Penguins Acquire Jeff Petry
The Penguins moved out a right-shot defender earlier today when they sent John Marino to New Jersey. It appears he’ll be replaced by Jeff Petry as Pittsburgh has acquired the veteran along with center Ryan Poehling from Montreal in exchange for blueliner Mike Matheson and a 2023 fourth-round pick. Both teams have confirmed the swap.
The 34-year-old is coming off a tough season with Montreal that saw him struggle as their top defender in the absence of Shea Weber. He struggled mightily offensively to start the year as over the first three months of the year, he had just two assists in 27 games. However, Petry’s performance improved following the coaching change that saw Martin St. Louis take over behind the bench and he was much better down the stretch, picking up 21 points in the final three months of the season. Overall, Petry finished up the year with six goals and 21 assists in 68 games, his lowest point total since the 2015-16 campaign, his first full season with the Canadiens.
Around the midway point of the year, he also requested a trade for family reasons. While he was widely expected to move at the trade deadline and again at the draft, it has taken a while for a move to materialize.
Petry has three years left on his contract with a $6.25MM AAV and Montreal GM Kent Hughes stated earlier this week that he wasn’t interested in retaining any salary to facilitate a trade. While the Marino move freed up roughly $3.5MM in cap flexibility, that wasn’t enough to absorb Petry’s full deal which is what prompted Matheson’s inclusion in the swap. Petry had been speculated as a possible replacement for Kris Letang if the veteran was to leave in free agency. Instead, Letang signed a six-year deal and Petry will now help form a quality one-two punch on the right side of their back end with Petry’s AAV checking in just above Letang’s to make him the highest-paid blueliner on the team.
Matheson was a top-four defender early in his career with Florida but his stock started to dip a few years ago, resulting in him being flipped for Patric Hornqvist. The move worked out well for the 28-year-old as he had a career year offensively in 2021-22, picking up 11 goals and 20 assists in 74 games while logging just under 19 minutes a night. He was also quite productive for the Penguins in the playoffs, notching a goal and five helpers in seven games to lead all Pittsburgh blueliners in scoring while averaging over 25 minutes per contest.
Matheson has four years remaining on his contract with a $4.875MM AAV on a deal that is somewhat heavily backloaded with his payout set to jump to $6.5MM per season in each of the final three seasons. He immediately becomes the blueliner with the longest contract on the Canadiens while also being their highest-paid. He’ll likely take the place of Alexander Romanov on Montreal’s depth chart as the youngster was traded back at the draft to the Islanders for the 13th-overall pick which was then flipped to Chicago to pick up center Kirby Dach.
As for Poehling, the 23-year-old was a first-round pick of Montreal back in 2017 (25th overall) and spent most of last season with the Canadiens, notching nine goals and eight assists in 57 games while averaging just over 12 minutes per game. He’s likely to have a similar role in Pittsburgh’s bottom six in 2022-23. Poehling is signed for the league minimum for next season and will be a restricted free agent next summer.
With the move, Pittsburgh now has just under $2MM in cap space with RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen still to sign. That’s not enough for the 25-year-old so it would appear that GM Ron Hextall has another move to try to make. Meanwhile, Montreal frees up a little over $2MM with this swap, giving them a little over $2.3MM in cap room with Dach as their most notable RFA in need of a new deal.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract and cap info courtesy of CapFriendly.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Petry was heading to Pittsburgh. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was the first to report the trade details.
Andrew Ladd Unsure About Playing Next Season
It has been a tough last few seasons for Coyotes winger Andrew Ladd who has struggled to stay healthy and struggled to produce when he has been in the lineup. While he still has one year left on his contract, Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports reports that the veteran is unsure if he wants to play out that final season; his agent J.P. Barry indicated that a decision will be made later this summer when the time comes to start ramping up training in preparation for the season.
The 36-year-old was moved from the Islanders to the Coyotes last summer as New York was looking to free up some much-needed cap space. From an on-ice perspective, the move worked out reasonably well for Ladd who stayed in the NHL all season and got into 51 games after seeing action in just four the year before. Of course, his production (seven goals and five assists) is hardly worthy of the $6.5MM AAV he carried.
Ladd is owed a $3MM signing bonus this summer (which may have already been paid as a lot of bonuses are due at the start of the league year) plus a $1MM base salary which are the numbers that matter most to Arizona, a team that is looking to limit their spending as they go through an extended rebuild. If that money comes off the books, it’s quite possible that they’d turn around and make another trade to take on another undesirable contract as GM Bill Armstrong has done on several occasions already.
The Islanders will also be keeping tabs on this situation. As part of the trade that sent Ladd and two second-round picks (used on defensemen Janis Moser and Mattias Havelid), New York also put in a conditional third-round selection in 2023. Per CapFriendly, that pick will go to the Coyotes if Ladd does not play in any professional games in 2022-23 while under his current contract, or does not retire prior to the conclusion of the 2022-23 regular season. As a result, this situation will be one to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.
Minnesota Signs Liam Ohgren
Minnesota has signed their top draft pick from this month’s draft as the team announced that they’ve signed winger Liam Ohgren to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 18-year-old was the 19th-overall selection last week following a strong season in Djurgarden’s system. Ohgren spent part of the year with their junior team and was quite productive offensively, picking up 33 goals and 25 assists in 30 games, earning him the award for the Best Forward in that league in the process. That earned him a lengthy stint with their SHL squad where production and playing time was a lot harder to come by which is quite normal for draft-eligible players. The fact that Ohgren played well enough to stick with the top team for 25 games is impressive in itself.
Ohgren has another year left on his contract with Djurgarden although the fact that he was a first-round pick allows the Wild to control where he plays next season and since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL, he could go to AHL Iowa right away. However, allowing him to stay at home and play in Djurgarden for one more year wouldn’t be bad for his development as Ohgren would likely spend most of the season at the SHL level this time around. If he doesn’t play in ten games with Minnesota in 2022-23, his contract will slide and still have three years remaining on it a year from now.
Devils Acquire John Marino
The Devils and Penguins have swapped defensemen as New Jersey has acquired defenseman John Marino from Pittsburgh in exchange for blueliner Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round pick. Both teams have announced the swap. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald released the following statement:
John is a competitive, highly mobile defenseman who strengthens our back end. He takes pride in his game away from the puck and his puck management and ability to transition play will fit in nicely with our style and the strengths of our forward group. This is another move focused on improving our club today, while also providing certainty and stability for roster flexibility as we continue to build.
The 25-year-old Marino made an immediate impact in his rookie season back in 2019-20, recording 26 points in 56 games. Pittsburgh had acquired his rights from Edmonton in the 2019 offseason for a sixth-round pick and that type of immediate return was quite impressive. So much so, in fact, that then-GM Jim Rutherford handed Marino a six-year, $26.4MM contract back in January of 2021, a deal that still has five years remaining.
However, things didn’t go as well for Marino and the Penguins since then. He struggled in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign before rebounding a little bit last season, recording a goal and 24 assists in 81 games while still logging over 20 minutes a night, a number that jumped to over 23 minutes per contest in their first-round playoff loss to the Rangers.
In Marino, New Jersey gets a defender that is capable of playing top-four minutes now as evidenced by the fact that he has averaged over 20 minutes per contest over each of his three NHL seasons. A right-shot rearguard, Marino also gives them some insurance on the right side with Damon Severson a year away from unrestricted free agency. If he departs next summer, Marino could simply take Severson’s spot behind Dougie Hamilton on their depth chart which is likely the stability for roster flexibility that Fitzgerald spoke of in his statement.
As for Smith, the 22-year-old was a first-round pick of the Devils back in 2018 (17th overall) and made a very strong first impression in his rookie year in 2020-21 when he picked up 23 points in 48 games while averaging over 20 minutes a game himself. However, things certainly did not go well last season as his production dropped to 20 points in 66 contests while his defensive metrics took a tumble. Nevertheless, he’s certainly young enough to rebound not unlike Marino did last season.
While Smith is an intriguing addition, the key to the trade for Pittsburgh might very well be the financial flexibility gained. Smith still has a year to go on his entry-level deal, one that carries a cap hit of just $863K plus an additional $400K in performance bonuses. Compared to Marino’s $4.4MM cap charge, Pittsburgh has freed up over $3.5MM in cap space for next season (not including the bonuses). That money is basically all of the cap space they have left which they will need in order to re-sign RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen this summer.
It’s also worth noting that Pittsburgh now has a bit of a logjam on the left side of their back end with Smith joining lefties Brian Dumoulin, Michael Matheson, and Marcus Pettersson. The Penguins have been known to be shopping Pettersson in the past and this type of move could very well intensify the desire to get a trade done, especially if they can free up a little more cap flexibility in the process.
As for New Jersey’s offseason, there is still a lot of work to be done. Per CapFriendly, the Devils have just under $13MM in cap space left following this trade with a big chunk of that set to go to RFA winger Jesper Bratt. Forwards Miles Wood and Jesper Boqvist also need new deals as does recent acquisition Vitek Vanecek; the netminder is in his final year of RFA eligibility and will be looking at a significant raise after making the league minimum the last three years. As a result, their heavy lifting in terms of adding to their roster may be finished with the focus now turning to re-signing their RFAs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Metropolitan Notes: Jarry, Rangers, Morrow
While Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is eligible to sign a contract extension at any point now, Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review argues that the window to do so is much narrower with GM Ron Hextall’s general hesitance to work on in-season extensions. The 27-year-old has one year left on his deal that carries a $3.5MM cap hit and coming off a season that saw him post a 2.42 GAA with a .919 SV% in 58 games, he has a strong case to add a couple million to his next AAV based on the contracts handed out to the top goalies in free agency earlier this week. With that in mind, Benz suggests that Pittsburgh’s best strategy might be to wait as with so much of their roster locked up long-term already, if the team wants to have any sort of roster flexibility at all, it might have to come from the goaltending position and locking up Jarry now would take away that option.
More from the Metropolitan:
- While the Rangers have nearly $5MM in cap space left per CapFriendly, they still have to re-sign RFA winger Kaapo Kakko and add a depth defender or two. Beyond that, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that GM Chris Drury should be sitting on his remaining cap space rather than trying to find a way to add another piece this summer. New York didn’t need to rely on banking in-season cap space a year ago since they were well under the Upper Limit but that won’t be the case anymore. Accordingly, if they think they’re going to want to add a piece or two in-season, the only way to have a chance of doing that is to bank as much cap space as possible early on to create enough room for those additions closer to the trade deadline.
- Hurricanes GM Don Waddell told Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer that he expects prospect defenseman Scott Morrow to turn pro after next season. The 19-year-old was a second-round selection (40th overall) back in 2021 but played quite well at UMass in his freshman year, notching 13 goals and 20 assists in just 38 games. If he’s able to build on that performance in 2022-23, Waddell feels that Morrow would be reaching a point where there will be nothing left to work on in college even though he’d still have two years of eligibility left at that point.
Penguins Sign Owen Pickering
The Penguins have signed their top selection from the draft earlier this month, announcing that they’ve signed blueliner Owen Pickering to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 18-year-old was the 21st pick by Pittsburgh earlier this month following a strong season with Swift Current of the WHL where he had 33 points in 62 games in his first full major junior season. Now standing 6’4, Pickering had a late growth spurt and will need some time to fill out his frame before he’s ready to even consider playing in the pros. He’s the first first-round pick from the Broncos since Boston took Jake DeBrusk 14th overall back in 2015.
Pickering’s contract is eligible to slide a year if he doesn’t play in ten NHL games next season (and it’s doubtful he will see any NHL action). As a result, he’ll still have three years left on his deal after this one, likely at a slightly lower cap hit assuming his contract has signing bonuses which is quite normal for first-round selections.
Harri Sateri Signs In Switzerland
While the Coyotes are among the teams that still have a vacancy to fill between the pipes, their backup down the stretch last season is moving on. Todd Diamond, the agent for goaltender Harri Sateri, told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link) that his client has signed a one-year deal with EHC Biel-Bienne of the Swiss NLA.
The 32-year-old had a strong showing with Novosibirsk of the KHL last season, posting a 2.02 GAA along with a .926 SV% in 38 games. He also played extremely well in five appearances in the Olympics, helping to get him on the NHL radar. Just before the trade deadline, Toronto signed Sateri to be their backup goalie for the rest of the season but he had to pass through waivers first to get there. That didn’t happen as the Coyotes scooped him up off the wire to make him their backup for the final few weeks.
It was Sateri’s first NHL action since the 2017-18 campaign with Florida and suffice it to say, it didn’t go particularly well. Sateri had a 4.22 GAA with a .866 SV% in six appearances which certainly didn’t help his chances of securing a one-way deal to stay in North America so he’ll instead try his hand in the Swiss league instead. Meanwhile, Arizona’s current backup battle would be between Ivan Prosvetov and Jon Gillies with neither of them proving that they’re ready for full-time duty behind Karel Vejmelka just yet so GM Bill Armstrong likely still has some work to do on that front this summer.
Darcy Kuemper Expected To Sign With Capitals
12:46 pm: The Capitals have officially signed Kuemper to a five-year deal worth $5.25MM per season.
6:57 am: While the goalie shuffle on the first day of free agency won’t be as big as it has been in recent years, a couple of notable goalies will be on the move. One of those is Darcy Kuemper who appears to have his next team in place as ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and TSN’s Bob McKenzie report (Twitter links) that the netminder will become the new starter for the Capitals once free agency officially opens up in a few hours. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli adds (via Twitter) that the deal could be in the range of five years at $5.5MM per season.
The 32-year-old is coming off a successful season with Colorado that saw him post a 2.54 GAA and a .921 SV% in 57 starts while battling through injuries during the playoffs to help lead the Avs to the Stanley Cup, helping make him the top-ranked goalie on our Top 50 Free Agents list. It worked out quite well for him that former Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer decided to go last summer, prompting the Avalanche to flip Conor Timmins and a first-round pick to Arizona to get what turns out to be just one year of the netminder although having won the Cup, they certainly won’t mind.
Kuemper’s numbers are a considerable improvement on what Washington received from their netminders last season as the four goalies they used combined for a 2.81 GAA and a .901 SV%. Considering that the Caps were still decent in the goals allowed department (allowing the 12th-fewest in the NHL) in 2021-22, Kuemper’s addition should certainly make them a stingier team.
Washington will still be on the lookout for another goaltender as both of their regulars from last season are gone – Vitek Vanecek to New Jersey in a draft-day trade while Ilya Samsonov was non-tendered on Monday. Even veteran depth goalie Pheonix Copley is set to hit the open market later today. They enter the day with nearly $9MM in cap room per CapFriendly before factoring in LTIR possibilities and a good chunk of that money will be heading towards this new tandem.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Carolina Hurricanes Acquire Brent Burns
11:55am: The deal is now complete, according to LeBrun. The Hurricanes will receive Burns and Lane Pederson in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi, and a conditional 2023 third-round pick. The Sharks will retain one-third of Burns’ remaining contract.
10:30am: While Carolina moved a notable defenseman at the draft when they sent Anthony DeAngelo to Philadelphia, it appears they’ve found his replacement. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are close to acquiring Brent Burns from San Jose. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (Twitter link) that Carolina isn’t on Burns’ three-team trade list but it appears he’ll be willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate a move. LeBrun adds (via Twitter) that multiple players are involved in the swap.
Burns has been a staple on the back end for the Sharks for more than a decade as an all-situations defender that logs heavy minutes. A three-time Norris finalist (and one-time winner), the 37-year-old is coming off a pretty strong season as he led all San Jose defenders in scoring with 10 goals and 44 assists in 82 games in 2021-22 while logging a career-high 26:09 per game.
The reason that San Jose is moving him is his contract. Burns still has three years left on his contract with a cap hit of $8MM and with the Sharks not having a lot of financial flexibility, it was expected that they’d try to move one of their three pricey veterans on the back end. With both Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic coming off tough seasons that have them on negative-value contracts, Burns was the logical one to try to move.
With Carolina, Burns shouldn’t be counted on to log anywhere near the type of minutes he did in San Jose with the Hurricanes and he could fit in nicely on their second pairing behind Brett Pesce. He would certainly help replace the minutes that DeAngelo logged last season while being able to help cover the offensive gap left behind as well.
More to follow.
Blues Sign Max-Term Extension With Robert Thomas
11:25am: The Blues have now made it official, though it will cost a bit more than originally reported. St. Louis has signed Thomas to an eight-year, $65.1MM contract, meaning he will carry an $8.125MM cap hit starting in 2023-24.
7:20am: While unrestricted free agents often dominate the headlines at the start of free agency, it’s also a day when players that are entering the final year of their contracts can sign extensions. It appears one of those will be Blues center Robert Thomas as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the two sides are closing on an eight-year, $64MM extension.
After a tough injury-riddled 2020-21 campaign that saw the 23-year-old put up just three goals and nine assists in 33 games, St. Louis pushed for a bridge contract last summer, eventually agreeing to a two-year, $5.6MM pact that was identical to the one that Jordan Kyrou had signed a month earlier.
It’s safe to say that the Blues got a fantastic return on the first year of that deal as Thomas put up 20 goals and 57 assists in 72 games last season, good for second in team scoring behind Vladimir Tarasenko. On top of that, his playing time jumped up by more than five minutes a game to 18:36 while becoming an all-situations player. In other words, he performed like a true top center.
He’s certainly about to be paid like a top-line center as the $8MM AAV of this deal nearly triples his current price tag and would make him the Blues’ highest-paid player for 2023-24. This contract will buy out his final two remaining RFA-eligible years and then give St. Louis six extra years of team control beyond that.
St. Louis has $18MM coming off their books in the summer of 2023, the bulk of that coming from $7.5MM expiring deals for Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly so GM Doug Armstrong certainly has some flexibility at his disposal to give Thomas this type of contract. He’ll likely want to keep O’Reilly while Kyrou will be looking at a significant raise of his own and by the time those two deals get done between now and next summer, most of their savings will already be spent. But they’ll have Thomas locked up through the prime of his career and if he can continue to improve, this contract could become a team-friendly one down the road.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.