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Training Camp Cuts: 9/29/16

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There were more training camp cuts today as teams continue to pare down their rosters.  Here is today’s list of players that have been cut so far and where they have been assigned to:

Anaheim Ducks (Via Team Release)
D Josh Mahura (Red Deer, WHL)
RW Deven Sideroff (Kamloops, WHL)
C Tyler Soy (Victoria, WHL)
C Sam Steel (Regina, WHL)

Arizona Coyotes (Via Team Release)
D Brandon Burlon (Tuscon, AHL)
C Mark Olver (Tuscon, AHL)
C Matia Marcantuoni (Tuscon, AHL)

Carolina Hurricanes (Via Team Release)
C Janne Kuokkanen (London, OHL)
C Nicolas Roy (Chicoutimi, QMJHL)

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Latest On Rickard Rakell

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In a series of tweets Wednesday evening, Bob McKenzie shed some light on the status of restricted free agent Rickard Rakell.  Still unsigned, Rakell has been rehabbing from appendectomy surgery performed in September, and is still unable to skate or work out, though he’s expected to get back on the ice in another week.

While the young forward is rehabbing, McKenzie reports that there is an ongoing dialogue between his camp and the Ducks; a promising sign to be sure. From the player side, a contract like the one Victor Rask of Carolina received, $4MM per season for six years, is a starting point though Anaheim does not want to commit that much money to a player who has only 165 games under his belt.

Last season was a breakout for the Swedish centerman, as he increased his goal total from nine to twenty, and estabilished himself as a legitimate top-six player.  While Anaheim doesn’t have any interest in a bridge deal, McKenzie speculates that a six-year deal paying Rakell under $4MM per season is what it will ultimately come down to.

If Anaheim can get him for that much, it would be quite beneficial to both sides.  The Ducks would have their young second-line center locked up long term for a reasonable hit, and would be ecstatic if he developed into the 60+ point player his potential shows. Rakell, on the other hand, would guarantee himself a big paycheck even if 2015-16 was a career high in goals.

Rakell was never the biggest scorer in junior (though he did have very solid numbers), and he was thought of coming into the draft as a respectable player at all facets.  At 23, if he can solidify himself as a perennial 20-25 goal man, he’d hit the open market at 29 with the chance for another big contract.

RFA Notes

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It’s been an unusual off-season in the NHL, with seven high profile Restricted Free Agents (RFAs) remaining a week into training camp. Compared to last off-season, when teams moved quickly to sign or trade players to avoid the threat of offer sheets.

In a series of tweets, TSN’s Bob McKenzie sent out the latest in negotiations from across the league.

Anaheim Ducks – Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell – The Ducks are using Morgan Rielly and Seth Jones as comparable contracts, while Lindholm’s camp is pointing to Aaron Ekblad’s $7.5MM AAV. McKenzie clarifies that Lindholm isn’t asking for $7.5MM, more in the $6MM-plus range. McKenzie hasn’t been able to determine the range of numbers from the Rakell negotiations yet.

Arizona Coyotes – Tobias Rieder – The two sides are less than $500K apart. Rieder is currently looking for two years at $2.5MM per season, while the Coyotes aren’t budging on their offer of two years in the low $2MM range. Rieder does have KHL offers to consider, or McKenzie suggests he could ask for a trade or hold out.

Buffalo Sabres – Rasmus Ristolainen – The Sabres and Ristolainen are in the same situation as the Ducks and Lindholm, according to McKenzie. The two sides are at least $1MM apart, with each side standing firm with their comparables.

Calgary Flames – Johnny Gaudreau – This is likely the most fascinating case, as Gaudreau isn’t technically an RFA because he falls under the 10.2(c) CBA clause. Because Gaudreau hasn’t accrued three years experience, he isn’t eligible for an offer sheet and therefore has basically no power, other than holding out. McKenzie believes the Flames want Gaudreau to sign in the same range as Sean Monahan (six-years, $6.375MM per) and no higher than captain Mark Giordano ($6.75MM per), while Gauderau is looking for more than $8MM per season. The two sides have not negotiated recently, according to McKenzie, who called the situation “bit of a Cold War”.

Tampa Bay Lightning – Nikita Kucherov – If not Gaudreau, then Kucherov is definitely the most complex RFA situation due to the Lightning’s cap issues. While Kucherov has a long list of comparable contracts in the six-year, $36MM range, that’s not possible in the Lightning’s current state. They’ll need to move someone to accommodate another $6MM; McKenzie believes Ben Bishop will be traded sometime this season, but expects he’ll start the season in Tampa.

Winnipeg Jets – Jacob Trouba – There has been plenty of digital ink spilled on Trouba’s trade request, but the only new information from McKenzie was that Trouba is not interested in signing an offer sheet, because the Jets would not be allowed to trade him for a calendar year, should they match. That defeats the purpose of wanting to be traded.

It is still early in the season, but there is a firm deadline coming up: December 1st. Should an RFA not be signed by then, then he will be ineligible to play for the remainder of the season.

This is likely only a consideration for Trouba, with the Jets’ habit of slow-playing trade requests and waiting out poor trade offers.

World Cup Notes: Gaborik, Getzlaf, Babcock

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After Marian Gaborik was given a timeline of eight weeks to rehab his leg injury, sustained in Team Europe’s semi-final victory, head coach Ralph Krueger has replaced him with Mikkel Boedker in the lineup. While Boedker can be an effective player and has speed to burn, Krueger admits to Helene Elliott of the LA Times that it’ll be a step down from one of their leaders:

We’re losing some leadership and smarts on the puck that were exemplary.

Gaborik obviously is one of the most important players on Europe, with 933 games and 773 points under his belt in the NHL. The three-time forty-goal man put up his worst season last year while fighting injury, only scoring 12 goals in 54 games. The 34-year old will not be ready for the start of the season, making it even harder to bounce back after the career-worst campaign.

  • Team Canada hit the ice this morning before the first game of the finals versus Team Europe, and every player was present including Ryan Getzlaf, who according to Pierre LeBrun missed practice yesterday. The Ducks forward was given a “maintenance day” in preparation for the three-game series, as he’s battling a few small nagging injuries. Now 31, the big center doesn’t bounce back as easily as he did when he was young, but has still played in 77 games in each of the last three seasons. While he’s a big part of Team Canada, the Ducks are hoping he comes back fully healthy, as a bounce-back year from him and Corey Perry is integral for a successful season.
  • While the talk swirls about the NHL not heading to the Olympics in 2018, especially now that the World Cup has been a success, one influential voice sounds unconvinced. When asked about the difference between the two events, Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock said “The World Cup is great, but it’s not the Olympics. Let’s not get confused.” As Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports, the Maple Leafs coach would like to see the event spread across two cities so that only night games were played, while having only countries compete.  These changes would make it more like the Olympics, and would seem to be a future plan for the NHL’s tournament. If the league doesn’t go in 2018 (which it doesn’t look likely to), the World Cup will have to become the preeminent international event. Having Team North America and Team Europe prevents it from ever fully replacing the Olympics, despite their success as individual story lines.

Jets’ High Asking Price For Trouba

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TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie discussed Jacob Trouba’s trade request out of Winnipeg on TSN 690 in Montreal on Monday morning, saying, based on the asking price of a similar caliber left-shot defenseman, “not all that many teams that are positioned well to get him.”

On Sunday, Pro Hockey Rumors’ Zach Leach explored some of the teams that would have interest in the young Trouba.

The asking price has lead to names like Hampus Lindholm and Darnell Nurse being floated about. McKenzie doesn’t believe the Ducks are willing to move Lindholm for Trouba, as Lindholm is more proven at this time.

TSN’s Ryan Rishaug appeared on TSN 1260 in Edmonton later on Monday morning, saying if he was the Oilers he wouldn’t be willing to move Nurse to acquire Trouba, because the money wouldn’t make sense for someone who hasn’t shown an ability to produce on the power-play. Nurse has “home-run potential”, and Rishaug couldn’t guarantee that Trouba would be better than Nurse in four years.

Rishaug would be more willing to move young left-handed defenseman Brandon Davidson, who blossomed into a top-four defenseman last season, while adding draft picks.

The Jets have to ask for the moon initially, as a public trade request has a certain way of tanking a player’s perceived trade value. It’s why the Lightning ultimately didn’t trade Jonathan Drouin; the trade offers that come in for players publicly on the trading block are dramatically lower than what the team is willing to accept.

However, the Jets are right to ask for a major haul in exchange for Trouba according to Travis Yost, analytics columnist for TSN. Yost wrote that Trouba’s advanced stats are a “recipe to earmark a young player for a long career as a first-pairing type in the NHL.”

Perry Set To Join Exclusive Hockey Group

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If Team Canada and Corey Perry are able to win the World Cup, one of hockey’s most elite groups will double in size. In an article by The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell, he points out that only Perry’s former teammate and current Ducks assistant coach Scott Niedermayer has won a Stanley Cup, Olympic Gold Medal, World Championship, World Junior Championship, Memorial Cup, and World Cup. With everything else all checked off, Perry just needs three wins to join his friend in hockey’s winningest (albeit obscure) group.

Perry, who was a late addition to Team Canada following the injury of Jeff Carter, is just happy to be on the team and hasn’t given much thought to his potential history-making achievement. Ironically, it all began with him being a late addition to another team. Perry barely made Canada’s World Junior team in 2005, where he played alongside future team mate Ryan Getzlaf, Sidney Crosby, tournament MVP Patrice Bergeron and more on one of the best World Junior teams of all-time. After easily taking the Junior tournament, Perry returned to the OHL’s London Knights, where he finished off a 130-point season with help from Dave Bolland, Marc Methot, and more and then led the team, with a stellar playoff performance, to the Memorial Cup title. Perry made his NHL debut the next year, in 2005-06, and just one year later, he contributed 44 regular season points and 15 postseason points en route to the 2007 Stanley Cup championship.  With the stats and titles to back him up, Perry was an easy choice for Team Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and again in 2014 in Sochi, winning a gold medal at each Games. Finally, Perry won a World Championship for Canada this past spring, joining the team after the Ducks were upset early in the playoffs.

Perry, who is also a three-time All-Star, Hart winner, and Maurice Richard winner, among many other accolades, still holds on to his humility. Although he is on the cusp of joining a group that Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, and Mario Lemieux could not even make it in to, his sights are still just set on helping out his team mates and winning for his country. He’s grateful just to be on the team and to get the chance to enjoy the opportunity. Perry is a proven winner, and don’t be surprised to see his name join more elite groups as his decorated career continues.

The Anaheim Situation

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No training camp in the entire NHL will be getting as much attention as the the Anaheim Ducks. As Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register writes, there are so many question marks still remaining for the reigning Pacific Division champs. With less than a month to puck drop on a new NHL season, there is a lot of work to be done on the Ducks.

The most important story line to follow is the status of unsigned restricted free agents Hampus Lindholm and Rickard Rakell. Both players are coming off strong seasons and have shown success and sustainability early in their careers. Lindholm may actually be Anaheim’s best all-around defenseman, while Rakell provides much-needed offensive depth. Yet, neither former first-rounder has signed on for the new season. The young Swedes don’t have much bargaining power, since they are RFA’s with no arbitration rights, but a scenario has already occurred this off-season where an unhappy RFA has signed elsewhere, with Dallas’ Valeri Nichushkin bolting for the KHL. The Ducks have just $7.5MM in cap space as of right now. Can they find a way to bring back their young talent, or at least trade one or the other, or will Lindholm and Rakell decide to play outside the NHL in 2o16-17?

Should Lindholm sign, not only will Anaheim face a cap crunch, but they will also have a logjam on defense to deal with. The Ducks have the best defensive depth in the NHL, with recently re-signed Sami Vatanen, 2015 acquisitions Kevin Bieksa and Simon Despres, and veteran Clayton Stoner, as well as up-and-coming prospects Shea Theodore and Brandon Montour. The odd-man out in all of this could be home-grown star Cam Fowler, who’s name has been on the trade block for months now. The Ducks simply cannot keep all of these defenseman, and Fowler may have overstayed his welcome in Anaheim after the first mediocre season of his young career in 2015-16. While teams would be lining up to trade for Lindholm, Fowler would have quite the market as well. Whatever decision the Ducks decide to make about shipping out a defenseman, many believe that it begin a series of reactions across the league as one D-needy team agrees to a deal and the others finally lock up market stragglers like Kris Russell and Jakub Nakladal.

If Rakell doesn’t sign, the Ducks will be even more eager to make a trade for some help up front, as their depth right now is currently lacking. Top-six mainstays Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler, and Andrew Cogliano are in place, but without Rakell, more pressure to produce will be thrust upon newly-signed veteran Antoine Vermette, swift winger Jakob Silfverberg,  grinder Ryan Garbutt, and the unproven Nick Ritchie. The Ducks would like to alleviate some of that pressure by adding another body up front, hence their interest in the trade market, as well as their camp invites to David Booth, Sean Bergenheim, and most recently David Jones. Even if Rakell does return, expect Anaheim to be in the hunt for forward talent.

As if roster management concerns weren’t enough, the Ducks also have a “new” coach in Randy Carlyle and a new dynamic in net, with John Gibson taking over for the departed Frederik Andersen as the starter and trade acquisition Jonathan Bernier looking to hold off three or four legitimate threats and win the backup job. There is still a long way to go and a lot of questions that need to be answered for the Anaheim Ducks. Stay tuned.

Snapshots: Lovejoy, Bennett, Canucks, Lombardi

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It’s not uncommon for players to reunite with former coaches and/or a general manager who has previously acquired that player at a previous stop. There is familiarity between coach and player and in the case of GMs, a belief in the abilities, sometimes untapped, of the player. That scenario played out this summer when the New Jersey Devils brought in two former Penguins, defenseman Ben Lovejoy in free agency and winger Beau Bennett via trade, reuniting them with general manager Ray Shero and head coach John Hynes. As Andrew Gross writes in his Fire and Ice blog, those additions should have come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the situation.

Shero spent eight seasons at the helm in Pittsburgh, selecting Bennett in the first-round of the 2010 entry draft. Clearly Shero still believes in Bennett’s upside as evidenced by the Devils giving up a third-round pick – a substantial asset – to Pittsburgh in exchange for the winger. Bennett scored six goals and 12 points in 33 regular season games in Pittsburgh in 2015-16 but appeared in just one postseason game as rookies Conor Sheary and Bryan Rust passed him on the team’s depth chart.

The Devils finished last in the NHL in goals scored during the 2015-16 season, and even after adding LW Taylor Hall in the summer, the team could use more scoring depth. Bennett hopes to be able to provide that and reward Shero’s faith in him.

Lovejoy cited the presence of Hynes as instrumental in his decision to sign with the Devils in the offseason.

“(Hynes) was my defense coach when I played in Wilkes-Barre. I played for him for a full season. He knows my game. It’s not going to be a surprise here. He knows exactly what he’s getting. That’s the reason I’m here. I know the coaching staff through Wilkes-Barre when Ray and (assistant GM) Tom (Fitzgerald) were running the organization the first time I was in Pittsburgh. Those are guys I trust and know. I’m here because they trust me.”

The veteran of eight NHL seasons will be asked to add leadership and experience to a young-ish defense corps that only has one other defender – Andy Greene – over the age of 26. Lovejoy doesn’t bring much of an offensive game to the table but has generally been a responsible blue liner and has posted a negative plus-minus rating just once in his career.

Elsewhere around the NHL:

  • GM Jim Benning and head coach Willie Desjardins are well aware the team has some ground to cover if they want to make the playoffs in 2016-17 after missing the postseason by 12 points this past season. But as Derek Jory of the Canucks official team site reports, both manager and coach are cautiously optimistic about the upcoming campaign. Desjardins: “We have more depth at every position and I feel we’re stronger at every position.” Benning, for his part, believes adding Loui Eriksson and Erik Gudbranson this summer along with a return to health for center Brandon Sutter will bring needed leadership as well as depth to the club: “We’ve added more depth to our group and adding Loui Eriksson, who I feel is a good player, a healthy Brandon Sutter, adding Erik Gudbranson; we’ve added some leadership in that room to help our young players along, so I’m real excited.” 
  • Two days after watching Team USA elimination from medal contention at the World Cup of Hockey, the man ultimately responsible for assembling the team, Kings GM Dean Lombardi, defended his roster construction strategy: “We’ve got some darn good players, but the reality is that matchup on a skill basis, if you want to go head-to-head and play a skill game, your odds of winning that game when you look at those matchups is not very good.” While Lombardi is likely correct in his assertion that Team USA wouldn’t have been able to match the skill and talent of the Canadiens no matter who they brought to the tournament, the choice to emphasize grit and heart ignores the NHL’s recent shift to a quicker game that values speed over other traits. Of course we’ll never know whether a Team USA roster including Tyler Johnson, Kyle Okposo, Kevin Shattenkirk and Phil Kessel – for example – would have been better equipped to beat Canada, but it’s clear they couldn’t have done any worse.

Compelling RFA Cases For 2017: Johansen, Parayko, Teravainen

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Jacob Trouba, Johnny Gaudreau and Nikita Kucherov highlight a strong and deep group of restricted free agents that remain unsigned at the moment. While they will each ultimately cash in and receive substantial contracts for the 2016-17 campaign and likely beyond, their status as restricted free agents has certainly complicated their respective negotiation processes.

Next summer, another quality group of players are set to hit restricted free agency, unless they can agree to terms on a new deal prior to the 2017-18 league year. In a series of posts, Pro Hockey Rumors will profile the top pending 2017 RFAs and examine what kind of contract they could elicit assuming they put up a strong performance during their platform year. Today we finish with the Central Division and move to the Metro.

Ryan Johansen (Nashville) – In Ryan Johansen, the Predators finally have that elusive #1 center they have lacked since the organization’s inception nearly two decades ago. In a rare “hockey trade” that benefited both parties, Nashville acquired Johansen from Columbus in exchange for Seth Jones, a potential franchise defenseman and something the Blue Jackets have sorely needed.

Johansen has tallied at least 60 points in each of the last three seasons and scored a career-best 71 as a 22-year-old during the 2014-15 campaign. On the downside, his goal scoring output has decreased from a career-high 33 in 2013-14 to 26 the following season and to just 14 in 2015-16. That’s likely the direct result of a shooting percentage of just 7.6%, a figure which was more than five points below the combined shooting percentage the two previous seasons. Simply converting shots at his normal rate would have resulted in a 24 – 25 goal campaign.

The Predators have done a marvelous job of locking up their core pieces to bargain long-term deals. Filip Forsberg, Roman Josi, Craig Smith and Mattias Ekholm have all recently inked extensions with Nashville at AAVs below what each player could have received on the open market. The trade-off for higher salaries during RFA years is cost-certainty and buying out free agent years below market value. Expect Nashville to employ the same strategy with Johansen.

Sean Monahan and Nathan MacKinnon have each established themselves as 60-point producers and received extensions with an AAV in excess of $6MM. Aleksander Barkov, coming off a career-best 59-point season, signed a six-year, $35.4MM deal with Florida. All three, however, were coming off their ELCs while Johansen is entering the final season of his second contract. That means any long-term deal would buy out more free agent seasons and typically that tends to be more expensive. Based on the comparable deals and his proximity to free agency, a long-term contract for Johansen could well approach or even reach $7MM annually.

Colton Parayko (St. Louis) – Parayko came out of nowhere to earn a regular job on the Blues blue line and posted a solid scoring line of 9-24=33 in 79 contests as a rookie. He boasts a hard shot from the point and tremendous size at 6-foot-6 and 226 pounds. Currently, Parayko is skating in the World Cup as a member of Team North America, flashing his abilities on the international stage.

With only a single season of NHL experience, gauging Parayko’s potential value is difficult. However, if he approximates his 2015-16 production levels this upcoming season, the four-year, $19.5MM contract awarded to Sami Vatanen by the Ducks could prove to be a reasonable comparable.

Vatanen posted campaigns of 37 and 38 points in 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively before inking his current deal. Like Parayko, Vatanen is also a right-handed defenseman, which is more difficult to find than their counterparts on the left side.

St. Louis could counter with Ryan Ellis as a comparable. Ellis signed a five-year, $12.5MM contract in October of 2014 following a 27-point campaign with the Predators. But most would argue Ellis is worth more than that AAV and consequently Parayko would be too. It’s also possible the Blues would prefer to go with a bridge contract with a lower AAV than Parayko would be able to get on a long-term deal.

Teuvo Teravainen (Carolina) – The Hurricanes took advantage of Chicago’s salary cap woes and in exchange for agreeing to take on the final season of Bryan Bickell’s $4MM-a-year-deal, were rewarded with the skilled Teravainen. Much was expected from the young Finn following the 2014-15 postseason that saw Teravainen record 10 points in 18 games as the Hawks won their third Stanley Cup in six seasons. While a 35-point campaign as a 21-year-old is solid, Teravainen’s skill suggests there is even more scoring potential.

It makes sense to stick with the Hurricanes when looking for a comparable since doing so offers insight to how the club values their RFAs. Earlier this summer, Carolina agreed to a six-year, $24MM extension with Swedish center Victor Rask. Rask was coming off a breakout campaign which saw the 23-year-old pivot post career-highs in both goals (21) and assists (27). More importantly, his first NHL season mirrored Teravainen’s in terms of production as Rask netted 11 goals and 33 points in 80 games for the Canes in 2014-15. If Teravainen follows the same path and boosts his offensive production into the 45-point range, a contract similar to that of Rask’s would seem a safe bet.

Snapshots: Carlyle, Toronto Captaincy, Kaberle, Kings Centers, Palushaj

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The decision to bring back Randy Carlyle to Anaheim as their head coach was one of the bigger surprises of the offseason.  As Eric Stephens of the OC Register points out, GM Bob Murray kept coming back to one key trait about Carlyle – the fact that he has won a Stanley Cup (with the Ducks back in 2007).  Murray also believes Carlyle has some characteristics that will work well with an older roster looking to win now compared to building for the future:

“First of all, there’s never one thing when it comes to coaching. Job is far too complex. In saying that, we all knew he’s an outstanding bench coach, and we wanted to be sure he still would hold all of his players accountable, which is getting harder every year with the changing times and today’s athlete.”

There are only a handful of players that remain from his first go-round with Anaheim but several veteran players voiced their support to bring Carlyle back including captain Ryan Getzlaf as well as center Ryan Kesler and defenseman Kevin Bieksa, both of whom are familiar with him dating back to their time in Vancouver’s system.

Anaheim has made some notable changes heading into this season which will give Carlyle a different roster composition to work with than ex-coach Bruce Boudreau had.  Earlier this week, we took a closer look at the Ducks’ moves and what to watch for this season.

More news and notes around the hockey world:

  • The Toronto Maple Leafs have yet to name a captain for the season and GM Lou Lamoriello indicated there is no real timeline for that to happen, notes theScore’s David Alter. Lamoriello announced that it may or may not occur this season and that selecting a captain is “not on the forefront”.  The Leafs have been without a captain since trading Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa last season.
  • Long-time NHL defenseman Tomas Kaberle has quietly announced his retirement, reports Czech site iDNES (link in Czech). He leaves the game with a total of 984 NHL contests under his belt with Toronto, Boston, Carolina, and Montreal.  In his prime, he was a premier playmaking blueliner and put up seven seasons of 40 or more points and wound up with 87 goals and 476 assists in his NHL career.
  • Kings coach Darryl Sutter is hoping to see a young center step into the third line spot this season, writes Helene Elliott of the LA Times. Anze Kopitar and Jeff Carter are entrenched as their top two while Trevor Lewis best fits in a fourth line role.  Candidates to step into that third line spot would be Andy Andreoff, Nick Shore, Nic Dowd, and 2014 first round pick Adrian Kempe, who just completed his first full season in North America.
  • Columbus has added UFA winger Aaron Palushaj to their training camp roster on a PTO, reports Rob Mixer from their team site.  Palushaj spent last season with Philadelphia’s AHL affiliate, picking up 28 points in 57 games.  He last played in the NHL with Carolina in the 2013-14 season.

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