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Archives for March 2017

Tampa Bay, Florida Swap AHL Goaltenders

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Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that the Tampa Bay Lightning have traded Adam Wilcox to Florida for Mike McKenna. Both goaltenders are playing in the AHL at the moment, though McKenna does have some NHL experience over his lengthy professional career.

McKenna was drafted way back in 2002 by the Nashville Predators, and has bounced around the minor leagues for over a decade. He has been excellent, average and bad at different times, with the most recent stint with Springfield being closer to the lower end of that scale. The 33-year old has a .907 save percentage this season.

Wilcox on the other hand is just 24 but has had a tough time adjusting to the AHL since starring at the University of Minnesota. At a .895 save percentage this season, Syracuse needed an improvement for their upcoming playoff run. Despite their bad goaltending—Kristers Gudlevskis also has a sub-.900 save percentage this season—the Crunch are in first place in the North Division and expect another playoff appearance.

Jesper Fast Out 2-3 Weeks

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With under two hours to go until the Trade Deadline passes, plans for the New York Rangers and GM Jeff Gorton might be changing. Head coach Alain Vigneault confirmed that right winger Jesper Fast was injured in last night’s contest against the Washington Capitals, after taking a hard hit from Alexander Ovechkin, and suffered shoulder damage. The injury is expected to keep him out of the lineup for the next two to three weeks.

Fast, while a bottom-six forward for the Rangers, is also the only right-shooting winger on the team. There is no easy solution to replace him on the right side from the AHL either. It also doesn’t help that Michael Grabner is banged up and questionable for New York’s game against the Boston Bruins tomorrow night. Gorton may need to turn his focus in these final two hours of trade-ability to finding another winger. Options at right wing include Arizona’s Radim Vrbata, whose name has been a hot topic all day, New Jersey’s P.A. Parenteau, and Winnipeg’s Drew Stafford. 

If the Rangers decide against a trade, Pavel Buchnevich is likely the next man up.

Flyers Close To Re-Signing Michal Neuvirth

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Update (12:00PM): The two sides have agreed on a two-year, $5MM deal. The $2.5MM AAV is almost double Neuvirth’s current $1.625 cap hit, despite the fact that he is in the midst of his worst NHL season.

The Philadelphia Flyers are close to signing pending UFA goaltender Michal Neuvirth to a contract extension, ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun reports (Twitter link).  There’s no word yet on what the financial terms might be.

Neuvirth is in the second and final year of a two year, $3.25MM deal he inked with the team back in July of 2015.  Last season, he provided the Flyers with strong goaltending and started to secure more starts down the stretch, finishing up with a 2.27 GAA and a .924 SV% in 32 games.  However, things haven’t gone as well for him this year as he has struggled, posting a 2.90 GAA and a .887 SV% in 24 appearances.

In his career, the 28 year old has a 94-80-22 record between the Capitals, Sabres, Islanders, and Flyers, with a 2.68 GAA, a .911 SV%, and ten shutouts.

The move would also allow the Flyers to fulfill the requirements for the expansion draft coming up in June.  As things stand, only Anthony Stolarz is eligible to be protected (the rest are either exempt or unsigned) so inking Neuvirth would allow Philadelphia to leave one of the two unprotected.

Philadelphia’s other goalie at the NHL level, Steve Mason, is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Los Angeles Kings Acquire Jarome Iginla From Colorado

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Jarome Iginla has waived his no-trade clause and agreed to go to the Los Angeles Kings.  In return, the Avalanche will receive a conditional fourth-round draft pick in 2018. The Avalanche will also retain half of Iginla’s salary for the remainder of the season. If the conditions—which are still unknown at this time—aren’t met, the draft pick could actually disappear entirely.Jarome Iginla

As we wrote recently, Iginla might still have something in the tank for another run at the Stanley Cup this season. While he’s no longer a top-line player, he can likely still contribute in a smaller role. Darryl Sutter, the head coach of the Kings spent three seasons coaching Iginla in Calgary over a decade ago, which included heading to the Cup final in 2004.

The 619-goal man will try to find some of his old style in Los Angeles, as he has completely lost his game this season. With just 18 points in 61 games, it is by far the worst season of his career. The Kings will hope they get last year’s version of Iginla, the one that scored 22 goals and was deadly on the powerplay.

Los Angeles currently sits just outside the playoff picture in the Western Conference, battling with the St. Louis Blues and Iginla’s old Flames. In fact, Iginla will have to play Calgary three times down the stretch to try and knock them out of a playoff spot. The Kings obviously believe that Iginla can help them more than Dwight King, who they shipped out to Montreal minutes earlier for the same return.

For Colorado, getting anything back for the expiring veteran is a good thing. While a fourth-round pick isn’t a game changer for the franchise, it does help them restock and rebuild. If the team does decide to trade Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog, they’ll likely be going for a slow-burn on their future, stockpiling picks and teenage prospects.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN was first to report the deal was being finalized, while Darren Dreger of TSN  gave us details on the return.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Flyers To Extend Bellemare

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From trade candidate to future piece, deadline day has been flipped around on Philadelphia Flyers’ center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare. Sportsnet’s Elliote Friedman reports that the two sides are closing in on a two-year, $2.9MM extension. It’s a nice pay bump for the hard-working forward; he’s currently making just over $700K in the final season of a two-year deal, but will make $1.45MM in each of the next two campaigns.

Bellemare’s extension actually comes in a down year for the big Frenchman, at least in points, as he has just three goals and three assists in 62 games. However, he has been handed more responsibility this season, with a career-high in average ice time, and has played a more reliable game with less turnovers and more sound two-way play.

If it still seems like an expensive deal to you, that may be by design. The Flyers were already facing a tough challenge of choosing which seven forwards to protect in the upcoming Expansion Draft, and Bellemare probably does not make that list – extension or not – but his new contract may dissuade the Vegas Golden Knights from scooping him up in June.

Los Angeles Kings Trade Dwight King To Montreal

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The Los Angeles Kings have moved big winger Dwight King to the Montreal Canadiens for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2018. The pick can become a third-round selection should King re-sign with Montreal this summer. No salary will be retained in the transaction. <a rel=

King is another expiring contract, earning $1.95MM in the last season of a three-year deal. The 27-year old is a huge bottom-six player capable of giving the Canadiens a little more punch in the corners. He’s not an offensive presence, but is capable of scoring 10-15 goals and chipping in here and there.

After bringing in Steve Ott last night, the Canadiens will be a much harder team to play against for the rest of the season. They’ve been the most active team so far, bringing in Brandon Davidson and Jordie Benn as well. After a brilliant start to the season on the back of what was some of the best goaltending the league had ever seen, the struggles the team has faced have clearly sparked something in Marc Bergevin.

A fourth-round pick isn’t much for the team to give up, especially when they still have five second-round selections over the next two years. They won’t miss the mid-round pick much, especially if King helps them win a playoff round.

For Los Angeles, moving out King’s salary will open up a bit more room to add if they want, and the fourth-rounder is a nice return. If they are indeed going after Jarome Iginla at the deadline, they’ve just opened up a spot for him.

John Shannon of Sportsnet was the first to report the deal, with Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports giving us the details on the pick.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Deadline Day Waiver Update

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One player is headed to a new team today, and not via trade. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that the Vancouver Canucks have claimed forward Joseph Cramarossa off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks. Cramarossa was one of seven players placed on the waiver wire yesterday, but Friedman reports that Eric Fehr (PIT), Marc-Andre Bergeron (CBJ), Jyrki Jokipakka (CAL),  Mike Weber (MIN), Chris DiDomenico (OTT), and Gabriel Dumont (TB) have all cleared today.

Cramarossa, 24, had finally developed into an NHL-caliber player this season in Anaheim, after earning skating in his first pro game earlier this season. The rookie winger has been a mainstay on the Ducks’ fourth line, skating in 49 games and recording ten points, while playing a physical two-way game. He’ll now bring that aggressive, high-energy style to Vancouver. A third-round pick of the Ducks in 2011, it may have taken Cramarossa a while to get to the NHL, but the Canucks can now capitalize on years of development in Anaheim by bringing an NHL-ready checking line forward into the fold.

Cramarossa will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, so expect the stretch run to be a tryout for an extension in Vancouver.

Detroit Red Wings Trade Thomas Vanek To Florida Panthers

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Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet is reporting that Thomas Vanek is headed to the Sunshine state. The Detroit Red Wings will trade the winger to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Dylan McIlrath and a third-round pick. The Red Wings will also retain 50% of his salary for this season. Darren Dreger reports that if the Panthers make the playoffs, the pick will be Arizona’s third-round selection, not Florida’s. Thomas Vanek

Earlier this month Dale Tallon told the media that he’d like to add something on the powerplay, and Vanek surely fills that need. The former 40-goal scorer has 129 career tallies on the PP and still has the ability to score from anywhere below the hash marks.

The 33-year old is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season after signing just a one-year deal this summer with the Red Wings. At $2.6MM he already didn’t cost very much from this point in the season, and with Detroit retaining half the Panthers will be paying less than $1MM to add him.

Many Detroit fans may be disappointed with the return, as a third-round pick is the same thing they got for Tomas Jurco in a previous deal. Vanek is obviously much more established than Jurco, but the questions about his defensive ability have haunted him for a long time.

McIlrath is a former 10th-overall pick, but was never expected to go that high. He very predictably hasn’t become a defenseman you can trust with much more than a fight, despite several chances in the NHL. Perhaps Detroit believes they can turn his career around, just as Florida did earlier this year.

Vanek was the first domino to fall today (unless you count the deals last night) and should push along the markets for Radim Vrbata and Jarome Iginla. Vrbata stands as probably the best option for a top-six left on the market, which isn’t saying much.

2016-17 Retained Salaries By Team

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One of the new elements from the most recent CBA was the ability to retain salary and cap hits as part of a trade.  We’ve seen it used a lot in recent days and it will undoubtedly occur several more times before the trade deadline passes.

However, there are some restrictions to using this tool.  They are as follows:

  • No more than 50% of a player’s salary, cap hit, and bonuses (if applicable) can be retained in a single transaction. A player can only have their salary retained twice on the same contract.
  • The same percentage must be retained for salary, cap hit, and bonuses.
  • Teams can only retain up to a maximum of three contracts per season. Additionally, the sum of the amount retained can be no higher than 15% of the Upper Limit ($73MM this season).

Below are how many remaining retention spots are available for each team for 2016-17 and, where applicable, which players have had their cap hits retained as part of a trade already.

Anaheim: (2) Patrick Maroon ($500K per year through 2017-18)
Arizona: (1) Martin Hanzal ($1.55MM through 2016-17), Michael Stone ($2MM through 2016-17)
Boston: (3)
Buffalo: (3)
Calgary: (3)
Carolina: (2) Ron Hainsey ($1.42MM through 2016-17)
Chicago: (2) Rob Scuderi ($1.13MM through 2016-17)^
Colorado: (2) Cody McLeod ($533K through 2017-18)
Columbus: (3)
Dallas: (1) Ryan Garbutt ($900K through 2016-17), Johnny Oduya ($1.875MM through 2016-17)
Detroit: (1) Jakub Kindl ($360,000 through 2016-17), Thomas Vanek ($1.3MM through 2016-17)
Edmonton: (3)
Florida: (3)
Los Angeles: (2) Tom Gilbert ($280K through 2016-17)
Minnesota: (3)
Montreal: (2) David Desharnais ($700K through 2016-17)
Nashville: (3)
New Jersey: (3)
New York I: (3)
New York R: (3)
Ottawa: (3)
Philadelphia: (3)
Pittsburgh: (2) Rob Scuderi ($1.13MM through 2016-17)^
St. Louis: (2) Kevin Shattenkirk ($1.66MM through 2016-17)
San Jose: (2) Tommy Wingels ($743K through 2016-17)
Tampa Bay: (2) Ben Bishop ($1.19MM through 2016-17)
Toronto: (2) Phil Kessel ($1.2MM per year through 2021-22)
Vancouver: (1) Jannik Hansen ($500K through 2017-18), Roberto Luongo ($800,000 per year through 2021-22)
Washington: (3)
Winnipeg: (3)

^ – Both Chicago and Pittsburgh are retaining identical amounts on Rob Scuderi’s contract.

Avalanche, Capitals Swap Minor Leaguers

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The Avalanche have made their second minor league swap of the day as their AHL team announced that Colorado has dealt defenseman Cody Corbett to Washington in exchange for goaltender Joe Cannata.

The fact that Colorado made a move to add some goaltending depth isn’t particularly surprising with Semyon Varlamov out for the season.  Cannata, who has been assigned to AHL San Antonio, will likely replace Jeremy Smith, who is currently up with the Avalanche.  The 27 year old netminder has played in 22 games with Hershey of the AHL this season, posting an 11-5-1 record with a 3.22 GAA and a .876 SV%.  He will be an unrestricted free agent in July and has a league minimum cap hit.

As for Corbett, he has played in 23 games with San Antonio this season, collecting two goals and eight assists.  He’s in the final year of his entry level contract with a cap hit of $625K.

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