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Five Key Stories: 6/17/19 – 6/23/19

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The activity has started to pick up as the offseason is in full swing.  With the NHL Entry Draft now complete, the focus will soon turn to free agency as teams now know the salary cap for next season.  However, this past week had several notable trades mixed in among some key re-signings.

Subban Traded To Devils: The Predators have had a big four on the back end for a while now but as those players needed new deals and Roman Josi’s next contract on the horizon, eventually something had to give.  That came to fruition as Nashville dealt P.K. Subban to New Jersey in a cost clearing move, receiving depth defender Steven Santini, prospect Jeremy Davies, plus two second-round picks in return.  The Devils also take on the remainder of Subban’s contract which carries an AAV of $9MM for three more years.  Nashville now has some money to spend up front in free agency and some more money for Josi a year from now while New Jersey adds an impact defender at what amounts to a pretty low acquisition cost as they put their cap space to good use.

Flyers Sign Hayes: Philadelphia didn’t exactly hide their intentions when they flipped a fifth-round draft pick to Winnipeg for the negotiating rights to Kevin Hayes.  They targeted him as their number two center and were rewarded for the efforts when the two sides agreed to a seven-year, $50MM contract.  Hayes is coming off of a career season split between the Rangers and Jets but it was his only campaign where he had at least 50 points.  At this price point, that’s going to be the minimum expectation for him now.

Karlsson Re-Signs: The top defenseman is off the market before he even got there.  The Sharks re-signed defenseman Erik Karlsson to an eight-year, $92MM contract.  The deal is the richest for a defenseman in NHL history and also contains considerable bonuses, lockout protection, and a full no-move clause.  While the 29-year-old dealt with injury issues down the stretch, he’s still one of the more dynamic defensemen in the league.  The contract also ensures that San Jose will have two of the most prolific offensive threats from the back end in the fold for a long time to come as Brent Burns is signed for six more years.  San Jose will now turn their focus up front with veterans Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton as well as impressive young winger Timo Meier are among those still in need of new deals.

Rangers Acquire Trouba: With Karlsson off the market, the Rangers wasted little time with their backup plan as they acquired defenseman Jacob Trouba from Winnipeg in exchange for the Jets’ previously-acquired first-round pick (20th overall) and blueliner Neal Pionk.  Trouba should immediately slot in as New York’s top defenseman and assuming they can get a long-term deal done, that will be another building block in place as they look to emerge from their rebuilding process.  Meanwhile, the Jets probably aren’t done trimming down the roster just yet as they look to free up enough money to re-sign RFA wingers Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor as well as take a run at bringing back pending UFA defenseman Tyler Myers.

More Draft Trades: While the first round saw nothing in terms of player movement, the second day saw more activity as Subban’s swap wasn’t the only trade of note.  Toronto paid a conditional 2020 first-round pick (top-ten protected) to get Carolina to take on the final year (and $6.25MM cap hit) of Patrick Marleau’s contract.  The Hurricanes are expected to eventually buy out that contract but as a 35+ deal, they will assume the full AAV on their 2019-20 salary cap.  Meanwhile, the host Canucks got into the fun as well, shipping first and third-round picks to Tampa Bay for J.T. Miller.  The first-rounder is lottery-protected for two years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Free Agent Focus: Dallas Stars

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Free agency is now less than two weeks away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Dallas has a few pricey contracts coming off their books and only a few RFAs needing new deals.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Jason Dickinson – After being up and down in 2017-18, the 23-year-old locked down a regular role in their bottom six and held his own while chipping in with 22 points in the regular season and five more in the playoffs.  Dickinson is owed a qualifying offer of just under $920K and it shouldn’t take much more than that to get him under contract even though he is eligible for salary arbitration.

D Julius Honka – It wasn’t that long ago that he was viewed as an important building block for their back end.  However, Honka hasn’t lived up to his potential.  He was in the doghouse for most of the season and when he did get into the lineup, he didn’t see a lot of playing time and didn’t make much of it.  At 23, there is still the hope that there’s some upside and that should be enough to secure him a qualifying offer of just over $874K.  Even with that though, that may come primarily to give them the option to trade him down the road.

Other RFAs: D Gavin Bayreuther, G Landon Bow, G Phillipe Desrosiers, D Niklas Hansson, D Dillon Heatherington, D Chris Martenet, F Brett Ritchie

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Mats Zuccarello – He didn’t get much of a chance to make an impression in the regular season as he was injured in his first game with Dallas after being acquired.  However, he returned for the playoffs and tied for the team lead in scoring.  Zuccarello will be 32 at the start of next season so he should have a few good years left in him and should draw considerable interest on the open market as one of the more consistent wingers available.  Unfortunately for Dallas, if they wind up re-signing him, they will have to part with a first-round pick (instead of a third rounder) as part of the trade to bring him in from the Rangers.  Zuccarello has indicated that he wants to see what his options are so we’ll see over the next week if he decides to circle back or not.

F Jason Spezza – While Spezza was once a key cog for the Stars, he has seen his production tail off considerably the last two seasons as his career starts to wind up.  At 36, he’s now subject to 35+ contract rules so he will likely be going year-to-year moving forward.  A team thinking that a change of scenery could lead to a short-term resurgence will give him a look but he’ll have to take a significant pay cut from the $7.5MM he has made in each of the last four years.

D Ben Lovejoy – The veteran blueliner was added to give the Stars some stability on the back end for the postseason and there will undoubtedly be teams that will be looking to free agency to try to get him to do that for them.  His best days are behind him but he can still help a third pairing for another year or two but will also probably be looking at a dip in pay from his previous $2.67MM AAV.

Other UFAs: F Erik Condra, D Taylor Fedun, D Marc Methot, D Reese Scarlett

Projected Cap Space: The Stars have a little less than $10MM in cap room under the $81.5MM Upper Limit, per CapFriendly.  Their RFAs won’t cost too much to keep around so GM Jim Nill will have some room to go shopping on the open market.  Whether that money is spent on Zuccarello or another player remains to be seen.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Colorado Avalanche

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With the postseason now finished, the activity is about to pick up with free agency now just days away.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Colorado Avalanche.

Despite making the postseason a year earlier and holding their own against Nashville, Colorado was a popular pick to take a step back in 2018-19.  While their point total in the regular season dipped slightly, they still made it to the playoffs and did some damage while they were there as they made short work of Calgary before pushing San Jose to seven games in the second round.  They have a strong young nucleus to build around and GM Joe Sakic has ample salary cap room to work with to try to bring in a few more pieces.  Here’s what the Avalanche need to accomplish this offseason.

New Deal For Rantanen

Mikko Rantanen followed up his breakout 2017-18 season with an even better showing this past season as he set new career highs across the board.  In doing so, he also took away any questions about whether his sophomore year was an aberration or a sign of things to come.  Clearly, it’s the latter as he was a key part of Colorado’s top line that also featured Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog.

The good news for the Avs is that both of those other players are signed for at least two more years at below-market rates.  Rantanen isn’t in that situation as he’s a restricted free agent when his contract expires next month.  Unlike Landeskog and MacKinnon, his deal won’t be coming in below market value.

Rantanen is one of the top restricted free agents in this elite class of RFAs that don’t have salary arbitration eligibility.  By all accounts, none of their agents want to set the market and go first so it wouldn’t be particularly shocking to see this drag out for a little while.  From a budgetary perspective, Sakic would be wise to allocate roughly $10MM per year towards this contract as he plans his other offseason activity.

Decide Barrie’s Future

Tyson Barrie has been no stranger to the rumor mill in recent years.  He has seemingly almost always been in play to some extent though never with Colorado really actively listening to offers.  But they’ve been content to listen and haven’t done anything to try to quell the notion that they’re willing to deal him.  As Barrie enters the final year of his contract next season, the decision on his future becomes much more pressing.

Not surprisingly, he was in trade speculation in the days leading up to the draft and those will likely continue in the coming days.  The free agent market isn’t particularly deep so teams on the lookout for help on the right side defensively will be calling, especially if they have a need for more offense from their back end.  If Sakic decides that the time is right to move him, Barrie’s value is as high as it’s going to be right now and the trade options are more plentiful than they’ll be midseason when more teams are capped out.

On the flip side, the team could decide that it’s worth pursuing an extension for the 27-year-old.  Yes, they have Erik Johnson signed long-term and top prospect Cale Makar under team control for six more years plus promising prospect Conor Timmins in the system as well.  However, it’s rarely a bad thing to have a surplus of quality defenders.  Getting Barrie to commit to a long-term deal would be pricey though as he’ll undoubtedly be looking for a nice boost on his current $5.5MM AAV.

Add Top-Six Winger

Sakic has already stated that he intends to be aggressive this offseason.  Part of that aggression needs to be focused on adding some secondary scoring.  Their top three forwards combined for 106 goals which is great but it also accounted for a little more than 40% of their total offense.  They’ve shown that they can have success with that but adding some help on the second line would go a long way towards bolstering their attack.

With Carl Soderberg having a resurgent season plus Alexander Kerfoot and Tyson Jost on the team already, they’re not in bad shape down the middle behind MacKinnon.  Adding Alex Newhook in the draft gives them a good center for the future as well.  That means that they can focus on adding support on the wing which is where the depth of this free agent class lies.

While Artemi Panarin may be out of their price range as a team that has had a budgeted payroll well below the Upper Limit in the past, players like Anders Lee, Mats Zuccarello, Micheal Ferland, and Gustav Nyquist would all give their second line a boost and a bit more lineup flexibility if they want to split up their big three from time to time.  With a team that’s viewed as on the rise and lots of cap room to work with this summer, Sakic will be able to present these players with a compelling case to join them which would be a good way to start their summer spending.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blues Re-Sign Jordan Nolan And Nolan Stevens

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The defending Stanley Cup champs are holding on to a pair of their fringe contributors. The St. Louis Blues announced a new contract for veteran impending UFA Jordan Nolan, followed by another announcement of a new deal for young RFA Nolan Stevens minutes later. Both forwards have signed one-year, two-way extensions that carry the minimum $700K cap hit at the NHL level.

Nolan now has an extra reason to celebrate today, as it is also his 30th birthday. The big, defensive forward has spent the past eight years in the NHL, the first six of which as a bottom-six starter for the Los Angeles Kings. Nolan was expected to play a regular role with St. Louis as well when he signed with the team last summer, but instead became a key mentor in the minor leagues with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage. Nolan only played in 14 NHL games last season, a career low, but his importance moving forward now lies in his ability to groom the Blues’ young forwards in the ways of two-way play while also remaining an experienced depth option.

Stevens, a fifth-round pick in 2016, is coming off of his first pro season after a successful four years at Northeastern University. The 22-year-old only recorded 18 points for San Antonio last season (compared to Nolan’s 35 for example), but still played a top-nine role for the Rampage and showed good two-way ability. He should see his game grow even more going forward. Stevens may not possess the skill necessary to be a top-nine forward in the NHL, but is the exact type of player that St. Louis hopes Nolan can groom into an effective fourth-line contributor.

 

Snapshots: Claesson, Talbot, Abbandonato

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The deadline to extend qualifying offers to impending restricted free agents arrives on Tuesday, and another intriguing name can be added to the list of those likely not receiving an offer and hitting the open market. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks reports that Rangers defenseman Fredrik Claesson will not receive a qualifying offer from the team. Brooks cites roster space as the reason that New York has opted not to retain the 26-year-old, who played in 37 games in his first – and now only – season with the Rangers. The team only would have merely had to offer Claesson a two-way contract worth $735K to hold on to his RFA rights, but apparently are content to let him leave. With four veteran blue liners already signed, recent acquisition Jacob Trouba as well as Anthony DeAngelo as restricted free agents, and top prospects Adam Fox and Libor Hajek pushing for ice time, the Rangers do have plenty of depth without Claesson. Nevertheless, the former Ottawa Senators starter should draw plenty of attention as a new addition to the UFA market. Claesson joins a growing list of talented players not expected to receive qualifying offers, including Vancouver’s Derrick Pouliot, Los Angeles’ Nikita Scherbak, and Edmonton’s Ty Rattie and Tobias Rieder. 

  • At 35 years old, veteran Max Talbot is calling it a career. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun revealed that Talbot has decided to retire and end his playing days, but will stay involved with the game as a development adviser for CAA, a top hockey agency. Talbot may have spent his twilight years overseas, playing the past three seasons in the KHL, but few will forget his accomplishments in the NHL. Talbot spent eleven season in the league, making a name for himself as a top two-way player. Talbot received votes for the Selke Award as the league’s best defensive forward in four different seasons and was one of the most dangerous shorthanded specialists in the league during the prime of his career. Talbot spent the first six seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, helping the team to a 2009 Stanley Cup title, and made stops in Philadelphia, Colorado, and Boston before heading for Russia in 2016.
  • As one pro career ends, another begins. QMJHL leading scorer Peter Abbandonato has signed with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, per TVA’s Mikhail Lalancette. It’s a two-year minor league deal for Abbandonato, who needs time to develop despite his impressive junior numbers. Abbandonato was a late-blooming forward, an undrafted and slightly undersized center who broke out this season in his final year of junior eligibility. The 21-year-old had a phenomenal season, though; he recorded 111 points in 68 games, including 82 assists, which also led the league and by a wide margin. Abbandonato then added 27 points in just 15 playoff games to help the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies to a QMJHL title. Like fellow undrafted top junior scorer Justin Brazeau of the OHL, Abbandonato had no other option but to sign a minor league deal and show that his skill set is pro-ready. If he can do that, Abbandonato should earn an entry-level contract, perhaps even before his AHL contract expires.

 

Overseas Notes: Yakupov, Kovar, Erixon, Garteig

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Former No. 1 overall pick Nail Yakupov won’t be joining any of the most recent draft class in the NHL next season. The bust of a former top prospect enjoyed his best season as a pro in the KHL last season and has decided not to press his luck. SKA St. Petersburg has announced a new three-year extension with Yakupov, keeping the 25-year-old in the KHL until 2022 at the earliest. Yakupov finally decided to move on from the NHL last summer and returned to home to Russia to ink a one-year “show me” deal with SKA. He did just that, recording 33 points in just 47 games and another eight points in the postseason for one of the KHL’s top clubs. Now, he has likely either decided to stay in Russia for the remainder of his career or that his best odds of being an impact player in the NHL down the road are to continue developing overseas. Either way, we won’t be seeing Yakupov in North America anytime soon. The top pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 2012 from the OHL’s Sarnia Sting, Yakupov played three underwhelming seasons with the Oilers and last suited up in the NHL in 2017-18, a season split between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche. Moving forward, he’ll suit up alongside Jori Lehtera, Sergei Plotnikov, Viktor Tikhonov, and recently drafted goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov in St. Petersburg.

  • Similarly, Jan Kovar is not messing around with an NHL return after a 2018-19 season that did not go as expected. The veteran Czech forward signed a one-year, $2MM contract with the New York Islanders last summer, but that contract was terminated before the regular season even began, once it became clear that Kovar would not crack the opening night roster. Yet, he still wound up in the AHL, playing for the Providence Bruins for two months in hopes of earning a contract with Boston. When that also failed to materialize, Kovar finally returned to Europe, signing with HC Plzen of his native Czech league. Rather than stay in the Czech Republic, return to North America, or even go back to the KHL, where he had spent the previous five seasons and found much success, Kovar has instead decided to try his hand at playing in the Swiss NLA. EV Zug, an NLA finalist last season, have announced a one-year contract with Kovar. The team is excited about the addition and expect Kovar to be a key piece for them next season. The contract does have a temporary NHL exit clause, but it expires on Tuesday and there has been no talk of any NHL interest in Kovar. It’s safe to assume that he’ll be joining Carl Klingberg, Raphael Diaz, and company next season.
  • Give Tim Erixon credit. The 2009 first-round pick out of Skelleftea in Sweden has not played in the NHL since 2015, but has remained in North America, grinding it out for another opportunity in the AHL. However, it’s finally become time to return home. The SHL’s Vaxjo Lakers have announced a two-year contract with Erixon and plan to use him in a major role, unlike the minor league depth capacity that he has filled for several years. A veteran of 93 NHL games 331 AHL games with six different organizations, Erixon is an experienced defenseman who also became a leader and mentor at the minor league level. He heads back to Sweden as a respected and capable veteran player who should be a difference-maker for the Lakers. Vaxjo continues a strong off-season, now adding Erixon to a list of additions that also includes Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Marcus Davidsson, Emil Pettersson, and Matt Bodie.
  • Fresh off of a Kelly Cup championship with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers, goaltender Michael Garteig has decided to take his talents to Finland. The 27-year-old keeper has signed a one-year deal with Tappara, the Liiga club announced. Garteig was a former standout at Quinnipiac University and was briefly a prospect of the Vancouver Canucks. However, he has played the past two seasons on a minor league contract and altogether has only seen ten total games in the AHL in three pro seasons. Yet, Garteig was stellar for the Growlers last season, especially in the playoffs, where he posted a .928 save percentage and 2.19 goals against average. Tappara hopes those numbers translate to the Liiga, as the team seeks a replacement for former NHL veteran Niklas Backstrom in their tandem with young Christian Heljanko. Chicago Blackhawks prospect Wouter Peeters also hopes to push for some starts next season.

New Jersey Devils Acquire Adam Helewka

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It would be impossible for anyone to follow up yesterday’s Jack Hughes and P.K. Subban additions, but the New Jersey Devils have brought in yet another player to the organization. The AHL announced that forward Adam Helewka has been dealt to the Devils by the Nashville Predators, the second trade between the two teams in as many days. The move adds only “future considerations” for Nashville, but opens up a contract slot for a team with 41 of a maximum 50 players already signed and several restricted free agents still to sign.

Helewka, 23, has been a standout player in the minors for the past few years. A fourth-round pick of the San Jose Sharks in 2015, Helewka had been a dynamic offensive player in the WHL. He debuted in the AHL for the San Jose Barracuda in 2016 and spent each of the next two full seasons with the team, collecting 29 and 38 points respectively. San Jose traded Helewka to the Arizona Coyotes last summer in exchange for defenseman Kyle Wood and the scoring winger broke out with the AHL’s Tuscon Roadrunners, recording 31 points through his first 41 games of the season. However, he would not see the season through in Tuscon (or get rewarded with an NHL call-up to Arizona), as Helewka was traded again in February to the Predators with Laurent Dauphin in exchange for Emil Pettersson. Helewka continued to play well despite the move, registering 19 points in 24 games for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. His play even convinced the Predators at the time that he was worthy of a contract extension, a one-year, two-way pact signed not long after he was acquired.

For one reason or another, Nashville came to regret the contract, as Helewka has now been traded yet again for nothing concrete in return. The Devils are happy to take advantage of the Predators’ change of heart though. New Jersey has eight forwards who played regular AHL minutes last season, many of whom also saw NHL action, who are either unrestricted or restricted free agents and not everyone will return. The team needs a re-haul in the minor leagues and could do far worse than a player who notched 50 points combined in just 65 games last year. Helewka will likely be a top contributor for the Binghamton Devils next year and will look to finally find a long-term fit, perhaps even one with the opportunity to make his NHL debut.

Pacific Notes: Myers, Kings Qualifying Offers, Puljujarvi, Thompson

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With reports that the Vancouver Canucks intend to focus their sites on adding a top-level defenseman in free agency, its looks like general manager Jim Benning has made it clear who is at the top of his wishlist as Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that Vancouver expects to meet with unrestricted free agent Tyler Myers today, the first day teams can speak to unrestricted free agents.

Myers, who has played with the Winnipeg Jets for the past five years, is one of the top three unrestricted free agent defensemen along with Toronto’s Jake Gardiner and Montreal’s Jordie Benn. The 29-year-old could add some offense as he tallied nine goals and 31 points last season in Winnipeg. The 6-foot-8, 229-pound blueliner would give the team a solid top-four defenseman for the Canucks, who have lacked a solid top-four for years. Myers, along with a full season of 2018 first-rounder Quinn Hughes, could help bolster the team’s defense for a long time if the Canucks can convince him to sign with them.

  • The Los Angeles Times’ Curtis Zupke reports that the Los Angeles Kings will tender qualifying offers to Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Michael Amadio, Daniel Brickley, Calvin Petersen, Sheldon Rempal and Matt Roy. No surprises there. He adds the team also does not intend to make qualifying offers to Nikita Scherbak, Alex Lintuniemi, Matteson Iacopelli and Pavel Jenys. Scherbak, who was claimed off waivers from Montreal, struggled after coming over to the Kings, while Lintuniemi has been passed by a number of Kings defenseman on their depth chart after the former second-round pick finished the season in Ontario in the AHL with a minus-30 rating.
  • The Edmonton Journal’s Kurt Leavins reports that the Edmonton Oilers haven’t had much success so far in trying to trade winger Jesse Puljujarvi, who has asked for a trade, and had been shopped at the NHL Entry Draft Friday and Saturday. Edmonton has already made it clear they do not intend to trade him away for nothing and supposedly are asking for quite a bit. Leavins writes that they did talk to Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford, but he balked at the asking price, which was winger Bryan Rust. Puljujarvi, a restricted free agent, has made it clear if he isn’t traded, he will play in Europe.
  • Sportsnet’s John Shannon reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs are considering Chicago Wolves head coach Rocky Thompson to join Mike Babcock’s staff this upcoming season. Thompson, who led Chicago to the Calder Cup Finals in the AHL this season, has been considered a candidate to move to the NHL. Toronto has lost two assistant coaches this offseason. D.J. Smith was hired as the Ottawa Senators head coach, while Jim Hiller left the team to join Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz with the New York Islanders. No word on whether the Vegas Golden Knights will release him from his contract.

Central Notes: Zuccarello, Honka, Perlini, Fabbro

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Despite earlier rumors that the Dallas Stars and unrestricted free agent Mats Zuccarello have mutual interest to get a deal done, it looks like it might not be as easy as it seemed. Dallas general manager Jim Nill said that Zuccarello has decided he wants to test the open market before deciding, according to NHL.com’s Mike Heika.

That doesn’t mean a deal will come about as both sides could be interested in what Zuccarello could fetch on the open market. At 31 years of age, the Stars may be hesitant to give him anything more than a four-year deal, but if both teams are truly interested in staying together, they could just be looking to see what other teams offer him first.

“We’ve talked a little bit with his agent, but he wants to test the free-agent market and he’s got that right,” Nill said. “So they going to look into the market and see what else is out there and then we will swing back and see where he’s at. We’ve got an interview period that starts Sunday, so we’ll start talking to other people and he’ll do the same thing and we’ll see where things go.”

Zuccarello came to Dallas in a trade deadline deal with the New York Rangers for a 2019 second-round pick, which turned out to be defensive prospect Matthew Robertson, and a conditional first-round pick, meaning if Dallas does sign Zuccarello to an extension, the Stars would give the Rangers a 2020 first-rounder. If not, they would give New York a third-round pick instead. However, Zuccarello looked to be a good fit, helping Dallas fill out its second line. Despite suffering a broken arm in his first game with the Stars and only playing two regular season games, the 31-year-old scored four goals and 11 points in 13 playoff games before the Stars fell to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Blues.

  • Sticking with the Stars, The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro (subscription required) writes that the trade value of Dallas defenseman Julius Honka has increased since the NHL announced the salary cap to be set at $81.5MM for the 2019-20 season. Despite the struggles that Honka has had in finding a role with the Stars, several teams should be looking for an inexpensive defenseman with potential. Honka, a restricted free agent, requires a qualifying offer of $874K, and could be valuable to teams such as the Toronto Maple Leafs and the San Jose Sharks, who might need some solid depth options on their defense. Shapiro, however, indicates, that the return for Honka still wouldn’t be that significant.
  • Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reports that Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman confirmed the team will give a qualifying offer to forward Brendan Perlini. The 23-year-old struggled after initially coming over from Arizona in November, but started to improve late in the season, finishing with 12 goals and 15 points in 46 games with the Blackhawks. Bowman did admit that the Blackhawks might let some of their restricted free agents walk, although newly acquired John Quenneville will be signed as well.
  • The Tennessean’s Paul Skrbina writes that one reason that Nashville Predators general manager David Poile felt comfortable trading defenseman P.K. Subban Saturday was because of the play of Dante Fabbro. The 21-year-old, the team’s first-round pick from 2016, signed with Nashville after completing his junior season at Boston University and played in four regular season games, as well as six playoff games, scoring one goal and one assist in those 10 combined games. Fabbro is the likley candidate to take over Subban’s minutes next season.

 

Atlantic Notes: Backes, Kronwall, Reinhart, Zaitsev

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With the NHL salary cap set Saturday at $81.5MM for the 2019-20 season, cap room has become a premium. That became just as apparent Saturday when teams began unloading some of their expensive contracts, including Nashville’s P.K. Subban (to New Jersey), Tampa Bay’s J.T. Miller (to Vancouver) and Toronto’s Patrick Marleau (to Carolina). The latter trade of Marleau to the Hurricanes perhaps was the most interesting as Toronto also had to fork over a 2020 first-round pick as part of the package to unload Marleau’s $6.25MM contract.

That deal may become a precedent for teams hoping to move out a bad contract. In fact, because of that trade, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) suggests that the Boston Bruins will likely have to keep forward David Backes on the roster for at least another year. The Bruins still owe $6MM to the 35-year-old Backes for another two seasons, which isn’t helping the team as they must re-sign a number of key free agents, including restricted free agents Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo and Danton Heinen and also wouldn’t mind keeping unrestricted free agents Marcus Johansson and Noel Acciari. Backes has struggled the last couple of seasons, but his numbers really fell off this season as he posted just seven goals and 20 points in 70 games and has fallen into a bottom-six role.

While the team wouldn’t mind unloading that contract, Shinzawa writes that the Marleau deal, which has a similar number to Backes’ contract, except for one more year, would almost guarantee cost the Bruins a first-round pick (and possibly more) to unload, which they are unlikely willing to do.

  • The Detroit Free-Press’ Helene St. James reports that the Detroit Red Wings and general manager Steve Yzerman won’t change their offseason plan as they wait for defenseman Niklas Kronwall to make a decision on whether he wants to return for a 16th season. The veteran may not make a decision until late in the offseason. One reason to suggest that the 38-year-old could return is that he is 47 games shy of having played 1,000 games. The long-time Red Wings blueliner still fared well last year, scoring three goals and 27 points in 79 games.
  • The Athletic’s John Vogl writes that while the Buffalo Sabres need a second-line center to give Casey Mittelstadt time to adjust to the NHL, general manager Jason Botterill said that it is unlikely that Sam Reinhart will be moving there. Reinhart, originally drafted as a center when he was the second-overall pick in 2014, saw his career take off when the team moved him to the right wing position two seasons ago. Since then, he’s tallied 47 goals in those two years. “Look, it’s always a possibility there,” said Botterill. “You have to be open to it and we’ll see how things go with Ralph (Krueger) with that discussion, but I also think in the last year or so, he’s excelled on the wing and I think he’s in a position where he can drive a line from the wing.”
  • The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel reports that Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said Saturday that there is nothing new on the trade front when it comes to moving defenseman Nikita Zaitsev. The team has made it clear to other teams they aren’t just going to use him as a salary dump. “We’re willing to try to accommodate him and work with him, but we need a similar player back,” Dubas said. “We don’t have the depth on D and we don’t want to rush our prospects.”

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