Free Agent Focus: Chicago Blackhawks
It’s going to be another painful summer in Chicago, but this time, there’s no Stanley Cup to soothe fans. On Tuesday, the Blackhawks traded promising young forward Teuvo Teravainen to Carolina to dump the salary of Bryan Bickell.
It was a mixed-bag of a season in the Windy City. The team’s Championship defence started out with star forward Patrick Kane under investigation for allegedly raping a woman at his New York home. The charges were later dropped. Kane teamed up with rookie Artemi Panarin to score a career-high 106 points and win the Art Ross Trophy. Panarin, in his first NHL season after six years in the KHL, finished in the top 10 scorers in the league. The Blackhawks finished third in the tightly-contested Central Division and lost to rival St. Louis Blues in 7 games.
Projected Cap Space: $8.4MM, 16 players under contract.
Key Restricted Free Agents: Andrew Shaw – the pesky forward scored 34 points this season, the second highest total of his career. He’s coming off a controversial playoffs where he was suspended for using a homophobic slur towards a referee after making an inappropriate hand gesture. Shaw has been a favourite of coach Joel Quenneville, but was doubtful to return before Tuesday’s trade. Chicago Sun-Times writer Mark Lazerus reported that the Blackhawks fully expect to be able to re-sign Shaw. Expect the deal to be for 3 or more years north of $3MM per.
Other RFAs: Dennis Rasmussen
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Andrew Ladd, Dale Weise – the pair of wingers were acquired at the trade deadline as the Blackhawks loaded up for a Cup run. Both players are expected to test the open market as Chicago doesn’t have cap space to sign either at close to their market-value.
Other UFAs: Christian Ehrhoff, Tomas Fleischmann, Michael Leighton, Brandon Mashinter, Michal Rosival.
Outlook: The Blackhawks need at least 5 forwards, a couple defensemen, and a third string goalie. Don’t expect any of those players to have a salary above $1MM.
With $48.78MM invested in their 7-player core of Jonathon Toews, Kane, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, Marian Hossa, Niklas Hjalmarsson, and Corey Crawford, money is going to be tight to re-sign Shaw, round out their roster, and prepare for Panarin’s new contract next season.
With regards to the expected expansion draft next summer, the Blackhawks do not have much to worry about, as they will be able to protect all their important pieces. Chicago does not have a first round pick in the upcoming draft.
Free Agent Focus: Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers saw drastic improvement in 2015-16, winning the Atlantic Division with a 47-26-9 record. They made the playoffs for just the second time this century, but lost in six games to the New York Islanders. The team was well-rounded, with young forwards Sasha Barkov, Nick Bjugstad, and Jonathan Huberdeau learning under legend Jaromir Jagr up front and franchise defenceman Aaron Ekblad developing nicely on the back-end. Veteran goaltender Roberto Luongo turned in an All-Star performance.
Despite winning their first ever division title on the backs of their young talent, the Panthers fired their head scout in May. Scott Luce had been with the team since 2003. The team also promoted GM Dale Tallon to President of Hockey Operations and replaced him Tom Rowe, the associate GM. The team also made a pair of intriguing trades, sending tough D Erik Gudbranson to Vancouver for picks and getting rid of the contract of Marc Savard.
Projected Cap Space: $20.8MM, 18 players under contract
Key Restricted Free Agent: Vincent Trochek enjoyed a tremendous break-out season with 53 points in 76 games. His 25 goals were tied with Reilly Smith for second most on the Panthers. The two-way centre missed the end of the regular season with a fractured fibula. He returned for game 5 of the post-season, posting a single assist in two losses.
The undersized Trochek will likely be looking for a similar, if not bigger, contract to the one Riley Sheahan signed today.
Other RFAs: Quinton Howden, Greg McKegg
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Defenceman Brian Campbell is no longer the top-pairing offensive dynamo he once was. But he’s still a dependable second or third pairing option to mentor the Panthers young defence core. He’s also in line for a significant pay cut from the $7.142MM annual salary he’s made since 2008.
Other pending UFA Jaromir Jagr has already been extended for another season.
Other Unrestricted Free Agents: Captain Willie Mitchell (retiring), rental wingers Teddy Purcell and Jiri Hudler, and backup goaltender Al Montoya.
The team will be looking for a taker for underperforming centre Dave Bolland, who scored just 5 points in 25 games last season but is making $5.5MM per season until 2019. Any trade involving Bolland would require a big sweetener, so a buyout is more likely. His health is also a potential roadblock in either case.
As well, the Panthers will be looking to acquire another goaltender. The 37-year-old Luongo has played 129 games in the last two seasons, so a solid young goaltender who can play 30 games would ease the workload and allow Luongo to be fresher for the playoffs.
Last year’s 11th overall pick, young power forward Lawson Crouse is expected to be given a long, hard look in training camp, but the team may also choose to acquire a winger to replace trade deadline rentals Purcell and Hudler.
The Panthers have plenty of cap space and new management looking to make a splash. However, new GM Tom Rowe must be wary of cap space heading into next off-season, with 11 players coming off the books including Ekblad, Smith, Huberdeau, Jagr, Dmitry Kulikov, and Alex Petrovic.
Capology 101: Player Contracts
The NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) restricts player contracts—called Standard Player Contracts or SPCs—in three ways: length, amount, and salary variability. Pro Hockey Rumors will give you a crash course in how the CBA defines legal SPCs, and uses fictional player phenom Francois Yakov to illustrate certain points.
Length
The CBA limits SPCs to a maximum term of seven years. Teams may sign its own players, however, to an eight-year SPC if the player was on its roster as of and since the trade deadline. This added option expires if a player reaches unrestricted free agency
Yakov played for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season, and is four days away from becoming a UFA. Teams can offer Yakov contracts up to seven years in length. Toronto, Yakov’s team, can offer a contract up to eight years in length, but only up until July 1st. Once Yakov becomes a free agent Toronto loses the additional year advantage.
Amount
No contract can pay less than the minimum salary defined in the CBA, or more than 20% of the CBA’s upper limit (read: cap ceiling) in effect when the contract is signed.
Salary Variability
The CBA’s variability restrictions are a result of the NHL’s effort to curb front-loaded long-term contracts. The rules limit how much a player’s salary changes from year to year, and different restrictions apply if the SPC is front-loaded.
A contract is considered front-loaded if the majority of a player’s salary is paid in the first half of the SPC. The easiest way to determine that is to:
- Divide the contract term in two, and
- Add up all the salary paid in the first half. If the contract is for an odd amount of years, use half the salary in the middle year.
If the added salary in the first term is greater than the SPC’s cap hit, the SPC is front-loaded.
If a contract is front-loaded, two variability restrictions apply:
- Any change in salary/bonuses from year to year must not be more than 35% of the contract’s first year; and
- Any year’s salary must not be less than 50% of the SPC’s highest year’s salary.
So, if our Yakov makes 5MM his first year, salary change in any year cannot be more than by 1.75MM (35% of 5MM). Moreover, Yakov’s lowest salary year cannot be less than 50% of his highest salary year.
If a contract is not front-loaded, the CBA imposes two other variability restrictions:
- The difference in salary and bonuses from the first year to the second year must not be greater than the salary/bonus amount in the lower of those first two years; and
- In any subsequent year the salary/bonus amount cannot increase by more than the amount of the lower of the first two years, and cannot decrease by more than 50% of the amount of the lower of the first two years.
If our Yakov makes 5MM his first year, the second year cannot be lower than 2.5MM (2.5MM difference) or higher than 10MM (5MM difference. If he makes 5MM his first year, and 4MM his second year, any year-to-year salary increase cannot be by more than 4MM, and any salary decrease cannot be by more than 2MM.
The NHL CBA governs almost every aspect of the relationship between the players and the league. Defining a contract’s term, amount, and variability goes to the heart of the relationship, and was the product of intense bargaining during the lockout.
Canadiens COO Leaves Organization
The Montreal Canadiens Executive VP and COO Kevin Gilmore has left the organization to pursue other opportunities. Kevin was with the organization for five years, and was instrumental in landing lucrative longterm broadcasting contracts with RDS and Sportsnet. The departure was amicable, and the Canadiens say that it was understood from the beginning of Gilmore’s tenure that he would eventually leave.
Andrew Ladd Turned Down $36MM Offer Before Season
Per TSN’s Darren Dreger, via Chris Nichols, the Winnipeg Jets offered Andrew Ladd a six-year deal worth $36MM before the start of the 2015-16 season. Ladd apparently pushed for $6.5MM a season, eventually breaking off talks. Dreger also thinks that the Jets wouldn’t come close to that amount now in either dollars or years. Ladd is an unrestricted free agent as of July 1st.
After being dealt to the Chicago Blackhawks mid-season, the 30-year old Ladd is headed out to free agency as a five-time twenty goal scorer well known for his leadership on and off the ice. The Thrashers/Jets captain from 2010-11, Ladd has two Stanley Cups under his belt, in 2006 with Carolina and 2010 with Chicago. He came back to the Blackhawks to pursue another championship, after it seemed clear he and the Jets weren’t going to come to terms. Winnipeg instead sunk their money into Dustin Byfuglien, betting on the big defenceman to stay elite for a few more seasons.
Ladd will have plenty of suitors this offseason, even if $6.5MM is a little out of reach. His size and scoring ability fits nicely as a complimentary player on the wing, able to play any kind of role in the top three lines.
Blackhawks Re-Sign Richard Panik
UPDATE 4:38 PM CST: Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston gives us details on the contract amount. It’s a one-year deal worth $875,000, which is actually less than he earned last season.
2:00 PM CST: The official team account has confirmed the signing.
1:35 PM CST: According to TSN’s James Mirtle, among other sources, the Chicago Blackhawks have re-signed forward Richard Panik to a one year contract. Panik came to Chicago in a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs in January that saw Jeremy Morin head the other way. After the deal Panik, who had been playing for the Maple Leafs AHL affiliate, was put on the top line with Jonathan Toews for long stretches.
A common linemate of Teuvo Teravainen who was dealt earlier today along with Bryan Bickell, Panik will give the Blackhawks an inexpensive skilled forward capable of playing anywhere on the top three lines. His performance in the playoffs this year was exceptional, and really cemented his place on this Blackhawk team going forward.
While the details of the contract are not yet known, Panik should come in with a relatively low cap-hit, somewhere in the $1MM range. That helps the Blackhawks, who without Panik have $62MM allocated to just 15 players. With Andrew Shaw still to be signed, and Artemi Panarin next season, this is a good follow-up move after losing Teravainen this morning.
Carolina Acquires Teravainen and Bickell From Blackhawks
UPDATE 4:11 PM CST: After the NHL released the draft order, it appears that the 2016 second round pick dealt to Chicago is actually the Rangers pick (#50 overall) that was used to acquire Eric Staal at this year’s trade deadline. Carolina will hold onto the #43 selection.
3:19 PM CST: Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun Times adds that the Blackhawks now fully expect to re-sign Andrew Shaw, after clearing room with the Bickell trade.
10:48 AM CST: According to the team Twitter account, the Carolina Hurricanes have acquired Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell from the Chicago Blackhawks. In return the Hawks will recieve a second round pick in 2016 and a third rounder in 2017. The Blackhawks, in cap trouble this year were expected to move or buy-out Bickell who had another $4 million dollars coming to him this season. The Blackhawks immediately regretted giving Bickell his current four-year $16MM dollar deal almost immediately, as the bottom six forward has only recorded 45 points in the first three years.
Teravainen on the other hand is a promising young forward and a tough price to pay to get rid of Bickell’s cap hit. The Finnish winger put up 35 points this season at just 21 and is still on his entry-level contract after being selected in the first round (12th overall) of the 2012 draft. The centre will now join a young group in Carolina and figure into their long-term plans.
The fact that Teravainen didn’t cost a first rounder is a testament to how badly the Hawks needed the cap relief provided by dealing Bickell. With Andrew Shaw‘s status as a restricted free agent this summer, the Blackhawks now at least have some room to try and bring him back. They now have just over $9MM in cap room with 15 forwards under contract.
NHL Releases Full 2016 Entry Draft Order
The NHL released the full draft order on Wednesday evening for the upcoming 2016 Entry Draft, and while they list the full round-by-round picks, we’ll provide a team-by-team breakdown. Here is each team and corresponding overall picks:
Toronto: 1, 30, 31, 57, 62, 72, 92, 101, 122, 152, 179, 182
Winnipeg: 2, 22, 36, 97, 127, 157, 187
Columbus: 3, 34, 65, 155, 185
Edmonton: 4, 32, 63, 84, 91, 123, 149, 153, 183
Vancouver: 5, 64, 140, 154, 184, 194
Calgary: 6, 35, 54, 56, 66, 96, 126, 156, 166, 186
Arizona: 7, 20, 37, 53, 68, 158, 188
Buffalo: 8, 38, 69, 76, 86, 89, 99, 129, 130, 159, 189, 190
Montreal: 9, 39, 45, 70, 100, 124, 160
Colorado: 10, 40, 71, 131, 161, 191
New Jersey: 11, 41, 73, 77, 102, 105, 132, 162, 192
Ottawa: 12, 42, 80, 103, 133, 163, 195
Carolina: 13, 21, 43, 67, 74, 75, 104, 134, 164
Boston: 14, 29, 49, 135, 136, 165
Minnesota: 15, 106, 196, 204
Detroit: 16, 46, 107, 137, 167, 197
Nashville: 17, 47, 78, 108, 138, 168, 198
Philadelphia: 18, 48, 52, 79, 82, 109, 139, 169, 172, 199
NY Islanders: 19, 110, 170, 193, 200
Florida: 23, 33, 94, 114, 174, 175
Anaheim: 24, 85, 93, 115, 205
Dallas: 25, 90, 116, 128, 146, 176
Washington: 26, 117, 145, 147, 177, 207
Tampa Bay: 27, 44, 58, 88, 118, 148, 178, 206, 208
St. Louis: 28, 59, 87, 119, 125, 209, 211
Chicago: 50, 83, 95, 113, 143, 144, 173, 203
Los Angeles: 51, 112, 142, 202
Pittsburgh: 55, 61, 121, 151, 181
NY Rangers: 81, 98, 141, 171, 201
San Jose: 111, 120, 150, 180, 210
Buyout Notes: Cowen, Bruins, Brown
The first window to buyout unwanted contracts begins Wednesday at 4pm CST, and the process has already begun with the Maple Leafs placing defenceman Jared Cowen on waivers early this morning in preparation to buy him out this evening. While Cowen was long-expected to be bought out, there are many others that will see their names bandied about in the coming weeks.
Bryan Bickell, expected to be bought out, was moved to Carolina earlier today along with Teuvo Teravainen for draft picks. Carolina will keep Bickell under contract as they will have trouble hitting the cap floor this season, and need veteran players to fill the bottom two lines. The window is open until June 30th, here are some other tidbits on upcoming buyouts:
- Still on Cowen, Sportsnet’s Luke Fox brings up an interesting point: due to a contract quirk the Maple Leafs will actually get a $650,000 cap credit for the 2016-17 season, while only paying a $750,000 hit in 2017-18. For the Maple Leafs, this credit gives them even more room to take on bad salary this season while they continue to rebuild.
- DJ Bean of WEEI in Boston reports that the Bruins aren’t ruling out using buyouts on multiple players, listing Jimmy Hayes and Dennis Seidenberg as candidates. As of early afternoon on Wednesday, Seidenberg had not been told anything in regards to receiving a buyout.
- The Hockey News noted that if the Los Angeles Kings did decide to use a buyout on Dustin Brown, his cap hit would stay with them until 2027-28, a tough pill to swallow. After losing the captaincy earlier this month, and posting his forth straight year of fewer than 30 points, the former USA Olympian is a tough sell to any team. With six years remaining at $5.875MM, Brown’s self-negotiated contract is one of the biggest anchors in the NHL.
Karl Alzner Undergoes Successful Surgery; Will Be Ready For 2016-17
Early Wednesday morning Washington Capitals’ defenceman Karl Alzner underwent successful sports hernia surgery, according to CaptialsToday.com. The 27-year old Alzner suffered the injury in the Capitals second-round matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is expected to be ready for the start of the season.
This means his current streak of 458 straight regular season games will not come to an end, as some had predicted as the Capitals were jettisoned from the playoffs. Alzner has blossomed into the player Washington hoped to get when they picked him fifth overall in 2007, as a rugged physical defenceman who oozed leadership. The defenceman logged over 21 minutes a night last season helping the Capitals to a President’s Trophy for the leagues top regular season team.
Headed into the last season of a four-year $11.2MM dollar deal, Alzner will be heavily sought after as a steady presence on the back end in 2017. The Capitals would be wise to lock up their iron man sooner than later, as the Burnaby BC native will be among the best options available on the open market.