Metropolitan Notes: Jarry, Rangers, Morrow
While Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is eligible to sign a contract extension at any point now, Tim Benz of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review argues that the window to do so is much narrower with GM Ron Hextall’s general hesitance to work on in-season extensions. The 27-year-old has one year left on his deal that carries a $3.5MM cap hit and coming off a season that saw him post a 2.42 GAA with a .919 SV% in 58 games, he has a strong case to add a couple million to his next AAV based on the contracts handed out to the top goalies in free agency earlier this week. With that in mind, Benz suggests that Pittsburgh’s best strategy might be to wait as with so much of their roster locked up long-term already, if the team wants to have any sort of roster flexibility at all, it might have to come from the goaltending position and locking up Jarry now would take away that option.
More from the Metropolitan:
- While the Rangers have nearly $5MM in cap space left per CapFriendly, they still have to re-sign RFA winger Kaapo Kakko and add a depth defender or two. Beyond that, Larry Brooks of the New York Post suggests that GM Chris Drury should be sitting on his remaining cap space rather than trying to find a way to add another piece this summer. New York didn’t need to rely on banking in-season cap space a year ago since they were well under the Upper Limit but that won’t be the case anymore. Accordingly, if they think they’re going to want to add a piece or two in-season, the only way to have a chance of doing that is to bank as much cap space as possible early on to create enough room for those additions closer to the trade deadline.
- Hurricanes GM Don Waddell told Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer that he expects prospect defenseman Scott Morrow to turn pro after next season. The 19-year-old was a second-round selection (40th overall) back in 2021 but played quite well at UMass in his freshman year, notching 13 goals and 20 assists in just 38 games. If he’s able to build on that performance in 2022-23, Waddell feels that Morrow would be reaching a point where there will be nothing left to work on in college even though he’d still have two years of eligibility left at that point.
Penguins Sign Owen Pickering
The Penguins have signed their top selection from the draft earlier this month, announcing that they’ve signed blueliner Owen Pickering to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 18-year-old was the 21st pick by Pittsburgh earlier this month following a strong season with Swift Current of the WHL where he had 33 points in 62 games in his first full major junior season. Now standing 6’4, Pickering had a late growth spurt and will need some time to fill out his frame before he’s ready to even consider playing in the pros. He’s the first first-round pick from the Broncos since Boston took Jake DeBrusk 14th overall back in 2015.
Pickering’s contract is eligible to slide a year if he doesn’t play in ten NHL games next season (and it’s doubtful he will see any NHL action). As a result, he’ll still have three years left on his deal after this one, likely at a slightly lower cap hit assuming his contract has signing bonuses which is quite normal for first-round selections.
Harri Sateri Signs In Switzerland
While the Coyotes are among the teams that still have a vacancy to fill between the pipes, their backup down the stretch last season is moving on. Todd Diamond, the agent for goaltender Harri Sateri, told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link) that his client has signed a one-year deal with EHC Biel-Bienne of the Swiss NLA.
The 32-year-old had a strong showing with Novosibirsk of the KHL last season, posting a 2.02 GAA along with a .926 SV% in 38 games. He also played extremely well in five appearances in the Olympics, helping to get him on the NHL radar. Just before the trade deadline, Toronto signed Sateri to be their backup goalie for the rest of the season but he had to pass through waivers first to get there. That didn’t happen as the Coyotes scooped him up off the wire to make him their backup for the final few weeks.
It was Sateri’s first NHL action since the 2017-18 campaign with Florida and suffice it to say, it didn’t go particularly well. Sateri had a 4.22 GAA with a .866 SV% in six appearances which certainly didn’t help his chances of securing a one-way deal to stay in North America so he’ll instead try his hand in the Swiss league instead. Meanwhile, Arizona’s current backup battle would be between Ivan Prosvetov and Jon Gillies with neither of them proving that they’re ready for full-time duty behind Karel Vejmelka just yet so GM Bill Armstrong likely still has some work to do on that front this summer.
Darcy Kuemper Expected To Sign With Capitals
12:46 pm: The Capitals have officially signed Kuemper to a five-year deal worth $5.25MM per season.
6:57 am: While the goalie shuffle on the first day of free agency won’t be as big as it has been in recent years, a couple of notable goalies will be on the move. One of those is Darcy Kuemper who appears to have his next team in place as ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and TSN’s Bob McKenzie report (Twitter links) that the netminder will become the new starter for the Capitals once free agency officially opens up in a few hours. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli adds (via Twitter) that the deal could be in the range of five years at $5.5MM per season.
The 32-year-old is coming off a successful season with Colorado that saw him post a 2.54 GAA and a .921 SV% in 57 starts while battling through injuries during the playoffs to help lead the Avs to the Stanley Cup, helping make him the top-ranked goalie on our Top 50 Free Agents list. It worked out quite well for him that former Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer decided to go last summer, prompting the Avalanche to flip Conor Timmins and a first-round pick to Arizona to get what turns out to be just one year of the netminder although having won the Cup, they certainly won’t mind.
Kuemper’s numbers are a considerable improvement on what Washington received from their netminders last season as the four goalies they used combined for a 2.81 GAA and a .901 SV%. Considering that the Caps were still decent in the goals allowed department (allowing the 12th-fewest in the NHL) in 2021-22, Kuemper’s addition should certainly make them a stingier team.
Washington will still be on the lookout for another goaltender as both of their regulars from last season are gone – Vitek Vanecek to New Jersey in a draft-day trade while Ilya Samsonov was non-tendered on Monday. Even veteran depth goalie Pheonix Copley is set to hit the open market later today. They enter the day with nearly $9MM in cap room per CapFriendly before factoring in LTIR possibilities and a good chunk of that money will be heading towards this new tandem.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Carolina Hurricanes Acquire Brent Burns
11:55am: The deal is now complete, according to LeBrun. The Hurricanes will receive Burns and Lane Pederson in exchange for Steven Lorentz, Eetu Makiniemi, and a conditional 2023 third-round pick. The Sharks will retain one-third of Burns’ remaining contract.
10:30am: While Carolina moved a notable defenseman at the draft when they sent Anthony DeAngelo to Philadelphia, it appears they’ve found his replacement. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Hurricanes are close to acquiring Brent Burns from San Jose. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (Twitter link) that Carolina isn’t on Burns’ three-team trade list but it appears he’ll be willing to waive his trade protection to facilitate a move. LeBrun adds (via Twitter) that multiple players are involved in the swap.
Burns has been a staple on the back end for the Sharks for more than a decade as an all-situations defender that logs heavy minutes. A three-time Norris finalist (and one-time winner), the 37-year-old is coming off a pretty strong season as he led all San Jose defenders in scoring with 10 goals and 44 assists in 82 games in 2021-22 while logging a career-high 26:09 per game.
The reason that San Jose is moving him is his contract. Burns still has three years left on his contract with a cap hit of $8MM and with the Sharks not having a lot of financial flexibility, it was expected that they’d try to move one of their three pricey veterans on the back end. With both Erik Karlsson and Marc-Edouard Vlasic coming off tough seasons that have them on negative-value contracts, Burns was the logical one to try to move.
With Carolina, Burns shouldn’t be counted on to log anywhere near the type of minutes he did in San Jose with the Hurricanes and he could fit in nicely on their second pairing behind Brett Pesce. He would certainly help replace the minutes that DeAngelo logged last season while being able to help cover the offensive gap left behind as well.
More to follow.
Blues Sign Max-Term Extension With Robert Thomas
11:25am: The Blues have now made it official, though it will cost a bit more than originally reported. St. Louis has signed Thomas to an eight-year, $65.1MM contract, meaning he will carry an $8.125MM cap hit starting in 2023-24.
7:20am: While unrestricted free agents often dominate the headlines at the start of free agency, it’s also a day when players that are entering the final year of their contracts can sign extensions. It appears one of those will be Blues center Robert Thomas as Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the two sides are closing on an eight-year, $64MM extension.
After a tough injury-riddled 2020-21 campaign that saw the 23-year-old put up just three goals and nine assists in 33 games, St. Louis pushed for a bridge contract last summer, eventually agreeing to a two-year, $5.6MM pact that was identical to the one that Jordan Kyrou had signed a month earlier.
It’s safe to say that the Blues got a fantastic return on the first year of that deal as Thomas put up 20 goals and 57 assists in 72 games last season, good for second in team scoring behind Vladimir Tarasenko. On top of that, his playing time jumped up by more than five minutes a game to 18:36 while becoming an all-situations player. In other words, he performed like a true top center.
He’s certainly about to be paid like a top-line center as the $8MM AAV of this deal nearly triples his current price tag and would make him the Blues’ highest-paid player for 2023-24. This contract will buy out his final two remaining RFA-eligible years and then give St. Louis six extra years of team control beyond that.
St. Louis has $18MM coming off their books in the summer of 2023, the bulk of that coming from $7.5MM expiring deals for Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly so GM Doug Armstrong certainly has some flexibility at his disposal to give Thomas this type of contract. He’ll likely want to keep O’Reilly while Kyrou will be looking at a significant raise of his own and by the time those two deals get done between now and next summer, most of their savings will already be spent. But they’ll have Thomas locked up through the prime of his career and if he can continue to improve, this contract could become a team-friendly one down the road.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Josh Manson Expected To Re-Sign With Avalanche
One of Colorado’s key trade deadline acquisitions is set to stick around. As first reported by Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Avalanche have agreed to terms on a new contract with defenseman Josh Manson. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that it’s a four-year, $18MM contract which results in a $4.5MM AAV.
The 30-year-old was brought in from Anaheim just before the trade deadline in exchange for defenseman prospect Drew Helleson and a 2023 second-round pick in an effort to shore up the back of their defense corps. Manson was able to do just that, playing a key role in helping Colorado win the Stanley Cup last month and was ranked 16th in our Top 50 UFA list.
Last season, Manson played in 67 games between Anaheim and Colorado, picking up six goals and ten assists. While he had a 37-point season back in 2017-18, the 16 points he had in 2021-22 is closer to the typical production that he puts up which limited the upside of his market. However, he was still able to land a small raise from the $4.1MM he had on his last contract with another four-year commitment.
The Avalanche will have an impressive back end next season with Manson sticking with an impressive young core that features Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, and Bowen Byram that are all 24 or younger and Devon Toews who has emerged as a high-end defender in his own right since joining Colorado. With Erik Johnson still in the fold, that’s one of the stronger and deeper defense corps in the league which should give plenty of support to new starter Alexandar Georgiev.
With this agreement and the one given to Darren Helm earlier today, Colorado now has a little over $9MM in remaining cap space per CapFriendly with Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky both set to hit the open market in less than an hour. Barring a significant trade, it’s unlikely that either of them will re-sign with the bulk of their remaining camp room likely being earmarked for restricted free agent winger Artturi Lehkonen.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Free Agent Focus: Boston Bruins
Free agency is almost upon us. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. Next up is a look at the Boston Bruins.
Key Restricted Free Agent
F Jack Studnicka – We’re using the term ‘key’ here loosely but that’s simply because Boston doesn’t have any pending restricted free agents that were full-timers in the NHL last season. Or were even in the NHL for a quarter of the games. The closest is Studnicka who got into 15 games in 2021-22 and 20 the years before but the 2017 second-round pick hasn’t been able to establish himself yet as a full-time NHL regular. Now waiver-eligible, Boston could look to make Studnicka an offer for the league minimum but on a higher AHL salary or even a one-way deal in exchange for keeping the cap hit down. Those deals are quite common for players in his situation and it should play out like that here as well.
Other RFAs: D Jack Ahcan, F Matt Filipe
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Patrice Bergeron – The soon-to-be 37-year-old has been a fixture in Boston’s lineup for the last 18 years, spending many of those as an elite two-way center. While he’s getting up there in age, Bergeron was still quite productive last season, finishing third on the team in scoring with 65 points in 73 games while winning the Selke Trophy for the fifth time in his career. If he was to test the market, he’d have no shortage of interest and could command a raise on the $6.875MM he made on his expiring deal. Of course, Bergeron won’t be testing the market and has made that clear already with his options either being re-signing with Boston or retiring; RDS’ Francois Gagnon reports (Twitter link) a deal has been agreed to and will be announced soon. With the Bruins having limited cap space and a desire to bring David Krejci back from the Czech league, Bergeron will need to take less than market value or an incentive-laden deal to work around their cap situation.
F Curtis Lazar – The other player Boston picked up in the Taylor Hall trade, Lazar had one of his best NHL seasons in 2021-22, collecting 16 points while recording a career-high 186 hits. He can kill penalties and has been close to a 50% player at the faceoff dot over the last three seasons. Gritty fourth liners always generate some interest on the open market and the 27-year-old should be no exception as he’ll get a contract that’s above the $800K he made in each of the last two years.
D Josh Brown – After having a limited role in Ottawa, the Bruins picked up the 28-year-old at the trade deadline to give them some extra depth for the playoffs. He rarely played the rest of the way, suiting up in just six games down the stretch and once in the postseason. While that doesn’t help his cause heading into free agency, Brown has shown over his four seasons that he’s a serviceable depth defender that can bring some physicality into the mix. He’ll have a bit of interest as a result.
Other UFAs: F Anton Blidh, G Callum Booth, D Kodie Curran, F Steven Fogarty, F Jesper Froden, G Troy Grosenick, F Cameron Hughes
Projected Cap Space
At the moment, Boston has just over $2.3MM in cap space which certainly doesn’t give them any room to work with while Bergeron and Krejci would need to take contracts that are well below market value. Accordingly, GM Don Sweeney will need to be active on the trade front to create some space if they’re going to be active in adding to their roster this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Maple Leafs Sign Dennis Hildeby
Today is the first day that teams can officially sign their 2022 draft picks to entry-level contracts. The first to do an official deal is Toronto as the Maple Leafs announced that they’ve signed goaltender Dennis Hildeby to a three-year deal with an AAV of $843,330.
The 20-year-old was a fourth-round pick (122nd overall) last week in his third year of eligibility. Hildeby is coming off a season where he split time in Sweden’s junior level and in the SHL but it was his performance at the top level that likely got him on Toronto’s radar. He played in seven games with Farjestad, posting a 1.93 GAA along with a .931 SV%.
Hildeby is signed with Farjestad for two more seasons which makes the timing of this deal a little curious as the expectation was that he’d stay in Sweden and play at that level before making the jump to North America. That could still happen with the changes to the Player Transfer Agreement with Sweden making it harder for Swedish-born players to come play in the AHL. If Hildeby remains in Sweden, his contract will not slide as that option is only available to junior-aged players.
Canadiens Re-Sign Three Players
The Canadiens have taken care of three of their pending free agents before the market officially opens up in a few hours, announcing the re-signings of winger Alex Belzile and Joel Teasdale plus center Nate Schnarr to one-year, two-way deals. Financial terms of the contracts were not officially disclosed but TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link) that Belzile’s contract will pay $750K in the NHL, $275K in the minors, and has a $350K guarantee. Meanwhile, PuckPedia adds (Twitter links) that Schnarr and Teasdale will receive $750K in the NHL and $82.5K in the minors.
Belzile has seen NHL action in each of the last three years with his debut actually coming in the playoff bubble in 2020. In 2021-22, he got into 11 games with Montreal and was held off the scoresheet while averaging 10:24 per game. The 30-year-old was more productive in the minors, notching 10 goals and 12 assists in 32 games with AHL Laval and chipped in with nine more points in 15 postseason contests. He was slated to become an unrestricted free agent later today.
Teasdale, an undrafted free agent signing back in 2018, has yet to make it to the NHL level and has dealt with multiple knee injuries in recent years. He was limited to just 44 games with Laval last season, collecting 15 goals and 13 assists which was good enough for the team to tender him a qualifying offer earlier this week. Since the 23-year-old missed all of the 2019-20 season due to injury, he still has a year of waiver exemption remaining despite his entry-level contract now being finished.
As for Schnarr, he was acquired from New Jersey back at the trade deadline in exchange for goaltender Andrew Hammond. The 23-year-old combined for 17 goals and 19 assists in 63 AHL games between Utica and Laval and will likely be earmarked to start in the minors again next season.