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Free Agent Focus: Vancouver Canucks

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With free agency now less than a month away, many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up.  There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign.  Vancouver has several big decisions to make concerning their team, especially in goal.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Jake Virtanen – Virtanen is an interesting case in which the former first-round pick has made improvements every year and this year was no different. After a 15-goal, 25-point season in 2018-19, Virtanen improved to 18 goals and 36 points this season. However, while that’s a definite improvement, his playoff performance this year left a lot to be desired. He managed just two goals and three points in 16 games and saw his playing time fluctuate while spending some time on the fourth line. His time with the Canucks could be up as the 24-year-old could end up being trade bait as he has slowly worn out his welcome with Travis Green and the coaching staff. Regardless, the forward still has the potential to become a top-six forward.

F Tyler Motte – A fan favorite in Vancouver had an up-and-down year, missing a chunk of the regular season with a shoulder injury, but is a key player for the team’s fourth line. The 25-year-old only posted four goals in 34 regular season games, but then was more impressive in the playoffs with four goals in just 17 games. However, he does bring the team some much needed physicality with 318 hits over his last 108 regular season games. At just $975K, he shouldn’t require the Canucks to break the bank to sign him.

D Troy Stecher – The blueliner will be an interesting test for GM Jim Benning, who has quite a few unrestricted free agents to make decisions on and limited cap room for that. One suggestion that has been made by many is sending the 26-year-old off in a trade. He made $2.33MM the past two years and that is money that might be better spent elsewhere to retain some of their other players. Stecher also only averaged 15:21 of ATOI, not exactly the type of playing time you’d hope for for someone making that much money. With younger defensemen ready to step in such as Olli Juolevi and Jack Rathbone, the team may look to trade him during the offseason.

Other RFAs: F Justin Bailey, F Reid Boucher, D Guillaume Brisebois, D Jalen Chatfield, F Adam Gaudette, F Nikolay Goldobin, G Jake Kielly, F Zack MacEwen, F Francis Perron, F David Pope.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

G Jacob Markstrom – What once was considered a slam dunk of a re-signing has now become less of a certainty after a three-game performance from young backup Thatcher Demko. Granted, Benning did admit that bringing Markstrom back was a priority, regardless of what Demko did in the playoffs, but with so little cap space to work with, there have to be some doubts whether signing the all-star goaltender to a long-term deal is a good idea if Demko is ready to be a No. 1 goalie. The 30-year-old Markstrom, however, has been consistent in net, boasting a .912 save percentage during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons and followed that up with a .918 save percentage this year, looking almost as impressive in the playoffs before going down with an injury. It could also be more costly for Vancouver to re-sign him with several other teams reportedly interested in bringing him aboard. While his $3.67MM AAV was a nice one for their cap, he is likely ready to move into the $5-6MM range, a costly one when someone behind him might be ready to move into his place for quite a bit less.

F Tyler Toffoli – After an inconsistent career in Los Angeles, the Canucks snagged the 28-year-old forward at the trade deadline and he was exactly what the team needed, posting six goals and 10 points in 10 regular season teams with Vancouver. He provided four points in seven games too and Vancouver would like to add Toffoli as a long-term piece. That could prove to be expensive and the Canucks will likely have to move some of their other pieces to make that happen. There is also rumors that Toffoli would like to return to Southern California, which will make his status interesting to watch during the offseason. At $4.6MM for the past three years, could he make more than that now?

F Chris Tanev – The 30-year-old blueliner has spent his entire career in Vancouver and been a solid defensive player. The team would like to bring back the veteran, but again, much depends on what other moves the team makes. If the team does re-sign both Markstrom and Toffoli, it’s possible that Vancouver just won’t have the money to sign him. At $4.45MM, that’s a high price to pay for a player that is likely to begin to see his game decline over the next few years.

Other UFAs: G Richard Bachman, G Louis Domingue, D Oscar Fantenberg, F Tyler Graovac, F Josh Leivo, D Ashton Sautner.

Projected Cap Space

At the moment, Vancouver has about $14.3MM in cap space to spend with a half dozen-or-so players they must re-sign. There is little room to maneuver. The team could try to find a taker for Loui Eriksson, who is killing the team’s cap situation at $6MM for the next two years, but with the cap flattening out, it could cost the team quite a bit to unload a contract like that. Throw in two more years of Roberto Luongo’s recapture penalty at $3.04MM, the team may have to watch as several free agents either walk away or the team trades away others to hold onto them.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mark Giordano Wins Mark Messier Leadership Award

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Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano was named the winner of the Mark Messier Leadership Award Sunday, presented to the player who most exemplifies great leadership qualities both on and off the ice.

“This is a huge honor for me and my family,” Giordano said. “To have my name on an award, the Mark Messier Award … and knowing that (former Flames teammate) Jarome Iginla won this award as well, a guy that when I came into the League was my captain and my leader and learned so many great things from him on the ice, but more importantly off the ice, the way he treated people and acted in the community.”

Giordano worked with the Calgary Board of Education to support improved physical fitness and academics as well as playing a role in multiple other endeavors, including the Flames literacy program, the You Can Play Project and Calgary Pride Parade. On the ice, Giordano has been one of the team’s top defensemen for years, which includes winning the Norris Trophy last year.

 

Islanders’ Cizikas, Kuhnhackl Will Miss Remainder Of Playoffs

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The New York Islanders sent out an injury update just before their Game 4 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team announced that injured forwards Casey Cizikas and Tom Kuhnhackl are both injured, have left the bubble and will not return for the remainder of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Those are two key blows for the Islanders, who are trying to even up their series against Tampa Bay.

Cizikas missed Game 3 with an undisclosed injury and was thought to be a game-time decision for Game 4, but obviously, the injury was worse than anyone thought. The forward played in 18 games so far throughout the playoffs. While boasting just two assists during the playoffs, the forward has been invaluable as a fourth-line center next to Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin. Both Clutterbuck and Martin have been playing next to Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the meantime. However, with Cizikas out, the team loses an impressive defender who plays with much-needed physicality and matched up well against Tampa Bay’s size on the other side. He finished the regular season with 113 hits and a 53.5 percent faceoff win percentage and has been a candidate for the Selke in his career twice.

Kuhnhackl is another loss, albeit less significant. However, with the loss of Cizikas, Kuhnhackl’s injury is even more important. The 28-year-old forward has only appeared in three playoff games this season and splitting his regular season time between the Islanders and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL. He has been a healthy scratch often when with the Islanders. However, with team depth being of utmost important with injuries mounting, Kuhnhackl might have seen more and more playing time.

No word on what type of injury each player has sustained.

Atlantic Notes: Krug, Point, Kulak, Ruggiero

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After falling just short of winning the Stanley Cup in 2019, the Boston Bruins went home a little earlier than they hoped for this season, falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round. However, much of the criticism in Boston falls to the team’s lack of physicality against the Lightning’s bigger forwards, who really took advantage of the Bruins, especially against their smaller defenseman, Torey Krug and Matt Grzelcyk.

The Bruins saw this issue coming and traded for Nick Ritchie at the trade deadline to give the team a little added size, but Ritchie had some issues adjusting to the team immediately after the trade as the league was shutdown shortly thereafter and still didn’t fully adjust in the bubble during the playoffs.

With the need to get bigger and stronger this offseason, NBC Sports Joe Haggerty writes that the Bruins may be already thinking that it might make more sense to let the undersized Krug walk via free agency this year and take the money to invest in a blueliner who can provide more size and physicality rather than invest $7-8MM on bringing Krug back.

  • Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point remains an unknown before Game 4 today. Head coach Jon Cooper refused to give an update on Point, saying “You’ll see in a couple hours,” Cooper said (via NHL.com’s Bryan Burns). Point sat out Game 3 with an undisclosed injury, although he has been practicing. Point has picked up 23 points in 15 playoff games so far and would be a big boost for the team if he returns.
  • Assuming the Montreal Canadiens are able to sign defenseman Joel Edmundson after acquiring the blueliner in a trade with Carolina Saturday evening, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) writes that could be bad news for defensemen Brett Kulak and Victor Mete. With Ben Chiarot, rookie defenseman Alexander Romanov and potentially Edmundson playing on the left side, both Kulak and Mete will either have to fight for the seventh spot or the team could move one of the blueliners over to the right side. The scribe notes that Kulak, who was impressive in the playoffs, might be a potential trade candidate. He has averaged more than 17 minutes of ATOI over the past two years with the Canadiens. General manager Marc Bergevin wasn’t that posiitve on Kulak’s outlook, however, pointing out after the playoffs that while he could be a solid defender if he continues to play like he did, his inconsistency over the regular season has to be kept in mind as well.
  • While the Florida Panthers eventually hired Bill Zito to be their new general manager, it did do an extensive search for candidates, looking at former Islanders GM Garth Snow to NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday, also added another former candidate in Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medalist Angela Ruggiero. “During their search, the Panthers contacted four-time U.S. Olympian and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Angela Ruggiero and asked her if she wanted to interview,” Friedman reported during Saturday’s Headlines. Ruggiero, 40, is the current CEO and co-founder of Sports Innovation Lab and asked the Panthers for a few days to consider whether she wanted to interview. By the time she got back to Florida, they had already hired Zito. Ruggiero has some experience in the front office with the New York Islanders years ago before going to Harvard for her MBA, but she could be a future candidate for other GM positions.

Calgary Flames Leaning Towards Keeping Geoff Ward As Head Coach

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The Calgary Flames are one of four teams that still don’t have permanent coaches in place, but that number could change soon. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday that while the Calgary Flames say there is “no comment” on the team’s coaching situation, there is a growing belief that the Flames will hire interim coach Geoff Ward as their permanent head coach soon.

“Word is beginning to seep out that it’s trending towards Geoff Ward returning as the head coach of the team for next season,” Friedman said.

After Bill Peters resigned as head coach on Nov. 29, the team handed the interim coaching reigns to Peters’ assistant, Ward, who took a struggling 12-12-4 team (good for fifth place in the Pacific Division) and led them to a 24-15-3 record, getting them into the playoffs. They even won their play-in series, knocking out the Winnipeg Jets before getting eliminated by the Dallas Stars in the first round of the playoffs. However, even that series, Calgary had its moments, coming within 12 seconds of taking a 3-1 series lead against Dallas.

With that success and backing from Flames players, Ward seems like a solid candidate to remain with his team especially with his focus on physicality and defense philosophy. Not only did he have success with the team, but he had quite an impact on several of the team’s players to take that next step, especially in the playoffs, including Sam Bennett, Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube.

Assuming the Flames do hire Ward on permanently, then only three other teams currently lack a permanent head coach, including the Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals and the San Jose Sharks.

Snapshots: King Clancy Trophy, Kucherov, Bishop, Holzapfel

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Now that the NHL has reached the conference championship phase of the playoffs, so too can the NHL awards, which are expected to be handed out day-by-day over the next couple of weeks. First up is expected to be the King Clancy Trophy, awarded to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community. The trophy will be awarded this evening before the start of Game 1 between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Dallas Stars. The three finalists for the awards are Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba, New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist and New Jersey Devils’ P.K. Subban.

Dumba has been committed to racial and social justice and the Hockey is for Everyone initiative and helped form the Hockey Diversity Alliance with seven current and former NHL players. Lundqvist supports several different initiatives, including aid for children’s health, education, underprivileged youth, Hockey Fights Cancer and the Make a Wish Foundation. Subban also supports several groups, including initiatives for underprivileged youth, medical support and promoting racial and social injustice.

  • Despite the bad news that the Tampa Bay Lightning will have to go through the Eastern Conference Finals without Steven Stamkos, the team did get some good news, however, on the injury front. The Athletic’s Joe Smith reports that first-line forward Nikita Kucherov is expected to be available Monday for the Lightning’s first game against the New York Islanders. Kucherov was forced to leave Game 5 against the Boston Bruins with an undisclosed injury, but has had almost a week to recover. The 27-year-old has been quite effective in the playoffs so far with four goals and 16 points in 13 games.
  • The Dallas Stars will be without starting goaltender Ben Bishop once again as The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that Bishop and defenseman Taylor Fedun remain “unfit to play.” Both skated today, but neither appear ready to play. The scribe did add that forwards Andrew Cogliano and Mattias Janmark are both expected to be game-time decisions today. Bishop has appeared in just three games during the playoffs and hasn’t made an appearance since Aug. 31 against Colorado when he allowed four goals in 13 minutes before being replaced. The team will rely on Anton Khudobin once again, who is 8-5 with a .909 save percentage in 14 games during the playoffs.
  • Former AHL forward Riley Holzapfel announced his retirement after spending his four years with the Vienna Capitals of the Austrian League. Holzapfel was a second-round pick of the Atlanta Thrashers in 2006 and five season in the AHL before opting to play overseas in 2013, playing three seasons in the SHL before joining Vienna in 2016. He was never able to break into the NHL, however. The 32-year-old was still productive with Vienna, scoring 18 goals and 46 assists in 48 games.

Atlantic Notes: Stamkos, Domi, Debrusk

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There seems to be plenty of questions surrounding Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who has yet to make his playoff debut after undergoing core muscle surgery in early March and now has been listed as “unfit to play” with a lower-body injury. Now it looks like that if he will play in the playoffs it will have to be in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Lightning and head coach Jon Cooper announced that Stamkos will miss the entire Eastern Conference Finals due to his undisclosed injuries, adding that he will update that status if anything changes. There was plenty of hope that Stamkos might be ready to return to the team and supplement the offensive powerhouse Lightning against the stingy defense of the Islanders. However, that won’t happen here and the team will have to win the series without him if they have any hopes of him returning for the playoffs.

If or when he returns, however, The Athletic’s Joe Smith believes that Stamkos will likely begin on the team’s second line and center both Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli as they likely won’t want to breakup the impressive play of the first-round combo of Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov.

  • With plenty of rumors swirling around Montreal Canadiens forward Max Domi after a disappointing second season with the team, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports on Hockey Night in Canada Saturday night that Domi’s agent, Darren Ferris, and Canadiens’ general manager Marc Bergevin met to discuss Domi’s future. Friedman notes that Domi is not requesting a trade out of Montreal. “The news got out that Max Domi has a new agent — he’s now represented by Darren Ferris,” Friedman said. “He met with Marc Bergevin, he didn’t really want to say too much about the meeting, but the one thing he was willing to say was that Max Domi has not asked for a trade from the Montreal Canadiens. I don’t know where this is going to go, but Domi has not asked to be traded.” Domi saw a 11-goal and 28-point decline in his statistics last year, something the team wasn’t thrilled about as Domi saw his playing time in the playoffs drop significantly to 14:21 of ATOI.
  • The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa (subscription required) writes the Boston Bruins are likely going to have a challenging time finding a new contract with restricted free agent Jake Debrusk. The forward is averaging 1.09 goals per 60 minutes of play on the team, the fourth-highest number on the team, besides the team’s top-line players. However, his inconsistency has showed at times as he has also been put on the team’s third line at times. However, with impressive numbers, he is in line for a contract similar to that of Travis Konecny (six years, $33MM) and Brock Boeser (three years, $17.63MM). However, with the flat salary cap, Debrusk may have to accept less in a short-term deal.

Montreal Canadiens Loan Lukas Vejdemo To Allsvenskan

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The Montreal Canadiens signed Lukas Vejdemo to a one-year, two-way deal on Friday and now the team announced they are loaning him to Sodertalje SK in the Allsvenskan to get playing time and work on his game. The 24-year-old is still expected to report to training camp for the 2020-21 season.

Vejdemo finally broke into the NHL this season, playing seven games and scoring one goal. However, he has spent most of his two years in North America with the Laval Rocket of the AHL. He had 13 goals and 29 points in 66 games last season and followed that up with nine goals and 19 points in 47 games this past year with Laval. Before that, the forward spent three years in the SHL and has never played in the Allsvenskan’s men’s league before.

This is the second player that the Canadiens have sent to Europe to work on their game while the NHL’s 2020-21 start isn’t expected to begin until December, at the earliest. The team sent defenseman Otto Leskinen to KalPa Kuopio of the Liiga last month.

 

Washington Capitals Interview Mike Babcock, Gerard Gallant

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Reports surfaced a week ago that the Washington Capitals received permission to interview veteran coach Peter Laviolette for their open head coaching position. However with three big-name coaches available, many felt GM Brian MacLellan would also interview the other two, to fill the vacancy left after the team fired Todd Reirden.

Last night during Hockey Night in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Washington has already interviewed former Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock:

“Last week the reports got out that the Washington Capitals had permission to interview Peter Laviolette for their vacant head coaching job, this week it’s believed that they interviewed Toronto’s former head coach Mike Babcock,” Friedman said. “And he is a legitimate candidate for the position.”

Babcock certainly would provide the Capitals with a ton of experience. The 57-year-old coached the Anaheim Ducks for two seasons before taking on the Detroit Red Wings for 12 years, which included winning the Stanley Cup in 2008. He spent four and a half years with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but failed to lead the team through a round of the playoffs. Throw in a sluggish start to the 2019-20 season and he was fired in November. He has a combined 351-173-133 regular season record.

However, it doesn’t end there as Friedman also noted later on in the segment that the Capitals have also interviewed former Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights’ head coach Gerard Gallant. The veteran coach coached each team for two full seasons each before getting fired in the middle of his third season with each team. However, he did win the Jack Adams award in 2018 in Vegas’ inaugural season when he took the expansion team to the Stanley Cup Finals. He was also the runner-up for the Jack Adams with Florida in 2016.

The Capitals are in a good position with so many veteran coaches available. The team, who has a history of hiring inexperienced coaches, has made it clear they are willing to bring in a coach with plenty of experience as the window for the team is starting to close. Star forward Alex Ovechkin will be turning 35 years old in 11 days and likely only has two to three years remaining at his peak and with little youth in the system, Washington will need a coach that can light a fire under them in the next few years.

Sean Burke Interviews For Arizona Coyotes’ GM Position

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The Arizona Coyotes have already started their interviewing process for their open general manager position. Coyotes beat writer Craig Morgan reported that the team has already interviewed Sean Burke, who has spent 12 years with the organization off and on, most recently served as the GM for Hockey Canada.

Burke, who played for nine teams over 20 years, including a five-year stint with the Coyotes, lives in the Valley, and is an obvious candidate for the position. He was hired in 2008 by Arizona (Phoenix then) to serve as director of prospect development. He also was an assistant general manager for the team as well as a goaltending coach at different times during his tenure before accepting a scouting job with the Montreal Canadiens in September of 2016. In July of 2017, Burke was named general manager of Hockey Canada, a post he held until 2019.

Burke is likely the first of many candidates likely to roll through Phoenix with the hopes of landing the GM position as owner Alex Meruelo and new team president and CEO Xavier Gutierrez are looking to make a big hire to start their tenure off right. Interim general manager Steve Sullivan is also a candidate, while the team just interviewed assistant general manager Jason Karmanos on Thursday.

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