Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Archives for May 2022

Winnipeg Jets Sign Oskari Salminen

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Winnipeg Jets have agreed to terms on a two-year entry-level contract with Oskari Salminen, a deal that will start with the 2022-23 season. The contract carries an average annual value of $925K and adds another interesting goaltender to the mix for Winnipeg.

Salminen, 22, spent this season with Jurkurit of the Finnish Liiga, posting a .920 save percentage and 29 wins (which led the league) in 55 appearances. While the club struggled in the playoffs, it was obviously good enough to get the attention of the Jets. Undrafted, the 6’4″ netminder has been slow developing, never really included in the top prospects out of Finland at any level. He has never represented his country at a high level internationally, and before this season had middling success at the Liiga level.

Still, the frame and development this season do suggest that perhaps this is just a late-bloomer that is finally reaching an entirely new level of play. An entry-level contract poses very little risk for the Jets, though where he goes now is unclear. Still signed through next season by his Finnish club, he could be loaned back by Winnipeg to continue playing at a top level overseas.

The Jets already have Connor Hellebuyck entrenched in the starting role and two other goaltenders under contract for next season, including Arvid Holm, who will likely take the starting job for the Manitoba Moose if Mikhail Berdin graduates to take the backup spot in the NHL. Either way, Salminen represents another interesting prospect for the pipeline, even if his impact isn’t felt immediately.

14 Teams Face Bonus Overages For 2022-23

at CDT | by 2 Comments

In the flat cap world, nearly every team in the league is dealing with situations that require every last dollar under the ceiling. More than half the league was using long-term injured reserve relief at some point this season, a decision that sometimes comes with some attached risk. One of those risks is the performance bonuses from entry-level contracts, which can cause overage penalties if achieved by the end of the season, should the team not have the cap space to fit them in. Those penalties are then applied to the following season’s cap, meaning they have less room to work with moving forward.

CapFriendly has calculated the overage penalties for the entire league, finding 14 of 32 teams that will face them next year. Notably, these penalties lower the cap ceiling for a team and therefore cannot be covered up by going into long-term injured relief again. The penalties are as follows:

Carolina Hurricanes: $112,500
Chicago Blackhawks: $237,500
Colorado Avalanche: $25,000
Dallas Stars: $675,000
Edmonton Oilers: $896,000
Florida Panthers: $637,500
Los Angeles Kings: $637,500
Montreal Canadiens: $1,132,500
New York Islanders $245,796
Philadelphia Flyers: $295,000
St. Louis Blues: $1,000,000*
Toronto Maple Leafs: $212,500
Vancouver Canucks: $1,250,000
Washington Capitals: $100,000

*Can still increase

Details on how each number was reached can be found on CapFriendly’s Twitter thread but the vast majority are from Schedule A performance bonuses for time on ice and games played. While some would argue that it is worth the penalty, as it means a young player has been a strong contributor, it can also be quite impactful moving forward. The Oilers, for instance, are facing a cap charge of nearly $900K, significantly more than the league minimum salary. It could very well mean they aren’t able to carry the maximum of 23 skaters for at least parts of next season while they are still trying to compete, thanks to the bonuses owed to Evan Bouchard this year.

It’s the Islanders that are perhaps the most interesting case since they did not finish in LTIR relief and in fact, were more than $2MM under the $81.5MM ceiling at the end of the year. While most of the other bonuses were on entry-level contracts, theirs included games played bonuses for Zach Parise, Zdeno Chara, and Andy Greene. That means despite being well out of the race, the Islanders will have a little less room to work with next season.

The Blues meanwhile could still face an additional overage, as their penalty is based on the bonuses given to Tyler Bozak. He can still earn $100K if the Blues win the first round and another $150K if they win the second round, which each would also be applied to next year’s cap.

Casey DeSmith Undergoes Surgery

at CDT | by 14 Comments

Louis Domingue, come on down. The Pittsburgh Penguins have announced that Casey DeSmith will miss the rest of the playoffs following core muscle surgery this morning. With Tristan Jarry still out with his own injury, the Penguins crease belongs to Domingue for the time being.

It’s a brutal outcome for DeSmith, who had played brilliantly in his playoff debut before being removed partway through the second overtime period of game one. His season will end having stopped 48 of 51 shots to that point, and leave the Penguins desperately short on NHL-level goaltenders.

Jarry, who has yet to even return to the ice following his late-season injury, is the only other goaltender in the organization that even has NHL experience. Alex D’Orio, the current backup, has just 34 appearances above the ECHL level and posted an .894 save percentage for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this season. Filip Lindberg, the other goaltender signed to an NHL deal, hasn’t played since November because of his own injury and has just seven professional appearances.

Incredibly, that leaves Domingue as the only option the team has despite playing in just two NHL games during the regular season. After his outstanding performance to close out game one, the New York Rangers managed to slip five past him last night to even the series. It now becomes a huge ask of a career backup to step into the spotlight and carry the team through the first round.

For DeSmith, it’s more than just missing the playoffs. As a pending unrestricted free agent, this was going to be an opportunity to showcase his skills as a potential starter–or at least a tandem starter–and secure a raise on the open market. He had played well during the regular season, posting a .914 save percentage in 26 appearances, and looked to have the net all to himself until Jarry returns down the road. Now he enters the open market with an uncertain future, coming off a surgery that often has lingering effects on performance even after being medically cleared to play.

The Penguins are back in action tomorrow night.

Daniil Chayka Assigned To AHL

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

At this time of year, minor league rosters are constantly in flux. Top players may end up recalled to their parent teams for the playoffs, while top prospects are arriving for their first taste of professional action. The latter is exactly what has happened for the Henderson Silver Knights, as Daniil Chayka has been reassigned to the AHL after his junior season came to an end.

Chayka, 19, was selected 38th overall by the Vegas Golden Knights in 2021, after pair of trades landed them in that position. The Russian defenseman had already played two seasons in the OHL by the time he was selected and had also had a short showing at the KHL level. This year, he returned to the Guelph Storm and dominated, recording 39 points in 53 games while continuing to improve on his already excellent defensive skills.

Interestingly enough, the beginning of the second round was actually considered quite low for Chayka compared to where many projected him before the 2020-21 season. Because the OHL didn’t play and he was forced back to Russia, he ended up dropping from the middle-first ranking he once held. All of that is to the benefit of the Golden Knights, who nabbed him even after trading down and will now get to see him (potentially) at the professional level in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Chayka will join Henderson in Colorado, where they will play tonight and tomorrow against the Eagles and try to keep their hopes alive. Already down 1-0 in the three-game series, the Silver Knights need a win this evening.

Mathew Barzal To Play At World Championship

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The New York Islanders don’t have any playoff games to suit up for this year, so one of their young stars will get a chance to represent his country for the first time in a while. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Mathew Barzal will suit up for Team Canada at the upcoming IIHF World Championship, held later this month in Finland.

Barzal, 24, participated in the event in 2018 after his outstanding rookie season, and actually had seven assists for Canada in ten games. Before that, he’d taken up medals at both the U20 and U18 World Juniors, but neither one was gold. Barzal has only reached that level at the Hlinka-Gretzky, quite a few years ago now.

One of the most enigmatic players in the league, there’s no doubt that Barzal’s skill level is among the best in the world. But the results have been middling after that 85-point rookie season, which earned him the Calder Trophy. He hasn’t hit 20 goals in the four years since, and had just 59 points in 73 games this season for an Islanders team that struggled right from the beginning of the season.

While he still is an obvious leader on the team, Barzal’s name is starting to come up a bit because of his contract situation. Signed only through next season and a restricted free agent for the final time in the summer of 2023, the Islanders could sign him to a long-term extension as soon as this summer. His performance at these Worlds won’t change things one way or the other, but decision time is coming for Lou Lamoriello and the rest of the front office at some point.

Canada will likely release the full roster in the coming days, as the tournament kicks off just a week from now. They’ll take on Germany on May 13.

PHR Chatter: Everyone Loves An Underdog

at CDT | by 11 Comments

As we continue the 2021-22 Stanley Cup Playoffs, PHR is excited to announce a new feature aimed at encouraging discourse between reader and writer. On Friday mornings (and perhaps even more often than that), we’ll post a topic of discussion that we think will draw out varied and interesting perspectives from both our commenters and the other staff writers.

For too long there has only been a couple of outlets for our readers to interact with the PHR staff. Live chats and mailbags offer a chance at some discussion, but also run the risk of being too crowded or even outdated by the time the answer arrives. With this new feature, we’re hoping to get weekly chatter going on a topic that normally would have to be brought into the spotlight by a reader before even being discussed.

Last time, the discussion centered on “tanking” and whether it is an effective means to eventual success in the NHL. This week, let’s take a look at the eight playoff series and see if we can’t find an upset.

Only the Carolina Hurricanes and Colorado Avalanche are up 2-0 so far, meaning any of the other series could easily swing to the underdog. But which one looks most likely to produce an unexpected result? This will be a free-flowing discussion that doesn’t have a lot of guidelines, so make sure you chime in and check regularly to continue the conversation.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Milos Kelemen

at CDT | by 2 Comments

A month after being first linked to him, the Arizona Coyotes have signed Milos Kelemen to a two-year entry-level contract. Kelemen spent this season playing in the Czech league, and will be able to join the Coyotes organization in 2022-23. The deal comes with a cap hit of $817.5K. General manager Bill Armstrong released the following statement:

We are very pleased to have Milos join our organization. He is a big, strong winger with a good scoring touch. We look forward to watching his development next season.

Kelemen, 22, is an undrafted forward that has appeared all over the place the last few years, suiting up in the Czech league, the Slovak league, and the KHL, while also representing Slovakia at the World Juniors and recent Olympics. While some of his performances have been better than others, it was his playoff run this year that was the more impressive, scoring nine goals and 12 points for Mlada Boleslav BK in just 14 games.

Whether he can add anything at the NHL level certainly remains to be seen, but these are the kind of chances that a rebuilding team can take without risk. If he can find a place with the Coyotes, it will have cost them nothing more than the opportunity, and if not, he’ll likely go back overseas. With so few players in the organization signed through next season (and even fewer the year after), Armstrong and the rest of the Coyotes front office will likely be looking to take as many swings as possible to try and find overlooked talent.

Barclay Goodrow Out Week-To-Week

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

According to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple, New York Rangers forward Barclay Goodrow is out week-to-week (link). After a physical first game of their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins that saw several injuries, Goodrow appeared to escape unharmed. However, the forward was noticeably absent from warmups ahead of tonights 5-2 Rangers win. Replacing Goodrow in the lineup tonight was forward Dryden Hunt, who got his first postseason action as a member of the Rangers.

Goodrow is not the superstar that his teammates Artemi Panarin or Adam Fox are, however his presence as a physical, two-way forward with Stanley Cup pedigree is invaluable to this young Rangers team trying to make an earlier-than-anticipated run at a Stanley Cup. Being week-to-week should provide Goodrow with a chance to get back in the lineup should the Rangers season continue on long enough. In the meantime, the team could look to a player like Hunt who does play a similar style to Goodrow to try and fill that void.

In other Rangers injury news, Staple adds that defenseman Ryan Lindgren will be a game-time decision for game three in Pittsburgh. Lindgren did not play tonight, and was instead replaced by Justin Braun, who the Rangers had acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers at the trade deadline. An underrated acquisition at the time, Braun is showing his value being able to come into the lineup after sitting in the first game, bringing with him 100 games of previous playoff experience.

Edmonton Oilers Facing Salary Cap Overage

at CDT | by 11 Comments

With the conclusion of the regular season, we can now begin to see the final numbers on performance bonuses in player contracts from the 2021-22 season. Two of these bonus figures will end up posing a small issue for the Edmonton Oilers, who owe $896K in performance bonuses to Evan Bouchard and Ryan McLeod (link). Bouchard, who just finished the second year of his three-year entry-level contract, earned $850K in performance bonuses this year for goals, assists, points, and points-per-game. McLeod, who is in the final year of his entry-level contract, earned $46K out of a maximum $57.5K games played bonus. Altogether, Edmonton owes an additional $896K, which counts against the salary cap.

Because the Oilers finished over the salary cap by using LTIR, the entire $896K will now count against next season’s salary cap for Edmonton. While this number may not seem like much at all, the NHL is currently in a flat salary cap period, and therefore every dollar counts. With the salary cap for the 2022-23 season at $82.5MM, Edmonton has already committed just over $70.2MM in salary for next season, and just under $4.3MM of it belongs to James Neal, Andrej Sekera, and Milan Lucic – none of whom play for the team any longer.

The $12MM Edmonton has in remaining cap space may also seem like a comfortable margin, but factoring in their six UFAs, including defensemen Kris Russell and Brett Kulak, who have become key pieces that could each earn a raise next season over their $1.25MM and $925K cap hits respectively, and forward Evander Kane who has rebounded nicely since signing with the club in January, their situation becomes a bit more tight. The Oilers also have three pending RFAs in Jesse Puljujarvi, Kailer Yamamoto, and McLeod, each likely due at least a modest raise (the two former each made $1.175MM this season).

Edmonton is not exactly in a dire cap situation this offseason, having their core, including two of the best players of their generation, signed long-term for the most part. However, their situation, especially in a flat-cap, is an example of how even the most seemingly harmless of concerns, like an $896K bonus overage, can have a ripple effect for the organization and its offseason planning.

Nashville Predators Reassign Jeremy Davies

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Nashville Predators announced that they have reassigned defenseman Jeremy Davies to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL (link). Davies had been with Nashville since being recalled on March 26th, playing in four of his six NHL games this season in that span. No corresponding move has been announced.

The 25-year-old defenseman spent a majority of this season with Milwaukee in the AHL, playing in 54 games, tallying six goals and 25 assists. The bulk of Davies’ time in the NHL this season was spent on the taxi squad in January, drawing into one game, and after his March 26th call-up. Because Davies was in the AHL on March 21st, he is eligible to play for Milwaukee in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Milwaukee, the third seed in the AHL’s Central Division, will begin its quest for the Calder Cup on Friday as they take on the Manitoba Moose, the 2nd seed in the AHL’s Central Division. While Davies can certainly fill in if Nashville needed it, sending him to Milwaukee gives the AHL club one of its more important defenseman for its playoff run, one which could be rather valuable in terms of development for some of Nashville’s prospects.

Originally a seventh-round selection of the New Jersey Devils in 2016, Davies was a standout with the Bloomington Thunder of the USHL before heading to Northeastern University, where he would spend three seasons. The defenseman would turn pro by signing with New Jersey in the spring of 2019, but was quickly traded to Nashville in the trade that sent P.K. Subban to the Devils in June of 2019.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top