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Detroit Red Wings Sign Gustav Lindstrom To Two-Year Extension

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The Detroit Red Wings tweeted today that they’ve re-signed defenseman Gustav Lindstrom to a two-year extension carrying him through the 2022-23 season. The financial terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed. CapFriendly reports that it’s a one-way deal with an $850,000 cap hit, paying him $750,000 in 2021-22 and $950,000 in 2022-23.

Lindstrom, who’s yet to turn 23 years old, was a second-round selection of Detroit in 2017. The nephew of former NHL defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson, Lindstrom’s struggled to cement a full-time spot in Detroit’s lineup so far in his young career. He’s played in 29 career games across the past two seasons, tallying four assists and a combined 16:21 per night across both years. He’s been an average third-pairing defender up to this point in his NHL path and could reprise that role again next season with a little bit more lineup consistency. He’s a decent penalty-killer and could see more time on Detroit’s units, who had the 22nd-best penalty kill in the league last season at 78.7 percent.

The player has always been known more for his defensive game, so anything above a second- or third-pairing role long term for Lindstrom is likely wishful thinking. Yet a consistent NHL future isn’t out of the question for Lindstrom, whose defensive ability has steadily improved since entering the league despite a small sample size. And especially now, with Dennis Cholowski selected by Seattle in expansion, the goal for the Ostervala-born defensemen next year is simple: cement himself as one of Detroit’s top six defenders.

Dmitrij Jaskin To Sign With Arizona Coyotes

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The Arizona Coyotes are set to bring over a familiar NHL face, as Andy Strickland of Bally Sports Midwest reports they will sign Dmitrij Jaskin to a one-year contract. Jaskin is expected to earn $3.2MM after dominating in the KHL the last two seasons.

Though he hasn’t played an NHL game since the 2018-19 season, Jaskin’s value actually may never have been higher. The 28-year-old forward scored 69 goals and 123 points in just 117 games during his two-year KHL stint, winning the regular season MVP award for 2019-20. Those are totals he never came close to approaching during his previous 303-game NHL career, spent mostly with the St. Louis Blues. Jaskin’s career-highs were 13 goals and 18 points in St. Louis.

If it were just his NHL numbers considered, there’s no way he would earn a $3.4MM deal with the Coyotes. But the team is betting that overseas success can be reproduced (at least partially) if given the same top-six opportunity. In Arizona, there will be a chance for him to play higher up the lineup, given how clearly the team is stripping any valuable assets out of the organization. The Coyotes have acquired several big cap hits for future assets, while trading away top forward Conor Garland and captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Of course, if you’re going through a rebuild, you usually aren’t bringing over high-profile free agents from the KHL. The plan here may very well be to flip Jaskin at the deadline, given the fact that Arizona isn’t expected to be competitive as currently constructed.

Arizona Coyotes To Acquire Anton Stralman

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Florida Panthers defenseman Anton Stralman has waived his no-trade clause and will be heading to the Arizona Coyotes, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Stralman has just one year remaining on his current contract, which carries a $5.5MM cap hit. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Coyotes will also receive prospect Vladislav Kolyachonok, and a 2024 second-round pick. The Panthers will receive a 2023 seventh-round pick in return.

The Coyotes have made move after move this summer to weaponize their cap space, using it to acquire future assets in preparation for a rebuild. Many of their key players remain in the fold, but the team has taken on bad contracts like Andrew Ladd, Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel. They even received two draft picks to bring in Shayne Gostisbehere, who will likely be asked to play big minutes given how many vacancies there are on the back end. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was shipped out of town, Niklas Hjalmarsson retired while Jason Demers, Alex Goligoski, Jordan Oesterle, Aaron Ness and Jordan Gross are all pending unrestricted free agents.

That means Stralman would be joining a group that includes only Gostisbehere, Jakob Chychrun, and Ilya Lyubushkin on the back end. That’s not a group that should be very imposing, at least not anymore. The 34-year-old Stralman (who turns 35 in just a few days) was once the perfect defensive complement to high-end offensive players, but has declined rapidly in recent years. His minutes were slashed this season in Florida, where he recorded just nine points in 38 games.

Arizona meanwhile now holds five second-round picks for the 2022 draft and have now added another one for down the road, which should help them restock a bereft prospect pipeline. The team had traded away top prospects to acquire players like Taylor Hall and Phil Kessel, while also being stripped of draft picks thanks to scouting violations. GM Bill Armstrong has obviously decided that building that part of the organization back up was a priority this offseason, but it could very well come at the cost of a competitive season.

The Coyotes have just five players signed to one-way contracts for the 2022-23 season (six, if you include Ladd, who has played just five NHL games over the past two years), and have been rumored to be listening even on some of those. Unless the team is extremely aggressive in free agency, this appears like it will be quite a lean year for the roster, relying on aging veterans or fringe NHL players to fill several key spots.

For Florida, getting rid of Stralman’s cap hit is a huge boost, given their recent acquisition of Sam Reinhart. The team signed RFA Sam Bennett earlier this morning and didn’t have a lot of room left to get the 25-year-old Reinhart done. Now, with an extra $5.5MM in room, the team can not only get Reinhart under contract but could potentially look for further upgrades through free agency. Giving away a prospect and a pick is never easy, but the Panthers are in a win-now mode with their deep, relatively young roster that looks poised to do some damage in the Atlantic Division.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Adam Gaudette Re-Signs With Chicago Blackhawks

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The Chicago Blackhawks didn’t issue a qualifying offer to Adam Gaudette, but he won’t be hitting the free agent market on Wednesday. The team has instead signed him to a one-year contract worth $997,500, according to Scott Powers of The Athletic.

That’s the same amount as what his qualifying offer would have been, meaning Gaudette was willing to accept that amount to prove he can still be a top-nine contributor. The 24-year-old had four points in seven games with the Blackhawks after a midseason trade from the Vancouver Canucks, where his career had stagnated after some early success. In 2019-20 he scored 12 goals and 33 points in just 59 games, showing flashes of the dominance that made him a Hobey Baker Award winner at Northeastern University. But in the playoffs, he disappeared completely, recording no points at all through ten games.

When he returned to Vancouver in 2020-21, his minutes were curtailed and his performance declined, to the point of being a healthy scratch on a regular basis. He scored seven points in 33 games before the trade to Chicago, which gave him a fresh start in a different market. It started well, but Gaudette quickly became a healthy scratch in Chicago as well, leading to some wondering whether he’d be brought back at all. With this one-year deal, it might be his last chance to establish himself as an NHL regular.

Ondrej Kase, Nick Ritchie Do Not Receive Qualifying Offers

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The Boston Bruins indicated earlier this week that qualifying offers would be extended to restricted free agents Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie, but that decision changed at some point. Both players did not receive offers by today’s deadline, meaning they will become unrestricted free agents on Wednesday. The team did however sign Nick Wolff to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2021-22 season, and extended qualifying offers to Callum Booth and Zachary Senyshyn.

It seemed like a bigger surprise that Kase was originally going to be tendered an offer, given his Bruins career to this point. The 25-year-old winger has played just nine regular season games since arriving in Boston during the 2019-20 season, failing to score a single goal. The former 20-goal man has dealt with serious injuries and is at a crossroads in his career. Once a play-driving middle-six option, he’ll now hit the free agent market looking to find a way back onto an NHL roster. He’s played just 88 games since the beginning of the 2018-19 season.

Ritchie on the other hand is coming off his best offensive season, with 15 goals in 56 games for the Bruins. Five of those game on the powerplay, where he used his large frame to clean up pucks in front of the net, a role that he could perhaps now fill for some other team around the league. The 10th overall pick in 2014, Ritchie has only totaled 59 career goals, but brings a high level of physicality to the bottom-six and won’t turn 26 until December.

There will certainly be teams interested in that production, and failing to receive a qualifying offer doesn’t actually close the door completely on a return to Boston. The two sides could still work out a deal, but the Bruins obviously didn’t feel comfortable issuing the qualifying offer and risking an arbitration award.

For Wolff, this is his second NHL contract after signing out of Minnesota-Duluth in 2020. The 25-year-old defenseman had just two assists in 24 games with the Providence Bruins, but stands 6’5″ and adds plenty of length to the minor league team’s blueline. He’ll be ticketed for the AHL once again, where he can continue to provide stable defensive play and hope for an NHL call-up.

Offseason Notes: Kuemper, Nemeth, Wideman

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The Arizona Coyotes moved out Adin Hill this offseason and have Antti Raanta scheduled for free agency in two days, but that doesn’t mean they won’t listen on their other goalie. Darcy Kuemper is generating interest around the league according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, who lists the Toronto Maple Leafs as one team involved. The Coyotes–who have used their available cap space several times this offseason to acquire future assets–may be willing to retain some of Kuemper’s $4.5MM salary to get a deal done but the price is “quite high” according to Pagnotta.

The 31-year-old Kuemper had just a .907 save percentage this season, but showed off his skills at the World Championship, taking Team Canada to a gold medal. For his career, he has posted a .917 in 242 NHL games, a number that would certainly be interesting to several contenders looking for a tandem option. Toronto GM Kyle Dubas has been very clear over the past week that the team’s top priority is finding a partner for Jack Campbell, given Frederik Andersen appears to be heading to market. Kuemper could be that option for them or another team, though it will come at a cost.

  • The New York Rangers could be adding some size to their young defensive group, as Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the team is expected to sign Patrik Nemeth when free agency opens this week. The 6’3″ Nemeth spent this season with the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche, totaling 10 points in 52 games. He earned $3MM in each of the last two seasons, but could be taking a bit of a pay cut according to Brooks, who expects a two or three-year deal to be completed with an average annual value between $2.25MM and $2.75MM. The 29-year-old would certainly add some defensive responsibility to a blueline already brimming with offensive talent, though where he exactly fits would have to still be determined.
  • After an outstanding season in the KHL, Chris Wideman could be returning to North America to join the Montreal Canadiens. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Wideman is a “good bet” to end up in Montreal when free agency opens. The 31-year-old defenseman led all KHL defensemen in scoring this season with 41 points in 59 games and then helped the U.S. win bronze at the World Championship. He last played in the NHL during the 2018-19 season and recently opened up about the Uber incident while with the Ottawa Senators that may have considerably changed his career path.

Toronto, Boston Complete Minor Trade

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The Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins have completed a minor trade, involving the draft rights to an unsigned college player. J.D. Greenway, the younger brother of Minnesota Wild forward Jordan Greenway, has been sent from Toronto to Boston for future considerations according to CapFriendly. Greenway, who has completed his years of NCAA eligibility, will become an unrestricted free agent if not signed by August 15.

Selected 72nd overall in 2016, the 23-year-old Greenway doesn’t at all represent the way the Maple Leafs build their teams. Standing 6’5″ and known more for his physicality than his skill, he scored just 25 points during a four-season college career that started with the University of Wisconsin and ended with the University of Maine. There was a transfer year in the middle that Greenway spent playing for the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the USHL, but even there he was unable to really establish himself as a dominant offensive player, scoring just nine goals in 58 games.

Still, as the NHL pendulum starts to swing back towards size and strength, at least in the bottom-six and on defense, perhaps Greenway could still have a career at the highest level. The Bruins obviously believe in him enough to bring him into the organization and should be expected to sign him before the deadline. A start with the AHL’s Providence Bruins is likely.

Sam Morin Re-Signs With Philadelphia Flyers

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The Philadelphia Flyers are bringing back some of their toughness, inking Samuel Morin to a new one-year contract. The deal will carry a salary of $750K and keep the 6’6″ behemoth in the only organization he’s ever known.

Morin, 26, was at a career crossroads heading into this season and decided to try his hand on the wing. Though he was never expected to provide much offense at that spot, a midseason switch back to defense has seemingly extended his NHL career. The physical, fighting Morin has landed another contract and even though it’s only worth the league minimum, it keeps him in the league for the time being.

Beloved by his teammates, Morin shouldn’t be expected to play every night for the Flyers in 2021-22, but represents an option for head coach Alain Vigneault to insert at certain times. He probably isn’t even really penciled in as a seventh option, but more of a specialty that can come in and out as needed. With the roster makeover that GM Chuck Fletcher has attempted this summer, the team has new faces like Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen to eat up heavy minutes on the back end. Morin’s job will to be–to steal a phrase from Mike Babcock–6’6″ every day.

List Of Players Not Receiving A 2021 Qualifying Offer

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The deadline to issue a qualifying offer to pending restricted free agents is today, making any player who has not received one eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday. It does not stop them from re-signing with the team for a different amount. Below are the players who will not be issued a qualifying offer:

(this list will be updated as reports continue to come in)

Anaheim Ducks

Danton Heinen

Arizona Coyotes

Dryden Hunt, John Hayden, Frederik Gauthier, Nathan Sucese

Boston Bruins

Ondrej Kase, Robert Lantosi, Nick Ritchie

Buffalo Sabres

Stefanos Lekkas, Dawson DiPietro

Calgary Flames

Dominik Simon, Artyom Zagidulin

Carolina Hurricanes

Jeremy Helvig

Chicago Blackhawks

Pius Suter, Josh Dickinson, David Kampf, Adam Gaudette

Colorado Avalanche

Travis Barron, Peyton Jones, Ty Lewis, Adam Werner

Columbus Blue Jackets

Kole Sherwood, Cliff Pu

Dallas Stars

Julius Honka

Detroit Red Wings

Evgeny Svechnikov

Edmonton Oilers

Jujhar Khaira, Dominik Kahun, Theodor Lennstrom

Florida Panthers

Lucas Wallmark, Patrick Bajkov, Ryan Bednard, Alec Rauhauser, Jake Massie, Brad Morrison

Los Angeles Kings

Matt Luff, Michael Eyssimont, Drake Rymsha, Tyler Steenbergen

Minnesota Wild

Dmitry Sokolov

Montreal Canadiens

Jake Lucchini, Joseph Blandisi

Nashville Predators

New Jersey Devils

Evan Cormier, Brandon Gignac, David Quenneville, Colby Sissons

New York Islanders

Michael Dal Colle, Dmytro Timashov, Robert Carpenter

New York Rangers

Yegor Rykov, Patrick Newell, Brandon Crawley, Gabriel Fontaine

Ottawa Senators

Marcus Hogberg, J.C. Beaudin, Michael Amadio, Jack Kopacka, Zachary Magwood, Jonathan Davidsson, Brandon Fortunato

Philadelphia Flyers

Pascal Laberge

Pittsburgh Penguins

Mark Jankowski, Sam Miletic, Jesper Lindgren, Emil Larmi

San Jose Sharks

Ryan Donato, Nicholas Merkley

Seattle Kraken

(none)

St. Louis Blues

Jacob de La Rose, Erik Foley, Evan Polei, Evan Fitzpatrick

Tampa Bay Lightning

Ryan Lohin

Toronto Maple Leafs

Veini Vehvilainen

Vancouver Canucks

Marc Michaelis, Petrus Palmu, Jake Kielly, Jayce Hawryluk, Mitch Eliot

Vegas Golden Knights

(none)

Washington Capitals

(none)

Winnipeg Jets

(none)

San Jose, New Jersey Swap Jaros, Merkley

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The San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils have completed a minor trade, swapping Christian Jaros and Nicholas Merkley. Immediately, Jaros has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Devils worth $800K at the NHL level and $275K in the AHL.

Jaros, 25, played seven games for the Sharks this season after a late January trade from the Ottawa Senators. An imposing figure on the ice standing 6’3″ 222-lbs, the fifth-round pick will likely be a depth piece for New Jersey like he has been at his previous two stops. In 2018-19, his only full NHL season, he managed ten points in 61 games with the Senators. A one-year deal likely won’t come in at anything more than the $750K league minimum.

Merkley is perhaps the more interesting name to follow in this deal, if only because of his draft pedigree. Picked 30th overall in 2015, he has never been able to translate his exceptional junior production into consistent scoring at the NHL level. In 27 games this year, he recorded two goals and ten points, taking his career total to 12.

Overall, this is just a trade of two depth pieces that needed a different fit. The blueline in San Jose is overcrowded with expensive veterans, but the forward group is in need of some new additions. In New Jersey, it’s almost the opposite, with a defensive group still completely up in the air even after the acquisition of Ryan Graves. For each player it seems like there will be more opportunity in the NHL, though they’ll still need to prove they’re capable of taking on that role.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the trade.

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