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Cale Makar Expects To Play Just One Or Two Years At UMass

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Over the last few weeks, teams around the league have been experiencing what it’s like to lose a draft pick to free agency after he completes college. After watching him develop into an exciting prospect, they’re unable to sign him and end up having to watch other teams pursue him on the open market. As one reader asked in our live chat last week, there could be some hesitation for teams picking players that are headed into the college ranks with the fear that they could lose them down the road.

It doesn’t sound like the Colorado Avalanche—one of the teams burned recently by Will Butcher’s free agency—will have to worry about that with the fourth-overall pick from this summer. Cale Makar, the dynamic defenseman from the Alberta Junior Hockey League is set to attend UMass-Amherst this season but spoke to the NHL Network yesterday about his future.

I think in my mind it’s a process and I think in terms of my development it’s going to be very beneficial for me to go to college for one or two years, or however long it’s going to take for me to be ready to make the jump to the NHL.

There’s no doubt that Makar does need some seasoning against top players, as the AJHL isn’t quite on the level many other prospects played at. That said, Makar has shown well on the international stage at the recent World Junior Summer Showcase and possesses remarkable talent. There should be little worry that it will take him more than a year or two to adapt to the higher level and be ready to make the jump.

There is some level of protection against a player drafted as high as Makar waiting for free agency, but it’s not exactly worth the fourth-overall pick. The Avalanche would be given a compensatory pick in the second round, similar to the situation Arizona faced when they did not sign Conner Bleackley—who was originally a Colorado draft pick as well—in 2016. Colorado should also be familiar with the risk and reward of choosing a college-bound player; last year saw Tyson Jost refine his game for the University of North Dakota before making the jump to the NHL near the end of the season. Jost got ample experience in big game situations against older players in the NCAA tournament, and is expected to make an impact in the NHL this year.

Will Butcher Expected To Take Another Week To Sign

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Yesterday Kevin Allen of USA Today reported that it might take up to a week for Hobey Baker winner Will Butcher to make a decision, something that his agent Steve Bartlett confirmed today. Bartlett took to the airwaves to discuss Butcher’s free agency with WGR 550, and told The Instigators that it would be another week before any decision is made. Butcher is taking his time to determine where his future lies, and is willing to sign with a team that doesn’t have an immediate NHL opportunity.

Bartlett also said that Butcher would have to sign a three-year entry-level contract, though that seems like a simple mistake. Because of Butcher’s age (22), he’ll be required to sign a two-year ELC and will become a restricted free agent in the summer of 2019. That shortened ELC is important, as Butcher will want to have NHL experience by the time he’s negotiating his next contract.

The undersized defenseman is an offensive threat, but there are still doubts about his ability to contribute consistently at the NHL level. His greatest attribute, quarterbacking a powerplay, is a much different animal at the professional level when everything speeds up. Wherever he signs it will be interesting to follow his career to see if he can make the same impact as some of the other recent NCAA free agents.

Connor Brown Still Unsigned As Training Camp Approaches

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The NHL season looms ever closer, but a key part of the Toronto Maple Leafs youth movement remains unsigned, reports the Toronto Star’s Kevin McGran. Breakout player Connor Brown is still an unsigned restricted free agent after finishing his ELC this past season.

Expect Brown to get a significant raise from his three-year ELC playing him $2.775MM over three years. In his first full season, Brown put up 20G and 16A in 82 games. The problem is that the Leafs are hard up for cap space. The team had to use the rarely-invoked offseason LTIR to fit in all their contracts. They should have some space come puck drop, but every dollar is important going forward for this organization.

Brown is not alone, however. Forwards David Pastrnak, Alexander Wennberg, and Bo Horvat all remain unsigned. Many pundits assumed that all parties were waiting for the Edmonton Oilers to come to terms with Leon Draisaitl to set the market. Now that Draisaitl is locked up—8 years at $8.5MM a year—more RFAs should sign with their teams.

Islanders Pressured To Return To Nassau Coliseum

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The New York Islanders are being pressured by Mikhail Prokhorov—owner of the Isles’ current home the Barclays Center—to play more games at Nassau Coliseum, reports Josh Kosman of the New York Post. The Islanders moved from Nassau Coliseum to the Barclays Center after the 2014-15 season.

The reason for the pressure is that the previous owner of Nassau Coliseum promised local officials that a hockey team would play in the arena. Despite new ownership, the town of Uniondale, N.Y. could hold Nassau Coliseum in default of its obligations.

When the Islanders left Nassau Coliseum the arena only held around 13,000 people, and it is doubtful whether it has significantly increased capacity. The Islanders do have a pre-season game in the arena this year, but nothing else is scheduled so far.

Complicating matters is that the Islanders are in negotiations with Prokhorov over its tenancy at the Barclays Center. Prokhorov wants to reduce the amount he pays the team for its games, and the team wants more flexibility to opt out of any contract.

Snapshots: Butcher, Beauchemin, Rampage

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Will Butcher is still taking things slow in regards to his first professional destination, as Kevin Allen of USA Today reports that he’ll soon narrow down his list of teams from 12 to three or four. Those teams will each get a personal visit, after which he’ll make a decision. Allen suggests the process could take “a week or so.”

Butcher has been connected to the Blue Jackets, Devils, Golden Knights, Penguins, over the past week and some speculation that he’d already met with the Buffalo Sabres. The reigning Hobey Baker trophy winner is arguably the most interesting NCAA free agent on the market this summer, and could find an NHL opportunity right away.

  • Francois Beauchemin is going back to the Anaheim Ducks, and in a conference call this afternoon told Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register that he was prepared to retire before the team reached out. He had turned down interest from several other teams which he had no history with, but was “thrilled” that Anaheim expressed interest. Beauchemin thinks it is likely that 2017-18 is his final season in the NHL.
  • The San Antonio Rampage have signed a pair of veteran minor leaguers, inking goaltender Sam Brittain and defenseman Josh Atkinson to AHL deals. Brittain was a fourth-round pick of the Florida Panthers 2010 but has yet to make it to the NHL. He spent last season split between the Springfield Thunderbirds (AHL) and Manchester Monarchs (ECHL), and became a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer. Atkinson has spent almost all of his professional career in the ECHL, but got a two-game chance in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves after scoring 50 points in 66 games last season. The offensive explosion was a new development for Atkinson, who didn’t register more than 16 points in a single season at the University of Alaska.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Doyle Somerby

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have dipped into the NCAA free agent market, signing Doyle Somerby to a two-year entry-level contract. Somerby became an unrestricted free agent when the New York Islanders failed to sign him by last week’s deadline. Details on the ELC have not been released.

Somerby, 23, is a huge bruising defender who has played the last four seasons for Boston University and captained the team last year. Selected in the fifth round by the Islanders in 2012 out of a New Hampshire high school, he’s grown into the defensive defenseman they envisioned. As recently as last week the Islanders were still trying to sign him, but he’ll join an organization that already has impressive defensive depth, but not many players who are as “stay-at-home” as Somerby tends to be.

Scoring just 27 points in his entire collegiate career, he was relied upon for big minutes against the other team’s top opponents while more skilled players like Jack Eichel, Clayton Keller and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson handled the offensive load. If he does ever make the NHL, it will likely be in a purely defensive and penalty killing role. For now he’ll almost certainly head to Cleveland to start his professional career in the AHL.

Francois Beauchemin Signs With Anaheim Ducks

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Francois Beauchemin has signed with the Anaheim Ducks for one-year, and will earn $1MM plus up to $500K in performance bonuses. Beauchemin was bought out by the Colorado Avalanche earlier this spring, and will return to the Ducks for a third stint. Francois Beauchemin

Now 37, Beauchemin actually still recorded an average of more than 21 minutes of ice time last season for the Avalanche, a number he’s eclipsed in every season of his 12-year career. One of the most reliable defensive options over the last decade, Beauchemin found his greatest success with the Ducks when he won a Stanley Cup in 2007. Beauchemin at that time was playing third fiddle on the blueline to hall of fame players Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, and will now be asked again to provide some veteran depth to what is a very young group.

Both Hampus Lindholm and Sami Vatanen underwent surgery at the conclusion of the playoffs to repair various injuries, and still both have their season debuts in jeopardy. With that and the loss of Shea Theodore and Clayton Stoner to the Vegas Golden Knights, there was a need to add a depth option to help the Ducks get off to a good start. Jacob Larsson was an option to start the year, but the signing of Beauchemin likely means that the young defender can start in the minor leagues.

[Updated: Anaheim Ducks Depth Chart]

For Beauchemin this season could total as much as $3MM, since the Avalanche are paying him $1.5MM to not play for them. Due to his age, Colorado will still have to deal with his whole $4.5MM cap hit. Moving him would have cost them an asset, something that they clearly didn’t want to do.

Starting his career in Montreal, Beauchemin has played in 836 regular season NHL games and 97 additional playoff contests. He actually has 39 points in those postseason games, a rate significantly higher than his regular season production. For a Ducks team that saw their defensemen play through injury all playoffs only to fall at the hands of the Nashville Predators, adding some experience should help them down the stretch. Beauchemin will likely not be asked to play over 20 minutes a night, but clearly still has the capability to contribute to an NHL team.

Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports was the first to break the deal, and provided the financial details. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Henrik Zetterberg Discusses Retirement

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Though he had quite the renaissance last season with the Detroit Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg’s NHL career may be coming to an end in the next few years. Zetterberg discussed his possible retirement with Aftonblat in Sweden, admitting that the last two years of his 12-year contract with the team were only put in to lower the cap hit. The years—2019-20 and 2020-21—would earn Zetterberg just $2MM total, or less than 3% of his total contract value.

Zetterberg says that he still takes things one year at a time and that he wouldn’t commit to retirement after the 2018-19 season, but that he likely won’t spend the last two years of the contract in the NHL. He’ll play this season at age-37, but did show an incredible ability to perform at an advanced age last year. In 82 games he recorded 68 points, his highest total since 2011-12.

The 12-year contract was signed before rules clamped down on these types of extensions, but it actually will see his salary drop to just $3.35MM in 2018-19 and then $1MM for each of the remaining two seasons. That comes despite a $6.1MM cap hit due to his normal salary that has ranged between $7-7.5MM per season. That drop means that Zetterberg won’t be giving up much money if he retires early, but it will have dire consequences for the Red Wings. The NHL instituted rules to prevent and punish the contracts that were signed taking advantage of the average annual salary loophole, meaning that Detroit would face cap recapture penalties should he retire following the 2018-19 season.

Zetterberg would cause nearly a $5.1MM recapture penalty in each of the last two seasons, making his retirement sting even more for the Red Wings. We recently went deep on the Red Wings’ cap situation, which doesn’t look pretty even with the team struggling at the bottom of the standings. Cap recapture penalties would just be icing on the proverbial cap problems cake.

Alex Kerfoot Expected To Sign Soon

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12:35pm: Larry Brooks of the New York Post is reporting that the Rangers are still in the mix, and that agent J.P. Barry expects a decision from Kerfoot before Wednesday.

10:16am: Several NCAA draft picks became unrestricted free agents last week when their teams failed to sign them by the deadline, and one of the most interesting ones was Alex Kerfoot. A fifth-round pick by New Jersey, Kerfoot completed his four year at Harvard instead of starting his professional career and like former teammate Jimmy Vesey last summer is now on the radar of several teams around the league.

Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130 in Vancouver reports that Kerfoot should make a decision soon on is future and that his hometown Canucks are still in the running. Kerfoot met with Vancouver last week but wasn’t ruling out any team that was after his services. The playmaking center is already 23, and could make an impact at the NHL level at some point this season. Though undersized, his tenacity and high-end offensive skill could result in a long professional career.

Dhaliwal also reports that the Canucks never did reach out to fellow NCAA free agent Will Butcher. Butcher certainly has a market after not signing with the Colorado Avalanche, but his Hobey Baker trophy as the nation’s best college player hasn’t resulted in the sort of frenzy Vesey created last year.

Nikolai Belov To Attend Florida Panthers’ Training Camp

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The Florida Panthers will have some international flair to their defense corps in camp this year, as George Richards of the Miami Herald reports Nikolai Belov will be there on a tryout. Belov has played his entire career in the KHL up to this point.

The Panthers had already added Evgeny Dadonov to their team this offseason, signing the Russian sniper away from SKA St. Petersburg to a three-year deal. Perhaps he was influential in bringing Belov over, since the two won a Gagarin Cup together in 2015. Belov, 30, is a stay-at-home defender who uses his reach to disrupt passing lanes and could provide some depth to the Panthers defense corps. The group is currently counting on players like Ian McCoshen and MacKenzie Weegar to provide that depth, a role that’s perhaps not as well suited to their relative youth.

Belov scored a career-high 15 points last season with Chelyabinsk, but shouldn’t be relied upon for any offensive contributions at the NHL level. For a team trying to get back to the playoffs however, his experience and responsible play could be an asset.

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