AHL Shuffle: 11/13/21
As always, Saturday is a very busy day in the NHL with 26 teams set to play. Accordingly, there should be plenty of roster movement throughout the day which we’ll keep track of here.
Atlantic Division
- The Senators announced (Twitter link) that they have recalled defensemen Jacob Bernard-Docker and Maxence Guenette along with winger Andrew Agozzino from AHL Belleville. The recalls leave Ottawa with no more healthy blueliners in the minors to recall. The Sens currently have three rearguards in COVID protocol with Nikita Zaitsev being cleared today while Artem Zub and Erik Brannstrom both suffered injuries earlier this week. Later in the day, the Sens returned Guenette to Belleville to make room on the roster for center Shane Pinto who was activated off IR.
- The Panthers have sent defenseman Olli Juolevi to Charlotte of the AHL on a conditioning stint, per the AHL’s transactions log. The 23-year-old was acquired from Vancouver in training camp but has yet to make his debut due to an undisclosed injury. The conditioning stint can last up to three games.
Metropolitan Division
- Just days after posting his first career NHL shutout, Capitals goaltender Zach Fucale is heading back to AHL Hershey, per a team announcement. The 26-year-old – who was the first goalie in franchise history to record a shutout in his debut – has a 1.73 GAA with a .933 SV% with the Bears this season. Fucale’s demotion suggests that Vitek Vanecek is ready to return from the upper-body injury that caused him to miss the last two games.
Central Division
- The Predators announced that they have recalled forward Cole Smith from AHL Milwaukee while sending winger Rocco Grimaldi down to the Admirals. Smith made his NHL debut last season and has three goals and three assists in nine minor league contests this season. As for Grimaldi, he cleared waivers on Friday after being held off the scoresheet in his five games with Nashville this season and will look to get back on track with Milwaukee.
- The Stars are recalling goaltender Jake Oettinger from AHL Texas, reports Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (Twitter link). Braden Holtby is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury that has been lingering since training camp so Oettinger will serve as the backup for Dallas for the time being.
Pacific Division
This post will be updated throughout the day.
Senators And Canadiens Have Shown Interest In Vitali Kravtsov
Back when Rangers winger Vitali Kravtsov refused his assignment to AHL Hartford and was given permission to seek a trade, it was reported that several teams had shown interest in the 21-year-old. According to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Senators and Canadiens were the two teams with the most interest in acquiring the 2018 first-rounder.
Kravtsov came to North America last season after a good showing with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL where he potted 16 goals in 49 games. However, that production didn’t carry over to New York as he had just two goals and two assists in 20 contests with the Rangers. He had a goal in three preseason contests this year but it wasn’t enough to make the team as he was sent down. It was only last week that Kravtsov was officially loaned back to Chelyabinsk to get some playing time and he made an immediate impact, scoring twice while adding an assist in his first game back.
Ottawa has been known to be seeking forward help going back to the start of the season and as a team that’s only now just trying to start to emerge from their rebuild, Kravtsov is the type of player that they would want to add to their existing young core. As for Montreal, their depth is limited when it comes to left-shot wingers so there would be a spot in the bottom six for him to try and fill.
Of course, given his draft pedigree, New York placed a high price tag on Kravtsov’s services, one that clearly no one has met yet. The fact that he’s now playing again can only help his value over sitting at home and a good showing back in the KHL could be enough for teams to up the ante on their offer. Based on Seravalli’s report, the Senators and Canadiens will be among the teams keeping a close eye on how Kravtsov does in the weeks to come.
Snapshots: Senators, Cernak, Greenway
The NHL currently has no plans to postpone and reschedule any of Ottawa’s games in the midst of their COVID outbreak, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. Josh Brown became the sixth Senators player to be sidelined along with associate coach Jack Capuano which was enough to lead some to believe that yesterday’s game against Boston could be postponed. However, they were able to get enough reinforcements to ice a full lineup for that contest. Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly indicated that the league is “monitoring the situation” but that they would prefer to not have to reschedule games if possible. The Sens begin a stint of three games in four days on Thursday so this situation will be one to monitor if more players have to be quarantined.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak will miss at least a few games due to an upper-body injury sustained on Tuesday, head coach Jon Cooper told Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times. The 24-year-old logs over 20 minutes a game on Tampa Bay’s back end including the second-most penalty kill time among their defenders so his absence will be a tough one to fill. They will get Mikhail Sergachev back from suspension on Saturday but Jan Rutta and Cal Foote will also be called upon to play more minutes.
- The Wild have activated winger Jordan Greenway from IR and will have him in their lineup tonight against Arizona, relays Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The 24-year-old suffered a high ankle sprain two weeks ago versus Seattle and missed the last four games. It’s a contract year for Greenway who will be a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility this summer so not missing extended time will certainly help his cause. He has two assists in seven games this season after recording 32 points in 56 contests in 2020-21.
Bob Murray Resigns As Ducks GM
A day after being placed on administrative leave, Ducks general manager Bob Murray has tendered his resignation and will enroll in an alcohol abuse program, per a team announcement. Jeff Solomon, who was named the interim GM yesterday pending an investigation into Murray, will retain that title for the time being. Murray released the following statement:
I want to apologize to anyone adversely affected by my behavior. I vow to make changes to my life, starting with enrolling in a treatment program. I want to thank Henry and Susan Samueli, and Michael Schulman, as working for them has been one of the highlights of my career. As I step away from the Ducks, I will focus my attention on where it should be: improving my life for the betterment of my family and friends.
Murray had been with the organization since 2005 when he joined them as their Senior VP of Hockey Operations and GM of their AHL affiliate which was in Portland at the time. The 66-year-old was promoted to GM midway through the 2008-09 campaign where he took over for Brian Burke, a role he had held ever since until today.
Over that stretch, Murray made a whopping 105 trades and signed 287 contracts, per CapFriendly. Among his notable signings were the eight-year deals handed to franchise mainstays Corey Perry ($69MM) and Ryan Getzlaf (66MM) which remain the richest contracts in franchise history plus the eight-year pacts that defenseman Cam Fowler ($52MM) and goaltender John Gibson ($51.2MM) are currently on, ones that have generally been viewed as team-friendly deals over the years. Anaheim made eight playoff appearances with Murray running the show, getting as far as the Western Conference Final in two of those years.
As for Solomon, he’s in his first year with Anaheim after being hired just a few months ago following 14 seasons in the front office for the Kings. It appears as if the interim GM title could very well be his through the end of the season; owners Henry and Susan Samueli indicated in a statement that they will now undergo a “methodical, extensive search” that they hope to complete no later than next summer. Accordingly, Solomon will have an opportunity to make a strong case for the full-time role; helping get Anaheim to the playoffs after missing three straight years would certainly help on that front; the Ducks are off to a good start with a 7-4-3 record early on, good enough for second in the Pacific Division and are definitely in the mix in the early going.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report Murray’s resignation.
Five Key Stories: 11/1/21 – 11/7/21
The beginning of November yielded quite a bit of activity around the NHL with the biggest ones being highlighted in the key stories of the week.
More Changes In Chicago: Blackhawks interim GM Kyle Davidson made a significant change in one of his first moves since being promoted as he fired head coach Jeremy Colliton along with assistants Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank. Taking over behind the bench is Derek King who will also carry the interim title but will remain in that role for the rest of the season. Chicago is off to a terrible start this season with a 1-9-2 record heading into Sunday’s contest so the move doesn’t come as much surprise. The team posted an 87-92-26 record under Colliton’s tutelage in his first stint behind an NHL bench. King now finds himself in the same situation as he looks to try to turn things around quickly.
Prospect Loans: A pair of notable prospects are heading overseas. Although William Eklund certainly looked like he belonged in the NHL with his early-season performance, the Sharks decided to send him back to Sweden for the remainder of the year. This is a move that’s primarily based on contractual control over his performance; Eklund now won’t burn the first year of his entry-level deal and will still have three years left on his deal and seven seasons of club control heading into 2022-23. Meanwhile, the Rangers assigned Vitali Kravtsov to Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL, allowing the prospect to resume playing. Kravtsov elected not to report to AHL Hartford after being sent down last month with a trade request following soon after. That clearly hasn’t happened and now, the 21-year-old will at least get to play and try to help boost his value around the league.
Eichel Traded: It’s over. After months of speculation, the Sabres traded center Jack Eichel along with a 2023 third-round pick to the Golden Knights for winger Alex Tuch, prospect center Peyton Krebs, a 2022 first-round pick, and a 2023 second-rounder. Eichel is now set to undergo artificial disk replacement surgery this week and will miss three-to-five months while recovering. The move gives Vegas the number one center they have been coveting, assuming that Eichel returns to full health. There will be cap complications to navigate through once Vegas is fully healthy and there is a cap crunch coming for next season and beyond. Meanwhile, Buffalo had to make a cap-related move of a different kind, acquiring the rights to Johnny Boychuk from the Islanders for future considerations. Boychuk’s playing days are over but his $6MM AAV will be on Buffalo’s books, keeping them over the cap floor. The trade appears to be relatively well-received on both sides with our readers assigning a ‘B’ grade for both teams.
Key Injuries: It was a tough week on the injury front for several teams who saw some key players land on injured reserve. Capitals winger Anthony Mantha is out indefinitely after undergoing shoulder surgery, a big blow for a team that’s already banged up when it comes to some of their top forwards. Meanwhile, Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine’s strong start has been put on hold as an oblique injury will keep him out for the next four-to-six weeks. Vegas, who has been hit harder than pretty much everyone on the injury front this season, suffered another blow as a broken foot for William Karlsson will put him on the shelf for the next six weeks.
Big Money For Fox: Rangers defenseman Adam Fox wasn’t slated to become a restricted free agent until July but he won’t be getting to that point as the 23-year-old instead signed a seven-year, $66.5MM contract extension. The reigning Norris Trophy winner set a new record for the richest contract given to a blueliner coming off their entry-level deal while his $9.5MM AAV puts him tied for the fourth-highest price among all NHL defenders starting in 2022-23. The price tag is certainly justifiable as Fox has quickly become one of the elite rearguards in the league and is off to another impressive start this season with a dozen points in as many games. Notably, New York gains an extra four years of club control on Fox, ensuring that he won’t be able to hit the open market until 2029 at the earliest.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Senators Place Nick Holden And Jack Capuano In COVID Protocol
The Senators have added to their COVID list as the team announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Nick Holden and associate coach Jack Capuano have been placed into COVID protocol. Taking Holden’s place on the roster will be blueliner Erik Brannstrom who has been recalled from AHL Belleville.
Holden is in his first season with Ottawa and has played in all but one of their 11 games so far, recording an assist while averaging 17:35 per game of ice time, primarily on the third pairing. It’s his presence on the roster that played a role in Brannstrom being sent to the minors at the start of the season as having the 22-year-old as a healthy scratch with the Senators would hardly have been ideal from a development perspective. Brannstrom has a goal and two assists in nine games with AHL Belleville so far this season.
Capuano and Holden will join winger Austin Watson in the protocols after Watson was added there back on Friday and will be there for at least ten days. While some teams have had some cap challenges when players are added to the list, that won’t be the case for the Sens who will still have more than $12MM in cap room following Brannstrom’s promotion, per CapFriendly.
Snapshots: Dermott, Larkin, Bozak, Oshie
While Maple Leafs defenseman Travis Dermott has been in trade speculation over the past week or so, he doesn’t seem to be worried about it, telling TSN’s Mark Masters that he’s not too worried about it, referencing it’s not the first time he has been in speculation. Part of the rationale behind the idea he could move was for salary cap purposes although the injury to Petr Mrazek – which will keep him out long enough to be LTIR-eligible – lessens the need to make a move to free up cap room in the short term.
Elsewhere around the NHL:
- Red Wings center Dylan Larkin has returned to the team after missing the last three games due to unspecified personal reasons, relays Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News. The 25-year-old is a welcome return having averaged a point per game through his first eight games while averaging nearly 18 minutes a night and playing in all situations.
- With Blues center Tyler Bozak suiting up tonight Anaheim, he triggers a $750K bonus in his contract, notes Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link). Those are supposed to be charged in the year they’re earned but a team can go over the cap with bonuses and take the charge the following season. Considering their current cap situation, the latter could be the case with Bozak, who still has three other bonuses in his deal, per CapFriendly.
- Capitals GM Brian MacLellan told Samantha Pell of the Washington Post that although winger T.J. Oshie is currently in a walking boot, he is expected to return to the ice in some capacity this week. That would certainly be welcome news for Washington which has been hit hard on the injury front with center Nicklas Backstrom and Anthony Mantha also out of the lineup at the moment.
Central Notes: Girard, Forsberg, Blues
Colorado has assembled an impressive back end, a group that has been bolstered by the return of Erik Johnson and the emergence of sophomore Bowen Byram. The 20-year-old has been strong enough this season that Mike Chambers of the Denver Post suggests that blueliner Samuel Girard could plausibly be made available if the Avalanche decide to try to add to their forward group between now and the trade deadline. Girard is signed through 2026-27 with a $5MM AAV, a reasonable price for someone that consistently logs over 20 minutes per game while chipping in a little offensively as well. If the Avs were to make the 23-year-old available, he’d garner plenty of interest around the league.
More from the Central Division:
- J.P. Barry, the agent for Predators winger Filip Forsberg, confirmed to Adam Vingan of The Athletic (subscription link) that there still have been no discussions on a possible contract extension with the veteran in the final year of his deal. While Forsberg has indicated a willingness to merely play the year out and see what happens after the season, Barry added that he does expect to have those contract talks at some point during the regular season. The 27-year-old is likely eyeing a raise on his current $6MM AAV but is currently out with an upper-body injury.
- While the Blues were hoping for some cap relief in their current COVID situation, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that they won’t be receiving any: “There is not currently an intention to provide cap relief for Covid-related reasons. No different than having to deal with multiple short-term injuries. St. Louis is not at all unique in having to navigate these waters.” St. Louis has had six different players enter the protocols in recent days and while they’ve managed to carry a minimum-sized roster, any other addition or injury will place them in a situation where they’ll have to play short a player for a game before becoming eligible for a cap-exempt recall.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Florida Panthers
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.
Florida Panthers
Current Cap Hit: $82,014,416 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
G Spencer Knight (two years, $925K)
F Anton Lundell (three years, $925K)
F Eetu Luostarinen (one year, $890K)
F Owen Tippett (one year, $863K)
Potential Bonuses
Knight: $1.85MM
Lundell: $850K
Tippett: $850K
Total: $3.55MM
Lundell has impressed in his early NHL action. Despite being used in a heavy defensive role, he has chipped in offensively and held his own in his own end. The fact he’s in this important of a spot on the depth chart now will certainly help his cause for his second deal; three years of being a key piece certainly looks better than being up and down which is where Tippett finds himself. Another first-round pick, Tippett hasn’t produced with much consistency in the NHL and has been up and down in the lineup with some time in the minors as well. Between that and their cap situation, he’s a strong candidate for a two-year bridge contract that buys both sides more time. Luostarinen doesn’t have the numbers to command much of a raise although his playing time (over 13 minutes a game in his two seasons with Florida) should be enough to push him over the $1MM mark.
Knight has done well since joining the Panthers late last season and it’s clear he’s their goalie of the future. Can he get enough playing time over the next two years to command starter money though? That may be iffy, especially being behind a high-priced netminder on the depth chart. Making the finances work on a long-term pact two years from now seems difficult given that Sergei Bobrovsky has five years left. As a result, a two-year bridge deal to keep the combined cost down makes sense for both sides, allowing Knight to get a bigger payday after that while Florida gets only the one season of a very pricey goalie tandem (assuming Bobrovsky is still around by then).
Both Knight and Lundell have a chance to hit some of their bonuses which is worth remembering with how tight they are to the salary cap; it creates the possibility of a carryover overage for next season.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
F Noel Acciari ($1.667MM, UFA)
D Kevin Connauton ($825K, UFA)
D Olli Juolevi ($750K, RFA)
F Ryan Lomberg ($725K, UFA)
F Maxim Mamin ($975K, UFA)
F Mason Marchment ($800K, UFA)
D Markus Nutivaara ($2.7MM, UFA)
F Joe Thornton ($750K, UFA)
F Frank Vatrano ($2.533MM, UFA)
Vatrano has scored at least 16 goals in each of the last three seasons which certainly helps to justify his price tag but he has struggled early on this year, playing largely on the fourth line. That’s never a good sign in a walk year and could shift him from a chance of earning similar money on his next contract to having to take a bit less. That recent track record should still give him a decent market though. Acciari isn’t really the 20-goal player he was in 2018-19 but, when healthy, he’s a capable energy player but he hasn’t played this season due to an upper-body injury. The longer he sits, the more his value takes a hit. Mamin got pretty good money to come back from the KHL but has spent most of the season in the minors. He’s up now and with a one-way contract, he’s someone that could be a trade candidate if he can’t secure a regular spot. At this point, a return overseas seems likely. Marchment has turned into a bargain and is off to a nice start offensively while chipping in with plenty of physicality. While he’s a late bloomer, there will be a lot of interest if he gets to the open market and something in the $2MM range could be doable. Lomberg and Thornton are cheap end-of-roster pieces and will either be retained or replaced with someone at a similar price point next season. In Thornton’s case, it’ll probably be the latter.
Nutivaara’s value has dipped since joining Florida last year. He has been on the third pairing when healthy and is in his second stint on IR already this season. That’s a high price for a player that’s sixth or seventh on the depth chart and his next deal will reflect that and could check in at half of his current AAV. Connauton’s value is what it is at this point, a two-way contract that’s close to the minimum salary while Juolevi needs to establish himself as an NHL regular before having a chance at getting into the seven-figure range.
Two Years Remaining
D Radko Gudas ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Patric Hornqvist ($5.3MM, UFA)
F Jonathan Huberdeau ($5.9MM, UFA)
D MacKenzie Weegar ($3.25MM, UFA)
Huberdeau has very quietly produced more than a point per game in each of the last three seasons and is above that rate again in the early going this season. That’s impressive production for someone that is basically being paid second-line money. With some of the recent deals handed out to elite wingers, Huberdeau could push for more than $10MM a year although it wouldn’t be surprising if Florida tries to get him slightly below the $10MM that their captain just got. Hornqvist had a bounce-back 2020-21 campaign although he’s off to a tough start this season. The style he has played over the years tends to catch up with players as they age and considering he’ll be 36 when his next contract kicks in, it’s likely to be for considerably less than his current price tag as a result.
Weegar has worked his way up from being a role player on the third pairing to a very important part of Florida’s back end. He’s logging more than 24 minutes per game early on this season – top-pairing minutes – and his offensive game has shown considerable improvement as well. This has quickly become a very team-friendly contract and if he continues at the pace he’s on, he could be looking at coming close to doubling his price tag on the open market. Gudas is the player he was when he signed this contract – a third-pairing defensive player whose intimidation factor increases his value. As long as those two things remain true, there’s no reason to think his next contract will be much different than this one.
Three Years Remaining
F Anthony Duclair ($3MM, UFA)
D Gustav Forsling ($2.667MM, UFA)
D Brandon Montour ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Sam Reinhart ($6.5MM, UFA)
Reinhart was Florida’s big addition over the offseason from Buffalo although they weren’t able to come to terms on a long-term agreement. Instead, he signed what amounted to another bridge deal, one that bought a couple of years of team control and both sides time to see how he fits in. Speculatively, his future could be tied to Huberdeau’s; if they re-sign him, it may be hard to fit Reinhart in as well. If he gets to the open market, he’ll be well-positioned to earn another raise. Duclair has found a home in Florida after bouncing around. As a secondary scorer, he’s in a role that suits him more than a primary piece and the offensive environment that Florida has now gives him a chance to provide some good value on that deal.
Montour bounced back last season and did well in his limited time with Florida which earned him some job security. His role has dropped this season as he’s primarily been on the third pairing but as long as he can contribute offensively, he’ll still provide a reasonable return even if he winds up being more limited at even strength than anticipated. Still just 27, there’s still time for him to work his way up the depth chart as well. Forsling has been a nice waiver claim for the Panthers as he has gone from being a depth piece to one of their top blueliners. Considering he was on waivers back in January, the price tag may seem expensive but he is outperforming that new deal so far.
Blackhawks Fire Jeremy Colliton
The Blackhawks have decided to make a change behind the bench as the team announced that head coach Jeremy Colliton along with assistants Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank have been relieved of their duties effective immediately. Derek King, who had been coaching with AHL Rockford, will take over as interim head coach while Marc Crawford remains on as an assistant coach. Anders Sorenson, meanwhile, replaces King as the head coach with the IceHogs. Interim GM Kyle Davidson released the following statement:
Our on-ice goal remains the same: to build an elite system of hockey – and we have not delivered on that. The fact is our play and competitiveness must improve. Every game, every shift. Today’s coaching changes are difficult, especially given the incredible personal connections Jeremy and others have made with our players in their development. We appreciate Jeremy’s contributions to the organization over the last three seasons, and we wish him and his family the best.
We appreciate Derek’s willingness to step in behind the bench as we embark on our search for our next permanent head coach. His NHL experience as a player and work with our younger players in Rockford over the last four years gives us great confidence in his ability to lead the Chicago Blackhawks in this interim role.
The dismissal comes three years to the day that Colliton took over from former head coach Joel Quenneville. Over that stretch, Chicago hasn’t really progressed. The team posted a 87-92-26 record with the 36-year-old behind the bench with their only playoff appearance coming in 2019-20 where they lost in five games to Vegas in the first round. That, of course, was the season that the postseason was expected in the summer bubble; their record wouldn’t have been good enough to qualify otherwise.
After a tough showing last season, now-former GM Stan Bowman tried to bolster the roster, adding Seth Jones and Jake McCabe to their back end, Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes, and Tyler Johnson up front while welcoming Jonathan Toews back to the fold as well. At a minimum, they were expected to be considerably better if not contending for a playoff spot. Instead, they struggled mightily as Chicago has just a 1-9-2 record this season while they’ve allowed the most goals in the league with 47. Clearly, something wasn’t working and Davidson has decided that a fresh voice is needed to try to turn things around.
While King is quite familiar with several players on Chicago’s roster having worked with them with the IceHogs since 2016-17 (including as the head coach since 2018-19), it will be his first coaching role at the NHL level of any kind. That, coupled with the hole they’ve dug themselves in the standings, puts the 54-year-old in a tough situation, not entirely dissimilar to the one Colliton was in when he took over for Quenneville.
The fact that Davidson, himself only in the GM role on an interim basis, was given the green light to make this significant switch is noteworthy. CEO Danny Wirtz indicated in a statement that Davidson has “our full confidence and autonomy to make hockey decisions” which certainly suggests he’ll be given consideration for the full-time GM position. In the meantime, Chicago will be conducting parallel searches with the team looking to determine Bowman’s replacement and Davidson likely heading up the search for the full-time head coach. It’s not too often that a team has both an interim head coach and general manager but that’s the situation that the Blackhawks now find themselves in moving forward.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report that Colliton had been let go with King taking over.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.