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Marek Mazanec Signs In KHL

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Marek Mazanec has signed a one-year deal with HC Slovan Bratislava of the KHL, after an interesting offseason. Despite reports that the Nashville Predators would move on from the goaltender, they issued him a qualifying offer and he filed for salary arbitration. Before the hearing, the Predators placed Mazanec on waivers as a negotiating tactic and saw him settle for a two-way $650K contract.

That contract will be mutually terminated according to the Slovan press release, a topic we looked at in detail recently. Mazanec will forfeit the salary in order to go play in the KHL where he’ll have much more opportunity. The Predators signed both Matt O’Connor and Anders Lindback this offseason to compete in the minors, while Juuse Saros is expected to move up and be the full-time back up to Pekka Rinne.

Mazanec played in just four games for the Predators last season and was overmatched, recording an .839 save percentage. While he’d shown more potential in the past, the team was clearly ready to move in a different direction.

PHR Originals: 8/6/17 – 8/12/17

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With it being a quiet week in terms of news and rumors around the NHL, the PHR writers have comprised plenty of original pieces.  Here’s a sampling of some of the content to catch up on:

Atlantic Division

I broke down the salary cap situation for a trio of teams in Florida, Montreal, and Ottawa.  Speaking of the Sens, Seth discussed a missed opportunity for Ottawa to unload one of the more cumbersome deals around the league in Bobby Ryan.  Plus, vote in our poll on who will come out on top in the division.

Metropolitan Division

Seth examined Rick Nash’s future in New York as he enters the final year of his contract.  Holger assessed how the Islanders will be relying on their youth more moving forward, which will be the case regardless of where John Tavares to play in 2017-18.  He also looked into Philadelphia’s goaltending situation which is seemingly a big question heading into every year now.  The battle for top spot is expected to be highly contested; make your choice as to who comes out on top.

Central Division

Zach took a look at Colorado’s holes in their defense corps as well as the potential viability of Houston as a hockey market.  Seth discussed what has been a relatively quiet season in St. Louis and whether or not they missed out on some opportunities to improve.  Gavin analyzed the upcoming roster crunch coming in Dallas in the very near future.  He also continued his summer prediction poll series; make your pick for the division winner.

Pacific Division

Gavin broke down how the Golden Knights could still be able to take on another bad contract or two despite what they did in expansion.  While no one realistically expects Vegas to win the division, which team will be able to do so?

Free Agency

Our free agent profiles continue as I took a look at P.A. Parenteau’s situation while Zach did the same for Dennis Wideman.

League-Wide

Seth went over some teams that are poised to rebound after injury-filled 2016-17 campaigns.  Every year there are some picks from the most recent draft class that make the NHL right; Seth assessed which ones from June’s draft could do the same next season.  Mutually terminated contracts don’t give the players any money but Seth also brought up how it can still be beneficial to the player being let go.  Also on the CBA front, Gavin brought forth another look at how some top talents have been inking bonus-laden (and basically buyout-proof) contracts.  He also suggested some third-year players who could be in line for breakout seasons.

Plus, Gavin held his weekly chat while I also tackled some reader questions in our latest edition of the PHR Mailbag.

Five Key Stories: 8/6/17 – 8/12/17

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It was a relatively quiet week in the hockey world and was one that ended on a sad note.  Here are the top headlines from the past week.

Bryan Murray Passes Away: Long-time NHL coach and executive Bryan Murray passed away at the age of 74 on Saturday following a lengthy battle with cancer.  He continued to work in the game up until his death as he had been serving as an advisor with Ottawa.  Over an NHL career that spanned more than four decades, he served as a coach for parts of 17 years (winning a Jack Adams Award in 1983-84) and as a general manager for 21 years (and was named Executive of the Year in 1996).

Players On NHL Two-Way Deals Can’t Play In Olympics: As expected, the NHL provided some clarification regarding who is and is not eligible to play in the upcoming Winter Olympics.  While it has been known for a while that active NHL players won’t be going, the same can be said for those that are on NHL two-way contracts that are playing in the minor leagues at that time.  However, players that are on loan to European teams for the year and those that have been signed to entry-level deals but have been sent back to junior will be allowed to participate.  Team USA has already reached out to 85-90 players as they start to put a shortlist of potential players together.

Oilers Ink Yamamoto To ELC: The Oilers wasted little time inking their top prospect from the draft back in June as they signed Kailer Yamamoto to a three-year, entry-level deal.  The diminutive forward was one of the top scorers in the WHL last season (sixth overall) which is an impressive feat for someone in their draft-eligible season.  He’s expected to return to Spokane in 2017-18 to continue his junior career.  Yamamoto becomes the 16th of the 31 first round picks to have already signed their first NHL deal.

NHL Announces Preseason Schedule: The wait for NHL hockey is starting to get smaller as the league revealed the preseason schedule.  The first game will be played on September 16th between Vancouver and Los Angeles; those two teams will also be playing a pair of games in China.  The final games of the exhibition season will go October 1st.

Kaprizov signs with CSKA Moscow: The Wild will be waiting a while for one of their better prospects to cross the pond as winger Kirill Kaprizov has signed a three-year deal with CSKA Moscow of the KHL.  The 20-year-old has already shown himself to be quite the capable scorer at that level, posting 42 points (20-22-42) in 49 games last year.  There is no transfer agreement in place between the NHL and Russia so this doesn’t affect Minnesota in terms of retaining his rights but three years is a fairly long time to have to wait to have another shot at signing one of their more talented youngsters.

Avalanche Notes: Sakic, Defense, Long-Term Deals

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Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic has been at the helm now for six years. His team has spiraled downward and hit rock bottom last year with a league’s worst 22-56-4 record, worth 48 points. To make matters worse, the team only has a handful of prospects and don’t seem to have a plan or path to take the franchise on.

According to NBC Sports’ Adam Gretz, Sakic is a likely candidate to be on the hotseat this season. The team’s lack of a proper path, constant roster questions that seem to be held up by a potential Matt Duchene trade that has never happened and a shortcoming of prospects seem to suggest that he may be the first general manager out the door this season. To make matters worse, the Avalanche have had the worst defense in the league for the past two years, according to Gretz, and have made no defensive changes this year.

  • The Avalanche still have quite a few questions when it comes to its roster. Although the team is currently negotiating with defenseman Nikita Zadorov, the Avalanche only have three defensemen on their roster, including Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Mark Barberio, according to NBC Sports James O’Brien. With more than $11MM in cap space still remaining, Colorado has the ability to acquire more players and depth. However, considering their lack of depth, using draft picks to trade for a player makes little sense. That leaves signing leftover free agents to short-term deals, but there are very few defensive free agents of note. Trading Matt Duchene may be their best way to fill in some of those holes.
  • O’Brien also points out that, on a positive note, that the Avalanche have very few long-term deals, which should give the team quite a bit of flexibility. Only Nathan MacKinnon ($6.3MM AAV till 2022-23), Gabriel Landeskog ($5.57MM AAV till 2020-21), Carl Soderberg ($4.75MM AAV till 2019-20), Johnson ($6MM AAV till 2022-23) and Barrie ($5.5MM AAV till 2019-20) are locked up for the next three years.

NHL Notes: St. Louis Arena, Kane, Wennberg

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The city of St. Louis is a target of a lawsuit over the upgrades to the Blues’ arena, according to TSN. The $64 million publically-funded renovation of the Scottrade Center is being accused of being unconstitutional.

According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, three St. Louis residents, including Alderwoman Cara Spencer have filed a lawsuit, naming the city, the Blues and the Blues ownership group, Kiel Center Partners. The lawsuit states that public money to pay for the upgrades is unconstitutional and the city was mislead in February when they approved the renovation. They were told that the Scottrade Center was owned by the city and the city should pay for the renovations. Coupled with the interest, the city of St. Louis would have been expected to pay $105 million over the course of 30 years.

However, according to an old lease, if the city pays for renovations, it is expected to be paid back by the owner in a rent increase. The Blues owner currently pays $1 a year in rent. The Blues have not commented on the situation publically.

  • Darren Dreger of TSN reports that trade talk has been quiet over the last few weeks in regards to Buffalo Sabres’ Evander Kane. The veteran forward has been thrown about in trade rumors all offseason. Dreger says that most teams are still interested, but are now likely to wait and see how Kane begins the season in Buffalo. With his track record, many teams may want to see how he handles his offseason. “It sounds like, in the limited research that I’ve done, that he’s worked pretty hard and he’s motivated going into the contract year.” While a in-season trade is very possible, there is also the possibility that both sides will decide to stay together and sign a long-term extension.
  • While forward Columbus Blue Jackets’ Alexander Wennberg remains a restricted free agent, Fanrag’s Adam Gretz writes that Wennberg is intrigued at the possibility of being paired with newly acquired Artemi Panarin. Having been among the top productive players with the Blackhawks for the past two years, Wennberg claims that playing on the same line with Panarin would be thrilling and could take his game to a new level. “That would be incredible to play with (Panarin),” Wennberg said to NHL.com. “He’s a heck of a player. To see the plays he made with Kane, he’s one of the best players in the league. So, if I get a chance to play with him, that would be incredible.”

 

Snapshots: Keller, Letourneau-Leblond, Elias

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The 2017-18 season will again have plenty of intriguing rookies entering the NHL. However, unlike most years, there won’t be a consensus pick for the Calder Memorial Trophy, for the player who is most proficient in his first year of competition. Most people believed that the award would end up in the hands of Toronto’s Auston Matthews last year and it did. This year, however, it won’t be as easy to predict a winner.

There are many top rookies that are ready to step into the league this year, ranging from 2017 first-overall pick Nico Hischier (New Jersey Devils) and second-overall pick Nolan Patrick (Philadelphia Flyers) to young forwards like Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek and Arizona’s Clayton Keller. Several defensemen could step up as well such as Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot.

Matt Larkin of The Hockey News makes his predictions for the top candidates, citing Keller as the most likely to win the award. Keller, the seventh-overall pick in the 2016 draft, scored 21 goals and added 24 assists as a freshman last year at Boston University and then signed with the Coyotes, playing three games for the team and tallying two assists.

Larkin writes that not even the addition of other top scorers like Derek Stepan, Dylan Strome or Christian Dvorak should stop Keller from reaching his potential next year. Regardless of what position he plays for the Coyotes, the scribe believes he will play on a top line and should put up solid numbers. He lists numerous others candidates, making for an interesting read.

  • Enforcer Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond announced his retirement on Twitter today, reported by James O’Brien of NBC Sports. The journeyman forward played hockey for 12 years in 12 different cities. Originally drafted in the seventh round of the 2004 draft by the New Jersey Devils, Letourneau-Leblond spent most of his career in the AHL, but did manage to get into 41 NHL games, mostly with the Devils. He accumulated 101 penalty minutes and three assists in those 41 contests. Last year, the 32-year-old played 37 games for the Syracuse Crunch and one game for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL. He finished his season with one goal, four assists and 128 penalty minutes.
  • Speaking of the Devils, the team announced that they will retire Patrik Elias’ No. 26 on Feb. 24, 2018, according to Chris Ryan of NJ.com. Elias retired in March when he decided to end his comeback attempt despite trying to come back from knee surgery, but he neither practiced or played last season before hanging it up. The 41-year-old forward, who spend his entire career in New Jersey, finished as the Devils all-time leader in goals, assists, points and hat tricks.

Avalanche Notes: Yakupov, Jost, Greer

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If there was a place that Nail Yakupov might be able to turn his NHL career around, the 23-year-old wing may have found the right place in Colorado. The 2012 former first-overall pick has struggled to establish himself the player that everyone thought he would be. Now, five seasons into his career, Yakupov may be nearing his last chance to revive his career.

After a solid rookie year in which he scored 17 goals in 48 games back in the 2012-13 season, Yakupov never was able to improve on that and eventually, his numbers began to decline. He was then traded last October to the St. Louis Blues. Some thought that when Edmonton traded him to the Blues, he could revive his career with the change of scenery. However, Yakupov managed just three goals in 40 games and wasn’t offered a qualifying offer. Finally, as a free agent, he signed a one-year, $875,000 deal for the opportunity to play.

NBC Sports Adam Gretz writes that he will get a legitimate opportunity in Colorado as the team views him as a top-6 wing for them. He adds that its a gamble worth taking when you are last in the league in goals scored (2.01). He cites that agent Igor Larianov believes Yakupov’s lack of success is from his lack of confidence from his Edmonton days and was never given a real opportunity in St. Louis.

  • In a separate piece, Gretz also writes that while the team did little to improve the team this offseason, the team must hinge their hopes on their youth. The team already got good returns from 2015 first-rounder Mikko Rantanen, who put up a 20-goal season in his first full year. Gretz adds that this could also be the season that they see 2016 first-rounder Tyson Jost have a big season. The 10th overall pick in last year’s draft played one year at the University of North Dakota before signing after the season with the Avalanche. Jost, played in six games, scoring one goal for Colorado.
  • SB Nation’s Mile High Hockey also cites 20-year-old forward A.J. Greer as a potential breakout player this coming year. The 6-foot-3 forward, a second-round pick in 2015, had 15 goals for the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage and got into five games for the Avalanche, picking up one point.

Red Wings Notes: Getting Under Cap, Green, Helm

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Despite not making the playoffs or really even getting close to making the playoffs a year ago, the Detroit Red Wings are No. 1 in one category — salary cap. The Red Wings are more than $3.9MM over the cap as of now and they still must sign 18-goal scorer and restricted free agent Andreas Athanasiou. As discussed previously on PHR, the Red Wings must find a way to lower their cap and will wait until training camp to make those moves.

However, MLive’s Ansar Khan answered readers questions about how specifically the team might get under the cap. Khan believes that with the eventual Athanasiou signing and the savings from when they place Johan Franzen on LTIR should only put them slightly over the cap. Khan believes that the most likely outcome for Detroit at that point would be to waive a player rather than attempt to move someone like Riley Sheahan, Darren Helm or Mike Green.

However, the scribe adds that while the team believes that previously injured players like Tomas Tatar, Luke Glendening and Niklas Kronwall will be healthy for camp, the team will not make any moves until it knows the status of all their players and that doesn’t even include the potential for a training camp or preseason injury.

One possibility mentioned that could be waived is defenseman Ryan Sproul. A former second-round pick in 2011, he has never been able to establish himself with the Red Wings, but Khan says injuries could put him on the LTIR, but if not, the team should look to move him for a pick or trade him. The team has quite a bit of defensive talent heading to Detroit in the next year or two.

  • In the same piece, Khan suggests that a top trade candidate will be Green, but only if/when the team is out of contention next season when the trade deadline hits. Green is on the final year of a three-year, $18MM deal and had a productive season last year with 14 goals. At age 31, the blueliner could prove to be a valuable commodity to a team making a playoff push.
  • While Helm’s name keeps coming up as a potential player to trade off, Khan writes that the 30-year-old center has little value with his injury history (missed 32 games last year), contract (four years, $14.75MM remaining) and lack of production (17 points last year in 50 games).

Hurricanes Waiting Before Dealing Defensive Depth

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After four years of being at or near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, the Carolina Hurricanes are working hard to ensure that they team begins to make a turnaround. Their offseason spoke to that as they went out and acquired goaltender Scott Darling, signed former Hurricane Justin Williams to a two-year deal and traded for center Marcus Kruger and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk.

What the team is lacking however, is a top center that could help anchor their first or second line. The Hockey News’ Lyle Richardson writes the team should consider moving some of their young defensive depth to accommodate this need. While general manager Ron Francis has done an excellent job stockpiling talent, the team suddenly has quite a bit of it on defense and might be able to pull off a deal for a quality center, perhaps even being a good trading partner for the Colorado Avalanche’s Matt Duchene.

The team already has three defensemen locked up long term. Justin Faulk had an excellent season last year and still has three years left on his deal at $4.83MM per season. The 25-year-old blueliner is coming off a 17-goal season. The team also inked two of their young defenders within the last month to long-term deals in Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce. Slavin finished the year with five goals and 29 assists, while Pesce tallied two goals and 18 assists, both in their second year in the league. Former fifth-overall pick in 2015 Noah Hanifin is also looking good and was picked as a third-year breakout candidate by PHR’s Gavin Lee. In his second year in the league as well, Hanifin had four goals and 25 assists. Throw in 26-year olds Klas Dahlbeck and van Riemsdyk as well as 2016 first-round pick Jake Bean and the team’s defense is deep.

One holdup may be that Francis may want to see how each of these young defenders develop before trading them off. Any of them could have a breakout season in the next year or two. So while a deal may not be imminent, the Hurricanes do have the assets to pull off a major deal.

 

 

Boston Bruins Don’t Want Pastrnak’s Deal To Surpass Marchand

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At this point in the offseason, there are often teams that still have unsigned restricted free agents and there are quite a few names still remaining, including Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, Columbus’ Alexander Wennberg, Vancouver’s Bo Horvat and Boston’s David Pastrnak. However, Joe Haggerty of CSNNE suggests one hold up to a deal is the team doesn’t want to give Pastrnak a deal that is bigger than their star veteran, Brad Marchand.

The 29-year-old wing, who signed an eight-year, $49MM ($6.125MM AAV) extension less than a year ago, is coming off a 40-goal season (if you include the playoffs) and his extension suddenly looks like a bargain. However, the team would like Marchand, who is the team’s leader and core franchise player, to be the top-paid player and not be overshadowed by a younger player. According to Haggerty, the team was working with Pastrnak to come in at a deal that was slighty below that of Marchand, but those talks have been put on hold.

While Marchand put up 39 goals and 46 assists for 85 points, Pastrnak had a breakout season himself. After putting up 25 goals in his first two seasons in Boston, the scored 34 goals and added 36 assists for 70 points. He is one of just 26 players to have reached the 30-goal plateau last year.

What is likely to work in Pastrnak’s favor is that Connor McDavid’s extension may have changed the landscape for top, young forwards and suddenly Pastrnak may wait until McDavid’s teammate, Draisaitl signs an extension. Many believe that contract will be significant and Pastrnak will want the same deal. Of course, Draisaitl may also be waiting for Pastrnak to sign as well, so it might take a while. Many believe, however, that Draisaitl may agree to a contract in the $7-8MM range, therefore altering Pastrnak’s demands as well.

Pastrnak, meanwhile, states that he is practicing hard and is not worried about signing an extension, according to Tim Campbell of NHL.com.

“I’m just waiting, leaving it all to my agent [J.P. Barry] to communicate with them,” Pastrnak said during the European Player Media Tour on Thursday. “I’m just focusing on getting ready for next season. I’m focusing on getting better and I’m trying not to think about that stuff. I just let it go and something will happen.”

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