Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include thoughts on what Utah did and didn’t do at the trade deadline, the rescinding of Nathan MacKinnon’s major penalty, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, watch for it in our next two mailbag columns.
SpeakOfTheDevils: I know what he said in his after-deadline presser but what are the odds that Tom Fitzgerald is fired as the GM of the NJ Devils this offseason? Second part, who would be the top three choices to replace him???
General managers typically get a longer leash than coaches but he’s had the role since January 2020 when he took over in an interim capacity, getting the tag lifted soon after. He’s had five full seasons in charge and the Devils have won just one playoff round in that span. Barring a miracle comeback over the final month, they won’t get a chance to add to that number this spring. Yes, they’ve had some injuries, but they can’t use that as a crutch again. Based on that, you might be inclined to think the odds are rather high that he’d be fired.
But he’s also the team president, a role he has only held since January 2024. His contract terms weren’t disclosed but there are probably a couple of years left on it. And if ownership still believes in his vision, maybe he stays.
Maybe there’s an in-between option, one we’ve seen more frequently in recent years. What if Fitzgerald is moved to just president duties and cedes the GM role? Is that viewed as a possible compromise? I could see that happening, so maybe the odds of him not being GM could be in the 50-60% range and the odds of him leaving the organization outright more in the 30-40% territory.
As for part two, if Fitzgerald is out as GM, a lot depends on if he’s out altogether or just as GM. If they remove the GM title but keep him as president, Dan MacKinnon, their assistant GM, would be the logical choice to move up and take on a bigger role. If he’s gone altogether, I think Marc Bergevin would get consideration. He has been up for a couple of jobs lately and it feels like a matter of when, not if, he gets another crack. Brendan Shanahan is believed to be looking to get back into things. That one might be more of a president role but I think he’d be on the list. I also expect Ryan Martin to land one of the GM jobs soon. A veteran of 20 years in various front offices, he’s second in command with the Rangers at the moment and a chance to steal someone from a key rival might be appealing.
bottlesup: With the addition of Weegar, could you see the Mammoth possibly upsetting whoever the Pacific Division champ is in the 1st round? Assuming Utah continues to hold a firm grip on the WC1.
I’ll preface this by saying that I like the MacKenzie Weegar pickup for Utah. Yes, he’s having a down year but the track record is solid and if he’s in more of a second-pairing role for the Mammoth which he’s better suited to, I think he’ll bounce back a bit. So far, the early returns have been decent. But is he a big needle-mover? I’m not sure he materially affects their odds of winning a series. He helps get them there, but I don’t think his addition necessarily gives them a big leg up against a Pacific team.
Having said that, I think Utah has a legitimate chance to pull off an upset, simply because the Pacific Division just isn’t that great. Anaheim is playing well but like Utah, they’re very inexperienced in the playoffs so that could be a toss-up. Vegas isn’t turning things around like many expected them to. However, they have a good enough track record in the playoffs that they’d probably be the favorite in a hypothetical series. The same can be said about Edmonton. The Kings and Sharks aren’t entirely out of it but probably aren’t getting into first place so I won’t cover them here. Utah has a shot at making it through the first round if they can hold onto that top Wild Card spot.
Gbear: Feels to me that Utah missed a chance at the deadline to add a top-six winger (the whole Thomas thing from the Blues was a non-starter) and really give themselves a chance to win a round or two. Keller deserved that chance. Thoughts?
After they picked up Weegar without moving any of their top assets, I thought Utah GM Bill Armstrong was well-positioned to make a splash up front but it obviously didn’t happen. I don’t know how much of a chance was missed, though. Which top-six wingers actually moved? Bobby Brink has been one before, Conor Garland (who the team is familiar with from their days in Arizona), and, well, that’s about it. Centers and defensemen were the currency and that’s something Utah didn’t need to dabble in, especially knowing they were nearing an extension with Nick Schmaltz that has since been finalized and that they had already acquired Weegar.
It’s not a bad thing either that they didn’t push in a bunch of chips. There’s something to be said for getting some playoff experience and then using that to shape their next aggressive swing over the summer. And, as noted above, they’re in a spot where they could very well get through the first round if they wind up in the Pacific bracket. I expect there will be more opportunities to add a top-six winger over the offseason than there were at the trade deadline so in the end, they might wind up being better off for having waited, assuming they get something across the finish line a few months from now.
sovietcanuckistanian: I don’t know about you, but did Edmonton miss the boat by not significantly upgrading either/both of its defense corps and goalie at the trade deadline? With Florida almost assuredly not making the playoffs (injury bug), it seems like a missed opportunity – especially since McDavid is on that only two-year extension.
I’m going to flip the order of these so I can pick up on the theme from the last question about how realistic a move for a goalie upgrade there was. There wasn’t a single NHL goaltender moved at or leading up to the deadline. I know there was speculation about Sergei Bobrovsky but I don’t think trade talks got far considering Florida is trying to re-sign him. Jordan Binnington’s name was out there but the Oilers can’t afford to take on the contract and I don’t think St. Louis would have retained salary. Was anyone else out there really an upgrade? There were rumblings about a Toronto goalie but that feels more like an offseason decision. Samuel Montembeault’s name was thought to be in play but is he an improvement given how his season has gone? It’s hard to be too critical in that sense since there wasn’t much out there that they could do.
Granted, some of that is self-inflicted. GM Stan Bowman traded for Tristan Jarry’s contract in full, cutting into their financial flexibility. He also signed Andrew Mangiapane to a contract that they wound up having to pay a high price to get out of, also cutting into that flexibility. That Jarry trade was risky at the time it was made and hasn’t aged well since then.
That financial situation also limited what they could do defensively, although I think they did well enough with what they had to work with. Connor Murphy isn’t a top-four player anymore but he should stabilize things defensively and help on the penalty kill. They didn’t have the cap space to do much more than a depth deal, nor did they have the prospect or draft assets to get into the bidding on some of the more prominent blueliners to move.
It’s a missed opportunity in the sense that Florida isn’t in the playoffs and the division is up for grabs. Edmonton could very well have bolstered their chances to take the division and give them a chance to make the Conference Final once again. But in terms of their limitations (asset and cap-wise), I don’t think they did terribly. It wasn’t an ‘A’ deadline but a ‘B-‘ or ‘C+’ one.
tucsontoro: The Hawks lead the league in blown leads. It’s great that they have Boisvert and Frondell on the verge of joining the big club. But if they don’t find a way to keep the puck out of their own net, they won’t be going anywhere for a long time. Where does the defense come from?
In a nutshell, time and external acquisitions. Unfortunately for rebuilding teams, there is no fast-forward button when it comes to defensive development. While young forwards can sometimes make a big impact right away, it doesn’t generally happen as often with defensemen. Generally, the thought is a blueliner needs at least 200 to 250 NHL games before they’re truly ready and might not hit their prime for a little while after that. Chicago only has two players in that range and one of them (Matt Grzelcyk) is on an expiring deal; Alex Vlasic is the other at 243.
Sam Rinzel will get there. So will Artyom Levshunov. But they’re a couple more years away at least from getting to a baseline level of reliability defensively and likely longer before they’re consistently counted on as shutdown players.
In the meantime, GM Kyle Davidson will need to look outside the organization to bring in some help. They have a boatload of draft assets and prospects to deal from, particularly down the middle; with centers being in high demand, they can take advantage of it. An external add or two like that over the next few seasons will help in those late-game situations but it’s going to take some time before Chicago is much more reliable when it comes to holding the lead. It’s something that a lot of young teams go through and the process can rarely be sped up.
M34: MacKinnon’s major penalty was rescinded by the league. I understand the significance related to the potential suspension if another incident were to occur within however many games, and I understand that Colorado didn’t lose the game as a direct result of the call, but isn’t it a bad look for the league?
This is something that happens more frequently than it gets out. It was a judgement call from two officials to uphold the major penalty (with a game misconduct) but judgment calls can be wrong. Colorado quietly appealed to the league to have this rescinded and after the Department of Player Safety reviewed it, they concurred by using their own judgment call. That’s not really a bad look for the league, it’s just someone higher up having a different opinion.
For those who don’t follow the NBA, the league reviews in full detail the last two minutes of each game with a score within three within the final two minutes and issues L2M Reports that will, at times, clearly indicate where incorrect calls were made, including some that dramatically affected the outcome of the game. If they can do that without any major reputational effects, the NHL can do this without it being too much of a bad look.
Jolly Roger: How much are NHL players paid for playing in the Olympics and WC’s?
Players weren’t paid anything extra for their participation at the Olympics. However, they were still compensated from the standpoint of receiving their regular salaries (NHL or otherwise if players were in different leagues); they just received them for playing for another team.
It’s a little different for the World Championship. The regular seasons are over in all leagues so players aren’t receiving their base salaries anymore. There is a team purse based on where each country finishes in that tournament. That pool is typically split between the players and the federation but we’re not talking big money by any stretch. Player expenses are also covered by the federation so they’re not paying their own way but they aren’t making much either.
Jolly Roger: Can you describe how NHL players’ insurance against injury works using specific examples of long-term and short-term injuries, and whatever cap implications are involved?
Crosby and Fiala got injured at the Olympics. Are their teams receiving any compensation?
On the insurance standpoint, there are few specifics available as that information isn’t publicly disclosed. Either way, the players receive their full salaries, either directly from the team or in combination with the insurance payment. Teams have the ability to control the level of insurance they put on a contract beyond mandatory minimums which is typically on the longer-term side. If a player has a lengthy injury history, the insurance cost is higher and teams have balked at paying that price and accepting the risk.
For a short-term injury, the only relief teams might get is if they have a short-term disability policy on that player that gives them some financial savings by offloading some of the salary costs onto the plan. There aren’t any cap benefits for those situations, however.
For long-term injuries, there is some variance in terms of the percentage of insurance. Assuming there is long-term disability coverage (some are uninsured as I noted), it could be something like 60% or 80%. Carey Price’s contract is one where the insurance is known so I can give you an example there. It has 80% coverage so while the Sharks owe him $1MM in salary this season to sit on LTIR, they’re only responsible for paying $200K for it which is why they accepted the fifth-round pick to take the contract from Montreal, effectively buying the draft pick for $200K.
If a player misses 10 games or 24 days, they become eligible for LTIR which provides some potential salary cap relief if a team needs it. The relief is limited to the lower of the players’ AAV or last year’s average salary, $3.82MM. To unlock anything higher if the player makes more, he has to be certified as out for the season. That’s the cap implication.
You mentioned Sidney Crosby and Kevin Fiala. Crosby’s injury really isn’t a long-term one so he’s falling under short-term status which is iffier on coverage. Fiala is certainly a long-term injury so if there is long-term disability insurance on his contract, the Kings would receive some salary relief. But that’s as close to compensation as they’d get.