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Peter Budaj Will Retire At The End Of The AHL Season

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Veteran goaltender Peter Budaj has decided to call it a career at the end of the season, the Kings announced (Twitter link).  The 36-year-old is wrapping up his second stint with Los Angeles after being acquired for Andy Andreoff last offseason.

Budaj was a highly-promising prospect to start his career.  Colorado drafted him in the second round back in 2001 and he followed up three strong seasons with Toronto of the OHL with three full campaigns at the minor league level in Hershey before joining the Avalanche on a full-time basis in 2005-06.

However, his time with the Avs was marked with inconsistency.  At times, he looked like their legitimate goalie of the future but struggled at other times as well.  As a result, he was never given the number one job on a full-time basis and after six seasons with the team, he left for Montreal in free agency, going to a situation where he was the clear number two.

In his third season with the Canadiens, Budaj was not called upon to take over as the starter in the postseason when Carey Price was injured as they instead went with Dustin Tokarski.  That paved the way for his departure and he was ultimately flipped to Winnipeg the following year after clearing waivers, where he spent the entire season in the minors.

Rather than opt to return back to his native Slovakia, Budaj decided to stick it out in North America, signing a pair of two-way deals with the Kings.  The move turned out to be a shrewd one as in his second season with the team (2016-17), Jonathan Quick was injured early in the year which put Budaj into the starting job quite quickly.  He responded with a career season, playing to a career-best 2.17 GAA before being included as filler in the trade deadline deal to acquire Ben Bishop from Tampa Bay.

His success that season was enough to land a two-year, one-way contract that summer, one that expires in July.  While he has spent a good chunk of time since then in the minors, he has seen limited NHL action in each of the last two seasons.

Budaj wraps up his playing days with 370 career NHL regular season appearances with four different teams, posting a 2.70 GAA along with a .904 save percentage.  Between that and nearly $12MM in career earnings, per CapFriendly, he wraps up what wound up being a solid career, even if he was never able to ascend to the number one role like Colorado had hoped for a decade ago.

Atlantic Notes: Condon, Stralman, Hedman, Kuraly, Moore

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Senators goaltender Mike Condon is expected to be fully recovered and ready for training camp after being out since November after undergoing stem cell surgery on his hip, reports Postmedia’s Ken Warren.  He cleared waivers early that month and played in AHL Belleville just once before seeking out various medical opinions which led to the surgery.  Condon has one year left on his contract after this one with a $3MM salary and a $2.4MM cap hit.  However, given the uncertainty surrounding his hip issues – it’s something he has battled throughout his career – it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to add another goalie to the mix.  Anders Nilsson, a pending UFA, is a possibility to be brought back.

More from the Atlantic:

  • Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman is unsure if he will be able to play at all in their first-round series, notes Joe Smith of The Athletic (Twitter link). He suffered a setback to his previous lower-body injury late in the season and the team decided to shut him down for a bit.  While Stralman is feeling better and if he gets the green light to return from team doctors, he’d be a welcome addition to a Tampa back end that has struggled so far against Columbus.  Head coach Jon Cooper also told Smith (Twitter link) that Victor Hedman is also banged up and expressed that he’s hopeful that his top defender will be available for Game Three against Columbus.
  • Bruins center Sean Kuraly has resumed skating (albeit in a non-contact jersey) after undergoing hand surgery late last month, the team announced (Twitter link). He was expected to miss at least a month after it happened, a mark that is still ten days away so it appears he’s on schedule if not slightly ahead.  Meanwhile, defenseman John Moore also skated but he is further away from returning from his upper-body issue.

Nikita Kucherov Suspended For One Game

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12:10 PM: Kucherov has been suspended for one game, the Department of Player Safety announced (video link).  He’ll be eligible to return for Game Four on Tuesday night.

8:02 AM: It hasn’t been a great start to Tampa Bay’s postseason as their 5-1 loss to Columbus on Friday night caused Lightning head coach Jon Cooper to call the situation a “five-alarm fire” as they now trail the best-of-seven series 2-0.  Things could potentially get worse for the Presidents’ Trophy winners as winger Nikita Kucherov will have a disciplinary hearing today, the Department of Player Safety announced.

This comes from a boarding incident on Blue Jackets defenseman Markus Nuutivaara late in Friday’s game.  Nutivaara was on his knees but Kucherov still lined him up with a big hit, receiving a minor for tripping, a major for boarding, and a game misconduct in the process.

Losing Kucherov for any period of time would be a huge blow to the Lightning.  He led the league in scoring with 128 points (41-87-128) during the regular season, setting a new record for the most points by a Russian-born player in the process.  While he has been held off the scoresheet through the first two games, he’s certainly capable of putting up points in a hurry.  The series resumes on Sunday so a decision from the league will likely come quickly one way or the other.

Minor Transactions: 4/13/19

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After some very interesting Game Twos on Friday night, four more of them will take place today.  There will be some roster juggling throughout the day; we’ll keep tabs on those moves here.

  • Winger Paul Carey has been recalled by the Bruins as he is participating in their morning skate, notes WEEI’s Matt Kalman (Twitter link). The veteran split the season between Ottawa and Boston, spending the majority of his time in the minors where he put up 60 points in 59 games between the two AHL teams.  However, his offensive prowess down there hasn’t translated to much NHL success as he has just 16 points in 99 career games.
  • The Flames have recalled center Dillon Dube from AHL Stockton, per the AHL’s Transactions page. He had just been sent down from his emergency recall; with no injuries up front at the moment, this means that Dube is now up on a regular call-up and will count against the four post-deadline non-emergency recalls that Calgary has.  Dube had 39 points in 37 AHL games this season but was limited offensively in the NHL, with just a goal and four assists in 25 contests.

Flyers To Interview Alain Vigneault For Their Head Coaching Position

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One name that hasn’t come up too frequently in the various head coaching searches around the league is veteran bench boss Alain Vigneault.  However, he appears to be on the radar for at least one team as the Flyers have asked for (and been granted) permission from the Rangers to speak to Vigneault, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).

Philadelphia had to seek permission as Vigneault has one year left on his existing deal with New York and actually will see his pay increase from $4MM to $4.25MM for the 2019-20 season.  The Flyers would likely need to assume at least a significant portion of that if they ultimately pick him to take over from interim head coach Scott Gordon.

The 57-year-old would certainly be a step in the opposite direction compared to their recent hires as their last two full-time head coaches (Dave Hakstol and Craig Berube) were both in that role for the first time.  That wouldn’t be the case for Vigneault who has 1,216 career games behind an NHL bench with the Canadiens, Canucks, and the Rangers with his teams posting a 648-435-133 record in that span.  He’s reached the Stanley Cup Final twice, once with Vancouver in 2010-11 and again with New York in 2013-14.

Vigneault was not behind an NHL bench at all this season after David Quinn took over for him with New York.  However, he will lead Team Canada at the upcoming World Championships so if he’s deemed to be GM Chuck Fletcher’s preference, it wouldn’t be surprising if they tried to get a deal done before his duties with Canada get underway in the not-too-distant future.

West Notes: Morrissey, Tanev, Juolevi, Grundstrom

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The Jets will have a key part of their back end available when their playoff series gets underway as NHL.com’s Scott Billeck reports that defenseman Josh Morrissey has been cleared to return after missing the last 20 games of the regular season with an upper-body injury.  He’s expected to immediately rejoin Winnipeg’s top pairing where he logged over 22 minutes a night before the injury.

However, the injury news isn’t all good.  Head coach Paul Maurice told reporters, including TSN’s Sara Orlesky (Twitter link), that Brandon Tanev will not suit up on Wednesday due to a finger injury that cost him the final two games of the season.  The physical winger led the Jets and finished third overall in hits with 278 while chipping in with 29 points in 80 games.

More from the West:

  • Canucks defense prospect Olli Juolevi is progressing well from his knee surgery back in December, agent Markus Lehto stated on Sportsnet 650 (audio link). The fifth pick back in 2016 was in the minors at the time and had gotten off to a strong start to his first AHL season.  Lehto indicated that Juolevi should be ready to participate in training camp in September.
  • Kings winger Carl Grundstrom is dealing with concussion-like symptoms, notes Curtis Zupke of the LA Times (Twitter link).  The injury occurred in their final game on Saturday.  Grundstrom made a strong first impression with Los Angeles after being acquired from Toronto as part of the return for defenseman Jake Muzzin, collecting five goals and an assist in just 15 games while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night of playing time.

Senators Not Likely To Retain Magnus Paajarvi And Oscar Lindberg

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The Senators are likely to not bring back winger Magnus Paajarvi and center Oscar Lindberg for next season, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.  However, Ottawa appears to be inclined to issue a qualifying offer to winger Anthony Duclair and may attempt to keep winger Brian Gibbons who made a significant impact after being acquired late in the season.

Paajarvi never quite lived up to his draft billing as a tenth overall pick of the Oilers back in 2009.  While he had a regular role this season, he wasn’t overly productive as he posted just 19 points in 80 games.  With several younger forwards looking to make a push for a roster spot next season, it appears Paajarvi will be yielding his spot to one of them.

As for Lindberg, the trade deadline deal that saw him join the Senators didn’t do much to bolster his offensive game despite a boost in playing time.  Between Ottawa and Vegas, he had 20 points in 55 games and as a 27-year-old old pivot, he’ll garner some interest on the open market in July.

Duclair came over from Columbus as part of the Ryan Dzingel deal just before the trade deadline.  He signed with the Blue Jackets in a hope to revive his career but it didn’t happen.  However, he showed some promising signs after the trade, collecting 14 points in 21 games, giving him 33 points on the season, the second-most of his career.  That should be worth a $715K qualifying offer although he is eligible for salary arbitration.

Gibbons, meanwhile, was brought in for minor league defender Patrick Sieloff to fill a roster spot for the stretch run to allow the younger players to remain at AHL Belleville.  After being invisible with Anaheim after putting up just five points in 44 games, he picked up 14 in 20 contests following the trade.  Clearly, he showed he fits in with Ottawa so depending on the contract he’s looking for – he made $1MM this season – he could be a fit to stick around in a depth role.

Blackhawks Expect To Be Active In Free Agency

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Last summer, the Blackhawks were fairly quiet on the free agent market with their July 1st signings consisting of goalie Cam Ward, defenseman Brandon Manning, and winger Chris Kunitz.  As a cap-strapped team with several holes to fill, they had no choice but to look at bringing in depth players.

That should change this summer, at least if GM Stan Bowman has his way.  Speaking with reporters, including NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis, Bowman indicated that he expects that the team will be a lot more active on the open market than they have been in recent years.

The expected departures of Ward, Kunitz, and center Marcus Kruger give Chicago $6.775MM to play with while they’re also not weighed down by Marian Hossa’s long-term cap hit ($5.275MM through 2020-21) either.  While Hossa’s career is over, that amount is on the books in the summer which restricted the flexibility that the Blackhawks had at the time.

As things stand, Chicago has a little under $61MM tied up in 15 players for next season, per CapFriendly.  With the Upper Limit expected to push past the $80MM mark, that leaves them with lots of room to work with.

Having said that, they would be wise not to spend right to the cap ceiling with multi-year deals.  Winger Alex DeBrincat is a restricted free agent next summer and his next contract is going to be a hefty one after he put up 41 goals this season so they’ll need to keep some money aside for that deal.  They may also want to keep a bit freed up for next summer knowing that starting goalie Corey Crawford is going to be an unrestricted free agent and they will likely need to commit big money to a starter, whether that’s Crawford or someone else.

Even with that in mind, however, they should have enough to make a splash on the free agent market in July.  They’ve been speculatively linked to Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin given his success with Chicago in the past but they may also want to look into upgrading their back end as well.  Whichever way they go, Bowman will have some financial flexibility to work with and it has been a while since he had that.

Five Key Stories: 4/1/19 – 4/7/19

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The final week of the regular season didn’t feature many significant headlines from NHL players but several college stars made some headlines of their own while there was plenty of coaching news around the league as well.

Schuldt To Vegas: Jimmy Schuldt, the top college defenseman made his decision, signing a one-year, entry-level deal with the Golden Knights.  The deal is worth the maximum base salary, setting up his qualifying offer this summer at just under $875K.  Schuldt, one of three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, had 10 goals and 25 assists in 39 games with St. Cloud this past season and is viewed as a player that isn’t far away from being able to step into an NHL lineup.  However, he is not eligible to suit up for Vegas in the postseason.

Coach Firings: Three teams wasted little time making a decision to change coaches.  The Panthers let Bob Boughner go after two seasons with the team while the Sabres did the same with Phil Housley.  Meanwhile, the Kings decided to not give interim coach Willie Desjardins the full-time job.  Early speculation is that Florida is trying to get veteran bench boss Joel Quenneville as their next head coach while Los Angeles has their sights set on Todd McLellan.

Blashill Staying Put: The Red Wings will not be among the teams making a coaching change.  Instead, the team has given bench boss a two-year extension to ensure he’ll be back behind the bench in October.  While Detroit hasn’t had much success in the standings in recent seasons (they’ve missed the playoffs for three years in a row), GM Ken Holland has continually stated that he is pleased with the development of some of their younger players.  Their top four scorers to finish the season are all 24 years old or younger so there is clearly progress being made with their young core.  That said, the two-year term suggests that there is a short-term expectation for getting back into postseason contention.

Sturm Signs With Minnesota: The Wild dipped their toes into the college free agent market, landing the most coveted forward in center Nico Sturm who signed a one-year, entry-level deal.  Like Schuldt, the deal is worth the maximum base salary, setting up an offseason qualifying offer of roughly $875K.  Despite a big season with Clarkson that saw him post 45 points in 39 games, Sturm isn’t believed to be a big scorer at the NHL level but is pegged as someone that could be a regular in their bottom six group before too long.

Fox Won’t Sign With Carolina: Harvard defenseman Adam Fox was a key part of the significant draft day trade that saw Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm go to Calgary with Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland join Carolina.  However, it appears that Fox isn’t likely to sign with the Hurricanes and the focus has shifted towards trading his rights.  He has one year of college eligibility remaining so it will be interesting to see if a team can work out a trade and convince him to sign early or if he’ll be intent on becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2020.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

East Notes: Skinner, Kronwall, Vanek, Van Riemsdyk

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While the Sabres have discussed a potential contract extension for winger Jeff Skinner throughout the season, a deal has yet to be reached.  Speaking to reporters, including WKBW’s Matt Bove, GM Jason Botterill indicated that both sides are still focusing on getting a deal done, suggesting that Skinner hasn’t shifted his focus to free agency just yet.  The 26-year-old got off to a strong start with 30 goals over his first 44 games before cooling off considerably, scoring just 10 over the last 38 contests.  John Vogl of The Athletic examined (subscription required) some possible comparables for Skinner, noting that the new deal that Mark Stone signed upon his trade to Vegas (eight years, $76MM) is one that his representatives will likely want to use in discussions.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall and Thomas Vanek are unsure as to whether or not they want to play next season, notes Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. It was believed that Kronwall was likely to retire after 2018-19 but he wound up logging nearly 20 minutes a night over 79 games, suggesting that he’s still capable of being an important piece for Detroit.  Meanwhile, Vanek finished with a respectable 36 points in 64 games but indicated that his family will play a large role in determining whether or not he wants to play a 15th NHL season.  Both players are set to be unrestricted free agents in July.
  • The Flyers announced (Twitter link) that winger James van Riemsdyk will suit up for Team USA at the upcoming World Championships. It will be his first time suiting up in the tournament since he played a pair of games back in 2011.  His return to Philadelphia was a reasonable success as he finished fifth in team scoring despite missing 16 games due to injuries while his goal per game rate was only slightly below 2017-18 when he scored a career-best 36 goals.

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