Department Of Player Safety Fines Artemi Panarin For Unsportsmanlike Conduct
In hockey, dropping the gloves is a well-known term. But throwing a glove? That’s one we don’t see every day. However, it happened on Friday late in a game between the Rangers and Bruins when New York winger Artemi Panarin threw his glove from his bench (video link) at Boston winger Brad Marchand. Both players received misconducts which was an easy way for the officials to try to diffuse the situation with just seconds left on the clock.
The Department of Player Safety felt that a bit more punishment for Panarin was warranted, however, as they announced (Twitter link) that he has been fined $5K for unsportsmanlike conduct which is the maximum allowable under the CBA.
This is the first time Panarin has faced any sort of supplementary discipline from the league in terms of a fine or a suspension. As usual, the money from the fine goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. In the meantime, these two teams will be waiting a while for their next matchup which isn’t scheduled until April 23rd in the first of a back-to-back home-and-home set.
Panthers Sign Ryan Lomberg To Two-Year Extension
11/26: The Panthers have officially announced the new deal, confirming a two-year pact with Lomberg. In the team’s release, GM Bill Zito stated his appreciation for the forward’s hard-working brand of hockey: “Ryan has brought physicality and contagious energy to our lineup. We are excited to announce that he will continue to be a part of the Panthers organization for years to come.”
11/25: Ryan Lomberg has been a capable depth player in his two seasons with the Panthers and the team clearly likes what he has provided as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed the winger to a two-year contract extension. The deal is worth $775K in 2022-23 and $825K in 2023-24 for an AAV of $800K, a small raise on his current $725K cap hit.
Lomberg signed with Florida as an unrestricted free agent back in 2020 after spending the first five years of his professional career with Calgary. He didn’t see any NHL action in his final year in the Flames organization which allowed the 27-year-old to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent.
Since joining the Panthers, Lomberg has become more of a regular player, suiting up in 34 games last season where he tallied two goals and two assists in 34 games along with a team-high 67 penalty minutes. This season, he has played in ten contests, picking up a goal and two assists while logging 10:38 per game, a career-high in ATOI.
With the signing, Florida now has just under $78MM in commitments for next season to just 16 players, per CapFriendly. With the cap only expected to go up by $1MM next season to $82.5MM, Florida is going to be facing a situation where they will need to round out their roster with minimum-salary players and will likely need to move someone out to free up enough money to re-sign some of their own pending free agents. Accordingly, getting a regular player in Lomberg locked up for just under the minimum is a nice piece of business for GM Bill Zito.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Dallas Stars
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading for the 2021-22 season and beyond. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Dallas Stars
Current Cap Hit: $85,575,985 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
G Jake Oettinger (one year, $925K)
F Jacob Peterson (two years, $842.5K)
F Jason Robertson (one year, $795K)
Potential Bonuses
Oettinger: $537.5K
Peterson: $82.5K
Robertson: $82.5K
Total: $702.5K
Peterson spending this much time on the roster early on in his first season in North America is a bit of a surprise but the fact he has done well is certainly encouraging for the Stars. With it being his first year, it’s hard to project where his next deal will be but he’s well on his way to hitting some of his games played bonus money. Robertson finished second on the Stars in scoring last season and is hovering near the point per game mark again this year. Limited action in his rookie campaign hurts his bargaining power a little but as long as he can play at a similar level to last year, he should have enough of a case to argue for a long-term contract with an AAV that could check in close to the one Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov recently received (eight years, $7.75MM cap hit).
Oettinger is listed here more to talk about his next contract than anything else as he’s basically the third-string option this season unless they move two veteran goalies out. He could be a regular again in 2022-23 and while he’s someone that Dallas would be wise to try to get a multi-year agreement in place with, there’s little reason for the youngster to agree to that. A one-year agreement that gets him to arbitration eligibility in the 2023 summer would be his best course of action even if it means his salary won’t jump up too much for next season. Meanwhile, as he has ‘A’ bonuses, it’s unlikely he’ll hit them this season unless he’s up full-time before too much longer which will help lessen their carryover penalty.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
F Denis Gurianov ($2.55MM, RFA)
G Braden Holtby ($2MM, UFA)
D John Klingberg ($4.25MM, UFA)
F Joe Pavelski ($7MM, UFA)
F Alexander Radulov ($6.25MM, UFA)
F Michael Raffl ($1.1MM, UFA)
D Andrej Sekera ($1.5MM, UFA)
Pavelski’s first season was quiet aside from a strong playoff run which carried over into last year when he led the Stars in scoring. He’s still producing like a top-six forward at a minimum (if not a top-liner last season) but he’s also going to be 38 when 2022-23 gets underway. A one-year deal seems likely which opens up the potential for bonuses as well. Even so, he’s going to be heading for at least a small dip although something in the $4MM-$5MM range is certainly possible. Radulov is the other big-ticket deal coming off the books. He’s coming off an injury-plagued season and is off to a particularly tough start this year. He’ll be 36 next season and there will be questions as to whether or not he can still play in the top six of an NHL team. As someone that has opted to take bigger money overseas once before, it’s definitely a possibility here if his AAV dips into the $3MM range.
Gurianov got this bridge coming off an improbable 20-goal season but still hasn’t been able to establish himself as a consistent top-six forward. He’s young enough (24) to get a longer leash but his qualifying offer jumps to $2.9MM next summer. With the start to the season he’s having, it’s hard to see him getting much more than that in theory but with arbitration eligibility, he should be able to use that to push past the $3MM mark. Raffl has been more of a fourth liner in recent years and after going through the market this past summer, it’s safe to say his value next summer should check in fairly close to his current $1.1MM price tag.
If Dallas is going to reallocate some of Pavelski or Radulov’s money, Klingberg could very well be the beneficiary. A report last month pegged his asking price at over $60MM over eight years, an AAV of $7.5MM or higher. That’s a significant jump over his current price tag although he has the offensive production to try to shoot that high. The Stars may not prefer to go eight years but if it keeps the cap hit lower, they’ll seriously have to consider it. Sekera hasn’t been an impact blueliner for a few years now and has been more of a depth player in Dallas. He’ll have to take a pay cut to get another NHL deal and could be a candidate for an incentive-based deal with a guarantee not far off the minimum with a few hundred thousand in games placed bonuses.
Holtby landing with Dallas was one of the more puzzling goalie moves this summer although they got him at a heavily discounted rate compared to a few years ago. Of course, there’s a reason for that since he was bought out by Vancouver. He’s off to a decent start this season which could help him restore some value and get closer to that higher tier of backups in the high-$3MM range.
Two Years Remaining
G Ben Bishop ($4.917MM, UFA)
F Luke Glendening ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Joel Hanley ($750K, UFA)
F Roope Hintz ($3.15MM, RFA)
G Anton Khudobin ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Joel Kiviranta ($1.05MM, UFA)
Hintz has largely flown under the radar in Dallas with several high-priced veterans in front of him but he was a top-liner for them last season. His output has dipped early on this year but there’s still time to turn that around. Their cap situation in 2020 forced a bridge deal but Hintz will have the hammer in the next negotiation with arbitration rights, a $3.79MM qualifier (120% of the AAV), and being a year away from UFA eligibility. A long-term deal in the $6MM range is certainly doable for him. Glendening is a role player at this point but as one of the best faceoff players in the league most years, it allows him to get more of a premium compared to other fourth liners. As long as he keeps winning draws at a clip better than most, there’s no reason to think he can’t get another deal around this price tag in 2023. Kiviranta was at his best in the 2020 bubble but has yet to establish himself as a full-time NHL player yet and has been limited when he is in the lineup. If that continues, he’ll be hard-pressed to get this on the open market, let alone more.
Hanley has been on a minimum contract for the last several seasons, serving as low-cost depth. That’s a roster spot they’ll want to keep at that price point so he could stick around for a little while yet.
Bishop missed all of last season and all of this year so far which has him on LTIR. However, he has been skating regularly for a while now but they can’t afford to activate him without clearing cap space first so that’s something to watch for from Dallas in the near future. With how much time he has missed and the fact his next deal will be his age-37 season, it’s not a guarantee Bishop gets another contract and if he does, a one-year, incentive-based deal with a lower salary is all he could hope for. Khudobin’s numbers dipped last season and have gotten considerably worse so far in 2021-22. Like Bishop, his next contract will be his age-37 season so he’ll probably be eyeing a one-year deal at best and if his numbers continue to be this poor, it’ll be at a much lower cost than his current one.
Three Years Remaining
D Jani Hakanpaa ($1.5MM, UFA)
Hakanpaa got himself on the map last season as he played in 57 games between Anaheim and Carolina (notable in itself considering it was a 56-game campaign) while providing plenty of physicality from the back end. That resulted in a fairly strong market for him in free agency, allowing him to get three years after only his first NHL season at the age of 29. He’ll need to move into a top-four role to have an opportunity for a bigger deal next time around.
Injury Updates: Stastny, Dobson, Barkov, Beagle
The Jets are hoping to have center Paul Stastny back in the lineup on Friday against Minnesota, relays Postmedia’s Scott Billeck. The veteran has been out for a little more than two weeks due to a lower-body injury which put a strong start to his season on hold; Stastny has four goals and four assists in 11 games in the early going while logging over 18 minutes a game. Winnipeg is set to begin a road back-to-back set so it’s possible that Stastny only suits up for one of those contests if they want to ere on the side of caution.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- The COVID situation for the Islanders is bad enough at the moment but they got some bad news on the injury front as well as blueliner Noah Dobson is dealing with a lower-body injury, mentions Mollie Walker of the New York Post. It has been a disappointing start for the 21-year-old who has been quiet offensively with just four assists in 14 games while being on the fringes of the top four on their back end. Dobson is a pending restricted free agent and any extended absence – there’s no timeline for a return just yet – would certainly hurt his chances of a long-term deal this summer.
- The Panthers will be without top center Aleksander Barkov for at least another two weeks, notes David Wilson of the Miami Herald. Barkov was able to avoid needing surgery following an injury on a collision with Scott Mayfield last week and at the time, interim head coach Andrew Brunette was only able to provide a week-to-week timeline.
- Coyotes center Jay Beagle has been ruled out for the rest of the week at a minimum due to a lower-body injury, per Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports (Twitter link). The team is awaiting further test results to know how long he’ll be out for. The 36-year-old has played in 19 games so far this season and hasn’t recorded a point yet but has won nearly 60% of his faceoffs.
Flyers Assign Zayde Wisdom To OHL
One of the Flyers’ top prospects, center Zayde Wisdom, is headed back to the OHL. His junior team, the Kingston Frontenacs announced (Twitter link) that he returned to practice with them today, signalling that the Flyers have indeed loaned him back for the remainder of their season.
Wisdom has yet to play this year due to offseason shoulder surgery. In 2020-21, he played 28 games in the AHL with the Phantoms, registering seven goals and 11 assists, decent production for an 18-year-old playing as an underager. He was eligible to play as a junior-aged player because the OHL didn’t play last season due to the pandemic. Since he played in more than 20 games, he was eligible to remain with Lehigh Valley this season if the Flyers wanted to keep him there. The 2020 fourth-round pick is likely to be on Team Canada’s radar for the upcoming World Junior Championship if he produces upon his return.
This will mark Wisdom’s third season in the OHL. His best came in 2019-20 when he put up 59 points in 62 games. At the end of his junior campaign, he will be eligible to return to the AHL so he may be able to see game action with the Phantoms before the season comes to an end.
Sharks Willing To Retain Money To Facilitate Evander Kane Trade
Anytime a player has significant term left on a contract, it’s difficult for a team to offer to retain salary to facilitate a trade. They’re not able to pick and choose how much to retain and in what year; it’s a uniform amount of retention for the remainder of the deal. Accordingly, it’s not very often that a player signed for several more seasons is moved with the trading team holding back some money.
One team that is open to being an exception to that appears to be San Jose. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest 32 Thoughts column that the Sharks are willing to retain on Evander Kane’s contract in order to try to help trade talks move along. Kane has three years remaining on his deal with a $7MM AAV, a high price tag for many teams to try to add with so many being tight to the salary cap already.
Kane has yet to play this season after receiving a 21-game suspension from the league for using a fake proof of vaccination while their investigation into allegations made over the offseason could not be substantiated. That suspension is nearing a conclusion and he has started to skate with GM Doug Wilson recently acknowledging that they haven’t decided what to do with him once he’s cleared to return.
Kane is actually coming off an impressive 2020-21 season that saw him lead San Jose in scoring with 22 goals and 27 assists in 56 games, good enough for the highest point per game average of his career. Despite that, it’s far from a guarantee that he’ll be welcomed back.
The Sharks can retain up to 50% or $3.5MM of Kane’s cap hit but even with that, it seems unlikely that a suitable trade option will materialize right away. At a minimum, teams will want to see Kane in action to see how he performs and how things go off the ice before making any sort of commitment to acquire him. To that end, Friedman speculates that Kane could see some time in the minors which would allow the team some more time to determine their next steps and any potentially interested teams to do some evaluating.
In the meantime, San Jose’s 22nd game of the season is on Tuesday so while they have a few more days to figure out what their short-term plans are for Kane, they’ll need to make a decision soon.
Five Key Stories: 11/15/21 – 11/21/21
The one-quarter mark of the season is fast approaching which should soon yield an increase in activity on the transactions front. In the meantime, here’s a look back at the top stories from the past seven days including several notable injuries around the league.
Veteran Retirements: A pair of veterans decided to officially call it a career. Long-time blueliner Dion Phaneuf announced his retirement at the age of 36. If you thought he had already retired, it would be understandable as he last played in 2019. Phaneuf’s playing days end with 1.048 games played, 494 points, and 1,345 penalty minutes across 14 seasons. He’ll remain on the books for the Kings through the end of next season with an AAV of just over $1MM due to his buyout in 2019. Meanwhile, winger Troy Brouwer also hung up his skates. He last played in 2020 with St. Louis and was unable to find a team for this season although his $1.5MM payment from Calgary in the last year of his buyout should serve as a nice consolation prize. Brouwer collected 363 points in 851 games over parts of 14 seasons.
Notable Injuries: Philadelphia didn’t have Ryan Ellis back for long. After the defenseman returned from his lower-body injury, he wound re-aggravating it and will now miss the next four to six weeks as a result. He was their most prominent offseason acquisition but Ellis has only been able to play in four games so far. Meanwhile, Sammy Blais’ season has come to an early end as he suffered a torn ACL in a collision with New Jersey’s P.K. Subban. Blais brought some physicality to the Rangers lineup as he had 37 hits in 14 games before the injury. He’ll become a restricted free agent this summer. Lastly, Lightning center Brayden Point is out indefinitely after being injured when tripped up on a breakaway in Saturday’s game (although he was able to finish the game). Tampa Bay is now without two of its offensive stars as Nikita Kucherov is also out for the next six weeks or so.
Bednar’s Sticking Around: It has been a quieter start to the year for the Avalanche as some early struggles coupled with injuries have had them hovering near the .500 mark. However, with head coach Jared Bednar in the final year of his contract, GM Joe Sakic decided to get rid of any lame-duck discussion by inking the bench boss to a two-year contract extension. Bednar is in his sixth season behind the bench in Colorado and is the second-winningest coach in Avalanche history. His clubs have also made the playoffs in four straight seasons heading into this one although they’ve yet to make it past the second round so far. It appears that Sakic believes that Bednar will be able to get them past that particular hurdle sooner than later.
More COVID Trouble: This past week was supposed to be an exciting one for the Islanders as they opened up UBS Arena after spending more than a month on the road to start the season. However, they’ve been the latest team to be hit with COVID as they have six skaters in COVID protocol – defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene plus forwards Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Kieffer Bellows, and Ross Johnston. To make matters worse, they also learned that they’ll be without top blueliner Ryan Pulock for the next four-to-six weeks due to a lower-body injury.
Back To Junior: While Mason McTavish made Anaheim’s roster out of training camp and was playing a regular role in the lineup, the Ducks have decided that he’s better served going back to junior as they assigned him to Peterborough of the OHL. The 18-year-old was the third-overall pick this past summer and had two goals and an assist in nine games which averaging just over 13 minutes per contest. By going back to junior, he’ll still have three years remaining on his three-year, entry-level contract after the season and he won’t accrue a season of service time towards UFA eligibility.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Snapshots: Canadiens, Avalanche Injuries, Comeau
It has been a rocky start for the Canadiens this season who have managed just five victories in their first 20 games of the season just months after appearing in the Stanley Cup Final. Despite that, GM Marc Bergevin told Sportsnet’s Eric Engels that he isn’t interested in making a trade to simply try to shake things up:
If I make one move to make one change, unless everyone else picks it up, it’s not going to make a difference. It’s well known that just making trades to make trades—especially with our situation with the cap—it just makes no sense to make a lateral move just to make a lateral move. If you’d like to make a move, it’s to make a move to make your team better. Just making a move to make a move, I’m never going to do that just to say I made a trade and here we go.
Notwithstanding Bergevin’s contract situation, a complicating factor in any move he tries to make is Montreal’s salary cap situation. On the surface, they have plenty of room with Carey Price and Paul Byron joining Shea Weber on LTIR. However, only Weber is out for the season so when Price and Byron are activated, they will basically be in a spot where they’ll need to match or clear money to make a move. It’s a bit early in the year for those types of trades so don’t expect much on the trade from the Canadiens anytime soon.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon could return at some point on their five-game road trip that begins at the start of next month, notes NHL.com’s Rick Sadowski. He has missed the last two weeks with a lower-body injury but still sits fifth in team scoring with ten points in nine games. Meanwhile, Sadowski adds that goaltender Pavel Francouz faced shots for the first time at practice today as he tries to work his way back from a lower-body injury of his own that has kept him out for the whole season so far. The team hasn’t shown much confidence in current backup Jonas Johansson so getting Francouz back soon would give them a boost between the pipes.
- After clearing waivers earlier this month, Dallas winger Blake Comeau hasn’t made it to the AHL just yet. Instead, it turns out that he is dealing with a nagging injury, relays Mike Heika of the Stars team site (Twitter link). The plan is for the 35-year-old to be re-evaluated in three weeks. Comeau had a goal in six games before passing through waivers unclaimed while averaging just 11:28 per game.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Anaheim Ducks
As the holiday season approaches, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for as the season heads towards the one-quarter mark. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Anaheim Ducks.
What are the Ducks most thankful for?
The light at the end of the tunnel. It has been a few rough years for Anaheim as they haven’t even come close to a playoff spot in each of the last three years. However, those struggles have yielded some promising prospects, headlined by centers Trevor Zegras plus Mason McTavish and defenseman Jamie Drysdale. Those are three strong building blocks after not really being able to develop any in-house over the past few years. Are they ready to vault themselves back into consistent playoff contention yet? Probably not but there is certainly a roadmap to getting there with their promising young core.
Who are the Ducks most thankful for?
Since being held off the scoresheet in the opening game of the season, the 24-year-old has recorded at least a point in 16 straight contests. That’s impressive for anyone but especially for a player who had only reached 16 points in a single season once. Yes, it had been a particularly quiet first few seasons for him despite the fact that Terry lit up the scoresheet in college with Denver but all of a sudden, he has grabbed hold of a spot on the top line and gone with it. His dozen goals have helped propel the Ducks into the top five in goals scored, a mark that hardly anyone would have seen coming. Is this sustainable to the point where he can join the other top prospects as a piece to build around? That’s the big question from a long-term perspective but for now, Anaheim’s just enjoying the ride.
What would the Ducks be even more thankful for?
A return to form for Max Comtois in the second half. It has not been a fun season for the 22-year-old after he led Anaheim in scoring last season, earning himself a two-year deal at just over $2MM in the process. He’s not a pure power forward but brings enough physicality with some scoring touch to make him a key part of their attack.
But things haven’t gone well at all this season. Comtois has just one assist in 13 games, has been scratched, and is now out until probably January as he recovers from a broken hand. The first half has been a complete write-off but if they’re going to hang around the playoff mix, they’ll need him to be the impact player he was last season.
What should be on the Ducks’ Holiday Wish List?
Since ownership has already acknowledged that their GM search will likely go into the offseason, that chair isn’t getting permanently filled over the next few weeks. But the key item on interim GM Jeff Solomon’s wish list will be defensive stability.
In terms of the current roster, there is a need to add with both Simon Benoit and Josh Mahura both better suited for depth roles and right now, one of them is in the lineup on a regular basis when everyone’s healthy. Adding a veteran defender, particularly one that can play in the top four when injuries strike, would be a good addition for the Ducks.
But stability also extends beyond this season. Hampus Lindholm and Josh Manson are both pending unrestricted free agents. Getting one or both of them signed would certainly go a long way towards giving them some more defensive certainty but finding the right price point to sway them away from the open market will cost a pretty penny. There’s also the potential that one or both are moved to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing.
It won’t be easy but Solomon needs to find a way to retain or replace those two veterans, especially since Anaheim’s prospect depth is largely littered with forwards beyond Drysdale; it is an area of need long-term. That’s a tall task for anyone let alone an interim GM but securing the future of their back end will go a long way towards securing their future as a team on the rise.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mika Zibanejad Removed From COVID Protocol After False Positive
4:12 pm: Zibanejad experienced a false positive test and has been removed from COVID protocol, per a team tweet. He’ll be available for Sunday’s game versus the Buffalo Sabres.
10:09 am: The Rangers announced (Twitter link) before their practice today that center Mika Zibanejad has been placed in COVID protocol. As is often the case with these announcements, there is no indication as to whether or not he tested positive or entered the protocol for another reason.
The 28-year-old is off to a bit of a quieter start by his standards this season, scoring just four times in 17 games although Zibanejad has chipped in with ten assists to place him fourth in scoring for New York. Zibanejad once again leads the way in terms of ice time by a forward, logging over 20 minutes a game. He’s in the final year of his contract that carries a $5.35MM AAV, a considerable bargain compared to the eight-year, $68MM extension that he signed last month.
Zibanejad tested positive for the virus prior to training camp for last season but that was only back in January. If this is indeed another positive test, he would be out for at least the next ten days which would cause him to miss New York’s next four games at a minimum. While that wouldn’t be enough time missed to accelerate their shopping for more forward depth, it would still be a tough blow to a team that has gotten off to a solid start this season with a 10-4-3 record.