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Zach Whitecloud Signs Six-Year Extension

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The Vegas Golden Knights have seen enough from Zach Whitecloud to know they want him to stick around. The team has announced a six-year extension for the young defenseman that will keep him under contract through the 2027-28 season. The deal comes with an average annual value of $2.75MM. PuckPedia tweets the full breakdown:

  • 2022-23: $1.0MM salary + $2.0MM signing bonus
  • 2023-24: $3.0MM salary
  • 2024-25: $2.75MM salary
  • 2025-26: $2.75MM salary
  • 2026-27: $2.5MM salary
  • 2027-28: $2.5MM salary

He may not be the name that draws the most attention on the Golden Knights roster, but Whitecloud is one of the organization’s biggest success stories. Overlooked for basically his entire career, Whitecloud didn’t play alongside other top prospects in the WHL, suiting up in the Manitoba Junior Hockey league instead where he was even cut multiple times. He wasn’t drafted by any NHL team–or even really considered–and was recruited by just one college program, Bemidji State University.

It’s with the BSU Beavers that he started to gain notoriety, and in 2018 after his sophomore season, he signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Golden Knights. He stepped directly into pro hockey and was a dominant performer for the Chicago Wolves, putting up the AHL’s best plus-minus in 2018-19 and then led all defensemen in playoff scoring. The following year he got a taste with the Golden Knights and then played in 20 postseason games with the team. In March 2020, he signed a two-year deal that still paid him just the league minimum.

Now a full-time roster player (when healthy), Whitecloud has rewarded that early faith the Golden Knights showed in him by signing away a good chunk of his career. Six-year contracts don’t often come about for players with just 72 regular season NHL games under their belt, but given his postseason performances and steady development, Vegas obviously believes he can be a long-term piece for them.

Given he’ll turn 25 in November, a six-year deal is buying out four years of unrestricted free agency. It also completely avoids salary arbitration and keeps him in the mix at a reasonable cap number through his prime years. Whitecloud will be in his thirties by the time he hits unrestricted free agency, something that seems a long way off right now.

Max Domi Activated From Injured Reserve

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The Columbus Blue Jackets are getting a key player back a little ahead of schedule as Max Domi has been activated from injured reserve. Domi was ruled out with a fractured rib and given a two- to four-week timeline on October 18, just ten days ago. The team has also sent Justin Danforth to the AHL to make room on the roster.

Domi will end up missing just four games should he return tomorrow night for the Blue Jackets as expected. It had been quite the start for the 26-year-old forward before he went down to injury, scoring four points in two games despite averaging just over 12 minutes of ice time. He may not be the top-line player that some hoped he could develop into, but he’s an important forward for the Blue Jackets as they continue to try and compete in the Metropolitan Division.

Without him, the team went 2-2 over the past four games but still sits fifth in the Metro despite a 4-2 record. Emil Bemstrom and Dean Kukan remain on injured reserve, but getting Domi back so quickly will obviously be a welcome sight. The lines at practice today, tweeted out by team reporter Jeff Svoboda, indicate that if Domi goes in, he will likely be knocking rookie Yegor Chinakhov out and playing on the second unit with Gustav Nyquist and Cole Sillinger.

Rem Pitlick, Mats Zuccarello Placed In COVID Protocol

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The Minnesota Wild have placed Rem Pitlick and Mats Zuccarello in the league’s COVID-19 protocol, after reports surfaced yesterday suggesting that testing had brought back positive results. The team has recalled Connor Dewar, Kyle Rau and Jon Lizotte from the Iowa Wild to reinforce the NHL lineup.

Minnesota did not indicate whether either Pitlick or Zuccarello have tested positive for coronavirus, and it is important to remember that inclusion in the protocol does not mean that a player has. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol.

The Wild canceled practice yesterday with the test results pending, and now will appear to be without the services of two forwards for tonight’s game against the Seattle Kraken. Michael Russo of The Athletic tweets that the pair will continue to test over the next two days to try and confirm a positive result.

Zuccarello in particular is an extremely important piece for Minnesota, who has averaged more than 18 minutes a night this season and has seven points in six games. The 34-year-old continues to be one of the more effective playmakers in the league, and is coming off a season with 35 points in 42 games.

Pitlick meanwhile made his Wild debut on Tuesday, registering an assist in just over nine minutes of action. The 24-year-old was claimed off waivers earlier this month from the Nashville Predators and has shown a strong goal-scoring ability in the minor leagues. A former Minnesota Golden Gopher, he looks like a nice addition for the Wild early on.

AHL Shuffle: 10/28/21

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A busy Thursday holds nine games on the schedule around the NHL, including the undefeated Carolina Hurricanes and St. Louis Blues trying to stay perfect in their respective matches. Can the Arizona Coyotes get their first win of the season against the defending champs? As always, while teams finalize their gameday rosters we’ll be right here to keep track of all the minor moves.

Atlantic Division

Metropolitan Division

  • Cory Schneider has been added to the Bridgeport Islanders roster after he recently cleared waivers, following the activation of Semyon Varlamov yesterday. The 35-year-old veteran will likely serve as organizational depth, with Jakub Skarek and Kenneth Appleby getting the majority of starts in the minor leagues.
  • The New Jersey Devils have sent Nico Daws back to the AHL, suggesting that one of their other goaltenders is ready to return to action. Daws posted an .875 save percentage in his two NHL appearances, securing a win for the Devils in the process.

Central Division

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have sent Ian Mitchell back to the Rockford IceHogs, recalling Isaak Phillips in his place. Phillips, 20, would be making his NHL debut should he get into a game with the Blackhawks this season. A fifth-round pick, he has quickly developed into one of the most reliable defenders for Rockford and has two points in his first four games this year.

Pacific Division

  • On top of sending Mason McTavish down on a conditioning stint, the Anaheim Ducks also assigned Sam Carrick to the minors.  The 29-year-old logged nearly 10 minutes of ice time in his season debut on Tuesday.  Carrick had six points in 13 games with Anaheim last season so he should get another shot at NHL action at some point later this season.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Atlantic Notes: Bruins, Mittelstadt, Watson

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Bruins forward Curtis Lazar was back in the lineup tonight against Florida but he very nearly wasn’t.  He told reporters, including Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald, that he was very close to having surgery to repair his injured elbow which would have taken him out for the majority of the remainder of the regular season.  Instead, simply resting it has worked well enough – for now at least – to allow the 26-year-old to return after just missing four games.  Lazar’s timing to return is certainly good with veteran Craig Smith not accompanying the team on their two-game road trip.  Anton Blidh was transferred to IR to make room for Lazar’s activation.

More from the Atlantic:

  • The Sabres are hoping that center Casey Mittelstadt will be able to return to the lineup after their road trip, reports Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News (Twitter link). The 22-year-old suffered an upper-body injury in their season-opening win over Montreal and has been out ever since.  Buffalo will kick off a four-game West Coast road trip on Thursday so Mittelstadt won’t be able to return until November 6th against Detroit.
  • Senators winger Austin Watson could return to Ottawa’s lineup for their game on Friday, suggests Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 29-year-old suffered an ankle injury in the final game of the postseason and hasn’t played since but did participate in practice today.  The Sens have an open roster spot even with the recent addition of Dylan Gambrell so no move will need to be made to activate Watson off injured reserve.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Minnesota Wild

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  Teams that can avoid 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 for the 2021-22 season and beyond.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Minnesota Wild

Current Cap Hit: $78,453,086 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

Minnesota has some players who could see time with them at some point this season in Matt Boldy (two years, $881K) and Marco Rossi (three years, $894K) but neither figure to play prominent roles or reach their Class A bonuses.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

D Jordie Benn ($900K, UFA)
F Nick Bjugstad ($900K, UFA)
F Kevin Fiala ($5.1MM, RFA)
D Alex Goligoski ($5MM, UFA)
F Jordan Greenway ($2.1MM, RFA)
G Kaapo Kahkonen ($725K, RFA)
D Jon Merrill ($850K, UFA)
F Rem Pitlick ($918K, RFA)
F Victor Rask ($4MM, UFA)
F Nico Sturm ($725K, UFA)

The decision the Wild made to take Fiala to arbitration was a bit of a curious one.  While it ensured he’d be with the team for training camp, it also gave him the opportunity to elect a two-year term that would walk him right to UFA eligibility.  That didn’t happen as they settled on this one-year pact which still gives Fiala the right to opt for arbitration next summer and take another one-year deal.  It also gives Minnesota one more opportunity to try to lock him up long term but with the dead cap money they have on the books for the next few years, fitting it in could be tricky.  This situation will be one to monitor.

Rask’s contract is finally set to come off the books after being acquired in a trade two years ago that hasn’t worked out well at all.  As someone who is better suited for a very limited role now, he may have to settle for a quarter of his current rate next summer.  Greenway’s bridge deal gave the Wild some extra short-term flexibility and a chance to evaluate his potential for being a long-term fixture.  He has shown some improvement but he hasn’t quite established himself as a top-six piece either.  A one-year deal that keeps him RFA-eligible next summer may be in Minnesota’s best interest.  Bjugstad, Pitlick, and Sturm are all role players that will need to be willing to sign for similar low-cost rates to stick around.

Goligoski decided to sign with his hometown team in the offseason, taking a higher one-year deal over a multi-year pact that carried some longer-term security.  He’s more of a fourth or fifth option at this stage of his career and could be looking at something closer to the $3MM mark next summer.  Benn and Merrill are both depth defenders that didn’t have a lot of interest in free agency this year – it took a month for Benn to get this deal – and similar contracts are likely unless one of them plays their way into a bigger role.

Kahkonen has settled in as the backup but barring something unexpected, his experience in terms of NHL appearances is going to be limited – likely somewhere in the range of 55 career games.  That’s not going to help his case in arbitration.  He has two years of team control remaining so he either takes a one-year deal (likely in the $2MM range) or a multi-year pact closer to $3MM but the latter may be tough to afford.

Two Years Remaining

F Brandon Duhaime ($750K, RFA)
D Mathew Dumba ($6MM, UFA)
F Frederick Gaudreau ($1.2MM, UFA)
D Dmitry Kulikov ($2.25MM, UFA)
G Cam Talbot ($3.667MM, UFA)

Gaudreau has largely been in the minors in his career but a good showing in limited action with Pittsburgh took him from a two-way deal to two years at seven figures.  He’ll need to lock down a regular role in each season to land that contract in 2023.  So far, so good on that front.  Duhaime earned the final spot on the roster in training camp and he has done well on the fourth line.  He’ll get a small raise on his next deal with the next increase in the NHL minimum salary and could get a bit more than that if he can stick with the Wild and not be shuffled down to Iowa.

Dumba’s future is about as secure as it has been for a while as gone are the days that had him in frequent trade speculation.  He’s one of their top blueliners and will only be 29 when his deal is up so a max-term contract or close to it shouldn’t be off the table.  He should come in a tier below some of the big deals handed out this past summer but something that pushes the AAV near the $8MM range certainly seems doable at this point.  Kulikov makes a bit much for the spot on the third pairing he currently occupies but if he can hold his own in the top four when injuries arise, they’ll get an okay return on this deal.

Talbot is well below the median salary for starters but did well in that role last season.  Even so, it’s hard to forecast a guaranteed raise for him since he’ll be 36 on his next deal and may be better off with one-year deals with incentives that could push the total compensation around the $4MM mark; those aren’t available on multi-year pacts for 35-plus players.

Three Years Remaining

F Marcus Foligno ($3.1MM, UFA)
F Ryan Hartman ($1.7MM, UFA)
F Mats Zuccarello ($6MM, UFA)

Zuccarello had a quiet first season but was certainly better in 2020-21, producing at a level that’s close to the top line which is what he’s being paid to do.  He’ll turn 37 for his next contract and is another candidate to do a one-year, incentive-laden deal at that time, especially if his production drops off towards the end of the contract.  Foligno’s contract seemed a little high when it was signed back in January but with how the UFA market went over the summer, it’s a market-value contract.  Whether or not he can stay healthy will go a long way towards what his next deal will be as staying in the lineup has been an issue and the style he plays doesn’t always age well.  Hartman has been able to work his way up the depth chart compared to where he was in his previous stops and a middle-six winger signed for $1.7MM for three years is pretty good value although he’ll need to step up his production past the 20-point mark to have a shot at landing a much pricier deal in 2024.

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Pacific Notes: Possible Eichel Trade Partner, Stone, Appleton

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Talks between the Golden Knights and Sabres regarding center Jack Eichel have picked up in recent days, reports Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli.   Vegas is off to a tough start to their season with a 2-4 record and bringing someone like Eichel in won’t exactly help in the short term with him still needing neck surgery which will take him out for several months, whichever version of the procedure he winds up getting.  Seravalli adds that there has been some talk about getting a third team involved to make the financial element work with the Golden Knights tight to the Upper Limit of the salary cap as usual.  Buffalo has insisted they won’t retain on the remaining five years and $50MM of Eichel’s deal although they are open to taking other contracts back to make the money work.  Enticing another team to retain on Eichel’s deal would be costly – it has to be done for the remainder of the deal and not just certain years – but it would certainly make it easier to fit Eichel into their salary structure.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Also from Seravalli’s column, the Golden Knights are still waiting for some clarity on Mark Stone’s injury. There is some concern that it could be a long-term issue which could free up the short-term LTIR room needed to absorb Eichel’s contract although that’s only good until both players would be ready to return.  Stone is currently listed as somewhere between day-to-day and week-to-week which is a creative way of saying he’s out indefinitely.
  • Kraken winger Mason Appleton will “miss some time”, head coach Dave Hakstol told reporters including Marisa Ingemi of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). The 25-year-old left Tuesday’s victory over Montreal after two periods with an undisclosed injury.  Appleton has an assist in seven games so far this season while his average ice time has dipped by more than three minutes a night compared to his usage with Winnipeg in 2020-21.

Snapshots: Team USA, Wild, Ghost Pirates

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When Stan Bowman stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday, he also removed himself from the position of Team USA general manager for the upcoming Olympics. According to Steven Ellis of The Hockey News, that position is expected to go to Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin, who had previously been serving as AGM for the team.

Guerin, who had previously been involved in an investigation hailing back to his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was cleared recently by the U.S. Center for SafeSport according to Ellis. (UPDATE: Katie Strang of The Athletic reports that it is not quite that simple, and Guerin has not been cleared of wrongdoing as the case has not even progressed to the level of complainant interviews yet.)

  • The Minnesota Wild may be facing a COVID protocol situation, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. The team is waiting for further testing and canceled practice today, as they prepare for their game tomorrow night. Russo believes at least two players are expected to be moved into the protocol, while the Wild are going to recall Kyle Rau, Connor Dewar and Jon Lizotte from the AHL.
  • The ECHL has announced their newest franchise, set to join the league in 2022-23. The Savannah Ghost Pirates will start play next season and sport green and black as their primary colors.

Los Angeles Kings Provide Injury Updates On Walker, Doughty

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The Los Angeles Kings provided updates on two of the team’s top defensemen today that Drew Doughty has suffered a right knee contusion and will not skate for the next six weeks, while Sean Walker suffered a torn ACL and MCL and is out for the season. The team is hopeful Doughty can return to the lineup in eight weeks.

Walker tore both ligaments on Monday and will undergo surgery at a later date. His season is over after six games.

It appeared as though the 26-year-old had taken a step forward this season, in terms of performance and responsibility. He had logged more than 20 minutes of ice time in each of the three games prior to Monday’s effort, including a whopping 25:09 against the Dallas Stars last week. In the second season of a four-year, $10.6MM deal, Walker will have to work back from serious knee surgery and try to be ready for next fall.

Doughty meanwhile is obviously one of the most important players on the Kings and was off to an incredible start through his first three games. With seven points in those contests, it was a devastating blow when he collided with Jani Hakanpaa partway through the game against the Stars.

Hakanpaa was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing, but did not receive any supplementary discipline.

Eight weeks from now would suggest Doughty could be ready to return by the team’s last game before the Christmas break, though that will obviously be dependant on how he recovers and reacts once he’s back on the ice. Either way, it is likely he’ll miss upwards of 20 games due to this injury, a huge chunk of the season for a team trying to make the playoffs.

The Kings recalled Kale Clague and Austin Strand today as they work to figure out the depth chart on defense moving forward.

Blake Wheeler Clears COVID Protocol

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Oct 27: After ten days away from the team, Wheeler has cleared the protocol and rejoined the Jets at their morning skate today.

Oct 18: The Winnipeg Jets had Blake Wheeler for Saturday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks, but may not have him for tomorrow night’s matchup against the Minnesota Wild. That’s because he’s been placed in the COVID protocol, though no other information was released from the team.

As a reminder, inclusion in the protocol does not mean that a player has tested positive for Coronavirus or even that they have been confirmed as a close contact to another positive person. Included in the NHL’s list of possible reasons for someone being on the COVID Protocol Related Absences list–which actually won’t be released for the first time until tomorrow–are the following:

(1) an initial positive test which remains unconfirmed until confirmatory testing is completed pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (2) mandated isolation for symptomatic individuals pursuant to the Positive Test Protocol; (3) required quarantine as a high-risk close contact in accordance with the Positive Test Protocol; (4) isolation based on a confirmed positive test result and/or; (5) quarantine for travel or other reasons as outlined in the COVID-19 Protocol.

In this case, it would be a huge blow for the Jets to lose their captain for any length of time, but especially when they’re off to such a poor start. The team is 0-2 on the year and has scored just four goals, one of them coming from fourth-liner Jansen Harkins. Wheeler himself has registered just three shots on net and one assist through two matches, despite averaging nearly 21 minutes of ice time.

He also happens to be a Minnesota native who hasn’t had the chance to play in his home state for quite some time, thanks to the realigned divisions last season. If he’s held out, it would be an unfortunate outcome not only for Wheeler and the Jets but also many of the fans that were hoping to see him suit up at home. He has not yet been ruled out for tomorrow’s game.

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