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Archives for May 2019

West Notes: Meier, Anisimov, Blues

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While bridge contracts for impact players have been utilized less and less lately, the Sharks are among the teams that still use them with players like Logan Couture and Tomas Hertl being among those to get one.  In discussing the future of RFA winger Timo Meier, GM Doug Wilson noted to Chelena Goldman of NBC Sports Bay Area that they’ve had a lot of success with that strategy, hinting that they could do so again with Meier:

Keeping everyone together is a challenge of our cap system.  But I think it’s one of the reasons why we’re so loyal to our own players and young guys who have come up through the system – they know how we try to treat them.

We historically have had players who have benefitted playing with really good players who understand to keep a group together, we’ve done bridge contracts. I’ve had conversations with his agent and Timo certainly understands how everybody’s been treated, and we’ll treat him well.

With the Sharks also needing to get defenseman Erik Karlsson and Joe Pavelski re-signed this summer and over $58MM in commitments on the books already, a bridge deal for Meier would likely be a necessity if the two veterans are brought back.  If not, it seems as if Wilson may still pursue a short-term contract with the 22-year-old who had a breakout third season with 66 points in 78 games.

Elsewhere out West:

  • With the Blackhawks looking to shake things up this summer, Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago suggests that center Artem Anisimov is someone that could be on the move this offseason. His partial no-trade clause expires at the end of June and while his $4.55MM cap hit is on the expensive side, he’s owed just $5MM in total salary over the final two years of the deal after a $2MM bonus is paid on July 1st.  While the 31-year-old has dipped below the 40-point mark in each of the last two seasons, he should still be of interest to several teams around the league this offseason.
  • Blues head coach Craig Berube indicated that center Robert Thomas is a possibility to return to the lineup tomorrow, TSN’s Frank Seravalli relays (Twitter link). The rookie missed Wednesday’s game against Boston with an undisclosed injury.  Meanwhile, Berube is unsure about defenseman Vince Dunn’s availability.  He has been out since being hit with the puck in the face in the third game of the Western Conference Final.

Free Agent Focus: Los Angeles Kings

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Free agency is now a little more than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Los Angeles has a very small group of unrestricted free agents but they have a few notable younger players in need of new contracts.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Adrian Kempe – While Kempe saw his offensive numbers dip this past season, that’s something that can be said for just about everyone on the Kings so it would be tough to hold that against him too much.  He remains well below average at the faceoff dot but made improvements in that area this past season and he is still an effective checker.  The hope that he could potentially become a top-six forward is probably unrealistic at this point but there’s still enough upside for him to be a quality two-way third liner for quite a while.  Considering Kempe’s inconsistency at the offensive end though, a bridge contract is a very likely outcome here, particularly since he doesn’t have arbitration eligibility.

F Alex Iafallo – As far as undrafted college free agent signings go, Iafallo has been one of the better ones in recent years.  He spent a good chunk of time on the top line in 2018-19 and put up a respectable 33 points in his sophomore campaign.  It’s doubtful that he’s going to one day produce like a top line player but at the very least, the Kings should be able to pencil him as a capable secondary scorer for a few more seasons.  Although he’s just coming off his entry-level deal, he is eligible for arbitration already.

Other RFAs: F Michael Amadio, D Daniel Brickley, F Matheson Iacopelli, F Pavel Jenys, F Brendan Leipsic, D Alex Lintuniemi, G Cal Petersen, F Sheldon Rempal, D Matt Roy, F Nikita Scherbak

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Jonny Brodzinski – The bad news for Brodzinski is that a shoulder injury cost him nearly the entire season and in the process, it stopped him from getting an opportunity to play a regular role for the rebuilding Kings.  The good news is that the injury prevented him from getting to the 80-game mark for his career, allowing him to qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency.  While he hasn’t been overly productive at the NHL level, he has a decent track record of success in the minors which makes him one of the more intriguing players out of this group of free agents.

F Zack Mitchell – Mitchell played in precisely zero NHL games this past season but makes the list by default as the only other unrestricted free agent on the roster.  The 26-year-old had actually played in 34 games over the previous two seasons with Minnesota and will likely once again sign a two-way deal and serve as injury insurance if a team starts to get banged up.

Other UFAs: None

Projected Cap Space: With a little over $71MM committed to 19 players for next season per CapFriendly and not many notable players in need of new contracts, the Kings should have a bit of wiggle room to work with this offseason.  However, they’ll need to determine if they’re better off utilizing that space on a free agent or two or if they should look to take advantage of some teams in tough against the Upper Limit and take a contract back with some additional younger assets.  Considering that they appear to have embraced the rebuilding process for the time being, that may wind up being the more optimal route.  Either way, after being right up against the cap at the start of last season, Los Angeles shouldn’t be finding themselves in that situation at any point in 2019-20.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Zachary Emond Signs With San Jose Sharks

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The San Jose Sharks have signed Zachary Emond to a three-year, entry-level contract. The young goaltender recently captured the 2019 Memorial Cup with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL, and will now sign his first professional contract just a few days later. Sharks’ GM Doug Wilson had this to say about his new prospect:

Zach’s overall development and growth improved immensely this season, recording seven shutouts and an unprecedented 24-0-1 record. He had the opportunity this season to learn under the Huskies veteran goaltender Samuel Harvey and head coach Mario Pouliot during the team’s Memorial Cup run. We’re excited to watch him take over the helm in the crease next year and build on his impressive performance from the previous campaign.

You didn’t read that wrong, Emond was a near perfect 24-0-1 in the regular season for the Huskies and those seven shutouts led the entire QMJHL. The same can be said about his goals against average of 1.73 and save percentage of .932, making it quite the historic season for the young goaltender. That performance must have Wilson and his scouting staff smiling from ear to ear after they used a sixth-round pick to select Emond last June despite his 9-10-1 record in 2017-18, caused by an .897 save percentage and 3.26 goals against average. That kind of improvement is obviously unexpected, but pushes the 18-year old right to the forefront of goaltending prospects in the Sharks’ system.

Because he’s so young, Emond is expected to return to the QMJHL next season as a 19-year old, allowing his entry-level deal to slide forward a year. He wouldn’t be allowed to play in the AHL anyway because of his age, meaning the Huskies very well could have the top goaltender in the league once again.

Poll: Where Will Nikita Zaitsev End Up?

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As the Toronto Raptors prepared to host the first NBA Finals game in franchise history, their hockey counterparts were making news of their own. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas admitted that defenseman Nikita Zaitsev had requested a “fresh start” elsewhere, after Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had broken the news a few hours earlier. Dubas wouldn’t commit to trading Zaitsev at all costs, but did tell reporters that he would try to find a landing spot if possible:

I met with Dan [Milstein, Zaitsev’s agent] here and I don’t want to get too much into the details, that’s up to Dan and Nikita on their end. That will be our goal, to try and find a fresh start for him, for his own personal and private reasons. I’ll leave that to Dan and Nikita to talk about. In the case of what it means for our team, it’s not any definitive type of, “he’s definitely not going to be back.” Especially as the year went on, especially as he was paired with [Jake] Muzzin, his value began to shine through a little bit more. His penalty killing, his right shot, he plays in our top four and he’s signed reasonably for a long time.

Already speculation has started on where Zaitsev could end up. Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun suggests that the Ottawa Senators could be a potential fit, given their need to add salary to reach the cap floor this season. The 27-year old defenseman has five years remaining on his current contract which carries a $4.5MM cap hit. That would immediately become the Senators’ most expensive contract among defensemen, though Cody Ceci’s impending deal would likely surpass it in terms of cap hit for next season. Interestingly, Zaitsev is owed a $3MM signing bonus on July 1, reducing the cost for a team like Ottawa even further.

There is also the obvious connection to the New York Islanders, where former Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello now runs the ship. Lamoriello was an integral part in recruiting Zaitsev in the first place, and was the one who signed him to the seven-year extension after just one season in the NHL. He obviously felt at one point that the Russian defenseman was worth investing in, and perhaps he still does.

There’s no indication yet though of where Dubas would be looking, or even what kind of return he’d be after. The Maple Leafs were already likely considering a move of Zaitsev given their cap constraints this summer, with new contracts due for Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. The smooth-skating defenseman is valuable to the team, especially given his handedness, but may be too expensive to hold on to anyway. That would also mean they can’t take a lot of salary back in any deal, unless Dubas and the rest of the front office plan on cutting cap dollars somewhere else.

So where will Zaitsev end up? Will any team even come forward with a legitimate offer? Cast your vote below and let us know what you think in the comments.

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New York Islanders Agree To Terms With Two Players

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Tanner Fritz will be back in the New York Islanders organization next season, after agreeing to terms on a two-year contract. The deal will keep Fritz from reaching unrestricted free agency this summer and pay him an average of $700K at the NHL level. The team has agreed to terms with draft pick Arnaud Durandeau on a three-year entry-level contract, who would have seen his exclusive rights expire tomorrow.

Fritz, 27, has never known an NHL organization other than the Islanders, who gave him his first professional chance after playing four years at Ohio State University. Turning a tryout into a minor league deal and then eventually an NHL contract in 2017, Fritz has seen every level including nearly an entire year in the ECHL. In the minor leagues he has been an excellent offensive player including a 37-point season this year, but hasn’t quite been able to carry that over to the NHL. In 42 games with the Islanders he has just eight points.

Still, he will provide extremely inexpensive depth for the team as they try to get back to the playoffs next season. In fact, his deal is actually a two-way contract in the second season, an interesting structure for a player trying to find an opportunity. Fritz was obviously happy to get some stability before heading to free agency, and will now have a chance to stay with the Islanders for another two years.

Durandeau, 20, was a sixth-round pick of the Islanders in 2017 and spent this season back with the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL. The left winger was a huge part of the team’s Memorial Cup run, which was ultimately unsuccessful despite their best efforts. Better than a point-per-game player in his final year of junior, Durandeau will now need to make the adjustment to the professional ranks where his hard-nosed forechecking skills should come in handy.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

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The Stanley Cup Final is starting and the St. Louis Blues are still alive. The organization that has never won a Cup in their history will get a chance to raise hockey’s legendary chalice, but have to go through the team that beat them the last time they had this opportunity. The Boston Bruins put St. Louis out in 1970, starting a 49-year streak of failure to reach the final round.

Even as hockey fans focus on the final few games of the season, work is being done in front offices across the league to prepare for the upcoming entry draft. Prospects are gathering this week in Buffalo for the draft combine, while management is prepping on all the free agents that will be available this summer. The interview period begins in just a few weeks, and top names like Erik Karlsson, Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene remain unsigned.

With that in mind it’s time to run another edition of our mailbag. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. Make sure to get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through them all when the mailbag runs this weekend.

If you missed out on the last mailbag, it was split into two parts that you can read here and here. The first tackled topics like Karlsson’s pending free agency, playoff formats and the Nashville Predators, while the second looked at the future for the New York Rangers, the goaltending market, and the top defensive prospects in the game.

Snapshots: Edmonton, Sedlak, Blackhawks

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The Edmonton Oilers will not be bringing back Trent Yawney or Manny Viveiros as assistant coaches next season, according to Jason Gregor of TSN. It’s not a totally unexpected move given the changes in leadership behind the bench and in the front office for the Oilers, but now means that head coach Dave Tippett will get to put together his own staff. The early speculation is that Yawney could re-join Todd McLellan’s staff, this time in Los Angeles. Assistant Glen Gulutzan will remain and run the Oilers’ powerplay next season.

While both Yawney and Vivieros can hardly be blamed entirely for what happened last season in Edmonton, it makes sense to wipe the slate (mostly) clean and start anew. Edmonton must get it right this time with GM Ken Holland and Tippett on board, or risk wasting more prime seasons of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

  • Lukas Sedlak has signed in the KHL, inking a two-year deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk. The Columbus Blue Jackets forward was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, but according to team reporter Brian Hedger, was looking for a bigger opportunity and more money. Sedlak played just 47 games for the Blue Jackets last season in a depth role, and made $850K in the second year of a two-season contract signed back in 2017.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks are on the clock third in June’s draft, and are taking a close look at the prospects taking part in this week’s scouting combine. Mark Lazerus spoke with Blackhawks scouting director Mark Kelley, who told him that the team has narrowed their list to six potential players to pick with the third-overall selection, though he wouldn’t specify. Lazerus has heard though that Bowen Byram, Alex Turcotte, Cole Caufield and Trevor Zegras are among them.

Dallas Stars Sign Joel Kiviranta

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The Dallas Stars have inked an international free agent, signing forward Joel Kiviranta to a two-year, entry-level contract. Kiviranta was most recently seen at the IIHF World Championship with Finland, winning a gold medal.

Kiviranta, 23, has played in Finland’s top league for five seasons now, steadily growing as an offensive player. This season saw him record 16 goals and 31 points before being named to the national squad, where he added another three points in nine tournament games. While undrafted, the amount of professional experience that Kiviranta brings with him is exceptional for such a young player, and he immediately adds some depth to the Dallas forward pipeline.

Though it’s not clear if he will make an impact right away, there is certainly no risk in signing a player of his ability. If he can show the same steady two-way game that the world saw in the recent tournament, Dallas has added a legitimate NHL player without spending any more than an entry-level deal. If not, he can at least help out the Texas Stars for a year or two before deciding where he wants to continue his career. The Stars organization has plenty of Finns already on the roster, including budding superstar Miro Heiskanen who would have faced off against Kiviranta multiple times.

Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign Logan Shaw, C.J. Suess

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The Winnipeg Jets have agreed to terms with both Logan Shaw and C.J. Suess on one-year contracts. Both players were scheduled to be restricted free agents this summer, but will now sign two-way deals worth $700K in the NHL.

Shaw, 26, ended up in the Jets organization after signing a one-year contract partway through the season. Though it wouldn’t result in any NHL action, he would suit up 63 times for the Manitoba Moose and experience the best professional season of his career. The 6’3″ center scored 27 goals and 46 points for the Moose, and when added to the five points he had for the San Diego Gulls, more than doubled his previous career high of 25. That’s an impressive breakout for the depth forward, and may have him in line for some spot duty with the Jets next season. Originally a third-round pick of the Florida Panthers, Shaw has scored 31 points in 180 career NHL games.

Suess on the other hand is still waiting for his big break at the highest level. The 25-year old forward was selected by the Jets in the fifth round of the 2014 draft, but attended college for four seasons before joining the organization. He suited up just 26 times this year for the Moose thanks to injury, but did contribute eight goals and 12 points over that span. He’ll try to make a bigger impact next season when fully recovered.

Toronto, Los Angeles Discussed Patrick Marleau Trade

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Even while the Stanley Cup Final is still happening, this time of year brings plenty of interesting trade speculation. Today, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings have discussed a potential Patrick Marleau trade, though they haven’t been able to find a fit yet. Marleau has a full no-movement clause and can decide his future, though LeBrun points out the connection he has to new Kings head coach Todd McLellan from their days in San Jose.

Marleau, 39, saw his production decline severely this season, posting his lowest goal total since he was an 18-year old rookie in 1997-98. Those 16 tallies and 37 points were a disappointing result for the legendary forward, who continued his iron man streak and has now completed ten straight seasons without missing a game. Still, he is looked to as an important leader for the Maple Leafs and has been leaned on by head coach Mike Babcock in important situations. His defensive responsibility is still there, and the Maple Leafs have even used him at center sporadically when necessary.

Even with all that however, a trip to the west coast certainly wouldn’t be about improving the Kings roster for next season. Los Angeles is in the early stages of a rebuild, and would likely only entertain the idea of a Marleau trade if it meant they could either rid themselves of a bad contract or acquire some additional assets. The veteran forward has just one year remaining on his contract and is owed just $1.25MM after his signing bonus is paid out on July 1, but still carries a $6.25MM cap hit for the 2019-20 season. That’s exactly the reason the Maple Leafs are exploring a trade, given their impending cap crunch.

The Kings and Maple Leafs have been trading partners recently, as the two hooked up on a swap revolving around Jake Muzzin earlier this season. That saw Toronto hand over their first-round pick along with two highly touted prospects, helping along the Los Angeles rebuild. Perhaps there is more to be discussed, but we’ll have to wait to see if Marleau is even willing to waive his no-movement clause at all.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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