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Arbitration

Edmonton Oilers Sign Joey LaLeggia

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Though his arbitration hearing had been set for July 25th, Joey LaLeggia has reached a contract with the Edmonton Oilers according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The 25-year old has signed a one-year, two-way deal worth $700K at the NHL level. LaLeggia will almost certainly be a Group VI free agent at the conclusion of the contract—he’d have to play in 80 games this season to not qualify.

LaLeggia was a fifth-round selection out of the University of Denver, who has shown at every level of hockey that he could dominate offensively from the back end. That changed slightly this season when he was moved up for left wing after the Bakersfield Condors needed a scoring punch. His 20 goals came third on the team behind only Anton Lander and Josh Currie, two players who’ve played forward their whole life.

Undersized and still a bit lacking in the defensive zone, it’s unclear if LaLeggia’s future lies full-time at forward or if he still has a chance to make it on defense. If that offensive production continues when playing up front, and at the point on the powerplay perhaps he’ll even find his way up to the Oilers as a sort of utility man. The skill is definitely there, now it’s just a question of how to deploy it.

Atlantic Notes: Johnson, Tatar

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Will the length of Tyler Johnson’s contract come back to haunt the Bolts? The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell writes that while he’s only 26 and the numbers were below his value, Johnson may very well already be in decline. Though his numbers were would have been similar had they gone to arbitration, Campbell wonders if Johnson will put up the numbers that got him the deal. Should he get 55-60 points per season, Campbell believes it to be worth the money, calling it a steal. But if his regression continues? He just hopes for general manager Steve Yzerman’s sake that the Jonathan Drouin deal doesn’t come back to haunt him, either.

It’s no secret that Johnson has struggled to stay healthy. His numbers have fallen steadily since his career year in 2014-15 where he put up 72 points. His playoff numbers in consecutive seasons were also impressive, and most likely what secured him the contract. Campbell also believes that Johnson is dependent upon his linemates, and in spite of averaging 53 points in his first four seasons, there’s a lot riding on it for him, and the Lightning.

  • There’s more interesting takes coming out of Detroit regarding Tomas Tatar. The curious case of his negotiations began with him saying if he only gets a year, he’s done in Detroit. General manager Ken Holland all but shrugged it off, which led many to wonder just how motivated the Red Wings were to getting a long term deal done. The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James reports that the Red Wings are wary of giving Tatar a seven-year deal. This is somewhat understandable in the cap era with the exception of one point–Holland has been more than happy to offer long term deals to players who haven’t exactly produced to warrant them–with Justin Abdelkader being the best example. So with Tatar, it’s curious. The Detroit News’ Gregg Krupa goes a step further, writing that it’s essentially “cap malpractice” if Detroit isn’t paying him because they’re too bloated from other contracts. St. James adds that Tatar hasn’t produced like T.J. Oshie, or Tyler Johnson, but to be fair, Tatar hasn’t been surrounded with the talent the aforementioned have. Further, as Krupa points out, that if a deal isn’t worked out, it’s more evidence of roster mismanagement. Once the model franchise of the NHL, the Red Wings decision making continues to baffle. The team isn’t much improved from last season, they’re strapped financially, and they’re fighting with their leading scorer on a deal. It will be interesting to see how ownership reacts should the Red Wings struggle out of the gate, especially with Holland making it a priority to make the playoffs.

RFA Arbitration Hearings Begin Soon

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Although it’s likely that many of these restricted free-agents come to terms with their teams before the hearing dates, the list of set dates has been released. Last year, only one RFA actually made it to their date without a deal. We should see more players actually make it to the arbitration process this year, but how many is unclear. It could be zero, or it could be five.

That said, these arbitration hearings begin in only 11 days, so the crunch is on. Teams will hope to hammer out details with players they hope to lock in for longer than two years. PHR published a preview highlighting players most likely to see a massive pay-raise, but arbitration by its nature can be rather capricious.

According theScore’s Cody Wilkins, the set dates are as follows:

 

July 20 – Tyler Johnson (Tampa Bay), Colton Parayko (St. Louis), Tomas Tatar (Detroit)

July 21 – Ryan Dzingel (Ottawa), Michael Chaput (Vancouver)

July 22 – Micheal Ferland (Calgary), Viktor Arvidsson (Nashville)

July 24 – Austin Watson (Nashville), Brian Dumoulin (Pittsburgh)

July 25 – Joey LaLeggia (Edmonton), Mika Zibanejad (NY Rangers), Ondrej Palat (Tampa Bay)

July 26 – Jordan Martinook (Arizona), Ryan Spooner (Boston)

July 27 – Robin Lehner (Buffal0), Marek Mazanec (Nashville)

July 28 – Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Ottawa)

July 31 – Matt Nieto (Colorado)

August 1 – Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg), Reid Boucher (Vancouver)

August 2 – Calvin de Haan (NY Islanders), Kevin Gravel (Los Angeles)

August 3 – Nate Schmidt (Vegas), Nino Niederreiter (Minnesota)

August 4 – Mikael Granlund (Minnesota), Conor Sheary (Pittsburgh), Nathan Beaulieu (Buffalo)

The Latest On Tomas Tatar’s Negotiations

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One of the bigger names still waiting on a deal is the Detroit Red Wings’ Tomas Tatar, who is due a huge raise. All has been quiet in Detroit outside of the fact that Tatar filed for arbitration, which was suspected. But George Malik, of Kuklas Korner, found this interview that shed some light on what’s going on between Detroit and Tatar:

“Arbitration is the last option, I have to sign off, it’s just a mandatory contract. Unless I agree with Detroit, I’ll go to the court, where they’ll give me a year’s contract. That would probably be my last season in Detroit. We’ll see in a few days or weeks before it all comes together,” said Tatar.

The Athletic’s Craig Custance looks further into the issue, pointing out that should Detroit only sign Tatar to a year, it would certainly help the rebuilding process in terms of what Tatar could rein in at the deadline. At the same time, he wonders why the Red Wings, who already have an overabundance of bad contracts, would want to extend Tatar for a long time when the team is clearly not going to be anywhere near contender status in the near future.  But Custance, after getting a “no comment” from general manager Ken Holland, makes a very astute point:

Put another way, only 30 NHL players have scored more goals in that three-year span than Tatar. That comes with a cost, and for an organization that was willing to pay Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm and Gustav Nyquist market value, this would be the odd one in which to take a hard line on.

Apr 17, 2016; Detroit, MI, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning goalie <a rel=

The money owed to Helm and Abdelkader alone makes this perplexing to any Red Wings fan. Both received generous offers in comparison to their ho-hum production. Tatar is a slam dunk. If the Red Wings are truly “rebuilding on the fly,” as Holland as said for has nearly been five seasons, he finds a way to extend Tatar for multiple years. But this team isn’t set up to do much. Though the Athletic’s Sean Tierney shows that the Red Wings made slight gains in goal scoring, it’s just that: slight. Detroit has the fourth oldest roster in hockey, which only pushes the notion that they should be looking to get younger.

The Red Wings, whether or not the front office wants to admit it, are a shell of what they once were. Though Holland’s goal is to make the playoffs next season, he’s returning a roster that is nearly identical to the same squad who mustered just 79 points. That seems like a farfetched goal. But if the playoffs are truly in their crosshairs, Tatar’s signing is a critical piece to returning.

 

Snapshots: Hyman, Mazanec, Faksa, Avalanche

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The Maple Leafs handed out a four-year contract for one of their depth players on Wednesday, inking Zach Hyman to a $9MM deal. While the deal will keep him as one of the lower paid forwards on the team, CapFriendly reports that it also includes a limited no-trade clause in the final two seasons.

Hyman will submit a list of ten teams that the Maple Leafs cannot trade him to, a clause it seems is included in every contract given out this year. The 25-year old winger grew up a Leafs fan in Toronto and has strong ties to the community, and has been clear this is where he wants to play out his career if possible.

  • Marek Mazanec has cleared waivers, giving the Nashville Predators even more leverage in his soon to be scheduled arbitration hearing. The Maple Leafs employed a similar tactic with Peter Holland last season before his arbitration hearing, eventually signing him to a $1.3MM deal that was closer to their submitted $900K offer than his requested $2.1MM. The Minnesota Wild did a similar thing with Jordan Schroeder before getting him to agree to a two-way deal. It had been previously suggested that the Predators were going to move on from Mazanec, but after issuing him a qualifying offer and him filing for arbitration, it’s unclear where the two sides stand.
  • Sean Shapiro of NHL.com speculates that Radek Faksa’s next deal will be of the bridge variety and come in around $2.5MM per season. The young center is coming off his first full season with the Dallas Stars, in which he registered 33 points and became a big part of their forward group. The 23-year old is still not arbitration eligible, and is several years away from unrestricted free agency. A bridge deal of two years would allow both sides to re-evaluate where his career stands at 25, and negotiate a long-term deal that would buy out free agent years. The Stars also don’t have much cap room for anything longer, as they find themselves close to the upper limit after signing Martin Hanzal and Alexander Radulov.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have hired Ray Bennett as an assistant coach, and Jussi Parkkila as the team’s new goaltending coach. Parkkila has been rumored for a while, as he is close with Semyon Varlamov and has worked extensively with him in the past. Bennett on the other hand comes from the St. Louis Blues organization after a decade with the club, and brings a long track record of NHL experience.

Mark Pysyk Signs Three-Year Deal With Florida Panthers

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The Florida Panthers have re-signed one of their defensemen, inking Mark Pysyk to a three-year deal worth $8.2MM. Pysyk was an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, but did not file yesterday before the deadline. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the deal.Mark Pysyk

Pysyk came to the Panthers last offseason in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres, sending Dmitry Kulikov back the other way. After an incredibly poor season, Kulikov secured a three-year deal of his own worth $13MM from the Winnipeg Jets, one that will be interesting to compare to Pysyk’s new deal over the next few years.

In Florida, Pysyk became a huge part of their penalty kill unit and skated in all 82 games, finally proving that he’s a full-time NHL player. While his offense still leaves something to the imagination, he can capably recover pucks and get them out of his own end. In that way, he’s a perfect fit as a bottom-pairing defensive defenseman for the Panthers, slotted in behind the more offensively-minded players like Keith Yandle and Jason Demers.

Speaking of Demers, rumors have popped up lately about the possibility of a trade out of Florida after just one year of his new contract, and signing Pysyk for a few more years might help them facilitate that. The Panthers now have five other capable defenders in Pysyk, Yandle, Aaron Ekblad, Alex Petrovic and Michael Matheson, with Ian McCoshen and MacKenzie Weegar both pushing for playing time. Whether it is Demers or someone else, there is a possibility Florida moves out one of their defenseman before the season begins.

CapFriendly gave us the details on the contract.

Vegas Golden Knights Sign Teemu Pulkkinen

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After a season that saw Teemu Pulkkinen put on waivers on several occasions and spend time with three different organizations, he has a new home for 2017-18. Pulkkinen, the Vegas Golden Knights’ selection from the Arizona Coyotes in the expansion draft has signed a one-year deal with the club for $700K. He was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, but did not file before yesterday’s deadline. Teemu Pulkkinen

An incredible AHL scorer, Pulkkinen has received very little opportunity in the NHL throughout his career. While he possesses a huge shot and scoring instincts that can create offense all by himself, his skating ability has been critiqued at times along with his defensive responsibility. Last year, he scored 36 points in 47 games with the Iowa Wild after being selected off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings, only to be later traded to Arizona.

In the desert, Pulkkinen played just four games while being a healthy scratch several times. Through 83 NHL games in his career, he has 22 points but certainly will get a chance with the Golden Knights who will likely be desperate for goal scoring of any sort. Many of the forwards they chose have limited offensive upside, but Pulkkinen will surely produce at some rate if given the opportunity.

Vegas now has three restricted free agents remaining in Nate Schmidt (who filed for arbitration), Griffen Reinhart and Brendan Leipsic.

Snapshots: Kane, Mazanec, Dineen

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In one of the latest examples of using analytics to suss out extra information about the NHL’s top players, Travis Yost of TSN tries to determine who the league’s best overall shooter. Combining both volume and shooting percentage, Yost comes to a conclusion of Chicago’s Patrick Kane as the top sniper.

Interestingly, seeing names like Jannik Hansen on the bottom of the list underlines why analytics are such a divisive subject around the hockey world. While some teams may see that as an opportunity for an under-utilized scorer, others may point to his inclusion as evidence that the “eye-test” is more reliable. Whatever you believe, the article is an interesting look into what makes an elite shooting threat in today’s NHL.

  • Marek Mazanec finds himself on waivers today according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, just a day after filing for arbitration with the team. The Predators were expected to part ways with Mazanec after signing Anders Lindback and Matt O’Connor, making his arbitration filing odd in the first place. Though Lavoie did not expand on the transaction, the waivers could precede a release from the organization though why the team extended him a qualifying offer in the first place is still unclear.
  • The Rochester Americans have hired an assistant coach to work with Chris Taylor this season, bringing Gord Dineen in from the Toronto Marlies. Dineen has been in the AHL as an assistant or head coach for the past 15 years, and will join his eighth different club. The Amerks will try to turn things around under new leadership, as recently Randy Sexton was lured from the Pittsburgh Penguins to be the club’s new GM.

Philipp Grubauer Re-Signs With Washington Capitals

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The Washington Capitals have reached an agreement with another arbitration eligible player, signing goaltender Philipp Grubauer to a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Grubauer didn’t file for player-elected arbitration yesterday, which was a clear sign the two sides were closing in on a deal. Washington now has dealt with all of their restricted free agents except for Liam O’Brien, who does not have arbitration rights.

It looked like the Capitals would be in trouble this season getting all of their restricted free agents under contract, but after losing Nate Schmidt to Vegas and trading Marcus Johansson to New Jersey, the team has everyone signed with a few million to spare in cap space. They’ll have to still make some small additions to the fringe of their roster, but have all the big names locked in.

For Grubauer, this deal actually will leave him as a restricted free agent one more time next summer. If he can perform in a similar fashion to this season, he will deserve even more money and could price himself out of Washington’s plans. Grubauer put up a .926 save percentage last season in 23 games, placing him among the elite backups of the league. That mark was actually slightly better than Braden Holtby, making the tandem one of the best in the NHL.

The 25-year old Grubauer is ready for a bigger role in the NHL, and according to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post didn’t file for arbitration because he did not want the Capitals to pick a two-year term for him. Though that would take him to unrestricted free agency, it would also lock him in as a cheap backup for an extra year. With more leverage next summer, he may be in line to be moved out before he earns a bigger reward.

RFAs Headed For Payday In Arbitration

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As the list of the players who have filed for arbitration was released earlier today by the NHLPA, a few names stick out as those due a meaningful raise. Arbitration is a tricky process to reliably predict, but it’s a safe bet these names will see their cap hit rise substantially.

 

Brian Dumoulin – D – Pittsburgh Penguins

There was a time when the young Dumoulin was a well-kept secret in the league, overshadowed by the far flashier play of Kris Letang. Dumoulin’s accolades this last playoff year certainly didn’t go unnoticed, and as the lone defensive defenseman in their core group, he probably holds the greatest job security on the team’s blueline. He doesn’t put up points – only one goal in the last two seasons, but he blocks shots and drives possession while eating a ton of minutes against top competition. As analytics are utilized more and more, his case only gets stronger. A contract well over $4 MM is certainly looking possible.

Colton Parayko – D – St. Louis Blues

This is the name seen most commonly associated with offer-sheets this summer, and with good reason. Parayko plays with the mentality of an old-time defenseman, but he can skate quite well for a large (6’6) man. He’s only had two seasons in the NHL, but he’s impressed since he first took the ice. Again, he isn’t a massive offensive force (he scored 3 goals last season), but he’s already averaging over 21 minutes a night with near equal starts in both the offensive and defensive zone. He’ll be hurt by the quantifiable stats factor, but he’s a big body with a rare right-handed shot to boot. This contract could look relatively cheap compared to his next, if he continues along this course. He should cost around $5.5 MM.

Ondrej Palat – F – Tampa Bay Lightning

Others will look to the undersized center Tyler Johnson as most likely to get a payday. But don’t over look Palat’s consistency – it may give him an edge with arbiters. Johnson does have his 72 point campaign to lean on, but that was now two full seasons ago. The fact that both players couldn’t break 20 goals in the last two seasons will bring their prices back down to Earth. Palat has grown into his role on the team and back-checks with a ferocity not often seen in younger stars. Johnson is no slouch either – they’ve both accumulated Selke votes over the years. These are two pivotal pieces of the Lightning, and their upcoming contracts were a big reason Jonathan Drouin was traded away to Montreal. GM Steve Yzerman will happily lock both up, but he will be hoping for figures under the $6 MM mark.

Viktor Arvidsson – F – Nashville Predators

This would have been an unlikely name on such a list even last December, when you consider how truly meteoric Arvidsson’s rise was. His value in arbitration will be deeply interesting – the shifty winger has played himself into the core of the team within a season. He really only has 2016-17 and the long playoff run to hang his hat on, as he scored only 16 points through 56 games in 2015-16. This year was a remarkable offensive explosion, with 30 goals and 31 assists. At only 5’9, Arvidsson has really shocked many onlookers by how easily he’s adapted to the physicality of the NHL game. His talent has never been in question, and with his production now well-established, it’s safe to believe he’s going to get a cushy award. How bad the damage will be is going to affect Nashville’s cap going forward – I suspect over $5 MM, but there are few comparables.

Mikael Granlund – F – Minnesota Wild

Granlund is perhaps slightly more enticing league wide than fellow Wild RFA Nino Niederreiter. He’s a marginally more cerebral player, and he plays the valuable center position. Neiderreiter is the more natural goal-scorer and larger frame, but Granlund has better PPG and has broken 30 assists thrice. Both players will get paid, as they both broke 25 goals last season and will be important pieces in the State of Hockey for some time. I think the more interesting thing to watch here is whether the Wild play it safe with Granlund and take a one year deal, or attempt to lock him up for longer. This was the first season he really scored with any consistency, but the Wild have shown their faith in the player by continually giving him over 17 minutes of icetime even when he struggled to produce. A one-year would easily command over $5 MM, whereas a longer deal could bring cost down.

 

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