NHL

With the draft and free agency almost upon us, activity around the league has started to pick up with an expectation of plenty more to come, including resolutions to trades that are reportedly in the works.  Here’s a rundown of the top stories from the past seven days.

Middlemen Off The Market: This isn’t the greatest free agent crop for centers and the crop got considerably thinner over the past week with four players coming off the market.  First, Montreal re-signed Sean Monahan to a one-year contract that’s worth $2MM if he meets his games played bonus, giving the veteran a chance to prove he has recovered from his injuries this past season.  Then it was Buffalo’s turn as they inked long-time Sabre Zemgus Girgensons to a one-year, $2.5MM deal to keep him as a fixture in their bottom six.  Erik Haula made it known that he wanted to remain with New Jersey and he got his wish, signing a three-year contract that carries a $3.15MM AAV.  Then, following reports that contract talks were stalling out, Carolina and Jordan Staal were able to reach a new four-year contract, one that carries an AAV of $2.9MM and has a full no-move clause for the first three seasons.

Coyotes Make Moves: In recent years, the Coyotes have willingly taken on unwanted contracts in exchange for future assets with those players either staying on the roster or landing on injured reserve.  Now, the team is changing course as they’ve parted ways with a pair of those unwanted deals, buying out defenseman Patrik Nemeth and winger Zack Kassian.  The moves result in $1.833MM in dead cap for next season and $1.983MM in 2024-25.  Then, Arizona opted to trade away one of their surplus selections, sending Montreal’s 2024 second-round pick to Los Angeles to acquire defenseman Sean Durzi.  The 24-year-old had 38 points in his sophomore year for the Kings and could be part of the back end for the Coyotes for several years.  After that, they re-upped goaltender Connor Ingram to a new three-year deal with a cap hit of $1.95MM.  In 17 appearances in 2023, the 26-year-old put up a .922 SV% and if he can stay even close to that level, it could wind up being a club-friendly deal.

Johansen To Colorado: The Avalanche decided to get a head start on their center shopping as they acquired Ryan Johansen from Nashville in exchange for the rights to pending UFA forward Alex Galchenyuk.  As part of the move, the Predators are retaining half of Johansen’s $8MM for the final two seasons of his contract.  The 30-year-old is coming off a down season that saw him put up just 28 points in 55 games before missing the last couple of months after undergoing emergency leg surgery.  However, he’s just a year removed from a 63-point campaign so Colorado is hoping that a change of scenery could give him a spark.  In a move that basically amounts to acquiring him for future considerations, it’s certainly a worthwhile chance to take for them while Nashville settles for simply clearing half of his contract off their books.

Hall Of Famers: Away from the rink, the next group of Hockey Hall of Famers was announced.  A total of seven people will enter the Hall next season, including builders Ken Hitchcock and Pierre Lacroix (posthumously), goaltenders Mike Vernon, Tom Barrasso, and Henrik Lundqvist, plus forwards Pierre Turgeon and Caroline Ouellette.  Of the seven inductees, only Lundqvist was named in his first year of eligibility.  Meanwhile, it’s the second Hall of Fame honor of the year for Ouellette who was also named to the IIHF Hall of Fame earlier this year.

Departures In Calgary? Last week, there was a belief that defenseman Noah Hanifin would be on the way out in Calgary.  He might not be the only one.  First, reports emerged that center Elias Lindholm hasn’t accepted a long-term extension offer from the Flames while fellow middleman Mikael Backlund may also be leaning toward leaving the team.  Then, another report suggested that Tyler Toffoli isn’t likely to re-sign either.  All four players are eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer but if they’re not willing to stick around, GM Craig Conroy could be busy in the coming days and weeks by sending those players to teams that they might be willing to ink new deals with.

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The curtain has closed on the 2022-23 season with Vegas taking home its first Stanley Cup, beating Florida in five games.  (The Panthers, as it turns out, had several key injuries to contend with, some of which will carry over into next season.)  Away from the rink, there was plenty of notable news, recapped in our key stories.

Coaching Hires: The final two vacancies behind the bench have been filled.  After going internal for their GM hire, Calgary did the same for the head coaching position, promoting assistant Ryan Huska to the top job, replacing Darryl Sutter.  Huska is no stranger to the organization having been an assistant with them for five years after serving as their AHL head coach for the four previous years.  This will be his first head coaching position in the NHL.  The same can’t be said for the new coach of the Rangers with them hiring veteran Peter Laviolette as their new bench boss, taking over from Gerard Gallant.  The 58-year-old spent the last three seasons with Washington before parting ways back in April.  This will be his 22nd season behind the bench and he will crack the top ten for games coached in NHL history sometime in November.

Max-Term Deal For Bratt: After inking a pair of short-term deals after his entry-level contract expired, the Devils and winger Jesper Bratt put pen to paper on an eight-year, $63MM contract.  The 24-year-old followed up his breakout 73-point campaign in 2021-22 with another 73-point effort this past season including a career-best 32 goals, solidifying himself as a key cog on New Jersey’s top line in the process.  With one key RFA locked up, GM Tom Fitzgerald can turn his focus to his other one, winger Timo Meier.  The team chose to file for club-elected salary arbitration, giving them a chance to submit an offer that’s $1.5MM below what would have been his $10MM qualifier.  That will give both sides about six weeks to try to work out a long-term agreement before the hearings end in early August.

First Buyout Done: The buyout window opened up on Friday and Vancouver wasted little time making the first move, buying out the final four seasons of Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s contract.  The move frees up more than $7MM in cap room for the Canucks this season but does put more than $20MM in dead cap on their books over the next eight years.  That’s hardly the outcome then-GM Jim Benning was hoping for when he acquired the 31-year-old at the draft two years ago, moving the ninth-overall pick as part of the package.  Meanwhile, as Arizona retained salary in the trade, they too have a dead cap charge over the next eight years totaling $2.8MM.  Notably, one of their three retained salary slots will be encumbered for that entire stretch, running through the 2030-31 campaign.  Ekman-Larsson becomes an unrestricted free agent but will not be able to sign with his new team until July 1st.

Senators Sold: After a very long and drawn-out process, the Senators will have a new owner as it was announced that Michael Andlauer was the successful bidder for the team with an offer of $950MM.  The purchase is subject to the approval of the Board of Governors but that shouldn’t be an issue, especially with Andlauer being familiar to them as an alternate governor with Montreal.  Andlauer will need to sell his minority stake in the Canadiens before the sale can be finalized.  He won’t officially take over the franchise until these things occur so it’s unlikely he’ll be able to have any sort of impact regarding off-ice (or on-ice) personnel for a little while yet.

Speaking of on-ice personnel, the Senators also filed for club-elected arbitration on pending RFA Alex DeBrincat, allowing them to offer as low as 85% of his $9MM qualifying offer.  However, unlike Meier, there’s a belief that DeBrincat would like to be moved and this filing won’t prevent that process from playing out.

Leaving Calgary? Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin is entering the final year of a six-year, $29.7MM contract that has been quite a bargain for Calgary.  However, it appears that he’ll be following in the footsteps of former teammate Matthew Tkachuk as he has reportedly told the team that he does not want to sign a new deal with them.  As a result, it’s expected that he’ll be traded.  The 26-year-old has found his offensive touch the last two years, picking up 86 points in 182 games while logging nearly 22 minutes a night.  He’ll be 27 when his new contract begins which means, wherever he goes, he’ll be in line for a max-term extension that’s worth at least a couple million more than his current $4.95MM AAV.

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In some years, teams wait until the end of the Stanley Cup Final before announcing big news.  This is clearly not one of those years as there were several key moves made around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Three-Way Trade: The first big trade of the 2023 offseason is in the books in a three-team swap involving the Flyers, Kings, and Blue Jackets.  Needing to clear salary, Los Angeles moved goaltender Calvin Petersen and defenseman Sean Walker to Philadelphia, sending them a 2024 second-round pick and defensive prospect Helge Grans as an incentive for them to do so.  Meanwhile, Ivan Provorov is on his way to Columbus in exchange for a first-round pick and a second-rounder with the Kings retaining $2.025MM of Provorov’s contract for the next two years.  Los Angeles also picked up a pair of AHLers in the swap, Hayden Hodgson and Kevin Connauton.

For Columbus, they added a top-four blueliner that started off his career strong but has plateaued as of late.  Defense was an issue for the Blue Jackets last season and they feel his addition will go a long way toward fixing that under eventual head coach Mike Babcock.  Philadelphia, meanwhile, adds three good draft picks to aid in their rebuild plus an intriguing prospect in Grans while they’ll hope to rebuild Petersen’s value.  As for Los Angeles, the purpose of the trade was to free up cap space and they spent it quickly, re-signing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year deal that carries a $5.875MM AAV and a full no-move clause.  Gavrikov became a key cog in their back end after coming over from Columbus at the trade deadline – for the first-round pick that was flipped for Provorov, no less – but his preference was a short-term contract to allow him to test the market a couple of years from now in a more favorable cap environment.

Severson To Columbus: The Blue Jackets weren’t done adding to their back end with Provorov’s addition.  After receiving permission from the Devils to negotiate with pending UFA Damon Severson, a contract was agreed upon.  New Jersey inked the blueliner to an eight-year, $50MM contract and then traded him to Columbus for a third-round pick.  The move was done as a true sign-and-trade, just the second of those in history (the other being the Matthew Tkachuk trade last summer).  Severson saw his offensive numbers dip a bit this season but he still managed 33 points in 81 games despite a near-four-minute drop in playing time.  He’ll give Columbus another capable offensive player on the back end, joining Provorov, Zach Werenski, and Adam Boqvist as defensemen that are capable of putting up some offense.

Eight For Caufield: One of the top restricted free agents was taken off the board as the Canadiens signed winger Cole Caufield to an eight-year contract that carries an AAV of $7.85MM and has partial no-trade protection in the final three years, the only ones he was eligible to receive that protection.  The deal is the second-highest given to a forward in franchise history and checks in just $200K total behind captain Nick Suzuki.  Caufield got off to a strong start offensively this season with 26 goals in 46 games before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.  The 22-year-old has just 123 regular season games under his belt so it’s a contract that certainly carries some risk.  However, if Caufield is able to become a consistent 40-goal scorer, the deal could become a team-friendly one down the road as well.

Ducks Hire Cronin: The Ducks have found their new head coach as the team announced the hiring of Greg Cronin.  The 60-year-old has plenty of experience behind the bench and got his start in the NHL back in the 1998-99 season with the Islanders.  Cronin also has lots of experience working with younger players, highlighted by six seasons as the head coach at Northeastern while spending the last five in charge of Colorado’s AHL team.  This will, however, be his first crack at running an NHL bench.  Anaheim is a team that is embarking on a full-scale rebuild and is a team that will be integrating several prospects into an already young core group.  Accordingly, going with a coach that is well-versed in working with younger players makes a lot of sense for GM Pat Verbeek.

Trouble In Winnipeg: Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois has one year of RFA eligibility remaining but he has made it known that he doesn’t want to spend it in Winnipeg as he has requested a trade.  His desire to not sign with the team long-term is well-known but it seemed possible that he’d wind up on another one-year contract and at least start 2023-24 in Winnipeg but his camp has made it clear that doing so is not a desirable outcome.  Accordingly, with the draft less than three weeks away, expect his name to come up frequently in trade speculation.

Meanwhile, he won’t be the only one in that situation following a report that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a year away from being UFA-eligible himself, also appears to be unwilling to sign an extension.  The veteran has been one of the top goalies in the league for the past several years and would undoubtedly command strong interest on the trade front should Winnipeg decide to make him available now.  Hellebuyck is signed for next season at a $6.167MM AAV.

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As expected, the turn of the calendar has resulted in an uptick of activity around the NHL, the bulk of it coming away from the ice, including an early extension for Seattle GM Ron Francis and surgery for pending UFA Patrick Kane.  We recap the most notable news in our key stories.

Treliving To Toronto: After parting ways with Kyle Dubas a couple of weeks ago, the Maple Leafs have found their new GM, hiring Brad Treliving for the role.  The 53-year-old had been in the same role with Calgary for the last nine seasons before stepping aside at the end of the regular season.  Treliving is no stranger to roster shakeups after making several changes of note for the Flames last year and will be tasked with determining if a core move needs to be made plus the future of head coach Sheldon Keefe.  While Treliving is in charge now, it’s worth noting that he will not be permitted to be at the draft table later this month, a stipulation they agreed to before receiving permission to interview Treliving, whose deal with Calgary ran until the end of June.

Dubas To Pittsburgh: It didn’t take long for Dubas to find his next team as he has joined Pittsburgh as their President Of Hockey Operations.  The term of the deal wasn’t officially released but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (video link) that it’s a seven-year agreement.  Dubas had been GM in Toronto for the past five seasons, building a team that has been quite strong during the regular season but has struggled in the playoffs with just a single series victory.  He’ll be asked to try to get the Penguins’ core back in the playoff picture after the team came up just short this season, resulting in the departures of Ron Hextall and Brian Burke.  Dubas will hold GM duties as well for the time being but is expected to hire one later this summer.

Changes In Nashville: After a long review and search of the coaching options available, incoming Predators GM Barry Trotz opted to make a change behind the bench, firing John Hynes while hiring Andrew Brunette as their next head coach.  Hynes spent a little over three seasons with the Preds, compiling a 134-95-18 record during the regular season but the team won just three of 14 playoff contests.  The 48-year-old has just over 600 games under his belt including his time in New Jersey and if he doesn’t land a job this summer, his name will likely come up in midseason openings.  As for Brunette, this will be his second time running an NHL bench after he coached Florida for the bulk of the 2021-22 campaign.  Brunette was passed over for the full-time spot with the Panthers that summer, sending him to New Jersey as an associate coach.  Trotz indicated that he’s hoping that Brunette can bring more of an offensive focus to the team, a stark contrast to his own philosophies when he was behind the bench.

More Coaching Moves: The Capitals were actually the first team to bring in their new bench boss, bringing in Spencer Carbery on a four-year contract.  It’s the second stint with Washington for the 41-year-old who was the head coach for their AHL affiliate in Hershey for three years before leaving to serve as an assistant with Toronto for the last two seasons.  He is the fourth first-time hire out of Washington’s last six head coaches.  Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets appear to have their next coach as veteran Mike Babcock is set to return behind an NHL bench for the first time since 2019-20.  The 60-year-old has a 700-418-183 record over parts of 17 seasons and will be tasked with turning around a Columbus franchise that improved on paper last summer but dropped to the bottom of the Eastern Conference.  The hire is expected to be made official next month once his contract with Toronto expires.

Gibson Hoping For A Trade: The goaltending market this summer just got a bit more interesting following a report that Ducks netminder John Gibson indicated to the team last month that he’d like a change of scenery.  The 29-year-old was one of the top goalies in the league a few years ago but as Anaheim has struggled, so has he as he posted a 3.99 GAA with a .899 SV% this season while leading the league in goals allowed and losses.  However, on a more competitive win-now franchise, there’s reason to hope that he could turn things around.  Gibson has four years left on his contract at a $6.4MM cap charge so the Ducks may have to retain salary or take a contract back to help facilitate a move.

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