Senators Sign Jamieson Rees To Two-Way Extension
The Senators announced a one-year, two-way contract extension for center prospect Jamieson Rees today. Per the team, the deal pays him $775K in the NHL and $85K in the AHL.
It’s a good sign for Rees’ future in the Sens organization for him to avoid being non-tendered and reaching unrestricted free agency at the end of the month. The 23-year-old is coming off an incredibly trying season split between three AHL clubs, going without a goal and registering only eight assists in 51 appearances.
A second-round pick of the Hurricanes in 2019, Rees was on an upward trajectory as recently as last season when he recorded a career-high 14 goals and 42 points in 65 games for the AHL’s Chicago Wolves. However, his development was derailed by Carolina’s lack of an AHL affiliate this season. He began the campaign on loan to AHL Springfield, the primary affiliate of the Blues, where he received little ice time and was limited to three assists in 30 games with a -3 rating.
The Canes briefly found a new home for him on the Panthers’ farm club in Charlotte, but he played only seven games there before he was traded to Ottawa for a sixth-round pick in March. He finished the season on a slightly higher note, posting four assists in 14 games with AHL Bellville, his best rate of production all season long.
Rees will be back with the B-Sens next season as he looks to rebound to a level of production more representative of a top-six minor league forward. The Ontario native will be a restricted free agent upon expiry.
Predators Hire Darby Hendrickson As Assistant Coach
The Predators are close to announcing Darby Hendrickson as their newest assistant coach, reports Minnesota’s FOX 9 Sports. The Predators later announced that the longtime Wild coach and player will reunite with former Minnesota teammate Andrew Brunette behind the Nashville bench.
Hendrickson and Brunette spent parts of three seasons together with the Wild shortly after their inception, including one of the great Cinderella runs of the decade when they advanced to the 2003 Western Conference Final. The Twin Cities native began his coaching career as an assistant with the Wild in 2010, a role he held under multiple head coaches until being fired last month.
The Preds didn’t say which responsibilities would fall under Hendrickson’s purview. He held a variety of different roles during his time in Minnesota. General manager Barry Trotz had this to say on Hendrickson’s addition:
After spending more than a decade as a professional player, he has now been a quality coach in the NHL for a long time and further strengthens our staff’s ability to communicate and teach the game at a high level. His familiarity with Andrew Brunette – having been both teammates and coaches together in the past – adds to the cohesiveness of our group, and his experience as an NHL player and coach makes him very relatable to today’s player. With Darby now on our staff, our coaches own more than 2,200 combined games of NHL playing experience, something we feel is incredibly valuable for our team’s growth as we strive to achieve our goal of winning the Stanley Cup.
Hendrickson also worked with Brunette on the Wild bench between 2014 and 2016. He fills out Nashville’s staff for next season alongside assistants Derek MacKenzie and Todd Richards and goalie coach Ben Vanderklok. He replaces Dan Hinote, who the team parted ways with last month after four seasons behind the Preds bench.
The Preds also announced that former defender Cody Franson is joining their amateur scouting department. Now 36, Franson retired after the 2021-22 campaign but last played in the NHL with the Blackhawks in 2017-18. A third-round pick of the Preds in 2005, Franson also spent last season in the Wild organization as an assistant coach with AHL Iowa.
Blue Jackets Sign Yegor Chinakhov To Two-Year Extension
The Blue Jackets have signed winger Yegor Chinakhov to a two-year, $4.2MM extension, per a team announcement. The deal carries a $2.1MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season.
Chinakhov, 23, was a pending restricted free agent. The Russian winger was not eligible for salary arbitration and wouldn’t have been until the summer of 2025. Notably, this is Don Waddell‘s first signing since taking over as general manager of the Blue Jackets late last month.
A completely off-the-board first-round pick in 2020, Chinakhov solidified himself as a solid depth scoring option this past season with 16 goals and 29 points in 53 games. His shooting percentage was a tad steep at 14.5%, and he may be a regression candidate next year, but he didn’t look out of place as his minutes ramped up. He averaged 15:10 per game, seventh among Blue Jackets forwards who finished the season on the roster. Chinakhov also had some of the best possession metrics of any Columbus player, finishing fifth on the team with a 49.4 CF% at even strength.
There’s been a lot to like around Chinakhov’s all-around offensive game. In hindsight, his 69 points in 56 Russian junior league games during his draft year should have earned him a tad more consideration from the public scouting world at the time. He had solid results in his lone professional season in Russia, posting 10 goals and 17 points in 32 games for Avangard Omsk in 2020-21 before arriving in Columbus the following year. A dual-threat passer and shooter with a good set of wheels, he averaged 2.1 shots on goal per game this season.
His production provided some great financial value for Columbus this year, spending the campaign on a one-year, $800K extension he inked in April 2023 with his entry-level contract set to expire. It’s a considerable but deserved raise for the Omsk native, who will continue to push for consistent top-six minutes next season under a new head coach. The Blue Jackets still have $21.675MM in projected cap space for 2024-25 with a roster size of 16.
Devils, Wild Swap Graeme Clarke For Adam Beckman
The Devils have traded winger Graeme Clarke to the Wild for fellow winger Adam Beckman, the teams announced. Both are headed for restricted free agency next month.
Clarke, 23, was a third-round pick of the Devils in 2019. The older brother of Kings top defense prospect Brandt Clarke has knocked on the door of the NHL for the past two seasons but hasn’t gotten much of a shot in Jersey. He played just three big-league games, all coming this season. He was held without a point and had a -2 rating, 2 PIMs, and two shots on goal while averaging 11:23 per game. The Devils sparingly used him in offensive situations, and as such, they controlled less than 42% of shot attempts with Clarke on the ice at even strength.
Given his performance in the minors, he likely deserved more of a chance. Clarke has scored 25 goals in back-to-back campaigns with the AHL’s Utica Comets, leading them on both occasions. His 58 points in 68 games in 2022-23 led the team outright but weren’t enough to earn him his NHL debut. After completing his entry-level contract, he’s now on his way to Minnesota, where he has a feasible chance of cracking the Wild’s opening night roster in the fall. He’s no longer waiver-exempt and would need to be exposed to the remainder of the league for Minnesota to send him down to their AHL affiliate in Iowa.
The Devils land Beckman, a 23-year-old with slightly more NHL experience but less offensive upside. The Wild have given Beckman a brief look in each of the past three seasons, totaling 23 appearances, 11 of which came in 2023-24. However, the points never came for Beckman, who was selected five spots before Clarke in 2019. He’s still searching for his first NHL goal and logged three assists while averaging 10:02 per game.
Beckman has been solid in three full seasons with Iowa, though. Serving as an alternate captain this season, he finished fourth on the club in scoring with 19 goals and 33 points in 51 games. He still hasn’t quite had the impact Minnesota expected after he led the WHL in scoring with 48 goals and 107 points in his post-draft season, though.
Like Clarke, Beckman has lost his waiver-exempt status and will need to hit the wire if New Jersey attempts to assign him to Utica. The Devils owe Beckman a $874,125 qualifying offer to retain his rights before June 30, while the Wild must issue a $813,750 offer to Clarke.
Andrew Cogliano Announces Retirement
2022 Stanley Cup champion Andrew Cogliano is retiring after a 17-year NHL career. The Avalanche announced the news regarding their pending free agent forward in an announcement Friday. He’ll stay in Denver in a wide-spanning player development and scouting role. Cogliano released the following statement through the team:
The game of hockey has given me and my family so much and I am grateful for every moment. I am blessed to have played for so long with some great organizations and amazing teammates. I will miss being with the guys in the dressing room and battling for each other on the ice every night but it’s time to move on. Thank you to everyone I ever played with, played for and all the great fans for all of their support. I am excited to start my new chapter in the front office.
An unlikely first-round pick of the Oilers back in 2005, Cogliano had a peculiar development path as one of the few first-round picks in recent memory to be drafted out of lower-level juniors. After racking up 102 points in 49 games with the OPJHL’s St. Michael’s Buzzers in his draft year, Cogliano walked away from Canadian juniors and embarked on a collegiate career with the University of Michigan, where he again dominated. He turned pro with Edmonton in 2007-08, playing in all 82 games during his rookie season – something that would quickly become a common theme.
That rookie season was a strong one for Cogliano, who finished ninth in Calder Trophy voting after racking up 45 points, a number that would end up standing as a career-high. Suiting up for Edmonton in the early days of their so-called ‘Decade of Darkness,’ Cogliano quickly developed into a respected, versatile two-way skater who could play anywhere he was needed, skating on virtually every line and at every forward position. After four years, 146 points and 328 games of service for Edmonton, never missing a contest since making his NHL debut, he was dealt to the Ducks in the 2011 offseason in exchange for a second-round pick.
The offense never popped consistently for Cogliano in Anaheim, although he did notch his only 20-goal season in the 2013-14 campaign. Still, he remained an incredibly serviceable and adept two-way skater, routinely averaging between 14 and 16 minutes per game while contributing solid secondary scoring. Consistency remained perhaps his greatest asset – his career-opening ironman streak didn’t end until a suspension in the 2017-18 campaign, his 11th one in the NHL and his final full season with the Ducks.
Cogliano remained a strong utility forward with penalty-killing upside even as he aged, giving solid showings for the Stars, Sharks and finally Avalanche as he declined into a solely bottom-six role. Colorado acquired him for just a fifth-round pick from San Jose at the 2022 trade deadline, and he went on to contribute three goals and six points in 16 playoff games as he helped the Avs to their first Stanley Cup in nearly 20 years.
Now 37, Cogliano finishes his career with 1,294 games played, tied for 75th all-time. He tallied 190 goals, 274 assists, and 464 points with a +31 rating and 449 PIMs while averaging 14:06 per game. All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Cogliano as he begins his front-office career.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Mark Giordano Intends To Play Next Season
Mark Giordano could reach unrestricted free agency in less than two weeks. The veteran defenseman is coming off his second full season in a Maple Leafs sweater but fell out of the regular lineup early on in the season, battled injuries, and was a healthy scratch for the whole of Toronto’s first-round loss to the Bruins.
However, the 2019 Norris Trophy winner has no intentions of retiring and hopes to return to the NHL for what would be his age 41 season, his agent Rich Winter tells Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star. A potential 19th NHL season may not be his final one, either.
“Mark has made the decision that he’s playing for a few more years,” Winter told McGran. “He feels very confident. He’s been talking to a lot of people who tell him: Don’t quit until they make you.”
How much interest Giordano receives coming off the worst season of his career when the market opens July 1 remains to be seen, though, nor is it clear whether there’s a path for him to return to the Leafs. Limited to 46 appearances, he had three goals and nine points with a +10 rating while averaging 16:37 per contest, his lowest usage since 2008-09. He had a significant finger injury that cost him nearly all of December and a concussion that held him out for most of March.
While his possession numbers were still strong, even relative to his teammates, he spent most of his time in the lineup alongside Timothy Liljegren, who routinely has strong advanced metrics despite some rather visible defensive gaffes. Giordano’s lack of offense and, correspondingly, lack of power play time make him a far different player than the one who had double-digit goals in six straight seasons for the Flames, including a 21-goal, 74-point monster performance that earned him his Norris.
To say Giordano is an offensive specialist is a mischaracterization, though. He’s always boasted strong possession numbers, even dating back to his early days as a fresh undrafted free agent signing in Calgary, and he’s continually deployed in penalty-killing situations. Even this season, Giordano averaged 2:16 per game shorthanded, fifth on the Leafs. There was still NHL value in his game this season, but teams will wonder how much longer it sticks around as he remains the league’s oldest active player.
Giordano is wrapping up a two-year, $800K AAV extension he signed in May 2022. He likely won’t cost any more than that and would even likely take a slight pay cut to earn the $775K league minimum.
Flyers Have Joel Farabee On Trade Block
The Flyers are dangling forward Joel Farabee in trade talks this summer as they continue rebuilding their roster, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports.
It comes at a good time for general manager Daniel Brière. Farabee’s trade value is likely the highest it’s ever been. The 24-year-old had a career-best season in 2023-24, putting up 22 goals and 50 points and playing in all 82 games for the second year in a row. The increase in production came with a decrease in ice time from 17:01 to 16:11 per game, but he still managed 182 shots on goal compared to 145 last year.
He shot below his career average, too, so it’s not like his goal-scoring production was a fluke. Long-term, he remains projectable as a usual bet for 25-plus goals as he enters his mid-20s. The 2018 14th overall pick does come with a $5MM price tag through 2028, though, and it’s fair to wonder if teams are willing to take a swing at that commitment for a player who had yet to eclipse 40 points in a season entering 2023.
Farabee also had the best two-way season of his career. He was on the ice for 42.8 total expected goals against at even strength, down from 55.2 last year. The Flyers also controlled 51.1% of shot attempts with Farabee on the ice at even strength, a solid but non-elite figure.
The Flyers have been connected to a potential deal with the Senators in recent days, one that some have speculated could include the clubs’ first-round picks, Ottawa defenseman Jakob Chychrun, Philly center Scott Laughton, or other pieces. It’s not clear if Farabee’s name has come up in those talks, though.
Farabee’s deal was also fairly backloaded, meaning his total salary will be north of $5MM annually in the last three years of the deal. That’s not a huge consideration for most teams, but it could be for a club that doesn’t always have a penchant for spending to the salary cap’s upper limit.
Wild Shopping Filip Gustavsson
The Wild are entering next season with three goalies as it stands with Marc-André Fleury back for his final campaign and top prospect Jesper Wallstedt primed for more NHL starts. In his latest Trade Targets piece, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said the team is “open for business and listening” on trade offers for Filip Gustavsson, who’s quickly looking like the odd man out in the Minnesota crease.
Gustavsson, now 26, signed a three-year, $11.25MM deal with the Wild last summer following an arbitration filing. He got that deal after a breakout 2022-23 campaign, finishing second among qualified netminders with a .931 SV%. But while he ended this season on a relatively high note, a horrid start to 2023-24 tanked his second season in the State of Hockey. Gustavsson made a career-high 45 appearances and managed to record his second 20-win season, but his standard and advanced metrics regressed considerably. His SV% dropped to .899, and his goals saved above expected nosedived to -4.8 from last season’s 24.2, per MoneyPuck.
While Gustavsson was struggling, Wallstedt was having a terrific season behind a poor Iowa Wild team in the AHL. The 2021 20th overall pick had a .910 SV% and two shutouts in 45 games, earning his second All-Star Game nod in as many years while keeping an otherwise hapless Iowa club out of last place in the Central Division. The 21-year-old Swede is viewed as one of the five best goalie prospects in the world, and general manager Bill Guerin already confirmed the plan is to ease him into more consistent NHL action next season. After a tough NHL debut against the Stars in January, Wallstedt stopped 51 of 53 shots faced in two wins over the Blackhawks and Sharks to end the season.
Gustavsson has two years left on his deal at a $3.75MM cap hit, a reasonable deal for a young netminder with decent rebound potential. He was solid in the back half of the season, posting a 7-5-2 record with a .906 SV% in 16 games after the All-Star break. Moving him reduces the cap hit of their goaltending tandem from $6.25MM, including Fleury, to just $3.425MM with Fleury and Wallstedt, less than what Gustavsson alone costs. That’s important savings for a team still dealing with a $14.744MM cap penalty from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts next year.
The Wild likely wouldn’t need to retain any salary in a Gustavsson deal. His contract is arguably a bargain for his services already – Evolving Hockey projects he’d land a $4.125MM cap hit if he signed a two-year deal in free agency this summer. It’s also a cheaper option for teams looking to upgrade their crease than some of the more established netminders potentially available for trade, like Juuse Saros and Linus Ullmark, and he has experience starting more games than top UFA options Laurent Brossoit and Anthony Stolarz. As such, there should be a fair amount of interest.
Blue Jackets Not Expected To Move Elvis Merzlikins
It’s been an offseason of delayed change for the Blue Jackets, who took until late May to appoint Don Waddell as their next general manager and until this week to fire head coach Pascal Vincent. With the coaching change being Waddell’s first real mark on the franchise, many wondered if he may have some other moves up his sleeve in the coming days.
He still may, but moving on from goaltender Elvis Merzļikins won’t be one of them. Waddell told The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline that the team won’t buy out the final three seasons of the Latvian netminder’s contract and dismissed the possibility of a trade, saying the organization will put “all the resources we can” into helping Merzļikins rebound from a tough couple of campaigns.
“Let’s be honest, nobody is going to trade for that contract. Nobody,” Waddell told Portzline. “People say, ‘Well, why don’t you buy out the contract?’ It’s a six-year buyout, and there are years three, four, five and six when you might need that cap space. So you’ve eliminated those two options.”
The contract Waddell is referring to involves a $5.4MM cap hit for Merzļikins through 2027, a tough deal to move when there are far more attractive options in the net available for trade this summer. Merzļikins improved from a nightmarish 2022-23 season this year but still struggled with a .897 SV%, 3.45 GAA and 13-17-8 record in 41 appearances. He also frequently entered and exited the lineup due to a variety of illnesses and injuries, including a lower-body ailment that sidelined him for seven of their final eight games. Those numbers were still below average considering the Blue Jackets’ poor defense, saving -6.3 goals above expected, but it was a massive improvement on his -25.9 GSAx figure the year before in just 30 games (MoneyPuck).
It’s all a far cry from his rookie season five years ago when Merzļikins arrived in Columbus with a .923 SV% in 33 games and finished fifth in 2020 Vezina Trophy voting. In fact, he was overall one of the better netminders in the league with a .913 SV% in 120 games between 2019-20 and 2021-22, but his past two seasons have brought him down to a much more pedestrian .904 SV% for his career.
Back in January, the 30-year-old told media he’d requested a trade but later walked back his statement. He did have some interest from the Devils before the trade deadline, but they ended up going with Jake Allen as a stopgap option before making a big swing to acquire Jacob Markström from the Flames yesterday.
Next season, he’ll face stiff competition for starts from 24-year-old Daniil Tarasov, who ended the season on a high note after struggling with injuries early on. The 2017 third-round pick made a career-high 24 appearances, logging an 8-11-3 record with a respectable .908 SV% and 3.18 GAA that worked out to 3.9 goals saved above average. Pending restricted free agent Jet Greaves is also pushing for NHL time after posting a .926 SV% in 13 playoff games with AHL Cleveland and recording a 30-win regular season.
Senators Sign Nikolas Matinpalo To Two-Way Extension
The Senators have signed Nikolas Matinpalo to a one-year, two-way extension worth $775K in the NHL and $200K in the AHL, per a team release. The defenseman will return for his second Sens training camp in the fall.
Matinpalo, 26 in October, had a respectable first campaign in North America in 2023-24. An undrafted free agent signing out of Liiga’s Ässät last summer, he made only four appearances for Ottawa but had a great season with AHL Belleville. A 6’3″ right-shot defensive defenseman, Matinpalo led the B-Sens with a +15 rating and added four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 67 games.
It’s hard to take much of anything from Matinpalo’s minuscule NHL sample size, though. He played just 28 minutes total across his four contests but managed a +1 rating, two shots on goal, two blocked shots and four hits. With him on the ice at even strength, the Sens controlled 53.6% of shot attempts.
Matinpalo was slated for restricted free agency this summer and was eligible for salary arbitration. Instead, the defensively sound Finn gets a nice minor-league pay bump and should give them solid play as a stopgap third-pairing option if needed in the NHL. He’ll be an RFA again upon expiry next summer.