Archives for September 2019

Waivers: 9/28/19

September 28, 2019 at 11:48 am CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

With the start of the season now less than a week away, the waiver wire continues to be busy. Here is a listing of the players on waivers today, per TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie (Twitter link):

Detroit Red Wings

F Turner Elson
D Joe Hicketts
D Brian Lashoff
D Dylan McIlrath
G Calvin Pickard
F Matt Puempel
F Chris Terry
F Dominic Turgeon

Nashville Predators

F Frederick Gaudreau
D Jarred Tinordi

Toronto Maple Leafs

F Pontus Aberg
F Tyler Gaudet
D Ben Harpur
D Jordan Schmaltz

In addition, all of the players that were on waivers yesterday have cleared, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link).

Minor Transactions: 09/28/19

September 28, 2019 at 10:27 am CDT | by Zach Leach Leave a Comment

As teams finish their final week of preparation before the 2019-20 season, there will likely be several transactions around the league. Alongside of NHL camp cuts, there are recalls and reassignments for preseason action, AHL camp decisions, and even some teams at both levels still looking to fill out their rosters with a signing or two. As always, we’ll keep track of all those moves right here:

The same group of players recalled by the Nashville Predators yesterday to suit up for their preseason game have been returned: Rem Pitlick, Anthony Richard, Eeli Tolvanen, Yakov Trenin, Josh Wilkins, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Davies and Ken Appleby. However, the team added that Appleby has formally been released from his PTO contract. He will head to the Milwaukee Admirals with the rest of the group, but is now solely property of the AHL club.
The St. Louis Blues are already making standard recall transactions, although it’s unclear if the move is anything more than a personnel change for the preseason finale. The Blues announced that defenseman Jake Walman has been sent down to the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage, essentially being cut from training camp, but that forward Alexey Toropchenko has been recalled in his place. The first-year pro had been previously dismissed from camp, but will get another chance to impress the St. Louis brass.
From heir apparent to fifth string, goaltender Spencer Martin has had a tough year or so. Last off-season, the 2013 third-round pick looked like he might be in line for the backup role with the Colorado Avalanche. Instead, the Avs traded for Philipp Grubauer and signed Pavel Francouz. Martin sat behind Francouz, an AHL All-Star, all year and then was not extended a qualifying offer from Colorado. Martin signed as a UFA early this summer with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who at the time had only two goalies slotted above him on the depth chart. Since then, the Bolts have traded for Mike Condon and signed Curtis McElhinney. With Condon and Louis Domingue both established NHL veterans currently confined to the AHL, today’s move was inevitable, but still a tough blow for Martin. The 24-year-old was reassigned to the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears, the Syracuse Crunch announced. Another former top prospect, Zach Fucale, has also been sent down to Orlando. The duo will likely be relegated to the ECHL for much of the season, barring an injury or trade. It’s certainly not the future imagined for Martin just a few short years ago.
The Blue Jackets have recalled winger Eric Robinson from Cleveland (AHL), reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. He has already been cut this preseason but is expected to suit up in their final exhibition game on Sunday before being sent back down.
The Florida Panthers announced that they have recalled forward Anthony Greco from the Springfield Thunderbirds of the AHL. The 25-year-old was cut from the NHL camp on Thursday, but may get a chance to prove himself again. Greco scored 59 goals over the past two seasons with Springfield, but has only made one NHL appearance so far.

QMJHL To Retire Sidney Crosby’s No. 87 League-Wide

September 28, 2019 at 9:32 am CDT | by Zach Leach 4 Comments

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League announced a major honor for one of the best players in the game last night. Commissioner Gilles Courteau revealed that, beginning with the 2020-21 season, the No. 87 will be retired league-wide out of respect for the “contributions to the QMJHL and to hockey” of one Sidney Crosby.

Crosby, undoubtedly one of the biggest names in the NHL right now and perhaps one of the greatest players of all time, started to make a name for himself in hockey in the QMJHL 15 years ago. The Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia native debuted in 2003-04 with Rimouski Oceanic. While he only played two seasons of junior hockey, Crosby recorded a jaw-dropping 303 points over those two years with Rimouski. Since departing from the league to join the NHL, no QMJHLer has been able to top Crosby’s 168-point sophomore season and only one player has managed to surpass his 135-point debut campaign. Crosby’s time in the QMJHL represented two of the best seasons in the modern era of the league’s history. In fact, he is the only player to earn league MVP honors in back-to-back seasons. Crosby was named the third best player in all of QMJHL history last year, during the league’s 50th Anniversary celebration, behind only Guy LaFleur and mentor and Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemieux.

Since he left the QMJHL, Crosby has managed to make his unbelievable junior production look like only a minor footnote on his tremendous career. Crosby has been the captain of the Penguins since 2007-08 and has led the team to three Stanley Cup championships in that time. He has averaged 1.3 points per game over his NHL career, including six different 100+ point seasons, totaling 1216 points in 943 games. Crosby is an eight-time All-Star who has won two Hart Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, two Maurice Richard Trophies, and two Conn Smythe Trophies, as well as a total of five gold medals across the Olympics, World Championships, and World Juniors. And he’s still not done. Crosby shows no signs of slowing down and there are surely more accolades to come in his storied career. In selecting a true game-changing talent to honor with a league-wide jersey retirement, the QMJHL could not have done better than to choose Sidney Crosby, whose iconic No. 87 will now be immortalized forever in the league.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Ottawa Senators

September 27, 2019 at 8:56 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2019-20 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Ottawa Senators

Current Cap Hit: $71,234,999 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Drake Batherson (two years, $737K)
F Logan Brown (two years, $863K)
D Thomas Chabot (one year, $863K)
D Christian Jaros (one year, $755K)
F Brady Tkachuk (two years, $925K)

Potential Bonuses

Batherson: $20K
Brown: $710K
Chabot: $360K
Tkachuk: $2.5MM

Tkachuk had a strong rookie campaign with 45 points while providing some size and physicality at the top of their lineup. With their trade deadline moves from last season, it paved the way for Tkachuk to take on a bigger role. He’s likely to see some time on the top line this year and at this stage, his next contract could be similar to the one his brother signed, if not higher. Brown had a good first pro campaign in the minors and will be looking to lock down an NHL role this season. He’s someone that will need to get some NHL time before assessing what his next contract could look like. Batherson averaged over a point per game in the minors last year and didn’t look out of place in his time with Ottawa and a full-time spot is on the horizon for him. If his AHL production translates to the NHL, he could be in line for a nice second contract.

Chabot has quickly blossomed into a top pairing defender and has signed a new contract that will be covered later. Jaros held down a depth role last season and figures to be in the mix for that same spot in 2019-20. That should get him a bit of a raise next summer but stay-at-home defenders don’t have a high earning upside.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

G Craig Anderson ($4.75MM, UFA)
F Mikkel Boedker ($4MM, UFA)
F Mark Borowiecki ($1.2MM, UFA)
F Connor Brown ($2.1MM, RFA)
F Ryan Callahan ($5.8MM, UFA)
D Dylan DeMelo ($900K, UFA)
F Anthony Duclair ($1.65MM, RFA)
F Tyler Ennis ($800K, UFA)
D Ron Hainsey ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Clarke MacArthur ($4.65MM, UFA)
F Jean-Gabriel Pageau ($3.1MM, UFA)
F Chris Tierney ($2.938MM, RFA)

Boedker was brought last offseason as a salary offset as part of the Mike Hoffman trade but the change of scenery didn’t help as he scored just seven goals last season. He is looking at a sizable pay cut one year from now. Pageau is coming off a tough year on the injury front but he has emerged as a quality third line center that can win draws, kill penalties, and score some timely goals. That will make him highly coveted at the trade deadline and on the open market next summer where he should be in line for a bit of a raise. Tierney made the most of his larger role in Ottawa to put up a career year in points. A repeat performance would go a long way towards bolstering his arbitration case where a deal north of $4MM could be on the horizon. Brown saw his production drop the last couple of years in Toronto but he’ll have a chance to play a bigger role this season. He’ll need to become a bigger offensive threat if he wants to get top-six money. Duclair fit in surprisingly well after being a late-season acquisition which earned him a nice raise a summer ago. Even a repeat of his 2018-19 output (33 points in 74 games) would really help position himself for a multi-year deal and some job security. Ennis should get a chance to have a bit bigger of a role than he did with Toronto but he’s probably someone who will be signing this type of deal one year from now. Callahan and MacArthur have already been ruled out for the year and will be retiring officially when their contract expires. Insurance will cover the majority of their deals.

Hainsey was brought in to mentor some of their younger blueliners and figures to be a potential trade candidate by February. At 38, it’s hard to imagine he’ll get a bigger contract than this one but if he can hold up around 20 minutes a night again, he should be able to land another decent deal next summer. Borowiecki has been with the Sens for his entire career and if he’s willing to accept a similar contract to this one to stay on their third pairing, he’ll probably stick around. DeMelo did pretty well with a bigger role than he had in San Jose and that should help position himself for a considerably higher payday next summer.

This may be the final year for Anderson who will be 39 by the time his contract expires. If nothing else, he could be someone a team looks to acquire if one of their goalies gets injured for a lengthy period of time between now and the trade deadline.

Two Years Remaining

F Artem Anisimov ($4.55MM, UFA)
F Marian Gaborik ($4.875MM, UFA)
G Anders Nilsson ($2.6MM, UFA)
D Christian Wolanin ($900K, RFA)

Anisimov was brought in this summer to give Ottawa a bit more of an offensive threat down the middle while saving some money in salary paid at the same time. However, he’s not the player he was just a few years ago with Chicago so it’s unlikely he’ll be able to get a contract close to this on the open market. Like Callahan and MacArthur, Gaborik isn’t expected to play again and will be on IR for the next two years.

Wolanin will miss most of this season after undergoing shoulder surgery. His deal converts to a one-way pact for 2020-21 and he should be able to land a full-time roster spot for that season. However, if he’s just in a depth role, he’ll have a hard time commanding much more than his qualifying offer.

Nilsson struggled with Vancouver last year but did a bit better with the Senators after being acquired in a midseason swap. He’s expected to be in a platoon role with Anderson this year and if he does well enough to remain in a timeshare next season, a raise two years from now might not be out of the question.

Three Years Remaining

F Bobby Ryan ($7.25MM, UFA)

There was once a time that Ottawa believed that Ryan could be a centerpiece for their franchise for years to come after they signed him to this deal following one season with the team. He had a couple of okay but underwhelming seasons thereafter before things went completely off the rails. Ryan has battled injuries in two of the last three years while failing to score more than 15 goals in any of those, hardly the type of return they were looking for from someone making top line money. Their cap space makes it unlikely that they’ll need to buy him out but he’s a player that they will try to give a fresh scenery to at some point over the next three years if they can find a taker for his cap hit.

Four Or More Years Remaining

D Thomas Chabot ($8MM through 2027-28, contract begins in 2020-21)
F Colin White ($4.75MM through 2024-25)
D Nikita Zaitsev ($4.5MM through 2023-24)

White’s first full NHL season was a good one as he established himself as a legitimate top-six option for the foreseeable future. That was enough to get GM Pierre Dorion to commit the largest contract that he had handed out…at least for a few weeks.

Chabot will soon be playing under the largest post-entry-level contract given to a defenseman in league history, surpassing Aaron Ekblad’s $7.5MM AAV in Florida. He thrived despite being thrown to the wolves on the top pairing and while the price tag may be a bit high at the beginning, it locks him up through the prime of his career and as their prospects develop to improve their depth, that should help him become that much better. Zaitsev has not fared well in the first two years of this contract and he’ll be counted on to play an even bigger role with Ottawa. If he can improve, they’ll get a decent return on this deal but if not, it could be a tough one to move out.

Buyouts

F Alexandre Burrows ($0 cap hit but they are paying out $833K in salary; the full cap hit was absorbed last season)
D Dion Phaneuf ($729K in 2019-20, $1.354MM in 2020-21, $354K in 2021-22 and 2022-23)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

None

Best Value: Tierney
Worst Value: Ryan

Looking Ahead

The Senators have managed to get above the cap floor for the upcoming season which was the talking point heading into the summer but they’re in no danger of surpassing the Upper Limit anytime soon. They will have to spend a fair bit more before long though with Chabot’s new deal plus Tkachuk’s on the horizon. Ottawa is very well-positioned in terms of flexibility with only a few long-term contracts on the books which bodes well for them if they decide to try to spend to add a core piece or two down the road. That should give them some hope for the future even though the upcoming season may not be the most successful in the standings.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Atlantic Notes: Ericsson, Balcers, Canadiens, Nordstrom

September 27, 2019 at 7:02 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

The Red Wings aren’t sure whether or not defenseman Jonathan Ericsson will be ready for the start of the regular season, notes Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. He’s dealing with a soft tissue injury sustained early in training camp and has already been ruled out of their final two preseason games. That could pave the way for youngster Dennis Cholowski to break camp with Detroit but it would likely be on a short-term basis as he is waiver-exempt so having him as a reserve wouldn’t make too much sense from a development perspective.

Snapshots: Rieder, Paquette, Perry

September 27, 2019 at 5:04 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 17 Comments

The Calgary Flames are in talks with the agent for Tobias Rieder according to Eric Francis of Sportsnet, after the free agent forward impressed on a professional tryout. Rieder failed to receive a qualifying offer from the Edmonton Oilers this summer after he infamously scored zero goals in 67 games with them last season. The 26-year old had tallied at least 12 in each of his previous NHL seasons.

After signing Matthew Tkachuk earlier this week, the Flames are in quite the tight financial situation and would need to clear someone else off the roster to fit in Rieder even on a minimum $700K deal. Given that he needed to take a PTO in the first place however, there seems to be a good chance that they could get Rieder through waivers and have him in the minor leagues as some useful depth if they chose to go that direction.

The NHL has fined Tampa Bay Lightning forward Cedric Paquette $2,500 for high-sticking Florida Panthers forward Frank Vatrano last night. This the first and only supplementary discipline the NHL has given out during the preseason, something that Vancouver Canucks fans won’t be very happy with after Chris Tierney hit Brock Boeser from behind, resulting in a concussion for the young forward. For Paquette, this isn’t the first time he’s been involved with the Department of Player Safety, but his on-the-edge play is something the Lightning value given the lack of physicality elsewhere in the lineup.
Corey Perry could need another week before his fractured foot is re-evaluated, meaning he likely won’t be ready for the start of the regular season. Dallas Stars reporter Mike Heika notes that things should be more clear tomorrow, but regardless, this is a disappointing start to what was supposed to be a bounce-back season for the veteran forward. Perry was bought out by the Anaheim Ducks earlier this summer and signed a one-year, $1.5MM deal that could climb all the way to $3.25MM if he hits all of the performance bonuses. In terms of the ones given for games played, Perry needs only 50 to secure a total of $1.25MM.

Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag

September 27, 2019 at 4:00 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 26 Comments

The 2019-20 NHL regular season is just over a week away and there are still several top restricted free agents unsigned. Even without those players in camp however, teams are completing their final preparations for what should be an extremely exciting year. Teams like the New York Rangers and Arizona Coyotes have big aspirations as they try to get back to the playoffs, while perennial contenders like the Boston Bruins and Nashville Predators will try to overcome that final hurdle.

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 you get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through as many as possible when the mailbag runs on the weekend.

If you missed our last edition it was split into two parts you can read here and here. In the first part, Brian tackled questions regarding salary cap projections, the Washington Capitals pending free agents and of course touched on the RFA situations. In the second, he speculated on where he thought Jesse Puljujarvi would fit and gave some predictions on potential surprise playoff teams.

Ottawa Senators Sign Scott Sabourin

September 27, 2019 at 1:42 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 20 Comments

The Ottawa Senators have decided that Scott Sabourin has done enough to deserve a contracting, signing the veteran AHL forward to a one-year two-way contract. Sabourin had been in training camp on a professional tryout. The deal is worth $700K at the NHL level.

Now 27, Sabourin has carved out quite the career for himself after going undrafted. Taking on a physical role, he has played 308 AHL contests and recorded 646 penalty minutes. His pesky forechecking style and willingness to drop the gloves endeared himself to Senators fans in training camp, and he’ll get a chance to continue showing what he can do this season.

His two-way deal by no means guarantees any time in the NHL, but for a team like Ottawa that is using this season as a development track, having a player like Sabourin wouldn’t be the worst idea. With so many young players expected in the lineup, the veteran could help them along with anything he’s learned over his years in professional hockey while being a sort of protection on the ice.

Winnipeg Jets Sign Patrik Laine

September 27, 2019 at 12:27 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 8 Comments

The Patrik Laine saga is over as the Winnipeg Jets have signed the star forward to a two-year deal. The contract will carry an average annual value of $6.75MM. Craig Custance of The Athletic confirms that it will pay Laine $6MM in 2019-20 and $7.5MM in 2020-21.

Laine, 21, secured the same number that Brayden Point did earlier this month, but for one fewer year thanks to his huge goal totals in the NHL since entering in 2016. The second overall pick in 2016, Laine immediately burst onto the scenes with one of the most lethal shots on the league and the ability to get to dangerous spots in order to unleash it. With 36 goals as a rookie he came second in Calder Trophy voting and followed it up with an outstanding 44-goal, 70-point sophomore year. That included a league-leading 20 goals on the powerplay, where Laine seemingly took up residence in Alex Ovechkin’s left-circle mansion.

Unfortunately, basically every offensive statistic declined for Laine in 2018-19 (except for shots, amazingly). Suddenly an extremely inconsistent offensive player, he went long stretches without a single goal and recorded 18 of his 30 total in a 12-game stretch through November. That consistency simply has to get better if Laine ever wants to become the elite talent he has shown flashes of, and return to the upper-echelon of stars in the NHL.

If he does get back there, this two-year bridge deal could certainly pay off for him. He’ll already become Winnipeg’s second-highest paid player (at least while Kyle Connor remains unsigned) for this season ahead of Mark Scheifele but behind captain Blake Wheeler, and could potentially sign an extremely lucrative long-term deal down the road. He’ll have two years of restricted free agency left after this deal expires, but will have arbitration rights as well, meaning another situation like this is extremely unlikely.

The question now becomes if Laine is ready to jump right into game action with the Jets starting next week. Even with a two-year window, he needs to start performing right away if he wants to put this difficult negotiation behind him and set himself up to earn the most he possibly can.

For the Jets, it was extremely important to get Laine back under contract before the season started. After losing Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers, Ben Chiarot, Brandon Tanev and potentially Dustin Byfuglien this summer, the team looks completely different and thin at several positions. Had the year begun without Laine or Connor under contract they would be even more undermanned and at an extreme disadvantage in the Central Division playoff race.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Transactions: 09/27/19

September 27, 2019 at 11:33 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

As teams finish their final week of preparation before the 2019-20 season, there will likely be several transactions around the league. As always, we’ll keep track of all those moves right here:

All of the players from yesterday have cleared waivers and can now be assigned to the minor leagues.
The Nashville Predators have recalled eight players before their preseason finale against the Carolina Hurricanes. Rem Pitlick, Anthony Richard, Eeli Tolvanen, Yakov Trenin, Josh Wilkins, Alexandre Carrier, Jeremy Davies and Ken Appleby have all been called up for the time being, though they had already been cut from the roster and will likely not open the season with Nashville.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins have signed Steven Oleksy to a professional tryout, bringing in the familiar face for a chance at an AHL contract. Oleksy played two seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and wore an “A” as an alternate captain during his time there.
The Calgary Flames have returned the same eight players they recalled yesterday to the AHL, along with Jon Gillies who cleared waivers earlier today. These players had already been cut from the training camp roster, but filled in for the team as they continued the preseason.
The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled 18 players from the AHL for tomorrow’s game against the Boston Bruins. Among them are several names that will continue to try and land NHL jobs throughout the season and some more veteran minor league players. This group will be sent back down before the start of the season.

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