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Examining The Top 2020 Group Six Free Agents

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Last month, the list of players eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency this offseason was made available.  There were four players that could still potentially avoid that designation although the pause has stopped any progress in that regard although Blues winger Mackenzie MacEachern’s last game reverted him to restricted free agent status.  It isn’t the strongest of classes to choose from but there are a handful of players who will certainly generate some interest on the open market whenever the free agent period winds up beginning.

To be eligible, players must be 25 or 26, have three years of professional experience, and have less than 80 games played for skaters and less than 28 games for goalies (with a minimum of 30 minutes per appearance).  Here is a quick look at some of the players that should garner some attention.

Gavin Bayreuther (Dallas) – A plethora of injuries last season forced the 25-year-old blueliner into 19 NHL games with the Stars where he wound up holding his own rather well, logging over 18 minutes a night while chipping in with two goals and three assists.  Those injuries haven’t been as prevalent this season so he hasn’t had an NHL stint this year but he has been productive in the minors with 29 points in 59 games.  He’s someone that should get enough interest to land somewhere with a team that will give him a legitimate shot at a full-time roster spot.

Colby Cave (Edmonton) – In 2018-19, he was basically an NHL regular and split time between the Bruins and Oilers.  His offensive upside isn’t overly high but as someone that can hold their own on a fourth line at center, teams looking to bring in competition for the final spot or two up front should have some interest.  He was one of the players that could still avoid hitting the open market but that’s looking less likely now with the return of regular season games in question.

Jon Gillies (Calgary) – It was only a couple of years ago that the Flames envisioned him as a goalie of the future as they gave him a one-way salary for the 2019-20 season.  However, he was passed on the depth chart by David Rittich and has been in the AHL ever since.  At 6’5, he has the size that many teams are coveting between the pipes and with the Flames having other prospects in need of ice time, he’ll welcome a chance to hit the market and try to catch on as an AHL starter elsewhere.

Tyler Lewington (Washington) – With his cap hit being below the league minimum this season, Lewington has been up with the Capitals for more than a quarter of the 2019-20 campaign but has spent a lot of that time as a reserve player as he has just six NHL games played over his 43 days on the roster.  He’s a throwback third pairing player who provides some toughness but not a lot else.  There is usually still a market for those types of blueliners though and after not getting much of a chance this year, he’ll likely look for an opportunity to compete for an end-of-roster spot elsewhere.

Boo Nieves (NY Rangers) – After spending more than half of 2018-19 on New York’s fourth line and signing an early one-way contract extension to avoid this designation a year ago, it looked as if Nieves had made it.  However, he cleared waivers in training camp and has spent all but four games this season in the minors where he continues to show an ability to set up goals but scoring them has been a challenge.  If the season resumes, the Rangers can still secure his rights for next year if they play him in four more games.

Andrew Poturalski (Anaheim) – This will be his second trip through this type of free agency after hitting the open market last summer coming off a stellar season with Carolina’s farm team.  A broken wrist limited him to just 17 games with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate and they weren’t the most productive.  However, his time with the Hurricanes showed that he can at least put up points in the AHL on a regular basis when healthy and with top AHL players garnering more guaranteed money seemingly every year, he should be poised to take advantage.

Carson Soucy (Minnesota) – He has the most NHL action of this season with 55 games on the third pairing for the Wild.  His playing time has been more limited since Dean Evason took over behind the bench which may not bode well for his future there but he has done enough this year to draw some interest in a sixth or seventh defenseman role.

Valentin Zykov (Vegas) – His first season with the Golden Knights hasn’t been one to remember.  Zykov tested positive for a banned substance which caused him to be suspended for the first 20 games of the season and that set him back.  His offensive numbers in the AHL weren’t as high as they usually are while he only picked up four points in 15 NHL games with the Golden Knights.  He has shown the ability to be an impact player at the AHL level in the past and with 55 career NHL contests under his belt, there should be several teams interested in him as a top AHL player that gets recalled a few times when injuries strike.

While it’s true that none of these free agents project to be impact NHL players, they can still represent a depth upgrade and we’ve seen how important depth can be as injuries strike.  Accordingly, while these players won’t show up on any top free agents lists, they should still receive a lot of interest when they get to the open market.

West Notes: Flames, Boucher, Little

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Some teams are using this pause in the schedule to take care of some contracts but the Flames won’t be among those.  After speaking with GM Brad Treliving, TSN’s Jermain Franklin reports (video link) that Calgary won’t be making any decisions with regards on their pending unrestricted free agents (highlighted by defensemen T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic) as well as whether or not to remove the interim tag from Geoff Ward until the league presents a clear path on when and how the season will resume.  At this stage, it’s hard to see a concrete timeline put in place anytime soon so this may linger for a while yet.

More from the Western Conference:

  • From the same video, Franklin notes that Flames goalie David Rittich was dealing with an elbow injury during the season half of the season and had treatment on it before returning home. It’s reasonable to suggest that the issue affected his performance as from February 1st to the suspension of the schedule, he had just a .885 SV% in 11 games after posting a .913 mark before that point.
  • Several European teams have expressed an interest in signing Canucks pending restricted free agent Reid Boucher, reports TSN 1040’s Rick Dhaliwal (Twitter link). However, at this time, the winger intends to remain in North America.  Boucher spent the entire season with AHL Utica and led the Comets in scoring with 33 goals and 34 assists in 53 games.  His 67 points were second to only Sam Anas (Minnesota) in the league while his 1.26 point per game led all AHL players.
  • Jets center Bryan Little could return if play resumes on the 2019-20 season, notes NHL.com’s Tim Campbell. He was ruled out for the rest of the year back in February as he continues to recover from surgery to repair a perforated eardrum but with the extended time off, he now could be available to return.  The veteran would certainly be a welcome addition to Winnipeg’s lineup and could give them a boost offensively with them in a tight battle for a playoff spot.  He has five points in seven games this season and came into the year having surpassed the 40-point mark in six straight seasons.

Bob Boughner Has The Upper Hand To Remain As Sharks Head Coach

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While the Sharks haven’t entirely committed to removing the interim tag from head coach Bob Boughner, it certainly seems as if they’re leaning in that direction.  Speaking on a recent conference call, GM Doug Wilson told reporters, including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that Boughner currently has the upper hand in the process but that they intend to do a thorough review once the season officially comes to an end.

Boughner was named as the interim bench boss back in December, taking over from Peter DeBoer (who took over as the head coach in Vegas barely a month later).  While San Jose sits at the bottom of the standings in the West (they have a 14-20-3 record under Boughner after being 15-16-2 under DeBoer), Wilson felt there was some progress made in the second half of the year:

I was pleased to see some of the overall play improve over the last half of the year. There were times more often than not that we were playing the game the right way.

Of course, Boughner’s performance behind the bench this season isn’t the only reason that he is the frontrunner to get the job on a full-time basis.  He spent two years as an assistant with the team (2015-16 and 2016-17) before joining Florida as their head coach and a good chunk of the core is still there and that familiarity certainly doesn’t hurt.

If he does eventually have the interim tag removed, a quick turnaround is going to be expected.  The Sharks don’t have much in the way of salary cap flexibility to change their roster so the majority of their core will likely return.

Having fewer top players go down with injuries will certainly help in that regard and Wilson did have some positive news on that front.  Center Tomas Hertl is well ahead of schedule in his recovery from knee surgery while defenseman Erik Karlsson (thumb) and center Logan Couture (concussion) are close to being fully healthy and could return if the season resumes at some point over the coming weeks and months.

Stretch Run Storylines: Montreal Canadiens

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As things stand, the NHL is planning to have games resume at some point over the coming weeks.  Assuming the regular season continues, there will be plenty of things to watch for over the stretch run.  Over the coming weeks, PHR will examine the top stretch run storylines for each team.  We continue our look at the Atlantic Division with Montreal.

After narrowly missing out of the playoffs a year ago, the Canadiens chose to bring back virtually the same roster in 2019-20 and the results haven’t been as good.  As this point, their only playoff chances are if the NHL opts to go with an expanded field over resuming the regular season.  Nevertheless, there are a few players in particular to watch for if games resumed and they headline Montreal’s stretch run storylines.

Lindgren’s Time?

The Canadiens have been seeking a legitimate backup goaltender behind Carey Price for a long time now.  In recent years, they’ve used Al Montoya, Antti Niemi, and Keith Kinkaid with the results largely being underwhelming.  Throughout that time, they’ve had Charlie Lindgren in the fold but other than as an injury recall, he has rarely had the opportunity to establish himself as someone that could legitimately serve as the number two option over a full season.

Just prior to the shutdown, Lindgren had played in a couple of games and it looked as if he was going to have a chance at regular playing time over the final month of the season.  If play resumes, he should get that opportunity.

From his perspective, at 26, he’s nearing the point of being labelled a career third stringer if he doesn’t prove himself in the NHL soon.  From Montreal’s point of view, they need to see if he can be counted on for next season.  If not, they’ll be among the teams going after someone in free agency and with Seattle’s expansion draft on the horizon, they may have to commit a two-year deal to whoever they get which would be a big blow to Lindgren’s NHL aspirations.  If the NHL returns to regular season play, how he fares in his remaining games (as limited a sample as it may be) could very well determine his future with the team and potentially around the league.

Domi’s Next Deal

Max Domi’s first year with the Canadiens was impressive.  He blew past his career highs with 28 goals and 44 assists while adapting to play center on a full-time basis.  Heading into 2019-20, both Domi and Montreal were hoping for a repeat performance, one that would have solidified a long-term contract as a restricted free agent in the summer.

But that hasn’t happened.  Instead, it has been a roller coaster year and the numbers haven’t been anywhere near as good.  He set a franchise record with a six-game road goal streak but he only has 11 other goals outside of that stretch.  His assist total (27) is comparable to that of his time with the Coyotes which, while not terrible, is not long-term contract material either.  The team has experimented with moving him back to the wing to try to get him going and when that didn’t work, they moved him back down the middle but dropped him to the third line.

That’s not the type of platform year he was hoping for.  All of a sudden, a shorter-term deal is looking more realistic but a strong stretch run could certainly bolster his leverage as Domi is eligible for arbitration.  It was only a year ago that Domi looked like a core player in Montreal but that could be changing.

Which Version Of Drouin?

One of GM Marc Bergevin’s reasons for keeping the team largely intact from last year was the hopes that some of his younger players would show signs of improvement.  Number one on that list was Jonathan Drouin.  While he’s in his sixth year in the league, he only turned 25 last week and after a disappointing season, it was understandable to think he might yet have another gear.

In the early going of 2019-20, he looked like he was indeed taking that next step as he collected 15 points in the first 17 games of the season.  But things went downhill from there.  He was injured about a week after that hot stretch and the ensuing wrist surgery kept him out for the better part of three months.  After returning to action, a lingering ankle issue hampered him considerably and he was held off the scoresheet before being taken out of the lineup in late February.

The first version of Drouin from this season was a core player while the other version is a player that a team would have to provide extra incentive to take on.  Now that the ankle issue has healed, the Canadiens would certainly like to see if Drouin can get back to his early season form if games resume.  If things don’t go well, it’s a hole in their lineup that they may have to add to their offseason shopping list to try to improve upon.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Jordan Kawaguchi Receiving NHL Interest From A Handful Of Teams

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Of the three players that were named as a Hobey Baker Hat Trick Finalist earlier today, only one of them is an undrafted player in center Jordan Kawaguchi.  The 22-year-old recently told Postmedia’s Steve Ewen that he has had interest from a “handful” of NHL teams but that he is still considering returning to North Dakota for his senior year as well.

Kawaguchi’s third season was certainly his best as he easily surpassed his career highs across the board with 15 goals and 30 assists in 33 games.  His 45 points made him the second-leading scorer in the NCAA behind only Jack Dugan, a fifth-round pick of Vegas back in 2017.

So with that type of production, why aren’t more teams going after him?  He’s listed at just 5’9 which will scare some teams away while his skating isn’t at that top level for a smaller player.  Kawaguchi’s playmaking will be his calling card at the next level but evidently, not every team is sold on that just yet.

That could be part of the reason that Kawaguchi is considering staying at North Dakota for his final season.  A repeat or improved performance with a chance to work a bit more on his skating could certainly help garner more interest than he has now.  Of course, it could also backfire as it’s hard to top a season that made him a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.

If he does decide to go the professional route, Kawaguchi would be forced to either sign a two-year, entry-level deal that begins next season or hold out hope that the NHL resumes play and allows him to burn the first year right away.  Alternatively, he could agree to terms on both types of deals as a handful of players have done in recent days but with only a small group of teams showing interest, does he have the leverage to command that?  It probably won’t be too much longer before we find out.

Stretch Run Storylines: Florida Panthers

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As things stand, the NHL is planning to have games resume at some point over the coming weeks.  Assuming the regular season continues, there will be plenty of things to watch for over the stretch run.  Over the coming weeks, PHR will examine the top stretch run storylines for each team.  We continue our look at the Atlantic Division with Florida.

Optimism was high for the Panthers heading into this season.  Bolstered with a high-priced new starting goalie and a well-respected head coach (not to mention some other smaller upgrades), they were hoping to be in contention this season.  Instead, they’re presently on the outside looking in at the playoffs but are close enough to get in if regular season play resumes.  Their positioning in the standings is just one of the elements to watch for down the stretch.

Who Stays, Who Goes?

With a little over $60MM in commitments for next season, the Panthers have some wiggle room to work with this offseason although with only 13 players counting towards that total, they have a lot of spots before they can fill out their roster.  Heading into the season, it was looking like Florida would only be able to retain one of their two notable pending unrestricted free agents on the wing in Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman.  Trading Vincent Trocheck was supposed to help their chances but the potential for a flattened or lower salary cap now largely offsets that.  Accordingly, they may not be able to keep both of them after all even with Trocheck off the books.

After putting up 70 points apiece last season, Hoffman was producing at a nearly identical rate this year while Dadonov’s numbers dipped a little bit as he was on pace for less than 60 points, a mark he reached in both of his seasons with the Panthers.

Hoffman is about seven months younger than Dadonov and both will be expected to command a reasonably long-term deal this summer.  Even in a potentially deflated market, a five-year or six-year term may be doable.  As things stand, both should be looking at raises on their current price tags ($5.1875MM for Hoffman, $4MM for Dadonov).  If they can only afford to keep one of them, how they fare down the stretch and potentially in the postseason could go a long way towards determining which one stays with Florida.

Bobrovsky’s Struggles

In recent years, one of the themes around Florida was ‘if they only had even average goaltending’.  That position had been their Achilles’ heel but Sergei Bobrovsky was supposed to change that.  The Panthers demonstrated how confident they were with him being the long-term solution when they signed him to a seven-year, $70MM contract.

Let’s just say that they haven’t been rewarded on that investment yet.  The veteran has a .900 SV% on the season, his lowest since his sophomore campaign in Philadelphia when he posted a .899 mark in 28 games.  His GAA of 3.23 is the worst of his career by nearly a quarter of a goal per game.  These are numbers that are expected of a journeyman backup, not the second-highest-paid goalie in NHL history.  Instead, they’re getting basically the same results as last year, just at a higher price tag.

But some cause for optimism here isn’t unfounded.  Bobrovsky has gone on hot stretches in the past and carried a team on his shoulders and with the firepower Florida has, they don’t even need him to do that.  If he plays even close to a level of an average goaltender, that could very well be enough to get them over the hump.  He will certainly be one to keep an eye on if games resume.

Standings Watch

There are a handful of teams that will be unhappy if the NHL jumps immediately to the playoffs without expanding the format and Florida is certainly among those.  Earlier this week, captain Aleksander Barkov told George Richards of The Athletic (subscription required) that he doesn’t “think it would be right if we’re left out”.

That point of view is understandable as the Panthers are within striking distance of both a Wild Card spot and the third seed in the Atlantic Division; they’re within three points of each.  On top of that, they have a game in hand on Columbus and Toronto, the teams they’re chasing for those two positions.  They also have a game against the Maple Leafs that could very well make or break their fortunes.  Florida controls their own destiny if they get the opportunity to play out the rest of the regular season or at least part of it.  They’re likely to be the team that’s right in it until the end, assuming the end hasn’t hit already.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Evening Notes: Rossi, Flyers, Tryamkin, Oilers

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Marco Rossi won’t have to wait very long to hear his name called once things get underway at the 2020 NHL Draft.  The center led the OHL in scoring this season with 120 points in 56 games which is quite impressive for anyone, let alone a draft-eligible player.  If he doesn’t stick with whichever NHL team drafts him though, don’t expect him to return to junior hockey.  He told Jean-Francois Plante of Le Droit that if he isn’t in the NHL, his plan is to go back overseas and play in a professional league instead; 67’s head coach Andre Tourigny told Plante that the team wouldn’t block him from trying to do so.  The Austrian came up through the ranks in Switzerland before joining OHL Ottawa and could opt to play there once again.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • While some teams are using this layoff to get a head start on contract discussions, that doesn’t appear to be the case in Philadelphia. Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher told Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia that he hasn’t started any talks about a new deal with any of their pending free agents.  Among the notable unrestricted free agents on their roster are goalie Brian Elliott, defenseman Justin Braun, and center Derek Grant while forwards Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick, who have had their seasons cut short to respective health concerns, headline their list of restricted free agents.
  • With the KHL season now over, talks between the Canucks and defenseman Nikita Tryamkin have picked up, reports Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma. The 25-year-old spent parts of two seasons in Vancouver before returning to Russia for the last three seasons.  However, Tryamkin is looking to return to Vancouver for the 2020-21 campaign but his agent Todd Diamond acknowledged that the uncertainty surrounding next year’s salary cap is also likely to play a role in any contract talks.
  • If play resumes, the Oilers should have a pair of players back in their lineup. Head coach Dave Tippett told reporters, including Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link) that defenseman Mike Green (knee) and winger Joakim Nygard (upper body) have both recovered from their respective injuries and will be ready to go whenever the puck drops.  Green was one of Edmonton’s trade deadline additions but played in just two games before getting hurt while the speedy Nygard has nine points in 33 games in his rookie campaign.

Ducks Sign Roman Durny

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The Ducks have been active signing their prospects lately and that continued today.  CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that Anaheim has signed goaltender Roman Durny to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning in the 2020-21 season.  The deal breaks down as follows:

2020-21: $792.5K NHL salary (including signing bonus), $132.5K performance bonuses, $70K AHL salary
2021-22: $822.5K NHL salary (including signing bonus), $70K AHL salary

Durny was a fifth-round pick of Anaheim (147th overall) back in 2018 after he made the decision to move from playing at home in Slovakia to the USHL in his draft year.  The move was a good one as he posted a 2.38 GAA and a .920 SV% in 25 games with Des Moines and followed that up with a 2.61 GAA and a .909 SV% in 50 games with the Buccaneers last season.

However, he made the curious decision to jump into the professional ranks for this season and wound up playing on a one-year minor league contract.  He was limited to just 13 games with ECHL Norfolk and didn’t fare particularly well with a GAA of 4.02 and a .881 SV% but clearly, the team saw something they liked.  One of their minor league goalies, Kevin Boyle, is slated to become an unrestricted free agent this offseason and with Durny getting signed, it would appear as if Boyle won’t be retained for next season.

Stretch Run Storylines: Toronto Maple Leafs

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As things stand, the NHL is planning to have games resume at some point over the coming weeks.  Assuming the regular season continues, there will be plenty of things to watch for over the stretch run.  Over the coming weeks, PHR will examine the top stretch run storylines for each team.  We continue our look at the Atlantic Division with Toronto.

It has been an interesting season for the Maple Leafs.  An early coaching change yielded some early returns but before long, they were back to being consistently inconsistent.  At their best, they’ve shown they can contend with the top teams in the league but when they’re not on, they’ve been highly beatable.  A return to form for some of their top players would go a long way towards helping them secure a playoff spot if games resume and those underachievers are highlighted in the storylines to watch for.

Goaltending

Frederik Andersen has had some hot and cold moments throughout his tenure with the Maple Leafs and before this stoppage came, he was in the middle of one of those cold streaks, posting a save percentage of .879 over a three and a half week stretch in February.  That’s a below average mark for any NHL goaltender, particularly a starter on a team that has eyes on a long playoff run this season.

To his credit, Andersen was a lot better over his final three starts before this stoppage and that’s the level of play they’ll need from him if they want to contend.  Can he stay at that level?

GM Kyle Dubas decided to bring in some insurance just before the trade deadline with the acquisition of Jack Campbell who started off strong enough that he’d have pushed for a bigger role had Andersen’s struggles continued.  There’s something to watch for on his end as well – if he wins six games in the regular season, the conditional 2021 third-round pick would upgrade to a second-round selection.  Campbell is halfway there; if the season is played out in full, he’ll have a shot at getting there.  If not, it will be interesting to see if any proration occurs by the league to determine if the condition was met.

Playing For A Contract

Tyson Barrie’s first season in Toronto hasn’t gone as well as anyone would have hoped.  As a high-skilled offensive blueliner, going to a team with a lot of top-end firepower seemed like a good fit for him to have a big season in his UFA walk year.

But that hasn’t happened.  Instead, he has dropped to just five goals on the season, his lowest full-season total of his career.  It’s not due to a lack of playing time either as he’s averaging slightly more ice time than he was last season with Colorado when he had a career high in points.

Not surprisingly, his name was in trade speculation leading into the trade deadline although clearly, nothing came of it.  With the Maple Leafs hoping to contend and them only carrying half of his contract with the Avs paying the rest, it was going to be hard to find a right fit that would have brought them another top-four defender back.

Not only would Barrie rebounding be a big boost for Toronto but it would also be a boon to his free agent stock which has taken a bit of a hit this season before even factoring in the looming questions regarding the Upper Limit of the salary cap.  There’s certainly a lot riding on how the rest of the year goes for him.

Matthews’ Quest

Auston Matthews was having quite the season offensively before the rinks went quiet.  He sits just three goals shy of the 50-goal mark and if he can get there, he’d become just the fourth player in franchise history (joining Dave Andreychuk, Gary Leeman, and Rick Vaive) to reach that mark.  If games resume with close to a full schedule, he’ll have a good shot at getting there.

That takes us to the second half of his quest.  Vaive holds the franchise record at 54 with Matthews sitting at 47 in 70 games, a goal per game mark of 0.67.  Toronto had 12 games left in the season.  At that rate, Matthews would project to get eight more which would have got him the record.  He’d likely need the league to play out the full 82 games to have a shot at setting the new record but if that happens, this will certainly be something to watch for.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Ducks Sign Jack Badini And Hunter Drew

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Monday: Anaheim has confirmed the pair of signings, announcing that Badini and Drew are the latest to join the franchise. Both contracts are set to begin in the 2020-21 season.

Saturday: The Ducks have agreed to terms with a prospect for the second straight day.  CapFriendly reports that they’ve signed forward Jack Badini to a two-year, entry-level contract.  They’ve also inked defenseman Hunter Drew to a three-year, entry-level pact, also per CapFriendly.  Badini’s deal carries an $805K cap hit and contains $20K in performance bonuses for the 2020-21 season.  Meanwhile, Drew’s contract carries an AAV of just over $793K and contains no performance bonuses.

Badini was a third-round pick of the Ducks back in 2017 (91st overall) and recently wrapped up his third season at Harvard.  His production actually tapered off somewhat this past season as his six goals and 14 points in 31 games were actually the lowest of his NCAA career.  Nonetheless, he showed enough to get Anaheim to sign him now over returning for his senior year.

Drew, meanwhile, was a sixth-rounder in 2018 (178th overall) and actually spent all of this season in Anaheim’s minor league system.  He played in 29 games with AHL San Diego and another five with ECHL Tulsa.  While he only had seven points with the Gulls, he was more productive with the Oilers at the lower level with four assists in his five contests with them.  The Ducks had until June 1st to sign him or let him become an unrestricted free agent.

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