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Archives for December 2020

Michael Grabner To Wait Until Season Begins Before Deciding His Playing Future

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Veteran winger Michael Grabner is one of the more intriguing players that is still on the UFA market.  After being bought out back in October, his original plans were to wait until closer to training camp before deciding on what his plans were for the upcoming season as by then, there would be more concrete information on what the format would be.  However, it appears as if he has changed those plans again as Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider reports (Twitter link) that while Grabner has spoken with a few teams, he will now wait until the season begins before making a decision on where to sign (or whether to sign at all).

The 33-year-old is coming off a tough season in Arizona that saw him put up just eight goals and three assists in 46 games while spending considerable time as a healthy scratch.  When he was in the lineup, he saw sparing ice time as his 12:22 ATOI per game was a career-low.  However, Grabner was still productive in the bubble, scoring three goals in nine playoff games, finishing only behind Clayton Keller (four goals) in that category but it wasn’t enough for to avoid being bought out.

While Grabner is no longer the quality scoring threat he was just a few years ago (when he had 27 goals in each of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 campaigns), he’s still a strong skater and is one of the top shorthanded threats in the league.  If he does wind up signing at some point, it will likely be for close to the league minimum but it appears that he will wait and see what early-season opportunities present themselves first.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Carl Soderberg

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In the wake of the Kirby Dach injury and uncertainty around how long he may be sidelined along with Alexander Nylander’s extended absence, the Chicago Blackhawks have decided to bring in a veteran replacement. Center Carl Soderberg has signed a one-year, $1MM contract, the club announced.

The deal represents a significant pay cut after playing on a $4.75MM cap hit for the past five years and comes in well below our initial one-year, $3MM projection when he was slotted in at 24th on our Top 50 UFA list.  GM Stan Bowman released the following statement about his newest player:

Carl is an experienced center who plays a strong two-way game and adds an element of size to our group of centermen. He has shown the ability to score and match up, which is critical in today’s game, and he also brings consistency and versatility to the team, evidenced by his usage on both special teams as well as even-strength play.

The 35-year-old could prove to be an immense bargain as he’s coming off a 35-point season, his sixth season in the last seven with at least that many points.  That feat is even more impressive considering that he’s legally blind in his left eye.  Soderberg should have an opportunity to play in an offensive-oriented role with Dach being on the shelf for the foreseeable future and will likely slot in somewhere on their second or third line; getting a player for that role for this low of a price tag is a nice piece of business for Bowman.

Chicago’s offseason work is not yet complete, however, as RFA center Dylan Strome is still in need of a new contract.  The Blackhawks still have more than $4MM in cap room at their disposal so they’ll have enough room to get that deal done and head into next season with some financial flexibility which is something that can’t be said for some of their divisional counterparts.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the signing.

Ilya Kovalchuk Signs In The KHL

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December 26: The deal is now official. Despite a decent 2019-20 season in the NHL, even as he was traded twice, Kovalchuk has decided to return to the KHL. Avangard Omsk has announced a contract with Kovalchuk not only for the remainder of the season, but for next season as well. At 37, this very well could mean that we have seen the last of Kovalchuk in the NHL.

December 19: It appears that Ilya Kovalchuk’s time in the NHL may be coming to an end for the second time (after abruptly leaving New Jersey following the 2012-13 season).  His agent Yuri Nikolaev told Sport24’s Maxim Samartsev that he is working on a deal for his client to join Avangard Omsk of the KHL for the remainder of their season.

The 37-year-old had a rocky 2019-20 campaign.  After being benched in Los Angeles, he eventually agreed to a contract termination and signed in Montreal early in January.  He made an immediate impact with the Canadiens and did well enough that they were able to trade him to Washington for a third-round pick just six weeks later.  Unfortunately for him and the Capitals, things didn’t go as well with his new team, especially in the playoffs where he had just a single assist in eight games.  Between the three teams, he had 10 goals and 16 assists in 46 regular season games, slightly beating his point-per-game average from his first year with Los Angeles.

While it may seem odd that news of this comes just as an agreement on the upcoming NHL season has been reached, it’s worth noting that the KHL trade deadline is next Sunday and players not on a roster by then are ineligible for the rest of the season.  That makes the 27th a hard deadline for Kovalchuk to finalize something with Avangard or another KHL team to ensure he’ll have a spot to play for the rest of year since clearly, there aren’t NHL opportunities arising for him at this time.

Edmonton Oilers Sign Slater Koekkoek

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The Edmonton Oilers have added some depth to their back end as they announced the signing of defenseman Slater Koekkoek to a one-year deal worth $850K.

Koekkoek, 26, became an unrestricted free agent in October when the Chicago Blackhawks opted not to make him a qualifying offer. Many were surprised by the move, as Koekkoek enjoyed a career year in 2019-20 and to the tune of just $925K as well. While Koekkoek’s numbers, both offensively and defensively, aren’t stellar, he still earned a career-high 42 games and 16:45 in average time on ice.

The tenth overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, Koekkoek certainly hasn’t lived up to expectations. However, he is still a serviceable two-way defenseman who plays with size and has good possession numbers. The Oilers also won’t be asking him to play too big of a role. Even with the season-long absence of Oscar Klefbom, Edmonton still has a veteran top four of Darnell Nurse, Adam Larsson, Kris Russell, and big free agent addition Tyson Barrie, as well as promising prospects Caleb Jones and William Lagesson, not to mention unsigned RFA Ethan Bear likely to be back in the fold. Koekkoek figures to serve as an extra defender for the Oilers or potentially even a member of the newfound taxi squad, but could still prove to be a value at such a minimal salary.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report that Koekkoek was signing in Edmonton while Oilers radio analyst Bob Stauffer first reported the $850K cost.

Graeme And Brandt Clarke Loaned To Slovakia

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With the OHL still waiting to begin their season and some uncertainty about if and when they will get started, a pair of notable brothers are headed elsewhere to get back to playing. HC Nove Zamky of the Slovakian Extraliga announced that Graeme and Brandt Clarke have been acquired on loan from the Ottawa 67’s and Barrie Colts, respectively. The lucky club lands a recent third-round pick and a player most expect to be selected in the top five of the 2021 NHL Draft.

Graeme, 19, was selected by the New Jersey Devils in the 2019 draft. The talented winger is eager to get back on the ice after missing all but 16 games last season. He did however score at a better than point-per-game pace in that limited action and has the potential to develop into a dangerous scorer if he can stay healthy.

However, the prize of the Clarke family is likely to be Brandt. The 17-year-old right-shot defenseman impresses in all areas of the game, including recording 38 points in 57 games as an OHL rookie last season. With size and skill to go with those results, Brandt has emerged as one of the top prospects in the 2021 class, potentially even a candidate to be selected first overall.

With Zamky, the Clarke brothers could easily become the team’s top two players, even in their first pro experience. The Slovakian Extraliga lacks much in the way of world-class talent and Zamky in particular does not currently roster anyone with NHL or even AHL experience. The club is currently in the middle of the pack in Slovakia, but the addition of two elite, young players could give them a major boost, regardless of whether the Clarkes return to the OHL in a couple months or not.

 

 

Snapshots: AHL, Golden Knights, Blues

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While there is now a concrete plan in place for the start of the upcoming NHL season, there is still some uncertainty regarding the fate of the AHL.  As things stand, the plan is to start on or around February 5th but without fans being able to attend and varying health and safety regulations throughout the cities where they play, it’s safe to say that there are questions abound.

With that in mind, EP Rinkside’s Patrick Williams notes that the Return to Play committee is set to meet tomorrow with a Board of Governors meeting set for next week so we should have a better idea of what the AHL schedule will look like shortly.  As was the case in the ECHL, there may be some teams that don’t want to operate this season due to an inability to have fans or a desire to shrink the schedule even further from the roughly 40 games that could be played by starting in early February.  Not every question will likely be able to be answered over this next week but there should be a clearer picture soon on what the AHL campaign may wind up looking like.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Back in October, the Golden Knights indicated that goaltender Robin Lehner would be undergoing shoulder surgery but that procedure won’t stop him from being ready for training camp as GM Kelly McCrimmon told reporters, including Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, that the team is fully healthy heading into camp. That news is also notable for sophomore center Cody Glass who has clearly fully recovered from his knee surgery back in March.  McCrimmon also indicated that prospect Peyton Krebs, who is currently with Canada at the World Juniors, will get an opportunity to be evaluated at camp.  The 19-year-old isn’t AHL-eligible as things stand but he could be a taxi squad option while waiting for the WHL to start their season.
  • While many prospects will be returning to North America from their international loans if they haven’t already, that won’t be the case for Blues prospect Alexei Toropchenko. Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the forward will remain on loan to Kunlun of the KHL instead of participating in training camp with St. Louis.  The 21-year-old spent all of last season in the minors and has six goals and two assists in 24 games so far this season.  Thomas adds that the team is still deciding on whether or not to bring in Nikita Alexandrov for camp or allow him to stay back home in Germany to keep training.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Minnesota Wild

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is now upon us. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Wild most thankful for?

Their talented and deep defense corps.

While Mathew Dumba has been in trade speculation dating back to before the entry draft in large part to the looming expansion draft, he remains with Minnesota.  Ryan Suter remains a top-pairing blueliner while Jared Spurgeon and Jonas Brodin round out their top four.  With the exception of Dumba, they’re all signed for at least the next five years as well.  Carson Soucy established himself as a regular last season as well while Greg Pateryn and Brad Hunt have had successful stints in the NHL in recent years as well.

Of course, having as strong of a back end as they do comes at a price as their $30.98MM combined cap hit is the highest of any defense corps in the league.  But it’s high-priced for a reason as very quietly, Minnesota’s blueline group is among the strongest in the league and will be a big factor in whether they make the playoffs in the West Division.

Who are the Wild most thankful for?

Kirill Kaprizov.

Yes, he hasn’t even played a single game for them yet but he’s listed here for two reasons.  First, they’re likely thrilled that the courting to lure him to North America (a process that began before this site even launched which was back in the 2016 offseason) is finally done after he signed his entry-level deal just before the playoffs began back in the summer.  Second, he has the potential to become one of their top players right away.  Kaprizov has been one of the top players in the KHL the last four years and could very well slide onto Minnesota’s top line almost immediately.  They’ll only get the one cheap year out of him having burned the first season of his entry-level deal in the bubble but at this point, they’re just thankful that after years of waiting, he’s under contract and will be able to make an immediate impact when the season starts next month.

What would the Wild be even more thankful for?

Cam Talbot retaining his form from last season.  After struggling in Edmonton as the starter, he was much better in Calgary as the 1B option behind David Rittich; he remained in that role for most of the year despite outperforming Rittich during the year.  But when it mattered most, the Flames turned to him in the playoffs where he continued to play well, helping to land him a three-year deal back in October.

After Devan Dubnyk’s recent struggles, Wild GM Bill Guerin clearly believes that Talbot is the short-term solution to get things back on track between the pipes.  Unfortunately, the pressure will be a little higher at the beginning of the year with Alex Stalock (who quietly had a strong season as Minnesota’s backup in 2019-20) out indefinitely due to an upper-body injury.  That pushes youngster Kaapo Kahkonen into the backup role but he has a total of five NHL games under his belt.  As a result, a lot will be riding on Talbot’s shoulders early and they will need him to play like he did for Calgary last season.

What should be on the Wild’s holiday wish list?

More scoring help.  While Minnesota was a middle of the pack team in terms of scoring last season, three of their top-eight scorers aren’t there anymore (Eric Staal, Kevin Fiala, and Jason Zucker) while Ryan Donato, who was tied for sixth in goals, is now in San Jose.  In terms of newcomers being added to fold, Marcus Johansson, Nick Bonino, and Nick Bjugstad are all coming off of underwhelming seasons offensively.  On paper, even if Kaprizov lives up to the hype, getting consistent goal production could be a challenge.

The good news for Guerin and the Wild is that they’re one of the few teams that still has some cap room to work with.  While it may not be enough to make a splash (such as going after Mike Hoffman) right away, if they’re able to bank that space early on, they’ll be well-positioned to afford to add a higher-priced addition midseason.  That’s something that can’t be said for many of their divisional counterparts.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bruins Prospect Pavel Shen Signs In The KHL

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Friday: Sochi has officially announced Shen’s signing.

Tuesday: While many players will be heading to North America with NHL training camps about to open up, Bruins prospect Pavel Shen is heading the other way.  Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal reports (Twitter link) that the prospect will be signing with HK Sochi of the KHL for the remainder of their season.

The 21-year-old was a seventh-round pick of Boston back in 2018 (212th overall) and signed his entry-level deal just one year later.  Last season, Shen played exclusively with Providence of the AHL and had a fairly quiet year offensively, notching just four goals and five assists in 35 games.  Considering the restrictions on skaters allowed at training camp (36), it’s not a guarantee that he would have been among the invites and the AHL season is still another six weeks away at a minimum so his trip overseas will at least guarantee him some playing time in the short term.

This won’t be Shen’s first KHL action as he has spent time with Yugra Khanty-Mansiysk and Salavat Yulaev in the past although he has managed just two goals and one assist in 49 games over that span.  Once their season ends, he will be eligible to return to Providence and will be able to play down the stretch and in their postseason.

Flyers Prospect Jack St. Ivany Transfers To Boston College

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There have been a handful of college players that have transferred in recent days and among them is Flyers prospect Jack St. Ivany as Jeff Cox of the New England Sports Journal reports that the defenseman has transferred from Yale to Boston College and will be eligible to play immediately.

The move was prompted with the Ivy League cancelling their 2020-21 season and the Eagles will be the beneficiaries of this transfer.  The 21-year-old was a fifth-round pick of Philadelphia (112th overall) back in 2018 in his second year of draft eligibility.

While St. Ivany was a productive blueliner in the USHL which helped him get drafted, that hasn’t been the case in the first half of his college career.  Last season, he had one goal and 15 assists with the Bulldogs after putting up six tallies in his freshman year.  Nevertheless, he’ll likely be asked to step into an important role with Boston College right away and a change of scenery might help get that part of his game back on track.

After sitting since March when the college season was shut down due to the pandemic, St. Ivany will be eligible to suit up in Boston College’s first game following the winter break which is January 8th.

Capitals Considering Adding Another Goaltender

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When Henrik Lundqvist quickly agreed to sign with Washington after being bought out by the Rangers back in October, it looked as if the Capitals had their goaltending tandem in place with the veteran set to work alongside youngster Ilya Samsonov.  However, it was revealed last week that his season is over before it even started due to a heart condition.

While several skaters of note have waited to sign new contracts, most of the notable goalie activity in free agency came and went as soon as it opened up so most of the viable options are already gone.  Despite that, GM Brian MacLellan indicated to reporters, including J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington, that they’re taking a look at who’s still out there:

We’ll do our due diligence on the guys who are out there. And if we see somebody that fits, that has experience, that’s willing to accept a certain role, we’re open to adding a guy, too. We’re open-minded, but we also like where we’re at.

Veterans Craig Anderson and Jimmy Howard are the most notable remaining unrestricted free agents still on the open market while Cory Schneider technically remains unsigned although he is expected to eventually sign with the Islanders.  Of course, they could look to the trade or waiver market as well; several veterans will eventually find themselves on the waiver wire in order to be assigned to taxi squads which would present several other options for Washington to choose from closer to the start of the season.

If MacLellan opts to stick with the status quo, the internal options are Pheonix Copley and Vitek Vanecek.  Although Copley was Washington’s backup back in 2018-19, it may be Vanecek’s spot to lose since he served as the backup for them in the bubble after Samsonov was unable to play due to injury.  MacLellan certainly seems to believe that Vanecek is ready for an NHL opportunity:

We’re happy with his progress, we’re happy with his experience. The only thing for us is that he hasn’t played much in the NHL. Had a good showing in the bubble in the chance he got in so I think all along we’ve been hopefully trying to get him some games and he hasn’t gotten them and this should be a good opportunity for him to get some games to see where he’s at.

While Washington will be eligible to place Lundqvist on LTIR, his salary for the upcoming season was just $1.5MM which becomes the maximum that they’ll be able to spend to replace him.  They also have Michal Kempny heading for LTIR as well.  If the Capitals are content going with Vanecek and his $717K cap hit, it would free up a little bit more wiggle room for them to try to add another low-priced veteran skater to the fold or give them enough space to at least recall an extra skater when injuries inevitably arise.  While the Caps are looking at options outside the organization, it certainly seems like Samsonov’s backup spot will be Vanecek’s to lose.

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