DEL’s Dusseldorfer EG Signs Tyler Angle
Düsseldorfer EG of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga have signed center/left winger Tyler Angle, per Tobias Kemberg of D.Sports. It’s a one-year deal for the Niagara Falls native, who heads overseas early in his career.
Angle, 23, had spent the last four years playing in the Blue Jackets organization. He played mostly for their AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, but he did log two games with Columbus in each of the past two seasons.
Early on, Angle looked like he might be a gem after falling to the seventh round of the 2019 draft, selected on the heels of a strong season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires. With the OHL pausing its operations for 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Angle turned pro early on an amateur tryout with the Monsters. He immediately made an impact, posting 11 goals and 24 points in 23 games, leading the team in scoring during the shortened campaign.
Angle’s entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets went into effect in 2021-22, but the 5’10”, 172-lb forward never regained his scoring touch. His point-per-game production nearly halved, limited to 11 goals and 37 points in 71 contests the following year. By last season, Angle was no longer a fixture in the Cleveland lineup, only playing in 40 of 72 games and recording 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) with a -11 rating. On the heels of that performance, the Jackets opted not to issue him a qualifying offer when his ELC expired this summer, making him an unrestricted free agent.
His brief NHL usage did yield a goal, coming against the Sabres on April 14, 2023. He posted a -3 rating across his four appearances, five shots on goal, and an average of 9:54 per game while going 11-for-27 in the dot (40.7%).
Angle joins a Düsseldorf club headlined by former Avalanche defenseman Kyle Cumiskey on the back end. He’ll reunite with center Justin Richards, who played out 2022-23 with the Monsters on a two-way deal with Columbus and signed a deal with the German side earlier this month.
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 8/21/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson held his weekly live chat today at 2 p.m. Central. You can view the transcript using this link.
USA Hockey Adds David Quinn, John Tortorella To 4 Nations Coaching Staff
USA Hockey has added Penguins assistant coach David Quinn and Flyers head coach John Tortorella to its staff for next year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the governing body announced Wednesday.
Quinn and Tortorella will serve under the former’s new boss, Pittsburgh’s Mike Sullivan, at the event. They complete the core coaching staff after Wild head coach John Hynes was announced as an assistant earlier this summer.
In recent years, the 58-year-old Quinn has become a fixture behind the U.S. men’s national team bench. The Rhode Island native was the Americans’ head coach at the 2022 Winter Olympics and World Championship and returned in the same role at the Worlds in 2023.
However, Quinn failed to lead the U.S. to a medal at any event. He also served as an assistant at the 2007, 2012 and 2016 Worlds, going medalless in those as well.
Tortorella’s international experience is much more limited. The 66-year-old was last involved with Team USA at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, serving as head coach. He didn’t medal there, nor did he as head coach at the 2008 World Championship and as an assistant at the Worlds in 2005.
Both are experienced winners at the collegiate and professional levels, though. Tortorella guided the Lightning to their first championship in 2004 and won the Jack Adams Award twice, first in the championship year with Tampa Bay and again with the Blue Jackets in 2017. He also won the Calder Cup as head coach of the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 1996.
Quinn, meanwhile, won five Hockey East championships as an associate and head coach at Boston University. He was also the associate coach on the Terriers team that won the national championship in 2009.
Jack Eichel, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes, Auston Matthews, Charlie McAvoy, and Matthew Tkachuk were the first six players named to the U.S. roster for the tournament back in June. The rest of the NHL-only contingent will be announced later this year.
Maple Leafs Re-Sign Alex Steeves To Two-Way Contract
The Maple Leafs have re-signed RFA forward Alex Steeves to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced.
Steeves will count $775K against the cap if he’s on the NHL roster during the 2024-25 season. PuckPedia reports he’ll make a $300K salary in the AHL with a $350K guarantee.
Toronto signed Steeves, now 24, as an undrafted free agent out of Notre Dame in March 2021. Since then, the Bedford, New Hampshire native has become a fixture in the top six of their AHL club, the Toronto Marlies.
With the Marlies, Steeves has 69 goals, 85 assists, 154 points, and a -11 rating in 188 games over the past three seasons. His point-per-game rates have varied minimally, peaking at 0.88 last season and bottoming out at 0.78 in 2022-23. Amid a career-high 27 goals and 57 points last year, Steeves represented the North Division at the AHL All-Star Game.
However, NHL appearances have been hard to come by for the versatile forward. Steeves, who can play center and both wings, has just one point and a -4 rating in seven career appearances over his three professional seasons. He’s averaged just 8:14 per game.
While Steeves is an acceptable plug-and-play bottom-six option if needed, the Leafs’ salary cap crunch likely means he won’t have a spot on their opening-night roster. He’ll need to clear waivers to head back to the Marlies. He’ll remain high on their list of call-up options in case of injuries, although likely only on a short-term basis. Players can stay on an NHL roster for up to 30 days or play up to 10 games after clearing waivers before needing to pass through them again to return to the minors.
As PuckPedia points out, Steeves is on track to meet the requirements to hit the open market early next summer via Group VI unrestricted free agency. The Maple Leafs would need to utilize Steeves in at least 73 games this season to maintain control over his rights as an RFA next summer, an improbable scenario.
With Steeves signing, winger Nicholas Robertson is Toronto’s lone remaining unsigned RFA. He still has an active trade request dating back to June.
Flyers Place Ryan Johansen On Unconditional Waivers For Contract Termination
Aug. 21: Johansen has cleared waivers, and the Flyers may terminate his contract, per Friedman. Johansen’s camp has up to 60 days to file a grievance.
Aug. 20: The Flyers announced they’ve placed center Ryan Johansen on unconditional waivers to terminate his contract following a “material breach.” Johansen is expected to clear waivers and file a grievance with the NHLPA following his termination, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
Philadelphia acquired Johansen from the Avalanche before the trade deadline, taking on his reduced $4MM cap hit to provide relief in the deal that sent defenseman Sean Walker to Colorado. From the start, it was clear the Flyers never intended for Johansen to play a game for the club. The Flyers promptly waived Johansen after the trade in an attempt to send him to the AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms and potentially flip him before the deadline passed. But there were no takers, and days later, the league reversed Johansen’s AHL assignment after he failed his physical following the trade due to a nagging hip injury.
Johansen’s injury prevented him from being bought out by the Flyers in June, giving them a bit of a salary cap headache. That will be solved after he clears waivers tomorrow, and his termination will at least temporarily wipe his $4MM cap charge from Philly’s books. However, the Flyers may still be hit with a cap charge if his expected grievance proves successful.
His contract termination will also have an immense cap benefit for the Predators, who had retained 50% of his initial $8MM cap hit when they traded him to the Avalanche last summer. Their $4MM cap penalty for the retention will be wiped out, just as the Capitals’ $3.9MM cap charge for retaining money on Evgeny Kuznetsov was wiped out when the Hurricanes mutually terminated his contract a few weeks ago.
Johansen, 32, would have become an unrestricted free agent after next season upon completing the eight-year, $64MM deal he signed with Nashville in 2017.
The 2010 fourth-overall pick has struggled with inconsistency in the latter stages of his career, and Nashville decided to get out of half of his deal after he was limited to 12 goals, 16 assists, and 28 points with a -13 rating in 55 games in the 2022-23 season. The Avs, who had been struggling to fill their second-line center vacancy after Nazem Kadri departed in free agency following their Stanley Cup win in 2022, took him off Nashville’s hands.
Unfortunately for the Avalanche and Johansen alike, his play faltered even more in Denver. His offensive production dropped to 13 goals and 23 points in 63 games, with his 0.37 points per game marking his worst output in over a decade. He averaged 13:39 per game, his lowest figure since his rookie season. While he was still effective in the faceoff dot, winning 53.1% of his draws, he wasn’t the answer in Colorado.
The now-revealed injury likely contributed to his overall struggles. Friedman adds that his delay in reporting it is the source of the breach mentioned above.
Johansen will become an unrestricted free agent tomorrow after clearing waivers. He’ll technically be eligible to sign with any team, but he won’t be able to until he can pass a physical.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report Johansen had landed on waivers.
Canucks Shuffle Goaltending Staff
The Canucks are the second team Wednesday morning to announce a new goaltending coach. Marko Torenius is now in the role after serving as the goalie coach for their AHL affiliate in Abbotsford for the past two seasons. Ian Clark, who was the Canucks’ goalie coach and director of goaltending, will reduce his responsibilities as a goalie scout and development coach, the team said.
Torenius, 47, accumulated a lengthy overseas résumé before arriving in North America in 2022. He spent parts of seven seasons with SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League as their goalie coach, winning Gagarin Cup championships in 2015 and 2017. During his tenure in the Russian metropolis, he oversaw NHL-caliber netminders such as Yaroslav Askarov, Magnus Hellberg, Pyotr Kochetkov, Mikko Koskinen, and Igor Shesterkin.
Before joining SKA, Torenius was the long-time team manager and goalie coach for Blues in his native Finland, twice finishing as a runner-up to the SM-liiga title. He also worked with Koskinen during his stop there.
During his time in Abbotsford, Torenius has overseen the development of 2019 sixth-rounder Arturs Silovs. After an admirable postseason performance, he projects to be on Vancouver’s opening-night roster this fall. Silovs was Abbotsford’s starter under Torenius for the past two seasons and has a 2.62 GAA, .906 SV%, nine shutouts, and a 45-30-11 record in 89 career AHL games.
The announcement also ends Clark’s second stint as the Canucks’ goalie coach. The Vancouver native previously held the role from 2002 to 2010, holding jobs with the Blue Jackets and Sweden’s MODO Hockey before returning to his home city in 2019. Internationally, the 58-year-old has won three gold medals as the goalie coach of the Canadian national junior team, winning three straight WJCs from 2005 to 2007.
Rangers Promote Jeff Malcolm To Goaltending Coach
For the first time since 2004, Benoît Allaire won’t be serving as the Rangers’ goaltending coach. He’s transitioning away from day-to-day duties. Jeff Malcolm, previously the goaltending coach of their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, has been promoted to the NHL bench, per Arthur Staple of The Athletic.
The news ends Allaire’s 20-year run as the Rags’ goalie coach, during which he’s presided over one of the best runs of play between the pipes for any team in league history. Allaire’s arrival in New York coincided with Henrik Lundqvist‘s as the league exited the 2004-05 lockout. He played a crucial role in developing one of the best netminders of all time, who started off his career with five Vezina Trophy nominations (one win) in 10 years. Lundqvist, who finished his time in the Big Apple with a 459-310-96 record and .918 SV% in 887 appearances, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on his first try in 2023.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, King Henrik’s reign in the New York crease has been continued seamlessly by Igor Shesterkin, an established top-five netminder in the league. Allaire has coached the 28-year-old Russian to a .921 SV% through 213 appearances over the past five seasons, good enough for a Vezina win and a Hart nomination in 2021-22.
They’re big shoes for the 35-year-old Malcolm to fill. He’s familiar with the organization, spending three years with the Rangers as a goaltending consultant before being named the Wolf Pack’s goalie coach in 2021. Allaire also oversaw his brief playing career, suiting up in 36 games for Hartford between 2013 and 2017.
Thus far, Malcolm’s biggest impact has been felt in developing 2020 fourth-round pick Dylan Garand. The 22-year-old has struggled in his first two regular seasons with Hartford, but he’s warded off competition and taken over the starter’s crease in the playoffs in back-to-back years. The former Canadian Hockey League Goaltender of the Year has shined with a .927 SV% and 2.21 GAA in 17 AHL postseason appearances.
Staple adds that Brendan Burke will replace Malcolm in the AHL. Burke, the son of former NHL netminder and Golden Knights goaltending director Sean Burke spent last season as the goaltending coach of the Western Hockey League’s Portland Winterhawks.
Blue Jackets Agree To Terms With Cole Sillinger On Two-Year Deal
The Blue Jackets and center Cole Sillinger have come to terms on a two-year deal worth $4.5MM, per a team press release. It’s the expected result after Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported earlier this month the two sides were close on a two-year pact.
Sillinger has been viewed as a potential core piece for the Jackets ever since they selected him 12th overall in the 2021 draft. He was the middle selection of a trio of first-round picks Columbus had that year, joining Kent Johnson and Corson Ceulemans. He immediately became a top-five prospect in the organization and was expected to be a high pick after being named the United States Hockey League’s Rookie of the Year the preceding campaign.
Those expectations ratcheted up after Sillinger made the opening night roster as an 18-year-old, a rare feat for a non-top-10 pick. In his rookie season, he was immediately thrust into bottom-six center duties and finished 10th on the middling club in scoring with 31 points in 79 games. He still had some work to do defensively, as his -22 rating was one of the worst on the team, and his shot attempt and shot quality shares at even strength were below team average.
Two years later, not much has changed. Sillinger’s possession numbers improved slightly last season after a sophomore slump in 2022-23, but his offensive development has largely remained stagnant. He did feature more prominently on a weaker Columbus offense this past year, ranking sixth among forwards in average time on ice (16:07). But it didn’t translate into a big breakout on the scoresheet, managing 13 goals and 32 points in 77 games. It’s undoubtedly solid depth production, but it’s not a verifiable step forward from where his rookie season was.
But last season was a massive step in the right direction for Sillinger compared to the previous year. That sophomore slump hit him hard, limiting him to just three goals and 11 points in 64 games, resulting in a brief assignment to the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters.
Sillinger’s overall game has had some notable positives thus far. The 21-year-old pivot has been a consistent physical presence, tying for third on the team in hits last season with 119. He’s also been a decent chance generator by volume, ranking fourth on the Jackets in shots on goal with 157 last year, but a lack of quality chances has limited him to an 8% shooting rate through his 220 career NHL games.
For now, the 6’1″, 201-lb center is a decent third-line anchor, especially for a rebuilding club. But he’s still got room to grow, and he’ll look to do so throughout this affordable bridge deal to cash in when he becomes a restricted free agent again in 2026.
Sillinger is the second member of the 2021 draft class to ink a new deal this week, joining No. 2 overall pick Matthew Beniers. He put pen to paper on a seven-year, $50MM pact yesterday.
With Sillinger signed, the Jackets’ season-opening roster could now be set with 13 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders, PuckPedia projects. His $2.25MM AAV and cap hit still leaves them with $15.95MM in cap space with a full roster.
Canucks Testing Goalie Market Amid Thatcher Demko’s Injury
The Canucks are on the hunt for some short-term goalie help on the trade and UFA market, CHEK’s Rick Dhaliwal said on Sportsnet 650 Tuesday. That’s because star starter Thatcher Demko is healing slower than expected from the knee injury he sustained early in their first-round series against the Predators and still isn’t 100%, per Dhaliwal.
Dhaliwal said it’s unclear if Demko has undergone surgery to address the knee injury, and Vancouver has been concerned about the pace of his rehab as far back as the draft in June.
This storyline comes after information about Demko’s return timeline varied wildly throughout the postseason. Multiple reports stated he’d only be out for one series, while others said he would be shut down for the season. The team never officially ruled him out, instead continuously listing him as week-to-week, but he never did return to the lineup after recording a win in Game 1 against the Predators.
The Canucks were also rumored to be sniffing around for a veteran name to supplement their crease and provide competition for emerging youngster Arturs Silovs around the draft and free agency, but that never came to fruition. Last year’s No. 2 option, Casey DeSmith, wasn’t brought back and signed a three-year deal with the Stars. Vancouver’s only notable offseason addition between the pipes was former Golden Knights prospect Jiri Patera, who’s meant as a No. 3/4 option behind Silovs.
Those rumblings will get louder now with Demko’s status uncertain. The most clear-cut addition for the Canucks would be Kevin Lankinen, the top goalie left on the UFA market. His time as a Predator ended at the hands of Vancouver last season, and he remains unsigned after Nashville opted to sign Scott Wedgewood to replace him as Juuse Saros‘ backup. The 29-year-old Finn was an above-average backup during his two years in Tennessee but was sparsely used, posting a 20-14-1 record and .912 SV% in 35 starts and eight relief appearances. Still, he’d be a cheap pickup, certainly not more than the $2MM he made last year after waiting for this late into August to sign.
Some other notable veteran UFA options include Martin Jones and Antti Raanta, but both are significantly older than Lankinen and have a much higher potential for age-related regression. Jones is coming off a resurgent year as the third-stringer for the Maple Leafs, but Raanta’s typically strong but injury-plagued play collapsed last season with a .872 SV% in 24 games for the Hurricanes.
On the trade market, funnily enough, Nashville might be one of their first calls. Top goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov has reportedly submitted a trade request to the club, but it’s a situation that could potentially be resolved if they decided to flip Scott Wedgewood, who signed a two-year, $3MM contract with the club on July 1st. He’s spent the last three seasons in the Dallas Stars organization, though he sat out much of the 2021-22 campaign. Wedgewood has played in 53 games over the two seasons since, posting 15 wins and a collective .907 save percentage behind Jake Oettinger. He’s poised to fill the same role in Nashville – ceding a majority of starts to a proven starter and limiting Askarov’s chance at the NHL ice time he’s searching for. With Nashville facing a formal trade request from one of the league’s top goalie prospects, the Canucks could benefit from timing, and reel in another hardy backup to help fill time before Demko’s return – a situation akin to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s platooning while Andrei Vasilevskiy missed time last season.
The Canucks may be able to offer that upside in the short-term, but it’ll be hard to move too far from Demko, who’s risen to prominency as he’s taken over Vancouver’s top role. That growth peaked this season, with Demko ranking second in Vezina Trophy after posting a .918 through 51 appearances. He’s signed at a $5MM cap hit through the next two seasons and is likely to hang onto Vancouver’s starting crease through any new additions. That strings out a tight-rope the Canucks will need to walk, as they make the decision between a lofty goalie trade, a free agent signing, or leaning on unproven backups.
Kraken Re-Sign Matthew Beniers To Seven-Year Deal
The Kraken have agreed to terms with top RFA center Matthew Beniers on a seven-year contract, the team announced Tuesday. It’s worth $50MM, working out to a $7.14MM cap hit through the 2030-31 season. Per PuckPedia, the deal carries a total salary of $7.15MM in every season except its last, where it decreases to $7.1MM. $5MM worth of his annual salary will be paid out via signing bonuses in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Beniers, who turns 22 in November, has spent his brief NHL career as the expected future face of the Kraken. He wasn’t just the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 draft; he was the first selection in Kraken history. Coming off his entry-level contract, Beniers was a free agent for the first time this summer, and the length of negotiations to this point implied the two sides were likely hammering out a complex long-term commitment. Talks on Beniers’ next contract have been ongoing since early June, per a report from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period at the time.
The Massachusetts native is coming off quite a questionable 2023-24 season at first glance, however. Expectations were high after Beniers was thrust into first-line minutes in his rookie season, posting 24 goals, 57 points, and excellent possession quality numbers en route to taking home the Calder Trophy. While his two-way impact remained positive last year, his offense fell off a cliff. In 77 contests, the 6’2″ pivot was good for only 15 goals and 37 points despite a slight uptick in ice time. Among forwards who averaged at least 17:30 per game last season, his 0.48 points per game were tied for fourth-lowest.
But there were some silver linings. He improved significantly in the dot, bumping his FOW% to 47.4 after a brutal 42.2% showing in 2022-23. He also attempted more total shots, but fewer got on goal. When they did reach the netminder, his shooting percentage dropped to a more projectable 11.3%, down from 16.2% the year before.
However, concerns about Beniers’ ceiling as a true first-line center have followed him since his draft year with the University of Michigan. His two-way game appears to have arrived as promised, but his offensive showing thus far suggests he’s likely better suited as a high-end second-line center long-term.
The Kraken likely agree with that assessment, seeing as a $7MM AAV is fair value for an above-average 2C, especially as the salary cap continues to rise. Rather than signing Beniers to a bridge deal and giving him a chance to prove them wrong with a significant offensive breakout in the next couple of years, general manager Ron Francis has opted to follow the trend of long-term commitments for core pieces early on and get him signed through most of his prime.
It’s still a gamble that Beniers can consistently produce 15-25 goals and 55-65 points, more in line with his rookie year totals. Seattle improving their power play, which has ranked 28th in the league since the franchise’s inception three years ago, should help boost his totals. 75 of Beniers’ 103 career points have come at even strength.
He isn’t the team’s highest-paid player after this deal. That honor still goes to defenseman Vince Dunn and his $7.35MM cap hit. But it is tied for the largest total value contract the Kraken have doled out since entering the league, joining recent UFA signing Brandon Montour.
Beniers will have a 12-team no-trade list during the last two years of the contract, per PuckPedia. It’s the only period he was eligible to receive trade protection.
Cap-wise, the Kraken now find themselves in a bit of a pickle. The team checks in with a projected cap hit of $88.77MM with a roster size of 22, per PuckPedia, over the $88MM upper limit. They can become cap-compliant by assigning a player with a league-minimum salary to the minors, such as UFA additions Josh Mahura or Ben Meyers. Still, they’d only have room for one extra player on the roster with less than $10K in daily flexibility to open the season. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Seattle pursue a cap-clearing move before training camps get underway.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report Beniers was re-signing in Seattle.