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Archives for July 2017

Blackhawks Notes: Sharp, Saad, DeBrincat

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The Chicago Sun-Times’ Mark Lazerus (along with various Chicago media) tweeted quite a bit from the beginning of the Blackhawks Fan Convention as players and personnel were available to the media. It was a reunion of sorts as two former players returned to field questions. Patrick Sharp returns to the place where he saw much success, saying that he had some of his “best years” playing for Joel Quenneville in Chicago. Lazerus tweets that Quenneville could use Sharp with Jonathan Toews, and to expect the veteran winger to see top six minutes, which may not thrill some fans.  Brandon Saad confirmed that he would be on a line with Toews, which was the belief of many after Stan Bowman swung a deal to re-acquire the forward. The Athletic’s Scott Powers tweeted video of different interviews which included Quenneville, Patrick Kane talking about the Panarin trade, and Sharp’s return to Chicago.

  • Several hockey analysts are “tapping the brakes” when declaring Blackhawks prospect Alex DeBrincat as the next big thing. The Hockey News’ Jared Clinton and Chicago SportsNet’s Tracey Myers both covered this, with Clinton adding onto Myers’ analysis.  First, the salary cap limits who the Hawks can add to the roster, and the only player as of now who can shuffle to the AHL without passing through waivers is Nick Schmaltz. Should Marian Hossa go onto the LTIR, more than enough money would be available for many in Rockford to go onto the roster. Second, head coach Joel Quenneville isn’t exactly one to hand out ice time to kids. Clinton notes that DeBrincat is only 19, and the only players under 21 to see significant ice time during Quenneville’s tenure were Kane and Toews. Of course, Clinton notes, Toews was the captain and Kane was a budding superstar. Further, Clinton writes that Schmaltz, considered one of Chicago’s best prospects, struggled to stay in the lineup last season, showing that cracking the NHL lineup and then staying on it is far more difficult than it appears. Realistically, Clinton believes that the Hawks have the luxury to “over-season” players and allow them time to grow into a role–something that DeBrincat may very well do.

Calgary Flames Sign Juuso Valimaki To ELC

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The Calgary Flames have signed their first-round pick from the recent draft, inking Juuso Valimaki to a three-year entry-level contract. The salary and bonus structure has not been released, but you can bet he’ll come in at the maximum $925K with some Schedule A perfomance bonuses.

Valimaki was selected 16th-overall last month after an outstanding season with the Tri-City Americans of the WHL. The Finnish defenseman put up 61 points in 60 games, while also suiting up for his country at the World Junior Championships (where he registered two points). The 6’2″ 212-lbs defender may not have the offensive upside that his point totals suggest, but would rank close to any other defender in the draft in terms of two-way consistency. Those who critiqued Timothy Liljegren—who went just after Valimaki to the Toronto Maple Leafs—for his poor decision making skills could never say the same about the newest Flames prospect, as Valimaki is hardly ever caught out of position or turning the puck over.

While he still has some developing to do if he wants to be the two-way rock the Flames are hoping for, they can afford to wait with the group they already have in the NHL. Valimaki can be brought along slowly and eventually replace some of the minutes Mark Giordano will be ready to give up as he heads into his mid-thirties. As Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet points out, Valimaki’s entry-level contract will likely slide until the 2019-20 season unless he’s brought up sooner than that for more than nine games. If he does pan out as an NHL defender, his entry-level deal would end just as Giordano’s current deal is coming off the books.

Tomas Tatar Signs Four-Year Deal With Detroit Red Wings

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Even after the arbitration hearing went down yesterday, the Detroit Red Wings and Tomas Tatar have come to an agreement on a long-term contract. The four-year deal will pay Tatar $21.2MM, for an average of $5.3MM per season. With less than 24 hours left before an arbitrator made a decision on a one-year contract, the two sides found common ground that will keep Tatar in Detroit for a few years more. The breakdown is as follows: Tomas Tatar

  • 2017-18: $4.875MM salary + $1.125MM signing bonus
  • 2018-19: $5.5MM salary
  • 2019-20: $5.5MM salary
  • 2020-21: $3.2MM salary + $1MM signing bonus

Craig Custance of the Athletic pointed out this morning that the two sides could still reach an agreement in time, and we’ve seen this before in cases like P.K. Subban who signed an eight-year deal after his arbitration hearing in 2014. Tatar was set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, and would have been one of the most interesting names at the trade deadline if Detroit hadn’t been in playoff contention this year.

Now, the Red Wings have more work to do. With Tatar signed, the team is now more than $3MM over the salary cap for next season with Andreas Athanasiou still to sign. The team does have Johan Franzen still under contract and heading for long-term injured reserve, but like in Toronto and Chicago the team may not want to use “summer LTIR” because of the restrictions it comes with. Instead, they could look to move out some of the hefty contracts for their declining veterans through trade or a buyout.

Like Ottawa earlier today when they signed Ryan Dzingel, this move will open a second 48-hour buyout window for the Red Wings on Monday that they could use to clear cap space. Buying out Niklas Kronwall or Jonathan Ericsson would give them around $2.6MM in savings each next season, though both seem unlikely candidates to be cast aside from the only teams they’ve ever known. Mike Green, effective but expensive leads the list of trade candidates, as he is on the final year of his current contract and likely doesn’t fit into the Red Wings timeline going forward. Moving his $6.0MM cap hit would provide quite the cap relief, if they could ever find a buyer to give them some real value in return.

Salary cap issues aside, this contract actually comes in with less total money than the five-year $25MM contract that Tatar reportedly turned down. Though it is a slightly higher cap hit, it seems as though holding firm worked out for Ken Holland in the end as he got the player for a reasonable contract. Tatar signs at the same cap hit as Ondrej Palat in Tampa Bay, a player with similar production throughout his career. Even if Detroit does decide to throw in the towel and try a real rebuild, this deal is still palatable enough to move for a solid return.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to break the deal, while Craig Morgan of AZ Sports provided the financial breakdown.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Gaudreau, Wingels, AHL Signings

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Johnny Gaudreau was on Philadelphia CBS radio this morning, and gave a quote that partially stopped the hearts of many Calgary Flames fans listening in.

I’ve got a ton of family here, all my friends…all my friends come back here, all my good friends and kids that I’ve played with my whole life are from South Jersey. It would be sweet to play here some day. You never know in sports, but there’s a lot of support back here in South Jersey and the Philly area.

This can probably be put up there with Drew Doughty’s comments on playing in Toronto from earlier this offseason, as something said just to appease the listeners of the radio program Gaudreau was on at the time. After all, he did sign a long-term deal with the Flames last summer and said at the time that he’d like to play his whole career with Sean Monahan in Calgary if he could. Still, it’s something to remember for the summer of 2022 when a 28-year old Gaudreau is destined to be an unrestricted free agent.

  • The Blackhawks got some bad news today, as Tommy Wingels suffered a broken foot during his offseason training and will miss 6-8 weeks of the offseason. He is still expected to be ready for training camp, though missing two months of his offseason is never a good thing. Wingels was brought in on a one-year deal by the Blackhawks this summer to help fill out their bottom six with affordable veterans, after a season in which he produced just 12 points. It’s been a steep fall from his career-high of 38 in 2013-14, and he is best suited to a fourth line role at this point.
  • The Toronto Marlies added a player from development camp earlier today, and also re-signed Alex Gudbranson to a two-way minor league deal. Gudbranson spent a few games with the Marlies at the end of last season on loan from the Minnesota organization, but will join Toronto full-time next year.
  • Darryl Sutter won’t be in the Los Angeles Kings organization next season, but his son will. Brett Sutter, the former Calgary Flames prospect has re-signed with the Ontario Reign on an AHL contract. He scored 36 points with the Reign last year, after coming over from the Iowa Wild in 2016.

Poll: Who Will Be The Top UFA In 2018?

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The 2017 offseason is already at the point where people have started looking ahead. Despite big contracts still coming for Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Johansen and other restricted free agents, October can’t seem to come quick enough. Instead of ranking the top remaining free agents for this year (a poll that Jaromir Jagr won a few weeks ago) let’s look even further and start to project the summer of 2018.

Obviously, this is an extremely early version of this question as players will be re-signed, traded, and bought out within the next twelve months to make the hockey landscape completely different. Carey Price, once considered one of the top free agents for 2018 has already signed his huge extension, and most of the players on this list will join him.

That uncertainty should play a big role in your decision. Instead of just picking the top player on the list (which would make for a very boring poll in this case), decide who you think will actually get to free agency and be the top name on the market. Explain in the comments why you chose a certain player, or who else we needed to include in the poll.

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Morning Notes: Tavares, Predators, Pospisil

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The chatter on John Tavares continues incessantly, with the days ticking down before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2018 (345 remain). Today, Brett Cyrgallis of the New York Post writes that while the fans may be tapping their toes in anticipation, there isn’t reason to panic just yet. Cyrgallis conducted a poll of people “in and around the NHL” that supported Garth Snow in his patient approach.

The Islanders are still in arena limbo, and missed the playoffs last year despite 94 points. This summer has seen the addition of Jordan Eberle, and a return to the post season would do nothing but help sway Tavares to re-sign long term. As Arthur Staple of Newsday points out on Twitter, there remains an extremely low chance the team deals Tavares this summer.

  • The Nashville Predators have hired Dan Muse to replace the outgoing Phil Housley as an assistant coach for 2017-18, and have promoted Kevin McCarthy to associate head coach. Muse is a shooting star in terms of coaching prospects, jumping straight from a USHL championship with the Chicago Steel to an NHL bench at just 35 years old. Before taking the job with Chicago, he had been an assistant coach for several seasons at Yale under Keith Allain, a former NHL assistant and goalie coach.
  • The Toronto Marlies have signed Kristian Pospisil to a two-way minor league contract, bringing him into the system after an excellent development camp. The Maple Leafs will have no contract slots left after signing Connor Brown, meaning they can only give out these types of minor league deals until moving out some bodies. Pospisil played with first-round draft pick Eeli Tolvanen this year for the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL, scoring 40 points in 48 games. Passed over in the draft multiple times, the 6’2″ winger was a free agent and able to sign with anyone.

Ilya Kovalchuk Still Has “Dreams Left” To Accomplish In NHL

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If you’re sick and tired of hearing about Ilya Kovalchuk this summer, know that it isn’t over just yet. After a long back and forth that ended in the Russian sniper signing back with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL for another season, he’s not finished with his desire to return to the NHL. According to Igor Eronko of Sport-Express, Kovalchuk today said that this would be his last year in the KHL, and that “there are some dreams left” in North America. Ilya Kovalchuk

Kovalchuk of course left for the KHL in the middle of a 15-year contract from the New Jersey Devils, spurning many fans along the way. His return this year would have been predicated on the Devils completing a sign-and-trade, something that he won’t have to worry about next year. His rights are relinquished by the team when he turns 35, and he’ll be granted unrestricted free agency on July 1st.

It’s unclear how many teams would have interest in the then 35-year old, as there are some restrictions on contracts signed at that age. It would however allow him to sign a one-year incentive laden contract, built with a low salary and performance bonuses for games played, points scored and other things. That’s if he doesn’t get multi-year options, as many believed he was after this year.

Coming off a 78 point season in the KHL last year, it’s clear that Kovalchuk can still play at a high level, but whether that game translates back to the NHL is unclear. Remember this is a player who twice scored 52 goals in a season, and was one of the most dynamic mixes of speed and power in the entire league.

This seems like the end of the Kovalchuk rumors for now, but as the 2017-18 season comes to a close expect it to ramp back up. For now, Russia will look forward to having him on their Olympic roster and SKA will try to win another Gagarin Cup.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Ryan Dzingel Signs With Ottawa Senators

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Though he was scheduled for an arbitration hearing today, Ryan Dzingel has signed a new contract with the Ottawa Senators. The two-year deal is worth a total of $3.6MM, closer to Dzingel’s ask of a one-year $1.95MM contract than the team’s proposed $1MM pact. Though he’ll cause a $1.8MM cap hit, here is the salary breakdown: Ryan Dzingel

  • 2017-18: $1.5MM
  • 2018-19: $2.1MM

Dzingel put up a solid first full season this year, registering 32 points and contributing in all situations. His speed and secondary scoring touch are a solid addition to any lineup, and for just $1.8MM per season is a solid bargain. He’s already 25, which means this contract takes him right to unrestricted free agency, but the Senators could keep the price down by not buying out any UFA years.

That marks the last restricted free agent for the Senators this summer, and with it they have opened a short buyout window for themselves. Each team that had at least one player file for salary arbitration is given this window whether or not the decision comes from the arbitrator or the two sides come to their own agreement, as in this case. They’ll have 48 hours starting on Monday to perform any further buyouts.

Getting players like Dzingel in under cheap contracts for next year is important for Ottawa, as they’re facing new deals for Mark Stone, Kyle Turris and Cody Ceci in the summer of 2018. Not to mention the whopping contract that’s coming for Erik Karlsson a year later, that could rival Connor McDavid’s $12.5MM per season. The next couple of summers are going to be very interesting for the Senators.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

West Notes: Arizona’s Arena Search, Martinook, Blues

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As the Coyotes continue to look for a new arena, one option that appears to now be off the table is a joint venture with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, reports Scott Bordow of the Arizona Republic.  Suns owner Robert Sarver said that he is focused on upgrading their current arena instead of pursuing a new facility.

This marks the second time in recent months that a potential partnership is off the table for the Coyotes, who saw their proposed plans with Arizona State University fall through back in February.   The team is locked in at their current facility for just the 2017-18 season although the expectation is that they will agree to another short-term lease as they continue to pursue sites for a new arena within the area.

Elsewhere out West:

  • Still with the Coyotes, Jeff Helperl, agent for RFA winger Jordan Martinook, told Arizona Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link) that the two sides are close on a new deal but that he thinks the team may still prefer to go to arbitration. The hearing is scheduled for July 26th.  Martinook is coming off a career year in Arizona, recording 11 goals and 14 assists in 77 games while averaging 15:41 per night in ice time.
  • After inking Colton Parayko to a five-year, $27.5MM contract earlier today, the Blues have about $3MM in cap space per CapFriendly. Despite that, don’t expect St. Louis to be too active the rest of the offseason.  GM Doug Armstrong told reporters, including Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, that they would like to keep as much wiggle room as possible under the salary cap.  While that not only would give them more space to work with for in-season movement, it also will help them hedge against a flat salary cap moving forward, something Armstrong acknowledged that he expects to happen for the foreseeable future.

Arbitration Breakdown: Tomas Tatar

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After not being able to reach terms on an agreement, the Red Wings and winger Tomas Tatar had their arbitration hearing today.  Assuming they’re unable to reach a settlement before the arbitrator’s decision is rendered, what type of one year deal might Tatar be in for?

The Numbers

Oct 21, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Red Wings left wing Tomas Tatar (21) skates with the puck in the third period against Nashville Predators at Joe Louis Arena. Detroit won 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsTatar put up his third straight season with at least 20 goals and 45 points after collecting 25 goals and 21 assists in 81 games with Detroit in 2016-17.  His 25 tallies marked the second highest single-season total of his career.  He ranked third in team scoring in large part due to a strong finish to his year where he recorded 18 points (11-7-18) in March and April, spanning 21 contests.

The Red Wings gave Tatar a career high in ice time, as he logged 17:17 per night which was nearly three minutes a game more than 2015-16.  Despite that boost in playing time, his point-per-game average was no different between the two campaigns at 0.56 which is something that the team likely brought up during the hearing.

Potential Comparables

Here are some comparable players and their contracts within the range of submissions from both sides ($4.1MM by the team, $5.3MM by Tatar).

Chris Kreider (NY Rangers) – Stylistically speaking, Kreider plays a different way than Tatar but at the time his current deal was signed (last offseason), he was coming off a similar season statistically with a point-per-game average of 0.54 while logging nearly 16 minutes a night.  His cap hit checks in at $4.625MM but it’s worth noting that his deal bought out two RFA years.

Gustav Nyquist (Detroit) – Nyquist had a better platform season (54 points in 82 games) than Tatar did but their career numbers thus far are quite similar.  The Wings were able to lock Nyquist up a couple of years ago for four years at an AAV of$4.75MM and the deal only contained one RFA-eligible season which is the situation Tatar is in.

Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay) – His deal was just reached recently and could stand to impact Tatar’s contract.  Johnson is coming off a couple of injury-plagued seasons (conversely, Tatar has been healthy the last three) but has either equalled or surpassed Tatar’s points-per-game averages over the past four seasons while also playing a bigger role.  He checks in at $5MM and considering the impact he has, Detroit can make a compelling case that Tatar should check in at a lower cap charge, especially for just one year.

Comparable contracts are restricted to those signed within restricted free agency.

Projection

Most of the comparable contracts check in between 6.3% and 7% of the salary cap which, in 2017-18, increases to $75MM.  That provides a salary range of $4.725MM and $5.25MM.  It’s hard to imagine that Tatar will get close to his one-year asking price; not many do when it comes to arbitration awards.  The midpoint is $4.7MM which is close to the lower end of the range based on percentages and that’s the likelier outcome here as quite often deals will fall around the middle mark.  Based on that, I’d project the award to come in at $4.75MM.

What will be interesting is if talks can rekindle on a long-term pact.  Tatar has already turned down five years at $5MM which is pretty close to market value for a player who shifts between the first and second lines.  If Detroit adds a little bit more to their offer, it might be enough to get something done as it’s hard to envision Tatar landing considerably more on the open market next summer unless he has a career season in 2017-18.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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