Archives for September 2023

Josh Leivo Linked To SHL

September 3, 2023 at 12:05 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu Leave a Comment

Despite appearing in 51 NHL games last season, former St. Louis Blues forward Josh Leivo could be continuing his pro career overseas.

According to a report from Örnsköldsviks Allehanda’s Matthias Persson, the SHL’s newly promoted MoDo Hockey is looking to sign Leivo before their season starts in less than two weeks.

It’d be a somewhat surprising move for Leivo to sign overseas since the 30-year-old has played 265 career NHL games and spent the entirety of his pro career either in the NHL or AHL.

Leivo’s first full-time NHL campaign came in 2017-18 and he only returned to the AHL many years later, in 2021-22, signing a contract to play for the Chicago Wolves.

Leivo was wildly successful in Chicago, winning a Calder Cup championship and the league’s playoff MVP award after leading the postseason in scoring. In total, Leivo played in 72 games for the Wolves combining the regular season and playoffs and scored 75 points.

That strong AHL performance landed Leivo a role back in the NHL with the Blues, and he ended up scoring 16 points in 51 games. While it’s possible that Leivo could hold out for the kind of PTO offer many players have signed over the past two weeks, it’s also possible that the stability of playing in the SHL could be appealing.

MoDo play in Örnsköldsvik, a legendary hockey town that has produced numerous NHL stars, such as the Sedin twins, Peter Forsberg, and Victor Hedman. MoDo, the local pro club, won the HockeyAllsvenskan championship last season and earned a promotion to the SHL, Sweden’s top league.

If he signs in Örnsköldsvik, Leivo will join another former Toronto Maple Leaf on the roster, Latvian international Kristians Rubins, as well as former Colorado Avalanche forward Sampo Ranta and American blueliner Daniel Brickley, who Leivo played with in Chicago.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Latest On Alex Ovechkin

September 3, 2023 at 10:30 am CDT | by Ethan Hetu 5 Comments

The Washington Capitals have an important season coming up, with the performance of rookie head coach Spencer Carbery and Alex Ovechkin’s chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record likely to take center stage as key storylines.

Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky is likely to be the most significant storyline in Washington until Ovechkin manages to score his 895th goal.

In order to do so, the soon-to-be 38-year-old will need to remain in top shape and a consistent goal-scoring threat.

Despite his advanced age, Ovechkin hasn’t shown major signs of slowing down. He scored 42 goals and 75 points, though he did battle through a few injuries and ended up only playing in 73 games.

That could end up a more common concern for Ovechkin as he gets even older, though for what it’s worth Ovechkin doesn’t feel as though his health is anything to worry about at the current moment.

Ovechkin told Russian news outlet R-Sport that he feels he is in good health with everything to normal standard so far, and that yesterday he returned to North America to ramp up his preparations for the new season.

For as long as Ovechkin is healthy and chasing Gretzky’s record, one can anticipate the Capitals to avoid entering into a rebuild and instead focus on supporting Ovechkin and putting a contending team around him.

There were some who hoped that the Capitals would plunge deeper into a rebuild-like direction after their disappointing 2022-23, but Capitals GM Brian MacLellan resisted such calls. He aggressively targeted more NHL-ready young talent, showing a willingness to trade valuable draft picks in order to do so. He traded a first-round pick in order to land Rasmus Sandin from the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the 23-year-old provided an immediate return on the investment by scoring 15 points in just 19 games as a Capital.

But while Ovechkin’s place as the Capitals’ centerpiece player for the next few seasons is secure and untouchable, there are a few big-name players in Washington entering the season with high stakes.

Evgeny Kuznetsov has been a source of frustration and great optimism for Capitals fans in recent years, and after scoring just 12 goals last season is entering a make-or-break year for his future in Washington. Anthony Mantha, 28, is a pending unrestricted free agent who scored just 27 points last year. Both of those names are entering extremely important campaigns, and while the stakes aren’t as high as an all-time goal record chase, they matter quite a bit to each of those veteran’s playing futures.

With training camp approaching quickly, the Capitals look to be one of the NHL’s more interesting teams. Ovechkin and his record chase are a major reason for that, and thankfully for hockey fans around the world it appears that despite his advanced age Ovechkin shows no signs of slowing down, and is feeling in perfectly good health in advance of puck drop next month.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Summer Synopsis: Detroit Red Wings

September 2, 2023 at 8:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 1 Comment

The Detroit Red Wings haven’t been back to the playoffs since their historic streak ended in 2017, but GM Steve Yzerman, head coach Derek Lalonde, and the whole Red Wings organization have plans on ending that drought this year. Despite the highly competitive nature of the Atlantic division, the Red Wings have added major talent to their roster over the last two years and are hoping to reach the playoffs next season on the back of that veteran talent combined with some intriguing young stars. But in a division that has sent a finalist to the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last five seasons, will that be possible?

Draft

1-9: F Nate Danielson, Brandon (WHL)
1-16: D Axel Sandin-Pellika, Skellefteå (SHL)
2-41: G Trey Augustine, USNTDP (USHL)
2-42: D Andrew Gibson, Soo (OHL)
2-47: D Brady Cleveland, USNTDP (USHL)
3-73: F Noah Dower-Nilsson, Frölunda (J20)
4-117: D Larry Keenan, Culver Academy (USHS)
5-137: D Jack Phelan, Sioux Falls (USHL)
5-147: F Kevin Bicker, Mannheim (GER U20)
6-169: G Rudy Guimond, Taft (USHS)
7-201: F Emmitt Finnie, Kamloops (WHL)

The Red Wings have invested heavily in centers in recent years, both in free agency and at the draft table. They signed Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher to deals north of $5MM AAV and invested top-ten picks in Austrian center Marco Kasper and Canadian pivot Nate Danielson. Danielson is a professional two-way center who had a strong draft year for the Brandon Wheat Kings and is widely projected as a future second or third-line center.

Sandin-Pellika played pro hockey in his draft year for Skellefteå and was considered one of the higher-upside blueliners in his class, especially offensively. On day two, the Red Wings reached into their backyard grabbing a Michigan State commit and potential goalie of the future in Augustine as well as Cleveland, a stay-at-home blueliner. Keenan, the team’s fourth-round pick, was drafted straight out of high school hockey but has tantalizing physical tools.

Trade Acquisitions

F Alex DeBrincat (from Ottawa)
D Jeff Petry (from Montreal)
F Klim Kostin (from Edmonton)

The centerpiece of Yzerman’s offseason is the acquisition of DeBrincat from the Senators, a division rival.

Surrendering Dominik Kubalik and a first-round pick to get the deal done, Yzerman managed to add a two-time 40-goal scorer who happens to be right in the thick of his prime.

DeBrincat won’t turn 26 until December and is locked into a $7.875MM AAV contract through 2026-27.

Even if DeBrincat plays more as he did in Ottawa than how he played next to Patrick Kane on the Chicago Blackhawks, the Red Wings will still have added a 66-point scorer into their top six, which will do wonders to improve the production of other members of their top-six, such as Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, and Andrew Copp, for example.

Seeing as they didn’t have to commit a huge amount of term to DeBrincat, this trade has a chance to be an absolute grand slam for Yzerman. The acquisition of Petry adds a notably less flashy player to the Red Wings lineup but a nonetheless effective one. Petry isn’t what he once was now that he’s turning 36 years old, but the Ann Arbor, Michigan native can still hold his own in a top-four and contributed 31 points in just 61 games last season. He’s undeniably worth the $2.34MM cap hit he’s owed for the next two years.

Kostin is the lowest-profile addition of this trio but his acquisition via trade gives the Red Wings an intriguing name to plug into their bottom-six. Kostin’s NHL career looked to be on life support before a trade to the Oilers sparked a run of strong performances for the 2017 first-round pick. Kostin plays a powerful game and should improve the Red Wings’ bottom-six and overall forward depth.

Key UFA Signings

F J.T. Compher (five years, $25.5MM)
D Justin Holl (three years, $10.2MM)
D Shayne Gostisbehere (one year, $4.125MM)
F Daniel Sprong (one-year, $2MM)
G Alex Lyon (two-years, $1.8MM)
G James Reimer (one year, $1.5MM)
F Christian Fischer (one year, $1.125MM)

When looking at most of the Red Wings’ free agent signings, a clear strategy emerges. Detroit chose to invest heavily in improving their defense, goaltending depth, and bottom-six forwards.

Compher is the outlier to that, as he’s expected to play in a prominent middle-six center role. He had a breakout 2022-23, scoring 17 goals and 52 points, but seeing as that’s the outlier number so far in his career it’s fair to question whether he’ll be able to repeat that kind of offensive performance.

If he can’t, he still has a solid two-way game to provide a floor to the level of value he provides, which is useful. But unless he can reach 50 points in Detroit $5.1MM on a five-year term will look like a real expensive price to pay for a solid if generally unremarkable middle-six center.

While Holl’s mistakes drew some harsh criticism at times during his tenure with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he has averaged at least 20 minutes per night in each of the last three seasons.

A $3.4MM price tag with a three-year term is a high price to pay for what Holl provides, to be sure, but there is some context that could explain why Yzerman made this signing. The Red Wings’ right-shot defensive depth took a major hit with the trade of Filip Hronek to Vancouver, so adding Holl gives Lalonde an experienced name to fill that void.

It’s important for a GM to give capable players to his coach so that the coach can succeed, so now it’ll be up to Lalonde to deploy Holl in ways that will help Holl look good, not for more than he’s capable of as many believe Holl was in Toronto.

In Gostisbehere, the Red Wings add a productive offensive defenseman who resurrected his career on the Arizona Coyotes and should serve as the team’s most reliable offensive threat from the blueline outside their top pairing.

Up front, the Red Wings added Sprong, a player who scored 21 goals and 46 points from largely fourth-line minutes in Seattle, and Fischer, who is an energetic bottom-six forward with some valuable leadership qualities. Sprong will help provide some offensive juice to the bottom six while Fischer will likely play in a more traditional fourth-line role.

In Lyon and Reimer, the Red Wings have made significant improvements to their goaltending depth. While Reimer was shaky, to say the least, last season, he does have an extensive track record of quality play in the NHL. Should he falter, Detroit now has Lyon to save the day, something he did with the Florida Panthers last season when his .914 save percentage in 15 games lifted them to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

These additions aren’t as flashy as the team’s addition of DeBrincat, to be sure, but they’re strategic investments in areas of the roster that were major weaknesses last season, even if in the case of Holl and Compher they came on the expensive side.

Key Departures

F Pius Suter (Vancouver, two years, $3.2MM)
F Filip Zadina (San Jose, one year, $1.1MM)
F Alex Chiasson (Boston, PTO)
G Magnus Hellberg (Pittsburgh, one year, $785k)
F Adam Erne (UFA)
G Alex Nedeljkovic (Pittsburgh, one year, $1.5MM)
D Robert Hagg (Anaheim, one year, $775k)

The biggest-name loss on this list is easily that of Zadina, the 2017 sixth-overall pick. Zadina never quite found his game in Detroit and ultimately gave the team very little in return for the significant asset they invested in him, save for a 28-game run in 2019-20 where he flashed some real promise and scored 15 points.

The most effective player Detroit is losing is Suter, 27, who scored 14 goals and 24 points last season. Detroit is undoubtedly upgrading at third-line center if Compher ends up playing in that role, although Suter did score 36 points in 2021-22 and Detroit could surely still find room for that kind of player. Suter just wasn’t able to find consistency in Detroit, and with the Red Wings making a serious playoff push they simply needed to find a more reliable player to fill the role Suter played, even if that player came at a far higher price tag.

Jettisoning Nedeljkovic and Hellberg to bring in Reimer and Lyon represents a full makeover of the Red Wings’ goaltending depth behind starter Ville Husso. Nedeljkovic arrived in Detroit with quite a bit of promise but his reliance on his athleticism was exposed behind the Red Wings’ porous defense, and he heads to Pittsburgh seeking greener pastures. Hellberg, 32, will join him and potentially take up a role as Pittsburgh’s number-three goalie.

Salary Cap Outlook

The Red Wings’ significant outlays this summer have left them in a tighter cap position than years past, but the flip side of that is that their roster is significantly improved as well. The Red Wings have paid high prices to get high-quality players in the door, but some of their most significant costs are yet to be determined. Both Raymond and Moritz Seider will need new contracts before next season, and those two players figure to be two of the most expensive Red Wings moving forward, with Seider holding the potential to receive a highly lucrative long-term deal as one of the top young blueliners in the NHL.

Key Questions

Who will be the Red Wings’ second-line center?: This question isn’t exactly the right one, as we know who will start the year as Detroit’s second-line center: either Copp or Compher. But the important question is who will end up claiming that role moving into the future, seeing as the Red Wings have two quality center prospects in their pipeline in Kasper and Danielson. Will Compher reward Yzerman’s faith and his $5.1MM price tag? Will Copp improve on a first year in Detroit that saw him score only nine goals? Or will both veterans falter as the team pivots towards Kasper or eventually Danielson as Dylan Larkin’s long-term understudy?

Who claims the backup goalie role?: A 475-game NHL veteran, Reimer is undoubtedly the front-runner here. But after posting an .890 save percentage last season, he’s vulnerable. Alex Lyon has largely been a third goalie throughout his pro career. Will that finally change this season in Detroit?

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Minor Transactions: 09/02/23

September 2, 2023 at 6:30 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu Leave a Comment

Although the NHL season won’t begin for more than a month, the professional hockey season in Europe has just begun. The Champions Hockey League is already fully underway, and there have already been some notable contests. For example, today the Norwegian champion Stavanger Oilers nearly defeated the reigning SHL title winners, the Växjö Lakers, but ended up falling in a shootout.

The KHL also had its season-opening games today, highlighted by a contest between Dinamo Minsk and HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk that saw Minsk come back from down three goals to win in overtime, powered by a two-point performance from 2015 first-round pick Nick Merkley. As more and more clubs across the hockey world return to competitive play, teams in North American minor leagues and those overseas leagues are continuing to add players. We’ll keep track of those moves here, as always.

Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Sam Jardine has signed a one-year deal with the ECHL’s Greenville Swamp Rabbits, confirming his return to North American pro hockey after two years in Europe. The 30-year-old defenseman has played for the Swamp Rabbits before, in 2020-21 when he scored 44 points in 67 games for the club. That year, he earned ECHL First-Team All-Star honors as well as a chance the following season to play for HC Slovan Bratislava in the Slovak capital as well as HIFK Helsinki in Finland. Jardine spent last season playing in Wales with the EIHL’s Cardiff Devils, and now will return to his old stomping grounds for 2023-24.
Turner Ottenbreit, a former captain of the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, has signed a one-year contract with the KHL’s Kunlun Red Star. Ottenbreit is a six-foot-three left-shot defenseman who has spent the last two seasons in the AHL with the Iowa Wild. He played in 57 games last season and scored 12 points, and should be able to beef up a Kunlun blueline that surrendered 44 shots in today’s season-opening victory over Spartak Moscow.
Former WHL star forward Luka Burzan signed a one-year contract with the ECHL’s Cincinnati Cyclones, locking himself into another campaign with the team he finished 2022-23 on. Burzan, 23, is a former Colorado Avalanche draft pick who scored a solid 13 points in 17 games last season in Cincinnati. Burzan has scored well at each of his ECHL stops so far in his career and will look to do the same next season while potentially earning his way back to the AHL, where he played in 10 games last year.

This page may be updated throughout the day.

Snapshots: Hronek, Bratt, Michkov

September 2, 2023 at 5:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu Leave a Comment

The Vancouver Canucks paid a handsome price to the Detroit Red Wings last season in order to acquire defenseman Filip Hronek, surrendering a first and second-round pick. Part of their rationale in acquiring Hronek was that ascending right-shot blueliners capable of scoring at or above a 40-point pace are exceedingly rare, and by acquiring Hronek the team managed to add a defenseman who would arguably slot in as their best behind franchise blueliner Quinn Hughes.

But with just four total games under his belt and a contract set to expire at the end of the season (he’ll be an RFA, one season away from UFA status) the 2023-24 season is shaping up to be a massive one in determining whether the Canucks’ investment in Hronek will be a lasting one. As TSN’s Travis Yost writes, Vancouver is “betting on” Hronek emerging as a capable, reliable top-four defenseman and building on the development he showed over the last two years in Detroit. If he can shore up a spot as the Canucks’ number-two defenseman, a long-term extension in Vancouver could come before the end of the season.

Some other notes from across the NHL:

New Jersey Devils winger Jesper Bratt had put off settling down and signing a long-term contract extension until this past summer, and that patience paid off as his back-to-back 73-point seasons earned him a $7.875MM AAV deal that stretches through the 2030-31 season. Despite now earning that guaranteed financial security, Bratt explained to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek on the 32 Thoughts podcast that the removal of the pressure of playing on a one-year deal won’t impact his preparation or motivation for the seasons to come. Bratt said “Now that the eight-year deal has come around, I know what it means,” adding that “work that has to be put in every day” so that he can live up to the lofty price tag. The Devils have grand designs for their era of contention led by Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier, and if the team ends up achieving those lofty goals next season it’s highly likely Bratt will be a major reason why.
Philadelphia Flyers top prospect Matvei Michkov was a healthy scratch for his KHL club’s season-opening game today, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Jordan Hall. The 2023 seventh-overall pick is beginning the first of three seasons left on his KHL contract and scored 20 points in 27 games on loan with HK Sochi last season. His success as a scorer last season raises questions as to why Michkov has been scratched, especially seeing as the move was not, per Hall, injury-related. While Michkov has a long runway to develop his game before he’ll have to hit the ice for the Flyers, it’s certainly not a positive for either Michkov or Flyers fans that he’s not drawing into SKA St. Petersburg’s lineup.

Atlantic Notes: Pinto, Keefe, Thompson

September 2, 2023 at 4:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

With training camps now less than two weeks away from beginning, Senators center Shane Pinto is one of the nine remaining restricted free agents across the league. However, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch relays that while the sides are hopeful that a deal can be reached by the start of camp, they are not particularly close to an agreement. The 22-year-old is coming off his first full NHL campaign and it was a productive one as he posted 20 goals and 15 assists in 82 games while logging nearly 16 minutes a night in ice time. It’s worth noting that Ottawa’s cap situation is particularly tight as CapFriendly puts them with less than $900K in room. Even on a one-year agreement to keep the AAV as low as possible, Pinto should be earning a fair bit more than that. Once a deal eventually gets reached, GM Pierre Dorion will have some work to do to open up some cap space.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic:

While a two-year extension for a head coach is usually a vote of confidence, Daily Faceoff’s Mike McKenna argues that isn’t really the case for the Maple Leafs and Sheldon Keefe. Instead, he feels the move was made primarily to avoid the possible distraction of having Keefe behind the bench in the final year of his contract. Toronto has played to a 166-71-30 record during the regular season under Keefe but just a 13-17 postseason record. Keefe will coach on the final year of his previous two-year extension this season with the new deal kicking in for the 2024-25 campaign.
Just over a year ago, the Sabres inked Tage Thompson to a seven-year, $50MM extension. The move came on the heels of a breakout campaign that saw him score 38 goals after having just 35 points in 145 career games heading into that year. There was some risk involved with the short track record but Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News examines some of the contracts signed since then, providing a barometer of how much more it would have cost to sign him this summer had they waited. The 25-year-old had 47 goals and 47 assists last season, making his new $7.143MM AAV look like a bargain already if he can even produce close to that rate moving forward.

2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Ninth Overall Pick

September 2, 2023 at 2:59 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 4 Comments

Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.

We’re looking back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?

The results of our redraft so far are as follows, with their original draft position in parentheses:

1st Overall: Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall: Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)

With Dallas originally taking Scott Glennie at the eighth spot, this selection certainly represents a significant improvement in outcomes for the Stars with 31.5% of the votes from our readers going to the power forward. That was twice as many votes as the next-highest player.

Kane was originally drafted fourth overall by Atlanta after a dominant showing with WHL Vancouver and they moved him right to the NHL. While it took him some to adjust to playing at the top level, his third season was a breakout campaign as he picked up 57 points in the franchise’s first season with Winnipeg. To date, that is his career-best in a single season.

However, Kane wasn’t without controversy during his time with the Jets and he later admitted that he requested a trade basically every offseason. Eventually, that request was granted – while he was on the injured list, no less – as Winnipeg moved him to Buffalo in February of 2015 in what some would call a blockbuster move at the time. Zach Bogosian also went to the Sabres as part of the swap with Tyler Myers, Joel Armia, Drew Stafford, Brendan Lemieux, and a first-round pick all coming to Winnipeg.

Things weren’t much better for Kane in Buffalo. The injury struggles continued while he produced at close to the same level as he did with the Jets. With his contract coming to an end in 2018 and the Sabres out of contention, he was moved to San Jose at the trade deadline.

This time, the change of scenery helped as Kane played well enough down the stretch and in the playoffs to earn a seven-year, $49MM contract. In his first two full seasons with the team, he had 56 goals and it looked like he had found a long-term home.

However, he didn’t make it past the halfway point of the deal. The relationship between Kane and the Sharks soured amid off-ice allegations that were investigated by the league and found to be unsubstantiated. Then, Kane submitted a fake vaccination card in 2020, resulting in a 21-game suspension and an immediate assignment to the AHL upon its conclusion. Two months later, they terminated the contract, citing a breach of contract and failure to adhere to COVID protocols. Kane and the NHLPA filed a grievance which was settled last September.

In the meantime, Kane caught on with Edmonton in 2022 and was quite productive down the stretch with 39 points in 43 games, earning himself a new four-year deal that still has three years remaining. Injuries limited him to just 41 regular season games in 2022-23 but he was still an important part of their top six and projects to be in that role for the foreseeable future.

Now, we move on to the ninth selection, which was held by the Ottawa Senators. They initially took Jared Cowen out of WHL Spokane but he was only able to hold on to a depth role for a handful of years before calling it a career in 2016. Clearly, he isn’t the best option available in our redraft. Who is? Make your selection for the Sens below.

If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Flyers Close To Re-Signing Morgan Frost

September 2, 2023 at 1:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

Flyers forward Morgan Frost is one of just nine remaining restricted free agents across the NHL with training camps set to open up over the next couple of weeks. However, it appears as if he won’t be unsigned for much longer as team president Keith Jones told Chuck Basuman of Philly Hockey Now that while a deal isn’t done yet, the two sides are close to an agreement.

The 24-year-old was a first-round pick by Philadelphia back in 2017 (27th overall) and has had a more gradual development curve than many other first-rounders in his draft class. Last season was his fourth year of seeing NHL action but it was his first full campaign at the top level. Frost certainly made the most of it, notching 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games, good for fourth on the team in scoring.

However, those numbers account for the bulk of Frost’s production as he had just 23 points in 77 games heading into last season. Accordingly, his track record lends itself toward a short-term bridge contract and not a long-term agreement that buys the Flyers some extra years of club control. Such an agreement could check in around the $2.5MM range.

Going that approach would also fit in with Philadelphia’s salary cap structure. At the moment, they have a little under $3MM in base cap room per CapFriendly. Yes, they have the ability to go into LTIR with Ryan Ellis’ contract but if they can stay below the cap and bank cap space in-season, that would be preferable, especially if some of their prospects with performance bonuses play their way onto the roster.

With the Flyers entering a true rebuild under new GM Daniel Briere, they’ll be turning things over more to their young core. Frost is certainly a big part of that and if Jones’ statement holds true, Frost should be signed before much longer, allowing him to be a full participant from day one in camp.

West Notes: Lindholm, Guttman, Zadina

September 2, 2023 at 12:53 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 4 Comments

The future of Elias Lindholm with the Flames has been one of the bigger discussion points of the summer. Early on, it didn’t seem as if the 28-year-old was open to staying beyond the end of his contract which ends after the upcoming season but lately, that belief has softened. Speaking with HockeySverige’s Ronnie Ronnkvist, the middleman indicated that he is indeed open to staying with Calgary but noted that there is a lot still to be agreed on for that to happen. Lindholm carries a cap charge of $4.85MM for 2023-24 but could push for close to double that if he makes it to the open market next summer as one of the top two-way centers in the league.

Seattle Kraken Sign Mitch Reinke

September 2, 2023 at 12:02 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 2 Comments

Saturday: The Kraken have officially announced Reinke’s signing.

Friday: In a confirmed transaction according to CapFriendly, the Seattle Kraken have signed forward Mitch Reinke to a one-year, $775K two-way contract for the 2023-24 NHL season. Reinke had previously spent the last two seasons playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL.

Carrying only one NHL game under his belt during the last five seasons, Reinke once looked to be one of the top players in the NHL’s highest minor league system. In his first full pro campaign during the 2018-19 AHL season, Reinke would impress with 12 goals and 33 assists in 76 games for the San Antonio Rampage, good for second on the team in scoring that year. Unfortunately, primarily due to injuries, Reinke has not reached close to that point total since.

Spending his first three years in the St. Louis Blues organization, Reinke would join the Pittsburgh Penguins organization in 2021 after being non-tendered that summer. Still dealing with mild injury concerns over his two-year stint for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Reinke would dramatically increase his assist total compared to his final two seasons spent for the Blues’ AHL affiliates. Last year, only playing in 52 games, Reinke would score only one goal but still notched 26 assists on the year.

It would be an unlikely circumstance to see Reinke join the Kraken next year, but if healthy, should become a solid contributor to their AHL team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. In their inaugural season last year, the Firebirds would finish second in the Pacific Division, marching all the way to the Calder Cup Finals, losing to the Hershey Bears in six games.

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