Morning Notes: Draft, RFAs, Galchenyuk
Craig Button of TSN updated his rankings for the NHL Entry Draft, and there is big movement among the first round. After Timothy Liljegren has remained in the conversation for top-3 for so long, Button has now dropped him to eighth, as he struggles to find ice time in Sweden. Martin Necas slides into the spot following Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier, as Button compares the Czech center to a young Claude Giroux.
Cale Makar from the AJHL has made his way into the top five, an impressive feat for someone playing in a “lesser league”. Button doesn’t consider this a problem, as he is focused on evaluating where they will be at the next level, not their current competition. Makar has 75 points in 54 games as a defenseman, and has received many comparisons to Erik Karlsson in the way that he handles the puck.
- Columbus extended three restricted free agents yesterday when they inked Markus Hannikainen, Lukas Sedlak and Scott Harrington to two-year deals. The team still has three RFAs left for this summer, and according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch the Blue Jackets aren’t worried about signing them. Alexander Wennberg, Josh Anderson and Joonas Korpisalo all require new deals, and the Jackets are going to be tight on money once again. Depending on who is taken at the expansion draft, they may have to consider some sort of salary dump—like Scott Hartnell, who will be scratched tonight in favor of Sedlak—in order to keep their cap structure in tact.
- The Montreal Canadiens experienced a heartbreaking loss last night to one of the worst teams in the conference when they fell 2-1 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings. Again their expected top line of Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Radulov was broken up in the third period, something that has become far too common. Eric Engels of Sportsnet writes about how Galchenyuk in particular had a rough night, and doesn’t seem to mesh well with Radulov in terms of play style. The young forward had a breakout 30-goal campaign last season, but has struggled all year with his consistency and defensive play. With just nine games remaining until the playoffs, most first-place teams don’t have the kind of doubt Montreal is feeling with their #1 centerman.
Evening Transactions: Red Wings
Transactions from around the NHL this evening…
- The Red Wings have reassigned Ben Street to the AHL, reports Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News (via Twitter). With Darren Helm recovering from an injury, the 30-year-old was called up following last night’s loss to the Sabers. In 57 AHL games this season, Street has collected 51 points. Since starting his pro career in 2010, the forward has only appeared in 29 NHL games.
Evening Notes: Tavares, Fowler, Elliott, Prospects
TSN’s “Insider Trading” segment is always good for some tidbits of news, and the trio of Darren Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, and Bob McKenzie delivered earlier today. We’ve compiled some of their more notable remarks below:
- If the two sides can’t come to an agreement prior to the beginning of July, Dreger wouldn’t be shocked if the Islanders consider trading star John Tavares. While fans may not like to hear it, the insider believes the organization would be smart to get something for the All-Star. Of course, he notes that an extension isn’t necessarily less likely than a trade.
- Cam Fowler has one year left on his deal, and LeBrun says the Ducks have had talks with the 25-year-old camp’s regarding an extension. With so many talented defensemen in the organization and the impending expansion draft, LeBrun says Anaheim needs to make a decision on Fowler sooner than later.
- If prospect Colin White signs an entry-level contract and plays even one game for the Senators this season, he’ll essentially “burn” the first year of the contract. Bob McKenzie says that organization is “absolutely adamant” that they won’t compromise this flexibility, which could end up being a sticking point between the two sides. The reporter notes that the Senators would prefer to sign White to an amateur tryout agreement and have him finish the season with Binghamton in the AHL.
- On the flip side, the Canucks are willing to “burn” the first season of Brock Boeser‘s entry-level contract. Curiously, Vancouver is out of the playoff picture, so there isn’t a clear incentive to wasting the flexibility.
- Brian Elliott would like to stick with the Flames, but LeBrun notes that the organization doesn’t want any distractions right now. The team is interested in retaining the goaltender, but they’d prefer to delay negotiations until after the season.
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Jeremy Bracco To ELC
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed a former draft pick of their own, inking Jeremy Bracco to an entry-level contract. Because the Maple Leafs are currently at the 50 contract maximum, we can assume it doesn’t kick in until the 2017-18 season. The former 67th-overall pick is playing for the Windsor Spitfires, who are hosting the Memorial Cup this spring.
2016-17 has been an outstanding year for Bracco, registering 83 points in 57 games split between Kitchener and Windsor. Though the Rangers are headed to the OHL playoffs as well, the Spitfires have a guaranteed entry into the Memorial Cup, something that won’t intimidate Bracco in the least. He was a big part of the Team USA team at the World Juniors that captured gold, scoring five points in seven games in the tournament.
Bracco has had an interesting path so far in his hockey career, leaving Boston College after just five games in his freshman season to head to Kitchener and compete in the OHL. He told Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News at the time, that he just “wanted to really zero in on hockey” and thought the OHL schedule was more conducive to that. It has worked so far, as he scored 64 points in his rookie season last year, only to easily eclipse that this year. While he’s always been slightly undersized, he possesses excellent skill with the puck and playmaking ability.
The Maple Leafs will continue to stockpile their offensively gifted wingers, with Bracco joining Kasperi Kapanen, Dmytro Timashov and Andreas Johnson as the next wave of prospects coming through the system. While Bracco doesn’t represent a lock for the NHL, he does have huge upside and an accelerated timeline after his big step this year. He’ll likely join the Toronto Marlies next season to test those offensive skills against professionals.
CapFriendly.com tweeted out details of the contract, confirming that it won’t start until the 2017-18 season. Bracco is set to make a bit more than $842K annually during the three-year contract, and there’s another $82.5K worth of incentives each season.
East Notes: Oshie, Beleskey, Sorokin, Soderstrom
Capitals GM Brian MacLellan has spoken with representatives for right winger T.J. Oshie regarding a contract beyond this season, notes Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post. However, given the number of key potential unrestricted free agents the team has (not to mention the looming expansion draft), it’s unlikely that a deal will get done between now and the end of the season.
Oshie is in his second season in Washington and there’s a strong case to be made that he’s having the best season of his career. Through 58 games this season, he has a career high 29 goals along with 20 assists. Accordingly, he could wind up being the top free agent to hit the open market, something our Zach Leach took a closer look at over the weekend.
Other unrestricted free agents of note that the Caps have in July include defensemen Karl Alzner and Kevin Shattenkirk as well as wingers Justin Williams and Daniel Winnik. The team already has a little more than $50MM committed to next season per CapFriendly and also have several key restricted free agents to re-sign, including center Evgeny Kuznetsov, winger Andre Burakovsky, and defenseman Dmitry Orlov.
Elsewhere around the East:
- In his latest mailbag, CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty wonders if the Bruins may revisit the idea of dealing winger Matt Beleskey in the summer. The 28 year old has struggled considerably in his second season with Boston, collecting just eight points (3-5-8) through 41 games this season, hardly the type of production they were expecting when they signed him to a five year, $19MM contract in the summer of 2015. The Bruins are likely heading for a long-term extension with David Pastrnak this coming offseason and could certainly benefit from clearing out Beleskey’s contract. He is only a year removed from a career best 37 point season so while his market may be low, there could still be some interest around the league.
- Islanders goalie prospect Ilya Sorokin is expected to remain in the KHL next season, reports Newsday’s Arthur Staple (Twitter link). Their third round pick (78th overall) in 2014, Sorokin has been one of the top goalies in the KHL the last two seasons and posted a stellar 1.69 GAA and a .929 SV% in 39 regular season games this season. As for fellow goalie prospect Linus Soderstrom, a 2014 fourth rounder (95th overall), Staple adds that New York may sign him but allow him to remain in Sweden for one more year. Soderstrom posted a sparking 1.34 GAA and a .943 SV% in 22 games in the SHL this season. As internationally-drafted prospects, the Islanders have four years from their draft class to sign each player so there is no imminent deadline to get something done.
Sabres Notes: Kulikov, Expansion, Petersen
The Buffalo Sabres haven’t had a good season. Struggling to get anything going through injury after injury, and seeing players fail to meet expectations on a regular basis has sent them to the bottom of the standings once again. GM Tim Murray took to the airwaves today to talk about the season so far and John Vogl of the Buffalo News and Joe Yerdon of NHL.com relayed the information on Twitter.
One name mentioned in particular was Dmitry Kulikov, who Murray said he expected to play like a top-3 defenseman this year. Admitting that it “didn’t work out” is putting it lightly, as Kulikov has just two points in 39 games and is a -17. Injury and inconsistency have both plagued the former Florida Panther this year, as he heads into unrestricted free agency this summer. After earning $4.3MM per year on his current three-year deal, Kulikov will be hard pressed to find a similar pay day on the open market.
- At the expansion draft in June, Murray expects to go with the seven forward, three defense option. In fact, he has already reached out to Vegas GM George McPhee on who he doesn’t want to lose. At first glance, it appears as though Buffalo may be at risk of losing a player like Marcus Foligno or Zemgus Girgensons, though they could easily make a deal with the Golden Knights to take someone else instead.
- The Sabres are hoping that Calvin Peterson will turn pro after Notre Dame finishes their college season. The NCAA goaltender has been one of the best in the country the last three seasons, recording .919, .927 and .928 save percentages. A fifth-round pick of the Sabres in 2013, Murray says there is opportunity in net in the Sabres organization and feels there is a solid relationship between the two sides.
Snapshots: Kurker, Hunlak, Stone
The Albany Devils have signed one of the most interesting college names in the country to an amateur tryout according to Mark Divver of the Providence Journal. Sam Kurker of Northeastern was originally drafted in 2012 by the St. Louis Blues and headed to Boston University to begin his college career. After a frustrating season and a half at BU, Kurker decided to take his talents elsewhere and headed back to the USHL to play for the Indiana Ice. Upon finishing the 2013-14 season with Indiana—and winning a championship—the team closed its doors and Kurker headed to the Sioux City Musketeers.
After an outstanding season for Sioux City Kurker went back to the NCAA ranks, this time at Northeastern. In two years at the school Kurker had similar frustrations as during his time for BU, and finished this season with just six points in 28 games. The former top prospect was overshadowed by other names like Zach Aston-Reese and Adam Gaudette, and will now try to continue his hockey career in Albany.
- Any Toronto Maple Leafs fans that are hoping the pairing of Roman Polak and Matt Hunwick—affectionately nicknamed “Hunlack”—will be broken up should quit holding their breath, as a new article from Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston relays that Mike Babcock is very happy with the way they’re playing. Despite being horrendous weights on the team’s possession numbers, Babcock goes by other evaluation tools like “knowing where to stand”. While younger players often get caught chasing the puck in their own zone, the Leafs coach is happy to deploy a more veteran pair on defense.
- Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen writes that Mark Stone is getting closer to returning to the Ottawa Senators lineup and has taken a “major” step towards that goal by getting back on the ice today. With the Senators losing their last four games, they’ve slipped down far enough to allow Boston and Toronto just a sliver of hope in the Atlantic race, and could use Stone’s help to slam that door shut for the final time. If they’re to do any damage in the playoffs, they’ll need their top forward healthy enough to contribute; they’ve scored just six goals in those four recent losses.
Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Sedlak, Hannikainen, Harrington To Two-Year Deals
The Columbus Blue Jackets have locked up three pending restricted free agents today, signing Lukas Sedlak, Markus Hannikainen and Scott Harrington to one-way, two-year contract extensions. Sedlak and Harrington will carry a $825K cap hit ($800K in 2017-18 and $850K in 2018-19) while Hannikainen will have a $675K cap charge ($650K next season and $700K in 2018-19).
Sedlak, 24, is the only one of the three who would qualify to fill the expansion draft’s 70/40 requirement with his 56 games played this season. The rookie has scored 13 points during those games, mostly centering the fourth line and contributing on the penalty kill. Selected in the sixth round of the 2011 draft, the Czech forward spent three seasons developing his defensive game in the AHL before earning a roster spot this year. That included a Calder Cup win last season, as he led the Lake Erie Monsters with 16 playoff points (tied with Oliver Bjorkstrand).
Hannikainen, 23, started his North American career last season after exploding onto the scene in Finland in 2014-15. After going undrafted in the NHL, Hannikainen suddenly put up 46 points in 60 games for Jyvaskyla and was signed soon after the season by the Blue Jackets. Though he didn’t have quite the same impact last year in the AHL, he has had a solid year for the Monsters this season with 24 points in 43 games. In ten games with the Blue Jackets this year, he’s recorded two points.
Since being picked by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the 2011 draft, Harrington has had his name in the news quite a bit. He was part of the trade that saw Phil Kessel leave Toronto for the Penguins, before ultimately being traded for Kerby Rychel last summer. With only 41 NHL contests under his belt, it’s surprising he received a one-way deal especially with the strength of the Blue Jackets on defense. He’ll have to prove that at 24 he still has some upside as an NHL player, and try to lock down a spot on the roster for next season.
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch was first to report the signings on Twitter and the first to give us the details of each contract.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Draft Pick Notes: White, Johansson, Radke, Mattsson
Jeff Cox is reporting that the Ottawa Senators and prospect Colin White will be signing a contract within the next 24 hours, though still there is no indication whether it will be for this year or next. Recently we wrote about the choice the Senators and White have, between adding him for a playoff run and burning a year of his entry-level contract, or signing him to an amateur tryout and letting him get his feet wet in Binghamton before likely making the roster next season.
White has had another solid season at Boston College, and is widely expected to turn pro. The 21st-overall pick in 2015 has shown an ability to play in both ends of the rink, and could legitimately help a team that has had injury troubles over the past month. Since White is already 20 years old, he would not fall under any entry-level slide regardless of how many games he plays. If the contract is signed for this year to allow him to play in the NHL, he would burn a year.
- Mark Divver of the Providence Journal reports that Emil Johansson could join the Providence Bruins this weekend. Boston’s seventh-round pick in 2014 had a very good season for Djurgardens of the Swedish Hockey League, scoring 17 points in 49 games and generally playing more than 20 minutes a night on the team’s top pairing. If he does come over to North America he’ll be an interesting name for the Bruins to follow, to see if he can develop into a NHL-capable puck moving defenseman.
- The Stockton Heat—Calgary’s AHL affiliate—have signed Adam Ollas-Mattsson to an ATO, bringing him over from Sweden where he had been playing with Johansson for Djurgardens. Not playing nearly as much, though still suiting up for 52 games, Ollas-Mattsson registered just four points this season. The sixth-round pick of the Flames in 2014, he possesses size and strength capable of playing against grown men and has shown it since he was 17 in the highest Swedish league.
- Scott Powers of The Athletic reports that Roy Radke has signed an ATO with the Rockford IceHogs after his OHL season finished. The sixth-round pick of the Blackhawks had 36 points in 45 games this season for the Barrie Colts, and will try to prove he deserves an entry-level contract this summer. The 20-year old hasn’t developed into the power forward Chicago had hoped for, though obviously there is still quite a while before you can write him off.
Minor Moves: Fischer, Moose, Friedman
The Arizona Coyotes have decided it’s time for Christian Fischer to try and make his mark at the NHL level. The team recalled Fischer today and moved Laurent Dauphin down to the AHL. Fischer, the 32nd-overall pick in 2015 has done nothing but score this season for the Tucson Roadrunners. With 43 points in 51 games, the big offensive upside he showed in Windsor last season—when he scored 90 points in 66 games—hasn’t diminished at all.
Scoring two goals in his first three games earlier this year wasn’t a bad start, but he’ll try to prove he deserves a full-time role on the NHL team as soon as next season. As Sarah McClellan of AZCentral notes, this represents the Coyotes’ fourth and final call-up for the rest of the season, meaning they’ll only be able to bring up players on emergency conditions.
- The Manitoba Moose, affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets, have signed two players to professional tryouts for the remainder of the season. Kale Kessy and Rob Flick will join the squad from their respective ECHL teams. Kessy, a former fourth-round pick of the Arizona Coyotes has tried to turn himself into more than an enforcer over the years, and scored 23 points in 32 games for the Tulsa Oilers this season. Flick, a former selection of the Chicago Blackhawks, actually has had success in the AHL before, but found himself in the lower level this season. His scoring dominance there—59 points in 59 games—came paired with a penchant for fighting, and 160 minutes in penalties.
- Mark Friedman has signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, and will report to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for the remainder of the season. The third-round pick had another impressive season in college and continues to draw comparisons to Shayne Gostisbehere in path and pedigree. While they don’t quite play the same style, Flyers fans should be excited by another puck-moving defenseman who will make his mark on the NHL before long. Though Philadelphia has had trouble solidifying their blue line in recent years, the emerging group led by Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov look like they will fare quite a bit better over the next several seasons.