Offseason Checklist: New York Islanders
The offseason has arrived for all but a handful of teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Islanders.
For most of the season, the Islanders were teetering on the edge of the postseason and eventually, GM Lou Lamoriello opted to make a change, hiring Patrick Roy to take over behind the bench. New York got on a bit of a hot streak toward the end of the year to get into the playoffs but they were quickly eliminated by Carolina. Now, the Isles need to try to add to their group in the hopes of grabbing a firmer hold of a playoff spot next season. Here’s what they should be looking to accomplish in the coming months.
Create Cap Space
Let’s run the numbers first. Per CapFriendly, New York has a little over $6MM in cap room for next season and a handful of roster spots to fill. If they did nothing, they could ice a cap-compliant lineup but it wouldn’t necessarily be any better than the one that struggled for most of the regular season and went out quickly in the playoffs. If they want to make an impactful addition, they need to find a way to get the money to make that happen.
Anders Lee had a tough year, seeing his output dip to 37 points which isn’t a great return on a $7MM price tag through the 2025-26 campaign. While it would be hard to see Lamoriello move his captain, it’s worth noting his full no-trade protection drops to a 15-team one on July 1st. Jean-Gabriel Pageau has two years left at $5MM and is more of a third liner at this point. Meanwhile, Kyle Palmieri is entering the final year of his deal at a $5MM price tag. That said, he’s also coming off a 30-goal campaign so while moving him would open more flexibility, it’d also create a bigger gap to try to fill offensively.
The good news for a possible Palmieri move is that his value has gone up to the point where they could move him without retaining or needing to incentivize a team to take him on. The bad news is that this likely can’t be said for Pageau or Lee. This is where adding the extra second-round pick in a rare May swap of draft picks with Chicago is notable. While it’s possible that it was done to give them a chip to dangle to add someone, it’s also possible that they wind up using it as the incentive for a team to take on a player, similar to what they did to move Josh Bailey last summer.
Regardless of how they get it done though, if Lamoriello wants to add to his team, he needs to find a way to add some cap space first.
Extension Talks
Lamoriello is known to like to use the leverage when he has it which resulted in both Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov signing below-market contracts back in 2022. They’ve benefited from that the last two seasons and will again in 2024-25 but they’ll have to pay the piper after that as both players will be restricted free agents with arbitration eligibility next summer. With the way both have progressed, it might make sense for the Isles to look into potentially extending one or both players this summer.
Dobson’s is the more prominent case. After narrowly missing out on the 50-point mark for the second straight year in 2022-23, the 24-year-old blew past that and then some, putting up 70 points in 79 games. Perhaps more importantly, he grabbed hold of the number one spot on the depth chart and ran with it, logging over 24 minutes a night. He has established himself as a legitimate top-pairing defender at a minimum and with another year or two like this one, he could become a true number one blueliner.
These are the types of players that are extremely hard to come by, particularly right-shot defenders. Accordingly, messing around and trying to low-ball in negotiations probably won’t fly so expect New York to put their best foot forward pretty quickly. His current salary and AAV is $4MM and it’s safe to say that his next deal will at least double that and likely more. If they wait on doing this now and Dobson has another big year, it’s possible that he could surpass Mathew Barzal’s $9.15MM AAV to become the most expensive player on the team.
Romanov won’t be getting anywhere near that level but he has become an important part of their top four after being acquired at the 2022 draft from Montreal. He doesn’t have the offense to command top dollar like Dobson will but as someone who logs around 20 minutes a night, kills penalties, and brings a physical edge to the table, he’ll still be well-positioned for a fair-sized raise on his current $2.5MM AAV and should be in the $4MM range on his next contract. This is a case where there isn’t as much risk in waiting as there might be with Dobson but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Lamoriello try to get this one done early as well.
Add Scoring Help
Scoring goals has been an issue for the Islanders in recent years. The last time they were better than 20th in goals was back in 2017-18 and their roster as currently constructed doesn’t have a lot of firepower outside their top six. (And if Palmieri ends up being the cap casualty, they’ll lose another scoring threat.) Finding a way to add to that will be critical.
They’re hoping that Maxim Tsyplakov will help somewhat on that front after a 31-goal breakout year in the KHL that saw him get interest from at least a dozen teams before signing with New York. But asking him to step in and play in the top six right away would be putting a lot of pressure on him. Playing in the bottom six and ideally shoring up the offensive potential of that group would certainly help, however.
But that’s probably a small improvement at most. A legitimate top-six option is needed to give this group enough firepower to have a chance to stay in the playoff mix next season. If they’re confident they can extend Brock Nelson (who’s also extension-eligible this summer) which would allow them to keep Barzal on the wing, they wouldn’t necessarily have to look at options down the middle which is ideal since the depth on the wing in this free agent class is better than the center group.
But again, with barely $6MM in cap space, that can easily be spent on one impactful player on the open market without doing anything about filling out the rest of their roster. Accordingly, they’ll have to get creative to add the scoring depth they need.
Shore Up Defensive Depth
This was a tough year for the Islanders from an injury perspective, especially when it came to their back end. Ryan Pulock, Adam Pelech, and Scott Mayfield (three of their top five blueliners) all missed at least 24 games due to injuries which put their defensive depth to the test. After some early struggles, Lamoriello added veterans Robert Bortuzzo and Mike Reilly to try to stabilize things, moves that worked out relatively well considering the low acquisition price.
However, their depth is about to get thinned out. Both Bortuzzo and Reilly are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer as are Sebastian Aho and Robin Salo (who has seen NHL action in two of the last three years).
It’s possible that Reilly returns if he’s willing to sign for around the $1MM he made this season. Aho has earned a raise from the $825K he made for the past two years which could price his way out of what the Isles can afford to pay a seventh defender. In the minors, Salo joins Paul LaDue as veterans on expiring deals so work needs to be done there as well.
Lamoriello might need to sign three or four blueliners in the coming weeks to ensure he has sufficient depth in case injuries strike once again. As a result, expect to see several blueliners added early in free agency or on the trade front in the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Senators Undecided On Qualifying Erik Brannstrom
Back in 2019, the Senators thought they were adding a core piece of the future when they picked up defenseman Erik Brannstrom from Vegas as part of the Mark Stone trade. While he has worked his way into a regular role, he hasn’t been anywhere near as impactful as they were hoping for.
With the team looking to shake things up in Steve Staios’ first summer as GM, it appears as if Brannstrom is one of the players whose future with the team is in some question. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Sens aren’t sure if they will tender him his required qualifying offer this summer.
It’s a similar situation to the one they found themselves in a year ago, albeit with a higher price tag this time around. At that time, the qualifying offer was tendered with an agreement pretty much done in principle, finalized on July 1st with a contract that more than doubled his salary to $2MM for 2023-24. That figure is now the qualifying offer while he will have arbitration rights as well.
Brannstrom played in a career-best 76 games this season, picking up three goals and 17 assists. He was primarily limited to playing on the third pairing while interim head coach Jacques Martin elected to deploy him as a winger on the fourth line briefly as well. Those numbers alone might not look great for arbitration purposes but with 69 points in 266 career NHL contests, the longer track record would bolster his case in a hearing.
At the moment, Ottawa already has over $27MM committed to six defensemen for next season, per CapFriendly, with Jake Sanderson’s new contract kicking in this summer. Should they be allocating at least another $2MM (and likely more to avoid a hearing) to that position or would they be better off using that money elsewhere? Having said that, if they elect to move a blueliner – Jakob Chychrun has been in trade speculation dating back to the trade deadline – then it might be more justifiable to try to give Brannstrom one more chance.
As things stand, they have a little over $12MM in room for next season with a handful of roster spots to fill. Pending RFA center Shane Pinto figures to take a good chunk of that so if Staios wants to try to add an impact piece to his roster, it would be difficult to do so and keep Brannstrom on the roster without making some sort of other change first. Accordingly, this is a decision that could come down to the wire on the June 30th qualifying offer deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
International Rumors: Ouellet, Heatherington, Lethemon
Defenseman Xavier Ouellet has played 178 career NHL games so far along with 441 career appearances in the AHL. However, it appears that he won’t be adding to those totals next season as Belarus Hockey relays that the blueliner is expected to sign with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL. The 30-year-old was a full-time NHLer for a couple of years with Detroit but since then, he has primarily played in the minors. Ouellet inked a two-year deal with the Penguins in 2022 and was expected to be a key veteran with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while being a capable recall when injuries arose. However, injuries limited the pending unrestricted free agent considerably in 2022-23 and while he was healthier this season, he didn’t get a recall to Pittsburgh and wound up posting two goals and 23 assists in 63 minor league appearances.
Other international rumblings pertaining to pending free agents:
- The Senators have already lost Lassi Thomson and Jacob Larsson to overseas contracts and a third blueliner might be joining them as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that Dillon Heatherington is examining his international options. The 29-year-old played in a dozen games with Ottawa between 2021-22 and 2022-23 but didn’t see any NHL action this season. Instead, Heatherington skated in 60 games with AHL Belleville and was briefly loaned out to play for Canada at the Spengler Cup back in December.
- Red Wings pending UFA John Lethemon is expected to sign with Lukko in Finland, per a report from Satakunnan Kansa’s Kimmo Makelainen. The 27-year-old netminder has spent the last two years on an NHL deal with Detroit but has primarily played at the ECHL level in that span. This season, Lethemon had a 2.90 GAA and a .892 SV% in 37 games with Toledo although he improved those to 2.46 and .899 respectively in nine playoff contests. An NHL two-way deal likely wasn’t going to be on the table for Lethemon this summer so going overseas, assuming the contract gets finalized, makes some sense.
Free Agent Focus: NHL Utah
Free agency is now just a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the franchise formerly known as the Coyotes.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Sean Durzi – Arizona took advantage of Los Angeles needing some cap space, flipping a second-round pick to land Durzi. The move worked out extremely well for the then-Coyotes. Durzi was thrust into a much bigger role than he had with the Kings and acquitted himself rather well, setting new career highs in assists (32), points (41), blocks (160), and ATOI (22:43). He’s owed a qualifying offer of $2MM but stands to land considerably more than that, especially with salary arbitration rights. A one-year deal could push past the $4MM mark but if Utah GM Bill Armstrong wants to try to lock him up to a long-term agreement that buys multiple years of club control, Durzi’s next contract could surpass $6MM per year.
F Barrett Hayton – After a breakout 2022-23 campaign, expectations were high for Hayton coming into this season. However, things didn’t go as planned. The 23-year-old missed 49 games due to a pair of injuries (hand and lower body) and when he was in the lineup, he wasn’t producing anywhere near the level that he was the year before, scoring just three goals while adding seven assists in 33 appearances. His qualifying offer checks in at $2.13MM with arbitration rights which should allow him to get more than that based on his 2022-23 performance. However, the long-term agreement that seemed likely a year ago probably won’t be coming this summer.
D Michael Kesselring – After getting a taste of NHL action last season, Kesselring played his way into a more prominent role in 2023-24. He started the year in the minors but was recalled less than a month in and was up with Arizona the rest of the way. Kesselring recorded a respectable 21 points in 65 games while averaging less than 16 minutes a night of ice time. Although this is his first trip through restricted free agency, he’s already arbitration-eligible which could push his next contract higher than it might seem at first glance. Without arbitration, his bridge deal could have been pegged around the $1.3MM mark but it should push past $1.5MM with his eligibility to go to a hearing where his 2023-24 performance would make a big difference in the award.
D J.J. Moser – Moser wasn’t counted on to play quite as many minutes this season but he still logged more ice time than everyone but Durzi. A rare player to go from being drafted in the second round to being an NHL regular the following season, the 23-year-old is now entrenched as a key part of Utah’s back end for the foreseeable future. He still has three years of club control remaining so Armstrong could opt for a second bridge contract which could still quadruple his $874K qualifying offer. If they do look to work out a long-term agreement, it should check in closer to the $4.5MM mark.
D Juuso Valimaki – After being waived out of Calgary back in 2022, Valimaki has settled in as a quality regular on their back end. However, he wasn’t able to match the 34 points he put up in his first season with the Coyotes who claimed him off the waiver wire, seeing his output cut in half this year. Still, his qualifying offer checks in at only $1MM and while he has arbitration rights, the award shouldn’t be high enough to have Armstrong thinking about a non-tender. He should at least double his salary from this season over the summer.
Other RFAs: F Curtis Douglas, F Jan Jenik, F Milos Kelemen, D Vladislav Kolyachonok, F Ben McCartney, D Victor Soderstrom
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Travis Boyd – When healthy, Boyd has been a decent secondary scorer. Heading into this season, he was coming off two straight years of 34 points but he wound up clearing waivers in training camp although he was never sent down. This year, he was limited to just 16 games due to a torn pectoral muscle although he still managed eight points despite averaging less than 10 minutes a night. He also has plenty of experience playing down the middle which should help his value in theory. That said, coming off a long-term injury, he’s likely heading for a contract around the league minimum. However, of the many players who will find themselves in that situation in the coming weeks, he’s one with a bit more upside than most.
D Josh Brown – After being in and out of the lineup at times, Brown signed with Arizona in 2022 with the hopes of establishing himself as a full-timer. While he played more than he sat both years, the 30-year-old was the seventh defender fairly frequently this season. He’s a capable shot-blocker and plays with some snarl which will get him some interest in the summer but it’s likely to be for a depth role. Those players will mostly be around the league minimum of $775K but Brown could check in slightly higher than that.
F Liam O’Brien – O’Brien led the NHL in penalty minutes this season while setting a new personal best in points (14) and hits (229). There is still a role for some fourth line fighters across the league and as someone who can produce a little bit while playing that role, he should be able to garner some interest if Armstrong doesn’t re-sign him. Having said that, this particular spot in the lineup is one that teams won’t want to spend much on so O’Brien might not be able to command too much more than the $800K salary he received this season.
Other UFAs: F Travis Barron, D Cameron Crotty, D Travis Dermott, D Steven Kampfer, F Justin Kirkland, D Patrik Koch, F John Leonard, F Bryan Little, F Ryan McGregor, F Nathan Smith, G Matt Villalta
Projected Cap Space
No team has more cap space than Utah this summer, checking in at over $43MM, an amount that could jump past $51MM if they were to fully utilized Shea Weber’s LTIR deal. That doesn’t seem likely to happen but the days of this franchise being at the bottom of spending in terms of salary should be over now. Their restricted free agents will take up a fair-sized chunk of this cap room but they’ll still have plenty of room to add multiple impact players this summer. They could be players in free agency and on the trade front as a result.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Senators UFA Jacob Larsson Signs In Switzerland
Rather than see what a trip through unrestricted free agency in July would yield, defenseman Jacob Larsson has opted to head overseas. The Senators’ depth defender has signed a two-year contract with Rapperswil-Jona in Switzerland, per a team announcement.
The 27-year-old was a first-round pick by Anaheim back in 2015, going 25th overall but hasn’t been able to carve out a full-time NHL role just yet. He spent five years in their system, getting into 165 NHL games during that span. However, in 2022, the Ducks elected not to tender a $1.3MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights, making Larsson an unrestricted free agent.
Unable to secure a one-way deal on the open market, Larsson accepted a one-year, two-way deal with Ottawa that summer. While he got into seven games with the Sens, he spent the bulk of that year with AHL Belleville. This season, he only saw game action in the minors despite a pair of recalls in the first half of the season. With Belleville, Larsson played in 61 games, notching a career-best 33 points while adding five assists in seven playoff contests.
Considering the year he had in the minors, Larsson likely would have had strong interest on the open market from teams looking to make him a key defender in the AHL while being a serviceable recall if necessary. However, he instead will try his hand different where he’s likely to play a big role for the Lakers for the next two years. A good showing there could get him back on the NHL radar in 2026 if he decides to try his hand at playing in North America again.
Predators To Part Ways With Assistant Coach Dan Hinote
The Predators have elected to make a change behind the bench for next season. The team confirmed to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean that they will not renew the contract of assistant coach Dan Hinote when it expires at the end of June.
Hinote was an energetic winger over his nine-year NHL career split between Colorado and St. Louis. He opted to play in Sweden for one final season in 2009-10 before hanging up his skates.
However, Hinote wasn’t out of a job for long as after retiring, he was named an assistant coach with Columbus. The 47-year-old spent four seasons in that role before moving into scouting where he spent four more years with the Blue Jackets. From there, he spent two seasons with the U.S. National Team Development Program before former Nashville GM David Poile brought Hinote onto their staff back in 2020. After four years in that job, Hinote will now be on the lookout for another job.
While Hinote won’t be returning, their other assistants will. Daugherty added that Nashville’s two other assistant coaches, Tom Richards and Derek MacKenzie, are expected to return next season so there will only be one new voice behind the bench on Andrew Brunette’s staff.
Snapshots: Myers, Necas, Buyalsky, Yeo
Defenseman Tyler Myers is one of Vancouver’s many notable pending unrestricted free agents but that might not be the case for much longer. In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted that there is optimism that the Canucks will be able to work something out with the blueliner. Myers has spent the last five seasons in Vancouver after inking a $30MM deal with them back in 2019. He struggled in a prominent role but found some traction in more limited minutes this season, notching 29 points in 77 games along with 136 blocks and 110 hits in just under 19 minutes a night. It’s safe to say that a new agreement for the 34-year-old won’t reach the $6MM mark but half that on a multi-year deal could be double.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- The Canadiens are among the teams to have inquired about Hurricanes forward Martin Necas, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic recently reported in an appearance on RDS (video link). The pending restricted free agent has been frequently mentioned in trade speculation in recent weeks with Carolina having a lot of players to re-sign and not enough cap space to bring everyone back. Necas had 24 goals and 29 assists in 77 games during the regular season and added nine points in 11 postseason contests. He’s owed a $3.5MM qualifying offer but stands to earn much more than that this summer while also carrying salary arbitration rights.
- Avalanche prospect Andrei Buyalsky entered the transfer portal back on April 1st and has now found a new place to play next season. However, it’s not at the NCAA level as Barys Astana of the KHL announced on their Instagram page that they’ve signed they forward to a one-year contract. The 23-year-old was a third-round pick of Colorado back in 2021, going 91st overall. Buyalsky spent the last three years at the University of Vermont but saw his production dip this season to just three goals and eight assists in 25 games.
- After parting ways with Vancouver yesterday, veteran coach Mike Yeo might not be out of a job for long. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the Senators have interviewed Yeo for an assistant’s job on Travis Green’s bench while suggesting that he could be on the Maple Leafs’ radar as well having worked with Craig Berube before. Yeo spent the last couple of years in that role with Vancouver and also has head coaching experience with Minnesota, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.
Offseason Checklist: Washington Capitals
The offseason has arrived for all but a handful of teams who are still taking part in the playoffs. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Washington.
The Capitals were able to pull off a late-season comeback to reach the postseason but they were quickly dispatched in a four-game sweep by the Rangers, ending their year on a low note. Washington is a team that’s more or less stuck in the middle so GM Brian MacLellan will need to figure out how to get this team moving in a more concrete direction. There are a couple of different paths to take obviously and their checklist will reflect both routes accordingly.
Examine Goalie Trade Options
This season was somewhat of a changing of the guard for Washington’s goaltenders. Darcy Kuemper was signed to be the long-term starter while Charlie Lindgren was brought in during the 2022 offseason as a low-cost backup. They flipped roles this year with Lindgren cementing himself as the starter while Kuemper struggled, landing in the second-string role as a result.
While both netminders are under contract for next season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see MacLellan try to shake things up. However, the route they take – retool or rebuild – will indicate which netminder would be the right one to move.
If they’re looking to win now, they might want to look at the market for Kuemper to see if there’s a taker for a swap of underachieving goalies. This could be an offseason that sees more musical chairs than usual this summer when it comes to goaltenders and there are a handful of teams with veterans who have multiple years left on their contracts with a price tag in the range of Kuemper’s $5.25MM. Since Kuemper (who does have a 10-team no-trade list as of Saturday, down from 15) doesn’t have positive trade value on his own, perhaps taking a flyer on someone else in a swap of bad deals could help their situation between the pipes.
On the flip side, if they pivot to a rebuild, then the idea of moving Lindgren stands out. Signing him to an extension now would carry some risks considering he’s coming off a career year but here’s a goalie who’s underpaid even by backup standards with a cap hit of just $1.1MM. With one year left on that contract, he could have some decent trade value for a team looking for a low-cost option in goal. With both Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson dominating at AHL Hershey, the Capitals could move forward with one of them splitting time with Kuemper or his replacement (they could look at the first swap idea in either route) and assess from there.
MacLellan suggested earlier this offseason that he’s planning as if both netminders will be back for next season. He should at least be exploring what other options might be out there in the coming weeks.
Re-Sign McMichael
After taking care of Aliaksei Protas earlier in the season, the Capitals got one of their young forwards signed early. They didn’t do that with Connor McMichael and therefore will need to get him signed over the next few months.
It has been an interesting first three years for the 2019 first-round pick. McMichael held his own in his rookie year in a fourth-line role but then in 2022-23, he was dispatched back to the minors for most of the season where he had a chance to play the offensive role he’s more suited to, not to mention getting in a long playoff run with the Bears. That helped propel him back to the NHL for this season and the 23-year-old was more impactful, notching 18 goals and 15 assists in 30 games while averaging just under 16 minutes a night. That goal total was good for a tie for fourth, a pretty good outcome for someone who played all of six NHL games the year before.
Generally speaking, this is the type of player profile where it makes a lot of sense to do a bridge contract. Here’s a player who only has a couple of years of NHL experience under his belt and likely hasn’t reached his offensive ceiling. More often than not, a short-term second contract is a straightforward solution. However, they gave Protas five years at $3.375MM per season with even less experience and less of a track record offensively and he would have been a logical bridge candidate as well. That means the potential for McMichael to sign a longer-term agreement certainly is there.
If it winds up being a conventional bridge contract, it should check in somewhere around the $2MM range, perhaps slightly backloaded to guarantee a higher qualifying offer at the end. That would also give them more money to work with if they’re looking to add to their roster this summer. Conversely, a bridge contract that buys up some UFA time likely pushes past the $4MM mark. If he develops as they hope, that would be a team-friendly pact before long but it would take away from their cap space this summer. If they decide to retool though, they may look more favorably on a longer-term agreement as they won’t need as much cap space for next season so they can more comfortably pay more now to potentially save later.
Utilize LTIR
This time last year, Nicklas Backstrom had done relatively well finishing up 2022-23 after returning from hip resurfacing surgery and while his $9.2MM price tag was high for the role he could fill, he could still fill a role. However, just eight games into the season, he shut it down, missing the rest of the season due to ongoing issues with his hip. At this point, it seems highly unlikely that he’ll be able to return. Accordingly, the Capitals can go into offseason LTIR and use that money either in free agency or on the trade front.
There’s also the potential for that number to go up. T.J. Oshie has been playing through some significant back pain and mused about the potential of not trying to play through it next season given the issues it gives him in his day-to-day life. If the determination is made that he won’t play either, that’s another $5.75MM that could be added to the LTIR pool. Given the potential that he could return, it’s unlikely that money would be utilized this summer (it might be more of an in-season decision) but it’s something that will need to be considered.
Now, how they use LTIR will be influenced by their direction. If they want to add win-now pieces, they can utilize it that way; we’ll get to some possible needs on that front shortly. But if the focus is on the future, then they can try to become a broker and take on a contract along with some future assets to help in the long term.
How much they have to spend remains to be seen with Oshie’s situation. But they will have LTIR at their disposal this summer if they want to use it.
Add Scoring Help
While this obviously is more of an issue if Washington is trying to push for another playoff spot next season, it’s an area that’s going to need to be addressed at some point. It wasn’t that long ago that the Capitals were one of the higher-scoring teams in the NHL. However, they only managed to finish 28th in that regard this season and with Backstrom likely not returning, Oshie’s status in jeopardy, and even long-time middleman Evgeny Kuznetsov now gone in a late-season trade, a good chunk of the previous core isn’t going to be around anymore.
This is something that Backstrom’s LTIR situation should help them with. By the time they re-sign McMichael and their other free agents, they’re basically going to primarily have just Backstrom’s (and maybe Oshie’s) money to play with.
How should that money be spent? They’re not in a spot where they need to be picky. While Dylan Strome has fared rather well in his two seasons with the Caps, he’s not a true number one center in an ideal world. McMichael still isn’t overly proven at the NHL level. With Backstrom and Kuznetsov out of the picture, there’s a definite need to add an impact piece down the middle. Ideally, that would be someone with some offensive creativity which could help unlock some of the sluggish scoring on the wing.
Speaking of that, the Capitals had just three wingers surpass the 15-goal mark last season. One is Alex Ovechkin who overcame a terrible start to put up 31 tallies but age is catching up with him. Another is Tom Wilson, a player who hasn’t reached 25 goals in a season in his career; he’s more of a secondary contributor from a points perspective. The third was Anthony Mantha who put up 20 goals before being moved to Vegas a little before the trade deadline. Suffice it to say, there’s a definite need for a scoring winger or two.
If MacLellan has any designs on trying to get back to the playoffs in 2024-25, he will need to find a way to add multiple impact point producers to this roster. If the plan is to retool, they can push that down the road temporarily but it’s an area that will still need to be addressed sooner than later.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Arthur Kaliyev Has Asked To Be Traded
This season was a rough one for Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev. After being a capable secondary scorer in his first two seasons, things more or less went off the rails in 2023-24. Now, the 22-year-old is believed to have asked for a trade, reports David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
Kaliyev put up a respectable 14 goals and 13 assists in his rookie year in 2021-22 and followed that up with an improvement in 2022-23, collecting 13 goals and 15 helpers despite missing 26 games. Accordingly, there was reason for optimism that he’d take another step forward this season while ideally being able to play a little higher in the lineup.
None of that happened. Instead, Kaliyev found himself a frequent healthy scratch, especially under Jim Hiller who had the interim tag lifted to become the full-time head coach earlier this month. Along the way, he managed just seven goals and eight assists in 51 games while logging less than 12 minutes a night of playing time. Then, when the playoffs came, he was scratched for all five games in their opening-round loss to Edmonton.
While his stock isn’t at its highest right now, Kaliyev could be an intriguing buy-low candidate for some teams. 71 points in 188 career NHL appearances is relatively decent for a player who has averaged just over 12 minutes a night over that time. Meanwhile, while he’s a pending restricted free agent, Kaliyev is owed a qualifying offer of just $874K and doesn’t have salary arbitration rights. Coming off the year he just had, it’s hard to see him commanding much more than that on a one-year contract.
The Kings were believed to be open to trading Kaliyev during the regular season (amidst speculation that Kaliyev himself would also be open to being moved) but a suitable swap never came to fruition. Now, they’re believed to be willing to move on from him altogether according to a recent report from Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription link) so the asking price will almost certainly be lower now. With Kaliyev wanting to move on and Los Angeles believed to be wanting to move on from him, he seems quite likely to be moved in the coming weeks.
Blue Jackets Name Don Waddell GM, President Of Hockey Operations
May 28: The Blue Jackets have signed Waddell to a multi-year deal to become the team’s GM, alternate governor and president of hockey operations, the team announced Tuesday. Interim GM John Davidson, who’s been the team’s POHO since 2021, is being transitioned into a senior advisory role.
May 25: After a search that has lasted more than three months, it appears that the Blue Jackets have zeroed in on their executive of choice to take over the front office. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Don Waddell is their choice to take over the top job in hockey operations. No agreement is in place as of yet with LeBrun suggesting that if all goes well, an announcement could be made next week. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that the announcement could come on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The timing of this report doesn’t come as much surprise with Waddell having resigned from Carolina on Friday, less than 24 hours after reports emerged that he had been granted permission to speak to other teams. Generally speaking, you don’t make that type of move without having another job in place and the vacancy in Columbus is the only one in the league so it makes sense that they’re expected to reach an agreement.
Assuming everything goes well and the contract is finalized, Waddell will be tasked with reshaping a Columbus franchise that hasn’t had much success in recent years under former GM Jarmo Kekalainen.
The Blue Jackets have missed the playoffs in four straight seasons, entering an unplanned rebuild in the process. Kekalainen attempted to accelerate that with the additions of Johnny Gaudreau, Ivan Provorov, and Damon Severson in the last couple of years but Columbus wound up finishing last in the Metropolitan Division each time with the team struggling considerably in all three facets – offense, defense, and goaltending.
However, they do have a quality young core group to work with. Up front, Adam Fantilli, Kent Johnson, Dmitri Voronkov, Kirill Marchenko, Owen Sillinger, and Yegor Chinakhov have all has some success in the NHL already and are aged 23 or younger. On the back end, David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk give them some quality options to work within what has become somewhat of a veteran defensive group. They’ll also add a key piece of the future next month with the fourth-overall selection. That’s certainly a solid foundation to try to build off of.
One of the first decisions that Waddell will need to make when the hire is made official is on the fate of the coaching staff. The Blue Jackets have technically gone through four head coaches in the last four years with Pascal Vincent taking on the job late in the offseason before Mike Babcock had even coached a single game. Will Waddell want to bring in his own choice and make it five bench bosses in five years or will he let Vincent – who is entering the final year of his contract – stick around?
Assuming this hire is made official, it will be a significant change of direction for what Columbus has previously done in management. Their previous three general managers in franchise history – Doug MacLean, Scott Howson, and Kekalainen – were all first-time hires. That certainly isn’t the case with Waddell who has 18 years of GM experience – a dozen with Atlanta and six with Carolina – on top of holding other senior titles as well. There shouldn’t be any sort of learning curve for him as there was for the others.
In his resignation from Carolina, Waddell indicated that the time had come to move on to the next chapter of his career. That next chapter will be another Metropolitan Division team with Waddell having some work to do to get the Blue Jackets back on track.