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Archives for June 2018

Detroit Red Wings Sign Tyler Bertuzzi, Martin Frk

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The Detroit Red Wings weren’t going to give Martin Frk a qualifying offer, but it won’t matter now. The team announced they have agreed on new contracts for both Frk and Tyler Bertuzzi, inking the former to a one-year deal worth $1.05MM and the latter to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.4MM. Detroit was trying to avoid going to arbitration with Frk, at which point he could have ended up with a larger cap hit than they were willing to pay.

Bertuzzi especially is expected to be a part of the Red Wings future, after registering 24 points in 48 games this season. The 23-year old forward will be a useful player for the team as they try to turn things around, and now will receive a contract that indicates his full-time role with the club. A second-round pick in 2013, he’s developed into a bang-and-crash winger that can contribute offensively while providing a physical presence in the corners. Whether the remains on the first powerplay unit now that the team is bringing in more talent like Filip Zadina and Michael Rasmussen is yet to be decided.

Speaking of the powerplay, that appears to be Frk’s best role for the club though it’s not clear how he fits. The 24-year old had 25 points this season, including nine on the powerplay where his hard one-timer is a lethal weapon. That weapon sometimes is uncontrollable, but still could develop into a reliable option for the Red Wings to use. With a left-handed shot like Zadina coming in, the Red Wings will be able to create plenty of danger with the man advantage.

The Red Wings still have some big names like Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou left to deal with among their restricted free agents, but have nearly $23MM in cap room heading into next season. That’s something they haven’t had for some time, and makes them a dangerous option in the market this summer. Though the team has struggled since some of their legendary players left the team, it might not be such a long wait to see the Red Wings back in a playoff hunt. They had an excellent draft this weekend and have 11 picks next year.

Buffalo Sabres Will Not Qualify Antipin, Wilson

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The Buffalo Sabres had already made news when they revealed they would not qualify goaltender Robin Lehner, and today while introducing Rasmus Dahlin to the media GM Jason Botterill was up front about a few other decisions. Joe Yerdon of NHL.com reports that the team will not qualify Victor Antipin or Scott Wilson, though they will attempt to re-sign the latter on July 1st after avoiding arbitration. The team will also not buy out Matt Moulson, but instead try to find a landing spot for him either through a trade to an NHL team or another AHL loan.

Antipin apparently would rather stay in the NHL than return to Russia, but after 47 fairly unspectacular games with the Sabres it’s not clear what his market would be. The 25-year old defenseman recorded 10 points in those games, and showed flashes of being a capable two-way defenseman. If he’s willing to take a two-way contract there will likely be several teams willing to take a chance, but a multi-year deal might be out of the question.

Wilson, acquired midseason from the Detroit Red Wings, ended up with 14 points in 49 games for the Sabres and looked like an effective bottom-six player. Avoiding arbitration will allow them to cap whatever contract offers they believe are fair, and not end up with a contract that is more expensive than they’re willing to pay. Nothing is guaranteed, but the team seems optimistic about getting a deal done.

More Than Five Teams Still In The Mix For John Tavares

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Though we’d heard reports about several teams that were expected to get meetings with superstar free agent John Tavares, the entire situation wasn’t clear. Now, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic and Darren Dreger of TSN report at nearly the same moment that the Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Tampa Bay Lightning all have sit down meetings scheduled over the next few days, while two or three other teams will have discussions over the phone. LeBrun notes that those phone conversations could turn into face-to-face meetings, while the Islanders obviously remain in the mix for their captain.

Interestingly, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that the Montreal Canadiens attempted to get a meeting with Tavares, but were refused. The Canadiens are not part of the current discussions.

Tavares would arguably be the best unrestricted free agent to hit the market in the salary cap era if he remains unsigned on July 1st, but it’s not like that is a guarantee at this point. In fact, it may still be incredibly unlikely for the 27-year old center to leave the Islanders but after waiting this long it made sense to at least listen to the other offers. We saw this same song and dance two years ago with Steven Stamkos, before the Tampa Bay Lightning—or perhaps an overt-the-top pitch from another team—eventually convinced their captain to stay put.

We’ve already seen John Carlson, the consensus second-best pending free agent re-sign with the Washington Capitals for huge money, and Tavares could be next. If he does end up staying in New York, it would mean only good things for Paul Stastny who would likely become the next best option by default. Tyler Bozak, Derek Ryan and others are also available at center, but Stastny would be the only real prize left down the middle. If the rest of the NHL is closely watching the meetings in Los Angeles, Stastny may be camped outside the CAA offices waiting for his big opportunity.

Arizona Coyotes Acquire Robbie Russo

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Late last night, after all the commotion died down around Washington re-signing star defenseman John Carlson to an eight-year, $64MM contract, the Detroit Red Wings quietly made a trade. The Red Wings sent minor league defenseman Robbie Russo to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in 2019. Russo, along with Xavier Ouellet who is expected to be bought out, ran out of time to impress the Detroit staff and was taking up a valuable roster spot.

Russo, 25, played well in the minor leagues once again for the Grand Rapids Griffins, but wasn’t given a chance at the NHL level. The smooth skating defenseman has never been very well regarded in the defensive zone, but has produced so well at the other end of the rink it’s not surprising a team like Arizona would give him a shot. He’s currently on the last season of a two-year two-way contract, and at the very least he’ll add another weapon to the Tucson Roadrunners.

It doesn’t seem likely that the Coyotes will have much of a need for Russo in the NHL, and if he doesn’t play in another 61 games this season he’ll be eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency next summer. That seems like the most likely scenario, which may be what the conditions on the draft pick are tied to.

Five Key Stories: 6/18/18 – 6/24/18

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While there weren’t as many big moves around the league, it was still quite the busy week.  On top of the announcement of the NHL Awards, the salary cap getting set at $79.5MM, and 217 prospects being drafted, there were still several other notable stories around the league over the past seven days.

1) Kovalchuk To Kings: While the contract can’t officially be signed until July 1st, the first major domino of the free agent market has already fallen as the Kings have agreed to terms on a three-year, $18.75MM contract with winger Ilya Kovalchuk.  The 35-year-old was one of the top goal scorers in the NHL before he departed for the KHL five years ago.  He has been quite productive during that stretch and clearly, the Kings believe that he will be able to produce at a high level in his return.  It’s worth noting that this contract will not absolve the Devils of any of the salary cap recapture penalties that they incurred when he ‘retired’ back in 2013; they will continue to carry an annual $250K penalty through the 2024-25 season.

2) Hoffman Traded, Then Dealt Again: With some behind the scenes making it a guarantee that the Senators would move winger Mike Hoffman, the deal came to fruition when he was dealt to the Sharks along with minor league defender Cody Donaghey and a 2020 fifth-round pick for winger Mikkel Boedker, prospect blueliner Julius Bergman, and a 2020 sixth-rounder.  In Boedker, the Sens pick up a speedy winger that they hope can fill a middle-six role for the next couple of seasons.

However, Hoffman’s journey didn’t end there.  San Jose then flipped him to the Panthers along with their seventh-rounder from this weekend’s draft in exchange for a trio of draft picks – Florida’s fourth- and fifth-rounders from this past weekend plus their 2019 second-round pick.  From San Jose’s perspective, they wind up clearing out Boedker’s $4MM for the next two years while adding some draft picks; they’re going to be factors either in free agency or the trade market over the next week or two.  As for Florida, Hoffman should fit in nicely on their second line and makes an already decent attack that much deeper.

3) Flames, Hurricanes Make Five-Player Trade: There wasn’t a whole lot of player movement at the draft but there was one deal of significance.  The Hurricanes, who have been looking to shake up their roster all offseason, dealt defenseman Noah Hanifin and center Elias Lindholm (both pending restricted free agents) to Calgary in exchange for defender Dougie Hamilton, winger Micheal Ferland, and the rights to prospect blueliner Adam Fox.  The Flames hope that Lindholm will be a better fit in their top-six than Ferland who is more better suited to be a bottom-six player while Carolina is counting on Hamilton, a more offensive-minded defender to make a bigger contribution than Hanifin over the next few years.

4) Trotz Leaves Capitals, Joins Islanders: Barry Trotz’s contract situation with the Capitals was a storyline for most of the year.  He was entering the final year of his deal with no extension on the horizon.  It turns out that winning the Stanley Cup gave him an automatic two-year, $3.6MM extension.  At the time his initial deal was done, that was closer to market value for coaches but with the recent explosion in coaching salaries, that’s no longer the case.  Unable to come to terms with the Caps on a revised deal, Trotz decided to resign.

However, he wasn’t on the open market for long.  Just days later, he was scooped up by the Islanders, who handed him a five-year deal worth roughly $4MM per season which gives him more than double the amount per season than he’d have received on his Washington deal.  While the hiring didn’t stop top UFA John Tavares from saying he’d meet with teams during this week’s interview period, his addition certainly shouldn’t hurt New York’s chances of keeping him around while giving them some stability behind the bench regardless.

5) Carlson Stays Put: The top defenseman in free agency isn’t going to make it to the open market after all.  While he did get a little bit of interest when the interview period, Capitals defenseman John Carlson focused on getting a contract done in Washington and they did just that, agreeing on an eight-year, $64MM pact.  Just a few days ago, it seemed like they would have difficulty being able to afford to keep him but they were able to include veteran blueliner Brooks Orpik as part of the Philipp Grubauer trade to Colorado to free up the necessary funds.  With Carlson off the market, Detroit’s Mike Green becomes the top offensive blueliner available.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Penguins Interested In Signing Chris Kunitz

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have interest in signing veteran winger Chris Kunitz, reports Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  However, at this time, the team is focusing on creating extra salary cap space.  The team presently has just over $9MM in cap room per CapFriendly but still has several players to sign to fill out their roster, including RFA winger Bryan Rust.

Kunitz is coming off of a quality regular season with Tampa Bay.  Despite playing in predominantly a fourth-line role, he managed to still be somewhat productive as he collected 29 points while also playing in all 82 games for the first time since 2011-12.  However, his output dipped to just a single assist in 17 postseason contests and the Lightning announced on Friday that they would not be bringing Kunitz back for 2018-19.

The 38-year-old is no stranger to playing in Pittsburgh as he spent parts of nine seasons with the Penguins and was part of three Stanley Cup runs.  If he was to return to them, he’d likely be in a similar depth role to the one he had in Tampa Bay and would garner a comparable contract.  This past season, he received $1MM in salary with an additional $1MM in performance bonuses.  By the time Pittsburgh fills out their roster, they should have that much room left in the budget but that would pretty much cap them out.  Accordingly, expect GM Jim Rutherford to be active these next few days to try to free up some additional funds to allow them to do more offseason shopping.

Offseason Keys: Nashville Predators

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The offseason is now in full swing with the draft now complete and free agency on the horizon.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in the weeks to come?  Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the Nashville Predators.

After making it to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2017, the Predators were hoping to take that final step and take home the title in 2017-18.  However, despite some midseason additions including center Kyle Turris, Nashville instead went down in the second round at the hands of Winnipeg.  With most of the team already signed for next season, Nashville’s offseason keys revolve decisions regarding their own players.

Ellis Extension

The Preds have reaped the benefits of some of their top defensemen playing for below-market value.  Among those players is Ryan Ellis who is set to enter the final year of his deal that pays $3.5MM in cash with just a $2.5MM cap hit.  Suffice it to say, his next contract is going to cost a whole lot more.

While he missed 38 games due to injury this past season, the 27-year-old still managed to put up an impressive 32 points, tying the second-most of his career.  He also has logged more than 23 minutes a night in each of the last two seasons, averages that blueliners on the top pairing often receive.  Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Ellis seek a new deal that’s commensurate with that of a top pairing defender even though he ranked fourth on the team in ice time in 2017-18.

With the jump in his role in recent years and the expected increase in the salary cap, Ellis could push for a deal in the $7MM per season range.  Fortunately for Nashville, both Roman Josi ($4MM) and Mattias Ekholm ($3.75MM) are still on below-market deals so they should be able to fit that into their payroll structure without too much difficulty.  GM David Poile called this extension Nashville’s biggest priority for the offseason so expect them to try to get something done as soon as possible; no deal can be officially announced until July 1st.

Decisions In Goal

Pekka Rinne is coming off a solid regular season but an ugly showing in the playoffs.  Between that and his age (35), some are wondering how much longer he’s going to be the starter in Nashville.  He is entering the final year of his contract in 2018-19 with a $7MM cap hit and salary.  They’ll have to decide whether or not to look into an extension or whether to ride out 2018-19 with him as the starter and then reassess the situation next offseason.

Then there’s backup Jusse Saros.  He is coming off of his entry-level contract and posted a career-best .925 SV% in 26 games while faring well in relief action during the postseason.  He has the potential to be a starter but at just 5’11, he’s undersized for the position which could call into question his long-term viability to play that role.

From there, he could sign a couple of different contracts.  It would make sense for Nashville to push for a bridge deal (two or three years) that would give them some stability at the position with Rinne’s uncertain future.  However, from Saros’ perspective, a one-year pact may make more sense as that would line up his next trip in restricted free agency with Rinne becoming a UFA while he’d also have arbitration rights at that time.  If they plan to make the 23-year-old the starter beginning in 2019-20, he’d have more leverage for a bigger deal at that time.  Second contracts for backup goalies usually aren’t a big deal but this is an interesting case to keep tabs on.

Re-Sign Hartman

One of Nashville’s in-season additions was winger Ryan Hartman, who the Preds dealt their first-round pick in the draft (27th overall).  The move didn’t exactly pan out as well as they may have hoped for.  While he played a regular role down the stretch, his playing time diminished in the postseason to less than 12 minutes per night while being a healthy scratch four times as well.

The 23-year-old has completed his entry-level deal and while things didn’t go overly well with Nashville, he is still coming off of his second straight 31-point season (with most of his 2017-18 points coming with Chicago).  That should have him in line for a raise on the $833K he earned in each of the past two seasons.

Considering how he fared with his new team, a long-term deal is out of the question and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the two sides work towards a one-year pact, especially since Hartman’s availability to start next season is in question following shoulder surgery last month.  Given what they gave up for him, it’s clear that Nashville sees him as part of their long-term future but a ‘prove it’ contract makes the most sense for them this summer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Karlsson, Thornton, Talbot, Brodziak

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While the free agent market is slimming more and more after John Carlson opted to re-sign with the Washington Capitals, the trade market has barely gotten active as teams wait to see how the free agent market shakes out. Regardless that could change in the next few days. While there were a few trades this weekend during the draft, one name that stayed put is Ottawa Senators’ defenseman Erik Karlsson.

According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, general manager Pierre Dorion was fielding phone calls all the way up to the Senators picked at No. 4, but still hasn’t found the right deal as he’s looking for a big haul of players and picks considering that Karlsson is a franchise player.

As expected, Garrioch writes that the Vegas Golden Knights were at the forefront in trying to make a deal and Vegas was prepared to take the contract of Bobby Ryan, who still has four years at $7.25MM AAV remaining on his contract, but other teams are also trying to get into the Karlsson sweepstakes, including the Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, San Jose Sharks and the Washington Capitals. No word on whether the other teams are willing to take on Ryan’s contract. While the Capitals are likely out of the running now that they’ve signed Carlson, the Carlson signing may force other teams to press harder to acquire Karlsson.

  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that there is mutual interest between Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks to return to the team, regardless of whether the team signs John Tavares or not. Thornton, who suffered a season-ending torn MCL in January, would have to come back at a lower salary than the $8MM he made last year, but at 38 years old, he can still be a productive player even if he is forced to play on a lower line. Thornton put up 13 goals and 23 assists in 47 games, but “Jumbo Joe” is well past the days of putting up 82 points in 2015-16.
  • Pagnotta also commented on Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot as he says both the Oilers and Talbot have agreed to hold off on extension talks until the start of the new season. The 30-year-old Talbot had been a major piece to the team’s success up until this past year. After posting 2.39 GAA and a .919 save percentage two years ago, he struggled this season, posting a 3.02 GAA and a .908 save percentage. The team likely wants to ensure that Talbot bounces back to form before offering him an extension.
  • Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic writes that the St. Louis Blues and center Kyle Brodziak both have interest in an extension. The 34-year-old center put up his best season since 2011-12 as a fourth-line center. He tallied 10 goals and 33 points last season. While the Blues have bigger concerns at the moment, Rutherford points out that neither party is in a big rush.

Washington Re-Signs John Carlson To Eight-Year Deal

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One of the top free agents of the 2018 free agent class came off the board as the Washington Capitals have announced the re-signing of defenseman John Carlson to an eight-year $64MM deal, with an AAV of $8MM. The deal gives Carlson the second-highest AAV among NHL defenseman behind Nashville’s P.K. Subban ($9MM), at least until the extension that the Arizona Coyotes gave Oliver Ekman-Larsson ($8.25MM) kicks in next season. San Jose’s Brent Burns also has an $8MM AAV.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports the breakdown of the contract is as follows:

2018-19: $6.5MM signing bonus, $5.5MM salary
2019-20: $6.5MM signing bonus, $5.5MM salary
2020-21: $2MM signing bonus, $6MM salary
2021-22: $5MM signing bonus, $3MM salary
2022-23: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary
2023-24: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary
2024-25: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary
2025-26: $2MM signing bonus, $4MM salary

While there had been talk that Carlson and the Stanley Cup winning Capitals were close to an agreement on Friday, there was some concern this morning when the two parties still hadn’t come to an agreement with rumors that Carlson would listen to offers from other teams, suggesting they hit an impasse in negotiations.

Carlson, who has been with the Capitals for all nine of his years, had a breakout year just in time, putting up 15 goals and 68 points, while playing a major role quarterbacking the Capitals power play through the playoffs and winning the Stanley Cup. His 20 points in 24 playoff games was critical of the team. Due to the team’s budget constraints, there were many questions whether Washington had the money to make a new deal with Carlson work. With almost no cap room, the Capitals solved many of those problems when they traded backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer and veteran defenseman Brooks Orpik to Colorado in exchange for a second-round pick Friday at the NHL Entry Draft, freeing up enough cap room to make the move possible.

While the 28-year-old may not be the third of fourth best defenseman in the league, Carlson was in an enviable bargaining position and after Carlson and his negotiating team also had the most recent extension of Ekman-Larsson to work with in contract discussions.

TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report that a deal was near completion.

Tavares Notes: Toronto, San Jose, Boston

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While reports suggest that John Tavares and his representation are speaking to five teams in Los Angeles, there is some confusion of which teams Tavares’ camp is speaking to. It was reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks and the Dallas Stars are three teams that are definitely meeting with him, while other teams such as Vegas and Tampa Bay have been suggested as possibilities.

The Maple Leafs have been interested in signing Tavares for a long time, years in fact. However, with the state of their salary cap in the coming years with contracts of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander on the books, there are a lot of questions whether the Maple Leafs are really true candidates to bring Tavares on board, especially after the team splurged a season ago when they pried Patrick Marleau away from San Jose.

The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) writes that trying to add a contract that at the moment is linked at $11MM per year for Tavares (possibly $12MM) might be challenging, but not totally impossible. Unlike two years ago, when they tried to sign Steven Stamkos when they were a struggling franchise, things are much different. For one, Tavares gets to come home, he can immediate play for a top team which has a legitimate chance to win a Stanley Cup, and lots of cap space in the first year of a contract, which is where the discussion ends.

Mirtle suggests one rumor that has been going around for week is to offer Tavares a one-year max deal, which would be worth $15.9MM. Then the team could attempt to lock him up to an eight-year deal after that. However, that could also be construed as cap circumvention as well as dangerous if Tavares gets injured in that first year. Another offer Toronto could add to the package is the captaincy, but that would also be an issue considering that Matthews has been in line for that role.

  • David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period confirms that the San Jose Sharks were the second team to speak with Tavares and his representatives. He writes that the Sharks are all-in on Tavares and the entire organization is on board to bring Tavares in. With more than $18MM in cap space, the Sharks have the money even after locking up winger Evander Kane to a seven-year, $49MM extension last month. With their defense and goaltending, alongside Tavares, Kane, Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski as well as a bunch of talented younger players that are ready to break out, the Sharks would look like a perennial Stanley Cup contender.
  • Joe Haggerty of NBC Sports writes that while there is no word yet, the scribe gets the sense that the Boston Bruins haven’t been told yet whether they are one of the five teams that Tavares will meet with, but Boston definitely wants a meeting with the center. Boston has almost $12MM of cap space available and a team that is full of both veterans and young stars in which the addition of Tavares could take them to that Stanley Cup level as well.

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