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Vancouver Canucks Sign Filip Johansson

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The Vancouver Canucks have nabbed one of the more interesting European free agents on the market this offseason. The team today announced the signing of defenseman Filip Johansson, a first-round pick of the Minnesota Wild, to a two-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms are unavailable at this time.

Drafted 24th overall in 2018 by Minnesota, the now-22-year-old’s development in the SHL had stalled over the past few seasons, leading the Wild to the decision to not offer Johansson an entry-level contract as his exclusive signing rights expired on June 1. The 6′ 1″, 176 lb defenseman’s best hockey came in the 2022 postseason, notching five goals and two assists in just nine games with Frölunda HC.

Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin evidently disagrees with the Wild’s assessment of the player, saying in the team’s release that Johansson “plays a solid defensive game and has shown consistent improvement over the past three seasons.” Allvin also noted that the team will loan Johansson back to Frölunda for the 2022-23 season, meaning Canucks fans won’t get a chance to see their new prospect on North American ice just yet. However, Johansson will attend Canucks development camp next month.

Johansson joins a Canucks prospect pool on defense that lacks much to be truly excited about other than Jack Rathbone and Jett Woo, and he’ll become a giant wild card for the organization. If Johansson can regain his development and reach the defensive ceiling he had when the Wild drafted him, it’ll be a gamble worth taking for the Canucks. If not, Vancouver gave up no assets to obtain the player other than a contract slot. It’s a solid bet from Allvin and the Canucks organization to take a chance on the Swedish defenseman.

Snapshots: Point, Mock Draft, Kassian

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As the Stanley Cup Final is set to commence in two days, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche will retake the ice today to practice ahead of their last four to seven games of the season. Of note from Tampa’s side of things is that injured star center Brayden Point continued to take part in practice today and took line rushes for the first time, centering a line between Nick Paul and Ross Colton, per The Athletic’s Joe Smith. However, assistant coach Jeff Halpern said after practice that “he didn’t know if you could read too much” into Point’s status, noting that it was a light session.

Tampa will be waiting anxiously to get an answer on when Point can return. Given the uncertain health of Nazem Kadri on the other side for Colorado, Tampa Bay having their full center depth available to them would give them a much greater chance at winning their third straight Stanley Cup.

  • With the 2022 NHL Draft now within a month, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler, one of the top public prospect evaluators, released his 2022 NHL Mock Draft, taking team needs, consensus, and intel into account aside from just his own rankings. Although more and more doubt remains around the status of Kingston Frontenacs center Shane Wright as the Montreal Canadiens’ no. 1 overall pick, Wheeler still has Wright listed in the first spot. Rounding out the top five is winger Juraj Slafkovsky to the New Jersey Devils, center Logan Cooley to the Arizona Coyotes, defenseman Simon Nemec going first off the board among d-men to the Seattle Kraken, and defenseman David Jiricek headed to the Philadelphia Flyers.
  • The first buyout window of the offseason opens July 1, and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli has Edmonton Oilers winger Zack Kassian at the top of his list of 10 buyout candidates for this summer. Kassian, who carries a cap hit of $3.2MM through 2024, mustered just 19 points in 58 games this season and averaged under nine minutes per game in the playoffs. With the 31-year-old forward only set to continue declining, Edmonton could take the buyout penalty to free up more space to improve their depth scoring. The buyout for Kassian is relatively benign, per CapFriendly, with a cap hit of $666,667 in 2022-23, $1,866,667 in 2023-24, and $966,667 in 2024-25 and 2025-26. It offers $2.5MM in savings upfront in 2022-23, an appealing number for general manager Ken Holland.

New York Rangers Sign Gustav Rydahl

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June 13: The team has officially agreed to terms with Rydahl on a one-year contract for 2022-23. However, financial terms were not confirmed.

May 16: Despite clinching their place in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last night with a series-clinching overtime goal from Artemi Panarin, the New York Rangers have already begun their offseason work, adding to their forward group for next season. According to CapFriendly, the organization has signed forward Gustav Rydahl to a one-year, one-way contract for the 2022-23 season (link). The contract is worth $750K and will leave Rydahl a UFA after next season.

Unlike many signings this time of year, Rydahl is not a young prospect in the Rangers system; instead, he is a veteran of parts of nine SHL seasons, spending the previous four seasons with Farjestads. Rydahl, who will be 28 at the start of next season, has proven to be a reliable center for his SHL teams, though never being much of a point-producer until 2018-19 when he began to breakout. After accumulating just 20 points over 191 SHL games from 2013-14 through 2017-18, Rydahl had 12 goals and seven assists in 47 games in 2018-19. He would take another step forward in 2019-20, scoring 19 goals to go along with 16 assists in 49 games. The veteran would play in just nine games in 2020-21, tallying two assists, but rebounded strongly this past season, where he had 15 goals and 15 assists in 44 games.

In Rydahl, the Rangers will look for a responsible two-way center who can contribute on offense from time to time. Notably, the Rangers do have some salary-cap considerations this offseason, with Adam Fox and Mika Zibanejad both due significant raises and forwards Ryan Strome Andrew Copp, and Frank Vatrano as important pending UFAs. The team has also failed to get consistent, strong production out of bottom-six center Filip Chytil, and while Chytil has not been bad either, they could look to move on from him and his $2.3MM cap hit for next season, replacing it with Rydahl’s $750K hit.

Dmitry Zavgorodniy Signs In KHL

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After mutually terminating his contract a couple of weeks ago, former Calgary Flames prospect Dmitry Zavgorodniy is headed back to the KHL full-time. HK Sochi announced Sunday that the team inked the 21-year-old to a two-year contract through 2023-24.

No one thought much of Zavgorodniy at the time he was drafted, having fallen all the way to the Flames in the seventh round (198th overall) in the 2018 draft. But for the next two seasons, the 5′ 9″ forward took a huge step forward with the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic, culminating his junior career with a 29-goal, 67-point season in 40 games in 2019-20.

He’s yet to replicate that offense after leaving juniors, though. In 29 games with the AHL’s Stockton Heat during the COVID-affected 2020-21 season, Zavgorodniy mustered just four points in 29 games. In just 12 games this season, he had one assist. He did spend some time in the KHL on loan during the past two seasons, scoring six assists in 16 games across time with SKA St. Petersburg and Sochi. Now, the Omsk-born forward will have a chance to play at home full-time as a free agent in the eyes of the NHL.

Zavgorodniy, at 21, still has time to develop his game and return to the NHL later in his career if things go right for him.

Mikko Koskinen Heading Overseas For 2022-23

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June 13: With the Edmonton Oilers now out of the playoffs and their season over, it’s now confirmed that Koskinen will be heading to Switzerland next season. HC Lugano has signed the veteran netminder to a two-year contract, keeping him in Switzerland until age 35. Koskinen joins a Lugano team with Carolina reserve list defenseman Oliwer Kaski, former NHLers Mirco Mueller, Mark Arcobello and Daniel Carr, as well as Columbus Blue Jackets prospect Calvin Thurkauf.

May 20: Despite currently serving as the backup for the Edmonton Oilers and even seeing game action in Game 1 of the Second Round, there appears to already be some clarity on goalie Mikko Koskinen’s future for next season. Former NHL head coach Bob Hartley spoke today, saying that Koskinen has already accepted an offer to play for HC Lugano in the Swiss National League next season.

If true, it will likely mark the end of Koskinen’s second and final stint in North America. The Finnish netminder, drafted 31st overall by the New York Islanders in 2009, had one stint in North America from 2009-2012 in the Islanders organization, playing in four NHL games. He returned to the NHL as a free agent with Edmonton in 2018, serving as a solid tandem netminder for them for the past four seasons. As uncertainty mounts in the Oilers crease moving forward, though, it looks like Koskinen has opted to take himself out of the picture for their second goalie next season.

40-year-old Mike Smith is (somehow) still under contract with the team for next season, and they do have a solid internal option in Stuart Skinner as the backup. However, with such a gigantic question mark with Smith as a 41-year-old starter, Edmonton will surely attempt to make a significant acquisition in free agency to shore up the crease.

 

Five Key Stories: 6/6/22 – 6/12/22

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As we get closer to the start of free agency, things are starting to pick up a little bit on the transactions front with several of those being among the top stories of the past seven days.

Driedger Undergoes Surgery: This was a tough season for Kraken netminder Chris Driedger as things didn’t go as planned with his new team with the 28-year-old putting up a save percentage of just .899 in 27 games.  But he had a chance to finish up on a high note with Canada at the World Championship.  Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as instead, Driedger tore his ACL in the Gold Medal Game and has undergone surgery that will keep him out between seven and nine months.  On the short end of that, he’d miss a little more than months but on the longer end, he could be out for half the season.  Fortunately for Seattle, they have a third-string option in Joey Daccord that has some NHL experience so they may not have to look outside the organization to fill Driedger’s spot to start next season.

Bishop To Buffalo: Dallas decided to make a move to get out of the final season of Ben Bishop’s contract, sending the veteran along with a seventh-round pick to Buffalo for future considerations.  The 35-year-old tried to come back this season but pulled the plug after one appearance in the minors, instead announcing the end of his playing career.  The Stars free up a contract slot with the move and also, for now at least, reduces the potential for a carryover bonus penalty as teams in LTIR all season don’t accrue any cap space so any achieved bonuses that put a team past the Upper Limit roll over to the following season.  Dallas will be in that situation next season thanks to Bishop being on LTIR this year.  Meanwhile, the Sabres don’t have much to lose with this pick as they’re well under the cap and pick up an extra draft pick for doing the Stars the favor.

Two Years For Roslovic: It has been an interesting season and a half for Jack Roslovic in Columbus.  After impressing following the trade from Winnipeg, he struggled for a good chunk of this year before finishing on a high note with 19 points over the final six weeks of the campaign.  After taking a bridge deal upon being acquired by the Blue Jackets, the two sides effectively agreed on another one as the 25-year-old signed a two-year, $8MM contract.  The deal buys out Roslovic’s two remaining RFA seasons, gives him a nice raise on the $1.838MM AAV from last season, and will give him the opportunity to hit the open market in 2024 in the prime of his career.

Gurianov Gets One: While qualifying offers aren’t issued for several more weeks, Denis Gurianov decided to take his early, agreeing on a one-year, $2.9MM deal.  The 25-year-old looked to have a breakout year two goals ago when he reached the 20-goal mark but his output has dipped since then, notching just 23 goals over the last two seasons combined in 128 games.  He was a possible non-tender candidate as a result but this will give Gurianov one more chance to make his mark with the hopes that a new coaching staff will help unlock his offensive potential on a more consistent basis.

Cassidy Fired: There’s a late entrant into the coaching shuffle this summer as the Bruins decided to part ways with Bruce Cassidy.  Boston had plenty of regular season success after Cassidy took over partway through the 2016-17 season with the team posting a .672 points percentage in 399 contests.  However, things weren’t as good in the playoffs with the Bruins being a game below .500 in 37 games.  Cassidy’s recent track record has made him a hot commodity as he is believed to have spoken with several teams as there are now seven confirmed openings around the league with two others (Edmonton and Florida) with decisions to make on their interim bench bosses.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. 

Offseason Checklist: Vegas Golden Knights

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With the offseason in full swing aside from the two teams in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s time to examine what each squad will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at the Golden Knights.

There’s never a dull moment in Vegas.  That thought often applies to the city in general but it also certainly applies to their hockey team.  The Golden Knights made a big change in-season to land Jack Eichel which set off a cascade of frequent LTIR placements to keep compliant down the stretch.  With a banged-up roster, they came up just short of the playoffs, resulting in a change behind the bench.  Between that and their cap situation, GM Kelly McCrimmon has a lot on his plate over the coming weeks.

Hire A New Head Coach

Let’s start with an obvious task.  For the second time in their five years of existence, the Golden Knights made a coaching change when Peter DeBoer was dismissed last month after less than three seasons with the team.  Vegas certainly didn’t do poorly with him in charge as the team posted a .650 points percentage during the regular season while making the third round of the playoffs in the two seasons before this one.  But after missing the postseason this year, an outcome few would have expected in the fall, the change was made.

There is no shortage of veteran coaches available and with Vegas clearly in win-now mode, few expect them to look at a first-time option.  Barry Trotz and Bruce Cassidy stand out as two potential candidates although other former NHL bench bosses will be considered as well.

There is plenty to like about where Vegas sits.  They’re a perpetually competitive team with a strong nucleus that’s under contract for a while.  Spending is certainly never an issue as well.  If you’re a coach that’s looking for a spot to try to win right away, this opening may be the most desirable around the league which is good news for McCrimmon as he looks to find his next head coach over the next few weeks.

Free Up Cap Space

Then there’s the other obvious task this summer.  Vegas has been dancing around the Upper Limit of the salary cap for several years now with a continual expectation that it’s going to come back to get them soon enough.  The challenge for McCrimmon this summer will be freeing up some space without significantly hurting the core.

Let’s look at where things stand.  They have $200K in cap space and need to sign at least three forwards and have a healthy backup goalie with Laurent Brossoit having some uncertainty after having hip surgery this summer.  Considering the minimum salary remains $750K, there’s clearly some cutting to be done.

The obvious candidate is Evgenii Dadonov.  The winger was traded to Anaheim back at the trade deadline without Vegas realizing that Dadonov’s no-trade clause was still in effect and the Ducks were on it.  Eventually, the deal was rescinded.  To his credit, the 33-year-old didn’t let it be a distraction as he had 16 points in 16 games after the deadline.  However, he had a fairly quiet season overall with 20 goals and 23 assists in 78 games, production that is relatively low compared to his $5MM AAV.  While the Golden Knights don’t have a deep prospect pool to trade away from or many high draft picks, they’ll need to attach something to get a team that’s on Dadonov’s allowable trade list to take on the final year of his contract.

With Eichel in the fold, Vegas now has a top-line center while Chandler Stephenson has established himself as a quality second option.  That could put William Karlsson in some jeopardy.  At $5.9MM for the next half-decade, that’s a high price to pay to have premium depth down the middle.  He’s coming off a quiet season (35 points in 67 games) but with strong centers always in high demand, there should be some interest on the trade front and it’s worth noting that Karlsson can only block a trade to ten teams.

As for a blueliner that could fit the bill, Alec Martinez is coming off an injury-plagued year that saw him suit up just 26 times.  With Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb being proven options on the left side of the back end, Martinez and his $5.25MM for two more years might be a potential cap casualty although he also has trade protection and can block a trade to a dozen teams.

Reilly Smith is set to hit the open market this summer and there is mutual interest in an extension.  At a minimum, one significant salary will need to be moved (likely Dadonov) but if they want to keep Smith in the fold, a second one will need to be moved out unless McCrimmon plans to get very creative with his LTIR usage once again.

Re-Sign Roy

Nicolas Roy had a breakout season in 2021-22, further bolstering their depth down the middle.  After putting up just 15 points in 2020-21, he had 15 goals this season along with 24 assists.  He also upped his faceoff percentage to 48.8%, an increase of 4% from the year before.  He took a regular turn on both the power play and penalty kill, helping his ATOI improve to a career-best 16:16 per game.  That’s quite a nice platform season as Roy enters restricted free agency this summer with arbitration eligibility for the first time.

Between that and Vegas’ cap situation, Roy could be an offer sheet candidate this summer if a deal isn’t done early.  With the new thresholds, a team could offer Roy $4.2MM ($4MM more than the Golden Knights have in cap space) and only owe a second-round pick in compensation.  For a 25-year-old with two years of team control remaining, that’s more than a reasonable price to pay.  With that in mind, McCrimmon will want to try to get this contract done sooner than later if possible to avoid any risk of an offer sheet and also ensure one of his core youngsters will stick around.

Look Into Adding Goalie Depth

Injuries were an issue for Vegas last season, particularly between the pipes.  Robin Lehner missed time with four separate injuries spanning 23 games and underwent successful shoulder surgery following a rather bizarre set of events where reports had him needing surgery with DeBoer insisting his starter was available to play.  Brossoit, meanwhile, had hip surgery last month as well.  Accordingly, there are some question marks (if Brossoit is still around and not traded as cap relief).

Vegas does have Logan Thompson who did a nice job down the stretch for them and as he’s now waiver-eligible, it’s safe to say he’ll be in the NHL picture.

The Golden Knights have a pair of goalie prospects signed for next season in Jiri Patera and Isaiah Saville but neither have seen NHL action.  If they have an injury with the big club – a likely scenario based on recent history – having a veteran option with AHL Henderson that has some NHL experience would be a worthwhile investment.  Experienced third-string goalies often bounce around and Vegas should be adding one to give themselves an insurance policy heading into training camp.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Oilers Notes: Brassard, Kulak, Samorukov

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Oilers center Derick Brassard has bounced around a lot in recent years, suiting up for seven different teams over the last four seasons.  There has been a desire to add him but it hasn’t resulted in much stability or in his case with Edmonton, playing time; the 34-year-old was a healthy scratch in 15 of their playoff games this spring.  Accordingly, Postmedia’s Jim Matheson reports that Brassard is considering retirement.  He has been limited with hip trouble in recent years, missing time with injuries on four separate occasions this season alone although he still managed a respectable 19 points in 46 games.  If it is indeed the end of the line for Brassard, he’ll hang up his skates with 522 points in 951 games over a 15-year NHL career, a solid run for the sixth-overall pick in 2006.

Elsewhere in Edmonton:

  • GM Ken Holland is expected to meet with Brett Kulak’s agent Gerry Johansson this week to discuss a new contract, notes Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins. The 28-year-old Edmonton native was acquired from Montreal at the trade deadline in exchange for blueliner William Lagesson, the 62nd pick in next month’s draft, and a 2024 seventh-rounder.  Kulak did a good job on their back end down the stretch, logging a little over 17 minutes a night down the stretch and in the playoffs and he would give them some extra depth for next season.  However, with limited cap space, Edmonton would be hard-pressed to offer the $1.85MM AAV on his set-to-expire deal let alone a raise so it would be surprising to see a new agreement reached quickly.
  • With defenseman Dmitri Samorukov being waiver-eligible next season, Allan Mitchell of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that the blueliner could be a trade candidate in the coming weeks. The 22-year-old played just once this season, logging only 2:28 of ice time while being on the ice for two goals allowed.  However, he had a solid campaign with AHL Bakersfield, picking up 18 points in 51 games which helped earn him a one-year, one-way extension worth $775K next month.  That could make him a seventh defender option for the Oilers next season or on another cap-strapped team around the league.

Free Agent Focus: Seattle Kraken

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Free agency is now less than six weeks away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in mid-July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  Next up is a look at the Kraken.

Key Restricted Free Agents:

F Ryan Donato – After bouncing around a bit the past few seasons, the once highly-touted prospect settled in for a quality first season with the Kraken, putting up 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points in 74 games. Donato’s 74 games played were the most in a season for his career, as were his 31 points, which ranked sixth on a struggling Kraken team. As Seattle looks to improve and draw closer to its first-ever playoff berth, they’ll look to bring in new talent, but also retain the pieces that seemed to work for them, which would presumably include the 26-year-old forward. After signing a two-year, $3.8MM contract prior to the 2019-20 season with Minnesota, Donato took a pay cut this season in Seattle at just $750K, but after his strong 2021-22 performance, he could be in line for a contract similar to the one he signed in 2019.

F Morgan Geekie – Geekie was selected from the Carolina hurricanes in the Expansion Draft and settled into his first regular role in the NHL, playing in registering 22 points in 73 games for the Kraken, both career-highs. Not the flashiest player, Geekie makes a living as a hard-working, gritty forward which should serve him well as he he looks to continue his career and play regular minutes on a Kraken team that’s also looking to improve. When his ELC expired last offseason, Geekie signed a one-year, $750K contract with Seattle, a deal which seemed to work out well for both player and team. This offseason, Geekie will likely find a modest raise as well as the opportunity to show that he is part of the long-term plan in Seattle.

F Daniel Sprong – A deadline-day deal saw Sprong come from the Washington Capitals as part of the return for forward Marcus Johansson, Sprong continued his quiet-but-effective play with Seattle, scoring six goals in 16 games. Sprong is an interesting player, having been traded three times already in his young career, he’s never had a true chance to settle in with a team. The forward has never had eye-popping numbers at the NHL level, but he has shown the ability to score goals with relative ease. As Seattle looks to find players to build around without a long-settled foundation, Sprong has shown in his brief tenure with Seattle that he was capable of scoring goals, his six in 16 equivalent to a 30 goal pace in an 82 game stretch. He may not find much of a raise over his previous $725K cap hit, but his age (25) and his ability to put pucks in the net could see him getting a real, consistent NHL look with Seattle in 2022-23.

F Karson Kuhlman, F Kole Lind, F Alexander True, F Carsen Twarynski, D Haydn Fleury, D Dennis Cholowski, D Cale Fleury

Key Unrestricted Free Agents:

F Victor Rask – Rask’s case is interesting, coming off a six-year, $24MM contract he signed with the Carolina Hurricanes prior to the 2016-17 season. The forward would see himself struggle for Carolina and was eventually dealt to the Minnesota Wild in January of 2019, struggling there as well. Rask would actually rebound to an extent in 2021-22, putting up 13 points in 29 games for the Wild, however salary cap issues forced the organization to bury him in the AHL. As a result, the Wild dealt Rask to Seattle in a salary cap trade at the 2022 deadline, Rask continuing his bounce-back with eight points in 18 games for the Kraken. Where Rask winds up is of course unknown, and he surely won’t see another $24MM contract this offseason, however he has used his 2021-22 very nicely, especially in the face of adversity, to re-establish his value as an NHLer.

F Riley Sheahan – After spending his entire career with the Detroit Red Wings organization, an October, 2017 trade set Sheahan off on a stretch of six teams in five seasons, culminating in a 2021-22 season with the NHL’s newest team. Sheahan turned in a typical-for-him 17 points in 69 games this season, playing his usual 200-foot game as a responsible bottom-six center. The 30-year-old should be useful to a number of teams in different situations, including a building Kraken, a playoff-bound team, or somewhere in between. Having had three straight seasons with salaries under $1MM, most recently $850K this season, Sheahan would presumably wind up with something in that neighborhood once again.

D Derrick Pouliot, D Connor Carrick, D Gustav Olofsson, G Antoine Bibeau

Projected Cap Space:

Seattle projects to have $22.885MM in available cap space this offseason from which to work with. This of course will be enough to retain their pending RFAs and UFAs if they want to, the most expensive of these likely being Donato and Rask, who would probably not go much north of $3MM each per season, if that high. The key consideration for Seattle will be getting better, the team finishing 27-49-6 in their inaugural season. Their available cap space will provide plenty of options to improve and work the free agent and trade markets, but as far as their impending free agents are concerned, the decision may be less about affordability as it is with other teams, and more about what kind of talent they can find to play there. Even if they can retain all of their free agents and find a few to bring in from the outside while staying under the salary cap ceiling, it doesn’t change the fact that they cannot have more than 50 contracts in the organization and 18 skaters dressed each night. On that note, Seattle currently sits with 22 out of a maximum 50 contracts allowed, plenty of room to work.

Snapshots: Colorado Injuries, Florida Coaches, Kelly Cup, Toporowski

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As Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports, Colorado Avalanches forwards Nazem Kadri and Andrew Cogliano both skated this morning, while Andre Burakovsky simply had a maintenance day (link). Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar also spoke with the media today, including Chambers, telling them that both Kadri and Cogliano were not yet ruled out for Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals, which is set to get underway Wednesday night in Denver (link).

Cogliano was able to play in all four games of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers, and even played 11:54 in Game Four, his highest mark of these playoffs. Though not one of Colorado’s star players, Cogliano brings with him leadership and plenty of playoff success, a key asset to have in a Stanley Cup Final with many players who have never been in this position before. Kadri, on the other hand, is a key 200-foot player for the Avalanche who was lost just 37 seconds into Game Three of the conference finals where he was boarded, and injured, by Edmonton’s Evander Kane. On Monday, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that Kadri had surgery to repair his thumb which was injured during the Kane hit and was unlikely to return in the playoffs. Kadri’s status still has not changed, but today’s comments from Bednar do provide some hope that perhaps the star center will return to the lineup during the series.

  • Earlier today, ESPN’s Kevin Weekes tweeted out a video, reporting that the Florida Panthers had relieved assistant coaches Derek MacKenzie and Ulf Samuelsson of their duties. Weekes adds that assistant coach Tuomo Ruutu is still with the club, as is goaltending coach Robb Tallas. Additionally, Weekes says that there have been no contract talks or additional updates on Tallas or head coach and Jack Adams Award finalist Andrew Brunette. Weekes has reported several breaking stories this season, however it is important to note that the moves have not been confirmed yet by the Panthers, who still include MacKenzie and Samuelsson as coaches on their site.
  • While the NHL and AHL continue to battle for a league champion, the ECHL has crowned their own, with the Florida Everblades winning the 2022 Kelly Cup last night. The Eastern Conference Champion Everblades defeated the Western Conference Champions, the Toledo Walleye, in the finals to secure the title. The Playoffs MVP was awarded to former University of North Dakota star goaltender Cam Johnson. Johnson has played parts of four seasons with the Everblades, as well as parts of three AHL seasons, including time with the Binghamton Devils and the Cleveland Monsters.
  • The Providence Bruins, the AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins, have made an early offseason signing, bringing in forward Luke Toporowski on a two-year AHL contract, reports NHL.com’s Mark Divver. The 21-year-old Toporowski is a skilled forward who has produced offense every step of the way. Toporowski began his junior career in 2017-18 with the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL, where he would spend three seasons before moving to the USHL, playing with the Sioux Falls Stampede for a majority of the 2020-21 campaign before heading back to the WHL. In 2021-22, the forward had 63 points in just 49 games spread between the Spokane Chiefs and the Kamloops Blazers. Divver adds that Toporowski is likely to join the Boston Bruins in development camp this summer too.

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