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St. Louis Blues Extend Niko Mikkola

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The St. Louis Blues announced today that they have re-signed defenseman Niko Mikkola to a one-year, $1.9MM contract.

Mikkola, 26, was a fifth-round pick of the Blues at the 2015 draft. By that point, Mikkola had gotten into just a handful of high-level professional hockey games, but in the year after he was drafted Mikkola took on a role as a regular defenseman on a strong KalPa Kuopio team. Mikkola spent three seasons at KalPa and then spent one season playing for Tappara Tampere before making the jump to North American hockey. Mikkola had established himself as a top-four quality defenseman in Liiga and needed to prove he could adjust and grow on North American ice.

Mikkola spent two seasons playing for the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL, slowly growing into one of their most dependable defensive defensemen. Mikkola’s success in San Antonio led him to a call-up in St. Louis, and Mikkola hasn’t been back to the AHL since that point. At the NHL level, Mikkola has averaged third-pairing minutes and seen time on the Blues’ second-unit penalty kill.

His offense isn’t what makes Nikkola an effective professional defenseman, it’s his size, reach, and overall defensive game. Mikkola is six-foot-four and weighs nearly 210 pounds, and he is able to effectively utilize that size to help clear traffic in front of Jordan Binnington. At 26 years old, Mikkola is in the thick of his prime and should be able to handle a role as a defensive specialist in St. Louis moving forward.

A $1.9MM deal is a very reasonable cost to the blues for what Mikkola brings to the table. The Blues, like all teams, are cap-conscious, although their need to maximize every cap dollar is made more important by their desire to remain a Stanley Cup contender for the next several years. Mikkola provides a cost-certain NHL-caliber defenseman, at least for next season. Beyond that point, Mikkola will have freedom to choose where he wants to play and the Blues will have to make the choice on whether he’s worth a pricier long-term investment.

Edmonton Oilers Sign Mattias Janmark

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The Edmonton Oilers have announced their latest free agent signing: former Vegas Golden Knight Mattias Janmark is heading north, joining the Oilers on a one-year, $1.25MM deal.

Janmark, 29, was a third-round pick of the Dallas Stars at the 2013 draft and has been a consistent third or fourth-line forward since making his NHL debut in 2015-16. Janmark made the jump to North American professional hockey after an impressive season with Frolunda of the SHL and made an immediate impact with the Stars, scoring 15 goals and 29 points in 73 games. Janmark missed all of 2016-17 with a knee injury, but that didn’t stop his immediate production, as he scored 19 goals and 34 points in his first season after the injury.

The year after that, though, Janmark’s puck luck evaporated. Janmark’s shooting percentages in his first two seasons had hovered in the low teens, and in 2018-19 it crashed to just 5.7%, leading Janmark to a disappointing six-goal, 25-point year. In 2019-20, Janmark’s shooting rebounded only slightly, and he finished with another six-goal performance on a 7% shooting percentage. Those two disappointing years sealed Janmark’s exit from Dallas, and he signed a one-year, $2.25MM deal with the Chicago Blackhawks.

In Chicago, Janmark re-discovered his goal-scoring touch, potting ten goals and 19 points in just 41 games before he was traded to the Golden Knights as part of a three-team trade that net the Blackhawks second and third-round picks. In Vegas, Janmark had only five points in 15 regular season games, but that wasn’t what earned him a contract extension. Janmark is best known in Vegas for serving as the team’s hero in Game Seven against the Minnesota Wild, a game where Janmark scored a hat trick. Janmark finished with eight points in 16 playoff games and earned a one-year $2MM extension in Vegas.

Janmark’s most recent season with the Golden Knights was an up-and-down affair. His production was decent, as nine goals and 25 points aren’t totally out of line with his career averages. But injuries and the overall decline of the Golden Knights as a whole kept Janmark from having the night-to-night impact in a winning team’s bottom-six that he’s used to having. That’s what’s likely responsible for this slight decline in pay, although Janmark does now end up in a favorable situation in Edmonton.

Janmark is joining a team that just went to the Western Conference Final and he should be able to take on a valuable bottom-six role as a second-unit penalty-killer and secondary goal-scorer. Janmark has averaged around a minute of shorthanded ice time per game for the past few seasons and that’s about what should be expected of him in Edmonton.

At a $1.25MM price tag, the Oilers have secured a reliable, experienced, prime-age bottom-sixer who can help their penalty kill. The Oilers’ offseason is far from over, as Kailer Yamamoto, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Ryan McLeod are all restricted free agents, but this is a sensible addition nonetheless.

Latest On Patrik Laine

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The Blue Jackets have had a huge offseason so far, with the signings of Johnny Gaudreau and Erik Gudbranson drawing particular attention. Now that free agency has settled, the focus in Columbus has shifted to the situation with restricted free agent winger Patrik Laine. The 24-year-old forward is two years away from unrestricted free agency and has the option to file for arbitration, take two (likely expensive) arbitration awards, and then hit free agency in 2024.

Columbus has a history of talented forwards leaving in free agency (Artemi Panarin sticks out as a recent example) so it makes sense that the Columbus market would be watching the Laine situation intensely with the hope that history doesn’t repeat itself. In this case, Blue Jackets fans have reason to exhale. Laine and his representatives, per Aaron Portzline of The Athletic, will not be filing for arbitration before the 5 pm deadline today.

That’s major news, as it’s a confirmation that both the Blue Jackets and Laine are earnestly committed to finding a contract solution that keeps Laine in Columbus long-term. Laine has played 101 games as a Blue Jacket and has an impressive 36 goals and 77 points, including 26 goals and 56 points in just 56 games in 2021-22. Laine has one of the best shots in hockey and has terrorized goaltenders ever since he made his debut as a rookie in Winnipeg.

Before the arrival of Gaudreau, Laine was one of the few stars on the Blue Jackets’ roster, perhaps the only other elite talent on the team besides defenseman Zach Werenski. With Gaudreau in the fold now, though, Laine has the opportunity to join an exciting team in Columbus that has the potential to be the most offensively gifted lineup in team history. Portzline states that negotiations between Laine’s agent, Andy Scott, and the team remain “amicable,” and it seems that Laine does have an interest in being part of that high-potential future in Columbus.

Nothing is a guarantee in the NHL, and negotiations can always go sideways. But avoiding arbitration is an important first step towards getting Laine locked-up long-term in Columbus. The deal he gets isn’t likely to rise higher than the $9.75MM AAV Gaudreau is earning, but a modest raise from Laine’s current $7.5MM cap hit would not be unreasonable.

The Blue Jackets don’t actually have a ton of cap room to get a Laine extension done, oddly enough, as CapFriendly projects the team to have $2.3MM in current cap space, which definitely would make any Laine extension a very tight squeeze. Columbus may need to move a contract in order to have enough room to get Laine’s deal done, and the contracts of Gustav Nyquist and Jakub Voracek could be their best options to move in order to get that space. With that being said, though, in today’s cap-strapped world, clearing space is as difficult and pricey as it’s ever been.

Michael DiPietro Accepts Qualifying Offer

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Per CapFriendly, Vancouver Canucks goaltender Michael DiPietro has accepted his one-year qualifying offer. DiPietro’s offer carries an $840K cap hit and a $70K minors salary. DiPietro re-joins a crowded min0r-league goaltending situation in Vancouver, as the team already has prospect goalie Arturs Silovs in place as well as offseason signing Collin Delia.

DiPietro, 23, was drafted 64th overall at the 2017 draft. A star in the OHL, DiPietro has had a difficult transition to professional hockey. DiPietro played 36 games as a rookie for the Utica Comets in 2019-20 and did well, going 21-11-2 with a .908 save percentage. DiPietro’s 2020-21 was a nightmare, as he barely saw the ice thanks to a mix of injuries and his situation as a third goalie.

DiPietro’s 2021-22 was okay, but not the resounding step forward many were hoping for. In 34 AHL games, DiPietro went 15-13-4 with a .901 save percentage. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported in June that the Canucks and DiPietro could be headed for a divorce this offseason, and it could be that a change of scenery is what DiPietro needs to live up to the hype as a prospect that he once held.

Winnipeg Jets Re-Sign Jansen Harkins

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Another depth signing has come in tonight, this one with Jansen Harkins and the Winnipeg Jets. Per CapFriendly, Harkins has re-signed with the Jets on a two-year deal carrying an $850K AAV.

Harkins, 25, has been with the Jets organization since being drafted by the team in the second round of the 2015 draft. Harkins was a star in the WHL for the Prince George Cougars, scoring at least 20 goals in three straight seasons and over 70 points twice.

As a professional, Harkins has taken a long road to the NHL. Harkins spent parts of four seasons in the AHL with the Manitoba Moose and even spent a few games with the Jacksonville IceMen of the ECHL.

At the NHL level, Harkins has been a useful, if a bit unimpressive depth player for the Jets. He has 22 points in 132 career games and had seven goals and 13 points in 77 games this past year, his first as an NHL regular. Harkins played in an extremely limited role, getting under 10 minutes of ice time per game.

Such little ice time and zero special teams use isn’t ideal for a bottom-sixer, but Harkins provided energy to the Jets’ lineup, which is something they valued enough to keep him on their NHL roster.

At an $850k salary, getting Harkins back to fill out the Jets’ depth isn’t a bad piece of work for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff.

Offseason Notes: Dubois, Canadiens Defense, Kadri

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The full extent of the Montreal Canadiens’ offseason plans began to take shape today, as the team traded defenseman Jeff Petry and center Ryan Poehling to the Pittsburgh Penguins. One major name that many have connected to the Canadiens is that of Winnipeg Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois. It doesn’t take any detective work to understand why that connection is being made: Pat Brisson, Dubois’ agent, has communicated that his client would like to play in Montreal, and Dubois has reportedly communicated to the Jets that his intention is to leave as a free agent in two years time. Many have speculated, then, that the Canadiens would attempt to acquire Dubois this summer, and it appears that that sort of speculation is grounded in reality.

According to Arpon Basu of The Athletic (subscription link), Dubois attended the NHL Draft in Montreal because he “believed a trade would be completed on the draft floor.” Furthermore, Basu adds that “it is believed” that Winnipeg is “holding up a trade” because they want Montreal to include a player in the compensation package for Dubois that Montreal has no interest in moving. As we saw with the trade of Alexander Romanov to get Kirby Dach on draft night, Canadiens GM Kent Hughes is willing to trade players he isn’t actively looking to deal if he believes the player he’s getting in return is worth it. Dubois is extremely talented, but as a result the player the Jets could be seeking from Montreal could be someone too important for the Canadiens to move.

Now, for some other notes on ongoing offseason activity:

  • Hughes spoke to the media today following the Petry deal, and mentioned, as relayed by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, that the Canadiens would in all likelihood be looking for a right-side defenseman to fill the hole left by Petry’s absence. Star offensive defenseman John Klingberg’s name sticks out as the best right-shot defender on the market, but he’s likely out of the Canadiens’ price range. Veteran defenseman Anton Stralman and Michael Stone are other UFA options, but neither truly inspire confidence. Perhaps the most intriguing option for the Canadiens is a possible return for P.K. Subban, who last played for the team in 2015-16. Subban maintains an active philanthropic presence in Montreal and his ties to the city have survived the many years he’s spent playing for other teams. While he may not be a long-term option for the Canadiens, his signing would definitely attract attention.
  • Nazem Kadri is perhaps the best remaining UFA on the market, although he may not be without a contract for long. According to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, multiple teams are attempting to clear cap space in order to have room to sign Kadri. Kadri “wants to be on a contender” and has “ruled out” teams not considered true Stanley Cup threats. Kadri scored 28 goals and 87 points last season and just recently won the Stanley Cup. The contract he receives will likely be one of the biggest given out this offseason.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Pavel Mintyukov

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6:00 PM: The Ducks have now officially announced Mintyukov’s signing.

5:30 PM: Per his agent, Dan Milstein, Anaheim Ducks draft pick Pavel Mintyukov has signed his three-year entry-level deal. The official announcement from the Ducks has not yet been made, but it should be coming soon, along with the financial details of the deal.

Mintyukov, 18, was the tenth overall pick at last week’s draft and comes to the Ducks organization after a successful debut season in the OHL. Mintyukov was one of the lone bright spots on the Saginaw Spirit, one of the worst teams in the OHL. Mintyukov led Saginaw with 62 points in 67 games, including 17 goals.

Mintyukov was the Spirit’s number-one defenseman, and head coach Chris Lazary utilized him heavily in all situations. Mintyukov ate significant minutes on the Spirit’s penalty kill, power play, and handled the Spirit’s toughest defensive matchups. He was a true all-situations defenseman and it’s his overall skill and versatility that got him drafted so high.

Mintyukov signing his entry-level deal so quickly is relatively significant since Mintyukov is a Russian player and had spent most of his career before this past season climbing the developmental ladder with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL. With the suspension of the NHL-KHL agreement and NHL teams having more and more difficulty getting their Russian players into the United States, cementing Mintyukov’s place within their organization and keeping him on North American ice ensures the Ducks will have maximum control over Mintyukov’s entire development process.

Mintyukov could return to Saginaw immediately for next season, or the Ducks could opt to give him a nine-game trial run at the NHL level if he impresses at training camp. If Mintyukov’s draft-year performance is any indication, the Ducks won’t be left waiting for too long before their prized prospect makes their big-league roster.

Central Notes: Stars, Blues, Slaggert

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While Dallas has roughly $11MM in cap space per CapFriendly and still has to re-sign RFA winger Jason Robertson and RFA goaltender Jake Oettinger, assistant GM Scott White told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that the Stars don’t believe they’re in a position where they have to shed money to keep those two around.  They have enough cap space left to sign one of the two to a long-term contract while the other would need to be on a short-term bridge deal but doing that would allow them to keep Radek Faksa and Denis Gurianov in the fold.  To get both RFAs signed to long-term contracts, one of those two forwards and likely goalie Anton Khudobin would need to be moved out to open up extra cap flexibility.  As a result, their summer shopping is likely done until Robertson and Oettinger put pen to paper on their new contracts.

Elsewhere in the Central:

  • In an interview on ESPN 101 (audio link), winger David Perron indicated he didn’t receive a formal contract offer from the Blues before eventually signing a two-year, $9.5MM deal with Detroit. Perron and St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong both expressed mutual interest in a new contract getting reached, especially after the 34-year-old put up 57 points in 67 games last season.  However, as Armstrong noted to Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his priority was shoring up the defense and Nick Leddy’s willingness to sign a four-year, $16MM contract basically took any chance of them keeping Perron in the fold off the table.
  • Blackhawks prospect Landon Slaggert gave no consideration to turning pro after his sophomore season at Notre Dame, relays Scott Powers of The Athletic (subscription link). The 20-year-old forward had 26 points in 40 games last season and was named to the United States’ roster for the postponed World Juniors.  Powers adds that it would be surprising if the 2020 third-rounder doesn’t turn pro after the college season comes to an end, however, potentially creating a situation where Chicago could burn the first year of his entry-level deal right away and give him a taste of NHL action.

Canadiens Sign Rem Pitlick

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After non-tendering him earlier in the week, the Canadiens have decided to bring back Rem Pitlick, announcing that they’ve re-signed the forward to a two-year contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports (Twitter link) that the deal carries an AAV of $1.1MM.

The 25-year-old bounced around a bit last season.  He spent the preseason with Nashville before being waived and claimed by Minnesota.  Pitlick was relatively productive with the Wild as he had 11 points in 20 games but found himself back on the wire back in January.  Montreal was dealing with several injuries and missing quite a few players due to a COVID outbreak so they scooped him up.

With the Canadiens, Pitlick had an opportunity to play a much bigger role and made the most of it, picking up nine goals and 17 assists in 46 games while averaging over 17 minutes per game.  However, GM Kent Hughes acknowledged during his press conference (Twitter link) that they didn’t want to risk an arbitration hearing with Pitlick which resulted in his non-tender on Monday.  Even with that, he gets a small raise on the $917K he made last season and a bit of job security with the two-year term.

Following today’s earlier swap that saw Jeff Petry and Ryan Poehling go to Pittsburgh, the move freed up a roster spot up front and enough cap space to bring Pitlick back.  Now, following Pitlick’s addition, the team has a little over $1.2MM in cap space remaining, per CapFriendly.  That won’t be enough to sign the recently-acquired Kirby Dach so it appears that Montreal may need to make another move to trim money at some point this summer.

Penguins Acquire Jeff Petry

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The Penguins moved out a right-shot defender earlier today when they sent John Marino to New Jersey.  It appears he’ll be replaced by Jeff Petry as Pittsburgh has acquired the veteran along with center Ryan Poehling from Montreal in exchange for blueliner Mike Matheson and a 2023 fourth-round pick.  Both teams have confirmed the swap.

The 34-year-old is coming off a tough season with Montreal that saw him struggle as their top defender in the absence of Shea Weber.  He struggled mightily offensively to start the year as over the first three months of the year, he had just two assists in 27 games.  However, Petry’s performance improved following the coaching change that saw Martin St. Louis take over behind the bench and he was much better down the stretch, picking up 21 points in the final three months of the season.  Overall, Petry finished up the year with six goals and 21 assists in 68 games, his lowest point total since the 2015-16 campaign, his first full season with the Canadiens.

Around the midway point of the year, he also requested a trade for family reasons.  While he was widely expected to move at the trade deadline and again at the draft, it has taken a while for a move to materialize.

Petry has three years left on his contract with a $6.25MM AAV and Montreal GM Kent Hughes stated earlier this week that he wasn’t interested in retaining any salary to facilitate a trade.  While the Marino move freed up roughly $3.5MM in cap flexibility, that wasn’t enough to absorb Petry’s full deal which is what prompted Matheson’s inclusion in the swap.  Petry had been speculated as a possible replacement for Kris Letang if the veteran was to leave in free agency.  Instead, Letang signed a six-year deal and Petry will now help form a quality one-two punch on the right side of their back end with Petry’s AAV checking in just above Letang’s to make him the highest-paid blueliner on the team.

Matheson was a top-four defender early in his career with Florida but his stock started to dip a few years ago, resulting in him being flipped for Patric Hornqvist.  The move worked out well for the 28-year-old as he had a career year offensively in 2021-22, picking up 11 goals and 20 assists in 74 games while logging just under 19 minutes a night.  He was also quite productive for the Penguins in the playoffs, notching a goal and five helpers in seven games to lead all Pittsburgh blueliners in scoring while averaging over 25 minutes per contest.

Matheson has four years remaining on his contract with a $4.875MM AAV on a deal that is somewhat heavily backloaded with his payout set to jump to $6.5MM per season in each of the final three seasons.  He immediately becomes the blueliner with the longest contract on the Canadiens while also being their highest-paid.  He’ll likely take the place of Alexander Romanov on Montreal’s depth chart as the youngster was traded back at the draft to the Islanders for the 13th-overall pick which was then flipped to Chicago to pick up center Kirby Dach.

As for Poehling, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick of Montreal back in 2017 (25th overall) and spent most of last season with the Canadiens, notching nine goals and eight assists in 57 games while averaging just over 12 minutes per game.  He’s likely to have a similar role in Pittsburgh’s bottom six in 2022-23.  Poehling is signed for the league minimum for next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer.

With the move, Pittsburgh now has just under $2MM in cap space with RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen still to sign.  That’s not enough for the 25-year-old so it would appear that GM Ron Hextall has another move to try to make.  Meanwhile, Montreal frees up a little over $2MM with this swap, giving them a little over $2.3MM in cap room with Dach as their most notable RFA in need of a new deal.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.  Contract and cap info courtesy of CapFriendly.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Petry was heading to Pittsburgh.  Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the trade details.

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