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Archives for June 2018

Red Wings Name Dan Bylsma Assistant Coach

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The Red Wings have brought in a veteran behind their bench, announcing that they have named Dan Bylsma as an assistant coach.  He replaces John Torchetti who was let go at the end of the season.

Head coach Jeff Blashill had the following to say about his newest assistant:

“I know that Dan will make a great impact on our team, and we’re excited to add him to the bench.  His resume speaks for itself, including the Stanley Cup championship and Jack Adams Award. I also had the unique opportunity to work with Dan at this year’s World Championship, and that experience leaves no doubt that Dan will bring innovative ideas and tremendous attention to detail to our coaching staff.”

Bylsma has predominantly worked as a head coach in recent years.  He spent parts of six seasons in that role with the Penguins, making the playoffs each time while winning the Stanley Cup back in his first year with the team in 2009.  He also served as the bench boss in Buffalo in 2015-16 and 2016-17 but his teams posted a sub-.500 record in both years which resulted in him being let go along with GM Tim Murray last spring.

Worth noting is that Blashill is entering the final year of his contract.  If the team struggles out of the gate, Detroit now has a veteran replacement on their bench that could step into the role at any time.

Senators Shopping Craig Anderson

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The Ottawa Senators are looking to move goaltender Craig Anderson, TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link).  Chris Stevenson of The Athletic adds (via Twitter) that the netminder has requested to be dealt.  However, no trade is believed to be imminent.

Anderson is coming off of a tough season that saw him post a .898 SV% and a 3.32 GAA, his worst numbers since the 2005-06 campaign when he was with Chicago.  However, he is just one year removed from putting up a .926 SV% and a 2.28 GAA so the Sens are certainly hoping that his 2017-18 performance isn’t necessarily an indicator of things to come.  Over the past several years, Anderson has alternated good years with not-so-good ones.

Back in September, Ottawa inked the 37-year-old to a two-year, $9.5MM contract extension that is set to kick in next month.  The deal is front-loaded with a $5.5MM salary for next season and $4MM for 2019-20.  It also contains a ten team no-trade list.

GM Pierre Dorion may have some difficulties finding a deal in the short-term.  Teams that are focused on longer-term starting help are focused on Washington RFA Philipp Grubauer while those that are looking for a short-term upgrade may prefer to wait until next weekend where they can try to sign one of Carter Hutton, Jaroslav Halak, Jonathan Bernier, Kari Lehtonen, and Anton Khudobin who are all set to become unrestricted free agents.  Former Senator Robin Lehner is also set to hit the open market as he is not expected to receive a qualifying offer next week.  With all of those players being available without having to give up anything for their rights, Ottawa may have to wait to see if there are any teams left standing after the free agent shuffle to see if there is a potential taker for Anderson.

Wild Notes: Ennis, First-Round Pick, Brodin, Dumba

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Minnesota is asking teams that have shown interest in wingers Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, and Nino Niederreiter to take on the final year of center Tyler Ennis’ contract as well, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.  Ennis struggled considerably in his first year with the Wild and as a result, he is a strong candidate to be bought out of the final year of his contract which carries a $4.6MM cap hit.  The deadline for players to be bought out is next Saturday so they will have to move fairly quickly if they want to include Ennis in a deal.

More from Minnesota:

  • While some teams are willing to move their first-round selections, Minnesota is not one of those teams, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required). The team has received interest in their 24th overall selection – including from the Canadiens in a proposal involving winger Max Pacioretty – but GM Paul Fenton said they are “absolutely” against dealing it.
  • Also from Russo’s piece, the team is hesitant to move defenseman Jonas Brodin given the uncertainty surrounding Ryan Suter’s ankle injury. Brodin has been coveted around the league for a while as a stable top-four defender and with Mathew Dumba in line for a significant new deal this summer, some wondered if Brodin and his $4.17MM cap hit could be dealt to free up some cap room.  Representatives from the team met with Dumba’s agent on Thursday, presumably to talk about his next contract.
  • Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune suggests that it’s likely that the Wild are more active on the trade front this summer than in free agency. They may look to shake up the roster with some player-for-player deals and then use their cap room to shore up their depth and on the back end.

East Notes: Aaltonen, Pacioretty, Tolchinsky, Lightning

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Maple Leafs pending RFA center Miro Aaltonen will return to the KHL, his agent Todd Diamond told TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link).  Aaltonen joined Toronto last offseason but spent all of 2017-18 at the AHL level where he posted 20 goals and 23 assists in 64 regular season games while adding 13 points in Toronto’s run to the Calder Cup.  With both Tomas Plekanec and Dominic Moore set to depart via unrestricted free agency this offseason, some believed that the 25-year-old Aaltonen would have had a shot at a fourth line role with the big club but instead, he will head back overseas.

More from the East:

  • Canadiens winger Max Pacioretty is seeking a six- to eight-year term if he is going to sign an early extension with the team, reports TSN’s Frank Seravalli. However, Montreal does not appear to be willing to give him that long of a deal which is why his name has come up in trade speculation as of late.  Seravalli links the Kings as a possible suitor as they look to add a top-six winger while the Sabres have been linked to him recently as well.
  • Hurricanes pending RFA winger Sergey Tolchinsky has signed a tryout contract with CSKA Moscow, the KHL team announced (link in Russian). The 23-year-old spent all of this past year with Carolina’s AHL affiliate in Charlotte where he collected 26 points in 43 games.  With him eyeing a return home, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the team decide to give him a qualifying offer so that they can retain his NHL rights if he decides he wants to come back in the next few years.  The deadline to do so is Monday at 4 PM CST.
  • Lightning assistant GM Julien BriseBois provided an update regarding several of their pending free agents to Lindsay Kramer of the Post-Standard. The team will not tender a qualifying offer to winger Alex Gallant while they also will not try to re-sign unrestricted free agent defenseman Mat Bodie and Jamie McBain, nor will they pursue winger Erik Condra.  However, they do intend to try to bring back center Matthew Peca, who will hit the open market as a Group VI free agent next month.

Free Agent Focus: Toronto Maple Leafs

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Free agency is now less than two weeks away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of Toronto’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agent: F William Nylander – While he hasn’t received as much of the spotlight as his young teammates have, Nylander has quietly become a very productive player already as he collected 61 points for the second straight season.  Yes, his ice time was down a little bit in their first round loss to Boston but that’s not going to have any sort of real impact on contract talks.

Typically, with a youngster putting up these types of numbers early on, a long-term contract would be a near no-brainer.  However, with new contracts on the horizon for center Auston Matthews and winger Mitch Marner, Toronto may at the very least have to look into a shorter-term bridge deal since the other two could approach $20MM on their next deals.  A long-term pact for the 22-year-old could check in around $6MM or more per season based on comparables around the league while a short-term pact would cost a bit less and give Toronto more flexibility for 2019-20 but would also cost them more when Nylander’s third contract kicks in.  At this stage, a long-term pact still is the likeliest outcome.

Other RFAs: F Miro Aaltonen, F Frederik Gauthier, F Andreas Johnsson, D Justin Holl, D Martin Marincin

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F James van Riemsdyk – Although van Riemsdyk’s ice time was somewhat limited in 2017-18 (14:54 per game, his lowest since his sophomore year), it didn’t slow down his goal production as he collected a career-best 36 tallies.  That ties him with Islanders center John Tavares for the most goals among unrestricted free agents.  He’s also one of the younger top players in this UFA class at just 29 years of age.  He’s going to be one of the most sought-after players on the open market next month and should be able to garner a max-term deal of seven years (assuming he doesn’t re-sign with Toronto).

F Tyler Bozak – It isn’t a great market for centers this summer and Bozak is poised to benefit from that.  Although he dropped to just 11 goals this past season (his lowest in any full year), he was still reliable defensively and his usual strong self at the faceoff dot.  The 32-year-old also saw his playing dropped to 15:39 per game; it’s certainly quite plausible to think that there will be teams that think he can get back to 15 goals and 50 points in a second-line role.  A five or six-year contract isn’t out of the question and he’s set to get a nice raise of the $4.2MM cap hit he has played on for the last five seasons.

Other UFAs: F Kyle Baun, F Leo Komarov, F Dominic Moore, F Tomas Plekanec, D Roman Polak

Projected Cap Space: With the re-signing of defenseman Connor Carrick earlier on Wednesday, the Leafs now have just under $55MM committed for next season per CapFriendly, an amount that includes $5.3MM for the injured Nathan Horton who will once again be LTIR-eligible.  With the salary cap set at $79.5MM, that gives Toronto a little more than $24MM to work with.  Nylander will take up a sizable chunk of that but they should still have plenty to spend.  However, new GM Kyle Dubas will need to tread carefully knowing that new contracts are on the horizon for Matthews and Marner so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Toronto pursue some short-term deals either via trade or the UFA market in the next few weeks.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Blackhawks, Karlsson, Canucks

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The Blackhawks have expressed an interest in moving up from the eighth spot in Friday’s NHL Entry Draft, reports Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times.  However, GM Stan Bowman admitted that given the uncertainty of who will be picked starting at the number three selection, teams thus far have been hesitant to move down.  He also acknowledged that the team is “looking at our options” when it comes to possibly trading the contract of winger Marian Hossa.  While his career is over, he isn’t filing his retirement papers yet so he remains on the salary cap.  While Chicago can just put him back on LTIR for next season (and beyond), a team looking to stay at the cap floor while spending less in actual dollars may have some interest, similar to what Arizona did a couple of years ago with the additions of Pavel Datsyuk and Dave Bolland.

Elsewhere out West:

  • The Golden Knights have not yet started contract discussions with pending RFA center William Karlsson, reports David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Lady Byng winner is coming off of a career year where he tallied 43 goals and 35 assists; for perspective, his previous career-best in points was 25.  Accordingly, he figures to be one of the more fascinating RFA cases in recent memory.  Karlsson stated that his preference is to get a long-term deal done this summer.
  • If the Canucks decide to move the seventh selection tomorrow night (something they are open to doing), they’re expected to covet a 20-23-year-old player in return, notes Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province. That player wouldn’t necessarily need to already be established in the NHL but it seems to be clear that they’re targeting that particular age bracket to line up with their younger core.  If they decide to keep the pick, GM Jim Benning admitted that he’s leaning towards picking a defenseman.

Offseason Keys: Pittsburgh Penguins

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With the Stanley Cup now awarded and the draft on the horizon, the offseason is now in full swing.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in the weeks to come?  Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Although the Penguins went for it at the trade deadline by bringing in center Derick Brassard, they fell short of winning their third consecutive Stanley Cup title as they fell to the Cup-winning Capitals in the second round.  Most of the team is already under contract for 2018-19 but Pittsburgh still has a few things to do this summer.

Clear Some Payroll

As they’ve become quite accustomed to, cap space is something that the Pens don’t project to have a lot of by the time they re-sign their restricted free agents.  That will hinder their attempts to add to the roster unless they can find a way to clear some space.

Pittsburgh does have a few underachievers that they could look to find new homes for.  Winger Carl Hagelin ($4MM) is now entering the final year of his contract and the fact that he’s going to be an expiring deal should actually help his value.  While he hasn’t lit it up in recent years, speed is in high demand and now that there’s less long-term risk attached.

Winger Conor Sheary ($3MM) failed to get to his output from the previous season (53 points) but he still put up a respectable 18 goals in 2017-18.  He has shown in the past that he’s at his best when he plays alongside Sidney Crosby and has struggled when not on his wing which may give teams some pause.  However, that type of money for someone who is capable of approaching 20 goals isn’t bad so even though there are two years left, there should be a market.

Meanwhile, defenseman Matt Hunwick ($2.25MM) struggled considerably in his first year with the Penguins to the point where some wondered if he’d be a buyout candidate this summer.  They probably won’t be able to clear his full salary off the books since he has two years left on his contract but they may be able to flip him for someone making a little less that can handle the same depth role.

GM Jim Rutherford is known to be quite creative and tends to use every penny on the cap he can so if they can deal one or more of these players to free up some additional flexibility, they’ll reap the benefits of doing so whether it’s in the summer or later on in the season.

Re-Sign Or Deal Rust

In 2016-17, Sheary was the beneficiary of playing well with Crosby and got a nice contract out of it.  This summer, it’s winger Bryan Rust as he made the most of regular time in the top-six.  The 26-year-old had a career year, posting 38 points in 69 games.  For perspective, he came into 2017-18 with a total of 41 points in 112 contests.  He went from being a depth player to someone that the Penguins counted on for secondary scoring.

Rust now enters the summer one year away from unrestricted free agency and has salary arbitration rights.  He has positioned himself to jump, like Sheary, from a player hovering around the league minimum salary to one closer to the league average (which checked in at just over $3.1MM this past season.

As someone that has fit in well with the likes of Crosby and, to a lesser degree, Evgeni Malkin, giving Rust that type of contract would make some sense.  However, considering they’ve had success throwing lesser-known players into that role, perhaps they would be better served trying that approach again next season with someone like Zach Aston-Reese or Daniel Sprong (players on cheaper deals) and trading Rust to help free up some cap room or add to their back end.

Add Defensive Depth

Speaking of that back end, while Pittsburgh has an established top-four, their bottom pairing has been subject to a lot of fluctuation in recent years.  Hunwick was brought in to stabilize things but that didn’t work out as intended which necessitated a midseason trade for Jamie Oleksiak from Dallas.  They were also forced to press Chad Ruhwedel into regular action as the season progressed, including in the playoffs where he played in every game.

Last summer, the Penguins completely rebuilt their back end at the minor league level and will likely do so again this offseason.  However, this time around, they may also want to look at adding a depth player or two with a bit more of a track record at the NHL level, especially someone who is a right-shot (or can at least play that side).  There are always going to be injuries and Rutherford could stand to have a bit more insurance at that position.  Fortunately for Pittsburgh, it’s a lot easier to add depth defenders than it is top-four pieces so they shouldn’t have too much trouble shoring up that position.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NHL Releases Full 2018-19 Schedule

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After giving us a taste of the 2018-19 season with a list of home openers yesterday, the NHL has released the full schedule for next season. The year begins on October 3rd with four games including a matchup between the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs and one between the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins, where we will see the first Stanley Cup banner in franchise history raised to the rafters of Capital One Arena.

On October 6th, the Edmonton Oilers and New Jersey Devils will face off in Sweden as part of the league’s Global Series. Connor McDavid will take on reigning Hart Trophy winner and former teammate Taylor Hall, while Adam Larsson, Jesper Bratt and others will show off for their home country. The first rematch of the Stanley Cup Final will be held in Washington on October 10th, while Vegas will welcome the Capitals to Sin City on December 4th.

The final day of the season—unless we see a postponement like we did this year—will be April 6th, which will see 15 games and 30 of 31 teams take the ice.

Details on each team’s schedule are linked below:

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Buffalo Sabres Not Expected To Qualify Robin Lehner

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There have been rumors swirling around the future of Robin Lehner since the season ends, and now Bob McKenzie of TSN reports that the Buffalo Sabres are not expected to extend a qualifying offer to their starting goaltender. Lehner is a restricted free agent but would become an unrestricted free agent if he does not receive an offer. Sabres GM Jason Botterill said at the end of the season that Linus Ullmark would be one of the team’s goaltenders in 2018-19, but wouldn’t commit to anyone else.

This will bring to an end what has been an up-and-down tenure for Lehner with the Sabres.  Former GM Tim Murray paid a first-round pick (which turned into center Colin White) to secure his services back in 2015 and they didn’t get a great return on that investment.  He was injured for a big chunk of 2015-16 before bouncing back with a good 2016-17 campaign where he had a .920 SV% and a 2.68 GAA in 59 games which helped him earn a one-year, $4MM contract last offseason.

However, things went off the rails this past season.  Lehner struggled throughout the year and didn’t exactly hide his displeasure with how things were going.  Overall, his SV% dropped to .908 while his GAA jumped to 3.01, numbers that were worse than the league average.  Accordingly, it’s not entirely surprising that the Sabres have opted not to qualify him at that same $4MM for next season.

Botterill will now need to decide if he is going to pursue a second goaltender via a trade in the coming days or look to the free agent market which is highlighted by the likes of Carter Hutton, Jaroslav Halak, and Jonathan Bernier, among others.  Meanwhile, Lehner will likely have to settle for a one-year deal at a considerable discount from what he made in 2017-18 in the hopes of restoring his value around the league for next offseason.

Contract Offers Submitted To Ilya Kovalchuk

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Ilya Kovalchuk can’t officially sign a contract until July 1st, but as Darren Dreger of TSN reports offers have already been submitted to his camp. Dreger believes the Los Angeles Kings are one of the team who have sent an offer, while the Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks and Vegas Golden Knights remain in contention. Kovalchuk is permitted to reach a deal with a team prior to the free agent period.

The 35-year old Russian forward is returning after five seasons in the KHL, and has already sat down with multiple teams. Though his contract will be held to normal restrictions for a 35+ player—that is, his average annual value will be applied to the salary cap regardless of whether he retires before the end of the contract—he is still expected to get a multi-year deal. It’s not like his production has waned in recent years, as he led the KHL in scoring this season and recorded 78 points in 2016-17. Kovalchuk was one of the NHL’s most lethal offensive weapons during his first tenure in North America, recording 816 points in 816 games including an impressive 417 goals. While he’s coming back a much older player, he also recently won Olympic MVP and should still be able to produce at a respective rate in the NHL.

Whether he’ll be able to do that for multiple seasons, and at a rate which makes his contract palatable is another story. With several competing teams there is no telling how high the offers for Kovalchuk will climb, and though he has said his first priority is winning the Stanley Cup, all players want to earn the most they can during their final seasons of professional hockey.

For the Kings, the interest is not surprising. GM Rob Blake has shown reported interest in almost every scoring threat on the market, including players like Phil Kessel and Jeff Skinner. Los Angeles desperately needs to add offense to a group that can still compete for the Stanley Cup, and Kovalchuk costs nothing but money. Anze Kopitar bounced back to his MVP-caliber self this season, but relying on a resurgent Dustin Brown and Jeff Carter to carry the load just wasn’t working.

Boston too makes sense for the big winger, as the team is expected to let Rick Nash walk in free agency. The team acquired Nash at the trade deadline hoping he’d give their offense another dynamic goal threat to push them over the top, but after a disappointing playoff exit at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning will look to retool through free agency.

San Jose has been linked to just about every free agent on the market thanks to their healthy cap space, and with this week’s Mike Hoffman magic have cleared another $4MM. If they get the feeling that John Tavares isn’t going to be available in a few days, why not swing at Kovalchuk to give the team another option and more incentive for Joe Thornton to take one more crack at a Stanley Cup in California.

The Golden Knights are the wildcard in seemingly every trade and free agent scenario, as they have more than $30MM in cap space and very few long-term contracts on the books. Taking a chance on a player like Kovalchuk is nearly risk-free for an organization that is starting from scratch, but could add a huge marketing opportunity for the franchise. Kovalchuk is a star all around the world after his accomplishments in the NHL, KHL and on the Olympic stage, and would only lend some more credibility to a team looking to show they weren’t just a one-hit wonder.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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