Blue Jackets Re-Sign Brendan Gaunce
After re-signing Liam Foudy on Friday, the Blue Jackets have taken care of another one of their pending free agents today as they announced the signing of center Brendan Gaunce to a two-year, two-way contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the team but Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that he’ll make $750K in the NHL next season and $450K in the minors while in 2023-24, his NHL salary goes up slightly to $775K while the minor league portion remains $450K. There is a guaranteed payout of $475K each season. GM Jarmo Kekalainen released the following statement about the 28-year-old:
Brendan is a competitive forward with good size who can play both the center and wing. He played well last season and brings versatility and depth to our forward group.
Gaunce spent the 2020-21 season in Sweden before deciding to return to North America last season where he inked a two-way deal with Columbus. He split this season between Columbus and AHL Cleveland where, as Kekalainen alluded to, he spent time both down the middle and on the wing. With the Blue Jackets, he suited up in 30 games, recording five goals and two assists while averaging just over eight minutes per game. In the minors, Gaunce was considerably more productive, picking up 16 goals and 12 helpers in 39 contests.
Gaunce is likely to play a similar role with Columbus for these next two seasons. He isn’t much of a risk of being claimed off waivers having cleared three times in the past and could play a key role with the Monsters at times. With an AAV of just over $762K, he won’t cost much to keep around at the end of the roster where his versatility will certainly be useful.
Kekalainen still has a lot of work to do this summer as the Blue Jackets still have 15 players whose contracts are set to expire next month, headlined by pending restricted free agents Patrik Laine and Adam Boqvist.
PHR Mailbag: Klefbom, LTIR, Blashill, Top Pick, Miller, Sabres, Predictions, Murray, Cup Final
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include the creative usage of LTIR in recent years, Buffalo’s goaltending situation, J.T. Miller’s future with Vancouver, and much more. If your question doesn’t appear here and wasn’t about Detroit, watch for it in next weekend’s mailbag. If your question was about the Red Wings, watch for that to be covered in a bonus mailbag between now and then.
WilfPaiement: Is there any updated information on Oscar Klefbom? Playing next season? Retiring?
It’s the status quo for the Edmonton blueliner. Klefbom’s shoulder injury still lingers and at this point, there’s no expectation that he’ll be able to resume his NHL career. He certainly won’t be retiring, however. He’s still owed $5.169MM in salary for next season and there’s no way he’s leaving that on the table to do Edmonton a favor. Since his deal is backloaded as well, he’s not as likely of a candidate to be moved to a team looking to do some LTIR shenanigans. Speaking of which…
rickg: Are there any opinions on how teams are using the LTIR for the purpose of adding to the roster to better the team, instead of what the LTIR was intended to be used for as a way to replace an injured player on your roster if your team was maxed out and LTIR allowed the team to go past the high-end cap threshold?
There are few things as confusing in hockey as the inner machinations of LTIR. It might even give ‘What constitutes goalie interference?’ a run for its money at times. I’d say by now that most understand the basics which was what the rule was intended to be but these trades that now see injured players going for value that involve transaction sequencing and precise timing of roster moves takes it to a whole different level, one that is much more confusing and harder to explain.
But even if they’re harder to explain, are stranger on the surface, and can even flat out baffle people, I have no problem with these types of moves. The NHL is a hard cap system that doesn’t have a lot of potential for wiggle room. If teams can find a loophole to exploit, go for it. Use it until enough general managers complain to make it a sticking point in the next CBA discussions. Right now, there isn’t enough of an appetite for trying to close that Pandora’s box.
Does the recent Shea Weber for Evgenii Dadonov trade go against the spirit of the LTIR rule? Of course it does. But if Montreal and Vegas are both happy at the end of the day and the trade fulfills an objective they wanted to achieve, then good on them for finding a way to make something work. At least it made for a good discussion point for a bit of time during a quiet part of the NHL calendar when it comes to off-ice movement.
I’ll mention that this question came in before that trade happened. Perfect timing on your part.
Johnny Z: So, does Blashill have the inside track on the Florida coaching job?
The former Detroit bench boss was linked to the Panthers earlier this month but at this point, it’s hard to see him being the contender for a position that may or may not be available. With reports coming out on Friday that Florida is conducting a rather thorough coaching search and has interviewed several prominent veterans, it’s hard to see Jeff Blashill coming up as the winner in that particular battle should GM Bill Zito opt to go in a different direction from interim head coach Andrew Brunette.
I think Blashill could be a candidate to be an assistant coach with Florida, however, particularly if Brunette retains the job. There are openings to be filled and if you have effectively a first-time head coach running the bench, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone with recent NHL head coaching experience on the staff. Blashill, who doesn’t seem to be a candidate for any of the other openings at the moment, would be a decent fit in that type of role and unlike the prominent veterans, would likely be willing to accept an associate coach position as well. He could wind up in Florida, just not as their next head coach.
ckw: Do you think Shane Wright is going to go first overall and if not, who do you see the Habs taking?
I know there’s a growing sense that Juraj Slafkovsky could ultimately be the number one pick and I can understand the logic behind it. Wright’s season wasn’t up to the admittedly high level of expectations and while Slafkovsky was quiet himself for long stretches, his performance at the Olympics and the Worlds turned some heads. If he can find a way to play at that level consistently, he’s worthy of being the top pick. But that’s a big if. Even so, this doesn’t feel like the type of typical smokescreen you might see at this time of year from the team holding the top pick.
That said, Wright is my expected choice for the Canadiens. Montreal has been chasing center help for basically the better part of two decades now. Even when their NHL depth was good, they didn’t have that true number one. I don’t think Wright is a true number one either but a combination of him and Nick Suzuki for seven years as their top two options is a lot better than what they’ve trotted out in recent years. I have a hard time thinking they can pass on that, especially knowing that their salary cap situation isn’t exactly ideal; it’s not as if they can go out and sign an impact free agent middleman any time soon.
pawtucket: J.T. Miller gets traded. If yes, to what sort of team and for what sort of package. If no, which of Horvat or Boeser goes and to what sort of team and for what sort of package.
I’m going to say yes, Miller does get traded. Is Vancouver really prepared to pay upwards of $8MM per season on a contract that starts at the age of 30 for a player who has only twice reached the 60-point mark? I know he has been much more productive lately but I still see giant red flags when I try to picture that type of contract. Knowing extending Miller would eventually cost Bo Horvat (they can’t afford Elias Pettersson, Miller, and Horvat down the middle), I’d rather take the short-term hit in talent to add some important future assets and gain some much-needed cap flexibility.
As for where, that’s a tough one but I’ll say Los Angeles. Anze Kopitar has two years left on his deal and Miller’s extension wouldn’t start until 2023-24 so there’s only one year of overlap. Kopitar will be in his age-37 season when he signs his next contract so he’ll likely be starting to decline at that time; a new top pivot will be needed. Miller would be a good insurance policy if the likes of Quinton Byfield and Alex Turcotte don’t pan out as intended (and if they do, affordable short-term surplus center depth is never a bad thing). The Kings have the cap space to bring him in now and have some longer-term flexibility. They also have quality prospects that would make it easier to part with the package it would take.
I’d peg that package as a three-piece deal. The first-round pick (19th overall) next month would be one of them. I’d put Rasmus Kupari in their as a second one, a 22-year-old former first-rounder that could be Vancouver’s cost-controlled 3C of the future; if he pans out, a Pettersson-Horvat (assuming he’d be extended after moving Miller)-Kupari trio would put them in good shape. The other is a prospect and looking at what the Canucks have in their prospect pool, a right-shot defender would be a target. The Kings have a few of those but the one that stands out is Brock Faber, a 2020 second-rounder that’s probably a year away from being pro-ready and plays the type of complementary game that would work well alongside someone like Quinn Hughes.
Atlantic Notes: Campbell, Gaudette, Bruins
Kurt Overhardt, the agent for Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell, told Jonas Siegel of The Athletic (subscription link) that he has held talks with Toronto roughly once a week although, to this point, no numbers have been exchanged between the two sides. He also reiterated that the 31-year-old would like to return to Toronto. Campbell had an up-and-down year, being named to the All-Star Game but also posted a save percentage of just .893 from January on to the end of the season. He’s going to be in line for a sizable raise on the $1.65MM AAV he had for the last two years but the shaky finish certainly won’t help his market. While there are still a few weeks before free agency opens up, the fact neither side has tabled a firm proposal yet throws some uncertainty onto whether or not he’ll be back with the Maple Leafs next season.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- The Senators are currently undecided on whether or not to tender center Adam Gaudette a qualifying offer next month, relays Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Ottawa claimed the 25-year-old off waivers from Chicago back in November and he chipped in with a dozen points in 50 games the rest of the way, his first real taste of consistent NHL action since the 2019-20 season. His qualifier is only for $1MM but his production in the past (including 33 points in the 19-20 campaign) makes him a bit of a risk for salary arbitration. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the two sides discuss a deal leading up to the tender deadline to see if there’s a fit on a one-year contract that would extend his stay but not push the price tag much higher than their required offer.
- Spencer Carbery is among the candidates for Boston’s head coaching vacancy, reports Joe McDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Twitter link). The 40-year-old does have a bit of previous experience with the Bruins having served as an assistant coach with AHL Providence in 2017-18 before Washington hired him to be the head coach in AHL Hershey. Carbery got his first taste of working behind an NHL bench this season when Toronto hired him as an assistant coach last summer.
Offseason Checklist: Minnesota Wild
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 Wild.
This past season was an interesting one for the Wild. They were one of the top scoring teams in the NHL and knowing the cap adventure that lies ahead (more on that shortly), GM Bill Guerin made some moves to add at the deadline in the hopes of a long playoff run. Instead, despite finishing fifth overall in points during the regular season, they were ousted in the opening round by St. Louis. Now, Guerin has some work to do to be able to keep as much of this core together as possible which is the focal point of Minnesota’s checklist.
Free Up Cap Space
It’s not as if Guerin hasn’t known this was going to be at the top of his list at some point. It would have been the case had they not bought out Ryan Suter and Zach Parise and it still is the case with them being bought out as their dead cap charge went up by $4MM for each player. That’s hard for any team to overcome. And that’s not the total charge, that’s just the increase; the total is over $12MM for next season. (If you want to look ahead a year, it goes up by another $1MM each in the 2023 offseason as well; this isn’t just a one-time situation to navigate through.)
At the moment, Minnesota has a little over $7MM in cap space with which to sign multiple forwards, a defenseman, and a second goaltender. That, on its own, might not sound so bad but once you factor in who some of those players are – that list comprises the rest of their checklist – it’s considerably worse.
It’s not as if there are some contracts that are well above market value on their books but $12MM in dead space is going to be very difficult to overcome. A small move or two to free up some extra wiggle room could be the difference in whether they can keep a key player or not. There’s a lot at stake as a result.
Sign Or Trade Fiala
If you read the above and immediately thought of Kevin Fiala, you certainly won’t be alone. The winger has been in trade speculation going back to last summer with this exact situation in mind.
If the two sides would have been able to work out a long-term agreement last summer, that might have been enough to put an end to that speculation. Instead, Minnesota took the rare step of pre-emptively filing for arbitration before eventually settling on a $5.1MM salary for this past season. Fiala then went and had a career year, picking up 33 goals and 52 assists in 82 games, all career highs. Overall, the Wild received really good value on that deal but things are only going to go downhill from here for them.
Fiala is now a year away from unrestricted free agency and while the Wild can’t take him to arbitration again, he can take them to a hearing, get a nice raise from the arbitrator, and hit the open market in 2023 in the prime of his career. A long-term deal could approach the $7.5MM to $8MM range and while Guerin probably wouldn’t mind giving that to him, they’d have to part with another core player to make that happen. At this point, it seems likely that the 25-year-old will be traded.
While Fiala doesn’t have a no-trade clause, he holds the hammer on this front as well. Fiala on a long-term contract has a lot more value than Fiala on a one-year deal. Teams can’t put conditional draft picks in a trade that are dependent on whether or not he signs either. Guerin will need to work hard to get maximum value for Fiala (likely in the form of futures or young roster players) but will also have to work hard with the pending RFA to find a suitor that he’s willing to forego the open market to sign with. There’s a lot of work to do on this front in a short period of time.
Sign Second Goalie
Guerin surprised some with the acquisition of Marc-Andre Fleury at the trade deadline in an effort to give them a second proven veteran goaltender for the playoffs. He was a little better down the stretch than he was with Chicago and that got him most of the playing time against the Blues. While it may have seemed like this was just a short-term pickup, Guerin has expressed a firm desire to keep Fleury around to split time with Cam Talbot next season.
While it’s certainly fair to say that Fleury will get considerably less than the $7MM AAV he had on his expiring contract, he still should have enough interest out there to get half of that price tag. Even if Fiala moves for futures, Minnesota can’t afford Fleury at that price tag. They have two options on that front. One is to try to move a current roster player for someone making less and use those savings to afford Fleury’s new deal. The other is to work out an incentive-laden deal that gives them the ability to roll over the bonuses onto the 2023-24 cap. Of course, with the dead money going up, that’s only pushing the problem over, not fixing it.
If they’re unable to keep Fleury, Guerin will need to be aggressive on the open market for a replacement with Kaapo Kahkonen now in San Jose. Talbot will turn 35 next month and while he’s still a capable NHL goaltender, he’s not someone that can handle 60-plus games next season. They’ll need a fairly strong second option, one that will be able to play 30 or more games. That will put them looking in the high-$2MM/low-$3MM range even if it isn’t Fleury. Jesper Wallstedt is their goalie of the future but he’s a few years away from being NHL-ready. They need to add another NHL option in the meantime over the coming weeks.
Re-Sign Middleton
The player Minnesota received in the Kahkonen trade, defenseman Jacob Middleton, is also in need of a new contract. He’s a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights and is a year away from UFA eligibility. This is one of those situations where finding fair value is going to be a challenge.
Middleton has just 80 career NHL games under his belt, 66 of which came this season. Heading into the year, he was a candidate for a deal around the $1MM range but after a strong showing with both the Sharks and Wild, he’s going to get more. If it gets to an arbitrator, the award could be tricky to pin down because of the limited experience but that doesn’t give Guerin the hammer by any stretch since a low-ball offer could force Middleton to file for arbitration and see what his value is on the open market next summer.
A long-term contract doesn’t seem likely at this point given his limited track record but a deal that buys out a couple of UFA years could be doable. The AAV would likely jump over $2MM in that situation but it would be a justifiable price. Of course, the longer the contract, the harder it will be to fit the other pieces of the puzzle in from a salary cap perspective. Middleton’s case isn’t as prominent as some of the others but it has to stay in the back of Guerin’s mind as he works his way through Fiala’s eventual trade and finding a second netminder.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Central Notes: Klingberg, Jets, Guenther
While there has been a stated mutual desire for the Stars and John Klingberg to work out a contract extension, Pierre LeBrun reported in his latest column for The Athletic (subscription link) that there have been no recent discussions on that front and that the current expectation is that the defenseman will test the open market next month. The 29-year-old has been one of the more consistent offensive producers in the NHL; over his eight-year career, only seven blueliners have more points than him over that stretch. Klingberg is coming off a bargain seven-year deal that carried just a $4.25MM AAV and earlier reports suggested he was looking to nearly double that on a max-term agreement. At this point, if he’s going to get that type of contract, it seems unlikely it will be coming from Dallas.
More from the Central:
- The Jets are expected to meet with coaching candidate Barry Trotz this weekend, reports Postmedia’s Paul Friesen. The bench boss has been linked to multiple teams since being fired by the Islanders earlier this offseason and this will be the Manitoba native’s second interview with his hometown team. Winnipeg currently has Dave Lowry as their interim head coach and while he is believed to be among the candidates that would be considered for the full-time role, their preference would certainly be to land a top-flight candidate like Trotz.
- Coyotes prospect Dylan Guenther will miss the upcoming Memorial Cup due to a lower-body injury sustained in the WHL Final against Seattle, notes PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan (Twitter link). While his playoff run came to an early end, it was still a strong one for the 2021 ninth-overall selection as he had 13 goals in 16 postseason contests after putting up 45 goals and 46 assists in just 59 regular season contests to finish sixth in league scoring.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The Stanley Cup Final is upon us, the first domino has fallen in the coaching shuffle around the league, while the draft and free agency are now less than a month away as the offseason activity is almost upon us. With that in mind, it’s time to run another edition of the PHR Mailbag.
Our last mailbag was broken into two parts. The first included a look at New Jersey’s goaltending situation and the chances they’ll move the second-overall pick, Toronto’s early playoff exit, and Barry Trotz’s contenders (one of which is now off the table). Meanwhile, the second looked at what’s needed for Ottawa to take the next step forward, the second-line center situation for the Rangers, and what Seattle should be doing this summer.
You can submit a question by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. The mailbag will run on the weekend.
John Gibson Denies He Wants To Leave Anaheim
Last year, Ducks goaltender John Gibson didn’t exactly hide his frustration with Anaheim being a non-playoff team. With a rebuild squarely in the works now, some have wondered if he’d be looking for a move this summer. Asked exactly that by Eric Stephens of The Athletic, the veteran tried to pour cold water on that idea:
No. I want to win in Anaheim. I’ve been here and I’m happy to be here.
It wasn’t that long ago that the 28-year-old was viewed as one of the top goalies in the league but Gibson has had his struggles over the past few seasons. Over the last three years, his save percentage has been either .903 or .904, marks that were below the NHL average. He struggled mightily over the final three months of the season, posting a save percentage of just .876 as the Ducks went from being in the playoff mix to missing the postseason by 21 points.
Anaheim has missed the playoffs for the last four years and they haven’t made it past the first round since 2017 and there’s a good chance those streaks are extended next season following the exodus of several key veterans including defensemen Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson, winger Rickard Rakell, and long-time captain Ryan Getzlaf.
However, there is a young nucleus in place headlined by centers Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish, winger Troy Terry, and defenseman Jamie Drysdale. They will be able to add to that this summer with a pair of selections in the first round including the tenth-overall pick while they enter the offseason with over $39MM in cap space, per CapFriendly. Brighter days should be on the horizon soon and it appears Gibson wants to still be around at that time:
When I signed my extension in Anaheim however many years ago, I said I’d be honored to play in the same city and be a part of the same organization my whole career. I still have all my intentions on doing that.
Gibson has five years remaining on his contract with a $6.4MM cap hit so if the Ducks are willing to keep him around that long, he won’t be leaving Anaheim for quite a while.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Offseason Checklist: Nashville Predators
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 Predators.
This was supposed to be a season of transition for Nashville. At least, so it seemed. They got weaker on paper over the summer and it looked to be the start of at least a small rebuild. However, several underachieving veterans had bounce-back years and the end result was the Predators making the playoffs and then being swept by Colorado. GM David Poile likes the term “competitive transition” as it relates to the state of his team so their checklist this summer keeps that in mind.
Add Impact Pieces
With the Predators looking to stay in the playoff hunt, they’ll need to put their cap space to good use this year. With over $23MM at their disposal, they have some room to add a key player or two even after re-signing their own free agents.
Up front, their top six is still fairly thin with several question marks. Matt Duchene had a career year with 43 goals and 43 assists. At the age of 31, can he repeat that type of performance or was this just a season where everything went right? Ryan Johansen had his best season since coming to Nashville back in 2016 while Mikael Granlund was only a few points shy of matching his career-best. There is a question of sustainability for all three of those players and even if there wasn’t, another top-six forward to fill the role vacated by Viktor Arvidsson following his trade last summer is needed.
There was a time when Nashville had the best defense corps in the NHL. That isn’t the case anymore. Instead, the average fan would have a hard time naming anyone beyond Norris finalist Roman Josi and steady veteran Mattias Ekholm. It’s not a particularly deep group and a top-four rearguard to push one of Dante Fabbro or Alexandre Carrier onto the third pairing alongside the recently-extended Jeremy Lauzon would go a long way towards shoring up that unit even if it doesn’t bring them back to the days of being the best group in the league.
Do these moves alone vault Nashville into contender status? No, but if they want to stay where they are or give themselves a shot at moving up a bit in the standings, these would certainly help their chances.
Re-Sign Forsberg
Duchene wasn’t the only veteran to have a career year this season as Filip Forsberg did as well, notching 42 goals and 42 assists despite missing 13 games due to a stint in COVID protocol and an upper-body injury. There’s never a bad time to set new benchmarks but the year before hitting unrestricted free agency for the first time is certainly a great time and that’s what Forsberg did. The two sides engaged in talks off and on during the season but couldn’t reach an agreement and Poile held off on trading him at the deadline.
This is one of the most important contract negotiations in franchise history. Forsberg has been a fixture in their lineup for eight years and the possibility of him jumping ship to another team less than a month from now has to be concerning. It would certainly go a long way towards derailing their competitive transition. Forsberg’s camp knows this and will try to wield that in discussions.
As for what the cost of a new deal will be, it won’t be cheap. Forsberg is coming off a six-year, $36MM deal and as a 40-goal scorer, he can command considerably more than that; a contract in the $8MM to $9MM range should be achievable for him. On top of that, a max-term agreement is certainly doable as well. For Nashville, that’s eight years as long as it’s done before the start of free agency and seven years for everyone else. Forsberg turns 28 this summer and a max-term deal for a winger coming off a career year that will make him the highest-paid forward on the team is not an ideal combination for the Predators but it’s one they’ll have to bite the bullet on to keep him in the fold.
Bring In Goalie Depth
With Juuse Saros, Nashville has their starter in place for the next three seasons on a below-market contract. With Yaroslav Askarov, they believe they have their future starter in place. Most teams would love that combination but the Predators still have some work to do between the pipes.
Poile brought in David Rittich to serve as Saros’ backup this season with the hopes he could rediscover his form from a few years ago. That didn’t happen as he had a save percentage of just .889 in 17 appearances. With Saros injured for the playoffs, Rittich faltered quickly, forcing head coach John Hynes to turn to third-stringer Connor Ingram who had all of three career NHL appearances up to that point. Rittich is unlikely to return and while Ingram is on a one-way deal for next season, are the Predators ready to make him their backup?
If not, they’ll need to turn back to the free agent market and instead of looking for a low-cost option, they would be wise to aim a little higher and get a more proven second option to take some of the pressure off Saros and give them some extra injury insurance. On the other hand, if they do want to go with Ingram, then adding a veteran third-string option becomes a must. Askarov will play his first full season in North America next season and adding a veteran that can be called up as the backup when injuries hit to not interrupt Askarov’s development would be a wise move. Either way, Poile will be goalie shopping next month.
Utilize An Unlikely Trade Asset
When Nashville dealt Ryan Ellis to Philadelphia last summer, they hoped that Philippe Myers would be a capable replacement. Let’s just say that didn’t happen. Instead, the 25-year-old struggled mightily when he was in the lineup, was a frequent healthy scratch, and cleared waivers before the trade deadline. From there, they didn’t even bother sending him to their own AHL affiliate as he was loaned to Toronto instead. And yet, despite all of that, he is one of Nashville’s more intriguing trade chips this summer.
Myers has one year left on his current contract at $2.55MM which, for someone that can’t crack an NHL roster, seems like the type of deal teams should be doing their best to stay away from, not acquire. It’s a lock to be bought out. But his contract is heavily backloaded and since he’s only 25, the buyout cost is one-third instead of the usual two-thirds. The end result is that whoever buys him out this summer will receive a cap credit of $617K. Yes, a team could increase their cap space next season by buying Myers out while they’d only have to eat a $633K cap charge in 2023-24. Who could use some extra cap space this summer for a total cash outlay of $633K? The short answer is a lot of teams.
There isn’t much precedent for a trade like this. Toronto picked up Jared Cowen from Ottawa in 2016 who was in that situation but it was part of a nine-player swap which makes it difficult to ascertain his standalone value in that deal. But with a lot of teams looking for cap space, it stands to reason that Myers will actually have some value this summer. Even if it’s only for a mid-round pick in the end, getting an asset for someone that’s clearly on his way out the door would be a good way to start Nashville’s summer roster movement.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Red Wings Sign Jussi Olkinuora
The Red Wings have added some goaltending depth to their system as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that Detroit has signed netminder Jussi Olkinuora to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay him $750K in the NHL, $375K in the minors, and contains a guarantee of $425K.
The 31-year-old spent some time in Winnipeg’s system earlier in his career after signing with them as an undrafted free agent back in 2013 after an impressive couple of years at the University of Denver. However, things didn’t go well in the minors for Olkinuora as he posted a 3.79 GAA with a save percentage of just .879 in 21 appearances, resulting in the Jets non-tendering him in 2015 and him eventually heading back overseas in 2016.
Olkinuora has spent the last three seasons in the KHL and is coming off a pair of strong seasons with Metallurg Magnitogorsk. This past season, he had a 2.45 GAA along with a .917 SV% in 36 games, numbers that were actually a small step back from the year before. However, his performance helped earn him a spot on Finland’s entries into their Olympic and World Championship teams. It was at the recently-completed Worlds that Olkinuora really shined as he posted a 1.11 GAA and a .948 SV%, resulting in him being named as the tournament MVP.
There are certainly some openings in Detroit’s system for goaltenders next season. Backup goalie Thomas Greiss and third-stringer Calvin Pickard are both pending unrestricted free agents and neither appear to be likely to return. The fate of Magnus Hellberg, a late-season signing, is also in question as he’s also a pending UFA. Olkinuora could be ticketed to start at AHL Grand Rapids alongside top prospect Sebastian Cossa although, if they believe his recent showing in Russia is a sign of things to come, he could get a chance to battle for a shot at being Alex Nedeljkovic‘s backup as well.
Five Key Stories: 6/6/22 – 6/12/22
As we get closer to the start of free agency, things are starting to pick up a little bit on the transactions front with several of those being among the top stories of the past seven days.
Driedger Undergoes Surgery: This was a tough season for Kraken netminder Chris Driedger as things didn’t go as planned with his new team with the 28-year-old putting up a save percentage of just .899 in 27 games. But he had a chance to finish up on a high note with Canada at the World Championship. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen as instead, Driedger tore his ACL in the Gold Medal Game and has undergone surgery that will keep him out between seven and nine months. On the short end of that, he’d miss a little more than months but on the longer end, he could be out for half the season. Fortunately for Seattle, they have a third-string option in Joey Daccord that has some NHL experience so they may not have to look outside the organization to fill Driedger’s spot to start next season.
Bishop To Buffalo: Dallas decided to make a move to get out of the final season of Ben Bishop’s contract, sending the veteran along with a seventh-round pick to Buffalo for future considerations. The 35-year-old tried to come back this season but pulled the plug after one appearance in the minors, instead announcing the end of his playing career. The Stars free up a contract slot with the move and also, for now at least, reduces the potential for a carryover bonus penalty as teams in LTIR all season don’t accrue any cap space so any achieved bonuses that put a team past the Upper Limit roll over to the following season. Dallas will be in that situation next season thanks to Bishop being on LTIR this year. Meanwhile, the Sabres don’t have much to lose with this pick as they’re well under the cap and pick up an extra draft pick for doing the Stars the favor.
Two Years For Roslovic: It has been an interesting season and a half for Jack Roslovic in Columbus. After impressing following the trade from Winnipeg, he struggled for a good chunk of this year before finishing on a high note with 19 points over the final six weeks of the campaign. After taking a bridge deal upon being acquired by the Blue Jackets, the two sides effectively agreed on another one as the 25-year-old signed a two-year, $8MM contract. The deal buys out Roslovic’s two remaining RFA seasons, gives him a nice raise on the $1.838MM AAV from last season, and will give him the opportunity to hit the open market in 2024 in the prime of his career.
Gurianov Gets One: While qualifying offers aren’t issued for several more weeks, Denis Gurianov decided to take his early, agreeing on a one-year, $2.9MM deal. The 25-year-old looked to have a breakout year two goals ago when he reached the 20-goal mark but his output has dipped since then, notching just 23 goals over the last two seasons combined in 128 games. He was a possible non-tender candidate as a result but this will give Gurianov one more chance to make his mark with the hopes that a new coaching staff will help unlock his offensive potential on a more consistent basis.
Cassidy Fired: There’s a late entrant into the coaching shuffle this summer as the Bruins decided to part ways with Bruce Cassidy. Boston had plenty of regular season success after Cassidy took over partway through the 2016-17 season with the team posting a .672 points percentage in 399 contests. However, things weren’t as good in the playoffs with the Bruins being a game below .500 in 37 games. Cassidy’s recent track record has made him a hot commodity as he is believed to have spoken with several teams as there are now seven confirmed openings around the league with two others (Edmonton and Florida) with decisions to make on their interim bench bosses.
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