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Brett Kulak Close To Signing With Calgary Flames

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The Calgary Flames have three of the remaining fourteen restricted free agents yet to sign, but one may be locked up soon. Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 in Vancouver is reporting that Brett Kulak is close to a with the team. Kulak is coming off his entry-level contract and played 21 games for the Flames last season.

A fourth-round pick of the Flames in 2012, the 23-year old Kulak has yet to establish himself as an NHL presence, but could be in line for his first full season. Calgary has one of the best top-4 in the league, but there is an opening on the third pairing that will likely go to one of Kulak, Matt Bartkowski or Tyler Wotherspoon (also an RFA).

Kulak has all the things that go into a solid NHL defender, with a steady defensive presence, size and some offensive upside. Though he’s not a punishing physical player, he can eliminate rush attempts with solid body positioning and work the puck out of the corners most of the time. His ability to fire stretch passes can lead to counter-punching offense, and it could be a very solid pairing with Stone facing weaker opponents.

The Flames currently project to have around $7MM in cap space, though Sam Bennett should eat up a substantial portion of that with his upcoming deal. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Kulak either on a two-way deal or with a very low NHL salary.

Morning Notes: Lindros, Sabres, McCool

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The Philadelphia Flyers have announced that they will raise Eric Lindros’ #88 sweater to the rafters in January of next year, retiring it from circulation among their players. No one has worn the number since Lindros’ departure, but his sweater will now officially join the likes of Bernie Parent (#1), Mark Howe (#2), Barry Ashbee (#4), Bill Barber (#7) and Bobby Clarke (#16) in retirement.

Lindros was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, and as Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post points out on Twitter, Mark Recchi’s #8 could join the retired list next season. Recchi is among the 2017 Hall of Fame inductees, and spent parts of ten seasons with the Flyers. Lindros’ ceremony will be held on January 18th, before the Flyers take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

  • The Buffalo Sabres announced a huge list of number changes for the upcoming season, including Jason Pominville re-acquiring his #29 from Jake McCabe. Pominville has worn the number for his entire career, including the nine previous seasons he spent in Buffalo. McCabe will wear #19 this season. To keep up with all player numbers and depth charts, make sure to head over to Roster Resource where things are constantly updated with the latest information.
  • According to Andy Strickland of Fox Sports, Hayden McCool will be in rookie camp for the St. Louis Blues, fresh off a Memorial Cup win in Windsor. McCool is a big forward who was deployed in a purely checking role for the Spitfires of the OHL. Undrafted, he’ll attend camp hoping to earn an AHL spot somewhere, though the Blues don’t have a single affiliate this season. McCool will more than likely only make an impact at the minor league level, but his work ethic and physical game is one that could translate to a fourth-line at some point.

Nikita Zaitsev Helping Maple Leafs’ Russian Recruitment

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Mike Babcock and Lou Lamoriello of the Toronto Maple Leafs spent some time in Russia recently, where they met personally for dinner with Igor Ozhiganov in an early attempt at recruiting the KHL defenseman. The pair had completed a similar visit a year prior to bringing Nikita Zaitsev over, and many believed they were attempting to do the same thing. Now Zaitsev himself has admitted to helping the Maple Leafs recruitment efforts, telling Sovsport (via Andrey Osadchenko) that he was even present at the dinner:

Igor asked my opinion. I told him he should sign with the Leafs. Actually, I was with him at one of the dinners he had with the Leafs representatives. I was even his interpreter. That’s just being a part of the Leafs organization. Not only do you play in the NHL and build your career, but you also help others.

Ozhiganov remains under contract for one more season with CSKA Moscow, but it would be hard for the 24-year old to ignore the advice of a former teammate. Zaitsev was signed to a seven-year, $31.5MM extension after just one season in Toronto, giving him some financial and personal stability as he continues his hockey career. Both players were undrafted because of the relative obscurity they played their youth hockey in, but have turned into capable professional defensemen in recent years.

The NHL and KHL don’t actually have a transfer agreement, but normally respect each other’s contracts. The Maple Leafs are being quite bold by meeting a player under contract still, but will wait to see if Ozhiganov comes over next season to give them another almost free asset. Like Zaitsev, he’d be signing just a one-year entry-level contract if he does and be able to cash in on a good performance right away.

Five Key Stories: 8/20/17 – 8/26/17

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With training camps now just a few weeks away, activity is beginning to pick up around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past week.

Stafford Joins The Devils: After a tough season, Drew Stafford found himself on the outside looking in until New Jersey signed him to a one-year, $800K contract, one that’s more than an 80% pay cut compared to his contract from last season.  Given that New Jersey’s depth on the right side isn’t particularly strong, Stafford could get a chance to play an important role which could set him up nicely to enter the open market with more leverage next summer.

Beauchemin Goes Back To Anaheim: After losing both Shea Theodore and Clayton Stoner to the Golden Knights in expansion plus Simon Despres to the KHL after a buyout and injuries to Sami Vatanen and Hampus Lindholm that will likely linger into the start of the season, the Ducks brought back Francois Beauchemin for a third stint with the team.  The deal is worth a guaranteed $1MM plus up to $500K in performance bonuses.  Colorado opted to buy out the final year of Beauchemin’s deal back in June rather than pay him $4.5MM in 2017-18.  The 37-year-old stated shortly after signing that he expects this to be his final NHL season.

College Signings: While the top player on the market waited until today to sign, three others inked their entry-level deals over the course of the past week.  Most notably among those was center Alex Kerfoot joining the Avalanche where he will have a chance to play right away.  Fellow pivot Blaine Byron had interest from multiple teams on a two-way NHL deal but opted to take a minor league pact with Florida that will preserve his eligibility to play in the Olympics.  Columbus also got in on the action, signing blueliner Doyle Somerby to a two-year deal.

Mar 26, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg (40) skates with the puck in the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsZetterberg May Retire After 2018-19: While it doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering the structure of his contract, Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg acknowledged in an interview back in Sweden that he doesn’t expect to play beyond 2018-19.  He also admitted that the final two years (which carry a $1MM salary) was basically included to artificially lower the cap hit.  If he does retire at that time, the Red Wings will be hit with considerable cap recapture to the tune of more than $5MM for the two seasons.  The news isn’t any better in Detroit when it comes to Andreas Athanasiou as contract talks aren’t progressing and he has a notable KHL offer on the table to consider.

Leafs Ink Brown For Three Years: Toronto locked up their last remaining free agent on Saturday when they signed Connor Brown to a three-year, $6.3MM deal.  He’s coming off a strong rookie season with the team where he posted 20 goals and 16 assists while playing in all 82 games with the Leafs.  Toronto remains well over the salary cap for now but will get into compliance when the season gets underway and they put one of Nathan Horton or Joffrey Lupul on long-term injury reserve (one of the two went on earlier this summer).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bruins Have Made $6MM Offer To David Pastrnak

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Bruins restricted free agent winger David Pastrnak is the most prominent of the 14 remaining restricted free agents.  Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe reports that Boston is offering the 21-year-old $6MM on a long-term deal with Pastrnak getting to choose whether it’s for six years or seven.

David PastrnakThe $6MM AAV is notably below that of winger Brad Marchand’s $6.125MM that he received on his extension last September.  Boston has more than enough cap room to fit a deal like that in as they currently sit with a little over $10MM in cap space at the moment per CapFriendly.  It has been reported that the team would like to keep his cap hit below Marchand’s despite some of the big money contracts and extensions that have been handed out to players in restricted free agency so far this offseason.

While it doesn’t appear that there has been much progress on talks lately, GM Don Sweeney remains hopeful that an agreement is reached by training camp and believes it’s critical that Pastrnak is signed by then:

“We will find a landing spot. There are deadlines that exist, but I believe it’s a disservice to the player and the team to miss training camp, to be late for training camp, and to start the season. I don’t think anyone recovers the money. I don’t think anybody recovers the lost service time — team or player. It’s been proven. The team gets off to a slow start. It’s just completely disruptive. So my feeling has been all along, we are going to negotiate in complete good faith.”

Pastrnak is coming off a career year that saw him post 34 goals and 36 assists in 75 games; his point total of 70 eclipsing the total of his first two NHL seasons combined (53 in 97 contests).  He followed that up with a good playoff effort as well, collecting four points (2-2-4) in six games while logging more than 21 minutes a night.

If Pastrnak doesn’t want to accept the offer on the table and Boston insists on keeping the AAV below Marchand’s, it will be interesting to see if they look at reducing the term on the deal.  A bridge contract would allow them to get Pastrnak signed at a lower rate than is currently on the table while giving the winger arbitration rights at the end of it and staying within his RFA years.  Doing so may not be an ideal option for either side but it could represent enough of a compromise if the wheels continue to spin on long-term discussions.  Sweeney put an end to any speculation of a possible trade earlier this month when he stated that the Bruins will not be moving their rising star.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Devils Sign Will Butcher To Two-Year, Entry-Level Contract

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The highly-publicized wait is over as Will Butcher will be joining New Jersey, the Devils announced.  The two-year deal is worth the maximum allowable base salary on an entry-level deal of $925K.  Andrew Gross of The Record adds that he can add an additional $850K in performance bonuses each year.  Butcher became an unrestricted free agent on August 16th after he chose to not sign with Colorado, who drafted him in the fifth round (123rd overall) in 2013.

[Related: Updated Devils Depth Chart]

Butcher played out his four seasons of eligibility at the University of Denver and saved his best play for last.  Named the captain for his senior season, the 22-year-old posted a career high 37 points (7-30-37) in 43 games while helping lead the Pioneers to the NCAA Championship.

As a result of his strong play, Butcher received plenty of accolades, including First Team All-American, NCHC Player of the Year, Frozen Four Tournament All-Star, and, most notably, the Hobey Baker Award which is given to the NCAA’s best player.

Although his agent Brian Bartlett had stated on quite a few occasions that Butcher wouldn’t necessarily look to go to a team that would give him an NHL spot right away, he’ll certainly have a chance to make an immediate impact with the Devils.  He’s undersized at just 5’10 but if his ability to run a power play translates quickly to the pro game, he’ll stand a pretty good chance of making their opening night roster.

As many as a dozen teams expressed an interest in signing Butcher, including the Blue Jackets, Kings, Golden Knights, Penguins, and Sabres.  Of those teams, he visited Buffalo, Los Angeles, and Vegas earlier this week.

Coincidentally, the two most prominent college free agents wound up switching teams in the end as center Alex Kerfoot, originally drafted by New Jersey, signed with the Avalanche earlier this week.

Chris Lee To Attend Training Camp With Los Angeles

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Defenseman Chris Lee tore up the KHL last season and will now get his first crack at making the NHL at the age of 36.  John Hoven of Mayors Manor reports (Twitter link) that Lee will attend training camp with the Kings on a PTO deal.

Last season, Lee led all KHL blueliners in scoring with 65 points (14-51-65) in 60 games with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.  He followed that up with another 21 points (1-20-21) in 18 postseason contests as his team reached the Gagarin Cup Finals before being beaten by SKA Saint Petersburg.

His performance earned him a spot on Canada’s entry into the World Championships where he fared relatively well.  He suited up in seven games, collecting two assists while averaging 11:02 per game although that average is skewed from some games where he was listed as the seventh defenseman.

Lee will look to crack a Los Angeles blueline that hasn’t had a whole lot of turnover this offseason.  Matt Greene was bought out and Brayden McNabb was lost in expansion while Christian Folin was added from Minnesota.  Accordingly, Lee should have a real chance to make their roster.

[Related: Updated Kings Depth Chart]

Last month, his agent noted that he was only interested in a one-way contract if Lee was to return to North America.  If he doesn’t receive one from the Kings or any other team at the end of camp, he’s expected to return overseas and likely suit up for Canada’s entry into the Olympics.

Central Notes: Subban, Josi, Ellis, Steen, Fabbri

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Proving that defense is the key to a Stanley Cup Finals run, the NHL Network released its list of top 20 defensemen in the NHL and the Nashville Predators were stocked full of them. They had the most blueliners on the list, including P.K. Subban (#6), Roman Josi (#7) and Ryan Ellis (#19).

Subban, coming off his first year with the Predators after being traded from Montreal, had a solid season even though his numbers dropped from his previous three years with the Canadiens. Subban finished with 10 goals and 30 assists for the year, but made the all-star team and proved to be a pest to every team’s top scorers.

Josi’s season was also down from previous years, but his numbers also stood out with 12 goals and 37 assists, giving him three straight years with 49 points or more. Ellis leaped into the spotlight this year as he took his game to another level this year with a career high in goals with 16. He also had 11 power play points, three game-winning goals and led the team with 137 blocked shots.

Of course, Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson was first on the list, but only a couple other teams had more than one player on the top-20 list. With the addition of Kevin Shattenkirk (#15), the New York Rangers had two defensemen on the list with Ryan McDonagh at #17. The Calgary Flames also boasted two blueliners in the top 20, Dougie Hamilton (#16) and Mark Giordano (#18).

  • In his final column, the St. Louis Post Dispatch’s Jim Rutherford writes that while the talk is that Alex Steen has regressed over the past couple of years, he believes that the 33-year-old wing has been cast in the wrong role. He believes that Steen’s 33-goal season in 2013-14 was an anomaly and he should not be considered as a 30-goal scorer. If looked at from a 20-goal scoring point of view, Steen’s numbers (33 goals in the last two seasons) make more sense.
  • Rutherford in the same piece adds that he does not believe any of the Blues top prospects, Klim Kostin, Jordan Kyrou or Tage Thompson, have much of a chance of breaking with the Blues after training camp. He said Kostin is still recovering from an injury and just moved to the U.S. a couple of months ago. Kyrou is ticketed to go back to his junior team, while Thompson struggled adjusting to the AHL.
  • Rutherford adds that Robby Fabbri is expected to be ready for training camp after tearing his ACL. He believes he will start the season off as the team’s center, but if the team is not scoring enough, he could easily see Fabbri forced to move back to the wing position.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: New York Islanders

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

New York Islanders

Current Cap Hit: $72,015,833 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Anthony Beauvillier (Two years remaining, $894K)
D Ryan Pulock (One year remaining, $863K)
F Joshua Ho-Sang (Two years remaining, $863K)
F Mathew Barzal (Three years remaining, $863K)

Potential Bonuses

Pulock: $500K
Barzal: $400K
Beauvullier: $213K
Ho-Sang: $213K

The team had to be pleased with the first-year production from Beauvillier after he put up nine goals and 15 assists in 66 games. Granted, it could have been better, but for the former 2015 first-round pick who wasn’t even expected to make the team out of training camp last year, this was a solid start. He didn’t get off to much of a start early in the season, but by the end of the year, he put together a solid string of games along with linemates Ho-Sang and Lee. He will likely find himself on the team’s third line along with Ho-Sang to start the year.

Pulock, the team’s first-round pick in 2013, was one of the main reasons behind the offseason trade of Travis Hamonic. The talented defenseman was traded away for a first and two second-round picks with the idea of implementing Pulock into the team’s plans. Rumors are they intend to put Pulock onto the team’s power play and showcase his hard slapshot. He only played one game for New York last year and broke his foot after playing just 3:57 of ice time, but he showed off his skill with the AHL’s Bridgeport Sound Tigers, putting up 15 goals and 46 points in just 55 games.

Ho-Sang, the team’s first-round pick in 2014, only played 21 games last year for the Islanders, putting up four goals and six assists in that span. A full 82-game season should be able to demonstrate his long-term value to the franchise. Barzal still must make the team out of training camp, but is considered to be one of the top prospects in the game and should have every opportunity to win one of the center jobs, which is not a position of depth on the team. Barzal did see two games for the Islanders last year, but played most of the year for his junior team.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F John Tavares ($5.5MM, UFA)
G Jaroslav Halak ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Nikolai Kulemin ($4.19MM, UFA)
F Josh Bailey ($3.3MM, UFA)
D Calvin de Haan ($3.3MM, UFA)
F Brock Nelson ($2.5MM, RFA)
F Jason Chimera ($2.25MM, UFA)
D Thomas Hickey ($2.2MM, UFA)
D Dennis Seidenberg ($1.25MM, UFA)
F Shane Prince ($850K, RFA)
F Stephen Gionta ($650K, UFA)
D Scott Mayfield ($625K, RFA)
F Alan Quine ($613K, RFA)

Obviously, the team’s future seems to hinge on where Tavares’ contract situation ends up. The team has high hopes they can re-sign their star forward, who has scored 235 goals for the franchise over eight season and is just about to turn 27 years old. The team that has watched several of their top players walk away in past years need to lock him up or, at the very least, trade him off for some talent in return. Losing Tavares would likely set the team back significantly and could play a role on whether some of the other pending free agents will come back next year.

The team will be forced to decide what they want to do with some of their regulars, including Bailey, de Haan and Hickey. Bailey, a first-round pick from 2008, has been around for nine years and while he consistently averages between 10 and 15 goals, he hit a personal high in assists last season, picking up 43 to put together a big season while playing with Tavares on the first line. With the addition of Eberle who is expected to play with Tavares, the team will likely demote Bailey to the second or even possibly the third line, which could suggest the team may not mind if he moves on in one year.

De Haan has proven to be a solid top-four presence on the blueline, but after signing a one-year deal this offseason, setting up unrestricted free agency next year, the team may decide to move on from him at some point, while Hickey hasn’t worked his way into the team’s top four. So it may be that many of the pending free agents will be allowed to leave to free up cap space, including Kulemin, Chimera and Seidenberg, along with some of the others above. That could free up a lot of cap room.

The team also will likely allow Halak to walk unless the veteran goaltender can produce a bounce-back season. After a couple of respectable seasons for New York, the 32-year-old’s production took a hit as he posted a 2.80 GAA in 27 games and then was demoted to finish the season in the AHL. He is back, but no one is quite sure what to expect for the veteran.

Perhaps the most important free agent (besides Tavares) will end up being from restricted free agent Brock Nelson, who should be asking for a big raise after three 20-goal seasons. Their 2010 first-round pick had 20 goals and 25 assists for the team last year, a career-high.

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NHL Notes: Raanta, Darling, Tolvanen, Duclair

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With Antti Raanta and Scott Darling attempting to make the conversion from backup to starter this season, many believe that both will be successful. However, history suggests that’s not always the case. NBC Sports Adam Gretz writes that the best comparable for both is Cam Talbot, who was hugely successful as a backup for the New York Rangers and continued that success as a starter after being traded to the Edmonton Oilers.

Gretz writes that while Talbot is the perfect comparison, there are also plenty of goaltenders who have failed to make the full-time conversion over the last 15 years, including a few names that many have long forgotten. Eddie Lack and Anton Khudobin each struggled as starters for Carolina which forced them to go out and get Darling in the first place, while other goaltenders such as Dan Ellis, Alex Stalock, Ben Scrivens and Vesa Toskala didn’t fare particularly well.

The hope is that both Raanta and Darling are more proven as backups than a lot of the others and are more NHL ready to handle a larger workload. Raanta and Darling’s success will be critical for the team to take their team to the next step.

  • Nashville Predators prospect Eeli Tolvanen, the team’s first-round pick in the 2017 draft, signed a three-year deal to play for Jokerit Helsinki of the KHL earlier in the offseason. International hockey writer Igor Eronko tweeted Tolvanen told him that his second year is a player’s option and if he has a good year, he will come stateside next year. It’s only been three games for Tolvanen, but he is currently third in the league in scoring with six points and is third in the league in shots taken.
  • Gretz, in another story writes this is a critical year for Arizona’s Anthony Duclair. The 22-year-old wing got the city excited when he posted a 20-goal season two years ago, but came crashing back to earth last year after a five-goal output. Gretz points out that he scored on 19 percent of his shots in the 2015-16 season, which is extremely high and not sustainable over the long-term. Last year, Duclair’s numbers dropped to six percent. The still restricted free agent has not come to terms with the team.
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