Auston Matthews Wins The 2022 Hart Trophy
On Tuesday, the final five NHL awards are being handed out. Last up for the night was the Hart Memorial Trophy, given to the most valuable player as voted by the PHWA. After receiving the Ted Lindsay Award for the same honor as voted by the players, Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews was this year’s recipient. The other finalists were Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin and Oilers center Connor McDavid.
It was a career year for Matthews in terms of goals (60), assists (46), points (106), and shots on goal (348) with his goal and shots totals leading the league despite only playing in 73 games. His goals per game rate (0.82) was the highest in the NHL since Mario Lemieux back in the 1995-96 campaign. That helped lead Toronto to the second spot in the Atlantic Division and their most successful season in franchise history in terms of points. Matthews is the third Maple Leaf to win the Hart and the first to do so in quite some time as Toronto’s previous winner was Ted Kennedy back in 1954-55.
Matthews received 61% of first-place votes among the 195 ballots cast while appearing on all but two of them. That helped him finish more than 500 points ahead of McDavid to take home the award with Shesterkin coming a distant third. Four other players received a first-place vote – Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau, Florida’s Jonathan Huberdeau, Nashville’s Roman Josi, and Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov.
The full voting results can be found here.
Cale Makar Wins The 2022 Norris Trophy
On Tuesday, the final five NHL awards are being handed out. The second-last award of the night was the James Norris Memorial Trophy, handed out to the NHL’s best defenseman. This year’s winner is Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar. The other finalists were Predators blueliner Roman Josi and Lightning rearguard Victor Hedman.
Makar led all defensemen in goals this season with 28, becoming just the fifth blueliner in the last 30 years to get that many goals. He also finished second in points (86) to Josi, who had 96. While thought of as an offense-first defender, Makar took a regular turn on Colorado’s penalty kill this season as well which helped him average 25:40 per contest. While this voting doesn’t cover his playoff performance, the 23-year-old has been dominant in the postseason as well, picking up 26 points in 17 games while his ATOI has jumped up to a little under 27 minutes a night.
Interestingly enough, Makar actually finished second to Josi in first-place votes, 98-92. However, Makar had 22 more second-place selections (98-72) which helped him garner 25 more voting points to secure the victory. He was also the only player to appear on all 195 ballots with Josi not being put on one of them. It’s the closest vote for this award since the 2011-12 campaign when Erik Karlsson edged Shea Weber for the award. Only one other blueliner, Boston’s Charlie McAvoy, received a first-place vote.
The full results of the voting can be found here.
Auston Matthews Wins The 2022 Ted Lindsay Award
On Tuesday, the final five NHL awards are being handed out. Third on the docket was the Ted Lindsay Award, given to the player voted as the most outstanding in the league by the players. This year’s recipient is Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews. The other finalists were Oilers center Connor McDavid and Predators defenseman Roman Josi.
The 24-year-old led the league in goals scored for the second straight season, hitting the 60-goal mark for the first time in his career despite missing nine games due to injury or suspension, becoming the first player to hit that mark since Steven Stamkos did it back in 2011-12. Matthews set a new league record for the most goals scored by an American-born player, besting Jimmy Carson‘s mark of 55 back in 1987-88. Between November 24th and April 9th, Matthews scored 51 times in just 50 games. That helped lead Toronto to a 115-point season, the most points in franchise history.
Matthews, who was a finalist for the award last season, is the fourth different winner of this award in as many years. The last time that happened was between 2009-10 and 2012-13. Unlike the other awards being revealed on Tuesday, no voting breakdown was released. He is the first Maple Leaf to win the award.
Moritz Seider Wins The 2022 Calder Trophy
On Tuesday, the final five NHL awards are being handed out. The second award of the night was the Calder Memorial Trophy, handed out to the NHL’s top rookie. Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider took home the trophy after a stellar first season. Maple Leafs winger Michael Bunting and Ducks center Trevor Zegras were the other two finalists.
The 21-year-old was the sixth-overall pick by Detroit back in 2019 and spent his post-draft season with AHL Grand Rapids before playing in Sweden last season. The extra seasoning certainly was beneficial as he led all rookie defensemen with 50 points (seven goals and 43 assists), the third-highest point output from a rookie rearguard in the last 30 years. Seider also led all rookies (including forwards) in assists and power play points while logging more than 23 minutes a game to lead all Detroit defensemen, a franchise record for all rookies.
As a result, the vote wasn’t particularly close. Of the 195 PHWA members to cast a ballot, Seider was ranked first on 170 of them while he was the only player to appear in the top three on every ballot. That helped Seider become the first Detroit rookie to win the award since goaltender Roger Crozier back in the 1964-65 season.
The full results of the voting can be found here.
Igor Shesterkin Wins The 2022 Vezina Trophy
On Tuesday, the final five NHL awards are being handed out. First up was the Vezina Trophy for the best goaltender. The winner of the award was Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin. The other finalists were Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom and Nashville’s Juuse Saros.
The 26-year-old had a dominant season, leading the league with a 2.07 GAA along with a .935 SV%. That helped lead New York to second place in the Metropolitan Division while recording their highest point total since the 2014-15 campaign and third-best in franchise history. Shesterkin’s numbers in the playoffs were also quite strong as he put up a 2.59 GAA along with a .929 SV% as he helped the Rangers reach the Eastern Conference Final before they were eliminated in six by Tampa Bay. He becomes the third Ranger to win the award under the current voting criteria, joining Henrik Lundqvist and John Vanbiesbrouck.
The Vezina Trophy is voted on by the 32 General Managers and it was a near-unanimous selection as Shesterkin took home 29 of 32 first-place votes while having more voting points than every other goalie combined. Interestingly, the other two finalists didn’t receive a first-place vote with those nods going to Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning, Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders, and Frederik Andersen of the Hurricanes.
The full results of the voting can be found here.
Dallas Stars Hire Peter DeBoer
June 21: The team has now officially announced DeBoer as the next head coach of the Stars. While the team did not release financial information or term, LeBrun reports that it is a four-year deal worth $4.25MM per season.
General manager Jim Nill released the following statement:
Pete brings a wealth of experience to our dressing room, and we’re thrilled to name him our next head coach. Every team that he has taken over has not only shown immediate improvement but has been ultra-competitive in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He has taken five teams to the Conference Finals, and two of those to the Stanley Cup Final, in his 14 years as a head coach. His resume displays the high standards he sets and his ability to get his team to play up to that level consistently. We’re excited to welcome Pete and his family to Dallas.
June 19: A pair of coaching vacancies have been filled in recent days with Vegas and Philadelphia finding their new bench bosses. It appears Dallas is on the verge of doing the same as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Stars are expected to name Peter DeBoer as their new head coach. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski adds (Twitter link) that an official announcement is not expected to come tonight with Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic notes (Twitter link) contract terms are still being discussed.
DeBoer was a fairly late entrant into the coaching market this spring as Vegas waited a couple of weeks before making the decision to part ways with him. He had a pretty successful run with the Golden Knights he led the team to a 98-50-12 record in 160 regular season games, good for a .650 points percentage. Vegas also had two good playoff runs with him at the helm as they went 22-17 over that stretch. However, it was the fact that they didn’t make it to the postseason that resulted in his departure with Bruce Cassidy taking over that job on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the Stars have been on the lookout for their next bench boss for the past month after the team and Rick Bowness mutually agreed to part ways with their assistant coaches also departing. Dallas finished in the top Wild Card spot in 2021-22 (four points ahead of Vegas) and gave Calgary a pretty good run in the first round before ultimately falling in seven games which led to them changing things up.
The fact that the Stars are looking for a win-now coach doesn’t come as much of a surprise as they largely have a veteran core in place with a team that’s built more for the present than the future. Under Bowness, Dallas has consistently been one of the stronger defensive teams in the league but they have also found themselves in the bottom half of the league offensively with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn both taking considerable steps back in recent years. Considering both are on the books at a high price tag ($9.5MM for Benn, $9.85MM for Seguin), finding a coach that can coax more out of them offensively would certainly help their chances moving forward.
Dallas GM Jim Nill feels DeBoer is the coach that can bring out more offensive production without drastically compromising their defensive principles. There is some recent cause for optimism on that front based on his time with the Golden Knights as Vegas was in the top half of the NHL in both goals scored and allowed in each of his three seasons with them.
DeBoer sits 27th all-time in games coached at 1,015 and is 26th in wins with 513 and assuming this contract becomes official, he’ll have a chance to improve those numbers on a Stars team that should once again be in the playoff mix in 2022-23. He’ll become the fifth different head coach for Dallas since 2013 when Jim Nill took over with the others being Lindy Ruff, Ken Hitchcock, Jim Montgomery, and Bowness.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Edmonton Oilers Agree To Contract With Jay Woodcroft
June 21: After reports earlier confirmed a deal was done, the Oilers have officially announced a three-year contract for Woodcroft, taking away the interim tag. Extending through the 2024-25 season, the coach will have his chance to take Edmonton all the way after an outstanding debut in the second half.
June 19: With Edmonton making it to the Western Conference Final, the expectation was that Oilers would lift the interim tag off head coach Jay Woodcroft. They’re getting close to doing just that as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that Edmonton is making progress on a three-year contract with the bench boss. Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins adds that expects the deal to be finalized by the end of the month.
Edmonton’s turnaround after Woodcroft was promoted from AHL Bakersfield to replace Dave Tippett back in February was quite astounding. The Oilers played to a .724 points percentage with a 26-9-3 record under his tutelage, a far cry from the 8-13-3 the team had put up under Tippett in the nearly ten weeks leading up to his departure. They showed considerable improvement defensively without significantly affecting one of the strongest offenses in the league which allowed them to finish second in the Pacific Division at the end of the season.
From there, Edmonton squeaked by Los Angeles in the first round before stunning provincial rival Calgary (who won the Pacific) with a five-game series victory. They weren’t as successful against Colorado, however, as they were ousted in four straight. Still, it was a strong season overall for the Oilers so the news that they’re getting closer to getting Woodcroft signed shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
While they don’t have to get it done right away, the sooner GM Ken Holland can get this done, the better. Edmonton has several prominent pending free agents highlighted by winger Evander Kane among those eligible for unrestricted free agency and wingers Kailer Yamamoto and Jesse Puljujarvi among the RFA-eligible players. With minimal cap space to work with, Holland will need to focus most of his time on getting things settled on that front so getting Woodcroft’s deal signed sooner than later will give him more time to focus on their needed roster movement this summer.
Five Key Stories: 6/13/22 – 6/19/22
Things are starting to pick up across the NHL with most of the league now firmly in offseason mode with the league providing a key cap figure for their summer planning. Here’s a rundown of the biggest news from the past seven days.
Tortorella To Flyers: Philadelphia has their new head coach in place as they hired long-time bench boss John Tortorella, giving him a four-year deal that’s believed to be worth $4MM per season. The Flyers have made it clear that even though they missed the playoffs this season, they are in win-now mode and Tortorella’s hiring certainly cements that line of thinking. Philadelphia is Tortorella’s fifth NHL team as a head coach and ranks 13th all-time in games coached with 1,383 and sits 14th for most wins with 673. Even with this move, many believe GM Chuck Fletcher will try to shake up his core so the Flyers will continue to be a team to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead.
Cassidy To Vegas: Tortorella wasn’t the only head coach to be hired as Bruce Cassidy’s time on the unemployment line didn’t last very long with the Golden Knights naming him as their new bench boss. Boston decided to part ways with Cassidy earlier this month despite a very strong regular season showing that saw the team go 245-108-46 under his watch although they had a losing record (36-37) in the playoffs. The Golden Knights are now on their third coach in franchise history and while they have some work to do to fill out their roster and be cap-compliant next season, Cassidy will have high expectations immediately as Vegas looks to get back into the playoff picture.
Montreal-Vegas Trade: The first notable trade of the summer was made as the Golden Knights dealt winger Evgenii Dadonov to the Canadiens in exchange for defenseman Shea Weber. Or, to be more specific, Weber’s contract. The blueliner has four years left on his deal with a $7.857MM AAV but isn’t expected to play again due to injuries. The move will lock Vegas into LTIR for the foreseeable future but they’re certainly quite comfortable operating in there with how things went this season. Meanwhile, Vegas is able to shed Dadonov’s $5MM cap charge for next season after unsuccessfully moving him to Anaheim at the trade deadline. While his contract was unwanted around the league (Vegas attached a second-rounder to move Dadonov in the failed move with the Ducks), he’ll give the Canadiens some extra depth on the wing and as an expiring contract, it’s possible Montreal could look to flip him with retention closer to the 2023 deadline.
Calling It A Career: Veteran goaltender Carter Hutton isn’t waiting to see if a contract offer materializes in free agency next month as instead, he has decided to retire. This past season was a tough one for the 36-year-old as after signing with Arizona last summer, he suffered a lower-body injury early in the season and as soon as he was ready to return, he went through waivers unclaimed and was traded to Toronto as injury insurance but never suited up with the team. Overall, Hutton had a fairly strong career for an undrafted goaltender, getting into 235 games over parts of 10 NHL seasons with his best year coming with St. Louis in 2017-18 when he led the league in both GAA (2.09) and SV% (.931).
Surgery For Backstrom: Following their playoff exit, Capitals GM Brian MacLellan indicated that Nicklas Backstrom continuing to play through his hip injury would be unsustainable. On Saturday, it was announced that the veteran has undergone hip resurfacing surgery. While no timetable was provided for a return, based on the limited track record of other NHL players who have had the procedure, there’s a very good chance that the 34-year-old could miss the entire season. That’s certainly a big blow for Washington as Backstrom has been a focal point of their attack for 15 years but they will have to approach the 2022-23 season as if he won’t be available.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Offseason Checklist: Washington Capitals
With the offseason in full swing aside from the two teams in the Stanley Cup Final, it’s time to examine what each squad will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Capitals.
It was a tough season on the injury front for Washington with three of their top forwards missing at least 35 games. Despite that, the Capitals remained a top-ten offensive team and were able to get to the playoffs although they were ousted in the first round by Florida. With an aging core, GM Brian MacLellan will have some work to do to keep this group in the playoff hunt as a rebuild isn’t likely in the cards.
Add Short-Term Offensive Talent
The recent news that Nicklas Backstrom has undergone hip resurfacing surgery should open up some LTIR flexibility for Washington. While no firm timetable for a return has been announced, of the handful of players who have had the surgery, the quickest recovery was after an entire season. Accordingly, MacLellan should be comfortable using a good chunk of his $9.2MM AAV on a replacement. But as this hasn’t been termed a career-ending procedure (though it put an end to Ryan Kesler’s career), the Capitals will be limited in terms of what they can do to replace him.
Since the potential exists for Backstrom to play down the road, Washington should be limiting themselves to looking to either acquire a player on an expiring contract or signing a free agent to a one-year deal. In doing so, they’ll be able to free up the cap space to integrate Backstrom back for 2023-24 without any issue and if he can’t return, then they’ll have the flexibility to spend next summer.
Of course, Backstrom’s injury leaves a big hole down the middle and let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of impact centers available on one-year contracts so the Capitals may need to get creative here. Lars Eller can play in the top six in a pinch but isn’t an ideal fit there for a long stretch, nor is Nic Dowd. T.J. Oshie has shifted down the middle to cover for short-term injuries but asking him to do that for a full season would be tough and it’s not as if he’s consistently healthy either. Spending at least part of Backstrom’s money on help at center will be a must for MacLellan.
You might have noticed I haven’t mentioned Tom Wilson here who will be on LTIR as well to start the year. However, since he’s due back a couple of months into the season, the Capitals can’t really do much of anything to replace him outside of recalls although they’ll be able to carry a max-sized roster at least.
Pick A Goalie; Deal A Goalie
When Seattle took Vitek Vanecek in expansion, it looked as if Washington’s decision of who to run with between the pipes had been finalized and that they’d run with Ilya Samsonov moving forward. But a week later, the Capitals reacquired Vanecek and the questions returned. After running that tandem for all of this past season, the questions still remain.
Vanecek’s campaign was practically identical to his rookie year (2.67 GAA, .908 SV% compared to 2.69 and .908, respectively) but his track record is still limited to just 79 games in the regular season. While those numbers are decent, they’re also not starter-level either. Meanwhile, Samsonov saw his numbers get worse for the second straight year (3.02 GAA, .896 SV%, both worse than the league average). That said, Samsonov was a highly-touted first-round pick who has been perceived to have the higher upside of the two even though the results haven’t been there so far.
While it’s possible that the Capitals could opt to bring both goalies back (both are restricted free agents with arbitration rights as well), it feels like the time is right for a chance. Washington was believed to be interested in Marc-Andre Fleury at the trade deadline although making a deal and remaining cap-compliant was next to impossible. But if they were looking for a veteran then and have since suffered another quick playoff exit, it stands to reason they’ll be looking for a veteran upgrade again. If that’s the case, one of Samsonov or Vanecek has to go.
The trade market for goalies rarely yields a significant return although the fact that both are young (Vanecek is 26, Samsonov 25) will help. This is something that they may want to do sooner than later as well. While it’s possible they could wait to see how free agency shakes out to see if there’s a vulnerable team or two, the risk is that if everyone finds alternative options between the pipes, the Capitals could be stuck carrying three goalies into training camp. If they want to avoid that, the choice of who to keep and who to trade will need to be made within the next few weeks before the start of free agency on July 13th.
Round Out The Back End
With Justin Schultz, Matt Irwin, and Michal Kempny all set to hit free agency this summer, there are a couple of slots to fill at the back of Washington’s back end. The emergence of Martin Fehervary helps in that they don’t necessarily have to look for someone that can fill a spot in the top four although it would be a nice luxury if they opt to reallocate some of Backstrom’s money to the blueline.
Assuming none of those three free agents return, there will be a couple of different roles to try to fill. Schultz took a regular turn on the second power play unit and the Capitals don’t have a lot of players that can run the point aside from their top two. Accordingly, one of their two targets to fill out their defense corps should be someone that can play in that role. The other role is Irwin’s, one that he did a good job with. While he didn’t log a lot of special teams time, he was able to play on both sides and that type of flexibility is something that head coach Peter Laviolette certainly covets.
It wouldn’t hurt if at least one of those spots was filled by someone on a multi-year deal either. The list of Washington’s NHL rearguards that are signed beyond 2022-23 starts and ends with John Carlson. It wouldn’t be ideal to be in a situation where the Capitals are trying to rebuild half of their back end or more a year from now so if they can get a bit of stability with their depth options, it would be helpful.
Orlov Extension Talks
To that end, extension talks for Dmitry Orlov should be high on MacLellan’s priority list. The soon-to-be 31-year-old is actually coming off a career season offensively with 12 goals and 35 points but overall, has been quite consistent with his offensive production, averaging between 0.35 and 0.46 points per game over the last seven seasons. It’s pretty safe to pencil him near that rate for a little while longer yet. Orlov has seen his ice time dip a little bit the last couple of seasons but he was just under 21 minutes in 2021-22. Again, it’s pretty safe to pencil him in around the 20-minute mark for a few more years.
That helps set a ballpark price for what an extension should look like. Orlov is a number two defender who, in an ideal world, would drop down a peg over the next few seasons as he gets older. For that type of role at his age, Orlov should be in line for a raise on his current $5.1MM AAV but not a substantial one. While the total AAV will likely depend on the length of the contract (do they work out, say, a six-year deal with the salary in the final season being a little lower to bring the cap hit down?), it should check in somewhere near the $6MM mark. If Washington is comfortable around that range, they should be trying to work something out soon after he’s eligible for an extension in mid-July and ensure that a second key cog of their back end will be around for a while.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Snapshots: Cogliano, Quenneville, Kostin
Colorado might get a veteran back in the lineup tonight as head coach Jared Bednar told reporters including NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin that winger Andrew Cogliano could be an option to return. The 35-year-old underwent hand surgery to repair an injury sustained during the Western Conference Final but returned to practice on Friday and participated in the morning skate today. Cogliano, who leads all Colorado players in terms of the number of playoff games played, has two goals and an assist in 11 games so far this postseason while logging a little more than nine minutes a night of action. If Cogliano is able to return, Nicolas Aube-Kubel may be the one to cede his spot.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- In an appearance on ESPN’s The Point on Friday (video link), commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged that former Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville has expressed a desire to return to the NHL though not for a specific job opening. At the time of Quenneville’s resignation following the findings of the Kyle Beach investigation being released, Bettman indicated that he would “require a meeting in advance in order to determine the appropriate conditions under which such new employment might take place”. That meeting probably won’t be coming soon as Bettman added during his appearance that he doesn’t believe that this is the right time to discuss the potential of Quenneville returning to work for a team.
- In his latest reader chat, Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests that winger Klim Kostin is a likely trade candidate for the Blues this summer. Alexey Toropchenko plays a very similar style as Kostin and is someone that head coach Craig Berube is a fan of, giving Torochenko a leg up for that spot on the lineup. A 2017 first-round pick, Kostin is waiver-eligible next season but could still carry some value after picking up nine points and 90 hits in 40 games with St. Louis this season while also playing a key role for AHL Springfield as the Thunderbirds get set to start the Calder Cup Finals tomorrow.