Snapshots: Lucic, Possible Retirees, Gretzky
Milan Lucic may have only been a member of the Los Angeles Kings for one season, but at least one teammate is sad to see him go. Right-winger Tyler Toffoli lamented the loss of “a great player, a great guy to have in the room”. Toffoli scored a career-best 58 points last season on a line with Lucic and center Jeff Carter, who posted 62 points to tie his third best career output, and best since 2011.
Lucic, of course, signed a seven-year contract worth $42MM with the Edmonton Oilers on July 1, citing a team on the rise and some rookie named Connor McDavid as his main reasons for heading north. OilersNation’s Jonathan Willis broke down how Oilers fans can expect Lucic to age over the course of his contract, and ultimately concluded Lucic will be very effective in his first three seasons, has a two-thirds chance at being effective in the next two seasons, and has a 50-70 per cent chance at posting below 30 points in his final two seasons. However, Lucic told Steve Ewen of The Province that he plans “on playing them out to the best of my ability and, hopefully, I can add another year or two once this contract is done”.
Here are some other news and notes from around the NHL:
- Speaking of players who could retire, Jared Clinton of The Hockey News explored a few big names who could be entering their final season in the NHL. We could be seeing the last of several former superstars, including Jarome Iginla, Shane Doan, Andrei Markov, and Mark Streit. Iginla has seen his point totals fall by 13 over the last three seasons. Doan has an understanding with GM John Chayka which allows him to take his time on deciding about returning or retiring, and its clear he has no interest in chasing Stanley as a rental. The KHL is a possibility for Markov, who will no longer have the speedy P.K. Subban to cover for his aging speed. Similarly, Streit has previously played in his native Switzerland, and could return next summer. Clinton also mentions the legendary Jaromir Jagr, but seeing as Jagr insists on playing until he’s 60, it’s hard to think he’ll willingly retire unless his production drops off or he suffers a serious injury.
- Finally, today marks 28 years since “The Trade”. On August 9, 1988, the Edmonton Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski, and Marty McSorley to Los Angeles for Jimmy Carson, Martin Gelinas, three first round picks over six years, and most notable (or infamously) $15 million cash. Edmonton fans reacted as expected, burning the team’s owner in effigy and threatening to cancel season tickets; a Member of Parliament even suggested the federal government block the trade. The blockbuster popularized and legitimized hockey in non-traditional markets and lead to a popular comment around the trade deadline “well, if Wayne Gretzky can be traded…”
Minor Transactions: 8/9/16
Some news and notes throughout the hockey world:
- Renaud Lavoie tweets that the Bruins have to come to terms with defenseman Chris Casto. Lavoie writes that the deal is worth $650K and is a two-way deal. Last season, Casto spent the season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, registering 23 points (7-16).
- The Lake Erie Monsters are now the Cleveland Monsters according to the team’s official Twitter account. The Monsters are the defending Calder Cup champions, and are the affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets also released a statement via their website.
Are The Red Wings In Hockey Limbo?
The Hockey News’ Matt Larkin writes an interesting piece on the status of the Detroit Red Wings–a quarter of a century perennial playoff participant who seems to be at a crossroads. There hasn’t been much written about it though there are the obligatory “will the Red Wings finally miss the playoffs” prediction columns every season since Nick Lidstrom retired. And there’s good reason for that.
Since the retirement of Lidstrom, the Red Wings have been stuck in neutral. Though a “tough out” in 2013 and 2015, the Red Wings were bounced quickly in 2014 and 2016. Worse, they haven’t been viewed a legitimate contender since at best, the 2011-2012 NHL season–where they lost in five games to the Nashville Predators in the first round.
Larkin argues that the only person who can answer the question of the Wings’ Limbo status is architect and general manager Ken Holland. The Wings’ GM had a busy summer trading Pavel Datsyuk‘s contract and adding several players in Frans Nielsen, Thomas Vanek, and Steve Ott while re-signing Darren Helm, Petr Mrazek, Luke Glendening, Danny DeKeyser, and Drew Miller. But the moves were critiqued, especially the long term deals for players who were hardly setting the world afire on the stat sheet.
Larkin writes that Holland has a point when he says the Red Wings are not scraping the bottom of the barrel. They have a number of young core players, but with Ott, Vanek, and Miller all taking up roster space, it makes the margin of error thin for those young players in Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha. Larkin also reports that Holland feels that if a few breaks went the Wings way, perhaps they beat the Blackhawks in 2013 or the Lightning in 2015.
But that misses the point. Hockey is a sport that often comes down to luck. Many would argue that the Wings received their share of fortunate bounces during the years they won the Cup.
The point, made by many fans, is that the Red Wings haven’t been in a spot to even challenge for a Cup. Further, there has been a loyalty given to players in the Wings system or past-their-prime veterans that makes Holland feel like it’s 1999 again. In many ways, it appears that the Wings are committed to a “just barely make the playoffs” mentality and then hoping for the best. Several of Holland’s quotes all but support this.
Larkin takes a bullish view, saying that the Wings have an upside to them. But a prominent voice of Red Wings fans has made a strong point several times this summer–wondering if the financial decisions combined with the insistence on keeping veterans at the expense of younger, hungrier players will doom the team to the very long rebuild Holland loathes. Simply put: what’s the plan and even more terrifying to some fans–what will the result be?
We’ll all see soon.
The Swiss Exodus
Professional hockey in Switzerland received an all-time high in global attention last season when presumptive top NHL Draft pick, Auston Matthews, decided to play professionally overseas a year before he was eligible to be selected into the National Hockey League. Playing for the ZSC Lions in the largest city in Switzerland, Zurich, Matthews drew quite a bit of attention to the Swiss National League A (NLA). However, he was not the only elite player in the league, nor will his transition to the NHL be much of a loss to the league. A closer look shows that the NLA is chock full of former NHL veterans and this off-season has shown that the flow of talent shows no signs of stopping.
The general consensus in hockey is that the NHL is the best league in the world, followed by the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). The KHL spans all of Russia, stretches into Belarus, Croatia, Finland, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Slovakia, and now China, and has plans to continue to grow. While there is certainly a lot of talent in the expansive KHL, the small country of Switzerland and the NLA seem to be giving them a run for their money as the second best pro hockey league in the world. Last year, Matthews was joined by former NHL stars Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who led the NLA in points, and Cory Conacher, who recently returned to North America, in the top ten in league scoring. The list does not stop there though; forwards Derek Roy, Matt D’Agostini, James Sheppard, Maxim Lapierre, defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron, goalie Cristobal Huet, and of course Swiss native Damien Brunner are just some of the former impact NHLers who played in Switzerland last season.
Even more impressive than that list may just be the list of names who have signed on to play in the NLA next season, led by Kris Versteeg. Versteeg was ranked 25th in our Top 50 NHL Unrestricted Free Agents list, but rather than wait out a slow NHL market, Versteeg signed with SC Bern of the NLA to play in the Swiss capital next season. Versteeg is coming off a 38-point NHL campaign in which he was one of the better players on the Carolina Hurricanes and was enough of a commodity that the Los Angeles Kings gave up a pick and a prospect to get him at the Trade Deadline. In fact, Versteeg has four 20-goal seasons on his resume and has never had less than 30 points in a full NHL season in his career, yet at 30 years old he is taking his talents to Switzerland. Joining him are more capable NHL veterans like Mike Santorelli, Mark Arcobello, Swiss-born goalie Jonas Hiller, and according to reports, Nick Spaling. All of those players could have contributed to any number of NHL teams in 2016-17, but instead chose the Swiss route over a quiet NHL off-season market. American Hockey League players are flocking to Switzerland as well, as the likes of Rob Schremp, Dustin Jeffrey, Bobby Sanguinetti, and Brendan Shinnimin are among many who have abandoned the North American grind for a pro contract in the NLA.
The growing trend appears to be that players who feel like an NHL contract may not be coming are choosing Switzerland and the NLA over the KHL (the non-Russians anyway). The list of incoming and current NLA players with NHL experience is impressive, whereas the KHL has imported only a few players who contributed at the NHL level last season over the course of this summer. Despite the KHL’s best efforts at growth and expansion, the Swiss NLA is making a strong push to be the best alternative to the NHL for the world’s best hockey players and is even challenging the great NHL for free agents. The NLA is on it’s way.
Oilers Notes: Lucic, Larsson, Talbot, McDavid, Lagesson
The Edmonton Oilers are next up on Pro Hockey Talk’s daily team series and Jason Brough identifies summer signing Milan Lucic as the Oiler under pressure for 2016-17. Considering the large contract given to Lucic and the expectation he will assume the first-line left wing spot vacated following the trade of former #1 overall pick Taylor Hall, there is certainly plenty of pressure on the menacing forward.
One could argue that Adam Larsson, the defenseman the Oilers dealt Hall for and who is expected to be a viable top pair blue liner for a team desperate to improve on the back end, is under even more pressure than Lucic. Lucic is already a finished product for all intents and purposes, and with four 20-goal seasons on his resume already, Lucic needs only perform at the level he has been over the last several seasons.
On the other hand, Larsson has yet to fulfill his potential completely, and needs to take the next step in his development in order to meet expectations. If the Oilers are going to push for a playoff spot this season they need Larsson to become the player they believe he can be.
More on the Oilers…..
- In another piece on Pro Hockey Talk, Brough talks about the up-and-down season Cam Talbot had in his first year as a starter in the league. As Brough notes, Talbot got off to a slow start through November but rebounded in December and January posting save percentages of 93.4% and 93.2% respectively during those months. Given the somewhat inconsistent nature of Talbot’s performance and his relative lack of starting experience, Brough feels the goaltending situation is still uncertain in Edmonton. It appears Edmonton will go into the season with journeyman backstop Jonas Gustavsson as Talbot’s backup between the pipes (all team depth charts can be found at Roster Resource). Given that likelihood, Edmonton will need Talbot to play at the level he did in the latter part of last season if they want to compete for a playoff spot.
- Bruce McCurdy, writing for the Edmonton Journal, discusses the progress of Edmonton defense prospect William Lagesson. Lagesson, the Oilers 4th round pick in 2014, played last season as a freshman for a U-Mass program that struggled to a 8-24-4 mark and was outscored by 62 goals. The Swedish rearguard led the teams defense corps recording a -6 plus-minus rating. Edmonton obviously needs all the good defense prospects they can accumulate and it appears Lagesson is developing into one.
- Meanwhile, David Staples, also covering the Oilers for the Edmonton Journal, penned a piece on how one publication, hockey prognosticator The Hockey Forecaster, is projecting Connor McDavid to have a Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin-like impact on his team’s offensive output. In their rookie campaigns, Crosby and Ovechkin helped their teams score 53 and 44 more goals respectively than they potted the previous season. The Oilers are predicted to tally a total of 237 goals, which would be an increase of 38 markers over their 2015-16 season total. The Hockey Forecaster also predicts career seasons from Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Oscar Klefbom, among others. Staples writes that those projections might be a stretch but recognizes that an elite talent such as McDavid, Crosby and Ovechkin can have that type of impact for a team. Assuming the predictions even come close to fruition then Edmonton might be able to outscore their way to postseason contention.
St. Louis To Host 2017 Winter Classic
The NHL announced today that the 2017 Winter Classic will be held in St. Louis with the Blues hosting their Central Division rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. The game will be played on January 2, 2017.
Gary Bettman had this to say about the choice of St. Louis: “What better way to celebrate 100 years of NHL hockey than playing in the shadow of the Gateway Arch. At the same time we will be able to spotlight the incredible growth of hockey in St. Louis. There will be plenty of history to commemorate and lots of excitement to anticipate.”
Bettman’s comment with regards to the growth of the sport in the city is driven by the fact five St. Louis natives – Matthew Tkachuk, Clayton Keller, Logan Brown, Luke Kunin and Trent Frederic – were chosen in the first round of the 2016 draft. A sixth, Joseph Woll, was selected in round three. All six players once suited up for the St. Louis AAA Blues.
This will mark the third Winter Classic appearance for Chicago and the first for the Blues. The Blackhawks have also appeared in two Heritage Classic games and have played in more outdoor contests than any other team.
On their way to a berth in the Western Conference Finals, the Blues downed Chicago in an entertaining back-and-forth, seven game series. The league obviously saw the benefit of pitting these two rivals in the marquee game of the regular season.
Of course, several longtime Hawks – including Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook – have loads of experience outdoors, while the Winter Classic will mark the first opportunity for several Blues to play in such a contest.
Shawn Thornton Expected To Retire After Next Season
Florida winger Shawn Thornton is expected to retire following the 2016-17 season, reports DJ Bean of WEEI. Interestingly enough, last year was supposed to be his final season but when the Panthers opted to offer him an extension just before the trade deadline, he jumped at the opportunity to stick around for one more year, telling Bean that, “When they offered another year, I sprained my finger signing the thing before they changed their minds”.
Thornton has played a part-time role with Florida in the past two years after joining the team in the 2014 offseason. In 2015-16, he suited up in 50 games for the Panthers, picking up a goal and four assists to go along with 80 penalty minutes. He also got into four postseason contests, being held pointless.
The 39 year old was drafted by Toronto in the seventh round of the 1997 draft but never suited up for the Leafs. He still has been well-travelled over the years, getting in 655 games with Chicago, Anaheim, Boston, and Florida, picking up 40 goals, 58 assists, and 1,036 penalty minutes.
A year ago, Thornton was planning on getting involved in sports media in his retirement but has had a change of heart and now plans to get into the business side of the game:
“As we know, things change year-to-year – this would have been a different conversation last year – but as of right now I think I’m probably leaning more towards the business side of hockey. Once the season’s over, I’ll probably move into that role in Florida. Media, I did a lot and that’s exactly where I thought I was going to end up going, but if the opportunity is still there to get into learning something new in the business side of sports, I just see a ton of upside to that for longer in life.”
Thornton will likely once again be a part time player with Florida next season, as evidenced by the pay cut he took in his deal last February. After earning $1.2MM in each of the last two seasons, he is only guaranteed half of that in 2016-17 with an additional $172K in games played and Stanley Cup bonuses. When in the lineup, he’ll likely be deployed on Florida’s fourth line.
Snapshots: Weber, Fleury, Forbort
Prized off-season acquisition Shea Weber is in Montreal to get acquainted with his new city. Weber took part in a workout, photoshoot, and on-ice session in his new jersey, which includes an “A” sewn on the front. In a feature on Habs TV, Weber told his new fans that he feels very fortunate to be a part of a tight-knit family. He called Montreal the Mecca of hockey, adding it gives him “chills” to be a member of the Canadiens. Weber told Habs TV that “three or four people came up to me [in the airport] and welcomed me to Montreal”.
Here’s some other news from around the NHL:
- After Matt Murray backstopped the Penguins to their fourth Stanley Cup in franchise history, Marc-Andre Fleury is in tough to win back his old job, despite posting career-best numbers. However, as Jared Clinton of The Hockey News writes, it may be impossible for Fleury to regain the starting role thanks to his age, injury history, and next summer’s expansion draft. Because Fleury has a no-trade clause, he has to be protected. It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which the Penguins keep Fleury and allow Murray to be selected by Las Vegas.
- According to LA Kings Insider Jon Rosen, Los Angeles Kings defenseman Derek Forbort will be healthy for training camp after undergoing surgery in late June. The 15th overall pick in 2010 needs to have a big camp to make the Kings, as he’s one of six defenseman who will be battling for three NHL jobs this fall. Forbort is waiver-eligible, so if the club wants to assign him to their AHL affiliate Ontario, he’ll need to clear waivers first. Forbort appeared in 14 games with the big club last year, scoring a goal and adding 2 assists.
Blue Jackets Notes: Bobrovsky, Dubois, Werenski
It’s Columbus Blue Jackets day over at Pro Hockey Talk and much of their coverage centered around the potential for the Blue Jackets to improve over last season’s disappointing result. As Jason Brough reports, much of the weight falls on goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky; he’s the second highest-paid goalie in the NHL behind Henrik Lundqvist, but his 2.48 GAA and 0.908 SV% ranked 35th and 36th respectively in the NHL last season. Bobrovsky got off to a terrible start, losing his first six appearances as the Blue Jackets started 0-8. He also played just 37 games due to a recurring groin injury, which makes you wonder how much of his poor play was because of his injury.
To that end, the Blue Jackets hired former St. Louis Blues strength and conditioning coach Nelson Ayotte to help create a High Performance Department. GM Jarmo Kekalainen said Ayotte will “bridge the gap” between the strength and conditioning coach and the team’s medical staff.
In other Blue Jackets news:
- Like nearly everyone in the hockey world, Brough wondered if the Blue Jackets made the right choice selecting Pierre-Luc Dubois over consensus top-three draft pick Jesse Puljujärvi. It could have something to do with the fact that Puljujärvi is a winger while Dubois played the second half of last season at center, a position of weakness in Columbus after the Ryan Johansen–Seth Jones trade. However, Kekalainen said Dubois had been their guy “all year long” because of his “character and leadership qualities”, not his position. While Dubois could be a long-term solution for the team’s number one center, he’s not ready to fill the hole yet.
- In contrast with the question marks at forward and in the crease, the Blue Jackets have a solid blue-line. Seth Jones, Ryan Murray, Jack Johnson, and David Savard form a solid top two pairings. Those four will likely be joined by the eighth overall pick from the 2015 draft, Zach Werenski. The Michigan-native played for the University of Michigan, where he posted 61 points in 71 games in two seasons before joining the Lake Eerie Monsters on their successful Calder Cup run. Werenski posted 14 points in 19 games in the AHL playoffs. Kekalainen told the team website “there’s a very good chance he makes our team and makes our team better”. Besides the signing of Sam Gagner, it’s been a very quiet summer in Ohio, so the team will be looking within to improve on their terrible 2015-16 season. Werenski figures to be a part of that.
Blackhawks Notes: Line Projections With, Without Vesey
The Athletic’s Scott Powers spends a lengthy article channeling his inner Joel Quenneville and shuffling lines in six (6!) different fashions. Last week, Powers floated the story that Quenneville may in fact unite captain Jonathan Toews with Patrick Kane, an absolute lethal combination should the Hawks manage to ink Jimmy Vesey. Below are the combinations that Powers threw out–which includes a few combinations should the Hawks land Vesey.
We’ll start with the Vesey scenario: Powers believes that Toews would be flanked by Vesey on his left and Kane on the right. Should Vesey live up to his billing and Kane continue to churn out points like he has the past two seasons, it’s almost criminal what that line could be capable of. The second line would consist of Artemi Panarin – Artem Anisimov – Vinnie Hinostroza, giving them a potent one-two punch on the top two lines. An Andrew Desjardins – Marcus Kruger – Marian Hossa third line provides a great two-way forward line that will be overwhelmingly responsible on both ends of the ice. Powers rounds out these lines with a Richard Panik – Nick Schmaltz – Kyle Baun offering, which Powers argues, is due to the Hawks not wanting to have younger players as healthy scratches.
In his first offering, Powers pencils in what seems to be the most logical as he goes by the organizational and Quenneville-like approach. The lines:
Panik – Toews – Hinostroza
Panarin – Anisimov – Kane
Desjardins – Kruger – Hossa
Schmaltz – Tanner Kero – Jordin Tootoo
His rationale? Despite relaying the idea that Kane and Toews could be on the ice together often, Powers goes further by saying that any line arrangement with Chicago’s roster is challenging because there are only four definitive top-6 forwards: Toews, Panarin, Anisimov, and Kane. Quenneville, Powers writes, already experimented with moving Hossa to the third line during the 2016 playoffs and will most likely start him there during the regular season. Powers also reports that keeping the Panarin-Anisimov-Kane together is due in part to their production. Hinostroza led AHL affiliate Rockford in points and seems to be one of the few younger players that could earn Quenneville’s trust. Kero and Schmaltz, though on a crapshoot of a line, would bring speed and scoring to a fourth line.
Powers shuffles the chairs on the deck with his other four pairings. But disturbing the wildly dominant Panarin-Anisimov-Kane line seems premature. Even if they land Vesey, leaving this line alone would pay dividends should they be as successful as they were last season. Further, Vesey would be just as productive with the captain on his line.
Everything is contingent on what happens August 15th. But here’s guessing 29 other GM’s are hoping if Vesey doesn’t sign with them, he at least doesn’t go to the Hawks. It would make an already great team even better.