract would probably carry a safer four- or five-year term.

MAX PACIORETTY, MONTREAL CANADIENS
There’s a fairly big asterisk attached to this one. Reason being is that there’s a fair chance Pacioretty signs an extension this summer, but unless it’s a sign-and-trade, such a pact isn’t going to be inked with the Canadiens. Montreal has reportedly made it very clear that Pacioretty isn’t going to be remaining with the organization for much longer, and he seems prime fodder for a late-summer swap. Once that comes to pass, too, the acquiring team is almost certainly going to want to lock the 29-year-old up to a long-term deal.

Pacioretty is an interesting case, though. True as it may be that he has career numbers that would warrant an extension in the $7-million range — he’s proven himself to be a more consistent scorer and better all-around playmaker than Evander Kane, who signed a seven-year, $49-million extension with the Sharks earlier this off-season — Pacioretty is coming off of the worst season of his career, and that could chip away at his overall earnings. That said, he’s certain to see at least a $2-million raise in cap hit from his current contract, which carries a $4.5-million AAV.

RYAN ELLIS, NASHVILLE PREDATORS
Given Ellis’ ability at both ends of the ice — among blueliners over the past three seasons, he ranks 15th in goals (35), 38th in points (102), 27th in points per game (.53), first in shorthanded points (seven) and 34th in average ice time (22:34) — the 27-year-old rearguard might be on one of the best-value contracts in the league. For the past five seasons, Ellis has offered the Predators a top-tier top-four blueliner for a scant $2.5 million per season. That’s about to change come next season, though, because Ellis’ value has skyrocketed.

Pinning down what exactly Ellis is going to cost Nashville on his next deal isn’t easy and there a lot of factors involved. However, given the AAVs we’ve seen for other high-calibre talents such as Drew Doughty, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, John Carlson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic, a safe bet would be that Ellis is going to earn at least $6 million annually on his next contract with a fair-to-middling chance his cap hit rises to $7 million given what he could command on the open market. The Predators have done well to keep everyone under wraps on good contracts, but Ellis’ deal will be one of a few that will get awfully pricy in the next few seasons.

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