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Archives for December 2018

East Notes: Washington Goaltending, Pominville, Clutterbuck

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While the Seattle expansion process is still two and a half years away, there are already some interesting decisions presenting themselves for teams to deal with when the time comes.  NBC Sports Washington’s J.J. Regan takes a look at the one for the Capitals which involves their goaltending.  The situation appears to be parallel to the one Pittsburgh faced back in 2017.

Starter Braden Holtby’s contract is up in 2020 but it’s believed they’ll want to keep him around to mentor youngster Ilya Samsonov who will also require protection.  However, will Holtby be willing to re-sign if he feels the Capitals will leave him unprotected a year later if they prefer to keep their presumed starter of the future in Samsonov?  Would Washington commit to a no-move clause to keep Holtby around?  While we’re still a long way away from Seattle’s team being formed, Holtby can sign an extension as early as this July so it’s going to be a question on the front burner for GM Brian MacLellan fairly soon.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • While he was transferred to injured reserve on Saturday, Sabres winger Jason Pominville appears to be close to returning from his upper-body injury. Head coach Phil Housley told Bill Hoppe of the Times Herald that the veteran skated on Saturday and is getting close to returning.  Buffalo was eligible to back-date his IR placement to December 19th which means he’ll have missed the requisite seven days in advance of their next game on Thursday.  Pominville is having a nice bounce-back season after a quiet 2017-18; he has nine goals and nine assists through 33 games so far.
  • Although there’s no official word yet on the severity of Islanders winger Cal Clutterbuck’s lower-body injury that he sustained on Sunday, head coach Barry Trotz told reporters, including Newsday’s Andrew Gross (Twitter link) that the issue is “nothing major” and is possibly a strain. The rugged veteran is once again a physical presence up front for New York, averaging just over 2.65 hits per game while logging a little more than 13 minutes a night of playing time.  If he’s not available to suit up on Friday, the Isles won’t need to recall someone from AHL Bridgeport as they have wingers Tom Kuhnhackl and Ross Johnston on the roster as extras already.

Drummondville To Acquire QMJHL Rights To Shane Bowers

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Avalanche center prospect Shane Bowers will be suiting up for Team Canada at the upcoming World Juniors but his playing situation beyond that tournament appears to be up in the air.  TVA Sports’ Mikael Lalancette reports that Drummondville of the QMJHL will be acquiring his junior rights from Saint John on January 6th.  The trade can’t be made official until then because he’s playing in that tournament.

The Voltigeurs are not the first team to try to get him to play in the QMJHL.  He was drafted by Cape Breton back in 2015 and then redrafted by Saint John one year later but Bowers has remained firm on his college commitment thus far.  Not surprisingly, the return for his rights involves multiple conditional draft picks and Lalancette notes that there is no firm commitment from Bowers to report just yet.

The 19-year-old is in his sophomore season at Boston University and is off to a quieter year offensively thus far with just five goals and three assists through 15 games.  That comes off the heels of a very strong freshman campaign where he had 32 points in 40 contests while he was a key part of the return in the Matt Duchene trade back in November of 2017.

Interestingly enough, if Bowers reports, this wouldn’t be the first time this happened to a Colorado prospect at Boston University.  Winger A.J. Greer was in his second season with Boston University back in 2015-16 before suddenly changing course and suiting up with Rouyn-Noranda of the QMJHL in mid-December.  He then signed his entry-level deal in July of 2016 and has gone back and forth between the Avalanche and their AHL affiliates since then.

If Bowers does indeed go to Drummondville, the timeline for him turning pro would undoubtedly be accelerated.  He’d lose his remaining NCAA eligibility while if he were to remain in junior past this season, he’d be in his overage year; first-round picks (which he is) hardly ever play that final season of eligibility.  In other words, a commitment to play in junior for the rest of the season is essentially a commitment to turn pro for 2019-20.  Once his World Junior tournament is over, he’s going to have a big decision to make on his playing future.

2018 Year In Review: January

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2018 has been quite a busy year in the hockey world.  There have been several big trades and free agent signings, plenty of changes behind the bench, and much more.  Over the coming days, PHR will take a look back at the top stories from around the game on a month-by-month basis.  We begin with a look back at January.

Dundon Takes Over In Carolina: The Hurricanes have a new majority owner after Thomas Dundon officially took over from Peter Karmanos, who still holds a minority share of the team for now.  He has quickly become one of the more hands-on owners in the league and has inserted himself into hockey operations.  While that’s not common for an owner, he has stated a commitment to keeping the team in Carolina which gives them some more stability moving forward as the talk of potential relocation has come to an end.

Johannson Passes Away: There was some sad news in this month as long-time USA Hockey executive Jim Johannson passed away at the age of 53.  During his tenure which began back in 2000, he helped Team USA capture 64 medals in major international competitions, including 34 gold, 19 silver, and 11 bronze and had just helped assemble their entry into the 2018 Olympics as well prior to his passing.  Johannson also revamped their development model which has helped their program become a success at all levels.

Cogliano Gets A New Deal, Loses His Streak: January was both good and bad for Ducks center Andrew Cogliano.  First, he secured a new three-year, $9.75MM contract extension, earning a small raise on the $3MM AAV he had on his previous deal.  Unfortunately for him, the celebration was short-lived as just two days later, he was suspended for two games which ended his ironman streak at 830, the fourth-longest streak in NHL history.  Had the suspension not happened, he would have made a push for the all-time record of 964 (Doug Jarvis) early next season.  Not surprisingly, he has played in every game since then but is off to a quieter than usual start offensively in 2018-19 as he has scored just twice in Anaheim’s first 38 games.

Duclair Traded: The Coyotes and Blackhawks made a trade involving a notable youngster (and that won’t be the only time that note will come up in this series) as winger Anthony Duclair was dealt to Chicago in a four-player swap that also saw defenseman Adam Clendening go to the ‘Hawks in exchange for winger Richard Panik and center Laurent Dauphin.  While the move gave Chicago some extra cap flexibility, Duclair didn’t pan out and was ultimately non-tendered in June.  Clendening also suffered the same fate and both players wound up in Columbus.  Meanwhile, Panik had a decent run to end the season with Arizona last year and remains with them where he has posted 13 points in 33 games so far.  Dauphin cleared waivers back in October and is with the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate in Tucson.

Five Years For Mayfield: Despite having just 65 NHL games under his belt at the time, the Islanders inked defenseman Scott Mayfield to a five-year, $7.25MM contract extension.  The move raised plenty of eyebrows at the time given that long of a commitment to an unproven player while Mayfield clearly valued job certainty over the potential of getting a better opportunity elsewhere; he was on pace to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent at the time.  The early returns have been impressive for the Islanders as Mayfield has become an important part of their back end, logging nearly 19 minutes a game while sitting second on the team in scoring by a defender.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Transfer Fees, Wilson

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The NHL awarded their weekly Three Stars again today, this time choosing Sergei Bobrovsky as the easy recipient of the top honors. After struggling early in the season, Bobrovsky is right back to being arguably the best goaltender in the league as he posted a 4-0-0 record last week that included two shutouts. The pending unrestricted free agent has stopped 179 of the last 186 shots he has faced and now carries a .913 save percentage on the year.

Second and third went to two Atlantic Division rivals, as Morgan Rielly of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning appeared on the list. The Toronto defender added to his scoring lead among all NHL defensemen with a nine-point week, while Kucherov continued to show why he is one of the most dangerous offensive players in the league with his own nine-point effort.

  • According to the Associated Press, the NHL paid more than $35MM in transfer fees last season to sign players from around the world, as part of a continuing agreement with leagues in Sweden, Finland and other countries. The idea behind the transfer agreements is to funnel money back into the development programs all around the world, which in turn provides more diverse talent for the NHL. It has worked as planned in recent years as top talents like Rasmus Dahlin, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Miro Heiskanen and Patrik Laine have all been selected in the top three picks of the entry draft. The KHL and the Swiss NLA do not have transfer agreements with the NHL at this time, which also complicates the process of their talent coming over in the first place.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins think they have an answer to the physical play that rival Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals provides, and he’s already in their system. Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette examines how Garrett Wilson could be brought back up after the holiday season in order to provide some leadership and toughness for the Penguins, who recently lost physical defenseman Jamie Oleksiak at the hands (or, perhaps hand) of Washington’s Wilson. Pittsburgh’s Wilson cleared waivers earlier this month and was sent down to the minor leagues a few days ago to make room for the activation of Dominik Simon.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Pittsburgh Penguins

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As the holiday season quickly approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads past the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. Let’s take a look at what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Click here for the other articles in this series. 

What are the Penguins most thankful for?

Kris Letang’s return to health.

It’s hard to mention the Penguins without immediately pointing to the continued stardom of Sidney Crosby, or the luxury of having Evgeni Malkin as a second-line center, but if anyone can steal some of the spotlight it’s Letang. The 31-year old defenseman has played 34 of the Penguins’ 36 games this season and is showing why at one point in his career he was considered one of the best in the entire world. After years of struggles with injuries both major and minor, Letang finally found some health last season and rewarded the Penguins with a 51-point season. That was good for 17th among all NHL defenders, but Letang had more to prove after the Penguins were eliminated and failed to capture their third straight Stanley Cup.

This year, the right-handed defenseman has taken on even more responsibility and is averaging more than 26 minutes a night. That’s five minutes more than his closest teammate, and puts Letang fourth in the entire league behind only Drew Doughty, Seth Jones and Ryan Suter. With that kind of ice time he has responded brilliantly, tightening up his defensive play and recording 28 points through his 34 games. The next highest-scoring defenseman on the Penguins is Jamie Oleksiak with 11 points, showing just how much responsibility is heaped upon Letang’s shoulders on a nightly basis.

Who are the Penguins most thankful for?

Casey DeSmith.

While any of the Penguins superstars could be the answer here, it’s the unexpected nature of DeSmith’s season that makes him so wonderfully appreciated. If someone were to have said that Matt Murray had only played 14 games by Christmas, and his save percentage was exactly .900 it would have been hard to imagine the Penguins would be anywhere near a playoff spot. But there they are in third place in the Metropolitan Division because of the exquisite play of DeSmith, who has made a legitimate case to take over as the team’s full-time starter.

In 24 appearances DeSmith has posted an 11-6-4 record and leads the way with a .926 save percentage, good enough for fourth in the league among goaltenders with at least ten starts. The undrafted University of New Hampshire product trails just Jaroslav Halak, Andrei Vasilevskiy and John Gibson in that statistic, giving the Penguins more than enough to keep them in the hunt.

Interestingly, the 27-year old goaltender is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and could very well be playing his way into being this year’s Scott Darling or Carter Hutton. DeSmith has never carried a team as the starter for very long, but might get that chance from a desperate organization if he doesn’t re-sign with the Penguins before July 1st.

What would the Penguins be even more thankful for?

A Derick Brassard sighting.

Last year the Penguins were desperately trying to find some depth to put down the middle behind Crosby and Malkin, and ended up selling off Ian Cole and several other assets to acquire Brassard from the Ottawa Senators (with the Vegas Golden Knights helping along the way). At the time it looked like an immediate win for the Penguins, who could plug Brassard in beside players like Phil Kessel and ride towards another Stanley Cup. The fact that Brassard was under contract for another season at a now-reduced cap hit was just icing on the cake.

Not so fast, as Brassard never totally fit in with the Penguins down the stretch and disappeared in the playoffs. His ice time was reduced during the postseason run, something that has recently happened again this season. The 2006 sixth-overall pick has been nowhere to be found this year, recording just nine point in 27 games while registering poor possession numbers and being absent on the powerplay even when he is given the opportunity. If the team could somehow get a piece of the 60-point center Brassard once was they would have one of the most dangerous groups in the league. As it stands, they’re struggling to find much consistency or production in the bottom six.

What should be on the Penguins’ Holiday Wish List?

Another center.

It makes almost no sense that the Penguins would need to go after another center given how they loaded up over the last 12 months. The team has a group consisting of Brassard, Riley Sheahan, Derek Grant and Matt Cullen who have all have experience in the middle, and yet can’t seem to get any production from the position outside of their top two options. This wasn’t supposed to be an issue for them this year after adding depth, but it’s proving to be once again.

GM Jim Rutherford hasn’t been shy about making deals to improve his club in the past, and has already traded away Carl Hagelin and Daniel Sprong this season. He would need to balance the salaries somewhat in order to do anything, but is spending big on a rental option like Kevin Hayes or Matt Duchene even really an option? The team hasn’t selected a player in the first round for four consecutive years, and traded Kasperi Kapanen (22nd overall in 2014) before he ever even played a game for them. Surely at some point they’ll have to say enough is enough and keep their draft picks, but perhaps Rutherford will take another shot this time around.

Poll: What Does Your Team Need For Christmas?

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The holiday season is a time to give gifts to show how much you appreciate others, but hungry front offices around the NHL have already begun to think about what they want to receive instead. What exactly does your team need the most this year? We’ve asked this same question for the last two years, and gotten very different answers.

2016 was the year of the top-four defenseman, with Kevin Shattenkirk dominating headlines as one of the top targets. Shattenkirk was eventually dealt to the Washington Capitals in a deal that certainly didn’t turn out as well as they hoped. The Capitals would be knocked out of the playoffs once again, and the offensive defenseman would hit unrestricted free agency only to sign with a division rival.

In 2017 readers were more focused on a scoring winger, with Evander Kane the big prize that everyone was discussing. Kane would eventually find his way to the San Jose Sharks, who liked him so much that they handed him a seven-year $49MM extension just a few months later. That extension cost them a conditional draft pick as well, but Kane seemed to fit in beautifully with the Sharks down the stretch. Though he’s still been fine for the team, a pace of 23 goals and 49 points isn’t exactly what the Sharks were hoping for out of their $7MM man.

This season’s trade deadline is shaping up to have even more talent available than previous years, and teams could very well acquire a game-changing player at any position. So if your team had a chance to pick up a piece in early January for a run at the playoffs, or to solidify their status as a Cup contender, what would it be? Cast your vote below and be sure to leave a comment explaining your decision.

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Brandon Manning “Open” To Trade Out Of Chicago

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Usually as the trade deadline approaches in the NHL, 28-year old defensemen with a history of success aren’t readily available. Ones that pack a physical punch and are signed to a reasonably low cap hit are usually even more rare, and can generate bidding wars that can get out of hand. Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brandon Manning checks all those boxes, but his struggles this season have made him unwanted on the market and by his current team. There have been reports for weeks that the Blackhawks were looking to move one or both of Manning and Jan Rutta, and today Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (subscription required) checked in with the former to see how he feels about the situation.

Manning is very clearly not demanding a trade out of Chicago, but the fact remains that he has been scratched repeatedly under new head coach Jeremy Colliton. In fact he hasn’t played at all since December 12th, and even then only saw 13:20 of ice time—a total far lower than the 18 minutes he averaged over the last two seasons in Philadelphia. Those two seasons were where Manning had made his mark as a physical defenseman for the Flyers who could move the puck reasonably well. Those two seasons are also what earned him a two-year contract with the Blackhawks that carries a $2.25MM cap hit, but they aren’t enough to generate much interest from around the league. Lazerus writes that Chicago “surely would have to retain up to half of Manning’s salary in order to move him.”

It’s that retained salary that might make a Manning trade even more difficult for the Blackhawks to pull off, and why they might decide to just bury him instead. Every team in the NHL is allowed only three retained salary transactions at a time, and using one of them on a player who is unlikely to generate any return doesn’t make much sense. Chicago knows they might have to blow things up soon and start a true rebuild, and if they ever want to get out from under some of their long-term contracts they would almost certainly need to retain salary. Even at a cost of just $1.125MM per season, no team is going to hand over a viable asset for Manning right now.

Getting him off the books would help if he’s not going to play—especially given his contract runs through 2019-20—but sending him to the minor leagues would also reduce the cap hit by $1.025, nearly as much as a 50% retained salary trade anyway. He’d have to clear waivers in order to be sent to the AHL, but that poses little risk at this point. More likely, the Blackhawks are looking for a soft landing spot for Manning where he can actually get an opportunity to play. Where that will come from is anyone’s guess.

Minor Transactions: 12/24/18

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Though teams cannot technically complete any minor transaction today given the full roster freeze for Christmas, some moves from last night are still coming through the wire. Teams have cleared off any players that they can in order to bank extra cap space, given that they won’t be playing again until Thursday at the earliest. We’ll keep track of all those minor moves right here:

  • John Quenneville has been sent down to the minors by the New Jersey Devils, and it will be interesting to see if he returns to them after the freeze is lifted. Seeing limited minutes with the Devils, the 22-year old still hasn’t been able to carve out a specific role for himself. It’s now been nearly two years since his last NHL point, a frustrating notion for both Quenneville and the Devils who invested a first-round pick in him several years ago.
  • The Los Angeles Kings have sent Michael Amadio, Daniel Brickley and Sean Walker to the minor leagues to bank cap space, something they’ve been doing all season long. The Kings are using long-term injured reserve space to stay cap compliant, but with Carl Hagelin expected back at some point in the new year the team is going to have to clear some salary eventually.
  • Clark Bishop and Janne Kuokkanen have been sent down for a similar reason, though in the Carolina Hurricanes case it’s more to save actual money than cap space. Both players earn a significantly lower salary while in the minor leagues on their two-way deals, something the fiscally conscious Hurricanes have to be aware of.
  • Brandon Pirri was returned by the Vegas Golden Knights, something that certainly isn’t because of his play. The offensive-minded Pirri has three goals and four points in his first three Golden Knights games, and saw 16 minutes of ice time on Sunday night against the Kings. He’ll likely be recalled at some point to inject some more offense, though it’s important to note that Vegas still did lose two of those three games.
  • Michael Bunting and Adin Hill are going down to the Tucson Roadrunners, another salary saving move by the Arizona Coyotes. Hill’s season is very interesting, given his solid performance and the goaltending situation in Arizona. The team still has Darcy Kuemper and Calvin Pickard, but still seems to want to keep Hill in the mix at the NHL level. The 22-year old goaltender will likely be back up before long.
  • The Toronto Marlies have a game on Boxing Day, and could very well have one of their best forwards back in the lineup. The Maple Leafs have sent Trevor Moore back down for the time being, though with Zach Hyman and Tyler Ennis out he’ll likely be back up before long.

Five Key Stories: 12/17/18 – 12/23/18

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While the roster freeze came into effect with little fanfare, there was still quite a bit of significant news around the league.  Here are the top stories from the past seven days.

Hakstol Fired In Philadelphia: Less than 24 hours after the Flyers issued a statement saying that Dave Hakstol was their head coach, the team had a change of heart and fired their bench boss.  Scott Gordon, their AHL head coach, was named as Hakstol’s replacement on an interim basis with the expectation that he will be in the role for the remainder of the season.  While there were multiple reports suggesting Joel Quenneville was going to be their hire, it appears they’ll be making a decision on whether or not that will indeed be the case in the offseason.

Flyers Seeking Goaltending Help: With his first move as GM now done, Chuck Fletcher has turned his focus to the trade market and is looking for help between the pipes.  Goaltending has been a concern for Philadelphia all season long with Brian Elliott injured, Michal Neuvirth battling injury issues of his own for most of the season (and struggling when healthy) while youngster Anthony Stolarz is on IR as well.  The team recalled top prospect Carter Hart and has given him his first NHL action but considering that this is his first professional season, he needs more development time at the AHL level.

Concussion For Crawford: Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford missed most of last year and the beginning of this season with a concussion.  Unfortunately for him and the team, he has sustained another one and is out indefinitely.  While there’s no word about the severity yet, head coach Jeremy Colliton indicated that the organization is “concerned” about this new concussion and given how long he was out with the last one, it’s safe to assume that they will be erring on the side of caution and won’t be rushing him back into the lineup.  Cam Ward will take over as the starter for the time being while youngster Collin Delia has been brought up from the minors.

Berglund’s Contract Terminated: Patrik Berglund’s time in Buffalo has come to an end.  After being suspended indefinitely last weekend, the Sabres placed him on unconditional waivers, paving the way for them to terminate his contract which they did on Thursday.  This appears to be a mutual agreement compared to the method that Tampa Bay used to terminate Jake Dotchin’s deal back in training camp.  As a result, Berglund is walking away from a little over $12.5MM in salary over the remaining term of his contract which ran through the 2021-22 season.  Buffalo is not on the hook for any further salary cap commitments to him which gives them considerably more flexibility moving forward.

Ottawa’s Arena Deal Is Off: While it appeared like Ottawa’s deal was heading off the rails when team owner Eugene Melnyk sued arena partner John Ruddy, it’s officially off the table now.  Just one day after Ruddy filed a countersuit, the National Capital Commission has opted to terminate the preferred proponent term sheet and begin a new process for the redevelopment of the LeBreton Flats in the downtown core.  The Senators have been seeking a new home closer to the downtown core but instead, it appears they’ll remain in Kanata for the foreseeable future.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Snapshots: Marner, Staal, Gaudette

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Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas met with Darren Ferris, the agent for Mitch Marner to discuss a contract extension earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported on Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines (video link).  The two sides were also slated to meet again this weekend.

Despite the talks, Johnston notes that there remains no indication that the winger wants to sign now.  The 2019 class of restricted free agents is extremely deep and there is bound to be some form of a waiting game between them instead of looking to be the one to set the market.  The 21-year-old is well on his way to surpassing his career high in points and currently sits fifth in league scoring heading into play on Sunday.  As a result, it’s going to cost the Maple Leafs a whole lot more than the $832.5K that he’s earning in base salary in 2018-19 on his next deal.

More from around the league:

  • Carolina center Jordan Staal is dealing with a head injury, notes Michael Smith of the Hurricanes’ team website. The injury kept him out of today’s game against Boston as well.  The veteran just returned to the lineup this week after missing five contests due to a concussion so this is clearly some cause for concern.  There’s no word yet if he’ll be available to return for their first game back after the holiday break on Thursday.
  • While the Canucks want to keep center Adam Gaudette around the team for development purposes, Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston suggests that the rookie will likely be heading back to the AHL when one of winger Sven Baertschi and center Brandon Sutter return to the lineup which is likely to be early next month. Gaudette has averaged just 8:35 of ice time over his past 13 games and while there is some developmental benefit to playing him even in a fourth line role, having him go back to Utica and play twice as much in an offensive role would likely be better for him long-term.

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