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West Notes: Bouchard, Stars, Cooley

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The Oilers are expected to have to sign Evan Bouchard to a short-term bridge contract to fit him within their cap structure.  On the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that the deal might fall within the $3.5MM to $4MM range.  For comparison, Colorado’s Bowen Byram inked a two-year bridge deal with a $3.85MM AAV and Bouchard has more than twice as many games played as points as Byram.  The 23-year-old is coming off his second straight regular season of at least 40 points and led all NHL blueliners in playoff scoring with 17 points in just 12 contests.

More from the Western Conference:

  • The Stars haven’t given up on pursuing outside help defensively via the trade route, relays Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (subscription link). However, they are prepared to enter next season with what they have now with the hopes that Thomas Harley and Nils Lundkvist can take a step forward in their development to help bolster the depth of their unit.  Dallas has been quiet with their back end this summer with their only NHL-related moves being the trade of Colin Miller to New Jersey, the signing of Gavin Bayreuther, and the re-signing of Joel Hanley.
  • Coyotes prospect Logan Cooley told Jenna Ortiz of the Arizona Republic that he’s not putting a timeline on when he turns pro. The 19-year-old was the third-overall pick last year and had a standout first season at Minnesota, putting up 60 points in 39 games to finish second in NCAA scoring while also averaging two points per game at the World Juniors.  As it is, some feel that Cooley doesn’t have much left to prove at that level so while he’s not willing to put a firm expectation in place for when he turns pro, it certainly feels like that should be happening when his college season comes to an end either next March or April.

Canadiens Re-Sign Mitchell Stephens

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With the arbitration deadline fast approaching, Montreal has taken care of one of their arbitration-eligible players as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve re-signed Mitchell Stephens to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $300K in the AHL with a total guarantee of $385K, a $10K raise on the guaranteed part of his contract last season.

The 26-year-old signed with Montreal last summer after being non-tendered by the Red Wings.  However, after spending all of 2021-22 in the NHL, Stephens passed through waivers unclaimed in training camp and was assigned to AHL Laval where he spent the entire season.  Last year, he played in 68 games with the Rocket, collecting 20 goals and 21 assists.

Stephens has a total of 72 career NHL games under his belt between Detroit and Tampa Bay, picking up three goals and ten assists.  With the Canadiens having somewhat of a forward surplus already, it seems likely that Stephens will be back on waivers in training camp and will look to play his way into a recall during the season.  While Montreal retained his rights by issuing a qualifying offer last week, this is Stephens’ final season of eligibility; he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Oilers Re-Sign Olivier Rodrigue

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The Oilers have taken care of one of their remaining restricted free agents, announcing the re-signing of goaltender Oliver Rodrigue to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay the NHL minimum salary of $775K at the top level; the team did not disclose the two-way element.

The 22-year-old was a second-round pick by Edmonton back in 2018 (62nd overall) and he just wrapped up his entry-level contract.  Last season, Rodrigue played in 29 games with AHL Bakersfield, posting a 2.77 GAA along with a .912 SV%.  He has played in 53 career AHL contests, putting up a 2.89 GAA with a .903 SV%.  He has yet to see any action at the NHL level but served on their taxi squad in both 2020-21 and 2021-22 while being part of their group of playoff reserves this past season.

Rodrigue is likely to split playing time with veteran Calvin Pickard with the Condors next season with prospect Ryan Fanti also waiting in the wings after spending most of his first professional season at the ECHL level with Fort Wayne.  Should an injury arise in Edmonton to either Jack Campbell or Stuart Skinner, it’s likely Pickard would get the short-term promotion to serve as the backup so Rodrigue might have to bide his time a little longer for his first NHL opportunity.

Maple Leafs Sign Max Domi

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07/03/23: Toronto has now made their signing of Domi official.

They’ve also added depth center Dylan Gambrell on a one-year, $775k one-way deal, per PuckPedia. Gambrell, a 2016 second-round pick, scored four goals and 10 points in 60 games for the Ottawa Senators last season.

07/02/23 8:40 PM: The Maple Leafs and Domi are closing in on a one-year contract worth $3MM, Chris Johnston of NorthStar Bets and TSN reports (Twitter link).  PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the deal will contain a 10-team no-trade clause.  Friedman tweets that the deal may not be made official until Monday.

07/02/23 6:26 PM: After adding Tyler Bertuzzi earlier today to help shore up their top six, it appears that the Maple Leafs aren’t necessarily done with their summer spending.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Toronto and Max Domi are in discussions about a contract for next season.

Considering that the Maple Leafs are staring down the cost of two pricey extensions that will be kicking in next season (Auston Matthews and William Nylander, or perhaps Bertuzzi himself if talks with Nylander stall out), it seems likely that the team would want to keep any agreement with Domi limited to a single season which they have accomplished here.  That would allow them to have as much flexibility as possible for those upcoming extensions.

The 28-year-old had to settle for a one-year contract last summer, inking a one-year, $3MM deal with Chicago.  That proved to be a wise decision for Domi who was moved back to center and responded with his second-best offensive performance, putting up 18 goals and 31 assists in 60 games before being dealt to Dallas at the trade deadline.  It took Domi a little while to settle in with his new club; he had just seven points in 20 games following the swap but was more productive for them in the playoffs, tallying 13 points in 19 games.

That was good enough to earn him the 11th ranking in our Top 50 UFA list last month with an expectation that he could finally land at least a medium-term agreement, something that has proven elusive for Domi lately.  Since his entry-level contract expired back in 2018, Domi has signed three separate deals, none longer than two seasons while playing for five separate teams during that stretch.  However, with this deal with the Maple Leafs, that streak of short-term contracts will continue.

In terms of where Domi might fit on Toronto’s depth chart, it seems like he could wind up taking the place of last year’s deadline acquisition Ryan O’Reilly, who inked a four-year contract with Nashville on Saturday.  That could see him centering the third line at times or moving up onto the second line, either as a winger or pushing John Tavares to the wing.  That type of versatility could certainly come in handy for the Maple Leafs while also giving Domi a chance to play in an offensive-minded environment in the hopes of bolstering his market for next summer when the salary cap is set to rise.

Fitting in a contract for Domi would appear to be tricky within Toronto’s current cap situation.  Per CapFriendly, the Maple Leafs have less than $600K in remaining LTIR room, assuming that Jake Muzzin is out for all of next season as expected.  That’s less than the league minimum salary and Domi will cost considerably more than that.

There’s also the matter of re-signing starting goaltender Ilya Samsonov who will be eyeing a considerable raise on the $1.8MM he made last season.  Having him file for salary arbitration to trigger a second buyout window would allow them to buy out Matt Murray but the $4MM in savings is likely to be needed to afford Samsonov’s next contract.  Accordingly, GM Brad Treliving is going to have to get creative to make the math work as he brings Domi into the fold to help bolster Toronto’s attack.

Five Key Stories: 6/26/23 – 7/2/23

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With the NHL electing to cram as much offseason activity as possible into a few short days, it was quite a busy week around the NHL.  We’ll recap the biggest stories here which are much too plentiful to summarize in just five headlines.

Draft Night: It was a draft that was supposed to feature plenty of intrigue, especially on the trade front.  Instead, not a single swap materialized.  However, there was a surprise at the beginning of the draft.  While Chicago picked Connor Bedard first as expected, Anaheim opted to not go with the consensus second choice, instead selecting Leo Carlsson.  That freed up Columbus to grab that consensus second choice, Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli.  The full results of the draft can be found here.

Chicago Adds Veterans: Following the addition of Bedard, the Blackhawks decided that they needed to bring in some quality veterans to help take some pressure off him (and also to get to the cap floor).  They did that by acquiring Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from Boston in exchange for defensemen Alec Regula and Ian Mitchell.  Hall has two years left on his deal with a $6MM AAV and will give Bedard a legitimate top-six winger to play with.  Foligno, meanwhile, was a pending unrestricted free agent but quickly inked a one-year, $4MM deal to stick around; Chicago handed that same agreement to Corey Perry days later.  Boston, meanwhile, used that freed-up cap space to sign several players to short-term contracts early in free agency.

Busy Buyout Market: The buyout market started with a splash when Vancouver bought out Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  It ended with one too as Winnipeg was unable to find a taker for Blake Wheeler, instead buying out the final year and $8.5MM on his contract, taking on $2.75MM in dead cap charges for the next two years.  That wasn’t the priciest one of the week either as Nashville somewhat surprisingly bought out the final three years and $24MM of Matt Duchene’s contract, taking on more than $19MM in dead cap charges spread out over the next six seasons.  Detroit (Kailer Yamamoto) and Boston (Mike Reilly) also executed buyouts on the final day.

Dubois Traded: After many months of speculation, Pierre-Luc Dubois is on the move.  However, it wasn’t to Montreal where it was believed his preference would be to play.  Instead, he was dealt to Los Angeles in exchange for Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, Rasmus Kupari, and a 2024 second-round pick; as part of the trade agreement, Dubois signed an eight-year, $68MM contract.  Dubois will team up with Anze Kopitar and Phillip Danault to form one of the deepest center groups in the NHL while serving as Kopitar’s eventual replacement when the captain calls it a career.  As for Winnipeg, they get a pair of top-six forwards headlined by the 23-year-old Vilardi who put up 41 points in 63 games last season.  They’re looking to stay in the playoff mix and while they don’t have a top-end talent in Dubois anymore, their forward group is certainly deeper now.

Eight For Meier: The Devils were in a situation where they skirted the $10MM qualifying offer owed to Timo Meier by filing for club arbitration but it put some pressure on them to get a long-term deal done before the hearings came around.  They did just that, signing the winger to an eight-year deal that carries an $8.8MM AAV, making him the highest-paid forward on the team.  Meier reached the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career last season with New Jersey making a big move to acquire him at the deadline.  They have found a way to fit in max-term deals for both Meier and Jesper Bratt now while they also quietly picked up Tyler Toffoli from Calgary to give them more firepower for next season.

Free Agent Frenzy: Buoyed by the addition of more than 100 players to the open market after a busy non-tender deadline, July 1st represented a very busy day on the NHL calendar with more than $650MM in contract commitments to 166 players.  The biggest signings by position in terms of AAV were the Hurricanes picking up Dmitry Orlov on a two-year deal with a $7.75MM price tag, a sizable overpayment in money to get a short-term agreement that better fits their pay structure.  Up front, Alex Killorn wasn’t able to work a deal out with Tampa Bay, instead landing a four-year pact worth $6.25MM per season with Anaheim, a surprise day-one spender.  Meanwhile, in goal, the biggest contract given to a UFA was Pittsburgh re-signing Tristan Jarry to a five-year agreement that carries a $5.375MM AAV, one of three contracts handed to goalies that saw NHL action last season.

Islander Spending Spree: The biggest contract of the first day of the new league year came from the Islanders who handed goaltender Ilya Sorokin an eight-year, $66MM extension that will begin in the 2024-25 season.  The 27-year-old has been nothing short of stellar since coming to the NHL in 2020-21, posting a 2.34 GAA with a .924 SV% and 16 shutouts in his first three seasons.  His deal ensures that the Islanders will have top-level goaltending for the long haul.  They also brought back veteran Semyon Varlamov on a four-year, $11MM agreement to serve as Sorokin’s backup.  The 35-year-old was one of the better options on the open market although few expected him to get four years.  Few also expected GM Lou Lamoriello to hand out a pair of seven-year contracts to keep Pierre Engvall ($3MM AAV) and Scott Mayfield ($3.5MM AAV) in the fold.  Both players are quality role pieces but it’s fair to say there’s some sticker shock on the length of those contracts.  All told, nearly 19% of the $650MM in commitments from Saturday came from the Isles.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Latest On Alex DeBrincat

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With Senators winger Alex DeBrincat making it known that he does not intend to sign a long-term deal with Ottawa, there has been an expectation of a trade for several weeks.  However, the draft came and went without any move and after yesterday’s flurry of signings, there aren’t many teams left that can cover the full cost of a long-term agreement.

Speaking with reporters yesterday including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion provided some updates on the status of trade talks.  He noted that on multiple occasions, they seemed to be close on a trade but once his agent (Wasserman’s Jeff Jackson) received permission to speak to the acquiring team about working out a new contract, they weren’t able to come to terms, scuttling the swap.

On Saturday, Dorion provided Jackson with permission to speak to multiple teams about a new contract for DeBrincat but again, nothing to this point has materialized.  The GM attempted to explain the reasoning:

There’s varying degrees of interest. Teams call, we get close to a deal, I give them permission, and sometimes they’re not ready to pay maybe the term that we’re ready to pay.  He’s 25 years old, so he’s looking for something in particular, and I can talk about it because we own his rights, so I think the degrees (of interest) vary.

DeBrincat is coming off a quieter year by his standards but he still put up 27 goals and 39 assists last season in his first year with Ottawa.  But with two 41-goal seasons under his belt from his time with Chicago, it would appear that Jackson is seeking a contract for his client that’s more commensurate with his historical production.  Evidently, teams aren’t giving into that just yet.

The Senators filed for club-elected salary arbitration with DeBrincat in the first window last month, taking the $9MM qualifying offer off the table.  Instead, that allows them to come in with an offer as low as $7.65MM.  Arbitration hearings don’t start until late July and roll into early August so that represents the next hard pressure point, so to speak.

However, it’s still in Ottawa’s best interest to try to get a trade done before then as this situation is likely holding up some of their offseason spending plans.  Until they know who they’re getting back for DeBrincat – it almost certainly won’t just be a futures-based return – they won’t know exactly how much more money they have left to work with.  Right now, there are still several quality players available on the open market.  By the time arbitration hearings being, that’s unlikely to be the case.  But at this point, the hold-up appears to be on DeBrincat’s end in terms of his asking price on a contract, not Ottawa’s asking price in a trade.

Wild Acquire Pat Maroon And Max Cajkovic

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The Wild have added a veteran to their forward mix as they have acquired winger Pat Maroon from Tampa Bay along with Max Cajkovic in exchange for a 2024 seventh-round pick.  Both teams have announced the swap.

Maroon spent the last four years with the Lightning, winning a pair of Stanley Cups along the way.  However, his production dropped considerably last season, going from 27 points to just 14.  Of course, Maroon is more known for his physical play and he still provides that in spades, chipping in with 172 hits and recording a league-high 150 penalty minutes.  He has one year left on his contract with a $1MM AAV.  As part of the trade, Tampa Bay is paying 20% of that money.

The 35-year-old has played in 729 career NHL contests over parts of a dozen NHL seasons, recording 117 goals, 171 assists, and 930 playoff minutes.  Maroon also has plenty of playoff experience, suiting up in 150 postseason contests where he has 51 points and 197 penalty minutes along with three Cup titles from 2019 through 2021.  He’ll take the place of Ryan Reaves on Minnesota’s fourth line after Reaves inked a three-year contract with Toronto on Saturday.

As for Cajkovic, the 22-year-old spent most of last season at the ECHL level, recording 10 goals and 17 assists in 41 games with Orlando; he suited up in just two contests with AHL Syracuse.  His placement in the trade appears to be more for opening up a contract slot for the Lightning rather than being a key component for Minnesota.  Cajkovic has one year remaining on his entry-level deal and is almost certain to be back in the minors again next season.

With the swap, Tampa Bay frees up $800K in cap flexibility.  It’s likely that they’ll put that money toward a new deal for RFA winger Tanner Jeannot.  Per PuckPedia, they have a little under $3MM in cap room (including Brent Seabrook’s LTIR savings) with the bulk of that likely being needed to lock up their key trade deadline acquisition from last season.

Coyotes Sign John Leonard

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Jul 3, 2:52 p.m.: Arizona has made the acquisition official, but did not confirm the terms of the contract.

Jul 2, 6:10 p.m.: The Coyotes are set to add some more forward depth as PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reports (Twitter link) that Arizona has agreed to terms with free agent winger John Leonard on a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $80K in the minors while having a guaranteed salary of $150K.

The 24-year-old was a sixth-round pick by San Jose back in 2018 and spent two years in their system before being moved to Nashville as part of the Luke Kunin trade last summer.  Last season, he spent the bulk of the year with the Preds’ affiliate in Milwaukee, putting up 17 goals and 27 assists in 67 regular season games while chipping in with an assist in six postseason contests.  However, they opted to non-tender him on Friday, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Leonard has seen NHL action in each of his three professional campaigns, including six with the Predators last season, scoring once.  All told, he has 64 career appearances at the top level, tallying five goals and 11 assists while logging an average of a little over 11 minutes per night.

Leonard is likely to start the season with Arizona’s AHL affiliate in Tucson but should be among the early candidates for a recall.  If things go well for him in 2023-24, the Coyotes can retain his rights as an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent through the 2025-26 campaign.

Flyers Sign Garnet Hathaway

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The Flyers have added some more grit to their forward group, announcing the signing of winger Garnet Hathaway to a two-year contract.  The deal will carry an AAV of $2.375MM.

Hathaway’s garnered a well-deserved reputation as one of the more effective fourth-line players in the league, backing up being an annoyance on the ice with some offensive production and solid all-around play. The cap hit on this deal is perfectly fair, although it’s fair to wonder if the acquisition blocks a young player from making an impact in the Philadelphia lineup next year.

Nevertheless, he and Nicolas Deslauriers on the same line should help the latter become more effective too, actually providing a positive offensive impact via a heavy forecheck. After scoring 13 goals last year, Hathaway’s shown he can put the puck in the net with some frequency, and he’ll be an underrated offensive boost to the Flyers’ bottom six. They’ll likely be centered by Ryan Poehling, another UFA signing by the Flyers today.

Hathaway joins Cam Atkinson, Travis Konecny, and Calvin Petersen as notable members of the Flyers’ UFA class in 2025. He’ll be 33 years old at the end of the deal, and this was likely his best option to cash in on a $2MM-plus cap hit.

Andrew Cogliano Re-Signs With Avalanche

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Andrew Cogliano’s time in Colorado isn’t up just yet.  Peter Baugh of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Avalanche are bringing back the veteran on a one-year contract.  In a follow-up tweet, he adds that the deal is worth $825K.

Cogliano will continue his NHL career after a tough end to the season, sustaining a neck injury on a hit from Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle during the team’s first-round playoff loss. Once one of the NHL’s longest-tenured ironmen, Cogliano remains a reliable bottom-six defensive presence with some shooting acumen left in his game.

Likely slated again for a fourth-line role as a left winger, Cogliano notched 10 goals and 19 points in 79 games last season, his most in a season since scoring 35 with the Anaheim Ducks in 2018-19.

This likely won’t be Colorado’s last forward signing. With captain Gabriel Landeskog’s $7MM cap hit slated for LTIR next season, the team still has around $7.5MM in cap space to play with – nearly all of which will go toward adding to their forward corps. Expect an additional acquisition for the team’s middle-six (or two) and potentially a bottom-pairing defenseman.

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