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Archives for August 2019

Senators Engaged In Extension Talks With Thomas Chabot

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After signing forward Colin White to a six-year, $28.5MM extension last week, GM Pierre Dorion and the Ottawa Senators have turned their attention to talented young defenseman Thomas Chabot. Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that the Senators have entered talks with Chabot about a new contract. Chabot’s entry-level contract expires after this coming season, but the team likely wants to avoid a difficult negotiation with their young star. However, whileDorion was happy to talk to Garrioch about White, he kept things close to the chest when it came to Chabot:

In the case of Colin White we were able to keep everything very confidential and we were able to get a contract done. We don’t think talking publicly about any contract negotiations, whether it’s Chabot or any pending UFA, does us any good. But we understand the importance of our young core and having them in Ottawa as long as possible… We’re going to keep (Chabot details) quiet, we’ve had discussions and I don’t want think I should say anymore.

The 22-year-old Chabot recorded a whopping 55 points in 70 games in just his second NHL season in 2018-19, including a team-high 41 assists. In total, Chabot has accumulated 80 points through his first 134 NHL games and is considered one of the best young offensive defensemen in the game. With so many departures from Ottawa over the last six months, the pressure will be on Chabot to take on an even bigger role moving forward. With that also comes the opportunity to produce even more offense on a Senators blue line largely devoid of any other established puck-movers.

Whereas White currently is owed more money than any other player on the Ottawa roster, that title will likely be short-lived. With the likes of Charlie McAvoy and Zach Werenski currently sitting unsigned and reportedly eyeing Jacob Trouba’s recent seven-year, $56MM contract as a comparable, Chabot is likely to land in that group as well. Owner Eugene Melnyk has been cautious about committing to large contracts over the last few years, but if he wants to hold on to the new Erik Karlsson, he will have to pay up for Chabot. Fortunately, the team has already begun negotiations, as it could be a long, arduous process.

Minor Transactions: 08/26/19

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Many prominent free agents, restricted and unrestricted, remain unsigned, but the NHL markets largely remain relatively quiet. However, minor league teams, foreign clubs, and college programs continue to make make moves in preparation for the coming season. Keep up with all of those minor transactions here:

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs announced their roster for their upcoming prospects tournament today, which included a slew of recent draft picks as well as recently signed young players. It also featured a large group of prospects currently signed to AHL deals with the Toronto Marlies, including two previously unreported extensions. According to the roster, incumbent forwards Ryan Moore and Hudson Elynuik have re-signed with the Marlies. Moore, 22, played in just one AHL game last season, but was effective in the ECHL just as he was at the junior level, despite a diminutive frame. He’ll be hoping to impress in the tournament in hopes of getting a chance to show his size won’t limit him at the next level either. Elynuik, 21, was a third-round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2016, but the team opted not to sign him. In his first pro season last year, the massive center skated in ten games with the Marlies and was a near point-per-game scorer in the ECHL. He should be ready to take on a larger role in the AHL this coming season.
  • Philip Samuelsson is headed overseas. The 28-year-old defenseman, one of three hockey-playing sons of Ulf Samuelsson, has done all he can to stick in North America for several years. A second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009 and a standout at Boston College, Samuelsson entered the pro game with high expectations. However, over his eight-year career to date, Samuelsson has been almost entirely relegated to the AHL, skating in just 13 total NHL games and recording zero points. In fact, Samuelsson failed to even land an NHL contract last season, playing with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on a minor league pact. The Swedish-American defender has been a solid AHL contributor, but is looking for more in his career. He hopes to find it with Mountfield HK of the Czech Extraliga, who announced a one-year deal today. Samuelsson will undoubtedly be one of the best players on the team, but the question is whether he will be dominant enough at the top Czech pro level to turn any heads back in the NHL.
  • Anyone hoping for an NHL return for Damien Brunner can put those thoughts to rest. The 33-year-old Swiss forward has signed a three-year extension with the NLA’s EHC Biel-Bienne, the team announced, all but guaranteeing that his days in North America are over. After dominating the NLA early in his career, Brunner made the jump to the NHL in 2012. He enjoyed a pair of strong – albeit injury-riddled – seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils, totaling 51 points in 101 regular season games and a great 2013 postseason with five goals and nine points in 14 games. However, as soon as that production began to slip in his third NHL season, Brunner returned to Switzerland. As he continued to struggle with injuries, Brunner failed to re-gain his dominant form over the last few years. That is until last season, when he notched 37 points in 50 games for a well-timed bounce back campaign in a contract year. Biel-Bienne clearly did not want to lose their veteran leader, locking him down on a multi-year deal, something no NHL team would have entertained.

Poll: Who Are The Best Goaltenders In The NHL?

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Earlier this month the NHL Network started their annual exercise rating the top players in the NHL by position, and gave us Connor McDavid, Nikita Kucherov and Brent Burns as the best players in the world at their respective spots. The rest of the lists created such debate that we polled the members of the PHR community and came up with our own rankings, which differed quite a bit. In fact, our readers decided that there should be a different top name on each list, putting Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin and Victor Hedman in the top spots.

Most recently we asked our readers to select the best 20 defensemen in the NHL. Our PHR community-voted Top 20 Defensemen list currently looks like this:

  1. Victor Hedman (760 votes)
  2. Brent Burns (715 votes)
  3. Erik Karlsson (643 votes)
  4. Drew Doughty (565 votes)
  5. Mark Giordano (481 votes)
  6. Roman Josi (446 votes)
  7. Seth Jones (427 votes)
  8. Alex Pietrangelo (406 votes)
  9. P.K. Subban (332 votes)
  10. Morgan Rielly (330 votes)
  11. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (294 votes)
  12. John Carlson (257 votes)
  13. Shea Weber (248 votes)
  14. Charlie McAvoy (206 votes)
  15. Kris Letang (196 votes)
  16. Dustin Byfuglien (174 votes)
  17. Colton Parayko (172 votes)
  18. John Klingberg (151 votes)
  19. Jacob Trouba (140 votes)
  20. Aaron Ekblad (137 votes)

Now, the network has released their ranking of the best goaltenders in the NHL and the debate is red hot once again. Andrei Vasilevskiy probably doesn’t turn many heads after his first Vezina Trophy at the age of 24 but things quickly become less clear following the Tampa Bay Lightning netminder. The network brings in Sergei Bobrovsky, Ben Bishop and Carey Price in the next three spots, three goaltenders who have certainly had their ups and downs over the last several seasons. The $70MM man in Bobrovsky was recently rewarded for his play, but 2018-19 actually marked the lowest save percentage he’s ever had in a healthy season at .913. Bishop meanwhile put up an incredible .934 to lead the league last season but had been completely out of Vezina conversation the previous two.

Price always brings with him quite a bit of debate, and this year is no different. There is obvious all-world talent in the Montreal Canadiens goaltender but there have been real inconsistency issues over the last two seasons as he battled injury. A nice bounce back to a .918 save percentage and 35 wins put him back in the conversation for the best goaltender in the world, but at least on this list he’s now been passed by three others.

Perhaps most notable on the list is the inclusion of Stanley Cup winner Jordan Binnington, who had played just a single NHL game before his magical run in 2018-19. Binnington helped turn around the entire season for the St. Louis Blues and then took them all the way to their first championship in franchise history. There’s no doubt that Binnington played at a level that put him among the best in the world last season, but with such a short resume it’s hard to know if that success can continue.

Just like our other polls, we want the PHR community to let us know who the best goaltenders in the world are. Like the last poll, we’ll ask you to select just 10 names.  Make sure to leave a comment below on who you think deserves to be recognized, or your thoughts on how the other three polls ended. We’ve included many names that could be considered, but if you think we’ve missed someone important (which we undoubtedly have) make sure to leave his name down below.

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Tyler Pitlick Out Four Weeks Following Surgery

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The Philadelphia Flyers will be without newcomer Tyler Pitlick in training camp after he underwent wrist surgery last week. Pitlick will start rehab next month and is expected to be out four weeks. The injury was suffered during offseason training, but to the same wrist that Pitlick had surgery on just six months ago.

Philadelphia acquired Pitlick from the Dallas Stars in exchange for the rights to Ryan Hartman earlier this offseason—who ended up going unqualified and eventually signed with the Minnesota Wild—and was expected to compete for playing time in the bottom-six this season. The 27-year old is on the final season of a three-year contract that carries a $1MM salary but played just 47 games for the Stars last season and scored 12 points. With several young Flyers prospects ready to fight for roster spots there was never a guarantee that Pitlick would get a full-time role, and missing training camp with his second wrist surgery only complicates things.

A four-week timeline would have Pitlick back in time for the regular season, but without a training camp he may have difficulty ramping up to game speed in time to be on the opening night roster. He’ll have to work hard in his rehab and compete in whatever chance he gets with the team to show he can make a positive impact on the NHL roster. The team could likely send him to the AHL for a conditioning stint at the beginning of the season, which would also give them a chance to try out some of the young players like Morgan Frost or German Rubtsov.

Scottie Upshall To Sign PTO With Dallas Stars

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The team at the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast have now moved on to breaking news, as they reported this weekend that veteran forward Scottie Upshall would be attending Dallas Stars camp on a professional tryout. Today, Sean Shapiro of The Athletic confirmed the report.

Upshall, 35, didn’t play last season thanks to a knee injury that caused him to fail his physical with the Edmonton Oilers in training camp. He had been signed to a PTO by the Oilers as well, something that he’s used to at this point after going through it several times in the last few years. There’s good reason for interest in Upshall even without any games played last season as he was previously a pretty effective bottom-six player for more than a decade.

Originally drafted sixth overall in 2002, Upshall never did quite live up to the high expectations put on him after an excellent junior career with the WHL. Even without his offensive game really blooming at the NHL level however, the feisty forward carved out a long career and played 759 regular season games for six different teams. Most recently he suited up 63 times in 2017-18 with the St. Louis Blues and recorded 19 points.

A PTO certainly does not guarantee Upshall a spot on the Dallas roster, but it does provide a place for him to show he can still hack it at the NHL level and perhaps secure a contract somewhere around the league. If the Stars believe he could be a valuable depth option perhaps it will be them who would offer that deal, but you can bet several teams will be keeping an eye on him.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Florida Panthers Agree To Terms With Denis Malgin

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The restricted free agent market is still frozen, but for the Florida Panthers things have thawed just a bit. Denis Malgin has agreed to terms with the Panthers on a new one-year, one-way contract. He will still be a restricted free agent at the end of the deal, but will be eligible for salary arbitration.

Malgin, 22, has played at least 47 games for the Panthers in each of his three seasons in the NHL including 50 in 2018-19. The 5’9″ forward registered seven goals and 16 points during those contests, playing just under 13 minutes a night. The question now becomes whether he can take a step forward and become a more valuable part of the Panthers’ offense, even with the loaded top-six the team will ice this season.

Originally selected in the fourth round of the 2015 draft, Malgin seemed like a long-shot to even make the NHL at all. His small stature and lack of any real dominance in the Swiss leagues made it hard to know exactly what he could bring, but the Panthers gave him the chance in 2016 after some very strong international appearances and he ran with it. With a one-way deal you can bet he’s penciled into the opening day roster, though where exactly he fits in now that Brett Connolly and Noel Acciari have been added isn’t clear. The Florida training camp will be extremely interesting to watch this season as young players like Malgin, Henrik Borgstrom, Jayce Hawryluk and Owen Tippett battle for playing time.

Malgin was the Panthers final restricted free agent left to sign.

Snapshots: Mattheos, McDavid, Rantanen

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Carolina Hurricanes prospect Stelio Mattheos will not be taking part in the team’s training camp this year, as he instead will be completing treatment for testicular cancer. Mattheos was diagnosed in June and has already undergone surgery and multiple courses of chemotherapy. He is expected to return to full health. The 20-year old forward released a statement through the team:

I’d like to thank everyone who reached out to offer support and well wishes since the diagnosis. I’ve had amazing support from my friends, family, teammates, coaches and all of the hockey organizations I’ve been a part of, including the Hurricanes, Checkers and Brandon Wheat Kings.

I owe a debt of gratitude to my surgeon, Dr. Sabeer Rehsia, and all of the staff at Grace Hospital, as well as Dr. Piotr Czaykowski at Cancer Care Manitoba and all of the nurses on the chemotherapy ward.

The third-round pick from 2017 got his first taste of professional hockey earlier this year when he joined the Charlotte Checkers for their stretch drive and playoff run that eventually ended in a Calder Cup championship. The former WHL standout was expected to compete for a bigger role with Charlotte this season but will obviously be taking care of his health first.

  • Speaking of missing part of training camp, alarm bells went up today when Connor McDavid decided not to take part in the annual BioSteel camp in Toronto. Edmonton Oilers fans can breathe however as McDavid explained to reporters including Mark Masters of TSN that he has not suffered any setbacks in his recovery from a knee injury suffered late in the season. The Oilers star has been on the ice for the last couple of months and is working towards his goal of being on the ice at the beginning of training camp next month.
  • Mikko Rantanen doesn’t have a contract yet and will likely not be attending Colorado Avalanche training camp without one, but that doesn’t mean he’s not on the ice. The Storhamar Dragons in Norway tweeted today that Rantanen has been skating with them. Unsigned restricted free agents often find a place to skate and train while their contracts are negotiated, like we saw with William Nylander throughout the first part of last season. Mitch Marner recently was connected to the Zurich Lions, and many of the other names on the RFA list will likely follow suit if their deals aren’t completed soon.

Oscar Lindberg Signs In Switzerland

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The Ottawa Senators won’t be bringing back forward Oscar Lindberg, as he signed today with EV Zug of the Swiss NLA. The deal is for one year with an option for 2020-21, and will end his run in the NHL for now.

Lindberg, 27, split last season between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Senators, suiting up 55 times and recording 20 points. In 252 career NHL regular season contests he has 79 points, but will now take his talents overseas to see if he can build up his value. Originally selected in the second round in 2010, he was a dominant presence in the AHL but has struggled to find any consistency over the last several seasons. In 2017 he signed a two-year contract with the Golden Knights worth a total of $3.4MM, but likely failed to find a huge market after his disappointing recent play.

That’s not to say that there won’t be a chance for Lindberg to return to the NHL. The Swedish winger has at very least proven that he can fill a bottom-six spot, though his skill set suggests that he may be better suited to a more offensive role. He’ll certainly find that opportunity in Switzerland, something that could change some minds and lead to a return next summer if he chooses to pursue the NHL once again.

Cody McLeod Signs In AHL

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The run of eleven consecutive seasons in the NHL appears to be coming to an end for Cody McLeod. The 35-year old forward has signed an AHL contract with the Iowa Wild along with Olivier Archambault and Kyle Bauman. McLeod played last season with the New York Rangers and Nashville Predators.

Undrafted out of the WHL, McLeod battled his way through the minor leagues before breaking into the NHL as an enforcer for the Colorado Avalanche in the 2007-08 season. A scrappy fourth-line player that could chip in now and again he actually recorded a career-high 15 goals in his sophomore season, but was known more for his physical presence and fisticuffs than anything else. Across a 776-game NHL career, McLeod has recorded 1,630 penalty minutes and 127 points. The last time he played in the AHL was during that 2007-08 season with the Lake Erie Monsters.

Archambeault and Bauman meanwhile are just depth options for the Wild, though the latter comes with a solid college pedigree. The 26-year old Bauman played four years at Bemidji State University and captained the team during the 2017-18 season before making his professional debut. In his first full AHL season last year he recorded 18 points in 67 games for the Ontario Reign.

Gabriel Bourque Signs With Winnipeg Jets

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The Winnipeg Jets have signed free agent forward Gabriel Bourque to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will carry a salary of $700K in the NHL. Bourque has played the last three seasons in the Colorado Avalanche organization and will be joining his third NHL team overall.

Bourque, 28, was originally selected in the fifth round of the 2009 draft by the Nashville Predators, but continued to develop in their system and eventually found himself as an NHL regular. In parts of five seasons with the Predators, the former QMJHL star recorded 78 points in 242 games before failing to receive a qualifying offer in 2016. A free agent, Bourque decided to sign a one-year deal with the Avalanche which turned into two subsequent contracts, each only lasting a year. In Colorado he was a regular once again, and played 55 games last season before taking part in all 12 of the team’s postseason contests. He registered just nine points in those 67 games, but was a staple on the penalty kill.

Now joining his third Central Division team, Bourque will try to carve out a similar role in a new organization. The Jets have lost depth forwards like Brendan Lemieux, Brandon Tanev and Nic Petan over the last several months and may have an opportunity for a fourth-line player like Bourque to see regular minutes. His minimum NHL salary will only help them fit under the cap once Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor are signed, though players he will battle like Mark Letestu and J.C. Lipon have the same advantage of being a bit cheaper than some other minor league players.

The Jets actually have just nine forwards penciled into their NHL roster at the moment without Laine and Connor signed, meaning there will be plenty of competition for the last few spots. Bourque will need to clear waivers in order to be sent to the minor leagues, though he has done so several times in the past.

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