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Snapshots: Eaves, Bjork, Kunin

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The Anaheim Ducks look to be getting back a familiar face next season as general manager Bob Murray told a group of season ticket holders today that he expects veteran Patrick Eaves to return and play a full season, according to the Orange County Register’s Elliott Teaford.

After coming over in 2016-17 during a trade deadline deal, Eaves proceeded to ink a new three-year, $9.45MM extension that summer only to miss all but two games last season after being diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. However, he is expected to return to the Ducks next season to add to their veteran core, although the team might now lose Ryan Kesler, who has been limited with a hip injury from last season and could miss part or even all of next season.

“I’m more confident that Patrick Eaves is going to play for the full season than I am of Ryan Kesler at the moment, although ‘Kes’ says he’s going to be fine,” Murray said during an event with Ducks season-ticket holders at Bolsa Chica State Beach.

Eaves, 34, came off a 32-goal season in 2016-17 between the Dallas Stars and the Ducks and could provide significant help to an offense that has aged quickly over the last season or two.

  • Ty Anderson of 98.5 The Hub writes that one forgotten player among the Boston Bruins is Anders Bjork, who underwent shoulder surgery in the middle of his rookie season. The 21-year-old prospect out of Notre Dame put up just four goals and 12 points in 30 games, but Anderson notes that Bjork was considered to be the team’s top prospect just a year ago behind Charlie McAvoy. Bjork will attempt to win a spot on the team’s top-six this year. “I definitely think the games I got were helpful,” Bjork said. “I learned a ton, just tried to soak it all up when I was playing those games, and even just practicing and being around, tried to soak up as much as I could. I think I’m going to use that as an advantage for going into camp next year and trying to learn from the guys I watched, especially the young guys — what worked and what didn’t.”
  • Dane Mizutani of twincities.com writes that the Minnesota Wild’s 2016 first-round pick Luke Kunin, who suffered a torn ACL injury on Mar. 4 and had surgery in April, says that he intends to lace up his skates this week, but isn’t sure he will be ready by the time training camp comes around. “I’m not going to put a timeline on it or anything like that,” Kunin said. “Obviously, I would love to be ready by training camp. That’s my goal. I want to play. That said, at the end of the day, it’s up to the doctors and what they say as far as how it’s going. It’s one of those things that I know I can’t rush. Just trying to stick with it and trust the process.” Kunin split time this season with Minnesota and the Iowa Wild. He posted two goals and four points in 19 games at the NHL level, but was likely to get brought back for the team’s stretch run at the end of the season before being injured.

Central Notes: Trouba, Crawford, Wild

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The Winnipeg Jets have proven to be a place where winning and success is starting to take fruition. Over the last couple of years, the team hasn’t had much trouble signing their key free agents, whether it’s Dustin Byfuglien, Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers or Connor Hellebuyck.

That’s why its troubling to see the Jets and defenseman Jacob Trouba going to arbitration, the first player to take the Jets to arbitration in their history. This will be the second time the two sides have gone against each other in contract negotiations with the first encounter being quite heated and made it clear that Trouba didn’t want to be in Winnipeg. Considering that only one case in out of 55 last year went to arbitration, this just is another bad sign, according to Paul Wiecek of the Winnipeg Free-Press.

No matter what happens, the damage will have been done as arbitration only increases animosity between teams. With still lingering effects to the 15-game holdout between Trouba and the Jets, this will only worsen the problem. Wiecek suggests the team has two years to fix the problem and should start looking for a trade partner as soon as possible, because no matter how much he claims he loves it in Winnipeg, it looks more and more like he’ll bolt the first chance he reaches unrestricted free agency. Trading him as soon as possible will only bring home the best returns, which would be another solid defenseman.

  • Mark Lazerus of The Chicago Sun-Times writes that the Chicago Blackhawks will know more about the status of goaltender Corey Crawford in the coming weeks. The veteran goaltender, who missed a large portion of the season last year, is expected to start skating soon and so far looks to be on track to returning this season. “I ran into him [Monday] and talked to him for a while,” general manager Stan Bowman said on Tuesday. “Things are looking good. He said he hasn’t done a whole lot of on-ice stuff yet, but a few of our guys were just starting to skate today, as well. I think they’ll get ramped up over the next six weeks and get more on-ice preparation. I know he’s been training off-ice. Hopefully, things are good.”
  • The Minnesota Wild announced their new affiliation with the Allen Americans as their new ECHL franchise for the 2018-19 season. The team, based in Allen, Texas, has been a successful franchise over its nine years of existence, making the playoffs nine straight years including five years in the CHL and another four in the ECHL. They won the President’s Cup in 2013 and 2014, while winning the Kelly Cup in 2015 and 2016. The Wild used their Rapid City Rush last year as their ECHL affiliate.

Calgary Flames, Brett Kulak Exchange Arbitration Figures

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The Calgary Flames and defenseman Brett Kulak exchanged figures for their upcoming arbitration hearing on Monday with the Calgary Flames taking a hard line as they asked for the minimum salary of $650K and a two-way deal. Kulak has asked for $1.15MM, according to Elliotte Friedman.

The Flames, who just put Kulak on waivers on Thursday and subsequently cleared on Friday, want to show the value of the 24-year-old blueliner. Kulak played in 71 games last season, the most of his career (21 games was his highest previously), but averaged just 12:59 of ATOI as a bottom-pair defenseman. The Flames, who are looking to keep as much versatility and depth on their defensive roster, would prefer it if they can move him freely between Calgary and the Stockton Heat of the AHL as the team has a number of talented younger defensemen, who might not make the team out of training camp, but could be ready soon, including 2017 first-round pick Juuso Valimaki, Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington and Josh Healey.

Kulak is looking for a one-way deal and hopes to land a bigger role on the defense, but could find himself out of the rotation as the team already has Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Michael Stone and Dalton Prout locked up, while they also have restricted free agent Noah Hanifin still to sign, which could make Kulak the team’s seventh defenseman or out of he rotation entirely.

Regardless of the numbers, both teams can continue to negotiate up until the arbitrator reaches a decision.

 

 

Pacific Notes: Neal, Montour, Brickley, Reaves

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The Calgary Flames have been extremely active this offseason after last year’s second-half collapse. The team went out and traded defenseman Dougie Hamilton for a pair of younger talents in Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm. They also added center depth with the addition of Derek Ryan. However, the key addition was the signing of veteran goal scorer James Neal.

The Athletic’s Kent Wilson (subscription required) looks into the five-year contract that Neal received, which was worth $28.75MM. At 31 years old, the Flames are taking a big risk that the deal will eventually drag the team’s salary cap situation down when he no longer is productive. However, with the Vegas Golden Knights as well as other teams moving up the Pacific Division race, Calgary feels that a goal scorer who has tallied at least 20 goals for the past 10 seasons is worth the risk as well as the fact that Neal has a history of making the players around him better.

  • Eric Stephens of The Athletic reports that Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray told season ticket holders today that he is flying to Toronto for defenseman Brandon Montour’s arbitration hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday. However, Murray said he is interested in locking up his 24-year-old blueliner to a bridge deal before that, if possible. The two sides gave up on a long-term extension and are hoping to come to an agreement before the hearing. Montour is an interesting case as he has only played for one and a half seasons for Anaheim, but already has arbitration rights, which makes this a more challenging deal to get completed.
  • The Los Angeles Kings will be in desperate need for blueline depth this season and they have high hopes in Minnesota State University-Mankato star Daniel Brickley. The Athletic’s Josh Cooper (subscription required) writes that the 23-year-old defenseman has taken an unusual route to get to the NHL, but might be heavily needed this coming year with no veterans signed for depth purposes. He signed with the Kings in March and with his size (6-foot-3, 203 pounds) and abilities (95 mph shot), he has a good chance to make the team, which is quite possible as the team is known for taking talent and inserting it into their lineup immediately. Last season, the Kings placed forward Alex Iafallo on the first line for a large chunk of the season.
  • Ken Boehlke of the SinBin writes that enforcer Ryan Reaves, who procured a two-year, $5.55MM deal, played a great game of poker with the Vegas Golden Knights this offseason when the team gave him three years of money, but with only a two-year term. While the deal gives Vegas more flexibility with just a two-year term and the fact that they have extra money after not acquiring Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan in a big offseason trade, the move doesn’t look so bad, but Reaves made the most out of his situation. He was evidently offered a one or two year deal after the season, but Reaves believed he could garner a three or four year deal. A team offered the 6-foot-1, 225-pounder a three year deal and Vegas general manager George McPhee offered equal value, but refused to go past two years, eventually adding the third year in money, but not in term. Regardless, it was a well-played hand by Reaves.

Metropolitan Notes: Rangers, Grant, Guentzel, Ho-Sang

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The New York Rangers have made a few changes, but so far remain quiet this offseason as the real changes the team has made has been in their coaching staff. From new head coach David Quinn to assistant coaches Greg Brown and David Oliver, the team expects many of the changes to be within the organization as new coaches mean using players in different ways, which could see several players see big improvements.

Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription required) breaks down some of the changes the coaching staff intends to implement this season and suggests the team could get boosts in performance from multiple players, targeting Kevin Hayes, Pavel Buchnevich, Brady Skjei and Kevin Shattenkirk.  Assuming Hayes isn’t traded this offseason as has been rumored, the team could see him take another step in his development.

Shifted into a shutdown role more recently, Hayes has been successful, but he has the skills to be a top offensive forward if needed, which could happen this season. Buchnevich is another offensive force who has been slowed by injuries, while the team has high expectations for Skjei and Shattenkirk (finally healthy) to return to form as top-four defenders.

  • The Athletic’s Josh Yohe (subscription required) explains the reasoning behind the Pittsburgh Penguins’ recent signing of center Derek Grant. While there has been recent talk about the excessive amount of centers the team has, there have been even more after the team added Grant. Yet, Yohe writes that the Penguins feel the team needs as many centers as they can find for depth purposes and that Grant could find himself playing either center or wing, depending on how training camp shakes out. However, the possibility the team might still make a late offseason trade remains a legitimate possibility, suggesting that Derick Brassard could be moved still.
  • The Athletic’s Nick Kelly (subscription required) writes that Pittsburgh Penguins Jake Guentzel is enjoying his offseason this year, while playing in Da Beauty League, because he got some extra time off when the Penguins were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs this past year. While he has no wish to get that extra time off again, Guentzel has spent his time this offseason in the weight room in hopes of becoming a more well-rounded player. He hopes to take his game to the next level after a full season in which he tallied 22 goals and 48 points last year. However, he scored just two goals in his final 20 games, suggesting he needs to work on his strength and conditioning to take that next step.
  • Newsday’s Andrew Gross writes that the New York Islanders Joshua Ho-Sang should get a clean slate with a new coaching staff and management coming into the fold. Ho-Sang is expected to take on a full-time roll with the organization this year after he spent most of last season in the AHL due to issues with Ho-Sang’s attitude. The 22-year-old criticized management about how they were handling their development. He started the season in New York, posting solid numbers, including two goals and 12 points in 22 games, but was sent down to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to work on other parts of his game and played 50 games there, but struggled at times, finishing with just eight goals.

Atlantic Notes: Panarin, Donato, Red Wings, Canadiens

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With so many of their rivals attempting to take that next step to guarantee the top spot in the Atlantic Division, the Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont writes that the Boston Bruins should definitely do everything they can to acquire the services of Columbus Blue Jackets’ star forward Artemi Panarin. With an impressive city for a young, talented forward to establish himself in, the scribe writes that Boston would be the perfect landing place for the star, except for the fact that the team has no Russians on it.

Regardless Panarin, who will be a unrestricted free agent after next season, could be the team’s next Brad Marchand and provide the team with two of the best left wingers in the league. Panarin’s addition to the team’s second line would also be a huge boost for veteran center David Krejci who might be the perfect complement for him. Dupont suggests the team could make a deal that centers around Jake Debrusk and defenseman Brandon Carlo, two big hits to the team, but a deal that could prove to be worth it down the road.

  • After an impressive performance with the Bruins at the end of the season, Ryan Donato has been working hard this summer to ensure there will be a place for him in the Bruins lineup, according to The Athletic’s Joe McDonald (subscription required). The 22-year-old arrived after wrapping up his third year at Harvard University and posted five goals and nine points in 12 games, but saw little playoff time as Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy opted to play veterans over him instead. Now, Donato has been training with Edge Performance System along with other NHL players in hopes of locking up a spot on Boston’s third line alongside veteran David Backes and he is open to either playing on the left wing or fighting for the center position.
  • In a mailbag segment, the Detroit Free-Press’ Helene St. James writes that while she believes that propsects Michael Rasmussen, Filip Zadina, Filip Hronek and Dennis Cholowski all should be on the Red Wings roster at some point during the 2018-19 seasons, However, she believes that only Rasmussen and Hronek are likely to make the team out of training camp with Zadina and Cholowski expected to see more time with the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL. Zadina, at his size and age, might need more time getting experience playing against older competition in the AHL before joining up with Detroit, while Cholowski has played just two games at the AHL level in his career, suggesting he might need a little more time.
  • Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette writes about the Montreal Canadiens’ Geoff Moulson and Marc Bergevin who have been talking for weeks about their plan to turn around the franchise. He writes that the team’s plan was a two-word plan, called John Tavares, which was a longshot at best, which made it look even worse when they missed out on veteran Paul Stastny as well. He believes the team is rebuilding now because they have no choice as he examines the team’s offseason moves and where the team stands.

Snapshots: Canucks, Johnsson, Zucker

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With Vancouver still not having yet decided whether or not to sign top pick Quinn Hughes for next season, Postmedia’s Jason Botchford suggests there is some pressure on the Canucks to clear up their logjam on the back end to help pave a path for the youngster to play in the NHL in 2018-19.  However, he points out that their trade options are limited due to no-trade clauses, players underachieving last season, or inflated contracts.  Their best trade chip may be Troy Stecher but dealing him opens up a hole on the right side while Hughes is a left-shot player.  Accordingly, someone like Derrick Pouliot (who is on an affordable $1.1MM deal) could be the most realistic trade option they have although the return for him likely wouldn’t be particularly substantial.

Elsewhere around the league:

  • The Maple Leafs and winger Andreas Johnsson did discuss a multi-year deal before Johnsson ultimately decided to take his qualifying offer, notes James Mirtle of The Athletic (subscription required). However, given the lack of comparable players for someone who has some promise but just nine regular season NHL games under his belt, they weren’t able to settle on something that made sense for both sides.  Johnsson is playing under a two-way deal once again next season but considering that he’s a lock to be claimed off waivers if Toronto tried to send him down, that provision in his contract is merely just a formality.
  • After getting Mathew Dumba locked up earlier today, Minnesota is now shifting their focus to their other arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in winger Jason Zucker. On a conference call, Wild GM Paul Fenton told reporters, including Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (Twitter link) that they had several discussions with his camp this week and remain hopeful that they can get a new deal done before his hearing next weekend.  Zucker is coming off of a 64-point season and is projected to receive a significant raise on the $2MM he received in each of the last two seasons.

Free Agent Profile: Mark Letestu

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Mark Letestu has been a useful bottom-six center around the league in recent years but has yet to be signed for next season.  Here is a closer look at his situation.

The 33-year-old started off last season with the Oilers and while he fell short of his point per game average from the year before, he was still relatively productive given his role with 19 points in 60 games.  That resulted in some trade interest before the deadline and he was flipped to Columbus.

With the Blue Jackets, he didn’t fare as well.  He was used solely as a fourth line faceoff specialist which resulted in his output dropping considerably with just four points in 19 games.  His playing time was slashed by more than three minutes per night in the postseason and he was fairly quiet overall.  There’s a good chance that this has affected his market so far.

Despite that, as someone who has averaged better than 50% at the faceoff dot throughout his career, Letestu should attract some interest as a specialist while as much as he didn’t light it up with Columbus, he has been a decent point producer in previous years.  That’s likely the argument that his representatives are making in negotiations.

Potential Suitors

Center depth is something that contenders often look to acquire at the trade deadline but it wouldn’t be surprising for some rebuilding teams to show some interest as well.  In those cases, the team would want Letestu to serve as a bridge for a youngster that isn’t quite ready yet and then look to flip him at the deadline.

In the East, while Carolina added Jordan Martinook when they dealt Marcus Kruger earlier this offseason, he’s better utilized on the wing which could make an opening for Letestu.  He’d also serve as insurance if youngster Martin Necas struggles in training camp.  The Flyers were looking for a third line center earlier in free agency but they may look to fill that role internally.  Washington should have some room to work with to upgrade their bottom six and their center depth behind their top three options is somewhat limited.  Toronto is believed to be high on Par Lindholm for their fourth line spot but they could certainly look to Letestu to add some competition for that position.

The options aren’t quite as plentiful out West.  San Jose has cap room to work with and could use him on their fourth line.  Anaheim added Carter Rowney earlier this summer but Letestu would be an upgrade over him; Ducks GM Bob Murray is known to tinker with his fourth line midseason so this would represent an opportunity to improve beforehand.  Chicago now has cap space but the return of Kruger doesn’t really leave room for Letestu to work with.  We had originally projected Calgary to sign him but they added Derek Ryan in free agency as well as Austin Czarnik, who has played center at times as well so there isn’t a great fit there now either.

Projected Contract

Letestu ranked 40th on our Top 50 UFA list and had a projected one-year, $1.75MM contract.  It’s hard to envision him getting that amount now that most of the comparable depth centers have gone elsewhere and there aren’t a lot of vacancies left.  However, he’s not in a situation where he should have to settle for close to the league minimum either given his track record.  Something in the middle (between $1MM and $1.25MM) now appears to be a more likely outcome at this time.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Central Notes: Edmundson, Boqvist, Jets

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Although he has yet to sign his new contract, the Blues shouldn’t have to move anyone once defenseman Joel Edmundson puts pen to paper on a new contract, suggests Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Given GM Doug Armstrong’s comments following the season that suggested a long-term contract wasn’t likely for any of their RFAs, a short-term pact for the 25-year-old is likely.  That shouldn’t cost more than their roughly $4MM in cap space so while they once again don’t project to have room for in-season moves, they shouldn’t be forced to subtract anyone from their roster.  If they decide that they want some extra flexibility during the year, Gordon suggests veteran defenseman Carl Gunnarsson could be a candidate to be moved.  He has one year remaining on his contract with a $2.9MM cap hit.

More from the Central:

  • Blackhawks defenseman prospect Adam Boqvist was interested in playing with London of the OHL last season but the GM in Brynas shot down the idea, notes Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. That played a role in their decision to sign him already as doing so gave Chicago much more control over the development of their top 2018 draft pick moving forward.  If he doesn’t crack the NHL roster next season, he has already committed to playing for the Knights at the junior level.
  • The Jets announced that they have renewed their affiliation agreement with the Jacksonville Icemen of the ECHL for next season. 2017-18 marked the inaugural year for the franchise and they struggled in the standings, finishing fifth in the South Division.  There are still several teams that have yet to announce affiliations and with only 27 in the league, at least four NHL teams won’t have an affiliate for next year.  While teams without specific affiliates can loan their players elsewhere via a working agreement, they can’t technically share an affiliation with another NHL team.

Minnesota Re-Signs Mathew Dumba To A Five-Year Deal

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The Wild and defenseman Mathew Dumba have reached an agreement on a long-term contract just hours before they were set to exchange arbitration figures as the team announced that he has agreed to a five-year, $30MM contract.  The deal breaks down as follows:

2018-19: $5.2MM
2019-20: $7.4MM
2020-21: $4.8MM
2021-22: $7.4MM
2022-23: $5.2MM

Michael Russo of The Athletic reports (subscription required) adds that the deal carries a modified no-trade clause in the final two years of the contract; he is ineligible for one in the first three.

The deal more than doubles his $2.75MM salary from last season that also represented his qualifying offer last month.  It also makes him the third highest paid player on the team behind blueliner Ryan Suter and winger Zach Parise.

It would be tough to argue that he didn’t earn it, however, as he is coming off a stellar performance last season.  Dumba played in all 82 games in 2017-18 and posted career highs in goals (14), assists (36), points (50), and average time on ice (23:49), numbers that are reflective of a legitimate top pairing defender.  He followed that up with a pair of points in their opening round loss to Winnipeg although his playing time jumped to nearly 27 minutes a night.

Dumba, Minnesota’s first-round pick in 2012 (seventh overall), has been prone to some untimely giveaways over his first few NHL seasons but if he can maintain close to that level of production throughout the life of this deal, the Wild will certainly be willing to live with some of those mistakes as he is their best offensive threat from the back end.

The contract buys out the remainder of Dumba’s RFA years as well as a pair of UFA seasons but will also allow the soon-to-be 24-year-old hit the open market while still being in the prime of his career five years from now.  In the meantime, the team now has their top pairing of Suter and Dumba locked up for the next five years.

With the signing, Minnesota now has just over $5.6MM in cap space to work with per CapFriendly.  Most, if not all of that will be heading to RFA winger Jason Zucker who is coming off a career season that saw him record 33 goals and 31 assists.  His arbitration hearing is scheduled for July 28th.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report (Twitter link) that the contract had been agreed upon.  Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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