Hurricanes Sign Sutter, Lowe, Robertson And Woods
The Carolina Hurricanes have agreed to deals with defenseman Keegan Lowe, winger Brendan Woods, defenseman Dennis Robertson and forward Brody Sutter.
Sutter agreed to a one-year, $600K deal. The center played 70 games in Charlotte, netting 24 points (13-11) and appeared in eight games with the Canes.
Lowe’s deal is a one-year, $750K contract. Lowe posted career highs with AHL affiliate Charlotte in 2015-16 with 14 points (3-11).
Woods signed a one-year, $650K deal. The 24-year-old forward spent five games with the big club. While with Charlotte, he had 20 points (9-11) in 59 games.
Robertson inked a one-year, $650K deal. He spent the entire season in the AHL, splitting time with Rockford and Charlotte. In 58 games, he had nine points (2-7).
Sabres Re-Sign Marcus Foligno
The Buffalo Sabres announced today that they’ve re-signed forward Marcus Foligno to a one-year, $2.25MM contract.
Foligno, who turns 25 in August, scored 10 goals and added 13 assists last year, setting a career high in goals and points, and matching his career high in assists. Foligno was a fourth round pick of the Sabres in 2009, having played in junior for the Sudbury Wolves, who were coached by his father, former Sabre and current New Jersey Devils’ assistant coach Mike Foligno. He is the younger brother of Columbus Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno.
The Sabres have nearly $10MM in cap space, and their only restricted free agents currently unsigned are Rasmus Ristolainen and Zemgus Girgensons. They currently have six defensemen signed, and Foligno is their sixteenth forward under contract.
News And Notes: Kings, Flyers, Scrivens, Penguins
The Los Angeles Kings announced today that they’ve signed 24-year-old center undrafted Patrick Bjorstrand to a one year contract. Bjorkstrand, the son of the Danish league’s Herning Blue Fox’s head coach Todd Bjorstraand, and brother of Columbus Blue Jackets’ prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand, scored nine goals, and 13 assists for the KHL’s Medveščak Zagreb last year.
Further links from around the NHL:
- The Philadelphia Flyers announced via their website that forward Nick Cousins has accepted his qualifying offer. Cousins will earn $937k on a one year contract.
- Former Maple Leafs, Oilers, and Canadiens goalie Ben Scrivens has signed with the KHL’s Dinamo Minsk, according to The Hockey Writers’ Alvis Kalnins. Scrivens played 15 games with the Canadiens this year, posting a .906 save percentage, and split the rest of the season with the Bakersfield Condors and the St. John’s Ice Caps.
- The Pittsburgh Tribune’s Bill West speculates on Twitter that after re-signing Justin Schultz, the Penguins may be loading up on skating defensemen hoping that at least one becomes a significant contributor, and that if several pan out, they may be able to deal one later on.
Jets Re-Sign Joel Armia, Adam Lowry
The Winnipeg Jets announced via Twitter that they have re-signed forwards Joel Armia and Adam Lowry, both to two year deals. Armia will earn $925K per year, while Lowry will command $1.125MM.
Lowry, 22, was drafted in the third round, 67th overall by Winnipeg. He scored seven goals, and 10 assists last year in 71 games. In his NHL career he has 18 goals, 22 assists, in 154 games.
Armia, 23, was drafted 16th overall in the first round by Buffalo before being traded to the Jets as part of the Evander Kane deal. The Finn was a high scorer in Sweden before coming to North America, where he scored four goals, and six assists in 43 games for the Jets last year.
Red Wings Re-Sign Luke Glendening
The Detroit Red Wings announced via Twitter and their website that they’ve re-signed forward Luke Glendening to a four year contract. GeneralFanager reports on Twitter that the deal is worth $1.8MM a year. Glendening had one year left on his contract, so this contract starts in 2017-18, and will expire in July of 2021.
Glendening, who is 27 years old, was undrafted, but began his NHL career with the Red Wings, played at the University of Michigan and was raised in Grand Rapids. He scored eight goals, and added 13 assists last year, having played 81 games for the Red Wings. In his NHL career, he has scored 21 goals, and 25 assists in 219 games.
Glendening, a right-hand shot, and natural center, adds to a growing list of forwards for the Red Wings. They now have 18 under contract. The large number will be easily pared down, as Johan Franzen will likely spend the season on long-term injured reserve, and Joe Vitale, acquired in the Pavel Datsyuk trade, might join him.
After that, the Red Wings have many forwards who can be sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins without much panic, including Glendening, Teemu Pulkkinen, Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Mantha, and Tomas Jurco. Mantha and Athanasiou would not require waivers before being demoted, and both played part-time in the NHL last year.
League-Wide Notes: Haggarty, Vegas, Martin, Vesey
Harley Haggarty writes in the Player’s Tribune today about his role as a fighter in junior and the AHL. His knowledge of his expiration date is fairly interesting, and generally speaking, the difference between this and what players in the big leagues say, NHL players tend to have more optimistic views and tend to want more to stay in the NHL for longer, is interesting in terms of analyzing players who choose to keep playing in the AHL once they realize they won’t be NHL stars.
More links from around the league:
- Gord Miller of TSN reports on Twitter that the Las Vegas NHL franchise will be named the Knights.
- Sportsnet’s Eric Engels writes today about the PK Subban trade, saying at one point that Mat Pfeffer, an analytics consultant for the Canadiens, likely lost his job because of his opposition to the trade.
- Draglikepull at The Leafs Nation writes statistically about the Matt Martin signing. His analysis seems to suggest that Martin struggles to create offense.
- Todd Cordell of HockeyBuzz reports that the Devils stand a shot at signing Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey. Cordell reports that they’re on Vesey’s short list. Vesey, who was drafted by Nashville, had 24 goals and 22 assists playing for Harvard last year.
Next Steps For The Las Vegas Franchise
The expansion Las Vegas franchise made their first key management hire earlier today with the hiring of former Washington GM George McPhee as the team’s first general manager. Fans of the newest NHL team should expect more hirings in the days and weeks to come.
In the press conference, McPhee noted that he plans to focus on building the scouting department next, writes Taylor Bern of the Las Vegas Sun. While the team technically won’t have any players for nearly another year, the scouts will still have plenty to do in terms of scouting the prospect ranks as well as keeping tabs on each NHL team to evaluate their options for next June’s expansion draft. McPhee noted that a coaching hire is still a long way away, however. That hiring will likely come at the end of next season when there are more options available.
While owner Bill Foley was heavily active in McPhee’s hiring (along with his advisor, long-time NHL’er Murray Craven), he will take a step back and allow McPhee to have a large say in future hirings as McPhee builds his staff.
As for Foley, his next priority is to finalize the team’s name. That process hasn’t gone as smoothly as he had hoped due to trademark issues. At the press conference, Foley had this to say about what the eventual team name will represent:
“It needs to be a name that people hear and say, these guys are tough, these guys are going to win, these guys are dedicated.”
TSN’s Gord Miller hears that the team could be called the Knights although Black Knights is also believed to be a possibility.
Bruins Re-Sign Colin Miller and Joe Morrow
The Boston Bruins have agreed to terms on one-way contracts with restricted free agent defensemen Colin Miller and Joe Morrow, according to a pair of tweets from General Fanager.
Miller made his NHL debut last season with the Bruins after being acquired last offseason as part of the Milan Lucic trade. He got into 42 games with Boston, collecting three goals and 13 assists while averaging 15:48 of ice time per game. He also saw action with Providence of the AHL (Boston’s minor league affiliate), playing in 20 games, collecting four goals and eight assists. Miller receives a two year deal and will earn $900K in 2016-17 and $1.1MM the following season for a cap hit of $1MM.
Morrow was acquired by the Bruins in 2013 as part of the blockbuster Tyler Seguin trade. He played in 33 games with Boston last season, scoring a single goal to go along with six assists while averaging 15:54 per game. In 48 career NHL contests, all with the Bruins, the former first round pick (23rd overall in 2011 by Pittsburgh) has two goals and six helpers. Morrow receives a one year pact worth $800K.
The Bruins have just two remaining restricted free agents to re-sign in prospects Brian Ferlin and Chris Casto.
Atlantic Notes: Subban, Canadiens, Panthers
Boston goaltending prospect Malcolm Subban has fully recovered from a fractured larynx he suffered in the pregame warmups in an AHL game back in early February, writes Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald. Subban was unable to exercise for more than two months which ended his sophomore pro campaign much earlier than he had hoped.
Subban spent most of last season with the Bruins’ AHL affiliate in Providence, posting a 14-8-5 record in 27 appearances with a 2.46 GAA and a .911 SV%. The former first round pick (24th overall in 2012) will likely have to wait another year to contend for the backup job behind Tuukka Rask as the team signed Anton Khudobin, who played with Boston in 2012-13, early in free agency.
Other news and notes from the Atlantic Division:
- The Canadiens have decided not to retain the services of analytics consultant Matt Pfeffer, reports Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. The team will hire a replacement for that role instead. Pfeffer, 21, previously was employed by San Jose in the 2014-15 season.
- Panthers head coach Gerard Gallant isn’t worried about incorporating several new defensemen into their lineup, writes the Sun Sentinel’s Harvey Filakov. Florida, who won the Atlantic last season, have added Mark Pysyk and Keith Yandle via trade while signing Jason Demers on the second day of free agency. On the flip side, they’ve lost Erik Gudbranson, Brian Campbell, Dmitry Kulikov, and Willie Mitchell which is a lot of turnover for a division winning squad. Gallant also noted that he expects four or five youngsters to push for a roster spot in training camp. Here’s a look at the Panthers’ depth chart, courtesy of Roster Resource.
Minor Transactions: 7/13/16
- The New York Islanders have re-signed Alan Quine to a two-year deal tweets Arthur Staple. Staple reports that it’s a one-way deal with a $612.5K AAV. Andy Graziano reports that the deal is a total of $1.225MM. Quine played in 10 playoff games with the Islanders, notching five points (1-4).
- The Canucks officially announced the signings of goalie Richard Bachman and forward Michael Zalewski. Zalewski was inked to a one-year, $632.5K deal. Bachman signed a one-year, $575K deal. Jason Brough tweets that Bachman may be the goalie Vancouver leaves exposed in next year’s expansion draft.
- The Lightning signed Cory Conacher to a one-year, $575K deal. Conacher will return to the team he last played for in 2012-13 before bouncing around the league. Conacher was traded to the Senators for Ben Bishop in 2013. At the time, it was considered a win for both teams, but would turn out a heist for the Lightning. Conacher played for Bern in the Swiss National League last season, and had 52 points (20-32) in 48 games.
- The Panthers have re-signed F Logan Shaw to a one year, two-way deal according to General Fanager. Shaw played in 53 games with Florida last season, picking up seven points (5-2). He also played in 19 AHL games, collecting 14 points (11-3). Shaw will earn $660K in the NHL and $70K in the AHL.
- Ducks UFA Charlie Sarault has signed a one year deal with Dornbirner EC of the EIHL, the Austrian team announced on their Facebook page. Sarault had 62 points in 67 games with Utah of the ECHL last season.
- Los Angeles has signed Patrick Bjorkstrand to a one year, entry level contract, reports General Fanager. Bjorkstrand, the older brother of Columbus prospect Oliver Bjorkstrand, spent last season with Zagreb of the KHL, scoring 22 points in 57 games. He will have a cap hit of $667K in terms of base salary and a signing bonus and can earn up to $257K in performance bonuses.