Anaheim Ducks Sign Max Jones To ELC
Update (4:00pm): Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register fills in some of the financial details, via Twitter. The deal comes with an NHL salary of $925K and an annual AHL pay rate of $70K.
Cap Friendly adds that the pact contains no performance bonuses in any of the three years. The tweet suggests this is the first ELC in seven years signed by a player chosen 24th overall that did not include performance bonuses.
2:49pm: After drafting Max Jones 24th overall in the latest entry draft, the Anaheim Ducks have signed him to a three-year, entry-level contract. No financial details were released.
Jones, 18, played last season in London alongside fellow first-rounders Olli Juolevi and Matthew Tkachuk and was a finalist for the OHL Rookie of the Year award. His 52 points in 63 games ranked him second among league rookies and sixth on the Memorial Cup winning Knights.
While he is still extremely young, Jones has matured physically and stands at 6’3″ 205 lbs. He uses that long frame and size to remove defenders from the puck, but can get a little overzealous in the physical side of the game. His 106 penalty minutes ranked him second on his team and eighth in the entire league. That would seem to lend itself perfectly to Randy Carlyle and the type of hockey the Ducks play; they led the league in fighting last season and brought in Jared Boll this offseason.
While Jones may not have the offensive flourish of some of his first round contemporaries, he’s almost a lock to make it to the NHL in at least a bottom-six role. If his skating and creativity progress, he could find himself in a scoring power winger slot on an Anaheim team in the next few years.
Glen Miller also contributed to this post
Arizona Adds Three Players On AHL Deals
Amid all the news about the Arizona Coyotes and their acquisition of Dave Bolland, Lawson Crouse and skating coach Dawn Braid, comes another announcement that the organization has signed three more players to minor-league deals with the AHL. Hunter Fejes, Mark Cooper and Austin Lotz have all agreed to two-way AHL deals.
Fejes, the most well-known out of the bunch, was drafted by the Coyotes in the sixth round in 2012 before heading to Colorado College for four seasons. He began his professional career last year when he got into 10 games for the Springfield Falcons (the former affiliate of Arizona, now known as the Tucson Roadrunners) down the stretch. The former high school stand out took a while to get his feet under him in college, but put up 22 points in 36 games in his senior year. Now 22-years old, he’ll have to work extremely hard if he’s to ever crack an NHL roster.
Cooper, 24, is coming off a more successful college career that saw him put up 91 points across four years at Bowling Green. Undrafted out of Scarborough, Ontario the big winger will add some leadership and a two-way presence for the Roadrunners this season.
The last signee was goaltender Austin Lotz out of the WHL. Lotz played four seasons for the Everett Silvertips before joining the Medicine Hat Tigers as an over-ager last year. Overall, he’s put up a 75-63-17 record with a 2.96 GAA and .902 save percentage in the Western Hockey League, and will fight for starts in the AHL or ECHL this season.
Minnesota Signs Gustav Bouramman To ELC
The Minnesota Wild have come to an agreement with their seventh round pick from last year’s entry draft, defenseman Gustav Bouramman, on a three-year entry-level deal.
Bouramman, 19, played the past two seasons for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, putting up 100 points in 135 games after coming over from Sweden. Playing in the shadow of Darnell Nurse in his first season, Bouramman excelled in his second season, providing quick puck movement and strong possession play, despite the team’s step backwards in the standings.
While the Wild certainly don’t see him as a top contributor right away, there is some hope that Bouramman will be a diamond mined out of the late rounds of the draft after his strong transition to the North American ice. Though recent reports had him considering a professional contract in Sweden, his signing today would seem show that he has his eyes set on the NHL at some point down the road. Whether he plays in Sweden this year, or returns to the Greyhounds for one more season, he will probably see time in the AHL next spring (he turns 20 on January 24th, 2017).
Islanders Hire Chris Lamoriello As Director Of Player Personnel
The Islanders have brought in a famous hockey name to join Garth Snow in the front office. Chris Lamoriello, son of Toronto Maple Leafs’ GM Lou Lamoriello has been hired as the new director of player personnel in New York.
The younger Lamoriello had been part of the New Jersey Devils organization since 1995, as a vice president of hockey operations (since 2001) and the general manager of their AHL affiliate Albany. He resigned from the club last September after his father left. During his time running Albany, the team never won a Calder Cup, in fact only making the playoffs on a handful of occasions.
On Lamoriello, Snow said “Chris brings a tremendous amount of knowledge to our organization. He has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and we are thrilled to have him on board.”
The Islanders are coming off back-to-back 100+ point seasons and are primed for another strong campaign on the back of captain John Tavares. If Lamoriello can work some magic and bring in some additional pieces or young talent, the somewhat-homeless Islanders could see themselves back in the Stanley Cup final before long.
Las Vegas Adds Scott Luce To Front Office
Late last night the Las Vegas expansion franchise announced that they had hired another former director of player personnel to their front office, this time in the form of Scott Luce. The former Florida Panther director will now serve in the role of director of amateur scouting for the Vegas franchise, a role which he should excel at.
Luce has spent time as a scout for the Panthers, Lightning and Senators over his hockey career, one that has spanned more than three decades. A goalie in his playing days, Luce made it all the way to the AHL with the Rochester Americans in 1990-91 before calling it a career a year later.
He was fired from the Panthers early this summer when the team decided it needed a shake-up in their front office, despite coming off the most successful season in their history. The team shuffled the chairs and Luce was left without a seat when the music stopped, even though he’d been a huge part of the turnaround in Florida.
Aaron Ekblad, Vincent Trocheck, Erik Gudbranson, Nick Bjugstad, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau are just a few of the names that Luce had been instrumental in drafting over the past few years, building a young core almost unrivaled among other NHL teams. While no scout has a perfect record, Luce seems to be a well respected judge of talent and will be another strong signing by GM George McPhee and the group in Las Vegas. If the team is to succeed they’ll need strong drafts in their first few years, giving young players for the city to latch onto.
Avalanche Choose Bednar As New Head Coach
Colorado has named veteran minor league head coach Jared Bednar to replace Patrick Roy in the same capacity with the Avalanche. The timing of Roy’s resignation put the Avalanche in a bind as most organizations had already filled their coaching staffs – both at the NHL and minor league levels – and would understandably have been hesitant to potentially lose a quality coach to Colorado this late in the summer. Still, the Avalanche had several good candidates to choose from and clearly decided Bednar would be the best fit.
Bednar spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliates, winning the Calder Cup this year with the Lake Erie Monsters. He also served two years as head coach of the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen from 2010 – 2012. Overall, Bednar has 14 years of professional coaching experience.
This will be Bednar’s first NHL head coaching gig but he had already been identified as one of the top young up-and-comers in the industry. Columbus had rewarded Bednar for his work by giving the 44-year-old coach a two-year extension earlier this summer. Now they’ll have to replace the coach who so recently led their AHL team to a Calder Cup championship.
Other candidates linked to the opening and considered potential finalists along with Bednar were Washington assistant Lane Lambert and Blackhawks assistant Kevin Dineen.
Avalanche executive vice president and general manager, Joe Sakic, had this to say about the hiring of Bednar:
“After profiling the type of coach I wanted for our team and going through an interview process with several good candidates, I believe that Jared Bednar is the best person to lead this team behind the bench. Jared’s track record of success as a head coach in the American Hockey League speaks for itself and he is considered to be one of the top up-and-coming coaches in our business.”
Roy would spend three years as head coach of the Avalanche and won the league’s Jack Adams award for top coach following his first season with the club after leading the team to a 52 – 22 – 8 record. Colorado would make the playoffs that year, losing in the first round, but it would be the only postseason appearance with Roy at the helm. The Avalanche would post a 78 – 70 – 16 record over the last two seasons. Roy, who also served as a VP of hockey operations, evidently left the team due to philosophical differences with the front office.
Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that Bednar received a three year contract. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Coyotes Add Three To Coaching Staff
Arizona Coyotes GM John Chayka, via a release on the team’s website, today announced the team has hired Mike Van Ryn, Steve Potvin and Dawn Braid to the club’s coaching staff.
Van Ryn, a former NHL defenseman who skated with Florida, St. Louis and Toronto during an eight-year career, will become the team’s player development coach. According to the team’s post, he will assist Steve Sullivan, the club’s director of player development, “in amateur player development as well as in working with coaches and players in Tucson (AHL) during the season.” Van Ryn was most recently the head coach of the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
Potvin joins the team as the skills coach. His responsibilities, again via the team’s website, will include, “player assessment and individual skill improvement.” Potvin enjoyed a lengthy playing career which included 10 seasons appearing in top European professional leagues and 158 AHL games.
Ordinarily a team fleshing out its coaching ranks wouldn’t be of particular note but the addition of Braid makes her the league’s only full-time female assistant coach. Braid is set to become the Coyotes skating coach after filling the same role on a part-time basis in 2015. Prior to that she has served as a skating consultant with the Toronto, Anaheim, Calgary and Buffalo organizations.
Potential 2016-17 Impact Rookies: Carlo, Fasching, Mantha, Matheson
Pro Hockey Rumors continues our series profiling this year’s crop of rookies, now moving on to the Atlantic Division and four more first-year players who could make a splash this season. You can see the first posts covering the Metro Division here and here.
Brandon Carlo (Boston) – Even though Boston has an aging roster and failed to qualify for the postseason in either of the last two seasons, the Bruins surprisingly might not be integrating any rookie talent to the roster to start the 2016-17 campaign. The team does have some quality young talent coming down the pipeline but most of those prospects are probably a year away and Boston wouldn’t appear to have much room on their roster for a first-year player. But if one of the kids does give the Bruins a reason to carry a rookie this year it may well be defenseman Brandon Carlo.
Carlo was chosen by Boston in the second-round of the 2015 entry draft with the 37th overall selection on the heels of a 25-point campaign with TriCity of the WHL. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 203 pounds, Carlo certainly has NHL size. He currently projects as a smooth skating, defense-first blue liner with enough tools to project as an above-average offensive contributor if he develops further.
The incomparable Zdeno Chara still anchors the Bruins defense corps but is 39-years-old and has seen his best years are in the rear-view mirror. Torey Krug is probably the club’s #2 defenseman – if not #1 – and Adam McQuaid is solid enough. But outside of those three players, the Bruins currently have Kevan Miller, John-Michael Liles and Colin Miller in the top-six on their depth chart. Assuming Carlo shows well at training camp, he could easily force his way onto the roster ahead of any one of the latter three names.
Boston’s assistant general manager, Scott Bradley, spoke highly of Carlo earlier this summer when discussing some of the club’s prospects including; Carlo, Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon.
“Obviously [you had to like] what Carlo did when he was brought in [to Providence] at the end. It just bodes well for what we have coming this year. Zboril and Lauzon are probably going back to junior, but Carlo is going to get a long look.”
Bradley’s comments certainly suggest Carlo has a leg up on his fellow top defense prospects coming into camp.
Hudson Fasching (Buffalo) – Last season, Buffalo broke camp with two supremely talented rookies, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart, in their opening night lineup. The duo would combine to score 47 goals and 98 points in 160 games for the Sabres. Hudson Fasching is unlikely to have that same type of impact in Buffalo this season but should earn a regular role and has the potential to provide some offense from the team’s bottom-six.
Fasching made his Buffalo debut last season, appearing in seven contests and netting his first career NHL goal. He signed his ELC with Buffalo after wrapping up his junior season at the University of Minnesota, where he scored 20 goals in 37 games for the Golden Gophers. Fasching also saw action in 10 games during the 2016 IIHF World Championship and tallied two assists playing for Team USA.
At 6-foot-2 and 216 pounds, Fasching has the size necessary to excel in a power forward role. Whether or not he can score enough to eventually fill a top-six scoring role with the Sabres is the question. But with talented players like Eichel, Reinhart, Ryan O’Reilly and Kyle Okposo around him, Fasching could produce points if he can develop chemistry with some combination of the aforementioned skaters.
Anthony Mantha (Detroit) – The development of Mantha could be key to Detroit’s ability to keep its 25-season playoff appearance streak in tact. Like Boston, Detroit’s core is aging with half of the 18 skaters expected to see regular ice time either turning or already at least 30-years-old during the 2016-17 season. Mantha has the skill and talent to join Dylan Larkin as future foundation pieces for Detroit.
Mantha got his first taste of NHL action last season, racking up two goals and three points in 10 games while averaging 11:42 of ice time per contest. He has also accumulated extensive pro experience playing for Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids. In 122 games with the Griffins, Mantha recorded 36 goals and 88 points. His experience playing for Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill, both with Detroit and Grand Rapids, should benefit the big winger as he attempts to make the roster for the 2016-17 campaign.
The 6-foot-5, 214 pound Mantha is said to be an excellent skater with a terrific shot and release. Detroit is known for being patient with their prospects and allowing them to develop at a slow pace in the minor leagues. It’s possible Mantha will start the year in Grand Rapids but could position himself as one of the first players promoted in the event of an injury on the big club. If he does get his shot at some point with the Wings, Mantha could surprise some people.
Michael Matheson (Florida) – The Panthers boast a solid defense corps with plenty of options to flesh out the six man group. Keith Yandle, Aaron Ekblad, Alex Petrovic and Jason Demers comprise a skilled group of top-four blue liners while currently Mark Pysyk and Jakub Kindl are listed as the third pair on the team’s depth chart. Additionally, the team can also call on veteran Steven Kampfer to provide further depth.
There doesn’t seem to be room for a rookie to earn a spot but injuries are an unfortunate reality in hockey and Michael Matheson would likely be the first player Florida goes to if one of their regulars goes down. Matheson got into three games with the Panthers last year, going scoreless and averaging 17:32 of ice time. He’s also appeared in 59 AHL games over the last two seasons and recorded eight goals and 22 points during that time.
The former Boston College Eagle was the Panthers first-round pick, 23rd overall, in the 2012 draft. He’s known as an excellent skater and puck-handler with offensive instincts. With the NHL evolving into a speed and transition gme, Matheson would seem well-suited to one day play a regular role in the league. If things fall just right, that day could come as soon as this season.
Latest On Maple Leafs Roster Crunch
James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail joined TSN 1050 today to speak about a few Toronto Maple Leafs topics including Mark Hunter‘s new title and Mitch Marner’s shot with the team. He also was asked about the “log-jam” at the forward position going into this year.
I think there is going to be a trade coming. You remember last year there was that deal where they gave up five prospect type players to the Islanders for Michael Grabner right during training camp. That could be the kind of deal the Leafs need to make, where they just get rid of contracts.
There are so many forwards there that will need waivers to go down to the minors – you can debate whether they’ll be claimed or not – but there is definitely going to be a real battle there…not all those guys are going to be able to make the team.
After the Maple Leafs signed Brandon Prust yesterday to a PTO, they’ll now have at least 23 forwards in camp with NHL experience and a legitimate claim for a roster spot. While obviously many of these players could head back to the AHL (or in Marner’s case, the OHL), perhaps the Maple Leafs would want to move a few of the older bodies out in order to make room for their younger players.
Tyler Bozak, Joffrey Lupul and Milan Michalek all carry fairly substantial cap-hits, but also provide experience and some level of offensive ability. There are also names like Peter Holland, Colin Greening and Byron Froese who all have shown the ability to contribute in the bottom-six at the NHL level and carry much smaller salaries. If a deal is made – and even if one isn’t – expect Marner to stay with the club all season, after some strong words of confidence from his head coach recently.
Tim Jackman Retires From NHL
According to Elite Prospects, long-time journeyman Tim Jackman has decided to hang up his skates and retire from professional hockey. Jackman played 483 games across parts of twelve seasons, suiting up for the Blue Jackets, Coyotes, Kings, Islanders, Flames and Ducks along the way.
Now 34-years old, Jackman was originally picked in the second round of the 2001 draft, and would contribute 75 points and over 800 penalty minutes across his career. The North Dakota native got into nine playoff games in 2014-15 with the Ducks, his first taste of NHL postseason.
Playing with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL last season, Jackman put up two points (1-1) and 33 penalty minutes in 22 games. Don’t be surprised to see Jackman’s name in a coaching staff in the future, as often tough guys and journeymen find success behind the bench after their playing days are over.