Archives for July 2022

Hunter Miska Signs In Germany

July 9, 2022 at 12:03 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Rather than see what options might be available for him in free agency this coming week, goaltender Hunter Miska has decided to try his hand overseas as Straubing of the DEL announced that they’ve signed the pending unrestricted free agent. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

The 27-year-old spent this past season in Colorado’s farm system although he was up with the Avalanche at various points in time between their taxi squad and the playoffs. Miska played in 17 games with AHL Colorado in 2021-22, posting a 3.04 GAA along with a save percentage of .889. He has six career NHL appearances under his belt over parts of three seasons with Arizona and Colorado.

Miska likely would have had offers to play in the AHL and likely serve as a fourth-string option for an NHL team with the possibility of being recalled when an injury arises to allow their younger goalie to continue playing in the minors. Instead, he’s opting for a bigger role in Germany and a good showing out there could keep his options open for a return to North America down the road.

Bruins Notes: Pastrnak, Krejci, Bergeron, Coaching Staff, LTIR

July 9, 2022 at 10:17 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 8 Comments

Following the completion of the draft yesterday, Boston GM Don Sweeney met with reporters including Eric Russo of the Bruins’ team website to discuss several items pertaining to his team for next season. While talks have begun regarding an extension for winger David Pastrnak, Sweeney was quick to mention that no numbers regarding the length of a new deal or financial terms but made it clear that the team intends for Pastrnak to be a lifelong Bruin. The 26-year-old is coming off a 40-goal season and has one year left on his contract with a $6.67MM cap hit and should be able to receive a max-term deal (eight years with Boston, seven if he hits the open market next summer) worth a couple million more than his current rate.

Free Agent Focus: Colorado Avalanche

July 8, 2022 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 9 Comments

Free agency is now less than a week away and teams are 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 Colorado Avalanche.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Artturi Lehkonen – Montreal didn’t want to move the winger at the trade deadline but GM Joe Sakic parted with prospect blueliner Justin Barron and a 2024 second-round pick which was enough to land the 27-year-old. The move worked out quite well for Lehkonen and Colorado as he proved to be a strong fit both offensively and defensively while he scored a pair of key goals in the playoffs, the one to get them to the Stanley Cup Final and the one that was the Cup-winner in the sixth game of the series. Lehkonen has yet to crack the 40-point mark in his career but is a strong defensive forward and with his offensive improvement in Colorado, he could pass the $4MM mark on a one-year award while a long-term deal that buys out some UFA eligibility could push him closer to the $4.5MM range.

G Alexandar Georgiev – The freshly-acquired netminder is in need of a new contract and his fortune has certainly changed in recent days. Some expected him to be non-tendered with the goalie trade market usually not being strong but that changed this year with Colorado flipping three draft picks for the rights to the 26-year-old. Georgiev is arbitration-eligible and is coming off a quiet season that saw him post a 2.92 GAA along with a SV% of just .898. However, with the Avs committing to a platoon of Georgiev and Pavel Francouz, it’s clear they’ll want to get their new goalie locked up on a multi-year deal soon. GM Joe Sakic told reporters after the draft, including Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link) that he expects to get this deal done by the end of the weekend.

F Nicolas Aube-Kubel – Claimed off waivers by Colorado back in November, the 26-year-old fit in well with the Avalanche, picking up 11 goals and 11 assists in 67 games despite averaging less than 10 minutes a night in ice time. He’s owed a qualifying offer of $1.225MM which isn’t overly high but he’s also arbitration-eligible. It’s possible that the Avs want to avoid giving Aube-Kubel that option as that could push the salary higher than they can afford for someone in that role. If they can’t get an agreement in place by the tender deadline, it’s possible that Aube-Kubel goes unqualified.

Other RFAs: F Shane Bowers, F Callahan Burke, F Nick Henry, F Mikhail Maltsev, D Keaton Middleton, F Andreas Wingerli

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Nazem Kadri – There’s rarely a bad time for a career year offensively but having one in the final season of a contract before becoming UFA-eligible is basically the best time for one. Kadri, who had been a solid secondary scorer for most of his career, found a new gear entirely as he set new career-bests in assists (59) and points (87) in 71 games while logging over 19 minutes a game. As a result, the 31-year-old has positioned himself as the top center on the UFA market this summer and as we all know, high-end centers are always in short supply and high demand and Kadri is well-positioned to go for a seven-year max-term deal with a cap hit at or higher than $8MM per season. That’s a price tag Colorado is unlikely to be able to afford especially with Nathan MacKinnon’s contract up a year from now.

F Valeri Nichushkin – Dallas fans can only be wondering ‘what if?’ when it comes to the 27-year-old. After two disappointing stints with the Stars including one where he didn’t score a single goal in 57 games, they actually bought him out which paved the way for him to join Colorado. From there, Nichushkin has continually improved and is coming off a 25-goal, 27-assist season in just 62 games while providing strong offensive contributions in the playoffs with 15 points in 20 contests. He’s a quality penalty killer as well which only increases his value. Nichushkin is coming off a contract that carried a $2.5MM AAV and it’s quite possible he doubles that on the open market next week.

F Andre Burakovsky – The 27-year-old wasn’t able to produce with the type of consistency Washington was hoping for which helped lead to his trade to Colorado in 2019. Since then, Burakovsky has been able to put up consistent second-line production and he improved on that in 2021-22 with 22 goals and 39 assists, both career-highs. That has him in line for a nice jump on the $4.9MM AAV he has played under for the last two seasons. An extra million or so on a long-term agreement is definitely doable.

G Darcy Kuemper – Colorado paid a high price to get Kuemper on the final year of his contract (with salary retention) and they quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to afford the veteran on his next deal, leading to the Georgiev trade. The 32-year-old is the most proven goalie to hit the market this summer and is coming off a strong season that saw him post a 2.54 GAA along with a .921 SV%. While his numbers weren’t as impressive in the playoffs, that shouldn’t hurt his market too much. It has been suggested that his camp is seeking a contract similar to the one former Colorado netminder Philipp Grubauer received from Seattle (six years, $5.9MM AAV). Kuemper might not get that at his age but something close should be doable.

D Josh Manson – When Colorado picked up Manson, they were looking for some reliability and stability at the bottom of their defense corps. He provided exactly that. The 30-year-old played a lesser role than he did with Anaheim but that shouldn’t affect his market next week. Manson is a quality second-pairing player that can play upwards of 20 minutes a game, kill penalties, and play in late-game defensive situations. A lack of offense limits his earnings upside to a degree (he has only reached 20 points once in an eight-year NHL career) but he should be able to get a bit more than the $4.1MM he made on his expiring contract with a multi-year commitment as well.

Other UFAs: D Dennis Gilbert, D Jordan Gross, F Darren Helm, D Jack Johnson, D Jacob MacDonald, F Stefan Matteau, D Roland McKeown, G Hunter Miska, D Ryan Murray, F Kiefer Sherwood, F Dylan Sikura, F Nico Sturm

Projected Cap Space

Colorado has over $24MM in cap space to work with. Suffice it to say, it won’t take long to spend that up as a few of the above players plus some depth pieces to round out the roster will more or less take care of that money in a hurry. The Avalanche will be losing some important players next week but there’s a big, shiny silver lining that they won a couple of weeks ago that should help ease the sting of some of those pending departures.

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

East Notes: Senators, Capitals, Johnson

July 8, 2022 at 7:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 5 Comments

While the Senators made a big splash yesterday with the acquisition of winger Alex DeBrincat, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays (Twitter links) that there are still a pair of priorities for Ottawa – adding a defenseman and moving Matt Murray with talks intensifying on that front. He adds that winger Connor Brown and blueliner Nikita Zaitsev could be players on the move.

Brown isn’t likely to sign an extension after suggesting he’d like to test free agency when he’s eligible next summer and at $3.6MM, he’d carry some trade value after being a key two-way player. Zaitsev, meanwhile, has two years left at a $4.5MM AAV and might be used to match salaries in a move for a defender. Murray blocked a trade to Buffalo on Thursday but the Senators are still looking to get out from the two years at $6.25MM per season left on his deal but will almost certainly need to pay down a fair-sized portion of that to facilitate a move.

Offseason Checklist: Edmonton Oilers

July 8, 2022 at 6:46 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

With the offseason in full swing, it’s time to examine what each squad will need to accomplish over the coming weeks. Next up is a look at the Oilers.

This past season was a good one for the Oilers as they were able to make it to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 2006 before being taken out by the eventual Cup-winning Avalanche. Now, GM Ken Holland has some work to do to keep as much of the core intact while trying to add a piece or two to bolster their chances for next year.

New Deals For RFA Wingers

Let’s start with the free agent front. Thanks to their cap situation, they were forced to give low-cost bridge contracts to wingers Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi. It worked in the sense that it allowed them to have enough flexibility to add some other pieces to their roster for 2021-22 and clearly, some of those additions helped propel them to the third round. But now, those young wingers are about to cost more.

Yamamoto will be owed a $1.175MM qualifying offer but should more than double that on his next contract. After a tough showing in 2020-21, the 23-year-old bounced back nicely, hitting the 20-goal mark for the first time while setting new career bests in assists (21) and points (41) as well. He didn’t produce at the same point-per-game rate that he did in his rookie campaign but he spent most of the year in Edmonton’s top six, logging nearly 17 minutes a game. Yamamoto is now arbitration-eligible and with the year he had, he’ll have a strong case to push for something in the high-$2MM range if it gets to a hearing. Another short-term contract is likely to keep the cost down but it will cost a fair bit more this time around.

As for Puljujarvi, the 24-year-old has had more success in his second stint in the NHL and is coming off a career year of his own with 36 points in 65 games with impressive possession stats as well. His playoff performance ended things on a sour note but with him being arbitration-eligible as well, he’s in line to earn considerably more than his $1.41MM qualifying offer. At this point, a trade appears to be likely but that was the expected outcome a few years ago when he first wanted out. If he sticks around, they’ll need to pay up to keep him. If he goes, they’ll need to find a pretty good player to replace him, one that won’t come all that cheap.

Add A Goalie

Now, onto the obvious one. Goaltending has been an issue for the Oilers for several years now and while Holland has tried to get in on the bidding for some of the notable free agents (such as Jacob Markstrom), he hasn’t been able to land an impact starter. Keeping Mike Smith around was supposed to give them some stability but the combination of him and Mikko Koskinen was highly volatile. Now, Koskinen is off to Switzerland while there has been plenty of speculation that Smith, who has one more year left on his contract, is expected to spend 2022-23 on LTIR after playing through several injuries during Edmonton’s playoff run. That leaves a pair of openings to fill.

One of those can be covered internally by Stuart Skinner who didn’t look out of place in a dozen starts this past season. He’s under contract for the league minimum for 2022-23 which will give Holland a little extra flexibility to work with. However, the 23-year-old isn’t ready to be an NHL starter yet and hasn’t played 50 regular season games in a full professional year. He’s someone that could be leaned on for 25-30 starts but anything more than that would be risky. Accordingly, the Oilers will need a true starter or at least someone that’s capable of playing the strong side of a platoon.

Looking into free agency, there aren’t a lot of those available with some of the more prominent names coming off the board over the last 48 hours. Darcy Kuemper will hit the open market with Colorado opting to go in a different direction and Jack Campbell remains unsigned. Those are the only two goalies that made more than 35 starts in 2021-22. Unless there’s a trade out there for an affordable goaltender to materialize, their options are limited and Edmonton will need to make sure one of those two is in their lineup on opening night.

Re-Sign Or Replace Kane

A few days ago, it looked like it would be quite difficult for Edmonton to have a chance at keeping Evander Kane in the fold. The power forward fit in quite well after joining the team midseason and is well-positioned to land a sizable contract. It probably won’t be as high as the one that San Jose terminated but he will land one of the bigger deals on the open market next week. But with them offloading Zack Kassian’s contract to Arizona and Duncan Keith set to retire, more than $8.5MM in cap room is opened up. Smith being LTIR-bound would give them another $2.2MM to work with although they’ll need that and more to fill the goalie vacancy.

All of a sudden, there’s at least a pathway towards Holland being able to take a legitimate run at keeping Kane around and ensuring a key part of their attack – he had 22 goals in just 43 games – sticks around. If not, they’ll need to put that money to good use to bring in another top-six forward to replace him. If they have to go the latter route, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Edmonton prefer a shorter-term option – someone like Claude Giroux – whose contract would expire by the time Draisaitl’s contract wraps up in 2025. Keith’s retirement has given Holland a chance to bring back or bring in another key piece and they’ll need to take advantage of it.

Add Defensive Depth

Keith’s retirement also opens up a spot on the back end to fill as the soon-to-be 39-year-old logged nearly 20 minutes a night on Edmonton’s blueline. While Evan Bouchard can conceivably cover a couple more than what he logged in 2021-22, the Oilers will need to find a replacement that’s at least capable of playing 16-18 minutes per contest.

On top of that, Brett Kulak and Kris Russell are pending unrestricted free agents, opening up a pair of slots at the end of their roster. While Kulak is a candidate to be brought back – more so following the Keith news – a depth defender or two would go a long way towards giving them a bit of stability on the third pairing. Philip Broberg has some upside but limited NHL experience so far while their current depth options like Slater Koekkoek and Dmitri Samorukov aren’t players they should be comfortable using on an every-game basis.

What they are or aren’t able to do here will largely be determined by what happens with their goalie situation and Kane but is something that Holland will be looking to address in the coming weeks.

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

Washington Capitals Re-Sign Lucas Johansen

July 8, 2022 at 5:02 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu Leave a Comment

Even more extension news has come in today. The Washington Capitals have announced that they have re-signed defenseman Lucas Johansen on a two-year, $762k AAV deal. Per the Capitals’ announcement, the deal has the following financial structure:

2022-23: two-way, $750k NHL salary/$125k AHL salary
2023-24: one-way, $775k

Johansen, 24, was the Capitals’ top draft pick at the 2016 draft, going 28th overall. He’s taken a long time to develop, and spent four full seasons in the AHL before finally making his NHL debut in 2021-22. He got into one game with the Capitals this year and registered an assist.

At the AHL level, Johansen has grown since his debut season and become a top-four defenseman for the Hershey Bears. In addition to his 28 points in 62 games, Johansen averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per game, which ranked fourth among regular Bears defensemen. He often played as the partner to another Capitals first-rounder, Alexander Alexeyev. Johansen was also a factor on both of the Bears’ special teams units, averaging 1:59 of short-handed ice time per game and 1:20 per game on the Bears’ power play.

Johansen probably won’t become the top-four staple he was drafted in the first round to be, but the Capitals still see enough in him to give him a one-way commitment in 2023-24. Two of Johansen’s professional seasons were wrecked by injuries, and that could mean that Johansen is simply a late-blooming former top prospect who needed a longer runway to finally develop into an NHL player. It’s also possible that Johansen doesn’t improve on the consistency he showed this season, and tops out as a solid middle-of-the-lineup AHL-er.

With this new contract, Johansen will have a crucial two-year window in the Capitals’ organization to finally break into the NHL and become the NHL regular scouts once believed he could become.

Post-Draft Notes: Wild Free Agents, Nemec, Vlasic

July 8, 2022 at 4:31 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 3 Comments

The Minnesota Wild just wrapped up an impressive eight-man draft class, and now, with the free-agent market set to open next Wednesday, they focus their attention to the upcoming group of free agents. The team has a few players set to hit free agency, although they took one of those players off the market yesterday, re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year extension. Two players Wild GM Bill Guerin won’t be giving extensions, as relayed by Michael Russo of The Athletic, are mid-season pickup Nicolas Deslauriers and Minneapolis native Nick Bjugstad.

The Wild acquired Deslauriers, 31, from the Anaheim Ducks for a third-round pick last season, and he added some grit and physicality to the bottom of their lineup. He looked like a decent fit in Minnesota, but with the pressure of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts heavily squeezing Guerin’s financial flexibility this summer, it seems they don’t have the necessary cap room to retain him. Guerin did say that he expects Deslauriers to garner “a lot of interest,” which likely means Deslauriers has priced himself out of a return to the state of hockey. Bjugstad is coming off a year where he was a depth forward for the Wild, and he has not scored double-digit goals or more than 20 points since his impressive 49-point 2018-19 campaign with the Florida Panthers. It’s unlikely that Bjugstad sees the same level of leaguewide interest as Deslauriers when he too hits the market.

Now, for some other notes on information that has come out after the draft:

The New Jersey Devils didn’t flinch when they saw long-time consensus number-one prospect Shane Wright surprisingly on the board after the Montreal Canadiens took Juraj Slafkovsky first overall. They stuck to their board and selected Simon Nemec, an extremely talented defenseman and Slafkovsky’s countryman. The Devils made a bold choice, and won’t waste any time getting Nemec into the fold in their organization. As relayed by Amanda Stein of NHL.com, Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald says he spoke to Nemec’s agent and “expects to sign” Nemec to his entry-level contract this week. Stein notes that Nemec expressed a willingness to play in the AHL at the NHL Combine in Buffalo, and Nemec joining the Utica Comets for 2022-23 is beginning to seem like the most likely outcome.
Earlier in July, we covered the San Jose Sharks’ situation with defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and whether he would be bought out by the team after 16 seasons in teal. Today, Vlasic told The Athletic’s Corey Masisiak that “it doesn’t look like” he’ll be bought out and that he’s “excited” for a fresh start under a new coaching staff and a new GM in Mike Grier, who he played with for three seasons. Vlasic’s past few years haven’t been up to the standard he established earlier in his career. If the Sharks have any hope of returning to contention next season, as the organization fully intends to do, Vlasic will need to play like the $7MM defenseman he once was.

2022 Draft Results By Team

July 8, 2022 at 2:55 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 3 Comments

The 2022 NHL Entry Draft is now complete. Check out how each team did accruing talent and filling needs with each of their selections this weekend:

Anaheim Ducks

1-10 – D Pavel Mintyukov, Saginaw (OHL)
1-22 – F Nathan Gaucher, Quebec (QMJHL)
2-42 – D Noah Warren, Gatineau (QMJHL)
2-53 – D Tristan Luneau, Gatineau (QMJHL)
4-107 – F Benjamin King, Red Deer (WHL)
5-139 – F Connor Hvidston, Swift Current (WHL)
5-154 – F Michael Callow, St. Sebastian’s School (High School)
6-178 – G Vyacheslav Buteyets, Chelyabinsk (VHL)

Snapshots: Kane, Talbot, Kase

July 8, 2022 at 2:20 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 20 Comments

As the league begins to decompress from a busy NHL Draft with some blockbuster news, the Chicago Blackhawks are sure to be in the forefront of many discussions after being one of the most active teams on the market this week. One question that remains to be answered is how their Hall of Fame talent feels about the club’s direction. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta confirms today that the team will reach out to winger Patrick Kane “in the very near future” to have a conversation about his future with the team.

Both Kane and Jonathan Toews each have just one year remaining on their matching contracts, both carrying a cap hit of $10.5MM. They also both have full say in what the future holds for them in the form of full no-movement clauses. If one or both do end up wanting a trade out of Chicago in order to make another championship run, it makes sense that the Blackhawks would want to know now. The highest value for them will likely be this offseason, as the risk of declining performance could lower their trade value by next year’s deadline.

There’s some good old-fashioned drama in the State of Hockey. Many believed the Minnesota Wild had reinforced their goaltending situation by re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year contract yesterday, but as quotes from general manager Bill Guerin and Cam Talbot’s agent George Bazos reveal, Talbot may not be entirely happy with the team’s choice to keep Fleury around. Bazos gave a cryptic quote after meeting with Guerin during the third round of today’s draft, saying that Guerin “had a lot to think about.” Guerin countered later, reminding media that Talbot is still under contract, and said that “George can say whatever the hell he wants.” If the relationship turns sour quickly between Talbot and the Wild, it could leave them in an interesting position next season in the crease.
The deadline for issuing qualifying offers to restricted free agents is July 11, and the Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t made a decision on whether or not to qualify winger Ondrej Kase. Kase is eligible for arbitration, and after producing 27 points in 50 games, the award might be too rich for Toronto’s blood if Kase elects for it. Not issuing a qualifying offer to Kase wouldn’t prevent him from returning to Toronto, but it would make him an unrestricted free agent, and could sign anywhere in the league.

Chicago Blackhawks Acquire Liam Gorman

July 8, 2022 at 12:39 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

The Chicago Blackhawks have nabbed the rights to Princeton forward Liam Gorman from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for the 167th overall pick in today’s draft.

Gorman, 22, was a sixth-round selection by the Penguins in 2018 and has not yet completed his NCAA eligibility. Standing 6’3″, he hasn’t had much success so far, scoring just six points in 28 games this season for the Tigers.

The Blackhawks must see something they like in the hard-working forward, though it won’t cost them much to add him to the system. He’ll need a contract before August 15, 2023, or could become an unrestricted free agent.

With the pick, the Penguins ended up with defenseman Nolan Collins from the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL.

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