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With training camps looming, a look at some key unsigned RFAs

Columbus Blue Jackets v Nashville Predators

NASHVILLE, TN - MARCH 08: Ryan Johansen #19 of the Columbus Blue Jackets plays against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on March 8, 2014 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

Frederick Breedon

Potential holdouts, anyone? Here’s your primer for all the talented youngsters than remain unsigned into September...

Ryan Johansen, Columbus

The most talked about of the group, Johansen’s currently embroiled in a contract stalemate that could result with him missing training camp. Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen’s on record saying he doesn’t want the 22-year-old to miss any camp time (“It’s very, very important that we start as a team,” he told the Dispatch) but at this point, there’s a reported $3-$3.5M gap between what the club is offering and what Johansen’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, is asking for.

Both sides have a decent amount of leverage. Columbus will argue that Johansen only has one quality NHL campaign on his resume, doesn’t have arbitration rights and has yet to receive an offer sheet from another club. The Johansen camp will counter that last year’s effort was much more than a quality campaign (he finished 11th in the NHL with goals, 33, and was the team’s most important player not named Sergei Bobrovsky.) Overhardt could also use the Jackets’ success against them -- the club is coming off the best season in franchise history. Do they really want to kill that momentum by playing hardball with their brightest young star?

Torey Krug and Reilly Smith, Boston

Both players have fallen victim -- thus far -- to the Bruins’ ugly cap situation, explained here by the Boston Globe:

The Bruins are in a jam. They have approximately $69 million committed toward 2014-15. This includes Marc Savard’s $4,027,143 annual cap hit and roughly $4.75 million in overage penalties (bonuses achieved last year by Jarome Iginla, Torey Krug, and Dougie Hamilton) they must apply toward their number.

By opening night, they will use the long-term injury exception on Savard to exceed the cap by his average annual value. But even when accounting for that deletion, the Bruins have little breathing room to re-sign Krug and Reilly Smith.

It would be possible to re-up Krug and Smith without moving salary; it would not be preferable. Management would have close to zero roster flexibility to trade or sign players or carry extra bodies.

A trade, therefore, is coming.

Neither Krug nor Smith have suggested they’d hold out of camp but, earlier this summer, reports surfaced of Krug getting a “big” offer from a KHL club.

Nino Niederreiter and Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher has a tricky situation on his hands -- he must deal with this year’s RFAs while keeping an eye on next year’s class, which will include the likes of Mikael Granlund, Charlie Coyle and Erik Haula. As such, Fletcher has repeatedly stressed the importance of making the “right deal” for Niederreiter and Kuemper, and it sounds as though the latter is looking for a bigger (or, better) deal than the one Minnesota is offering.

“Darcy certainly has great potential and played very well in stretches for us this season, but at the end of the day I think he’s played around 30 games in the NHL,” Fletcher told the Star-Tribune earlier this month. “Usually this isn’t the time to fight for the big contract. We feel Darcy right now is trying to establish himself in the league and once he does that it’ll be a little simpler to come up with terms.”

That said, it doesn’t sound like the Wild are anticipating Kuemper to miss significant training camp/preseason time, as head coach Mike Yeo already said Kuemper would play one of Minnesota’s first three exhibition games.

Jaden Schwartz, St. Louis

Very quiet on this front lately. Blues GM Doug Armstrong has a reputation for dragging out RFA negotiations (see: Alex Pietrangelo) and playing hardball -- just ask the Vladimir Sobotka camp. That said, the Blues do have approximately $2.7M in available cap space and a bit of roster flexibility, so the pieces are in place to get a deal done by the time training camp starts.

Tyson Barrie, Colorado

Many pundits figured the blueprint for Barrie’s new deal came last week, when Edmonton signed offensive defenseman Justin Schultz to a one-year, $3.675M contract. But that blueprint might not have looked like the one Colorado originally drew up -- per the Denver Post, the Avs were reportedly looking at a deal that would pay Barrie $2.4-$3.5 million next season.

Danny DeKeyser, Detroit

In terms of value to his team, DeKeyser is right up there with Johansen in Columbus -- the 24-year-old rearguard averaged 21:38 TOI for the Wings last year (upped to over 23 minutes per night in the playoffs) and scored 23 points in 65 games. But I sort of buried him in this piece because his new deal in Detroit is fait accompli -- DeKeyser said he wants to be in Detroit and has no worries about a deal getting done, and GM Ken Holland has re-iterated most of the same.

Others...

Brenden Dillon and Cody Eakin remain unsigned in Dallas, but it’s important to remember that Stars GM Jim Nill came from the Detroit organization, where RFA deals often lingered right up until the start of training camp... Nashville and Ryan Ellis sound as though they’re still a ways apart on a new deal...The Rangers, who are approximately $1.5M away from the salary cap ceiling, still need to get something done with defenseman John Moore... Anaheim is still working on a contract for forward Devante Smith-Pelly, who had a fantastic postseason and led the team in playoff goals, with five.