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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.

Training Camp Cuts: 09.28.16

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We’re now nearly a week into training camps, and with the first few exhibition games played, expect to see more rounds of cuts as teams narrow down roster hopefuls.

Here are the cuts for today:

New York Islanders (per team Twitter account):
D David Quenneville (to Medicine Hat, WHL)
D Mitchell Vande Sompel (to Oshawa, OHL)
D Parker Wotherspoon (to Tri-City, WHL)

Philadelphia Flyers (per Dave Issac):
G Mark Dekanich (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)
C Chris McCarthy (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)
D Maxim Lamarche (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)
G Martin Ouellette (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)
D Jesper Pettersson (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)
RW Steve Swavely (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)
C Kevin Sundher (to Lehigh Valley, AHL)

Pittsburgh Penguins (per team release):
F James McEwan (to Guelph, OHL)
D Brandon Crawley (to London, OHL)
D Connor Hall (to Kitchener, OHL)

St. Louis Blues (per Jeremy Rutherford)
F Jordan Kyrou (to Sarnia, OHL)
F Filip Helt (to Sarnia, OHL)
F Adam Musil (to Red Deer, WHL)

Ottawa Senators (per team release):
D Maxime Lajoie (to Swift Current, WHL)
F Logan Brown (to Windsor, OHL)
F Filip Chlapik (to Charlottetown, QMJHL)

Minnesota Wild (per team Twitter):
D Gustav Bouramman (to Sault Ste. Marie, OHL)

Arizona Coyotes (per team release):
D Kyle Capobianco (to Sudbury, OHL)
D Cam Dineen (to North Bay, OHL)
C Lane Pederson (to Swift Current, WHL)
D Jalen Smereck (to Oshawa, OHL)

Edmonton Oilers (per team Twitter):
D Ben Betker (to Bakersfield, AHL)
RW Greg Chase (to Bakersfield, AHL)
LW Braden Christoffer (to Bakersfield, AHL)
C Josh Currie (AHL contract, assigned to Bakersfield, AHL)
LW Ryan Hamilton (AHL contract, assigned to Bakersfield, AHL)
C Kyle Platzer (to Bakersfield, AHL)
RW Patrick Russell (to Bakersfield, AHL)
C Ryan Vesce (released from PTO)

Vancouver Canucks (per team news release)
LW Darren Archibald (AHL contract, assigned to Utica, AHL)
G Kevin Carr (released from PTO, invited to Utica, AHL)
C Cole Cassels (assigned to Utica, AHL)
LW Derek Hulak (assigned to Utica, AHL)
LW Yan-Pavel Laplante (assigned to Utica, AHL)
D Evan McEneny (assigned to Utica, AHL)
LW Danny Moynihan (released from PTO, invited to Utica, AHL)
D John Negrin (AHL contract, assigned to Utica, AHL)
C Marc-Olivier Roy (released from PTO, invited to Utica, AHL)
D Mackenze Stewart (assigned to Utica, AHL)
C Curtis Valk (AHL contract, assigned to Utica, AHL)

Calgary Flames (per team release)
C Mikkel Aagaard (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
C Mike Angelidis (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
C Matt Bailey (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
D Riley Bruce (assigned to North Bay, OHL)
LW Jamie Devane (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
C Dillon Dubé (assigned to Kelowna, WHL)
D Stepan Falkovsky (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
D Keegan Kanzig (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
G Mason McDonald (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
C Brett Pollock (assigned to Stockton, AHL)
RW Eetu Tuulola (assigned to Everett, WHL)

Columbus Blue Jackets (per Aaron Portzline)
RW Vitali Abramov (assigned to Gatineau, QMJHL)
LW Francis Beauvillier (released from tryout)
G Jeremy Brodeur (released from tryout)
D Stephen Gibson (released from tryout)
D Sam Ruopp (assigned to Prince George, WHL)
RW Kole Sherwood (assigned to London, OHL)
LW Calvin Thurkauf (assigned to Kelowna, WHL)

Montreal Canadiens (via team Twitter)
RW Giovanni Fiore (assigned to Cape Breton, QMJHL)

Snapshots: World Cup Buzz, Shaw, Trouba

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Team Canada is one game away from winning the World Cup of Hockey after defeating Team Europe in Game One of the Finals on Tuesday night, but there was something noticeably missing in Toronto: a loud crowd.

Canada won 3-1 against Team Europe’s “best game of the tournament”, despite playing “nonchalant” according to TSN’s Frank Seravalli. However, the lack of a natural rivalry between them and a mixture of eight smaller European countries, combined with the relative ease with which Canada has rolled through this tournament lead to empty seats and a less-than-enthusiastic atmosphere.

Canadian defenseman Alex Pietrangelo told Greg Wyshnyski that “once the game got going, the excitement was there. But you play against the Americans, you play against the Russians, and it’s obviously different.”

Steven Stamkos noticed it too, saying the team’s other games had “away fans that were creating some noise. This was probably the team that had the least amount of support, just because of the makeup of the team in the tournament to start with.”

It’s unfortunate to see the relative lack of interest surrounding the final, especially after the buzz generated by Team North America earlier in the tournament.

In other news from around the hockey world:

  • Newly-acquired Montreal Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw has only played one game for his new team, and is already garnering attention from the NHL Department of Player Safety. Shaw hit Capitals’ rookie Connor Hobbs from behind after feeling he was slew-footed by Caps forward Jay Beagle. Shaw subsequently fought another rookie in Nathan Walker, and tried to pump up crowd mid-fight before landing the decisive blow.
  • With the news that Jacob Trouba has wanted out of Winnipeg since May, many analysts have wondered why the Oilers didn’t move Taylor Hall for Trouba, instead of Adam Larsson. However, Bob McKenzie gave TSN 1050 two reasons why a trade centered around Hall for Trouba didn’t materialize (transcribed by Chris Nichols from Today’s Slapshot). First, the Jets weren’t interesting in spending $6MM on Hall when they knew they would have Nik Ehlers, Patrik Laine, and Kyle Connor patrolling the port side for a considerably lower cost. Secondly, McKenzie believes the Oilers like Trouba, but doesn’t believe they are one of the frontrunners for his services. He points to Oilers coach Todd McLellan’s usage of Trouba at the World Cup for the U-24 team; Trouba didn’t crack the lineup until Aaron Ekblad was injured. The Oilers clearly rank Larsson as a better NHL defenseman today.

World Cup Snapshots: USA National Team, Getzlaf, Krueger

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Coming off a tremendously disappointing World Cup appearance, the USA National Team appears to be on the precipice of making some changes. Craig Custance broke down the World Cup roster’s chances of returning, should the NHL participate in the 2018 Olympics (ESPN Insiders link).

The obvious returning players, according to Custance, are Patrick Kane, Ryan Suter, Ryan McDonagh, John Carlson, and goalie Cory Schneider.

The “bubble” players are Joe Pavelski, Blake Wheeler, Ryan Kesler, Dustin Byfuglien, T.J. Oshie, and Ben Bishop. These guys will be in the conversation to appear in the red, white, and blue in two years.

Jonathan Quick headlines the “thank you for your service” category. Quick’s play sunk the Americans at the World Cup, with an 0.836 SV% and a 3.56 GAA in two games. The other notable players who Custance believes have played their last game for the USA at the national level are Zach Parise and Max Pacioretty, among the rest of the roster. Parise and Pacioretty have not performed well in best-on-best tournaments recently, and will need big efforts to survive the coming youth movement.

  • Ahead of the first game of the World Cup Final on Tuesday night, Team Canada forward Ryan Getlzaf is taking a maintenance day. Claude Giroux is taking his place alongside John Tavares and Steven Stamkos on the Canadian “third line”. He’s not expected to miss any of the final. Other than Getzlaf, the Canadians have not made any lineup changes.
  • Before the World Cup began, Team Europe coach Ralph Krueger said any team who wants to beat Canada will need a “magical day” and a “world-class goaltending performance”. TSN’s Frank Seravalli believes Krueger is the secret weapon that Europe will need to utilize to defeat Canada, citing Krueger’s defeat of Canada in the 2006 Olympics prior to joining the Canadian front office for Sochi. Canada GM Doug Armstrong said Europe is a big story, and “shame on [Canada] if we don’t take them seriously for what they’ve done to this point.”

Bruins Sign Brad Marchand To Long-Term Extension

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It’s been a great week for Brad Marchand.

He’s playing on Canada’s top line at the World Cup, and now the Boston Bruins forward has some contract security.

According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Marchand has signed an 8-year, $49MM extension. That works out to $6.125MM per season, a notable increase from Marchand’s current AAV of $4.5MM.

ESPN’s Craig Custance reports Marchand will have a full no-move for the first five seasons on the deal, before changing to a limited no-trade clause. As well, $24MM of the contract is paid via signing bonuses, according to CapFriendly.

Contract-wise, recent comparable players include Mark Scheifele, Sean Monahan, Nathan MacKinnon, Milan Lucic, Andrew Ladd, and Kyle Okposo. Marchand is entering the prime of his career, and looks to live up to his new deal.

Marchand scored 37 goals and 61 points in 77 games last season, playing on the Bruins top line with Patrice Bergeron and now former-Bruin Loui Eriksson.

 

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.”

Two Prospects Sign Their Deals With The Devils

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The New Jersey Devils have inked two of their prospects to entry-level contracts, according to GM and Executive Vice President Ray Shero.

Forward Blake Speers and defenseman Colton White were both selected in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft from the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. Speers was selected 67th overall, while White was chosen 97th.

Speers scored 74 points in 68 games last season, and added another 10 points in 12 playoff games. Elite Prospects describes him as such:

Has slick hands and good overall puckhandling skills. Great passing ability and a very accurate shot. Plays a puck possession game; not diminutive in size, per say, but does need to get stronger. Not afraid to battle along the boards, but his size does show through against bigger opponents. Has all the tools to be a successful contributor when played in the right role.

White posted 35 points in 68 games, and another 3 in the playoffs.

Speers was named captain of the Greyhounds last season, and White serves as an assistant captain. Both men are expected to return to Sault Ste. Marie for one more season of junior before making their professional debuts in the 2017-18 season.

Provided neither player makes the Devils this season, the three-year contracts will not count against the 50-contract limit and will expire following the 2019-20 season.

Blue Jackets’ Clarkson Fails Physical

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Columbus Blue Jackets forward David Clarkson will not start training camp with the team after failing his physical due to a back injury, as per the team’s president of hockey operations John Davidson.

According to Rob Mixer, who does social media for the Blue Jackets, Davidson said “every time he tries to work out, it’s bothersome”.

Shortly after it was announced, the Blue Jackets tweeted out that Clarkson’s contract is insured.

That wasn’t the case for Nathan Horton, who was a big-name free agent signing by Columbus in 2013. Horton was subsequently diagnosed with a degenerative back injury, ending his playing career. Because the small market Blue Jackets weren’t willing to spend $5.3MM per year until 2020 on a player who will never play another NHL game, they traded him to Toronto for Clarkson. Clarkson was struggling to live up to expectations after signing with his hometown team for $5.25MM per season, also through 2020. The Maple Leafs were willing to eat the Horton contract to move Clarkson.

Clarkson has 4 points in 26 games with the Blue Jackets since he was acquired shortly before the 2015 trade deadline. He has just 30 points in 144 games since signing a seven-year, $36.75MM contract with the Leafs in 2013.

The Blue Jackets have $3.81MM in cap space, but will get relief by placing Clarkson on long-term injured reserve at the start of the season, should he not be able to play.

Capitals And Orlov Expected To Agree To Terms

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Update: Orlov and the Capitals have agreed to a one-year deal worth $2.57MM. Orlov will remain a RFA next year, but he will be arbitration-eligible.

According to Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post, defenseman Dmitry Orlov and the Washington Capitals are close to getting a new contract signed.

Citing multiple sources, Khurshudyan is expecting a one-year contract worth “something in the neighborhood of $2.6 million”.

The Capitals have approximately $3.45MM in cap space for the upcoming season, according to Cap Friendly. Orlov made $2.25MM in 2015-16, his most successful campaign in the NHL.

However, Orlov is looking for a bigger role this season after averaging just 17 minutes-per-game thus far in his career. Earlier this off-season, coach Barry Trotz said he’s looking for Orlov to play top-four minutes this season with John Carlson or Matt Niskanen at even strength, and to contribute at both special teams disciplines.

More to come.

World Cup Notes: USA Loss, Clinching Scenarios, Price

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Hours before being eliminated from the World Cup at the hands of their bitter rivals, Team USA forward T.J. Oshie told reporters, “If it comes down to 100 per cent skill, I think they win; 100 per cent grit, I think we win.”

During the first intermission, with Canada up 3-1, smiling Team Canada forward Joe Thornton told Sportsnet, “We have a good mixture of skill and grit on our team.”

While Canada entered the tournament as the favorite thanks to their stacked roster of elite NHLers, the USA entered as underdogs with a roster designed to defeat Canada. Highly skilled forwards like Phil Kessel, Tyler Johnson, and Kyle Okposo were left at home; so were elite offensive defensemen like Keith Yandle, Justin Faulk, and Kevin Shattenkirk. In their places went Justin Abdelkader, Brandon Dubinsky, David Backes, Jack Johnson, and Erik Johnson. Two of those were healthy scratched last night, while the other three combined for six hits, 4 PIM, and a -3 rating.

According to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox, a reporter asked coach John Tortorella after the game if he would “change the makeup” of the team in hindsight, and he received a short answer.

“No.”

NHL MVP and American assistant captain Patrick Kane told reporters “I’ll never say a bad thing about [Tortorella]. He’s just a great coach, and we didn’t show up for him.”

Puck Daddy’s Greg Wyshnyski was a little harsher, calling the game “60 minutes of apathetic Americans flinging shots and Canadians poking a dead carcass with a stick.”

It’s time for USA Hockey to adapt to the new style of international game. They need look no further than the reason behind Team North America’s success in this tournament: fast and skilled. While the Americans didn’t have the choice of taking Johnny Gaudreau, Jack Eichel, Auston Matthews, Dylan Larkin, or Brandon Saad, one has to wonder how many of those would have made the cut of a team based on grinding and physical play. That needs to change, if the Americans want to have a chance to beat the Canadians at future tournaments.

This edition of Team USA was designed to beat Canada; it turns out the only team they’ve been able to beat is themselves.

  • The clinching scenarios for tonight’s games are as follows: North America can clinch a berth in the semi-finals with a regulation win over Sweden, or be eliminated if they lose by five goals or more. Finland will be eliminated if North America gets at least one point. Sweden can clinch Group B if they earn at least one point versus the North Americans tonight. Meanwhile in Group A, with the eliminated Americans and Czechs set to play a meaningless game, the winner of Canada and Europe will clinch the Group.
  • Incredible stat from Tom Gulitti’s game recap over at the World Cup website: Ryan McDonagh’s goal in the first period ended Carey Price’s international shutout streak at 228.41. That dates back to Canada’s semi-final win over Latvia at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Price proceeded to shutout the Americans in the semi-finals, Sweden in the finals, and the Czechs in the World Cup opener.

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