We're now less than a week away from August 15, when NCAA star Jimmy Vesey will officially become an unrestricted free agent and decide where he'd like to sign.

In this article of Sports Illustrated puts his money on Toronto as the suitor with the best chance of signing Vesey. His father is a scout with the Leafs and his younger brother was also drafted by the organization. Muir seems to think that a chance to play with Auston Matthews on an up-and-coming team would be appealing to a player like Vesey.

In order, he handicaps Chicago, Boston and the Rangers as the next-most-likely destinations, with Buffalo trailing because, in his words, "if their appeal was that convincing, he could have signed already."

I still think the Sabres might have a shot. If you're going by up-and-coming teams with good potential linemates, Buffalo fits that description, and Vesey is already connected to Jack Eichel. To me, this could turn out like the Stamkos situation in Tampa Bay—Vesey knows what Buffalo has to offer, but wants to check out his options before making a final decision. Obviously, he's not as tied to the Sabres as Stamkos was to the Lightning, but Vesey may find that nothing ends up beating what Buffalo has already put on the table.

We'll find out soon enough, and I expect, when we do, that the other free-agent dominoes will then start to fall into place around the league.

We have talked before about the idea that Evander Kane could become expendable in Buffalo if the Sabres sign Vesey, but there are plenty of other moving parts in play here as well.

The teams that miss out on Vesey will look to other players to potentially slot in. That could mean signing a veteran UFA scoring winger like Jiri Hudler or Radim Vrbata, or possibly trying to pry loose an RFA from a cap-strapped team that has yet to ink a star to a new deal.

Usually, it takes the threat of an offer sheet to force a trade of a talented young RFA. Without that, players don't have much leverage and are pretty-much stuck with the terms offered by their current teams. That could turn out to be a sweet long-term deal like Mark Scheifele signed this summer in Winnipeg (eight years with a cap hit of $6.125 million) or it could be a two-year "show me" bridge deal.

Scheifele put up 34 points in his rookie season, increased to 49 points in his second year, then tallied 29 goals and 61 points last season.

Nikita Kucherov's agent is likely arguing that his player deserves a similar deal in Tampa Bay. Also 23, the same as Scheifele, Kucherov's point totals in his first three years were 18 (in 52 games), 64 then 66 last season, including 30 goals. Plus, he has been a beast in the playoffs, with 22 points in 26 games in 2014-15 and 19 points in 17 games last season.

The Lightning currently have $6.5 million in available cap space, and still need to sign both Kucherov and RFA defenceman Nikita Nesterov. They have Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat and Jonathan Drouin coming up as RFAs next year, and they're also already at the maximum of 50 contracts for 2016-17 without counting Kucherov or Nesterov, according to General Fanager.

Steve Yzerman is going to have to get clever if he hopes to lock up both players. I know it's a long shot, and 28 other general managers in addition to Jim Benning are probably wondering the same thing, but is there an opportunity to make a trade with the Lightning—if not for Kucherov, then for one of their other young wingers?

One notch down, Tobias Rieder is in a contract battle in Arizona and has threatened to bolt for the KHL. Rieder is also 23, and had 21 points in 2014-15, then 37 points last season. Considering he was drafted in the fourth round by Edmonton, then traded to Arizona in 2013 for Kale Kessy (who?), Rieder seems like he has been underestimated so far and could be on the upswing. He's the right age to fit in with the Canucks' new young core. Depending on what his agent is demanding for his new deal, he might be a realistic target for the Canucks to try to pursue in a trade.

The Coyotes do have enough cap space and roster space to re-sign Rieder; it's just a question of whether or not the new regime wants to meet his asking price.

Click here for the sortable list of remaining unsigned RFAs. I'm surprised that Calgary still hasn't locked up Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan!

Join the Discussion: » 134 Comments » Post New Comment

» Winning Canucks send down Podkolzin, Rathbone as homestand begins

» Power-play fuels big win in Vegas as Canucks look to sweep 3-game road trip

» The Canucks' position at U.S. Thanksgiving, following a big win in Denver

» Trade winds blow as the Canucks kick off road trip against the Avalanche

» Podkolzin returns as Canucks host Vegas amidst Horvat, Myers trade rumours