Rangers Sign C.J. Smith
August 2: The New York Rangers have made the signing of Smith official.
August 1: The Rangers have added some forward depth as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve inked C.J. Smith to a one-year, two-way deal. The contract is worth $750K in the NHL, $275K in the minors, and contains a total guarantee of $300K.
The 27-year-old has 15 career NHL contests under his belt over parts of four seasons where he has two goals and an assist. One of those appearances came in 2021-22 with Carolina. Smith has spent most of his professional career in the minors where he has been much more productive. Last season, he played in 60 games with AHL Chicago, notching 24 goals and 34 assists, good for third on the Wolves in scoring. He also collected nine points in 16 playoff contests to help Chicago win the Calder Cup.
While Smith will undoubtedly see some action with New York in the preseason, it’s safe to say that their intention with this signing is to have him start with AHL Hartford where he’ll help replace Anthony Greco, last year’s leading scorer who remains unsigned and Nick Merkley, who went to the KHL earlier today. The Rangers are now up to 48 NHL contracts with this signing out of the limit of 50 although they have a couple of junior-aged players who will come off the books if they’re sent back to that level.
Blackhawks Sign Jalen Luypen
August 2nd: The Blackhawks have now made the signing of Luypen official.
August 1st: The Blackhawks have agreed to terms with one of their prospects as John Matisz of The Score reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed forward Jalen Luypen to a three-year, entry-level contract. PuckPedia reports (via Twitter) that the deal will carry an AAV of $925K including signing and performance bonuses.
The 20-year-old was a seventh-round pick by Chicago (216th overall) in 2021 following a pandemic-shortened season that saw him put up more than a point per game with WHL Edmonton. While he didn’t quite get back to that level in 2021-22, Luypen collected 29 goals and 35 assists in 66 games with the Oil Kings, the WHL champions; his 64 points ranked fourth on the team.
Chicago will now have a decision to make with Luypen. He’s eligible to return to Edmonton for his overage season where he’d stand to play a bigger role in the lineup with two of the three scorers that were ahead of him last year now moving on; he’d still burn the first year of his contract if that happened. However, he can also go to the minors with AHL Rockford where he’d have a limited role but could begin making adjustments to adapt to the professional game. Either way, he has an NHL contract under his belt which is a good outcome for someone who originally went undrafted in his first year of eligibility before being snagged by the Blackhawks a year later.
Petteri Lindbohm Signs In SHL
August 2: Lindbohm’s choice to head back to Europe is now official. Frolunda HC has signed Lindbohm, per a team announcement.
August 1: Petteri Lindbohm’s return to the NHL appears as if it will be a short-lived one. SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that the 28-year-old has been fielding interest from teams overseas and is believed to have a verbal agreement in place to sign with Frolunda of the SHL.
Lindbohm started last season with Jokerit of the KHL and did well enough to join Finland at the Olympics back in February. When Jokerit ceased operations, he was let out of his contract and signed with Florida for the rest of the season, giving the Panthers some extra defensive depth down the stretch.
Lindbohm got into nine games with Florida, picking up an assist while averaging a little over 14 minutes per game. However, he was a healthy scratch in all ten of their playoff contests and it appears as if there wasn’t enough of a market for him in free agency to secure another one-way contract. Instead, he’ll head overseas where he’ll have a chance to play a big role and perhaps play his way into a third NHL opportunity down the road.
West Notes: Kaprizov, Klingberg, Cooley, Kawaguchi
While there was some concern expressed last month about Kirill Kaprizov’s ability to return to North America after being denied entry, the winger has successfully returned to the United States, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription link). It’s unknown at this time whether or not the Wild managed to secure a U.S. work visa for the 25-year-old or if he was able to secure another deferment to his mandatory Russian military service. Meanwhile, Russo adds that Kaprizov recently underwent surgery but has been cleared to resume skating and his full workout routine so while it has been an adventurous few weeks, Minnesota should have their star available to them on opening night in October.
More from the Western Conference:
- Anaheim defenseman John Klingberg met the media, including Matt Weller of the Ducks’ team site, for the first time since signing with the team last week. He indicated that he had similar one-year offers from other teams that he was considering while reiterating his desire to secure a long-term agreement next summer. Klingberg had 47 points in 74 games with Dallas last season and will have a chance to play a big role with Anaheim next season. His full trade protection expires in January so if the Ducks are out of the mix near the trade deadline, he could be on the move in late February as well.
- Coyotes prospect Logan Cooley is expected to return to practice tomorrow as he looks to ensure he’ll have a spot on Team USA’s entry for the World Juniors, relays NHL.com’s Mike Morreale (Twitter link). The third-overall pick was listed on their 27-player roster earlier today but there are two cuts that still need to be made. The fact that Cooley will be able to return to practice bodes well for his availability for the tournament which gets underway next week.
- After non-tendering him last month, the Stars have brought back Jordan Kawaguchi on a minor-league deal, their AHL team announced. Dallas signed the 25-year-old winger as an undrafted college free agent in March of 2021 and he had a decent season, collecting 23 points in 49 games. While that wasn’t enough to garner a qualifying offer, Kawaguchi will stick around with Texas for another year.
Canada Names Roster For The 2022 World Juniors
With the tournament now a little more than a week away, Hockey Canada is the latest to reveal its roster for the upcoming World Juniors. Their team is as follows:
Goalies
Brett Brochu
Sebastian Cossa (DET)
Dylan Garand (NYR)
Defense
Lukas Cormier (VGK)
Daemon Hunt (MIN)
Carson Lambos (MIN)
Ryan O’Rourke (MIN)
Donovan Sebrango (DET)
Ronan Seeley (CAR)
Jack Thompson (TB)
Olen Zellweger (ANA)
Forwards
Connor Bedard
Will Cuylle (NYR)
Elliot Desnoyers (PHI)
William Dufour (NYI)
Tyson Foerster (PHI)
Nathan Gaucher (ANA)
Ridly Greig (OTT)
Kent Johnson (CBJ)
Riley Kidney (MTL)
Mason McTavish (ANA)
Zack Ostapchuk (OTT)
Brennan Othmann (NYR)
Joshua Roy (MTL)
Logan Stankoven (DAL)
As is the case with other countries, there are some notable absentees from Canada’s squad. On the back end, Owen Power and Kaiden Guhle aren’t returning while up front, Cole Perfetti, Jake Neighbours, and Shane Wright are among the seven forwards that won’t be back after playing briefly in the original tournament last December.
However, there are still some notable players to watch for. Johnson and McTavish both got their feet wet in the NHL last season while Bedard is widely expected to be the first-overall selection in 2023. He had four goals in two games before the tournament was canceled. On the back end, there are six returnees while Canada’s goalie tandem from the December tourney remains intact.
The tournament will run from August 9th through the 20th with pre-tournament games getting underway later this week.
Atlantic Notes: Portillo, Red Wings, Smith
While the Sabres still have another year and a bit to sign goaltending prospect Erik Portillo, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News notes that there are doubts both internally and league-wide that the netminder will actually sign with Buffalo. The 21-year-old was a third-round pick back in 2019 (67th overall) and was quite impressive with Michigan last season, posting a 2.14 GAA along with a .926 SV% in 42 games. While Portillo has two years of college eligibility remaining, he will be eligible to opt for free agency next August since it will be four years since he has been drafted. If Buffalo isn’t able to sign him after the 2022-23 college season, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to trade his rights to a team he’d be willing to sign with.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- While the Red Wings had the cap space to get involved in the chase for John Klingberg, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press outlines why they didn’t. Such a move would have forced them to trade Filip Hronek and with the trade market being as weak as it is right now, GM Steve Yzerman would have been hard-pressed to get full value in return, even with Hronek being on a team-friendly deal for two more years. They have over $10MM in cap space, per CapFriendly, and while that amount will go down once Filip Zadina and Jake Walman re-sign, they’re well-positioned financially to try to add someone as the offseason progresses.
- If the Bruins are forced to make a cap-shedding trade to accompany Pavel Zacha’s eventual deal plus the potential returns of UFAs Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe suggests that winger Craig Smith is the likely candidate to be moved. The 32-year-old has one year left on his contract with a $3.1MM cap hit. He has been pretty consistent in recent years, notching at least 13 goals and 31 points in each of the last four seasons and is coming off a 36-point campaign. Unlike some teams that are trying to shed negative-value contracts, Smith’s isn’t in that category but with so few squads looking to take on money, Boston would be hard-pressed to get a quality return for the veteran if they have to go that route.
Five Key Stories: 7/25/22 – 7/31/22
With arbitration hearings on the horizon, most of the top news from the NHL over the past week came on the RFA side although one prominent unrestricted free agent made some headlines to get into the key stories from the past seven days.
Puljujarvi Settles: The Oilers were able to avoid salary arbitration with winger Jesse Puljujarvi as they agreed to a one-year, $3MM contract. The 24-year-old had a career year, notching 36 points in 65 games which allowed him to more than double the AAV of his previous contract. Puljujarvi has been in trade speculation for a while now and this deal isn’t going to change that. Instead, it might actually help move discussions along as now other teams will have certainty over how much he’s going to cost for 2022-23 and how much cap space (if any) will need to be created to make a move work. Edmonton still has some work to do with their restricted free agents with Kailer Yamamoto, Ryan McLeod, and Tyler Benson all needing new deals.
Four For Joseph: After having a limited role in his first three seasons in Tampa Bay, Mathieu Joseph made the most of his extra ice time with the Lightning. So much so, in fact, that he was the key element of the trade that brought Nick Paul from Ottawa to Tampa at the trade deadline, leading to a strong playoff run and a long-term extension. To his credit, Joseph was even better with the Senators, picking up 12 points in 11 games to finish his season on a high note. Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion had seen enough, opting to work out a four-year deal worth an AAV of $2.95MM. For context, $2.95MM is more than he has made the rest of his career combined. It’s a nice reward for the 25-year-old while the Sens pick up two extra years of team control in the process.
Klingberg To Anaheim: Clearly, John Klingberg didn’t get the contract he was looking for at the start of free agency. That resulted in him leaving his long-time agent Peter Wallen to join Newport’s Craig Oster. Oster clearly took a different approach to Klingberg’s free agency as not long after taking over, the veteran defenseman signed a one-year, $7MM contract with Anaheim. It’s a soft landing for the 29-year-old who will have an opportunity to play a big role with the Ducks and then will be able to try his hand again in free agency next summer. Worth noting is that his full no-trade clause is only in place until January so if Anaheim is out of playoff contention, it’s quite possible that he’s flipped at the trade deadline which could also help bolster his value on the open market next summer.
Bridge For Kakko: After another quiet season, one that was also mired by injuries, there was an expectation that the Rangers would be working out a bridge contract with RFA winger Kaapo Kakko. They did exactly that as he inked a two-year deal that carries a $2.1MM AAV. The second-overall pick in 2019 has 26 goals in 157 career regular season contests while he was a healthy scratch in their final playoff game. The contract gives him more time to try to secure a full-time spot in the top six while also guaranteeing him a higher cap hit on his next deal as Kakko will be owed a $2.4MM qualifying offer in 2024 when he’ll also have salary arbitration eligibility.
Five Years For Siegenthaler: After playing a very limited role in his first few NHL seasons with Washington, Jonas Siegenthaler has become a legitimate top-four blueliner since joining New Jersey in 2021. The Devils have seen enough to hand him a five-year contract that carries a $3.4MM AAV in a move that also buys out his first three seasons of UFA eligibility. The 25-year-old had 14 points in 70 games last season while averaging over 20 minutes a game and will clearly now be a part of their long-term plans on the back end.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Capitals Expected To Name Todd Nelson Head Coach With AHL Hershey
With the Capitals promoting Scott Allen to an assistant coaching role with the big club to replace Scott Arniel, that left a head coach opening to be filled with their AHL affiliate in Hershey. It appears that they’re close to filling that opening as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that Washington is closing in on hiring former Stars assistant Todd Nelson as the next head coach of the Bears.
Nelson has been coaching for nearly two decades and it will be his third stint as an AHL head coach after running Oklahoma City for parts of five seasons (before becoming Edmonton’s interim bench boss) and three years in Grand Rapids before he joined Dallas four years ago.
It will be a return of sorts for the 53-year-old as Nelson spent three seasons as a player in Washington’s system, spent primarily at the minor league level although he scored his only NHL goal in a Capitals uniform. Nelson became available back in May once Dallas decided to overhaul their coaching staff and while he won’t be making it back behind an NHL bench, he’ll be returning to a very familiar role.
Slovakia Trims World Junior Roster
With the 2022 World Juniors now less than two weeks away, hockey federations are in the process of trimming down or setting their rosters for the tournament. Slovakia is the latest to do so as Dennik Sport’s Matej Deraj reports (Twitter link) that their roster for the tournament now stands as follows:
Goaltenders
Patrik Andrisik
Tomas Bolo
Simon Latkoczy
Defensemen
Denis Bakala
Simon Becar
Simon Groch
Viliam Kmec
David Natny
Rayen Petrovicky
Maxim Strbak
Adam Stripai
Boris Zabka
Forwards
Jakub Demek (VGK)
Dalibor Dvorsky
Roman Faith
Samuel Honzek
Maros Jedlicka
Matej Kaslik
Jakub Kolenic
Lubomir Kupco
Michael Laurencík
Martin Misiak
Oleksij Myklucha
Libor Nemec
Servac Petrovsky (MIN)
Peter Repcik
Oliver Stumpel
Adam Sykora (NYR)
Earlier this month, Slovakia made history as the first two selections in the draft were from there in Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky and New Jersey’s Simon Nemec while Montreal also picked up Filip Mesar later in the first round. Notably, none of those players will be on the roster as their NHL teams expressed a desire for them to focus on getting ready for training camp. Several other countries will be in the same situation as their rosters are released in the coming days.
There are still some players of note on this Slovak squad, highlighted by Sykora who was picked at the back of the second round by the Rangers earlier this month. Petrovsky was a sixth-rounder by the Wild in that same draft while Demek was a 2021 fourth-rounder. Dvorsky is also one to keep an eye on as early projections have him in the mix for being a top-five selection in 2023.
The Slovaks will still have a handful of cuts to make barring injuries but have some time to do so as the tournament, which was canceled in late December, will now run from August 9th through the 20th.
Snapshots: Boyle, Oettinger, Domi
Free agent center Brian Boyle had a nice comeback season with Pittsburgh in 2021-22, recording 11 goals and 10 assists in 66 games with Pittsburgh after not playing at all the year before. Despite that, he wasn’t tendered an offer to remain with the Penguins when free agency opened up. However, Dave Molinari of Pittsburgh Hockey Now notes that the 37-year-old is hoping to play again next season and is hoping that a return to Pittsburgh isn’t out of the question. After playing on a deal for the league minimum a year ago, it’s likely that Boyle’s market value would be at that level again so he’s likely to remain on the open market for a little while longer until those types of contracts start to be signed closer to the beginning of training camp.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- With Dallas likely only having enough cap space to commit a long-term deal to just one of winger Jason Robertson and goalie Jake Oettinger, both Mike Heika and Bruce LeVine of the Stars’ team website suggest that Oettinger should be the one to receive a bridge deal. The 23-year-old had a strong year with a .914 SV% and a 2.53 GAA in 48 games but there isn’t much history of young goalies bypassing bridge contracts and going straight to a long-term pact. With just 77 career NHL appearances under his belt, a bridge deal certainly makes sense. He has four seasons of RFA eligibility left so there would still be ample time to work out a long-term agreement before Oettinger is eligible to hit the open market.
- Max Domi wasted little time signing with the Blackhawks in free agency, inking a one-year, $3MM deal. Choosing to go to a team that has entered an extended rebuild may seem surprising but the 27-year-old told reporters, including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago, that their decision to hire Luke Richardson prompted Domi to tell his agent that Chicago was where he wanted to go with a deal being agreed to just before free agency opened up. Richardson was on the coaching staff with Montreal for Domi’s two seasons with the Canadiens and clearly, the new bench boss made a positive impression.