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Archives for June 2023

Columbus Blue Jackets Expected To Name Niklas Bäckström Goalie Coach

June 12, 2023 at 12:38 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment

After solidifying Mike Babcock as their head coaching hire, which won’t be official until later this summer, the Columbus Blue Jackets still had one vacancy left to fill on their bench. That will be filled soon, as multiple sources indicated to The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline that longtime Minnesota Wild netminder Niklas Bäckström will be named their new goaltending coach.

Bäckström will be taking over from Manny Legace, whose contract was not renewed after 2022-23.

The 45-year-old Finn last played in the NHL with the Calgary Flames in 2015-16 but played three more seasons professionally in Finland before calling it a career. Since retiring in 2019, he’s served on and off with Columbus as a scout and as a European goaltending development coach.

During his playing days, Bäckström amassed 413 games of NHL experience, 409 of which came with Minnesota. Known for his sound technical play, Bäckström was a Vezina Trophy nominee in 2008-09 after posting a .923 save percentage, 37-24-8 record, and eight shutouts in 71 starts.

Bäckström will now be in charge of working with Columbus’ NHL goalie tandem, which, as it stands, is made up of European starter Elvis Merzlikins and Russian backup Daniil Tarasov. Merzlikins struggled mightily last season after a strong stretch of play, and the pivot to Bäckström as goalie coach is made with his performance in mind especially.

Columbus Blue Jackets Daniil Tarasov| Elvis Merzlikins| Niklas Backstrom

1 comment

Florida Panthers Sign Ludovic Waeber

June 12, 2023 at 11:11 am CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

The Florida Panthers are in crunch time, gearing up to keep their season alive tomorrow night in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. The front office is already looking toward the future, however, signing goaltender Ludovic Waeber today to a one-year, entry-level contract that will commence in the 2023-24 season.

Waeber, a 26-year-old netminder from Fribourg, Switzerland, spent the 2022-23 season with the ZSC Lions in the Swiss National League. After being the team’s starter for the two seasons prior, he slipped to a backup role behind Czech netminder Simon Hrubec. He still did well in a reduced role, however, recording two shutouts, a .914 save percentage, and a 2.50 goals-against average.

With Hrubec signing an extension with ZSC for next season, it makes sense that Waeber would look for opportunities elsewhere.

Standing at 6-foot-1 and weighing 176 pounds, Waeber brings 115 games of NL experience to the Panthers, representing HC Fribourg-Gottéron from 2017 to 2020 and the ZSC Lions from 2020 to 2023. During the 2020-21 season, Waeber boasted a .918 save percentage, placing him fourth among NL goaltenders with at least 35 games played. What immediately jumps off the page on Waeber’s resume, though, is his .935 save percentage in 19 career NL postseason contests.

An undrafted free agent, Waeber represented Switzerland at the 2015 and 2016 Men’s World Juniors. Since then, he’s grown into one of the more highly-regarded goalies in the country, and he’ll look to make an impact professionally with Florida.

Likely destined for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers in 2023-24, Waeber provides a solid AHL starter option should late-season hero Alex Lyon sign elsewhere as a pending unrestricted free agent.

Florida Panthers Ludovic Waeber

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Calgary Flames Name Ryan Huska Head Coach

June 12, 2023 at 10:15 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 5 Comments

June 12: The Flames are expected to name Huska their head coach in a press conference this morning, Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reports. The team would later make the hire official.

June 9: After locking in Craig Conroy as their general manager last month, the Calgary Flames’ focus for the past few weeks has been exclusively on their search for a new head coach. Current assistant Ryan Huska has emerged as the leading contender to assume the role, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said during the second intermission of last night’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Huska’s emergence as Calgary’s top candidate is in line with the organization’s seemingly new philosophy. Since his hire, Conroy has expressed a keen desire to use the organization’s depth more effectively, something most felt was a struggle under previous coach Darryl Sutter.

Having spent the last five seasons as an assistant coach for the Flames and four seasons before that as the team’s AHL head coach, Huska has extensive experience in developing younger players and helping them transition to the pro level. Before his appointment as head coach of the AHL Adirondack Flames in 2014-15, Huska had spent 12 seasons behind the bench of the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets.

If appointed, Huska would succeed the aforementioned Sutter, who the Flames fired on May 1 ahead of his two-year extension kicking in this summer. Sutter’s firing came after one of the most disappointing Flames campaigns in recent memory, slipping out of the playoffs entirely thanks to a lack of chemistry among the team’s new complement of stars.

As noted by The Calgary Sun’s Wes Gilbertson, Huska is recognized in the organization as a strong communicator, an area of expertise Sutter evidently lacked heavily, especially with younger players. In his years behind the Flames bench, he’s been charged with running the team’s penalty kill, one of the team’s strongest elements.

Gilbertson also notes that during Huska’s time in Adirondack/Stockton, he was the head coach who oversaw the primary professional development of current Flames contributors Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington, and Andrew Mangiapane. He also coached potential Flames captain Mikael Backlund during his time in Kelowna.

While not a done deal, things do look promising for the 47-year-old to assume the role he’s prepped for over two decades. He would face the challenge of revitalizing the Flames’ core, especially Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, and leading them back to the playoffs like many expected this season.

Calgary Flames| Newsstand

5 comments

Latest On The Arizona Coyotes

June 12, 2023 at 10:13 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 26 Comments

The dust has settled on last month’s chaotic Arizona Coyotes saga, which saw a public vote strike down the team’s plan to build a new arena in Tempe. While initially, the result made relocation look like an imminent possibility, more avenues to remain in Arizona have opened up, and optimism is once again increasing about the team’s future in the state.

Nothing is certain without a long-term plan in place, though, and there will be interest in relocating the team. One of those interested parties is Connecticut governor Ned Lamont, who yesterday shed light on his endeavor to bring an NHL team back to Hartford in an interview with WTNH New Haven’s Dennis House.

The governor shared that a group is already in place to purchase the Coyotes and relocate them to Hartford, with funding already spoken for. Assuming they can purchase the trademark back from the Carolina Hurricanes, who jointly own it along with the NHL, it would resurrect the Hartford Whalers, which departed for North Carolina in 1997.

One key aspect of the plan is the refurbishment of the XL Center, which currently is home to the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack, to meet NHL standards. However, the question remains: will these renovations be sufficient to support a successful NHL franchise?

The viability of the arena is likely the biggest point of skepticism around any move. Originally constructed in 1975, the aging arena has undergone various renovations over the years – most recently in 2014. But unless a significant expansion occurs, it would still be the smallest arena in the league, with a capacity of just under 15,000 people for hockey. Winnipeg’s Canada Life Center has a capacity of 15,321 people.

The move would also see the Coyotes franchise cross conference lines and require some sort of divisional realignment. It’s something the NHL likely wouldn’t be willing to undergo unless two Western Conference expansion teams were planned in quick succession.

There’s still a likelihood the team finds a long-term plan in Arizona – after all, it’s the preference of both the NHL and the current owners. Having multiple cities step in with interest in relocation, though, isn’t a bad thing. Along with the owner of the NBA’s Utah Jazz, Ryan Smith, Lamont’s group provides a solid safety net for the league to move the team if all other avenues fall through.

Utah Mammoth

26 comments

Blackhawks Notes: Toews, Draft Picks, UFAs, Goalies

June 12, 2023 at 7:44 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 22 Comments

Aside from drafting their next franchise center at the end of the month, the biggest storyline in the Chicago Blackhawks’ offseason is what the future holds for his predecessor, captain Jonathan Toews. A return to the Blackhawks has seemed very unlikely for some time, given how the end of the season went. Still, speculation around a return, given the impending entrance of Connor Bedard, has been a topic of discussion.

According to The Athletic’s Scott Powers, Toews is expected to be announced in the coming weeks to announce a decision regarding retirement or a potential move to another team in free agency. Toews, 35, took a leave of absence prior to the 2020-2021 season due to Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, which, along with some effects of long COVID, caused him to miss a stretch of games near the end of 2022-23 as well.

Should Toews choose to hang up his skates, it would mark the end of a notable career that includes three Stanley Cup championships and numerous accolades but a debatable reputation as a captain stemming from the sexual assault scandal that occurred during the team’s 2010 championship run. After completing his eight-year, $84MM contract extension signed in 2014, Toews will surely generate some interest from teams looking to fill out their middle six if he does decide to try and extend his career.

More from Powers on the Blackhawks this morning:

  • In regards to their second first-round pick in the upcoming draft, 19th overall, the Blackhawks have a handful of players they’re hoping will still be available to them – and they’re likely to select a second forward to supplement Bedard. Among the prospects at the scouting combine, forwards Colby Barlow, Oliver Moore, Calum Ritchie, Matthew Wood, and Brayden Yager are potential options for the Blackhawks. Additionally, the team has shown interest in 6-foot-5 Russian forward Daniil But, and general manager Kyle Davidson expressed a lack of hesitancy to Powers around selecting Russian players in this year’s draft. Looking ahead to the team’s four second-round picks, goaltender Adam Gajan, forwards Otto Stenberg and Bradly Nadeau, as well as defensemen Oliver Bonk and Andrew Strathmann are potential considerations for the Blackhawks.
  • The Chicago Blackhawks have made their decision regarding pending unrestricted free agents, says Powers, signaling that after re-signing Andreas Athanasiou, the team is unlikely to bring back any of their other UFAs. Players such as Jujhar Khaira and Alex Stalock, among a few others, will explore options elsewhere as the Blackhawks prioritize their roster composition to provide opportunities for younger players and build out some higher-end support for Bedard via free agency.
  • Davidson also indicated to Powers that Arvid Soderblöm and Petr Mrazek are expected to form the team’s NHL goaltending tandem for the upcoming season. Speaking about the young goalies, Davidson emphasized Soderblöm’s potential and the development aspect of their decision-making process so as to not rush their other prospects. Soderblöm, who has already spent time as a North American pro (and played pro in Europe), holds an experience advantage over other prospects like Jaxson Stauber and Drew Commesso.

Chicago Blackhawks| Free Agency| Prospects Alex Stalock| Andreas Athanasiou| Connor Bedard| Drew Commesso| Jaxson Stauber| Jonathan Toews| Jujhar Khaira| Petr Mrazek

22 comments

Five Key Stories: 6/5/23 – 6/11/23

June 11, 2023 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

In some years, teams wait until the end of the Stanley Cup Final before announcing big news.  This is clearly not one of those years as there were several key moves made around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.

Three-Way Trade: The first big trade of the 2023 offseason is in the books in a three-team swap involving the Flyers, Kings, and Blue Jackets.  Needing to clear salary, Los Angeles moved goaltender Calvin Petersen and defenseman Sean Walker to Philadelphia, sending them a 2024 second-round pick and defensive prospect Helge Grans as an incentive for them to do so.  Meanwhile, Ivan Provorov is on his way to Columbus in exchange for a first-round pick and a second-rounder with the Kings retaining $2.025MM of Provorov’s contract for the next two years.  Los Angeles also picked up a pair of AHLers in the swap, Hayden Hodgson and Kevin Connauton.

For Columbus, they added a top-four blueliner that started off his career strong but has plateaued as of late.  Defense was an issue for the Blue Jackets last season and they feel his addition will go a long way toward fixing that under eventual head coach Mike Babcock.  Philadelphia, meanwhile, adds three good draft picks to aid in their rebuild plus an intriguing prospect in Grans while they’ll hope to rebuild Petersen’s value.  As for Los Angeles, the purpose of the trade was to free up cap space and they spent it quickly, re-signing defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a two-year deal that carries a $5.875MM AAV and a full no-move clause.  Gavrikov became a key cog in their back end after coming over from Columbus at the trade deadline – for the first-round pick that was flipped for Provorov, no less – but his preference was a short-term contract to allow him to test the market a couple of years from now in a more favorable cap environment.

Severson To Columbus: The Blue Jackets weren’t done adding to their back end with Provorov’s addition.  After receiving permission from the Devils to negotiate with pending UFA Damon Severson, a contract was agreed upon.  New Jersey inked the blueliner to an eight-year, $50MM contract and then traded him to Columbus for a third-round pick.  The move was done as a true sign-and-trade, just the second of those in history (the other being the Matthew Tkachuk trade last summer).  Severson saw his offensive numbers dip a bit this season but he still managed 33 points in 81 games despite a near-four-minute drop in playing time.  He’ll give Columbus another capable offensive player on the back end, joining Provorov, Zach Werenski, and Adam Boqvist as defensemen that are capable of putting up some offense.

Eight For Caufield: One of the top restricted free agents was taken off the board as the Canadiens signed winger Cole Caufield to an eight-year contract that carries an AAV of $7.85MM and has partial no-trade protection in the final three years, the only ones he was eligible to receive that protection.  The deal is the second-highest given to a forward in franchise history and checks in just $200K total behind captain Nick Suzuki.  Caufield got off to a strong start offensively this season with 26 goals in 46 games before undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery.  The 22-year-old has just 123 regular season games under his belt so it’s a contract that certainly carries some risk.  However, if Caufield is able to become a consistent 40-goal scorer, the deal could become a team-friendly one down the road as well.

Ducks Hire Cronin: The Ducks have found their new head coach as the team announced the hiring of Greg Cronin.  The 60-year-old has plenty of experience behind the bench and got his start in the NHL back in the 1998-99 season with the Islanders.  Cronin also has lots of experience working with younger players, highlighted by six seasons as the head coach at Northeastern while spending the last five in charge of Colorado’s AHL team.  This will, however, be his first crack at running an NHL bench.  Anaheim is a team that is embarking on a full-scale rebuild and is a team that will be integrating several prospects into an already young core group.  Accordingly, going with a coach that is well-versed in working with younger players makes a lot of sense for GM Pat Verbeek.

Trouble In Winnipeg: Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois has one year of RFA eligibility remaining but he has made it known that he doesn’t want to spend it in Winnipeg as he has requested a trade.  His desire to not sign with the team long-term is well-known but it seemed possible that he’d wind up on another one-year contract and at least start 2023-24 in Winnipeg but his camp has made it clear that doing so is not a desirable outcome.  Accordingly, with the draft less than three weeks away, expect his name to come up frequently in trade speculation.

Meanwhile, he won’t be the only one in that situation following a report that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, a year away from being UFA-eligible himself, also appears to be unwilling to sign an extension.  The veteran has been one of the top goalies in the league for the past several years and would undoubtedly command strong interest on the trade front should Winnipeg decide to make him available now.  Hellebuyck is signed for next season at a $6.167MM AAV.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

NHL Week In Review

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East Notes: Konecny, Jost, Red Wings

June 11, 2023 at 8:25 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 18 Comments

The Oilers are among the teams that have inquired about the availability of Flyers winger Travis Konecny, reports Kurt Leavins of the Edmonton Journal.  It’s expected that Edmonton will shop around to try to find a forward upgrade but fitting in Konecny’s contract, one that has two years left on it at $5.5MM, would be tricky given their own cap situation.  The 26-year-old tied his career high in points this season with 61 despite missing 22 games down the stretch due to an upper-body injury.  With Philadelphia appearing to be heading for a rebuild, it stands to reason that GM Daniel Briere will be fielding plenty of calls about his leading scorer in the coming weeks.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli suggests that Sabres center Tyson Jost’s arbitration eligibility could be problematic for Buffalo this offseason. The 25-year-old was claimed off waivers back in November and is owed a $2.25MM qualifying offer.  However, Seravalli points out that Jost’s career numbers are similar to Andrew Copp’s two years ago and the former Winnipeg forward was awarded a $3.64MM AAV in a hearing.  Such a price tag for Jost would be difficult to justify which makes him a decent non-tender candidate if a deal can’t be reached before the deadline at the end of the month.
  • MLive’s Ansar Khan examines some coaching candidates for Detroit’s AHL vacancy. ECHL Toledo head coach Dan Watson has been considered a logical choice for a while but Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde indicated that Watson’s family situation is a strong tie for him to stay at that level.  Red Wings assistant Alex Tanguay has never run a bench before so the opening could be an opportunity for him to get his feet wet in that role while Khan suggests that another Detroit assistant, Jay Varady, could also be a strong candidate and has a head coaching background at lower levels in the past.  The top position with Grand Rapids has been open for nearly two months now.

AHL| Buffalo Sabres| Detroit Red Wings| Edmonton Oilers| Philadelphia Flyers Travis Konecny| Tyson Jost

18 comments

Offseason Checklist: Colorado Avalanche

June 11, 2023 at 7:15 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 3 Comments

The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams that still have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup.  It’s time to examine what those eliminated squads will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Colorado.

After winning the Stanley Cup last year, expectations were high for the Avalanche heading into this season.  However, lingering injury issues for Gabriel Landeskog left them without a top winger for the entire year and they ultimately came up short in the first round, falling to Seattle.  Now, GM Chris MacFarland will be tasked with making some moves to try to get them heading toward what they hope will be a deep playoff run once again.

Add Second Center

With Nathan MacKinnon locked up for the long haul on his record-setting eight-year, $100.8MM contract, Colorado doesn’t have to worry about finding a top-line center anytime soon.  However, they will need to address the vacancy at that position on the second line.

It’s a spot that the club largely tried to fill internally this season following the departure of Nazem Kadri to Calgary last summer.  The results were mixed as both Alex Newhook and J.T. Compher getting chances with varying degrees of success with newcomer Evan Rodrigues briefly getting a look as well.  Compher responded with a career year, notching 52 points.  However, he’s set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer for the first time and coming off the year he had and a marketplace where he is one of the top middlemen out there, a return doesn’t seem likely.  Newhook still likely isn’t ready for the role and Rodrigues will also hit the open market next month.

That means that MacFarland will need to look outside the organization to fill that spot.  On the surface, this feels like a spot where Landeskog’s LTIR could be used; the captain has already been ruled out for the entire 2023-24 campaign, giving the Avs his full $7MM contract to use, boosting their cap space to a little over $20MM, per CapFriendly.  (They do, however, have as many as eleven players to sign with that room.)

However, given the uncertainty surrounding Landeskog’s long-term availability, acquiring someone on a multi-year contract with that money would carry some risk, especially knowing that there’s another big-ticket contract coming down the pipeline soon with Mikko Rantanen two years away from unrestricted free agency.  As a result, their preference might be to look at someone on an expiring contract (which could have them turning to a certain division rival), allowing them to fill that spot while maintaining some longer-term flexibility.  Either way, it’s an area that will need to be addressed as they won’t have the luxury of filling it from within next season.

Re-Sign Key RFAs

Colorado has two prominent restricted free agents this summer and what they do with both of them will go a long way toward determining how aggressive they can be in trying to fill out the roster.  Bridge deals for Newhook and defenseman Bowen Byram are certainly defensible with how things have gone so far although, in a salary cap environment that is expected to be higher in the next couple of years, they’d be setting themselves up for less flexibility down the road in exchange for more flexibility now.

Newhook wasn’t able to grab a full-time top-six spot but it wasn’t all bad as the 22-year-old reached the 30-point mark for the second straight year while setting a new benchmark in goals with 14.  On top of that, he showed some improvement at the faceoff circle, beating his rookie season performance by nearly 7% although there is still a lot of work to do on that front.  The development might be slower than they hoped for but he should still factor into their future plans.  It would be a gamble to give him a pricier long-term agreement unless they were convinced that a big jump in production is on the horizon.  The safer bet is a back-loaded two-year bridge contract around the $2.25MM to $2.5MM mark that buys both sides more time.

As for Byram, his case is a little less clear.  When he has been healthy, he has been a key part of their top four and has shown considerable improvement.  The soon-to-be 22-year-old logged nearly 22 minutes per game in both the regular season and the series against Seattle despite seeing limited time on special teams.  It stands to reason there’s another jump or two coming in his development.  However, he has a lengthy stretch of concussion concerns to the point where he briefly thought his career might have been over back in 2021.

If they lock him up on a long-term deal now, there’s a chance it become a very team-friendly one down the road but if he doesn’t stay healthy, it could be a problem for them fairly quickly.  With just 91 career regular season games under his belt, a bridge contract shouldn’t break the bank too much and should fall somewhere within the $3MM range.  Meanwhile, a long-term agreement that buys out multiple UFA years could double that bridge amount.  With no arbitration eligibility, this could drag on but getting a contract done sooner than later would certainly help Colorado determine what else they can do in free agency this summer.

Toews Extension Talks

To say that Colorado has done quite well with the acquisition of Devon Toews would be an understatement.  When then-GM Joe Sakic acquired him from the Islanders for two second-round picks, it seemed like a low price to pay.  He then signed Toews to a four-year contract that carries a $4.1MM AAV.  Suffice it to say, it was already a team-friendly agreement heading into this season where all the 29-year-old did was put up 50 points and log over 25 minutes per game for the second straight year.  Now, it’s arguably one of the best-value contracts in the league.  Toews has one year left on that contract which means that he’s eligible to sign an extension as of July 1st.

How much will that new contract cost?  It seems fair to suggest that they won’t want to go past Cale Makar’s $9MM AAV but if Toews has a third year like this one, his price tag could come pretty close to that number.

Can they afford that price point?  Potentially, especially depending on which route they go with Byram.  If both get long-term contracts, the price of their back end (which also includes Josh Manson for three more years at a $4.5MM cap charge) is going to balloon in a hurry.  That’s not ideal for a team that is already top-heavy up front.

To that end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Avs try to work out something early with Toews.  If they can get an extension in place in early July, it’s possible that they turn around and try to find a trade for Samuel Girard, who has four years left at $5MM.  That’s not a bad contract by any stretch – it’s arguable that it’s a below-market one – but they can’t afford to see their back end cost approach the $30MM mark and with the injury trouble Manson had this season, it’s quite unlikely he moves which makes Girard the potential trade casualty.  In a free agent market that isn’t the deepest, Colorado could net a strong return for Girard’s services.  But they can’t really shop him too aggressively until they know that Toews is signed so in a perfect world, that domino falls rather quickly.

Upgrade Forward Depth

Colorado’s bottom-six group struggled as a unit this season.  For a lot of the time, the Avs were rarely playing their fourth line and when they weren’t on the ice, they weren’t able to get much going.  The end result was a frequent shuffling of low-cost personnel in the hopes that one or two of them would stick.  Eventually, they had to turn to the trade market, picking up Denis Malgin and Matthew Nieto, both of which at least stabilized things a little bit.

The majority of that unit is poised to turn over.  Veterans Darren Helm (who was injured most of the year), Andrew Cogliano, Nieto, and deadline acquisition Lars Eller are all unrestricted free agents.  Malgin is currently an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent but is a non-tender candidate just to avoid the possibility of going to a hearing.  Several of the recalls from the minors that got a chance during the season are also pending UFAs.  There is going to be considerable turnover in this group.

This year, finding capable low-cost options wasn’t easy in-season.  Now, there’s at least a chance to try to build a more complementary bottom six in the summer, albeit with similar financial restrictions as by the time they find a center and re-sign Newhook and Byram, a big chunk of their cap room will be gone.  They will need to find the right mixture of veterans and under-the-radar depth pieces (with perhaps a waiver claim or two in training camp) to give head coach Jared Bednar a shot at running four lines with some regularity in 2023-24.  The options will be plentiful but with so many teams needing players at or near the league minimum, demand for some of these players is going to be high as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Colorado Avalanche| Offseason Checklist 2023| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals

3 comments

Kraken Sign Jani Nyman

June 11, 2023 at 6:40 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

The Kraken have signed one of their draft picks from 2022 as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Jani Nyman to a three-year, entry-level contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $950K and breaks down as follows:

2023-24: $775K salary, $95K signing bonus, $80K games played performance bonus
2024-25: $855K salary, $95K signing bonus
2025-26: $855K salary, $95K signing bonus

The 18-year-old was a second-round pick last year (49th overall) following a strong season in Finland’s second-tier Mestis league.  This season, Nyman moved up to the SM-liiga, the top division in Finland, on a full-time basis and didn’t look out of place playing for Ilves, scoring 10 goals in 29 games while averaging over 12 minutes a night.  He also suited up for the Finns at the World Juniors, picking up two goals and an assist in three games.

Nyman still has one year left on his deal with Ilves and it seems likely that Seattle will opt to let him stay and play at home for next season.  If that happens, his contract will slide, meaning it will still have three years left on it heading into the 2024-25 season.

Seattle Kraken| Transactions Jani Nyman

2 comments

Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues

June 11, 2023 at 5:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 9 Comments

Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the St. Louis Blues.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Scott Perunovich – Set to turn 25 in August, Perunovich’s once promising career trajectory was severely impacted by extremely unfortunate injury luck. The left-shot blueliner underwent wrist surgery in March of last year and missed most of this past season after undergoing shoulder surgery in October. He also missed the entirety of the 2020-21 season due to another shoulder surgery.

A 2018 second-round pick, Perunovich had been ranked consistently among the Blues’ top prospects throughout his decorated NCAA career, a tenure at the University of Minnesota-Duluth that included back-to-back National Championships and a Hobey Baker award win.

The promise he showed in college has translated to the AHL, where he’s posted a 1.08 career points-per-game mark as a defenseman.

Unfortunately, though, that impressive scoring rate comes in just 42 career games, and that simple lack of playing time is the most serious obstacle he faces to receiving a significant raise from the $750k he earned this past season. He’s an undoubtedly talented player who smartly took the opportunity to get even more games under his belt by representing the United States at the IIHF World Championships last month, but he’ll need to prove he can stay healthy before he makes a dent in the Blues’ financial plans.

F Logan Brown – Another player who has shown promise but also seen injuries do significant damage to his development, Brown did not take the step forward in St. Louis that he likely hoped for when he received his change-of-scenery trade in 2021. The 2016 11th overall pick is a hulking six-foot-six center whose combination of size and skill has long tantalized scouts.

He’s more recently begun to put things together at the AHL level, scoring 19 points in 21 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds across two seasons but his NHL impact has remained marginal. He’s scored just 17 points in 69 games as a Blue and now at 25 years old, it’s possible St. Louis decides to cut bait rather than extend their hopes that he can develop into something more.

It’s also possible that the Blues opt to retain him at a cap hit similar to his $750k number from last season with the idea of him competing for an NHL spot in training camp and potentially taking on a more permanent role as a top-of-the-lineup player in Springfield.

Other RFAs: F Alexey Toropchenko, F Adam Gaudette, F Hugh McGing, D Tyler Tucker, D Dmitri Samorukov, D Brady Lyle

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Josh Leivo – 30-year-old Leivo set career highs in games played in the NHL this past season but unlike his fellow high-scoring 2021-22 Chicago Wolf, Stefan Noesen, Leivo didn’t reach a new stratosphere of offensive production in the NHL. Noesen, Leivo’s teammate on last season’s Calder Cup-winning AHL team, became a valuable secondary scorer for the Carolina Hurricanes and potted 13 goals and 36 points, as well as eight points in 15 playoff games.

Leivo, on the other hand, only managed four goals and 16 points in 51 games.

As a result, while Noesen took advantage of the opportunity his extremely productive 2021-22 AHL campaign afforded him at the next level, placing himself in a position to receive a significant pay raise, Leivo’s now in the spot where one has to wonder if he’s at his most valuable as a top-of-the-lineup AHL scorer.

That’s something the Blues will need to wrestle with, as there’s clearly some real talent that Leivo offers only he may not be best suited as an NHL regular.

In any case, Leivo’s season had its ups and downs but is unlikely to result in St. Louis struggling to find a way to afford to extend him so he can remain part of their organization.

G Thomas Greiss – While 22-year-old Joel Hofer struggled in two games with the Thunderbirds in the playoffs, he helped lead them to the 2021-22 Calder Cup Final (against Leivo’s Wolves!) and had a stellar 2022-23 regular season, posting a .921 save percentage across 47 games. He’ll turn 23 before the end of the month and per CapFriendly has one year remaining of waiver-exempt status.

So as he remains waiver-exempt for another year, it’s definitely possible the Blues choose to give Hofer one more year of seasoning in the NHL before he transitions to NHL duty in 2024-25. But with Vadim Zherenko poised to take on a larger role in Springfield and two other minor-league goalies under contract (Will Cranley and Colten Ellis) Hofer is more likely ticketed for NHL duty next fall.

That means that Greiss, now 37, is highly unlikely to return to St. Louis for another year as the backup to starter Jordan Binnington. The 368-game veteran’s .896 save percentage mirrored the .891 mark he posted last season with the Detroit Red Wings and means Greiss is now two full seasons removed from being an above-average backup goalie. There could still be some leaguewide interest in adding Greiss as an experienced and affordable backup option, but if that’s the case that interest is unlikely to come from the Blues.

F Matthew Highmore – Highmore, an undrafted 27-year-old forward took a big step forward at the AHL level this season, scoring 19 goals and 61 points for the Thunderbirds, a mark that placed him second in team scoring behind sniper Martin Frk. In addition to his exceptional AHL scoring numbers Highmore offers 139 games of NHL experience, and he could be one of the more in-demand AHL free agents, and as a result could earn a more lasting NHL opportunity for next season, similar to what Kiefer Sherwood got from the Nashville Predators this past season.

With Frk headed overseas, it’s possible the Blues prioritize re-signing Highmore to maintain some continuity at the top of their AHL lineup. Though it would be a mistake to not also note that other clubs looking to beef up their AHL lineups are likely to be after Highmore as well.

Other UFAs: F Tyler Pitlick, F Nathan Todd, F Luke Witkowski, D Steven Santini

Projected Cap Space

The Blues are projected to have around $7.5MM in available cap space by CapFriendly, a number that’s not exactly huge but also not going to be eaten into by any significant contract extensions for restricted free agents. GM Doug Armstrong could create some more space by moving out a pricey veteran defenseman such as Nick Leddy, Marco Scandella, or even Torey Krug, and such a trade would open up even more avenues for the Blues to add to their team. Regardless of what specifically the team does, they have a decent purse available to them to make additions, but without moving someone out they might not be able to shop at the top of the market.

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

Free Agent Focus 2023| Pro Hockey Rumors Originals| St. Louis Blues

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