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CHL Announces Top Player Awards for 2018-19

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Just one year after being named the CHL Rookie of the Year, QMJHL’s Alexis Lafreniere of Rimouski Oceanic, took another huge leap in his development as the 17-year-old was named the Sportsnet’s Player of the Year after the CHL released its top award winners Saturday.

Lafrieniere, who is considered to be the leading candidate to be the first-overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft, scored 42 goals as a 16-year-old to garner Rookie of the Year honors in 2017-18 and while his goal totals dropped to 37 this season, his playmaking skills took off. Lafreniere tallied 68 assists and 105 total points and then took his game to another level in the playoffs when he scored nine goals and 23 points in 13 games. Tampa Bay prospect Alex Barre-Boulet was the 2017-18 winner, at the age of 21. Lafreniere beat two other key players, including the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks’ Joachim Blichfeld and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.

Defenseman Ty Smith was named the Superstore Defenceman of the Year. The 19-year-old, who will likely take the ice with the New Jersey Devils next season, posted seven goals and 69 points in 57 games this season for the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. Ian Scott of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders won the Vaughn Goaltender of the Year Award. He put up 38 wins, posting a 1.78 GAA and a .932 save percentage. The 20-year-old goaltender is a product of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Rookie Quinton Byfield of the Sudbury Wolves walked away with the Wawanesa Rookie of the Year Award after scoring 29 goals and 61 points in 64 games.

Here is a list of all the CHL award winners:

Player of the Year: Alexis Lafreniere
Defenseman of the Year: Ty Smith
Goaltender of the Year: Ian Scott
Rookie of the Year: Quinton Byfield
Coach of the Year: Mario Pouliot
Scholastic Player of the Year: Dustin Wolf
Humanitarian of the Year: Charle-Edouard D’Astous
Sportsman of the Year: Justin Almeida
Top Scorer: Jason Robertson
Top Prospect of Year: Bowen Byram

 

 

Offseason Keys: Montreal Canadiens

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With the postseason down to just two teams, many squads are now well into their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Montreal Canadiens.

At this point last year, Montreal was looking like they were heading into a rebuild.  They had just finished with the fourth-worst record in the league (moving up to third in the Draft Lottery) and there were all kinds of questions surrounding their roster.  They then dealt their top two goal-scoring threats in separate trades that brought back players that had underachieved considerably the year before (and in the case of Max Pacioretty, added prospect Nick Suzuki as well).  Instead, the Canadiens turned things around rather quickly and were in the thick of the playoff race until the final two days of the regular season.  Now, instead of selling off assets for younger players, GM Marc Bergevin will be looking to add pieces to help them get back into the postseason.  Here’s what they need to accomplish this summer.

Add Left Side Defensive Help

With Shea Weber and Jeff Petry in the fold plus prospect Noah Juulsen being nearly NHL ready and veteran Christian Folin under contract as well, the right side of Montreal’s defense is in pretty good shape.  Not a whole lot of work, if any, is going to be done there.

However, the same can’t be said for their left side.  Over there, their depth consists of largely unproven players, fringe players looking to hold onto a roster spot, and Karl Alzner, whose contract was buried in the minors early in the season and still has three years remaining.  The recently re-signed Brett Kulak and Victor Mete are Montreal’s best left-shooting options and both of them are better served as complementary players, not big-minute impact ones.

Accordingly, Bergevin will certainly be on the lookout to add a top-four, left-shot rearguard to the fold.  However, there aren’t many of those in free agency; the list basically starts and ends with Jake Gardiner and Alex Edler with many expecting the latter to remain in Vancouver.  As a result, this is a void that will probably need to be filled via the trade market.  Bergevin has shown he’s willing to make big moves leading up to the draft over the last couple of years and it wouldn’t be surprising to see this be his top priority in the weeks to come.

Backup Goalie Decision

The decision to add Antti Niemi back in 2017-18 actually worked out relatively well for Montreal.  The choice to give him another contract based on how he performed down the stretch that season didn’t have the same outcome.  His continued struggles forced Montreal to almost exclusively call upon Carey Price down the stretch and with teams realizing the benefits of not playing a goaltender over 60 games per season, asking him to play in 66 contests is far from ideal.  The team announced after the season that Niemi will not be retained so they will have to find a new backup for Price moving forward.

They have an internal option in Charlie Lindgren but his stock has taken a hit over the past couple of seasons.  He has posted save percentages of .886 and .884 over the last two seasons with AHL Laval, results that don’t exactly scream ‘NHL ready’.  On the other hand, he has had some success with Montreal when called upon in the past over his 18 NHL appearances.  He’s signed for two more years with an AAV that’s just above the league minimum ($750K) which is important considering Price and his $10.5MM price tag is the richest deal in league history among goaltenders.  Since they’re paying that much for Price, picking a cheap option in Lindgren to back him up would certainly be justifiable although it would carry some risk.

Considering that they have considerable cap room (more on that momentarily), Bergevin could also turn to the free agent market.  There are several veteran backups that will be available that would provide some extra stability behind Price.  However, he will have to decide whether that extra security is worth paying two to three times more for that netminder than what it would cost to promote from within with Lindgren.

Utilize Their Cap Space

It wasn’t that long ago that the Canadiens were a team that routinely spent to the Upper Limit but they have come up well short of that mark over the past two seasons.  They currently have just over $71MM tied up in a full 23-man roster for next season, per CapFriendly so they have the ability to spend this summer.  They’ll probably use some of that on the back end and they could certainly stand to add some more offense up front as well.  If they strike out on one of those though, they’re going to be right where they were the last two seasons with lots of room and not much to spend it on.

Bergevin tried to get creative last season by taking on and buying out Steve Mason’s contract and picked up winger Joel Armia plus a pair of draft picks.  With several teams looking to be in tough when it comes to the cap, Montreal could try to get involved in that market to use some of their room.  However, with several core players in need of new contracts following the 2020-21 campaign, they’ll be looking to only take on short-term money.  Given that they wound up just missing the playoffs this past season, it will be tough to justify being well under the cap for the third straight year so if they can’t spend to add core pieces, Bergevin will have to get creative once again.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jonne Tammela, Filip Pyrochta Clear Unconditional Waivers

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Saturday: Both Pyrochta and Tammela have cleared waivers, per CapFriendly (Twitter links), paving the way for them to be released.

Friday: Two players find themselves on unconditional waivers today according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. The Nashville Predators have placed Filip Pyrochta and the Tampa Bay Lightning have placed Jonne Tammela on waivers, indicating that contract terminations are coming for both players.

Pyrochta, 22, was signed by the Predators in 2018 out of the Czech Republic but failed to even contribute much even with their AHL affiliate the Milwaukee Admirals this season. Splitting his time between Milwaukee and Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL, Pyrochta recorded 13 points in 51 games and failed to earn a call-up to the NHL. He will likely be headed back overseas to continue what was a solid start to his professional career back home.

Tammela, 21, meanwhile was actually a fourth-round pick of the Lightning in 2015, but hasn’t played a ton even in the minor leagues. Suiting up just 51 times for the Syracuse Crunch over parts of three seasons, he found almost no offensive success and recorded just 11 points. He did however play quite well for the Orlando Solar Bears this season, but spending the year in the ECHL likely isn’t what the Finnish forward was hoping for. He too had a strong start to his career in Europe, and could return there to continue his development.

Both players had just a single year remaining on their entry-level contracts, but will sacrifice those deals in order to get some more freedom to play where they have a bigger role. The terminations will also free up a contract slot for both clubs.

Chicago, Colorado, And Philadelphia Have Interest In Kevin Hayes

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Kevin Hayes will be one of the top centers available in free agency in July.  With that in mind, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 31 Thoughts column that several teams have already started doing their due diligence on the 27-year-old, including the Blackhawks, Avalanche, and Flyers.

Hayes is coming off of a career year offensively with 55 points in 71 games between the Rangers and Jets, who acquired him at the trade deadline.  However, he didn’t have the type of impact in the postseason that Winnipeg was hoping for as he was dropped to the fourth line in their first-round loss to St. Louis.

Despite that, he slots in as arguably the second-best option down the middle behind Matt Duchene so he will undoubtedly have plenty of suitors.

Seeing Chicago among that group is certainly interesting.  They actually drafted him in the first round (24th overall) back in 2010 but he opted to play out his college eligibility and become an unrestricted free agent where he joined the Rangers in 2014.  To further add to their frustration, the player they drafted with the compensation pick for not signing him (Graham Knott) has only been a depth player in the AHL for the past two seasons.  The Blackhawks are in good shape down the middle with Jonathan Toews and Dylan Strome both coming off career years and adding Hayes to that group would really make that position an organizational strength.

Colorado GM Joe Sakic indicated earlier this month that the team would be more aggressive in its pursuit of free agents this summer.  While Nathan MacKinnon is entrenched as their top pivot, they have several young players behind him (along with veteran Carl Soderberg) that aren’t quite ready to take on the number two role on a full-time basis.  At the very least, Hayes would serve as a reasonable bridge player until one of Tyson Jost, Alexander Kerfoot, or J.T. Compher jumps into that spot while giving them some extra depth down the middle.

Philadelphia is in a similar situation.  Sean Couturier is their top center and Nolan Patrick, the number two pick in 2017, isn’t quite ready to play on the second line just yet.  Claude Giroux, a natural center, has fared quite well on the wing so moving him back down the middle probably isn’t their preference for next season.  Hayes would fit in well on the second line and could flip spots with Patrick a couple of years from now.

Last summer, Hayes signed a one-year, $5.175MM deal with New York to avoid salary arbitration.  Given the year he had and the dearth of top-six centers available on the open market, it’s quite likely that he will earn considerably more than that on the open market in July.  Teams will be eligible to speak to Hayes once the UFA interview period opens up on June 23rd.

East Notes: Burakovsky, Skinner, Lee

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Washington’s salary cap situation doesn’t leave them a lot of wiggle room to work with this summer.  Restricted free agent winger Andre Burakovsky is arguably their most intriguing player in need of a new contract.  His qualifying offer checks in at $3.25MM which is on the pricey side for a forward who has scored a dozen goals in each of the last three seasons but at the same time, he’s only 24 and has shown flashes of considerable upside.  Despite that, NBC Sports Washington’s J.J. Regan posits that their $1.15MM bonus overage from 2018-19 (bonuses for fellow RFA Jakub Vrana and UFA blueliner Brooks Orpik) could ultimately force Brian MacLellan to non-tender him next month.  It’s rare that a player with some track record of NHL success becomes available on the open market so if he was to become available, there would undoubtedly be considerable interest in him despite his struggles.

Elsewhere out East:

  • Contract talks between the Sabres and winger Jeff Skinner are expected to resume this week at the Draft Combine, reports Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link). Talks between the two sides have gone back several months but they’ve yet to find an agreement just yet.  Complicating matters is that Skinner had a torrid start that saw him score 30 goals in his first 44 games.  However, he had just ten in 38 contests the rest of the way.  It’s plausible to think that Skinner will want to be paid for reaching the 40-goal mark while Buffalo GM Jason Botterill will be looking for a cheaper deal given his late struggles and concussion history.
  • With Brock Nelson now locked up for six more years, the Islanders will likely shift their focus to captain Anders Lee, notes Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post. There is mutual interest in getting a deal done but the issue continues to be the term of the deal.  The winger will turn 29 in July so a near max-term pact will certainly carry some risk; Cyrgalis suggests the Isles may not want to go more than four years.  However, he’s a big part of their attack and one of the top wingers on the open market so GM Lou Lamoriello will likely have to compromise and give him a longer-term contract to keep Lee in the fold.

Jets Re-Sign Laurent Brossoit

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Laurent Brossoit had a strong first season in Winnipeg as their backup netminder.  The team has rewarded him with a nice raise, announcing that they’ve signed him to a one-year, $1.225MM contract.  He would have been eligible for restricted free agency with arbitration eligibility.

Brossoit signed with the Jets back in July for the league minimum $650K after a tough year in Edmonton that saw him finish up at the AHL level.  However, he made quite an impact to start his time with Winnipeg, posting a 10-0-1 record over his first 11 starts with the team.  Overall, he finished up with a 13-6-2 mark with a 2.52 GAA and a .925 SV%, numbers that were quite a bit better than starter Connor Hellebuyck.

Winnipeg is going to be in tough shape this offseason with several prominent players in both restricted free agency (Kyle Connor, Patrik Laine, and Jacob Trouba) as well as unrestricted free agency (Kevin Hayes and Tyler Myers).  Getting a quality backup signed for a contract well below what the top backups will get in free agency this summer is a nice start to GM Kevin Cheveldayoff’s offseason.

Canadiens Re-Sign Brett Kulak To Three-Year Contract

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Brett Kulak was a pleasant surprise on Montreal’s back end this past season and he has been rewarded for his efforts.  The team announced that they have signed the defenseman to a three-year contract with an AAV of $1.85MM.  CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the deal breaks down as follows:

2019-20: $1.95MM
2020-21: $1.4MM
2021-22: $2.2MM

The season didn’t get off to a great start for the 25-year-old.  He cleared waivers at the end of training camp with Calgary, the second time that had happened for him after went unclaimed in advance of his salary arbitration hearing back in July.  Shortly after passing through, the Flames flipped him to the Canadiens for a pair of minor league defenders in Rinat Valiev and Matt Taormina.

Montreal opted to keep Kulak in the minors to start the season where he collected 11 points in 19 games before being recalled for good in November.  He started out on the third pairing but by the end of the season, he was frequently featured in their top four.  Overall, he played in 57 games with the team, recording 17 points (6-11-17) while averaging nearly 18 minutes a night of playing time.

The Canadiens don’t feature a lot of depth on the left side of their back end with only Kulak and Victor Mete seemingly being pencilled in for roster spots next season.  If they don’t address that weakness over the summer, it’s quite possible that Kulak will be in a top-four role for 2019-20 which would make this contract somewhat of a bargain if he can handle the extra minutes over an entire season.

Free Agent Focus: Anaheim Ducks

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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.  That’s not really the case for Anaheim this summer but here is a breakdown of their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agent: D Jake Dotchin – This is going to seem like a stretch on the surface but they don’t have any restricted free agents from their end-of-season roster.  Dotchin joined Anaheim early in the season following a surprising release in Tampa Bay for a material breach of contract that was believed to revolve around his conditioning.  After a conditioning stint, he hung around for a couple of months in a limited role before clearing waivers in mid-January and being sent back to the minors.  Dotchin hasn’t seen a ton of ice time so far for Anaheim’s AHL affiliate in the postseason but considering he’s only owed a two-way qualifying offer of $840K, he could be worth re-signing to keep around as a potential fit for a depth spot in the lineup for the Ducks next season if the team feels some of their younger players need more minor league time.

Other RFAs: F Chase De Leo, F Justin Kloos, D Trevor Murphy, D Keaton Thompson

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: G Ryan Miller – While his second season in Anaheim didn’t go as well as his first, Miller still provided the Ducks with a reasonable showing between the pipes.  His .912 SV% and 2.76 GAA were both slightly better than the league average which isn’t too shabby for a 38-year-old.  It’s believed that Miller is only interested in playing for a California-based team which will limit his options in free agency.  However, Anaheim does have some interest in keeping him around but considering his age, it will almost certainly be a one-year deal.  A contract like that is eligible for performance bonuses and given their salary cap situation, a deal with bonuses (likely close to the $2MM he made this past season) could give GM Bob Murray a bit more wiggle room this offseason.

F Derek Grant – Grant was brought back in a midseason trade in an effort to shore up Anaheim’s bottom six forward group.  While his production dipped relative to his 24-point campaign the year before, he was still slightly above average at the faceoff dot and played a bigger role than expected due to injuries.  He was on a league minimum contract this past season and will likely be looking at that again next season.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Anaheim be the team to give it to him.

D Andy Welinski – Welinski isn’t someone that is going to jump off the table; he has just 33 career NHL regular season games under his belt.  However, he didn’t look out of place in his 26 games with Anaheim this season and he has played quite well for their AHL affiliate in San Diego, including their current postseason run.  We’ve seen teams be more aggressive with Group VI free agents in recent years and as a right-shot defender that’s on the cusp of cracking the NHL on a full-time basis, there will be a lot of interest in him on the open market.

Other UFAs: F Sam Carrick, F Adam Cracknell, G Chad Johnson, D Korbinian Holzer, F Kalle Kossila, D Jaycob Megna, F Kevin Roy, F Ben Street, D Andrej Sustr

Projected Cap Space: The Ducks have nearly $74MM tied up in 18 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  Even with a projected bump in the Upper Limit, that doesn’t give them a ton of room to make any big additions.  However, Ryan Kesler’s season-ending hip surgery will allow them to put him on LTIR which will effective buy them up to an extra $6.875MM in cap room for 2019-20.  That said, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that money spent on one-year contracts in the event that Kesler is able to return down the road.  Patrick Eaves ($3.15MM) is another early LTIR candidate which would give them that much more room to work with.  While injuries are never ideal, it will give Murray some freedom to spend this summer, something that didn’t appear to be the case just a few months ago.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pacific Notes: Nyquist, Engelland, Edmonton Assistants

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Sharks winger Gustav Nyquist was believed to be seeking an extension worth roughly $5MM per year prior to his trade just before the deadline, reports Curtis Pashelka of the Mercury News.  That’s pretty much on par with the AAV on his existing deal which checked in at $4.75MM.  After a bit of a down season in 2017-18, the 29-year-old responded with a career year offensively with 60 points between San Jose and Detroit.  Given that he’ll be one of the better wingers available on the open market, there’s a good chance that he’ll eclipse that reported asking price, one that likely factored in a bit of a discount if he was going to remain with the Red Wings.

More from the Pacific:

  • At the age of 37, Golden Knights defenseman Deryk Engelland has no plans on retiring just yet. In an interview with ESPN Radio 1100 (audio link), the blueliner stated that he’s hopeful of playing for at least a couple more seasons but acknowledged he’ll probably go year-to-year on his contracts moving forward.  Engelland has averaged a little over 20 minutes a game over his two seasons with Vegas while bringing some grit to their back end as well.  He indicated that his preference is to remain with them for 2019-20 but given their salary cap issues, he may have to take a cut on the $1.5MM he made this past season.
  • While the Oilers have still yet to officially name their new bench boss, it appears changes are coming to their group of assistants. Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins reports that assistant coach Trent Yawney is expected to join the Kings where Edmonton’s former head coach Todd McLellan has taken over.  He adds that assistants Glen Gulutzan and Manny Viveiros aren’t likely to be back in their current roles while Jim Playfair and Mark Lamb could be candidates to take over for those two.  Dave Tippett is widely expected to be named head coach but the move has not been made official just yet.

Offseason Keys: Arizona Coyotes

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With the postseason down to just two teams, many squads are now well into their offseason planning.  What storylines lie ahead around the league in what is shaping up to be a likely busy NHL offseason?  Next up in our Offseason Keys series is a look at the Arizona Coyotes.

Arizona was a popular sleeper pick in the Western Conference heading into the season.  Now that the team was healthy, things were looking up for the Coyotes.  However, the injuries returned and some core players missed considerable time as a result, headlined by starting goalie Antti Raanta.  To their credit, Arizona hung around the playoff mix for quite a while which will probably once again result in them being a popular sleeper pick for 2019-20.  Here’s what they need to accomplish over the offseason.

Add Scoring Wingers

Scoring goals was a huge problem for the Coyotes in 2018-19.  They failed to have a single player hit the 20-goal mark and center Brad Richardson tied for the team lead in that department with 19 (as many tallies as he had the previous three seasons combined).  Not surprisingly, they sat in the bottom five in the league in that category and it was their ultimate downfall in their postseason chase.

They’re in decent shape down the middle offensively.  Full seasons from Nick Schmaltz and Christian Dvorak should help while Derek Stepan is a capable playmaker.  With those three ahead of Richardson, that’s not a bad group to build from.

The situation isn’t as strong on the wing.  Clayton Keller took a step back offensively while Alex Galchenyuk (the co-leader in goals) didn’t have a breakthrough year like they were hoping after acquiring him in the offseason.  Beyond those two, the depth goes away in a hurry.

Accordingly, adding offensive help – particularly on the wing – needs to be a top priority for GM John Chayka this season.  While adding some top-line players would certainly help, so too would adding some second liners which may be more in their price range on the open market.  Sure, moves like that wouldn’t make them a top team in terms of production but with their back end and goaltending, they don’t need to be among the top scoring teams.  Merely being average in that department, something they haven’t been since they were still called Phoenix, should be more than enough.

Extension Talks

While both Keller and Galchenyuk are coming off of down seasons, they’re both entering the final year of their respective contracts and will be in line for raises.  Arizona has quietly picked up their spending and will want to have an idea of what it’s going to cost to keep these two around long-term to help them decide how much they have to spend on multi-year deals this summer.

A year ago, Keller looked like he could have a shot at flirting with the point-per-game mark in 2018-19 but ultimately came up well short of that.  As a result, there are questions as to whether or not he’s someone that can drive the attack on a line or if he’s better suited to be more of a complementary piece moving forward.  That makes his case difficult to call – Keller’s side will be pushing for a contract closer to his 65-point campaign over his 47-point one to justify signing a year early.  While that would be a bit of a leap of faith, Chayka has been more than willing to take that plunge with several of his younger players over the last year so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see it also happen here.

Galchenyuk’s case is certainly an intriguing one.  The deal he’s on now basically amounted to a second bridge deal from Montreal who clearly had some questions about his long-term upside.  Those questions are still there after a year with the Coyotes.  He has shown himself to be a capable top-six forward at times but consistency has been an issue throughout his career.  Though he’s going to be entering his eighth NHL season, it’s also worth noting that he’s only 25.  With that in mind, he’s likely to command a long-term contract.  Their trade for him suggests that Chayka believes that Galchenyuk is part of the plans beyond his current contract.  If that’s the case, it’s likely that the team will want to get a deal done quickly with him over risking him hitting the open market in the prime of his career.

Utilize Defensive Depth

There’s no denying that Arizona has a very strong back end.  They certainly should considering that they’re set to spend $30MM on their defense corps for 2019-20.  However, given their offensive issues, it’s also fair to wonder if they should turn around and use some of that depth to help up front.

Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson isn’t going anywhere as his new deal kicks in.  The same can be said for Jakob Chychrun while veteran Niklas Hjalmarsson’s new contract will probably keep him in Arizona for a bit longer, especially if they want to keep him and Ekman-Larsson together at times.

However, a pair of veterans in Alex Goligoski ($5.5475MM) and Jason Demers ($3.9375MM) are players that could hold some value on the trade market.  Both have two years left on their deals and play the right side, a position of need for quite a few teams and one that is not particularly well-stocked in free agency this summer.  Kyle Capobianco is getting close to being NHL ready and while he’s a lefty, he’s going to push for a roster spot sooner than later.  This offseason seems like a good opportunity for the Coyotes to take advantage of their defensive depth and a soft free agent market and turn one of those veterans into another player that can help them up front and perhaps save a few bucks on the salary cap in the process.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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