Canadiens Training Camp Cuts 10/02/16
The Montreal Canadiens continued paring down their roster this morning, cutting more players before tonight’s preseason game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The following were either cut or waived, according to Renaud LaVoie of TVA Sports:
Cut
Tim Bozon
Zach Fucale
Joel Hanley
Ryan Johnson
Brett Lernout
Thomas Parisi
Dalton Thrower
Noah Juulsen
Michael McNiven
Waived
Bobby Farnham
Max Friberg
Philip Samuelsson
Yuri Alexandrov (released from PTO)
Hjalmarsson To Have Disciplinary Hearing
Chicago Blackhawks Niklas Hjalmarsson will have a phone hearing Monday, per the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. Hjalmarsson hit St. Louis Blues forward Ty Rattie in open ice in the final minutes of the Blackhawks’ 4-0 win last night. It appeared that Hjalmarsson made contact with Rattie’s head. The Swedish defenseman received a match penalty—kicking him out of the game and suspending him for Chicago’s next preseason game.
A phone hearing means that Hjalmarsson will not get more than five games. A preseason suspension would carry over to the regular season, so Chicago faces the prospect of starting the season without one of its better defensemen. The NHL is stricter when it comes to hits to the head, so look for Hjalmarrson to get at least four games—the relative unimportance of preseason games coupled with the NHL’s new mandate on head safety will influence its decision.
This is the second preseason disciplinary hearing. On September 29th the NHL suspended Montreal Canadiens (and former Chicago Blackhawk) forward Andrew Shaw for three games following a dangerous boarding against the Washington Capitals.
Snapshots: Capitals, Matthews, Benn
News and notes from around the NHL this morning:
- The Washington Capitals have released two more players from camp this morning. Goalies Adam Carlson and Drew MacIntyre were both released back to Washington’s AHL affiliate Hershey Bears. Drew MacIntyre was the more seasoned of the two, playing professionally since 2003-04. MacIntyre last played for Chicago’s AHL Rockford IceHogs, going 2-3-2 in eight games with a 3.03 GAA and an .895SV%. Neither goalie was expected to make the team—both were brought in to temporarily cover for World Cup playing Braden Holtby and Philipp Grubauer.
- 2016 first overall draft pick Auston Matthews is set to make his NHL debut tonight against the Montreal Canadiens. The Maple Leafs have high expectations for Matthews after his impressive performance for Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey. He scored 2G and 1A in 3 games and teamed up with last year’s number one pick Connor McDavid for highlight reel plays. Matthews is expected to center a line with William Nylander and Zach Hyman, reports the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan.
- Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn is expected to play the rest of the preseason, reports Mark Stepneski of the Dallas Stars’ official website. Benn underwent surgery this offseason to repair core muscles, and skipped the World Cup of Hockey to properly recuperate. He’s be at training camp this fall but has not played a preseason game yet. The Stars will be watching the game intently to gauge Benn’s recovery—he is the team’s most expensive asset after Benn signed an eight-year deal worth $9.5MM a year this summer.
Atlantic Division Notes: Sergachev, Redmond, McKenna, Condra
With Shea Weber, Alexei Emelin and Andrei Markov all absent due to their participation in the World Cup, the Montreal Canadiens have had a chance to get long looks at other blue liners during training camp. As the Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey writes, several players have taken full advantage of the opportunity and impressed the team’s coaching staff.
Hickey specifically identified Nathan Beaulieu and Greg Pateryn as having “stood out” so far, while 2016 first-round pick Mikhail Sergachev and free agent signing Zach Redmond were both impressive in the team’s recent game against Ottawa.
Redmond has scored a goal in each of his preseason appearances and has shown a physical element. He was added in the offseason to provide depth and a solid camp might earn him a spot on the regular season roster.
Sergachev would have to really impress in order to stick. Montreal likely wishes to see the young Russian defender, who just turned 18 in June, get lots of quality ice time and the best chance for that would be if he was returned to junior.
Beaulieu and Pateryn are both already penciled into the club’s top-six and Montreal has to be pleased at their play so far. The Habs were recently said to be taking calls on the 23-year-old Beaulieu but if he’s been as impressive in camp as Hickey suggests it seems unlikely Montreal would be too keen on moving him. With a healthy Carey Price set to return from injury and an improved defense, it wouldn’t be hard to project a return to the playoffs for Montreal.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:
- When Florida went out and acquired Reto Berra and James Reimer – via trade and free agency respectively – this summer, Mike McKenna‘s prospects of winning the Panthers backup goalie job dried up. But as George Richards of the Miami Herald writes, McKenna has been down this road before and knows all it takes is an injury to give the 33-year-old another opportunity between the pipes in South Florida. McKenna: “No matter what the situation looks like with contracts, you always want to put your best foot forward. You never know what will happen through the course of a season. I’m just trying to go in the right direction.” Last season, McKenna was called up from the AHL when Al Montoya went down with an injury, though he didn’t see any NHL action. As it stands, Roberto Luongo will be the starter with Reimer serving as his understudy. That would seem to put Berra in position to be the starter for the Panther’s AHL affiliate in Springfield but the 29-year-old veteran would have to clear waivers before being sent down and could conceivably be claimed by a team in need of an experienced backup. That would again elevate McKenna to third overall on the organization’s goaltending depth chart and would put him in line for promotion should Luongo or Reimer suffer an injury.
- Tampa Bay is looking for depth scoring and one player who could help address that need is Erik Condra, as Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times writes. Condra had a disappointing first season with the Lightning, scoring just six goals and 11 points in 54 games after signing a three-year, $3.75MM deal with Tampa. Condra twice hit the 20-point plateau as a member of the Senators and the Lightning would likely be content with that level of production. Smith also lists Cedric Paquette and Cory Conacher as two more players who could also offer some scoring punch in the bottom-six. Conacher had by far his best NHL season during the 2012-13 campaign which he began with the Lightning. That season, Conacher tallied 29 points in 47 games – 24 in 35 with the Lightning. Conacher was dealt in-season to Ottawa in a deal that brought Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay in what has turned out to be quite the steal for the Bolts. Paquette saw his goal output decrease from 12 in 2014-15 to just six last season. Tampa would surely benefit from a return to double-figures in goals scored from the grinding Paquette.
Compelling RFA Cases For 2017: Gostisbehere, Dumoulin
Jacob Trouba, Johnny Gaudreau and Nikita Kucherov highlight a strong and deep group of restricted free agents that remain unsigned at the moment. While they will each ultimately cash in and receive substantial contracts for the 2016-17 campaign and likely beyond, their status as restricted free agents has certainly complicated their respective negotiation processes.
Next summer, another quality group of players are set to hit restricted free agency, unless they can agree to terms on a new deal prior to the 2017-18 league year. In a series of posts, Pro Hockey Rumors will profile the top pending 2017 RFAs and examine what kind of contract they could elicit assuming they put up a strong performance during their platform year. Today we continue in the Metro.
Shayne Gostisbehere (Philadelphia): Gostisbehere exploded upon the scene in 2015-16, netting 17 goals and 46 points – in just 64 games – to lead all rookies in those categories. The former Union College defenseman quickly became one of the league’s most exciting blue liners and earned a spot on the Team North America entry in the World Cup.
The agents for this year’s top remaining unsigned RFA defenders – Hampus Lindholm and Rasmus Ristolainen – are pointing to the recently-signed and massive extension signed by Aaron Ekblad as the target. Ekblad of course inked an eight-year, $60MM deal with Florida and while Lindholm and Ristolainen are probably not at the level the Panthers blue liner is, they will still likely pocket something in the vicinity of $6MM annually when they finally sign.
Chances are Gostisbehere is also going to use the Ekblad deal as a comparable. Ekblad hasn’t produced offense at the same rate as Gostisbehere (0.72 PPG for “The Ghost” versus 0.47 PPG for Ekblad) but is a former #1 overall pick and projects as a perennial Norris Trophy candidate.
It’s likely the Lindholm and Ristolainen deals will actually serve as a better framework for a new contract for Gostisbehere. Assuming they each get something close to $6MM per, it’s fair to guess the Flyers young blue liner will also land in the same neighborhood.
Brian Dumoulin (Pittsburgh): Dumoulin tallied just 16 points in 79 contests and failed to net a single goal in 2015-16. Ordinarily those numbers wouldn’t be reflective of a guy who is going to cash in but Dumoulin showed in the postseason he has more to offer the Penguins. In 24 playoff games, Dumoulin scored two goals and eight points while averaging 21:31 of ice time per game. If he can carry over that level of play into the 2016-17 regular season, Dumoulin will surely be rewarded handsomely on his next contract.
A similar comparable could be Dmitry Orlov, who eventually signed a one-year deal with Washington worth $2.57MM. Orlov has clearly been a superior offensive producer, averaging 0.30 PPG during his career while Dumoulin has averaged just 0.19. But at 25, Dumoulin is just entering his prime and as we saw in the playoffs, he is capable of producing more offense in the right role. Currently he is listed opposite Kris Letang on the Penguins top blue line pair which could result in a higher point total for Dumoulin.
Even if Dumoulin doesn’t produce much offensively, there is still plenty of value in a steady and reliable performer on the back end. If both team and player elect for a one or two-year bridge deal, an AAV close to $2.5MM would seem fair. A long-term deal buying out free agent years could take the price up north of $3MM annually.
Training Camp Cuts: 10/1/16
With the turning of the calendar to October, the regular season is now less than two weeks away. Accordingly, teams continue to pare down their training camp rosters. Here are today’s cuts:
(Players denoted with an asterisk will be assigned if they clear waivers on Sunday.)
Buffalo Sabres (Via Team Release)
D Brady Austin (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
RW Justin Bailey (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
D Mac Bennett (released from PTO, will report to AHL camp)
LW William Carrier (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
C Daniel Catenacci* (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
C Eric Cornel (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
C Jean Dupuy (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
D Paul Geiger (released from PTO, will report to AHL camp)
RW Vaclav Karabacek (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
G Jason Kasdorf (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
C Justin Kea (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
LW Matthew Lane (released from PTO, will report to AHL camp)
G John Muse (released from PTO, will report to AHL camp)
LW Daniel Muzito-Begenda (released from PTO, will report to AHL camp)
D Brycen Martin (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
RW Evan Rodrigues (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
LW Cole Schneider* (assigned to Rochester, AHL)
Central Division Notes: Trouba, Carle, Rozsival, Tuch
Despite Jacob Trouba‘s recently publicized trade request, the Jets should only move him if it’s on their terms because of the bad precedent it would set for future RFAs, opines Ted Wyman of the Winnipeg Sun. As Wyman notes, the Jets are a draft-and-develop organization given their status as a small market team and the difficulties they face in competing for marketable free agents. Acquiescing to Trouba’s request would harm the club’s leverage when it comes to future negotiations with players like Nikolaj Ehlers, Kyle Connor and Patrick Laine when they reach restricted free agency. A small market club needs to be able to retain as much of their best young talent as possible and the Jets must be able to keep the salaries of their RFAs in line while those players are still under team control.
Wyman also believes that since Trouba has yet to live up to his full potential in his first three seasons on the league, he should be willing to accept a fair market contract and to play wherever his coach wants him to play. If he wants to move over to the right side, as he has indicated, he needs to beat out one of the incumbents – Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers.
As Wyman writes further, it’s likely Trouba’s insistence on playing on the right side is in fact a smoke screen and the reality is the young defenseman simply wants out of Winnipeg. Of course Trouba and his agent, Kurt Overhardt, have both insisted his request is based solely on his desire to be a right-side defenseman and has nothing to do with the city or the organization.
More from the NHL’s Central Division:
- Four seasons ago, Matt Carle‘s stock was such that the 27-year-old defender received the second-largest contract inked by any player during the summer of 2011. Last season, he fell out of favor in Tampa Bay and despite the Lightning often suiting up seven blue liners, Carle still couldn’t crack the lineup. It was no surprise, then, that the Lightning opted to buy out the remaining two years of his deal as the team looked to save as much money as possible in order to re-sign several important free agents. Carle would end up signing a one-year deal with Nashville worth just $700K, where the 11-year veteran will be reunited with head coach Peter Laviolette. Under Laviolette, Carle had some of his best yearss, statistically, while a member of the Flyers, tallying at least 35 points in each of his final three seasons with the team. Carle hopes that at age-32 and playing for a coach with whom he is both comfortable and familiar, that he can once again be an important player for a contending team. The Predators do boast one of the league’s most talented blue lines but there is room for a veteran to stabilize the unit, particularly after dealing away team captain Shea Weber this summer.
- Veteran defenseman Michal Rozsival has carved out a solid 15-year NHL career and realizes his days in the league are numbered. Rozsival has spent the past four seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks and was brought back by the club for what the 38-year-old defender hopes will be his fifth campaign in the windy city. But after the 2015-16 season, Rozsival wasn’t sure he would be back in Chicago and despite signing a one-year, $600K deal, he isn’t even sure what his role with the Hawks will be, as Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune writes. “Right now, I still don’t know what my role is. It might be determined by the way I play. The last four years I’ve played 20 games, I’ve played 30 games and I’ve played 50 games. I’m ready for anything and for any kind of role. Obviously, I would love to be playing. I’m always trying to fight for my ice time.” It’s likely the Blackhawks value his experience and will find a spot for him on the roster, even if it is as the seventh or eighth defenseman.
- Minnesota entered training camp with a few openings at forward and plenty of candidates to earn those jobs. Unfortunately for the Wild, none of those candidates have impressed head coach Bruce Boudreau to this point in the preseason, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. Veteran role players Zac Dalpe and Ryan Carter have failed to make a mark while youngsters Alex Tuch, Kurtis Gabriel, Joel Eriksson Ek and Tyler Graovac have yet to grab hold of a job. Whether this might prompt GM Chuck Fletcher to explore his alternatives or not is unclear but he may have to if the in-house options continue their collectively mediocre play.
New York Hockey Notes: Halak, Tavares, Rangers
The New York Islanders face an interesting choice when deciding who will be between the pipes to start the 2016-17 season. They have three goalies on one-way contracts – Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Greiss and Jean-Francois Berube – though realistically when it comes to the starting job, the choice will be between Halak and Greiss.
Halak had a solid season in 2015-16, winning 18 of his 36 starts and stopping nearly 92% of the shots he faced. The advanced stats crowd holds Halak in particularly high regard due in large part to his ability to limit goals against on high danger shot attempts. Over the last two seasons, Halak has stopped 84.03% of shots against from high danger scoring areas in 5v5 situations. That figure is good for seventh overall in the NHL among goalies who have seen at least 1,500 minutes of 5v5 play. Halak ranks higher than bigger names like Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist.
Greiss was excellent in goal for the Islanders in the postseason with Halak unavailable due to injury. He also ranks among the best goaltenders in preventing goals in high danger situations. His 84.97 HDSv% at 5v5 is the fourth highest over the last two seasons. It’s his strong play last season and the presence of Berube that has led some to postulate the Islanders could look to trade Halak to address other needs.
This issue was addressed by Arthur Staple of Newsday in this reader mailbag. Staple points to Halak’s strong play in the World Cup as the starter for the surprising Europeans and indicates that the Islanders organization is intent on keeping him on board. That means Greiss is likely headed back to the #2 role while Berube is likely to have to wait his turn while suiting up for Bridgeport in the AHL.
Other points of interest in Staple’s mailbag and roster notes on the Islanders Big Apple rivals:
- Staple takes an early stab at what it will ultimately cost the Islanders to extend captain and face-of-the-franchise John Tavares. He reasons that since Tavares is the “one true star” of the team – unlike in Chicago (Toews/Kane) and Pittsburgh (Crosby/Malkin), he will be able to command a larger piece of the Islander salary cap pie. Staple refers to it as a “blank check situation for him,” and a max length deal in the range of $9.5MM to $10MM annually is where the negotiation will end up. Tavares likely could push for more and certainly the Islanders would prefer a lower number but the team will undoubtedly do whatever necessary to ink their captain to a long-term deal.
- Answering a query regarding the continued development of defenseman Nick Leddy, Staple feels the 25-year-old blue liner can take the next step and become an “elite” defender. Staple suggests the Islanders will limit Leddy’s ice time by cutting his penalty-killing duties in the hopes he will remain fresher and produce better numbers at five-on-five.
- Steve Zipay of Newsday projects the Rangers opening night roster and notes the team will have a significant amount of cap space remaining for one of the few times in recent memory. The Blueshirts had just $200K in cap space to open the 2015-16 campaign but assuming Zipay’s projections are close to accurate, the team will have in excess of $3MM with which to play with. Of course having that flexibility would allow the Rangers to add salary at any point during the season, rather than waiting until the trade deadline, should they find a deal to their liking.
Preds Extend Head Coach Laviolette
Update (4:15pm): Vignan fills in some of the details, indicating the extension binds Laviolette to the club through the 2020-21 season. Evidently the current contract between the parties was set to expire following the 2018-19 campaign.
The Nashville Predators have extended the contract of head coach Peter Laviolette, adding another two years to his pact, according to a tweet from Adam Vingan, who covers the team for The Tennessean. It’s unclear how many years remained on the current deal, though perhaps it’s fair to assume he was entering the final season.
Laviolette was named head coach of the Predators in May of 2014 and in two seasons has posted a record of 88 – 52 – 24. The 200 points the club has accumulated during that time is the 10th highest team total in the NHL. He replaced longtime head coach Barry Trotz, who was hired by Washington upon his dismissal from Nashville. Laviolette is just the second man to serve in the capacity during the 17-year history of the franchise.
Prior to joining the Predators, Laviolette spent five seasons behind the bench in Philadelphia, leading the Flyers to three postseason berths, including a run to the Cup Final in 2009-10. He guided the Carolina Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup Championship in 2005-06, though the club missed the postseason in each of Laviolette’s other four seasons at the helm. The former defenseman got his NHL head coaching start with the Islanders, spending two years in New York and leading the team to the playoffs in both seasons.
All told, Laviolette has a career head coaching record of 477 – 334 – 25 – 87, winning two division titles, a Stanley Cup and guiding his teams to eight playoff berths in parts of 14 seasons behind an NHL bench.
Atlantic Notes: Senators, Marchessault, Reway
New Senators coach Guy Boucher intends to reduce players’ shift times this season, writes Don Brennan of the Ottawa Sun. Last season, the two Stanley Cup finalists (San Jose and champion Penguins) had an average shift length of 41 seconds which didn’t go unnoticed by Boucher:
“It’s a pace game now. Can you sustain it, can you maintain it. The only way to maintain it is with energy. “Who won the Stanley Cup? The team that had the most pace. Period. That’s where we need to go.”
The trend towards short shifts was also present at the World Cup of Hockey, particularly with Team Canada who routinely had their players take shifts under 40 seconds (sometimes even under 30).
Ottawa had 23 players with an average shift length higher than 41 seconds last season, including defenseman Erik Karlsson, who led the league with an average shift of 1:04, eight seconds higher than any other player. While Karlsson has led all NHL blueliners in scoring in each of the last three seasons, the restrictions will apply to him, although Boucher noted that the 26 year old should still play the full two minutes on the power play (which will inevitably bring his shift average well about the league average once again this year).
Boucher hopes that keeping his players fresh will have some benefits on the defensive end as well:
“Usually problems happen in the extended part of your shift. That’s where you get tired, that’s where you get turnovers. That’s what we don’t want to get into.”
Other news from the Atlantic:
- Jonathan Marchessault’s decision to leave Tampa Bay for state rival Florida came down to playing time, he told Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times. Marchessault spent parts of the last two years with the Lightning but was in and out of the lineup frequently and was often scratched to allow the team to dress a seventh defenseman. With the Panthers, Marchessault is eyeing a spot on the third line as the team looks to bring more skill into their bottom six. He signed a two year, $1.5MM deal in Florida at the beginning of free agency.
- Montreal Canadiens prospect Martin Reway may not be able to play at all this season, reports Louis-Andre Lariviere of TVA Sports (link in French) who spoke with one of the 21 year old’s agents. Reway was hospitalized last month with a virus and at that time, it was announced that he wouldn’t be participating in training camp. The team would not comment on the report, only noting that there is no new information at this time.
- Senators right winger Mark Stone skated on Friday for the first time since he suffered a concussion last week, notes the Ottawa Citizen’s Ken Warren. He still hasn’t been green lit to receive contact nor has he passed the baseline test but he’s hopeful that he will be able to get into a preseason game next week.