Five Key Stories: 2/12/24 – 2/18/24
We’re in the calm before the potential storm when it comes to the March 8th trade deadline. Despite that, there was still some notable news throughout the NHL over the past seven days which is recapped in our key stories.
Kekalainen Fired: After 11 seasons as general manager, Jarmo Kekalainen is no longer with the Blue Jackets after being relieved of his duties. Columbus made five playoff appearances with Kekalainen at the helm but only made it to the second round once back in 2019. But over the last three years, the Blue Jackets haven’t finished higher than sixth in the Metropolitan Division, a streak that is quite certain to be extended to four this season. Between their declining performance and a failed head coaching hire in Mike Babcock who had to leave the team before ever coaching a game, the time was right to make a change. That said, the Blue Jackets have several promising core youngsters so there is certainly some hope for the future.
Kessel Gets A Chance: If Phil Kessel is going to play an 18th NHL season, it might wind up being with the Canucks. The veteran has joined their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford to work out with the team and if things go well, he could eventually join Vancouver in the coming weeks. The NHL’s reigning Ironman, Kessel had 36 points last season for Vegas but wasn’t able to land a guaranteed deal in the preseason or through the first half of the year. However, for what would certainly be low-cost injury insurance, Kessel could be a worthwhile depth pickup for the stretch run if his workouts in the AHL go well.
Five For Rielly: The Department of Player Safety handed down a five-game suspension to Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly for his cross-check on Ottawa forward Ridly Greig following an empty-netter late in last Saturday’s game. The suspension conceivably could have been longer considering the league offered an in-person hearing, allowing for a suspension of six games or longer. An appeal on the ruling was quickly filed and was heard by Commissioner Gary Bettman on Friday whose ruling is expected in the next day or two. As the suspension wasn’t six games or longer, there is no secondary appeal option to a neutral arbitrator. He has already served the first three games and is eligible to return to Toronto’s lineup on Thursday.
Guentzel To LTIR: The Penguins are still within striking distance of a Wild Card spot but getting there just got tougher as it was announced that winger Jake Guentzel has landed on LTIR due to an upper-body injury. The injury isn’t a season-ender but he will be out until around the March 8th trade deadline. The 29-year-old sits second on Pittsburgh in team scoring with 52 points in 50 games, the fourth time in the last five seasons that his scoring average is above the point-per-game mark. A pending unrestricted free agent, it’s also possible that Guentzel will be traded by the deadline if the Penguins are out of the race. If that’s the route they ultimately go, they’ll be hoping the injury won’t impact the offers they’ll receive.
More Injuries: Guentzel’s injury wasn’t the only one of note around the NHL. Sharks forward Tomas Hertl underwent knee surgery and while his season isn’t necessarily over, it looks like he’ll be out for a good chunk of the remainder of the year, costing San Jose its top scorer. In Philadelphia, blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen was a speculative trade candidate but any trade talk is likely on hold now as the veteran is out for a few weeks after having an upper-body procedure. It stands to reason that moving someone with the contract he has (three more years after this season at $5.1MM) may be more of a summer move anyway. Meanwhile, Rangers winger Blake Wheeler’s season has come to an early end due to a lower-body injury. A return in the playoffs hasn’t been ruled out while New York will now be able to add his $800K base salary to its LTIR pool.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Flames Receiving Trade Interest In Rasmus Andersson
There has been no shortage of trade speculation coming from Calgary this season. Nikita Zadorov and Elias Lindholm have already been moved while Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, and Jacob Markstrom are all in the rumor mill as well. But those aren’t the only players teams are calling about as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that the Flames are also receiving trade interest in defenseman Rasmus Andersson.
The 27-year-old has become a top-pairing player in recent seasons after putting up 50 points in 2021-22 and 49 points in 2022-23 while logging big minutes. This year, Andersson’s numbers are down a bit as he has 28 points through 51 games so far but is averaging a little over 24 minutes a night and is playing in all situations. With 122 blocks, he’s only 14 shy of his career-high on that front as well.
On top of that, Andersson has a contract that certainly has been well below market value as of late. He’s signed through the 2025-26 campaign with a $4.5MM cap hit, a price point that’s more commensurate with a second-pairing player than a top-pairing one. Getting someone with that type of surplus value would make a lot of sense for many teams.
Of course, holding onto a player like that also makes sense for Calgary. GM Craig Conroy indicated earlier this week that he doesn’t intend for the Flames to go into a full-scale rebuild. It’s one thing to move players on expiring contracts as they’ve done twice so far and could do twice more with Tanev and Hanifin where you risk losing the player for free in free agency but it’s another to move a controllable key asset like Andersson.
Accordingly, it would be surprising to see Conroy move Andersson in the three weeks before the March 8th trade deadline unless the return was simply too good to pass up on. However, that won’t stop teams from inquiring in the hopes that they can come up with an offer that would make Calgary part with one of its top blueliners.
Jacob Truscott Won’t Sign With Canucks, Set To Become UFA This Summer
We’re still a few weeks away from the first round of college free agency that will happen as NCAA seasons come to an end but there is some news on the second round which comes in mid-August. CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal recently reported on Sportsnet 650 (audio link) that defenseman Jacob Truscott will not sign with the Canucks and will instead hit the open market in the summer.
The 21-year-old was a fifth-round pick back in 2020 (144th overall) and is in his fourth and final season at Michigan. Last season was his best offensively in terms of points per game when he put up 16 points in 23 games playing alongside Luke Hughes on their top pairing before suffering a season-ending leg injury. This season, Truscott’s numbers are down a bit although the captain still has 13 points in 30 games so far.
This may be a case of the numbers game quashing a chance for Truscott to join Vancouver. The team has been aggressive in signing college free agents lately headlined by blueliners Akito Hirose and Cole McWard while blueline prospect Elias Pettersson is set to turn pro next season along with Kirill Kudryavtsev, limiting Truscott’s opportunities if he was to sign with the Canucks.
If Truscott is amenable to signing with another team and not hitting the open market, it’s possible that Vancouver could use his signing rights in a trade to get some sort of return. Otherwise, he’ll become a free agent on August 16th.
Bruins Sign Justin Brazeau
It has been a successful season in the minors for winger Justin Brazeau and he has been rewarded for his efforts. BNG Productions’ Mark Allred was first to report (Twitter link) that the Bruins have converted his AHL contract to an NHL one; CapFriendly adds (Twitter link) that it’s a two-year deal which breaks down as follows:
2023-24: $775K NHL salary, $135K AHL salary
2024-25: $775K NHL salary, $165K AHL salary, $190K guaranteed salary
The 26-year-old finished up his major junior career with a bang, scoring 61 goals in 68 games with North Bay. That helped him earn a two-year AHL deal with Toronto at the time but he played in only 22 games for the Marlies over that stretch. He then signed a minor league deal with Boston in 2021 and his fortunes have certainly changed since then.
Brazeau scored 15 goals in his first season with Providence and followed that up with 16 tallies last season in 67 games. This season, the 6’5 winger has already surpassed that mark, notching 18 goals along with 19 helpers in 48 appearances, good for fourth on the team in scoring. It appears that will be enough to get him his first NHL opportunity which could come as soon as Monday against Dallas as it appears he’ll take the place of Oskar Steen on the roster who was waived earlier today.
Brazeau is not subject to any entry-level rules and thus will only be waiver-exempt for the remainder of this season. Starting in 2024-25, he’ll have to clear waivers if Boston wants to return him to Providence. The Bruins now have 48 contracts on the books out of the maximum of 50.
West Notes: Tourigny, Hertl, Pelletier, Blueger
It has been a rough go for the Coyotes as of late having lost eight straight games heading into today’s action. However, GM Bill Armstrong dismissed any notion of head coach Andre Tourigny being in jeopardy of losing his job, telling PHNX’s Craig Morgan that he won’t be making a coaching change. Arizona was in a Wild Card spot when the calendar flipped to 2024 but now is ten points behind St. Louis for the final playoff spot. Armstrong hasn’t hidden the fact that the plan was for a long rebuild process and while it appears the Coyotes are likely to miss the playoff for the fourth straight season (12th straight if you don’t count the expanded 2020-21 postseason), Tourigny is still viewed as the right coach to help them take that next step.
More from the Western Conference:
- It will still be another week or so before the Sharks learn exactly how long Tomas Hertl will be out for, notes Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News. The 30-year-old has missed the last three weeks after undergoing surgery to remove cartilage from his left knee. While it has been a particularly rough year for most players in San Jose, Hertl has fared relatively well this season, all things considered. Despite missing six games, he still leads the Sharks in scoring with 34 points through 48 games. Pashelka notes that there is optimism that Hertl will be able to return at some point before the regular season comes to an end in April but with San Jose so far out of playoff contention, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him get shut down for the season altogether.
- Flames winger Jakob Pelletier is making progress in his recovery from an upper-body injury that has caused him to miss the last two games but he isn’t expected to play on Monday versus Winnipeg, relays Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 22-year-old has been limited to just four games so far this season (plus four more in the minors) due to injury. However, it appears this one won’t keep him out for much longer.
- The Canucks have identified Teddy Blueger as one of their pending unrestricted free agents that they’d like to re-sign, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal reported in a recent segment on Sportsnet 650 (audio link). The 29-year-old inked a one-year, $1.9MM deal with them back in July and has done well, picking up 22 points in 42 games while being one of their top-used penalty killers. That said, contract discussions have not started as of yet and Dhaliwal feels that Vancouver may wait until late in the year to start discussing new deals with the UFA’s they’d like to keep.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Washington Capitals
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR concludes its look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2023-24 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Washington Capitals
Current Cap Hit: $85,054,827 (over the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Connor McMichael (one year, $863K)
F Aliaksei Protas (one year, $789K)
Potential Bonuses
Protas: $82.5K
Last season was a step back for McMichael who went from being a regular in Washington to a regular in Hershey. This year, he’s back to being a regular but hasn’t been all that productive despite seeing a lot of top-six minutes. While he’s still almost certainly part of their future plans, he’s likely heading for a bridge contract around double his current price tag. Protas has already signed a new deal which we’ll cover later but it’s worth noting his bonuses are based on games played. A full-time regular, Protas should max out on those as long as he stays healthy.
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
F Nicolas Aube-Kubel ($1.25MM, UFA)
D Joel Edmundson ($1.75MM, UFA)*
F Beck Malenstyn ($762.5K, RFA)
F Anthony Mantha ($5.7MM, UFA)
F Max Pacioretty ($2MM, UFA)
D Rasmus Sandin ($1.4MM, RFA)
*-Montreal is retaining an additional $1.75MM on Edmundson’s contract.
Potential Bonuses
Pacioretty: $2MM
After struggling with consistency in Detroit, Mantha hasn’t been able to improve on that with the Capitals. At times, he plays like a top-liner and at others, he’s barely noticeable. While he has played better as of late, it’s hard to see him matching his current contract. A one-year pillow deal could be a viable option while a multi-year agreement likely starts with a four. Pacioretty missed more time than expected while recovering from his second Achilles surgery and has been relatively quiet since returning. Meanwhile, $1.5MM of his games-played bonuses have already been met while the final $500K should be reached this week. There will still be a market for Pacioretty this summer but it’s likely to be a deal structured similar to this one with some performance bonuses in there.
Aube-Kubel cleared waivers at the beginning of the season but has done relatively well with Washington where he has still spent most of the year. That said, as a long-term fourth liner, his earnings upside is going to be limited this summer and a small cut in pay isn’t out of the question. The same can’t be said for Malenstyn who has locked down a full-time roster spot, spending a lot of time on the third line. His offensive numbers are low enough that his next deal won’t be too expensive but he should at least double his current cap hit, especially with arbitration eligibility.
Edmundson battled injury issues early in the season and has been limited to duty on the third pairing since returning. With injuries causing him to miss significant time over the last few years, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Edmundson’s next deal come closer to what Washington is paying him now compared to his full $3.5MM AAV. As for Sandin, he hasn’t been able to keep up the level of production he had down the stretch last year but he is still logging top-four minutes and is a part of their longer-term plans. He’s owed a $1.6MM qualifying offer but could more than double that on a long-term agreement that buys out some of his UFA-eligible seasons.
Signed Through 2024-25
D Alexander Alexeyev ($825K, RFA)
F Nicklas Backstrom ($9.2MM, UFA)
D Ethan Bear ($2.0625MM, UFA)
F Nic Dowd ($1.3MM, UFA)
F Evgeny Kuznetsov ($7.8MM, UFA)
G Charlie Lindgren ($1.1MM, UFA)
F T.J. Oshie ($5.75MM, UFA)
F Michael Sgarbossa ($775K, UFA)
Backstrom was able to return from hip resurfacing surgery last season where he performed relatively well, not so much relative to his contract but simply for coming back and being a top-six player. However, he struggled early on this season before shutting it down with lingering pain. He’s on LTIR and may very well stay there through next year.
The hope was that Kuznetsov would rediscover his offensive touch under new head coach Spencer Carbery after a trade failed to materialize in the summer. Instead, he struggled through the first half of the year and is now in the Player Assistance Program. Assuming he returns from that, it’s quite unlikely that he’ll be able to command anywhere close to this type of contract in 2025; something in the $4MM range might be the more realistic target.
Oshie provided plenty of value on this deal early on but it was always expected that the final couple of years could be a drag on Washington’s cap. He’ll be 38 when this deal is up so if there is another contract for him, it’s likely to be a bonus-laden one with a base price tag between a quarter and a third of what it is now.
Dowd has worked his way from being a depth player to a capable third liner since joining the Capitals. He doesn’t provide enough scoring to really top out his earnings but as a good penalty killer and someone who can hold his own at the faceoff dot, he could plausibly double his current cost on a multi-year deal in 2025. As for Sgarbossa, he’s up with Kuznetsov out of the lineup and has been an AHL recall for several years now. That doesn’t seem likely to change unless he can grab hold of a full-time spot while he’s up.
Bear recently signed this contract and will be looking to rebuild some value after an injury sustained at the Worlds kept him out for nearly half the season. His contract is backloaded – next year’s salary sits at $2.75MM – and that price tag is likely where he’s hoping his next contract will land, assuming he can move into a more prominent spot in the lineup next season. Alexeyev is a waiver-blocked young defender who has had a hard time cracking the lineup so far this season. Until he’s able to grab a hold of a spot, it’s unlikely that he’ll be able to command much more than this.
Lindgren has slowly worked his way from a third-string goaltender for the first several years of his professional career to a decent backup early in his time with Washington to now a strong-side platoon netminder as he is in the midst of a career year. Considering the market value for a decent platoon option is three times his current price tag (if not a bit more for some), the Capitals are getting great value here. Meanwhile, if Lindgren can keep up his level of play through next season, he will be in line for a substantial jump in pay, one that could push past the $4MM mark on a multi-year agreement based on contracts handed out to similar netminders in recent years.
Signed Through 2025-26
D John Carlson ($8MM, UFA)
D Martin Fehervary ($2.675MM, RFA)
D Nick Jensen ($4.05MM, UFA)
F Sonny Milano ($1.9MM, UFA)
F Alex Ovechkin ($9.5MM, UFA)
D Trevor van Riemsdyk ($3MM, UFA)
Ovechkin provided a decent return on the first two years of his contract but he has slowed down considerably this season despite a recent hot stretch. This is a legacy deal as he tries to chase down the all-time goal record. It wouldn’t be surprising if this is his last NHL contract unless he winds up just a few tallies short and takes a one-year agreement to take one final crack at Wayne Gretzky’s mark. In that instance, a bonus-laden deal with a much lower base salary would be quite likely. Milano had to settle for a league-minimum contract in-season last year but played well enough to get some stability. A back-to-back 30-plus-point player, he’ll give Washington some good value if he can stay around that level of production while setting himself up for a small raise down the road.
At his peak, Carlson was one of the premier point producers from the back end. Those days are gone now although he’s still above average on that front while logging number one minutes. As long as that continues to be the case, they’ll get a reasonable return on this contract. Having said that, by the time he goes to sign his next deal, it will almost certainly come in a few million below this. Jensen had a career year last season to earn this contract but hasn’t been able to play at the same level. As a right-shot defender who can play on the second pairing, it’s not all bad news but right now, this contract looks like a bit of an overpayment especially with him being 33 already. Accordingly, it’s hard to see him looking at a raise in 2026.
The same can be said for van Riemsdyk who turned his best year into a three-year deal as well but hasn’t been able to repeat it this season. More of a player best suited as a fifth option on a third pairing, this price tag is also a bit on the high side based on van Riemsdyk’s current level of performance. If he stays at that level for the rest of the deal, he’ll be looking at a pay cut as well. Fehervary has become a capable checking blueliner, one that plays with plenty of physicality. With a limited offensive skill set, he won’t produce enough to command a significant raise with his arbitration rights in 2026 but a small one should be coming. With his deal being front-loaded, his qualifying offer checks in at just over $1MM so that won’t be a factor in discussions.
Metropolitan Notes: DeAngelo, Blue Jackets, Brodzinski, Harkins
Tony DeAngelo’s second stint with the Hurricanes hasn’t gone as planned. After being a key contributor his first time around, the 28-year-old has been a frequent healthy scratch this season. However, Cory Lavalette notes in his latest piece for The Athletic (subscription link) that he hasn’t asked for a trade from the team. DeAngelo has played in just 23 games so far this season, notching two goals and seven assists while averaging a career-low 14:12 per contest. Just last season, DeAngelo had 42 points with Philadelphia after putting up 51 with Carolina the year before. On an affordable $1.675MM contract, Carolina may move DeAngelo to give him a shot to play regular minutes elsewhere although they’d either need to get a depth defender in return or have a trade in place to acquire a replacement soon after.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Blue Jackets president of hockey operations John Davidson talked about the importance of experience in filling their now-vacant GM position with Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch. They’re not necessarily focusing on someone who has experience as an NHL GM but rather that they’ve had some level of success in a front office, be it as an assistant GM or the major junior ranks. Columbus won’t be filling the position before the end of the season with the team taking somewhat of a by-committee approach when it comes to the upcoming trade deadline.
- With Filip Chytil out for the season, many have expected the Rangers to target center help before next month’s trade deadline. However, Newsday’s Colin Stephenson wonders if the recent performance of Jonny Brodzinski might lessen the need for New York to target a middleman. The 30-year-old is up to 14 points in 30 games since being recalled in late November while the line he’s on has had some recent success. With impact centers in very short supply, Brodzinski maintaining this level of production would certainly lessen the need to pay a big price to get one in the coming weeks.
- Penguins forward Jansen Harkins was a full participant in practice today after missing the last two games with a concussion, relays Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Twitter link). The 26-year-old has been on the waiver wire a couple of times this season but still has played in 34 games with Pittsburgh, recording four assists while averaging a little over eight minutes per night.
Ducks Activate Alex Killorn, Place Brock McGinn On IR
The Ducks have made a pair of roster moves in advance of their game tonight versus Toronto. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Alex Killorn has been activated off IR. To make room on the roster, winger Brock McGinn has been placed on IR retroactive to February 10th with an upper-body injury.
Killorn is in his first season with Anaheim after signing a four-year, $25MM contract with them back in July. However, it’s been a campaign riddled with injuries. The 34-year-old fractured his finger in the preseason, causing him to miss the first month of the season. Then last month, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. Fortunately for him and the Ducks, Killorn recovered quicker than anticipated as he was supposed to miss four to six weeks and came back a little before the four-week mark.
In between recovering from those injuries, Killorn got off to a decent start offensively with his new club, collecting 19 points in 34 games. While those numbers are down from a year ago, it would have been unrealistic for Anaheim to expect Killorn to beat his career-best numbers from a much deeper Tampa Bay team in his first year with a rebuilding club that was expected to be near the bottom of the league in the goal department.
As for McGinn, he last played back on January 25th, making the placement back to February 10th a bit of an odd choice. However, since the placement has been dated back by a week, he’s eligible to be activated at any time. The 30-year-old has had a very limited role this season, suiting up in just 24 games where he has three points in 37 hits while averaging just over 11 minutes per game.
Capitals Activate Sonny Milano Off Injured Reserve
The Capitals will be welcoming back a key winger into their lineup as team reporter Mike Vogel relays that Sonny Milano has been activated off injured reserve and will suit up tonight against Montreal.
The 27-year-old has missed more than two months (27 games in total) with an upper-body injury. Before he was injured, Milano, like many of Washington’s players, had gotten off to somewhat of a quiet start offensively, notching four goals and four assists in his first 23 games while averaging a little over 12 minutes a night of action.
However, after recording back-to-back seasons of double-digit goals and at least 30 points, Milano’s return will be a welcome one to a Capitals team is the lowest-scoring team in the Eastern Conference, a big reason why they enter play today six points out of the final playoff spot. It’s expected he’ll line up on the third line with Michael Sgarbossa and Max Pacioretty.
Washington had an open roster spot so no corresponding move was needed to activate Milano. Their roster now stands at the maximum of 23 players.
Atlantic Notes: Maple Leafs, Sabres, Fabbri
With the Maple Leafs not having a second-round pick until 2027 and an anticipated unwillingness to move their first-round pick, their trade chips are certainly limited. Accordingly, Chris Johnston of The Athletic noted on a recent TSN Insider Trading segment that Toronto has gone with a volume approach when it comes to offering up draft picks for rentals; clearly, nothing has materialized in terms of an accepted trade yet. They have two extra fifth-round picks and an extra seventh-rounder among their nine selections in June so if they are indeed trying to move some of those extra picks, they’ll likely be forced to shop more towards the depth side of the trade market.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- With Buffalo being in a spot where they were carrying three goalies for a good chunk of the season, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News wonders if that could affect their pursuit of a veteran netminder this summer. If it’s determined that Devon Levi needs more time with AHL Rochester, it stands to reason that the Sabres would want a veteran on a short-term deal to partner with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. However, most of the quality second-string or platoon options will be looking for more than one year on the open market so Lysowski suggests that they might have to turn to the trade market to get a netminder on a short-term deal.
- Red Wings winger Robby Fabbri will return to the lineup today against Calgary, relays Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News (Twitter link). The 28-year-old missed Thursday’s contest due to the birth of his daughter. When healthy, Fabbri has been a capable secondary scorer for Detroit this season, collecting 13 goals and eight assists in 39 games so far, surpassing the half-point-per-game mark for the fifth straight year.