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Lauri Korpikoski Signs With Dallas Stars

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The Dallas Stars signed forward Lauri Korpikoski to a one-year, $1MM deal. The signing was first rumored by reports from the Dallas Morning New’s Mike Heika. Korpikoski signed a PTO with the Calgary Flames earlier this pre-season, but was released yesterday to pursue other professional opportunities.

Korpikoski spent most of his NHL career with the Arizona Coyotes, scoring 78G and 103A in 540 NHL games. Last season he played with the Edmonton Oilers where he racked up 10G and 12A in 71 games. It was a disappointing campaign for the speedy winger and former first round draft pick.

Dallas has just under $5MM in cap space after signing Korpikoski, and will probably fit him in on third-line duties with the potential to jump up in case of injury. He’s a speedy forward brought in to a speedy team, and could provide valuable depth for an aging top-6 forward corps. Jason Spezza, Jiri Hudler, Ales Hemsky, and Patrick Sharp are all over 32 years old and would be expected to miss games for various ailments. The Stars are already feeling the injury crunch from the World Cup of Hockey as Hemsky is nursing a groin injury and Tyler Seguin recovers from a hairline fracture in his heel.

 

2016-17 Season Preview: Philadelphia Flyers

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With just days remaining before the NHL gets back to playing meaningful games, Pro Hockey Rumors is starting to wrap up their Season Preview series. This evening we move on to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Last Season: 41 – 27 – 14, 96 points, fifth in the Metro. Lost to Washington in round one of the playoffs.

Cap Space: $40.834K (According to Cap Friendly)

Key Additions: RW Dale Weise (free agent – Chicago); C Boyd Gordon (free agent – Arizona); Roman Lyubimov (free agent – KHL)

Key Departures: C Sam Gagner (free agent – Columbus); C Ryan White (free agent – Arizona); D Evgeny Medvedev (free agent – KHL); C R.J. Umberger (buyout – unsigned)

[Related: Flyers Depth Chart]

Players to Watch: Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth. Philadelphia should be just fine up front with Claude Giroux (67 points), Jakub Voracek (55 points), Brayden Schenn (26 goals, 59 points) and Wayne Simmonds (32 goals, 60 points) leading the way offensively. The Flyers boast a tremendous crop of young blue liners led by Shayne Gostisbehere, who is set to be joined this season by 19-year-old Ivan Provorov. Not far behind is Robert Hagg and Samuel Morin. The key for the Flyers will be to once again get quality goaltending out of Mason and Neuvirth.

Last season when the Flyers surprised some by making the postseason, Mason and Neuvirth combined to stop 91.7% of shots against which was good enough to tie them with two other teams for fifth best in the NHL. The Flyers also allowed 2.56 goals-per-game, a rate bested by 11 clubs in the league. The goaltending was indeed good last season and it was a big reason why the Flyers made it to the playoffs.

The questions is: can they again be that good or better? Since joining Philadelphia, Mason, a former Calder Trophy winner, has stopped 92.2% of the shots he has faced. But that rate is inflated by a 92.8 save percentage in 2014-15. If we remove that season, Mason has a 91.9% save percentage with the Flyers, which is still a solid number.

The bigger question is Neuvirth, who prior to 2015-16 had never recorded a save percentage better than 91.4% in any season in which he appeared in more than 13 games. Over the last three seasons, Mason has started 161 games for the Flyers, which means in all probability Neuvirth will get close to 30 starts. The Flyers need Neuvirth to be at least league-average in those starts to give them a good chance to contend in the highly competitive Metro Division.

Key Storylines: Can the Flyers take the next step? They improved by 12 points over their 2014-15 season total and while it’s not likely they’ll experience another double-figure leap in points, the next step in their progression is passing some of the teams that finished above them . This past season the Flyers finished 8th in the conference, grabbing the second wild card spot and a guaranteed reservation with the regular season’s best team, the Washington Capitals, in the playoffs. Earning a higher playoff seed and a playoff series win would constitute a successful campaign.

It wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world if the Flyers took a marginal step back. They still have a ton of young talent getting closer to the NHL and with Mark Streit ($5.25MM AAV) and Michael Del Zotto ($3.875MM AAV) both set for free agency, the Flyers might have a little bit of money to spend next summer, assuming they rely on prospects to fill those openings. Then again, Gostisbehere is likely going to eat up much of that available cash on his next deal, presuming he has another productive campaign in 2016-17.

GM Ron Hextall and head coach Dave Hakstol have the Flyers on the right track. Hextall has extricated the club from some, not all, but some of their onerous contractual obligations. At the same time the franchise has added a lot of young talent to the organization that will begin to bear fruit as soon as this season.

Week In Review: 10/3/16 – 10/9/16

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It’s officially the last week of the offseason with the first games of the new regular season slated for Wednesday. Obviously roster pare downs dominated the headlines this week but there were a few other transactions of note as well as a handful of injuries that might prompt teams to see what’s available on the open market. Without further ado, here is the roundup of this week’s top hockey stories.

Key Free Agent Signings:

  • Kris Russell – Edmonton (one year, $3.1MM): It’s probably not the lucrative deal Russell was looking for at the outset of free agency but the veteran shot-blocker finally did secure a contract for 2016-17. Perhaps with a solid performance for the Oil, Russell will be in better position to pursue a multi-year pact next summer.
  • Tobias Rieder – Arizona (two years, $4.45MM): It looks like the Coyotes got the player at the price they wanted. It had been reported that Rieder was looking for $5MM over two years while the club was offering $4.4MM. Clearly the 23-year-old forward gave more than he got, presumably because he wanted to get back on the ice.
  • Jakub Nakladal – Carolina (one year, $600K): It will be interesting to see how the 28-year-old Nakladal fits with the Hurricanes current crop of talented blue liners. Not including Nakladal, Carolina has seven NHL-caliber defensemen on the roster, only one of whom is older than 24.

Added on Waivers:

  • Martin Frk – Carolina: Carolina wasn’t the only team that put a claim in on Frk but the Hurricanes were awarded the young Czech RW. He potted 27 goals for Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids in 2015-16 and it was mildly surprising to see the Wings risk losing him by placing him on waivers but clearly they felt the roster spot was best committed elsewhere.

Trades: 

Injury Report:

  • Jonathan Huberdeau is expected to miss 3 – 4 months with what is being called a lower-body-injury. It will be interesting to see if Panthers management looks outside the organization in an attempt to fill the void as Huberdeau was the team’s top scorer on the LW. The team does have around $10MM in cap space if they did choose to go that route.
  • Nick Bjugstad will be out for four weeks due to a broken hand. The Panthers third-line pivot tallied 34 points in 67 games last season.
  • Michael Del Zotto is set to miss the next 4 – 5 weeks with the dreaded lower-body-injury.
  • Again with the lower-body-injury, the Flyers will also be without C Scott Laughton for three to our weeks.
  • Devils defenseman Jon Merrill is out four weeks with a broken index finger.
  • Penalty-killing specialist Matt Hendricks will miss significant time, once more due to a lower-body-injury. Oilers head coach Todd McLellan indicated it would be “weeks” before Hendricks would be able to return.

Retirements:

  • Defenseman Barret Jackman called it quits after a solid, 14-year NHL career. Jackman was originally chosen in the first-round by St. Louis back in 1999 and played all but one season with the Blues before finishing up in Nashville. He wraps up his career with 186 points more than 1,100 penalty minutes in 876 regular season contests.
  • Dan Boyle announced his retirement following 17 seasons in the NHL. Boyle, one of the league’s top offensive blue liners throughout much of his career, recorded at least 39 points eight out of nine seasons from 2002-03 through 2011-12. He would score more than 600 regular season points in nearly 1,100 NHL games. Boyle was a member of the 2003-04 Stanley Cup champion Tampa Lightning and also spent time with Florida and San Jose before wrapping up his career playing two seasons with the New York Rangers.

 

 

Wild Release Ryan Carter From PTO; Career In Jeopardy

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The Minnesota Wild released veteran forward Ryan Carter from his PTO agreement but as Mike Russo of the Star Tribune writes, that may not be the worst of it for the rugged winger. Carter told Russo that he intends to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and that the procedure could actually end his playing career. Even though the 33-year-old realizes his days as an NHL player could well be over, Carter feels the surgery gives him the best chance to resume playing given the style he employs.

“The timing of it isn’t great for myself or my career, but you’ve got to be healthy to play, at least I do at my age and the way I’ve got to play. There’s legitimate concern that this could be the end. Being a realist, I’m 33 years old and went into camp on a PTO. It’s a five-month rehab. It’ll be difficult to play my way back to the NHL on short notice after really eight or nine months off.”

Wild GM Chuck Fletcher didn’t shut the door completely on a possible reunion later in the season, once Carter’s rehab is complete. The real deadline for Carter if he were to return this season is March 1st, when players have to be on a roster to be eligible to play in the postseason.

Evidently, the labrum tear wasn’t picked up on an MRI conducted at the end of the 2015-16 campaign but as the summer wore on, Carter knew the injury was worse than the rotator cuff problem he experienced last season. He avoided another MRI knowing that if an injury was detected it would effectively derail any chance he had of earning an NHL job. Eventually he gave in to reality when the injury began causing problems for him on the ice.

“The pain wasn’t the bad part. I started to lose my strength and my ability to win battles. What ended up happening, I popped out a rib because I kept trying to protect my shoulder all the time. I couldn’t breathe anymore.”

Carter, a Minnesota native, spent the past two seasons with the Wild, scoring 10 goals and 15 assists in 113 games. In addition to his time with the Wild, Carter has suited up for Anaheim, Florida, Carolina and New Jersey. For his career, he’s netted 41 goals and 93 points in 473 NHL games.

Friedman’s Latest: RFAs, Yakupov, Datsyuk

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman published his weekly 30 Thoughts column today and devoted a significant portion to the big name RFAs who remain unsigned. His first note was on Nikita Kucherov, whose agent – Scott Greenspun – Friedman believes has met with at least one club on the subject of an offer sheet. Due to Tampa’s precarious cap situation, both in the short and long term, the Lightning would be vulnerable to an offer sheet, particularly this close to the start of the regular season when all teams must be in cap compliance. The Lightning have roughly $5.5MM in available cap space but Kucherov may well be able to land significantly more than that from another club. GMs tend to steer clear of offer sheets for fear of angering their colleagues but Kucherov’s talent and track record might eventually prove too tempting for one manager to resist.

The full column is always worth the read but here are a few more key points from Friedman:

  • With regards to Johnny Gaudreau, Friedman believes there has been progress made since the two sides met earlier this week. He also notes that negotiations could again reach a stalemate if and when the two sides have moved far enough. The key, Friedman says, is how many unrestricted free agent years the Flames will be buying out, suggesting the longer the term, the higher the AAV. Gaudreau has five years remaining before reaching free agency meaning a max, eight-year term would buy out three free agent seasons.
  • There may be as many as six teams with serious interest in trading for Winnipeg Jets RFA defenseman Jacob Trouba. The scribe lists Buffalo, N.Y. Rangers, Detroit, Colorado, Boston and Arizona as the clubs looking at making a deal for the talented young blue liner. Of course given Winnipeg’s believed asking price – a left defenseman of similar ability and age – it’s difficult to fathom any of the aforementioned clubs being a match. Evidently that thought has also occurred to the Jets and that has prompted interested suitors to try to engage a third team to help meet Winnipeg’s demands. One obvious team that could facilitate a trade would be Anaheim as Friedman notes. The Ducks still have Hampus Lindholm to come to terms with and recently sent both Brandon Montour and Shea Theodore – two of the team’s top blue line prospects – to San Diego in the AHL. They certainly have the depth to meet Winnipeg’s needs.
  • Apparently the Jets also asked Trouba’s camp to provide the numbers it would take to convince the 22-year-old to re-up in Winnipeg but they were told as long as the situation on the right side of the team’s defense remained the same that re-signing “wasn’t going to happen.”
  • Friedman wonders whether the St. Louis Blues will employ the newly acquired Nail Yakupov as a power play specialist and if so, would they play him with two right-shooting forwards. He notes that Yakupov’s man-advantage shooting percentage with Edmonton was 14.8% when on the ice with at least two right-handed forwards and just 7.1% otherwise. The problem with the theory is that the Blues list just three forwards who fire the puck from the starboard side and of those, just David Perron is likely to see much power play time. St. Louis does have four right-handed blue liners so the coaching staff could get creative if they have in fact given any thought to Friedman’s suggestion.
  • When the Arizona Coyotes agreed to take on the final year of Pavel Datsyuk’s contract from Detroit, it was thought their primary motivation was moving up in the 2016 draft four slots to secure the rights to talented young blue liner Jakob Chychrun. Secondarily, Datsyuk’s $7.5MM cap charge would help the team exceed the cap floor. However, Friedman reports that first-year GM John Chayka had something else entirely in mind. With Datsyuk already committed to signing in the KHL, Chayka tried to convince St. Petersburg to allow the Coyotes to speak with two of their players, Yevgeni Dadonov (perhaps misidentified in Friedman’s post as Evgeny Davydov) and Vadim Shipachyov, in exchange for releasing Datsyuk’s rights. Obviously it didn’t work out for Chayka but it shows his willingness to look at outside-the-box for ways to upgrade his roster.

2016-17 Season Preview: Washington Capitals

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As the NHL season is now just days away, we continue our look at each team’s offseason and preview the upcoming year.  Next up is the Washington Capitals.

Last Season: 56-18-8 record (120 points), 1st in the Metropolitan Division and Presidents Trophy winners for the most points in the NHL.  Defeated Philadelphia 4-2 in Round 1.  Lost to Pittsburgh 4-2 in Round 2.

Remaining Cap Space: $1.45MM as per Cap Friendly

Key Newcomers: RW Brett Connolly (free agency, Boston), C Lars Eller (trade, Montreal)

Key Departures: LW Jason Chimera (free agency, NY Islanders), C/RW Michael Latta (free agency, Los Angeles), C Mike Richards (free agency, unsigned), D Ryan Stanton (free agency, Colorado), D Mike Weber (free agency – unsigned)

[Related: Capitals Depth Chart from Roster Resource]

Players to Watch: LW Andre Burakovsky – The 21 year old had a productive sophomore season despite not getting a lot of playing time (17 goals and 21 assists in 79 games while logging just 13:01 per night).  There is potentially a top six spot up for grabs depending on what the plans are for Marcus Johansson and it’s likely that Burakovsky will get a look in that role at some point.  If the 2013 first round pick can continue his progression, he’ll have a shot at making an already potent lineup that much deeper.

D Dmitry Orlov – Orlov was rumored to be seeking a long-term deal this offseason after an improved 2015-16 campaign.  However, he had to settle for a one year, $2.57MM pact late last month instead.  He has shown glimpses of becoming an impact blueliner in the past but consistency and injuries have held him back.  At age 25, this is Orlov’s chance to prove he can be part of the core moving forward and earn the big term, big money contract he has been coveting.

Key Storyline: After leading the league in points last season, it’s all about getting over the playoff hurdle.  The team has made the postseason in eight of the last nine years but has failed to advance past the second round in any of those.  Despite routinely being one of the higher scoring teams in the league, the Caps have struggled to score consistently when the playoffs get underway; Braden Holtby’s elite level goaltending hasn’t been enough to carry them to victory on his own.

The core of the team is unchanged from last year and has been together for a while now.  As long as they stay healthy, they should pretty much be a lock for the postseason so the main question will be how do they get over the hump this time?  In particular, what can they do differently to avoid the repeat struggles of recent years?  Will this core get another kick at the can or will GM Brian MacLellan change it up between now and the trade deadline in early March?  The measure of success in Washington this season will be determined by their play in May (and possibly June) meaning that it will be quite a while before their key storyline this season gets to play itself out.

Poll: 2005 NHL Draft Take Two: Tenth Overall Pick

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Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2005 NHL Draft, which kicked off the salary cap era and ushered in many of the current NHL superstars. The question we’re looking to answer is knowing now what we didn’t know then, how different would this draft look now with the benefit of hindsight?

Here are the results of our redraft so far:

1st Overall: Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins)
2nd Overall: Carey Price (Mighty Ducks of Anaheim)
3rd Overall: Anze Kopitar (Carolina Hurricanes)
4th Overall: Jonathan Quick (Minnesota Wild)
5th Overall: Kris Letang (Montreal Canadiens)
6th Overall: Tuukka Rask (Columbus Blue Jackets)
7th Overall: Bobby Ryan (Chicago Blackhawks)
8th Overall: Marc-Edouard Vlasic (San Jose Sharks)
9th Overall: Ben Bishop (Ottawa Senators)

Now we move forward to the tenth pick, which was held by the Vancouver Canucks.

To recap how this works:

  • We will go through the 2005 NHL Draft and have our readers select, through a voting process, who they think should have been taken with the selection.
  • The entire first round will be redrafted, spanning picks one through thirty. The new selection is chosen by the majority of votes.

Back in 2005, the Canucks selected defenseman Luc Bourdon.  He made his NHL debut just one year later, getting into nine games before going back to junior and it appeared he was ready to become a regular a few years later after he split 2007-08 between the AHL and NHL.  Tragically, he was killed the following offseason after his motorcycle collided with a tractor trailer.

With the tenth pick of the 2005 NHL Draft, who should the Vancouver Canucks select? Cast your vote below!

Mobile users, click here to vote.

Atlantic Notes: MacKenzie, Red Wings, Alexandrov

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The Florida Panthers have named Derek MacKenzie as their new team captain, the team announced today.  He becomes the ninth different captain in franchise history.

MacKenzie has spent the last two seasons with the Panthers, primarily in a fourth line/penalty killing role.  Last year, the 35 year old played in 64 games, recording seven goals and six assists.  In 453 games between Atlanta, Columbus, and Florida, he has 42 goals and 53 helpers.

This offseason, MacKenzie inked a two year extension that locked him up through the 2018-19 season.  The deal will pay him an average of $1.35MM per year, a small raise over the $1.3MM he’s set to earn this season.

It was widely anticipated that 2014 top pick Aaron Ekblad was going to receive the captaincy but instead he will be one of the alternate captains along with veteran forward Jussi Jokinen.  Presumably, this was done to allow Ekblad to ease into a leadership role instead of putting the extra pressure on him at just 20 years of age.

Only two teams are without full-time captains for the upcoming season, Carolina and Toronto.

Other news and notes from the Atlantic Division:

  • The Detroit Red Wings have placed four players on injured reserve to start the season, notes MLive’s Brendan Savage. Most notably among them is right winger Tomas Jurco, who played in 44 games with the team last year and would likely have been in a depth role at the start of the season.  Also placed on IR were center Tomas Nosek and defensemen Vili Saarijarvi and Dan Renouf.  Earlier in the week, head coach Jeff Blashill told George Sipple of the Detroit Free Press that the team is expected to carry eight blueliners to start the season, in part due to the uncertainty surrounding Niklas Kronwall’s availability for opening night.
  • Before cutting him earlier this month, the Montreal Canadiens offered defenseman Yuri Alexandrov a one year, two-way contract, Slava Malamud reports in a column for the Journal de Montreal (link in French). The 28 year old has spent the last five years in the KHL and decided to return there over signing with Montreal and starting the season in the AHL.  Alexandrov has already expressed a desire to make another run at an NHL spot next year.  It would appear that the Canadiens’ acquisition of Jonathan Racine from Florida on Saturday fills the spot that they had intended to give Alexandrov.

Training Camp Cuts: 10/9/16

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With the opening roster deadline now barely 48 hours away, teams will be making their final cuts in the near future.  Here are today’s cuts:

Arizona Coyotes (via Bob McKenzie):
RW Stefan Fournier (on waivers for purposes of AHL assignment)
G Justin Peters (on waivers for purposes of AHL assignment)

Calgary Flames (via team Twitter):
LW Lauri Korpikoski (released from PTO)

(Per The Fan960’s Pat Steinberg, head coach Glen Gulutzan noted that Korpikoski was released to pursue an opportunity with another team.)

Chicago Blackhawks (via team release):
D Dillon Fournier (assigned to Rockford, AHL)
D Ville Pokka (assigned to Rockford, AHL)
D Viktor Svedberg (assigned to Rockford, AHL)

Dallas Stars (via team Twitter):
RW Justin Fontaine (released from PTO)
D Julius Honka (assigned to Texas, AHL)
C Gemel Smith (assigned to Texas, AHL)

Read more

Jonathan Huberdeau Out 3-4 Months

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October 9: Huberdeau will miss 3-4 months with a lower body injury, reports Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel.

October 8: A Panthers-themed day continues, but in the worst way for Florida fans. Star winger Jonathan Huberdeau suffered a leg injury in a scuffle along the boards early in tonight’s preseason match-up against the New Jersey Devils. Huberdeau could put no weight on his leg, and had to be helped off the ice and into the locker room.

Examining what occurred, it looked as if the skate of Devils forward Sergey Kalinin came down on Huberdeau’s left ankle. The way he reacted when he first re-planted his leg could indicate, in a worst-case-scenario, a torn or injured Achilles tendon. Such an injury would be devastating for the Panthers, as it is a long road to recovery when there is damage to the Achilles. The best-case-scenario still seems bleak, as any injury that leaves a player unable to get himself off the ice usually leads to an extended absence.

With top center Nick Bjugstad already out for the first month of the season with a broken hand, the injury to first-line left winger Huberdeau would leave the Panthers seriously short-handed to start the 2016-17 season. The left side on offense already stands as Florida’s weakest position, and without 50-plus-point man Huberdeau, they could have a tough time reaching the high ceiling many have set for them in this upcoming year.

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