Minor Transactions: 06/18/23
While teams are still readying themselves for the true beginning of the NHL offseason at the draft later this month, a few teams have gone ahead and made a few moves, namely the Columbus Blue Jackets. But although we’re still in the early stages of the NHL offseason and the AHL postseason is still underway, teams in numerous minor and foreign leagues are hard at work preparing for next year. We’ll keep track of their transactions here.
- One-time Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Igor Ozhiganov has reportedly been traded by his KHL team, SKA St. Petersburg, to league rival Dynamo Moscow. If true, it’s a significant move in the KHL as Ozhiganov, 30, ranked ninth in KHL scoring among blueliners with 37 points in 62 games. Ozhiganov is under contract in the KHL until 2026, making an NHL return highly unlikely. But given his recent form, it seems Dynamo Moscow is getting a one-time KHL All-Star and one of the league’s more accomplished defensemen.
- Former Florida Panthers third-round pick Jonathan Racine has played pro hockey in seven countries over the past four seasons: The United States, Canada, Finland, Austria, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Now, he’s set to make that number eight. Racine, 30, has signed with Grenoble in Ligue Magnus, the top pro league in France. Racine split last season between the Danish and Norwegian leagues, and he ended his season losing in the Danish championship series. Grenoble will hope to help Grenoble qualify for the Champions Hockey League once again after the club lost out on Ligue Magnus’ one allocated spot when Rouen beat them for Ligue Magnus’ championship.
- 25-year-old Jake Ustorf was playing hockey in Germany’s third division just a few years ago, and today now he’s earned another contract extension to remain in Germany’s top league, the DEL. The 25-year-old Ohio native has re-signed with the Nurnberg Ice Tigers, the team he helped reach the DEL playoffs in two consecutive seasons. He’s not the highest scorer with just 17 points in 90 career games in the DEL but he’s been a regular in Nurnberg’s lineup for the past two years and will continue to be one thanks to today’s contract extension.
- Defenseman August Hansson helped his boyhood club Ostersunds IK earn promotion from Sweden’s third-tier HockeyEttan to their second tier, HockeyAllsvenskan. Now, he’s secured his place on their roster for another season, signing a contract extension per a team social media announcement. Hansson has been with Ostersunds for more than the past half-decade, rising from their youth development system to their main squad. Now, Hansson will patrol the first team’s blueline looking to help them retain their place in Sweden’s second division for years to come.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Free Agent Focus: Winnipeg Jets
Free agency is just around the corner and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Winnipeg Jets.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Pierre-Luc Dubois – Whether the Jets like it or not, Dubois is going to be the pending free agent set to have the most consequence on the Jets’ offseason. One year away from hitting unrestricted free agency, the soon-to-be 25-year-old center had a solid season in Winnipeg and has continued to establish himself as a top-six center who plays a valuable, powerful game.
Does he have the profile of a top-of-the-lineup, face-of-the-franchise first-line center? Maybe not, although he has shown the ability to play like one at certain moments, such as the 2019-20 Stanley Cup playoffs.
He’ll certainly get paid like a top-of-the-lineup first-line center, though, with media reports indicating that he’s seeking a long-term deal around the $9MM range.
The issue for Winnipeg is that Dubois has no interest in signing that type of contract for the Jets.
As a result, he’s pretty much guaranteed to be traded this summer. As they have one year of team control over Dubois, the Jets have reduced leverage in any trade negotiation. So, it’s unlikely GM Kevin Cheveldayoff is going to be able to get the type of high-end young player in return for Dubois similar to what he surrendered to acquire him. (He sent Patrik Laine and Jack Roslovic to the Winnipeg Jets in his original Dubois trade)
That being said, the scarcity of quality top-six centers across the NHL dictates that the Jets still should get a solid return for Dubois, especially if they can sign him to an eight-year extension and then trade him, similar to what the Calgary Flames did last year with Matthew Tkachuk. In any case, it seems the 2016 third-overall pick’s time in Winnipeg is coming to an end.
F Morgan Barron – While Dubois’ maneuvering to work his way out of Winnipeg has soured his reputation among Jets fans, Barron is a player who became more and more of a fan favorite over the course of his rookie NHL season this past year. Now 24 years old, Barron was a trade acquisition from the New York Rangers as part of the Andrew Copp deadline deal last season, and he’s settled in nicely on the Jets.
The former Cornell star has shown himself to be a top-six caliber player in the AHL and this past season moved past that level to spend most of the year as a bottom-six NHLer. He scored 21 points in 70 games and skated over a minute-and-a-half per game on the team’s penalty kill. He’s unlikely to receive any sort of massive pay raise over the $925k cap hit he played on this past year, though it would be no surprise to see him hit or cross the $1MM mark.
While a long-term bet is certainly possible, he’ll likely receive a shorter-term deal with the hope that he can continue to develop his game and unlock some of the promise in his six-foot-four frame.
D Logan Stanley – A hulking six-foot-seven blueliner, Stanley is someone who hasn’t quite unlocked the promise many have projected he’d have due to his combination of size and strength.
The Jets drafted Stanley 18th overall at the 2016 draft and took a patient approach to his development. He first reached the NHL in 2020-21, and has now played a total of 114 games at the NHL level.
While he has had a few promising moments at the game’s highest level, he took a step back this past year, skating in just 19 games and seeing his average ice time decline from 15:39 to 13:43. He’s still not an expensive proposition and unlikely to be in the immediate future, but with promising young left-shot blueliners such as Samberg, Chisholm, and Ville Heinola in their pipeline, one wonders if Stanley has a future in Winnipeg.
D Dylan Samberg – The 24-year-old Samberg concluded his first season as a full-time NHLer in 2022-23, skating in 63 games with an average ice time just a shade under 15 minutes.
Samberg was a regular face on the Jets’ penalty kill and is a well-rounded defense-first defenseman offering size and stability from the back end. He impressed for Team USA at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month and is likely to remain a regular part of the Jets’ defensive lineup.
If they believe in Samberg’s promise as a long-term NHL blueliner, the Jets could always seek out a long-term pact with Samberg this summer, though it does seem more likely that a shorter-term deal would be the more palatable route in order for Samberg to put another season or more on his NHL resume before really looking to cash in.
Other RFAs: F Kevin Stenlund, F Alex Limoges, D Declan Chisholm, D Leon Gawanke (signed a four-year contract with DEL’s Adler Mannheim), G Arvid Holm.
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
G David Rittich – Rittich has been a well-traveled backup goalie for the past few seasons, dressing for four teams in three seasons. Now 30 years old, he’s seemingly declined since his early days as a tandem leader for the Calgary Flames, though he did have a bit of a bounce-back season in Winnipeg.
He acquitted himself well on a team used to playing in front of one of the best goalies in the NHL, posting a 2.67 goals-against-average and a .901 save percentage.
Rittich’s advanced metrics were a little bit below average but he went 9-8-1 and is capable of surprises, such as during his run of games to start 2023 where he won three straight starts including an impressive 4-1 road victory in Pittsburgh.
There is some concern to the fact that Rittich lost his final five starts, but at a $900k price tag he provided solid value to the Jets. He provides some degree of insurance thanks to the years on his resume of playing over 40 games, and while he has never quite been a leader on the stat sheet there are far worse backup options to have than Rittich.
He may not receive the $1.25MM he made as a member of the Nashville Predators last year, but another deal around what he made this past season would be a reasonable investment for a team looking for an affordable, experienced option in net.
With Arvid Holm fresh off of an impressive season with the AHL’s Manitoba Moose and still not waiver eligible for another season, perhaps Rittich spends another year with the Jets.
F Vladislav Namestnikov – A mid-season trade acquisition by Winnipeg, Namestnikov provided secondary scoring, versatility, and valuable veteran experience to the Jets’ lineup. He finished with 10 points in 20 games for the Jets, with nine of those points coming at even strength despite Namestnikov frequently playing on the team’s power play.
If one includes his totals with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Namestnikov had 25 points in 77 games, a totally respectable number for a versatile veteran forward. His improved play as a member of the Jets has likely helped his standing heading into the open market, though even with that improvement in form he could have a difficult path to matching the $2.5MM he earned in 2022-23.
Other UFAs: F Sam Gagner, F Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, F Karson Kuhlman, F Saku Maenalanen, D Ashton Sautner, G Mikhail Berdin, G Evan Cormier
Projected Cap Space
The Jets are currently projected to have nearly $13MM in cap space, but that’s not a truly relevant number at this time. That’s because the Jets are widely expected to deal Dubois as well as netminder Connor Hellebuyck, and other highly-priced veterans such as Blake Wheeler could be traded as well. So the financial wiggle room the Jets have is dependent on who they manage to move out and what sort of money Winnipeg takes on as part of those trades.
The Jets have some contracts that lag behind in terms of efficiency, such as the $5.95MM they’re paying Nate Schmidt for the next two seasons, though the inefficiency of the Schmidt deal is somewhat balanced out by the fact that the team is paying point-per-game number-one blueliner Josh Morrissey just $6.25MM on a long-term deal.
Morrissey is actually the only Jet signed beyond 2025-26 season, meaning there’s quite a bit of long-term financial space in Winnipeg. The question of this offseason is whether the Jets will be in a position to devote any of that space to valuable, motivated players who want to commit to Winnipeg for a significant chunk of their playing career.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Minor Transactions: 06/17/23
It’s been a quiet day for news in the NHL, with perhaps the most significant development being a report that the Seattle Kraken are looking to move on from former backup goaltender Chris Driedger. But while the NHL slowly moves into its offseason, pro teams across the hockey world are hard at work trying to add players for next season. As always, we’ll keep track of any notable moves here:
- Former Minnesota Wild center Tyler Graovac could be headed to the KHL’s Admiral Vladivostok, according to a rumor out of Russia. The 30-year-old with 84 NHL games on his resume has played the last two seasons in the KHL, one in Belarus with Dynamo Minsk and this past year with Podolsk Vityaz in Russia. He’s played decently well at each stop, and has a combined 20 goals and 46 points in 93 career KHL games. Should this rumor prove true he’ll head to the third team of his KHL career looking to aid Vladivostok back to the Gagarin Cup playoffs.
- Alex Ierullo, a star forward in the ECHL, has signed a three-year contract with Asiago Hockey, a club in the Central European ICEHL. It’s a significant development for Ierullo, as pacts with a three-year term aren’t exactly common in the European pro hockey circuit for import players, especially for those who have never played in Europe. Asiago is likely comfortable making such a significant investment due to just how strong Ierullo’s season was. He ranked third in the East Coast league with 87 points in just 60 games, leading the Greenville Swamp Rabbits in points with a whopping 35-point lead over the next-highest scorer on his team. Ierullo has played in the AHL for a total of nine games but hasn’t been able to translate his ECHL success to the next level, which has likely been what’s paved his way to Europe.
- After his first full season as a professional hockey player, former Arizona State University star Johnny Walker has decided to head overseas. He’s signed a contract with the Dundee Stars of the EIHL, the top professional hockey league in the United Kingdom. Walker was once an above-point-per-game scorer in the college ranks but availability issues have mired his more recent seasons. In 2022-23 he played 33 games with the Utah Grizzlies in the ECHL, scoring a respectable 12 goals and 18 points. He added on a whopping 171 penalty minutes in that span of games, and will now bring his hard-nosed play to Scotland.
- Gretsky has signed a contract extension in Russia. Well, Vyacheslav Gretsky that is. The 26-year-old Belarusian forward saw his first extended action in the KHL this past year for Amur Khabarovsk, scoring five points in 43 games. With Gretsky on their squad for at least another year, Khabarovsk will hope that lineup continuity from last season will help them reach the playoffs after finishing second-to-last in their conference last season.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Minor Transactions: 06/16/23
The NHL offseason is beginning to ramp up now that the Stanley Cup has been awarded, and today saw the Vancouver Canucks make a major move by buying out Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The New York Rangers also took care of business today with a defenseman of their own, Zac Jones, inking him to a two-year extension. As teams across the hockey world chip away at their offseason work, we’ll keep track of notable transactions here.
- Former Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Michal Jordan signed a two-year contract with Liiga runner-ups Lahti Pelicans. Jordan is fresh off of representing Czechia at the IIHF Men’s World Championships where he helped his country advance past the group stage, before being eliminated by the United States. He split this past season between the KHL’s Amur Khabarovsk and Rapperswil-Jona Lakers in the Swiss National League. He scored a combined 15 points in 41 games and with the Pelicans will hope to help them go on another long playoff run.
- 2019-20 ECHL Defenseman of the Year Alex Breton has signed a one-year contract extension with HC Kosice of the Slovak Extraliga. The 25-year-old former Gatineau Olympiques captain was an instant-impact player in the ECHL after aging out of Canadian junior hockey, but he couldn’t quite gain a foothold in the AHL in PTO opportunities with two teams. In 2020 Breton made the choice to head overseas to play in Slovakia, and in 2021 he was traded to HC Slovan Bratislava, a club in the Slovak capital. That trade was a significant opportunity for him and he ended the year a Slovak champion, paving his way back to North America with the Trois-Rivieres Lions of the ECHL. After scoring 25 points in 30 games Breton left for Slovakia once again, signing with HC Kosice in February. He won a second Slovak championship of his career this spring, and will now extend his stay in Kosice another season.
- Cody Kunyk, a star forward in the Finnish Liiga for five of the last six seasons has decided on a new destination to continue his pro career: Germany. Kunyk signed a contract with the Frankfurt Lions, and after scoring 10 goals and 33 points in 60 games for Karpat this past season he’ll likely be a go-to offensive option for Frankfurt. Kunyk has one NHL game on his resume, a 2013-14 contest with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and last played in North America in 2017-18 with the now-defunct Alaska Aces of the ECHL and the Utica Comets of the AHL.
- Former San Jose Sharks prospect Jake Kupsky is headed overseas for the next stop in his professional career, signing a contract with HKM Zvolen in Slovakia. Kupsky, a 27-year-old netminder who was a 2015 seventh-round pick of San Jose played in 38 games for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL last season and made the ECHL’s All-Star game. But lost his role as the team’s main starter this past campaign as Idaho went on a historic run of regular-season success. He did earn the first AHL call-up of his career, though, and will look to carry on that momentum over in Slovakia.
- Two-time Liiga champion Jere Karjalainen is ending his return to Finland’s top league after one year, as he’s inked a contract with the Augsburg Panthers of the DEL. Karjalainen was a staple in the top-six for Liiga’s Tappara Tampere from 2014-2020, helping them win back-to-back titles. He was a leading scorer for them in 2019-20 with 49 points in 57 games, and parlayed that success into a two-year run in the KHL. He spent this past season with Lukko in Liiga and now will head to Germany for the first time in his pro career.
- 32-year-old defenseman Ralfs Freibergs helped lead Latvia to a historic Bronze Medal win at the IIHF Men’s World Championships last month, and now he’s signed with a new team a few weeks later. Freibergs signed a deal with HK Mountfield in the Czech league, where he has nearly 250 games of experience. Freibergs scored a crucial opening goal to help Lavtia defeat Switzerland at World’s and will hope to have similarly clutch moments in Czechia with his new club.
- The ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears have acquired 25-year-old defenseman Chris Perna from the Tulsa Oilers. The team cited a December 2022 trade that sent forward Dante Sherriff to Tulsa in exchange for future considerations as the return for the deal, with Perna serving as the “future considerations” Orlando received for Sherriff. Perna made his pro debut this past season with the Oilers, skating in 54 games and scoring eight points. He was a regular face on a Tulsa team that had a difficult 2022-23 and is joining a Solar Bears team that, like Tulsa, is hoping to have a bounce-back season.
West Notes: Toews, Keller, Brown
As the Chicago Blackhawks get set to welcome the new face of their franchise, Connor Bedard, at the draft later this month, they’re also preparing to say goodbye to the face of their most successful era in franchise history: Jonathan Toews. As we have previously covered, Toews is expected to make an announcement in the next few weeks regarding whether he’ll be retiring on choosing another team to sign with, and given Toews’ recent health issues it would be no surprise to see the Selke and Conn Smythe Trophy winner hang up his skates.
But if he does choose to continue playing, he could go the way of another famous Blackhawk, Duncan Keith, and choose to play for the Edmonton Oilers. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector connects Toews to the Oilers, writing that “there is some talk” in Edmonton about signing Toews to be the team’s fourth-line center, allowing recent signing Derek Ryan to take a preferred role as a right winger. In scoring 15 goals and 31 points this past season Toews showed he was still very much a valuable NHL player, but the main question for Edmonton would be availability and cost. Regardless, it seems should Toews continue his career the Oilers could be a team interested in acquiring him.
Some other notes from the Western Conference:
- While the Arizona Coyotes rebuild will continue into the future and the team will likely be open to hearing trade offers for its established players, the player teams are likely to be most interested in is also the one seemingly least likely to be traded. Bally Sports Midwest’s Andy Strickland reports that the Coyotes aren’t “looking to move” star forward Clayton Keller and that they don’t have “any real interest” in parting with their franchise face. Keller, 24, continued his breakout season from 2021-22 into this campaign, finishing with 37 goals and 86 points in 82 games. He’s signed to a bargain $7.15MM AAV deal through the 2027-28 season, and according to Strickland’s report he’s unlikely to be on the move anytime soon.
- One player who is going to be on the move is St. Louis Blues center Logan Brown. Eligible to become a restricted free agent, Strickland reports that Brown won’t receive a qualifying offer from the Blues and will therefore become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year. The 25-year-old 2016 11th-overall pick didn’t quite take the step forward in St. Louis that many might have hoped he would, and while he remains an effective AHLer he hasn’t found a way to leverage his combination of size and skill to reliably make an impact at the NHL level. With his time in St. Louis coming to an end, he’ll hit the open market where there will likely be some teams interested in seeing what their staff can do with Brown’s skillset.
Minor Transactions: 06/15/23
With the Stanley Cup Final now concluded there remains just one major hockey competition left to be completed before the offseason can truly begin. The AHL’s Calder Cup Finals continue tonight as the Seattle Kraken’s affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds take on the Hershey Bears, affiliates of the Washington Capitals. After Joey Daccord‘s back-to-back shutout performances brought Coachella Valley to a 2-0 lead, Hershey managed to weather a late comeback and take a massive overtime victory on home ice, tightening the series considerably.
As these two teams battle for AHL supremacy clubs across the hockey world are working on assembling a roster they hope can bring them a championship by this time next year. We’ll keep track of notable transactions here.
- Three-time Liiga champion Mikko Niemela has had his contract with Karpat terminated by mutual agreement. Niemela had been with Karpat since he was a youth player, with his first games on record coming in 2005-06 at the U16 level. Save for a few loan spells to other clubs he’s been a consistent presence on their blueline and in total has played over 500 games at Finland’s highest level of hockey across 13 seasons. He finished this past season with Brynas IF in the SHL where he was unable to help them avoid relegation to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan. Now, at 32 years old, Niemela will look for a new opportunity to continue his long European pro career.
- Connor McCarthy, an ECAC First-Team All-Star at Clarkson University is heading overseas for the first time in his professional career. The massive six-foot-seven blueliner tried his hand at North American pro hockey in the New York Islanders’ minor league system, serving as a regular for their ECHL affiliate, the Worcester Railers, for the past two seasons. While he managed to get into 10 AHL games in 2021-22 he only got into two this past campaign and has now decided to sign with HC Banska Bystrica of Slovakia’s Tipos Extraliga.
- The SHL’s IK Oskarshamn have announced a two-year contract extension with blueliner Niclas Burstrom, a veteran of 543 games in Sweden’s top tier of hockey. The five-foot-eight defenseman won the SHL’s Salming Trophy, awarded to Swedish defenseman of the year, in 2015-16 and just recently finished his first campaign in Oskarshamn. He scored one goal and 12 points in 46 games and will now hope to help his club return to the SHL playoffs after a seventh-place 2022-23 finish.
- Liiga club SaiPa and forward Tino Metsavainio have mutually agreed to terminate the player’s contract, per a team announcement. Metsavainio enjoyed a breakout season in Liiga’s top league quickly after signing with SaiPa, scoring a career-high 20 points in 49 games. His production declined steeply this year, though, and he finished with eight points in 55 games – less than half of his prior total. With that disappointing campaign now in his rear-view mirror Metsavainio is now a free agent and able to sign elsewhere for a fresh start.
- Just one year after he led the DEL in scoring by players under 23 years old, German forward Tim Wohlgemuth has had his contract terminated with Adler Mannheim by mutual agreement. Wohlgemuth’s offensive production declined from 35 points in 2021-22 to 24 this past season, and it seems a change of scenery is in order as a result. Wohlgemuth’s playoff performance was particularly disappointing as he only managed one point in 10 games, a solid decline from his prior performances when he was a consistent contributor. Now he’ll likely land with another DEL team and look to revive the momentum he had been building in past years.
- Anrei Hakulinen, captain of Liiga’s Lukko for the past two seasons, has signed with the DEL’s Augsburger Panther. It’s a major signing for the German side as Hakulinen ranked second in scoring for Lukko this past year and helped them reach third place on Liiga’s regular-season table. Now he’ll join a DEL side that ranked second-to-last in 2022-23 and will likely serve as a major boost to their odds of avoiding relegation once again.
- The club that got relegated instead of Augsburg, the Bietigheim Steelers, have lost another player to a surviving DEL team: 21-year-old Robert Kneisler. Kneisler joins Grizzlys Wolfsburg, semifinalists these past playoffs. He only managed seven points in 53 games for the Steelers in 2022-23 but should help round out the depth of Wolfsburg’s roster as they hope to take the next step in the playoffs in 2023-24.
- While MoDo Hockey Ornskoldsvik were promoted to the SHL this spring with a dramatic seven-game victory over Djurgarden, 28-year-old defenseman Josef Ingman won’t be following them into Sweden’s top pro hockey league. Ingman has signed with HockeyAllsvenskan’s Ostersunds IK, a club that ranked among the worst teams in Sweden’s second tier. He’ll likely play a major role on their blueline and hope to repeat the strong form he displayed in 2022-23, a year he finished with a two-assist performance in Game Seven against Djurgarden.
- The reigning Slovak champions, HC Kosice, have gotten a bit stronger, poaching forward Filip Krivosik from HK Nitra. Krivosik has played quite well since returning to Slovakia after a half-decade in Finland, scoring 50 points across two seasons and 18 points in 27 combined playoff games. The big six-foot-three forward, 24, will be afforded a significant opportunity in Kosice and has been signed to help the club win a tenth Extraliga title.
- Austin Farley, once among the top first-year scorers in college hockey, has signed a one-year contract extension with Slovakia’s HC Nove Zamsky. The former University of Minnesota-Duluth winger enjoyed a breakout campaign in Czechia, scoring 15 goals and 45 points in 48 games. Farley last played in North America in 2020-21, as he got into 19 games with the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks but only managed three points. He’s had more success on European ice and now is extending his stay in Europe for another season with this contract extension.
Trade Notes: Karlsson, DeBrincat, Pesce
It’s not often that a defenseman is traded the summer after a Norris Trophy-winning, 101-point season, but that’s exactly what might happen with Erik Karlsson and the San Jose Sharks. With San Jose looking to rebuild and Karlsson’s historic regular season unable to lift the team out of the NHL’s basement, this summer could bring the second trade of Karlsson’s career. The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun reported on TSN’s Insider Trading program that Karlsson’s representatives and the Sharks had a meeting last week about the player’s future, and the outcome of the meeting was a unified focus between team and player to “try and get a trade done” for next season.
Karlsson, 33, is in possession of a full no-movement clause in his contract meaning he would have final control over any destination. The largest barrier to any potential move isn’t expected to be that clause, though. Instead, it’s likely to be Karlsson’s $11.5MM cap hit, and whether interested teams will be willing to take on the full weight of that hit. (or whether the Sharks will need to retain a portion of the contract) In any case, it appears the Sharks and Karlsson’s camp share a motivation to find a trade outcome before the start of next season.
Some other notes about trade rumors from across the NHL:
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- Also on Insider Trading, TSN’s Chris Johnston reports that the Senators, by filing for arbitration with restricted free agent forward Alex DeBrincat, have “set the window for when they have to trade” the player. Johnston believes the Senators will make a push to get a DeBrincat trade finalized “by the draft this month” if possible. One might remember that DeBrincat was traded to Ottawa on draft day last year, and now based on Johnston’s report it seems he could get dealt on one of hockey’s most significant days once again, if not sooner.
- Like DeBrincat, Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Brett Pesce has the chance to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. On Insider Trading, LeBrun reported that while contract talks on an extension are continuing between Pesce and Carolina, the Hurricanes are “pretty resolute” that they’ll be trading him this summer if they can’t secure his signature on a new deal. LeBrun also adds that the Buffalo Sabres have already inquired about the possibility of trading for Pesce, potentially to be Owen Power‘s long-term partner. It’s likely that the widely-respected 28-year-old blueliner would garner significant trade interest if put on the market. He just finished a year where he made a major impact on both ends of the ice, setting a career-high of 30 points while also serving as a leading penalty killer for a Carolina shorthanded unit that consistently ranks among the best in the NHL.
Free Agent Focus: Toronto Maple Leafs
Free agency is less than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Key Restricted Free Agents
G Ilya Samsonov – The Maple Leafs took a significant risk on Samsonov, trusting him to potentially be their number-one goalie in a season where enormous pressure was placed on the team to finally go on an extended playoff run. Samsonov, now 26, had been exiled from the Washington Capitals after a disappointing 2021-22 season that included some major errors in some high-leverage moments.
Drafted 22nd overall at the 2015 draft, Samsonov was once believed to be the Capitals’ goalie of the future but his inconsistency and inability to seize the void left in Washington’s crease by Braden Holtby‘s departure led to him being available for Toronto to snag as an unrestricted free agent.
The team signed him to a one-year $1.8MM deal and he ended up rewarding the team’s faith considerably. He led Toronto netminders with 42 games played and posted a strong .919 save percentage and 2.33 goals-against-average.
While his playoff performances as a Washington Capital were cause for significant concern, Samsonov’s play in the Maple Leafs’ first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning helped Toronto get the playoff series win they’d been long searching for. While he didn’t quite play up to par against the Florida Panthers (like the rest of his team, to be fair) and had his series end early due to injury, his 2022-23 season could be seen as serving as a major turning point for his career and a moment where he has resurrected his reputation as an up-and-coming netminder.
He’s earned himself a solid pay raise from his $1.8MM deal, but since he has a relatively inconsistent track record he might not be the safest long-term investment.
As for his future in Toronto, there are some questions to answer. The general manager that signed him, Kyle Dubas, is no longer with the organization and the new general manager, Brad Treliving, is coming from a team that has an established veteran netminder in Jacob Markstrom. Might Toronto prefer to add a proven veteran in their crease? And if so, is there going to be enough cap space to re-sign Samsonov to the type of contract his play has merited?
F Nick Abruzzese – With such a sizeable portion of the Maple Leafs’ salary cap space set aside to pay for the team’s core of star players, Toronto will need cheap, energetic, competent players to fill spots lower in their lineup. Abruzzese, 24, fits that profile after a strong first season as a full-time pro.
He scored 16 goals and 48 points in 69 AHL games for the Toronto Marlies and pitched in two assists in his two games of NHL action. With no proven NHL track record to speak of he won’t receive a significant raise from the $850k he earned last season, and as a result, could be in prime position to seize a depth role in Toronto.
Other RFAs: F Semyon Der-Arguchintsev, F Pontus Holmberg, D Victor Mete, D Mac Hollowell, D Filip Kral
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Ryan O’Reilly – The centerpiece acquisition of former GM Kyle Dubas’ flurry of trade deadline moves, O’Reilly looks poised to depart Toronto having improved his leaguewide standing to a considerable degree. In the final stretch of his tenure as a St. Louis Blue, the 2018-19 Selke and Conn Smythe Trophy winner’s significantly declined offensive production was the primary story surrounding his play.
By the time of the trade he had managed only 19 points in 40 games, a 39-point 82-game pace.
That’s a steep decline from the 58 points in 78 games he posted last year, and there was concern that at 32 years old O’Reilly was exiting his prime and was beginning a career-altering decline in form. Then O’Reilly landed in Toronto and he turned that narrative around, managing 11 points in 13 regular-season games and nine points in 11 playoff games.
His heroics at important moments, including a crucial game-tying goal in Game Three against Tampa Bay and two assists in the team’s stunning Game Four comeback showed everyone that O’Reilly still has gas left in the tank.
But as a result, he likely priced himself out of Toronto with his playoff heroics. He’ll be among the top centers available in what is a relatively thin free agent class down the middle and should receive contract offers that exceed what the Maple Leafs are in a position to offer him.
F Michael Bunting – While O’Reilly’s playoff performance changed the narrative around him for the better, the playoffs were not as kind to Bunting, 27. Bunting only managed to find the scoresheet twice in the playoffs despite scoring 23 goals and 49 points in the regular season.
His suspension due to a vicious hit to the head he laid on Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak earned Bunting some scathing criticism, and it left many wondering if he’d played his way out of Toronto, rather than priced his way out as someone such as Zach Hyman had.
Bunting remains a valuable winger who scored 63 points as a 26-year-old NHL rookie, but those questions that sprung up during the playoffs will linger as he considers offers on the open market. Is it possible that Toronto decides they can’t afford to let him walk?
Absolutely, but it feels like the team is headed in a different direction, especially with Matthew Knies penciled into his spot in the team’s top-six at what is likely to be a significantly cheaper price than the cap hit Bunting has earned.
F Alexander Kerfoot – While Kerfoot’s status as a focal point of Toronto’s return from trading Nazem Kadri to the Colorado Avalanche might leave a sour taste in the mouths of the Maple Leafs faithful, it isn’t exactly fair to judge Kerfoot against Kadri and the things he achieved in Colorado.
Kerfoot never had the breakout season in Toronto like the one Kadri had in Colorado, but Kerfoot nonetheless had his moments as a Maple Leaf. He scored 51 points in 2021-22 and was the second-highest-scoring Maple Leaf during the team’s infamous 2021 playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens, putting together a six-point performance that exceeded the production of stars such as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Morgan Reilly.
He’s a quality third-line forward with the versatility to either play center or along the wings, and he has also been a consistent presence on one of Toronto’s penalty-killing units. There are far worse players to staff a middle-six with than Kerfoot, but after he only managed two points in eleven playoff games it’s possible Toronto will look in a different direction for that area of their lineup.
F David Kampf – Kampf took a step forward after joining Toronto from the Chicago Blackhawks and has proven himself to be a solid defense-first fourth-line center. He was Toronto’s most heavily-used penalty-killing forward over the past two seasons and in that span of time, Toronto’s penalty kill ranks sixth in the NHL with a kill rate of 82%.
Toronto would surely like to have him back but like many of the other players on expiring deals, he may have earned a pay raise that bumps him to an area of pay Toronto won’t be able to match. He’ll be among the top fourth-line centers available on the market in any case and should earn a bump from the $1.5MM he earned this past season.
D Luke Schenn – Schenn has found himself in a different spot than where he was during his first tour of duty with the Maple Leafs. No longer is he a former top prospect whose NHL play has disappointed relative to the expectations placed upon him by the media, now he’s a widely-respected veteran defenseman who can offer gritty, hard-nosed play and two Stanley Cup rings worth of playoff experience.
Schenn earned $850k this past season but will in all likelihood earn at the very least more than $1MM AAV on his next contract, and possibly far more than that. He’s a quality option for a team looking to add a proven veteran defensive defenseman to their mix but perhaps not what Toronto needs with T.J. Brodie, Timothy Liljegren, and Conor Timmins already in pace along the right-hand side of their defense.
D Justin Holl – Holl’s playoff performances made him a bit of a lightning rod for the Maple Leafs fanbase, but as someone who worked his way up from the ECHL he’s carved out a solid career for himself. He’s been a regular on head coach Sheldon Keefe‘s blueline since Keefe first took over the job in 2019-20 and has averaged over 20 minutes of ice time per night for the past three seasons, including as one of the team’s leading penalty killers.
As a right-shot blueliner, Holl may not have a spot in Toronto given the presence of Timmins, Brodie, and Liljegren, but he’ll find his place on the open market and be a solid option for a team looking to beef up its blueline.
Other UFAs: F Noel Acciari, F Zach Aston-Reese, F Wayne Simmonds, F Radim Zohorna, D Erik Gustafsson, D Jordie Benn, G Erik Kallgren
Projected Cap Space
The presence of Toronto’s highly-paid core of stars makes their cap situation quite complicated, especially as key contract extensions for Matthews, Marner, and William Nylander, among others, will need to be negotiated. As a result, Toronto may not be in a position to make any major, long-term commitments before those deals are finalized. This is likely to impact the players they’ll be able to target on the open market.
CapFriendly projects them to have a little over $9MM in salary cap space, though that number would increase considerably should they manage to find a way to remove Matt Murray and his $4.687MM cap hit from their books. That should be enough to add a few role players, though if they want to make a more sizeable change to their team composition some creativity is likely to be required.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Snapshots: Senators Sale, Canadiens Staff, Knoblauch
The new owner of the Ottawa Senators was revealed today, with Canadiens minority owner Michael Andlauer proving victorious after a long sale process. But while we now know the identity of the team’s new owner, the team won’t officially change hands for a few more months. Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the deal for the team may not close until September, as there remains “a lot of work to be done” and Andlauer must also sell his stake in the Canadiens before taking control of their division rival.
As a result of that wait, no significant changes to the team’s hockey operations department are expected until Andlauer assumes full control of the franchise, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger. Steve Staios, currently an Edmonton Oilers executive, has been widely reported to be of interest to Andlauer as a potentially significant addition to the Senators’ front office, and it’s possible that Andlauer would prefer to have different people in charge of hockey operations than the two figureheads currently in place: general manager Pierre Dorion and head coach D.J. Smith. But while it could very well end up being the case that Andlauer prefers new hires, it seems the current status quo will remain in place through this offseason, an arrangement that could have an impact in the team’s ongoing decision-making regarding star forward Alex DeBrincat.
Some other notes from across the NHL:
- While a variety of factors influenced the Montreal Canadiens’ fall from 2021 Stanley Cup finalist to league basement-dweller between 2021 and 2022/2023, one significant contributing factor is injuries. The team has been absolutely ravaged by injuries over the past two seasons, including this year when 2022 number-one pick Juraj Slafkovsky and star forward Cole Caufield were among the multitude of Canadiens to suffer season-ending injuries. The Canadiens have placed a high priority on player development at this stage of their rebuild, but head coach Martin St. Louis’ development efforts have been consistently hamstrung by injuries to key young talent. Now, off-ice changes are being made to address this situation. TVA Sports’ Tony Marinaro reports that the Canadiens have parted ways with head physiotherapist Donald Balmforth and head athletic therapist Graham Rynbend, a report that was confirmed by Jean Francois Chaumont of Le Journal de Montreal.
- The New York Rangers will retain Kris Knoblauch as their AHL head coach for next season, according to The Athletic’s Arthur Staple. Knoblauch was a candidate for the Rangers’ head coaching vacancy and has been the bench boss for the Hartford Wolf Pack for the past four seasons. He led Hartford to the AHL playoffs this past season and upset one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams, the Providence Bruins, in a playoff series. Knoblauch, 44, will look to build on the progress made for Hartford this past season and make a push toward Calder Cup contention.
Wild Notes: Rossi, Goligoski, Gustavsson, Reaves
The Minnesota Wild’s number-one priority as an organization seems to be finally finding the a true number-one center to build around. When he was drafted with the ninth-overall pick at the 2020 draft, it was believed that Austrian center Marco Rossi had a shot at being that long-awaited franchise-altering pivot. Significant health issues altered the trajectory of Rossi’s development early in his time as a Wild prospect, and while he has been an exceptionally productive player in the AHL (104 points in 116 career games) the soon-to-be 22-year-old hasn’t managed to seize the moment in the NHL with Minnesota.
While he’s still undoubtedly someone the Wild are hoping pans out, the Athletic’s Joe Smith reported today that he believes the Wild would “be open to moving Rossi if the right deal came up,” such as one with a 2023 first-round pick as compensation. (subscription link) The Kirby Dach trade that was made at last year’s draft could serve as a template for this kind of deal, with the Canadiens surrendering a draft pick in order to acquire a high-upside center whose development had been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Given how significant Dach’s developmental turnaround was under Martin St. Louis in Montreal, it seems possible that an organization confident in its player development abilities might be willing to part with a first-round pick in order to acquire Rossi. Acquiring Rossi could afford a team a quicker turnaround to NHL relevance than developing a brand-new draft pick, so perhaps a team looking to speed up its rebuild or quickly inject some cost-controlled young talent into its roster could be a fit as well.
Some other notes regarding the Wild:
- Smith’s article touched on quite a few players of interest to this Minnesota offseason, including 1042-game veteran blueliner Alex Goligoski. Smith reports that Goligoski’s preference is to remain in Minnesota for the final year of his contract, but that his $2MM cap hit combined with the Wild’s significant salary cap constraints could complicate things. Goligoski has a full no-movement clause on his contract so he can control his playing future, but after spending much of last season as a healthy scratch one wonders if he’d sanction a move away from Minnesota simply to re-gain a regular spot in an NHL lineup.
- Perhaps the most significant player the Wild will need to negotiate with this summer is netminder Filip Gustavsson, who had a stellar season. Gustavsson is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent and Smith writes that his next contract “will end up falling into one of three categories: a one-year deal, a three-year deal or a one-year arbitration award.” With top prospect Jesper Wallstedt waiting in the wings, it makes sense that the Wild might not want to invest long-term in Gustavsson, but should the 25-year-old manage to even come close his numbers from this past season in 2023-24 only locking him down for one season could end up a costly mistake.
- The Wild’s mid-season trade acquisition of enforcer Ryan Reaves injected some much-needed energy and life onto their roster, and he scored 15 points in 61 games helping the team reach the playoffs once again. Smith writes that Reaves, now 36, would like to return to the Wild but is prioritizing maximizing the financial value of his next contract, a deal that could very well end up his last major free-agent cash-in. Reaves reportedly is seeking term on his next deal longer than just one year, so since the Wild are set to be paying nearly $15MM in dead money due to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, it very well could be that re-signing Reaves is a luxury they cannot afford.