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East Notes: Vigneault, Hall, Pittsburgh Goalies

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With the Flyers going from finishing second in the Metropolitan Division a year ago (and then finishing first in the seeding games) to missing the playoffs this year, some wondered if head coach Alain Vigneault’s job may be in jeopardy.  GM Chuck Fletcher put an end to that speculation, telling Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that the veteran bench boss and his staff will be back behind the bench for Philadelphia next season.  One element that Vigneault and his coaches will have to clean up is their defense as they went from being in the top ten in goals allowed a year ago to dead last this season as no team allowed more goals than the Flyers which, coupled with a mid-tier attack, made for a tough year on the ice.

More from the East Division:

  • Speaking with reporters on a Zoom call earlier this week (video link), Bruins president Cam Neely expressed a desire to retain winger Taylor Hall but indicated they will see how things go with the playoffs first. The veteran has been a nice addition for Boston who acquired him from Buffalo just before the trade deadline and he has been productive, picking up eight goals and six assists in 16 games down the stretch, the types of numbers he was hoping to put up when he signed with Buffalo last fall.  While a long-term deal at his current $8MM price tag isn’t likely in this environment, if he’s willing to accept something in line with their other top forwards (their highest-paid next year is Patrice Bergeron at $6.875MM), it would certainly make some sense to try to bring him back.
  • After Pittsburgh was without both Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith due to injuries at the end of the regular season, the Penguins got some good and bad news on the goalie front today.  Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Jarry is ready to go but DeSmith suffered a lower-body injury in practice and his status for their series opener against the Islanders is uncertain.  If he’s unable to dress, Maxime Lagace – who had a shutout in the season finale – would serve as Jarry’s backup.

Offseason Checklist: Anaheim Ducks

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The offseason has arrived for most teams that aren’t playoff-bound with a couple of others set to join them in the coming days as they play out their rescheduled games.  It’s time to examine what they need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Anaheim.

Expectations were relatively low for Anaheim heading into this season.  The expectation was that the top three seeds in the Pacific Division were pretty much locks, leaving only one spot available for everyone else to fight for.  It didn’t quite go as expected with who the third seed wound up being (many would have had St. Louis there) but in the end, the rest of the teams were battling for one spot.  That is, except Anaheim as the Ducks fell out of the hunt in a hurry.  The same problems that existed a year before are in place now so GM Bob Murray has a lot to accomplish this offseason to try to get this team out of its rut.

Add Offensive Help

Let’s dive into the obvious one first.  The median goals per game average this season was 2.84 and the year before that 3.07.  Anaheim’s goals per game averages over that same stretch?  2.21 this year (dead last) and 2.56 last season (third last).  You can’t win if you can’t score and the Ducks clearly cannot score.  Their core group just isn’t good enough to produce at a high enough level.

There’s good news on the horizon if you’re looking for some reason for optimism.  Last summer, Anaheim didn’t have a lot of cap space at their disposal but that’s not the case this time around.  They have just under $59MM on the books for next year, per CapFriendly, with no high-priced free agents to re-sign (more on the one you might be thinking of in a little bit).  Even with a flat $81.5MM cap, that’s a lot of room to work with and if they’re willing to go into LTIR again, they would have even more room at their disposal as that $59MM figure includes Ryan Kesler’s $6.875MM AAV and with his playing days done, he can go back on there for next season.

The key here for Murray will be adding difference-makers.  They could use a top center, top left winger, and top right winger.  They could use upgrades on the second line as well.  That’s not to say that they’re going to fill all of those spots – they won’t – but multiple viable top-six additions are needed.  With few teams having the type of cap space that Anaheim will this summer, there should be few impediments in trying to get this done.  Expect the Ducks to be active.

Re-Sign Young Core Forwards

While I’ve been critical of their offense, there are some promising pieces of Anaheim’s core up front and the majority of them need new contracts this summer.  Included in this group are Max Comtois, Max Jones, Isac Lundestrom, Sam Steel, and Alexander Volkov.

With the exception of Volkov, the rest are drafted and developed exclusively by the Ducks and were supposed to comprise a bit part of their young core.  Comtois is on his way – he very quietly led Anaheim in scoring this season – but the other three struggled, notching no more than 12 points.

Accordingly, the majority of these deals will be bridge contracts, allowing for more evaluation as to their overall upside but perhaps more importantly, to give them as much flexibility to try and add to their roster.  Worth noting is that only Volkov has salary arbitration eligibility as well.

But Comtois’ deal will be a bit trickier.  Over his first two seasons, he was pretty quiet at the offensive end in limited action, totalling 18 points in 39 games but in a full-time role this year, that jumped to 33 points in 55 contests while averaging over 15 minutes per night.  Does he have another level to reach?  If Murray thinks so, Comtois could be a quiet candidate for a longer-term deal.  He isn’t an RFA that’s garnering a lot of attention but he’s one of the more intriguing ones of the summer.

Determine Getzlaf’s Future

Ryan Getzlaf has been a fixture in Anaheim’s lineup for 16 years and was a force on their top line for the majority of those.  Along the way, he became their captain and is now the franchise leaders in games played and goals and is within striking distance of Teemu Selanne for the lead in points (just six away from tying the record).  He has long stated his desire to stay with the Ducks to the point where he wouldn’t entertain trade options a year ago.  This season, he appeared to be more open to the idea of moving at the trade deadline but no really viable opportunities really materialized, likely in large part due to his $8.25MM AAV; even with 50% retention, that would have been tough for most teams to fit in.

It’s a guarantee that he won’t get that this summer or even come close to that number.  The 36-year-old had the worst offensive season of his career in 2020-21, notching just five goals and a dozen assists in 48 games.  The days of him being a core contributor are gone but is there a fit at something closer to the $2MM mark, a deal that’s someone comparable to the deal that long-time former linemate Corey Perry inked with Dallas a year ago?  Getzlaf is eligible for performance incentives in his deal as long as he signs a one-year contract.

But is he better off going elsewhere, especially if he has intentions of trying to get back into playoff contention?  And does Anaheim need to keep transitioning to the future by allowing Steel and Lundestrom to get some of Getzlaf’s minutes?  It’s always a tough situation when a franchise icon is nearing the end of his run.  Murray will need to determine if that time is indeed now.

Figure Out What’s Next For Manson

Josh Manson has worked his way from being a role player to a key cog on Anaheim’s back end.  While his offensive outburst in 2017-18 is looking more and more like a one-off, he still is strong in the defensive zone and gives them plenty of physicality.  Those elements made him highly sought after at the trade deadline despite an injury-riddled season.  But Murray set a very high asking price with him having another year left on his contract at a $4.1MM cap hit and nothing came to fruition.

Now he will be entering the final season of his deal and with that is the ability to work on a contract extension.  While he is a key cog for them, he’ll be hard-pressed to command a significant raise with his offensive game regressing lately.  In a flat-cap era, it’s harder to allocate significant salary dollars to players who aren’t going to do a whole lot on the scoreboard but a small increase in pay should be doable.  Something in the $4.5MM to $5MM range is something that would seem reasonable to both sides.

But what if Manson isn’t ready to do that deal this summer?  As we saw this season, cap space is much harder to free up once the season gets underway and unless the Ducks rapidly turn around their fortunes, he’ll enter the year as a highly speculative trade option.  If that is the route that it looks like they will be heading down, they might be better off moving him before free agency starts.  Anaheim’s back end has taken some hits in recent years and it seems likely that Murray will try to make a push to make sure that Manson isn’t the next one on that list.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jonathan Drouin Not Expected To Return During The Playoffs

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While the Canadiens will be getting some key veterans back for the postseason in defenseman Shea Weber, winger Brendan Gallagher, goalie Carey Price, and center Phillip Danault, it does not appear they will be getting winger Jonathan Drouin back in their lineup.  Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports (Twitter link) that Drouin is not expected to return for the playoffs as things currently stand.

The 26-year-old took a leave of absence in late April after missing several games to what was called an illness and the team asked for his privacy to be respected at that time.  Montreal then placed Drouin on LTIR but with the retroactive placement, enough time has elapsed for him to be activated for their series opener against Toronto but instead that won’t be the case.

Drouin had a tough season offensively; while he managed to put up 21 assists in 44 games which is the best assist per game ratio of his career, his two goals made him a lynchpin for criticism, especially with a $5.5MM contract.  Nevertheless, he still would have been an interesting wild card addition to Montreal’s lineup given that he tied for the team lead in scoring in the bubble last summer.  Instead, the focus will now shift to him hopefully being able to return for next season.

Pacific Notes: Vlasic, Kuemper, Hill, Vegas

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With the Sharks missing the playoffs the last couple of years, it’s fair to wonder if some of the veterans may be hoping for a change of scenery.  Defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was among those asked about that today and he told reporters, including Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now, that he has no intention of going anywhere:

I’m here to the end.  I’ve signed here for 20 years; I’m going to be here for 20 years. I would’ve signed somewhere else if I didn’t want to be here. I want to win in San Jose.

20 years isn’t an exaggeration either.  The 34-year-old just wrapped up his 15th NHL season and still has five years left on his deal with a $7MM AAV.  Between that and a no-move clause that Vlasic acknowledged today he didn’t even know he had until recently, it’s safe to say he’ll be in a Sharks uniform for a while yet.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Coyotes goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Adin Hill will be Canada’s tandem for the upcoming World Championships, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link). This will be Kuemper’s second time at the Worlds after playing in the 2018 event while Hill will be playing at the international level for the first time.  It’s worth noting that Hill is a pending restricted free agent and several players have declined offers from their respective countries as a result of the nearing expiration of their contract.
  • While meeting with the media to discuss the purchase of his expansion Indoor Football League franchise, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley told the media, including SinBin.Vegas (Twitter link) that a pair of veterans have concerning injuries. Defenseman Alec Martinez has been dealing with a lingering lower-body issue that he was finally unable to play through while winger Max Pacioretty’s upper-body injury is worse than the team initially thought.  Martinez missed Monday’s game while Pacioretty has been out for a week with Vegas having to dress just 15 skaters on Monday due to salary cap constraints.
  • Having played that game shorthanded, the Golden Knights have now been granted cap-exempt recalls. Their farm team in Henderson announced (Twitter link) that forward Dylan Sikura and defenseman Brayden Pachal have been recalled, suggesting they’ll be in the lineup for Vegas on Wednesday in San Jose.  Sikura has been held off the scoresheet in five games this season while if Pachal plays, it will be his NHL debut.

Maple Leafs Activate Frederik Andersen Off LTIR

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The Maple Leafs will have a third option between the pipes when the playoffs come around.  CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that Frederik Andersen has been activated off LTIR, paving the way for him to return to the lineup. He had been on a conditioning assignment with AHL Toronto, allowing six goals on 46 shots in a game and a half.

It has been a difficult season for the 31-year-old who has battled injuries over the second half of the season as well as some inconsistency.  The result has been a career-low .897 save percentage along with a 2.91 GAA, the highest of his career which is far from optimal considering he’s a pending unrestricted free agent.  As a result, Jack Campbell started to cut into his playing time and with the run he has been on lately, he likely will enter the playoffs as the starter.

Accordingly, Andersen’s goal at this point is likely to show that he’s ready to dress as the backup ahead of David Rittich who was brought in at the deadline as insurance with Andersen on the shelf.  The Maple Leafs have two games remaining in the regular season on Wednesday and Friday so he won’t have much time to show that he’s ready to go.

In corresponding moves to get back to cap compliance, Toronto has sent Rasmus Sandin back to the taxi squad and placed winger Zach Hyman on LTIR retroactive to April 18th.  While he technically is eligible to be activated at any time, their cap situation makes it quite unlikely that he’ll play in their final two regular season games.  However, with no salary cap in the playoffs, he should be available for the opener with the North Division playoffs expected to start on May 19th.

Offseason Checklist: Buffalo Sabres

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The offseason has arrived for several teams that aren’t playoff-bound with others set to join them in the coming days as they play out their rescheduled games.  With that in mind, it’s time to begin our annual offseason series, beginning with Buffalo.

Optimism was high, or at least higher than normal, heading into the season for the Sabres.  The top forward in free agency in Taylor Hall signed a one-year, $8MM deal to try to showcase himself alongside Jack Eichel while bolstering their top line in the process while Eric Staal was brought in to anchor an improved second line.  That was the plan.  What actually occurred was basically the exact opposite.  Pretty much all of their veterans struggled mightily and things wound up going worse than they had in recent years.  That saw Ralph Krueger ousted as head coach in the middle of an 18-game winless streak and while they were a bit better down the stretch, GM Kevyn Adams enters his second offseason with an awful lot on his to-do list.  Here are some of the bigger ones.

Sign A Goalie Tandem

Forget simply searching for a starting goalie which is something that has been on the radar for a while given the uncertainty of Linus Ullmark’s ability to take over the number one role.  Three years after letting Robin Lehner go, they hoped that Ullmark and veteran Carter Hutton would be able to work as a platoon.  That hasn’t gone as well as they hoped and now both netminders are set to hit the UFA market this summer.

Hutton clearly won’t be back but Ullmark’s future is somewhat murky.  They weren’t able to agree on a contract extension before the trade deadline but Adams opted to hold onto him and expressed some optimism that a deal could be reached.  But what’s the right price tag?  He had a 2.67 GAA with a .917 SV% this season which are good numbers considering the team led the league in goals allowed but he only made 20 starts.  Ullmark hasn’t made more than 37 appearances in a single NHL season.  That can’t be spun as playing time for a starter or even the strong side of a platoon.  He’s in line for a raise on the $2.6MM he made this year but top backups only make about $1MM more than that.  Is he willing to take that to stick around?

Of course, the fact that they want him to return also poses the question of what role they want him back for.  Do they think he’s an above-average backup or, despite the relative inexperience, do they view him as a starter?  The answer to that determines what type of other goalie they pursue, either a proven number one or a similar backup to try the platoon again.  (And if he doesn’t re-sign, they’ll be looking for two goalies.)

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is the presumptive goalie of the future for Buffalo and while he didn’t look out of place in a four-game stint late in the season, he’s not ready to be a backup yet let alone a starter.  That also throws a wrinkle into Adams’ planning.  If they think Luukkonen is a few years away from being their number one, do they look at a shorter-term platoon as a bridge?  And are top starters less inclined to sign there if Luukkonen is the guy down the road?

There are certainly a few factors in play but one way or another, Adams needs to sign a pair of goalies over the coming months.

Determine Eichel’s Future

Jack Eichel has been in the news plenty since Monday following his end-of-season media availability where he expressed some frustration with how things have gone both on the ice and with regards to his medical situation.  Ending comments with a desire to get healthy and play “wherever that might be” isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of Buffalo and stings a bit harder as their captain and franchise player.

Can this be fixed?  At this point, they’re clearly hoping that they can and what happens with regards to whether he can get the surgery on his neck will certainly be part of those talks.  If not, he’s going to be in trade speculation all summer long.

Eichel has five years remaining on his contract with a $10MM AAV.  That will be difficult for teams to absorb but number one centers of his caliber rarely become available.  Cap space is hard to come by but he’s the type of player that teams will find a way to make it work to bring him in, a task that will be made more difficult by the reality that getting Buffalo to retain on that contract for the next half-decade would be extremely difficult.

Also at play here is the fact that Eichel is a year away from having full control of where he could be moved to with a full no-move clause.  The number of suitors in the 2022 offseason would be much lower as a result so if they can’t mend fences or sense that this discontent will be a lingering issue, the time to move him is this summer.  More specifically, before the start of free agency when creating cap space will become more difficult as players start signing.

While Adams is at it, similar decisions will need to be made of defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and forward Sam Reinhart.  Both players have one year of team control remaining and didn’t exactly give glowing endorsements in their interviews either.  Are they part of the long-term plans; are they willing to sign a multi-year deal?  If not, they may have to be on the move as well.

Re-Sign Dahlin

On top of all of this, the other intended franchise pillar in defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is also in need of a new contract as he enters restricted free agency.  Like pretty much everyone for Buffalo, this season was an abject disaster.  After recording 40 points in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, expectations were understandably high that he could become one of the elite offensive blueliners which would have him extremely well-positioned to get a second deal similar to Florida’s Aaron Ekblad ($7.5MM) or Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot ($8MM).  Instead, he had just 23 points in 56 games along with an eye-popping -36 rating which stood out as the low outlier on a team full of poor minus ratings.

It’s not all doom and gloom for the 2018 first-overall pick, however.  Dahlin still projects to be a key piece of Buffalo’s rebuild, even if that gets extended by moving some of their veteran players over the next few months.  One of the decisions that Adams will have to make is whether or not to pursue a long-term contract or to work out a bridge deal that allows both sides to reassess his value down the road.

One of the challenges with a long-term pact that buys out some UFA eligibility is that Dahlin’s value isn’t what it was a summer ago when he could have signed an extension.  He may still be a big part of their plans but the season he had simply cannot have bolstered his asking price.  Accordingly, is he even willing to entertain a long-term deal now where he could be leaving some money on the table if he rebounds over the next couple of seasons?

With Dahlin not being eligible for salary arbitration, this one will probably be towards the back of the pile as it can be pushed until closer to training camp if it has to.  Even so, this is a significant item on their to-do list.

Coaching Decision

On top of needing a new goalie or two, dealing with the discontent of their star and other key veterans and having to re-sign one of their pillars on the back end, Adams has to make a call on who is going to coach the team or whatever is left of it by then.  Don Granato did a relatively nice job after taking over for Krueger despite the 9-16-3 record and helped get the Sabres out of their funk.  They surprised some playoff teams down the stretch.  Was that a matter of good coaching or teams playing looser when they’re eliminated?  It’s a question that many interim coaches have to go through when they take over for a non-playoff team midseason.

There were several veteran coaches on the market already before John Tortorella and Rick Tocchet were added in recent days.  There may be others that hit the market in the coming days as well.  There will be options and Adams has said he’ll cast a wide net but they’re hardly going to be the only team on the lookout as well with Columbus and Arizona already in need of new bench bosses as well.  Patience in finding the right fit is never a bad idea but with others that will be going after the top options, they may have to move quickly if they decide that Granato isn’t the long-term solution.

Needless to say, there’s an awful lot that Buffalo will need to get done between now and the start of next season.  It’s going to be a fascinating offseason for them as a result.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

International Notes: Okulov, Spooner, Djoos, Chlapik

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KHL winger Konstantin Okulov has been on the NHL radar over the past couple of years with Montreal and Toronto among the teams to show interest in him at the time.  As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes in his latest 31 Thoughts column, NHL teams are once again showing interest in the 26-year-old who is coming off of his best season thus far.  He notched 18 goals and 31 assists in 55 regular season games to lead CSKA Moscow in scoring while chipping in with 20 points in 23 playoff contests, enough to tie for the league lead.  If he does sign this summer, he’ll still be subject to the entry-level system and will be capped on a one-year deal before becoming UFA-eligible in 2022.

Other news from the international hockey world:

  • Ryan Spooner has decided to not try to catch on in the NHL again this summer but is making a change. After spending the last two years with Dinamo Minsk, he has signed a one-year deal with Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, another KHL team, per a team announcement.  The 29-year-old has 167 points in 325 career NHL games and has been productive overseas, collecting six goals and 33 assists this season.
  • Red Wings defenseman Christian Djoos is on EV Zug’s shortlist of players to try to sign for next season, Zug’s sports director Reto Klay told Zentralplus’ Andreas Ineichen. The 26-year-old was claimed off waivers just before the season started and held his own with 11 points in 36 games while averaging a little over 15 minutes per night.  That type of production may be hard to justify tendering the $1MM qualifying offer that’s required this summer which would put Djoos on the open market.  He may be sensing that outcome already if he’s entertaining the prospect of playing in Switzerland.
  • Former Senators prospect Filip Chlapik didn’t waste much time making his way back to Sparta Praha as the team announced that he signed a two-year deal with them. The 23-year-old spent parts of four seasons in Ottawa, notching five goals and six assists in 57 games but seeing the writing on the wall about where he was in the pecking order for a recall, he requested and was granted his unconditional release back in February.  He won’t be returning to North America for a little while longer at least.

Two Players Clear Waivers

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May 10: Both players have cleared waivers.

May 9: The waiver wire has been relatively quiet over the past month but a pair of players are on the wire today as CapFriendly reports (Twitter links) that Detroit goaltender Calvin Pickard and Anaheim center Sam Carrick have both been waived.  The intention for both teams is to get their respective veterans back to the AHL for the final few games with the Ducks’ affiliate also set to take part in the Pacific Division playoffs.  Pickard had been on recall long enough to require waivers to go back down while Carrick had played in more than ten games, necessitating his placement.

Pickard has spent the majority of the season on the taxi squad for the Red Wings although he has managed to get into six games with Detroit, including four starts.  In those contests, he posted a 3.16 GAA with a save percentage of .874.  He suited up just once with AHL Grand Rapids this season but will now have a chance to get into a few more games over the final week.  The 29-year-old is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

As for Carrick, he was relatively productive in his time with the Ducks this season, posting two goals and four assists in 13 games while averaging just under 13 minutes per game.  That more than doubled his career point output over parts of four previous years with Toronto and Anaheim.  Carrick has also been productive with AHL San Diego, picking up 14 goals and 10 helpers in 27 games, sitting fifth in team scoring despite playing in just three games in the minors since the end of March.  Like Pickard, the 29-year-old will become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

It’s worth noting that players claimed off waivers after the trade deadline are ineligible to play for the remainder of the season.  As a result, there’s little reason for anyone to place a claim and assuming they clear on Monday, they’ll be able to return to their respective AHL teams.

Five Key Stories: 5/3/21 – 5/9/21

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The end of the regular season has arrived, at least for some teams and the coaching carousel is already underway.  However, that news still paled in comparison to the biggest controversy of the week which gets plenty of coverage in our key stories.

Rangers-Capitals: Let’s start with the big one.  Capitals winger Tom Wilson was involved in a pair of incidents of note, one with Pavel Buchnevich which only drew a $5K fine, the max allowable in the CBA.  However, a scrum in which he tossed Artemi Panarin who jumped in to protect his teammate, went without discipline which drew plenty of opinions from those who agreed and disagreed vehemently with that decision.  New York left no doubt as to where they stood on the matter, issuing a statement expressing their disappointment with the lack of discipline on the Panarin situation, noting that the winger’s season came to an end as a result of the incident.  However, the biggest story was that they called for the removal of George Parros as the head of Player Safety, calling the inaction a dereliction of duty.  Not surprisingly, that earned them a $250K fine.

It didn’t stop there, however.  The two sides met up just two days later and decided to take out their frustrations on each other.  There were six fights in the first five minutes and 100 penalty minutes in the opening period.  Six misconducts were handed out in the game with Buchnevich picking up one of them along with a major penalty, earning him a one-game suspension in the process.

Gorton And Davidson Out: In somewhat of a surprising move, the Rangers fired GM Jeff Gorton and team president John Davidson, naming Chris Drury as the successor in both roles.  Gorton had been shepherding the team through their rebuild following their letter three years ago that said they would be rebuilding the core.  Since then, they had brought in several players that are expected to be part of the next young core while landing Panarin in free agency.  Davidson, meanwhile, joined the team less than two years ago, leaving the same role with Columbus to return ‘home’ to a city where he spent the final eight years of his playing career not to mention extended time as a broadcaster.  The fact that Drury is the replacement should come as no surprise.  He eschewed opportunities to interview elsewhere in recent years with the team creating an Associate GM position back in February to elevate his responsibilities and salary.  He’ll now be tasked with finishing off the rebuild and getting the Rangers back to playoff contention.

Tortorella Leaves Columbus: In a move that shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, the Blue Jackets and head coach John Tortorella agreed to mutually part ways.  The 62-year-old was at the helm in Columbus for the last six seasons, leading the team to a .568 point percentage along the way while winning the Jack Adams Award as the coach of the year back in 2016-17.  He also helped lead them to a playoff series victory in 2019 and while that may not seem like much, it’s the only one they’ve had in franchise history if you don’t count the play-in victory over Toronto last year as a true playoff winS.  However, his combative style hasn’t always sat well with players and there has been a considerable talent drain in recent years as top free agents have headed elsewhere and some have suggested Tortorella could be part of the season.  Top center Pierre-Luc Dubois demanded a trade earlier this season and Patrik Laine, the key part of the return, had a tough time under Tortorella.  The team won just 18 games this season and will now be on the lookout for a new bench boss.

Forsberg Extension: It wasn’t just doom and gloom over the past seven days.  A nice story in Ottawa emerged when they gave goalie Anton Forsberg a one-year, $900K contract extension.  That alone doesn’t tell the tale though.  He originally started out as Edmonton’s intended third-stringer before being claimed off waivers by Carolina, Winnipeg, and eventually Ottawa in mid-March before he had even played a game.  He has spent more time in quarantine than on the ice this year but did enough in seven appearances to earn some stability for next year and a $200K raise for good measure.  As the old adage goes, good things come to those who wait.  Forsberg had to wait a while before he could even play a game but his patience was rewarded.

Coyotes Make A Change: Tortorella isn’t the only coach looking for his next opportunity as Rick Tocchet is out as head coach in Arizona after four seasons in the desert.  He helped lead them to a .490 point percentage over that span and didn’t have a lot of postseason success with the team making it just once.  While they took out Nashville on the back of Darcy Kuemper in the Qualifying Round last summer, they were quickly dispatched by Colorado after that.  The Coyotes have had trouble scoring throughout Tocchet’s tenure and GM Bill Armstrong will likely be looking for a replacement that can help get the most out of their forward group headed by Clayton Keller and Phil Kessel.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

PHR Mailbag: Pittsburgh And Colorado Goalies, Seattle, Boston’s Expansion Situation, Playoff Sleepers, Gogolev, Fantasy Hockey

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Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include Pittsburgh’s goalies, Colorado’s decision to not add a more prominent backup goalie, some Seattle side deal speculation, a quick look a Boston’s expansion situation, what sleeper teams could make some noise in the playoffs, a junior player that hasn’t received much NHL interest, and some comments on some young NHL forwards that haven’t quite found their way offensively.  If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in last weekend’s mailbag.

One More JAGR: Do the Penguins have the goaltending tandem to make it to the big show or is the lack of experience going to be an Achilles’ heel?

The tandem of Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith (when healthy; both are currently hurt) is certainly far from the top tandem in the league but teams have gone deep with lesser starters before.  Both goalies have shown they can get hot for stretches and in the playoffs, a hot streak can win a round or two so I think they’re capable of being good enough to do some damage if one gets going at the right time.

However, I’m not overly confident that they will be able to do that.  Pittsburgh is the top-scoring team in the league this season which is great but scoring rates typically go down instead of up in the playoffs.  That puts more pressure on the goalies to try to limit teams to two or less.  Jarry has allowed three or more goals in 20 of 39 appearances this season and DeSmith in nine of 20.  That’s basically a 50/50 split on allowing three or more.  It’s hard to go deep in the playoffs with those types of odds and with them looking like they’ll line up against the Islanders, the games are definitely going to be lower-scoring.  One of them will need to get going right away to avoid an upset.

Eaton Harass: Why would Sakic go out and get two questionable backups instead of getting one solid one?

I think part of the problem was the uncertainly with Pavel Francouz’s injury.  At the time they went and got Jonas Johansson, I suspect they were still holding out hope for Francouz to return.  If they thought he was going back, then just getting a short-term bridge guy made some sense and to Johansson’s credit, he has been better than I thought he was going to be.

Devan Dubnyk’s addition was a bit of a surprise though.  I thought Jonathan Bernier was going to be their target, someone who had played there before and while he’s not a true starter, he’s an above-average backup.  Dubnyk hasn’t been that for a couple of years now so him being targeted was odd and I wonder if he was the fallback plan.  Landing on the COVID Protocol Related Absences List certainly hasn’t helped things either.

However, the goalie trade market never really materialized.  Florida held onto Chris Driedger and Detroit kept Bernier, taking the two top options off the market in the process which limited their options to add more of an impact goalie.  The Panthers wanted the goalie insurance for their playoff run and I suspect the Red Wings are going to try to re-sign Bernier.  GM Joe Sakic doesn’t strike me as someone that’s going to push all of the chips to the table either.  They know they need some cost-effective players over the next couple of years and holding onto their top picks gives them a better chance to develop some of those.

Incremental upgrades were the name of the game for the Avs at the deadline as Sakic supplemented the depth instead of the core.  I think they should have been willing to pay a bit more to get a more reliable option but with most of the notable names not moving, I can’t say for certain that they didn’t try either.  If Philipp Grubauer can stay healthy though, who backs him up in the playoffs should ultimately be a moot point anyway.  But with what happened last year, I can certainly understand why there’s a bit more emphasis on the backup this time around.

pawtucket: Who (or what) will Seattle’s biggest acquisitions be?

This is really hard to predict when we’re more than two months away from protection lists being released.  Trades will be made, players will be injured in the playoffs which could shift them from protected to unprotected, and there may be another GM change or two on the horizon which could also affect things.  As a result, at this point, the best I can offer is a couple of vague predictions on side deals.

Tampa Bay needs to dump money and Seattle has the ability to absorb it better than anyone else can.  Tyler Johnson’s $5MM AAV needs to come off the books.  I suspect that Seattle is going to receive a significant package in exchange for selecting Johnson.  Given their free agent situation up front and a need for several low-cost forwards, I suspect the incentive is going to come from the back end where Cal Foote, a 2017 first-round pick, seems like a player that could be part of that package as someone that can start on Seattle’s third pairing and ideally work his way up a bit.

Right now, Washington’s goaltenders seem like the logical target as they can’t protect both Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov.  Neither are ready for full-time number one duty but both are young and cost-controllable.  Combined, that tandem certainly could work for the Caps for a few years.  With that in mind, I expect GM Brian MacLellan to work out a side deal to keep them around.  That shouldn’t cost a top prospect but their upcoming second-round pick seems like something Kraken GM Ron Francis may be asking for.

As the offseason gets going, we’ll certainly be diving deeper into the situations for the 30 teams that will lose players (Vegas is exempt) where we’ll be able to put together better pictures of what could happen so I’m sure we’ll be able to come up with some predictions as we get closer to the expansion draft.

case7187: With the exp draft coming who should the Bruins protect? We know the Big 3 and Coyle (NMC) while they should trade DeBrusk; they should’ve done that last season when he had value. The 3 D are Carlo McAvoy and Grzelcyk (IMO they should look to move him as well with his long list of injuries) but goalie not sure and not really worried about some of the other guys this season has shown me the need to blow up the bottom nine.

I’m going to go a little out of order and talk about Jake DeBrusk first.  I don’t see there being much of a viable trade market for him this summer.  The year he is having has hurt his trade value considerably and his back-loaded contract only makes things worse as his $4.85MM salary is far from desirable.  I’ll take it a step farther and say there’s a better chance he’s bought out than traded.  As he’s under 25, it’s only a one-third cost and the back-loading of the deal would make for a pretty low cap charge.  (Per CapFriendly, doing so would give Boston a cap credit of $366K next year and a cap charge of $808K in 2022-23).  To me, that’s more desirable than trying to move him for another bad contract.

Now let’s look at the forwards.  As you noted, Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, and Charlie Coyle are locked in with no-move clauses and David Pastrnak is an obvious choice.  I’m going to put Nick Ritchie and Craig Smith as my next two picks; Ritchie remains young enough to still improve and has been a lot better than he was in limited action last year after being acquired while Smith is on a pretty good contract.  That leaves one spot for Trent Frederic and Zach Senyshyn, two prospects who haven’t done much with their chances.  Frederic gets the spot as he has at least mostly established himself as a regular while Senyshyn is more on the fringes.  For anyone checking, that leaves DeBrusk, Ondrej Kase (injuries make him a safe bet to not be picked), Curtis Lazar, and Chris Wagner as unprotected forwards and they would be in compliance with the requirement to have at least two signed players unprotected that have played in 27 games this year or 54 over the last two years with this list.

I agree with the defense although it leaves Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon exposed and I wouldn’t be surprised if one of those two get picked by Seattle.  I kicked around the idea of leaving Matt Grzelcyk exposed with his contract but Boston’s back end can’t take any more hits in terms of losing established talent.  As for goalies, Jeremy Swayman is exempt while Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak are UFAs and aren’t at any risk of being signed and picked.  That puts it between Daniel Vladar and Callum Booth and of those two, I’d protect Vladar.  It means that Booth needs a qualifying offer when he hasn’t earned it but they’re not going to be the only team qualifying a goalie for that very reason.

wreckage: Whom are the biggest sleepers entering the postseason? Everyone expects big things from Tampa, Colorado, Vegas, and Toronto. Could a Minnesota, Edmonton, Montreal, or Florida surprise and make a run?

I think Minnesota’s the team to watch for here.  They’ve given Vegas fits this season winning five of eight games with two of the three losses coming in overtime.  They’ve also been alright against Colorado who right now lines up as their more probable first-round matchup.  They’re scoring at a good clip but have a fairly balanced attack and both Cam Talbot and Kaapo Kahkonen have shown themselves to be capable of playing quite well for a long stretch.

I’m not as bullish on the other three you listed.  Edmonton’s still largely the same team that got upset in the bubble a year ago and no matter how well Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do, they probably can’t carry the load alone while having success in the playoffs.  Montreal is supposed to be built for the playoffs but they haven’t looked good outside of the first ten games of the season.  If they’re healthy by then, they’re good enough to give a team a scare but I don’t see them going deep.  I give Florida a ton of credit for turning things around but I can’t pick them to beat a Tampa Bay team that’s going to get captain Steven Stamkos and top winger Nikita Kucherov back.

I’m going to add the Islanders to the list as well.  They’ve shown that they can have playoff success with good defense and goaltending and those elements are definitely still in place.  Their offense is a bit deeper than it was a year ago and it would not surprise me much at all if they were the team that comes out of the East Division.

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