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Snapshots: Hedman, McRae, Predators

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Even with the recent decision in the NBA of Kevin Durant heading to the Golden State Warriors to create a ’super-team’, it’s still not very often that you see superstars take less money to stay in a place they feel comfortable. That’s what happened the past two weeks, as both Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman re-signed for eight years (and considerably less money than expected) with the Tampa Bay Lightning, in part because of their personal bond. When talking to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN, Stamkos said just as much:

“Victor and I are extremely close friends. We came up in this organization as 18-year-old kids. To say that we’re going to be together for the long run, and on one team, that’s something special. A big reason why both of us stuck around is because of the relationship that we have as teammates and as friends as well.”

To see two superstars leave some money on the table and not even hit free agency is a rare one indeed in today’s sporting world, but we may be about to catch it again in Calgary.  Pending RFAs Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan have expressed a similar sentiment, and hope to be together for ’the next ten years’. Here’s more from around the league:

  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have brought in former London Knight general manager Basil McRae to become their director of player personnel, according to a team release. After capturing the 2016 Memorial Cup, McRae will return to the club he worked for in 2013-14 this time in a more advanced role. With the signing, the Blue Jackets have also announced two promotions, Ville Siren moves from pro scout to director of amateur scouting, and Josef Boumedienne moves from pro scout to director of European scouting.
  • After being knocked out in the second round by the San Jose Sharks, the Nashville Predators came into the offseason with the plan to get faster on the back end. Buying out Barret Jackman after just his first year with the club was the first move towards that end, and bringing in Yannick Weber to replace him was the next. For what it’s worth, Weber seems to have turned down more money in Europe to stay in the NHL, according to Adam Vignan of the Tennessean.  Weber took a minimum deal of $575K to secure an NHL job with Nashville.
  • Flyers prospect Philippe Myers underwent hip surgery on Wednesday, and will not be participating in the Philadelphia development camp, according to GM Ron Hextall.  Myers went undrafted out of Rouyn-Noranda in 2014-15, but exploded onto the scene last season with 45 points from the back end. He’ll now try and work his way back from surgery to return to the Flyers’ future plans.

Ducks Sign Jeff Schultz To Two-Way Deal

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According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, veteran defenseman Jeff Schultz will try to break back into the NHL with the Anaheim Ducks in 2016-17. The free agent has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the club.

From 2007-2012, Schultz was a mainstay on the Washington Capitals’ back-end, suiting up in 335 contests over the five seasons. In 2009-10 he even garnered some Norris votes as one of the leagues’ best defensemen after putting up a +50 rating and tallying what would be a career high 23 points.

His career has taken a sharp downturn in recent years however, as the former first round pick has only played in 36 NHL games over the past four seasons due to a combination of injury and ineffectiveness. The last year of his contract was bought out by Washington in 2013.

Once a solid contributor at both ends of the rink,Schultz has played well the last two seasons in the American Hockey League, but has only gotten a handful of opportunities in the NHL.  This will be one of the 30-year old’s last chances, and he’ll have to fight through a deep, young defense corps to do it.

Jared Boll Signs Two-Year Deal With Anaheim

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Jared Boll is off to the west coast, as according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, the Anaheim Ducks are the free agent forward’s likely landing spot.  Eric Stephens of the Orange County Register confirmed the signing and gives us the financial details: Boll will receive a two-year deal that pays him $900K per season.

One of the league’s preeminent tough guys, Boll has 154 regular season NHL fights under his belt in during his nine year career.  He has scored only 27 goals and 62 points across his 518 games.

After landing Boll, Anaheim will be even more dangerous with their fists; the team led the NHL in fighting majors last season with 42, and have brought back noted tough-guy coach Randy Carlyle to head the bench next season.

Boll would likely fill the same roll he always has, playing under eight minutes a night but providing some protection for the star players of his team. Anaheim seems like the perfect landing spot, as they continue to develop a young, mobile defense corps, and still have elite scoring talents up front.

Ducks To Sign Mason Raymond

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The Anaheim Ducks have reportedly agreed to terms with Mason Raymond on a one year, two-way deal.  Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that Raymond will make $675K at the NHL level and $225K in the AHL.  Dean Molberg of the FAN 960 was the first to report Raymond had signed in Anaheim.

Raymond spent the last two seasons with Calgary after signing a three year deal with the Flames in the 2014 offseason.  Last year, he picked up four goals and an assist in 29 NHL games before being waived and sent to Stockton of the AHL.  He was much better at that level, picking up six goals and nine helpers in 15 games.

The Flames opted to buy out the final year of Raymond’s contract at a cost and cap hit of $1.05MM for each of the next two seasons.

Raymond’s best season came with Toronto in 2013-14 where he played under Randy Carlyle, who was named Anaheim’s head coach last month.

The Ducks have several vacancies up front and Raymond could presumably fit in anywhere from the second to fourth lines.  However, the fact that he received a two-way deal would suggest that GM Bob Murray intends to bring in several more players this offseason to fight for those roles and that Raymond’s spot on the roster is far from a guarantee.

Examining What’s Left Of The Goalie Market

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What was already a thin goalie market to begin with has gotten even thinner just a few days into free agency.  Only two goalies remain on our Top 50 UFA list, Karri Ramo and Jhonas Enroth.

While there aren’t many notable goalies still available, there aren’t many vacancies to fill either.  Here is a closer look at each team’s goaltending situation:

Anaheim: John Gibson, Dustin Tokarski, Matt Hackett
Arizona: Mike Smith, Louis Domingue, Justin Peters
Boston: Tuukka Rask, Anton Khudobin, Malcolm Subban
Buffalo: Robin Lehner, Anders Nilsson, Linus Ullmark
Calgary: Brian Elliott, Chad Johnson, Jon Gillies
Carolina: Cam Ward, Eddie Lack, Daniel Altshuller
Chicago: Corey Crawford, Scott Darling, Lars Johansson
Colorado: Semyon Varlamov, Calvin Pickard (RFA), Jeremy Smith
Columbus: Sergei Bobrovsky, Curtis McElhinney, Joonas Korpisalo
Dallas: Kari Lehtonen, Antti Niemi, Maxime Lagace
Detroit: Petr Mrazek (RFA), Jimmy Howard, Jared Coreau (RFA)
Edmonton: Cam Talbot, Jonas Gustavsson, Laurent Brossoit
Florida: Roberto Luongo, James Reimer, Reto Berra
Los Angeles: Jonathan Quick, Jeff Zatkoff, Peter Budaj
Minnesota: Devan Dubnyk, Darcy Kuemper (RFA), Alex Stalock
Montreal: Carey Price, Al Montoya, Mike Condon
Nashville: Pekka Rinne, Marek Mazanec, Jusse Saros
New Jersey: Cory Schneider, Keith Kinkaid, Scott Wedgewood
NY Islanders: Jaroslav Halak, Thomas Greiss, J-F Berube (RFA)
NY Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist, Antti Raanta, Magnus Hellberg
Ottawa: Craig Anderson, Andrew Hammond, Matt O’Connor
Philadelphia: Steve Mason, Michal Neuvirth, Anthony Stolarz
Pittsburgh: Marc-Andre Fleury, Matt Murray, Tristan Jarry
San Jose: Martin Jones, Mantis Armalis, Aaron Dell
St. Louis: Jake Allen, Carter Hutton, Jordan Binnington (RFA)
Tampa Bay: Ben Bishop, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kristers Gudlevskis
Toronto: Frederik Andersen, Jonathan Bernier, Garret Sparks
Vancouver: Ryan Miller, Jacob Markstrom, Thatcher Demko
Washington: Braden Holtby, Philipp Grubauer, Joe Cannata
Winnipeg: Ondrej Pavelec, Michael Hutchinson, Connor Hellebuyck

In terms of starting goalie vacancies, there really aren’t any.  It’s believed that Dallas would like to improve their starter but they already have over $10MM committed to their tandem so any goalie they acquire would have to see one of Lehtonen or Niemi sent the other way.  That could be a problem for teams like Pittsburgh or Tampa Bay who could potentially part with their veterans (Fleury and Bishop respectively) but wouldn’t want someone else making #1 money coming back the other way.

As for backup openings, Anaheim and San Jose are in need of a new #2 after losing Andersen and Reimer respectively this offseason.  While Ramo and Enroth are the best of who’s still available, there are a trio of other goalies on the UFA market that have some backup experience in Joni Ortio, Ben Scrivens, and Anders Lindback.

If those teams can’t come to terms with (or don’t want to sign) any of those players, there are a handful of teams with a surplus between the pipes.  While the Jets re-signed Hutchinson earlier this offseason, Hellebuyck showed last year that he’s ready for full-time NHL duty which could make Hutchinson expendable.  Condon was supposed to be a backup last year but due to injuries played in 55 games in 2015-16.  However, his spot appears to have been filled with the addition of Montoya which could make Condon available.  The Panthers have a trio of goalies with NHL experience and could potentially part with Berra although he is insurance for Luongo whose hip injury has his availability to start next season in question.

While there are still several strong forwards and defensemen available, the same can’t be said for goalies.  Aside from the Ducks and Sharks adding a backup and some teams signing their restricted free agents, it’s shaping up to be a quiet few months in terms of news between the pipes.

RFAs Still Waiting On Contracts

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After a busy few days watching free agent contracts be handed out like candy, and millions of dollars spent like pennies, there are still some key restricted free agents out there negotiating their next contracts.  Vincent Trocheck, Filip Forsberg and Seth Jones have already received deals eclipsing $25MM, locking them in long before they even get a sniff of unrestricted free agency.  Here are a few more names still waiting on deals:

For the entire list of RFA players, and the projected depth charts for each team head to Roster Resource and check out their detailed info.

Pacific Division Notes: Puljujärvi, Lindholm, Vegas GM

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Edmonton Oilers fourth overall pick RW Jesse Puljujärvi is not taking part in the on-ice portion of the team’s rookie camp in Jasper, AB, after undergoing knee surgery following the U-18 World Championships. Puljujärvi expects to be “good to go” in a month, meaning he’ll be ready for training camp in September.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • The Anaheim Ducks did not take part in the madness that was the opening of free agency, but still have some serious work to do this summer. Number one defenceman Hampus Lindholm and third line center Rickard Rakell still need to be signed. Lindholm will be looking for a long-term deal over a more team-friendly bridge contract, but the Ducks will want to get him under contract before another team decides to offer-sheet him. While there hasn’t been an offer sheet since the bizarre Ryan O’Reilly situation between Colorado and Calgary in February 2012, the Ducks won’t want to risk exposing their number one defenceman to an expensive offer sheet, which they would almost certainly match despite being a budget team.
  • The Las Vegas expansion franchise wants to name a General Manager before the end of the month, according to a report on NHL.com. Owner Bill Foley said he’d like the team to come up with three to five candidates to interview, and the team is working with the NHL to properly contact teams about potential candidates. Foley also revealed that the team’s nickname and color scheme will be unveiled in the fall.

Jamie McGinn Signs With Coyotes

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Pierre LeBrun reports that the Arizona Coyotes have agreed to a three-year, $10MM deal with power forward Jamie McGinn. The signing provides some veteran toughness up front for a young Coyotes team. McGinn stays in the division, after having been dealt to the Anaheim Ducks at last season’s trade deadline.

McGinn, who was originally a second-round pick of the San Jose Sharks back in 2006, is coming off the best offensive season of his career in which he scored 22 goals and racked up 39 points.  The 27-year old is a presence in the corners, using his large frame to remove defenders from pucks and develop a strong cycle.

For Arizona, McGinn will represent a veteran piece up front as they look to build around their young core of forwards. His $3.3MM cap hit instantly becomes the third highest of the forward group, behind Antoine Vermette and the recently retired Pavel Datsyuk.

Even if McGinn isn’t the offense powerhouse that his numbers may imply, he is a solid contributor that will add some consistency to the young Arizona lineup and comes at a reasonable cap number.

Pacific Notes: Canucks, Ducks, Coyotes

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Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning found out talk isn’t so cheap after all. The NHL fined Benning $50,000 for his comments regarding Steven Stamkos and P.K. Subban reports Navin Vaswani. According to the report, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said that Benning violated By-Law 15 for speaking about his interest in other teams’ players. Sports Illustrated’s Allan Muir writes that while the comments may seem harmless, it’s the willingness to express signing desires for “public consumption” that landed Benning a fine.

Other Pacific Division Notes:

  • The Ducks have indeed been talking with the Red Wings about Cam Fowler writes Mike Halford. The news was also reported by The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. The Ducks would be a perfect trade partner for the Red Wings as they recently re-signed Sami Vatanen and could move Fowler’s reasonable contract that has a $4MM cap hit. After the Wings balked at the apparent price for Kevin Shattenkirk, which included Dylan Larkin. Fowler has also been linked with Buffalo.
  • Sarah McLellan writes that new Coyotes general manager John Chayka says that the Pavel Datsyuk contract poses no issues for the organization. Chayka indicates that he wouldn’t have made the move had it hindered the ’Yotes financially. But because Datysuk retired from the NHL, there is no payment attached to the contract. Instead, the Coyotes absorb the $7.5MM cap hit. McLellan also writes that the possibility of gaining a defenseman of Jakob Chychrun’s caliber was too good to pass up. As a result, they agreed to take on the contract. McLellan also spoke to Chayka about acquiring defenseman Anthony DeAngelo from Tampa Bay, an Arizona target for quite some time.

Full List of Players Who Did Not Receive a Qualifying Offer

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The deadline to make a qualifying offer to a restrict free agent ended at 5pm today. Below is a list of players who did not receive an offer and sorted by team for easy reference. Any player that did not receive a qualifying offer is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

(as of writing the Toronto Maple Leafs were the only team not to confirm which players received QOs)

Anaheim Ducks

F Matt Bailey, F Brandon Pirri, F Charles Sarault, D Kevin Gagne, and D Martin Gernat.

Arizona Coyotes

F Sergei Plotnikov, , D Philip Samuelsson, F Christian Thomas, D Kevin Connauton, D Jarred Tinordi, D Klas Dahlbeck, and G Niklas Treutle

Boston Bruins

F Landon Ferraro and F Brett Connolly.

Buffalo Sabres

F Alex Guptill, F Colin Jacobs, F Jack Nevins, and Nathan Lieuwen.

Calgary Flames

F Kenny Agostino, F Bill Arnold, F Joe Colborne, F Turner Elson, F Josh Jooris, F Drew Shore, F Bryce Van Brabant, G Joni Ortio, and Kevin Poulin.

Carolina Hurricanes

F Zach Boychuk, F Anthony Camara, F Dane Fox, F Carter Sandlak, F Justin Shugg, D Danny Biega, D Michal Jordan, D Rasmus Rissanen, and G Rasmus Tirronen.

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