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Vitaly Abramov Signs In KHL

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The Ottawa Senators depth chart is getting awfully crowded at the forward position, with young players emerging almost daily. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Vitaly Abramov has signed a two-year contract in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk. Abramov was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. The Senators will be able to retain his restricted free agent rights by issuing him a qualifying offer, keeping him attached to the organization.

Originally selected in the third round of the 2016 draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Abramov was in the NHL making his debut by the 2018-19 season after being part of the Matt Duchene trade. Now 23, he has just five games at that level with the Senators, spending much of his time in the AHL instead. This season for Belleville, he had 19 points in 23 games, a strong showing for the talented winger.

Unfortunately, with the pipeline so packed from high picks over the last few years, it was hard to see Abramov getting a top-six opportunity in Ottawa anytime soon. A return to the KHL will give him a chance to play more important offensive minutes and could help him secure an NHL role down the line. For now, the Senators will have to wait and watch, but his rights won’t expire for several years.

Julius Honka Signs In Sweden

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Seven years after being drafted 14th overall, it appears that Julius Honka’s time with the Dallas Stars organization is finally over. The 25-year-old defenseman has signed a two-year contract with Lulea HF in the SHL. Though the Stars could retain his restricted free agent rights this summer with a qualifying offer, Honka will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2022-23 season after he turns 27.

It certainly hasn’t been a smooth ride for the Finnish defenseman. Honka was picked in the first half of the first round after an outstanding season with the Swift Current Broncos of the WHL and immediately joined the Texas Stars in the AHL as a teenager. During the 2014-15 season, he scored 31 points in 68 games while also returning to the World Juniors where he had won a gold medal the year prior. It looked like the Stars had a future top-pairing defenseman on their hands, but that didn’t end up being the case.

Over the next few years, Honka eventually got a chance at the NHL, but recorded just 13 points in 87 games and was scratched more than he played. By 2019 he wanted out and ended up playing all of last season in Finland while hoping for a trade. That made it somewhat surprising when he signed a one-year, two-way deal for the 2020-21 season, returning from Europe just to play in the AHL once again. Honka had five points in 17 games for Texas this season and didn’t see a minute of game time with Dallas.

He’ll get his chance to join another organization when his rights eventually expire, but it’s hard to know what kind of NHL opportunity will be waiting for Honka at that point—or if he even wants it.

Wayne Gretzky Steps Down As Oilers Vice Chairman, Joins TNT

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May 26: Turner Sports has officially announced a multi-year agreement with Gretzky to become the lead studio analyst. Kenny Albert and Eddie Olczyk will be the main commentators for the network.

May 25: The Edmonton Oilers were eliminated from Stanley Cup contention last night in a grueling triple overtime game and now an offseason of change is upon them. Beginning that change is the departure of the team’s greatest icon, as Wayne Gretzky will step down as Vice Chairman of the team. Gretzky released a statement on Twitter:

With great appreciation, I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided to step away as Vice Chairman of the Edmonton Oilers effective today.

The Oilers, their fans, and the city of Edmonton have meant the world to me and my family for over four decades–and that will never end. Given the pandemic and other life changes, I realize I will not be able to dedicate the time nor effort needed to support this world-class organization.

I want to thank Daryl & Renee Katz, their family, and entire team for all the support and friendship these last several years, and wish them nothing but success. 

There has been speculation for weeks that Gretzky could be headed for a role with one of the new NHL broadcasting partners, but David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period also tweets that more changes are expected at the top of the Oilers Entertainment Group (OEG) which owns the Oilers and operates Rogers Place. Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reports that it will be TNT that will get the legendary hockey icon, with a contract that will pay him “in the neighborhood” of $3MM per season to be a lead studio analyst.

Gretzky joined OEG in 2016, becoming a minority owner of the franchise that started his NHL career. At the time, it was announced that he would work on the commercial side of the business while also being a sounding board for the front office staff. Just having the “Great One” associated with the organization after leaving it so many years ago was a win, but that new era will end up lasting less than five years.

Latest On Rick Tocchet

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One of the most in-demand coaching candidates this offseason is Rick Tocchet, who has already been linked to the New York Rangers, Seattle Kraken, and Buffalo Sabres. Add the Columbus Blue Jackets to that list, as Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider reports that Tocchet will interview there next week. The former Coyotes head coach interviewed with the Rangers today and will meet with the Sabres on Thursday, according to Morgan.

The reason Tocchet quickly parted ways with the Coyotes at the end of the season was to start taking interviews and it appears as though his name is on the shortlist of almost every vacancy in the league. Of course, wherever he ends up, Tocchet will be looking to turn around his head coaching career after struggling to find any real success at each of his first two stops.

In 2008-09, Tocchet replaced Barry Melrose as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning after 16 games and would last through the following season. He had a 53-69-26 record in those two seasons and missed the playoffs both years. It wasn’t until 2017 when he returned to the head coaching ranks with Arizona, but it was much of the same. He posted a 125-131-34 record with the Coyotes and only led them to the playoffs in last year’s bubble.

Make no mistake, Tocchet has plenty of respect around the league, especially from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was known as something of a “Kessel Whisperer” there, an assistant who could get the best out of enigmatic talents. At the midpoint last year, with the Coyotes sitting at 21-16-4, a PHWA poll had him as the runaway favorite to win the Jack Adams Trophy as Coach of the Year. The team would, unfortunately, go 12-13-4 after that point and Tocchet would not receive a single vote for the award, which ended up going to Bruce Cassidy.

On his last deal, Tocchet was paid a total of $6MM over four years with the Coyotes. It seems likely that he’ll receive a raise wherever he ends up, given how more established coaches are earning nearly that much in a single year.

AHL Announces 2020-21 All-Rookie Team

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Now that the AHL regular season is officially over and the Pacific Division playoffs are quickly progressing, awards and accolades will start pouring out for its players. Today, the league announced the 2020-21 All-Rookie Team, which is voted on by coaches, players, and media. Though not a guarantee of future NHL success, the AHL rookie team has a long history of star players including captains, Stanley Cup champions, and future Hall of Fame members.

The 2020-21 selections:

G Logan Thompson, Henderson Silver Knights (Vegas Golden Knights)

D Calen Addison, Iowa Wild (Minnesota Wild)

D Max Gildon, Bakersfield Condors (Florida Panthers)

F Riley Damiani, Texas Stars (Dallas Stars)

F Connor McMichael, Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals)

F Phil Tomasino, Chicago Wolves (Nashville Predators)

Perhaps the most impressive selection of the bunch is Tomasino, who in a normal year would not even have been eligible to play in the AHL. The 19-year-old forward would have been forced back to the OHL had the junior league been operational, but instead scored 32 points in 29 professional games with the Wolves. Tomasino will turn 20 later this summer and can return to the AHL for the 2021-22 campaign but may be ticketed for the Nashville roster instead.

Among the others are three who also made their NHL debuts this season, including Addison who made it into a playoff game last night for Minnesota. The 21-year-old defenseman logged just over 13 minutes and registered his first postseason point, assisting on Jordan Greenway’s game-winning goal to keep the Wild alive.

NHL Announces Blank COVID Protocol Related Absences List

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May 25: The list is empty again today. Moving forward we will only publish it if a player is added to the protocol.

May 24: The long-awaited day has finally arrived. When the NHL released it’s COVID Protocol Related Absences list on Monday evening, it contained no names. It is the first time since the list originally debuted at the start of the regular season that the contents has been empty. Granted, the list now only includes the 14 active playoff teams as opposed to all 31 clubs, but it still marks a major achievement in the league’s battle against the Coronavirus.

Of course, the final step toward a league-wide clean bill of health actually came with the elimination of the St. Louis Blues on Sunday. When the Colorado Avalanche completed their sweep of the Blues, they also ended the seasons of the only two players on the latest CPRA list: David Perron and Nathan Walker. In fact, every player who has appeared on the list since the playoffs began on March 15 has now been eliminated – Perron, Walker, and Blues teammate Jake Walman and Washington Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, whose team was bounced by the Boston Bruins on Sunday as well.

With the NHL already feeling confident enough in its COVID-19 status as to allow relaxed policies to vaccinated teams, the hope is that this empty CPRA list becomes the norm and not the exception. With postseason results obviously carrying much more weight than regular season results, the league does not want to see any of their playoff series tainted by COVID results. The Blues’ absences, particularly Perron’s, were certainly felt, but as major underdogs against Colorado anyhow, the league escaped without much controversy. They hope that can continue throughout the postseason and that the CPRA list becomes a permanent thing of the past moving forward into next season.

Colorado Avalanche Sign Jean-Luc Foudy

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The Colorado Avalanche have a few days off between playoff series, so why not do a little planning for the future. The Avalanche announced today that they have signed prospect Jean-Luc Foudy to a three-year entry-level contract.

Foudy, 19, split this season between Sweden’s Hockey Ettan (third tier) and with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, eligible for minor league hockey only because the OHL never returned to play. The third-round pick from 2020 scored three goals and registered 14 points in 34 games for the Eagles, playing almost every game as an 18-year-old before his birthday earlier this month. Though he was a team-worst -17, even playing at the AHL was an impressive development step for the young forward.

He is now stuck in that unique spot with several other OHL prospects who are too young to be eligible for the AHL again next season. If Foudy fails to make the Avalanche out of camp, he would be forced to return to his junior team the Windsor Spitfires. That is the most likely scenario, but still an odd one after playing an entire (albeit shortened) professional season.

Consider him a strong candidate for Canada’s World Junior team next winter after winning a Hlinka-Gretzky silver medal. His older brother Liam Foudy is currently suiting up for his country at the IIHF World Championship.

Rask, Bruins Table Talks Until After Playoffs

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The Boston Bruins are focused on the next round and a long playoff run, meaning contract talks can wait for pending free agent goaltender Tuukka Rask. Bruins president Cam Neely told reporters today including Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com that Rask and the team have agreed to push off any negotiations until after the season.

Though he is unquestionably their starting goaltender right now and just posted a .941 save percentage in the first round, it will be interesting to see how the two sides come together this offseason. The Bruins have a young goaltender in Jeremy Swayman who looks ready for the job and Daniel Vladar who has dominated the minor leagues. The 34-year-old Rask and longtime tandem partner Jaroslav Halak are pending free agents, meaning if the Bruins wanted to, they could make a pretty drastic shift in net next season and reinvest the cap space elsewhere.

There is very little that Rask has failed to accomplish at the NHL level. A Stanley Cup, a Vezina Trophy, a Jennings Trophy, a First All-Star team selection, nearly 100 playoff appearances—the list goes on for one of the most successful goaltenders of his generation. Rask’s .921 regular season save percentage puts him third all-time behind only Dominik Hasek and Johnny Bower; his .927 in the playoffs close to the top as well.

Still, there has been a faction of Bruins supporters that have had a near-constant call for change in the Bruins crease thanks to perceived aloofness or inconsistency from the Finnish netminder. Now, as the offseason approaches, there will be a difficult decision to be made. Bruins GM Don Sweeney is used to those; he let franchise icons Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug leave in free agency last summer, noting a need to give more ice time to their young defensemen. The same could be said about the goaltending position after Swayman, who has two more years on his entry-level contract, burst onto the scene and recorded a .945 save percentage in 10 appearances.

Boston carried a $9.25MM cap hit this season between Rask and Halak, a number that could drop dramatically next year if they handed the reins to Swayman. That kind of financial capital would be more than enough to reinforce other parts of the lineup or perhaps even help to retain the services of deadline addition Taylor Hall.

Of course, handing the crease to a relatively unproven goaltender as key members of the team continue to age out of their prime is a risky proposition. There’s no reason the decision has to be made now, in fact, what happens over the next several weeks in the playoffs should hold weight. But there is a tough call coming in Boston when the talks between Rask and the Bruins resume.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

NHL Issues Two More Fines

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The NHL has fined two more players for incidents from yesterday’s action, deciding not to hand out suspensions. Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for his cross-check on Florida Panthers forward Mason Marchment. His teammate Pat Maroon has been fined $3,879,31, the maximum allowable for his salary level, for unsportsmanlike conduct at the end of last night’s game.

In McDonagh’s case, the incident occurred partway through the first period when the game was 1-0 for the Lightning. The two players had been battling all shift, but as Marchment approached McDonagh near the benches, the Tampa Bay defenseman raised his stick and delivered a cross-check to the head. McDonagh was given a two-minute penalty for roughing on the play and Marchment did not suffer a major injury.

For Maroon, there were just under 15 seconds left in the game and the score was out of reach, but the Tampa Bay forward engaged with Florida forward Noel Acciari. Maroon took just 12 faceoffs this season, but lined up as a center for the center ice draw and pushed forward with his stick extended. The event resulted in a scrum between several players, penalties to both teams, and a misconduct for Maroon.

Alex Ovechkin Confident New Contract Will Come With Washington

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The Washington Capitals held their end-of-season media availability today after being knocked out of the first round by the Boston Bruins. One of the most pressing questions, and seemingly one that wasn’t talked about enough this season, was the future of Alex Ovechkin, who is a pending unrestricted free agent. There is no cause for concern, as Ovechkin joked and explained he is confident a deal will get done:

I’m confident. Obviously we still have time, obviously I want to finish my career here. I’m pretty sure we will do something soon. 

Maybe we’ll sign a contract right now, after the media. 

Ovechkin, 35, dealt with injury for really the first time in his career, missing several games down the stretch for the Capitals. He finished with 24 goals and 42 points in 45 games, failing to win the Rocket Richard trophy for just the second time in the last nine years. It was also the first time since 2016-17 season and just the third time in his career that his average time on ice dipped below 20 minutes, with perhaps the cracks of age finally showing on the Russian machine.

Still, a legacy player like Ovechkin isn’t going anywhere. He will almost certainly sign a new multi-year contract with the Capitals and finish his NHL career with the franchise, attempting to chase down Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record. In 1,197 career games, Ovechkin now has 730 goals, fifth all-time and 164 behind Gretzky.

The interesting part isn’t whether he will return to Washington, it’s how much it will cost them. Ovechkin is dealing with the negotiation himself, working with owner Ted Leonsis and GM Brian MacLellan directly. The veteran sniper is coming off a 13-year deal he signed in 2008 that carried a cap hit of $9,538,462 and paid him $10MM in each of the last seven seasons. That cap hit actually might go up on his next contract.

In January, Frank Seravalli wrote for TSN that Ovechkin’s pre-pandemic ask was a $12.5MM per-year salary. That number would tie him with Connor McDavid as the league’s top earner, and though the flat cap situation may have changed things, the eventual deal is still expected to be quite large. That is going to make it tough for the Capitals, who already have more than $72MM committed to next season and will likely need to make other changes after getting bounced in the first round.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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