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Matt Murray Undergoes Successful Surgery

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Sportsnet is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Matt Murray has undergone successful bilateral hip surgery and is expected to miss between six and eight months. This likely means he will miss the entire 2023-24 NHL season. Murray was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in July 2022 along with a third-round pick in exchange for a seventh-round pick and future considerations. It was essentially a salary cap dump at the time by the Ottawa Senators, who retained over $1.5MM of Murray’s $6.25MM cap hit.

The former two-time Stanley Cup champion has fallen on hard times in recent years as his health has kept him out of the lineup for extended periods of time in each of the past five seasons. Murray hasn’t played more than 30 games in a season since the 2019-20 season when he was a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. When he has been available to play, he hasn’t been able to match the levels of play that made him a Stanley Cup champion in 2016 and 2017. Murray hasn’t posted a goals-against average below 3.00 since 2019-20 and has seen his save percentage hover around .900 since 2018-19.

Murray has has struggles with his health for a long time now and one must wonder if he will be able to overcome his latest setback and get back into an NHL lineup. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native has never been able to capture the magic that he put on display early in his career and has seen his stock tumble to the point of being a cap dump last summer.

Murray appeared to be on the cusp of superstardom in 2017 when the Penguins elected to keep him over franchise icon Marc-Andre Fleury who was taken by the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft. The Penguins had signed Murray to a three-year extension at the time and thought they had an elite netminder that could lead them to more Stanley Cups. Unfortunately, Murray’s play flatlined and he was unseated as the starter by Tristan Jarry. He was then dealt to the Senators in 2020 and signed to an extension in a move that proved disastrous for Ottawa.

Sabres To Start Year With Three Goalies

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The Buffalo Sabres, fresh off signing Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year extension, are preparing their opening night lineup to start the season later this week. Based on what Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News is reporting, it appears the Sabres plan to start the season with three goaltenders on their NHL roster. At least for the time being.

The Sabres reportedly don’t feel confident that Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen is ready to take over the backup role full-time. This means that the club is likely to keep veteran Eric Comrie on their NHL roster as insurance just in case they need to give starter Devon Levi some nights off and Luukkonen isn’t up to the task.

Levi is expected to start the bulk of the games in October for the Sabres, and while carrying three goalies will limit the Sabres flexibility should they need to call up forwards and defenseman, the team feels that Comrie offers them more consistency at this point than Luukkonen does, but lacks the upside that Luukkonen offers the team long term.

It’s a delicate predicament for Buffalo as they are hoping to take a big step this season and reach the playoffs for the first time since 2011. The Sabres want to win now, and Comrie offers them a better shot at that, but Luukkonen has played just one less pro game than the 28-year-old Comrie, and at 24 years of age Luukkonen hasn’t come close to reaching the potential that made him a second-round pick in 2017. Statistically, both men have very similar NHL numbers as they both sport a career .897 save percentage and a goals-against average above 3.30.

The three-goalie solution can’t be the Sabres long-term solution as eventually they will have to add a forward or defenseman and will need to move a goalie off the NHL roster to do so. How they solve that problem will be interesting to see as they could find a trade partner or subject a goalie to waivers and demote them to the AHL. This would create another logjam as the Sabres currently employ Dustin Tokarski and Devin Cooley on two-way contracts for the Rochester Americans.

Sabres Sign Rasmus Dahlin To Eight-Year Deal

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The Buffalo Sabres kicked off the week by announcing a highly anticipated eight-year extension with star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin. The long-term deal will begin in the 2024-25 season and will carry run until 2032. The Sabres have now locked up a core piece of their back end through the bulk of his prime as Dahlin will be 32 years old when this extension expires. Early indications are that the deal will carry an $11MM AAV.

The $88MM extension will be tied for the second-highest cap hit among defensemen with Los Angeles Kings defender Drew Doughty. Their salary cap hits trail only Erik Karlsson and his $11.5MM price tag. It’s a big price to pay for the Sabres as it puts Dahlin into another salary stratosphere alongside two defensemen who have arguably failed to live up to their large salaries. The key difference between Doughty/Karlsson and Dahlin is that the Sabres are locking up the 23-year-old through his entire prime. While Doughty and Karlsson are still terrific players, they were paid largely for past performances.

Dahlin had a career year last season posting 15 goals and 58 assists in 78 games all while logging 25:48 of ice time a night. He finished fifth among NHL defensemen with 73 points, one of the highest scoring rankings ever by a Sabres defenseman. On the defensive side of things, the 2018 first-overall pick finished second on the Sabres in hits and led the team in blocked shots, a testament to his improved defensive capabilities that finally seem to be catching up to his elite offensive ability.

Many skeptics will point to the $11MM AAV and call the deal an overpay for the Sabres, and at first glance, it does seem steep. The closest comparable to Dahlin’s deal would be Charlie McAvoy’s eight-year deal with a $9.5MM cap hit that was signed in October 2021, or the eight-year deal that Mikhail Sergachev signed in July 2022 that carries an $8.5MM cap number. Those deals, while both massive bargains today, were signed at a time when the offensive upside of both players was more of an unknown. Prior to signing his eight-year deal, Sergachev had topped 40 points only once in his career, while McAvoy had never topped 32 points when he signed his long-term extension. Dahlin is in a different category as he has averaged well over 40 points a season and is now rounding into form defensively.

Critics might also point to Jake Sanderson’s recent extension for $8MM per year with the Ottawa Senators, but again the context is important to understand Dahlin’s deal. Sanderson has one season of NHL experience, while Dahlin has five. Sanderson posted 32 points last season, while Dahlin has routinely posted over 40 points a season. Dahlin’s contract is also buying out more unrestricted free-agent seasons, which typically cost more than restricted free-agent seasons.

With Dahlin’s long-rumored extension finally complete, Dahlin now joins Dylan Cozens, Tage Thompson, and fellow defenseman Mattias Samuelsson – all of whom signed long-term extensions since the start of last season. The Sabres are expected to compete for a playoff spot this season as they finally emerge from a long rebuild.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Canucks’ Carson Soucy Out Week-To-Week

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Oct. 8: Soucy is out on a week-to-week basis and is a likely candidate for injured reserve to begin the campaign, per Sportsnet’s Randip Janda.

Oct. 7: Vancouver Canucks defenseman Carson Soucy left Friday night’s preseason game against the Calgary Flames with an apparent injury. The team tweeted out the news late last night and haven’t released much information about the undisclosed ailment. There is also no word if the move to keep Soucy out of the game was a precautionary choice, or something else.

Soucy signed a three-year deal with the Canucks in the offseason and was expected to play a big role in their defensive unit. He left the game late in the second period after getting tangled up with Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich. On the play, the 29-year-old appeared to hurt his left knee, and while he stayed out for the rest of his shift, he went straight down the tunnel as soon as he got to the bench.

If Soucy is out for any length of time it could really cause issues for Vancouver’s defensive depth. The team is already dealing with an injury to Guillaume Brisebois who was likely to make the team, and with Soucy out they may not have a good option to fill in for the big rearguard. The Canucks are probably a bubble playoff team at best and will need a lot of good luck this season to get into the postseason.

The Canucks begin the regular season against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, October 11th.

Speculation Swirling Around Logan Couture

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Lyle Richardson of The Hockey News wrote an article speculating on the future of San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture. In the article, Richardson wonders if the Sharks will look to move the Guelph, Ontario native once he is back in the lineup. The Sharks have made moves in recent years to shed their high-priced veterans, and at 34 years of age, Couture would fit that description. He is entering the fifth year of an eight-year $64MM contract that carries an annual cap hit of $8MM.

Richardson is not the first pundit to suggest that the Sharks will move on from the center. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said earlier this week that he believed that Couture was a prime trade candidate, and even added that he could see the Sharks using their final retained salary slot to facilitate a move. It would make sense for the Sharks to move on as they are unlikely to be contenders in the remaining years of Couture’s contract. The team has moved on from Brent Burns, Timo Meier, and Erik Karlsson and has little reason to keep Couture other than to be a mentor for some of their younger players.

Couture is coming off a very productive season in which he scored 27 goals and 40 assists in 82 games. His 67 points last year weren’t far off his career high of 70 points that he registered in 2018-19. While he was part of a power play that was led by Norris Trophy winner Karlsson, he only recorded 20 points with the man advantage, a number that isn’t above his average production. And while San Jose has little urgency to trade him, Couture’s trade value is probably the highest it will be for the remainder of his contract.

For Couture’s part, he has talked about his predicament before. On an August episode of the San Jose Hockey Now podcast, Couture said that he would love to end his career in San Jose, but he wanted to play more meaningful games. Something that isn’t likely to happen in San Jose for at least a few seasons. While some might view Couture’s statement as neutral, his words do show that he has a desire to play for a winning team.

Latest On Pittsburgh Penguins Roster Decisions

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Josh Yohe of The Athletic speculated last night about who the Pittsburgh Penguins will keep as their 12th and 13th forwards. As mentioned in an article earlier this week, the Penguins had a litany of options in their bottom six and have whittled that number down to just a few players. Yohe figures that Jeff Carter, Lars Eller, Drew O’Connor, Matthew Nieto, and Noel Acciari should be locked in to start the season on the third and fourth lines. This leaves just two spots as the Penguins typically like to carry 13 forwards.

Yohe believes that the final two spots will come down to three players Radim Zohorna, recent waiver pickup Jansen Harkins, and Colin White who is currently on a PTO. Yohe seemed particularly impressed with Harkins, who was acquired off waivers on Monday and at 26 years old, could be a late bloomer. He scored 25 goals in 44 AHL games last season and has played 154 NHL games in his career. Harkins has inserted himself physically in the pre-season, something that the Penguins don’t have a lot of.

Zohorna has bounced around the league since coming to North America in 2020. He has been a member of the Penguins previously, the Calgary Flames and Toronto Maple Leafs. In 35 NHL games, he has 5 goals and 6 assists, and while those numbers don’t jump off the screen, he has been very effective in the preseason and offers size at 6’6” and 230 pounds.

Yohe believes that Harkins and Zohorna should be the final two players to make the Penguins NHL roster although he does concede that White is a legitimate NHLer with some upside. The Penguins don’t have a lot of scoring options in the bottom six and White is a former first-round pick who has posted 44 goals and 69 assists in 292 NHL games.

Whoever the Penguins elect to cut will likely find work elsewhere, which should make for interesting roster gymnastics as the Penguins try to maximize their forward depth and keep as many players as they can. The Penguins start the season on October 10th against the Chicago Blackhawks and will need to decide their lineup before the start of the season.

Summer Synopsis: Vegas Golden Knights

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The Vegas Golden Knights won the ultimate prize this past spring in just their sixth season in existence. It was a spectacular rise that is the envy of almost every franchise in the NHL. The Knights shot to their first championship just a year after they missed the playoffs and are looking like a possibility to repeat. Now just because a team looks as though they can repeat doesn’t mean they will. Only two teams have accomplished this feat in the past 25 years and they both required a lot of good luck both on and off the ice to accomplish it. No one knows if Vegas will be able to repeat, but there is little doubt that they must be one of the favorites to come out of a weak Western Conference.

Vegas was strapped once again by the salary cap this summer and had to move on from some players who had been with the club for a long time. But like every team that wins hockey’s ultimate prize, they will be counting on new blood to inject some energy into the lineup.

Draft

1-32: C David Edstrom, Frolunda-JR (Sweden-JR)
3-77: C Mathieu Cataford, Halifax (QMJHL)
3-96: D Arttu Karki, Severstal Tappara JR. (Finland-JR)
6-192: RW Tuomas Uronen, HIFK JR. (Finland-JR)

With the last pick in the first round of this year’s NHL entry draft, Vegas elected to take big two-way center Edstrom out of Sweden. The 18-year-old was a point-a-game player in almost every league he played in last season as he bounced around to different tournaments and league teams. He is slated to start the year in the SHL and will have the opportunity to play against men. Edstrom has a very balanced game that surprises a lot of people, he is an excellent passer, is very good off the rush and can turn from defense to offense very quickly. His transition game is very underrated, and it could become his calling card as he is sound defensively.
Cataford is unlikely to wow anyone with his offensive ability, but he is an honest player who is difficult to contend with in one-on-one battles and has a nose for the net. He is well suited to be a bottom-six NHLer as his defensive game is his strongest attribute. He is good at identifying defensive zone issues and is quick to close gaps, he has good speed north to south and can use his physicality to separate player from puck. His movement laterally isn’t great, and he will likely need to improve on it if he wants to become an NHL penalty killer.

Trade Acquisitions

None

UFA Signings

D Mason Geertsen (two years, $1.55MM)*

Due to cap constraints, the Golden Knights were far less active in free agency than they had been in any previous offseason. Mason Geertsen was signed to a two-way contract and will likely spend the bulk of the season in the AHL with Henderson. The 28-year-old offers little in the way of offensive production as he had just four goals and four assists last season in 61 AHL games with Utica. The native of Drayton Valley, Alberta, has dressed in 25 career NHL games with the New Jersey Devils and has yet to register a point.

RFA Re-Signings

LW Pavel Dorofeyev (one year, $825K)
C Brett Howden (two years, $3.8MM)
G Jiri Patera (one year, $775K)*
D Brayden Pachal (two years, $1.55MM)*

*-denotes two-way contract

Vegas didn’t have much business to take care of on the restricted free-agent market. Brett Howden is a player that scouts were high on when he first broke into the league with the New York Rangers in 2018-19. Howden registered six goals and 17 assists that season in 66 games and appeared poised to be a two-way threat from the center position. Now five years into his NHL career, Howden has never reached the same offensive numbers posting just six goals and seven assists in 54 games last season, however, his defensive game has improved over time. Howden’s lines don’t typically drive the play when he is on the ice, but he is defensively sound and has become much more responsible with the puck as his career has gone on. He is also sneaky good at stripping the puck off opponents using both his size and skill.

Departures

F Phil Kessel (unsigned UFA)
C Nolan Patrick (unsigned UFA)
C Sakari Manninen (signed in Champions Hockey League)
C Maxim Marushev (signed in KHL)
D Connor Corcoran (signed in AHL)
RW Spencer Foo (signed in KHL)
LW Reilly Smith (traded to Pittsburgh)
G Jonathan Quick (New York Rangers, one year, $825K)
G Laurent Brossoit (Winnipeg, one year, $1.75MM)
C Teddy Blueger (Vancouver, one year, $1.9MM)
F Sven Baertschi (Retired)

On paper it looks like Vegas lost a lot of pieces, however, a deeper dive into the list shows you that the Golden Knights only lost a single player that dressed in their Stanley Cup winning game this past June.

Smith was the cap casualty that allowed the Golden Knights to be cap-compliant for the upcoming season. The 32-year-old was shipped to Pittsburgh for a third-round pick in a trade that looks lopsided on paper but appears less so after putting it into context. Vegas badly needed to clear cap room and was able to recoup an asset for Smith rather than having to attach one to ship out another contract. As the summer went on teams had a difficult time moving out money and Vegas was able to shed all of Smith’s contract without having to retain any of his cap hit. Pittsburgh did well in the trade, Smith is still a terrific player and should have every opportunity to play alongside Evgeni Malkin.

Blueger dressed in just six games for Vegas during their run to the Stanley Cup. He has never been able to post much in the way of offense but is a decent penalty killer and a good defensive center. He was snakebit offensively last year but still managed to get a decent payday this summer from the Vancouver Canucks. Vegas has enough depth to overcome his departure and shouldn’t have too much cause for concern that he will not be in the lineup come opening night.

Kessel dressed in all 82 regular season games for the Golden Knights last season and registered 14 goals and 22 assists while averaging 12:49 of ice time a game. It was the first time Kessel had averaged less than 15 minutes a game since 2007-08. Kessel’s game has been in decline since his exit from Pittsburgh in 2019 and it became evident in April that he wasn’t able to keep up with the pace of playoff hockey. The 36-year-old had two assists in just four playoff games for Vegas and didn’t dress after the first round. He was not re-signed before July 1st allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent and to this point, he has gone unsigned which will likely mean the end of his incredible Iron Man streak.

Salary Cap Outlook

The Golden Knights salary cap situation was dire this offseason as evidenced by their lack of roster improvement. Long term the club currently has about $17MM available next summer to sign 6-7 players and depending on the salary cap increase that number could top $20MM. At first glance it seems like an opportunity to make a splash however Vegas has several key unrestricted free agents to re-sign in Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault, who are both due raises on their current cap hits. Stephenson has posted several strong seasons and is currently making just $2.75MM, he should easily double that on his next contract.

Key Questions

Who Will Be The Starter? Adin Hill has a new two-year deal in hand, but he has yet to cement himself as an NHL starter despite having a Stanley Cup on his resume. Hill has never dressed in more than 27 NHL games in any one season and was a bit of a journeyman prior to being acquired for a fourth-round pick last summer. The good news for Vegas is that they still have Logan Thompson waiting in the wings and he showed last year that he is more than capable of taking hold of the net.

Can Vegas Repeat? Vegas was never really in danger in last year’s playoffs as they were able to neutralize the likes of Connor McDavid, Matthew Tkachuk, and Leon Draisaitl with stifling defense while riding the hot hand of Hill to the Stanley Cup final. Vegas used multiple goalies and had a lot of luck along the way, which begs the question as to whether they can win it all a second time. They have virtually the same roster that they did a year ago, meaning the odds of a repeat are actually pretty good.

Can Mark Stone Stay Healthy? Stone is a warrior, he showed that in the playoffs when he returned to the lineup to captain Vegas to their first Stanley Cup. Stone had 11 goals and 13 assists in 22 games while playing almost 19 minutes a night. However, he has played just 80 games over the past two seasons as he has dealt with back issues that have persisted. It will be interesting to see if his body can hold up to the grind of a gruelling 82-game regular season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Anaheim Ducks Come To Terms With Trevor Zegras

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The Anaheim Ducks announced that they have agreed to a new three-year contract with restricted free-agent forward Trevor Zegras that will allow him to join the team prior to the beginning of the regular season. Elliotte Friedman tweeted that the new deal comes with an average annual value of $5.75MM and will carry him through the 2025-26 season. Friedman had said on his 32 Thoughts podcast that he felt the two sides were moving towards a resolution to the contract dispute, and it appears that he was indeed correct.

Zegras is already a star in the NHL and, at 22 years of age, may only be scratching the surface of his potential. In 180 NHL games, the center has 49 goals and 90 assists while producing countless highlight-reel moments. While there is little doubt that he displays elite offensive abilities, the Ducks were hesitant to commit to the young forward long-term. A three-year contract could ultimately come back to bite the Ducks if Zegras is able to develop into a superstar.

With a new deal in hand, Zegras can now focus on the remainder of training camp and getting himself prepared for what could be a very difficult season in Anaheim. The Ducks are expected to go through serious growing pains this year as they wait for many of their elite prospects to develop into NHL players. Zegras will be counted on to provide much of the scoring for the Ducks as they traverse some rocky waters in what could be one of the final seasons of their rebuild.

Locking up Zegras finally resolves what had been a rocky negotiation process by all accounts between the Ducks and Zegras. Few expected talks to drag out this late into the summer, let alone training camp, given the Ducks had the most salary cap space in the league after the dust settled on free agency. Reports from TVA’s Renaud Lavoie last month even suggested the Ducks were only offering Zegras between $3MM and $4MM per season on a bridge deal, but they’ve obviously significantly upped their offer here to get their star forward back around the team.

While the Ducks aren’t expected to contend for a playoff spot this season, they do need to improve on last year’s poor all-around showing under new head coach Greg Cronin. With news that marquee free-agent acquisition Alex Killorn is expected to miss the first month of the season with a broken finger, the team was down two forwards with shutdown center Isac Lundeström already sidelined due to an offseason Achilles tendon injury. Simply put, Zegras’ absence stretching into the season would have put them at even more of a disadvantage than normal.

Getting Zegras locked into a three-year term gives the Ducks a little more flexibility when his contract expires in 2026. A four-year or five-year deal would’ve been much riskier, walking him either directly to unrestricted free agency or just one year away, which could have forced a move if Zegras wasn’t willing to re-sign. Instead, Zegras will see his contract expire with two years remaining until he hits UFA eligibility, giving Anaheim a little more team control. That, combined with the bargain cap hit compared to other players in his age group with similar production, clearly marks this as a short-term win for Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek. Whether that plays out into long-term dividends is a different question, however.

Zegras projects to resume his role as the Ducks’ first-line center to begin the season, likely on a line with Adam Henrique to his left and Troy Terry to his right. After signing Zegras, the Ducks have roughly $10MM in cap space per CapFriendly’s projections, which are going off a 24-man roster – one player over the maximum size of 23. They still have young defenseman Jamie Drysdale to sign to a new deal before all their dominoes are in place, however.

PHR’s Josh Erickson contributed significantly to this report.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Maple Leafs Injuries: Timmins, Klingberg, Jarnkrok

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David Alter of The Hockey News is reporting that Toronto Maple Leafs Head Coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters this morning that defenseman Conor Timmins has a significant lower-body injury and is out week to week. Keefe didn’t elaborate on the nature of the injury but given his comments, it is likely that the 25-year-old rearguard will miss the first week of the NHL regular season.

Timmins came over to the Maple Leafs last year in a mid-season trade with the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Curtis Douglas. He fit in nicely on Toronto’s back end and added an element of offense posting two goals and 12 assists in 25 games with the Maple Leafs. He was having a fantastic training camp with six points in just three preseason games for Toronto prior to being injured Friday night in a preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens.

In other Maple Leafs injury notes:

  • TSN is reporting that Keefe spoke to reporters about injured defenseman John Klingberg saying that the 31-year-old is dealing with a minor injury and wouldn’t skate today with the team. Keefe went on to add that he doesn’t expect that native of Gothenburg, Sweden to be out long term. What long-term means is vague at this point, Klingberg has been off the ice for five days now after suffering the unknown ailment last Wednesday in a pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres.
  • Toronto Sun reporter Terry Koshan tweeted that Calle Jarnkrok will skate with the Maple Leafs second group at practice today after returning to training camp over the weekend. The 32-year-old is expected to play later this week for the first time in this year’s preseason. Jarnkrok has been dealing with an undisclosed injury that came up during training camp and is expected to be back before the regular season begins. Jarnkrok had a career-high 20 goals and 19 assists in 73 games last season, his first with Toronto.

Latest On Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale

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Elliotte Friedman reported today on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the Anaheim Ducks and Trevor Zegras have made some small progress on a new contract between the two sides. He goes on to say that he doesn’t believe a contract is nearing completion, but he has the impression that they are taking steps in the right direction.

Zegras, a native of Bedford, New York, is coming off a season in which he posted 23 goals and 42 assists in 81 games and has posted back-to-back seasons of more than 60 points. Last year, however, his ability to drive play took a step back, and the defensive side of his game continued to leave a lot to be desired.

It appears the Ducks want to see more from the 22-year-old before offering a long-term deal, as they have agreed with Zegras on a three-year term, according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun on Insider Trading. What that cap hit will look like remains to be seen, but there does appear to be progress based on Friedman’s reporting.

Friedman also dispelled a rumor that the Ducks were under investigation by the NHL for the handling of defenseman Jamie Drysdale’s shoulder injury last season that caused him to fall two games short of accruing a season of eligibility toward arbitration rights. Friedman poured cold water on that rumor saying that he investigated it, and it was untrue. He did, however, add that there were some questions about whether Drysdale could have been healthy enough to play those two games to get his service year, but Friedman believes that there is no ongoing investigation into the matter. Furthermore, Friedman says that he doesn’t feel as though anyone is accusing the Ducks of doing anything underhanded, but the question is about whether Drysdale could have played the two games he needed.

Friedman then said that because Drysdale is two years away from being arbitration-eligible, the Ducks hold the leverage in this contract negotiation, and they are using it. Drysdale has very few rights other than to hold out for a new contract, and the Ducks have been using every tool available to them to make the most team-friendly deal that they can.

The 20-year-old Drysdale was held pointless last season, dressing in just eight games for the team. The season prior, when he was healthy, Drysdale had a breakout campaign with four goals and 28 assists in 81 games.

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