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Scott Hartnell Intends To Play An 18th Season

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While the Nashville Predators told Scott Hartnell nearly three weeks ago that they will not bring him back, that didn’t mean the 17-year veteran’s career is over. While he admitted at the time that he would be OK if his career ended, TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports that Hartnell has indicated that he’s all in and plans to play an 18th season in the NHL next year. The unrestricted free agent just needs to find a new team now.

The veteran forward signed a one-year, $1MM deal to return to Nashville last season after being bought out by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hartnell had a solid campaign acting as a bottom-six forward for the team who can incite energy and hustle in his play. No longer a constant 20-goal scorer, he posted 13 goals for a second year in a row to go with 24 points in 62 games this season.

Due to Nashville’s depth at forward and the youth they are bringing in, Hartnell was no longer a logical option there, but there should be other teams on the lookout for a veteran bottom-six forward. Even though he only played in four games for the Predators in the playoffs, he showed his value against the Winnipeg Jets. In three games, he produced eight hits and was instrumental in helping the Predators to a Game 4 victory. Regardless, he shouldn’t have too much trouble finding another year of work.

 

Pacific Notes: Flames, Lindholm, Oilers, Hughes

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The Calgary Flames did more than just swap some players earlier today when they traded Dougie Hamilton, Micheal Ferland and prospect Adam Fox in exchange for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. The team finally made the changes it had said it would after a dismal second half of the season. Despite starting a solid 25-16-4 through Jan. 14, the team instead fell apart, putting up a 13-23-6 second half in which the team looked disinterested and forced the Flames to make changes.

The Calgary Sun’s Eric Francis suggests that this is just the beginning of changes for Calgary and suggests that moving Hamilton was the start of it. The scribe reports that Hamilton’s apathy was an issue in the clubhouse, so just moving on from him is a positive step in fixing the Flames’ issues. The Flames also rid themselves of Fox, currently playing for Harvard University and who was unlikely to sign with Calgary as they are deep in blueline prospects. Postmedia’s Kristen Anderson interviewed Flames GM Brad Treliving, who added that Ferland’s unrestricted free agent status next season was a key reason the team moved him. “Michael is a warrior and has one year left on his contract and will be a UFA. That always comes into consideration,” Treliving said.

  • Sticking with the Flames, Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reports that Lindholm is likely to be given a much bigger role than he had in Carolina as he is expected to start the season on the team’s first line playing the wing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. The former fifth-overall pick in 2013 has put up solid numbers, but hasn’t had a breakout season yet. He finished last season with 16 goals and 44 points. Lindholm, who is a restricted free agent, along with Hanifin, both need to be signed as they rejected initial offers from Carolina, which prompted the trade.
  • The Edmonton Oilers announced they have extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Darnell Nurse, Ryan Strome and Anton Slepyshev. Not offering them a qualifying offer would allow them to become unrestricted free agents. Nurse was one of the few bright spots on Edmonton’s defense. He had a career year, averaging 22:15 of ice time and scored six goals and had 26 assists on the year. Strome, who came over from the New York Islanders last offseason, had a quiet year with his new team, putting up 13 goals and 34 points, while Slepyshev continued in his struggles to break out in the NHL as he potted just six goals in 50 games played. All three, however, still are considered promising players. The only restricted free agent who was not mentioned as receiving a qualifying offer was Iiro Pakarinen, who has already signed a deal to return to the KHL next season.
  • Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Sun writes that there is belief around the Canucks that defenseman Quinn Hughes, the team’s first-round pick in the draft, might be ready to contribute to the Canucks immediately. The scribe writes that general manager Jim Benning feels that Hughes is close to ready now. “I just look at that world championship and he was playing against NHL players,” Benning said. “He didn’t look out of place at all. He’s never going to run guys over but he has a good stick. He understands angles.” Hughes, who might be the best skater to come out of this draft, is the perfect compliment to coach Travis Green’s system, according to Botchford.

Metropolitan Notes: Tavares, Hamilton, Rask, Rangers

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In a follow-up story about New York Islanders and John Tavares upcoming free agency, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple (subscription required) writes that the Islanders’ Lou Lamoriello left the draft to fly to Los Angeles to be nearby while Tavares meets with the teams that he and his representatives have invited to speak with him. Lamoriello will meet with Tavares last in hopes of keeping the superstar in the fold.

As reported earlier, it is believed that he will meet with the Toronto Maple Leafs, San Jose Sharks, and Dallas Stars and possibly the Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights and the Montreal Canadiens, although that isn’t too clear so far. However, Staples writes that an earlier rumor today that the Islanders made an eight-year, $88MM deal may not be accurate. He believes in the end, whether offered by the Islanders or another team, that Tavares will be making $12MM per year, which Lamoriello has said that ownership has said that money is no object.

  • Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported that the Carolina Hurricanes intend to keep defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who the team acquired in the five-player trade earlier today. The scribe said the team had no intention of flipping the blueliner for more assets. Hamilton should provide the team with a No. 1 defenseman to go with their core of young blueliners. The six-year veteran is only just 25 years old and put up 17 goals and 44 points last season.
  • Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that the Carolina Hurricanes were supposedly close on sending winger Victor Rask to the Montreal Canadiens, but the asking price of two second-round picks in this draft (including the No. 35 pick) was too much for the Canadiens. The 25-year-old winger still has four years at $4MM AAV and seems to have regressed somewhat since a 21 goal season back in 2015-16.
  • The New York Rangers had three first-round picks in this latest draft with much speculation wondering if general manager Jeff Gorton would use those picks as assets to either acquire a pro-ready player or even to move up in the draft. Instead, the Rangers used all three picks (albeit, they traded up late in the first-round). NHL.com’s Dan Rosen reports that Gorton said he was never close to making a deal this weekend. Gorton said he was ready to change his draft strategy if he got a trade offer he liked, but never got one. “I would say there was probably less conversations than I anticipated,” Gorton said.

Atlantic Notes: Pacioretty, O’Reilly, Nash, Reinhart, Tkachuk

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Montreal Canadiens Max Pacioretty was the most talked about player throughout this weekend’s NHL Entry Draft, but the skilled forward remains with the Canadiens and a trade will have to wait, according to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun (subscription required). Evidently general manager Marc Bergevin had many conversations about the 29-year-old, but wasn’t able to get a deal done. The rumor that Montreal and San Jose had struck a trade was false as the two teams had never spoken about him.

LeBrun also writes the closest team to pulling off a trade was the Los Angeles Kings earlier this week as he surmises that both teams were ready to pull the trigger on a trade, but the Kings failed to reach a contract extension with Pacioretty and the deal fell through. However, whether the pieces of a trade were actually in place at the time seemed unlikely, according to LeBrun. The Kings came out OK, however, as they won the Ilya Kovalchuk sweepstakes. Another wrinkle in trade talks is that Pacioretty also switched agents today as he left Pat Brisson and joined Allan Walsh of Octagon. Pacioretty, who is in the final year of a six-year, $27MM deal ($4.5 AAV), is looking to get paid after putting up big numbers as an underpaid player, suggesting he wants to cash in on that.

  • One other trade topic that didn’t get as much attention this weekend was the potential trade of Buffalo Sabres center Ryan O’Reilly. Mike Harrinton of the Buffalo News writes that Buffalo had extensive talks with the Montreal Canadiens as well as the St. Louis Blues about O’Reilly, but weren’t able to strike a deal. “We just didn’t feel comfortable what was presented the last couple of days,” Botterill said in American Airlines Center. “We’ll see how things progress over the next week or two. Our main focus was the draft and we’re very excited where we’re at the last three days.” O’Reilly is expected to receive a roster bonus of $7.5MM on July 1. If the Sabres intend to trade him, they are more likely to do that before that date, otherwise, expect him to stay in Buffalo.
  • Dan Rosen of NHL.com writes that after losing out on Kovalchuk earlier today, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said he is interested in bringing back unrestricted free agent Rick Nash. Boston acquired the veteran forward at the trade deadline and fared well in the Bruins’ lineup, posting six points in 11 games to finish out the season and then added three goals and two assists in 12 playoff games. Sweeney said they have been in contact with Nash. “He’s strongly indicated that Boston is a place he would consider, as would we,” Sweeney said.
  • Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill said he isn’t worried about contract negotiations with restricted free agent Sam Reinhart, according to The Athletic’s John Vogl. “Our discussions with Craig Oster have been positive,” Botterill said. “I don’t view it as a difficult situation at all. Hopefully, we’ll look at some different structures in the upcoming weeks and get something done.” The 22-year-old put up a career-high 25 goals last season.
  • One key decision that the Ottawa Senators hope to work in their favor will be what avenue 2018 first-round pick Brady Tkachuk will take next season. The Boston University winger was taken fourth overall by the Senators and had previously indicated that he wanted to return to the school. However, after the draft, Tkachuk told reporters he intended to sit down with his father, Keith Tkachuk, to discuss it, according to Ottawa Citizen’s Bruce Garrioch. While a another year of development at BU wouldn’t be a bad idea, the Senators might want prefer him to be on the ice with them next season.

Edmonton Oilers Acquire Hayden Hawkey From Montreal

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The Edmonton Oilers picked up another prospect goaltender today when they acquired Providence College’s Hayden Hawkey from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a 2019 fifth-round pick, according to TSN’s Brennan Klak.

Hawkey, a 2014 sixth-round pick, has played with the Friars for the past three years and has been dominant as the team’s starter for the past two years. In two years for Providence, the 23-year-old netminder has posted 46 wins and has improved his GAA and save perenctages from 2.19 and .913 as a sophomore to a 2.04 and a .919 this past year.

However, with the possibility that the Canadiens might not be able to sign Hawkey to a contract if he returns to Providence for a fourth year and with a stable group of prospects on the horizon, Montreal felt it could move Hawkey. The team already has superstar Carey Price locked up for eight more years and youngster Charlie Lindgren serving as his backup. The team several prospects as well as Michael McNiven is likely to start for the AHL’s Laval Rocket  next season, while the Canadiens also have another goaltender waiting in the wings as Cayden Primeau, a seventh-rounder last year, had a breakout year as a freshman at Northeastern University.

The Oilers have begun to replenish their goaltending system after acquiring Hawkey and trading up to draft Olivier Rodrigue in the second round of the draft today. Rodrigue is the son of Sylvain Rodrigue, who is the team’s goalie consultant.

Nichushkin Reaches Two-Year Deal With Dallas Stars

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June 22: GM Jim Nill has confirmed that he will sign Nichushkin to a two-year deal on July 1st, and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that it will be worth around $2.95MM per season.

June 9: While the rumor of his return has been out there for a while, the Dallas Stars and Valeri Nichushkin have agreed to a new two-year contract, according to R-Sport, a Russian news outlet (translation required). The deal cannot become official until July 1 and there is no word on the specifics of the contract.

Nichushkin, the team’s 10th overall pick back in 2013, played three years in Dallas after he was drafted and put up a solid rookie season of 14 goals and 34 points. However, after suffering a hip injury in 2014-15 that cost him all but eight games that season, he had trouble returning to form and wasn’t happy with the lack of playing time the following year when he averaged just 13:56 of ATOI. He tallied just nine goals and 20 assists in 2015-16.

He returned to Russia as a restricted free agent to continue his development with CSKA Moscow, playing two years in the KHL. He tallied 27 goals and 24 assists in those two years, including a 16-goal season this past year. The winger was expected to play for Russia during the Olympics, but was one of five players banned by the IOC and was forced to watch the games instead. Nichushkin, whose contract with CSKA Moscow expired on April 30, had always intended to return to Dallas and continue his NHL career.

At 6-foot-4, 205 pounds, the 23-year-old should be able to step right into Dallas’ lineup to add both scoring and physicality to the team and should give the Stars another talented young player to build around. He will be given every chance to claim a spot on the team’s second line in training camp. The Stars have finished sixth in the Central Division three of the last four years and have made the playoffs just once in that span.

Snapshots: Buffalo’s Other Picks, Faulk, Draisaitl, Honka

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While their first-round pick in next week’s NHL Entry Draft is a no-brainer, there is still a lot of decision-making in Buffalo. One key change that Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill has said he needs to make is the improvement of their drafting, most particularly, the drafting of players later in the draft, especially from the third-round and on, according to the Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington.

The main reason for that is the team’s inability to get players drafted in the third round or later to contribute to the Sabres’ team. Since 2010, the Sabres have had seven goals from any player drafted in the third round or later — all from 2013 third-round pick Nicholas Baptiste.

“Those later picks show the importance of having a strong organization across the board,” Botterill said. “When you’re dealing with mid-round picks and later-round picks, it’s making sure your amateur staff brings in the right people and then having a strong developmental model.”

The team has already seen some success in Botterill’s first draft last season when he selected Casey Mittlestadt in the first round, which looks to be a solid pick. However, it’s some of their other picks that already seem to be working out as second-rounder Marcus Davidsson and third-round pick Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen are getting solid reviews after their first season since being drafted.

  • While Carolina Hurricanes’ defenseman Justin Faulk has been linked to the Edmonton Oilers many times since the NHL season ended, the Edmonton Journal’s David Staples writes that his value shouldn’t be as high as many project Faulk to hold.  The scribe writes that while the Oilers would be interested in acquiring the 26-year-old blueliner, his minus-26 rating and 12 even-strength points don’t suggest that the Oilers should be giving up a top talent or a high draft pick for him.
  • Sticking with the Oilers, rumors suggesting that the Oilers are considering trading center Leon Draisaitl are erroneous, according to Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson. The scribe writes there is no way Edmonton would trade Draisaitl, who the team signed to an eight-year, $68MM contract a year ago, not even for Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson. The 21-year-old has scored 54 goals and 147 points in the past two seasons.
  • In a separate tweet, Matheson writes that the Oilers could be interested in acquiring Dallas Stars defenseman Julius Honka, who could find himself without a spot in Dallas’ crowded defense. However, the scribe writes that Honka isn’t worth the No. 10 pick in next week’s draft. He suggests the team offer their second-round pick in hopes of acquiring the 22-year-old right-shot defenseman. Despite looking early in training camp last season as a key youngster to make the team, Honka found himself on the outside looking in as he had trouble breaking in to the team’s lineup. In 42 games last season with the Stars, the 2014 first-rounder played 13:01 of ATOI and posted just four points in limited action.

Arizona’s Moves Continue To Improve Coyotes Team

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With the recent acquisition of Alex Galchenyuk, the Arizona Coyotes are well on their way to taking another step towards building a winning team in the desert. If you add the players Arizona acquired last year at this time, a full year under the belt of coach Rick Tocchet and the continued development of their young players, the team seems to be heading in the right direction and the team is starting to get excited.

Throw in franchise defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson as someone who sees the changes. Many thought Ekman-Larsson might spurn the struggling franchise, yet he agreed to sign an eight-year, $66MM extension last week. Just last year, the team went out and traded their first-round pick (seventh overall) to the New York Rangers and picked up two key pieces to their team in center Derek Stepan and goaltender Antti Raanta. Stepan has continued his solid play, while Raanta put up a solid second half of the season after an injury-plagued first half, putting up a 2.24 GAA and a .930 save percentage in 47 games. He has also been rewarded with a three-year, $12.75MM extension, which kicks in this year. Chayka also went out and traded for veteran defensemen Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jason Demers in separate deals last year.

While many people felt that after a flurry of moves a year ago, the Coyotes would make a huge jump in the standings, that didn’t happen, especially after starting the season with an 11-game losing streak. However, their second half showed more of that improvement as the team had a stretch towards the end of the season in which it went 17-8-3.

Regardless, there seems to be a lot going right for the Coyotes right now, according to NBC Sports’ James O’Brien. The scribe points out some key facts, including the initial reaction to the Galchenyuk deal has been positive. While it’s too early to tell, Galchenyuk’s chances of becoming a solid player is quite a bit higher than Max Domi, who the Coyotes sent back to Montreal. Assuming that Galchenyuk can make the conversion to center, that would relieve some stress from the team’s lack of depth at that position. Now if the team wants to move Dylan Strome or Christian Dvorak to the wing position, there won’t be extra pressure to keep him at center due to their lack of depth.

One other key factor is the team still has an enormous amount of young players who could be ready to take that next step. Clayton Keller scored 23 goals in his rookie year and could improve on that exponentially. Other players like Dvorak, Jakob Chychrun, Strome, Brendan Perlini and Christian Fischer could also take that next step. And don’t forget the sixth pick in next week’s draft.

The team also still has plenty of cap space available with more than $18MM in space waiting for them to use. They could dip into the free agency market or continuing to add players through trade. However, with the way Chayka is constantly tweaking this team, there are likely more changes to come.

Eastern Notes: Kovalchuk, Marner, Smith, Rasmussen

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Could the Boston Bruins be the front-runners for Russian free agent and former NHL superstar Ilya Kovalchuk? Evidently, the Sports Hub’s Ty Anderson thinks so.

As reported by NBC Sports, Anderson appeared on Toucher & Rich on 98.5 and said he believes the Bruins are currently the leading candidates to get the 35-year-old winger due to the Bruins cap space. While the Bruins are listed by CapFriendly as having just $6.5MM in available cap space, the team has few free agents of their own to deal with and a loaded roster, including multiple talented veterans such as Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron and a core of youth of which many had solid rookie years last season.

Kovalchuk, who tallied 31 goals for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL has been touring NHL cities, looking for a new home. While his preference has been to stay on the East Coast, especially either New York or Florida, he’s broadened his search this year including a trip to Los Angeles and San Jose as he’s made it clear that he wants to win a Stanley Cup as soon as possible.

  • Kevin McGran of The Star interviewed Mitch Marner about multiple topics, but the 21-year-old star said that there has been no discussion yet with management about a potential contract extension. The fourth-overall pick from the 2015 draft will be eligible for a contract extension on July 1 along with teammate Auston Matthews, but there is no word on whether Marner will sign an extension this year or will have to wait until next year. “Nothing has been said yet, but nothing you can do,” said Marner. “If nothing happens, you still have a year to play under your rookie contract. Just go out there and try to prove you can make the team better.”
  • While the New York Rangers are looking for defense, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks writes that veteran defenseman Brendan Smith has stayed in New York following the season and has been working with fitness trainer with Ben Prentiss to get into better shape. Smith, who was placed on waivers on Feb. 9, after signing a four-year, $17.4MM contract in the offseason, came into camp out of shape and struggled on the Rangers’ blueline all season long. The scribe writes that the Rangers not only expect him to compete for a job at training camp, but they expect him to return to the status of the player they handed that contract to.
  • Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes she believes it looks promising that 2017 first-round pick Michael Rasmussen makes the Detroit Red Wings team out of training camp this year. The ninth-overall pick last year put up 31 goals and 58 points for the Tri-City Americans of the WHL and even got some time at the wing position during the season because Detroit would likely like for him to start at the wing if he makes the team next season. What’s more impressive is that he scored 16 goals and 33 points in just 14 playoff games, suggesting he might be ready for Detroit. If he doesn’t make the team, he will have to return for one more year to Tri-City.

 

Free Agent Focus: Minnesota Wild

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Free agency is now less than a month away from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of Minnesota’s free agent situation.

Key Restricted Free Agents: F Jason Zucker — Zucker has put himself into a great position, posting career numbers in a contract season. Two years ago, Minnesota handed him a two-year prove-it deal, which he certainly has responded to. After the 26-year-old posted 22 goals in 2016-17, he responded with 33 goals this year. In fact, he posted personal bests in games played with 82, goals, assists with 31, points with 64, power play goals with seven and shots with 222. Now a three-time 20 goal scorer and a one-time 30-goal scorer, the team must decide whether it intends to give him a long-term contract, which won’t be that easy considering the team has little room under the cap. His lack of playoff success is also a factor as he’s scored just four goals in 31 career playoff games and just one in the last three years. Regardless, after making $2MM, Zucker should get quite a pay raise.

D Mathew Dumba — The Wild also have another key restricted free agent they must lock up as well as Dumba also has stepped up his game in a bigger role this season. While the blueliner averaged 20:20 of ATOI in the 2016-17 season, it increased even more as Dumba averaged 23:49 of ATOI this season. He picked up several personal bests, including games played (82), goals (14), assists (36) points (50) and shots (176). Most importantly, he took on the role as the team’s No. 1 defenseman when filling in for both Ryan Suter and Jared Spurgeon, who both missed time at the end of the season. So now, after finishing up a two-year bridge deal at $2.55MM AAV, he is in line to get a big payday as well from Minnesota.

Other RFA’s: F Adam Gilmour, D Dylan Labbe, G Steve Michalek, D Ryan Murphy, D Nick Seeler.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Matt Cullen — Fortunately for the Wild, their unrestricted free agent issues aren’t as important than their restricted free agents. The 41-year-old Cullen put up a solid season in his second trip to his hometown state, posting 11 goals and 22 points in a bottom-six role. The real question is whether Cullen even wants to return for another season in the NHL. He has already played in 1,445 career games and has little more he needs to accomplish. He took a long time to decide last year whether he wanted to return as he didn’t sign with Minnesota until August of last year. Now with changes in management, do the Wild even want him back. He wouldn’t be too expensive as it’s likely he would make something around the $1MM offer he made last year.

F Daniel Winnik — Another depth option for Minnesota, the Wild must decide if they want to bring Winnik back after a one-year deal at $660K. The 33-year-old veteran played in 81 games for the Wild as a bottom-six wing. While averaging 13:34 of ATOI, he struggled to produce points, putting up just six goals on the season. With little productivity in hits and just a 44.7 percent faceoff percentage with 199 faceoffs taken, he didn’t provide as much as the team had hoped other than veteran and playoff leadership.

Other UFA’s: F Patrick Cannone, F Kurtis Gabriel, D Alex Grant, F Zack Mitchell, D Zach Palmquist, F Kyle Rau, D Kyle Quincey.

Projected Cap Space: With a lot of heavily-laden contracts on the books as well as re-signing several of their restricted free agents (don’t forget about Seeler either), there is little cap room to work with at the moment. CapFriendly has them with $7.4MM in available cap space. Don’t be shocked, however, that new general manager Paul Fenton makes some trades to shake up the team, which hopefully will free up some of their cap space and give the team an opportunity to compete for more than just making the playoffs in the near future.

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