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.
Tyler Lewington Signs In Austria
After spending most of the past seven seasons in the minors, pending UFA Tyler Lewington has opted for a change of scenery as EC Salzburg of Austria’s ICE HL announced they’ve signed the defenseman to a one-year contract.
The 27-year-old signed a two-way deal worth a guaranteed $400K with Boston last summer on the opening day of free agency, giving the Bruins some veteran depth in the minors that could be called upon when injuries arose. However, Lewington only suited up in two games at the top level and instead spent the bulk of the year with AHL Providence where he had nine points and 66 penalty minutes in 55 games.
Over his career, Lewington has suited up in a dozen NHL contests between Washington, Nashville, and Boston with most of his playing time coming in the AHL where he has 341 career regular season appearances under his belt. The games he played this season qualified him for veteran status in the minors and AHL teams can only dress five of those in a game so having that designation likely would have negatively affected Lewington’s market this summer. Knowing that, he got a head start on the market with this move, one that should see him have a chance to play a bigger role next season with the Red Bulls and if all goes well, he could still return to play in North America down the road.
Five Key Stories: 5/30/22 – 6/5/22
With just four teams still playing, the majority of the biggest news of the week came away from the ice and is recapped in our key stories.
Prospects Released: June 1st is one of the dates to watch for when it comes to signing deadlines for certain prospects. That came and went with teams parting ways with a total of 28 different youngsters who, depending on their age, will either re-enter the draft next month or become unrestricted free agents. Dallas and Montreal both parted ways with players that were picked in the second round while Minnesota took the rare step of opting not to sign a first-rounder from that draft class in defenseman Filip Johansson, who went 24th overall in 2018. As a result, the Wild will receive the 24th pick of the second round this year (56th overall) as compensation; unsigned players picked outside the first round do not yield compensatory picks.
Minnesota Surgeries: It was revealed that Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon underwent core muscle surgery after the playoffs while winger Mats Zuccarello will need the same procedure done. The recovery time for the procedure is six to eight weeks. Spurgeon played through the injury for more than half the season but still managed to put up 40 points in 65 games while averaging over 21 minutes a night. Zuccarello, meanwhile, had a career year with 79 points in 70 contests and was also playing through a leg fracture. However, that one is expected to heal with rest and he won’t need surgery for that injury.
Gardiner Cleared: Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner missed all of the 2021-22 season with hip and back injuries and with how much time he has missed lately, some had wondered if his playing days were over. That won’t be the case as GM Don Waddell indicated that the veteran has now been fully cleared to return next season. Carolina went into LTIR this season with Gardiner and his $4.05MM AAV but they won’t have that avenue moving forward. He has one year left on his deal and with him being cleared, he could become a buyout candidate when the window opens up after the Stanley Cup Final. The team has roughly $19MM in cap room for next season, per CapFriendly, but they have several core players on expiring deals including blueliner Tony DeAngelo, center Vincent Trocheck, and winger Nino Niederreiter.
St. Louis Signs: Martin St. Louis was surprisingly named as Montreal’s interim head coach midseason when Dominique Ducharme was let go and while it didn’t result in any sort of big turnaround, the Canadiens were more competitive down the stretch. He did well enough to convince management to remove the interim tag as St. Louis signed a three-year contract to officially become their head coach. The team went 14-19-4 after he took over but it was the offensive improvement from several of their players – particularly Cole Caufield – that stood out. With Montreal expected to be rebuilding for another couple of years at least, St. Louis is an understandable choice to continue on for now with an emphasis on player development.
Kadri Out, Kane Suspended: The Avalanche suffered a big blow when Nazem Kadri was injured in the third game of the Western Conference Final on a hit from behind on Evander Kane. He has already been ruled out for the rest of the series and potentially longer according to head coach Jared Bednar. The 31-year-old has had a strong postseason thus far with 14 points in 13 games, carrying on his strong play from the regular season. As for Kane, he received a five-minute major penalty on the play and was issued a one-game suspension that will keep him out of a must-win contest on Monday as Edmonton looks to stay alive in the series.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Free Agent Focus: Washington Capitals
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 Capitals.
Key Restricted Free Agents
G Ilya Samsonov – After a disappointing sophomore year, the Capitals were hoping that the 25-year-old would have a bounce-back campaign and stake his claim to the starting spot. It didn’t happen. Instead, Samsonov’s performance dipped once again with a save percentage of just .896 while his GAA jumped to 3.02. In other words, he performed like a backup goalie. Samsonov is owed a $2MM qualifying offer but is now arbitration-eligible which will help drive the price tag a little higher but it would be hard to see Washington offer a long-term deal. He still will be RFA-eligible next summer so a one-year contract that gives him one more chance makes the most sense for both sides.
G Vitek Vanecek – Washington opted to trade a second-round pick to Seattle to get Vanecek back a week after they lost him in expansion and it’s a move that worked out well for them. The 26-year-old had a near-repeat performance of his rookie year, posting an identical save percentage of .908 and improving slightly on his GAA from 2.69 to 2.67. The qualifying offer for under $800K but it’s irrelevant as he’ll get at least three times that on his next deal. Unlike Samsonov, Vanecek is a year away from UFA eligibility so they might be inclined to work on a multi-year pact with him which could push the price tag closer to the $3.5MM range.
Other RFAs: D Tobias Geisser, D Lucas Johansen, F Brett Leason, F Beck Malenstyn
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
D Justin Schultz – Schultz was a surprise signing in 2020 considering Washington had little cap space at the time which made it seem unlikely that they’d use a lot of it on one player. His first year with them was good and he was able to hold down a spot in their top four, averaging just over 19 minutes a game. However, things didn’t go as well this season. His production dipped to 23 points in 74 games (a bit on the low side for an offensive defenseman) while he dipped below 17 minutes in ATOI as he was more sheltered; in the playoffs, that dipped to just over 15 minutes. The Schultz of 2020-21 was close to being worth his $4MM AAV but this year’s version wasn’t near that price point. Still just 31, there will be a market for him – especially as a right-shot defender – but he will be hard-pressed to land a raise in free agency. A small dip appears likely.
F Marcus Johansson – It took a little while for Johansson to sign last summer, eventually agreeing to a one-year, $1.5MM deal with Seattle before making his way to Washington at the trade deadline for the second go-round with the team. His per-game numbers were quite similar to his 2020-21 performance so it stands to reason that he should be able to command a similar price tag this time around. Johansson’s positional versatility will help his market but at this point of his career, he’s more of a depth scorer than a top-six player like he was just a few years ago.
F Johan Larsson – Larsson has shown flashes of offensive skill in the past but it hasn’t yielded much production. He had a bigger role while he was with Arizona and there was a corresponding increase in production as he was just over a half a point per game before being moved to the Capitals at the trade deadline. Generally speaking, teams will want to go low on their fourth liners and role players to save some cap space but Larsson has a chance to be an exception as a decent checking center that can chip in a bit from the fourth line. He should have a chance to at least come close to the $1.4MM AAV he had in each of the last two years.
Other UFAs: G Pheonix Copley, F Shane Gersich, D Matt Irwin, D Michal Kempny, F Brian Pinho
Projected Cap Space
Washington enters this offseason with just under $9MM in cap space and two big question marks with the injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson. They could both be LTIR-bound to start the season but at least in Wilson’s case, he’ll be back after a couple of months. With Backstrom, everything is on the table still with GM Brian MacLellan saying continuing to play through his injury would be unsustainable. If they shut him down for a year with surgery, he could stay on LTIR throughout the year and the Capitals would have some flexibility.
Until they know one way or the other, they can’t plan for that to happen so for now, the bulk of that $9MM will need to go towards their two RFA goaltenders while they’ll also need to sign a defenseman or two with the leftover money. Unless Backstrom is ruled out for the season, MacLellan won’t have much cap flexibility to work with this summer.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Offseason Checklist: New York Islanders
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 Islanders.
This past season was a tough one for New York. They were forced to start with a 13-game road trip to ensure their new arena was ready to go and got hit hard with COVID-related absences soon after. That put them in too much of a hole to climb out of. Despite making the Eastern Conference Final the previous two years, GM Lou Lamoriello opted for a coaching change, dismissing Barry Trotz and elevating Lane Lambert to the top role. However, that can’t be the only thing they do this summer if they want to get back into contention; Lamoriello has a few other items on his to-do list in the coming months.
Add Scoring Help
Let’s get the obvious out of the way first. Scoring has been an issue for this team for a while as they haven’t averaged three goals per game since the 2017-18 season. Part of that can be attributed to Trotz’s defense-first system but there isn’t a lot of firepower on this team. Only Brock Nelson and Anders Lee cracked the 20-goal plateau this season and over the final two months of the year, Mathew Barzal was regularly playing with Zach Parise and Oliver Wahlstrom; with all due respect to those players, that’s probably not the optimal combination for their most skilled forward.
Back at the trade deadline when the Isles were very quiet, Lamoriello opted not to make any changes, stating that his focus was on ‘hockey trades’ to bring in pieces that better fit his roster.
With the team having barely $12MM in cap space and several roster spots to fill with that money, they don’t have the financial flexibility to be aggressive bidders on the free agent market. Accordingly, this is one of those situations where Lamoriello will make a hockey trade and move out an underachiever for someone that’s a better fit. Wingers Josh Bailey (two years, $5MM AAV) and Anthony Beauvillier (two years, $4.15MM) are candidates to move from their existing forward group while veteran goaltender Semyon Varlamov (one year, $5MM) could also make sense if they find a trade that’s acceptable to the 34-year-old who has a 16-team no-trade clause. Either way, whether it’s one of them moving or someone else, New York will need more offensive production to get back into the playoff picture.
Re-Sign Dobson
A good chunk of their cap space is going to be heading towards defenseman Noah Dobson who is set to become a restricted free agent this summer. After his first two NHL seasons were relatively quiet, 2021-22 was a breakout year that allowed the 22-year-old to finish third on the team in points with 51 including 13 goals. For perspective, the rest of their blueliners combined for 19. Not surprisingly, Dobson’s ATOI jumped up by more than five minutes a night from his sophomore campaign. In other words, he had quite the platform year.
While the Islanders would undoubtedly like to lock Dobson up on a long-term deal, that would go against Lamoriello’s tendencies as he has continually opted for bridge contracts for his core RFAs including Barzal and defenseman Ryan Pulock in recent years. A short-term pact would also allow them some extra cap flexibility to try to upgrade their roster. That makes the bridge deal the likeliest scenario.
The extremes between Dobson’s first two seasons and this one will make it tricky to find the right number and without arbitration eligibility, the Islanders hold more of the leverage. A two-year deal with an AAV around the $3MM range which is more than what Pulock and Adam Pelech received on their second contracts while a third season could push it closer to the $4MM range. Anything longer than that would walk Dobson to unrestricted free agency so it’s likely that three years is the maximum term that New York will want to go. It may take a while – Dobson’s only leverage is to delay signing in the hopes of getting a better offer later – but eventually, the two sides will come together on a short-term pact.
Rebuild The Defense
Over the past few years, the NHL has started to shift towards a more mobile back end. The Islanders have been one of the exceptions but now as they work to retool things under a new head coach, this is the right time to try to kickstart that change.
Zdeno Chara and Andy Greene have been successful defensemen in the league for quite a while but mobility has been an issue for both of them while their offensive games are also quite limited. Both are pending unrestricted free agents and should be replaced with younger, better fits. Sebastian Aho is more of a mobile blueliner but has struggled in his own end in limited NHL action. He’s also a pending UFA and will need to be retained or replaced. That’s three roster spots that they’ll need to try to fill within their limited cap space and in terms of in-house options, only Robin Salo might be able to push for a spot at the end of the roster.
It’s also worth noting that Scott Mayfield is a year away from UFA eligibility as well and will be eyeing a sizable raise from the $1.45MM cap hit he’s on now. Any multi-year commitments they make this summer will offset how much they can give to Mayfield a year from now so that’s something Lamoriello will have to weigh as he navigates the open market this summer.
With Pelech, Pulock, and Dobson, the Isles have a strong core back end that is either signed or under club control for at least the next four years. That’s a strong foundation to work with. Now, improvements will need to be made at the bottom end within a very tight cap situation to start moving towards a younger, more mobile defensive group.
Work On Barzal Extension
Three years ago, the Islanders and Barzal eventually worked out a three-year bridge deal, one that will be expiring next summer. That means once the calendar flips to the start of the 2022-23 league year in mid-July, the two sides will be able to work on a contract extension. After the season, Barzal stated that he wants to work out a long-term contract and is hopeful to remain with New York for his full career, a proclamation that is certainly encouraging from the team’s standpoint.
Barzal will be owed a qualifying offer of $8.4MM which is 120% of his current AAV; that’s the lower number between it and his salary for next season ($10MM). He’ll also have arbitration eligibility at that time. That qualifying number, therefore, serves as the absolute minimum starting point for negotiations as if the 25-year-old doesn’t like what the long-term offers look like, he can simply accept the qualifier in 2023 and become UFA-eligible a year later.
The potential challenge here is that Barzal hasn’t exactly produced at a level that’s worthy of offering considerably more than the qualifier. While he averaged more than a point per game in his rookie season, the most he has gotten since then is 62 points. He’s undoubtedly their most gifted offensive player but in a more defensive environment under Trotz, his numbers have suffered. If Barzal thinks things will open up under Lambert, it may make more sense for him to play out next season and see what happens from there knowing the qualifying offer will still be on the table at that time. But if Lamoriello comes in with a long-term offer in the $9MM range, it might be enough to give Barzal a chance to play for the Islanders for a long time to come.
They may not get a deal done this summer but both sides seem likely to give it a shot. It isn’t as pressing as some of the other elements that will affect their plans for next season but as the offseason goes on and things slow down, that would be an optimal time to get to work on Barzal’s file.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Free Agent Focus: Winnipeg Jets
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. Let’s begin with a look at the Jets.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Pierre-Luc Dubois: After a bit of an underwhelming first year with Winnipeg, Dubois was much more impactful this past season, sliding in nicely into the center spot on the second line for a good chunk of the campaign while also playing up when Mark Scheifele was injured. The end result was numbers that were comparable to his sophomore season with Columbus as he put up 28 goals (a career high) and 32 assists in 81 games. The 23-year-old is only two years away from being eligible for unrestricted free agency since he started in the NHL at 18 and is owed a $6MM qualifying offer next month. Dubois is poised to land more than that if he gets to an arbitration hearing on a one-year award while a long-term contract that buys out his prime UFA years could push him closer to the $7.5MM mark.
F Mason Appleton: After a strong showing in 2020-21, Appleton was a widely-expected choice for Seattle in expansion but things didn’t go as well with the Kraken. That resulted in him being moved back to Winnipeg at the trade deadline but he still scuffled offensively. In the end, a platform season of 21 points in 68 games isn’t great but it should still be more than enough to push for a small increase on his qualifying offer of $945K, especially since this is his last year of RFA eligibility. A long-term contract isn’t likely but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Winnipeg try to sign a multi-year pact and gain another year or two of team control in the process.
F Evgeny Svechnikov: The 25-year-old finally got a full NHL season under his belt and held his own in limited minutes, collecting 19 points in 72 games. That’s not why he’s mentioned here, however. As teams look to keep costs down on their end-of-roster players (something the Jets have done the last few years), Svechnikov’s arbitration eligibility looms large. It’s not that an award would be over-the-top expensive (likely around the $1MM range) but depending on what happens with Dubois, Winnipeg is likely to have to get quite thrifty with their last few roster spots and an extra few hundred thousand may be more than they can afford which makes him a potential non-tender candidate.
Other RFAs: G Philippe Desrosiers, D Leon Gawanke, F David Gustafsson, F Jansen Harkins, D Johnathan Kovacevic, F Jeff Malott, D Markus Phillips
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
G Eric Comrie: Last summer, Winnipeg’s cap situation forced them to have to go with a backup making the minimum salary so Comrie got the nod and had his first full NHL season as a result, albeit with limited minutes. He made the most of his playing time though, posting a SV% (.920) that was ten points higher than Connor Hellebuyck and a GAA (2.58) that was 39 points better than Hellebuyck. While no one is going to argue that Comrie should be making the $6.166MM that Hellebuyck is getting, he has positioned himself to command much more than the minimum on the open market. His limited track record will keep him out of the range of the top backups (around $4MM) but half of that could certainly be attainable.
F Paul Stastny: The 36-year-old was largely under the radar this season but he had a solid year, chipping in with 21 goals and 24 assists in 71 games which is solid second-line production. Between that and being consistently above average at the faceoff dot, there should be a fairly strong market for Stastny if he makes it to free agency. He took a pay cut to stay with the Jets last summer, dropping down to $3.75MM and it wouldn’t be surprising to see teams offer more than that on a one-year deal. However, it’s possible that Stastny decides to take less to go to a contender as well as some veterans do. He’s eligible for incentives in his contract as long as it’s a one-year deal which could be an option to keep the 2022-23 charge down which would help those contending teams. Once Dubois signs his new contract, it will be difficult for the Jets to afford to keep him in the fold.
F Zach Sanford: He underwhelmed after joining Winnipeg at the trade deadline but there will be a decent market for the 27-year-old. While he’s not enough of a reliable offensive threat to play in the top six, he chips in at a reasonable enough clip for a depth player while providing plenty of physicality. That’s something plenty of teams will have interest in although Sanford may be hard-pressed to make more than the $2MM he received this season coming off a bit of a down season.
Other UFAs: F Adam Brooks, F Luke Johnson, F Austin Poganski, F C.J. Suess
Projected Cap Space
At the moment, Winnipeg has a little over $18MM in wiggle room under the salary cap although they have to re-sign half of a forward group, a backup goalie, and a depth defenseman with those funds. There’s a good chance over 40% of that will go to Dubois which doesn’t leave GM Kevin Cheveldayoff a lot of room to try to add another impact piece to their roster. If they largely stick with their current core and don’t make a trade or two to shake things up, they’ll be relying on their new head coach to help take this team back to playoff contention.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Central Notes: Dach, Beaudin, Borgstrom, Merrill
It wasn’t a particularly good season for Blackhawks center Kirby Dach as he had just 26 points in 70 games, hardly what they were expecting from the third-overall pick in 2019 in his third NHL season. However, as Scott Powers of The Athletic points out (subscription link), Chicago will at least benefit from some internal cap flexibility as his next contract will check in lower than the $5MM or so they were believed to be internally estimating. Now, the 21-year-old is a prime candidate for a two-year bridge deal, one that will allow both sides more time to see if Dach can live up to his potential. While his draft status will boost the price tag a little bit, that contract should be closer to the $3MM range, giving GM Kyle Davidson a bit more wiggle room this summer than he was anticipating at this time a year ago.
Elsewhere in the Central:
- Still with Chicago, the Blackhawks could look to move a pair of youngsters in forward Henrik Borgstrom and defenseman Nicolas Beaudin, suggests Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times. Borgstrom underachieved in his first season back in the NHL, notching just seven points in 52 games while being a frequent scratch which will limit his value to a strict change of scenery swap for another underachiever. Beaudin, however, is a bit more notable as it wasn’t long ago that he was viewed as a piece of Chicago’s future back end. But he struggled considerably with AHL Rockford this season, notching just 16 points in 66 games (hardly ideal for someone that was an offensive blueliner in the QMJHL) while being scratched for all but one of their playoff games. Both players have one year left on their contracts with Borgstrom making $1MM on a one-way deal and Beaudin $863K on his entry-level pact.
- While Minnesota has provided injury updates on some of their players, they haven’t done so yet for defenseman Jon Merrill who has undergone surgery for an upper-body injury sustained during his first game (and shift) at the Worlds. However, Michael Russo of The Athletic believes (subscription link) that the blueliner is expected to be out longer than the six-week period given for winger Mats Zuccarello and defender Jared Spurgeon for their surgeries. Merrill had a good first year for the Wild in a depth role, picking up 20 points in 69 games, earning himself a three-year extension midseason as a reward.
Oilers Expected To Terminate Ilya Konovalov’s Contract
Oilers prospect Ilya Konovalov hasn’t had a great first season in North America and it appears he won’t be getting a second one as Dynamo Moscow’s GM Alexei Sopin told Championat’s Sergei Yemelanov that an agreement is in place to bring the netminder back to the KHL next season. The move is pending a contract termination from Edmonton which is expected to come once their playoff run comes to an end.
The 23-year-old was a third-round pick of Edmonton back in 2019, going 85th overall. He remained with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL for two seasons after being picked before opting to come to North America for this season. However, Konovalov was limited to just 17 games with AHL Bakersfield this season, posting a 2.73 GAA with a save percentage of just .893. He was briefly up with Edmonton on their taxi squad but didn’t get into any NHL action.
This move has been in the works for a while as last month, Dynamo Moscow traded for Konovalov’s rights at the beginning of the KHL’s transactions window. Assuming the termination goes through as planned which should come sometime later this month, Edmonton will lose Konovalov’s NHL rights but free up a contract slot. They’d also clear out the logjam in the AHL crease with both Olivier Rodrigue and recent college signing Ryan Fanti already under contract for next season.
Hurricanes Notes: Staal, Necas, Bear
Once the 2022-23 NHL calendar year opens up at the start of free agency, many players on expiring contracts will be hoping to work out early extensions to stay with their current team. However, Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal told NHL.com’s Kurt Dusterberg that he won’t be among those looking to get an extension done:
I’m going to ride out this contract. Eleven years is a long time here, and it’s been special. I’m going to ride it out next year and hopefully finish with a bang and go from there.
The 33-year-old will play his eleventh season with the Hurricanes next season and has seen his production start to drop a bit in recent years although he still managed to put up 17 goals and 19 assists in 78 contests in 2021-22. One thing to consider is that Staal is unlikely to command the $6MM AAV that he’s making on his current deal which also lessens the need to get a deal done right away. He’ll enter next season in a similar role to the one he had this year as a two-way center and faceoff specialist.
More from Carolina:
- Martin Necas has been viewed as one of the building blocks for Carolina but Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer suggests that the team should look into trading the forward and bring in a winger with a more proven track record of production to replace him. Necas had 40 points in 78 games this season which was a step back from the 41 he had in just 53 contests in 2020-21; his point per game rate was the lowest of his three full professional campaigns. That said, the 23-year-old pending restricted free agent can play down the middle so if GM Don Waddell decides to put Necas in play, there should be considerable interest in him on the trade front.
- Defenseman Ethan Bear underwent minor foot surgery following their playoff elimination, notes Walt Ruff of the Hurricanes’ team website. While the 24-year-old was officially termed as a healthy scratch in the postseason, the fact he had a procedure immediately after suggests that wasn’t the case. It was a tough first year in Carolina for Bear who had just 14 points in 58 games while averaging barely 16 minutes a night, nearly three minutes below his career average. Between that, a $2.4MM qualifying offer, and salary arbitration eligibility, Bear should be considered as a non-tender candidate when offers are due early next month.
Offseason Checklist: Columbus Blue Jackets
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that weren’t playoff-bound plus those who were eliminated over the first couple of rounds. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Columbus.
This season was a bit of a mixed bag for the Blue Jackets. They weren’t expected to contend as their rebuild continued but managed to have their highest-scoring season in franchise history despite the exodus of veteran talent and they integrated several promising youngsters into their lineup. However, despite that, they still missed the playoffs by 19 points. At this point, it seems unlikely that they’ll make some big swings to try to get into the thick of the Wild Card race but instead, they’re more likely to stay the course which is to slowly build up; their checklist has that in mind.
Add Grit
Jakub Voracek has been around the league for a long time (14 years) so he should know a thing or two about roster composition. Following the season, he told reporters including Jeff Svoboda of the Blue Jackets’ team site that the team has struggled when it comes to physicality and it’s something he’d like to see addressed so let’s start with that on their checklist.
Generally speaking, a team that has as young of a core as the Blue Jackets do (they had the lowest average age in the NHL going into the season and only got younger as the year went on) should want to insulate those players with a bit of toughness. That doesn’t necessarily mean a throwback enforcer but a power forward or two that can play in the bottom six and still be a contributor. Those players aren’t in as short supply as impact power forwards so they should be able to find some. That won’t necessarily drastically improve their chances of winning in the short term but if it gives their younger players a little more confidence, there could be some benefits from those additions.
Re-Sign Laine
Last offseason, re-signing Patrik Laine was a priority and since he simply accepted his one-year qualifying offer, it’s back at the top of their list this time around as well. While the value of the qualifier remains unchanged at $7.5MM, the 24-year-old has more leverage this time around. He’s now one year away from unrestricted free agency and could simply accept his qualifier again (or file for salary arbitration) and ensure that he’d have a chance at hitting the open market in the prime of his career.
As a result, GM Jarmo Kekalainen will soon be engaging in serious discussions with Laine’s camp on a new deal if he hasn’t done so already. If the winger wants to keep his options open instead of committing to a long-term deal, then the team will have to give serious consideration to trading him this summer; doing so by the draft would be preferable as some picks would almost certainly be part of any package.
Even if Laine is willing to sign a long-term contract, finding a number that works for both sides will be tricky. This season was Laine’s first point-per-game campaign but he missed 26 games due to injury. If we look at his career average on a per-82 extrapolation, Laine checks in at 35 goals and 31 assists. Those are certainly good numbers but the market value for a player with that type of production isn’t far off the $7.5MM he made this season. For him to forego testing the market, the Blue Jackets will need to come in above that but at what point does that become too much of an overpayment to justify (even with their current cap flexibility)?
Right now, for Columbus, Laine’s contract should be their top priority. While there’s no firm deadline to get something done, if they want to know where things stand by the draft, that’s now less than six weeks away while free agency opens up a week after that.
Add Defensive Help
The good news for the Blue Jackets this season was that they set a franchise record for goals scored. The bad news for them is that they also set a franchise record for the most goals allowed. With several young forwards with room to continue developing, there’s some hope to maintain or even improve upon their offensive production.
However, there isn’t a lot of room for optimism to significantly improve that defensive number as things stand. Their goaltending tandem remains intact with Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo with neither netminder coming off a particularly strong season. Both are capable of being better but with the back end Columbus currently has, that improvement might not be too big.
Accordingly, this is an area that needs to be addressed. They have a decent core of younger players which is fine for a rebuilding team but as they look to emerge from that, some veterans that are capable of playing an impact role should be added. It probably won’t all come in one summer – this process will likely be gradual – but an emphasis on bringing in someone capable of playing the penalty kill and in key defensive situations would certainly help to stabilize things in the short term.
Gavrikov Extension Talks
Over his three years with the Blue Jackets, Vladislav Gavrikov has worked his way into a prominent role on the back end. But because he waited until the age of 23 to come to North America, he’s already just a year away from unrestricted free agency after Kekalainen curiously signed him to a bridge contract that walked him straight to UFA eligibility.
With Seth Jones, David Savard, and even Ryan Murray departing in recent years, Columbus has seen some important defenders leave. They did well to get good assets back for Jones and Savard in trades but the talent coming in hasn’t been close to the talent that left. To lose Gavrikov next summer or even at the trade deadline would deal them another blow.
As a result, trying to work out an extension will be fairly high on Kekalainen’s to-do list, especially as the offseason progresses. He’s going to be in line for a nice raise on his $2.8MM AAV especially coming off the year he had (33 points in 82 games while averaging over 22 minutes a night) but his salary for next season – $4.2MM – serves as a reasonable starting point for talks. A multi-year offer a little above that rate (in the $4.5MM to $4.75MM range) might be enough to get it done and ensure that a key piece of their defensive squad is a pair of the post-rebuild future.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.