Ryan O’Reilly DUI Case Dismissed In Court
According to a series of tweets from London Free Press reporter Jane Sims, the case against Ryan O’Reilly from last summer’s impaired driving incident has been dropped, due to “no reasonable prospect of conviction.”
O’Reilly was charged with impaired driving and failure to remain at the scene when he crashed his truck into a Tim Hortons in London, Ontario on July 9th of last year. The Buffalo Sabres forward had recently signed a seven-year contract extension worth $52.5 million dollars.
No word on whether the league will hand out additional discipline to the center, but for now O’Reilly can start to put the incident behind him. The Sabres hope that nothing else comes of it, as O’Reilly played exceptionally well for them last season, scoring 21 goals and 60 points in 71 games.
Montreal Introduces Laval As New AHL Affiliate
As we speculated here yesterday, the Montreal Canadiens have officially announced that they will move their AHL affiliate St. John’s to Laval, Quebec for the 2017-18 season. The city is building a new 10,000 seat arena that will house the team, and is now just a short distance from it’s parent club.
St. John’s has had terrible luck in keeping a professional hockey team over the years, as this represents the third time a club has moved away from the maritime city in recent memory. The Maple Leafs and Jets both once had affiliates there, before moving them into their respective metropolitan areas, just as Montreal has done today.
If a team ever were to head to Quebec City, perhaps St. John’s could be a successful fit, but for now the city must watch their third franchise leave in just over ten years. Montreal also announced that it will have a naming contest to determine what the new nickname of the team will be.
Flyers Sign Jordan Weal To One-Year Deal
After filing for arbitration last week, Philadelphia Flyers forward Jordan Weal has come to terms with the team on a one-year, two-way deal, according to Tim Wharnsby of CBC. The deal will see him paid $650K at the NHL level, and $200K if he remains in the AHL.
Weal made his NHL debut last season for the Los Angeles Kings before being involved in the trade that brought Vincent Lecavalier and Luke Schenn out west. Weal is a small framed center, capable of putting up a ton of points at the AHL level, including back to back twenty-goal seasons in 2013-15.
Last season the 24-year old only got into 14 total games, as injury and waiver limbo kept him in the NHL all season. After being acquired by Philadelphia, the former Calder Cup MVP spent many games watching from the press box, as the team was unwilling to expose him to waivers to send him down. Now he’ll try to crack the Philadelphia top-6, and prove that he can carry over that scoring prowess to the next level.
Week In Review: 7/3/16 – 7/9-16
While the first full week of July didn’t feature quite the frenzy of its predecessor in terms of major UFA signings or blockbuster trades, it was still a busy one. Here’s a look back at the week that was around the hockey world.
Trades
Jonathan Bernier (Maple Leafs) – To Anaheim for a conditional draft pick
Notable Re-Signings
Magnus Paajarvi (Blues) – One year, $700K
Calvin Pickard (Avalanche) – Two years, $2MM
Darcy Kuemper (Wild) – One year, $1.55MM
Phillip Danault (Canadiens) – Two years, $1.825MM
Kyle Palmieri (Devils) – Five years, $23.25MM
Mark Scheifele (Jets) – Eight years, $49MM
Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche) – Seven years, $44.1MM
Notable UFA Signings
Mason Raymond (Ducks) – One year, $675K
Jordin Tootoo (Blackhawks) – One year, $750K
Jared Boll (Ducks) – Two years, $1.8MM
Chris Kelly (Senators) – One year, $900K
Evgeny Medvedev (formerly of the Flyers) – Two year deal in the KHL
Contract Extensions
Reilly Smith (Panthers) – Five years, $25MM
Derek MacKenzie (Panthers) – Two years, $2.75MM
Mathieu Perreault (Jets) – Four years, $16.5MM
Jacob Markstrom (Canucks) – Three years, $11.5MM
Prospect Signings
Patrik Laine (Jets) – Three year entry-level deal
Matthew Tkachuk (Flames) Three year entry-level deal
Jake Bean and Julien Gauthier (Hurricanes) – Three year entry-level deals
Arbitration Filings
24 players filed for salary arbitration in advance of Tuesday’s deadline (Link)
Injuries
Teemu Pulkkinen (Red Wings) – Four to six months (shoulder surgery)
Retirements
Backup Goalie Options For Toronto
After trading Jonathan Bernier to the Ducks earlier this week, the Maple Leafs are in the market for a new backup goalie. Head coach Mike Babcock told reporters that they’re looking for a “good pro,” implying that they’re looking for an experienced veteran to work behind 26 year old Frederik Andersen.
Unfortunately for Toronto, there aren’t many quality veterans available in free agency. There are four NHL free agents with at least 100 games of experience in Jhonas Enroth, Anders Lindback, Karri Ramo, and Ben Scrivens. However, all four of those players have either struggled in recent years or are considerably undersized for the position (Enroth) leading many to assume the team will ultimately trade for a backup instead. With that in mind, here are some potential veteran trade candidates for the Leafs.
Thomas Greiss (New York I.) – This past week, the Islanders re-signed J-F Berube giving them three goalies on one-way deals. Jaroslav Halak is the clear #1 while the fact they are keeping Berube around suggests that management is high on his potential. That leaves Greiss as potentially the odd man out. Greiss is coming off the best season of his career plus a strong playoff run so the asking price should be somewhat high. However, the Leafs would be getting an above average backup and would give themselves two quality options between the pipes each and every night.
Curtis McElhinney (Columbus) – The Blue Jackets have youngster Joonas Korpisalo waiting in the wings who handled himself quite well in 31 NHL games last season. McElhinney is coming off a down season but has been a reliable backup in previous years. Considering Columbus is looking to get younger, the asking price here wouldn’t be terribly high and would allow the Leafs to add a short-term fix while they let youngsters Garret Sparks and Antoine Bibeau battle it out in the minors for another year.
Ondrej Pavelec (Winnipeg) – After trading a bad contract in Bernier away, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense on the surface to turn around and trade for another one in Pavelec. However, the Leafs have a couple of similarly-priced deals in Milan Michalek and Colin Greening that they could potentially flip to offset the salary. A deal like this would give the Leafs someone that could slide into a #1 role if Andersen gets hurt while Winnipeg would free up a spot for Connor Hellebuyck to join the NHL team on a full-time basis.
Failing that, a trade for Michael Hutchinson from Winnipeg could be another possibility. While he doesn’t have a ton of NHL experience, he has seen action in at least 30 NHL games in each of the last two seasons and dealing him away would allow the Jets to move Hellebuyck up full-time as well.
There aren’t a lot of veteran netminders out there for the Leafs but they still should be able to add one without much difficulty between now and the start of training camp in September.
West Notes: McGinn, Shore, Blues
Prior to entering free agency, left winger Jamie McGinn was looking to find a bigger role in terms of his ice time as well as leadership, he told Sarah McLellan of AZCentral. The Coyotes were looking for someone to help mentor their young core forwards in Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, and Dylan Strome as well as someone who was willing to get to the dirty areas to score and identified McGinn as someone who would be a fit. Not surprisingly, it didn’t take too long before the two sides agreed to a three year, $10MM contract on July 1st.
McGinn also had someone he could turn to for information about playing in Arizona as his brother Tye spent part of the 2014-15 season with the Coyotes and obviously the elder Jamie liked what he heard.
The 27 year old profiles as a top six forward with Arizona which should give him a chance to beat his career high in points (39) that he set last season, split between Buffalo and Anaheim.
More from around the Western Conference:
- Dallas center prospect Devin Shore is a candidate to step into a bottom six role for the Stars following the departures of Vernon Fiddler (to New Jersey) and Colton Sceviour (to Florida). Shore missed the second half of last season following shoulder surgery but impressed in his freshman pro campaign, picking up 26 points in 23 AHL games. If Shore, a second round pick in 2012, can crack the roster in training camp, he coincidentally will follow in the footsteps of the Stars’ first rounder in 2012, Radek Faksa, writes Steve Hunt of NHL.com. Faksa also suffered a shoulder injury in his first pro season but was still able to crack Dallas’ lineup the following season.
- St. Louis will be changing their playing style to reflect the departures of physical forwards David Backes, Troy Brouwer, and Steve Ott as well as the addition of David Perron, head coach Ken Hitchcock told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Hitchcock has been working closely with coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo to incorporate part of the system Yeo ran with the Wild into how the Blues want to play next season. While St. Louis will have less toughness in their lineup, they hope to compensate for that by being tougher on the puck, something that Minnesota was known for under Yeo’s tenure. With only RFA Jaden Schwartz left to re-sign this offseason, it doesn’t appear likely that the Blues will wind up doing much to replace the grit they’ve lost as a new deal for him will eat up a big chunk of their remaining cap space.
Free Agent Profile: Radim Vrbata
Two years ago, right winger Radim Vrbata was one of the more sought after forwards on the free agent market. This summer, he has more or less been an afterthought through the first week. Here is a closer look at his free agent situation.
Vrbata signed a two year deal with the Canucks in the summer of 2014 with the hopes that he could be a reliable scoring winger to play with the Sedin twins. For the first year of that contract, he did exactly that, scoring 31 goals and 32 assists for a career high in points with 63. Unfortunately for Vrbata and the Canucks, 2015-16 was an entirely different story.
Last season, he collected just 13 goals and 14 assists in 63 games while missing some time with a pair of lower body injuries. Those 27 points were his lowest since 2003-04 while his -30 plus/minus rating was second worst in the entire NHL. Between his struggles and a $5MM contract, Vancouver was unable to find a taker for him at the trade deadline.
Teams will now be wondering if last season was a sign of things to come or just an off year. At 35 years of age, it’s certainly possible to think that he won’t be able to get back to his top line form. On the other hand, he has averaged greater than half a point per game for six straight years before last season so there’s a case to be made that his track record suggests he’s worth another shot.
Potential Suitors
At this stage of his career, no one is mistaking Vrbata for a top line forward. He’s one of those players who profiles as a second/third liner that can play on a power play. Montreal showed considerable interest in him two years ago but likely doesn’t have enough money to sign him without having to make a trade beforehand. Teams like the Senators, Hurricanes, Rangers, Ducks, Bruins, and Sabres all have the cap space and a potential roster spot for a player like Vrbata but so far, no specific team has been reported to show interest in him.
Projected Contract
Vrbata ranked 27th on our Top 50 UFA list and we had projected that he wouldn’t have much difficulty getting a deal as one of the secondary scorers in free agency. Obviously, that didn’t happen so our projection of $3.7MM on a one year deal is probably going to be too high. A one year contract remains likely though given his inconsistency from last season and the fact a multi-year deal would trigger the 35+ clause similar to what the Red Wings had to deal with when it came to Pavel Datsyuk’s retirement.
Atlantic Notes: Boston’s Defense, Red Wings, AHL Affiliates
While it’s no secret that the Bruins could use some help on the blueline, CSN’s Joe Haggerty suggests that the help may be coming later rather than sooner in the form of a midseason trade instead of an offseason addition. As things stand, the UFA market for defensemen is getting rather thin quickly and there aren’t many teams willing to trade impact defenders at this time. Players like Anaheim’s Cam Fowler and Colorado’s Tyson Barrie have been mentioned in trade rumors in recent weeks but the asking price for those players is justifiably quite high.
Haggerty suggests that some in Boston’s front office are growing skeptical that one of Brandon Carlo, Robbie O’Gara, or Matt Grzelcyk will be able to step into a top six role to start the season. That would put more pressure on returnees Colin Miller and Joe Morrow, as well as John-Michael Liles, who will begin his first full season with the team.
The Bruins lost Zach Trotman to Los Angeles in free agency while buying out Dennis Seidenberg, thinning their depth on the back end accordingly.
More from the Atlantic Division:
- Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill is a big fan of the Wings’ moves so far this offseason, writes MLive’s Brendan Savage. Early in free agency, the team re-signed center Darren Helm while adding centers Frans Nielsen and Steve Ott as well as winger Thomas Vanek. Blashill acknowledged that Nielsen is expected to center Detroit’s second line next season though he wouldn’t go as far as suggesting who the wingers on that unit may be. Vanek would be a candidate, as would returnees Justin Abdelkader and Tomas Tatar.
- Both the Senators and Canadiens are expected to move their AHL affiliates in time for the 2017-18 season. Jason Miller of the Ottawa Citizen reports that the Sens will move their affiliate from Binghamton, New York to Belleville, Ontario. Meanwhile, the Habs have called a press conference for Monday morning in Laval, Quebec where it’s expected that they will announce what has been speculated for a couple of years, that they will move their farm team from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Laval to play at a new 10,000 seat arena that’s expected to be ready in 2017.
Tomas Kundratek Eyeing Return To NHL
After playing in the KHL for the last two seasons, former Washington Capitals defenseman Tomas Kundratek is currently exploring options for a return to the NHL, according to KHL insider Aivis Kalnins. The Czech blueliner came over to North America after being drafted in 2008 by the New York Rangers, and would play for the Medicine Hat Tigers and a handful of AHL teams before making his NHL debut in 2011-12 with the Capitals.
According to the original tweet after being traded last season, Kundratek agreed to an extension through the 2016-17 season, meaning he’d need to be released from that deal or have a built in opt-out clause. Still just 26-years old, Kundratek would be an unrestricted free agent should he be able to come back across the pond, and could be an interesting option for a team willing to take a chance.
In 30 NHL games Kundratek had just seven points, but he showed he was a capable point producer at the AHL level, putting up 94 across 247 games. A right-handed shot, Kundratek split last season between Riga Dynamo and Bratislava Slovan, scoring 24 points in 56 games.
Are Offer Sheets A Thing Of The Past?
This summer’s restricted free agent (RFA) list is quite impressive, with nine 20-goal scorers and 13 players who scored more than 40 points last season. Forwards Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Nikita Kucherov, Marcus Johansson, and Mike Hoffman headline the forwards; while Hampus Lindholm, Tyson Barrie, Rasmus Ristolainen, Danny DeKeyser, and Jacob Trouba are the top defensemen. Detroit’s Petr Mrazek is the only big-name RFA goalie remaining. Most of the above players are eligible for offer sheets.
According to Elliotte Friedman, compensation for offer sheets is as follows:
- Less than $1.239MM (average annual value of contract) – Nothing;
- $1.239-$1.878MM – Third-round pick;
- $1.878-$3.755MM – Second-round pick;
- $3.755-$5.633MM – First and third-round picks;
- $5.633-$7.510MM – First, second and third-round picks;
- $7.510-$9.388MM – Two first, a second and third-round picks;
- Over $9.388MM – Four first-round picks.
With this in mind, teams could target rival teams top young players, with both outcomes having their benefits to the aggressive team: either they acquire a good young player for only picks, or they mess up a rival’s salary cap by inflating the player’s salary.
The threat of an offer sheet was evident last summer, with the Blackhawks trading Brandon Saad to the Blue Jackets and the Bruins trading Dougie Hamilton to the Flames. Both players were pending RFAs and in line for a big raise before being shipped out to prevent their teams from being subjected to an offer sheet. However, this summer has been the complete opposite, with teams taking their time to sign the above-mentioned stars, apparently not overly worried about offer sheets.
Why could that be?
The last time an NHL team successfully acquired a player via an offer sheet was in 2007. Then-Oilers-GM Kevin Lowe signed Anaheim Ducks LW Dustin Penner to a 4-year, $21.5MM contract. The Ducks did not match, and the Oilers forked over their first three rounds of draft picks in 2008. Penner enjoyed varying degrees of success in three-and-a-half seasons in Edmonton before being traded to Los Angeles where he won a Stanley Cup. The Penner offer sheet is most fondly remembered by then-Ducks-GM Brian Burke and Lowe’s escalating war of words which nearly lead to a fist-fight in a rented barn in Lake Placid. Commissioner Gary Bettman was forced to have a conference call with the two GMs to get them to stop.
It’s perhaps this sort of reaction that prevents GMs from making offer sheets. Earlier this summer, ESPN and TSN reporter Pierre LeBrun quoted an unnamed GM as threatening opposing GMs with an offer sheet per year for the next ten years as retribution for a potential offer sheet. There appears to be an unspoken agreement between GMs to leave RFAs alone. There hasn’t been an offer sheet tendered since 2013 when Colorado matched Calgary’s contract with Ryan O’Reilly, saving the Flames from an embarrassing and costly mistake.
So despite several fan bases calling for offer sheets, it seems unlikely that any players will be switching sweaters this summer because of one.