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Vancouver Canucks Sign Vasily Podkolzin To Entry-Level Contract

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May 31: Podkolzin told Sport24 in Russia that he is willing to play in the AHL if that’s what the Canucks management wants him to do and is not considering a return to Russia or using a European Assignment Clause. That’s good news for Vancouver, who can bring the teenaged forward along slowly if he’s not quite ready to make an impact at the start of the season.

May 30: The Vancouver Canucks announced they have signed top prospect Vasily Podkolzin to a three-year, entry-level contract. The winger was the team’s 10th-overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft. The Athletic’s Thomas Drance reports that the deal will be for the full $925K cap hit along with full Schedule A bonuses, making it a $1.775MM actual cap hit.

“Vasily is a competitor who plays an aggressive game,” said Canucks general manager Jim Benning. “He’s effective using his size and skill to get to the net and produce offensively. We’re pleased to sign him today and look forward to adding him to our young core of skilled players.”

The winger should provide the team with an impressive power forward for years to come, although his height is debated with his KHL team listing him as 6-foot-3, while the Canucks have him at 6-foot-1. Regardless of his exact size, his high-end skating and his physical make-up present the team with one of their more interesting prospects. He likely will be an immediate fit in Vancouver’s top-six and will be a top Calder Trophy candidate.

The 19-year-old Podkolzin is coming off a full season in the KHL where he scored five goals and 11 points in 35 games with SKA St. Petersburg in limited minutes. He also captained Team Russia in the World Junior Championships, scoring two goals and four points in seven games as Russia lost in the bronze medal game to Finland.

There was speculation during the season that Podkolzin might come over to Vancouver in April after his KHL season ended and burn the first year of his entry-level deal. However, the youngster opted instead to stay in Russia and focus on making Russia’s World Championship roster, which he did not make. However, the chances that Podkolzin would have seen much action after having secured a work visa and sat through quarantine seemed unlikely.

Hurricanes’ Nino Niederreiter Could Miss Entire Tampa Bay Series

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7:30 PM: Forget about just missing the series-opener.  Following the head, head coach Rod Brind’Amour told reporters including Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal that Niederreiter is “very doubtful” to return in this series.

3:46 PM: The Carolina Hurricanes had a surprise lineup change just before Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday as Nino Niederreiter is expected to sit out.  According to Luke DeCock of the News & Observer, the forward was injured during practice Saturday and was considered questionable for the game. Former Lightning Cedric Paquette is expected to step into the lineup to replace Niederreiter.

The forward was benched for the remaining 9:49 of regulation and overtime Thursday in Game 6 against Nashville along with Jesper Fast and Steven Lorentz, but that was considered bench shortening. Of course, Niederreiter hasn’t made a major impact so far in the playoffs with just one goal and no assists in six games even though he tallied one of his best regular seasons in years with 20 goals and 34 points.

Paquette, who played with the Stanley Cup champion Lightning last season, was traded twice during the regular season before finding himself with Carolina where he has been nursing an injury, but was ready as an extra, if needed. Paquette, however, could have extra incentive to play hard against his former team.

The Lightning will also be without defenseman David Savard who is out with an upper-body injury. He will be replaced in the lineup with Luke Schenn.

Vancouver Canucks Open To Moving Nate Schmidt

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The Vancouver Canucks didn’t have the type of season they were hoping for. The team finished in last place in the North Division, even behind the rebuilding Ottawa Senators — a far cry from their strong playoff performance a season ago. While the team lost several free agents in goaltender Jacob Markstrom, winger Tyler Toffoli and defenseman Chris Tanev, the hope was that others could step up in their place, including Thatcher Demko, Nils Hoglander and trade acquisition Nate Schmidt, who they picked up from Vegas for a 2022 third-round pick.

Of course, things didn’t work out for Schmidt, who just didn’t seem to be a good fit with Vancouver this year. The 29-year-old played in all but two games for the Canucks, but couldn’t get it going offensively with just 15 points in 54 games, quite a difference from the 31 points he posted in 59 games with Vegas in 2019-20. That’s not exactly what Vancouver envisioned when it took on Schmidt’s contract, which suddenly doesn’t look so good on their payroll as Schmidt still has four more years at $5.95MM.

The Province’s Patrick Johnston writes that the Canucks will likely have to do a major shakeup of their blueline this offseason with only a few players considered key pieces to their puzzle. The belief is the team would prefer to move Schmidt and his contract to free up some cap space, although that could prove challenging, according to The Athletic’s Thomas Drance and Harman Dayal  (subscription required). While the contract is somewhat front-loaded, the base salary for this next year is still $6MM and only drops slightly over the next three years.

What that type of cap hit in a flat cap world, only a handful of teams are likely willing to take on four more years of Schmidt and the Canucks could be forced to send a sweetener if they hope to move the blueliner. All three scribes suggest that Schmidt is a likely trade candidate, but also admit that Schmidt may be difficult to unload and therefore might just have to be an expensive second-pair defenseman, who the team hopes can rebound and have a big season.

West Notes: Wild Offseason, Perron, Lehner

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The Minnesota Wild seem to be a team on the way up. The team may have lost in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs to the Vegas Golden Knights, but put together an interesting season in which they should continue to get better.

The Athletic’s Michael Russo (subscription required) writes that the team expects to have a busy offseason, which includes dealing with the challenges of the expansion draft as well as re-signing restricted free agents Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala. While all three should get significant raises, trading one of them is always a possibility. In fact, Russo suggests the team could consider packaging Fiala in a deal to upgrade at the center position in a bold move, even suggesting that the Wild could be serious bidders for Buffalo’s Jack Eichel.

  • In a Q&A with St. Louis Blues general manager Doug Armstrong, beat writer Lou Korac writes that the Blues are focused on getting an extension worked out with veteran winger David Perron. The 33-year-old has only gotten better as he’s gotten older. After a 16-goal season with Vegas back in 2017-18, he has been a key contributor for the Blues since signing with them. He scored 23 goals in 2018-19, 25 goals in 2019-20 and posted a 19-goal, 58-point campaign this year in 56 games. “He’s passionate about the game,” said Armstrong. “He works at the game, he’s evolved with the game, his puck-protection skills are top level. His ability to create offense for himself is top level. He goes to the harder areas. He’s here next year and as long as he wants to play, I don’t know why the St. Louis Blues wouldn’t want him.”
  • In a somewhat surprising development, The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports that Robin Lehner, not Marc-Andre Fleury, is expected to be in net tonight for Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche. Many expected Fleury to get the nod for an eighth-straight game. The veteran was dominant against the Minnesota Wild with a 1.71 GAA and a .931 save percentage in those seven games. Of course, Lehner is also considered a top goaltender for the Golden Knights. The 29-year-old finished the season with a 2.29 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 19 regular season games. Head coach Peter DeBoer did something similar a year ago, allowing Fleury to start Game 1 against the Dallas Stars in the conference finals. Fleury played well, but Vegas lost, which prompted DeBoer to play Lehner for the rest of the season. Could we see a reverse move made this year?

Columbus Likely To Trade Seth Jones Before Draft

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Late last night, it was reported that Columbus Blue Jackets star defenseman Seth Jones will not sign an extension with Columbus and plans to test the 2022 free-agent market. That’s a huge blow to a team that has lost a large chunk of their core players in the last few years. While general manager Jarmo Kekalainen has said in the past that the team intends to go into the season with Jones whether or not he signs a contract extension, that looks to have already changed.

The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline (subscription required) writes that much has changed around the philosophy now that John Davidson has rejoined the organization as President of Hockey Operations. In fact, while Davidson did not confirm the rumors that Elliotte Friedman passed along Saturday Night on Hockey Night in Canada, he made it clear that if Jones does not sign an extension, they will not hold onto the blueliner like the team did when they held onto Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky when both indicated they intended to test free agency at the end of the year in 2019. Both players instead opted to leave the team at the end of the season.

“The No. 1 thing we’d like to do is keep Seth,” Davidson told The Athletic on Sunday. “He has every right in the world to leave if he wants to not extend the contract, but we’ll do what’s best for our team. We just want players who want to be here. This is a different scenario (than in 2019). We were in a position (then) where we thought we had a chance to make a pretty good run at (the Stanley Cup). Beating Tampa Bay (in the first round) was great. Losing to Boston in six … it was a good series, and they lost in seven in the Final.”

With Columbus in a much different position than when they were a solid playoff contender, the team likely has no choice but to consider getting as much as they can for Jones. Portzline said that sources have told him that the team will likely begin shopping the defenseman immediately with the hope of trading him before the draft this summer.

“Whatever happens is going to be what’s the absolute best for the Blue Jackets franchise, period,” Davidson said. “That’s just how it works. Doesn’t matter if it’s Seth Jones or Joe Smith, the player has the right through the (collective bargaining agreement) to do what they feel is necessary for them and their careers. We want players who want to be in Columbus, who want to be Blue Jackets, and we’re going to continue to create that culture.”

Snapshots: NHL Draft Forwards, Rangers Front Office, Johnson

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Just three days after NHL Central Scouting released its top five lists for North American and international players, NHL.com’s Mike Morreale released his list of the top 10 forwards for upcoming NHL draft. With no dominant player at the top of draft lists this year, most draft rankings have differed significantly from list to list, and Morreale’s is no different. After NHL Central Scouting listed Michigan center Matthew Beniers as the No. 6-ranked North American skater, Morreale has him as the top NHL forward in this upcoming draft, moving him ahead of names such as Mason McTavish, Kent Johnson and Dylan Guenther.

McTavish, who has moved up the draft rankings quite a bit since his performance at the recent WJC-18’s, ranking as the second-best forward in the draft. He notched five goals and 11 points in seven games for gold-medal winning Team Canada. Sweden’s William Eklund, Johnson and Guenther round out the top five.

  • It looks as if the New York Rangers front office continues to get smaller and smaller as the New York Post’s Larry Brooks confirms that Nick Bobrov, who has served as the team’s director of European scouting over the last six years has left the organization. Bobrov has had a hand in quite a bit of the Rangers’ drafts over the years, giving the team quite an international flavor in their young prospects. Bobrov joins a list of exiting executives, including the firings of President John Davidson, GM Jeff Gorton and head coach David Quinn as well as the resignation of Brian Leetch of Hockey Ops.
  • The Colorado Avalanche got a welcome sight on the ice when defenseman Erik Johnson stepped onto the ice this morning for an optional morning skate, according to The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. The veteran blueliner has been out since January with an upper-body injury and was ruled out for the season. Head coach Jared Bednar said he doubted that Johnson would return at some point in the playoffs, however. “I don’t know about him being fully cleared or anything like that to actually play,” said Bednar. “He’s just taking it step-by-step. … As he feels better, he’s doing more.”

Snapshots: Kampfer, Stars Goaltenders, Caufield

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The Boston Bruins lost some of their defensive depth today when head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Steven Kampfer will miss the rest of the playoffs with an arm injury, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. No word on how he got hurt.

Kampfer has only appeared once in the last 13 games for Boston, including no playoff games. The one game he did play, back on May 11, he did get 24:05 of ice time. For the season, the 32-year-old appeared in 20 games, scoring two goals and five points, while blocking 24 shots.

The team will have to depend more on some of their remaining defensive depth, including Connor Clifton and Jarred Tinordi. With an injury to Kevan Miller, the team will turn to Tinordi to fill in.

  • Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News writes the Dallas Stars will have a goalie logjam next season with the return of Ben Bishop. While there was some early speculation that the team believed that the Seattle Kraken might grab veteran Anton Khudobin in the expansion draft (Jake Oettinger is exempt and Bishop has a no-movement clause), the scribe believes that Khudobin’s disappointing season, his age (35 years) and two years on his contract at $3.33MM doesn’t make that much sense for an expansion team. While the expansion draft is one potential way to fix the issue, the team might be better off trying to trade Khudobin to team looking for a solid backup. With many goaltenders going for quality prices, the team could pick up a solid draft pick if they decided to go that way.
  • The Montreal Canadiens got the split they needed in Toronto and now have home-ice advantage for the time being. However, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) believes the team needs youngster Cole Caufield to step into Game 3. The scribe notes that Montreal spent much of the second period of Game 2 short-handed mainly because Toronto controlled the puck almost entirely. To fix that problem, the team must add speed, something that Caufield and defenseman Alexander Romanov could provide the team. When asked, coach Dominique Ducharme shrugged. “Possible, like everyone available,” he said. “We have depth, and we’re going to use it.”

West Notes: Thomas, Blues, Kadri, Pacioretty

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The St. Louis Blues have struggled mightily in its first-round playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche with little offense to show for itself. The team has scored just five goals over three games and needs some players to step up.

Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that one player the team needs more from is Robert Thomas. The 21-year-old looked like a promising youngster in his second season last year when he posted 10 goals and 42 points, but has struggled this year after missing 19 games with a broken hand, hasn’t produced on the ice. The center scored just three goals and 12 points in 33 games and has just two secondary assists so far in the playoffs.

“I think he’s gotta play with more energy and confidence in my opinion,” said Blues coach Craig Berube. “That’s a big thing I think I see with him, is the energy level’s a little low for him. He’s gotta find a little more emotion in his game and go out and play with some energy and emotion in the game. It’s hard to play the game in the playoffs without energy and emotion. And if he gets his energy levels up and gets more emotionally involved in the game, he’s gonna play better.”

  • Sticking with the Blues, injuries continue to be a problem for St. Louis. Berube said that the team will be without Vince Dunn, Robert Bortuzzo and Justin Faulk for a pivotal Game 4, the team announced. There is a chance that Jake Walman could be available for the game, and Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports he will play in Game 4 after coming off the COVID-19 protocol list. Dunn is expected to miss his 15th straight game with an upper-body injury. Bortuzzo and Faulk will each miss their second straight with upper-body injuries.
  • John Shannon of NHL.com reports that there still is no decision from forward Nazem Kadri about whether he intends to appeal his  suspension. Kadri received an eight-game suspension Friday after his hit on Faulk in Game 2. If Kadri wants to appeal, it would go into the hands of commissioner Gary Bettman. If he doesn’t like Bettman’s response, it could go to a third-party arbitrator, but that could take quite a bit of time, according to the scribe. A decision likely will be made later today.
  • Still no word on the status of Vegas Golden Knights’ Max Pacioretty as Las Vegas Review-Journal’s David Schoen reports that the top-scoring winger remains day-to-day. In fact, the forward has been day-to-day with an undisclosed injury since being injured on May 1. “We don’t know game to game whether he’ll be in, but it’s turned into obviously longer than we hoped,” said head coach Peter DeBoer.

North Notes: Weber, Oilers, Tkachuk, Hamonic

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The Department of Player Safety announced that they have fined Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber $5,000, the maximum fine allowable in the CBA,  for cross-checking Toronto’s Wayne Simmonds Saturday during Game 2 of the playoffs.

The veteran forward was not assessed a penalty against Simmonds on the play, but did receive a two-minute minor for cross-checking on Toronto’s Pierre Engvall during the third period and later received a 10-minute misconduct. Montreal received seven minor penalties during their 5-1 loss to Toronto.

  • The Edmonton Oilers look to be making several lineup changes after falling 2-0 to the Winnipeg Jets in their first-round matchup, according to Oilers insider Bob Stauffer. With the hope of being faster on the ice, the team is scratching James Neal, Dominik Kahun and Alex Chiasson, while bringing Tyler Ennis, Gaetan Haas and Devin Shore. The team has also split up defensemen Tyson Barrie and Darnell Nurse, while demoting forward Kailer Yamamoto to the third line.
  • Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, who is eligible to sign an extension with the team, tells Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg that he hasn’t spoken to Flames’ management about a new contract. The 23-year-old has one more year remaining at a $7MM AAV, but also will have a qualifying offer of $9MM when he becomes a restricted free agent. That’s a lot of money for a player that hasn’t taken that next step the team was hoping for. Tkachuk scored 34 goals and 77 points during the 2018-19 season and looked to be developing into a star player. However, those numbers have dropped to 23 goals and 61 points in 69 2019-20 and then 16 goals and 43 points in 56 games this season. There’s even been talk of Calgary making major changes this year, which could, in theory, include Tkachuk as well.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have high hopes they can re-sign defenseman Travis Hamonic to a new contract for the upcoming season. Hamonic, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, played 38 games for Vancouver, mostly pairing with Quinn Hughes and fared well, despite dealing with injuries and rust. However, The Province’s Ben Kuzma reports that general manager Jim Benning said that there is interest in bringing back Hamonic, assuming the two sides can reach a reasonable deal. The 30-year-old signed a one-year deal worth $1.25MM in hopes of staying in Western Canada, suggesting a deal is legitimately possible.

Central Notes: Kucherov, Sergachev, Slavin, Knight

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The Tampa Bay Lightning may have taken a 3-1 lead against the Florida Panthers Saturday, but at a cost as Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev were both injured during the game. While there have been no updates on either players’ status for Game 5, The Athletic’s Joe Smith (subscription required) writes that early indications are that neither injury is considered serious.

Kucherov, who left Saturday’s game after being slashed in the knee by Florida’s Anthony Duclair, also suffered a head-to-head injury when he was shoved into goaltender Chris Driedger. Smith writes that the knee injury isn’t considered serious. Sergachev, however, who left the game with a head injury after a shoulder-to-shoulder hit against the boards from Patric Hornqvist. The belief is that he will be fine, although there is no word if either player would be made available for Game 5.

Smith also notes that there is nothing expected from the Department of Player Safety on anything that happened in Game 4.

  • It looks like the Carolina Hurricanes will be without their top defenseman again Sunday as head coach Rod Brind’Amour said the team will have no lineup changes including no Jaccob Slavin, according to Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. Slavin who has missed Games 2 & 3 so far due to a lower-body injury, is still considered to be day-to-day, but Brind’Amour stated that he is not ruling out the blueliner for the rest of the series. Slavin led the team during the regular season in ATOI with 22:58 and was second on the team in plus/minus with a +22.
  • Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville said that he will not name a goaltender for Game 5 until Monday, but rookie goaltender Spencer Knight is a possibility to start, according to George Richards of FloridaHockeyNow. While that may not sound like much, Knight was in the starter’s net for practice Monday, while Sergei Bobrovsky and Driedger were sharing the other net. Neither Bobrovsky and Driedger have impressed so far in four playoff games. Each netminder has made three appearances with Driedger being the better of the two, boasting a 3.70 GAA and a .871 save percentage, while Bobrovsky carried a 5.33 GAA and a .841 save percentage. Knight, who fared well in four regular season appearances, could get an opportunity to try to spark a team that’s close to elimination.

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