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Dylan Larkin, Detroit Red Wings Inching Closer To Contract

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Among the names left on the restricted free agent list, Dylan Larkin stands out as a potential franchise linchpin. Though William Nylander and Sam Reinhart are important forwards, and Noah Hanifin, Darnell Nurse, Shea Theodore and Josh Morrissey are all talented defensmen, it’s Larkin that could be the face of the Detroit Red Wings for quite some time and probably the most important contract to still be worked out. Larkin recently said that he believed something would be done before training camp, and yesterday reiterated that fact to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.

Something’s coming. I’ve told everyone I think it’ll be before training camp. It’s right there. I’m just waiting to iron out the details.

There have been reports that the Red Wings have been working towards a five or six year contract, but Larkin indicated that there are “different offers out there” that could also include a shorter bridge deal. That depends on how much room GM Ken Holland and the Detroit front office can clear up this summer, given that the Red Wings only have $2.83MM in cap space. Larkin would take up more than that even on a bridge deal, meaning there is plenty more work to be done for the club over the next few weeks.

Teams can go over the cap in the offseason (up to 10% or $7.95MM), and the Red Wings still have Johan Franzen’s cap hit that can be placed on long-term injured reserve for additional cap flexibility. But if Larkin does end up signing a long-term deal, it would take up a considerable amount of space given that he has just four years of restricted free agency remaining.

Even with the crunch that is occurring right now for Detroit, the may rather get Larkin under contract for some of his unrestricted free agent years given that their cap situation starts clearing up as soon as 2019-20. With nearly $18MM scheduled to come off the books in the form of Gustav Nyquist, Jimmy Howard, Thomas Vanek and Niklas Kronwall, the team can certainly afford to give the next wave of talent substantial raises. As a team the Red Wings are getting closer to financial freedom and a real chance at a rebuild, and Larkin’s next deal will set the precedent for all the players that come after him. It might still take a little while to work through, but at this point both sides seem confident something will get done.

Jakob Chychrun Cleared To Skate

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The Arizona Coyotes are hoping to make a run for the playoffs this season after an inspiring second half and several changes this summer. The team brought in Vinnie Hinostroza, Jordan Oesterle, Alex Galchenyuk and Michael Grabner, while retaining almost all of their key players—save for Max Domi, who was sent to Montreal. In order to really push for the postseason though they’ll need to stay healthy all season, and there was some more good news on that front today. Jakob Chychrun, who underwent his second knee surgery in a year back in April, has been cleared to skate according GM John Chayka who relayed the information to Craig Morgan of AZ Sports. Chychrun is just 17 weeks out from the procedure, and is expected to be a full participant in training camp.

That’s huge news for the Coyotes but also is extremely important for Chychrun, who is heading into the final season of his entry-level contract without an injury-free season under his belt. The 20-year old defenseman has played just 68 and 50 games in his first two seasons, limited by two major knee injuries already. While he’s been impressive in his ability to recover from surgery, he needs to prove that he can stay on the ice for an entire season before the team commits to him going forward. He’s shown an ability to log top-four minutes in the NHL even as a teenager, and now must start to fulfill his extremely high potential and dominate the league.

Chychrun dropped to 16th overall during the 2016 draft, but many felt that was due to overexposure and perhaps some disinterest during his final year of junior hockey. He had long been projected as a potential top pick given his obvious talent at both ends of the rink, but saw Olli Juolevi, Mikhail Sergachev, Jake Bean and Charlie McAvoy all go off the board ahead of him on draft day. He’s played more NHL games than any of them—in fact Juolevi and Bean are still waiting to make their debuts—but hasn’t quite shown his full potential in Arizona. With Oliver Ekman-Larsson signed to a huge extension, Chychrun could provide the Coyotes with a rock solid second option on the left side for many years to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Brock Boeser Camp In No Rush For New Contract

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The Vancouver Canucks signed several veteran forwards in this summer to insulate their young core, bringing in Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle and Tim Schaller on multi-year deals. While that solidifies the roster for the next few years, everyone is watching to see if the team will lock up Brock Boeser long term before he becomes a restricted free agent next summer. Boeser is eligible to sign an extension already, but his agent Ben Hankinson was on Sportsnet radio today explaining that they’re not in a rush to get something done.

I don’t think there’s any rush. Obviously Brock knows he has another year left and he’s going to go out there and play no matter what. He’ll probably be on the ice the next October in 2019 to start that season with a new contract too. Whenever it happens it happens. There’s no rush on our end.

I’d say, without putting a deadline on it, we’d like to get going once the season rolls and just play hockey. But there’s no deadline on it. [Canucks GM] Jim [Benning’s] a very level-headed guy and we have a really good relationship. So I’m not gonna say we won’t talk during the season if we don’t get something done, but who knows, it’s too early to say.

Boeser has been a star for the Canucks since the day he signed with them, scoring in his first NHL game just a day after being eliminated from the NCAA tournament. The young sniper went on to record 29 goals and 55 points in his first full season, though he was limited to just 62 games due to a scary back injury that put him on the shelf in early March. He’ll be back and ready to go in 2018-19, and could set himself up for a huge extension with another big season.

Though Boeser has just one season under his belt he’ll be 22 in February, meaning that entry-level contract will come to an end next summer at which point he could easily eclipse Loui Eriksson and Bo Horvat as the team’s highest-paid forward. He’ll have five years of restricted free agency left, but as we’ve seen with other young stars teams now like to lock up their future right away. If both sides wait until after this season and he puts up another near point-per-game campaign, you can expect him to be asking for a deal somewhere along the lines of David Pastrnak ($6.67MM AAV) or Nikolaj Ehlers ($6.0MM AAV). Where Dylan Larkin and William Nylander land in their respective contract talks will also likely be a good comparison, though there could be an argument that Boeser is an even more valuable piece than either given his impressive goal scoring ability.

If the two sides can reach an agreement this summer the Canucks may be able to keep that cap hit slightly lower given that Boeser still has just 71 games under his belt in the NHL. Vancouver has plenty of cap space to fit Boeser in going forward, especially given that several other key players should be joining the organization in the next few years on entry-level deals.

Morning Notes: McDavid, Drouin, Bavis

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Connor McDavid wants to get some more consistent linemates this season, but is confident that the Edmonton Oilers can get back to their 2016-17 form during the upcoming season. McDavid spoke to reporters including Luke Fox of Sportsnet at the recent Pro Edge Power training camp in Toronto, where players from all around the league come to work on fine tuning their game in the offseason. Even though the 2017-18 season didn’t go as planned, McDavid found solace in how the team kept fighting until the end of the season.

There’s just got to be a point in time where you get sick of losing, and you just don’t anymore. Guys came together. Guys were sick of how the year was going and came back to playing hockey the way it should be, the way you need to,

Those Oilers haven’t done much to address their biggest weaknesses, but did bring in Tobias Rieder and Kyle Brodziak to help out their offensive group. One other thing that may come of the addition? A stronger locker room, given that McDavid specifically notes Brodziak’s solid reputation as a good teammate and notes that the team could use his help.

  • If you thought Jonathan Drouin may end up back on the wing this season for the Montreal Canadiens, he has news for you. After struggling through the transition to center last season, Drouin told Pat Hickey of the Montreal Gazette that he will be back in the middle when training camp opens next month. Drouin admitted that he finally started to have some fun with the position in the second half of the 2017-18 season, which showed on the scoreboard as well. 18 of Drouin’s 46 points came in his final 25 games, including nine in nine to finish the year. If he can find that kind of offensive consistency right from the start of the season, the Canadiens might finally see the player they believed they had acquired for Mikhail Sergachev last summer.
  • The Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL have hired Mike Bavis as their new head coach, after losing Mark Dennehy to the AHL a few days ago. Dennehy never actually coached a game for the Nailers, accepting the position only to be poached a few months later. Bavis spent more than a decade as an assistant coach at Boston University, but will get his first head coaching job at the professional level with the Nailers this season. Pittsburgh’s ECHL affiliate missed the playoffs the last two seasons but hasn’t posted a losing record in a decade. Bavis will be tasked with taking the group back to the postseason, while also developing some of Pittsburgh’s more raw or unheralded prospects.

The Case For Expanding NHL Rosters

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Last week, the NCAA passed a rule change allowing hockey teams to dress 19 skaters per game. Rather than the typical 18-man lineup – six defensemen and twelve forwards (not including goalies) – each squad is now allowed an extra man that can be used at either position. The college level is after all a developmental league and the ability to expose another player to game action each night benefits the growth of a greater majority of the roster. Yet, this rule change is one that could also benefit the NHL. For a variety of reasons, the league should consider expanding the allowable number of players who may dress for a game.

The first, and perhaps the most glaring reason, to consider this change is that hockey is the only mainstream sport that doesn’t allow an extra player to enter the game that doesn’t fit neatly into the lineup. Yes, hockey does have a large roster of 18 skaters and yes the lines and pair do substitute one another all game long. However, consider football, which has 11 starters on offense and 11 starters on defense for a 22-man starting roster that also substitutes one another. Yet, NFL game day rosters are 46 men deep, more than double the amount of starters. The same goes for lacrosse (field lacrosse), a more similar game to hockey, as only nine men play in the field but the average active roster in the NCAA is 44 players, nearly five times the starting roster. Even soccer (11 men in the field) and baseball (nine batters) allow for multiple substitutes who weren’t a part of a rather large starting lineup. Why then should the NHL limit teams to using only the 18 skaters who fit nicely into four forward lines and three defensive pairs?

There is also the fact that the NHL has reached a point that it needs to accommodate more talent at both ends of the spectrum. Young players often don’t have an easy fit on a roster. Developing offensive forwards may not yet have the ability and awareness for a top-nine role, but they certainly can’t help the team or themselves on the checking line. Young defensemen may not be ready to play major minutes against elite talent at the top level, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t ready at all. With the league trending in a more youthful direction, teams could drastically improve their development of certain players if there was an alternate choice between giving a prospect a starting job, sitting him in the press box, or banishing him to the AHL or back to juniors. If teams could slowly bring along pro-ready prospects by giving them the “extra slot” that the NCAA has approved, limiting their ice time and situations but exposing them to NHL action, it would likely be a popular move. However, some teams may instead like to use that slot on a veteran specialist. Just look at the current free agent market: last week we identified more than 40 useful players still available, yet the results of our poll strongly predict that less than ten of those players will find NHL employment. That might not be the case if each team had an extra slot to fill with an experienced penalty-killing forward or power play quarterback for example. Each off-season, more and more capable veterans go unsigned while teams still have needs due to roster limits alone. These players would rather not retire or move overseas, but they have often outgrown the minor leagues as well. Being that spare part on an NHL club would be an optimum fit.

For more evidence on the overflowing talent in the NHL, see the Vegas Golden Knights. An expansion team filled with rejects, young and old, managed to make it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season and used 35 different players along the way. Even when the league likely adds another expansion team in Seattle in the next year or two, there will likely still be players – young and old – capable of playing in the NHL but without ample opportunity. Just by allowing one more player in the game each night, it will create more opportunities for many different types of players.

The easy way to refute the idea of expanding rosters is the salary cap. Expanding the number of players who dress for a game to 19 would likely mean expanding the roster limit to 24 players and thus increasing the salary cap ceiling in turn and the owners won’t go for that. Not so fast though; with the bulk of this off-season complete, CapFriendly projects that just six teams will enter the upcoming season with less than $2.4MM in cap space, the average NHL salary last season. Consider that the “extra man” will likely be an entry-level prospect or a discounted veteran and there is a case that nearly every team in the league (except for the St. Louis Blues) could add another player right now without touching the cap. Those that would rather push to the cap with just a 23-man roster would also be welcome to do so – the league mandates a maximum roster size, but not a minimum. Teams that carry the maximum 23 players on their roster already have three players that don’t dress each night and could simply make one of them the 19th man.

The NCAA seems to be on to something with expanding game day rosters in hockey. Most sports have this option and the NHL should too. While there is no underestimating the importance of chemistry to the game of hockey, having an alternate or strategic extra man makes a lot of sense. Be it a raw young player, a specifically-skilled veteran, a bench player there as an injury replacement, or even a playoff contender using the spot for a hired gun, there are many ways that an expanded roster could benefit prospect development, elongate careers, improve game play, and simply increase overall interest and excitement due to the strategy of it all. It’s time the league take a look at the possibility.

Vancouver Canucks Struggling To Move Ben Hutton

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The quietest stretch of the NHL off-season is upon us, but at least one team is still working the phones and trying to make some noise on the trade market. In a piece previewing the 2018-19 season for the Vancouver Canucks, The Athletic’s J.D. Burke includes a note on defenseman Ben Hutton, who he claims the team has actively been trying to unload. Unfortunately, there just don’t seem to be any takers.

In fact, Burke claims that internal trade discussions regarding Hutton’s future with the Canucks have been ongoing since early last season. While there was reportedly interest from several teams back in February, ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline, no deal came together and Hutton continued to struggle over the remainder of the season. Burke cites a downward trend in production over the past two years, as well as a corresponding loss of ice time, as reasons why Vancouver wants to move on and perhaps why no other team wants to jump in. The former UMaine defenseman surprisingly nabbed a roster spot in 2015-16 and impressed as a rookie, recording 25 points and immediately showing an innate ability to block shots and smother offensive chances in his own zone. Hutton didn’t seem to improve noticeably in his sophomore campaign, recording only 19 points and failing to grow his puck-moving ability, but he did find the back of the net four more times than the year prior and continued to be a shot-blocking asset and smart defender in increased play time. There was no such silver lining last season though; Hutton played in ten fewer games, saw more than two minutes less ice time per night, dropped to just six points for the year, and even slipped in his defensive game.

Yet, Burke still opines that the analytics show that Hutton is still a strong defensive player and a positive presence for the Canucks and even goes so far as to say that he should still be playing a prominent role on the blue line, perhaps even paired with Chris Tanev. With first-round pick Quinn Hughes headed back to school and young Olli Juolevi yet to earn a roster spot, Hutton is unquestionably still one of the top seven defenseman on the Canucks. Despite some regression, he would be penciled in as a starter if he isn’t moved and his $2.8MM cap hit, while steep, is not an issue for a team with ample space. Why then is Vancouver so eager to move him? Burke also claims that Hutton has simply fallen out of favor with coach Travis Green. As such, Hutton is clearly in need of a change of scenery and the Canucks are trying to provide him with just that. Hutton could play a bottom-pair or depth role on many teams in the league and Vancouver could bank of Juolevi as a replacement or take advantage of a free agent market still stocked with capable defenders. It thus makes sense that both sides would want a trade. The only question now is whether they will find one. So far, it hasn’t been an easy task.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Isac Lundestrom To Entry-Level Contract

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Tuesday: The Ducks have now formally announced the contract for Lundestrom.

Monday: CapFriendly clarifies that Lundestrom’s European Assignment Clause is only for the 2018-19 season.  They also report that the contract is for the maximum entry-level salary of $925K but contains no performance bonuses.

Saturday: The Anaheim Ducks have l0cked up their first-round pick from this year’s draft as they signed center Isac Lundestrom to a three-year entry-level deal, according to TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. The deal also has a European clause, meaning he can return to Europe if he’s not playing in the NHL.

The 18-year-old center was drafted with the 23rd pick in this year’s draft after having played for two full seasons in the SHL. He became the youngest scorer in the SHL just before his 17th birthday. This past season, he posted six goals and 15 points last season for Lulea and also posted a pair of goals at last year’s World Junior Championships in Buffalo.

Lundestrom is considered to be a prospect with no elite skills, but solid all-around. He is considered to be a solid skater with an accurate, quick shot. While his draft status was expected to increase with the lack of quality centers in this draft, Lundestrom dropped as many had him projected to go between 14 and 20. Because the 18-year-old is not a polished player, it might take a few years for him before he’s ready for an NHL role, hence the European clause.

Minor Transactions: 08/07/18

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While the NHL takes its annual August rest, other leagues around the world are still working. The KHL preseason is underway, and junior leagues have already started shifting players around for their upcoming season. We’ll keep track of several interesting moves right here:

  • Former Toronto Maple Leafs prospect and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Jesse Blacker has signed a one-year contract with Barys Astana in the KHL, moving over after playing with Kunlun Red Star last season. Blacker was once a second-round selection of the Maple Leafs, and made his one career NHL appearance for the Ducks in 2014-15. An incredible skater, Blacker could never find enough consistency in his own end to make an impact in the NHL, and instead left the minor league grind a few seasons ago. The 27-year old could potentially return to the AHL one day, but will remain in the KHL for at least one more year.
  • Minnesota Wild prospect Ivan Lodnia has been traded from the Erie Otters to the Niagara Ice Dogs in the OHL, and could find more opportunity to show off his offensive skills with the new club. The third-round pick was recently cut from the US roster at the Summer Showcase, but is still a possibility for the World Junior team if they lose players over the next few months.
  • Charlie Sampair has signed an AHL contract with the San Antonio Rampage after his huge ECHL season in 2017-18. After recording just 14 points in 102 games at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and just 13 in his first season in the ECHL, Sampair scored 32 goals and 61 points last season for the Tulsa Oilers. That will earn him a chance at the next level, where he’ll be pushed even more to produce offense for the Rampage. The Rampage also signed Jared Thomas to an AHL deal, reuniting the former UMD forward with Sampair at the next level.
  • Former Minnesota Wild prospect Dylan Labbe failed to impress at the pro level in the five years since he was a fourth-round selection in 2013 and now the 23-year-old defenseman has been left with no option but to sign an ECHL contract. Labbe, a former standout with the QMJHL’s Shawinigan Cataractes, earned brief looks in the AHL in each of his first two post-draft years before being returned to juniors and then played full-time with the AHL’s Iowa Wild in his first pro season. However, disappointing returns led to Labbe spending the past season and a half in the ECHL. Now, with his entry-level contract expired, he is headed back to the “AA” level on a one-year contract with the Wichita Thunder, the league reported.

Edmonton Oilers Working Towards Darnell Nurse Contract

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Yesterday when we published an updated list of the remaining unsigned restricted free agents, any Edmonton Oilers fan would have focused in on one name. Darnell Nurse is still without a contract after his breakout season in 2017-18, and could potentially make it tough on his team with a long-term contract demand. The Oilers have just under $5MM in cap space remaining, a good chunk of which could go to Nurse if his new contract buys out any unrestricted free agent years. Still, GM Peter Chiarelli is confident that a deal will get done with the young defenseman, explaining to 630 CHED radio that RFA contracts just take a little longer to work through.

The big question for the Oilers will be how much cap space to commit to Nurse, given that the team already has nearly $18MM/year invested in four other defensemen. Andrej Sekera, Oscar Klefbom, Adam Larsson and Kris Russell are all signed for at least three seasons, and with a huge chunk of the cap already going to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl the team has to be quite careful with their salary going forward. A bridge deal for Nurse could be the best for both sides, as a three-year contract would still leave him as a restricted free agent with plenty of cap space to give him on a long-term deal. Whether the Nurse camp would be open to that isn’t clear, but it would be a way to maximize his earnings later in his career.

After playing 82 games for the first time in his career and recording a career-high 26 points, Nurse has established himself as a key part of the Oilers going forward. What he hasn’t done yet is show the big offensive upside that many believe is still inside of him. Part of that is due to his lack of powerplay time with Edmonton, but there is likely even more even-strength offense to come from the seventh-overall pick. If those numbers rise over the next few years he could set himself up for a huge UFA contract as a true two-way defenseman, given his already established ability to defend, contribute on the penalty kill and log big minutes.

Nurse must sign a contract by December 1st in order to play at all in the 2018-19 season, but Chiarelli seems confident that something will be worked out long before then. For now, we’ll have to wait to see what the Oilers decide to do in order to fit him into their current salary structure.

Stan Mikita Passes Away At Age 78

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The Chicago Blackhawks announced today that legendary forward Stan Mikita has passed away at the age of 78. The Mikita family has released a statement, and an immediate outpouring of condolences came from all around the hockey world. Blackhawks president John McDonough explained what he meant to the team:

Stan Mikita will be always remembered as a champion, an innovator and a master of the game. He embodied the Chicago Blackhawks. His excellence is illustrated by the team records he still holds today. His passion for the game was proved by the longevity of his playing career. The impact he had on the franchise is proved by fact that Blackhawks fans still wear his jersey to the United Center. On behalf of the Chicago Blackhawks organization and our fans, we express our deepest condolences to the Mikita family and all who mourn Stan’s passing.

Mikita played parts of 22 seasons for the Blackhawks, never suiting up for another NHL team during his lengthy career. In 1,396 career regular season games, he registered 1,497 points and took home the Art Ross trophy for leading the league in scoring four times. On two occasions he was crowned league MVP and awarded the Hart Trophy, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. Among the greatest to ever play, Mikita took home the Stanley Cup in 1961 but was never able to repeat as league champion. Still, he eventually donned the “C” as captain of the Blackhawks and still holds the franchise records for games played, assists, points and +/- rating while only trailing Bobby Hull in goals.

Known—perhaps somewhat apocryphally depending on who you ask—as the father of the curved hockey stick, Mikita was an incredible innovator on the ice. His elusive skating and puck skills (not to mention his incredible toughness and work ethic) were imitated and improved upon by generations of hockey players that followed him and his impact on the game is still felt today. Respected, beloved and admired by countless hockey fans, he’ll be sorely missed. Blackhawks chairman Rocky Wirtz explains how it wasn’t just Mikita’s on-ice performance that will be remembered:

There are no words to describe our sadness over Stan’s passing. He meant so much to the Chicago Blackhawks, to the game of hockey, and to all of Chicago. He left an imprint that will forever be etched in the hearts of fans – past, present and future. Stan made everyone he touched a better person. My wife Marilyn and I, joined by the entire Wirtz family, extend our prayers and thoughts to Jill and the Mikita family. ’Stosh’ will be deeply missed, but never, ever forgotten

The writing staff at PHR would also like to extend our condolences to the Mikita family, and our admiration for one of the greatest hockey players to ever suit up.

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