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Archives for March 2022

Wild Acquire Marc-Andre Fleury; Trade Kaapo Kahkonen To Sharks

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The reigning Vezina Trophy winner has been traded again. The Chicago Blackhawks have traded Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild, in exchange for a conditional second-round draft pick in 2022. If Minnesota advances to the Western Conference Final and Fleury wins a minimum of four games in the first two rounds combined, the pick will upgrade to a 2022 first-round pick. Chicago is also retaining 50 percent of Fleury’s contract.

Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson released the following statement:

This trade immediately puts us in a better position at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, giving us a pick that will land early in the draft. We are in a better position today at the upcoming draft than we were yesterday. In a short time with the Blackhawks, Marc-Andre made quite an impression on our fanbase and in our locker room. We appreciate his willingness to work with us on finding a deal that worked for everyone. 

In a related move, the Wild have traded Kaapo Kahkonen and a 2022 fifth-round pick to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Jacob Middleton.

As recently as last night, the talks between Minnesota and Chicago appeared to have broken down, as the veteran netminder took the crease for the Blackhawks against the Winnipeg Jets. Fleury ended up losing that game, allowing five goals on 31 shots. That performance notwithstanding, he’ll offer a huge experience upgrade over Kahkonen as the Wild continue their pursuit of the Stanley Cup.

Fleury, 37, won the Vezina with the Vegas Golden Knights last season in the most impressive year of his career, but ended up shipped out to the Blackhawks in a shocking offseason move. From the moment it happened, Fleury’s days in Chicago seemed numbered, given his expiring contract and the lack of competitiveness from the Blackhawks after games started. The question was always would he even want to be traded somewhere else, as he ended up with a handshake no-movement clause after arriving in Chicago.

Minnesota now has a netminder with over 900 regular season games of NHL experience, plus three Stanley Cup rings on his shelf. Still, that certainly doesn’t mean he’s ready to take the Wild all the way. In both of the last two championships he won in Pittsburgh, Matt Murray took over the net at some point in the playoffs, and a similar change happened in Vegas when they brought in Robin Lehner. Over 162 career playoff games, Fleury has just a .912 save percentage, not exactly what most teams need to go all the way.

Among executives in the league who know what Fleury can bring though, Wild GM Bill Guerin certainly ranks pretty high. Their time in Pittsburgh together was quite successful, and now they’ll try to do it one more time before Fleury’s career wraps up in the coming years (or months).

He’ll still have another goaltender to lean on with Cam Talbot, but the fact that Minnesota felt Kahkonen was expendable certainly shows how all-in Guerin is this season. The Wild have huge cap penalties coming next season due to the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, meaning this year may be their best chance to contend. Giving up a conditional first-round pick may be a pricey decision for a rental goaltender, but it’s hard to argue against the resume that they’ve brought in.

In dealing Kahkonen to San Jose, the Wild have also shored up the defensive side of the puck by adding a big, mean, physical player in Middleton. The 6’3″, 220-lbs defenseman has finally broken through and become a regular in the NHL this season, averaging more than 18 minutes a night. With the additional acquisition of Nicolas Deslauriers, the Wild have added plenty of size to the lineup to go on a deep postseason run.

For San Jose, adding Kahkonen gives them a potential future starter, though things haven’t gone perfectly so far in his young career. The 25-year-old has a .910 save percentage this season in 25 games. Importantly, he’s also a pending restricted free agent, one that the Wild would have had to give a hefty raise despite still paying Talbot next season. For the Sharks, they now have two younger goaltenders–along with the injured Adin Hill–who could both provide some great value moving forward.

Sharks acting general manager Joe Will released a statement on Kahkonen:

Kaapo is a quick, athletic goaltender who has shown the ability to win consistently at every level he has played. He provides our club additional depth at the goaltending position this season and in the coming years.

Questions will now be asked about James Reimer though, who currently sits as the starter for the Sharks and is signed through next season. There isn’t really room for all three, meaning at some point–either today or in the summer–there could be a market for San Jose to move Reimer out.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first to provide the full details of the Fleury trade, while Michael Russo of The Athletic broke the Kahkonen trade a few minutes after Fleury was acquired. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Arizona Coyotes Acquire Bryan Little

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The Arizona Coyotes have made a bit of a creative move. The team has acquired Bryan Little and the rights to prospect Nathan Smith from the Winnipeg Jets for a fourth-round pick. Both teams have announced the deal. Little, 34, has only played in seven games since 2018-19 and does not figure to play in the NHL again due to injuries. He was on long-term injured reserve for the Jets and has a contract worth $5.29MM against the cap through 2023-2024.

For the Jets, this move paves their path to being able to avoid the use of long-term injured reserve in the future. Long-term injured reserve (LTIR) is an incredibly complex area of the NHL’s salary cap and one that is difficult for many to wrap their heads around. One of the major reasons a team would want to avoid the use of LTIR is so they could accumulate cap space throughout a season. The Jets now only have Kristian Reichel and Cole Perfetti on LTIR, two players that are not going to be long-term fixtures on that list, so moving Little allows them to get away from relying on LTIR to be cap compliant.

For the Coyotes, this move is designed to help them navigate what should be a tricky financial situation for the foreseeable future. The team is set to move into an arena far smaller than NHL teams are typically used to, meaning their revenues will likely be hurt by the lower amount of tickets they can sell. The Coyotes have a significant amount of their team on expiring contracts, meaning they have very little money tied to their roster for next season. With that in mind, the team still needs to be able to clear the salary cap floor for next season. By acquiring Little, the Coyotes gain a contract of a player costing over $5MM against the cap, a decently large amount, who will also cost them a relatively minimal amount of actual dollars paid. Little’s contract, according to Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press, is covered by insurance, meaning that the Coyotes will not be on the hook for paying Little most or even potentially all of the cash he is owed. As a result, the Coyotes can inch closer to the required cap floor while minimizing the number of dollars they themselves need to pay.

For their trouble, the Coyotes also receive an intriguing prospect in Smith. By getting Smith as part of the deal, GM Bill Armstrong adds another NCAA prospect on the back of yesterday’s trade for Jack McBain. Smith, 23, was the 91st overall pick in 2018 and has had an immensely productive season at Minnesota State University. He has 18 goals and 49 points in 34 games and is likely close to NHL-ready given his age and college production. Getting potentially NHL-ready NCAA prospects seems to be the strategy for Armstrong, whose team is set to share an NCAA arena as their home for the next few years.

The trade was first reported by ESPN’s Kevin Weekes. TSN’s Bob McKenzie was first on the compensation.

Capitals Acquire Marcus Johansson

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Earlier today, it was reported that the Capitals were among the teams showing interest in winger Marcus Johansson.  They have indeed landed the veteran in a trade with Seattle, reports TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).  Samantha Pell of the Washington Post reports (Twitter link) that winger Daniel Sprong and draft picks are going to the Kraken.  Johnston adds (via Twitter) that the picks are a 2022 fourth-rounder and a 2023 sixth-rounder.

The 31-year-old is no stranger to Washington having spent the first seven years of his career there after he was their first-round pick (24th overall) back in 2009.  However, while he was a key secondary scorer during his stint with the Caps, Johansson has certainly bounced around since then and hasn’t been able to produce with any level of consistency.

After playing with five teams over the past three seasons, Johansson inked a one-year, $1.5MM deal with Seattle back in August with the hopes that he’d be a secondary producer for them.  That hasn’t exactly happened, however, as he has just six goals in 51 games although he has chipped in with 17 assists which put him in a tie for seventh in team scoring.  He has averaged 16:35 per game this season and it’s quite unlikely he’ll play anywhere close to that in his second stint with the Capitals as he’ll be bottom-six forward depth for them.

Per CapFriendly, Washington has just over $63K in cap space so there needed to be some roster moves made to fit Johansson’s salary.  Sprong’s inclusion, coupled with Seattle using their final retention slot to retain half of Johansson’s AAV, allows the Capitals to remain cap-compliant.

Meanwhile, Sprong is an interesting addition for Seattle.  The 25-year-old has eight goals and six assists in 47 games with Washington this season and is still controllable through restricted free agency for two more years.  He’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer and is only a year removed from picking up 13 goals and 20 points in 42 games.  That would have likely pushed his arbitration value higher than what the Capitals were willing to pay which would have made him a non-tender candidate.  Now, he’ll have a chance to make a good first impression with the Kraken for the stretch run.

AHL Shuffle: 03/21/22

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It’s certainly a busy day in the NHL today with the trade deadline just hours away plus four games on the schedule.  There will be considerable roster movement on the trade front while there will be plenty of paper moves made prior to the 2 PM CT deadline made to give players eligibility to play in the minors down the stretch.  We’ll keep track of those moves here.

Atlantic Division

 

Metropolitan Division

  • The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that they’ve sent winger Radim Zohorna to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. The 25-year-old has three points in a dozen games this season with Pittsburgh while adding 15 points in 31 minor league contests.
  • The Washington Capitals re-assigned forward Brett Leason to the Hershey Bears of the AHL (link). Leason had just been recalled by the Capitals yesterday, but the re-assignment could be to simply keep Leason’s AHL eligibility for the remainder of the season intact.

Central Division

  • The Predators have sent defenseman Jeremy Davies back to Milwaukee, per the AHL’s transactions log. Davies was brought up on Saturday but with Nashville adding Jeremy Lauzon from Seattle late on Sunday, the 25-year-old can head back to the minors.
  • The Dallas Stars have sent goaltender Adam Scheel back to the AHL after acquiring Scott Wedgewood yesterday. Scheel, 22, has up as an emergency backup and never actually saw any NHL action. The young netminder is in his first full season of professional hockey.
  • The Winnipeg Jets have reassigned Ville Heinola, Jeff Malott, and Kristian Reichel have all been reassigned to the minor leagues, making them eligible. Notably, Cole Perfetti is not with this group, suggesting that his time in the minor leagues is over after impressing so far.
  • After making several trades in the past 24 hours, the Arizona Coyotes have recalled two players from the Tuscon Roadrunners of the AHL: forward Michael Carcone and goaltender Josef Korenar. Carcone has played just two games at the NHL level, both coming this season, however he has been a productive AHL player, tallying 24 goals and 17 assists in 48 games with Tuscon this season. Korenar has not played in the NHL yet this season, but did play in 10 games for the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21 and was moved to Arizona this offseason as part of the Adin Hill trade.
  • Having traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Minnesota Wild, the Chicago Blackhawks have recalled goaltender Collin Delia from the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Delia has had a solid season playing for Rockford, but has only appeared in two NHL games thus far in 2021-22.

Pacific Division

  • The Kraken announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled winger Kole Lind from AHL Charlotte. Lind has played in seven games with Seattle this season after being their pick in expansion from Vancouver but has spent most of the year in the minors.  Seattle has also activated winger Joonas Donskoi off injured reserve.
  • The Edmonton Oilers have recalled Brad Malone from the AHL after he played a game with the Bakersfield Condors over the weekend. The 32-year-old is actually the captain of the minor league club, but after converting his contract to an NHL deal has played six games for the Oilers.
  • Jake Leschyshyn and Brayden Pachal are heading back up to the Vegas Golden Knights. Leschyshyn’s seen a lot of NHL opportunities this year, getting into 27 games this year and notching his first five NHL points. Pachal made his NHL debut recently before immediately getting sent back down, but he may get another chance here in some NHL games.
  • The San Jose Sharks announced they have re-assigned goaltender Zach Sawchenko to the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL. In addition to this, the team recalled forward Sasha Chmelevski and defenseman Ryan Merkley from the Barracuda, and activated Radim Simek off of injured-reserve.
  • After placing Michael Amadio and Zach Whitecloud in COVID protocol and trading away Evgenii Dadonov, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they have called up four players: forwards Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Daniil Miromanov and Zack Hayes. Of this group, only Hayes does not have any NHL playing experience, spending this season and last in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights, and the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL before that.
  • The Vancouver Canucks also made a flurry of AHL assignments, primarily for the purpose of keeping players’ AHL ability alive. The organization announced it assigned forwards Sheldon Rempal, Vasily Podkolzin, and Nic Petan, as well as defenseman Noah Juulsen to the Abbotsford Canucks. Podkolzin and Petan were immediately recalled back to Vancouver.
  • The Anaheim Ducks announced they have recalled forward Danny O’Regan from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. O’Regan, 28, has played parts of four seasons dating back to 2016-17, including four games this season with Anaheim.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Bruins Sign Jake DeBrusk To Two-Year Extension

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Despite a trade request that is still active, Jake DeBrusk has chosen to accept an extension offer from the Boston Bruins. DeBrusk’s new contract is a two-year, $4MM AAV pact that will take him through his age-27 season. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that “the belief” is that the Bruins “still want to trade” DeBrusk, and believe that signing him to this extension makes him a more attractive trade asset. DeBrusk was due a $4.41MM qualifying offer this offseason from a team looking to retain his rights as a restricted free agent, but now that situation is swapped with a much clearer two-year deal that takes DeBrusk straight to unrestricted free agency when the contract expires.

For the Bruins, this contract makes DeBrusk a more cost-controlled asset than he previously was. Given how long the DeBrusk trade saga has lingered, it is possible that Boston was simply not getting the offers they deemed acceptable for DeBrusk and found that the uncertainty of his contract situation impeded making a satisfactory trade. With the extension, they have cleared up those murky financial waters and paved a path for an acquiring team to have a much clearer sense of the value they’d be receiving if they choose to acquire DeBrusk. It is a bit curious though, given that players looking at sign-and-trade situations typically get traded first and then sign their extension, as Boston did recently with Hampus Lindholm. One thing to note is that DeBrusk’s actual salary this season is $4.85MM, a significant increase from his $3.675MM cap hit, which may be a barrier keeping the Bruins from making a trade given how many teams are still reeling from the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By signing this extension, DeBrusk cashes in on his recent performance and also bets on himself by signing for only a two-year term. DeBrusk has recently found a better fit in Boston as a winger on their first line. He has 15 goals and 26 points so far this season, numbers that are a nice improvement from last year’s miserable five-goal, 14-point campaign. Some still believe that DeBrusk, the 14th overall pick in the 2015 draft, has the potential to become a 30-goal scorer in the NHL, and any team acquiring him would likely be buying into that potential. Things can change quickly in the NHL, and DeBrusk is no stranger to that, having gone from 27 goals in 2018-19 to five in 2020-2021, so naturally there is risk for the player in signing a deal only two years in length. But with this extension, DeBrusk is betting on himself and the possibility of him realizing his potential with a long-desired change of scenery.

Senators Sign Anton Forsberg To Three-Year Extension

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Scratch Anton Forsberg off the list of possible trade candidates from Ottawa.  Instead, the Senators announced that they’ve signed the netminder to a three-year extension.  The deal carries a cap hit of $2.75MM with a breakdown as follows:

2022-23: $2.55MM
2023-24: $2.95MM
2024-25: $2.75MM

The 29-year-old has certainly found a home in Ottawa.  After being claimed on waivers three separate times last season, Forsberg did well enough in limited action down the stretch to earn a modest one-year, $900K extension, a decent reward for someone that had bounced around as much as he had.  The hope was that he’d battle for the backup spot behind Matt Murray this season but Forsberg has certainly outperformed that contract.

This season, Forsberg has played in 31 games (29 starts), posting a 2.77 GAA along with a .918 SV% that’s well above the league average.  As a result, that made him one of the more interesting trade candidates if Ottawa was open to moving him, especially with his cap hit being low enough for most contenders to afford.  Instead, they’ve decided to commit to him, tripling his price tag in the process.

With Forsberg signed for three more years and Murray under contract for two more seasons, it appears as if the Senators have their goalie tandem intact for a little while.  That will call into question the future of Filip Gustavsson.  Once regarded as a possible goalie of the future for Ottawa, the 23-year-old has struggled considerably with the Sens this season and has a save percentage of just .886 along with a 3.78 GAA.  He’s waiver-eligible next season so a decision will need to be made on his future over the coming months.

Capitals Notes: Johansson, Stevenson, Van Riemsdyk, Defense Target

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The Capitals are among the teams that have shown interest in Kraken winger Marcus Johansson, reports TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).  The 31-year-old has had a bit of a quiet year in Seattle with six goals and 17 assists in 51 games but is someone that Washington is certainly familiar with as Johansson spent his first seven NHL seasons with the Caps.  Cap space is next to non-existent for them, however (just $63K per CapFriendly) so finding a way to fit in Johansson’s $1.5MM cap hit will be a bit tricky and Seattle has already used two of their three retention slots in the Calle Jarnkrok and Mark Giordano trades.

More from Washington:

  • The Capitals are among the teams interested in college free agent goaltender Clay Stevenson, relays Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 23-year-old technically just wrapped up his freshman year at Dartmouth and did well, posting a 2.70 GAA along with a .922 SV% in 23 games.  El-Bashir adds that several NHL teams are interested in the netminder.  Dartmouth isn’t among the teams in the NCAA tournament so Stevenson is someone that can sign at any time.
  • Washington has placed defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk on injured reserve, notes Roman Stubbs of the Washington Post. He suffered an upper-body injury on Friday against Carolina and will be eligible to return on Saturday against New Jersey.  The 30-year-old has played in 58 games this season, collecting 14 points while averaging nearly 18 minutes per game.
  • Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press suggests (Twitter link) that a low-cost left-shot defenseman is something Washington would like to add. Michal Kempny is up with the big club but carries a $2.5MM AAV; bringing in a lower-cost depth option could allow them to send Kempny back to the minors (pending waivers) which would help free up a little bit of cap space.

Coyotes Agree To Three-Year Extension With Karel Vejmelka

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On Sunday, the Coyotes parted ways with one of their goalies in Scott Wedgewood.  Today, they’re ensuring that Karel Vejmelka will be sticking around as Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek reports (Twitter link) that Arizona has agreed to a three-year extension with the netminder.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (via Twitter) that the deal will carry a $2.725MM AAV.

The 25-year-old has certainly been a pleasant surprise for Arizona this season.  He signed a one-year entry-level deal back in May after playing in the Czech Extraliga and at the time, he was viewed as organizational goaltending depth and not a serious candidate to make the NHL roster.  However, a strong training camp earned him a spot with the Coyotes and he has taken off from there.

Vejmelka quickly took over from the since-traded Carter Hutton as Arizona’s starter and has done well, considering the circumstances.  His save percentage of .905 is particularly impressive considering that the Coyotes’ roster is geared more towards draft lottery success than on-ice success this season.  His performance has picked up in recent games as over his last ten starts, his save percentage is up to .912 while the Coyotes have won four of those contests.

With this agreement, Arizona will have at least part of their goalie tandem intact for the next three seasons.  They’ve yet to recall someone to take Wedgewood’s spot following his trade with Ivan Prosvetov and Josef Korenar being the likely candidates to fill that spot down the stretch.  Neither of them project to be full-time NHL goalies, however, so the Coyotes will likely be shopping for a new partner for Vejmelka in the offseason.

Penguins Acquire Nathan Beaulieu

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The Penguins have added some low-cost defensive depth as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that they’ve acquired Nathan Beaulieu from the Jets.  In return, Winnipeg receives a conditional seventh-round draft pick.  CapFriendly provides the specifics of the condition – for the Jets to get the pick, Pittsburgh has to make it to the Stanley Cup Final with Beaulieu playing in at least half of their games.

It has been a tough year for the 29-year-old as Beaulieu has played in just 24 games this season while being scratched 21 times.  His role has been diminished when he has been in there as he’s averaging just under 11 minutes per game in those contests, nearly five minutes below his career average while picking up just four assists in that stretch.

On top of that, Beaulieu is currently on LTIR with an undisclosed injury with his placement coming back on March 9th.  That means that he’s out for the rest of the month at a minimum and potentially longer.  His $1.25MM AAV will slide into Pittsburgh’s current LTIR space with Jason Zucker still on there for the time being although he is expected to be activated in the coming weeks.  If Beaulieu does return between now and the end of the season, the Penguins would have to make some roster moves to get cap-compliant but if he’s only able to return for the playoffs, they won’t have to worry about the cap then and they’ll have themselves a veteran of over 400 career NHL games for next to no cost.

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