Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Maxim Cajkovic To Entry-Level Deal
The Tampa Bay Lightning may be focused on their current playoff run in hopes of winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles, but that hasn’t stopped them from looking into the future as well. The team announced they have signed forward Maxim Cajkovic to a three-year, entry-level deal.
A third-round pick in 2019, the Slovakin forward has spent the past three years in the QMJHL with the Saint John Sea Dogs and most recently this year with Val-d’Or Foreurs. Due to the pandemic, Cajkovic only appeared in 12 games for Val-d’Or this season, scoring six goals and 14 points, but fared even better in the playoffs scoring seven goals and 12 points in nine games. Cajkovic also represented Slovakia at the 2020 World Junior Championships, posting two assists in five games.
The 6-foot, 201-pound Cajkovic isn’t likely to get much of a chance to crack Tampa Bay’s impressive lineup next year, but will likely start his professional career next year with the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL.
Nikolaj Ehlers Ready To Return To Winnipeg’s Lineup For Game 3
Already up two games in their first-round playoff game with the Edmonton Oilers, the Winnipeg Jets got some more good news Sunday when it was learned that winger Nikolaj Ehlers would return to the lineup for Game 3, according to Sportsnet’s Ken Wiebe.
Ehlers, who has been out since April 24 with an upper-body injury and has missed a total of 11 games during that time, will move onto the right side of the team’s second line. Pierre-Luc Dubois is expected to move to the other side of that line, while Andrew Copp will drop to the third line. Dominic Toninato will come out of the lineup.
The return of the 25-year-old Ehlers will be welcome news to the Jets and its fans. Ehlers has been a consistent goal scorer throughout his career, tallying 20 goals or more for the last five years. He looks to have turned a corner this year, scoring at almost a point-per-game pace. Ehlers tallied 21 goals and 46 points in 47 games this year.
J.T. Miller Wants To Stay In Vancouver
Since arriving in Vancouver in 2019, acquired by the Canucks from the Tampa Bay Lightning, J.T. Miller has been a star. He leads the team in scoring with 118 points in 122 regular season games, 24 ahead of Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes tied for second. He was one of the biggest reasons the team reached the second round in the bubble playoffs last year, scoring 18 points in 17 postseason games.
Still, there have been bouts of inconsistency at times, and recently some speculation has emerged over whether he wants to even stay in Vancouver. During the Headlines segment on Hockey Night In Canada, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet explained that he went right to the source and asked Miller:
No, he does not want to be traded, he does not want to leave, he wants to be a Vancouver Canuck. He has no intentions of leaving. ‘We have a good team here’ and he wants to be a part of it.
Miller, 28, has two seasons left on the five-year, $26.25MM deal he signed with the Lightning in 2018 and carries a cap hit of $5.25MM. That’s a very reasonable number for a player that is nearly a point-per-game for the Canucks, even if this season didn’t result in much success for the team.
Of course, when the Canucks acquired Miller they voided the partial no-trade clause that had originally been included in the deal, meaning he technically wouldn’t be able to stop a move. A trade seems very unlikely though given Vancouver GM Jim Benning‘s recent comments about making the playoffs next season. In fact, Miller is likely a piece to build around if the postseason is a realistic goal.
The same can’t be said about everyone on the roster and there are changes coming in Vancouver this summer. But for now, at least, Miller isn’t looking to be moved.
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 05/22/21
Each day, the NHL will publicly release the list of players that are unavailable to their respective teams due to being in COVID-19 Protocol. Here is today’s list:
St. Louis – David Perron, Nathan Walker
As a reminder, inclusion on this list 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 list is 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
Players removed today: None
The Blues are still without Perron and Walker, though Jake Walman did exit the protocol yesterday and take warm-up with the team. Unfortunately, St. Louis is barely hanging on in their first-round series against the Avalanche and it might not matter even if Perron is back in time for tomorrow’s game. The timing of his positive test couldn’t have been worse as the Blues were already in tough against the powerhouse Colorado team and desperately need their leading scorer.
Snapshots: Staal, Mukhamadullin, Peterka, Hlinka Gretzky Cup
Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and despite the tough year that Detroit had, he isn’t ruling out a return. The veteran told reporters, including Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News, that he enjoyed the change of scenery from New York and that he’d be open to returning. Regardless of where he winds up, the 34-year-old will be facing a steep pay cut from the $5.7MM AAV on his now-expiring contract. Staal averaged 18:25 per night on the back end and acknowledged that he may be interested in playing with one of his brothers; Jordan remains under contract in Carolina while Eric will be an unrestricted free agent as well after playing out the playoffs with Montreal.
More from around the league:
- Devils prospect Shakir Mukhamadullin underwent successful shoulder surgery and should be ready to play next season, relays Corey Masisak of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 19-year-old was the 20th pick back in October and had a regular role with Salavat Yulaev of the KHL while notching 10 points in 39 games. He has one more year left on his deal overseas with Masisak adding that New Jersey expects to sign the defenseman at the conclusion of his 2021-22 campaign.
- Sabres associate GM Jason Karmanos had high praise for prospect J.J. Peterka, telling Bill Hoppe of the Olean Times Herald that had Pittsburgh (where he worked previously) been able to secure a first-rounder last fall, they’d have picked Peterka with that selection. Buffalo wound up nabbing him early in the second round and the 19-year-old had a strong season split between Munchen in Germany and Salzburg in Austria while being dominant at the World Juniors with ten points in five games.
- After being cancelled due to the pandemic, Corey Pronman of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Hlinka Gretzky Cup could still happen this summer somewhere in Europe, albeit without Canada’s participation. The under-18 tournament is typically the first event on the calendar for draft-eligible prospects and typically features eight countries.
PHR Mailbag: Player Safety, Compliance Buyouts, Kessel, Summer Shakeups, Predators, Flyers, Officiating
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the Department of Player Safety, the possibility of compliance buyouts, a creative Arizona trade idea, teams that could be heading for a sizable shakeup, Nashville’s regular season struggles, Philadelphia’s offseason, and NHL officiating. If your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in next weekend’s mailbag.
pawtucket: How would you fix the Department of Player Safety and its obvious flaws and inconsistencies?
When it comes to its flaws, I’m not sure everyone in the league and the NHL Players Association necessarily sees it that way. I’m not going to weigh in on the Tom Wilson incident which is what I suspect led to this question aside from noting that the view of general managers who were willing to speak off the record about it was hardly unanimous. I’m fairly confident the same can be said of the players as well. If someone wants to see stiffer discipline handed out, there is someone else who likes things the way there are now. That makes meaningful changes hard to accomplish.
The fine system has largely been ridiculed given its lack of teeth but that’s how both sides (the NHL and NHLPA) seem to want it. The threshold for levying a fine without a disciplinary hearing is $5K and is collectively bargained (Section 18 for anyone who wants to look up the details). That’s why most fines have been for that amount; it’s the most they can give without calling a hearing. It can actually be higher (up to $15K for multiple fines in a 12-month period) but a hearing would have to happen each time. If they want it to be higher, it needs to be agreed upon in the CBA. They just extended the CBA and didn’t touch it. Until a large percentage of players and league executives believe things need to change, they’re not going to change.
As to what I might change? That’s a hard one as the ideas I have certainly have flaws to them but here they are. Having an independent party make the decision could be more objective than an NHL employee but that would cost more money and chances are, the league would be more hesitant to refer matters to that independent person which would mean even more of the current system. Maybe some sort of panel makes a ruling – one with a league representative, an NHLPA representative, and one other party (perhaps a former player). Each makes their ruling and the suspension or fine becomes the average or median amount of those three. I’ll admit, that’s not a great system either but in terms of changes that I can think of, those are the ones that come to mind.
Joe422: With so many teams up against the salary cap… is there any chance the league allows a compliance buyout this offseason? And if yes, we know Ladd, Neal, etc will be bought out but what surprise names could we see?
If there was going to be a compliance buyout that was allowed, it would have been last year when teams were caught off guard by the cap flattening out instead of continuing to increase. Everyone has now had a season to operate under the new system and have signed contracts knowing what the new economic reality is. And while there are some large-market, cap-strapped teams that would welcome the ability for a cap-exempt buyout, there are others that want to see those teams suffer, for lack of a better term. I’d be surprised if one was allowed this summer.
But, just for fun, a name that came to mind that might be viewed as a surprise when I saw this question was Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky. He has not fared well with the Panthers; a .902 SV% wasn’t what they were expecting when they gave him $10MM a year for seven years. They have Spencer Knight who is their goalie of the future. Clearing Bobrovsky’s deal off the books would also allow them to be able to afford to re-sign pending UFA Chris Driedger, bring in a veteran backup/platoon option, and still come out with cap and real dollar savings. GM Bill Zito isn’t the GM who gave Bobrovsky the contract so there’s no situation where the GM isn’t willing to admit his mistake – it was Dale Tallon who made it.
The Mistake of Giving Eugene Melnyk a Liver Transplant: Could Arizona expose Phil Kessel for the draft, then give up an asset to trade to get him back after the $5MM signing bonus has been paid?
Technically, this is legal, sort of. In the Vegas draft, teams were allowed to trade back for the players that they lost and a few of those teams went down that road but couldn’t work something out. However, as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic noted back in 2017 (Twitter link), it can’t be part of a pre-arranged transaction. Assuming that the purpose of this is to have Seattle repay Kessel’s July 1 signing bonus to Arizona (which is how it technically would work), that certainly feels like a pre-arranged transaction. They’d have to get a little creative as a result.
For a deal to not appear as pre-arranged, some time would need to elapse before Arizona would re-acquire Kessel. I’m thinking a couple of months or more with the deal coming just before (or during) training camp. By then, the Coyotes could plausibly argue that they were unable to replace him in free agency or the trade market and having had time to re-assess their team, now believe that they need to bring him back (and would be paying a fairly significant cost to do so). Is losing a good pick/prospect or two and potentially drawing the ire of the league worth saving $5MM in costs? Even with their financial situation, I’m not sure they’d see it that way but I like the creative thinking.
MoneyBallJustWorks: What teams if they are eliminated in Round 1 can you see making big changes this offseason?
For example, if Edmonton is eliminated in Round 1, do they shake up their core outside of Leon, Connor and Darnell?
Edmonton certainly seems like the obvious choice to be bolder in their team building. The forward depth isn’t the greatest which is a by-product of having players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on their roster. Their defense isn’t elite by any stretch either. I don’t think they’d move one of McDavid, Draisaitl, or Darnell Nurse but I don’t think there would be many untouchables beyond those three either. If they go down to Winnipeg with the offense continuing to sputter, GM Ken Holland will have a hard time justifying keeping things the way they are now.
Washington also stands out as a possibility and with them down 3-1 to Boston, them losing also stands out as a possibility. It has been a weird year for them and it certainly feels like Evgeny Kuznetsov’s time with them could be in jeopardy. Any time a center of his caliber becomes available, that’s shaking up the core. If they wind up exposing and losing T.J. Oshie to Seattle as some have speculated, that would be another big change to their core group.
Gbear: Despite getting into the playoffs, the Predators have been awful at shot suppression, shot creation and special teams throughout John Hynes’ tenure as coach. Is merely squeezing into the playoffs reason to allow him to keep his job in Nashville?
Related to that, it would seem that if any team needed to make a play for Jack Eichel, it would be Nashville. Would it not be reasonable for GM Poile to offer up two first-rounders, and any of their prospects not named Tomasino or Farrance for him?
Speaking of a team that could try to shake things up with a first-round exit, Nashville would certainly qualify as well. They’ve been sputtering for a while now and it’s clear the composition of players they have don’t work in terms of maximizing their individual talents. A swap of high-priced underachievers is one of the ways that teams can make moves without creating cap problems as long as the deals are similarly priced and the Predators look like a prime candidate to do that.
The hiring of Hynes was a little surprising at the time and frankly was underwhelming as nothing he had done in New Jersey suggested he was a ‘must-hire before anyone else gets a chance to get him’ coach. But it wouldn’t be fair to just lay it at his feet as the core wasn’t exactly doing much under Peter Laviolette either. I think it’s more of a roster composition issue than a coaching one at this point. And for what it’s worth, Hynes has only been behind the bench for 84 regular season games, barely one full season. Coaches, especially ones that they moved quickly to get like they did, typically get a longer leash than that, playoff success or not.
As for targeting Eichel, sure, they’d be wise to show interest in him. However, the cost to get a franchise player is going to be considerably higher than a couple of first-round picks that will be near the middle of the round and some prospects that aren’t at the top of their pool. Eichel will be looked at in more detail next week but if Buffalo isn’t getting elite talent in return, they shouldn’t be moving him. That package isn’t going to yield elite talent.
International Notes: Kaskisuo, Iskhakov, Weise
Predators goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo has been on an NHL contract for the past five seasons but only has two career appearances at the top level to this point of his career. As he’s set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer, it appears some international opportunities will be presenting themselves; Leksand (SHL) GM Thomas Johansson told SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson that they are considering going after the 27-year-old for next season. Kaskisuo was Nashville’s taxi squad goaltender this season and made just a single appearance lasting 15 minutes while not getting any AHL time so at this point, simply going somewhere where he will have a chance to play would certainly be appealing.
Elsewhere around the international hockey world:
- Islanders prospect Ruslan Iskhakov opted to turn pro last season after spending two seasons at the University of Connecticut but instead of signing with New York, he went overseas and played in Finland. Despite finishing tied for third in scoring with TPS Turku with 38 points in 54 games, the 2018 second-rounder is on the move again and once again, it’s not to New York. Instead, Adler Mannheim of the DEL announced that they’ve signed the 20-year-old to a one-year deal for next season. It’s worth noting that the Isles only hold his rights through August 15, 2022, so if he doesn’t sign with them for next season, he’ll become a free agent.
- After not playing this season, it appears as if winger Dale Weise is set to resume his career. Svensson reports in a separate column that the veteran has agreed to terms with IK Oskarshamn of the SHL with an official announcement expected in the next few days. The 32-year-old is a veteran of 513 career NHL games across five separate organizations and became a free agent last fall after his contract with Montreal was not renewed.
Two Players Fined By Department Of Player Safety
After levying an eight-game suspension to Colorado’s Nazem Kadri on Friday night, the Department of Player Safety was busy on Saturday morning, announcing (Twitter links) a pair of fines as Hurricanes center Jordan Staal and Capitals winger Anthony Mantha are both $5K lighter in the wallet. As always, the money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Staal was fined for a trip on Nashville winger Luke Kunin during the second period where his right leg caught the back of Kunin’s left leg, causing him to fall backwards onto the ice. A minor penalty was assessed on the play. Meanwhile, Mantha was fined for goaltender interference on Boston’s Tuukka Rask. The incident occurred in the third period when he skated unimpeded into the crease, colliding with the netminder. Again, a minor penalty was called.
There was one other incident of note from the Boston-Washington game when a high hit from Dmitry Orlov injured Boston’s Kevan Miller, sending him to the hospital. NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin reports (Twitter link) that Miller spent the night in the hospital but has since been charged while Samantha Post of the Washington Post tweets that there will be no supplementary discipline forthcoming for Orlov.
North Notes: Giordano, Sutter, Senators Arena
Mark Giordano has been a fixture on Calgary’s back end for well over a decade and has gone from a role player to a top-line fixture while taking over as their captain. However, Seattle’s expansion draft is on the horizon and the Flames could be inclined to protect players that are going to be around a little longer than the 37-year-old in Rasmus Andersson, Noah Hanifin, and Chris Tanev who all have at least three years left on their respective deals. Accordingly, Sportsnet’s Eric Francis suggests that Giordano would be a viable target for the Kraken who would be able to afford the $6.75MM on his deal for next season where he’d be a valuable mentor (and perhaps a late-season trade chip). For his part, Giordano acknowledged that “there are certain situations where you have to be an adult about it and know there are certain things that have to happen”, suggesting that he seems to see the writing on the wall.
More from the North Division:
- Canucks center Brandon Sutter’s preference is to re-sign with Vancouver this offseason, notes Thomas Drance of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 32-year-old certainly hasn’t lived up to the $4.375MM cap hit on the deal he signed after joining Vancouver but he can still be an effective role player, scoring nine goals this season while winning 55.5% of his faceoffs. A significant pay cut is coming one way or another but given his fit on the team, it’s understandable that Sutter may want to stick around.
- Ottawa’s arena situation has been a concern for a few years now after the LeBreton Flats development fell through but it has been off the radar lately. However, team owner Eugene Melnyk indicated in a recent appearance on the Bob McCown Podcast (audio link) that he’s hoping to commit to a new plan within the next few years. His preference is to stay in Kanata but he indicated an openness to considering Gatineau, Quebec as a potential fallback.
Latest On John Tavares
Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas met with the media to provide an update on center John Tavares who suffered a concussion in a scary collision with Montreal’s Corey Perry in the opening game of their first-round series on Thursday night. The good news is that he was cleared of all structural damage to his head, neck, and spine, relays Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).
However, in addition to the concussion, Dubas revealed that Tavares also suffered a sprained MCL on the play, Johnston tweets. That carries a minimum recovery time of two weeks although the concussion will certainly keep him out longer. When asked about that potential timeline, Dubas was non-committal for when his captain might return (via TSN’s Kristen Shilton):
We have to be very careful and keep in mind he has a young family and there’s an onus on us to protect his future in that regard.
The important thing is that he was discharged from the hospital early on Thursday and has avoided any serious structural injuries but Toronto will be without their captain for the foreseeable future as they look to try to put together a long playoff run. The second game of their series against the Canadiens goes tonight.