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St. Louis Blues Prospect Undergoes Surgery, Out Until December

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The St. Louis Blues announced today that prospect goaltender Luke Opilka underwent successful surgery to repair a torn left hip labrum. Opilka had been dealing with the injury throughout last season with the OHL Kitchener Rangers. The Blues expect Opilka to be out until December 2017.

This is the second hip surgery for Opilka. He underwent hip surgery last offseason in an attempt to help him in the long term. Opilka came back and put up a 3.51 SV% and a .889 GAA in 31 games for Kitchener.

The Blues drafted Opilka 146th overall in the 2015 NHL draft. It was unclear whether Opilka would remain in the OHL as an over-ager, or make the transition to the AHL. Unfortunately, the Blues do not have a full-time AHL affiliate until 2018-19. The Blues did call call Opilka up from the OHL during the Blues’ playoffs last season, but the young goaltender did not dress for any games. His presence was more for practice fodder and to give the NHL goaltenders a rest.

Upcoming UFA Goaltenders With Something To Prove

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Next year’s goaltending UFA crop may lack star power, but it does contain many interesting potential rehabilitation projects. This season provides those pending UFA goaltenders with an opportunity to turn things around and show teams that they are worth more than their current reputation belies. Whether it’s a former starter regulated to backup duties, or an aging veteran with just enough left in the tank, the following goaltenders can significantly improve their stock going into unrestricted free agency.

Jonathan Bernier – Colorado Avalanche – $2.75MM
The Colorado Avalanche signed the former Toronto Maple Leafs starter to a one-year deal worth $2.75MM this season to back up presumed starter Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov struggled last season, dealing with injuries and his worst stat line in his career. The Avalanche hope that Bernier can provide steady goaltending if Varlamov continues to slide or cannot shoulder a full starter’s load. If Bernier steps up and performs admirably, he could be in line for a starters position during the offseason. Last season saw Bernier player with the Anaheim Ducks and put up his best numbers in years. Part of that is the superior team in front of him, but it shows that given the proper tools, Bernier can be a serviceable starter in the league.

Eddie Lack – Calgary Flames – $2.75MM ($1.375 retained)
The Carolina Hurricanes traded Lack to the Calgary Flames this summer and agreed to retain 50% of his salary. Lack now has the opportunity to back up new Flames signee Mike Smith. Smith turns 36 this season, and will experience the injury woes that go along with veteran goaltenders. Lack will have an opportunity to step up and show teams that he still has the skills to become a starting goaltender. He is only two seasons removed from posting a .921 SV% and a 2.45GAA in 41 games for the Vancouver Canucks.

Ondrej Pavelec – New York Rangers – $1.3MM
Continuing with the reclamation projects backing up older veterans, Pavelec has a chance to show NHL GMs what he can do behind a very good team. In Pavelec’s ten year career he has seen the playoffs just once—with the Winnipeg Jets in 2014-15—and can benefit from the Rangers’ stacked defensive corps. Luckily, his bar is set low after his worst statistical season since 2008-09. Last season Pavelec played in just eight games, earning a .888 SV% and a 3.55 GAA. He was not much better the season before, with a .904 SV% and a 2.78 GAA. Mired by a reputation for being shaky and inconsistent, this may be Pavelec’s last opportunity to convince GMs to take a flier on the former 2nd round pick.

Cam Ward – Carolina Hurricanes – $3.3MM
Ward is over a decade removed from his Stanley Cup-winning playoff performance, but since then he has been the model of consistency. Unfortunately, he has been consistently average. And once again, Ward will have some true competition coming into camp. The Carolina Hurricanes signed former Chicago Blackhawks backup Scott Darling to a $4.15MM a year contract, signalling who the team prefers to earn the starting role going forward. Ward has already experienced this before with Eddie Lack, and eventually Lack was moved out to Calgary. This time, however, a decent season may not end with a new contract from the Hurricanes, but it will garner interest from other NHL teams.

Antti Raanta – Arizona Coyotes – $1MM
Raanta is the only goaltender on this list who is not a reclamation project. The Finnish netminder has backed up elite goaltenders Corey Crawford and Henrik Lundqvist, and now has the opportunity to take the starting reins in Arizona. The New York Rangers shipped Raanta alongside Derek Stepan to the Arizona Coyotes for Anthony DeAngelo and the 7th overall pick earlier this summer. Raanta is fresh off of a 30 games season where he earned a .922 GAA and a 2.26 SV%, significantly better than Lundqvist’s .910 SV% and 2.74 GAA. If Raanta can maintain his statline for a full season in Arizona, he will be in line for a large pay increase.

 

NHL Players Finally Paid For 2016 World Cup of Hockey

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Earlier this week TSN’s Rick Westhead reported that NHL players finally received their share of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey profits. The World Cup ended in September 2016, and while prize money was doled out on time, the profits only just became available to players. The delay in paying players was first raised by NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr this summer during the NHLPA’s annual charity golf tournament.

The NHL and the NHLPA agreed to split profits 50/50. After calculating all costs and expenses, the partnership garnered $44MM USD in profits. The NHLPA was entitled to $22MM of those profits, and would divide them amongst the players. That is slightly above previous calculations made by the Hockey News in November 2016.

Westhead reports that players who participated in the World Cup received $86K USD (before taxes) while those who did not received $10k. According to Westhead, after taking into account taxes, some players netted less than $5K (non-participants) or less than $50K (participants). That essentially works out to a 70/30 split between participants and non-participants.

Comparing Distances Between NHL and AHL Affiliates

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Earlier today, the Colorado Avalanche gained a local AHL affiliate when the ECHL Colorado Eagles became an AHL franchise. The Avalanche were previously using the San Antonio Rampage as an AHL team, but now the Rampage will be affiliates of the St. Louis Blues in 2018-19. The Blues were previously left in the cold when their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, agreed to partner with the Vegas Golden Knights instead.

Having a relatively local AHL affiliate provides ample benefits for an NHL club. Having coaching staff in the same vicinity allows the NHL and AHL club to more seamlessly instil a organization playing system, and reduces travel issues when recalling or reassigning players. But not every team enjoys that benefit. Some teams have AHL affiliates hundreds of miles from the NHL club. Below is a list of each NHL team and their AHL affiliates organized by distance between the two cities.

San Jose Sharks – San Jose Barracuda | 0 miles
Toronto Maple Leafs – Toronto Marlies | 0 miles
Winnipeg Jets – Manitoba Moose | 0 miles
Montreal Canadiens – Laval Rockets | 18 miles
Los Angeles Kings – Ontario Reign | 41 miles
Boston Bruins – Providence Bruins | 51 miles
Colorado Avalanche – Colorado Eagles (Loveland) | 52 miles
Philadelphia Flyers – Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Allentown) | 63 miles
New York Islanders (Brooklyn) – Bridgeport Sound Tigers | 63 miles
Buffalo Sabres – Rochester Americans | 76 miles
Chicago Blackhawks – Rockford IceHogs | 95 miles
Anaheim Ducks – San Diego Gulls | 95 miles
New York Rangers – Hartford Wolf Pack | 112 miles
Arizona Coyotes (Glendale) – Tucson Roadrunners | 128 miles
Washington Capitals – Hershey Bears | 132 miles
Columbus Blue Jackets – Cleveland Monsters | 144 miles
Detroit Red Wings – Grand Rapids Griffins | 159 miles
Carolina Hurricanes (Raleigh) – Charlotte Checkers | 167 miles
Ottawa Senators – Belleville Senators | 167 miles
New Jersey Devils (Newark) – Binghamton Devils | 168 miles
Dallas Stars – Texas Stars (Cedar Park) | 189 miles
Minnesota Wild (Minneapolis) – Iowa Wild (Des Moines) | 243 miles
Pittsburgh Penguins – Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins | 265 miles
Nashville Predators – Milwaukee Admirals | 568 miles
Tampa Bay Lightning – Syracuse Crunch | 1,266 miles
Calgary Flames – Stockton Heat | 1,291 miles
Florida Panthers (Miami) – Springfield (Ma.) Thunderbirds | 1,414 miles
Edmonton Oilers – Bakersfield Condors | 1,765 miles
Vegas Golden Knights – Chicago Wolves | 1,748 miles
Vancouver Canucks – Utica Comets | 2,929 miles

The San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets, and the Montreal Canadiens all have their AHL affiliate within a thirty-minute drive. At the other end of the spectrum, Vancouver prospects have to traverse the continent to get from Utica, in upstate NY, to Vancouver, out on the west coast. The Vancouver Canucks and the Utica Comets are the farthest paired teams, with over one thousand miles more than the second farthest pairing.

[an earlier version of this article had the Colorado Eagles playing in Denver. They will continue to play in Loveland, Co., about 52 miles north of Denver. Thanks to our eagle-eyed readers for the tip.]

Minor Transactions: 08/18/17

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The Ontario Reign signed a pair of AHL veterans today, signing Jamie Devane and Matt Schmalz. The forwards will add a physical presence to the team as they measure in at 6’5″ and 6’6″ respectively. Devane, 26, was a third-round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs but only made it to the NHL for a pair of games a few seasons ago, and had 13 points for the Stockton Heat last season.

Schmalz on the other hand spent 2016-17 in the OHL as a 20-year old, even after making his professional debut in the spring of 2016. He played three games for the Reign that year, registering two points, but he wasn’t signed and actually had his rights expire on June 1st. He’s coming off a season in which he scored just 31 points in 63 games and was limited to a bottom-six role on the Owen Sound Attack. Though he’s still just 21 he has a long road in front of him if he’s to ever make an NHL roster.

  • The OHL’s Windsor Spitfires have acquired Hunter Carrick, who had been drafted by the Ottawa 67s but never played for them. Carrick, the younger brother of Maple Leafs defenseman Connor Carrick, had been playing for the Oakland Junior Grizzlies. The 17-year old defenseman is eligible for 2018 draft, and will look to try and make an impact for the Spitfires as they come off their Memorial Cup-winning season.

Colorado Eagles Will Become 31st AHL Franchise

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While this may not come as much of a surprise following the news earlier this month that the San Antonio Rampage will begin a five-year partnership with the St. Louis Blues in 2018-19, Mike Chambers of the Denver Post is confirming that the ECHL’s Colorado Eagles will become the AHL’s 31st franchise. The club will act as the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate for 2018-19.

After the Vegas Golden Knights were added to the NHL, it was expected that AHL expansion would happen eventually. The Golden Knights made an initial affiliation with the Chicago Wolves, leaving the Blues without a minor league club for this season. They’ll send players to the Wolves and various other AHL organizations, but have little say when it comes to playing time and role. NHL teams are moving more and more to geographically close affiliates for the added benefits of player transactions and coaching staff proximity, allowing them to watch over their teams more closely. Now Colorado will enjoy the same benefit.

The Eagles won the Kelly Cup this season as the ECHL’s best franchise, and have a long history of regular season success. With the Avalanche building a large group of young players they might find themselves with early success in the AHL as well. Last year the Rampage went just 27-42-7, but with continued development of young players like A.J. Greer and Chris Bigras, along with the potential addition of older prospects like Andrei Mironov and Dominic Toninato, the team could bounce back in a hurry.

Revisiting The Rare August Trade

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Recent comments by Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic has rejuvenated the discussion over Matt Duchene, and where he’ll spend the 2017-18 season. While Sakic still seems open to moving him, it would take a very rare occurence indeed to move him before training camp starts: the August trade.

Lawson CrouseLast year we saw something happen for the first time since 2011, a trade that took place in the month of August in the NHL. That was when the Florida Panthers felt it necessary to move Dave Bolland’s contract out of town and found a buyer in Arizona. It would cost them Lawson Crouse, an 11th-overall pick who had just made his professional debut a few months earlier. The Coyotes would send back a third-round pick plus a conditional selection that ended up being a second, because of the immediate impact Crouse had.

The then 19-year old forward broke camp with the Coyotes, and though he scored just 12 points all season, showed himself physically mature enough to handle an NHL season. He led the Coyotes’ forwards in hits on the season with 160, and put in valuable development time on the penalty kill.

It’s not to say this trade was a steal for either side—the Panthers will likely get a high second-round pick in what is expected to be an extremely deep 2018 draft—just that this is the kind of thing you can expect in the dog-days of August. You have to go all the way back to the summer of 2011 to find the next most recent deals, when Arizona sent Lee Stempniak to Calgary for Daymond Langkow and Minnestoa sold James Sheppard to San Jose for a third-round pick.

August trades are rare in themselves, but August blockbusters are near imaginary. The last real exciting deal may have been the 2008 trade of Andrej Meszaros to the Tampa Bay Lightning. In exchange for a couple of seasons of Meszaros (and an eventual second-round pick), the Lightning gave up Filip Kuba, Alexandre Picard and a first-round pick—who ended up as Kyle Palmieri.

The point is that August is not a time for much wheeling and dealing, and even when it is a player like Duchene is rarely involved. While we hope that changes in 2017, it’s not something you should bet on.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Morning Notes: Eichel, Hyman, De Haas

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The recent signing of Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year, $68MM contract has put the spotlight on some other players around the league, perhaps most notably Jack Eichel of the Buffalo Sabres. Eichel is currently in contract negotiations with the Buffalo Sabres on what would likely be an eight-year extension, even though he’s not a restricted free agent until next summer. Darren Dreger of TSN joined WGR 550 in Buffalo today to talk about the potential contract, and he suggested something that few Buffalo fans wanted to hear.

Dreger believes the comparable for Eichel is still Connor McDavid, who signed an eight-year $100MM extension earlier this summer, and thinks the Buffalo center could get as much as $9.5MM on his new deal. That’s a huge number for a player who was limited by injury last season, and would put him among the top-10 players in the league. It seems like a ridiculous amount, but Eichel does have a higher points-per-game rate than Draisaitl and is already a full-time center. The face of the Sabres’ franchise should have a deal done within the next few weeks, as both sides want to get it done before training camp.

  • Zach Hyman knows that he could be pushed down the lineup in Toronto after the Maple Leafs signed Patrick Marleau, but he’s okay with that. Speaking with Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun, Hyman made it clear that he’s just dedicated to winning and is happy to have even more depth on the wing. After a season in which he faced plenty of crisiticm for his perceived lack of “finish”—Hyman scored just 10 goals and 28 points despite playing with Auston Matthews for every game—he was signed to a four-year contract this summer. A clear favorite of Mike Babcock, Hyman sounded like a future coach when he told Hornby that “it’s good to have this problem.” The 25-year old will likely spend more time in a bottom-six role this year, where he could thrive chasing down weaker defenders in the offensive zone.
  • The Lehigh Valley Phantoms have signed James De Haas to an AHL contract. The 23-year old defenseman was a Detroit Red Wings draft pick, but became a free agent on Wednesday after finishing his four years at Clarkson University. He’s an interesting prospect that found a lot of success in the NCAA but doesn’t have a standout tool. Still, his size, skating and defensive ability could lead him to fill a depth role on the Philadelphia roster eventually. After logging huge minutes at Clarkson, he could step right into a big role for the Phantoms, who rely on more offensive-minded options like T.J. Brennan and Will O’Neill at present.

Linus Soderstrom Loaned To HV71

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Though it was expected that Linus Soderstrom would not come to North America right away, the New York Islanders made it official today when they loaned Soderstrom back to his Swedish club, HV71. The 20-year old goalie will try to build on his outstanding rookie season in the SHL, where he put up a .943 save percentage and won the league championship.

Soderstrom signed his entry-level contract in May after being drafted by the Islanders back in 2014, and now ranks as one of the top goaltending prospects in the world. His size and mobility will give him a real opportunity for success in the NHL, and it could come earlier than most goaltenders. Soderstrom is on just a one-year deal with HV71, and though there is no reason to rush his development he’s shown enough that he could come across in 2018-19.

The Islanders have struggled in goal for some time, and though they’re obviously not a lock to make or succeed in the NHL, Soderstrom and fellow prospect Ilya Sorokin could make up one of the best young duos in the league. Sorokin unfortunately signed a three-year extension recently in the KHL, meaning it will still be some time before a move to North America is even considered.

Marian Gaborik Has “Non-Surgical Procedure” On Knee

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At the Los Angeles Kings’ state of the franchise event yesterday, GM Rob Blake revealed to season ticket holders and media that Marian Gaborik had undergone a “non-surgical” procedure and is still unlikely for camp. That news comes from Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period and the NHL Network, who reports the procedure was to repair ligament and tendon damage in his knee.

While it’s not clear if this is a new procedure or the same one Blake spoke about back in April, but it does cast further doubt on the start of Gaborik’s season. With the less-than-forthcoming way that the Kings are explaining the procedure and injury itself, there deserves to be some speculation on whether or not the team is planning on using some long-term injured reserve time for the aging winger. Gaborik for what it’s worth has posted several videos and photos of him training or biking recently, showing that he’s at least healthy enough to be in the gym.

Gaborik is coming off another dreadful season in which he registered just 21 points and will play this season at 35-years old. With still four years remaining on his contract, there was thought that the Kings might buy him out this summer. That couldn’t happen with his injury, and the opportunity is starting to disappear. With his front-loaded contract, a buyout next summer would result in a still fairly hefty cap hit.

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