Ottawa Acquires Mike Condon From Pittsburgh
According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, the Ottawa Senators have acquired Mike Condon from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a fifth-round draft pick. Since Craig Anderson was forced to take a short leave of absence from the team (he has since returned) and Andrew Hammond was placed on injured reserve with a groin injury, the Senators have been looking high and wide for some help in net. It’ll come in the form of Condon, who was selected off waivers by the Penguins just before the start of the season.
For Pittsburgh, this is a nice return for a player who only spent a few weeks in your system. Condon was an emergency claim by the Penguins once Matt Murray wasn’t able to start the season due to his broken hand. Now, as Murray returns, the team had to make a decision on Condon as he would obviously require waivers once again to go to the AHL.
For the Senators, Condon will provide some assurance that they’ll have an NHL caliber goaltender in net each night even if Anderson has to take any more time off. While the team will likely come into the same situation once Hammond returns, they won’t have to make a decision for at least some time.
Condon broke into the league last season when Carey Price went down, playing 55 games for the Canadiens to mixed results. With a .903 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average, the 26-year old rookie at least showed he’s capable of helping an NHL squad, though perhaps not for the majority of a season.
It must sting the Canadiens the worst, as they were unable to get anything in return for Condon before the season. While a fifth-rounder isn’t a huge return, it is at least something tangible.
Bruins Send Danton Heinen To Providence
According to Joe Haggerty of CSNNE, the Boston Bruins have sent Danton Heinen to Providence of the AHL. Heinen does not need to clear waivers, and will get more minutes at the AHL level to, as coach Claude Julien puts it, “go down there, get better, get more confident and get stronger.”
Heinen played seven games with the Bruins this year but failed to register a point, despite seeing more than 16 minutes of icetime on two occasions. The 21-year old was a -2 on the year, and will now hope to help a struggling Providence team that has scored just 17 goals in 8 games.
A fourth-round pick out of the BCHL, Heinen spent two seasons at the University of Denver where he was a standout offensive star. 93 points in 81 games led the Pioneers both seasons before leaving to sign with the Bruins last spring.
Connor McDavid’s Next Contract
He may be eight months away from being able to sign it, and 20 months before it takes effect, but Connor McDavid‘s second contract is already a topic of conversation in the hockey world.
Despite being only 19-years-old and 55 games into his NHL career, McDavid is already a top-five player in the NHL. Of course, he’s scored 60 points in those 55 games, and is currently sitting tied for second in NHL scoring. He’s also the youngest captain in NHL history and the unquestioned face of the Oilers franchise.
McDavid is currently in the second year of his three-year entry-level contract. Including bonuses, McDavid can make $3.775MM per season. He’s eligible to negotiate and sign a contract extension on July 1, 2017. The longest term possible is eight years, something that’s a given for the Oilers but perhaps a point of worry for the McDavid camp. On Tuesday night’s Insider Trading, TSN and ESPN insider Pierre Lebrun floated the idea that the potential lockout in 2020 or 2022 could affect the player agent’s willingness to sign through that. He followed that up on Wednesday morning on TSN radio in Vancouver, pointing to the past CBA’s effects on player contracts. In 2005, there was a 24% salary rollback to all players; in 2013 they added cap recapture penalties to so-called “cheat deals” like Shea Weber‘s. While Lebrun isn’t saying McDavid doesn’t want to sign an eight-year extension in Edmonton, he does point out the possibility of a four-year deal because “there’s some concern that when the CBA ends, maybe they need to protect themselves because the rules may change on existing contracts.”
Numbers-wise, McDavid is a very likely candidate to become the highest-paid player in the NHL. Chris Johnston discussed McDavid on Tuesday night’s Sportsnet Hockey Central, opining that he “doesn’t see any” situation where McDavid doesn’t become the highest-paid player in the NHL. Currently, Blackhawks forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane‘s $10.5MM cap hits are the highest in the NHL. Kings captain Anze Kopitar is the only other player making $10MM or more.
Of course, the Oilers could luck out if McDavid is as superstitious as the previous “next one” Sidney Crosby. Following his standard entry-level contract, Crosby has signed two separate contracts with an AAV of $8.7MM, which of course is the same as his number. Getting McDavid signed at under $10MM per season would be a major win for the Oilers and allow them to build a stronger team around him. Both sides can look no further than the Blackhawks struggles to keep their team together with Toews and Kane accounting for a combined $21MM against the cap.
Including LTIR-relief from former captain Andrew Ference (career-ending hip surgery), the Oilers are around $5MM below the cap. Things will change in the summer, when Leon Draisaitl is an RFA. Look for depth defenseman Mark Fayne to bought out or traded with salary retained to clear most of his $3.625MM cap hit, and perhaps a trade involving a bigger salaried player. McDavid and Darnell Nurse finish their entry-level contracts in 2018, and then Jesse Puljujärvi in 2019 (presuming he stays in the NHL this year and doesn’t slide.
While negotiations cannot begin until July, Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli and his management team are already having internal discussions about the contract, and so are McDavid’s agents, Jeff Jackson and Bobby Orr. Expect a similar timeline to fellow exceptional status recipient and first-overall pick Aaron Ekblad signing his extension with Florida; the two sides agreed in principle to a new deal early in the morning of July 1st.
Johnston was dead-on when he called extending McDavid the “biggest decision the Oilers are going to have for the next decade.”
Snapshots: Kovalchuk, Sabres, Kings
Could former NHL star Ilya Kovalchuk be looking to follow in Alexander Radulov‘s footsteps next summer?
KHL analyst Aivis Kalniņš believes Kovalchuk wants to return to the NHL. The Russian sniper retired from the NHL back in 2013 in order to play in the KHL after 11 seasons in North America. He was just three seasons into a controversial 15-year, $100MM contract when he retired.
Kalniņš reported that CSKA has begun contract talks with former NHLers Kovalchuk and Viktor Tikhonov; while Tikhonov is considered close to an extension, Kovalchuk is not. It’s a similar situation to Radulov, in that CSKA attempted to sign him but he chose to leave money on the table to give the NHL another go.
Whether or not the NHL allows Kovalchuk to return is another question. Because he signed his voluntary retirement papers, all 30 NHL teams would have to approve the move. It’s unlikely that 29 teams would approve a competitor’s bid to sign a former consistent 30-plus goal scorer.
- Brayton J. Wilson of WGR 550 in Buffalo reported a hard-to-believe stat about the Sabres. With their win over Minnesota, the Sabres are now 4-3-2, or one game over 0.500. Wilson reported that this is the first time the Sabres have been over 0.500 since the third game of the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season. That’s 299 games ago, and a sign of the harsh realities of being a struggling franchise in the NHL.
- After being shut out for the third consecutive game, Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter told reporters his message to the team was “there’s nobody coming in on a white horse to play goal for us or score goals or to come up [from the minors].” The Kings have approximately $1MM in salary cap space, despite placing the injured Jonathan Quick on LTIR. While Quick’s injury does give them some space in the interim, that would go away when he returns in three months, which rules out trading for Jaroslav Halak and likely Ondrej Pavelec too.
Senators Return Chabot To Junior
The Ottawa Senators have returned defenseman Thomas Chabot to the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
Chabot made the Senators out of camp but only appeared in one game. However, Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion told reporters that Chabot “gained so much valuable experience here” and Dorion expects him to challenge for an NHL position next season.
The 18th overall pick in 2015, Chabot has 24 goals and 108 points in 168 games over three seasons with the Sea Dogs. He’s expected to make his season-debut on Thursday night.
Chabot will be counted on to lead their defense alongside Bruins first rounder Jakub Zboril, and should make Team Canada at the upcoming World Juniors in Toronto and Montreal. Chabot posted 3 assists in 5 games at the 2016 World Juniors. Canada will be looking to avenge their 6-5 quarter-final loss to eventual gold medal-winners Finland.
There are now 13 slide-eligible rookies, after six players hit the 10 game plateau in the last few days.
Jonathan Drouin Leaves Game With Upper Body Injury
Wednesday: Calvin de Haan is not likely to face any supplemental discipline for the head, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie. While there was definite contact with Drouin’s head, it was “apparently ruled ‘unavoidable'” for de Haan.
Tuesday: The Tampa Bay Lightning tweeted that Jonathan Drouin would not return to the game after taking a hit to the head from Calvin de Haan in the first period. Video of the hit was here via SBNation, and both Erik Eriendsson and Renaud Lavoie confirmed Drouin’s inability to return.
From video, it appeared that Drouin took either a shoulder or elbow, but several outlets reported it was an elbow to the head. Teammate Ryan Callahan rushed in and dropped the gloves with de Haan immediately following the hit. The offending de Haan received a major for fighting and an extra major for interference according to the Hockey News’ Jared Clinton. Darren Dreger also tweets that the league will look at the hit.
Drouin has 5 points (2-3) in nine games this season.
Penguins Injury Notes: Murray, Letang, Sheary
The Pittsburgh Penguins updated the injury status of several key players today, including playoff hero Matt Murray. The 22-year-old goalie is set to make his season debut tomorrow night, as he gets the start back in the state where he helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup just five short months ago. Murray will face the Anaheim Ducks after missing the first nine games of the season with a hand injury suffered in the World Cup of Hockey. After a brief stint on the injured reserve, Murray is ready to get his 2016-17 campaign started. Last season, Murray posted an unreal .930 save percentage and 2.00 goals against average in 13 regular season starts before leading the Penguins to championship behind a .923 save percentage and 2.08 goals against average in 21 postseason appearances. While the Penguins will soon have to figure out a short-term and long-term plan for Murray and incumbent Marc-Andre Fleury, for now they are just happy to have their young stud keeper back.
In other injury returns:
- Kris Letang returned to practice on Tuesday, fully participating and “looking strong” according to coach Mike Sullivan, but remains day-to-day with an upper body injury. He has not played since October 18th. The leader of the Penguins defense, Letang has had trouble staying on the ice in his career, but that hasn’t stopped him from putting up big numbers. Letang had a career-high 67 points last season, and the Penguins hope that his offensive ability will return to the lineup shortly.
- Another Penguin who has not played since the October 18th matchup against the Montreal Canadiens is Conor Sheary. The former UMass star took a stick to the eye in that game, forcing him out of the lineup early and for the following five games. Back at practice wearing a full mask, Sheary was a full participant and is expected back in the lineup as soon as tomorrow. Sheary was a revelation in the playoffs for the Penguins in 2016, scoring 10 points in 23 games to match his 10 points in 44 regular season games, and was a key contributor to their Stanley Cup run.
Snapshots: Masks, Campbell, Desjardins, Porter
While there are many days remembered over the years for major trades or signings, today represents a landmark day in the NHL for an entirely different reason. As John Kreiser of NHL.com recalls, November 1st, 1959 was the first time that a goaltender wore a mask as Montreal’s Jacques Plante put one on following getting hit in the face after a hard shot from Andy Bathgate of the New York Rangers.
At the time, Plante was highly criticized and ridiculed but held firm in using one, telling coach Toe Blake that he would no longer play without one. It took 15 years (until 1973-74) before all goaltenders were wearing them. Today, the thought of a goalie not wearing a mask is largely incomprehensible with play being whistled down practically immediately if a netminder’s mask comes off during the course of the action.
Elsewhere around the league:
- Brian Campbell’s next game (which, barring any last second surprises, will be tonight against Calgary, will be a very profitable one for him. Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune notes (Twitter link) that Campbell’s contract calls for a $750K bonus to be paid out after Campbell plays in his 10th game of the season. The 37 year old is off to a nice start this season with a goal and five assists through his first nine games. The Blackhawks can use the bonus cushion to help defer the cap charge for that amount until next season which is likely their intention given how easy it was made for Campbell to hit that particular incentive.
- Still with Chicago, they are hoping to get center Andrew Desjardins back in the lineup on Sunday, writes Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. The 30 year old has not yet played this season after suffering a foot injury at the end of the preseason. Last year, he had just 13 points in 77 games but logged the most shorthanded ice time of any Chicago forward. Given that their penalty kill ranks dead last at just 53.1%, Desjardins’ return would be a significant boost for the team in that particular area.
- Unrestricted free agent center Chris Porter has signed a tryout deal with the Providence Bruins, affiliate of Boston, reports Mark Divver of the Providence Journal (Twitter link). Porter spent last season with Minnesota, playing in a career high 61 games, collecting four goals and three assists in a fourth line role while averaging 9:38 of ice time per night. He attended training camp St. Louis, where he spent parts of six seasons, but was unable to secure a contract. PTO contracts in the AHL can last up to 25 games and can be extended for an additional 25 contests.
The Challenges Of Trading Jaroslav Halak
Over the weekend, the New York Islanders made it known that Jaroslav Halak is on the market. While there have been conflicting reports regarding the level of interest they have received so far, it’s fair to suggest that the interest has been lukewarm at best. On the surface, that may seem surprising considering Halak’s track record and a cap hit below that of most starting goalies ($4.5MM) but unfortunately for the Isles, this is not a great time to be shopping a goaltender with term left on his contract.
Expansion
Teams are only allowed to protect one goaltender in next June’s Las Vegas expansion draft. As a result, any team interested in Halak would have to keep any of their incumbent goaltenders unprotected (unless they’re exempt due to two years of pro experience or less) or risk losing Halak less than a year after acquiring him. That has to be factored into any acquisition cost from the perspective of other teams and that certainly won’t work in New York’s favor.
Lack Of Vacancies
While the Kings are in a tough spot right now with Jonathan Quick on the shelf, it’s still too early in the season for most teams to make a call on looking at a potential new starting netminder. There are teams that are struggling between the pipes at the moment but they will likely show a bit more patience before deciding whether or not to make a move.
Plenty Of Other Options
There already or are expected to be several goalies that will be available at some point this season. Despite his hot start, the Red Wings would likely want to divest themselves of the remaining two plus years on Jimmy Howard’s contract at just under $5.3MM while Dallas’ goalie tandem of Antti Niemi and Kari Lehtonen is high priced ($10.4MM combined) especially relative to their production; it’s certainly plausible that either of them could be dangled. Then there’s Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh who holds a no-move clause and a $5.75MM cap hit but it’s believed the Penguins will eventually move on from him after handing Matt Murray a three year extension last month in order to ensure they can protect Murray in June.
And then there are the rental players. Ben Bishop ($5.95MM) doesn’t appear to be staying in Tampa Bay past this season with Andrei Vasilevskiy their starter-in-waiting. Ryan Miller ($6MM) in Vancouver is off to a really nice start but isn’t likely in their future plans either. Ondrej Pavelec ($3.9MM) in Winnipeg is believed to be available as well and wouldn’t cost as much to acquire especially since he’s currently in the minor leagues, passing through waivers thanks to his contract. If teams are just looking for help this season, they may look at the potential rental players before going after goalies signed beyond this year.
Halak is a legitimate starting goaltender in the NHL and could certainly help quite a few teams around the league. However, given the timing of his availability and the plethora of other options out there, GM Garth Snow may be in for a challenge if he wants to get top value in return.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Changes To Waiver Priority
While the turning of the calendar to November marks the first full month of the NHL season, it also represents the first day that the waiver priority order changes.
During the offseason and through the month of October, claiming priority was based on the reversed regular season standings of the previous year. As a result, teams like Montreal and Edmonton, who have been among the league leaders in the standings so far this year, have had top ten priority for players that were waived during training camp and the first few weeks of the season based on their low finish in 2015-16.
Now the claiming order is based off of the current standings and will change daily from now until the end of the season. That means that Arizona and Nashville are the top two teams in the priority list today. It’s also worth noting that a team claiming a player does not make them move to the back of the priority list.
We’re reaching the time of the year where some of the players claimed via the waiver wire back in the preseason will once again be on waivers after failing to make an impression on their new squad or the return of another player from injury has forced them off the roster. The team that originally lost the player does not automatically have top priority in reclaiming him. However, if the original team places a claim and no one else does, the original team would be permitted to send the player to the minor leagues. We saw this happen today with Martin Frk and Detroit.
Depending on who hits the wire in the days and weeks ahead, that should be something to watch for. In the meantime, some different teams will have the top chances to add anyone that is waived moving forward.