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Garnet Hathaway Avoids Arbitration

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Garnet Hathaway and the Calgary Flames were scheduled to hold an arbitration hearing today in Toronto, but will avoid the process and sign a one-year contract worth $850K. Hathaway had filed for $975K, while the team had countered with a league minimum $650K.

Hathaway, 26, will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this contract and finds himself in another battle for an NHL spot this fall. Undrafted, the big winger has played 99 regular season games for Calgary over the past three seasons and contributed 13 points in 2017-18. Now after the team has added players like Elias Lindholm, James Neal, Austin Czarnik and Derek Ryan, there may be even less opportunity for depth players like Hathaway to really make an impact at the highest level. If he does find himself on the NHL roster out of camp, it will likely be battling with someone like Curtis Lazar for playing time on the fourth line.

The Flames have now resolved all of their arbitration cases for this offseason, meaning a second buyout window will open for them later this week. The team still does have restricted free agent Noah Hanifin (and minor league player Hunter Shinkaruk) to re-sign, and only around $4.5MM in cap space. Should the team want to free up any with a buyout, really only Troy Brouwer would be a potential candidate though the team still seems to value his experience and physical presence.

Calgary is desperate to get back to the playoffs after an extremely disappointing 2017-18 season, and players like Hathaway will have to step up if the team faces injury this season. With other younger options like Dillon Dube and Spencer Foo pushing hard for a chance at the NHL level, it may be the last chance for Hathaway to show what he can do for the organization.

Five Key Stories: 7/23/18 – 7/29/18

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While there was one arbitration hearing, several more players reached deals to avoid arbitration.  Those moves highlight the top stories of the past week.

Five Years For Zucker: After avoiding arbitration with defenseman Mathew Dumba last week, Minnesota did so once again this past week, this time with winger Jason Zucker.  Following a career season that saw the 26-year-old record 64 points, the two sides agreed on a five-year, $27.5MM contract, one that carries a ten-team no-trade list in the final four years of the deal.  The pact makes Zucker the third highest-paid forward in terms of cap hit on Minnesota behind only wingers Zach Parise and Mikael Granlund.

Linden Out In Vancouver: In a somewhat surprising move, Trevor Linden stepped down as President of Hockey Operations for the Canucks.  He had been in that role since 2014 and the team had only made the playoffs once in that span.  However, the team has amassed a quality group of core prospects to build around so while they appear to be in a rebuild, brighter days are certainly on the horizon.  GM Jim Benning will now report directly to ownership and Linden’s role will not be replaced so it will be interesting to see if the team decides to change course in the coming months.

Washington Locks Up Wilson: One of the surprise non-filers for salary arbitration was Capitals winger Tom Wilson.  Instead of looking at short-term pacts, the focus was a long-term deal and they found one that both Wilson and the team liked as he inked a six-year, $31MM contract.  The deal has raised a lot of eyebrows given Wilson’s lack of offensive production prior to 2017-18 not to mention his reputation around the league and with the Department of Player Safety.  If Wilson can continue to help Washington’s top line, they should be okay with this contract but if his role diminishes, this could be a contract that they’ll come to regret before too long.

Skjei Signs: The Rangers have been a busy team this summer locking up their restricted free agents and knocked another one off the list on Saturday, signing defenseman Brady Skjei to a six-year, $31.5MM contract.  The 24-year-old played a big role with New York last season and with the departure of Ryan McDonagh back at the trade deadline, it’s quite likely that he will be asked to take on an even more significant role for 2018-19 and beyond.  Expect to hear more from the Rangers in the coming days with hearings on the horizon for centers Kevin Hayes and Ryan Spooner.

More Defensemen Deals: Skjei was hardly the only blueliner to sign a new deal.  Veteran Dan Hamhuis is going back to where it all began after he inked a two-year, $2.5MM deal with Nashville to stabilize their third pairing.  Meanwhile, Brooks Orpik’s time away from Washington didn’t last too long as he rejoined the Capitals on a one-year, $1MM pact with an extra $500K in games played bonuses.  On the restricted free agent side, Joel Edmundson avoided arbitration with a one-year, $3MM deal with St. Louis while the Ducks and Brandon Montour settled on a two-year, $6.775MM pact.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Brady Tkachuk To Decide Where He Will Play Next Year Within The Next Two Weeks

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Senators winger prospect Brady Tkachuk will make a decision on whether he will sign with the team or return to Boston University for his sophomore season by August 12th, reports NHL.com’s Mike Morreale.  Leading up to the draft, there was speculation that Tkachuk was leaning towards staying in college but he clarified things saying that he would discuss the situation with whoever drafted him and make a decision at that time.

Tkachuk was drafted fourth overall by the Sens last month following a strong showing in his freshman campaign, one that saw him collect 31 points (8-23-31) in just 40 games.  He also stood out at the World Juniors where he finished tied for fifth in tournament scoring with three goals and six assists in seven contests.

Physically, many believe Tkachuk is ready to make the NHL jump and considering Ottawa isn’t set to field a lineup full of high-end players, there is certainly room for him to step in and make an impact.

Is that necessarily the smart play, however?  Many expect the Senators to be near the league basement next season with an expected trade of their franchise player in defenseman Erik Karlsson so is it in their best interest to burn one of their cheap entry-level years in a season where they’re not expected to really compete?  Staying with Boston University and working on his all-around game while continuing to physically mature is far from a bad idea.

There are two other options though.  By signing his ELC, Tkachuk wouldn’t be eligible to go back to college but being drafted out of the NCAA, he isn’t subject to the AHL age restriction that CHL players are so he could suit up for their minor league affiliate in Belleville where the usual 10 and 40-game thresholds apply in terms of burning a contract year and accruing a year towards UFA eligibility.  Alternatively, he could theoretically be loaned to London of the OHL as they hold his junior rights although, on the surface, that’s the least likely option.

Where Tkachuk will play next year has been in question for a while now.  It appears that question will now be answered within the next two weeks.

PHR Originals: 7/23/18 – 7/29/18

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Here is a rundown of some of the original content here at PHR over the past seven days.

The Looming Seguin Saga: As things currently stand, Stars center Tyler Seguin projects to be next year’s John Tavares in terms of being a franchise player that could potentially hit the open market.  Gavin looked at the differences and similarities between the two situations.  It should be noted that earlier in the week, Dallas GM Jim Nill expressed optimism that they’d be able to get a new contract for Seguin done but cautioned that it wouldn’t be cause for concern if one isn’t reached before the start of 2018-19.

More Moves For Minnesota? When the Wild fired Chuck Fletcher and named Paul Fenton as their new general manager, many expected changes were on the horizon.  Zach reviewed the moves that they have made (which don’t exactly amount to much in the way of impact additions) and wonders if there are still further changes to come.

Free Agency: Our look at the remaining free agents around the league continued with a pair of profiles.  I examined defenseman Alexei Emelin’s situation as he looks to catch on with a new team while Holger went through winger Tommy Wingels’ case.  He has bounced around lately so while there is usually interest, it’s typically short-lived which makes him a potential PTO candidate.

Polls: While defenseman Erik Karlsson draws all the headlines in Ottawa, the team is on the verge of a similar situation with top forward Mark Stone if they can’t get a long-term pre-arbitration deal done.  Gavin asks the question that surprisingly isn’t getting a lot of play yet – do the Senators need to be looking at moving him as well?  Plus, which playoff team will fall short next season and which non-playoff squad from last year is most likely to get in next season?

Bad Contracts: Even the top teams at managing the salary cap typically have one or two cumbersome contracts that they’d like to move.  Zach analyzed (Part One, Part Two) those deals from Anaheim through Ottawa with the rest of the league to come in the coming days.

More Extensions In Tampa? Tampa Bay has been busy already this summer, inking defenseman Ryan McDonagh and winger Nikita Kucherov to long-term contract extensions.  Gavin provided an overview of the Lightning’s situation and how they have several other players that could be in line for extensions of their own.  However, given their salary cap situation beyond next season, it’s likely that they will want to clear out some payroll room before making too many more long-term commitments.

Snapshots: Pacioretty, Lucic, Simmonds, Vilardi

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The Montreal Canadiens look like they have no choice but to trade their star player in Max Pacioretty. With the 29-year-old entering the final year of his contract and little interest from Montreal to lock him up to a long-term deal, this is their only chance to move him. However, what makes things challenging for general manager Marc Bergevin and the Canadiens is that Pacioretty is coming off a disappointing year in which he produced just 17 goals in injury-plagued season after posting four straight years of 30 or more goals.

However, time is not Bergevin’s friend and the team has little choice but to try to move his contract now rather than wait to trade him as a rental in February. NBC Sports Joey Alfieri suggests five teams that might be good fits for Pacioretty with the Chicago Blackhawks leading the way. Pacioretty would be the perfect fit for Chicago considering the team’s biggest acquisition this offseason has been backup goaltender Cam Ward. However, the Blackhawks might be challenged to put together a quality package for Pacioretty.

However, another more interesting option would be the New Jersey Devils, who have the cap space to make it work and Pacioretty, a native of Connecticut – a mere 70 miles away — might be willing to stay with a team that already has an intruiging cast including Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall.

  • In a recent podcast on Spittin’ Chiclets, Edmonton Oilers forward Milan Lucic talked about his disappointing season in Edmonton which has his name and his contract being thrown around in potential trade rumors. Regardless, Lucic had nothing but great things to say about the Oilers’ organization and takes a lot of the blame for his poor season. Lucic, who signed a seven-year, $42MM deal in 2016, still has five years remaining at $6MM AAV. However, after posting 23 goals and 50 points in the first year of his deal, Lucic’s numbers took a nosedive as he tallied just 10 goals and 34 points and he didn’t miss a single game all season. “I think it was definitely more of a mental thing,” Lucic said. “It was almost like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for our team and for me personally and it was the snowball effect or the quicksand effect. I think my mindset got very negative last year. So I was almost my own worst enemy, where this year I’m just going in with a happy, healthier mindset.”
  • Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier-Post writes that Philadelphia Flyers general manager Ron Hextall has kept a close on the New York Islanders and John Tavares situation and isn’t interested in letting any of his players go. With winger Wayne Simmonds entering the final year of his contract, will probably price himself out of Philadelphia and the fact that he likely will end up on the team’s third line this year, don’t be surprised if Hextall trades Simmonds at the trade deadline next year. The 29-year-old has put up 28 or more goals for the past four years in Philadelphia, but struggled with nagging injuries last year, tallying 24 goals.
  • The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman reports that Los Angeles Kings prospect Gabe Vilardi will not be participating in the World Junior Showcase for Hockey Canada after Vilardi suffered a back injury. While not considered serious, Vilardi has had issues with his back before as he missed all but 32 games this past year with the OHL Kingston Frontenacs. Vilardi, the team’s first-round pick in 2017, will have a chance to break into the Kings’ lineup if he has a good showing in training camp.

Vegas Golden Knights Building Winner From Within

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The Vegas Golden Knights had an incredible season last year, but with just one offseason between a Stanley Cup Finals appearance, there are many who feel that the Golden Knights fortunes are folding. A recent poll by PHR that asked what NHL playoff team won’t make the playoffs next year has the Vegas Golden Knights receiving the most votes after the team allowed James Neal and David Perron to walk away this offseason. Much of that has to do with Neal’s 25 goals last year, while Perron himself contributed 50 assists in Vegas.

Yet, the Vegas Golden Knights, aside from signing center Paul Stastny to a three-year deal, have made it clear they don’t want to be locked into long-term deals and would prefer to see their young players continue to grow. That’s why the team let Neal go to Calgary for five years and Perron to St. Louis for four. Instead, the team feels they can build from within. The only reason that Vegas didn’t trade Neal and Perron away at the trade deadline is the team decided they would use them as their own rental players, which seemed to have worked as they went to the finals.

While the team probably has to wait another year for their top prospects in Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom and Nicolas Hague to start paying dividends for the team, the Golden Knights already have two players in place who they know are ready to take that next step as the team expects to move Alex Tuch and Tomas Tatar up to the second line, according to Gary Lawless of NHL.com.

Tuch, who came over in a trade with the Minnesota Wild in an expansion draft deal, played a big role on the team’s third line last year and often got playing time on the second line while Neal and/or Perron were injured. The 22-year-old winger is eight years younger than Neal as well as two inches taller. Tuch posted 15 goals, playing just almost two minutes less than Neal. Tuch’s 37 points was just seven shy of Neal’s totals of 44 points. And Tuch doesn’t have Neals’ injury issues, which kept the veteran out of 11 games last season.

Tatar came over at the trade deadline as the team unloaded a first, second and third-round pick to acquire the 27-year-old winger, but he struggled to adjust to the Golden Knights lineup and found himself a healthy scratch during much of the team’s playoff run and even when he did play, he only saw time on the team’s third line. Regardless, Tatar has proven to be a capable winger, who has tallied 19 goals or more for five straight years. With a full training camp to adjust to the team, it’s extremely likely, he should be able to take a bigger role on Vegas’ second line as well.

Lawless also suggests that fourth-line energizer Tomas Nosek is another candidate to take a larger role next season and could blossom in the right situation. The 25-year-old center has been one of the keys to Vegas’ successful fourth line, but only averaged 11:06 of playing time through the season, posting seven goals. However, his presence is the playoffs suggests he could be ready for an increased role after scoring four goals in 17 games.

Throw in the fact that many of their players are just starting to hit their prime, most of their players should continue to improve and get better.

Central Notes: Tarasenko, Schmaltz, Keith

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The St. Louis Blues have done everything they can to retool their team to not only get them back into the playoffs, but make a deep run of it. They went out and acquired Ryan O’Reilly, signed Tyler Bozak, David Perron and Patrick Maroon and have two top prospects on the brink of joining their team in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou.

However while answering mailbag questions, The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford (subscription required) suggests that the biggest improvement to the team should come from within as he believes that Vladimir Tarasenko has just scratched the surface of what he’s capable of. The 26-year-old has posted goal totals of 37, 40, 39 and 33 goals over the past four seasons, but he is more than capable of becoming the superstar that many felt he could be when he was drafted in the first round in 2010. Rutherford even compared him to Brett Hull.

However, the scribe says he needs to fix a few things if he wants to take that next step, including playing more relaxed and not let everything around him frustrate him. He also feels that although he’s coming off shoulder surgery this offseason, he needs to get into the best shape of his life and be more engaged on the ice.

  • Chicago Blackhawks’ Nick Schmaltz has come a long way since being viewed as a prospect two years ago. Now the team’s second-line center, who many view as the eventual successor to Jonathan Toews on the first line, Schmaltz feels he’s ready to take on a bigger role with the team, according to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times. However, the first thing the 22-year-old must do is improve on his faceoffs. Schmaltz has struggled with faceoffs for two straight years, winning just 31 percent of his faceoffs in his rookie year, while improving to 40 percent this year (321 faceoffs won out of 801). Unfortunately, that number is still not good enough as the team hopes for closer to 50 percent.  “I’ve got some stuff that I’m going to continue to work on, especially in the faceoff circle,” Schmaltz said. “If I can continue to get that up, that’ll only help our team game with the puck.”
  • John Dietz of the Daily Herald interviewed Duncan Keith at the 11th annual Fan Convention on Friday and Keith, who scored just two goals on 187 shots, was quick to take the blame for the Chicago Blackhawks’ struggles last season that had them missing the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. The 35-year-old defender has averaged 25:13 of ATOI throughout his career, but saw those numbers decline to 23:50 last year and it might drop even further in the future. “I definitely take some of the blame from last year, knowing that there were certain things I could do better,” Keith said. “On the good things, I’ll continue to do that. Other things, I’ll try to work on and be better at.”

Tampa Bay May Still Be Looking For More Defense

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With the current high demands from Ottawa in a possible Erik Karlsson trade making it less and less likely that anything will happen, the Tampa Bay Lightning must choose whether they should be content with their defense or need to find another fit.

On paper, the team seems more solid than most as the team boasts Victor Hedman, Ryan McDonagh to go with promising Mikhail Sergachev and a host of solid blueline depth, including Anton Stralman, Dan Girardi, Braydon Coburn, Jake Dotchin and Slater Koekkoek. Yet when looking a step further, their elite defensemen are all left-handed. Hedman, McDonaugh and Sergachev are all left-handed, leaving Stralman, Dotchin and Girardi on the right, which isn’t nearly as solid. While Sergachev has proven he can play on the right side, that isn’t ideal for the Lightning, which was another reason why the team was intent on adding the right-handed Karlsson.

In a mailbag segment, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) suggests the team needs to continue looking for a right-handed defenseman to even out both sides, suggesting the team should monitor the Jacob Trouba situation in Winnipeg since the stud defenseman refuses to sign a long-term deal with the Jets. Trouba, who received a one-year, $5.5MM deal from an arbitrator last week will have to go through the same process next year as he will be a restricted free agent again. If the two sides can’t reach long-term agreement then, he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2020-21 and might force his way out of Winnipeg.

Another option, Smith writes, would be prying Justin Faulk away from the Carolina Hurricanes. The right-shot defenseman has two years remaining on his contract at $4.83MM AAV, but with the acquisition of Dougie Hamilton and Calvin de Haan and the plethora of young defensive talent on the roster, including Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Haydn Fleury and Jake Bean, the team is expected to move Faulk for more help in other areas.

One final option and perhaps the cheapest would be to trade for Vancouver Canucks’ Chris Tanev. The 28-year-old stay-at-home defender has been solid for the Canucks, but is being overpaid at $4.45MM for the next two seasons. The right-handed defenseman would be a reliable presence.

Regardless, the team needs to shake up their defense. Coburn and Girardi, who have played bigger roles in the past, are better off as third-pairing defenders, while Sergachev played the best hockey of his career during the playoffs, suggesting he’s likely going to move into the top-four. Dotchin and Koekkoek are also both likely going to fight for time in the top-six, so something needs to change.

 

Metropolitan Notes: Capitals, Nelson, Zibanejad, Myers

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If it ain’t broke. Don’t fix it. At least that seems to be what the Washington Capitals believe. After capturing the Stanley Cup last season, the team completed one of its final moves when it locked up forward Tom Wilson to a six-year, $31-year deal. And suddenly, the team miraculously has managed to bring back almost its entire roster for next season, according to J.J. Regan of Yahoo Sports.

While all teams are forced to shake up their roster and allow for the losses of free agents after each season, the Capitals are an unusual situation, considering the number of potential free agents as well as how tight their salary cap has been over the past two years. It wasn’t going to get any better, yet still, the team still was able to re-sign stud defenseman John Carlson (eight years, $64MM) as well as find a creative way to trade defenseman Brooks Orpik to Colorado and then bring him back after the Avalanche waived him. They also managed to hold onto trade deadline acquisition Michal Kempny (four years, $10MM).

Sure, the team did suffer a couple of losses, including the loss of fourth-line center Jay Beagle and backup goaltender Philipp Grubauer. However, the team has people ready to step into those positions, including prospect Travis Boyd, free agent acquisition Nic Dowd as well as place long-time minor leaguer Pheonix Copley to fill in for a year, while the team waits for superstar prospect Ilya Samsonov to develop in the AHL for a year.

  • Andrew Gross of Newsday wonders whether the New York Islanders would consider moving center Brock Nelson for a defenseman, now that the 26-year-old has agreed to a one-year, $4.25MM deal with the team. With quite a bit of youth in the wings and the team in desperate need for blueline help and the fact that Nelson could walk away from the team as an unrestricted free agent next season, a trade might make a lot of sense. Nelson has been quite productive for New York, posting at least 19 goals in his last four seasons.
  • The Athletic’s Rick Carpinello (subscription required) analyzes and grades the season of New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad, who took over the team’s No. 1 center position last season after the team traded away Derek Stepan. Many of the same questions about Stepan not being a No. 1 center now have fallen to Zibanejad. Yet, the 25-year-old definitely took his game up a notch, posting a career-high 27 goals in 72 games, but once again suffered an injury that interrupted his season. It marks the second straight year that Zibanejad has struggled with injuries, which is a concern and the center still must work on his consistency, including the fact that he posted no goals and one assist in the final seven games.
  • Dave Isaac of the Cherry Hill Courier Post writes that if the Philadelphia Flyers are impressed by the play of 6-foot-5 prospect Philippe Myers in training camp this year, that could impact the role of defenseman Radko Gudas, who could then be on his way out as Myers physicality could replace Gudas role as well as the fact that Myers and Travis Sanheim were a great pair when they were together with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL.

Atlantic Notes: Reinhart, Panthers, Forsbacka Karlsson, Canadiens

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The recent restricted free agent deals signed by Calgary’s Elias Lindholm (6-year, $29.1MM deal) and Minnesota’s Jason Zucker (6-year, $27.5MM deal) may be interesting, but no one might be more intrigued by those deals than Buffalo Sabres restricted free agent Sam Reinhart.

The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington cites that Reinhart has quite similar numbers to that of both Lindholm and Zucker. Reinhart is coming off a 25-goal, 50-point season, while Lindholm tallied 16 goals and 44 points. Zucker potted 33 goals for 66 points. So a long-term extension could look similar to those two deal.

However, Harrington also adds that the Sabres are likely maneuvering for a shorter bridge deal as the team still isn’t sure what they have in Reinhart. He was drafted in the same 2014 draft that produced Detroit’s Dylan Larkin, who is also looking for a long-term deal. Yet, Larkin is the face of Detroit’s franchise, while Reinhart is not with players like Jack Eichel and Rasmus Dahlin around.

  • Jameson Olive of the Florida Panthers website reports that he recently interviewed Panthers’ general manager Dave Tallon, who said there are still a number of players available out there that the GM likes, so don’t be surprised if the Panthers aren’t done dealing. The Panthers have been relatively quiet this offseason, although they did trade for Ottawa’s Mike Hoffman earlier this year as well as sign goaltender Michael Hutchinson to a one-year deal through free agency. The team’s biggest addition is likely to come from their youth as prospects like Henrik Borgstrom and Owen Tippett are expected to take on full-time roles with the team this season. However, could a trade still be in the works?
  • The Athletic’s Joe McDonald (subscription required) writes that the Boston Bruins expect that prospect Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson will challenge for the third-line center job in training camp this year. The 21-year-old, who was a second-round pick back in 2015, posted 15 goals and 32 points in his first season in the AHL and hopes to make the jump next season. “He’s got the ability,” Providence Bruins coach Jay Leach said. “He has a high level of skill and can make high-end plays, the kind of plays you need your third-line center to make at the NHL level. He went through a year last year where he turned into a professional hockey player. He was playing against men, and there were some adjustments, and he still had a pretty solid year.”
  • Brendan Kelly of the Montreal Gazette notes that many people are wondering why the Montreal Canadiens left $8MM in cap room sitting around last season when they could have spent it to upgrade their team. With no free agents to worry about, the team has almost the same amount of money available to spend this season, but once again seems content not to spend that money, suggesting the team would rather save that money for their profits. He wonders if Montreal fans are willing to accept a bargain-basement team.
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