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Looking Ahead At Next Summer’s Restricted Free Agents

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The contract standoffs between restricted free agents and their clubs have dominated the headlines this offseason. Matthew Tkachuk’s RFA status (and desire to reach unrestricted free agency) catalyzed this summer’s biggest blockbuster trade, and the ongoing contract negotiation between Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars could have a major impact on the future of that franchise.

As new stars emerge across the NHL, the importance of a player’s RFA years has never been higher. More and more teams are locking up their young talent earlier and earlier, and here we’ll take a look at the respective situations of the players currently slated to be next summer’s big-name RFA’s.

The Easy Ones

One of the major reasons the Stars have had difficulty signing Robertson to a long-term deal is that they already have significant contracts on their books for next season, and have precious little cap space to work with. With Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Miro Heiskanen, and more already taking up a significant portion of the team’s salary cap, the Stars just don’t have the room to fit a market-rate long-term deal for Robertson into their balance sheet.

There are other teams, though, who don’t have that sort of problem, and whether they can get their upcoming restricted free agents locked up is more of a matter of finding the right deal for both sides rather than finding a way to fit another big contract onto their payroll.

A few players are in that situation, and their teams are likely to find getting them locked into new contracts a relatively easy process.

Two of the bigger names set to become RFA’s next summer, Trevor Zegras and Troy Terry, fit into that category. The Ducks are one of the few teams in the NHL still with a good amount of cap space on their books, and that figure will only rise next summer when John Klingberg, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Dmitry Kulikov’s deals expire.

So, while the Stars’ cap situation is likely going to keep them from inking a long-term deal with their star RFA forward, the Ducks won’t have that problem with their own two stars. Assuming Zegras continues his ascension to superstardom and Terry can be a productive top-six forward once again, GM Pat Verbeek and the Ducks should find their RFA negotiation process with those two players to be a relatively straightforward process.

The Buffalo Sabres are in a similar boat, with a significant amount of cap space currently at their disposal and even more set to open next summer. Center Dylan Cozens will be an RFA at that point, and the financial flexibility of the Sabres will come in handy.

Because the Sabres are in a healthy salary cap position, they could have the option to offer a long-term contract to Cozens that might cost more than he’s worth in the short-term, but provide long-term savings. (similar to what the Carolina Hurricanes had in mind when they gave Jesperi Kotkaniemi an eight-year, $4.82MM AAV extension) If the Sabres were a cap-strapped contender, such an option would likely be closed to them.

While the Montreal Canadiens aren’t flush with cap space at the moment like the Ducks and Sabres, they should be in better financial shape next summer after Jonathan Drouin and Evgenii Dadonov’s deals expire. The Canadiens, like the Sabres and Ducks, have a talented, ascending forward set to become an RFA next summer in Cole Caufield. Without the near-term pressures of Stanley Cup contention or major salary-cap issues, it’s likely that the Canadiens will have more than enough financial bandwidth to keep every possibility open regarding Caufield’s next deal.

The Contending Teams

This is where things get a bit dicey. For the teams mentioned above, the challenge in getting their young players signed long-term won’t be selling them on the team’s long-term vision. By virtue of their recent success, these clubs likely won’t have that issue. Instead, their problem will be the issue the Dallas Stars are facing now: a lack of cap space.

The New York Rangers are one of those teams. The Rangers went on a run to the Eastern Conference Final this spring, and it’s clear that the team is intent on going all-in to win a Stanley Cup over the next three seasons, the final three seasons where Hart Trophy candidate Igor Shesterkin costs just $5.6MM against the cap.

The Rangers’ desire to maximize their odds of winning in the short-term has its benefits, chief among them being that they have built one of the most talented rosters in the NHL for next season. But this win-now chase has its inevitable drawbacks. In building that talented roster, the Rangers have locked away a significant percentage of their cap space for the next several seasons, and have left little room to add more long-term deals onto their books.

Especially with their signing of Vincent Trocheck to an eight-year deal, it doesn’t look as though the Rangers will be able to fit any more long-term, market-rate contracts for top-four defensemen or top-six forwards onto their cap sheet. Which leaves the question: if one of Alexis Lafreniere or Filip Chytil (or both) establishes himself as a top-six forward this season, how will the Rangers be able to sign them to a long-term extension?

Moreover, since K’Andre Miller has played at a top-four level this past season, how will the Rangers be able to afford his next contract? If he takes another step in his development, do they even have a chance at affording a long-term deal with him?

They could, and likely will, go in the short-term direction with these contracts, looking to keep the costs as low as possible for these years where they’re in Stanley Cup contention.

But the long-term questions persist. Lafreniere, Chytil and Miller are supposed to be the foundational pieces that support the next generation of Rangers contenders. The Rangers sent a famous letter to their fans and embarked on a major rebuild in order to acquire players like that trio. If the Rangers are unable to keep these young players long-term because they’re locked into contracts for veterans such as Trocheck, Barclay Goodrow, and Jacob Trouba, it raises the question of why they even chose to endure such a painful rebuild in the first place.

So while the on-ice implications of an RFA crunch are relatively straightforward, — it’s about whether a team has a certain player on its roster or not — particularly difficult RFA situations such as the one the Rangers will face next summer have the potential to raise more significant questions about the long-term direction and overall team-building identity of a franchise.

It’s worth mentioning too that the Rangers aren’t the only team nearing that RFA crunch next summer, although they are the one in the most extreme position. The Edmonton Oilers, another Stanley Cup hopeful, could find themselves in a similar situation with defenseman Evan Bouchard.

The same can be said about the Minnesota Wild with Matt Boldy, and the Colorado Avalanche with Alex Newhook, with the latter team’s cap sheet set to become especially tight once Nathan MacKinnon’s upcoming mega-extension kicks in.

The Soon-To-Be-UFA’s

This group of restricted free agents is perhaps the most difficult for teams to manage. GM Brad Treliving and the Calgary Flames saw it this summer when Tkachuk informed them of his decision to not consider signing a long-term extension to remain a Flame. While not every RFA who is arbitration-eligible and close to hitting UFA status will force an exit, the RFA’s in this section have the potential to dominate the headlines next summer.

For example, the Dallas Stars could be in another difficult RFA negotiation next summer, when center Roope Hintz is an RFA. Hintz will have the option to accept a lucrative arbitration award and then hit unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2024. Since Hintz is now the Stars’ first-line center, they’re likely to want to keep him from doing so. But with Seguin and Benn each costing north of $9MM against the cap, the Stars might find it difficult to meet Hintz’s asking price.

They might find it especially difficult to do so if they also want to re-sign Joe Pavelski, who has been integral to Robertson and Hintz’s development and will need a new contract of his own.

The New York Islanders are in a similar situation with their own first-line pivot, with Mathew Barzal able to accept an arbitration award next summer and become a UFA in 2024. For the Islanders, the expiration of Josh Bailey, Matt Martin, and Cal Clutterbuck’s contracts in the summer of 2024 might be the key to getting Barzal’s next deal done.

That being said, though, Ilya Sorokin’s contract is set to expire then as well, meaning Barzal could set the Islanders up for a do-or-die, potentially franchise-altering summer in 2024 if he doesn’t sign a long-term contract as an RFA in 2023.

The Bottom Line

There are quite a few more pending RFA’s than the ones we’ve covered so far, such as Alex DeBrincat, Jesper Bratt, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Timo Meier, to name a few. It’s very possible that many of these names reach extension agreements during this season, avoiding the need for a drawn-out RFA saga. That’s likely to be the preferred outcome for each of these players’ teams.

But the high-stakes nature of NHL contract negotiations means that the reality typically never quite matches up to what teams would desire. Players are becoming more and more empowered to weaponize the tools available to them in order to get the most lucrative contracts possible, and restricted free agency is one of the most powerful tools a player has available to him.

So, despite each player and team likely desiring to have a quick, simple RFA process that leads to a fair long-term contract, that likely won’t be what we see happen next summer. It’s more than likely that a few of these players hit restricted free agency and dominate the headlines next summer.

Oftentimes, these situations end with both the player in question and his team conceding just a little bit more than they’d like to in order to reach a fair compromise. Other times, though, such a compromise can’t be found or is simply impossible to reach. That’s how we get the types of blockbuster deals we saw a few months ago.

Based on the look of things going into this season, it wouldn’t be a surprise if, thanks to the multitude of impactful restricted free agents, next summer is every bit as exciting as this one was.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Financial information courtesy of CapFriendly. 

Minor Transactions: 09/16/22

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NHL hockey is nearly here. Rookie tournaments have started, and training camps are soon to follow. Over the next few weeks, we’ll keep track of all the notable minor signings to see where minor league and fringe players will ply their trade this season.

  • The St. Louis Blues have added another player to their training camp roster, signing Russian prospect Andrei Bakanov to a PTO. Bakanov, 20, last played in North America with the Guelph Storm of the OHL in the 2019-20 season and has seen game action at the KHL and MHL levels for the past two seasons.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets are bringing goaltender Hayden Stewart to their training camp on a PTO. Stewart, 27, has been a starting netminder in the SPHL for the past few seasons and has also seen fill-in duty in the ECHL since turning pro out of Cornell University in 2018. This PTO signing is extremely unlikely to result in a contract offer from the Blue Jackets, but nonetheless, Stewart will get the chance to show what he can do as an extra body to mind the crease for the Blue Jackets’ training camp.
  • Former NHL defenseman Ryan Sproul will be staying in China. The KHL’s Kunlun Red Star announced that they’d signed Sproul to a one-year extension. The former Detroit Red Wing is beginning his fourth season with the Red Star and seems to have found a long-term home with that club.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Preseason Notes: Pastrnak, Eklund, Canucks Centers

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One of the biggest stories that could play out this upcoming season is the contract situation between the Boston Bruins and their star goal-scoring winger, David Pastrnak. Pastrnak, a Rocket Richard trophy winner, will play the 2022-23 season on the final year of his $6.66MM AAV deal, and is undoubtedly in line to receive a significant raise on his next contract. He will be eligible for  unrestricted free agency at the end of this season, which has led many to speculate that he could leave Boston in a similar fashion to the way other star wingers, such as Johnny Gaudreau and Artemi Panarin, have left their teams as free agents.

According to Pastrnak, though, that’s not the ideal way for things to turn out. When asked today whether he was optimistic about an extension being finalized with the Bruins, Pastrnak answered yes, and added that he is “extremely happy” in Boston and that it’s an “honor” to wear the Bruins’ sweater. For the Bruins, getting Pastrnak signed to an extension has to be their number-one off-ice priority for next season. Pastrnak has scored at or above a point-per-game rate for the past four seasons and at 26 years old should have many prime years ahead of him. If the Bruins want to have any hope of remaining competitive in the next several years, they’ll need to find a way to keep Pastrnak around.

Now, for some other notes about preseason rumblings:

  • 2021 seventh-overall pick William Eklund spent most of last season playing in the SHL, but that won’t be where he’s playing in 2022-23. As relayed by Corey Masisiak of The Athletic, Eklund has said that he is “definitely” staying in North America and will either play for the Sharks in the NHL or the San Jose Barracuda in the AHL, wherever the organization deems he should be. Eklund endured a difficult campaign last year as his SHL club, Djurgardens, was relegated to the Allsvenskan. His choice to make the transition to North American hockey is wise, as he’ll have the chance to continue his development under the watchful eye of the Sharks’ development staff.
  • The Vancouver Canucks made headlines when they signed center J.T. Miller to a long-term extension, and the deal left many wondering if Elias Pettersson’s future was on the wing, since it was presumed that the Canucks would opt to keep Miller and Bo Horvat as centers. While that was a reasonable thing to wonder, it seems that the Canucks are planning to play Pettersson as a center for next season. Per Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau plans on deploying Miller, Horvat, and Pettersson as centers, believing that he is able to do so thanks to the team’s “upgraded top-nine.” Pettersson’s last two seasons have been rockier than he’d likely have hoped, so the Canucks are seemingly hoping that allowing Pettersson to center and drive his own line will help stabilize his game.

Nils Lundkvist Requests Trade, Will Not Report To Training Camp

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9/16/22: USA Today’s Vince Z. Mercogliano has issued an update on the Lundkvist situation, relaying the message from Lundkvist’s agent, Claude Lemieux, that the Swedish blueliner would not be reporting for training camp. Lemieux likely believes that the best way for his client to get the trade he requested is by sitting out for training camp, and only time will tell if he is correct.

For the Rangers, they will have to operate without Lundkvist in their plans for their defense in training camp. Five Rangers defensemen are locks to make the roster, so with Lundkvist seemingly out of the equation, it looks as though the competition for the final two spots on the Rangers’ defense will be between Libor Hajek, Zac Jones, and Jarred Tinordi, barring the acquisition of another defenseman.

9/1/22: A top New York Rangers prospect could be on the move relatively soon. The New York Post’s Larry Brooks has reported that the Rangers are “engaged in an accelerated effort” to trade 2018 first-round pick Nils Lundkvist. Citing “multiple sources,” Brooks adds that Lundkvist is “unlikely to report” for Rangers training camp if the team cannot find a trade by the time camp is set to begin.

Lundkvist, 22, was one of the Rangers’ three first-round picks from the 2018 draft. If this news seems familiar, it’s because it’s generally similar to 2018 ninth-overall pick Vitali Kravtsov’s saga with the Rangers’ front office in the past. Kravtsov requested a trade from the Rangers last year, and spent a season in the KHL rather than continue his development in the AHL, in part because of the challenge of landing a scoring-line role in New York. This situation might also feel familiar for fans who remember 2017 first-round pick Lias Andersson and his strained relationship with the Rangers, who ultimately dealt him to the Los Angeles Kings.

But Lundkvist’s situation is different from Kravtsov’s and Andersson’s for one main reason: there is no of animosity between the player and the organization, something that cannot be said about the sagas of the latter two players. As Brooks puts it, “Lundkvist has no issues with management” but he views the Rangers’ current roster makeup as an “unyielding roadblock” to his ability to establish himself in the NHL.

This means that Lundkvist’s desire for a change of scenery is not about any sort of friction between him and the Rangers, and instead about the Rangers’ current roster makeup. Brooks reports that Lundkvist prefers to head to a destination that offers a “better opportunity” for the defenseman to “compete for a top-four spot and role as a power-play quarterback.”

If that’s the role Lundkvist sees himself ready for, it’s understandable for him to feel locked out of those roles in New York. The Rangers’ top-four on defense is established, with Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, new captain Jacob Trouba, and K’Andre Miller all but set in stone in those roles. Additionally, the Rangers are extremely reliant on their highly-effective first power play unit, and Lundkvist wouldn’t be challenging for Fox’s job as that unit’s quarterback any time soon.

So, from a depth chart perspective, the motivation for Lundkvist to move teams is certainly understandable. For the Rangers, there is less reason for them to want to move Lundkvist outside of wanting to accommodate the player’s wishes. The Rangers are hard-pressed against the cap and figure to be in that position for the foreseeable future, so having cheap young talent like Lundkvist on their roster is important to keeping New York competitive as their veteran players become cap casualties.

Per Brooks, GM Chris Drury’s “target” in trade talks over Lundkvist is to acquire a “young, top-nine center who might grow with the organization.” While no specific teams that are potentially interested in Lundkvist were mentioned in the reporting, a few possibilities emerge when looking over the depth charts of other NHL clubs.

The Detroit Red Wings, for example, have a potential opening on the left side of their defense if they don’t want to use Jordan Oesterle as an everyday third-pairing defenseman. Lundkvist could potentially be a fit there playing next to his countryman, Gustav Lindstrom. He could even compete for a chance to play next to Calder Trophy winner Moritz Seider as well. Lundkvist is, of course, a right-shot defenseman but if he wants to prioritize the best fit possible on a new team he might need to be flexible with where exactly in a lineup he plays.

One other factor making Detroit an intriguing potential trade partner is the fact that the Red Wings also have a young centerman who could fit the Rangers’ desired return: Joe Veleno. Veleno might not have a regular role down the middle in Detroit next season, given the emergence of Michael Rasmussen and the addition of Andrew Copp. Could a swap of the two 2018 first-rounders make sense for both teams?

That’s just one possibility for the Rangers and Lundkvist, and there will certainly be more options. While Lundkvist hasn’t been exceptional in North America, that’s exactly what he was in his native Sweden when he played for Lulea in the SHL. This is a bit of an unexpected storyline to have emerged, but it’s something to watch as we get closer to the opening of training camps.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Martin, SHL, Foley

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Former St. Louis Blues, Ottawa Senators, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin might be just outside of the top-20 winningest coaches in NHL history, but that doesn’t mean he’ll be resuming his head coaching career anytime soon. Instead, the longtime coach has decided to take his career in hockey in a new direction. Per a team announcement, the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL have hired Martin as a senior advisor in their hockey operations department.

In adding Martin, the Frontenacs have added not only a big name to their management team but also someone with a wealth of NHL experience and some valuable OHL experience. Martin won the Memorial Cup in his only season as an OHL head coach, and his tenure was so successful that he was immediately tapped by the Blues to be their head coach for the 1986-87 season.  The Frontenacs lost in the second round of the OHL playoffs last season and will hope that the addition of Martin can help offset the potential loss of top prospect Shane Wright, who could very well play this season as a member of the Seattle Kraken.

Now, for some other notes from across the hockey world:

  • The Swedish Hockey League and ESPN announced today that they’d entered into a partnership with the goal of “reaching  and expanding the global audience of the SHL.” While no specific details were offered in the announcement, it seems likely that ESPN’s streaming service, ESPN+, will be the landing spot of some (or all) SHL games for American audiences this season. ESPN+ is already home to a significant chunk of the NHL schedule and based on the comments given in the press release it looks like the plan is to bring the SHL to the service as well.
  • Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley has seen his franchise enjoy a run of success that is unprecedented for any expansion team in North American professional sports. With the Golden Knights an established quality NHL team, it seems that Foley is looking to add to his sports ownership portfolio. Per Mark McAdam of Sky Sports News, Foley is in “advanced talks” to buy AFC Bournemouth, a soccer club in the Premier League, the top division of English soccer. If Foley does make this acquisition, he would become the fourth NHL owner to also hold a significant ownership stake in a Premier League side, joining Fenway Sports Group (Pittsburgh Penguins, Liverpool), Josh Harris and David Blitzer (New Jersey Devils, Crystal Palace), and Stan Kroenke (Colorado Avalanche, Arsenal).

Minor Transactions: 09/15/22

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NHL hockey is nearly here. Rookie tournaments have started, and training camps are soon to follow. Over the next few weeks, we’ll keep track of all the notable minor signings to see where minor league and fringe players will ply their trade this season.

  • The Calgary Flames’ 2021 second-round pick, William Stromgren, is switching SHL clubs. The forward spent last season with Rogle BK and scored a hat-trick in his first game this season for Rogle’s junior team. Per a team announcement, Stromgren has signed a two-year contract with Brynas IF, the club he said he believes is the best place for his development.
  • Former New York Rangers prospect Gabriel Fontaine has nearly 200 AHL games on his resume, and now he’s chosen to leave that league and head overseas to continue his playing career. Fontaine has signed a contract with Lukko of the Finnish Liiga, and will head there hoping to find better offensive results than he had last season, when he scored just 13 points in 39 games.
  • Nate Pionk, the brother of Winnipeg Jets defenseman Neal Pionk, is back in the ECHL. After splitting time last season between the ECHL and the SPHL, Pionk has signed a one-year deal with the Indy Fuel. Pionk had nine points in 29 games for the South Carolina Stingrays last season and will likely play a depth role for the Fuel as they look to rebound from a difficult 2021-22 campaign.
  • After turning pro with the Wichita Thunder last season, former Colgate Raider Tyler Jeanson will head overseas to continue his career. Per a team announcement, Jeanson has signed a contract with Nykopings SK of the Swedish third-tier HockeyEttan. Jeanson had just 29 points in his 114-game collegiate career but was a member of Colgate’s leadership team as a senior, and he will bring that skillset to Nykopings.
  • Goalie Jake Kielly, who was in the playoff bubble with the Vancouver Canucks in 2020, is headed to Europe. The netminder has signed a contract with the EC Kassel Huskies of the German second-tier DEL2. Kielly has played at both the AHL and ECHL levels since he finished his collegiate career at Clarkson University and will compete with DEL2 veteran Jerry Kuhn for ice time with the Huskies.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Snapshots: Weegar, Nash, Keith

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Last week, we covered reports on the Calgary Flames’ attempts to sign defenseman Mackenzie Weegar to an extension. Now, we have some more details on the deal being discussed. Per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet on the 32 Thoughts Podcast, the “general area” that the Flames are “looking at” with a Weegar extension is eight years, $6.5MM AAV, which some might remember as the parameters of Hampus Lindholm’s contract extension with the Boston Bruins.

For the Flames, an extension at around that number would represent solid value, especially when the potential rise of the salary cap in the near future is factored in. Weegar, who will turn 29 in January, had 44 points in 80 games last season and has blossomed into a top-pairing defenseman. If we consider the costs of comparable defensemen, such as Darnell Nurse ($9.25MM) or Jacob Trouba ($8MM), a cap hit at around $6.5MM would represent solid value for the Flames, especially since it could be argued that Weegar is a better defenseman than either Nurse or Trouba. If this deal indeed gets signed at around this number, it will be another big move in what could go down as a summer for the ages for Flames GM Brad Treliving.

Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:

  • Veteran forward Riley Nash has signed a two-year AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers, per a team announcement. Nash, 33, saw time with three different NHL teams last season, and he also played 17 games for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch. In his 17 games with the Crunch, Nash scored 10 goals and 18 points, and should add some experience and veteran leadership to the Checkers’ top-six.
  • Per Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, legendary defenseman Duncan Keith is joining the Oilers’ hockey operations department in a player development role. Keith recently ended his NHL career and will bring his over 1,200 games of NHL experience to the table as he helps develop the Oilers’ promising crop of young players.

Anaheim Ducks Sign Nathan Beaulieu To PTO

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We have another PTO signing for today. Defenseman Nathan Beaulieu has signed a professional tryout agreement with the Anaheim Ducks, per CapFriendly.

Beaulieu, 29, arrives in Anaheim coming from the Pittsburgh Penguins. Beaulieu didn’t actually suit up in a game for Pittsburgh, but he was acquired by the team at the 2022 deadline.

Beaulieu played 24 games last season, all for the Winnipeg Jets, averaging a career-low 10:46 time-on-ice per game. Beaulieu has over 400 games of NHL experience, and has operated in a seventh-defenseman role for the past four seasons as a member of the Penguins, Jets, and Buffalo Sabres.

In Anaheim, Beaulieu will join the competition for one of the open spots on the Ducks’ blueline, a competition that is getting relatively expansive. John Klingberg, Cam Fowler, Kevin Shattenkirk, Dmitry Kulikov, and Jamie Drysdale are all locks to be in the NHL, which means Beaulieu will be competing with Josh Mahura, Urho Vaakanainen, Simon Benoit, Colton White, and Olli Juolevi for one of the final two spots on the Ducks’ blueline, should the team choose to carry seven defensemen on their roster.

Given the state of the Ducks as a rebuilding club, it’s more likely that the team would prefer to run younger defensemen with more upside in those open roles. But even as he faces that reality entering camp, Beaulieu can still earn a spot and showcase his value to the Ducks. Should Beaulieu play well in the preseason while some of the younger defenseman struggle, he could earn an NHL contract to serve as the team’s seventh defenseman, just as he has for other NHL teams these past few seasons.

Snapshots: Media Rules, Panthers, Senators PTO

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The media’s access to NHL players has been limited over these past two seasons, in large part thanks to restrictions placed on locker room access in order to mitigate the risk of COVID transmission to players. Per the Professional Hockey Writers Association, as relayed by Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, those restrictions are ending. Per Thomas, NHL clubs were informed via email that “locker rooms must be open following all games and practices and all active players must be made available” to the media.

While the lifting of these media restrictions doesn’t have any direct impact on transactions or things such as the salary cap, it does serve as another piece of evidence pointing to a return to normalcy for the NHL. Given what deputy commissioner Bill Daly said last month, — that a rise to the salary cap could be coming earlier than anticipated, perhaps even as soon as the end of the 2023-24 season — the return of the media to NHL locker rooms is another indication that things are getting back to normal in the world of hockey.

Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:

  • The Florida Panthers made some additions to their Performance Department today, announcing the hires of Chris McLellan, Mike Joyce, and Mark Gaydos. McLellan was named vice president of sports performance, Joyce was named head strength and conditioning coach, and Gaydos was named assistant strength and conditioning coach. The Panthers have big plans for this season, and these three hires beef up the off-ice support they’re offering to their players as they hope to achieve their lofty goals in 2022-23.
  • Four players have signed professional tryout agreements (PTO’s) today, and there are likely a few more on the horizon. As relayed by Ian Mendes of The Athletic, Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion strongly indicated that he’d be signing a skater to a PTO, saying “there is a contract to be had and there’s a spot to be had.” (subscription link) There are quite a few veteran players still on the market, such as P.K. Subban and Sonny Milano, and it looks like Dorion will be adding someone from that market for the preseason.

San Jose Sharks Sign Scott Harrington To PTO

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The number of PTO agreements signed today grows to four. The San Jose Sharks have announced the signing of defenseman Scott Harrington to a professional tryout agreement.

The Sharks have undergone a significant roster transformation in new GM Mike Grier’s first offseason, seeing a franchise face in Brent Burns depart and new NHL-quality players such as Matt Benning, Luke Kunin, and Oskar Lindblom enter the fold. With this PTO, Harrington joins the competition for a job on new coach David Quinn’s blueline.

Harrington, 29, was a second-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins at the 2011 draft and has over 200 games of NHL experience, almost entirely with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Harrington spent most of last season with the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, although he did get into seven NHL contests averaging 14 and a half minutes per game.

The six-foot-two Harrington doesn’t have much offense to his game, but he did see extensive time on the Monsters’ penalty kill and has experience as a defensive specialist. He’ll head to the Sharks camp to compete with Jaycob Megna, Radim Simek, and Markus Nutivaara for a spot on the lower end of the team’s defensive lineup.

 

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