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Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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After a disappointing first round exit that cost head coach Bruce Boudreau his job, the Anaheim Ducks will be looking to get back to Stanley Cup contention in 2016-17, and take the division crown for the fifth consecutive season.  While their ’big-3’ up front, Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler, are locked up long term, the team has quite a few young players looking for raises as they hit restricted free agency. Here’s a look at their upcoming offseason:

Key Restricted Free Agent: D Hampus Lindholm – While you could pick from a handful of names for the Ducks’ key RFA this summer, Lindholm represents the most important out of all of them. After being selected 6th overall by Anaheim in the 2012 draft, Lindholm has continued to improve on his defensive ability, reaching all new heights this season.  While his usual excellent +/- numbers dipped slightly due to playing against tougher competition, he logged 22 minutes a night leading one of the youngest and most effective blue lines in the league.

His possession metrics are unbelievable, coming fourth in the league in CF% (a measure of puck possession based on shots for and against) only behind the excellent Los Angeles group. Lindholm improved the possession numbers of every single teammate he played with, providing Lidstrom-like efficiency on the back end. While he may never put up Karlsson or Burns type offensive numbers, his value is certainly felt by his teammates and front office.

Coming off his entry level contract and still only 22, Lindholm could get a long-term extension similar to the one Morgan Rielly received last month from Toronto. The Maple Leaf defender signed a six-year $30MM dollar deal to stay in Toronto, giving away two of his UFA years to lock in the higher value now.

Other RFAs: G Frederik Andersen, D Sami Vatanen, C Rickard Rakell, W Brandon Pirri

Key Unrestricted Free Agent: LW Jamie McGinn – When the Ducks acquired Jamie McGinn from the Sabres in late February of this year, they thought they were getting a nice two-way player who could chip in a few goals for them down the stretch.  What they got was 8 goals and 12 points in 21 games, landing him career highs in both categories and putting him back in the valued 20-goal club.

As he hits free agency this year he arrives with the fifth most goals available on the open market, ahead of players expected to get big deals like David Backes and Milan Lucic. While his point totals aren’t as high, his relative youth – McGinn won’t turn 28 until August 5th – and solid goal scoring ability should land him a multi-year deal somewhere.  Whether the Ducks can give him that isn’t quite clear.

With Lindholm, Andersen, Vatanen and Rakell all needing deals, the Ducks may just let McGinn walk away if he gets too pricey. After earning $2.95MM over the last two seasons he’ll be looking for a deal close to $4MM for at least three seasons.

Other UFAs: W David Perron, W Chris Stewart, C Shawn Horcoff, C Mike Santorelli, D Korbinian Holzer,

Projected Cap Space: $18.1MM, 15 players under contract.

The Ducks have a fair bit to worry about over the next year, as they are at risk of losing one of their good young defencemen in next year’s expansion draft. With Kevin Bieksa requiring protection due to his NMC, three of Lindholm, Vatanen, Cam Fowler, Josh Manson and Simon Despres will be left exposed as it currently stands. While there is no clear way to get around this without crippling your blueline, the team may choose to deal the more valuable pieces before the draft next season. For now, their focus will be on getting them under contract.

Free Agent Focus: Dallas Stars

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After a season that saw the Dallas Stars lead the Western Conference with 109 points, and be one of only two teams to record 50 wins, they have a long offseason in front of them if they’re to keep the strong core in tact. On the backs of superstars Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, they easily led the NHL in goals, hitting the twine 267 times in 2015-16. Here is a look at their upcoming offseason:

Key Restricted Free Agent: RW Valeri Nichushkin – Unfortunately for the Stars, it’s not the restricted free agents that are going to cause them headaches this summer it’s the eight UFAs they’ll see leave them. They do, however have one very important RFA in Valeri Nichushkin, the Russian powerhouse selected in the first round (10th overall) of the 2013 entry draft.

After putting up 14 goals and 34 points as an 18-year old after being drafted, the winger missed almost all of 2014-15 with a hip injury that needed corrective surgery.  This season the now 21-year old was back on a strong development path, putting up 29 points coming off injury. His 6’4″, 205 pound frame is a scout’s dream when it comes with at least average skating ability, and Nichushkin has shown he can keep up in the NHL. While the idea of him hitting the ice alongside Benn and Seguin might still be another year away, he played well when paired with Jason Spezza this season, and will look to continue his development into a top-flight power forward in the league.

Other RFAs: Jamie Oleksiak

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: D Alex Goligoski, D Jason Demers, D Kris Russell – Somehow the Stars have three excellent defenders 30 or under hitting free agency this offseason, and are expected to lose at least two of them if not all three.  They still have John Klingberg and Johnny Oduya under contract for next season at $4.25MM and $3.75MM respectively, but might not be able to keep up with the bidding war that the trio will command.  Other than Keith Yandle in New York, these three represent the best young defense options on the market this summer.

With Jamie Benn set to become a UFA in 2017, the Stars will be trying to keep some room under the cap to extend him long-term. He’ll be looking to jump from his current $5.25MM salary to somewhere around $10MM, and with Patrick Sharp and Ales Hemsky becoming UFAs at the same time, the Stars might not have the room to commit long term to more than one of the d-men.

Other UFAs: Vernon Fiddler, Patrick Eaves, Jordie Benn, Colton Sceviour, Travis Moen

Projected Cap Space: $13.75MM, 16 players under contract.

Overall, the Stars have a little bit of money to play with but have to be very careful where they put it, as the mentioned names are coming up next season.  With Jason Spezza earning $7.5MM a season over the next three years, the team will have over $20 million locked into three players if they indeed extend Benn. With the cap looking like it will hold steady for at least a couple of seasons, putting almost a third of your budget in three players is a risky proposition – just ask the Chicago Blackhawks who had to give up Teuvo Teravainen earlier today because of their cap mismanagement.

Anaheim Officially Names Randy Carlyle Head Coach

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TUESDAY 11:32 AM CST: Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Carlyle will be keeping assistants Paul MacLean and Trent Yawney on with him in Anaheim.

11:17 AM CST: The Ducks have officially announced the hiring.

Late Monday night, word broke that the Anaheim Ducks are set to name Randy Carlyle as their new head coach.  ESPN’s John Buccigross was first with the report while TSN’s Darren Dreger added that the hiring should made official on Tuesday.

The hiring comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the Ducks fired Carlyle as their bench boss in the 2011-12 season.  They replaced him with Bruce Boudreau and now, have replaced Boudreau (who since has joined the Minnesota Wild as their new head coach) with Carlyle.

The 60 year old Carlyle last coached in the 2014-15 campaign with the Toronto Maple Leafs where he spent parts of four seasons with the team.  While there, he led Toronto to their only playoff berth in the past ten years back in 2012-13 where they lost to Boston in the first round.

Carlyle had previously been with Anaheim from 2005 up until his firing in 2011.  His teams posted a winning record in every season but his last one and won nine playoff series including a Stanley Cup victory in 2007.  Overall, his record behind the Ducks’ bench is 317-208-71.

Still, the decision has caught many by surprise as several key Anaheim veterans had reportedly grown to be frustrated with Carlyle’s coaching style and some of those players are still there.  There are also those that are of the mindset that his system is a bit outdated for the more modern NHL.

However, GM Bob Murray appears to be looking for less of a player-friendly coach after Boudreau and is certainly familiar with Carlyle having been with Anaheim during his first stint as coach.

Re-hirings don’t happen too often in the NHL (Michel Therrien in Montreal and Paul Maurice years ago in Carolina are somewhat recent exceptions) so it will certainly be interesting to see how Carlyle’s second go-around with the Ducks plays out.

Maple Leafs Place Jared Cowen On Waivers; Will Buyout

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According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, the Toronto Maple Leafs have placed struggling blueliner Jared Cowen on waivers before buying out his contract.  The 25-year old defenceman came to the Leafs in the Dion Phaneuf trade with the Senators this past season, and never was in the long-term plans. Cowen never suited up as a Leaf, hitting LTIR immediately after the deal.  His $3.1MM cap-hit will be eaten by the Maple Leafs in order to keep their flexibility this offseason.

After being selected 9th overall by the Senators in the 2009 entry draft, Cowen has been an underwhelming performer thus far in his career. Never expected to be an offensive force, the Saskatoon native relied on his size and physical play to be an effective player. With his footspeed declining over recent years, he was too often found out of position and unable to catch up in the NHL game. The Senators sold-low on the former top pick after years of waiting on any potential to show itself.

The Leafs, uninterested in the lumbering defenceman, put him on waivers in February, and told him to go home and wait out the season. Cowen was understandably upset with this, still believing he has more to offer as an NHL regular.  He’ll probably get looks around the league because of his first round pedigree and relative youth, with a rebuilding club hoping he can find some of that magic he showed as a lock down defender for the Spokane Chiefs years ago.

Glen Gulutzan Hired As Flames Next Head Coach

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Wednesday 10:35am: The Flames have indeed hired Gulutzan as their next head coach, as CTV’s Heath Brown reports. He’ll be announced as soon as Thursday.

Tuesday 10:46am: It appears the Calgary Flames have found their new bench boss as multiple reports suggest they are set to hire Glen Gulutzan as their 16th head coach in franchise history.  He would take over from Bob Hartley who was relieved of his duties in early May.  Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province says to “bet on it” that Gulutzan will get the job while TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested earlier today that if the Flames can reach a “satisfactory contract situation” with him that he’s the “likely guy” (transcription from Today’s Slapshot’s Chris Nichols).

Gulutzan has spent the past three years as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks working on the staffs of John Tortorella and Willie Desjardins.  The Canucks only made the postseason once in those three seasons, coincidentally losing to Calgary back in 2014-15.

The 44 year old Gulutzan has some NHL head coaching experience under his belt having coached the Dallas Stars in 2011-12 and the lockout-abbreviated 2012-13 seasons, compiling a 64-57-9 record in that stretch.

With Calgary featuring young, up-and-coming players such as Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Sam Bennett, it was expected that GM Brad Treliving would look to bring in someone who is more experienced with dealing with younger players and isn’t as much as a hard-line coach as Hartley.  Gulutzan fills that bill, having spent five years in the ECHL with Las Vegas (at one point, an affiliate of the Flames) and two years in the AHL as a head coach with the Texas Stars, affiliate of Dallas.

With Anaheim’s hiring of Randy Carlyle, Calgary’s vacancy is the last one to be filled this offseason.

Ian McCoshen Signs Deal With Panthers

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UPDATE 10:27 AM CST:  Jimmy Murphy of VICE Sports confirmed that McCoshen has reached a deal is on his way to Florida.  He adds that they are trying hard to re-sign Brian Campbell and bring him back to the Panthers.

10:11 AM CST: According to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE.com, the Florida Panthers are close to signing Boston College defenceman Ian McCoshen. There have been rumors of McCoshen making the jump to the NHL for a while now, after another strong season for the Eagles in which he put up 21 points in 40 games.  The 20-year old was drafted by the Panthers in 2013, but took his talents to the NCAA to play for the storied BC program.

If McCoshen does indeed make the jump, he’ll be a welcome addition to a back-end that is set to lose Brian Campbell to free agency and has already traded away Erik Gudbranson.  There is also the possibility that 39-year old captain Willie Mitchell calls it a career, which would leave quite the hole on Florida’s blue line. Currently they have Aaron Ekblad, Alex Petrovic, Jakub Kindle and Dimitry Kulikov penciled into their top four, but McCoshen’s left-handed shot and strong physical play would slot in well on the third pairing.

For Florida, it would be the first move of an offseason aimed at keeping their foothold on the top of the Atlantic division, where they won 47 games and tallied 103 points in what was a surprising season.

Riley Sheahan Inks Two-Year Extension

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According to Ansar Khan of MLive.com, the Detroit Red Wings have given Riley Sheahan a two-year extension worth $4.15MM.  The 24-year old winger was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, after completing a two year deal signed before the 2014-15 season that saw him earn $1.9MM.

After a season in which Sheahan scored 14 goals and tallied 25 points, the former first-round pick looks to have a lock on a bottom six role on Jeff Blashill’s Red Wings. Those 14 goals actually ranked him sixth on the team, and with Brad Richards, Darren Helm, and Pavel Datsyuk all expected to leave this offseason, the Red Wings can’t afford to have a drawn out negotiation with some of their home grown talent. Sheahan put up just a single point in the Red Wings first round exit this season, and will need to continue to develop his offensive game if he’s to ever climb up the Detroit depth chart.

The Red Wings will now turn their attention to remaining RFAs Danny DeKeyser, Teemu Pulkkinen and Petr Mrazek. The 24-year old Mrazek is the most important of the three after putting up a solid season as the Red Wings number 1 goaltender. With Jimmy Howard already under contract for just under $5.3 million per season, the Wings will look to sign Mrazek to a similar low-numbered bridge deal for the next couple of seasons.

DeKeyser played a big role on the Red Wings’ back end, logging almost 22 minutes of ice time per game.  His 20 points was a disappointing total for the 26-year old, but he’s set to get a substantial raise from the $2.9 million he earned last season. With Kyle Quincey coming off the books this season, the Red Wings will probably re-invest in DeKeyser who will be looking at around $4 million per season.

Former Canucks Goalie Cloutier Hired As Team’s Goaltending Coach

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The Vancouver Canucks have hired former goalie Dan Cloutier as their new goaltending coach, the team announced Tuesday.

According to the release, former goaltending coach Roland “Rollie” Melanson will now work with the Canucks goaltending prospects in the AHL, CHL, and NCAA. He was the Canucks goaltending coach for the last six seasons, working with Roberto Luongo, Cory Schneider, Eddie Lack, Jacob Markstrom, and Ryan Miller. In April, Melanson announced he would not return for a seventh season in that capacity.

Cloutier has spent the previous four seasons as a goaltending consultant for the Canucks, working with their prospects. He played 208 games with the Canucks between 2000 and 2006, posting 109 wins with a .906SV% and 2.42 GAA.

Of course, we all remember Cloutier for one specific moment of his career:

Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues

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While the St. Louis Blues were able to advance to the Western Conference Final, they still fell short of getting to the Stanley Cup Final, instead falling to San Jose in the third round.  Now, they will retool their roster in an effort to take that next step.

One area they have already made some considerable changes in is behind the bench.  Assistant coaches Kirk Muller and Brad Shaw opted to decline one year extension offers; Muller has already signed a multi-year deal in Montreal.  Yesterday, the Blues replaced them with Mike Yeo and Rick Wilson.  With head coach Ken Hitchcock set to retire following 2016-17, Yeo will take his place as the bench boss at that time.

As for their player personnel, here is a closer look at their free agent outlook.

Key Restricted Free Agent: W Jaden Schwartz – Big things were expected of Schwartz this past season but missed nearly four months with an ankle injury that held him to just 33 regular season games.  He managed to put up 22 points but that was still off his point-per-game average of 0.84 from 2014-15.  Schwartz was a bigger factor in the Blues’ playoff run, tying for third in team scoring with 14 points in 20 games.  He’s coming off his bridge deal and is due a qualifying offer of $2.7MM.  It’s expected that GM Doug Armstrong will be seeking a long-term deal to keep him in the fold.

Other NHL RFA’s: W Dmitrij Jaskin, W Magnus Paajarvi

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: Team captain David Backes has been one of St. Louis’ more consistent producers over the last few seasons, scoring at least 20 goals in each of the last five full NHL campaigns while tying Schwartz for third in postseason points.  He’s also one of the rare ‘power centers’ in the NHL and is going to get a long-term, big money contract.

Troy Brouwer was acquired last offseason to bring more grit to the lineup and he delivered not only that but some secondary scoring as well, picking up 39 points in 82 regular season games while adding eight goals in the playoffs, good for second best on the team.  Power forwards are always in high demand on the market and Brouwer will be no exception.

Other NHL UFA’s: C Kyle Brodziak, C Steve Ott, W Scottie Upshall

One other player to watch for this offseason is C Vladimir Sobotka.  He was awarded a $2.725MM salary in 2014 from an arbitrator but opted to play in the KHL instead.  Sobotka is reportedly considering coming back across the pond to rejoin the Blues and if he does, will receive the salary he was awarded two years ago; he must play out that contract before being eligible for unrestricted free agency.

Projected Cap Space: St. Louis has just over $12MM in cap space according to Cap Friendly.  However, they still have a minimum of five forwards to get under contract which will make it difficult to retain Backes or Brouwer without freeing up some salary via trade beforehand.

Free Agent Focus: Nashville Predators

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The 2015-2016 Nashville Predators advanced to the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs for only the third time in franchise history before losing to the San Jose Sharks in seven games. Nashville comes into this offseason with ample cap room and only one major expiring contract.

Cap Space: $11,511,190 (according to CapFriendly)

Key UFAs: F Paul Gaustad and G Carter Hutton. Gaustad’s tenure on the Predators has been relatively quiet. The 34 year old center has failed to crack 20 points in his last two seasons, but excelled in the faceoff circle. His 55.3% face-off percentage was good for 18th in the league. Carter Hutton served as Pekke Rinne’s backup last season, going 7-5 with a .918 SV% and a 2.33 GAA. As we reported earlier, however, Nashville signed G Marek Mazanec to a two year deal. GM David Poile indicated that the move may have left Hutton as the odd man out.

Key RFAs: F Filip Forsberg. Forsberg led all Predators forwards this season with 33G and 64P. The former 1st round draft pick was traded to Nashville by the Washington Capitals for Martin Erat, who themselves acquired the pick from Colorado for Semyon Varlamov. Forsberg is coming off an entry-level deal, and the Predators are in talks with his camp to sign him to a long term extension.

Other RFAs: F Calle Jarnkrok, F Gabriel Bourque, D Petter Granberg.

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