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Archives for August 2022

Latest On Tyler Motte

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One of the most interesting names to still be available this far into free agency is Tyler Motte, the bottom-six wrecking ball that has made a name for himself over the past few years. According to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV, Motte has drawn interest from five to six teams, but “financials still need to be worked out.”

Motte, 27, brought back a fourth-round pick for the Vancouver Canucks at last season’s deadline when the New York Rangers loaded up for a playoff run. Despite not having a lot of offensive upside, the fast, physical forward has always been an interesting package for teams in the league. In fact, his trade this season was the third of his career, despite having fewer than 300 games of experience to this point.

Originally selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, Motte was eventually included in the deal that saw Artemi Panarin shipped to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was then moved again the following year in a deal for Thomas Vanek, a trade that brought him his best NHL opportunity to this point.

In Vancouver, Motte became a regular, setting career-highs with nine goals and 16 points in the 2018-19 season, before really making an impact in the 2020 bubble playoffs. With 61 hits and four goals in 17 postseason games, he seemed like the perfect bottom-six option for a contender who wanted some jump and energy on their checking lines.

Now, as he entered unrestricted free agency for the first time, he sits unsigned midway through August. Coming off a two-year, $2.45MM contract with the Canucks it seems likely that Motte was looking for a raise on the $1.225MM cap hit he has carried. Whether he lands that raise now, after teams have used up most of their cap space, remains to be seen.

Minor Transactions: 08/15/22

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The dog days of summer are upon us, with even AHL rosters pretty much filled up. Training camp is right around the corner and the hot stove is about as cool as ever. Still, there are some daily transactions around the hockey world that are worth detailing.

  • 2010 first-round pick Brandon Gormley is sticking around in the KHL, after signing with HK Sochi for the upcoming season. While he played just 58 games at the NHL level, Gormley has been a strong contributor in the minor leagues and Europe.
  • Sam Anas has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Hershey Bears, giving the team one of the most dynamic offensive players in the minor leagues. Anas, 29, has never played in an NHL game but had 64 points in 75 games last season for the Springfield Thunderbirds and now has 284 points in his AHL career.
  • Pat Nagle is heading back to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, signing a one-year AHL contract for next season. The 34-year-old veteran goaltender had a .904 save percentage in 22 games with the team in 2021-22.
  • The Edmonton Oilers opted not to sign prospect Filip Engaras today, per CapFriendly, losing his exclusive signing rights, but he’s remaining in the organization. He’s signed to a two-year AHL contract with the Bakersfield Condors, beginning this season.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Morning Notes: McCoshen, Huberdeau, Rangers

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Ian McCoshen has struggled to find his way back to the NHL in recent years and will now try his hand in Europe. The 27-year-old defenseman has signed with Assat of the Finnish Liiga for the upcoming season, after spending last year with the Henderson Silver Knights.

Selected 31st overall in 2013 and having made it to the NHL quickly after his career at Boston College came to an end, McCoshen played just 60 games with the Florida Panthers before bouncing around the minor leagues the last few seasons. The 6’3″ defenseman was only ever able to record seven points at the highest level, with his physicality not enough to keep him in the NHL. His name will be one to keep an eye on next summer, at least for open AHL opportunities.

  • New Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau has pledged his brain to science after death, following Ben Lovejoy’s lead from 2017 as the first active NHL player to do it. As Rick Westhead of TSN reports, Huberdeau is joining a group that includes former astronaut Marc Garneau, former Harvard captain (and granddaughter of NHL legend George Armstrong) Kalley Armstrong, and more than 170 Canadian Armed Forces members in the pledge, which will allow their brains to be studied for post-concussion effects and other injuries.
  • The New York Rangers have added two more people to their scouting staff, naming Garth Joy the associate director of player personnel and director of player scouting, and Andy Schneider the director of North American amateur scouting. Joy, notably, has been with the Colorado Avalanche for more than two decades mostly as a pro scout but will be getting quite the title increase as he moves to the Rangers. He was with the Avalanche when Chris Drury, now the general manager of the Rangers, was playing (and winning the 1999 Calder Trophy and 2001 Stanley Cup).

Colton Sceviour Signs In Switzerland

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After more than 500 games in the NHL, Colton Sceviour is headed overseas. The veteran forward has signed a one-year contract with SC Bern of the Swiss National League, ending his time in North America for now.

Sceviour, 33, found himself back in the minor leagues last season for the first time in nearly a decade, playing 22 games for the Edmonton Oilers’ AHL affiliate. He added 35 appearances for Edmonton as well but failed to suit up in a single playoff game and will now try his luck in Switzerland.

Probably underrated for most of his career, Sceviour was a solid bottom-six contributor for many years with the Dallas Stars and Florida Panthers. In 535 regular season games, he tallied 66 goals and 156 points, while contributing in all situations. A useful penalty-killer, he racked up nine short-handed points over the years, and rarely took penalties of his own.

At 33, it isn’t out of the question that Sceviour will make a return at some point but it also isn’t very likely. His NHL career may be over, though another stint in the AHL may happen eventually.

Flyers Re-Sign Jackson Cates

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Aug 15: Philadelphia has made it official, announcing Cates one-year, two-way contract.

Aug 14: The Flyers have agreed to terms with one of their remaining unsigned players as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Jackson Cates to a one-year, two-way deal.  The contract will pay $775K in the NHL and $120K in the minors.

The 24-year-old played his first full professional season in 2021-22, splitting time between Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley of the AHL.  He played in 37 games with the Phantoms, picking up two goals and eight assists but was able to collect his first career NHL goal in 11 contests with the Flyers.

As Cates burned the first year of his entry-level deal in 2020-21 when he signed after his junior season with the University of Minnesota-Duluth, he technically wasn’t a restricted free agent.  Instead, he was classified as a 10.2(c) player (referencing the section of the CBA his contractual situation refers to); those players don’t have any salary arbitration rights nor are they eligible to negotiate or receive an offer sheet.  That didn’t give him much leverage in contract discussions although he’ll receive an extra $40K at the minor league level compared to his entry-level deal.

Cates has one year of waiver exemption remaining and it’s likely that he’ll start next season with Lehigh Valley once again where he’ll have an opportunity to play his way into a recall as the year progresses.

GM Chuck Fletcher still has some work to do this summer as wingers Hayden Hodgson and Wade Allison as well as defenseman Linus Hogberg are all restricted free agents.  All three saw brief NHL action with the Flyers last season and should agree to new deals over the coming days.

Five Key Stories: 8/8/22 – 8/14/22

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While there were some big signings over the past seven days, there were also some notable injuries that are also featured in our key stories.

Signing Middlemen: In the span of a few hours, the Bruins shored up their center situation for next season.  They first signed Patrice Bergeron for what will be his 19th season with the team, giving him a one-year, $2.5MM deal with an additional $2.5MM in bonuses that will be earned once he plays in ten games.  Next up was a reunion with David Krejci after a season overseas as he received a one-year pact worth $1MM in base salary and $2MM in bonuses, three-quarters of which will be earned once he gets to 20 games.  Lastly, they inked Pavel Zacha to a one-year, $3.5MM deal to avoid salary arbitration.  Boston now has strong depth down the middle but while all three are on one-year pacts, they’ll likely be paying a good chunk of that money in 2023-24 through a bonus overage penalty.  That deferral will allow them to take one more run at contention with their veteran core.

Big Money For Crouse: The Coyotes have talked about winger Lawson Crouse being a big part of their future plans.  They demonstrated their faith in the 25-year-old as they signed him to a five-year deal that carries a $4.3MM AAV.  Crouse is coming off of his first 20-goal season while he has led the Coyotes in hits for four straight years.  Power forwards are hard to come by and often command pricey deals and that was the case here as Arizona bought out the final two years of Crouse’s RFA eligibility plus his first three UFA-eligible campaigns, ensuring they’ll have him for the prime of his career.

Lehner Out For The Year: The Golden Knights will be without their starting goalie for the entirety of the 2022-23 season after it was announced that Robin Lehner will need hip surgery.  This comes on the heels of the shoulder surgery he had back in May on an injury that ended his season prematurely.  Vegas will now add his $5MM to their LTIR pool which will also feature Shea Weber ($7.857MM) and perhaps Nolan Patrick ($1.2MM).  That gives Vegas some flexibility to try to add a replacement netminder and re-sign defenseman Nicolas Hague.  With the availability of backup Laurent Brossoit for the start of the season also in question after his hip surgery, youngster Logan Thompson is currently set to be their opening night starter.

Five For Roy: This past week wasn’t just bad news for Vegas as they agreed to a five-year, $15MM deal with center Nicolas Roy.  The 25-year-old established himself as a capable third-line center last season, notching 15 goals and 24 assists in 78 games while logging over 16 minutes a night.  For context, he had just 25 points in 85 games heading into the season.  It’s a bit of a risky agreement given Roy’s lack of a proven track record but there is also plenty of upside with this deal as if he’s able to play even at a similar level over the next few years, this should become a bargain contract for the Golden Knights.  On a veteran-laden team that doesn’t have many below-market value deals, Roy’s should be one of the exceptions before too long.

Achilles Injuries: A pair of players suffered torn Achilles tendons during offseason training and have undergone surgery.  The first was Hurricanes winger Max Pacioretty, one of their key summer acquisitions.  Instead of him helping to offset the losses of Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter, they’ll now have to wait until closer to the trade deadline for him to make his Carolina debut.  They won’t have any short-term cap issues with his $7MM AAV becoming eligible for LTIR but that’s not much consolation.  Meanwhile, after missing all of last season with a core muscle injury, Sharks blueliner Nikolai Knyzhov also sustained the injury and will be out for six months.  The 24-year-old was a regular for San Jose back in 2020-21 but it will be quite a while again before he’ll have a shot at reclaiming his spot on their back end.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Looking At The August 15 Free Agents

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The middle of August is typically quiet in the hockey world, especially on a transactions front.  Most of the heavy lifting of team building is done and while there are some NHL free agents remaining, many of them will be waiting until closer to training camp for their next contracts.

But we’ll soon see a new group of players hit the free agent market as some teams will be losing the rights to some of their college prospects.  These are players that have played out their NCAA eligibility (or at least have gone four years since being drafted) but have not signed an NHL contract.  Those teams hold their exclusive rights up to and including August 15th.  Here’s a listing of those players as well as when they were drafted (round/overall, year).

Arizona
D Michael Karow (5/126, 2017)

Boston
F Jack Becker (7/195/2015)

Calgary

F Mitchell Mattson (5/126/2016)

Carolina
D Tyler Inamoto (5/133, 2017)

Chicago
D Stanislav Demin (4/99, 2018)*
D Josh Ess (7/215, 2017) – signed in France

Colorado
F Tyler Weiss (4/109, 2018)*

Columbus
G Peter Thome (6,155, 2016)

Montreal
F Brett Stapley (7/190, 2018)*

NY Islanders
F Logan Cockerill (7/201, 2017) – signed in Sweden
D Ben Mirageas (3/77, 2017)

Philadelphia
D Jack St. Ivany (4/112, 2018)*

Pittsburgh
D Clayton Phillips (3/93, 2017)

San Jose
G Mike Robinson (3/86, 2015)

Tampa Bay
F Cole Guttman (6/180, 2017)*
F Samuel Walker (7/200, 2017)*

Vegas
F Nicolas Campoli (6/158, 2017)*
F Brandon Kruse (5/135, 2018)

Washington
D Benton Maass (6/182, 2017) – signed with Washington’s farm team

*-The player is eligible to return for a bonus fifth season due to the pandemic.  Some of those decisions aren’t made public so some of these players might wind up playing another year and remain property of their respective NHL clubs.

Some years, there are some August 15 free agents that generate a lot of interest – Jimmy Vesey and Alexander Kerfoot are somewhat recent examples – but this class doesn’t have anyone like that.  However, there are some players that will be intriguing.

Guttman and Stapley are both coming off strong years with Denver that saw them post better than a point per game for the champion Pioneers.  Weiss was just shy of the point per game mark with Omaha-Nebraska while Walker had 27 points with Minnesota.  As for Karow, he got into 13 games with Dallas’ farm team down the stretch and didn’t look out of place.  Those are at least a handful of players that should be receiving some phone calls once they officially hit the open market.

Sharks Seeking Second-Round Pick For James Reimer

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The annual goalie carousel at the beginning of free agency has come and gone but there still could be some trade activity involving netminders.  San Jose still has three NHL goalies and while they’ve said they’d be comfortable keeping all three to start the season, that’s usually not an ideal scenario.

That hasn’t stopped GM Mike Grier from placing a high asking price for James Reimer, however, as Sheng Peng reports in his latest column for NBC Sports Bay Area that the Sharks are asking for a second-round pick to move the veteran.  If Reimer was the one to go, that would then have San Jose enter next season with a tandem of Kaapo Kahkonen and Adin Hill who has been cleared for training camp after missing most of the last three months of 2021-22.

In a vacuum, a second-round pick for a capable backup like Reimer isn’t crazy.  The 34-year-old is coming off a year that saw him post a .911 SV% in 48 games, a mark that was above the NHL average despite the fact he was on a team that came up well short of making the playoffs.  He’d represent an upgrade for several teams and with a $2.25MM AAV, he’s one of the cheaper veteran backups compared to deals that have been handed out over the past year or so.

But with most goalie situations settled, Grier will be hard-pressed to get that type of value for Reimer.  Sure, Vegas could use a goalie with Robin Lehner out but if they do look to make a move, it stands to reason that they’d look for more of a proven starter and Reimer isn’t that type of player.  The Flyers could need a backup with Ivan Fedotov’s uncertain short-term future but fitting him in on the cap would be tricky.  Arizona needs a second-stringer but with them not really focused on winning, their preference might be to look on waivers for a cheaper option over trading a good draft pick for a player they’d ultimately look to flip a few months later at the trade deadline.

With that in mind, it’s difficult to see Grier being able to find a taker for Reimer at that asking price.  The safer play for the new GM might be to see how things go in training camp and see if an injury or two shakes up the landscape a little bit.  Again, it’s rarely ideal for a team to enter a season with three capable netminders but in this case, it might be the right call for the Sharks if they can’t get their desired trade return for Reimer.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Oilers Have Held Talks With Sam Gagner

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Earlier this month, Oilers GM Ken Holland mentioned that he’d like to add more depth to his roster although, for the time being, he doesn’t have the cap space to do so once he re-signs RFA Ryan McLeod.  But that hasn’t stopped him from having discussions with free agents and Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal reports that one of the players they’ve spoken with is veteran winger Sam Gagner.

The 33-year-old is no stranger to Edmonton having played for them on a couple of occasions in the past.  He spent seven years with them after being drafted by them sixth overall back in 2007 before returning in 2019 for parts of two more seasons.  With 317 points in 542 games with them, he sits 21st on their all-time scoring list.

Gagner hasn’t done a lot of scoring in recent years, however, with just one season of more than ten goals since 2016-17.  Fortunately for him, the one time he did that since then was last season with Detroit when he put up 13 goals and 18 assists in 81 games, all but two of those coming at even strength.  That type of depth scoring should be appealing to some teams but right now, it’s not a desirable market for veteran role players with so many teams at or near the cap ceiling.

Gagner is 33 games shy of reaching the 1,000 games played mark.  At this point, it’s likely that he’ll have to settle for a minimum contract if he wants to have a chance of getting to that mark in 2022-23.  A return to where it all began certainly makes some sense for the Oilers but only if they can find a way to free up enough cap space to bring him back for a third stint with the team.

Snapshots: Edvinsson, Rangers Defense, Staios

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With this year’s unusual August World Juniors, it’s not a surprise to see some of the biggest prospects skip the tournament in order to prepare for upcoming NHL training camps, and potentially NHL seasons. Still, not all have done that and a few players who are likely to play in the league next year, have opted to represent their country in the tournament. Among them are Mason McTavish, Kent Johnson, and Simon Edvinsson. The sixth-overall selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft to the Detroit Red Wings, Edvinsson has hopes, and a real chance, to make Detroit’s opening night roster after signing his entry-level contract back in April.

Considering the likelihood that Edvinsson will not only be at Red Wings training camp in a few short weeks but also be expected to play a full season, his first, in Hockey Town, it’s interesting to see him join Sweden at the tournament. However, as Edvinsson told Steven Ellis of The Hockey News, “I talked to Detroit about it, we had a conversation, and everything went good. I’m focused on this tournament now and after that, I’ll go back to Detroit…I’m hungry for (training camp), but right now we need to win this.” It’s not surprising to learn Edvinsson consulted the Red Wings about his decision to play, but the defenseman’s winning attitude, sacrificing himself and elongating a very important season for the sake of winning is surely encouraging to Detroit, who are hoping to develop a top pairing defenseman in Edvinsson alongside Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider.

  • Larry Brooks of the New York Post wonders if the New York Rangers could make one more move by bringing in a low-cost left defenseman for the team’s third pair. Brooks cites Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant’s preference for size, especially among defenseman, and the current projection of Zachary Jones and Libor Hajek splitting time in that spot. Jones, listed at 5’11 and 185 pounds, doesn’t possess much in the way of size, though he is a talented young player who could see more ice time now as part of his development, having averaged just 15:05 of time-on-ice in 22 career regular season games. At 6’2 and 203 pounds, Hajek possesses some of that size, but as a healthy scratch for a whopping 60 games last season, seeing him jump to a full-time or even platoon role next year for a Rangers team looking for a Stanley Cup might be a bit of a question mark. The team has just over $1MM in available cap space with players like Danny DeKeyser, Ryan Murray, and especially the 6’6 Ben Harpur representing players that fit the bill: inexpensive left-defensemen with size.
  • One of the newest members of the Florida Panthers organization, defenseman Nathan Staios told NHL.com’s Alain Poupart that he’s going to do his best to try to make the Panthers out of training camp, but understands the likely trajectory of his development. “Wherever they want me, I’m good,” Staios said. “I’m gonna work my hardest to make the big team, but a couple years of development in the AHL, I’m totally good with that. And I’m really looking forward to that as well,” Staios added. Trusting the process with his development will be necessary for the Ontario native, just as it is any prospect, but after a slow yet steady rise in his value as a prospect, his eagerness to continue this way will be an essential part of the 21-year-old’s success. Having been undrafted by an NHL team, Staios continued to work on his game in the OHL, breaking out after a trade from the Windsor Spitfires to the Hamilton Bulldogs prior to the 2019-20 season. This season, though, vaulted Staios to legitimate prospect status, as he tallied 15 goals and 51 assists in 59 games from the blueline for a talented Hamilton squad.

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