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San Jose Sharks Sign Timur Ibragimov

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The San Jose Sharks continue to complete contract negotiations as they wait for the NHL season to resume at some point. Today, they have signed Timur Ibragimov to a three-year, entry-level contract. Sharks GM Doug Wilson released a short statement on his newest prospect:

Timur is a fast, physical winger with a nose for then net. He uses his quickness to beat players up the ice and is hard to play against. We are confident his speed, shot, and work ethic will be assets to this organization.

Ibragimov, 19, marks the fifth signing the Sharks have made since the NHL hit pause on the regular season. The sixth-round pick from 2019 made his VHL debut (the Russian AHL equivalent) this season and recorded 13 points in 35 games for SKA. That performance may not seem all that impressive, but when you consider how young he was it obviously was strong enough for the Sharks to believe he has a future in North American professional hockey.

There is still a long way to go in the development of Ibragimov, but it’s not every day you find his mix of skating ability and physicality in an offensive-minded player. The raw tools are there, but the Sharks organization will need to put them all in the right places for him to contribute at the NHL level.

Los Angeles Kings Parting Ways With Mike Futa

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Despite having a draft coming at some point in the next few months, the Los Angeles Kings are parting ways with assistant GM Mike Futa, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Futa has been rumored as a candidate for GM positions in the past, and will now be allowed to speak with other teams about a new position (as long as they receive official permission from the Kings, according to Friedman).

It’s been more than a decade since Futa joined the Kings, taking the position of co-director of amateur scouting back in 2007 following his run as GM of the Owen Sound Attack. He was promoted to vice president of hockey operations in 2014, before being named AGM in 2017. A well-respected scout, Kings GM Rob Blake explained exactly why he was promoting Futa at the time:

Mike has made tremendous contributions to our hockey club over the years and he will be one of several people we are going to internally lean on. He and his department have enjoyed success here both with the NHL Draft and the Ontario Hockey League in particular, and we look forward to additional success in the immediate future.

Notably, the Kings leaned on that knowledge of the OHL just a few months later when they selected Gabriel Vilardi with the 11th overall pick. Akil Thomas and Arthur Kaliev, both picked in the second round the following seasons, are two other OHL players that look to have promising futures.

While no scout ever hits on all of his picks, the collection of prospects Futa has built over the last few years is almost unrivaled. In fact, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic (subscription required) ranked the Kings as the top prospect pool in the entire NHL just a few months ago, indicating that they were the “clear-cut” choice at No. 1. Futa can’t be credited for all of it, as Mark Yannetti is actually the team’s director of amateur scouting, but he was definitely involved.

There will surely be teams interested in bringing Futa aboard, but the timing of such a hire will be interesting. It may be possible that he has to wait until after this scouting season is over, though it is unclear when exactly that will be.

AHL Cancels Remainder Of 2019-20 Season

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Not only has the AHL suspended their season, but now will go a step further. The league announced today that the remainder of the 2019-20 campaign has been canceled, there will be no playoffs and no Calder Cup awarded this year. AHL President David Andrews released a statement:

After a lengthy review process, the American Hockey League has determined that the resumption and completion of the 2019-20 season is not feasible in light of current conditions.

The League’s operational focus has turned toward actively preparing for the 2020-21 season.We are very grateful to the National Hockey League and its teams for their support and leadership in navigating through the challenges faced over the past two months.

The AHL continues to place paramount importance on the health and safety of our players, officials, staff and fans and all of their families, and we all look forward to returning to our arenas in 2020-21.

It is important to note that the AHL and NHL are technically independent operations even though they do work closely with each other. This announcement does not mean a similar one is coming from the NHL, though obviously it is a possibility as they traverse the unknown waters of the coronavirus outbreak.

This is the first time the Calder Cup will not be awarded since it was introduced in 1937. The Charlotte Checkers, last season’s Calder Cup winners, will hold the title for another year.

For minor league players, this now makes the next few months even more confusing. Though they will not be returning to play in the AHL, they could still potentially be recalled by their NHL affiliate to play in games should the season resume, or at least skate with the team as a “Black Ace.” Those are the players brought up to play and travel with the NHL club during the playoffs just in case of injury. Obviously that would be dependent on there actually being an NHL playoffs, something that is not certain at this point.

Unfortunately, the question now becomes what happens with the 2020-21 season. Andrews told Sportsnet radio that “it might be something dramatically different than what it looks like now” and told Michael Traikos of Postmedia that it would be unlikely the league would be able to play if there were no fans allowed in the stands. The AHL is almost entirely gate-driven, meaning without the revenue generated from ticket sales they wouldn’t be able to afford to stage games–at least, not an entire season’s worth.

Anaheim Ducks Re-Sign Brendan Guhle, Sam Carrick

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3:00pm: The Ducks have confirmed the deals with an official announcement. This makes four official extensions in a matter of days for the Ducks, who are keeping busy while the league is on pause.

11:30am: The Anaheim Ducks continue to lock up some of their depth. Just days after the team inked Christian Djoos and Jani Hakanpaa, the team signed two more players to new contracts. CapFriendly reports the Ducks signed defenseman Brendan Guhle to a two-year, contract worth $800K, while forward Sam Carrick signed a one-year, $700K deal. Both deals are one-way contracts.

Guhle was a promising prospect in the Buffalo system back when they took him in the second round in 2015, but struggled to break into the Sabres’ lineup. Buffalo finally packaged Guhle and a 2019 first-rounder to the Ducks for Brandon Montour. The 22-year-old got some playing time with Anaheim last season, playing 30 games with four goals and eight points, but was sent down at different points to the AHL to work on his skills. He ended up playing 27 games for the San Diego Gulls with the hope that he might be in line for a full-time role with the Ducks in 2020-21.

Carrick has had to work harder over the years to earn his way into the NHL lineup. The 28-year-old has only appeared in 34 NHL games and only nine last season, but has been a solid mainstay on the Gulls, where he has scored 55 goals over the past two years there. He did score a goal and an assist in his nine games with Anaheim and while he could offer some scoring depth for the team, he is more likely a top-liner and leader for the AHL squad.

Mark Stone Healthy, Will Return If Season Resumes

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While no one in hockey is happy about the current pause on the league season, a few teams may get lucky if a delayed postseason occurs, as it allows players who were injured back in March to be not only healthy but fully recovered by the time play resumes. The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steven Stamkos and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Jake Guentzel are among that group and now another star forward joins the list. The Vegas Golden Knights’ Mark Stone tells beat writer Gary Lawless that he is “healing up” and “excited to be getting healthy and feeling at a 100 percent.”

Stone initially suffered the lower-body injury back on March 1 and had missed six games for the Knights prior to the season being put on hold. At the time of the league’s suspension on March 12, Stone speculates that he still had about four weeks left of recovery, which would have cut into the beginning of the playoffs. Even if he had rushed back in time for the start of the postseason, Stone would not have been at full strength through at least the first round, if not longer had Vegas advanced. Now ten weeks later, he expects to be totally ready for a possible return.

As Lawless points out, there is no player whose absence hurts the Golden Knights more than Stone. In the first season of an eight-year extension signed with Vegas following his trade from the Ottawa Senators last year, Stone had a team-leading 63 points in 65 games prior to his injury. Stone still leads the team in assists by a wide margin even after missing a number of games. Knowing that Stone will be back for a potential NHL return has to boost the chances of the Knights, who hold the top spot in the Pacific Division and are looking to avenge a first-round exit last season.

Edmonton’s Markus Granlund Expected To Sign In KHL

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After spending a significant amount of time with the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL this past season, many people in Edmonton knew that Markus Granlund’s time with the team was short. Now a Russian website, al.hockey.ru reports (translation required) that Granlund has reached an agreement to head overseas and sign with Ufa Salavat Yuleaev of the KHL. No terms have been reported.

Granlund signed a one-year deal on July 1 last season for $1.3MM. The Oilers, desperately in need of inexpensive depth due to their salary cap, signed a number of NHL veteran forwards to low-cost deals, including Josh Archibald, Riley Sheahan, Gaetan Haas, Joakim Nygard, Tomas Jurco and Granlund. While some of those players were successes last season, Granlund was not. Archibald, Sheahan and Nygard won permanent jobs, while Granlund was eventually sent to Bakersfield, the first time he’s played in the AHL since the 2015-16 season.

The 27-year-old appeared in just 34 games for the Oilers, posting three goals and four points while averaging a career-low 10:50 of ATOI. He rarely played on the penalty kill and was eventually made expendable. He played 20 games for the Bakersfield Condors in the AHL, scoring six goals and 15 points in that time.

Granlund will likely will take a much bigger role on his KHL team and might be able to take his game to a new level there and earn a chance to return to an NHL team. He has appeared in 335 NHL games with the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and the Oilers.

Snapshots: Las Vegas, Draft Update, Avalanche, Brackett

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With two different leagues, the NHL and NBA, looking into neutral sites to finish out their 2019-20 seasons, Las Vegas looks to be at the top of the list. MGM Resorts have reportedly shown interest, offering to host either league in the city. However, Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now reports that Vegas has become the source of a turf battle between the two leagues as the main neutral site for the playoffs.

The NHL might have the advantage, however, considering that the Golden Knights are well established in the city, while there is no NBA team. The NBA is also considering Disney World as a potential site.

  • While talk of an early June draft has quieted somewhat in the last week, that doesn’t mean the idea is dead. According to The Hockey News’ Ryan Kennedy, an NHL general manager told him that the league has been consistently telling teams that they will have at least one month’s notice before the draft, meaning that the original projected date of June 5 isn’t going to happen. The earliest the league could put a draft together would be mid-June. Of course, with many general managers resisting an early draft, it remains completely up in the air, meaning it could happen soon or in the October/November time frame.
  • In his most recent mailbag series, the Denver Post’s Mike Chambers warns fans not to get too excited about the UFA free agent market and the fact that Colorado should have plenty of money to spend. With two star players potentially available in winger Taylor Hall and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, many have felt that Colorado might add a star to push themselves to the top of the Central Division. However, Chambers said the team is not interested in either player and is more interested in continuing to build its team from within. The team is happy with its top-six and with Cale Makar and Erik Johnson on the right side, as well as the fact that prospect Conor Timmins is close to NHL ready, there isn’t any room for Pietrangelo either.
  • Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre writes that the Vancouver Canucks are likely to lose Judd Brackett, the team’s director of amateur scouting when his contract is up at the end of June. Brackett has been a key figure in Vancouver since he was promoted to the position back in 2015 and has been a key piece in rebuilding the franchise. However Elliotte Friedman recently reported on 650 radio in Vancouver that the two sides are likely to break ties after he rejected an extension offer recently. “Judd Brackett and the Vancouver Canucks clearly are not comfortable with each other. For whatever reason, the organization is not comfortable with him, and he is not comfortable with them. I think everybody can see that at this point in time,” Friedman said. MacIntyre also notes that the impasse between the two teams has nothing to do with pay or job title, but more likely because despite drafting well the last few years with Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes, the team shook up the scouting department last offseason, firing four of his scouts.

Ben Sexton Announces His Retirement

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Veteran forward Ben Sexton has decided to retire as the 28-year-old announced on his Twitter account that he is hanging up his skates.

Sexton was a seventh-round pick (206) of Boston back in 2009 and signed an entry-level deal with them in 2014 after playing out his collegiate career with Clarkson.  However, he was non-tendered in 2016 after a pair of injury-plagued seasons and had to take a minor league deal with New Jersey that summer.

However, he played well enough with the Devils’ farm team to land a two-year, two-way deal with the Senators in 2017.  He was productive in limited action with Belleville that season which enabled him to make his NHL debut as he got into a pair of games with Ottawa.  Unfortunately, more injury issues followed and he was eventually traded to Pittsburgh in a four-player swap of minor leaguers in late 2018.

He only recorded 10 points in 26 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton following the move but he did enough to earn an AHL deal for this season.  However, he battled a concussion for the entire year and the lingering effects of that were enough to push him to call it a career.

Atlantic Notes: Sergachev, Red Wings, Hawel

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Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev is set to be one of the more intriguing restricted free agents this offseason.  He had set a new career high in goals with 10 just before the suspension of the season while he had a chance at reaching the 40-point mark for the second time in his career.  That will have him in line for a sizable raise on his next deal but as he told reporters, including NHL.com’s Dan Rosen, there have been no discussions regarding his next contract.

Sergachev cited the uncertainty surrounding next year’s salary cap as a big factor as to why talks haven’t started yet.  Tampa Bay’s salary cap situation is particularly interesting as they have more than $76MM committed to just 15 players for next season already and a levelled off cap won’t be enough to re-sign Sergachev and their other restricted free agents and fill out the rest of their roster.  Accordingly, it appears the Lightning will have to move some players out before next season and they may want to wait until the offseason to make those decisions.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic Division:

  • The Red Wings have not held any talks with their pending free agents during this stoppage, notes Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. Winger Anthony Mantha is their top restricted free agent of note and indicated that he’s unconcerned about the lack of talks.  Back in March, he had stated that he was hoping to get a long-term deal done with Detroit but the fact he only has played in 43 games this season due to knee and lung issues may make that a bit more challenging.
  • The Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Laval announced that they’ve signed center Liam Hawel to a one-year, one-way AHL deal. The 21-year-old wrapped up his junior career this season with OHL Kitchener, recording 23 goals and 48 assists in 54 games to sit second on the team in scoring.  Hawel was a fourth-round pick (101st overall) of Dallas back in 2017 but was not signed to an entry-level contract.

Kings Notes: Seeking Defense, Kaliyev, Carter

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Earlier this week, Kings GM Rob Blake held a conference call with reporters, including Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider and provided a few tidbits of note.  For starters, he strongly suggested that they will be targeting some help for the left side of their defense corps when transactions can resume:

I think that would be one area of need that we would look at, whether it’s the free agent market or the acquisition market, and most likely on the left side.

That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.  As things stand, their left-side defensive depth under contract for next season effectively begins and ends with Kurtis MacDermid.  Ben Hutton and Joakim Ryan are slated to become unrestricted free agents this offseason while veteran Derek Forbort was dealt at the trade deadline.  While it’s possible that Hutton or Ryan could return, it’s still an area that will need to be addressed.

More news and notes from Blake’s discussion:

  • The team has started contract talks with prospect Arthur Kaliyev. The winger was dominant with OHL Hamilton for the second straight season, picking up 44 goals and 54 assists in just 57 games to sit fifth in league scoring before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season.  As he’s 18 and was drafted out of junior, he’s ineligible to play in the AHL next year which limits his options to playing with Los Angeles or rejoining the Bulldogs.
  • Blake mentioned that if regular season play resumes, center Jeff Carter would not be ready to return. Previously diagnosed with a lower-body issue, the GM clarified that it’s more of a core injury that will likely hold him out for a couple more months at least.  His output dipped to just 27 points in 60 games this season; the 35-year-old has two more years left on his deal with a cap hit of just over $5.27MM.

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