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Archives for February 2018

KHL’s Kovalchuk Intends To Sign With NHL After This Season

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It looks like the free agent market is expanding as KHL insider Aivis Kalnins tweeted that Russian winger Ilya Kovalchuk has confirmed that he intends to leave the KHL and sign with an NHL team after this season.

Kovalchuk, who said a similar thing a year ago and then changed his mind, is in a much different situation this year. Last year, Kovalchuk was still considered to be property of the New Jersey Devils and was relient on the Devils trading his rights to another team. However, Kovalchuk will now be an unrestricted free agent, according to Pierre LeBrun.

Kovalchuk helped the Olympic Athletes from Russia capture the gold medal Saturday’s exciting victory over Germany and was named the MVP of the tournament. The 34-year-old might be getting old, but isn’t slowing down as his last two season in the KHL have been among his best. He scored 32 goals for St. Petersburg SKA last year and has 31 goals this season despite taking a break to play in the Olympics.

As an unrestricted free agent, Kovalchuk can pick his own destination as last year, he wanted to either play in New York or in Florida. While it was well-known he wanted to play for the New York Rangers last year, that may not be the case this year as the Rangers have been selling off many of their assets, which might not attract the veteran.

Multiple Players Placed On Waivers

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With today being the last day to place players on waivers, many teams have placed players on waivers in hopes of adding some roster flexibility for the remainder of the season. According to Bob McKenzie, many players have been placed on waivers, including defensemen Christopher Breen and Paul Postma of the Boston Bruins, forward Jussi Jokinen of the Columbus Blue Jackets, defenseman Cody Goloubef of the Calgary Flames, forward Lance Bouma of the Chicago Blackhawks, forward Chris Stewart of the Minnesota Wild, forwards Alexandre Burrows and Jim O’Brien and defenseman Johnny Oduya of the Ottawa Senators, defenseman Mark Alt and goaltender John Muse of the Philadelphia Flyers and forward Chris Thorburn of the St. Louis Blues.

McKenzie adds that New York Rangers forward cleared waivers today.

Of teams that are still in the playoff race, the New York Islanders will likely get the first shot on many of these players if the team is looking to add more depth after trading for defenseman Brandon Davidson Saturday.

While several of these players are AHL players who aren’t seeing time, there are several veteran players who are affected by the moves. Two of the most obvious are Burrows and Oduya. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes that the team failed to find anyone interested in trading for either players, so the hope is a team might be willing to claim them without having to give anything up.

Burrows is one of those the team would like to close the book on. Acquired at the trade deadline a year ago for prized prospect Jonathan Dahlen, the team then made it worse by signing him to a two-year extension, worth $2.5MM per season. While he scored 15 goals between Vancouver and Ottawa last year, Burrows has struggled, having tallied just three goals in 51 games. Oduya was signed in the offseason and the veteran could be a solid candidate to be claimed by a team that needs some defensive depth.

Another player who is likely to be claimed is Stewart, who the Minnesota Wild placed on waivers as the team wants to make room for adding 2016 first-rounder Luke Kunin or if the team signs Boston University star Jordan Greenway. The veteran is an excellent locker room presence, has quite a bit of experience and can score as he has nine goals in 47 games this year. Jokinen who has already been on waivers this year returns to it and could be claimed if a team wants some depth to their forward line. Chicago’s Bouma is another who could be claimed as he has fallen out of the Blackhawks lineup, but provides forward depth that could be useful for a team making a playoff run. He’s played in 53 games this year, totaling three goals, six assists and +1 plus/minus ratio.

Other players like Alt and Postma are likely just heading to the AHL to join their playoff rosters. Alt has played just eight games in Philadelphia, spending most of his season in Lehigh Valley. Postma has been with the Bruins all year and might be heading to the Providence Bruins to help the team with their playoff push. He has appeared in just 12 games all season for Boston.

Both Breen, O’Brien, Muse and Goloubef each signed two-way contracts in the last 24 hours and had to be passed through waivers in order to assign them to their respective NHL teams. O’Brien signed a two-way contract today, while Goloubef signed yesterday. FlamesNation’s Ryan Pike reports that Muse signed a two-way deal today.

 

 

Boston Bruins Ink Brian Gionta To 1-Year Deal

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The Boston Bruins haven’t finished making moves as they announced that they have signed Team USA captain Brian Gionta to a one year, one-way contract this year worth $700K.  TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link) that the deal also contains a $100K bonus for ten games played (regular season and playoffs combined) plus an additional $50K for every playoff round Boston wins.

The move after trading for winger Rick Nash this morning, gives the Bruins two veteran leaders on the team who should increase the team’s depth at the forward position. A 15-year-veteran has a connection with the city as he played for Boston College between 1997 and 2001. After failing to find an NHL contract at the start of the season, the 39-year-old received quite a bit of attention when he captained Team USA during the Olympics to the quarterfinals in Korea these past two weeks. Despite not garnering a point in the team’s performance, Gionta still was able to catch on with Boston.

Even at his age, Gionta had a productive season last year as he scored 15 goals and added 20 assists for the Buffalo Sabres. Assuming he can break into the team’s lineup, he will likely help out the team’s fourth line or fill in for injuries as it prepares for a playoff run.

 

Edmonton’s Letestu Traded To Nashville, Then Flipped To Columbus

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The Nashville Predators traded winger Pontus Aberg to the Edmonton Oilers for center Mark Letestu and then immediately flipped Letestu to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2018 fourth-round pick, according to Pierre LeBrun.

Letestu return to Columbus where he played for four years before signing with the Oilers in 2015. The bottom-six center fills a depth need at center as Columbus has struggled at the position with injuries, but also as a special teamer. He is an excellent penalty killer. In 60 games this season, the 33-year-old Letestu has eight goals and 11 assists and a minus-17 plus/minus ratio. He had a big year last year when he scored 16 goals for the playoff-bound Oilers.

The Oilers added a young scoring forward Aberg, who has had trouble breaking into the Predators’ lineup. The former second-round pick in the 2012 draft has been in and out of the lineup, often as a healthy scratch and has appeared in just 37 games with just two goals and six assists to show for it. He did make a name for himself during the Predators playoff run last year when he had to fill in due to injuries and scored two goals and three assists in 16 games.

For Nashville, the move is essentially a roster dump as the team is likely trying to clear a roster spot to eventually add 2017 first-rounder Eeli Tolvanen when his season is over when his KHL team has been eliminated from the playoffs. The Predators are also likely to bring in veteran Mike Fisher back as well, so roster space was needed.

Montreal Deals Tomas Plekanec To Toronto Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have acquired veteran center Tomas Plekanec from the Montreal Canadiens. The trade will have Montreal sending Plekanec and forward Kyle Baun to Toronto in exchange for defenseman Rinat Valiev, winger Kerby Rychel and Toronto’s second-round pick in the 2018 draft. The Canadiens will retain 50 percent of Plekanec’s salary (the maximum allowed), according to TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie.

With the Canadiens retaining half of Plekanec’s salary, that still leaves Toronto with $6MM in cap space to work with, meaning they could still add another piece if they choose to do so. Toronto Sun’s Lance Hornby writes the team is interesting in acquiring New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh.

Many predicted that Toronto would hop into the trade market, especially after the Boston Bruins added Rick Nash this morning from the New York Rangers. On the surface it looks like Toronto made a nice move as they moved two average prospects and a second-rounder to improve their bottom-line depth at center. There has been talk that Toronto coach Mike Babcock hasn’t been high on their fourth-line center Dominic Moore. Plekanec can now fill that void and energize the team’s bottom lines.

Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports that the Canadiens worked with Plekanec to find the right fit although he did not have a no-trade clause. The 35-year-old wanted to stay in the Eastern Conference. The also talked about an extension in Montreal and there remains the possibility to bring Plekanec back to Montreal in the offseason. Plekanec, who has been with the franchise his entire career has played 981 games in Montreal.

As for the Canadiens, the team did get a number of pieces in return for the long-time center. They received Toronto’s second-rounder, which will give the franchise four second-round picks in this year’s draft.

Valiev is likely to join Montreal for the rest of the season as the 22-year-old defenseman is a left-handed defenseman, who many believe should fill out to be a solid bottom-pairing defenseman. He has played three full seasons with the AHL Toronto Marlies and has made 10 appearances for the Maple Leafs, all last season. Valiev has five goals and 10 assists in 40 games this year with the Marlies. Rychel is a former first-round pick in 2013 by the Columbus Blue Jackets but struggled to produce. Columbus traded him to Toronto two years ago and Rychel has shown some promise, putting up 19 goals last year with the Marlies and he currently has 10 goals this year. Both are good players, but were having trouble breaking through the Maple Leafs depth charts. That may change with Montreal.

Toronto also got Baun in the deal. While he has played five games in the NHL, that was back in 2014-15 and 2015-16. Since being acquired at the start of the season from the Chicago Blackhawks, Baun has spent the season with the Laval Rocket of the AHL and four goals and 12 assists in 54 games.

Senators, Karlsson Trying To Get Trade Done By Deadline

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The Ottawa Senators and Erik Karlsson are both working hard on making a deal happen by the trade deadline with the Tampa Bay Lightning being the leading candidate to acquire the star defenseman, according to Elliotte Friedman Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada.

“Whatever gets said, the belief is the Ottawa Senators want to try to make this happen and Erik Karlsson wants it to happen, and they have been grinding away in the last two or three days to see if they can,” Friedman said. “Obviously Tampa Bay is a leading contender, I think they’ve thrown several different proposals at each other.”

While negotiations haven’t reached their final stages, other teams have also shown interest in Karlsson, including the Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks and the Vegas Golden Knights.

The idea that Karlsson could end up in Tampa Bay is not unrealistic considering he is close friends with fellow Swede Victor Hedman. The two playing on the Lightning’s blueline could be the ultimate piece for a team that want to win a Stanley Cup this year. However, what would be the cost? While Tampa Bay has quite a lot of solid prospects they could deal, Ottawa would almost definitely be looking for a major piece from the team’s active roster with names such as Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde and Vladislav Namestnikov, rumored to be names that Ottawa would want back.

“I’m sure the names Brayden Point and Yanni Gourde have come up, but at the very least it might even cost them [Vladislav] Namestnikov and we know how important he is to the first line in Tampa Bay,” said Kypreos on the same segment of Hockey Night in Canada. “But Ottawa wants a major piece back.”

Friedman added in the segment that he believes if Ottawa is willing to accept Namestnikov as the centerpiece of the deal, “that’s something that Tampa would do.” However, the real question is what else would Ottawa want? The team is unlikely to part with 19-year-old Mikhail Sergachev, who seems to have turned the corner after recent struggles.

You also have to factor in the injury to Ondrej Palat, who is out for another two or three weeks with what many believe is a high ankle sprain. Does the team have enough depth to survive without a Namestnikov, who is a major influence on the team’s first line. The 25-year-old is having a breakout season with 20 goals and 24 assists in 62 games this year. He is only making $1.94MM this year, but will be a restricted free agent next year, which could make him harder to sign for the future.

Boston Bruins Acquire Rick Nash From Rangers

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The New York Rangers announced they have completed a trade that will send veteran winger Rick Nash to the Boston Bruins in exchange for a 2018 first-round pick, defensive prospect Ryan Lindgren, forwards Ryan Spooner and Matt Beleskey and a seventh-round pick in the 2019 draft. The Rangers are expected to retain 50 percent of Nash’s salary (the maximum allowed)according to Pierre LeBrun. The Bruins are also expected to retain some of Beleskey’s salary.

For Boston, the deal adds a solid veteran to their top-nine core and improves the team’s depth. The 33-year-old was having a solid season in New York as he has 18 goals and 10 assists this year. His knack for finding the goal makes him a welcome addition. He has 434 career goals and is one point away from reaching 800 career points. However, it is the intangibles of a veteran leader and playoff veteran that makes him so coveted as Nash has played in 77 career playoff games. He is in the final year of a eight-year, $62.4MM deal he signed in 2009 with the Columbus Blue Jackets. With the salary retention, however, the Bruins will only have to pay him $3.9MM of his deal for the remainder of the year, which was the only way the trade would have worked without involving a third team. NHL.com’s Joe Yerdon tweets that Nash is expected to join Boston for their game tonight in Buffalo.

Perhaps the key to the trade will be the Bruins first-rounder. That will give the Rangers two first, two second and two third-round picks in this upcoming draft. The Rangers, who are trying to build through the draft, already had two first-round picks in last year’s draft when they drafted centers Lias Andersson and Filip Chytil.

The Rangers add more to its struggling defense as they add Lindgren to their improving core of prospects. The Bruins 2016 second-round pick, the 20-year-old is in his second season at the University of Minnesota. The six-foot, 198-pound blueliner looks to be more of a physical defenseman who might eventually provide team depth as he has two goals and five assists this year in 33 games playing in the Big-10. He also has 49 penalty minutes.

Beleskey and Spooner were both added into the deal to make the salaries match up. Beleskey signed a five-year, $19MM deal in 2015 after he had put up a 22-goal season with the Anaheim Ducks. However, he has not been able to duplicate those numbers, although he did score 15 goals in the 2015-16 season. He only played in 49 games last year and just 14 for Boston this year as he was sent down to the Providence Bruins and has played for much the season there. The Bruins retained 50 percent of his salary as well. Spooner, on the other hand, could be flipped again if the Rangers can find a taker for the 26-year old. In 39 games this year, the center has nine goals and 16 assists.

Dreger adds that the deal for Nash could prompt a response from the Bruins’ Atlantic Division rivals as both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning might be more likely to improve their rosters for the upcoming playoff push. Both Toronto and Tampa Bay are looking to add depth to their defense.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report the initial deal.

Boston Bruins Frontrunners For Rangers’ Nash

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Multiple sources, including Elliotte Friedman, are indicating that the Boston Bruins are the leading candidates to acquire New York Rangers winger Rick Nash. Pierre LeBrun writes that Boston made an offer earlier today that the Rangers are considering.

With the trade deadline less than two days away, talks are heating up and the Bruins are doing what it can to bolster their forward line for a playoff run. Nash would be a solid addition to a team that already has a lot of pieces in place to make a deep playoff run. With Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins have now fallen into third place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning. With so many assets, it might make sense to upgrade.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie adds that Boston has the assets to make a deal happen. They have their own first-round picks and have a number of solid prospects that the Rangers might find interesting, including Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, Ryan Lindgren and Trent Frederic among others.

The only problem will be whether Boston can absorb Nash’s salary. According to CapFriendly, the Bruins have $491,370 available in cap space, which is the equivalent of a $2.176,067 cap hit. Nash’s $7.8MM cap hit translates to $1,761,2890, which falls way short. So more salary would need to be unloaded, which seems unlikely, the Rangers would have to retain some of Nash’s salary or a third team would be needed for the trade to continue.

 

Eastern Notes: Karlsson, Nash, Lindblom, Rosen

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Did Erik Karlsson play his last game as a member of the Ottawa Senators?

Just a few weeks ago, there was no way Karlsson would be traded. Just a few days ago, there was nothing more than a rumor that general manager Pierre Dorion might consider a trade if he was blown away. Now suddenly, it seems like everyone is in on a potential trade and there is a good chance Karlsson will be dealt.

The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes that while he believes there is a better chance than not that Karlsson will remain with the Senators after the trade deadline, it seems that teams are lining up to make offers. The scribe writes that three teams, in particular, have all been mentioned as trade partners for Karlsson, including the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights and the Nashville Predators. Tampa Bay would love to add Karlsson to their stable of defensemen and have a 1-2 combination of Victor Hedman and Karlsson. Vegas wouldn’t mind acquiring the star and making him the face of their franchise and would be easily able to take the contract of Ryan off Ottawa’s hands as well.

The San Jose Sharks have also been mentioned as having checked in with Ottawa about Karlsson and also have the cap room to take on Ryan, but seem an unlikely option.

All three clubs would like to have Karlsson for the next two postseasons, but Garrioch writes that unless the Senators are blown away by an offer, the team should hold onto the star defenseman and move him before the draft. That’s the more likely time the team will see the best offers. The Senators have made it clear to anyone calling that they are looking for about five to six pieces to help the team both immediately and in the future.

  • Pierre LeBrun tweets that the New York Rangers that trade talks surrounding winger Rick Nash are progressing. While there is no mention of what teams are attempting to make a deal for the veteran, LeBrun writes the Rangers got an offer they are considering, but then adds that other teams remain in the mix. A deal within the next 24 hours is not out of the question. Elliotte Friedman just added that the Boston Bruins may be the leading candidate in the Nash sweepstakes.
  • Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that for Philadelphia Flyers prospect forward Oskar Lindblom to remain with the Flyers once Wayne Simmonds returns from injury, he would have to knock one player off one of the top three lines. Lindblom, who had 16 goals with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL this year has played in just two games since being recalled after Simmonds went down. While he hasn’t put up any points yet, O’Connor writes that Lindblom would need to show that he can produce at the NHL level better than either Michael Raffl or Jordan Weal. Both could easily move to the fourth line to make room for him. The question is whether he can produce.
  • Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that one asset the Toronto Maple Leafs have is their AHL franchise, the Toronto Marlies, which seems to have one of the deepest rosters in the league. While that is great, the team has too many players and once playoff time rolls around, the Marlies will have some real issues. If the Maple Leafs are eliminated from the playoffs before the Marlies are, the Maple Leafs will also likely send some players down, causing an even bigger roster jam. Wheeler writes the Maple Leafs should consider moving some of their AHL players such as defenseman Calle Rosen to lighten their load, but some of those pieces could also be used to acquire another piece for the Maple Leafs.

Deadline Primer: Vegas Golden Knights

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With the trade deadline now just a few days away, we continue our closer look at the situation for each team.  Where do they stand, what do they need to do, and what assets do they have to fill those needs?  Next up is a look at the Vegas Golden Knights.

It’s hard to imagine that the Vegas Golden Knights are even an expansion team after the success they’ve had this season. Just in their inaugural season, the franchise which was expected to be among the bottom teams in the league, is atop the NHL with a league-leading 86 points in the standings and has forced the Golden Knights to re-evaluate their needs at the upcoming trade deadline. Expected to be sellers, the team now has opted to keep their top trade prospects in James Neal and David Perron and may be looking to add as the team makes its historic run towards a playoff spot and, who knows, maybe even a Stanley Cup run. The real question is what should this team do? The team already made a minor move when they were used to help offset some salary for the Pittsburgh Penguins and got enforcer Ryan Reaves in return. However, is general manager George McPhee done or does he have other ideas?

Record

41-16-4, first in the Pacific Division

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$34,263,967 in deadline cap space
43/50 contracts per CapFriendly

Draft Picks

2018: VGK 1st, VGK 2nd, VAN 4th, PIT 4th, CAR 5th, VGK 5th, VGK 6th, TOR 6th
2019: VGK 1st, VGK 2nd, COL 2nd, NYI 2nd, VGK 3rd, NSH 3rd, WIN 3rd, VGK 4th, VGK 5th, MON 5th, VGK 6th, VGK 7th

Trade Chips

Don’t expect the Golden Knights to be moving any of their trade chips and don’t expect Vegas to make any major moves. One of the many things that is going right for this franchise is the team’s chemistry and adding a bunch of players could easily break up what they already have. On top of that McPhee is well aware of the goals and timetable the team had set, so trading away the franchise’s future is also just as unlikely. The most likely trade chip the Golden Knights have will be their cap space, which is exactly what they did when they acquired Reaves and a fourth-round pick to help in the Derrick Brassard trade. The team retained $2MM for this year and next, but with their ample cap space, they likely won’t notice that hit much. While there has been talks the Golden Knights might try to flip him again, many believe he will stay in Vegas as his personality might be a perfect fit with the chemistry in the locker room. While there are names that could be moved if a team wants some of Vegas’ depth, don’t count on too many players getting moved out.

Players to Watch: D Jason Garrison, W Brendan Leipsic, W James Neal, W Ryan Reaves, D Luca Sbisa

Team Needs

1) Forward Depth

One thing Vegas is lacking is depth. While the team has been challenged this year when it comes to their goaltending depth, Vegas hasn’t been hit as hard when it comes to its offense. Despite minor injuries to Neal and others,

Feb 23, 2018; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson (71) celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period against the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

However, even with the addition of Reaves who might be a solid addition to their fourth-line, the team might still want to add some more players who could either play on their back-six or even some veterans that they can add to their AHL club just in case things go downhill.

2) Draft Picks

McPhee has done a great job of adding assets through the draft, which has always been the plan to build up this franchise. He netted two extra first-round picks for last year’s draft and has built up assets for the 2019 and 2020 draft. However, the original plan was to accumulate a bunch of picks for this year’s draft now at the trade deadline. While the Golden Knights aren’t sellers, don’t be shocked if they can’t add a couple of extra picks in the coming days.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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