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Jeff Halpern Linked To Washington Capitals Coaching Vacancy

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The Washington Capitals will have a new head coach next season after opting not to renew the contract of Peter Laviolette, as announced last month. Today, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports the Capitals plan to interview former player and current Tampa Bay Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern as part of their search process for Laviolette’s replacement.

After retiring as a player in 2014, Halpern amassed eight seasons of coaching experience, all with the Lightning organization. He’s been behind the Lightning bench as an assistant since 2018, meaning he was involved in both of Tampa’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2020 and 2021. Before that, he spent three seasons with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Tampa’s affiliate, as a development and assistant coach.

Washington moved on from Laviolette after missing the playoffs for just the second time since 2008. In his years as an assistant, Halpern has not missed the playoffs. He helped guide a Crunch team to the Calder Cup Finals in 2017, a year after missing the playoffs altogether, a team that featured a breakout playoff performance from then-prospect Yanni Gourde.

As a player, Halpern played nearly 1,000 NHL games across 14 seasons, accruing 373 points. The center served as Washington’s captain in 2005-06, Alex Ovechkin’s rookie season.

San Jose Sharks Sign Valtteri Pulli

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May 3: While “soon” may be a relative term, Pulli still ended up in a San Jose uniform. The Sharks made the contract official today, announcing a two-year contract for the Finn. PuckPedia reports Pulli’s deal carries a cap hit of $950,000.

March 19: Last month, it was reported that free agent defenseman Valtteri Pulli was receiving interest from several teams.  Now that his season in Finland has ended, discussions on an NHL deal can pick up.  Sasha Huttunen of Ilta Sanomat reports that the Sharks are one of the teams interested in the blueliner, going as far as to suggest that a contract already could be done.  Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek indicated (video link) the same, noting that the deal should be made official soon.

The 22-year-old just wrapped up his first full campaign at Finland’s top level, picking up a respectable 17 points in 53 games while logging nearly 18 minutes a night of playing time.  It’s also worth noting that Pulli stands 6’6 which was sure to intrigue some scouts, especially since he has shown that he can hold his own in the SM-liiga.

It’s worth noting that Pulli has another year left on his contract with TPS.  As a result, if Pulli doesn’t crack the NHL roster of whomever he signs with next season – the Sharks or otherwise – he will have to be loaned back to Finland for the 2023-24 campaign.  He will still burn a year off his entry-level deal in that situation, one that will only be for two seasons due to his age.

San Jose Sharks Sign Georgi Romanov

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May 3: The Sharks have made the signing official, confirming the two-year length. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

May 2: It appears the San Jose Sharks are making an early splash in the undrafted free-agent market. Per a report from Russian outlet Sport Express, the Sharks have signed goaltender Georgi Romanov to a two-year entry-level contract.

Romanov, 23, certainly has the size NHL teams desire. At 6-foot-5 and 207 pounds, there are few netminders who fill out the crease more than Romanov.

Developed in the Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg system, Romanov has been the starter for consecutive seasons for Gornyak-UGMK, Yekaterinburg’s affiliate in the Russian minors (VHL). While his save percentages have dipped slightly since, Romanov had marks of at least .930 in the VHL and juniors (MHL) between 2019 and 2021.

While the Sharks have both James Reimer and Aaron Dell as free agents this summer, they still boast solid organizational depth for goaltenders, at least among prospects. Romanov would become the fourth goalie under the age of 25 signed to an NHL contract by San Jose, with two other drafted prospects under the age of 21. It leaves 26-year-old Kaapo Kähkönen as the resident veteran in the San Jose crease, a position they’re expected to fill out more in free agency unless they opt for an untested youngster in the backup role to an inconsistent Kähkönen.

Assuming the report relayed by Sport Express from Romanov’s agent is true, he would become a restricted free agent in 2025.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Aku Räty To Entry-Level Contract

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The Arizona Coyotes and forward prospect Aku Räty agreed to terms on a three-year, entry-level contract today, the team announced. PuckPedia reports the structure of the deal is as follows:

2023-24: $775,000 base salary, $92,500 signing bonus, $57,500 games played bonus, $70,000 minors salary
2024-25: $832,500 base salary, $92,500 signing bonus, $70,000 minors salary

The deal carries a cap hit of $896,000.

Räty, the older brother of Vancouver Canucks prospect Aatu Räty, was selected in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Draft by the Coyotes. The 21-year-old winger has produced above his weight in terms of his draft position the past two years in Finland, though, and is one of the more underrated prospects in the Arizona system.

After multiple seasons with the Kärpät organization in Finland, a transfer to Ilves for 2022-23 made all the difference for Räty’s development. In 53 Liiga games, Räty set professional career highs with 18 goals, 24 assists, 42 points, and a +26 rating.

Räty was set to become an unrestricted free agent on June 1 if the Coyotes did not sign him. Arizona has four other prospects from the 2019 and 2021 draft classes that will become UFAs if they’re not signed within the next month, which PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan expects will head to market.

The Oulo-born winger has good size at 6 feet and 187 pounds, and the first thing you’ll notice upon viewing is his tenacious forecheck. Räty has one of the best work ethics among young players in the Liiga.

It makes him a bit of a unique prospect in the Coyotes system, and the team does have recent success in developing Finnish talents, especially from Ilves (see Matias Maccelli). It’s unclear whether Räty will report to North America next season, however, or stay in Finland on loan.

Arizona returned Maccelli to Ilves on loan for the first year of his entry-level contract, however, it was during the COVID-affected 2020-21 campaign.

Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko Heading To World Championship

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New York Rangers forwards Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko will join Team Czechia and Team Finland, respectively, at the 2023 IIHF Men’s World Championship, they told reporters today.

Coming off the heels of a disappointing first-round loss, the two Rangers youngsters now get a shot at redemption at the closest thing to a best-on-best tournament in men’s hockey today. The 2023 edition of the tournament, which will take place in Tampere and Helsinki in Finland, begins next week.

Neither Czechia nor Finland have announced their full rosters for the tournament. They’ll be competing in separate groups, with Finland among the assumed leaders in Group A alongside Sweden and the United States, while Czechia is at the higher end of Group B with Canada and Slovakia.

This will be Chytil’s fourth appearance with Czechia at the tournament. In 20 games combined in the 2018, 2019, and 2021 tournaments, he’s registered four goals and eight points. After a breakout season this year in which he broke the 20-goal and 40-point plateaus for the first time, expect a rejuvenated performance from him.

For Kakko, it’s his second appearance at the tournament after scoring six goals in 10 games with Finland in 2019, leading the team to a gold medal. Finland has reached the final game in three consecutive tournaments.

Lucas Wallmark Released From Overseas Contract

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NHL veteran Lucas Wallmark was released from his contract with the NL’s ZSC Lions today upon request, the team said in a release announcing multiple roster updates. The move clears the way for Wallmark, 27, to re-join an NHL club in free agency this offseason if he so chooses.

Wallmark was under contract with the Lions through 2025, departing the club after the first season of a three-year agreement. The 2014 fourth-round selection of the Carolina Hurricanes had 37 points in 50 games and led the team with a +22 rating.

He’d spent the past two seasons overseas after five years in the NHL with the Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, and Florida Panthers. Wallmark was an effective defensive presence in the bottom six during his time in the NHL and could still easily crack most rosters in the league today.

Wallmark represented Sweden at the delayed 2020 Winter Olympics, recording five goals in six games. He had a career-high 10 goals and 28 points in 81 games with Carolina in 2018-19, helping them advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

Of note, the Lions also announced in their release that 26-year-old Ludovic Waeber will be signing an NHL contract next season, although it’s unclear with which team. Waeber has some limited experience with the Swiss national team and had been their starter between 2020 and 2022. However, he slipped to a backup role this season behind Czech netminder Šimon Hrubec, posting a .914 save percentage and an 8-9-1 record in 19 games.

PHR Playoff Primer: Vegas Golden Knights vs Edmonton Oilers

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With the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs now underway, PHR makes its first foray into playoff series analysis with our 2023 Playoff Primers. Where does each team stand in their series, and what storylines could dominate on and off the ice? We continue our Second Round coverage with the Pacific Division matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers.

Not much separated the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers in the regular season. Both teams battled to the very end to determine the winner of the Pacific Division, with Vegas finally emerging and finishing just two points ahead of their division rival.

Though they ended up at the top of the division, it was not an easy ride for either team this season. The Golden Knights had to overcome many significant injuries, including Robin Lehner, their starting goaltender, missing the entire season, Mark Stone, an exceptional two-way winger missing the second half of the season and top defenseman Shea Theodore missing significant time in the middle of the season with injury as well.

The Oilers didn’t have the same injury troubles, though Evander Kane missed half the season after having his wrist cut by a skate blade. Their adversity was more about past issues coming back to haunt them. Those issues were goaltending problems as Jack Campbell struggled all season after signing a five-year contract with a $5MM cap hit. The defense seemed to be a bit too offensive minded as well and were not able to shut things down well enough to be a serious Stanley Cup contender.

Regular Season Performance

Vegas: 51-22-9, 111 points, +43 goal differential
Florida: 50-23-9, 109 points, +65 goal differential

Head-To-Head

November 19, 2022: Edmonton 4, Vegas 3 (OT)
January 14, 2023: Edmonton 4, Vegas 3
March 25, 2023: Vegas 4, Edmonton 3 (OT)
March 28, 2023: Edmonton 7, Vegas 4

Edmonton takes season series 3-0-1

Team Storylines

The Oilers seemed to flip a switch at the trade deadline and put all those past defensive issues in the rearview mirror. There were two main reasons for this team finally looking like a sound defensive team as well as an elite offensive team instead of a one-dimensional squad that we have seen in the past.

First, they acquired Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline and he immediately became their best defensive defenseman as well as their top defender on the penalty kill. He eats up a ton of minutes and plays against the other teams best players while putting up points and ensuring the opposition stays off the scoresheet.

Secondly, the Oilers finally started to rely more on goaltender Stuart Skinner late in the season instead of Campbell. While Campbell’s contract would suggest he is their top guy, Skinner played extremely well down the stretch, starting 16 of the team’s final 21 games and posting a 2.43 GAA and a .920 SV%.

Skinner didn’t quite continue that performance in round one against the Los Angeles Kings as he posted a GAA near 3.50 as well as a .890 SV%. He is going to need to be closer to his regular season numbers if the Oilers want to advance to the Western Conference Final for the second consecutive season.

Apr 16, 2022; Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Also, the Oilers are an offensive juggernaut, but they leaned pretty heavily on just three players in their six game round one win. Connor McDavid has ten points, as did young defenseman Evan Bouchard and Leon Draisaitl led the team with 11 points. However, no one else on the team had more than four points in the opening round. That’s not horrible, especially since Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Kane, Klim Kostin and Ekholm all had four points, but having a forward other than Draisaitl and McDavid score a point-per-game pace would give the Oilers incredible scoring depth.

It won’t be easy to score at will against the Golden Knights who lost their opening game of the postseason but then eliminated the Winnipeg Jets with four straight victories. They may not have an elite scorer like McDavid or Draisaitl, but they have incredible scoring depth that allowed them to quickly dispose of the Jets.

Chandler Stephenson and Stone led the way with eight points each in five games while William Karlsson, Jack Eichel and Alex Pietrangelo all had five points in the series. Add in Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Theodore and Ivan Barbashev and the Golden Knights have scorers up and down their lineup as well as on their blue line.

The Golden Knights will lean on Laurent Brossoit in goal, giving each team a starter with very little playoff experience. Brossoit was solid against his former team, the Jets, in round one posting a .915 SV% and being good enough to outduel Connor Hellebuyck in the other end.

Prediction

Both teams have some inexperience in goal, and the ability to score almost at will. The Oilers have the top end guys while the Golden Knights have plenty of scoring depth, but putting pucks in the net will not be an issue in this series.

It should be a long series, but the defensive depth on the Golden Knights blue line may be the determining factor. Having to face Theodore, Pietrangelo, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb will give the Oilers depth players little chance to score while limiting their top guns just enough to outlast them in a long, back and forth series. In the end, home ice advantage in that last game may prove to be the difference.

Prediction: Golden Knights win in seven games.

Bruins Notes: Krejci, Orlov, Foligno

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The Boston Bruins season ended abruptly earlier this week. Their record regular season saw them win 65 games and set an NHL record, and they jumped out to a 3-1 series lead over the Florida Panthers before losing three straight and being eliminated in overtime of Game 7. You can expect players to need some time to decompress after such a shocking series loss, and David Krejci is one who will need to take some time to think about his future, according to Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com.

The 37-year-old center returned to the NHL after spending one season in Czechia and scored 16 goals and 56 points in 70 games for the Bruins. Benjamin reports that the veteran is already close to making a decision on next season but wants to ensure he takes the proper time before making an announcement. It should not be long before we hear from the pending free agent, but there are only two options as he will either return to the Bruins or retire.

  • Matt Porter of the Boston Globe reports Dmitry Orlov also is considering his options for next season already. The 31-year-old defenseman played his entire NHL career with the Washington Capitals before being dealt to the Bruins at the trade deadline. He fit in extremely well in Boston, but Porter suggests Orlov is looking to return to Washington next season when he becomes a free agent in July.
  • One player who sounds more ready to stay in Boston is veteran forward Nick Foligno. He just wrapped up the final year of his two-year contract with the Bruins but Porter reports Foligno is interested in returning. The 35-year-old winger feels he still has a lot left to offer and is a big part of the team. He would have to take a significant pay cut after earning $3.8MM the past two seasons and scoring twn goals and 26 points in 60 games, but he can still contribute in a fourth line role.

NHL Announces Frank J. Selke Trophy Finalists

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The NHL is announcing finalists for the annual NHL Awards this week, though they will not be handed out until late June between the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency. The finalists for the Hart Trophy will not be named until Friday, May 12, but the Frank J. Selke Trophy finalists have been announced already. This award goes to the league’s best defensive forward.

To no one’s surprise, Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was one of the finalists. This marks the 12th consecutive season that Bergeron is a finalist for the Selke Trophy, as he will go down as perhaps the best defensive forward in hockey history. He has already won the award a record five times and is looking to add to that total with a sixth win. At age 37, Bergeron still remains one of the best penalty killing forwards and faceoff guys in the entire league.

Nico Hischier is also a finalist for the award, and this is his first time as a nominee. The New Jersey Devils center really broke through offensively this season with 31 goals and 80 points, but his defensive game is just as good, if not better, than what he does in the offensive zone. He wins over 53% of his draws, blocks shots, is the Devils top penalty killing forward and limits scoring chances against.

Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs is also up for the award. Known mostly for his offensive wizardry, the Leafs continue to lean on Marner in defensive situations as well and he has risen to the occasion. Though it is rare for a winger to win the award, the Maple Leafs always limit chances against when Marner is on the ice, and he is among the best forwards in the league at taking the puck away from opponents while he has also become one of the most used penalty killers among forwards in the league.

Lady Byng Finalists Announced

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The National Hockey League is announcing award finalists this week as they begin to set the stage for the annual NHL Awards at the end of the season. Per a league release, we now know the three players that are up for the Lady Byng Award this season. This award is given out annually to the player who exhibited the most sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct while playing at a high level this season.

Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils is one of the finalists. He finished this season with 43 goals and 99 points in 78 games while putting up just six minutes in penalties. He was the team’s leading scorer and a key reason the Devils made it to the postseason for the first time since 2018. The Devils didn’t just sneak into the postseason either as they finished the regular season with a 52-22-8 record which gives them 112 points in the standings.

Anze Kopitar is also up for the Lady Byng this season. The 35-year-old center had another stellar season for the Los Angeles Kings, scoring 28 goals and 74 points in 82 games while playing great defensive hockey as well. He also had just two minor penalties proving his sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct which goes with his strong play on the ice. Kopitar won this award in 2016 and this is the 16th consecutive season he has received votes for the Lady Byng.

Brayden Point is the third finalist for the award after another strong season for the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 27-year-old center scored 51 goals and 95 points in 82 games and had just seven penalty minutes on the season.

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