Offseason Checklist: Chicago Blackhawks
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t playoff-bound plus some that were eliminated early in the playoffs. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Chicago.
There were high hopes for the Blackhawks to start this season after a summer that saw them add a new top defender in Seth Jones, a new starting goalie in Marc-Andre Fleury, as well as some extra depth up front. The hope was that these improvements would help get them back into the playoff picture after missing the postseason the year before. It didn’t happen. Instead, mired with off-ice controversy and on-ice struggles, things snowballed in the opposite direction and instead of building for the playoffs, GM Kyle Davidson has committed to going for a rebuild instead. As a result, he has a busy summer ahead of him.
Coaching Decision
After Jeremy Colliton was let go after just a dozen games, Derek King was elevated from coaching with AHL Rockford to fill in on an interim basis for the rest of the season. His record wasn’t stellar by any stretch (27-33-10) but the team was much more competitive under King despite having nothing to play for but pride for most of the season.
Davidson decided that he wants to undergo a full coaching search and one of the questions he’ll have to answer is the type of coach he’s looking for. Is he looking for a long-term fixture to grow with the team or is it someone to take them through this transitional period? If it’s the latter, someone like King – who will interview for the full-time job – becomes a legitimate candidate with how Chicago performed down the stretch. A veteran coach doesn’t seem like a good fit for a rebuilding squad but Davidson has committed to a thorough search so there will undoubtedly be some veteran coaches considered over the coming weeks on top of some first-time options.
On top of hiring a head coach, Davidson and whoever he picks as his bench boss will need to fill a couple of vacancies on the bench after the team dismissed associate coach Marc Crawford and assistant coach Rob Cookson this summer.
Build A Goalie Tandem
In terms of Chicago’s on-ice personnel, there is a lot of work to be done this summer between the pipes. Fleury was moved to Minnesota at the trade deadline while holdovers Kevin Lankinen and Collin Delia are both pending unrestricted free agents. As it stands, the only goalie with professional experience that’s signed for next season is Arvid Soderblom. Suffice it to say, they have some work to do.
After an impressive first NHL season, Lankinen struggled considerably this year with a save percentage of just .891. A year ago, it looked like he could be a sought-after netminder in free agency but now, his market will have cooled considerably. Still, a return to Chicago could be an option in a backup role. Delia is someone that has been around the organization for a while (five years) but never has really emerged beyond being a good AHL netminder that can play a handful of NHL contests when needed. With the Blackhawks wanting to give Soderblom and Jaxson Stauber lots of action with AHL Rockford, Delia seems likely to move on.
Davidson could try to go after a younger free agent goalie in Jack Campbell or Ville Husso with the hope that they’ll still be on the team when they’re ready to try to contend again but that seems like an unlikely scenario. Instead, veterans on short-term contracts that give them some flexibility seems like the smarter way to go for them. They’ll need a couple of them over the next few months.
Rebuild The Rest
There are few core players on Chicago that should be viewed as untouchable. With them appearing to be eyeing a multi-year process, anyone that isn’t signed or under team control through that time could very well be expendable.
Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson has a very busy offseason ahead of him.The biggest decisions that will need to be made in the short term involve winger Patrick Kane and center Jonathan Toews. Both players have spent their entire careers (14 years for Toews, 15 for Kane) in Chicago and have been on identical contracts since 2010. They’re set to enter the final year of their deals that carry a $10.5MM cap hit. Are they a part of the future plans? Davidson allowed for the possibility that they could stick around but will the veterans be willing to go through several more years of losing? If not, then they will have to give serious consideration to trading their long-time pillars. Are those moves easier to make now when moving salary is a bit easier or closer to the trade deadline when most of the cap hit has been covered already? That, along with the possibility of extensions, will likely have to be jointly explored this summer.
Other veterans will likely be on the move as well to add future assets and try to free up some cap flexibility. Blueliner Jake McCabe and Connor Murphy along with center Tyler Johnson are all potential options either this summer or at some point during the season.
RFA Decisions
Two younger veterans that could fit in the above category as well are Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome. Both are restricted free agents this summer with qualifying offers ($4MM for Kubalik, $3.6MM for Strome) that are a bit high relative to their performance in recent years. Kubalik had 30 goals in his rookie season but just 32 in the last two combined. Strome, meanwhile, has been hit or miss since joining Chicago in 2018, at times looking like a capable top-six player and others where he struggled to the point of being a healthy scratch.
Not that long ago, both players were viewed as potential long-term fits for the Blackhawks but that isn’t the case now due to their inconsistency and somewhat recent struggles. Kubalik was available at the trade deadline with minimal interest while Strome has been available off and on going back more than a year although his strong finish (36 points in his last 40 games) could help his chances of sticking around with a one-year, ‘prove it’ type of contract.
Can they keep both? With their cap situation, can they afford to keep both? They can opt for club-elected arbitration which carries a minimum salary of 85% of the qualifying offer but there’s no guarantee the arbitrator will agree with that valuation and there are no walkaway rights with club-elected arbitration. Chicago can try to negotiate a lower-priced deal but there’s no requirement for Kubalik and Strome to agree to something like that. Accordingly, don’t be surprised if both players are in the rumor mill in the coming weeks to see if there’s a trade return that could be palatable if Davidson doesn’t want to pay the cost to keep them.
DeBrincat Extension Talks
One player that Davidson will undoubtedly be willing to pay the cost to keep is winger Alex DeBrincat. He signed a three-year bridge deal back in 2019 and has outperformed it, scoring 73 goals in just 134 games since then, including 41 this season. With his contract coming before the CBA extension, he’s subject to the old qualifying offer rules which means his 2022-23 salary of $9MM represents his qualifying offer next summer.
The 24-year-old will be eligible for an extension once the new league year starts in mid-July. DeBrincat looks like a centerpiece of Chicago’s rebuilding process so locking him up as soon as possible is something that needs to be explored. It wouldn’t be surprising to see discussions on a new agreement begin sooner than later as a result. A deal doesn’t have to be done now but if something isn’t agreed on, he’ll enter next summer a year away from UFA eligibility which always carries some risk. Expect Davidson to try to avoid that if he can.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Salary figures courtesy of CapFriendly.
Scott Walker Won’t Return As Canucks Assistant Coach
When Bruce Boudreau joined Vancouver as their head coach, he brought along Scott Walker as one of his assistants. However, while Boudreau will be sticking around, Walker won’t be as the bench boss indicated on The Bob McCown Podcast (audio link) that Walker won’t be back behind the bench and the team has already started to look for a replacement.
This is now the second time that Walker has left Vancouver in his post-playing days as he had served in a development role for three seasons before departing to be a special assistant to the GM in Arizona in 2019. However, that role was short-lived and he was back to working with OHL Guelph as their President of Hockey Operations last season.
Boudreau and Walker have some history as Walker finished his career playing for Boudreau while Postmedia’s Patrick Johnston mentions Boudreau nearly hired Walker back in 2016 when he was coaching in Minnesota. The two were also set to coach internationally for Canada at the Channel One and Spengler Cups alongside Boudreau but those plans changed when Vancouver came calling. With that working relationship and how well the Canucks performed in the second half of the season, Walker’s departure certainly comes as a bit of a surprise.
There will be plenty of coaches (both head and assistants) changing places in the coming months and Vancouver can now be added to the list of those that will have someone new behind the bench in the fall.
East Notes: Flyers, Lazar, Rakell
The Flyers are expected to interview Barry Trotz for their vacant head coaching position on Friday, reports Sam Carchidi of Philly Hockey Now. Philadelphia is among the teams looking for a new bench boss after opting not to give interim coach Mike Yeo the full-time job and with Chuck Fletcher looking for someone to turn things around quickly, Trotz’s track record certainly is appealing. Trotz’s former team, the Islanders, made the playoffs in each of his first three seasons while making the Eastern Conference Final in two of those while his defensive tactics would certainly help to shore up a team that allowed 298 goals this season. Philadelphia certainly isn’t the only team interested in the 59-year-old, however, as Trotz interviewed in Winnipeg earlier this week.
More from the Eastern Conference:
- Bruins center Curtis Lazar told reporters, including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic (subscription link) that there is mutual interest in signing a new contract. The 27-year-old had eight goals and eight assists in 70 games this season while chipping in with 186 hits and is the type of energetic depth player that should garner some interest on the open market this summer. Lazar will be coming off a deal that paid him $800K and he should be able to get a little bit more than that at least either from Boston or someone else in free agency.
- Penguins winger Rickard Rakell told Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he’s definitely open to re-signing with Pittsburgh for next season although no contract talks have been held just yet. The 29-year-old did well after being acquired from Anaheim at the trade deadline, collecting 13 points in 19 games during the regular season before being injured and missing most of the first round. Rakell is coming off a deal that paid him $3.8MM over each of the last six seasons and while he hasn’t come close to matching the 34 goals and 35 assists he had in 2017-18, he should be able to land a bit of a higher price tag on the open market this summer.
Offseason Checklist: New Jersey Devils
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t playoff-bound plus some that were eliminated early in the playoffs. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at New Jersey.
While the Devils made a big splash last summer when they handed Dougie Hamilton the biggest UFA contract, they weren’t picked by many to contend for a playoff spot this season. That said, not many expected them to struggle as much as they did either. They’re a team that’s viewed as being on the rise with a good young nucleus so the focus now needs to be on strengthening their squad to get back into postseason contention which is a big part of their summer checklist.
Defensive Decisions
GM Tom Fitzgerald has a few decisions to make this summer when it comes to his back end. For starters, Damon Severson and Ryan Graves will be entering the final year of their respective contracts next season and both will be UFA-eligible next summer. Severson had a career year this season and was their top defender in terms of production and playing time. That has him in line for a sizable raise on his current $4.167MM AAV. But with Hamilton (another right-shot rearguard) locked up at $9MM per year through 2027-28, can they afford another high-priced blueliner on that side? If a deal can’t be reached, then he becomes a trade candidate.
Graves’ situation is a little trickier. He quietly had a career year offensively and didn’t look out of place in his first season with New Jersey. But his track record is a lot smaller; he has just three full NHL seasons under his belt and two of those were shortened due to COVID. He’s trending towards a raise on his $3.33MM AAV but has he shown enough to be part of their long-term plans? If so, Fitzgerald will likely want to try to work on an extension once he’s eligible to sign one in July.
The other decision they’ll need to make pertains to P.K. Subban. While it’s likely that he won’t be retained, how are they going to redistribute his $9MM cap hit across the roster? They have the ability to try to swing big and add another impact blueliner or try to use some of that to cover extensions for one or both of Severson and Graves. Alternatively, if Fitzgerald opted to reallocate the bulk of that money to his forward group, that could bolster their forward unit. With the team being near the middle of the pack in that regard this season, a big boost up front could propel them closer to the top ten in that department.
Re-Sign Bratt
If someone was to ask who New Jersey’s top scorer was this season, it’d be understandable the first name that came to mind was either Jack Hughes or Nico Hischier, their core building blocks down the middle. But that wouldn’t be the right answer. No, the leading scorer was winger Jesper Bratt, a player who more than doubled his previous career-high in points while putting up 26 goals and 47 assists in 76 games. He picked a perfect time to do so as he’s set to be a restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility. As a result, a new deal for the 23-year-old will be high on Fitzgerald’s to-do list.
It won’t be an easy task, however, when it comes to finding the right number for a contract. Is his 73-point season a sign of things to come or an outlier considering his other four NHL seasons had point totals between 30 and 35? Bratt’s camp will certainly argue the former while the Devils will want to hedge against the latter. Fitzgerald has stated his intention to get Bratt signed to a long-term contract and with only two RFA years remaining, it’s going to take a big number to get the winger to lock down the prime years of his career. He’s coming off a deal that carried a $2.75MM AAV and a long-term deal that buys out some UFA seasons will almost certainly cost double that or more.
Add A Goalie
Two years ago, the Devils thought they had the right veteran partner for Mackenzie Blackwood when they signed Corey Crawford to a two-year deal. However, he had a last-minute change of heart, retiring before training camp. New Jersey went down a similar path last summer, inking Jonathan Bernier to a two-year deal. But a hip injury limited him to just ten games this season and he may not be ready to start 2022-23. In the meantime, Blackwood’s stock has fallen considerably from a goalie on the rise to one that couldn’t crack the top 50 in the NHL in SV% among qualifying goaltenders this season.
Generally speaking, carrying three goaltenders isn’t a desirable situation. But for the Devils, it’s basically a necessity to hedge against Bernier’s injury and Blackwood’s struggles. Nico Daws was okay in his first taste of NHL duty but he needs to be in the minors for another season or two so they’ll need to look outside the organization for that third netminder.
The UFA market would be the easiest way to go with players like Jack Campbell and Ville Husso representing upside buys, albeit risky ones with their limited track records. Veterans like Marc-Andre Fleury and Braden Holtby are shorter-term options if their intention is to just shore the position up for now and look for the big fix later. (Darcy Kuemper is also available but it’s hard to see the Devils being the winner for his services.) With where New Jersey is in terms of still emerging from its rebuild though, will they be appealing to those free agents if they’re looking to win sooner than later?
The trade market is another option although that market won’t materialize for a while. Alexandar Georgiev should be available but is he much of an upgrade (and would the Rangers move him to their rival)? Washington may move one of their goalies if they can land a more proven veteran but again, they come with question marks. Others will come available over the coming months but will they be considerable upgrades? That’s far from a guarantee.
There aren’t any truly obvious choices here for New Jersey other than the fact they’ll need to add a goalie at some point over the next couple of months.
Add Win-Now Talent
While New Jersey opted to keep Lindy Ruff behind the bench (instead opting to make a couple of changes to their assistants), it’s fair to surmise he’ll be on a short leash to start next season. At some point, they need to go from rebuilding to pushing for a playoff spot; they’ve only made the playoffs once in the last decade. That switch should be flipped this summer.
They have a little over $25MM in cap space this summer with Bratt’s deal being the only one that will be a high-priced contract. While they also need to re-sign Miles Wood and Pavel Zacha, they’ll have well above $10MM to spend on the open market or in trades which puts them in a much better position than most of the league. While it’s understandable if they want to leave themselves a bit of a cap cushion heading into the season, they should be within a few million of the Upper Limit so there is definitely room to work with.
They have the ability to outbid teams in free agency as they did for Hamilton last summer. They can take on a bad contract for cheap in a trade that would double as an upgrade on their roster. The options are plentiful but by the time October rolls around, Fitzgerald needs to find a way to add multiple impact veteran players if the Devils are going to have a realistic shot of trying to get into the Wild Card hunt next season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Salary figures courtesy of CapFriendly.
International Notes: Semin, Leskinen, Wingerli
Long-time NHL winger Alexander Semin has decided to soon hang up his skates, as the VHL in Russia announced that he’ll be retiring after playing in an All-Star game next month. The 38-year-old had 517 points in 650 career NHL games over parts of 11 seasons, the last of which came in 2015-16 with Montreal who terminated his deal midseason. Since then, the 38-year-old has played in Russia and had 19 points in 40 games with Vityaz Podolsk this season. Semin will now begin his front office career as he has been named an advisor to Sokol Krasnoyarsk of the VHL.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Canadiens defenseman Otto Leskinen has signed a two-year deal with Frolunda, the SHL team announced. The 25-year-old opted to return overseas this season, signing with Jokerit in the KHL but left when the team suspended operations, signing with Tappara for the stretch run. He’ll now try his hand in Sweden where he’ll effectively take the place of another Montreal prospect in Mattias Norlinder with Frolunda. The Canadiens will retain Leskinen’s RFA rights through 2024 which is when his deal in Sweden expires so if he wants to try his hand again in North America at that time, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent.
- Avalanche winger Andreas Wingerli is expected to return to Skelleftea of the SHL next season, reports Expressen’s Johan Svensson. Colorado signed the 24-year-old last June with an eye on giving him a chance to push for a spot at the back of the roster or play an impact role in the minors. Neither really happened as Wingerli had just 22 points in 64 games with AHL Colorado this season, a performance that won’t have him pushing for an NHL spot next season. The Avs can retain Wingerli’s NHL rights with a qualifying offer this summer.
Five Key Stories: 5/9/22 – 5/15/22
It was an eventful week around the NHL with plenty of seventh games, some notable coaching news, a lottery winner, and more. We recap some of the biggest off-ice news in our key stories.
Trotz Fired: Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello has quite a history when it comes to his coaching decisions with a knack for some surprising ones. He added to that reputation after he dismissed head coach Barry Trotz in a move that hardly anyone saw coming. While New York missed the playoffs this season, Trotz had led the Isles to the Eastern Conference Final the two previous years which led to an expectation he’d be back for 2022-23 and the final year of his contract. Instead, Lamoriello indicated he felt the team needs a new voice and he’ll now set out to hire a new coach or promote associate coach Lane Lambert to the top job. Meanwhile, Trotz will become a contender for the rest of the coaching vacancies out there if he wants to be back behind an NHL bench next season.
Boudreau Returns: One coach that won’t be going anywhere is Vancouver’s Bruce Boudreau. While there was some uncertainty about his future with the Canucks after management indicated there wouldn’t be a contract extension forthcoming, the team confirmed that the 67-year-old will return for next season. Boudreau took over from Travis Green midseason and led the team to an improbable second half run with a 32-15-10 record that got them within striking distance of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. He’s just one regular season win away from 600 for his career while he’s 19 away from landing in the top 20 in NHL history.
Hanging Them Up: Free agent forward Patrick Marleau wasn’t able to catch on with a team this season and has decided to officially call it a career as he announced his retirement. The 42-year-old had a very impressive 23-year NHL career with the majority of that coming with San Jose. Although Marleau never won the Stanley Cup, he leaves with his name in the record books after he passed Gordie Howe last season for the most regular season games played in NHL history with 1,779. While Marleau only averaged more than a point per game in a season three times, his longevity helped him amass 1,197 points, good for 50th all-time.
Draft Lottery: This was the first year of the new draft lottery format, restricting teams from moving up no more than 10 spots with a victory which gave Montreal basically a one-in-four chance of holding onto the top pick. They were able to do as they won the draw for the top selection while New Jersey’s good fortune in the lottery continued as they were victorious for the second spot, dropping Arizona, Seattle, and Philadelphia all down a spot. Shane Wright is widely expected to be the pick for the Canadiens who will pick first in the draft that they’re hosting in July; it will be the first time since 1985 that the host city also had the number one selection.
Sharks Sign Two: Interim Sharks GM Joe Will indicated after the season that he wanted to re-sign winger Alexander Barabanov and defenseman Jaycob Megna. He was able to do exactly that, signing both players to two-year deals. Barabanov received a nice raise on his $1MM AAV from this season as this contract carries a $2.5MM cap hit on the heels of recording 10 goals and 29 assists in 70 games. Megna, meanwhile, received the league minimum for both years (a cap hit of just over $762K) but managed to secure a one-way salary for the first time in his career after playing on two-way pacts for each of his first four NHL contracts.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Backstrom, Panthers, Johansson, Nedeljkovic
Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom missed the first two months of the season with a hip injury and while he played the rest of the way, he wasn’t fully healthy. Speaking to reporters at today’s end-of-season press conference, the veteran told reporters, including Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, that his injured hip will never fully recover while GM Brian MacLellan indicated that Backstrom continuing to play through the injury in its current form will not be sustainable moving forward. As a result, MacLellan indicated that the 34-year-old will be exploring his options. The uncertainty surrounding Backstrom’s availability will make Washington’s offseason planning that much more difficult as a result.
Other news from the Eastern Conference:
- Panthers winger Mason Marchment is unlikely to be available for the start of their series-opener against Tampa Bay, relays David Wilson of the Miami Herald. The 26-year-old had a career year as a secondary scorer, notching 18 goals and 29 assists in just 54 games while also averaging two hits per game which made him a key part of Florida’s bottom six. He missed the last two games with an unspecified injury and there’s no word on how much longer he might be out. Meanwhile, interim head coach Andrew Brunette indicated that defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Ben Chiarot will be ready to start the season after being banged up in the final game of the Washington series.
- After playing on loan in the SHL this season, Red Wings prospect Albert Johansson confirmed to Expressen in Sweden that he will play in North America next season. The 21-year-old defenseman had 25 points in 52 games this season with Farjestad while chipping in with eight points in 19 playoff contests as he won the SHL title. Johansson also indicated that he won’t ask to be loaned back home if he doesn’t crack Detroit’s roster after training camp in the fall.
- Still with Detroit, goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic is out for the remainder of the World Championship due to an injury, reports ESPN’s Kevin Weekes (Twitter link). He was named to the team earlier this month but had yet to be registered by Team USA, a decision that certainly was the right one now. As he wasn’t officially registered to the team, they will be able to find a replacement. Devils goalie Jon Gillies and Sharks prospect Strauss Mann are the other netminders on the roster so far.
Offseason Checklist: Philadelphia Flyers
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t playoff-bound plus some that were eliminated early in the playoffs. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Philadelphia.
Things went off the rails early and often for the Flyers this season. The team had high internal expectations and didn’t come close to meeting them. Injuries hurt them considerably throughout the year, a coaching change did nothing to turn the tide, and Carter Hart put forth a second straight tough year. Despite all that, they’re showing no signs of a rebuild so their checklist this summer may seem counterintuitive to the direction that many believe they should take.
Thread The Needle
GM Chuck Fletcher has talked about what he terms an aggressive retool. On the surface, it appears that the intention there would be to shake up the core again, moving veterans for other veterans in the hopes that the new mix will result in better success. They tried that last summer with the additions of Cam Atkinson and Ryan Ellis but while Atkinson had a decent season with 23 goals and 27 assists, Ellis was limited to just four games due to injury. In the end, it didn’t really change their fortunes.
Fletcher now needs to find a way to make more of those swaps to make the team more competitive now while also not throwing away parts of his future as he did in the Rasmus Ristolainen trade. While there will be teams open to those types of swaps since many will have salary cap challenges and will be limited to those types of trades involving impact players, finding the right combination of moves to spark the team isn’t going to be easy as the success rate around the league on those is nowhere near 100%.
Only one team scored fewer goals than the Flyers this season (Arizona) and only five allowed more goals so clearly, notable changes need to be made both up front and on the back end. Full seasons from Sean Couturier and Ellis will help but that alone won’t be enough. To borrow terms from other sports, Fletcher will need to thread the needle on a pretty significant sequence of moves and knock a few acquisitions out of the park. They have their work cut out for them as a result.
Free Up Cap Space
Just when you might be thinking that the above seems pretty daunting in itself, let’s bring the salary cap into play now. Philadelphia has less than $6MM in cap space this summer with Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, and Zack MacEwen needing new deals up front and a replacement for Keith Yandle on the back end. Even if that number is a little inflated with some of their end-of-season recalls, there isn’t much in the way of flexibility in terms of trying to make a splash in free agency. Unless, of course, they can clear some money up first.
The obvious candidate on that front is James van Riemsdyk. The 33-year-old has provided the Flyers with some decent secondary scoring in his second stint with the franchise, scoring at least 17 goals in each of his four years since returning (and that low mark came in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign). However, his effectiveness has waned as he ages and $7MM is an expensive price tag for someone who is best utilized as a middle-six winger. It’s unlikely he’s going to turn things around next season and get back to the 30-goal mark so he’s someone that stands out as a trade candidate. The question will be how much of an offset will be needed (either by retention or by taking a player back) or how much of an incentive they’ll need to provide to get a team to take the contract without sending any money back. What happens with van Riemsdyk will go a long way towards determining what they can or can’t do this summer.
While they didn’t really get a chance to evaluate their full back end due to Ellis missing 78 games, it also seems likely that they will move a defender as part of their aggressive retool. It won’t be Ellis as his value is down after missing almost the entire year and they just committed five years at $5.1MM per to Ristolainen; clearly, he’s not moving either. That leaves Ivan Provorov ($6.75MM through 2024-25) and Travis Sanheim ($4.675MM in 2022-23, then becomes a UFA). Provorov is coming off an underwhelming year so while moving him would save money, his trade value certainly isn’t at its best. Sanheim is easier to move but yields less in cap savings. But if they want to shake up the back end again, one of those two may need to be on the move as a result.
Hire A New Head Coach
After the decision to fire Alain Vigneault early in the season didn’t yield the results Fletcher was hoping for, the Flyers decided not to continue with Mike Yeo as their head coach for next season. That puts finding a new bench boss very high on the priority list over the coming weeks.
With Philadelphia committed to trying to retool instead of rebuild, that could push them in the direction of a veteran coach over a first-timer in that role. While long-time Flyer Rick Tocchet is viewed as a popular option, someone like Barry Trotz – who led quick turnarounds for the Capitals and Islanders – could stand out for that reason as well. Paul Maurice is also a possible fit if he wanted to get back behind a bench so quickly after stepping away from Winnipeg.
Among the first-time head coaching options, Lane Lambert has long been speculated as a candidate but he could be promoted to the top spot for the Islanders after Trotz’s departure. Nate Leaman is always an option to make the jump from the college ranks while Rikard Gronborg and Roger Ronnberg are international coaches that always come up at this time of year. But again, a first-time NHL bench boss would be a bit surprising given their win-now intentions. Regardless, it will be a crucial hire for Fletcher as with the way the last couple of seasons have gone, he may not get another one.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Salary figures courtesy of CapFriendly.
Dmitrij Jaskin Receiving KHL Interest
After two very strong seasons with Dynamo Moscow in the KHL, winger Dmitrij Jaskin decided to give the NHL another shot in 2021-22 as he inked a one-year deal with Arizona worth $3.2MM, a surprisingly high sum given his performance in his first NHL stint. Unfortunately, things didn’t go too well and his agent Gleb Chistyakov told Sport-Express in Russia that four KHL teams are showing interest in bringing the pending unrestricted free agent back to Russia.
The 29-year-old got off to a slow start this season with the Coyotes, notching just a single assist in 12 games despite averaging nearly 15 minutes a night. That’s a far cry from being better than a point-per-game player as he was in his two seasons overseas when he finished second and fourth in league scoring. Unfortunately for him and Arizona, Jaskin then suffered a season-ending injury in a knee-on-knee collision with Nashville’s Mark Borowiecki in a game in mid-November.
As a result of his early struggles, the injury, and his limited production in his first NHL stint between St. Louis and Washington, it’s hard to envision Jaskin receiving NHL offers that are anywhere close to what he received from the Coyotes this season. As a result, a return to the KHL where he’d command a top salary makes a lot of sense for him even though it will probably close the door on his NHL career in the process.
Offseason Checklist: Seattle Kraken
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t playoff-bound. It’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Seattle.
After the Golden Knights went to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season, expectations were unrealistically high for the Kraken heading into their first year. But even if they had the expectations of a typical expansion franchise, they still would have underachieved relative to those. As a result, Seattle finds itself trying to build on multiple fronts this summer which is a certainly a tall task.
Find A New Goalie Coach
There was only one coaching casualty from their tough year and that was goalie coach Andrew Allen. That move was understandable as, heading into the season, goaltending was believed to be their best strength with a tandem of Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger. Instead, they had the lowest team save percentage in the NHL (.880) while sitting in the bottom ten in goals allowed despite allowing the fourth-fewest shots on goal. Seattle will need to find a replacement coach and when it comes to their netminders, things can only go up from here.
Expand Young Core
Part of building an organization from scratch is trying to pick up some young core pieces. They got one in the draft in Matthew Beniers and picked one in expansion in Jared McCann with the 25-year-old having a career year and quickly inking a long-term extension. Beyond that, there isn’t that much of a young core. That’s perfectly understandable after just one year of existence but this will be the top priority for GM Ron Francis this summer.
They’ll be able to add some key pieces at the draft. They have the fourth pick in July’s draft plus four second-rounders that can be dangled in an effort to move up. That should yield some nice long-term additions although most of those players will be several years away.
Back when the team was being assembled, cap flexibility was stated as a critical element of what they were doing. This is something that the Kraken can use to their advantage this summer if they’re willing to take a bad contract or two while adding some more picks (or preferably prospects) like Arizona did last summer. If the aim is to build a long-term contender, Seattle needs to have more than two long-term core pieces heading into next season.
Expand Current Core
Most general managers don’t lay out a road map for their planning but at his end-of-season news conference, Francis indicated a desire to add a top-six forward, a top-nine forward, and a puck-moving defenseman to his current group. The forwards, in particular, could be added in free agency where the Kraken will have the ability to outbid most teams as they have nearly $23MM in cap room, per CapFriendly. The UFA market for puck-moving blueliners isn’t as deep so going that route for that spot may be tougher so the trade front might be the better way for them there.
Last summer, Francis surprisingly handed a five-year contract to Jaden Schwartz in a move that didn’t work out too well with the oft-injured 29-year-old missing more than half of the season due to injuries. That should serve as a cautionary tale for their free agent this time around when it comes to adding secondary scorers.
It wouldn’t be advisable to hand out similar long-term deals at this time to fill those roster spots. Anything beyond a medium-term contract carries some risk of being a burden at the time that their young core will be ready to really try to contend. A five-year deal for a 25-year-old (McCann) makes sense as he’ll still be young enough to be part of their plans and productive at the end of it. A five-year deal for a 29-year-old UFA this summer probably won’t hold up as well. They’d be wise to stick with shorter-term contracts that will be easier to move closer to their expiration.
Of course, that caveat doesn’t apply if they happen to entice one of the top free agents to join them. In that case, you don’t say no to top talent and that player becomes a part of their current and future core. But beyond that, playing it safe with the veterans they choose to add should be the path they choose to take.
Fill Out Farm Team
This season, Seattle didn’t have its own AHL affiliate which isn’t particularly unusual for an expansion franchise as they simply don’t have the organizational depth that more established teams do. Instead, they teamed up with the Hurricanes, sharing their affiliate in Charlotte. That allowed the Kraken to carry a pretty short group of contracts with only a handful of recallable players from the Checkers as the season went on.
That won’t be the case next season as Seattle will be operating the Coachella Valley Firebirds. They certainly have plenty of work to do before the puck drops on their inaugural season in October.
At the moment, Seattle has basically the equivalent of one line signed for the Firebirds for next season (with three of those being on future deals that only start in 2022-23). They also have goaltender Joey Daccord if they can get him through waivers in training camp. In terms of on-ice personnel, that’s it. Aside from those few players signed, they basically have to fill an entire team. As a result, expect them to be very active in minor league free agency, both in terms of signing AHL free agents to AHL deals at the beginning of July and in handing out several NHL two-way deals when that market opens up near mid-July.
On top of that, they’ll need to round out their front office and coaching staff. The Kraken added former NHL bench boss Dan Bylsma as an assistant with Charlotte and he’s a contender to be the coach in Palm Springs next season. Francis will be building on multiple fronts this summer so expect a busy summer in Seattle.