Roster Crunch: Metropolitan Division
We’ve taken a look at three out of the four divisions now, and the decisions they’ll have to make come training camp. The Pacific’s depth on defense, the changes coming up front in the Central, and the mass of young talent set to break through in the Atlantic. Now, we’ll take a look at the what many considered the best division in hockey last year, with four 100-point teams and both the President’s Trophy winner and Stanley Cup Champions.
Washington Capitals – There is probably no team with fewer uncertainties going into the season than the Washington Capitals. After running away with the regular season points lead, the Capitals couldn’t even make it to the Stanley Cup final, but they’ll head into next season with largely the same group. They brought in Lars Eller, whose possession numbers should help the third line, and allowed Jason Chimera and Mike Richards to walk (though the latter remains unsigned). Basically the only battle in camp will be for a fourth line or 13th forward spot; can Brett Connolly do enough to make the squad over Stanislav Galiev? Exciting stuff.
David Conte Possibly Headed To Las Vegas
After adding a Director of Hockey Legal Affairs earlier today in Andrew Lugerner, the Las Vegas expansion team is now pursuing a much more veteran hockey voice. Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News is hearing that GM George McPhee is set to hire David Conte, a long-time scouting director.
Conte worked for 31 years in the New Jersey Devils organization, mostly under Lou Lamoriello (now the Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM), but was let go last year when Ray Shero took over. While Kennedy doesn’t say what role he would be filling for the the club, bringing in an uber-experienced hockey mind like Conte can never be a bad thing.
Conte, 67, has a solid draft record. With picks like Bill Guerin (#5), Martin Brodeur (#20), Scott Niedermayer (#3), Brian Rolston (#11), Brendan Morrison (#39), Steve Sullivan (#233), Patrik Elias (#51), Scott Gomez (#27), Brian Gionta (#82) and many more elite NHLers being at least somewhat influenced by him, he’s proved that he can spot talent in a draft in the first few picks and in later rounds. According to an NHL.com article from the time of his dismissal, he was also very influential in signing undrafted free agents John Madden and Brian Rafalski.
His detractors however, say that the game may have passed him by, as shown by his most recent draft record. Players from the Devils’ 2012, 2013, 2014 drafts have played in a total of two NHL games thus far, and only Damon Severson has played a full season from the 2011 group.
Whether the Vegas team is competitive right away is yet to be seen, and will rely heavily on who is available at next year’s expansion draft. But with the team McPhee is building, they’ll at least have the potential for long-term success. Whether it comes, will be one of the biggest stories to watch over the next decade.
Potential Avalanche Coaching Options
While the news of Patrick Roy’s resignation as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche is shocking, it also means there’s more news to come. The Avalanche have about a month until training camp, and will want a new coach in place beforehand. The timing of Roy’s resignation leaves very little time for GM Joe Sakic to do a thorough search. That said, there are a few available candidates that immediately spring to mind.
- Bob Hartley – Hartley coached the Avalanche from 1998 to 2002, winning four division titles, appearing in four Western Conference Finals, and winning the 2001 Stanley Cup. Players on that team included current Avalanche GM Joe Sakic, executive Adam Foote, and assistant coach Nolan Pratt. He also coached new Avalanche forward Joe Colborne during his time in Calgary, and briefly coached Jarome Iginla there as well. There have already been several suggestions from media members that Hartley would or should be a contender for the job.
- Marc Crawford – This is a less likely possibility. Crawford is another former Avalanche coach, winning a Stanley Cup with Joe Sakic in 1996. He’s also very recently employed. This off-season, Crawford returned from a four year stint in Switzerland to work on Guy Boucher’s staff with the Ottawa Senators. Still, if anyone is going to quit a job so soon, it would probably be for a promotion, to work with familiar faces. After resigning from the Avalanche in 1998, Crawford had stints with the Canucks, Kings, and Stars.
- Sheldon Keefe – The Toronto Marlies head coach and former Lightning forward is just 35 years old, but already a popular pick to fill future openings. In his first season in the AHL, Keefe led the Marlies to 54 wins in 76 games, and a trip to the Eastern Conference Final. This after three straight playoff appearances as head coach of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL. He’s very young to coach, but the Avalanche are a young team. What experience he does have is mostly with player development.
- Dallas Eakins – Most of the paragraph on Keefe could have been said of Eakins before he joined the Edmonton Oilers in 2013. Once regarded as a great coaching prospect, Eakins won just 36 of 113 games before the Oilers fired him. He is presently coach of the San Diego Gulls in the AHL, farm team of the Anaheim Ducks. It went poorly in Edmonton, to be sure, but it never got any better after he left. It’s hard to get a second chance in the NHL, but Eakins has done well enough outside of it to be worth another look.
- Ron Wilson – Wilson has worked with players who take advantage of their speed and skill for his entire coaching career, and a young Avalanche team fits that mold. While he’s been criticized for his handling of young players before, he’s also never really had ones this good. He’s prone to hostility towards the media, and is quick to bench a veteran when the player is underachieving, or when Wilson is just mad. Still, it’s hard to write off a guy who’s won over 600 games.
Snapshots: Sakic, Roy, Subban, Puempel
After an unusual delay, the Colorado Avalanche have released a statement on the resignation of former head coach Patrick Roy. GM Joe Sakic wished Roy luck, and said the team will begin searching for their new coach immediately.
Here’s some more to think about as you process this surprising day:
- Staying with the Roy news, Sportsnet’s John Shannon tweeted today, further fueling talk of a rift between Avalanche GM Joe Sakic and his former coach. Shannon reports that the two weren’t even speaking during the free agency period.
- Elliott Friedman appeared on the NHL Network a few weeks ago. As transcribed by Chris Nichols for Today’s Slapshot, Friedman believes that the Canadiens made a conscious decision to trade P.K. Subban before his no-trade clause kicked in on July 1st of this year. Friedman also quotes a Canadiens player saying that the management and coaching staff believe the team is mentally and physically “soft.”
- Bob Duff at the Ottawa Citizen spoke to Senators forward Matt Puempel today. Puempel stressed his desire to play regularly in the NHL. He also discussed the organizational changes, and how that may affect his chances of making the team. Puempel, 23, was a first round pick of the Senators in 2011. He has scored four goals, six points in 39 NHL games over the last two seasons.
Patrick Roy Leaves Avalanche Organization
1:10pm: Roy has released a statement on his resignation. He seems to be quitting over a lack of influence in personnel decisions.
1:03pm: According to Renaud Lavoie of TVA, head coach Patrick Roy has resigned his position with the Colorado Avalanche.
Roy had coached the Avalanche since the 2013-14 season. In his first season with the team, Roy led the Avalanche to a first place finish in the Central Division. From there, the Avalanche were eliminated in the first round, and then failed to make the playoffs the next two years. Roy ends his tenure in Colorado with a record of 130-92-24 in 246 games.
It is of note that Roy explains his decision by suggesting he lacked input on personnel decisions. TSN’s Frank Seravelli reports that there had been “long-rumored discord” within the Avalanche organization. It has been reported before that Roy viewed Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie as “no more than a fifth defenseman.” Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic insisted this summer that he would not trade Barrie. Barrie re-signed with the Avalanche recently, signing a four-year contract, worth $5.5MM per season.
Roy played 478 as a goaltender for the Avalanche between 1995 to 2003, winning the Stanley Cup in 1996 and 2001. Roy also won the Conn Smythe trophy in 2001, and the William M. Jennings award, and was named a first team all-star in 2002.
Snapshots: Kings, Whitney, Lockout
Adam Gretz wrote a piece today on Pro Hockey Talk that opines Dustin Brown has endured one of the biggest falls-from-grace in the NHL, and is now under huge pressure to perform for the Los Angeles Kings this season. Brown was once a feared power forward in the league, capable on any shift of contributing with a bone-crushing hit or a beautiful goal. Now, he’s a bottom-sixer who, while still contributing positively to the Kings’ dominant possession game, is vastly under-performing his contract that sits at a $5.875MM AAV. Brown was stripped of the captaincy, which will now belong to Anze Kopitar, the Kings’ superstar centerman.
- Former NHL star Ray Whitney is at the Olympics for the first time in his career, but it’s not as a hockey player. The 22-year veteran is caddying for Canadian golfer Graham DeLaet, who shot a -3 in his first round at the tournament. DeLaet was one of the first through the course this morning, and spoke about his caddy: “He’s a great player in his own right. I think it’ll be great to have Ray there, he was telling me he thinks he’d be on four olympic (hockey) teams if he’d been born in any other country.” It’s true, Whitney was a great player; his 1064 points rank him 64th all-time, while his 385 goals put him just outside the top-100.
- Hannah Stuart of Today’s Slapshot penned an article examining just what might trigger the next NHL lockout. She argues that by signing contracts that protect them from a work-stoppage – those that have exorbitantly large signing bonuses – they’ve essentially ensured that a stoppage will eventually happen, if only to correct this loophole. Both sides (the NHL and NHLPA) can choose to opt out of the current CBA in September of 2019.
Latest On Jimmy Vesey
11:57am: Speculation is running rampant now, but Adrian Dater of Bleacher Report is hearing that the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs are the finalists for Vesey, and that Jonathan Toews will be present at the Hawks’ recruitment on Monday. He’s confirmed that Stan Bowman, the Hawks’ GM, has gone to see Vesey skate twice recently. With so many conflicting reports, the “Vesey Sweepstakes” has become the biggest story in the NHL, though he still has to prove his ability at the next level.
10:55am: Mark Divver of The Providence Journal reports that New York Islanders’ GM Garth Snow was in Foxboro yesterday to see Vesey skate. Assuming that most teams at least have some interest in the soon-to-be free agent this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, though it does add some intrigue to the next few days.
9:42am: All offseason, one of the biggest stories has been the upcoming free agency of Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey. After being selected by the Nashville Predators, Vesey would not sign and, after having his rights traded to the Buffalo Sabres a few months ago, will become a free agent on August 15th. Here’s the latest:
Today, Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald tells us that the Vesey camp has narrowed their list down to six teams that still includes Buffalo. Vesey’s agent, Peter Fish, said:
What Jimmy wants to do is see it through. He’s wanted to go to free agency and he’s going to see it through. There’s about 4-5 teams other than Buffalo that he wants to hear from. And then after that he’s going to make a decision. I think he’d love for the Bruins to be one of those teams. I assume that we will be taking a call from them.
This, obviously, stands in the face of Joe Haggarty’s report yesterday that the Bruins had become an unlikely landing spot for Vesey. Haggarty had a source that said the Blackhawks, Devils, Rangers, Leafs and Sabres had all passed Boston on the list of likely suitors leaving the Bruins to try and make up ground in the next few days.
Fish of course, was at the Beantown Summer Classic when he spoke to reporters, making the addition of the Bruins note understandable. In the Herald piece, Harris writes that one “very-well informed area NHL scout” believes that the Blackhawks, Rangers and Bruins will eventually be the finalists. Vesey will ultimately choose whichever team he wants to play for regardless of money, since each club will likely offer him the same ELC. Fish lends credence to this, with another telling quote:
We’ve looked at depth charts with some teams and talked about them. . . . There’s obviously a lot of thought that goes into it: The city, the coach, the GM, the salary structure, how a team treats their players in the second and third contracts down the road.
Whatever happens, Vesey has a huge reputation to now uphold, as he’s been the belle of the ball this summer. If he struggles – and he likely will struggle at times – fan perception could turn quickly on the 23-year old. We’ll keep an eye on the situation for the next few days, and look to bring you the news of his decision as soon as it happens – whether it be Monday or down the line.
Las Vegas Notes: Nickname, Legal, Preseason
The Las Vegas expansion team has been a big story this summer, after being announced by the league just before the draft. The team has built a core front office, headed by new general manager George McPhee, and is surely beginning to build their strategy for next year’s expansion draft where many talented players will be left unprotected. Here is the latest news surrounding the NHL’s 31st franchise:
- Tuesday on Sportsbook Radio in Las Vegas, team owner Bill Foley talked about all the work he’s done so far on the club. On his original GM search, he said that there was seven potential candidates, eventually settling on McPhee because of his dedication to hockey and contacts throughout the league. “As a 17-year GM of the Capitals, and prior that an AGM of the Canucks, he really did everything. He built the Capitals up from the point where they had about 2500 or 3000 season tickets to where they were selling out.”
- On the nickname search, which last week was reported to be having trouble with the presumptive favorite “Knights”, Foley said they have vetted four different names that they believe are all available. It is definitely not Black Knights, due to push-back from a variety of organizations. There is also a “bird that we have available to us, that we may use”.
- The team is working on a brand new practice facility as well, and Foley gave an update: “We believe we’ll be breaking ground some time in the month of October. That’s our target. We also believe we’ll be moving in September 1st of 2017.”
- On Twitter, the team released that they’ve hired Andrew Lugerner as Director of Hockey Legal Affairs, but gave no information on what his responsibilities will be. Lugerner was formerly an associate at Latham & Watkins in New York.
- When the NHL released their preseason schedule on Wednesday, they included two games that will be played in Las Vegas on October 7th and 8th. Los Angeles will play in both games. Perhaps these will line up with a breaking ground ceremony for the practice facility, or a reveal of the name and logo for the team.
Boston Signs Brian Ferlin To Two-Way Deal
According to Cap Friendly, the Boston Bruins have signed their final restricted free agent Brian Ferlin to a one-year, two-way deal that will pay the winger $725K at the NHL level.
Ferlin, a fourth-round pick who attended Cornell University for three seasons, made his professional debut in 2014-15, spending most of the season with the Providence Bruins. He got into seven NHL games that season, but was limited to the AHL in 2015-16.
Not an offensive force, the 24-year old has 17 goals and 35 points in 83 professional games. He’ll look to improve on his all-around game in Providence this season, and try to crack Boston’s bottom-six at some point during the year.
Parise Should Be Ready For World Cup Of Hockey
Tom Gulitti caught up with Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise and writes that the 32-year-old should be ready for the World Cup of Hockey. Parise suffered from a lower back injury last season which left him out of the Wild’s plans and as Gulitti writes, causing Parise to wonder if he could continue to play hockey. Luckily for him, Minnesota, and Team USA, it appears that his back is on the mend.
Gulitti quotes Parise as saying this regarding the injury:
“It was really scary,” Parise said. “That’s not very comfortable at all, for the longest time, having no feeling in your leg and in your foot. You are kind of wondering, ‘When is this going to go away? When is this going to go away?’ And one day I woke up and it was good, so it was good after that. But, at that time, it’s really scary not feeling anything and really struggling to get out of bed.
“You’re like, ‘Is this something I’m going to have to live with?’ But, so far in August, it’s been really good.”
Team USA will need Parise as the roster is one constructed of hard hitters and grinders, something that will push grit but lack in goal scoring prowess Skilled goal scorers like Bobby Ryan and Phil Kessel were left off the list while bubble players like Justin Abdelkader. Patrick Kane and Joe Pavelski will help, but to keep up with Canada, they will need all hands on deck. Goal scorers like Parise, who also add a physical element, will be crucial to have for Team USA’s success.
The Wild, on the other hand, welcome a new coach in Bruce Boudreau and a big name in Eric Staal. They’re looking to find sustained success after getting bumped early from the playoffs last season and struggling to get past the Chicago Blackhawks in previous seasons. Parise is certainly a key in that happening, and any time away will certainly hurt the Wild’s chances.