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.
Atlantic Notes: Cassidy, Soderblom, Campbell
After being eliminated last month, Bruins president Cam Neely indicated he hoped to have a new contract in place for GM Don Sweeney within the coming days who would then decide the fate of head coach Bruce Cassidy. More than two weeks have passed and there has been no word on either front yet. Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe opines that Neely and Sweeney – the talent suppliers – are the ones to blame for their recent early exits while he suggests firing Cassidy wouldn’t make sense based on how the team has performed during the regular season in recent years even without the playoff success they were hoping for. That said, a change for the sake of change to bring a new voice in the room – which is a lot like what happened when Cassidy took over for Claude Julien – could certainly happen but a determination on his future won’t come until Sweeney and Neely can work out a new deal.
More from the Atlantic:
- The Red Wings are hoping to work out an entry-level contract this offseason with prospect Elmer Soderblom, notes MLive’s Ansar Khan. The hulking winger stands 6’8 and weighs 249 pounds and is coming off a good season in the SHL that saw him put up 21 goals in 52 games with Frolunda of the SHL. His deal in Sweden is now up so assuming the 2019 sixth-rounder does sign, he’ll almost certainly play in North America next season instead of being loaned back overseas like Detroit did with prospect blueliner Albert Johansson this season.
- At this point, it appears as if Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell will test unrestricted free agency next month, TSN’s Chris Johnston suggested in a recent appearance on TSN 1050 (audio link). Toronto knows what Campbell’s asking price has been for quite some time dating back to contract talks in the fall and they haven’t been willing to meet that just yet. Campbell, who was named to the All-Star Game this season, had an up and down year, posting a 2.64 GAA along with a .914 SV% in 49 games. He’s set to be one of the better goalies to hit the open market and could push for three times the AAV he had on his expiring deal which checked in at $1.65MM.
Snapshots: Backlund, Hagel, Draisaitl
With the Flames facing a big summer of spending ahead of them with Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Andrew Mangiapane among those in need of new contracts, there’s an expectation that they will need to free up some money to keep the rest of the core intact. To that end, Hailey Salvian of The Athletic suggests (subscription link) that center Mikael Backlund could be a candidate to be moved this summer. The 33-year-old has seen his production tail off slightly in recent years but he still put up 39 points in 82 regular season games before having a strong showing in the playoffs with eight points in a dozen contests. Backlund has two years remaining at a $5.35MM AAV and with the center market not being particularly deep this summer, there could be some interest in him at some point as a fallback plan as long as they’re not on his partial no-trade list.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Although he has missed three straight practices, Lightning winger Brandon Hagel is expected to play in Wednesday’s Conference Final opener, relays NHL.com’s Corey Long. The 23-year-old has been battling a foot injury since blocking a shot back in the second game of the series against Florida although he has been able to play through it so far. Hagel has been relatively quiet in the playoffs so far with just a goal and three assists in 11 games but he had 25 tallies between Chicago and Tampa Bay this season so as long as he’s able to keep playing through the injury, he’s an offensive threat in their bottom six.
- Oilers center Leon Draisaitl participated in practice today for the first time since sustaining an ankle injury late in the first round, notes Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic (Twitter link). The injury didn’t slow the 26-year-old down (he had 17 points in five games against Calgary last round) but he hadn’t been taking part in practices in an effort to help the injury heal. The fact he returned to the ice today has to be considered a positive sign for Edmonton as they get set to open their series against Colorado on Tuesday.
Offseason Checklist: San Jose Sharks
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that weren’t playoff-bound plus those who were eliminated early in the postseason. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at San Jose.
After being a consistent playoff threat including 14 appearances in a 15-year stretch, things haven’t gone as well for the Sharks in recent years as they’ve missed in three straight seasons. With a veteran-laden roster and minimal flexibility from a salary cap perspective, it’s a big checklist for them to navigate through this summer.
Hire A GM
Before even getting into what needs to be done, the Sharks need to determine who is going to do the work. Interim GM Joe Will clearly has the green light to make moves as evidenced by the contract extensions for Alexander Barabanov and Jaycob Megna earlier this month. Ownership has expressed an openness to having Will take the team through the draft and potentially into free agency as well. While that’s a nice short-term vote of confidence, it doesn’t seem as if Will is considered a strong candidate for the full-time position.
But it isn’t just a matter of who the next GM will be, it’s when that person takes over. If Will has control going into free agency, it’s possible he makes decisions that his successor won’t like. That makes that scenario a tough one to play out. As a result, determining who the full-time GM will be and getting that person under contract as soon as possible needs to be at the top of their priority list.
Move A Goalie
Most of the time, a three-goalie system isn’t tenable for a full season. San Jose was able to make it work after the trade deadline with Adin Hill missing time but he’ll be fully recovered for training camp. James Reimer is still on the roster while Kaapo Kahkonen was brought in at the deadline in the Jacob Middleton trade. At first glance, it sure seems like one of them needs to be moved.
Kahkonen is the youngest of the three at 25 and is a restricted free agent this summer. To move a quality young blueliner for him only to trade Kahkonen away later doesn’t seem likely to happen. Instead, a multi-year contract that buys out some UFA years is probably their preferred outcome if they can afford it on the cap.
That leaves Hill and Reimer battling for one spot. Both players have one year left on their contracts and will be UFA-eligible in 2023. The cap hits are nearly identical ($2.25MM for Reimer, $2.175MM for Hill). But when it comes to age and experience, there’s a big difference as the 34-year-old Reimer has 433 career NHL appearances while the 26-year-old Hill sits at 74. If the Sharks are prioritizing the longer-term, Hill has the most upside but it’s also possible that it comes down to if one is willing to sign an extension this summer. Neither netminder is likely to carry much trade value but it would be tough for the Sharks to carry all three on the roster in October.
Meier Extension Talks
Back in 2019, the Sharks signed winger Timo Meier to a four-year, $24MM contract as a restricted free agent. On its own, the AAV was reasonable and it allowed him to still be RFA-eligible at the end of the deal. But his contract was the most extreme of the backloaded contracts done that summer as his salary for next season is $10MM. Since that deal was signed before the new CBA, he’s not subjected to the new rule where the qualifier is the lower of the previous salary or 120% of the AAV. In other words, they have to qualify him at $10MM next summer if he’s not on a new contract by then.
A few years ago when the salary cap was steadily on the rise, the number would have been a little inflated but potentially manageable. Now, with the Upper Limit barely moving for the time being, offering Meier $10MM isn’t manageable, at least with the state of the rest of their roster.
While Meier is signed for next season already, there is a pressure point of sorts this summer. In an ideal world, San Jose doesn’t want him to enter 2022-23 without a new deal in place. Getting to next summer where Meier either has to be let go or qualified at an above-market rate isn’t palatable for the team. As a result, finding a suitable extension now has to be a priority. Meier is worth a raise on his current AAV and is coming off a career year that saw him pick up 35 goals and 41 assists but it shouldn’t be up to $10MM per season. Whoever is named as the permanent GM is going to have a big negotiation this summer as a result.
Free Up Cap Space
The Sharks have some big contracts on the books, especially on the back end where they have over $31MM in commitments and that doesn’t include RFA Mario Ferraro who is coming off a season where he logged 23 minutes a game. Even without arbitration eligibility, he’s in a good position to command a sizable raise of his own off his entry-level salary.
Right now, San Jose could get through the summer okay. They could try to sign Ferraro and Kahkonen for one year, sign their other RFAs to one-year deals, trade a goalie, and manage to narrowly stay cap-compliant by carrying a roster close to the minimum size. But will they be any better than they’ve been the last few seasons? Probably not. Looking ahead to the 2023 summer, they’ll have 11 players signed at just over $57.5MM which doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room for improvement in the future either, especially considering Meier needs a new deal that summer.
As a result, if they want to add an impact player or even have the flexibility to shake up their roster, they need to move a big contract. Brent Burns ($8MM through 2024-25), Erik Karlsson ($11.5MM through 2026-27), and Marc-Edouard Vlasic ($7MM through 2025-26) are the oft-discussed possibilities although they each have at least some form of trade protection and not a particularly robust trade market because of their contracts. No one said it would be easy but for the Sharks to have a chance to shake things up, they will need to find a way to move out one of those rearguards.
Resolve Kane Grievance
There is one other factor at play when it comes to San Jose’s summer and that’s the Evander Kane situation. The expectation is that it will be resolved by the start of free agency but there is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding whether or not his deal will be put back on their books, the termination will be upheld, or, most likely, a settlement is reached which is what happened with the Kings and Mike Richards when things went down that path back in 2015. The details of any potential settlement will go a long way towards determining what space they have to work with this summer and how much extra emphasis will have to be placed on clearing out one of their existing contracts. The sooner they find out the end result of this, the better.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Calle Rosen Sent To AHL
Monday: After clearing waivers yesterday, Rosen has now officially been sent back to the Thunderbirds. Springfield will start the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday against the Laval Rocket.
Saturday: It’s rare at this time of year to see someone on regular waivers but that is indeed the case today as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the Blues have placed defenseman Calle Rosen on the wire. The move is being made with the intention of sending him back to Springfield of the AHL to assist in the playoff run for the Thunderbirds.
The 28-year-old spent most of the season in the minors but he was recalled due to injuries in late March and stayed up the rest of the play and was in the lineup for St. Louis more often than not. Rosen wound up playing in a career-best 18 regular season games for the Blues this season, collecting seven points while averaging a little over 14 minutes a night. In the playoffs, he played in all but three of their twelve games, once again logging over 14 minutes per contest. He was productive in his stints with Springfield as well with 28 points in 40 AHL contests.
If someone was to claim Rosen, he’d be ineligible to play the rest of the season, even if he was picked up by a team that’s still playing. As he’s an unrestricted free agent this summer, the likely only rationale for a team to claim him would be one of the other teams still participating in the AHL playoffs wanting to prevent Springfield from getting a key player back. That seldom happens so there’s a good chance Rosen will clear on Sunday and will join Charlie Lindgren (who returned to the minors earlier today) as those going back to help the Blues’ affiliate make a push for the Calder Cup.
Five Key Stories: 5/23/22 – 5/29/22
As the playoffs continue on, there was plenty of notable news away from the ice which gets the spotlight in our key stories.
Agent Change: Generally speaking, a player changing agents isn’t big news. But when it’s a prominent player making the switch just before extension talks are set to begin as Red Wings center Dylan Larkin did, it’s newsworthy. His former agency at KO Sports indicated in a statement that extensive work had already been done on preparations to begin extension talks so Detroit fans should be pleased that there appears to be a willingness on his end to extend his stay with his hometown team. Larkin will now be represented by CAA and agents Matt Williams and Pat Brisson. He will have a $6.1MM AAV next season and is well-positioned for a nice raise on that for his next contract.
Marchand To Miss Extended Time: The Bruins will be without a star winger when the puck drops on the 2022-23 season as Brad Marchand underwent successful hip arthroscopy and labral repair on both of his hips. The procedure carries a recovery time of roughly six months which means he is likely to miss at least the first month of next season. His absence will certainly be a significant blow for Boston as the 34-year-old has been a consistent high-end scoring threat, averaging over a point per game in six straight seasons, including notching 80 points in 70 contests this season. Impressively, he picked up 11 points in seven playoff contests as well while trying to play through the injury.
Wilson Out Too: The Capitals will also be missing a key winger to start next season as winger Tom Wilson had surgery to repair a torn ACL. The expected recovery timeline is six to eight months so the 28-year-old will miss the first month at an absolute minimum and could be out until close to midseason if it takes the full time to recover. While Wilson is best known for his physicality and run-ins with the Department of Player Safety, he has also become a key offensive threat for them and is coming off a career year with 24 goals and 28 assists in 78 games. With Nicklas Backstrom’s hip issues not getting any better, Washington is facing a situation where they are likely to be without a pair of top-six forwards when the puck drops on the 2022-23 season.
Calling It A Career: After spending the last three seasons with Toronto on minimum-salary contracts, veteran Jason Spezza has hung up his skates, announcing his retirement at the age of 38. Spezza had made it clear that he wouldn’t go elsewhere this summer and presumably, the Maple Leafs had decided not to bring him back, at least in an on-ice capacity; Spezza has joined their front office as a special assistant to the GM. His playing days end with 1,248 games played between Ottawa, Dallas, and Toronto while he winds up just five points shy of becoming the 94th player in NHL history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Flyers Interview Tortorella: The Flyers are casting a wide net as they continue their search for their next head coach. It was revealed that they interviewed ESPN analyst John Tortorella for their vacancy. The 63-year-old has coached 1,383 career regular season contests and sits 14th all-time in victories. He has plenty of familiarity with the division having coached with the Rangers and Blue Jackets and would fit Philadelphia’s desire to find a coach that can help them win now. Others that have already been interviewed or are believed to be in the mix include Barry Trotz, Jim Montgomery, Kirk Muller, and Mike Vellucci.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.