Anaheim Ducks Re-Sign Nic Kerdiles
Lost in the shuffle of the Expansion Roster Freeze Deadline earlier today, the Anaheim Ducks announced that they agreed to an extension with restricted free agent forward Nicolas Kerdiles prior to the afternoon deadline. The new deal for the young winger is for one year at $650K, the league minimum, and is a two-way contract. The 23-year-old will again be a restricted free agent next summer.
Kerdiles, a 2012 second-round pick from the U.S. National Development Team, finally made his NHL debut in 2016-17 after two years of college hockey at the University of Wisconsin and two full seasons in the AHL. While Kerdiles skated in just one regular season game for the Ducks, he was given the much bigger role of suiting up for four playoff games as well. Kerdiles recorded his first NHL point in the Ducks’ final game of the season, a Game Six loss to the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference Finals. Kerdiles likely would have played in more NHL games if it wasn’t for his injury struggles, which also limited him to just 27 regular season games with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. However, Kerdiles was back at full strength in the AHL playoffs and was a point-per-game performer in his eight contests.
While Ducks fans are likely happy to see the news regarding Kerdiles, a popular local player, it is important to remember that nothing is set in stone until the expansion process has run its course. The timing of Kerdiles extension, much like those of Edmonton’s Jujhar Khaira, Montreal’s Charles Hudon, and Vancouver’s Erik Gudbranson in recent days, is certainly suspicious. It would be one thing if these players were all guaranteed to be protected by their teams, but instead they are all very much fringe players when it comes to putting together protection lists. If these players are exposed, new contracts will only increase their odds of being selected, taking pressure off of the Vegas Golden Knights, who must hit a quota of 20 players with contract term in the draft. Could these signings, particularly that of Kerdiles, whose team is known to be negotiating a side deal with the Knights, be part of a bigger strategy? It certainly seems like a strong possibility. There will be a better idea in the morning when protection lists are announced at 9:00 AM CT and of course we will know for sure when the Expansion Draft arrives on Wednesday. Until then, Anaheim fans can celebrate another year of Kerdiles (they hope).
Morning Notes: Hischier, Predators, Frk
The AHL-CHL agreement is an interesting part of every offseason, stopping players who otherwise would be ready to join the professional ranks of the minor leagues and keeping them in junior hockey. That agreement, which limits anyone under the age of 20, doesn’t apply to players on loan from their European clubs. We saw it last year when Alexander Nylander played for Rochester of the AHL despite being just 18 at the start of the season.
It was expected that Nico Hischier, a top prospect in this year’s draft could do the same, but according to Mike Morreale of NHL.com he isn’t on loan from his former Swiss club Bern, and will not be eligible for the AHL should he not make his NHL club next season. That means the 18-year old Hischier will likely return to Halifax for one more season and try to win a Memorial Cup.
- Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports that despite trying to reach a deal with the Vegas Golden Knights in order to protect both James Neal and Calle Jarnkrok from selection in the upcoming expansion draft, the two sides have yet to come to an agreement. As we discussed in our Nashville Expansion Primer, the Predators are at real risk of giving up the most talented player in the entire draft. LeBrun suggests they’ll look elsewhere for a deal, but protection lists are due tomorrow evening and they’re running out of time.
- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that Martin Frk has been qualified by the Red Wings, just days after scoring the Calder Cup-winning goal. Frk is a restricted free agent this summer and had an outstanding AHL season with 50 points in 65 games after being claimed off waivers from Carolina. The qualifying offer for Frk would have been $715K, though he still qualifies for a two-way offer.
Montreal Signs Charles Hudon To Two-Year Deal
Interestingly, after trading for Jonathan Drouin the Montreal Canadiens have extended AHL forward Charles Hudon for two seasons, inking him to a two-year contract. The deal is two-way for the first season, and switches to a one-way contract in 2018-19. The deal will pay him the minimum of $650K per season while in the NHL. Hudon could technically be a Group VI free agent after the contract expires should he continue to be relegated to AHL duty as he has so far in his young career.
About to turn 23, Hudon has played just six NHL games in his career so far, registering four points. The elite AHL scorer has yet to make an impact, but was still expected to be protected in the expansion draft until Drouin was acquired. In our Montreal Expansion Primer, our own Brian La Rose wrote this:
There are questions about his skating but his scoring touch in the minors will make him an intriguing option for Vegas GM George McPhee if Montreal decides to leave him unprotected. Given their own scoring woes, Hudon is someone that the Canadiens may decide is too important to leave exposed despite his lack of NHL experience.
It would seem that the Canadiens don’t have room to protect him any longer, unless a subsequent deal is made to move another forward (see: Alex Galchenyuk) out of town. The fact that Hudon got a one-way deal (at least in the second season) is also interesting, meaning he’ll be making an NHL salary even if he still hasn’t made the team. This might point to the idea that Montreal has bigger plans for him down the road, as they continue to try and increase the scoring level among their forward group.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN provided the financial details.
Mike Vellucci To Coach Charlotte Checkers Next Season
In an interesting move, the Carolina Hurricanes have named Mike Vellucci the new head coach of their AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers, while he keeps his role as Assistant General Manager for the NHL club.The Checkers lost their head coach when Ulf Samuelsson was hired by the Chicago Blackhawks (actually just announced today), and Vellucci has ample experience in a coaching and development role. As the Hurricanes GM Ron Francis put it himself in a release:
Mike has more than 20 years of coaching experience, including more than 800 games as a head coach in the Ontario League. He is excited to get back behind the bench and we appreciate his willingness to take on this additional responsibility.
Vellucci was the coach and GM of the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL for parts of fourteen seasons before joining the Hurricanes in a managerial position in 2014, and he should have no trouble sliding behind the bench in the AHL with players he is familiar with. While the team says he will be keeping all his duties with the NHL front office, he was generally in charge of scouting and player development, roles which align nicely with the AHL coaching position. He can now implement the strategies himself while getting an even closer look at the minor league players of other organizations.
Charlotte had a relatively successful season, making it to the playoffs for first time in four seasons. They’d fall at the hands of the Chicago Wolves in the first round, but it was a nice step forward for a young franchise without much success in its short history. Vellucci will be tasked with taking a roster filled with young players and developing them into a Calder Cup contender, even as the NHL team snatches players away for their own playoff aspirations.
Pittsburgh Penguins Name Bill Guerin AHL General Manager
The Pittsburgh Penguins have filled the role vacated by Jason Botterill when he was hired as the new General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres. Assistant GM Bill Guerin will take over as GM of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, taking the next step in his path to running an NHL team. The team has also promoted Jason Karmanos to Assistant GM, and Mark Recchi to the Director of Player Development. 
Guerin is on a similar path to the one Chris Drury is following in New York, who was also named GM of the AHL team earlier this spring. After being hired as a player development coach after retiring in 2011, Guerin was promoted to AGM three seasons ago and has from all accounts been very successful in the position. He’ll now have the task of running a team himself, a stepping stone for nearly all NHL GMs around the league. The WBS Penguins have enjoyed a lot of success under Botterill’s watch, and have won at least 40 games in 12 straight seasons. Their run of fifteen straight playoff appearances without a Calder Cup championship is something Guerin will be tasked with changing, while continuing to develop players for the Pittsburgh roster.
The 46-year old Guerin played 1,263 games in the NHL, scoring 856 points as one of his eras most consistent power forwards. He raised the Stanley Cup twice during his playing days, early with New Jersey and near the end of his career with Pittsburgh in 2009. He’s also obviously been part of the team that has now won back to back Cups, reported to have been a big part of recruiting college players into the system.
Guerin himself went through the NCAA route before it was the development path it is today, spending two years with Boston College after being drafted fifth-overall. While NCAA players pepper the Pittsburgh lineup, they’re also still coming as the team signed the highly sought-after Zach Aston-Reese as a free agent this spring, only to see him score eight points in ten games for the WBS Penguins down the stretch. College players will undoubtedly be a big part of what Guerin does with the WBS roster, though Aston-Reese may compete for an NHL job in the fall.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Snapshots: Drouin, Moscow, Fleury
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin is one of the most interesting names to follow this summer, as he has continued to be linked in trade speculation all around the league. The latest example comes from Conor McKenna of TSN who while admitting he isn’t a trade-breaker, relayed that he’s heard rumblings of a possible Alex Galchenyuk (plus a first-round pick) for Drouin swap. That would certainly be a substantial kickoff to the trade season, as both players are incredible talents who haven’t quite hit the highs predicted of them.
Drouin especially holds high value after breaking out this season with 21 goals and 53 points, while both former third-overall picks (2012 for Galchenyuk, 2013 for Drouin) are restricted free agents this summer and are candidates for long-term deals. Bob McKenzie chimed in earlier with some thoughts on the Montreal forward, saying that “it’s become clear Montreal doesn’t view [Galchenyuk] as a center.” Keep your eyes peeled for movement on both fronts, as even if they’re not traded for each other they could be moved to other teams around the league.
- The KHL club Dynamo Moscow has been taken over by new ownership, but with it the players have gone on strike due to unpaid salary. The new owners, according to KHL reporter Slava Malamud are standing firm and saying they are not responsible for the debts. There were previous reports that players haven’t been paid in up to six months, and Jason Brough of NBC adds that the team was raided by anti-fraud police earlier this month. Among the players on Moscow last season was Klim Kostin, a top prospect for the upcoming expansion draft who has already said he plans on coming to North America immediately. After seeing first hand what happened to the more veteran players last season, it’s hard to blame him.
- Marc-Andre Fleury waived his no-movement clause because it was the “right thing [to do] to help the team, to stay with the team, ” telling Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it gave the team more flexibility. Always considered one of the very best teammates in the league, Fleury’s waiving of his NMC allowed the Penguins to keep him on the roster for their playoff run, something that certainly came in handy when Matt Murray went down in the warm up of the first game. Fleury would lead the team through the first few rounds putting up an incredible performance and allowing Murray to heal fully before returning. If he is now ticketed for Vegas as many have speculated, his final act in Pittsburgh is one for the ages.
- The Chicago Blackhawks have hired Sheldon Brookbank as an assistant coach for their AHL affiliate, bringing the former defenseman back to an organization where he won a Stanley Cup in 2013. Brookbank was one of the defensemen that Joel Quenneville has played at forward over the years, but didn’t have a huge role on the team in any capacity. He’ll join new Rockford IceHogs head coach Jeremy Colliton behind the bench next season on what is shaping up to be a very young coaching staff.
Grand Rapids Griffins Win 2017 Calder Cup
After a tense, back-and-forth Game 6, Grand Rapids emerged victorious with a 4-3 final score over the Syracuse Crunch, capturing the 2017 Calder Cup. The newly crowned AHL champions found the eventual game winner off a mid-3rd period tally from winger Martin Frk. His shot from the point found its way through traffic and beat Crunch tender Mike McKenna. McKenna had misplayed an earlier goal as well, which is an unfortunate turn of events for the veteran who’d performed quite well, posting a .914 save percentage through 21 games.
Other important Red Wings prospects who will benefit from this experience include Tyler Bertuzzi, Tomas Nosek (who led the team in points), and Ben Thomas. Also of note were the performances of Eric Tangradi, Ben Street, and Mitch Callahan. Captained by veteran defenseman Nathan Paetsch, and backstopped by 25 year-old goalie Jared Coreau, the team defeated the Milwaukee Admirals in 3 games, the Chicago Wolves in 5 games, and the San Jose Barracuda in 5 games on their march to the finals.
The Crunch had a lead for the majority of the game, but the Griffins kept close and eventually pulled ahead. Syracuse’s most noticeable player of the night was Yanni Gourde, who scored two of the team’s three tallies in the losing effort. Cory Conacher also had a resurgent season, leading the whole field in both playoff goals and points.
Snapshots: Neal, Beck, No. 1
Among his morning musings, the venerable Pierre LeBrun of TSN mentioned the possibility of the Nashville Predators, fresh off a Stanley Cup Finals loss, could leave James Neal exposed in the upcoming expansion draft. A few months ago, that would have seemed far-fetched but with Calle Jarnkrok‘s increased role in the playoffs and incredibly team-friendly contract it might now be a realistic scenario.
The Predators will almost surely protect their top four defensemen, leaving just four remaining protection slots for forwards. With Filip Forsberg, Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen all being locks, Neal and Jarnkrok are likely battling for the final spot. That is, if the team isn’t working out a side-deal like so many other clubs with Vegas in order to protect more than the allotted number of players.
- Taylor Beck is headed to the KHL, signing with Avtomobilist today. The 26-year old was set to become a restricted free agent once again, this time with the New York Rangers whose farm team he ended the season with. The once third-round pick of the Predators was traded four times in a two year span, including a deal at the deadline this year. Despite scoring 66 points in 56 games this season in the AHL, Beck got into just five NHL contests and will now try his luck somewhere else. In 92 career NHL games, he has 23 points and always seemed just a step behind what it took to make an impact at the highest level. He’ll try to refine his game in Russia, while possibly returning at some point down the road.
- In the latest from Mike Morreale of NHL.com, he speaks to New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero about the upcoming entry draft and the possibility of moving the #1 pick. “What would it get me to trade the No. 1 pick outright? I couldn’t even tell you,” Shero tells Morreale. There has been some speculation that the Devils could trade down to take a defenseman, but with the prospect of taking one of Nolan Patrick or Nico Hischier staring you in the face, it’s hard to pull the trigger. As we’ve examined before, trading the first-overall pick is a risky business.
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Andrew Miller
The Carolina Hurricanes have locked up some AHL depth, inking Andrew Miller (no, not that Andrew Miller MLBTR fans) to a one-year two-way contract that will see him earn the minimum $650K in the NHL. Miller was set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
The 28-year old Miller is an excellent AHL scorer, and put up another solid season with 41 points in 55 games for the Charlotte Checkers this year. The former Yale standout has played 15 NHL games in his career, scoring six points. Though he’s not expected to make an appearance with the Hurricanes next season, he will provide some much-needed stability to their AHL club.
Charlotte recently lost their head coach Ulf Samuelsson to the Chicago Blackhawks, and have yet to name a successor for next season. While there has yet to be word on assistant coach Peter Andersson, he was brought in by Samuelsson after working together in Sweden and has little experience as a head coach. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a whole new staff brought in for next season, and they’ll need Miller at his very best to help lead the squad.
New York Rangers Hire AHL Coach
Just a few weeks after firing Ken Gernander as the Hartford Wolf Pack head coach, AGM Chris Drury and the New York Rangers have found a new man for the job. The team announced that Keith McCambridge will be the sixth head coach in the history of the team, promoted from his role as assistant last season. Drury was promoted to General Manager of the Wolf Pack at the same time as the firing, making this the first hire of his tenure.
McCambridge has several years of experience as a head coach in the AHL, previously working with the St. John’s IceCaps and Manitoba Moose. In 2013-14 he took the IceCaps all the way to the Calder Cup final, eventually losing to the Texas Stars. The long-time minor league player was drafted in the eighth round by the Calgary Flames, but never made it to the NHL.
The hiring is an interesting one, as the Wolf Pack finished dead last in the AHL this season. Many expected a new face to be brought in to give the team a fresh outlook, but instead they will promote from within and hope McCambridge can use his past experience to turn the team around. As always, AHL success is determined mostly by the players the NHL club provides for them, and with the Rangers not selecting a player in the first round for several years, the Wolf Pack have suffered.