East Notes: Bruins Injuries, Barzal, Matthews, Kotkaniemi
The Bruins have had a bit of tough luck on the injury front lately with several key regulars going down. Today, the team provided a handful of updates on those players. Winger David Pastrnak and defenseman Hampus Lindholm skated today but won’t be with the team for their two-game road trip. Head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated he expects both will be back before the end of the season and could play this weekend. Meanwhile, goaltender Linus Ullmark didn’t skate today but they believe he’ll be able to return over the weekend. Winger Jesper Froden suffered a lower-body injury on Saturday and won’t be on the road trip either with no word yet on how long he might be out.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Department of Player Safety issued a fine of $2.5K to Islanders center Mathew Barzal for unsportsmanlike conduct. The incident occurred late in the third period on Sunday when he grabbed onto Mitch Marner’s jersey from the bench. No penalty was issued on the play.
- While Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews is still a couple of years away from hitting the open market, pondering what his next deal could cost has already become a discussion point. In his latest column for the Toronto Star, Chris Johnston opines that the 24-year-old could reach the $15MM mark, one that would significantly surpass Connor McDavid’s record-setting $12.5MM AAV. Matthews is in the midst of a career year with a league-high 58 goals along with 44 assists in 70 games this season.
- On top of updating the injury situation for goaltender Frederik Andersen, the Hurricanes also revealed that forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi has been nicked up again and is listed as day-to-day. The 21-year-old had just come back from missing eight games with a lower-body injury so it’s possible this absence is related to that one. Head coach Rod Brind’Amour stated that he doesn’t expect Kotkaniemi to be out for long.
Examining A Key Change In The NHL’s Transfer Agreement With Sweden
Earlier this month, the NHL and the Swedish Hockey Association reached a new Player Transfer Agreement. SportExpressen’s Gunnar Nordstrom has the details of the agreement, some of the highlights being as follows:
- A more than 45% increase in the money paid to Swedish teams whose player signs an NHL contract;
- The signing deadline for previously-drafted and free agent players is June 15th each year;
- The regular signing deadline for players drafted in the current year is July 15th with a $100K penalty being added if they wait until August 15th;
- It’s an eight-year agreement with both sides having an option to open it up after four years.
However, there is one significant change that warrants a closer look. Under the old agreement, players drafted in the second round or later that are also signed in Sweden had to be at least 21 before they could be sent to the AHL. If they were younger than that, they had to be returned to their Swedish team. In the new agreement, that threshold has been increased to 24. Any player from Sweden who signs an NHL contract will now be subject to the new agreement while anyone that signed before the announcement will be under the old rules.
The intention of this provision is to have players stay and play in Sweden until they’re ready to play in the NHL. It’s one thing for players to make the jump to the NHL and this agreement doesn’t prevent that from happening. But it has now become a bit more difficult to get those players into the minor leagues.
NHL teams understandably want to get their prospects into their farm system and work with their development coaches so this is something that probably isn’t going to sit well with teams as now, they will effectively be limited to development and rookie camps with the latter likely to be frowned upon as Sweden’s season gets underway at the time that NHL rookie camps are held in mid-September.
Also, as there is a signed transfer agreement in place, NHL teams have four years to sign players to an entry-level contract which hasn’t changed from before. If the drafted player is 18, that means he’d be 22 at the end of that stretch and signing a two-year contract. For the duration of that agreement, teams could effectively face an NHL or Sweden situation depending on the players’ contractual situation in Sweden and the deal will count against the 50-contract limit during that time even if they’re returned overseas.
It’s worth noting that there are no changes to the rule for first-round picks. If a Swedish player is picked in the first round, the NHL team can send the player to the minors without requiring the approval of his team in Sweden.
Now, with the extended restriction for those picked after the opening round, it will be interesting to see if that has any effect on the draft. Do teams consider slightly reaching for a player at the end of the first round that might be rated a bit lower on their list to the ability to have full control of their development? And as the draft progresses, might teams be more hesitant to draft players from Sweden knowing it will be more difficult to get them into their farm system? We’ll find out the answer to those questions three months from now.
Central Notes: Byram, Toews, Wild
Back in January, Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram contemplated not returning this season or even hanging up his skates altogether, relays Mike Chambers of The Denver Post. He had recently returned to Colorado’s lineup before his concussion symptoms returned and had to shut things down at that time. The progress that the 20-year-old made in his recovery nudged him towards trying to come back this season which he did last week and he has gotten into six games since then. Byram’s playing time since then has been a bit limited relative to his early-season usage which is certainly understandable both in terms of allowing him to ease back into things plus Colorado’s top seed in the Western Conference. He could be an interesting wild card for the Avs heading into the postseason as he certainly has given their third pairing a lift.
More from the Central:
- Still with Colorado, defenseman Devon Toews won’t suit up tonight and won’t accompany the team on their upcoming three-game road trip, notes Peter Baugh of The Athletic (Twitter link). The good news for the Avalanche is that head coach Jared Bednar indicated that the injury isn’t cause for concern which means he should be good to go for the playoffs, if not a game or two before then. The 28-year-old is logging more than 25 minutes a game on the back end this season, second to only Cale Makar for Colorado.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic outlines (subscription link) the tough decision the Wild are facing this summer. Their cap situation gets a lot worse with the increased dead cap charges on the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts and it appears they’ll be facing a situation where either winger Kevin Fiala or defenseman Mathew Dumba get traded. Minnesota wasn’t able to agree to a long-term deal with Fiala last summer and wound up taking him to salary arbitration. He has one year of RFA eligibility remaining and with 73 points in 75 games, he’ll be eyeing a big raise on his $5.1MM price tag while making it very difficult to justify moving him. Dumba is signed through next season at $6MM and would certainly have a strong trade market if they opted to move him to keep Fiala in the fold.
East Notes: Joseph, Mikheyev, Kuraly
Mathieu Joseph has made an immediate impression on the Senators who acquired him before the trade deadline in a swap that sent Nick Paul to Tampa Bay. After being in a limited role with the Lightning, the 25-year-old has had a chance to play a bigger role in Ottawa and has made the most of it, notching 12 points in 11 games. However, his season may have come to an early end as head coach D.J. Smith told TSN’s Claire Hanna (Twitter link) that his injury is a little worse than they expected and will keep him out longer than anticipated. While Smith stated that the injury isn’t serious, with only two weeks left in the season, it’s possible that Joseph has played his final game of 2021-22. A restricted free agent this summer with arbitration eligibility, Joseph appears to be in line to land considerably more than his $813K qualifying offer.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Maple Leafs won’t engage in contract discussions with winger Ilya Mikheyev until after the season, notes Sportsnet’s Luke Fox. The pending UFA is having a career year despite missing 29 games due to a thumb injury as he has 17 goals and nine assists in 45 games, including four shorthanded tallies. That has the 27-year-old in a good position to potentially double his current $1.645MM AAV on the open market this summer.
- Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly will return to the lineup after missing the last two games due to a stint in COVID protocol, relays Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). He’ll take the place of Brendan Gaunce in the lineup. Kuraly has set new career bests in goals (12) and points (28) in 72 games this season in his first year with Columbus.
Sharks Sign Thomas Bordeleau
Earlier this week, San Jose signed center Thomas Bordeleau to an AHL tryout agreement, allowing them to get his start in the pros with the Barracuda. He made quite the impression over his first two games as the Sharks announced that they’ve converted Bordeleau to a three-year, entry-level contract. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Interim GM Joe Will released the following statement:
Thomas is a skilled playmaker with a high hockey IQ at both ends of the ice. He consistently shows up in high-level competition and has a history of playing his best in crucial moments.
The 20-year-old was a second-round pick of the Sharks (38th overall) back in 2020 and he certainly impressed in his two seasons at Michigan. This year, he played in 37 games for the Wolverines, finishing tied for fourth on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 25 assists. Bordeleau played an important role as Michigan made it to the Frozen Four before falling to Denver, the eventual champion.
The timing of this deal is a little intriguing in that had Bordeleau stayed on his AHL tryout for the rest of the year and then signed his entry-level contract, San Jose would have had him for three years under entry-level restrictions. Instead, by converting him now (he’s on his way to Minnesota to meet up with the team tomorrow), he’ll burn the first year now but won’t accrue a season of service time towards UFA eligibility. San Jose is certainly battling injury issues – they’re expected to dress just 16 skaters tonight against Dallas, per Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News (Twitter link) – so Bordeleau should have a chance to see a lot of playing time over the final two weeks of the season.
West Notes: Gaudreau, Hynes, Perunovich
The Flames are facing an interesting cap crunch for next season. Matthew Tkachuk is owed a $9MM qualifying offer, Andrew Mangiapane’s 31 goals plus arbitration eligibility has him looking at a sizable raise, and top scorer Johnny Gaudreau is set to become an unrestricted free agent. Sportsnet’s Rory Boylen tried to peg where Gaudreau’s price tag should be on his next deal, suggesting an $8.5MM AAV could be the right fit for him and Calgary which would represent a $1.75MM jump on his current cap hit. The 28-year-old is in the middle of a career year that sees him with 101 points in 74 games but with only mild salary cap increases coming over the next couple of seasons, it’s possible that it limits Gaudreau’s leverage if he tries to aim closer to the $10MM mark.
More from the West:
- Discussions on a new contract for Predators head coach John Hynes won’t begin until the season is over, reports Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link). Nashville has played to an 89-61-8 record since he took over partway through the 2019-20 season so there’s little reason to think a coaching change is on the horizon. The Preds have a team option for next season which would likely be exercised if the two sides are unable to reach an agreement on a longer-term deal.
- Blues defenseman Scott Perunovich has resumed skating, relays Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The youngster underwent wrist surgery in early March and is expected to be re-evaluated at the eight-week mark. We’re still a little more than two weeks away from that point so he’s still a long way from being cleared to return to the lineup for the playoffs. In 19 games this season, the rookie has six assists while averaging 15:27 of ice time per contest.
Tyler Motte Out For The Rest Of The Regular Season
Not long before the trade deadline hit, the Rangers sent a 2023 fourth-round draft pick to Vancouver to pick up winger Tyler Motte with an eye on deepening their bottom six and adding some more grit to their roster. Unfortunately for them, they haven’t been able to use Motte much so far due to injury, one that head coach Gerard Gallant acknowledged to Mollie Walker of the New York Post will keep him out at least for the rest of the regular season. A return for the playoffs is far from a guarantee either as Gallant indicated that “I just heard he’s out for quite a while”.
The 27-year-old played in nine games before suffering an upper-body injury last month and while he was held without a point, he averaged three hits a game while playing primarily on the fourth line while taking a regular turn shorthanded as well. With Vancouver, Motte had 15 points and 90 hits in 49 games and was in the middle of making a case for a decent-sized raise on his $1.225MM AAV as he gets set to reach the open market for the first time this summer.
Fortunately for the Rangers, they have a surplus of forwards at the moment as evidenced by the 16 healthy ones they have on their active roster. Alexis Lafreniere got the night off on Wednesday and Gallant indicated they’d be looking to get some regulars some rest over the final couple of weeks of the season (Ryan Reaves is sitting today). But most of those 16 don’t play the type of role that Motte does and New York will undoubtedly be hoping that he’ll be able to return at some point in the playoffs.
Blackhawks To Burn First Year Of Lukas Reichel’s Entry-Level Contract
Generally speaking, the nine-game threshold for junior-aged players only comes into effect at the beginning of the year when teams need to decide what to do with their prospects that are pushing to make the team out of training camp and can’t go to the minors. That wasn’t the case for the Blackhawks and winger Lukas Reichel as he was able to play in the AHL and has spent most of the season there.
However, the 19-year-old is in his third stint with Chicago this season and has played in nine games so far. Interim head coach Derek King indicated to reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago that he will play in his tenth this afternoon against Nashville. Reichel, the 17th pick in 2020, hasn’t recorded a point yet in the NHL but has played quite well with AHL Rockford, recording 21 goals and 28 assists in 49 games. He’s expected to return to the IceHogs at some point over the next couple of weeks as well to help in their playoff run.
Roumeliotis suggests that burning the first year this season may actually be more beneficial to the Blackhawks from a longer-term planning perspective. When he’s up for a new deal in the 2024 offseason, he’ll only have at most two full NHL seasons under his belt which should keep the AAV lower, giving Chicago a bit more short-term cap flexibility. Chicago will have some pricey contracts expiring by then – particularly those of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane at $10.5MM each – but having a core piece on a cheaper second deal certainly can’t hurt.
It’s worth noting that Chicago will not lose a year of team control by doing this. In order to receive a year of service time, Reichel would have needed to have gotten to 40 games on the active roster and that’s clearly not going to happen with the Blackhawks already mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. As a result of this, Reichel will need his second contract a year sooner but Chicago will still have seven years of team control remaining.
Penguins Make Two Prospect Moves
Pittsburgh’s AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton announced that they’ve signed goaltender Joel Blomqvist to a tryout agreement while also re-assigning defenseman Niclas Almari from Lukko in Finland to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The 20-year-old Blomqvist was a second-round pick of the Penguins back in 2020 with the selection they acquired from Ottawa in exchange for Matt Murray. He recently wrapped up his season with Karpat in the SM-liiga where he led the league in GAA (1.32) and SV% (.940) in 20 games. He has not yet signed his entry-level deal with Pittsburgh and still is under contract for another year in Finland so this may not be an immediate precursor to him getting an entry-level pact but rather just a way to keep him playing for a little while longer.
As for Almari, the 23-year-old is in the final season of his entry-level deal. He played in 11 AHL games and six ECHL contests before being loaned back overseas a little over two months ago. The return home didn’t do much for his production as he had just two assists in 22 games between the regular season and playoffs so he will need to impress down the stretch if he wants to receive a qualifying offer this summer.
Pacific Notes: Kahkonen, Kolesar, Halak
The Sharks have a couple of decisions to make with their goaltending over the offseason. The first is deciding who of their three netminders will move and the second is how much to pay Kaapo Kahkonen (unless he’s the one they move which is an unlikely scenario). Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now provided an overview of what Kahkonen’s market could look like this summer. As a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility, the 25-year-old is heading for a raise but with just 60 career NHL appearances under his belt, he won’t have a lot of leverage heading into talks. Accordingly, Kahkonen seems likely to slot in a tier or two below the top backups which would put him in the low-$2MM to $3MM range, depending on how long the deal is. Moving one of James Reimer or Adin Hill would free up the bulk of the cap room to give Kakhonen that type of deal.
More from the Pacific:
- Golden Knights winger Keegan Kolesar will not face any supplementary discipline from the league for his hit on Flames defenseman Christopher Tanev on Thursday, reports David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He was initially assessed a major penalty on the play but after review, it was overturned to a two-minute minor. The league is believed to have reviewed the incident but it was ruled that the head was not the principal point of contact so they’ve deemed that no further discipline is needed.
- Thomas Drance of The Athletic highlights (subscription link) an interesting factor for Vancouver’s decision-making between the pipes down the stretch. The Canucks will need a lot of help to make the playoffs but they have two back-to-back sets left and Thatcher Demko struggled the last time he played in a back-to-back. Jaroslav Halak has been better as of late but only needs to improve his save percentage by six points (from .899 to .905) to trigger a $250K performance bonus which, by virtue of Vancouver being in LTIR all season, will count against the cap in 2022-23. Demko could use the rest but it could come at a cost for next season.