Connor Ingram Wins 2024 Masterton Trophy
On Tuesday, the NHL revealed the winner of the Mark Messier Leadership Award. Today, they announced that goaltender Connor Ingram is the recipient of the 2024 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.
The 27-year-old was mired in the minors early on in his career before stepping aside in 2021 to treat a previously undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder and lingering depression, entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He returned for the 2021-22 season, making his NHL debut with Nashville while putting up strong numbers with AHL Milwaukee.
That performance was enough for Arizona to put in a claim for him on waivers in 2022-23, a move that worked out well for both sides. After a slow start, Ingram played to a respectable .907 SV% on a rebuilding team while posting a 3.37 GAA. That was enough for the Coyotes to give him a three-year, $5.85MM contract last summer. He rewarded them by maintaining that same save percentage while shaving 45 points off his GAA while playing in a career-best 50 games, positioning himself as the starter heading into their first season in Utah.
Other finalists for the award were Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen and Calgary defenseman Oliver Kylington. Andersen returned after missing most of the season due to blood clots while Kylington was away from the team for more than a year and a half for mental health reasons before returning this season.
The NHL will now take a bit of time off from announcing its award winners. Next up on the schedule will be Saturday when the Selke Trophy winner will be revealed.
Five Key Stories: 5/6/24 – 5/12/24
With the offseason underway for most teams, the annual coaching carousel is now in full swing. Several teams made moves behind the bench which is among the news recapped in our key stories.
Coaching Positions Filled: A pair of coaches got good news in recent days. The Blues decided they liked how they finished the season so they rewarded Drew Bannister by removing the interim tag and signing their bench boss to a two-year deal. He helped lead St. Louis to a 30-19-5 record after taking over from Craig Berube back in December and will now get the chance to lead the team through what’s expected to be somewhat of a retooling process.
Meanwhile, Travis Green didn’t wait to see if he was going to have his interim tag removed by New Jersey. Having been granted permission to talk to other teams despite being in consideration to stay with the Devils, Green found a new home as he was named as the new bench boss for the Senators, inking a four-year contract. This will be the third team that Green will run having held down the top job having spent parts of five seasons with Vancouver while replacing Lindy Ruff for the stretch run this season. The Sens made another decision of note off the ice as well, electing not to forfeit their first-round pick this year from the penalty assessed in the vetoed Evgenii Dadonov deal two years ago. They’ll have to give up either their 2025 or 2026 first-rounder now.
Coaching Positions Opened: While two vacancies were filled behind the bench, two more opened up. The Jets are now on the lookout for a new head coach after Rick Bowness announced his retirement. The 69-year-old had contemplated retiring after being let go by Dallas in 2022 but decided to give it one more go with Winnipeg. The Jets made the playoffs in both seasons that Bowness was at the helm but they were ousted in the first round each time.
The other opening is in Toronto after Sheldon Keefe was let go after five years with the franchise. The Maple Leafs had plenty of regular season success with Keefe behind the bench; his .665 points percentage is third-best among all active coaches. However, the team hasn’t had much playoff success during that time as they won just one series and were ousted in the opening round by Boston.
IIHF Issues Sanctions: Given that Ivan Fedotov and CSKA Moscow defied the IIHF’s ruling early in the season that Fedotov’s contract with Philadelphia was valid and not theirs, sanctions were expected. Those sanctions were announced over the weekend. Fedotov has been suspended from international play for the next three seasons while also receiving a six-month suspension if he was to leave the NHL to play for an international club. (He does have a new two-year deal with the Flyers being next season so this one shouldn’t be a concern.) Meanwhile, CSKA will be banned from making any international transfers for a two-year period beginning on August 11th while being assessed a fine of $1MM Swiss Francs.
Bridge For Reichel: After a tough season, it was a foregone conclusion that the Blackhawks wouldn’t work out a long-term deal with Lukas Reichel but rather a bridge pact. They wasted little time getting that done as the two sides agreed to a two-year, $2.4MM contract. The deal is slightly back loaded as he’ll be owed a $1.3MM qualifying offer in 2026. A first-round pick in 2020 (17th overall), expectations were high for the winger after Reichel put up 15 points in 23 games with Chicago in 2022-23. However, he struggled in his first taste of extended NHL action, notching just 16 points in 65 contests. Despite that, they’ll still be counting on him to be an important part of their future plans.
Losing Leads To A Win: This season was an ugly one for the Sharks who allowed the most goals in the NHL by a considerable margin and scored the second-fewest, leading them to a 32nd-place finish and one of their worst seasons in franchise history. However, they were rewarded for their ‘efforts’ as they were able to win the draft lottery, giving them the first-overall pick, one that’s expected to be used on Macklin Celebrini. They also won the first two draws for the second pick but since they already had the top pick, they had to redraw until another team won that one. The winner of the second draw was Chicago, the one team who had fewer goals than the Sharks this season. Those two teams had the top odds going in and the draft order wound up being unchanged by the lottery for the first time since 2010.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Offseason Checklist: Seattle Kraken
The offseason has arrived for three-quarters of the NHL for teams that either missed the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Seattle.
What a difference a year can make. After the Kraken surprised many by making it to the second round in their second season of existence, expectations were relatively high coming into this season. However, they weren’t able to sustain that success and instead of building on it, they missed the playoffs altogether. As a result, GM Ron Francis will have a busy few months ahead of him. Here’s what should be on his to-do list this summer.
Hire A Head Coach
Despite his previously-signed contract extension not beginning until July, Francis decided to make a change behind the bench, firing Dave Hakstol after three seasons with the team. The Kraken played to a 107-112-27 record under Hakstol’s tutelage, a record that’s relatively respectable considering they were an expansion franchise but their playoff run in 2022-23 accelerated the expectations and they clearly came up short, warranting the change in Francis’ mind.
Seattle has a pair of assistants who could make a real case for the role. Dave Lowry has some experience running an NHL bench having taken over from Paul Maurice in Winnipeg midway through the 2021-22 season after Maurice unexpectedly resigned. Meanwhile, Jay Leach has worked his way up through the coaching ranks and is someone who has been speculated to have had some head coaching interviews in the past. It feels like a matter of time before he gets a chance whether it’s filling this vacancy or going somewhere else.
Alternatively, they could also look to their farm team which is run by former NHL bench boss Dan Bylsma. He has run Coachella Valley the past two seasons, leading them to the Calder Cup Final last season while the team posted a .715 points percentage in both years. Bylsma has head coaching experience at the top level with Detroit and Buffalo but hasn’t run an NHL bench since the 2016-17 campaign.
It would appear that Francis is looking for someone who can help this group get back to the playoffs over kicking off any sort of rebuild. Accordingly, it stands to reason that if they look outside the organization for a new head coach, they’ll look for someone with experience. Among the options currently available are Craig Berube, Dean Evason, Todd McLellan, Sheldon Keefe, and Jay Woodcroft.
Seattle technically doesn’t have to have a head coach in place by the start of free agency but if the new bench boss will have any sort of input on who the team pursues in the summer, they’ll want that hire in place well before July 1st.
Re-Sign Beniers
Heading into the season, it looked like Matthew Beniers was in a strong position to secure a long-term agreement and cement himself as their franchise fixture up front. While that could still happen, his performance in his sophomore campaign has made that long-term deal a bit less certain.
Beniers burned the first year of his contract late in the 2021-22 campaign when he impressed with nine points in ten games. He didn’t produce quite as high of a point-per-game rate last season but still managed 57 points in 80 regular season games, earning him the Calder Trophy. He then followed it up with seven points in 14 contests, not a bad result for his first taste of playoff action. Based on that, expectations were high heading into his second full season.
This season, Beniers was Seattle’s top center fairly regularly and the results were mixed. He got off to a particularly slow start, notching just five goals in the first 39 games (spanning October to December) and while he picked up the pace after that, he still managed just ten in the final 40 contests. For someone who was expected to push closer to the 25-goal, 70-point mark, it’s safe to say he underachieved.
Has he shown enough to get a max-term (or close to it) contract, one that would likely carry an AAV in the $8MM range? Or would one (or both) of the two sides prefer a shorter-term bridge deal to allow for more evaluation time? This feels like the more probable outcome at this point.
So, what would that bridge deal cost? The three-year, $17.25MM contract that Anaheim gave Trevor Zegras last summer stands out as a viable comparable. Zegras’ numbers at the end of his entry-level deal were a bit better but with the salary cap set to jump up by around $4MM, that should balance out the lower production. It’s worth noting that like Zegras had last year, Beniers has five years of team control remaining so Seattle can comfortably go with a three-year bridge deal without running the risk of their key middleman filing for arbitration and walking himself straight to UFA eligibility. These contracts can sometimes take until right up to training camp so it’s possible this won’t be resolved for a while yet.
Add Scoring Help
In 2022-23, Seattle was sixth in the league in goals scored. The offense-by-committee approach worked with the end result being a group that was more impressive than the sum of its parts. However, it’s not always easy to have success with that route and even with bringing back the majority of the same group, things didn’t go as well this season. Instead, they dropped 72 goals and slipped to 29th in total goals scored.
Is this group going to struggle that much moving forward? Probably not and they’ll be hoping that a new coach will help improve things on that front. However, it’s also unrealistic to think that this core can go back to pushing to be in the top five in goals scored league-wide; the realistic outcome is somewhere in between. But that’s still a pretty big divergence in terms of range.
As a result, it would make a lot of sense for Seattle to pursue some scoring help this summer. They’re not in a bad situation cap-wise with around $23MM in cap room, per CapFriendly. Yes, a new deal for Beniers (and for Eeli Tolvanen who is arbitration-eligible and should be eyeing a fair-sized raise on the $1.45MM he made this year) will cut into that but they’ll still have ample space to pursue an upgrade or two beyond potentially adding someone like Shane Wright into the lineup full-time.
While some teams might want to pursue their upgrades via the trade route, it would make more sense for Seattle to look at free agency. Their prospect pool is still relatively thin, understandably so considering they’ve only been around for three years. With that in mind, trading from that pool isn’t as desirable as trying to sign a player outright on the open market, even if they have to pay a bit of a premium to do so.
Look Into Goalie Market
When Seattle made its expansion picks, their goaltending wasn’t looking too shabby. Vitek Vanecek had some upside, Chris Driedger was coming off his breakout year, and Joey Daccord was a third-stringer with some upside. After flipping Vanecek for a second-round pick and signing then-Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer, it looked like a real strength on paper.
Of course, things haven’t quite gone as planned. Driedger struggled in his first season with the team and has been injured or in the minors since then. Meanwhile, Grubauer hasn’t come close to living up to his $5.9MM per season deal, one that still has three more years left on it. Daccord had a breakout showing this year but is he a sure-fire number one goalie moving forward or did a lot go right this season and he’s a potential regression candidate?
Given the potential uncertainty, Francis would be wise to at least examine what’s out there in the goalie market this summer. With all the speculation surrounding some veteran underachieving netminders, it feels like this could be a year that we see some change of scenery trades, swapping one underperformer for another in the hopes that a new team, a new system, and a new goalie coach will do the trick. There are some of those around the same price point as Grubauer with multiple years left so perhaps there is an opportunity to try to shake things up there.
Failing that, Driedger is set to hit the open market this summer and will be in search of a full-time NHL backup job so it’s unlikely he returns to AHL Coachella Valley. The Firebirds have a pair of youngsters signed for next season in Niklas Kokko and Victor Ostman but neither of them will be NHL-ready for a while. Accordingly, at a minimum, the Kraken should be on the hunt for a veteran third-stringer to give them some more NHL-ready support if injuries strike or someone falters.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kraken Re-Assign Ty Nelson To AHL
In recent weeks, Seattle has been busy sending several of their top prospects to the minors to keep them skating while Coachella Valley is in the playoffs. The latest to do so is Ty Nelson as he has been assigned to the Firebirds, per the AHL’s transactions log.
The 20-year-old was a third-round pick two years ago, going 68th overall. Since then, he has been one of the top-scoring blueliners in the OHL. In 2022-23, Nelson finished third in points among all OHL rearguards, collecting 24 goals and 52 assists in 67 games with North Bay before adding 25 points in 20 playoff contests.
This season, Nelson’s numbers dipped a bit but he was still close to the point-per-game mark. He notched 16 goals and 36 helpers for the Battalion in 54 regular season games and chipped in 14 points in 16 postseason contests before being eliminated by Oshawa earlier in the week. Nelson also suited up for Canada at the World Juniors, picking up three assists in five games.
Nelson signed his entry-level deal last May and since he didn’t play in ten games with the Kraken, that contract will slide and will still have three years left on it heading into next season.
Metropolitan Notes: Devils Coaching Search, Chytil, Quapp
The Devils are hoping to have their coaching search wrapped up in the near future now that Travis Green is now in Ottawa. Craig Berube and Jay Woodcroft have been linked to the position already but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in a recent NHL Network appearance (video link) that Todd McLellan has also interviewed for the position and could be in the mix for a second interview as well. McLellan is one of the most experienced coaches available with 1,144 career regular season games under his belt, good for 24th all-time. His teams have played to a .581 points percentage over that time but he was let go midseason by Los Angeles with the Kings underachieving at the time.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Rangers center Filip Chytil is listed as a game-time decision for tonight’s fourth game against Carolina, relays Mollie Walker of the New York Post. Head coach Peter Laviolette indicated that Chytil didn’t feel well when he woke up this morning. The 24-year-old returned to the lineup on Thursday after missing more than six months with concussion troubles; Laviolette declined to comment on if Chytil’s symptoms were related to those symptoms. If Chytil doesn’t play, it appears as if Jonny Brodzinski will be in line to make his first appearance of the playoffs with Matt Rempe expected to remain a healthy scratch.
- Hurricanes goalie prospect Nikita Quapp has signed a one-year contract with Dusseldorfer EG in the German League, per a team announcement. The 21-year-old was a sixth-round pick back in 2021 (187th overall) but has spent most of his time in Germany’s second division since then. Quapp played in 26 games on loan to Lausitzer Fuchse this season, posting a 2.63 GAA and a .920 SV%. Carolina has until June 1st, 2025 to sign Quapp so this will be his last chance to try to demonstrate that he’s worthy of an NHL contract.
PHR Mailbag: Playoffs, Bruins, Jets, Devils, Draft
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include some discussion about the playoffs, what New Jersey’s big-game hunting could look like in the coming weeks, and much more. With all the questions submitted, we’ll break it into three columns between now and next weekend so if yours doesn’t appear here, check back in one of those pieces.
schwa: Few questions here:
What was the biggest surprise to you in the first round?
What’s your favorite matchup for the second?
What potential matchup excites you most for CFs / SCF?
There weren’t a lot of surprises for me in the first round but Winnipeg flaming out would be the biggest. While I had concerns that their core group – one that has been more miss than hit in the postseason – could sustain a long run, I thought they really had a chance to get past Colorado, especially with Alexandar Georgiev struggling mightily down the stretch. But the Avs picked them apart and made it look easy which is hard to do to a team that put up 110 points in the regular season. While I had the Jets winning, the fact the Avalanche did isn’t the biggest surprise. But how they did it was something I wasn’t expecting.
Going into the round, it was Colorado and Dallas and that hasn’t changed. The Stars are one of the most balanced teams in the league but had the toughest first-round battle. They can match the Avalanche talent-wise but are they going to wear down as this series went on with how hard the Vegas matchup was? These are two of the top teams in the NHL but that question is going to linger for me.
For Conference Final matchups, I think Edmonton and Colorado would be intriguing just for the potential for some back-and-forth, high-octane hockey that we don’t typically see that deep into the playoffs. In the East, it looks like the Rangers are coming out of the Metropolitan and if I’m picking for what might be the more interesting series from a watching perspective, it’d be Florida. Then, for the Cup Final, the Avs and Rangers. If I was predicting what was going to happen, that’s probably not where I’d go but those would be some compelling series.
Nha Trang: Will the numerous pundits who predicted that the Bruins were going to go down in the biggest first-round upset enjoy the crow they’re being served, or will they collectively pretend they never made such a prediction and hope people have forgotten?
While we didn’t publish our picks, I’ll be up front and say I had Toronto winning that series. It wasn’t my biggest upset prediction (Nashville over Vancouver which also didn’t pan out was) but I thought the Maple Leafs would be able to score enough to get through this round and then fall to Florida again. Frankly, it was a close enough series on paper heading in that I don’t think many would have had that as their biggest upset.
As to your question, I’m sure some will try to pretend they didn’t pick it but that’s the beauty of internet archiving; anyone who posted their picks has those picks saved somewhere. But collectively, no, I don’t think there would have been any group effort to deny the existence of those selections.
Besides, it’s not as if the Bruins ran away with that series. It took seven games and three attempts to clinch it with the winning goal coming in overtime. It was a pretty tightly played series overall so if you’re hoping to see some ‘I was wrong about the Bruins’ comments, they might have to get a little deeper into the postseason and win a bit more convincingly.
Cla23: Do you see Sean Monahan signing long-term with the Jets?
Do you see coach Bowness sign an extension or will he choose to retire and spend his time with his beautiful wife? After the scary year they had on a personal/health level.
If he retires, is it Scott Arniel’s time to be head coach?
When it comes to Monahan, a lot of it is going to revolve around what he’s looking for. Is he looking to go to a contender? Is he looking to maximize money? Will the term of the contract be the top priority? If he wants a longer-term deal, I think Winnipeg would have a very good chance at keeping him. Monahan had a strong start to the year with Montreal and fit in quite well following the trade. He fits on that roster as it’s currently constructed and Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff might be more inclined to offer up a longer-term agreement (despite his injury history) knowing it isn’t always easy attracting talent to Winnipeg. If Monahan gets the term and at least close to the money he’s looking for, I could see him sticking around.
That said, if he wants to go try to play for a contender and is willing to take another short-term deal at a lesser rate to make that happen, then that probably pushes Winnipeg out of things. We’ll see what his top priority will be for his next contract soon enough.
Obviously, we now know the answer to the Bowness question as he announced his retirement soon after this question was posed. That didn’t come as much of a surprise to me for the reasons you noted in the question; this was the logical and expected outcome.
As for Arniel, the question I ask myself is this – is he getting any attention for the other vacancies around the league? While teams don’t exactly divulge this information, it doesn’t seem like it at first glance. So if Arniel isn’t garnering head coaching attention elsewhere, should he really be up for the top job with the Jets? I think he’s a safe short-term pick and might be the favorite to land the role but all else being equal, he wouldn’t be my first choice, especially for a team that’s built to try to win now. I’d be looking for a veteran who might have a shorter shelf life but a proven track record of getting quick results.
SpeakOfTheDevils: Devils said they are going “big-game hunting” this offseason.
Let’s apply this to both the coach and 1A goalie.
Who do they get? Realistically.
Is there a big-game type of coach out there? Of the coaches that are currently available, is there a true headliner? In terms of experience and success, it’s probably Joel Quenneville who may or may not be eligible to coach again. Todd McLellan and Gerard Gallant qualify more as retreads at this point than big-name guys. Craig Berube would be next but I could see him landing in Toronto.
If I was picking their next coach, I’d swing for upside. As a result, I’d go right off the board for the coach (when it comes to who has been linked for the position) and pick Jay Leach as their new bench boss. He’s paid his dues as an assistant and head coach in the minors and now three years as an assistant in Seattle. He finished up his playing career in New Jersey’s organization as well so there’s a bit of familiarity with the market which helps. In terms of ‘upside’ for a coach, he’d be near the top of the list so if they take a big swing, maybe it’s for upside over experience. Having said that, you asked who I think they’ll get, not who I’d pick so for who I think they get, I’ll go with Jay Woodcroft, someone who might still have a perception as a coach with a bit of upside given that he’s still early on in his coaching career.
As for the goalie situation, I think they wind up with Jacob Markstrom. It sounded like some of the money-related hurdles had been cleared closer to the deadline so if they rekindle talks at that point, they should be able to get something done. Calgary’s asking price will probably have to come down given the other netminders that many expect to be available and that will help bridge the gap that existed when talks broke down in March.
Bruins/Panthers Notes: Marchand, Heinen, Bennett, Cousins
One of the big moments from Friday’s third game of the Panthers-Bruins series was the hit from Sam Bennett on Brad Marchand that caused the latter to leave the game in the second period and not return. Marchand missed practice today with TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie noting (Twitter links) that the captain is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury and that winger Danton Heinen could take his place in the lineup as it appears he could be ready to return.
Heinen has missed the last four games with an undisclosed injury sustained during the first round against Toronto. He had 17 goals and 19 assists in 74 games during the regular season – great value for a league minimum contract – and provided the type of depth scoring that Boston has been lacking in recent games.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski adds that Bennett will not face any supplementary discipline for the hit. Head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters that he didn’t see things the way the league did:
There’s a history there with Bennett. There’s clearly evidence of what went on. People can say it wasn’t intentional. We have our view of it.
Bennett had made his series debut after returning from an upper-body injury in the second game of their opening-round series against Tampa Bay and picked up an assist in a little under 13 minutes of action. Montgomery clarified that the history he referenced with Bennett in his comment wasn’t solely with Marchand but rather with those types of hits in general.
Meanwhile, Bennett’s return resulted in Nick Cousins being dropped from the lineup. Panthers head coach Paul Maurice told reporters including Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald that the decision to scratch Cousins wasn’t performance-related but rather wanting some extra coverage at center if Bennett wasn’t able to make it through the game which helped keep Steven Lorentz – who can play down the middle when called upon – in the lineup on the fourth line, a group that has had some success in the series so far.
Offseason Checklist: Ottawa Senators
The offseason has arrived for three-quarters of the NHL for teams that either missed the playoffs or were eliminated in the first round. Accordingly, it’s now time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Ottawa.
Expectations were high for the Senators heading into the season. While they moved Alex DeBrincat, they brought in Vladimir Tarasenko to help cover DeBrincat’s production. They’d have a full season of Jakob Chychrun this time around and they hoped that Joonas Korpisalo would stabilize things between the pipes. Not much went according to plan, however, resulting in both GM and coaching changes. Steve Staios recently checked one big item off their to-do list with Travis Green being named as their new head coach but there is still plenty to work on in the coming months.
Add Defensive Help
On paper, the Senators have a solid top four on the back end but that hasn’t translated to much success on the defensive side of things. The last time they finished better than 20th in goals allowed was back in 2016-17; they were 26th in that regard this season. Part of that is goaltending – which has its own section coming up – but defensive structure has been a consistent issue for them. That was part of the reason Jacques Martin was brought in as the interim coach down the stretch, to help bring in some more defensive fundamentals.
When it comes to their back end, Ottawa has some openings for upgrades. Erik Brannstrom isn’t a guarantee to be tendered a $2MM qualifying offer with arbitration eligibility while Travis Hamonic is more of a seventh option at most at this point of his career. Jacob Bernard-Docker is still developing and could become a reliable defender at some point but his spot isn’t entirely secure either.
One complicating factor Staios might encounter is Chychrun’s situation. He’s entering the final year of his contract, one that pays a team-friendly $4.6MM. It’s going to cost considerably more than that to re-sign him, however, and Chychrun didn’t exactly give off the impression that he’s eager to sign a long-term extension this summer. If that is indeed the case, Staios might have to look at the possibility of moving him which won’t exactly help the state of their blueline.
There’s some reason for optimism when it comes to Ottawa’s back end. A return to health for Thomas Chabot should help things while continued improvement from Jake Sanderson is also likely. But even if they keep Chychrun, more help is needed. And if they don’t keep him, they’re probably going to need to try to dip into the free agent waters to try to replace him.
Re-Sign Pinto
It was a strange year for Shane Pinto. After being unable to come to terms on a new contract, he wound up being suspended for the first half of the season for violating the NHL’s sports wagering rules. The Sens then rescinded all previous offers and in the end, he had to settle for the pro-rated league minimum upon being cleared to return, an amount that was lower than his qualifying offer last summer.
To his credit, Pinto didn’t show any signs of rust upon his return in January. Instead, he became an impact player right away and recorded nine goals and 18 assists (a career-high) in the final 41 games while seeing his ice time jump to over 18 minutes a night.
Now, Pinto finds himself in exactly the same situation as he did a year ago. He’s a restricted free agent and still doesn’t have salary arbitration rights. He also didn’t truly get the chance to prove that his 20-goal, 35-point showing wasn’t an outlier as while he impressed in the final three months of the year, it’s still only a half-season sample size.
Have the Sens seen enough to commit a long-term agreement to him? If they’re trying to buy extra years of club control, that should push the AAV past at least the $5MM mark, possibly even past the $6MM threshold on a max-term deal. He’s 140 games into his NHL career, however, with just 70 points to his name. Suffice it to say, going that approach comes with some risk, albeit with a higher reward if he’s able to establish himself as a full-time top-six middleman.
With Ottawa’s cap situation and the fact they have other needs to fill, the safer route might be the one they ultimately take which would be a bridge deal. Pinto is still four years away from UFA eligibility so they could work out a two-year agreement in the $3MM-plus range, giving him an opportunity to demonstrate that he can maintain that level of production over a full season and giving Staios a chance to address some other needs in the coming months.
Look For Goalie Upgrade
On top of looking for help on the back end, Staios should also be looking for an upgrade between the pipes. This has been somewhat of an annual exercise in recent years as former GM Pierre Dorion tried several different options, none of which have panned out as well as they hoped for.
Last summer, they brought in Korpisalo on a five-year, $20MM contract. Both the term and price point seemed particularly high for someone who had to take a greater than 50% pay cut the year before. Having said that, there was a bit of an upside play with the contract if he could have maintained his level of performance from 2022-23. He didn’t. Instead, Korpisalo’s numbers were worse than his career averages, resulting in some very inconsistent play from their starter. With four years left on that deal, it’s hard to see there being much of a trade market for him.
Anton Forsberg, who they thought could be part of their longer-term plans after a breakout year in 2021-22, has also struggled the last couple of years. He doesn’t have much trade value either but he’s at least on an expiring contract so his spot is the one they can try to upgrade on.
Yes, Mads Sogaard is waiting in the wings (and needs a new deal this summer) but he has another year of waiver exemption left so they can keep him stashed at AHL Belleville getting as much playing time as possible. He’s undoubtedly part of the longer-term plans but for 2025-26 and beyond.
That’s a small window for Staios to work with as they’ll either be looking for a one-year deal in free agency or trying to trade for one on an expiring contract, using Forsberg’s $2.75MM as an offset. They’re probably not getting a legitimate starter in this scenario but someone with a track record of even consistently average goaltending would help to shore up a long-standing weakness and would go a long way toward trying to get them back into the playoff picture.
Consider Core Shakeup
On paper, the Senators have a pretty strong core of now-young veterans who were supposed to represent the anchor points of their rebuild and help move them past it. Despite that, it hasn’t exactly led to much offensive success. The last time the Sens were in the top half of the NHL in goals scored was back in 2015-16 when none of their current players were in the fold.
At first glance, there’s reason to believe that there is room for internal growth and they’ll be banking on Green helping make that happen. But should they run it back with the same core group and hope that Green taking over and the team ideally staying healthier – particularly Josh Norris – will be enough of a difference to get them into the postseason?
There are cases to be made both for and against doing that. This team should be better than it has been based on the talent it has assembled. It’s certainly plausible that one day, things will come together. And if it does, they’ll have some key pieces on market-value (or below market-value) deals for multiple years to come. That’s a good spot to be in.
On the other hand, at some point, running the same core group out there and simply hoping things will work out better this time around has its risks. It also doesn’t generally have the greatest track record of success. And this is Dorion’s core group so it stands to reason that Staios might want to put his own stamp on the team.
Fortunately for him, if he does want to shake up the core, the majority of their core pieces are on deals that already are or should be team-friendly at some point. The exception would be Norris due to injuries but if he can stay healthy, that can still change. That will give him options as most of the core players would have several suitors, positioning them to receive a significant return. Would a move like that help or at least be worth trying? That’s what Staios and his management team will need to decide in the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Capitals Re-Assign Alexander Suzdalev
Capitals prospect Alexander Suzdalev has played in two different leagues already this season and could be suiting up his third one soon enough. The team announced that they have now re-assigned the forward to AHL Hershey.
The 20-year-old played with WHL Regina last season and fared quite well, recording 38 goals and 48 assists in 66 games and was named to the CHL All-Rookie Team. However, he opted for a change of scenery for this season as instead of returning to the Pats, he opted to play in Sweden and was loaned to Mora of the second-tier Allsvenskan level.
Things didn’t go as well at that level as Suzdalev was limited to just two goals and an assist in 13 games with them. When Regina traded his junior rights to Saskatoon in late December, Suzdalev elected to return to junior and played for the Blades down the stretch. He wasn’t as productive as last season but still managed nine goals and 16 assists in 30 regular season games and added four goals and nine helpers in 16 playoff contests before the Blades were eliminated on Tuesday.
Suzdalev will now join the Bears, the top team in the standings during the regular season. Hershey is up two games to one in their best-of-five second-round series against Lehigh Valley so it stands to reason that Suzdalev may need to wait a little while before getting his first taste of AHL action.
Kraken Re-Assign Niklas Kokko To AHL
It was a successful year for Kraken goaltending prospect Niklas Kokko who played in his native Finland. While the season has come to an end over there, it hasn’t ended for him as Seattle has re-assigned him to AHL Coachella Valley, per the AHL’s transactions log.
The 20-year-old was a second-round pick back in 2022, going 58th overall, and, after a quiet post-draft year, really took off this season. Kokko started the season with Karpat in Finland’s Liiga but was loaned out to Pelicans midseason. The move worked out quite well as he received more playing time and his new team took off in the standings.
Kokko posted a 1.49 GAA with a .926 SV% and four shutouts in 13 games (while not losing a single one in regulation time) following the loan before authoring a strong postseason run. He helped lead Pelicans to the league finals (beating Karpat along the way), putting up a 1.81 GAA and a .925 SV% in 17 contests before they were eliminated by Tappara.
Kokko is already signed by the Kraken and will now get his first taste of the AHL while the Firebirds are participating in the playoffs. With Coachella Valley’s goalie tandem (anchored by veteran Chris Driedger) both eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer, Kokko could find himself as the new starter as soon as 2024-25.