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Arbitration

Flyers Elect Salary Arbitration For Travis Sanheim

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It’s rare that we see a team elect salary arbitration with a player but even rarer that it happens twice in the same year.  That is indeed the case, however, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Flyers have elected arbitration with defenseman Travis Sanheim.  He joins Minnesota’s Kevin Fiala as those that were taken to arbitration today.

Sanheim is a particularly interesting case.  Two years ago, he was coming off a breakout season that saw him collect 35 points in 82 games but with his limited track record at the time, the two sides agreed on a two-year bridge contract that carried a $3.25MM AAV.  The expectation was that the deal would quickly become a bargain and that the now-25-year-old would be in line for a significant raise at its expiration.

However, that hasn’t exactly been the case.  Sanheim is coming off somewhat of a disappointing season, one that saw him notch just three goals with a dozen assists in 55 games despite averaging a career-high 21:53 per game.  When you factor in the 2019-20 campaign, he had 40 points in 124 games on his bridge deal.  Those numbers aren’t poor by any stretch but they’re also not numbers that should land a player the significant raise that it seemed like he’d be headed for two years ago.

While the filing will guarantee that Sanheim will be signed by the end of the month, it also permits him the opportunity to select the term of the contract should it get to a hearing.  Arbitration awards can only be one or two years so Sanheim could opt for the latter which would take him to UFA eligibility in the 2023 offseason.  A hearing will now be scheduled between August 11th and 26th but a deal can be agreed upon up until the beginning of the hearing; it used to be that a settlement could be reached at any time but that rule was changed in the last CBA.

Wild Elect Salary Arbitration For Kevin Fiala

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Minnesota and winger Kevin Fiala will be heading to salary arbitration after all.  While he wasn’t among the players to file for a hearing yesterday, the Wild announced (Twitter link) that they have elected to take Fiala to a hearing.

The 25-year-old is coming off a strong season that saw him notch 20 goals and 20 assists in 50 games, good for second on the team in scoring behind fellow RFA winger Kirill Kaprizov.  It was a strong follow up to his first full season with Minnesota in 2019-20 where he had 23 goals and 31 helpers in 64 games which has certainly bolstered Fiala’s value heading into these contract talks.  He was qualified at $3.5MM but stands to earn considerably more on his next contract.

There are a handful of different rules in place for club-elected versus player-elected arbitration.  The first is that no matter what the ruling is, Minnesota can’t walk away.  As Fiala was filed on, he gets to determine the term of the contract.  That’s certainly notable as he’s two years away from UFA eligibility and as a result of this decision from the Wild, he could simply opt to go to a hearing and elect the two-year term that would take him to the open market in 2023.  Not that it would happen here but Minnesota cannot offer less than Fiala’s salary from last season; teams that are filed on can go slightly lower.

Fiala will now be added to the list of players that will have an arbitration hearing scheduled from August 11th through the 26th.

17 Players File For Salary Arbitration

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At 4pm CT today, the deadline for players to file for salary arbitration passed. Once it did, the NHLPA released the full list of 17 players who have filed. That list:

Nikita Zadorov (CGY)
Dennis Gilbert (COL)
Adam Erne (DET)
Jakub Vrana (DET)
Michael McNiven (MTL)
Juuse Saros (NSH)
Dante Fabbro (NSH)
Adam Pelech (NYI)
Victor Mete (OTT)
Zach Aston-Reese (PIT)
Adin Hill (SJS)
Vince Dunn (SEA)
Zach Sanford (STL)
Ross Colton (TBL)
Jason Dickinson (VAN)
Andrew Copp (WPG)
Neal Pionk (WPG)

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet notes that the Boston Bruins also filed for team-elected arbitration with Brandon Carlo in the first window, but the two sides reached a six-year extension on last month. Other restricted free agents that are arbitration-eligible but did not file can still be taken to arbitration by their clubs. The second deadline for club-elected arbitration filing is August 2 at 4pm CT. Salary arbitration hearings will be held between August 11-26, but the two sides can continue to negotiate a contract up until the time of their hearing.

It is important to note that these players who have elected salary arbitration are no longer eligible to sign an offer sheet.

St. Louis Blues Sign Ivan Barbashev

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The St. Louis Blues have reached an agreement with Ivan Barbashev on a new two-year contract according to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey. Barbashev was a restricted free agent and eligible for salary arbitration this summer. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the contract will carry an average annual value of $2.25MM. PuckPedia reports that Barbashev will earn $1.9MM in 2021-22 and $2.5MM in 2022-23.

Even with the recent additions of Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich, there appears to be more playing time available in St. Louis this year for some of its young forwards. The team has bid farewell to Jaden Schwartz, Mike Hoffman and Sammy Blais, with trade rumors still swirling around Vladimir Tarasenko and Tyler Bozak still out there as an unrestricted free agent. Though it seems unlikely that Barbashev, a part-time center, would move into the top-six, he still should probably receive a bit more playing time than the 13 minutes he’s averaged to this point.

In 270 NHL games, Barbashev has scored just 89 points, but at least part of that is due to the defensive deployment that Craig Berube has always reserved for his line. The two-way forward has bought into the physical side of the game, and adds some positional flexibility by being able to line up in the middle or left wing. The fact that he spent more minutes playing with Kyle Clifford than any other player on the Blues last season suggests that there is room for offensive improvement if elevated in the lineup, but in his short stints with the more talented forwards he still hasn’t produced very much.

If there was a time for a breakout, it would be these two years, as Barbashev will actually be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this new contract. If he can set himself up as a reliable middle-six center, the number of interested teams would certainly be high.

For the Blues, deciding not to buy out any of Barbashev’s UFA years has kept the cap hit relatively low, and important move when the team still has Jordan Kyrou, Robert Thomas, and Zach Sanford to sign this summer. In fact, the team doesn’t have much room to operate with in those cases, unless of course, they move out a bigger contract like Tarasenko’s.

New York Rangers Sign Filip Chytil

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The New York Rangers have taken care of a little restricted free agent business, signing Filip Chytil to a two-year contract. Chytil was not eligible for salary arbitration. Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the contract will carry an average annual value of $2.3MM.

Now several years into his NHL career, Chytil has become a valuable part of the Rangers forward group even if his offensive production still hasn’t quite risen to expected levels. He registered eight goals and 22 points in 42 games this season while playing just over 13 minutes a night, mostly alongside young wingers Kaapo Kakko and Alexis Lafreniere. That trio, who are all 21-or-under, are an extremely important part of the future in New York but will all be expected to take a step forward this season.

In Chytil’s case specifically, the Rangers were not comfortable using him on the powerplay this season, which obviously limits his offensive potential. With Pavel Buchnevich gone, there may be more opportunity with the man-advantage, though it of course may not all go to Chytil. There is also the addition of a more traditional bottom-six option in Barclay Goodrow, one that may be able to take on heavy defensive minutes and allow players like Chytil to feast on weaker competition.

At the end of this contract Chytil will still be a restricted free agent, but will also be arbitration-eligible. If he wants to cash in on a big-money deal, he’ll have to put up improved scoring stats over the next two seasons. Still just 21, the first-round pick certainly has the talent to be a legitimate middle-six contributor. Now he just has to prove he can do it on a consistent basis.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Kiefer Sherwood

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The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed restricted free agent forward Kiefer Sherwood to a one-year contract. PuckPedia reports that the two-way deal is worth $750K in the NHL and $335K in the AHL, with a minor league guarantee of $365K. Sherwood was eligible for salary arbitration.

Now 26, Sherwood has played 76 NHL games over the past three seasons, including 16 with the Avalanche this year. He’s not a dominant piece at that level, but he is in the minor leagues, as he showed with ten goals and 16 points in ten games for the Colorado Eagles. Sherwood is a valuable depth piece, able to come into the lineup in a pinch and contribute, but he won’t be smashing down any doors for a full-time roster spot.

That is to say, as long as there is a better option in Colorado ahead of him. The team has just a handful of forwards under contract for next year, with Gabriel Landeskog, Brandon Saad, Liam O’Brien and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare all scheduled for unrestricted free agency. Joonas Donskoi was nabbed by the Seattle Kraken and Tyson Jost is an RFA, leaving just six other forwards under one-way contracts.

With the kind of cap crunch the Avalanche face from potential extensions for Landeskog and goaltender Philipp Grubauer, perhaps Sherwood’s league-minimum deal will actually be pretty appealing on the fourth line next season. At any rate, he’ll now be able to compete for playing time and earn a pretty healthy minor league salary even if he misses out on the NHL roster.

Free Agent Focus: New York Rangers

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Free agency is now just under a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. The Rangers are more concerned with the latter than the former, with few impending UFAs of note but quite a few impact RFAs.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Pavel Buchnevich – Buchnevich is one of four of the Rangers’ top-twelve scoring forwards without a contract for next season, alongside Chytil, Gauthier, and Di Giuseppe, but is by far the most important. Buchnevich finished third in per-game scoring for New York this year, behind only stars Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. His 48 points were two more than his 2019-20 total, but in 14 fewer games. Buchnevich’s consistent scoring paired with his defensive improvements and success on both special teams units led to an increase in ice time to 18:44 per game, top line minutes again behind only Zibanejad and Panarin. Buchnevich timed this breakout year well; the 26-year-old forward is now a restricted free agent with arbitration rights. This is not an aberration either, as Buchnevich has shown steady improvement throughout his career and is firmly established as a top-six forward with 20-goal and 50-point regularity. The Rangers will have no choice but to pay up, short-term or long-term, with an unfavorable arbitration decision, not to mention the animosity created by the process, as a looming threat.

G Igor Shesterkin – The Rangers may have two young goaltenders in the pros and a multitude of talented prospects in the pipeline, but make no mistake: Shesterkin is invaluable. The 25-year-old netminder has only played in 47 games across two seasons since coming over from the KHL, but has been superb with a .921 save percentage, 2.59 GAA, and a .611 points percentage in his decisions for a team that has played at a .552 clip over the past two years. Shesterkin is the best of the bunch in net in New York and the Rangers need to lock him up on a multi-year deal, regardless of his lack of NHL experience. Shesterkin’s arbitration eligibility ensures that they will have to pay him fairly as well. Shesterkin is close to unrestricted free agency and the worst thing the team could do is sign what looks to be a solid NHL starter to a short-term deal (or settle for an arbitration decision) only to see him continue to perform or even improve and then price himself out of town.

Other RFAs: F Filip Chytil, D Brandon Crawley, F Gabriel Fontaine, F Julien Gauthier, F Tim Gettinger, D Libor Hajek, G Adam Huska, F Patrick Newell, F Ty Ronning, D Yegor Rykov

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

D Brendan Smith – It wasn’t long ago that Smith’s contract was one of the most criticized in the NHL as he was buried in the minors in the first season of a four-year, $17.4MM deal with the Rangers. In the years since, he has somewhat recovered to become a good albeit still overpaid depth defenseman for New York. Smith has played in over 80% of the Rangers’ games over the past three seasons since his abysmal debut season, providing physicality and defensive stability and, for the first time in 2020-21, more secure puck-handling and a hint more offense. With a deep stable of talented young defensemen, the Rangers don’t need Smith. However, they could do far worse than someone with versatility, checking ability, and veteran experience as a depth option. He would come much cheaper this time around as well, as Smith is unlikely to have a competitive market as a free agent.

F Phil Di Giuseppe – At 27 years old with only 201 career games and 53 career points, Di Giuseppe has not much more than a depth option during his time in the NHL and likely won’t be. However, he proved to be valuable in that role in two seasons with New York, playing a gritty checking game and contributing some modest offense. Di Giuseppe’s success as a plug-and-play bottom-six forward is not limited to his time with the Rangers either, as some of his best seasons were playing the same role with the Carolina Hurricanes. As an affordable extra man, Di Giuseppe has value to the Rangers as an extension candidate, but he may be on the lookout for more opportunity rather than staying on a New York roster that is deep in young players in need of ice time and hoping to add more veterans this off-season.

Other UFAs: D Jack Johnson, D Darren Raddysh

Projected Cap Space

While Buchnevich and Shesterkin will earn considerable deals this summer and Chytil is deserving of a sizeable raise as well, the Rangers remain in good shape with the salary cap. They currently project to have $22.89MM in cap space with 18 players on the NHL roster, but that includes third-string goaltender Keith Kinkaid and cap charge for defenseman Anthony DeAngelo, who will be traded or at worst bought out in the off-season. A more accurate projection is closer to $25.5MM with 17 players on the roster. New deals for Gauthier, Hajek, and possibly Smith or Di Giuseppe (or replacements) should come cheap, leaving plenty of room to re-sign the key trio of RFA’s with room to spare to add another impact forward or two.

Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

New York Rangers Agree To Terms With Brett Howden

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The New York Rangers have agreed to terms with restricted free agent Brett Howden on a one-year contract. Howden was not eligible for salary arbitration. The one-way contract is worth $885K, according to Dan Rosen of NHL.com.

An extension for Howden at this point is less about what he can do for the Rangers lineup and more about what he means for the team’s expansion strategy. Getting him under contract means that the 23-year-old can serve as one of the exposure requirements for the upcoming draft, though that doesn’t guarantee that Seattle will be interested. The young forward was once an up-and-coming middle-six center with a bright future, but has played himself down and out of the Rangers lineup with an inconsistent approach. In 42 games this season he scored just a single goal, taking his total to 16 in 178 career games.

Sometimes, poor shooting luck is responsible for down years like the one Howden just experienced, and it is true that his 3% shooting percentage will likely be the lowest of his career. But he also posted dreadful possession metrics across the board, still couldn’t win a faceoff and generated just 54 shot attempts in 42 games. There’s a reason why his average ice time dropped to a career-low 12:34.

Despite all those struggles though, the fact that he comes with a first-round draft pedigree is still only 23 and did have a rather strong rookie season in 2018-19 does still make him an interesting bet for the Kraken or even another team. If there is even a chance that they can unlock the player that helped Team Canada to a World Junior gold medal in 2018, or the one who captained the Moose Jaw Warriors on a deep WHL playoff run, he could still be a valuable asset.

Anaheim Ducks Hire Jeff Solomon As Assistant GM, VP Of Hockey Ops

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A name well known to NHL hockey in Southern California is on the move, but isn’t going far. Long-time Los Angeles Kings executive Jeff Solomon has joined his former team’s most bitter rival. The Anaheim Ducks have formally announced Solomon as their new Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Hockey Operations. He fills the position left behind by the recently-retired David McNab. Solomon served as VP of Hockey Ops (later Senior VP and Executive VP) over 14 years across town with the Kings.

Solomon, 63, has spent 35 years in hockey, first as an agent and then with L.A. since 2007. His role with the Ducks will be very similar to how he served the Kings. Solomon will work primarily in “strategic budget planning”, managing the salary cap, negotiating contracts, and handling salary arbitration proceedings. Of course, Solomon will also have some input into player evaluations and personnel decisions.

A long-time Californian, Solomon oversaw two Stanley Cups ins L.A. but is now on to a new challenge in Anaheim. Whereas the Kings have considerable cap space heading into the off-season, the Ducks are more limited with only 15 regulars under contract, a number of restricted free agents in need of new contracts, and $22.555MM to add a much-needed boost of talent to the roster. With that said, Solomon also enters a situation where the organization has budding stars at forward and defense in Trevor Zegras and Jamie Drysdale, a deep pipeline at all positions, and a guaranteed top-four pick this year. His job of managing the cap will be made much easier if the Ducks impressive group of entry-level players all take a step forward next season.

 

Ondrej Kase Returns To Practice, Could Play For Boston This Week

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For the first time in 110 days, the Boston Bruins had winger Ondrej Kase back at practice on Friday. Kase suffered a concussion in just the second game of the season back on January 18, at least the fourth of his pro career, and had been unable to return to team activities ever since. There have been various reports for months about Kase skating, both independently and with the team, but he had never formally returned to practice. That changed yesterday, as the team reported that Kase was a full participant and taking line rushes. Head coach Bruce Cassidy addressed the excitement over Kase’s return by noting that Kase would not play on Saturday, but could return to the lineup in one or both of the Bruins final games on Monday and Tuesday – if he was feeling up to it.

Of course, expectations should be tempered for Kase’s return to game action after so much missed time. On talent alone, Kase likely has a spot in the lineup, even in the Bruins deep forward corps, but it will take him some time to get back up to speed. The former Anaheim Ducks standout was acquired last year in a deal that saw a first-round pick and promising prospect defenseman Axel Andersson head to Anaheim, so expectations have always been high for the 25-year-old forward. However, after missing eight games down the stretch and two in the playoffs last year due to injury (unrelated to concussions) and most of this season, Boston has still not seen much of Kase and may not rush him into the lineup. Playing in the final regular seasons games is a good start, but may not guarantee him a spot to begin the playoffs.

With that said, Kase did record four points in the postseason last year while showing chemistry with center David Krejci and playing top-six minutes for the Bruins through the team’s playoff run. While a spot next to Krejci may not be available right now, given the recent success that the veteran has had with Taylor Hall and Craig Smith, Kase could provide a spark to a third line that has not had as much luck. Kase split reps in practice on Friday at third-line right wing, skating with Sean Kuraly, Nick Ritchie, and Jake DeBrusk. Charlie Coyle will also be back in the third line mix when he returns from his own injury. With all but Coyle having spent time on the fourth line at times this season, Kase could prove himself worthy of a third line role thus knocking one of the others down the lineup. While injuries have prevented Kase from playing more than 66 games in any of his five NHL seasons, his 82-game pace during his time in Anaheim projected 20+ goals and 40 points while his posession stats have been consistently strong, numbers the Bruins can’t ignore for long if Kase is at full strength.

The Bruins face a series of difficult decisions this off-season regarding Kase and will certainly appreciate some added action this season with which to make their determination. A restricted free agent, Kase is owed a $2.6MM qualifying offer in order for Boston to retain his rights. While the club does not have the same serious salary cap issues as many other contenders, that is a sizeable amount of space to commit to a player that still remains such a mystery. If the Bruins do decide to qualify Kase, which is probably more likely than not, the next question will be how negotiations go from there. Does Kase accept his QO as a “show me” deal in 2021-22? Do the two sides discuss a multi-year extension, perhaps even at a lower AAV? Or does Kase instead file for salary arbitration and try go get more money based on his potential? The Bruins must also decide if Kase’s upside is worth protecting from the Seattle Kraken in the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft or if they can take the risk of the league’s newest team not selecting a player with an extensive injury history. There are more questions than answers when it comes to Kase, but both sides hope that his return to practice and possibly game action could lead to some playoff impact that helps to clarify the situation and lead to an extension in their relationship.

 

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