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Archives for July 2017

AHL Announces Expansion For 2018-19 Season

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The AHL Board of Governors meetings concluded today in South Carolina and among the number of things discussed, the expansion of the league for the 2018-19 season headlined the conclusion of the four day meeting.

The AHL will expand to 31 teams in time for the 2018-19 season, meaning that each NHL team will have a primary farm club in the AHL. The Vegas Golden Knights agreed to a five-year deal with the Chicago Wolves, formerly the minor league affiliate with the St. Louis Blues. With this change, it leaves the Blues without a primary affiliate as reported back in March. The Blues will still send players to the Wolves.

In addition to expansion news,  the Charlotte Checkers (Carolina) moved from the Central Division in the Western Conference to the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference.

Aside from those changes, playoff format remained the same as well as the home team wearing light jerseys at home until the Christmas break. Following the break, teams will wear their dark uniforms at home.

Red Wings Notes: Tatar, Athanasiou, DeKeyser, Nelson

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With Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou still waiting on contracts, the Athletic’s Craig Custance projects what they could earn once they sign on the dotted line. Tatar has been one of the few Red Wings scoring at a regular clip and his deal should be around $4.3MM per year. Term and dollars will be important to both parties, and Custance calls this the “tricky” notion of Tatar’s deal. Tatar potted 25 goals last season and is deserving of a significant raise. Meanwhile, Athanasiou is still relatively young, though many can already see how his devastating speed and scoring prowess could quickly translate into multiple 20 goal seasons, and possibly, 30. The Wings, according to Custance, could get him around a $1.9MM AAV because of his lesser time in the NHL. But if the trends continue, Athanasiou will come at a bridge bargain now, while getting a significant pay raise later.

  • Defenseman Danny DeKeyser has become somewhat of a pariah for some Red Wings fans, but The Athletic’s Jack Han takes a closer look at the somewhat predictable decline in DeKeyser’s play and numbers. Signed by Detroit as an unrestricted free agent in 2013, DeKeyser flourished in the top six under Mike Babcock and earned the nickname “the human eraser” for his staunch commitment to his end of the ice while keeping opposing scorers in check. All of this changed, according to Han, when new coach Jeff Blashill took over and the defensive corps weakened.Apr 15, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Detroit Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser (65) during the first period of the game two of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Detroit Red Wings at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsDeKeyser was given top pair minutes, which exposed him against the better players on opposing squads. Worse, the generous contract from general manager Ken Holland only increased the scrutiny on his play, especially after a disastrous season in 2016-17. Is DeKeyser truly as bad as some think? Han doesn’t think so. He takes a look at Corsi and Scoring Chances to quantify DeKeyser’s value and after a thorough job, notes that DeKeyser certainly isn’t deserving of high end minutes. Regardless of where he does end up, it’s destined to be a rough road with a Red Wings blue line that isn’t exactly top tier.
  • With the hiring of Rick Tocchet in Arizona, Calder Cup Champion and current Grand Rapids bench boss Todd Nelson will remain with the Griffins. Nelson, hired back in 2015, has guided the Griffins to a second round showing in 2015-16, and a championship in 2016-17. The Red Wings are looking at infusing more youth into the lineup and Nelson steered much of that young talent with a steady hand. Having Nelson in Grand Rapids gives the organization peace of mind knowing that the development of several critical players, notably Evgeny Svechnikov, will be overseen by one of the best in the AHL.

Brett Ritchie Re-Signs With Dallas Stars

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The Dallas Stars have come to an agreement with one of their restricted free agents, signing Brett Ritchie to a two-year, $3.5MM contract. Ritchie did not file for arbitration before yesterday’s deadline despite being eligible. The deal, which pays him an average salary of $1.725MM will be a raise of $850K from last season.

Ritchie was a second-round pick of the Stars in 2011 but hadn’t made an impact at the NHL level until this season. In 78 games, Ritchie finally found his scoring touch, registering 16 goals and 24 points. Those goals came in less than 13 minutes a night, making Ritchie a nice value for the salary and ice time Dallas invested in him. It’s not clear if that role will increase at all, after Dallas added two top-nine forwards in Alexander Radulov and Martin Hanzal, and more right-wing depth in Tyler Pitlick and Brian Flynn.

The most interesting part of Ritchie’s 16 goals is that they came on a very average shooting percentage. He shot 9.6% this season, lending credence to the idea that he could duplicate (or even surpass) that production with ease next season. Getting a potential 15-20 goal scorer for under $2MM is a relative bargain, and comes because of his lack of track record. Ritchie turned 24 on July 1st, meaning he still has some potential to grow into his role as a power forward and help the Stars get back to the postseason.

This offseason is turning out well for the Stars, who have added Marc Methot and Ben Bishop as well, while picking twice in the first round of the draft. With Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and John Klingberg still around, watch out for a potential rebound from the Stars into contention. They’ll have to figure out what to do with Jamie Oleksiak, Radek Faksa and Gemel Smith though, as the trio of RFAs need new contracts and the team has less than $3MM in cap space remaining.

Mark Pysyk Signs Three-Year Deal With Florida Panthers

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The Florida Panthers have re-signed one of their defensemen, inking Mark Pysyk to a three-year deal worth $8.2MM. Pysyk was an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, but did not file yesterday before the deadline. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the deal.Mark Pysyk

Pysyk came to the Panthers last offseason in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres, sending Dmitry Kulikov back the other way. After an incredibly poor season, Kulikov secured a three-year deal of his own worth $13MM from the Winnipeg Jets, one that will be interesting to compare to Pysyk’s new deal over the next few years.

In Florida, Pysyk became a huge part of their penalty kill unit and skated in all 82 games, finally proving that he’s a full-time NHL player. While his offense still leaves something to the imagination, he can capably recover pucks and get them out of his own end. In that way, he’s a perfect fit as a bottom-pairing defensive defenseman for the Panthers, slotted in behind the more offensively-minded players like Keith Yandle and Jason Demers.

Speaking of Demers, rumors have popped up lately about the possibility of a trade out of Florida after just one year of his new contract, and signing Pysyk for a few more years might help them facilitate that. The Panthers now have five other capable defenders in Pysyk, Yandle, Aaron Ekblad, Alex Petrovic and Michael Matheson, with Ian McCoshen and MacKenzie Weegar both pushing for playing time. Whether it is Demers or someone else, there is a possibility Florida moves out one of their defenseman before the season begins.

CapFriendly gave us the details on the contract.

Vegas Golden Knights Sign Teemu Pulkkinen

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After a season that saw Teemu Pulkkinen put on waivers on several occasions and spend time with three different organizations, he has a new home for 2017-18. Pulkkinen, the Vegas Golden Knights’ selection from the Arizona Coyotes in the expansion draft has signed a one-year deal with the club for $700K. He was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, but did not file before yesterday’s deadline. Teemu Pulkkinen

An incredible AHL scorer, Pulkkinen has received very little opportunity in the NHL throughout his career. While he possesses a huge shot and scoring instincts that can create offense all by himself, his skating ability has been critiqued at times along with his defensive responsibility. Last year, he scored 36 points in 47 games with the Iowa Wild after being selected off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings, only to be later traded to Arizona.

In the desert, Pulkkinen played just four games while being a healthy scratch several times. Through 83 NHL games in his career, he has 22 points but certainly will get a chance with the Golden Knights who will likely be desperate for goal scoring of any sort. Many of the forwards they chose have limited offensive upside, but Pulkkinen will surely produce at some rate if given the opportunity.

Vegas now has three restricted free agents remaining in Nate Schmidt (who filed for arbitration), Griffen Reinhart and Brendan Leipsic.

Snapshots: Kane, Mazanec, Dineen

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In one of the latest examples of using analytics to suss out extra information about the NHL’s top players, Travis Yost of TSN tries to determine who the league’s best overall shooter. Combining both volume and shooting percentage, Yost comes to a conclusion of Chicago’s Patrick Kane as the top sniper.

Interestingly, seeing names like Jannik Hansen on the bottom of the list underlines why analytics are such a divisive subject around the hockey world. While some teams may see that as an opportunity for an under-utilized scorer, others may point to his inclusion as evidence that the “eye-test” is more reliable. Whatever you believe, the article is an interesting look into what makes an elite shooting threat in today’s NHL.

  • Marek Mazanec finds himself on waivers today according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, just a day after filing for arbitration with the team. The Predators were expected to part ways with Mazanec after signing Anders Lindback and Matt O’Connor, making his arbitration filing odd in the first place. Though Lavoie did not expand on the transaction, the waivers could precede a release from the organization though why the team extended him a qualifying offer in the first place is still unclear.
  • The Rochester Americans have hired an assistant coach to work with Chris Taylor this season, bringing Gord Dineen in from the Toronto Marlies. Dineen has been in the AHL as an assistant or head coach for the past 15 years, and will join his eighth different club. The Amerks will try to turn things around under new leadership, as recently Randy Sexton was lured from the Pittsburgh Penguins to be the club’s new GM.

Los Angeles Kings Re-Sign Nick Shore

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The Los Angeles Kings have inked another one of their restricted free agents, signing Nick Shore to a one-year contract worth $925K. Shore was eligible for arbitration but did not file yesterday. He’ll still be a restricted free agent at the end of the contract.

Shore spent another season in the Kings’ bottom six, contributing 17 points in 70 games. While that’s a career high, it doesn’t really show the offensive skill Shore showed at the University of Denver and in the AHL. He’s always been known as a two-way player, but he’s shown an excellent playmaking ability at every other level, something that hasn’t really appeared in the NHL.

That said, he hasn’t been given a huge opportunity to showcase that skill and could still improve in the next few years. Just 24, if he was put with more skilled players or given some real powerplay time you could easily see that point total creep up. He’ll have to prove he deserves it though, by creating offense on his own lower in the lineup. He won’t be able to be a center in the top-six as long as Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter are in LA, meaning he’d have to play the wing alongside one of them in order to move up.

The Kings amazingly only have around $6.5MM left in cap space with Kevin Gravel headed to arbitration. After just a few depth additions in Mike Cammalleri and Christian Folin, the Kings will try again with essentially the same roster that missed the playoffs last year. Getting more from players like Shore will be a necessity if they want to get back into the postseason and compete for the Stanley Cup once again.

Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Adam Johnson

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After attending their development camp last week, Adam Johnson has earned himself a two-year entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The undrafted center just finished his sophomore season with UMD.

Johnson broke out for his college team this year, scoring 37 points in 42 games for the Bulldogs. Though he’s over-aged and undersized, he stood out at the development camp as a potential addition to the professional ranks. He’ll get that chance now, as the 23-year old will be ticketed for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to start the year.

Before heading to UMD, Johnson dominated the Minnesota highschool ranks and the USHL, but was always overlooked as a relatively small forward without any standout tools. If there is a development system that is a perfect fit for that type of player it’s Pittsburgh, who have had recent success turning undrafted prospects into solid NHL contributors.

Philipp Grubauer Re-Signs With Washington Capitals

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The Washington Capitals have reached an agreement with another arbitration eligible player, signing goaltender Philipp Grubauer to a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Grubauer didn’t file for player-elected arbitration yesterday, which was a clear sign the two sides were closing in on a deal. Washington now has dealt with all of their restricted free agents except for Liam O’Brien, who does not have arbitration rights.

It looked like the Capitals would be in trouble this season getting all of their restricted free agents under contract, but after losing Nate Schmidt to Vegas and trading Marcus Johansson to New Jersey, the team has everyone signed with a few million to spare in cap space. They’ll have to still make some small additions to the fringe of their roster, but have all the big names locked in.

For Grubauer, this deal actually will leave him as a restricted free agent one more time next summer. If he can perform in a similar fashion to this season, he will deserve even more money and could price himself out of Washington’s plans. Grubauer put up a .926 save percentage last season in 23 games, placing him among the elite backups of the league. That mark was actually slightly better than Braden Holtby, making the tandem one of the best in the NHL.

The 25-year old Grubauer is ready for a bigger role in the NHL, and according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post didn’t file for arbitration because he did not want the Capitals to pick a two-year term for him. Though that would take him to unrestricted free agency, it would also lock him in as a cheap backup for an extra year. With more leverage next summer, he may be in line to be moved out before he earns a bigger reward.

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