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Archives for June 2019

Overseas Notes: Puljujarvi, Jooris, Murphy

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Even with interest from the KHL, Jesse Puljujarvi seems focused on playing in the NHL next season. Where he’ll do that though is still up in the air, as several reports have come out explaining that a trade may be the best outcome. Now the player himself admits that is a strong possibility, as Puljujarvi spoke to Finnish outlet Iltalehti and explained he may be wearing a different jersey next year. He also revealed that he’s back skating after the hip surgery that ended his 2018-19 season prematurely.

Puljujarvi, 21, was the Oilers’ top pick in 2016 going fourth overall after Auston Matthews, Patrik Laine and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Unfortunately he hasn’t quite worked out like that impressive trio, and has just 37 points through 139 NHL games. Now as he heads into the offseason without a contract—his entry-level deal is set to expire and make him a restricted free agent—his future in the league is up in the air. Puljujarvi will not be waiver-exempt next season, meaning wherever he does land will have to at least give him a shot at the highest level. That likely makes a trade more difficult, as he hasn’t shown to this point an ability to produce at either end of the rink in the NHL.

  • Despite a long playoff run with the Toronto Marlies, Josh Jooris won’t be re-signing in North America. The veteran forward has inked a three-year contract with Lausanne HC in Switzerland. Jooris, 28, scored 55 points in his 213-game NHL career including an impressive rookie season with the Calgary Flames, but will take his talents overseas. He was set to become an unrestricted free agent after his one-year, $650K contract with the Maple Leafs expired this summer.
  • Not only did Kunlun Red Star confirm that Andrej Sustr will be heading to the KHL next season, but also that Anaheim Ducks prospect Trevor Murphy has signed a two-year deal. The 23-year old Murphy was acquired by the Ducks last December and played 37 games for the San Diego Gulls this season, registering 18 points. An undrafted defenseman, he made his NHL debut with the Arizona Coyotes in 2017-18 and had three points in eight games. Set to be a restricted free agent this summer, the Ducks can retain his exclusive negotiating rights by issuing him a qualifying offer.

Scott Sandelin Staying At Minnesota-Duluth

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The Anaheim Ducks will not be hiring Scott Sandelin as their next head coach. According to Matt Wellens of the Duluth News Tribune, the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs coach has signed a four-year extension to stay in the NCAA through the 2024-25 season. Sandelin interviewed for the Ducks’ coaching vacancy on Monday, but will make $400K next season with the Bulldogs as he looks for his third consecutive national championship.

It’s hard to imagine Sandelin finding a better situation than he is in right now, even if the NHL is the pinnacle of coaching for many professionals. The former NHL defenseman has been the head of the UMD program for nearly two decades and has experienced nearly unprecedented success. With three NCAA championships, and an all-time tournament record of 21-6 there was little reason for the school to look anywhere else to continue to lead the program. Not to mention the financial stability his success has brought the university, as athletic director Josh Berlo explained in a statement:

Under Scott’s leadership, the UMD men’s hockey program has provided incredible value through exposure on comprehensive institutional success. The program’s recent achievements have generated over $20 million in earned media attention that shines a spotlight on the impressive academics, vibrant student life, groundbreaking research and exciting faculty accomplishments at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Sandelin’s extension does however mean the Ducks must look elsewhere in their search. The team was originally expected to hand the reins over to minor league head coach Dallas Eakins, but instead are taking their time with a thorough interview process of several candidates. It is not clear where GM Bob Murray will eventually land in his decision, but we now know at least one candidate is off the board.

Ivan Barbashev To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The St. Louis Blues won game five of the Stanley Cup Final, but might lose a forward in the process. The Department of Player Safety has announced that Ivan Barbashev will have a hearing regarding an illegal check to the head of Boston Bruins forward Marcus Johansson.

Barbashev came at Johansson as he was trying to take a shot and made clear high contact, spinning the Boston player into the ice. There was no penalty on the play, but fans were immediately up in arms about the hit that seemed to snap Johansson’s head backwards. That sight is not a good one for a player that has dealt with concussion issues in the past, including one caused by Brad Marchand, now a teammate.

The Blues have been increasing the physicality of the series in each game, and there were several other incidents in last night’s affair that could have been considered by the league. Boston, who often find themselves playing the aggressor, will have to overcome this latest challenge and win on the road if they want to have a chance in the series. They’ll at least be able to avoid Barbashev, as the play will likely cause a suspension of at least one game.

Free Agent Focus: Vegas Golden Knights

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Free agency is now a little less 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.  Vegas has a pair of notable restricted free agents to re-sign this summer and extremely limited cap space to work with.  Here’s a closer look at their free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F William Karlsson – His contract situation a year ago was one of the more interesting ones of the summer considering he was coming off of his breakthrough season which was his only year of quality production.  They wound up settling on a one-year pact so he’s up for a new deal once again.  While Karlsson’s numbers dipped as expected in 2018-19, he was still productive, posting 24 goals and 32 assists, still safely in the range of a top-six forward.  He’s owed a qualifying offer of $5.25MM and the question will be how much more than that will it take to get him to agree to a long-term deal this time around?  The 26-year-old is one year away from UFA eligibility and could simply file for arbitration and take a one-year deal if talks don’t go well.

F Nikita Gusev – It’s rare that someone that has yet to play in an NHL game is considered a key RFA but it’s fair to call Gusev an exception here.  He led the KHL in scoring in 2018-19 and not by a particularly close margin.  Vegas believes that he can be a top-six forward at the NHL level and the 26-year-old will likely be looking to be paid like one after quickly burning his entry-level contract in the playoffs.  He technically has arbitration eligibility but with no track record under his belt, that would be a tough case to make in a hearing.  His case is going to be a particularly intriguing one to watch for.

Other RFAs: D Jake Bischoff, G Zach Fucale, F Alex Gallant, F Tomas Hyka, F Tobias Lindberg, F Tomas Nosek, D Jimmy Schuldt, G Malcolm Subban

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: D Deryk Engelland – When Vegas picked him up in expansion, he was viewed as someone that was probably going to be a depth part on their back end.  That hasn’t exactly happened as he has averaged over 20 minutes per game over his two seasons with the Golden Knights and was third on their back end in ATOI in 2018-19.  Forget being a depth piece, he has been a particularly important one.  He has already stated that he hopes to play for a couple more seasons at least but would like to go year-to-year and Vegas has recently tendered him an offer.  While he could make a case for a higher base salary than the $1.5MM he had this past season (plus $1MM in performance bonuses), he may have to go elsewhere to get that with their cap situation.

F Brandon Pirri – He made quite the impact after being recalled, posting 13 points in his first 11 games.  While he tapered off after that (five points in 20 contests), that strong stretch will certainly result in him getting some interest on the open market and the security of a one-way contract.  He also has shown himself to be one of the better forwards at the AHL level in recent years.  Teams that have limited cap space and need some depth on the wing will likely look Pirri’s way.

Other UFAs: F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, F Ryan Carpenter, F Daniel Carr, G Maxime Lagace, D Zac Leslie, F Brooks Macek, F Stefan Matteau, D Griffin Reinhart, F T.J. Tynan

Projected Cap Space: As a result of the many contract extensions the Golden Knights handed out over the season, they already have over $83MM committed for next season, per CapFriendly.  While David Clarkson ($5.25MM) is heading for LTIR once again, that doesn’t leave them with a lot of money to work with.  They will undoubtedly have to clear out some salary in the weeks to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

West Notes: Pavelski, Canucks, Blues

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Following their elimination at the hands of St. Louis last round, Sharks center Joe Pavelski indicated that there hadn’t been a lot of discussion regarding a new contract.  That has changed over the last couple of weeks.  He told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that there has been “a little bit of talks” and he remains optimistic that he’ll work out a deal to stay in San Jose.  The 34-year-old had a big year offensively with 38 goals, tied for the second most in his career.  That will certainly generate a lot of interest on the open market if he can’t come to terms to remain with the only NHL team he has ever known.  Pavelski made $6MM this past season and should be able to garner more than that on his next deal.

More from the West:

  • The Canucks showed some interest in winger Marcus Johansson back at the trade deadline, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic mentioned in an appearance on TSN 1040 (audio link). While Vancouver wasn’t going to go from missing the playoffs to making them with him, they were hopeful that bringing him in could give them a leg up on trying to sign him this summer when he hits unrestricted free agency next month.  Johansson was instead dealt to Boston and has certainly helped his value with a strong showing in the postseason, posting 11 points in 19 games heading into play on Thursday night.
  • The turnaround the Blues made in the second half of the season has been something to behold. As TSN’s Frank Seravalli notes though, it nearly didn’t happen as GM Doug Armstrong was close to becoming a seller before the team turned things around.  Interestingly enough, center Brayden Schenn admitted at one point that he believed that he was going to be traded to Boston.  Clearly, that didn’t happen and the 27-year-old has put up 11 points in 23 games for St. Louis so far in the postseason.

Offseason Keys: Toronto Maple Leafs

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With the postseason down to just two teams, most 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 Toronto Maple Leafs.

Last summer was certainly a big one for Toronto as they landed the biggest prize on the UFA market in center John Tavares.  That gave them plenty of optimism heading into 2018-19.  However, things didn’t go as well on the ice.  They finished third in the Atlantic Division (tied for fifth in the conference) which had them on the road against Boston in the first round where history repeated itself for the Maple Leafs with an early elimination.  Now, GM Kyle Dubas has some tricky waters to navigate this summer to keep as much of the team intact as possible with some salary cap challenges ahead and still remain in contention.  Here are the keys to their summer that could allow that to happen.

Deal With Trade Requests

It’s rare that a pair of trade requests get made public but that’s the case in Toronto, albeit for completely different reasons.  Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev cited personal reasons for his request but he also has voiced some frustration over the criticism he received over the past couple of seasons.   Meanwhile, veteran winger Patrick Marleau is also looking to get back to the Western Conference to get closer to his family.

Zaitsev still has five years remaining on his contract with a $4.5MM AAV.  While that price tag is reasonable for a top-four defender, the term left will likely scare some potential suitors off while his penchant for tough mistakes may also hurt his value.  However, with the relatively weak state of the UFA market among right-shot defenders beyond Erik Karlsson and Tyler Myers, Dubas should still be able to get reasonable value for the 27-year-old.  He doesn’t have any trade protection in his contract until July 1st (he can block a move to 10 teams after that point).  However, teams may want Toronto to pay the $3MM signing bonus he’s owed on that day which could complicate things.

The same can’t be said for Marleau, however.  While he could still help some teams, his $6.25MM AAV is on the expensive side for someone who shouldn’t be in a top-six role anymore.  What helps the cause a little bit is that part of his $3MM signing bonus is paid on July 1st, lowering his $4.25MM salary for the season.  The other instalment is due in December.  For teams that aren’t near the Upper Limit and are more budget-conscious, that could make acquiring him more palatable.  That said, it’s still likely to take a significant inducement on Toronto’s end to get a team to relieve them of the final year of Marleau’s deal and Marleau, who has a full no-move clause, still has to sign off on the swap.

Re-Sign Marner

Dubas has already called re-signing winger Mitch Marner his top priority this summer.  That’s certainly understandable considering how important he has been to the Maple Leafs already through the first three seasons of his career.  He led the team in scoring the past two seasons and had a career year in 2018-19 while finishing fourth in the league in assists (68) and 11th in points (94).  Even though he doesn’t have salary arbitration eligibility, he’s in line for a massive pay increase.

It’s that reason that Dubas would like to get something done so fast.  Not only would that eliminate any possible threat of an offer sheet (unlikely as it may be), it would also allow them to have a much clearer picture of their cap situation.  Tavares ($11MM) and Auston Matthews ($11.634MM) are at the high end in terms of AAV and while those two play the more premium position as centers, Marner’s agent Darren Ferris will undoubtedly be trying to use the fact that Marner out-produced both as justification for a comparable price tag.

It appears that Marner’s camp is intent on making it to the RFA interview period on June 26th.  While some will suggest that doing so could make him a target for an offer sheet, doing so may simply be his due diligence to get a better feel for what other teams believe his market value is.  Between that and the belief that the top restricted free agents this summer may not want to be the first to sign and set the benchmark for the others, Dubas will have his work cut out for him if he still hopes to get Marner signed as soon as possible.

Add Help On Defense

Jake Muzzin was a nice addition to Toronto’s back end in advance of the trade deadline and remains under contract for one more year.  However, there are some other holes that need to be filled this offseason to get the state of their blueline back to what it was last season, let alone improving it.

Jake Gardiner is one of the top UFA defensemen on the market this summer and will undoubtedly get larger offers elsewhere than what Toronto can afford.  Veteran Ron Hainsey may not be back either.  Travis Dermott will miss the start of the season due to shoulder surgery while Igor Ozhiganov, who was a regular through the first half of 2018-19, has returned to the KHL.  In other words, the only two returnees that were on the roster this past season are Morgan Rielly and Justin Holl, who was a healthy scratch for the majority of the year.

Some of those spots will be filled internally.  Calle Rosen had a strong year in the AHL and should be ready for a full-time spot now.  Andreas Borgman should be in the mix as well, especially if they want their better defense prospects to get more development time in the AHL.  Newcomer Teemu Kivihalme will also get a look.

Even with that, there still will need to be some additions made.  At the very least, expect Toronto to be in on a veteran depth player or two that are willing to sign for affordable one-year deals.  Beyond that, Dubas will need to be shopping for NHL-ready talent as he navigates his way through the trade market in the weeks to come.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dallas Stars Re-Sign Mattias Janmark

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The Dallas Stars have been busy today. The team has announced a one-year contract for Mattias Janmark, who was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer for the final time. Janmark will earn $2.3MM on the new deal, the same amount he was paid last season for the Stars. GM Jim Nill released a statement on the signing:

Mattias is a relentless forward who combines his tremendous skating ability with sound positioning, making him a disruptive force. He is a versatile player that can play up and down the lineup at even strength, and was one of the key members of our penalty killing group, which was a top-five unit all season.

Janmark, 26, was originally a third-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings in 2013, but ended up as part of a package exchanged for Erik Cole in 2015. He quickly became a full-time member of the Stars after that, recording 15 goals and 29 points in his rookie season. Unfortunately, a major knee surgery forced Janmark to miss all of the 2016-17 season after he was diagnosed with osteochrondritis dissecans, a genetic disorder that can affect the cartilage in his joints. He returned with a vengeance in the fall of 2017 and had an excellent season, scoring 19 goals and 34 points, but took a step back offensively this year.

Still, even with his down year in terms of goal scoring, Janmark had value to the Stars. The speedy winger averaged more penalty killing time than any forward other than Blake Comeau and Radek Faksa, and actually provided the fourth-most even-strength assists among the forward group. His massive drop in shooting percentage was a huge culprit in his goals falling off, as he shot just 5.7%, down from his previous career number of 14%. If he can bump that back up next season there is no reason he won’t be able to provide tremendous value on a $2.3MM cap hit, especially given his defensive ability.

It is interesting that the Stars re-signed Janmark so easily, given that they were “dangling” him in trade talks just a few months ago. This one-year deal could very well lead to that happening again, given that he will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. If the Stars fall out of the race, he will be an interesting trade candidate at the deadline for a team that wants to add some more depth up front, especially given his (albeit short) history at the center position and effectiveness on the penalty kill.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Draft Rankings, Skinner, Sustr

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It’s draft season, and the final rankings from several of the hockey world’s leading scouts are starting to come out. Today marked the release of Corey Pronman’s first 2019 mock draft for The Athletic (subscription required), and Craig Button’s top-31 prospects for TSN. Pronman’s mock details some of the rumblings he has heard at the draft combine and elsewhere, and interestingly notes there is still no consensus on who the Chicago Blackhawks will be taking at third overall.

While Pronman lists Alex Turcotte there hesitantly, Button has CHL defenseman Bowen Byram as the third best prospect available. More notable than that even is Button’s ranking of Cole Caufield, who has continued to fly up boards as we close in on the draft later this month. The diminutive forward climbs to fourth on the TSN list, with even more lauding of his ability to put the puck in the net.

  • Bob McKenzie of TSN will release his final draft rankings a little later in the month, but he did tweet out a note regarding Buffalo Sabres forward Jeff Skinner today. McKenzie notes that it is “crunch time” in the negotiations between Buffalo and Skinner, and expects either a deal will get done in the next few days or the sniper will wait until unrestricted free agency. The TSN insider expects an eight-year deal worth $72MM, or something thereabouts. Skinner, 27, is coming off a 40-goal season and has made it clear he does enjoy playing with the Sabres. Still, a $72MM price tag is awfully expensive for any team.
  • A report out of Russia has Andrej Sustr signing a one-year deal with Kunlun Red Star of the KHL, though there has been no formal confirmation at this point. The 28-year old defenseman is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 after his current deal expires, and spent last season almost entirely in the minor leagues. Sustr was once a full-time member of the Tampa Bay Lightning blue line, but fell out of favor and never found his footing in the Anaheim Ducks organization.

Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign J.C. Lipon

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Like with Seth Griffith earlier today, the Winnipeg Jets have re-signed a minor league forward. J.C. Lipon has agreed to terms with the Jets on a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K at the NHL level. Lipon was scheduled to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer after failing to get much of an NHL opportunity with the Jets so far in his career.

Lipon, 25, was originally selected in the third round of the 2013 draft after an impressive finish to his junior career. The winger ended up with 112 points and 135 penalty minutes that season for the Kamloops Blazers, mixing physicality and offense to make him a dangerous opponent. That mix continued in the minor leagues the next season when the overage Lipon jumped right into professional hockey, recording 42 points and 136 penalty minutes for the St. John’s IceCaps of the AHL. That kind of versatility has continued throughout his career, but with only nine games in the NHL so far the Jets have obviously not believed it can be sustained at the highest level.

Still, Lipon is an important part of the Manitoba Moose and has worn an “A” as alternate captain for the past three seasons. He’ll be back in the AHL most likely in 2019-20, unless the Jets find themselves struggling to fill the fourth line after their upcoming cap crunch. At the very worst, he’ll provide some depth for the team in case of injury.

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