Rangers Making Progress On Libor Hajek’s Contract
The bulk of the heavy lifting has been done for the Rangers and new GM Chris Drury as they have made several changes to their roster, adding plenty of grit along the way. They still have one RFA left to re-sign, however, in Libor Hajek but Mollie Walker of the New York Post reports that New York is closing in on a deal with the defenseman.
The 23-year-old was one of the pieces that went to the Rangers as part of the deal that saw Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller go to Tampa Bay back at the 2018 trade deadline. At the time, Hajek was in the middle of wrapping up a strong junior career and it looked like he might be a prospect that could be a long-term piece for New York.
While he’s still young enough to change his fortunes, that hasn’t quite happened yet. Hajek played in 44 games with the Rangers last season but in a limited role, averaging just over 15 minutes per game while predominantly being on their third pairing. His waiver exemption allowed him to be shuffled to the taxi squad and after working his way back up to the big club in February, he was sent down another 13 times through the season for cap purposes.
With his limited role, it’s hard to see Hajek landing much more than the value of his qualifying offer last month, one that was worth just over $874K. He isn’t waiver-exempt anymore which makes a proposal of a lower NHL salary than the qualifier in exchange for a higher AHL salary – a common contract we’ve seen with some restricted free agents this summer – less palatable but it’s a deal that should be fairly simple to hammer out. With the bigger moves now complete, Drury can focus on getting Hajek re-signed, a move that appears to be coming sooner than later.
Free Agent Profile: Ryan Donato
Early in his career, it looked like Ryan Donato was going to be a player who could be a capable secondary scorer for Boston. However, his production has stagnated which has resulted in a couple of trades already with San Jose opting to non-tender him over issuing a $2.15MM qualifying offer earlier this summer, sending him to the open market.
While every player still unsigned has their flaws, it is a little surprising that Donato old remains unsigned. His 20 points are the most of any remaining UFA that doesn’t already have ties to the Islanders as they look to see how long they can go without officially announcing any signings and at 25, he’s the youngest regular NHL player on the open market.
Last season was a tough one for Donato. Joining the Sharks seemed like a good fit for him as he’d have a chance to play a bit of a bigger role than he did with Minnesota. That did indeed happen but the playing time only increased marginally as he still found himself on the fourth line at times. The end result was just six goals which is likely why they opted to try someone else in his spot instead.
Still, while there aren’t many players with upside still unsigned, there’s a case to be made that Donato is one of them. He has reached at least 20 points in his three full professional seasons and is only a year removed from a 14-goal campaign with the Wild. It’s a limited track record for sure but there’s definitely a case for someone to bring him in.
Stats
2020-21: 50 GP, 6-14-20, -10 rating, 10 PIMS, 104 shots, 47.6 CF%, 12:37 ATOI
Career: 180 GP, 35-42-77, -18 rating, 30 PIMS, 362 shots, 50.9 CF%, 12:24 ATOI
Potential Suitors
Unlike some veteran players who are better fits on playoff-bound teams, no such restriction exists for Donato. He could serve as a depth piece for those teams or catch on with a weaker team that has a chance to give him a bigger role and allow him to restore some value. Donato is still controllable through 2023 which puts him in a spot like Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Duclair were a year ago, non-tenders that had another year of control remaining; both of them eventually signed a second deal with their teams.
In the East, a team like Buffalo or Detroit that is still rebuilding could be a fit in terms of hoping that he pans out into a potentially longer-term fit. Among teams with playoff aspirations, Toronto could use him similar to what they wanted to do with Jimmy Vesey and Alex Galchenyuk last season as an offensive piece that they hope to get a bit of surplus value out of for a cost that’s close to the minimum.
Out West, Anaheim and Nashville are teams that haven’t exactly bolstered their offenses and while Donato isn’t going to make a big difference, any small upgrade would be helpful while both teams could benefit if he does well enough to earn a qualifying offer next summer. Seattle’s forward group could use a bit more offensive upside in their bottom six while Edmonton could use Donato as a low-cost replacement for Dominik Kahun, a player who was brought in to try and improve their offensive depth last fall.
Projected Contract
Donato’s non-tender came after the voting for our Top 50 UFA list although he may very well have made it on there had his release come earlier. It’s hard to see any viable multi-year offers coming his way so a one-year contract is likely all he’ll wind up with. Something around the $1MM mark would make him fit on the cap for many teams although if he wants to land with a contender, Donato may have to take a little less than that even. While there are questions regarding many of the remaining free agents as to whether or not they’ll make it on a roster for next season, that shouldn’t be the case with Donato. His stock has certainly dropped but it’s only a matter of time before someone takes a chance on Donato.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Flyers Agree To Terms With Travis Sanheim
There won’t be an arbitration hearing this year after all. Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim was the last arbitration-bound player without a contract but that has changed as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the blueliner has agreed to a two-year deal with a $4.675MM AAV. PuckPedia reports that the structure of the deal is as follows:
2021-22: $4MM salary
2022-23: $5.35MM salary
The 25-year-old inked a two-year bridge contract two summers ago coming off a career-best 35-point season and at the time, it was expected that he’d continue his ascent and ideally become a top-pairing-caliber blueliner for Philadelphia. That didn’t exactly happen, however. In particular, Sanheim struggled last season, notching just 15 points in 55 games despite logging 21:53 per game (also a career-high) with some struggles in his own end. There is no doubt that Sanheim is still a big part of their future but the exact role isn’t as certain as it appeared to be.
That’s where this deal comes in. The two-year term basically amounts to a second bridge deal, allowing both the Flyers and Sanheim more time to assess his long-term value and role. Notably, it also walks him to unrestricted free agency in 2023. That’s hardly an ideal scenario for Philadelphia but when they elected to take him to arbitration earlier this month, it created the situation for this to happen as Sanheim simply could have elected the two-year term and taken his chances with the arbitrator. They get to avoid the hearing with this contract but he’ll still be able to hit the open market in his first eligible year.
Sanheim should remain behind Ivan Provorov on the left side of a new-look Philadelphia back end that now features Ryan Ellis who was brought in from Nashville plus veteran Keith Yandle to replace the offense that Shayne Gostisbehere provided as he was moved in a cap-clearing move to Arizona.
There won’t be any more shakeups coming for the Flyers, however, at least not without matching money. This move basically eats up all of their remaining cap space and will likely see them carrying less than the maximum of 23 skaters to start the season. But with the changes on the back end and the addition of Cam Atkinson up front, GM Chuck Fletcher got the core shakeup he wanted and with Sanheim signing, has his full roster under contract. Will it be enough to get back to the playoffs in what projects to be a tight Metropolitan Division? We’ll find out soon enough once the season gets underway.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
East Notes: Chara, Malkin, DeBrusk
While the Blues are believed to have shown interest in Zdeno Chara, it doesn’t appear to be mutual. Fox Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland notes (Twitter link) that if the 44-year-old decides to play next season, his intention is to stay in the Eastern Conference to be closer to his family. Chara still logged more than 18 minutes a game with Washington last season and led the team in shorthanded ice time so he can still contribute in a limited role. But at this stage of his career and knowing he’s going to be signing for the minimum salary or close to it (plus possible bonuses) for cap purposes, Chara can afford to be selective about where he wants to go and if the right fit doesn’t materialize, he can simply call it a career.
More from the East:
- While teams have often wanted to front-load contracts to players signing their final contracts at the end of their career to try to keep the AAV down, Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now suggests the Penguins may want to try a different approach when it comes to center Evgeni Malkin. Instead, with the 35-plus penalties not applying to contracts for players that age that have the same salary throughout, a deal like that could potentially allow Pittsburgh to tack an extra year on in return for a lower AAV while giving Malkin the opportunity to retire or go to the KHL without any risk of cap penalties that most 35-plus deals carry.
- A pair of Western Canadian teams still have varying degrees of interest in Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk, reports Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic (subscription link). The scribe notes the Oilers and Flames as teams interested, though Calgary is to a lesser degree. DeBrusk is coming off a tough season that saw him post just 14 points in 41 games, hardly worth the $3.675MM AAV (that also carries a $4.85MM salary). However, he scored at least 16 goals in each of his first three NHL seasons so there is a track record of some success. Shinzawa suggests that a swap for a center would be Boston’s preference but neither of those teams have a center that could plausibly be had around that particular price tag.
Minor Transactions: 08/21/21
While the signings on the NHL front continue to dry up, the same can’t be said for other leagues as AHL teams and international squads look to add to their rosters. We’ll keep tabs on some of those moves of note here.
- The Senators’ farm team in Belleville announced the signings of defenseman Xavier Bernard, defenseman Mitchell Hoelscher, and goalie Tyler Parks to one-year contracts. Bernard was a fourth-round pick of New Jersey back in 2018 but wasn’t signed so he finished up his QMJHL career last season. Hoelscher, who was picked two rounds later than Bernard in 2018 by New Jersey but wasn’t signed, played in seven games with Belleville in 2020-21. As for Parks, the 29-year-old spent last season in Slovakia, posting a 1.71 GAA with a .940 SV% in 24 games with HC Slovan Bratislava.
- Mikael Hakkarainen wasted little time finding his new home. After his deal was terminated by Vegas earlier this week, the 23-year-old signed a one-year deal with TPS Turku in Finland, per a team release. Hakkarainen was the return in the Marc-Andre Fleury deal which amounted to Chicago basically just freeing up a contract slot to absorb the veteran netminder into.
- Rangers UFA winger Patrick Newell is off to Norway as Stjernen announced the signing of the 25-year-old to a one-year contract. Newell signed with New York in 2019 as a college free agent but was quiet in two full seasons with AHL Hartford, notching 13 points in each campaign which led to him being non-tendered earlier this summer.
- Defenseman Maxim Chudinov was released by Avangard Omsk of the KHL today, per a team release. The 31-year-old was drafted by the Bruins back in 2010 and since there is no transfer agreement between the NHL and Russia’s hockey federation, they still hold Chudinov’s rights.
West Notes: Patrick, Connolly, O’Connor
After a tough season with the Flyers, it seemed a trade was all but inevitable for Nolan Patrick and one eventually came to fruition as he was flipped to Vegas as part of the three-team deal that saw Cody Glass head to Nashville in return. Speaking with Justin Emerson of the Las Vegas Sun, the 22-year-old acknowledged that a fresh start was probably the best thing for him. Last season, the 2017 second-overall pick returned from missing an entire year due to migraines but managed just four goals and five assists in 52 games. The Golden Knights still need to sign Patrick who is a restricted free agent but it’s hard to see him getting much more than his qualifying offer of just under $918K. He should get an opportunity to play a regular role in their bottom six next season and a more consistent performance will be needed for him to have a shot at being an impact player.
Elsewhere in the West:
- While he’s only two seasons removed from a 46-point campaign, Brett Connolly has seen his stock dip sharply since then to the point where Florida paid the Blackhawks to take on his contract. Now, as Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times observes, the 29-year-old appears to be the odd one out in terms of making Chicago’s opening roster as things currently stand. With two years left on his contract at $3.5MM, he’s a lock to go through waivers unclaimed and an assignment to the minors would only free up $1.125MM in cap space. That said, if he’s only going to be a reserve player, going that route and bringing someone up making close to the minimum would likely be worthwhile from a cap perspective.
- Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor missed more than two months with a lower-body injury last season with the team never revealing the nature of it. O’Connor clarified to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post that he had undergone sports hernia and groin surgery to fix an issue that had crept up early in the season. The 25-year-old was able to return for the final two games of the playoffs and will have a chance for a bigger role in 2021-22 with the departures of Brandon Saad (free agency) and Joonas Donskoi (expansion). He’s in the final year of his contract, one that carries an AAV that’s actually $25K below the league minimum.
Free Agent Profile: Eric Staal
Less than a year ago, Eric Staal was coming off another season of being Minnesota’s number one center with Buffalo moving to acquire him in the hopes of boosting their second line. That didn’t happen and the veteran’s value took a steep hit as a result when it came time for the Sabres to trade him. Considering he remains unsigned, Staal’s value appears to have taken another hit now.
Things did not go well at all for the 36-year-old with Buffalo although, to be fair, that can be said for basically everyone last season. He struggled to produce at a top-nine level let alone the top-line one he had been at with the Wild. The hope was a trade to a playoff team in Montreal might revitalize him but outside of an early overtime winner, there’s a case to be made that he was even worse with the Canadiens than he was with the Sabres.
What might help Staal’s case was his playoff performance. He centered their fourth line throughout the postseason and was a bit more impactful on a line that primarily slowed the play to a crawl and focused on cycling and board battles. He was able to keep up despite playing through an injury and contributed a bit more on the scoresheet as Montreal surprisingly advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
At this point, the question is whether or not teams think last season was a one-off in declining production (perhaps in part due to injury) or a sign of things to come. The former means he can still contribute while the latter is someone that may have a hard time staying in the lineup.
Stats
2020-21: 53 GP, 5-8-13, -30 rating, 10 PIMS, 82 shots, 50.8 CF%, 14:43 ATOI
Career: 1,293 GP, 441-593-1,034, -78 rating, 828 PIMS, 3,935 shots, 52.4 CF%, 19:23 ATOI
Potential Suitors
Similar to Derick Brassard, Staal’s suitors are likely to be teams looking to add veteran depth knowing they have some unproven options or ones that would like a prospect to spend more time in the minors and would use Staal as a filler in the short term.
The Staal brothers have spoken in the past about a desire to play together but that doesn’t appear to be a viable option. Detroit has already added Pius Suter and Mitchell Stephens this summer and has Joseph Veleno pushing for a spot; the recent buyout of Frans Nielsen doesn’t really create an opening for Staal either. Meanwhile, Carolina brought in Derek Stepan to supplement their top three centers and don’t really have a spot for Staal.
Among the teams looking for depth, his old team in Minnesota makes some sense on paper based on the current composition of their roster. But GM Bill Guerin saw fit to trade him 11 months ago for a winger who was coming off a tough year at a time where they needed centers so that may not be a realistic fit. Montreal GM Marc Bergevin didn’t close the door on re-signing Staal earlier this summer and their projected top three centers have limited NHL experience. Vegas has added some younger centers to push for playing time but if Staal was willing to sign for the minimum, he could be an insurance policy. The same goes for Winnipeg who is quite capped out but lost a lot of veteran depth this summer.
As for the teams that could want Staal as a short-term stopgap to allow someone to develop, the usual teams come to mind. Columbus doesn’t have much proven depth down the middle while Ottawa has had Chris Tierney available for a while and could use Staal as a replacement.
Projected Contract
Staal narrowly made it onto our Top 50 UFA list, ranking 48th with a projected one-year, $2MM contract. That may be a bit optimistic at this point with many teams basically having their rosters finalized or close to it. Something closer to half of that may be more palatable at this point although it’s worth noting that Staal is eligible for performance incentives that could be tacked onto a lower base salary to give the signing team a little more salary cap flexibility next season. Either way, it’ll be a steep drop from the $3.25MM AAV he had for the past two years.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Zadorov, Yamamoto, Beniers
While the Flames and defenseman Nikita Zadorov were only able to agree on a one-year, $3.75MM contract to avoid arbitration, GM Brad Treliving told reporters, including Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson, that he remains hopeful that a longer-term agreement can be reached by the time he hits unrestricted free agency next summer. Treliving noted that longer-term deals that would have bought out some UFA years were discussed but they just weren’t able to agree on the money. Calgary has several other expiring contracts next summer including restricted free agents Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane plus pending UFA Johnny Gaudreau and it stands to reason that they may want to take care of those new contracts to see what they could possibly commit to Zadorov on his next contract.
More from the Pacific:
- With Edmonton’s cap situation being fairly tight already even with LTIR-bound Oscar Klefbom taken into consideration, there’s a case to be made that a one-year contract for RFA winger Kailer Yamamoto would make the most sense. However, Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal suggests that a two-year deal would be better to serve as a hedge for Jesse Puljujarvi’s contract next summer even though the AAV on a two-year pact would undoubtedly be higher. Yamamoto has 52 points in 102 career NHL games and since he has basically only been a regular for the last year and a half with the Oilers, his bridge deal may come in a little lower than some of the other ones that will be handed out to players coming off their entry-level deals this summer.
- While Matty Beniers will be heading back to Michigan for his sophomore year, GM Ron Francis told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that he isn’t ruling out the possibility of the second-overall pick suiting up for the Kraken at some point this season. The NCAA Frozen Four tournament (should Michigan make it that far) will end well before the NHL’s regular season ends (April 29), allowing for the possibility for Beniers to sign and suit up for a few games down the stretch. The nine-game threshold for burning the first year of his contract would still apply as Beniers would still only be 19 at the time of signing the deal.
New Jersey Devils Sign Chase Stillman
Aug 20: The Devils have officially announced the contract.
Aug 19: The New Jersey Devils have signed one of their 2021 first-round picks as PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed winger Chase Stillman to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal will carry an AAV of $925K in the NHL and an AHL salary of $80K.
The 18-year-old is the son of long-time NHL forward Cory Stillman who had a 16-year NHL career. Stillman was expected to spend last season with Sudbury of the OHL but those plans were dashed due to the pandemic shutting down the OHL season before it could even get started. Instead, he went to Denmark where he played in eight games with Esbjerg of their junior league and was quite productive, notching nine goals and seven assists (plus 43 penalty minutes). Stillman also represented Canada at the World Under-18’s, collecting a pair of goals and assists in seven games which helped bump him up to the back of the first round after being projected as a second-rounder by most scouting agencies.
Stillman is ineligible to be sent to the AHL next season so his options are New Jersey or the OHL. It’s quite likely that he’ll be returned to Sudbury and if that happens, his contract will slide a year and still have three years on it next summer.
Central Notes: Parayko, Fiala, Nylander
Players signed until the end of the 2021-22 season are eligible for contract extensions and there have been some notable ones handed out already. One player that can get that next deal is Blues defenseman Colton Parayko but Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch suggests it’s unlikely that such a move would happen anytime soon. While St. Louis would undoubtedly love to keep the 28-year-old around, Parayko is coming off a tough injury-plagued year and accordingly, his value is far from its peak. Waiting to see if he can bounce back is the more prudent move from Parayko’s end as doing so would allow him to get a bigger contract in the end. He’s carrying a cap hit of $5.5MM for next season and he’ll need to get back to being a top-pairing performer if he’s going to get a sizable raise next summer.
More from the Central:
- Wild GM Bill Guerin acknowledged to reporters including Sarah MacLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that while he would have loved to sign winger Kevin Fiala to a long-term deal, it just wasn’t feasible to do so. He did indicate that he’s still hopeful that he’ll be able to get a multi-year pact in place with the 25-year-old for 2022-23 and beyond although with the buyout charges they have on the books beyond next season, that could be a little more complicated. Fiala avoided arbitration earlier this week with a one-year, $5.1MM contract that will also serve as his qualifying offer next offseason.
- Blackhawks winger Alex Nylander told Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago that he has fully recovered from the knee injury that cost him all of last season. Nylander couldn’t even pinpoint when the injury occurred (or if there was a specific incident, even) other than that it was in the bubble but he has resumed skating without the issues that arose when he was gearing up for last season that eventually resulted in the surgery. Nylander accepted his qualifying offer on Monday for just over $874K.