Offseason Checklist: Vegas Golden Knights
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 Golden Knights.
There’s never a dull moment in Vegas. That thought often applies to the city in general but it also certainly applies to their hockey team. The Golden Knights made a big change in-season to land Jack Eichel which set off a cascade of frequent LTIR placements to keep compliant down the stretch. With a banged-up roster, they came up just short of the playoffs, resulting in a change behind the bench. Between that and their cap situation, GM Kelly McCrimmon has a lot on his plate over the coming weeks.
Hire A New Head Coach
Let’s start with an obvious task. For the second time in their five years of existence, the Golden Knights made a coaching change when Peter DeBoer was dismissed last month after less than three seasons with the team. Vegas certainly didn’t do poorly with him in charge as the team posted a .650 points percentage during the regular season while making the third round of the playoffs in the two seasons before this one. But after missing the postseason this year, an outcome few would have expected in the fall, the change was made.
There is no shortage of veteran coaches available and with Vegas clearly in win-now mode, few expect them to look at a first-time option. Barry Trotz and Bruce Cassidy stand out as two potential candidates although other former NHL bench bosses will be considered as well.
There is plenty to like about where Vegas sits. They’re a perpetually competitive team with a strong nucleus that’s under contract for a while. Spending is certainly never an issue as well. If you’re a coach that’s looking for a spot to try to win right away, this opening may be the most desirable around the league which is good news for McCrimmon as he looks to find his next head coach over the next few weeks.
Free Up Cap Space
Then there’s the other obvious task this summer. Vegas has been dancing around the Upper Limit of the salary cap for several years now with a continual expectation that it’s going to come back to get them soon enough. The challenge for McCrimmon this summer will be freeing up some space without significantly hurting the core.
Let’s look at where things stand. They have $200K in cap space and need to sign at least three forwards and have a healthy backup goalie with Laurent Brossoit having some uncertainty after having hip surgery this summer. Considering the minimum salary remains $750K, there’s clearly some cutting to be done.
The obvious candidate is Evgenii Dadonov. The winger was traded to Anaheim back at the trade deadline without Vegas realizing that Dadonov’s no-trade clause was still in effect and the Ducks were on it. Eventually, the deal was rescinded. To his credit, the 33-year-old didn’t let it be a distraction as he had 16 points in 16 games after the deadline. However, he had a fairly quiet season overall with 20 goals and 23 assists in 78 games, production that is relatively low compared to his $5MM AAV. While the Golden Knights don’t have a deep prospect pool to trade away from or many high draft picks, they’ll need to attach something to get a team that’s on Dadonov’s allowable trade list to take on the final year of his contract.
With Eichel in the fold, Vegas now has a top-line center while Chandler Stephenson has established himself as a quality second option. That could put William Karlsson in some jeopardy. At $5.9MM for the next half-decade, that’s a high price to pay to have premium depth down the middle. He’s coming off a quiet season (35 points in 67 games) but with strong centers always in high demand, there should be some interest on the trade front and it’s worth noting that Karlsson can only block a trade to ten teams.
As for a blueliner that could fit the bill, Alec Martinez is coming off an injury-plagued year that saw him suit up just 26 times. With Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb being proven options on the left side of the back end, Martinez and his $5.25MM for two more years might be a potential cap casualty although he also has trade protection and can block a trade to a dozen teams.
Reilly Smith is set to hit the open market this summer and there is mutual interest in an extension. At a minimum, one significant salary will need to be moved (likely Dadonov) but if they want to keep Smith in the fold, a second one will need to be moved out unless McCrimmon plans to get very creative with his LTIR usage once again.
Re-Sign Roy
Nicolas Roy had a breakout season in 2021-22, further bolstering their depth down the middle. After putting up just 15 points in 2020-21, he had 15 goals this season along with 24 assists. He also upped his faceoff percentage to 48.8%, an increase of 4% from the year before. He took a regular turn on both the power play and penalty kill, helping his ATOI improve to a career-best 16:16 per game. That’s quite a nice platform season as Roy enters restricted free agency this summer with arbitration eligibility for the first time.
Between that and Vegas’ cap situation, Roy could be an offer sheet candidate this summer if a deal isn’t done early. With the new thresholds, a team could offer Roy $4.2MM ($4MM more than the Golden Knights have in cap space) and only owe a second-round pick in compensation. For a 25-year-old with two years of team control remaining, that’s more than a reasonable price to pay. With that in mind, McCrimmon will want to try to get this contract done sooner than later if possible to avoid any risk of an offer sheet and also ensure one of his core youngsters will stick around.
Look Into Adding Goalie Depth
Injuries were an issue for Vegas last season, particularly between the pipes. Robin Lehner missed time with four separate injuries spanning 23 games and underwent successful shoulder surgery following a rather bizarre set of events where reports had him needing surgery with DeBoer insisting his starter was available to play. Brossoit, meanwhile, had hip surgery last month as well. Accordingly, there are some question marks (if Brossoit is still around and not traded as cap relief).
Vegas does have Logan Thompson who did a nice job down the stretch for them and as he’s now waiver-eligible, it’s safe to say he’ll be in the NHL picture.
The Golden Knights have a pair of goalie prospects signed for next season in Jiri Patera and Isaiah Saville but neither have seen NHL action. If they have an injury with the big club – a likely scenario based on recent history – having a veteran option with AHL Henderson that has some NHL experience would be a worthwhile investment. Experienced third-string goalies often bounce around and Vegas should be adding one to give themselves an insurance policy heading into training camp.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Oilers Notes: Brassard, Kulak, Samorukov
Oilers center Derick Brassard has bounced around a lot in recent years, suiting up for seven different teams over the last four seasons. There has been a desire to add him but it hasn’t resulted in much stability or in his case with Edmonton, playing time; the 34-year-old was a healthy scratch in 15 of their playoff games this spring. Accordingly, Postmedia’s Jim Matheson reports that Brassard is considering retirement. He has been limited with hip trouble in recent years, missing time with injuries on four separate occasions this season alone although he still managed a respectable 19 points in 46 games. If it is indeed the end of the line for Brassard, he’ll hang up his skates with 522 points in 951 games over a 15-year NHL career, a solid run for the sixth-overall pick in 2006.
Elsewhere in Edmonton:
- GM Ken Holland is expected to meet with Brett Kulak’s agent Gerry Johansson this week to discuss a new contract, notes Postmedia’s Kurt Leavins. The 28-year-old Edmonton native was acquired from Montreal at the trade deadline in exchange for blueliner William Lagesson, the 62nd pick in next month’s draft, and a 2024 seventh-rounder. Kulak did a good job on their back end down the stretch, logging a little over 17 minutes a night down the stretch and in the playoffs and he would give them some extra depth for next season. However, with limited cap space, Edmonton would be hard-pressed to offer the $1.85MM AAV on his set-to-expire deal let alone a raise so it would be surprising to see a new agreement reached quickly.
- With defenseman Dmitri Samorukov being waiver-eligible next season, Allan Mitchell of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that the blueliner could be a trade candidate in the coming weeks. The 22-year-old played just once this season, logging only 2:28 of ice time while being on the ice for two goals allowed. However, he had a solid campaign with AHL Bakersfield, picking up 18 points in 51 games which helped earn him a one-year, one-way extension worth $775K next month. That could make him a seventh defender option for the Oilers next season or on another cap-strapped team around the league.
Metropolitan Notes: Bratt, Blais, Drozg
The Devils have started discussions on a new contract for pending RFA Jesper Bratt, the winger told Ryan Novozinsky of the Star-Ledger (Twitter link). Bratt added that talks haven’t progressed yet to the point of talking salary so it’s clear that a deal certainly isn’t imminent. The 23-year-old is coming off a career year that saw him lead New Jersey in scoring with 26 goals and 47 assists in 76 games, more than doubling his previous career-high of 35 points set in his rookie year. Bratt is arbitration-eligible and two years away from UFA eligibility and both sides have expressed a desire to get a long-term contract in place. But with the year he just had, that type of deal would command a price tag of more than double the $2.75MM AAV he had on his bridge contract. Arbitration hearings aren’t likely to start until early August so there is still plenty of time to get an agreement in place.
More from the Metropolitan:
- While Rangers forward Sammy Blais has resumed skating, Newsday’s Colin Stephenson relays that he will not be available for the sixth game of their series tonight in Tampa Bay. The 25-year-old tore his ACL back in November and would be a welcome addition to New York’s bottom six but he hasn’t received the green light to return just yet. The 25-year-old had four assists and 37 hits in 14 regular season contests.
- Penguins prospect Jan Drozg is highly unlikely to be tendered a qualifying offer this summer, notes Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 23-year-old had ten points in 23 games with AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season before requesting to be loaned to another AHL team in the hopes of getting more playing time. While he got his wish and was sent to Grand Rapids, he struggled mightily with them down the stretch. Rather than bring him back, it would make more sense that Pittsburgh opts to let Drozg go where he’ll likely look to head back overseas.
Free Agent Focus: St. Louis Blues
Free agency is now less than six weeks away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in mid-July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. Next up is a look at the Blues.
Key Restricted Free Agents
D Niko Mikkola – It has taken a while but Mikkola has worked his way into being a full-fledged member of the back end for the Blues, albeit in still a limited capacity. The 26-year-old played in a career-high 54 games this season but was also scratched rather frequently. When he has played, he has shown some promise as a stay-at-home, physical defender that can do well on the third pairing. But at Mikkola’s age, that’s not a particularly high bar to try to meet. He’s owed a qualifying offer of just over $826K but the most notable element here is that he’s a year away from UFA eligibility. Between that and arbitration rights, Mikkola will be able to beat that qualifier but are the Blues in a spot where they would be willing to pay closer to $1.5MM and get a couple of extra years of team control? Will they be able to afford to do so?
D Scott Perunovich – Perunovich’s time in the pros has been mired with ups and downs. After missing all of last season due to injury, he was limited to just 36 regular season games this season thanks to injuries. When he did play, however, he showed the offensive skill that he had in college that has made him one of their top prospects. But with missing so much time, the 23-year-old certainly isn’t in a spot to command much more than his $874K qualifying offer which is a two-way tender. It’s entirely possible St. Louis opts to try to get Perunovich to take less than that in exchange for a one-year, one-way deal, giving them a tiny bit of extra cap flexibility and the blueliner a guaranteed payday.
F Klim Kostin – The 2017 first-rounder had an opportunity to spend the bulk of the season with St. Louis and held his own on the fourth line, collecting nine points in 40 games while averaging just over nine minutes a night. Those numbers certainly don’t stand out but he should be a strong candidate for a spot at the end of the roster in St. Louis next season. His contractual situation is the same as Perunovich’s – he’s owed the $874K qualifier but it’s possible the Blues try to get him to take less in exchange for a one-way salary.
Other RFAs: F Will Bitten, F Tanner Kaspick, F Hugh McGing, F Nathan Todd
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
G Ville Husso – For years, Husso was viewed as the goalie of the future for the Blues and while it took him a while to get to the NHL, he showed this season that he can be a strong goalie at the top level, posting a 2.56 GAA along with a .919 SV% (good for a tie for sixth-best in the league). However, he didn’t fare as well in the playoffs, ending his season on a lower note. With just 64 career NHL appearances under his belt (including the playoffs), the 27-year-old doesn’t have enough of a track record to command a long-term, high-dollar contract like the six-year, $36MM deal Jacob Markstrom got in free agency two years ago. But a shorter-term deal in the $4MM range should be achievable as there will be teams out there that will view Husso as a low-end starter or a high-end backup. Either way, he’s heading for a significant raise after making the league minimum the last two years.
F David Perron – Since returning to the Blues in 2018, Perron has averaged a higher point per game rate than his career average which is notable since he turned 34 last month. At a time when many players start slowing down offensively, he’s improving his output. In terms of points among pending UFAs, Perron sits eighth and if he was to get to the open market, he’d likely receive a nice raise from the $4MM AAV he had on his most recent deal. And yet, few expect him to actually get to free agency. While he has played on five different teams in his NHL career, Perron has only signed contracts with St. Louis, opting to come back each time he reached the open market with another organization and there is certainly an expectation that he will do so again. If that’s the case, he might leave some money on the table to do so.
D Nick Leddy – The Blues were able to add Leddy at the trade deadline to shore up their back end and Leddy didn’t disappoint, averaging over 21 minutes a night down the stretch and in the postseason (where he was one of several St. Louis rearguards to miss time due to injury). At this stage of his career, the 31-year-old is not the top defender that he was at times with the Islanders but he could still be a solid second-pairing player or a high-end third-pairing option on a deeper squad. With a UFA crop that isn’t particularly deep, Leddy should generate considerable interest although it would be very surprising to see him beat the $5.5MM he made on his soon-to-expire contract.
Other UFAs: F Sam Anas, F Tyler Bozak, D Dakota Joshua, G Charlie Lindgren, F Mackenzie MacEachern, F James Neal
Projected Cap Space
The Blues have just over $9MM in space below the $82.5MM Upper Limit and while they don’t have many roster spots to fill (likely a couple of forwards, two defensemen, and a goalie), they don’t have enough money to keep all of their pending UFAs around. They also have to be mindful of big contracts on the horizon for Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas (both 2023 RFAs) while Ryan O’Reilly will need an extension as well at that time. There’s enough room for GM Doug Armstrong to keep at least one of their UFAs in the fold but if he wants to keep more than one, he’ll need to find a way to free up some cap flexibility first.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Snapshots: League Calendar, Stars, Quick, Walker
Over the last couple of summers, the NHL has been forced to modify its schedule which has resulted in free agency starting late the last two years. Last summer, it was July 28th while it will be July 13th this time around. As Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link), the league plans to get back to a typical league calendar for 2022-23 which would see the start of free agency next summer come on July 1st.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Stars GM Jim Nill told Saad Yousef of The Athletic (subscription link) that the team plans to address their right-defense situation this summer. John Klingberg is a pending UFA that will need to be re-signed or replaced while Jani Hakanpaa is their other right-shot option. Nill is a proponent of having three lefties and three righties on the back end so don’t be surprised if Dallas is on the lookout for another right-shot rearguard even if they’re able to keep Klingberg in the fold.
- As we get close to the annual goaltending carousel around the NHL, Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick should be garnering some attention as a possible candidate to move. After reclaiming the starting role this season, the 36-year-old helped lead Los Angeles back to the playoffs. Quick is down to just one year left on his contract so for a team that’s looking for a short-term addition to try to stabilize the situation between the pipes, he could be a viable option.
- After recently stepping aside as an assistant coach in Vancouver, Scott Walker has found his next job as Guelph of the OHL announced that they’ve hired Walker as their new head coach. Walker was the president of hockey operations for the Storm last season and had previously been a co-owner and head coach of the team so this was a decision that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
Atlantic Notes: Senators, Sabres, Point
The Senators are among the teams that have at least suggested a potentially willingness to move their first-rounder to add a win-now player. With the seventh-overall selection, it would appear on the surface that they could get a quality veteran for that pick but some league executives told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch that Ottawa will likely need to add to that selection to get the type of player they’re seeking. GM Pierre Dorion has stated that they’re willing to move some prospects as well and those executives suggest one of those would have to be added to provide enough value to convince a team to part with a key veteran. Garrioch suggests Minnesota winger Kevin Fiala and Vegas center William Karlsson as cap casualties that could be on the move this summer that might be of interest to Ottawa. Fiala is a pending restricted free agent while Karlsson has five years left on his contract with a $5.9MM AAV.
More from the Atlantic:
- While many of Buffalo’s pending unrestricted free agents are likely to move on, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News suggests that forward Vinnie Hinostroza and defenseman Mark Pysyk are candidates to stick around with the Sabres next season. Hinostroza was a decent depth scorer in 2021-22, notching 13 goals and 12 assists in 62 games and if he’s willing to sign for around the $1.05MM he made this season, it would certainly make sense to keep him around. As for Pysyk, he shifted back to the back end after spending some time up front with Dallas and logged nearly 18 minutes a night in 68 contests. He made $900K this season and should come in with a similar price tag so if Buffalo wants some low-cost depth that’s familiar with their system, re-signing him would be a worthwhile move as well.
- Lightning head coach Jon Cooper told reporters, including ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski, that center Brayden Point will officially be a game-time decision. He took the gameday skate and will later decide whether or not to take part in pregame warmups with a call on whether or not to play to come after that. Point has missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury sustained in the final game of the opening round against Toronto.
Offseason Checklist: Vancouver Canucks
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that weren’t playoff-bound plus those who were eliminated in the first two rounds. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Canucks.
It was a season of change for Vancouver. The big move to add Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland last summer didn’t help, resulting in GM Jim Benning being shown the door with Patrik Allvin and Jim Rutherford coming over from Pittsburgh to lead the front office. They underachieved under Travis Green, resulting in Bruce Boudreau taking over behind the bench and while they didn’t get to the playoffs, they were much more competitive in the second half. Now, Allvin has some big files to tackle this summer as he looks to get the Canucks back into the playoff picture.
Free Up Long-Term Cap Flexibility
The Canucks have enough flexibility that they can navigate through this summer, keep the core intact, and give it another go next season. But that doesn’t make the team any better and maintaining the status quo will only make it harder to make their cap situation work a year from now. They have $48.5MM in commitments to ten players for 2023-24. On the surface, that would appear to be manageable. But J.T. Miller, Bo Horvat, and Brock Boeser aren’t in that group while Elias Pettersson will be extension-eligible at that time as well. If those players all sign for market value, that really will limit them in terms of upgrading their roster. That’s at the forefront of their offseason planning.
With that in mind, Allvin needs to find ways to create some extra space. Tanner Pearson isn’t on a terrible contract at $3.25MM for two more years but they could save some money by replacing him with a cheaper piece, perhaps Russian free agent Andrei Kuzmenko who they’ve been linked to. Jason Dickinson was brought in to solidify the third-line center spot, receiving a commensurate contract in the process, one that pays him $2.65MM for the next two seasons. He didn’t fit in well in his first season with the Canucks, scoring just five goals in 62 games. Finding a new home for one or both of them would give them a bit of wiggle room next summer when they’ll really feel the cap crunch.
To that end, one other route they could look to go is finding a taker for the final year of Micheal Ferland‘s LTIR contract. Yes, his $3.5MM AAV is an expiring deal next summer but if they can clear him out and stay out of using LTIR, they might be able to avoid the bonus overage penalty for 23-24 with Vasily Podkolzin and Nils Hoglander carrying sizable incentives in their contracts; Kuzmenko will likely have plenty as well if he winds up joining the Canucks. They can manage the cap situation this summer but they will need to be aggressive in freeing up some flexibility from there.
Decide Miller And Horvat’s Future
Let’s dig into some of those players that are about to get a lot more expensive. Miller is at the top of that list. He’s coming off a breakout season that saw him lead the Canucks in scoring and narrowly miss out on reaching the 100-point plateau. He also has spent a lot of time down the middle which will only increase his value. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer and impact centers rarely become available. Those that do get significant paydays and it’s safe to say Miller will be heading for one of those compared to the $5.25MM cap charge he’ll carry next season. That expected contract is what had him in plenty of trade speculation leading up to the deadline.
Rutherford (who has made the rounds in the media lately) has made it clear in recent interviews that the team expects to be able to keep Miller in the fold. Some of the recent comparable centers that have signed long-term deals (Mika Zibanejad, Tomas Hertl, and Logan Couture) all signed for $8MM or more while Sean Couturier came in just under that. All received eight-year deals. Miller’s production was higher than theirs this season but that was the only time he was over the point-per-game mark which should keep the AAV on a max-term extension somewhere in the range of those comparables.
If they go ahead and sign Miller to a deal like that, it’s going to make it harder to keep Horvat in the fold. With Miller in the $8MM range and Pettersson needing a qualifying offer of $8.82MM in the 2024 offseason, can Vancouver really afford to have another high-priced pivot in Horvat? While he won’t command the type of money their other two centers make, he’ll be in line for a raise on his $5.5MM AAV on his next deal and it wouldn’t be entirely shocking if he surpassed the $7MM mark.
While they may want to keep both of them in the fold, it will be very difficult for them to do so. Accordingly, they’ll need to find out who is willing to stay and what the asking prices are and then decide whether to start shopping one now or keep both into the season in the hopes of getting back to the playoffs. Some big decisions are on the horizon, to say the least.
Re-Sign Boeser
Most of Vancouver’s cap space this summer is heading for Boeser. Unlike Pettersson, he’s subject to the old qualifying offer rules which means his salary from this season is his qualifying offer which puts the required tender at $7.5MM. While the team certainly hoped that the winger would be able to emerge as a legitimate front-line winger, Boeser has yet to reach the 30-goal mark or record more than 56 points in a single season. On the surface, that type of production for $7.5MM isn’t ideal.
If the Canucks tender Boeser, the winger can simply accept the offer and become UFA-eligible in 2023 or try his luck with salary arbitration and hope for a small bump up. Neither is an ideal scenario for Vancouver as it would make him expensive and a rental all at the same time. It doesn’t seem like there’s any chance they’d non-tender him but they could opt for club-elected arbitration to try to get him a little cheaper as the required offer would be 90% or $6.75MM.
Knowing that, Allvin will be wanting to try to get this one resolved sooner than later. A long-term deal at or around this rate wouldn’t yield much in the way of savings but would ensure one of their top wingers will be around for a while. If discussions on that front don’t go well, however, it’s reasonable to expect Boeser will be in trade speculation as well.
Revamp The Back End
On top of all of these decisions up front, Vancouver has some work to do on their defense as well. Quinn Hughes has become a top offensive option and Ekman-Larsson is still a top-four rearguard even if he is no longer the player he was a few years ago with Arizona. After that, however, things thin out quickly.
The Canucks don’t have much in the way of offensive options behind Hughes (Travis Dermott might help a little in this regard), nor do they have a lot of depth on the right side. Tyler Myers is miscast in a top role while Luke Schenn is a capable depth blueliner but not someone who should be higher than the third pairing in an ideal situation. That’s it for righties they can count on with Tucker Poolman’s availability being in question after missing basically half the season with recurring headaches and migraines. There’s a case to be made that Vancouver needs a couple of top-four defensemen as a result although they’ll be hard-pressed to afford even one unless they can find a way to free up some short-term money for next season and some long-term money knowing what lies ahead in the 2023 summer. Allvin certainly has his work cut out for him.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Golden Knights Showing Interest In Bruce Cassidy As Next Head Coach
It has been an offseason of some surprise when it comes to the coaching carousel around the league. Vegas opted to part ways with Peter DeBoer, their second coaching change in their five seasons of existence, making them one of the more prominent teams looking for a new bench boss. Recently, there was a surprise addition to the coaching market when Boston let Bruce Cassidy go earlier this week. As Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (video link), the Golden Knights have started to key in on Cassidy as their top candidate over the last few days.
Regular season success is something that Cassidy had plenty of in his days with the Bruins posting a 245-108-46 record with him behind the bench, good for a .652 points percentage. Vegas has been under that mark in two of the last three seasons. However, his track record of playoff success hasn’t been as good as Boston went 36-37 in the postseason under their former bench boss which is something that teams will certainly be considering as they work through evaluating him.
Vegas is certainly one of the more appealing teams looking for a head coach. They’re an organization that clearly has a win-now mindset and they have shown no hesitance towards spending to the Upper Limit (or higher, considering their cap management in recent years). Both of those have to be appealing to any coaching candidate although the quick trigger on coaching changes also stands out.
Cassidy has expressed a desire to jump right back into coaching and would be a good fit in Vegas so it will be interesting to see if they can get a deal done over the next few days. It would go a long way towards kickstarting the coaching shuffle as things have slowed to a crawl on that front with many feeling Barry Trotz’s decision on where to go next is holding things up. If Vegas goes a different direction and opts for Cassidy, perhaps that domino falling will get things going on that front soon after.
Offseason Checklist: Winnipeg Jets
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that weren’t playoff-bound plus those who were eliminated in the first two rounds. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Jets.
After being ousted by Montreal in the playoffs a year ago, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff shored up the back end with the hopes that would help Winnipeg get to that next level. Instead, they underachieved this season, both with and without Paul Maurice behind the bench, and ultimately came up short of reaching the playoffs. Cheveldayoff once again will have some work to do to try to get the Jets back into the postseason picture.
Hire A Head Coach
With Maurice surprisingly stepping aside midseason, Cheveldayoff made the logical choice to elevate Dave Lowry to the interim head coaching role. It didn’t result in the type of improvement they were hoping for as Winnipeg’s points percentage under Lowry (.537) was basically identical to Maurice’s (.534). In other words, the coaching change didn’t move the needle.
Lowry was the logical choice at the time in that the team wouldn’t have had the opportunity to interview assistants currently employed if they made a full-time hire midseason. While a handful of assistants are still working at the moment, the team has been able to do a more comprehensive search (beyond Barry Trotz, who is basically singlehandedly holding up the market right now).
While Lowry is expected to interview for the full-time role, a new voice from outside the organization would make the most sense. A new system from a new coach could be a significant enough change to avoid needing to necessarily make any core changes to the roster. Cheveldayoff is thought of as one of the managers who tends to be patient with his rosters so it’s quite possible that a big addition behind the bench could be their biggest move of the summer. But with free agency fast approaching (where coaches want to have their input), a new coach will need to be in place soon.
Re-Sign Dubois
When Cheveldayoff decided to shake up his core early in the 2020-21 season with the acquisition of Pierre-Luc Dubois for Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic, the 2022 offseason became a very important one for the Jets. That corresponded with the end of Dubois’ contract as the 23-year-old is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility this summer. He has already gone through one contentious negotiation, one that ended with a trade request out of Columbus, and now, Dubois is two years away from being eligible to hit the open market.
He’s coming off a strong season, one that saw him reach a career-high in goals (28) while picking up 60 points. That has him positioned to land more than the $6MM qualifying offer he’s owed but the question is how much higher should they be willing to go? If they want to sign him to a long-term deal that buys up some UFA years (and Dubois is amenable to signing that type of contract), the AAV is likely to go beyond Kyle Connor’s $7.143MM price tag. Do they want to go that high and reset the benchmark for their younger core?
On top of that, there is also a question of where Dubois best fits. He was brought in to play center but he has spent a fair amount of time on the wing as well. A long-term, big-money deal could potentially price them out of re-signing Mark Scheifele in a couple of years; does it make sense to do that for a player who may be better off as a winger than a center?
If it feels like there are a lot of questions for a pending restricted free agent, it’s because there are. The route they go with Dubois will help shape their planning for beyond the 2022-23 campaign so getting this done sooner than later would be ideal. Dubois is likely to file for an arbitration hearing if something isn’t worked out over the next six weeks so this is something that will need to be resolved by late July or early August at the latest.
Create Cap Flexibility
The Jets have around $18MM available this summer but have anywhere between seven and ten players to sign with that money. A big chunk of that will go to Dubois which won’t leave a lot to spread around the rest of the openings. Freeing up a bit of extra flexibility would certainly help Cheveldayoff to build out the rest of the roster without having to resort to signing several players for minimum-salary deals to stay cap compliant. Forward depth has been problematic the last couple of years so being able to spend a bit more on their bottom six would help.
In order to do that, they will likely need to trade away from their back end as there really aren’t any viable non-core forwards that could be traded to free up space. They have nearly $25MM tied up in their five most-expensive blueliners which is a lot. Nate Schmidt didn’t have a great trade market a year ago and that likely hasn’t changed while Josh Morrissey and Neal Pionk aren’t likely to go anywhere. That whittles it down to Brenden Dillon ($3.9MM through 2023-24) and Dylan DeMelo ($3MM through 2023-24); moving one of them to make a roster spot for a prospect like Ville Heinola or Dylan Samberg would give them some cap relief and also provide a chance for one of them to get an extended look in the NHL. In a summer where many teams will be looking for some extra flexibility, any little bit helps.
Fill Backup Goalie Slot
Eric Comrie more or less got the backup goalie spot by default with the Jets due to his contract being at the league minimum. To his credit, he did quite well this season, posting a .920 SV% and 2.58 GAA in 19 appearances, giving Winnipeg solid value from that backup spot. But Comrie is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer and after the year he had, he should be able to command more than $750K on the open market.
The Jets will once again need to shop towards the lower end of the market unless they can free up a few extra million in cap space but while Mikhail Berdin is on a one-way deal for next season, his performance with AHL Manitoba isn’t good enough to really contend for that spot so they will almost certainly have to look outside the organization if they can’t reach a new deal with Comrie. Considering the opening day of free agency usually results in quite the game of musical chairs for netminders, this is something Cheveldayoff will need to address by July 13th.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Snapshots: King Clancy, Smith, Somppi
The NHL award being revealed on Tuesday was the King Clancy Trophy which is given annually “to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community”. It was announced that Devils defenseman P.K. Subban is this year’s winner. He created the P.K. Subban Foundation in 2014 while playing with Montreal and pledged $10MM over seven years to Montreal Children’s Hospital. Subban also founded Blueline Buddies in 2016 when he played for Nashville and earlier this year, he donated $1MM in support of Le Spot, a Montreal mental health clinic while also matching donations to help Ukrainian cancer patients. It’s the fourth time that Subban has been a finalist for the award with this being his first win. Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf and Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse were the other finalists.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Oilers goaltender Mike Smith met with reporters today (video link) and indicated that it’s “too early to tell” if he’s going to return next season. The 40-year-old had an up-and-down season and acknowledged that he played through injuries for most of the year but still managed to post a .915 SV% in 28 games during the regular season, a number that he came close to maintaining in the playoffs (.913). Smith is signed for next season already with a $2.2MM cap hit but he is not subject to the 35-plus rule that many veterans are. In the last CBA, a provision was put in that says the rule does not apply if the compensation in each year is uniform or if the salary increases each year. The latter applies to Smith so Edmonton wouldn’t face a cap penalty if he opted to retire.
- Pending Lightning RFA forward Otto Somppi has decided to head overseas for next season as Lukko of the Finnish Liiga announced that they’ve signed the 24-year-old to a one-year deal. Somppi has spent the last four seasons in Tampa Bay’s farm system but never received a recall to the NHL. In 50 games this season with AHL Syracuse, he had 23 points. Tampa Bay can retain Somppi’s NHL rights through 2025 by issuing him a qualifying offer next month.