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Central Notes: Hossa, Vesalainen, Johns, Bonino

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The Chicago Blackhawks got eight amazing seasons from star forward Marian Hossa from 2009 to 2017 and that is expected to continue in the future. Granted the 40-year-old’s playing career is over, but in an interview with Chicago Blackhawks President John McDonough, The Athletic’s Scott Powers (subscription required) writes that McDonough feels that Hossa will definitely work with the Blackhawks.

Obviously, Hossa is still under contract as his rights are owned by the Arizona Coyotes for the next two seasons, but McDonough said that Hossa will have a role within the organization when Hossa’s contract is up.

“He will work for the Blackhawks. Rocky (Wirtz) and I feel very strongly about that,” McDonough said. “Marian Hossa’s contributions to the Blackhawks are immeasurable. Immeasurable. Not just his on-ice performance, which is Hall of Fame. The way he goes about himself personally and professionally and he’s kind and respectful and polite … But Marian Hossa will play a role here when he’s done, and we’ll have that conversation with him.”

Hossa scored 186 goals with the Blackhawks and helped the franchise win three Stanley Cups during that time.

  • Scott Billeck of NHL.com writes that the Winnipeg Jets have high hopes that 2017 first-round pick Kristian Vesalainen is ready to take on an NHL role this season. The 20-year-old played in three leagues last season, which included a return-trip to Jokerit of the KHL. He played five games for the Jets last season before choosing to return to the KHL where he scored six goals and 17 points in 31 games. With Jokerit’s season over, Vesalainen decided to return to North America and join the Manitoba Moose of the AHL where he posted four goals and 13 points in 22 games. However, Vesalainen has continued to work on his strength and conditioning, which he hopes might get him a chance at a bottom-six role next season. “Vesalainen is stronger and where he could do the drills last year because he’s a gifted man, it wasn’t easy for him to drive through drills and always push,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “And at the end of practice, he’s still coming out of the corner now hard. He’s just physically stronger. He can do an hour long of all those drills and he’s just a more mature player. How that relates to [training camp], we’ll see. But clearly, there’s been some good work done there.”
  • The Athletic’s Saad Yousuf (subscription required) writes that the Dallas Stars are getting good reports on defenseman Stephen Johns, who sat out the entire 2018-19 season with concussion-related symptoms. The scribe writes that there are still questions that linger with the 27-year-old, including the fact that he still needs to be cleared by team doctors, but the team hopes that the 6-foot-4, 225-pound blueliner can contribute to the blueline despite not having been on the ice for 18 months. Johns scored eight goals in 75 games for Dallas back in the 2017-18 season.
  • In his most recent mailbag, The Athletic’s John Glennon (subscription required) writes that while the Nashville Predators are likely done with offseason moves (minus signing restricted free agent Rocco Grimaldi), he wouldn’t be surprised if the Predators attempted to move center Nick Bonino during training camp or early in the season. Bonino is coming off a solid season (17 goals, 35 points) and has just two years remaining on his contract at $4.1MM AAV, which makes him an interesting trade candidate for teams in need of a veteran center. Colton Sissons, who just signed a seven-year, $20MM contract, could easily take over Bonino’s role as the center on the fourth line.

 

Latest On Rangers’ Kevin Shattenkirk

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When the New York Rangers inked restricted free-agent Pavel Buchnevich to a two-year deal Friday, the Rangers also opened up a 48-hour buyout window starting Monday in which the team could opt to buy out one of their defenseman, including Kevin Shattenkirk, Brendan Smith and Marc Staal. While the Rangers did not buy any players out earlier this summer, things have changed after the team paid out $19.65MM AAV combined for Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba in the last month.

And while there is no evidence as to what New York intends to do, the New York Post’s Larry Brooks believes wholeheartedly that Shattenkirk will be bought out and will not be a Ranger by Wednesday evening. Considering that the Rangers traded for two right-handed defensemen this offseason, it should make it obvious the team is ready to move on from the veteran, who the team signed to a four-year deal two summers ago at $6.65MM AAV.

After signing Buchnevich for two years at $3.25MM per season, New York is projected to be $4.16MM over the cap (assuming that the team buries Brendan Smith and Matt Beleskey and both restricted free agents Anthony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux sign for their qualifying offers) and will be forced to make a cost-cutting move. While it’s already been discussed that the team is under no obligation to buy out one of their defenseman as they have a couple of players they could trade including Chris Kreider and Vladislav Namestnikov to get back under the cap, the scribe believes that Shattenkirk’s contract makes the most sense to buyout.

2019-20: $1.48MM (savings of $5.17MM)
2020-21: $6.08MM (savings of $567K)
2021-22: $1.43MM
2022-23: $1.43MM

The buyout would give the Rangers a little over $1.1MM to work with after that and wouldn’t require the team to trade off Kreider just to save the team some money, one of the top wingers on the team who will be an unrestricted free agents next offseason. Trying to trade one of your best players when you are over the cap isn’t exactly the best bargaining position. Of course, the Rangers would have to assume 90 percent of Shattenkirk’s contract next season if the team does choose to buy him out, which really will make things challenging for New York next season.

The Rangers, however, can do nothing until Monday and there is no sign that they are currently committed to buying out Shattenkirk.

Minnesota Wild Have Explored Trading Zach Parise

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While the Minnesota Wild are hardly calling it a rebuilding project, it’s been quite obvious of late that they have been doing just that. Afterall, the team has traded away Charlie Coyle, Nino Niederreiter and Mikael Granlund in the second half of the season last year and continue to look like they are getting younger and younger.

In an in-depth piece about Wild forward Zach Parise, The Athletic’s Michael Russo (subscription required) writes that The Athletic has learned that general manager Paul Fenton has discussed the possibility of trading Parise at the draft and in the weeks since then in hopes of finding a trade partner. That would be a tall challenge for the GM as the 34-year-old Parise still has six years remaining on his contract at $7.53MM AAV (he originally signed a 13-year, $98MM contract back in 2012). Regardless, the scribe believes the team is seriously considering it, although there would be some obstacles.

First on the list, is whether Parise, who has a full no-movement clause, would be willing to accept a trade. While from Minneapolis and stating quite clearly that he loves it in Minnesota, the veteran also revealed that he’s concerned about the fact that the Wild seem to be looking toward a rebuild, something a veteran of 15 years isn’t likely to want to go through.

“I think I want to win. I want to win here, and I do love everything away from the rink. We’ve got so many friends through the kids away from the rink, away from hockey. It’s so great. It is great, so that’s the hard part,” Parise said, when asked if he’d be willing to accept a trade. “But you get to that point where you want to win. That’s all you want to do. Trust me, we’d all love to win here. I think this place would be absolute insanity if we won here. So that’s the goal. I mean, I just don’t know. Let’s put it this way, they haven’t come to me asking if I want to get traded somewhere.”

The second problem is that no playoff teams are going to be willing to pay $7.53MM for six straight years at his age, which will mean that Minnesota almost assuredly would have to retain some of his salary, perhaps even half of it. And if the club does that, would they be able to get a quality return even then? Parise did post 28 goals last season and could prove to be a valuable asset to many teams, but would a team be willing to take on six more years of him and hand over a major asset or two as well? After all, he’ll be 35 when the season starts and will be still be paid that amount when he turns 40. That’s a tall order even if they only have to pay $3.77MM per season.

Obviously moving Parise would quicken the pace of a rebuild as Parise’s contract (along with Ryan Suter who signed the same contract alongside Parise back in 2012) are definitely holding the team back from a complete rebuild. Of course, Parise also was the team’s leading scorer last year on a team that struggled to put the puck into the net and the team could get quite a negative reaction from fans if the team sends him off, especially if the return is a meager one. However, this might be the best time to move on from Parise after his 28-goal season as he is only getting older and even fewer teams will have interest in trading for him in the future if he struggles next season.

 

Philadelphia Flyers Might Have To Move A Defenseman

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The Philadelphia Flyers still are trying to sign several restricted free agents, including Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov, but with the two sides being far apart so far in negotiations, there is quite a bit of concern when it comes to Provorov. While it’s likely that the two sides will eventually come to an agreement, especially since Provorov’s camp is waiting for Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Columbus’ Zach Werenski to sign first to provide some new comparables, the team could find themselves with too much depth on defense.

The Athletic’s Charlie O’Connor (subscription required) writes that if Provorov signs, the team will have eight NHL-caliber defensemen on their roster and unless the team is willing to roll with just 13 forwards next season, the Flyers will have to make a move to get to seven. Some forwards are obviously going no where. The team has two top-four defenseman already in Shayne Gosthisbehere and Provorov, while the team traded for Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun to add veteran leadership to their defense. The team is also really high on youngsters Travis Sanheim and Philippe Myers, which leaves the team just two potential candidates to move.

The most obvious choice would be to send down Samuel Morin. He has potential, but has struggled to make an impact with Philadelphia so far. The problem is that the Flyers would be required to put him on waivers this season and risk losing the 24-year-old for nothing if another team puts a claim on him. While he only has eight games of NHL experience on his resume, there are some teams that would be quite interested in a 6-foot-6 defenseman who might be ready to become an NHL regular.

The only other option for the Flyers would be Robert Hagg, who already has two years of NHL experience and put up 20 points last season. While the team likes him, the team acquired a very similar player in Braun, who is more experienced and better defensively. Many have already wondered if the acquisition of Braun was meant as a sign that the team intends to move on from Hagg. However, Hagg is also no longer waiver-exempt and would almost assuredly would get claimed if Philadelphia put him on waivers, suggesting the team’s only option would be to trade him.

Regardless, no matter what, if the team doesn’t end up in a holdout situation with Provorov, which could be what the Flyers are waiting to find out before making a decision, the team must make a move at some point.

Ryan Murphy Signs In KHL

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After spending seven years trying to break his way into an NHL lineup, Ryan Murphy, has decided to leave North America. The defenseman has decided to head over to the KHL as Igor Eronko of NHL.com reports that the 26-year-old has agreed to a one-year pact with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk.

Murphy, who was the 12th overall pick in the 2011 draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, has never managed to earn himself a full-time NHL role. Murphy has only played in 175 NHL contests in his seven years in the league, the most being with Carolina, where he was a part-time player, but always spent a large chunk of his seasons in the AHL. However, he had a rough season this past year after signing a one-year, two-way deal with the Minnesota Wild. Murphy started his season with the Iowa Wild in the AHL and did make two appearances with Minnesota, but was traded after the all-star break to New Jersey. Minnesota, who was desperately looking for defensive depth at this point in the year, didn’t think that Murphy was part of their solution and went out and acquired a number of depth defensemen, including Brad Hunt and Anthony Bitetto, prompting the team to ship out Murphy. He didn’t fare much better in New Jersey. He played just one game for the Devils before sent back to the AHL where he played 23 games for Binghamton, He finished the season there with 10 assists there and a career-worst minus-16 plus-minus rating.

In the KHL, he will join former Iowa Wild teammate Zack Mitchell, who signed with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk earlier this summer, and will hope to play regular minutes for a team that missed out on the playoffs last season.

 

Atlantic Notes: Panthers, Schmaltz, Point

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The Florida Panthers are making a big push to become a winning team now and hope that after the acquisition of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky as well as Brett Connolly and Noel Acciari will be enough to get there. One reason the team wants to win now is that the Panthers have only reached the playoffs five times in their 25 year history and its time for that to change.

However, The Athletic’s George Richards (subscription required) writes that another reason that the team has pushed up its intensity towards fielding the best team possible is that it still has many core players who are under reasonable contracts, but that could change in the next three years. Aleksander Barkov has just three years remaining at a team-friendly $5.9MM and then will likely see his salary skyrocket. Vincent Trocheck also has three years remaining at a reasonable $4.75MM and Jonathan Huberdeau is currently the longest tenured forward at four years at $5.9MM. Already next season, the franchise will have to make some costly decisions on Mike Hoffman, who has one year remaining at $5.19MM, and Evgenii Dadonov makes $4MM for one more year. Both are expected to score big raises, especially if they can keep their offense going this season.

With the potential of eventually losing a number of their top forwards, the Panthers are making it clear that they want to win with this group now rather than hope their young prospects can quickly replace those that will eventually leave.

  • After acquiring defenseman Jordan Schmaltz Thursday from the St. Louis Blues, it looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs’ main reasoning might have been to get a solid replacement for recently traded Calle Rosen. The Maple Leafs had high hopes for Rosen, but because he was left-handed, there was concern how he might fit into the lineup. The Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons writes that the team liked Schmaltz because he was right-handed and was an impressive skater, something that Andreas Borgman isn’t. While he doesn’t necessarily have Rosen’s upside, Schmaltz at least should be able to provide better depth for the team on that side.
  • Diana Nearhos of the Tampa Bay Times writes that Tampa Bay Lightning fans that are constantly worried about the fact that restricted free agent Brayden Point hasn’t signed a contract yet, need to stop worrying. The scribe writes that there is plenty of cap space, up to $11.4MM, once they place Ryan Callahan on LTIR and the fact that Montreal showed interest in having Point sign an offer sheet even before they signed Sebastian Aho to one and he refused is a sign that he has every intention of staying in Tampa Bay.

Evening Notes: NHL Preseason Odds, Lites, Cholowski

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Oddsmakers have released preliminary odds for the 2019-20 NHL season with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights at the lead as the two teams most likely to reach the Stanley Cup Finals next season, released by SuperbookUSA. The Tampa Bay Lightning are projected to lead the league again in points with 108.5, while Vegas is expected to lead the Western Conference with 103.5 points.

Here are the rest of the projections:

Anaheim Ducks – 80.5
Arizona Coyotes – 91.5
Boston Bruins – 100.5
Buffalo Sabres – 83.5
Calgary Flames – 96.5
Carolina Hurricanes – 94.5
Chicago Blackhawks – 90.5
Colorado Avalanche – 100.5
Columbus Blue Jackets – 82.5
Dallas Stars – 96.5
Detroit Red Wings – 76.5
Edmonton Oilers – 85.5
Florida Panthers – 96.5
Los Angeles Kings – 74.5
Minnesota Wild – 84.5
Montreal Canadiens – 89.5
Nashville Predators – 97.5
New Jersey Devils – 88.5
New York Islanders – 94.5
New York Rangers – 88.5
Ottawa Senators – 68.5
Philadelphia Flyers – 90.5
Pittsburgh Penguins – 95.5
San Jose Sharks – 94.5
St. Louis Blues – 96.5
Tampa Bay Lightning – 108.5
Toronto Maple Leafs – 102.5
Vancouver Canucks – 88.5
Vegas Golden Knights – 103.5
Washington Capitals – 97.5
Winnipeg Jets – 96.5

  • SportsDay’s Mathew DeFranks writes that despite comments made last season by Dallas Stars CEO Jim Lites about Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, there was little consequence to that this offseason as the Stars were quite successful this offseason as they managed to sign Joe Pavelski, Corey Perry and Andrej Sekera. The scribe writes that in the end, free agents looked at three things when it comes to Dallas. First, they are Stanley Cup contenders. Second, they had plenty of cap space and finally, Dallas is a destination that many players prefer to live in, especially in the winter.
  • The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James writes that Detroit Red Wings defenseman Dennis Cholowski spoke at a hockey youth camp recently and stated that he is focused on fixing his defensive liabilities in hopes of returning to the Red Wings’ lineup next season. Cholowski looked like a franchise-changing defenseman early on but was eventually demoted to the Grand Rapids Griffins due to his lack of success on the defensive side of his game. The 21-year-old scored seven goals and 16 points in 52 games last season but also had a team-worst plus-minus at minus-20. “Having to go down to Grand Rapids was a disappointment a little bit; I guess it would be for anybody,” Cholowski said. “In order to play you have to be good defensively and then that generates the offense. So I’m working on the D-zone and hopefully I take those things I learned into camp this year.”

St. Louis Blues Sign Oskar Sundqvist To Four-Year Deal

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The St. Louis Blues announced they have avoided arbitration with restricted free agent forward Oskar Sundqvist and signed the 24-year-old to a four-year, $11MM deal with an AAV of $2.75MM. The two sides were supposed to meet with an arbitrator on Wednesday.  Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest reports that the deal breaks down as follows:

2019-20: $2.25MM
2020-21: $2.25MM
2021-22: $3.5MM
2022-23: $2.0MM

Sundqvist is coming off an impressive season for the Stanley Cup Champion Blues, putting up career highs in almost every category. He scored 14 goals and 31 points for St. Louis, including 101 hits, but saw his value rise, especially in the playoffs. In 25 playoff games, Sundqvist scored four goals and nine points, while registering 74 hits and saw his playing time increase by more than two minutes per game (16:08 ATOI in playoffs compared to 13:49 in the regular season).

The signing will give the Blues approximately $4.37MM in projected salary cap space this summer and the team still has two restricted free agents it needs to sign, including forward Ivan Barbashev and defenseman Joel Edmundson. While Barbashev isn’t eligible for arbitration, Edmundson is expected to have a hearing on Aug. 4. However, the team will be forced to make a move to clear up some cap space, especially to sign Edmundson who made $3MM last season and is likely to garner quite a significant raise.

Pacific Notes: Coyotes Defense, Carter, Flames, Lucic

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The Arizona Coyotes have one of the highest payrolls among defensemen, the second highest in the league at $29.54MM. Yet despite their success defensively, the blueline’s offensive production just isn’t there. The Coyotes defensemen had the seventh-worst goal production in the league and were fourth-worst in points.

The Coyotes hope that much of the defense’s struggles can be accounted by the massive amount of injuries the team suffered throughout the year and while many of those injuries came from the forwards, the changes in personnel definitely had a part to play in the team’s struggles to score goals. The team also were without defenseman Jason Demers for all but 35 games last season and lost Jakob Chychrun for 29 games as well, according to The Athletic’s Craig Morgan (subscription required).

“We played defensive and there were so many injuries that we were forced to, but for the most part during the season, we directed the pace of the game and the scoring chances,” said Demers. “It’s just that once you get behind the eight ball and it has been 20, 30 games of not scoring, you tense up a little bit and you might force things you wouldn’t normally force or look for the perfect play when the perfect play is just getting it to the net.”

The team hopes that new assistant coach Phil Housley can help out and get the defense to start producing some offense, his forte when he was a player. The hope is that with a healthy blueline, the team should be able to take that next step.

  • The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta appeared on NHL Tonight recently and stated that the Los Angeles Kings have tried to be active on the trade market, reporting that the Kings were talking to the Arizona Coyotes before the draft about potentially sending Jeff Carter there. Of course that was before Arizona turned around and traded for Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel instead. However, trading off Carter may have been more of a challenge as the 34-year-old who scored just 13 goals and 33 points last season still has three years at $5.27MM AAV and obviously was no where near as productive as Kessel who finished last season with 82 points.
  • NBC Sports’ James O’Brien writes that despite moving James Neal Friday, the team’s salary cap situation hasn’t improved much at all. In fact, the Flames saved just $500K after they traded Neal for Milan Lucic, which will require Calgary to make more moves this summer. The team has just $9.97MM in cap space and still have to sign several restricted free agents, including Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, David Rittich and Andrew Mangiapane.
  • Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes that another victory in the Edmonton Oilers of Lucic to the Calgary Flames for Neal is that Neal doesn’t have a no-trade clause and will not have to be protected in two years for the Seattle expansion draft. However, the Calgary Flames do have to worry about the fact that Lucic has a no-movement clause and will have to be protected, which could be a major issue in two years unless they can convince him to waive that clause for the expansion draft.

Metropolitan Notes: Kreider, Gardiner, Konecny

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The New York Rangers have made a number of key improvements to their team with two significant moves that have affected the team’s salary cap situation. The Rangers signed star winger Artemi Panarin to a seven-year, $81.5MM deal on July 1, but also traded for defenseman Jacob Trouba and signed him to a seven-year, $56MM deal. While the team had plenty of cap space, the team now is somewhere between $900K and $1.55MM over the cap and that’s not including a number of restricted free agents left to sign, including Pavel Buchnevich, Brendan Lemieux, Anthony DeAngelo and Vinni Lettieri.

Because of that, The Athletic’s Rick Carpiniello (subscription required) writes that with those kinds of cap issues which should only get more challenging in the future, it likely ends the team’s run with forward Chris Kreider. The 28-year-old is in the final year of his contract and would likely seek a deal somewhere around seven years at $7MM per season, something that the Rangers can’t afford for a inconsistent forward who will be 29 years old when the new contract kicks in. It makes more sense that the Rangers will try to unload Kreider now for the most possible return to help with their cap issues.

  • In an article looking at three ways to improve the New Jersey Devils roster this offseason, NJ.com’s Chris Ryan writes that in a summer in which general manager Ray Shero has made some savvy moves, including acquiring P.K. Subban from Nashville for practically nothing as well as signing forward Wayne Simmonds to a one-year, $5MM “prove it” deal, the team can still make upgrades. He writes that the team should consider signing free-agent defenseman Jake Gardiner, who remains unsigned, in hopes of bolstering their weak left-side which has just Andy Greene, Will Butcher and Mirco Mueller there. Even Ty Smith, who is left-handed, played on the right side in junior, so there is a realistic opening on the left side and Gardiner might be a good fit there, assuming he’d be willing to come down from his rumored $7MM pricetag.
  • With a few key restricted free agent forwards already having signed, the Courier Post’s David Isaac writes in his mailbag piece that he believes that Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny is likely to sign within the next few weeks, especially now that a couple significant comparables have signed. the scribe writes that with Timo Meier having signed for four years at $6MM with San Jose and Jakub Vrana agreeing to a two-year deal at $3.35MM, it has set a market for Konecny. It’s likely that Konecny will fall somewhere between the two. The 24-year-old has had two straight 24-goal seasons and had a career-high 49 points last season. With the legitimate potential that a breakout season could come soon, it’s much more likely that Konecny opts to sign a short-term bridge deal over a long-term one.

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