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AHL Shuffle: 11/26/21

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After a day off across the league on Thursday, the NHL is back on the ice for a whopping 13 games today beginning at 2pm CT through 9:30pm CT, with games starting almost every hour. With a full day of hockey often come a full day of roster tweaks as well. Keep up with all the recalls and reassignments right here:

Atlantic Division

  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Sean Day from the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, potentially affording the gifted defenseman his first NHL opportunity. At one time considered such a special prospect that he was given “exceptional player status” to join the OHL a year early, Day has somewhat underwhelmed ever since. A third-round draft pick with pedestrian numbers in the junior and minor league ranks, it seemed like the OHL missed the mark on labeling Day as an elite talent. However, with ten points in 15 games for the Crunch this season, Day is finally starting to look the part. Could the two-time defending Stanley Cup champs have a late bloomer on their hands?
  • The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Brett Murray from the AHL, moving Drake Caggiula to injured reserve to make room. Murray, a fourth-round pick from 2016, has scored six goals in nine minor league games this season.

Metropolitan Division

  • Though an inspiring story of perseverance from an under-recruited high school prospect from Cape Cod to an injury-prone NCAA graduate transfer to an ECHL contract then an AHL contract and now an NHL contract, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Max Willman belongs in the NHL just yet. The hard-working forward has been returned to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms following a fruitless first NHL recall, the Philadelphia Flyers announced. In his place, the team has recalled forward Connor Bunnaman. 

Central Division

Pacific Division

 

Canada Preparing Spengler Cup Coaching Staff

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11/26: TSN’s Darren Dreger has confirmed much of Friedman’s initial report this morning, reporting that Julien will indeed be the bench boss of the Spengler Cup team with Boudreau as his assistant and notes that this staff will in fact coach in the Olympics if the NHL pulls out. However, Dreger didn’t stop there. He reports that Julien’s second assistant will be Scott Walker and the architect of the roster as GM will be a former Canadian Olympian in Shane Doan. 

11/25: The NHL’s participation in the 2022 Beijing Olympics is still not set in stone, with a January opt-out date still upcoming. Should the league feel as though there have been too many COVID-related postponements to afford a three-week break, they could pull the plug on the whole thing and reorganize their schedule without the international competition. If that were the case, suddenly the Canadian and U.S. teams would be without a coaching staff as well, because right now it is NHL bench bosses set to lead the groups.

In Canada’s case, it’s Jon Cooper, head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning that will be in control of the men’s team, alongside assistants Bruce Cassidy (Boston Bruins), Pete DeBoer (Vegas Golden Knights), and Barry Trotz (New York Islanders). If the NHL doesn’t go, neither do they, meaning a new staff would have to be brought in.

They’re already preparing for that instance, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet tweets. Claude Julien is expected to coach the Canadian contingent at the Spengler Cup in late December, and would take over the Olympic squad if the NHL doesn’t participate. He’s expected to be joined by Bruce Boudreau as an assistant coach, though Friedman does note that this is assuming neither is hired elsewhere in the meantime.

The Spengler Cup roster would likely have a large amount of crossover with the Olympic unit if the NHL chooses not to go, though some AHL, junior or college players would also likely be involved. With coaches like Julien and Boudreau, they would also have NHL-level coaching even if the league failed to participate.

Panthers Sign Ryan Lomberg To Two-Year Extension

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11/26: The Panthers have officially announced the new deal, confirming a two-year pact with Lomberg. In the team’s release, GM Bill Zito stated his appreciation for the forward’s hard-working brand of hockey: “Ryan has brought physicality and contagious energy to our lineup. We are excited to announce that he will continue to be a part of the Panthers organization for years to come.”

11/25: Ryan Lomberg has been a capable depth player in his two seasons with the Panthers and the team clearly likes what he has provided as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed the winger to a two-year contract extension.  The deal is worth $775K in 2022-23 and $825K in 2023-24 for an AAV of $800K, a small raise on his current $725K cap hit.

Lomberg signed with Florida as an unrestricted free agent back in 2020 after spending the first five years of his professional career with Calgary.  He didn’t see any NHL action in his final year in the Flames organization which allowed the 27-year-old to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent.

Since joining the Panthers, Lomberg has become more of a regular player, suiting up in 34 games last season where he tallied two goals and two assists in 34 games along with a team-high 67 penalty minutes.  This season, he has played in ten contests, picking up a goal and two assists while logging 10:38 per game, a career-high in ATOI.

With the signing, Florida now has just under $78MM in commitments for next season to just 16 players, per CapFriendly.  With the cap only expected to go up by $1MM next season to $82.5MM, Florida is going to be facing a situation where they will need to round out their roster with minimum-salary players and will likely need to move someone out to free up enough money to re-sign some of their own pending free agents.  Accordingly, getting a regular player in Lomberg locked up for just under the minimum is a nice piece of business for GM Bill Zito.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Dallas Stars

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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.

Dallas Stars

Current Cap Hit: $85,575,985 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

G Jake Oettinger (one year, $925K)
F Jacob Peterson (two years, $842.5K)
F Jason Robertson (one year, $795K)

Potential Bonuses
Oettinger: $537.5K
Peterson: $82.5K
Robertson: $82.5K
Total: $702.5K

Peterson spending this much time on the roster early on in his first season in North America is a bit of a surprise but the fact he has done well is certainly encouraging for the Stars.  With it being his first year, it’s hard to project where his next deal will be but he’s well on his way to hitting some of his games played bonus money.  Robertson finished second on the Stars in scoring last season and is hovering near the point per game mark again this year.  Limited action in his rookie campaign hurts his bargaining power a little but as long as he can play at a similar level to last year, he should have enough of a case to argue for a long-term contract with an AAV that could check in close to the one Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov recently received (eight years, $7.75MM cap hit).

Oettinger is listed here more to talk about his next contract than anything else as he’s basically the third-string option this season unless they move two veteran goalies out.  He could be a regular again in 2022-23 and while he’s someone that Dallas would be wise to try to get a multi-year agreement in place with, there’s little reason for the youngster to agree to that.  A one-year agreement that gets him to arbitration eligibility in the 2023 summer would be his best course of action even if it means his salary won’t jump up too much for next season.  Meanwhile, as he has ‘A’ bonuses, it’s unlikely he’ll hit them this season unless he’s up full-time before too much longer which will help lessen their carryover penalty.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Denis Gurianov ($2.55MM, RFA)
G Braden Holtby ($2MM, UFA)
D John Klingberg ($4.25MM, UFA)
F Joe Pavelski ($7MM, UFA)
F Alexander Radulov ($6.25MM, UFA)
F Michael Raffl ($1.1MM, UFA)
D Andrej Sekera ($1.5MM, UFA)

Pavelski’s first season was quiet aside from a strong playoff run which carried over into last year when he led the Stars in scoring.  He’s still producing like a top-six forward at a minimum (if not a top-liner last season) but he’s also going to be 38 when 2022-23 gets underway.  A one-year deal seems likely which opens up the potential for bonuses as well.  Even so, he’s going to be heading for at least a small dip although something in the $4MM-$5MM range is certainly possible.  Radulov is the other big-ticket deal coming off the books.  He’s coming off an injury-plagued season and is off to a particularly tough start this year.  He’ll be 36 next season and there will be questions as to whether or not he can still play in the top six of an NHL team.  As someone that has opted to take bigger money overseas once before, it’s definitely a possibility here if his AAV dips into the $3MM range.

Gurianov got this bridge coming off an improbable 20-goal season but still hasn’t been able to establish himself as a consistent top-six forward.  He’s young enough (24) to get a longer leash but his qualifying offer jumps to $2.9MM next summer.  With the start to the season he’s having, it’s hard to see him getting much more than that in theory but with arbitration eligibility, he should be able to use that to push past the $3MM mark.  Raffl has been more of a fourth liner in recent years and after going through the market this past summer, it’s safe to say his value next summer should check in fairly close to his current $1.1MM price tag.

If Dallas is going to reallocate some of Pavelski or Radulov’s money, Klingberg could very well be the beneficiary.  A report last month pegged his asking price at over $60MM over eight years, an AAV of $7.5MM or higher.  That’s a significant jump over his current price tag although he has the offensive production to try to shoot that high.  The Stars may not prefer to go eight years but if it keeps the cap hit lower, they’ll seriously have to consider it.  Sekera hasn’t been an impact blueliner for a few years now and has been more of a depth player in Dallas.  He’ll have to take a pay cut to get another NHL deal and could be a candidate for an incentive-based deal with a guarantee not far off the minimum with a few hundred thousand in games placed bonuses.

Holtby landing with Dallas was one of the more puzzling goalie moves this summer although they got him at a heavily discounted rate compared to a few years ago.  Of course, there’s a reason for that since he was bought out by Vancouver.  He’s off to a decent start this season which could help him restore some value and get closer to that higher tier of backups in the high-$3MM range.

Two Years Remaining

G Ben Bishop ($4.917MM, UFA)
F Luke Glendening ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Joel Hanley ($750K, UFA)
F Roope Hintz ($3.15MM, RFA)
G Anton Khudobin ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Joel Kiviranta ($1.05MM, UFA)

Hintz has largely flown under the radar in Dallas with several high-priced veterans in front of him but he was a top-liner for them last season.  His output has dipped early on this year but there’s still time to turn that around.  Their cap situation in 2020 forced a bridge deal but Hintz will have the hammer in the next negotiation with arbitration rights, a $3.79MM qualifier (120% of the AAV), and being a year away from UFA eligibility.  A long-term deal in the $6MM range is certainly doable for him.  Glendening is a role player at this point but as one of the best faceoff players in the league most years, it allows him to get more of a premium compared to other fourth liners.  As long as he keeps winning draws at a clip better than most, there’s no reason to think he can’t get another deal around this price tag in 2023.  Kiviranta was at his best in the 2020 bubble but has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHL player yet and has been limited when he is in the lineup.  If that continues, he’ll be hard-pressed to get this on the open market, let alone more.

Hanley has been on a minimum contract for the last several seasons, serving as low-cost depth.  That’s a roster spot they’ll want to keep at that price point so he could stick around for a little while yet.

Bishop missed all of last season and all of this year so far which has him on LTIR.  However, he has been skating regularly for a while now but they can’t afford to activate him without clearing cap space first so that’s something to watch for from Dallas in the near future.  With how much time he has missed and the fact his next deal will be his age-37 season, it’s not a guarantee Bishop gets another contract and if he does, a one-year, incentive-based deal with a lower salary is all he could hope for.  Khudobin’s numbers dipped last season and have gotten considerably worse so far in 2021-22.  Like Bishop, his next contract will be his age-37 season so he’ll probably be eyeing a one-year deal at best and if his numbers continue to be this poor, it’ll be at a much lower cost than his current one.

Three Years Remaining

D Jani Hakanpaa ($1.5MM, UFA)

Hakanpaa got himself on the map last season as he played in 57 games between Anaheim and Carolina (notable in itself considering it was a 56-game campaign) while providing plenty of physicality from the back end.  That resulted in a fairly strong market for him in free agency, allowing him to get three years after only his first NHL season at the age of 29.  He’ll need to move into a top-four role to have an opportunity for a bigger deal next time around.

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Injury Updates: Stastny, Dobson, Barkov, Beagle

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The Jets are hoping to have center Paul Stastny back in the lineup on Friday against Minnesota, relays Postmedia’s Scott Billeck.  The veteran has been out for a little more than two weeks due to a lower-body injury which put a strong start to his season on hold; Stastny has four goals and four assists in 11 games in the early going while logging over 18 minutes a game.  Winnipeg is set to begin a road back-to-back set so it’s possible that Stastny only suits up for one of those contests if they want to ere on the side of caution.

Other injury news from around the NHL:

  • The COVID situation for the Islanders is bad enough at the moment but they got some bad news on the injury front as well as blueliner Noah Dobson is dealing with a lower-body injury, mentions Mollie Walker of the New York Post. It has been a disappointing start for the 21-year-old who has been quiet offensively with just four assists in 14 games while being on the fringes of the top four on their back end.  Dobson is a pending restricted free agent and any extended absence – there’s no timeline for a return just yet – would certainly hurt his chances of a long-term deal this summer.
  • The Panthers will be without top center Aleksander Barkov for at least another two weeks, notes David Wilson of the Miami Herald. Barkov was able to avoid needing surgery following an injury on a collision with Scott Mayfield last week and at the time, interim head coach Andrew Brunette was only able to provide a week-to-week timeline.
  • Coyotes center Jay Beagle has been ruled out for the rest of the week at a minimum due to a lower-body injury, per Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). The team is awaiting further test results to know how long he’ll be out for.  The 36-year-old has played in 19 games so far this season and hasn’t recorded a point yet but has won nearly 60% of his faceoffs.

Flyers Assign Zayde Wisdom To OHL

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One of the Flyers’ top prospects, center Zayde Wisdom, is headed back to the OHL. His junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs announced (Twitter link) that he returned to practice with them today, signalling that the Flyers have indeed loaned him back for the remainder of their season.

Wisdom has yet to play this year due to offseason shoulder surgery.  In 2020-21, he played 28 games in the AHL with the Phantoms, registering seven goals and 11 assists, decent production for an 18-year-old playing as an underager. He was eligible to play as a junior-aged player because the OHL didn’t play last season due to the pandemic.  Since he played in more than 20 games, he was eligible to remain with Lehigh Valley this season if the Flyers wanted to keep him there.  The 2020 fourth-round pick is likely to be on Team Canada’s radar for the upcoming World Junior Championship if he produces upon his return.

This will mark Wisdom’s third season in the OHL. His best came in 2019-20 when he put up 59 points in 62 games. At the end of his junior campaign, he will be eligible to return to the AHL so he may be able to see game action with the Phantoms before the season comes to an end.

Sharks Willing To Retain Money To Facilitate Evander Kane Trade

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Anytime a player has significant term left on a contract, it’s difficult for a team to offer to retain salary to facilitate a trade.  They’re not able to pick and choose how much to retain and in what year; it’s a uniform amount of retention for the remainder of the deal.  Accordingly, it’s not very often that a player signed for several more seasons is moved with the trading team holding back some money.

One team that is open to being an exception to that appears to be San Jose.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the Sharks are willing to retain on Evander Kane’s contract in order to try to help trade talks move along.  Kane has three years remaining on his deal with a $7MM AAV, a high price tag for many teams to try to add with so many being tight to the salary cap already.

Kane has yet to play this season after receiving a 21-game suspension from the league for using a fake proof of vaccination while their investigation into allegations made over the offseason could not be substantiated.  That suspension is nearing a conclusion and he has started to skate with GM Doug Wilson recently acknowledging that they haven’t decided what to do with him once he’s cleared to return.

Kane is actually coming off an impressive 2020-21 season that saw him lead San Jose in scoring with 22 goals and 27 assists in 56 games, good enough for the highest point per game average of his career.  Despite that, it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be welcomed back.

The Sharks can retain up to 50% or $3.5MM of Kane’s cap hit but even with that, it seems unlikely that a suitable trade option will materialize right away.  At a minimum, teams will want to see Kane in action to see how he performs and how things go off the ice before making any sort of commitment to acquire him.  To that end, Friedman speculates that Kane could see some time in the minors which would allow the team some more time to determine their next steps and any potentially interested teams to do some evaluating.

In the meantime, San Jose’s 22nd game of the season is on Tuesday so while they have a few more days to figure out what their short-term plans are for Kane, they’ll need to make a decision soon.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Buffalo Sabres

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As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads towards the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Buffalo Sabres.

What are the Sabres most thankful for?

A conclusion to the Jack Eichel saga.

For months, there was constant discussion about how Buffalo management was mistreating their frustrated, injured former captain, with a new story coming out nearly every day. Since completing the trade that sent Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights, all of that chatter has been silenced and Kevyn Adams is no longer the target of the fans’ ire (at least not for that).

That doesn’t mean the Sabres are better without Eichel, and it certainly doesn’t mean Adams has figured out how to make his team competitive, but at least the magnifying glass has been moved somewhere else for a little while.

Who are the Sabres most thankful for?

Don Granato.

The Sabres are 7-10-2 on the season. They’re 2-7-1 in their last ten. They’ve lost four in a row. But still, it feels as though they finally have a coaching staff that the fans can believe in, at least in the short term. Granato has made the team competitive, even if they will ultimately finish near the bottom of the league again in another rebuilding season.

The powerplay is in the top half of the league, Rasmus Dahlin (even with his warts) appears rejuvenated, and young players like Tage Thompson and Rasmus Asplund are finding their way. There are such huge gaps in the roster construction that Granato was never going to be able to make this team a contender, but it at least resembles an NHL team for the first time in a while.

What would the Sabres be even more thankful for?

An NHL goaltender.

There is defensive help on the way. There are offensive players honing their game in the minor leagues. But the Sabres aren’t going to go anywhere without a legitimate NHL starter, and right now it’s not clear if there is one in the organization.

Forty-year-old Craig Anderson has been good when healthy, and Dustin Tokarski has been a nice story after his journeyman career. But the net was supposed to be handed over to Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen before long and the young netminder hasn’t progressed as hoped. In 11 AHL games he has an .883 save percentage and certainly doesn’t seem ready to take the Buffalo crease. That doesn’t mean he won’t develop into an NHL starter at some point down the road, but bad goaltending can be the bane of consistent effort. It’s difficult to play hard every night just to watch goals go in behind you, and a strong netminder can help make young defensemen feel more confident.

What should be on the Sabres’ Holiday Wish List?

Some more mid-round draft picks.

The Sabres have always had trouble surrounding their top players with effective depth, and even though this year they have secured three picks in the first round, they don’t have any extra selections in the other six. If they’re going to do this rebuild quickly and effectively, they need to hit on a few second, third and fourth-round picks as well.

Selling off a few expiring contracts at the deadline should be the plan, especially on defense, where they’ll have to clear room for Owen Power anyway when Michigan’s season comes to an end (assuming they’re able to sign him this year).

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Josh Brown Out 4-6 Weeks

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The Ottawa Senators were only just getting a semblance of an NHL roster back after a COVID outbreak forced them to play shorthanded, but they haven’t been anywhere near their expected group all season. Injuries have struck several key players, and now Josh Brown is going to be out long-term with an upper-body injury. Head coach D.J. Smith told TSN radio today that Brown will miss four to six weeks.

It’s not that Brown is a lynchpin defender or anything, but the Senators depth just continues to be depleted. He’s been moved to injured reserve alongside Colin White, Shane Pinto and Erik Brannstrom, while Drake Batherson remains in the COVID protocol. Brown played just 2:35 before exiting on Monday night.

What this really means is that Lassi Thomson will continue to get a run here as a rookie, though his play has certainly been deserving of that anyway. The 21-year-old is averaging nearly 20 minutes of ice time through his first five NHL games and has three points to show for it.

Even though their defensive depth has been tested, it’s the goaltending that seems to be the target of Smith’s ire lately. The Senators are near the bottom of the league with an .888 save percentage so far this season, while expected starter Matt Murray has yet to win a game.

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