Kings Hire Newell Brown As Assistant Coach
The Kings announced Thursday that they’ve named Newell Brown an assistant coach. He’d served in the same role for the Ducks for the past three seasons, but earlier this month, Anaheim announced they wouldn’t be renewing his contract.
Brown, 62, had a brief collegiate and minor-league playing career in the 1980s but immediately transitioned to coaching upon retiring. He’s been behind an NHL bench as an assistant in every season since 1996, working with the Blackhawks, Blue Jackets, Canucks, Coyotes and Ducks but has never gotten a shot as a head coach at the highest level.
The Ontario native has called Southern California home for most of his coaching career, serving on Anaheim’s staff on three different occasions (1998-2000, 2006-2010, 2021-2024). After winning a Stanley Cup with the Kings’ closest geographical rival in 2007, he’ll jump to the other side of the Freeway Face-Off. There was a decent bit of interest in his services around the league after the Ducks let him go, with the Senators also expressing interest in adding him to new head coach Travis Green‘s staff, reports Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.
Brown will replace Trent Yawney on the Los Angeles bench, who mutually parted ways with the club two weeks ago today. The team confirmed that his areas of focus will be working with the club’s forward group and the power play. He completes head coach Jim Hiller‘s staff as he enters his first full season leading an NHL bench, joining associate coach D.J. Smith, assistant coach Derik Johnson, goalie coach Mike Buckley and video coach Samson Lee.
Sabres To Let Three Prospects Become Free Agents
The Sabres won’t be signing any of the three prospects they’ll lose the exclusive signing rights to at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports. 2022 fourth-round pick Mats Lindgren will be eligible to re-enter the 2024 draft, while 2020 seventh-round picks Jakub Konecny and Albert Lyckåsen will become true unrestricted free agents.
[RELATED: Full 2024 List Of Expiring Draft Rights]
Lindgren, 19, is the most surprising lapsed selection. The Swedish-Canadian blue liner was touted as a late second or third-round pick by most in his draft year but slipped to Buffalo at 106th overall. After putting up 44 points and a +25 rating in 68 games with the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels in 2021-22, he looked like he may have fringe top-four upside, but his point production and two-way play immediately hit a wall and hasn’t progressed by any degree.
He finished the 2023-24 campaign with 41 points and a -4 rating in 63 games for Red Deer and should be considered unlikely to be an overage selection in next month’s draft. If he turns pro this summer, it’ll likely be as an undrafted free agent signing with a minor-league club, although he could still land an entry-level deal with an NHL team after the draft passes.
Konecny and Lyckåsen are the elder statesmen of this group and will remain overseas next season. Jakub, who has no relation to Flyers star Travis Konecny, has spent the last three seasons in a bottom-six forward role for HC Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga. The 21-year-old 5’10” pivot has 14 goals and 30 points in 121 career top-level games across the last four seasons. He’ll be on the move next season after signing a one-year pact to remain in the top Czech league with HC Kometa Brno last month.
Lyckåsen, 22, has spent most of his time since the 2020 draft suiting up in the HockeyAllsvenskan, the second tier of Swedish hockey. The right-shot defenseman will suit up for his third team in three years next year after signing with Västerås IK. He does have 11 top-level Swedish Hockey League games to his name, all coming with Linköping HC from 2019 to 2022, but he failed to record a point. In 36 Allsvenskan games for BIK Karlskoga last season, Lyckåsen had three goals and 14 points with a -9 rating.
Jets’ Cole Perfetti Drawing Trade Interest
It’s been a tumultuous offseason in Winnipeg already after a disappointing first-round elimination, with Scott Arniel taking over behind the bench and deadline addition Tyler Toffoli reportedly not returning to the club. David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period writes that the Jets are also receiving interest in forward Cole Perfetti, although there haven’t been any serious trade discussions surrounding the pending restricted free agent.
Winnipeg has done well for themselves in the draft in recent years, picking up a few quality forward prospects to help extend their playoff contention window in the Connor Hellebuyck/Mark Scheifele era. 2022 first-rounders Rutger McGroarty and Brad Lambert look like top-six fixtures, especially the former, and 2023 first-rounder Colby Barlow is coming off his second straight 40-goal season with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League.
But Perfetti, the 10th overall pick back in 2020, is the crown jewel of that group. Now 22, the Ontario native is coming off a decent sophomore campaign, totaling 19 goals and 38 points in 71 games with strong possession numbers. Yet his ice time dipped from his rookie season, averaging 13:35 per game in his second year under head coach Rick Bowness compared to 14:58 in 2022-23. He was used especially sparingly down the stretch and was inserted into the lineup just once in the first-round loss to the Avalanche, posting three shots on goal in under 11 minutes of ice time in their Game 5 season-ending loss.
His lack of usage late in the season naturally has teams inquiring about whether he’s on the trade block. But as an RFA without arbitration rights, there’s no urgency to move him aside from the threat of an offer sheet, which would provide them with appropriate compensation anyway.
Trading Perfetti also jumps out as an unforced error as the matching seven-year, $59.5MM extensions for Hellebuyck and Scheifele kick in next season. He was especially strong before the All-Star break, putting up 30 points and a +12 rating in 47 contests. However, he resumed play with an 11-game pointless streak and overall had five goals and eight points in his final 24 outings. Part of that was due to his ice time beginning to routinely dip under 10 minutes per game, though.
For a team facing a decent amount of free-agent turnover this summer, parting with a high-ceiling asset like Perfetti doesn’t make much sense, especially since he won’t command immense value on his next deal after his slow end to the campaign. Evolving Hockey projects a bridge deal for the youngster at $3MM per season for two years, and he could likely be had for closer to $2MM on a one-year pact if conserving cap space becomes a premium for general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff. Perfetti won’t be eligible for unrestricted free agency until 2029, so the length of a short-term deal doesn’t matter much, although he will be eligible for arbitration the next time he’s up for a new contract.
Latest On The Golden Knights’ Pending UFAs
The Golden Knights won’t be able to re-sign most of their pending unrestricted free agents with a looming salary cap crunch, and they’ve already gone through the process of elimination on who to prioritize. The team has informed forwards Michael Amadio, William Carrier and Anthony Mantha that they won’t be offered extensions before July 1, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported yesterday. All three will hit the UFA market.
Amadio is a tough loss after being arguably their most cost-effective depth scorer over the past three seasons. After being claimed off waivers from the Maple Leafs early in the 2021-22 campaign, he enjoyed the best run of his career in Sin City. The 28-year-old has played nearly 200 regular-season games in a Vegas uniform, posting 41 goals and 72 points in less than 13 minutes of ice time per game. He’s also been quite the playoff performer, posting 10 points in 16 games en route to their Stanley Cup win in 2023 and logging a goal and an assist in their first-round elimination against the Stars this year. Amadio has made the league minimum salary each season, but he could likely land close to $3MM annually this summer.
Carrier, 29, is an original Golden Knight. Selected from the Sabres in the 2017 expansion draft, the Québec native has been a serviceable fourth-line winger, and his 372 appearances rank sixth in franchise history. He struggled with injuries this season, limited to eight points in 39 games, but had a career-high 16 goals in 56 games the year before. Carrier has shining career possession numbers at even strength – a 53.6 CF% and a 55.9 xGF% – making him one of the better two-way options in the entire league for his role.
He likely won’t land much of an increase, if any, on his expiring $1.4MM cap hit. Still, Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon needs every inch of flexibility possible to keep Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson from heading to market.
Giving up a pair of draft picks for Mantha at the trade deadline may have been a rare ill-advised move from McCrimmon. The 29-year-old winger seemed to fit nicely into their top nine down the stretch in the regular season, posting three goals and 10 points in 18 games. However, he fell out of the lineup once Tomáš Hertl and Mark Stone were ready to return from their injuries and only played in three of their seven playoff games against Dallas without recording a point. He’d been making an average of $5.7MM annually for the past four years on a deal signed by Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman in the 2020 offseason, and while he won’t earn that much again on his next deal, he might get close after his first 20-goal season since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Golden Knights are also unlikely to re-sign veteran defenseman Alec Martinez, who likely wouldn’t have been in their opening night lineup next season after Noah Hanifin‘s acquisition. But they haven’t informed him of anything like the others, Pagnotta said, and it’s unclear if he’ll test the market in July. After winning the Cup with Vegas last year and twice with the Kings in the early 2010s, the 36-year-old is “evaluating his options” as the end of his career draws closer.
And while Marchessault is the higher-priority extension target, McCrimmon hasn’t closed the door on a Stephenson re-signing. Pagnotta reports he’ll speak to Stephenson’s camp in the next two weeks to gauge his price. Still, if he heads to market, he’ll have plenty of suitors as the second-best center potentially available after Elias Lindholm. As such, his market value could very well eclipse a $6MM AAV – a prohibitively expensive figure for Vegas unless significant cap-cutting trades are made.
Full 2024 List Of Expiring Draft Rights
When drafting a player out of North America or any European country with a transfer agreement, a team acquires exclusive negotiating rights for a set amount of time. Each year on June 1, a long list of players see those rights expire and become unrestricted free agents (or choose to re-enter the draft, depending on specific circumstances).
With the deadline in a matter of days, it’s time to examine which players may become UFAs (data courtesy of CapFriendly). Some of the players listed below have already signed overseas, and others will have agreements announced soon after their current rights expire.
Anaheim Ducks
LW Connor Hvidston (139th overall, 2022)
C Ben King (107th overall, 2022)
C Albin Sundsvik (160th overall, 2020)
Boston Bruins
G Reid Dyck (183rd overall, 2022)
Buffalo Sabres
C Jakub Konecny (216th overall, 2020)
LD Mats Lindgren (106th overall, 2022)
RD Albert Lyckåsen (193rd overall, 2020)
Carolina Hurricanes
RW Zion Nybeck (115th overall, 2020)
Chicago Blackhawks
RD Michael Krutil (110th overall, 2020)
Colorado Avalanche
LD Graham Sward (146th overall, 2022) rights acquired from Predators via trade
G Ivan Zhigalov (225th overall, 2022)
Dallas Stars
C Daniel Ljungman (154th overall, 2020)
Detroit Red Wings
G Jan Bednar (107th overall, 2020)
LD Tnias Mathurin (137th overall, 2022)
C Theodor Niederbach (51st overall, 2020)
Edmonton Oilers
LW Jeremias Lindewall (200th overall, 2020)
Florida Panthers
C Liam Arnsby (214th overall, 2022)
C Elliot Ekmark (198th overall, 2020)
RD Kasper Puutio (153rd overall, 2020)
Los Angeles Kings
G Juho Markkanen (112th overall, 2020)
C Kasper Simontaival (66th overall, 2020)
Minnesota Wild
C Servác Petrovský (185th overall, 2022)
Montreal Canadiens
C Jared Davidson (130th overall, 2022) (has since signed with Montreal)
C/LW Cédrick Guindon (127th overall, 2022)
LD Petteri Nurmi (194th overall, 2022)
RD Miguël Tourigny (216th overall, 2022)
New Jersey Devils
C Jaromír Pytlík (99th overall, 2020)
New York Islanders
LW Alexander Ljungkrantz (90th overall, 2020)
LD Matias Rajaniemi (183rd overall, 2020)
New York Rangers
LW Maxim Barbashev (161st overall, 2022)
C Oliver Tärnström (92nd overall, 2020)
Pittsburgh Penguins
RD Nolan Collins (167th overall, 2022)
RD Thimo Nickl (104th overall, 2020) rights acquired from Ducks via trade
San Jose Sharks
G Mason Beaupit (108th overall, 2022)
Seattle Kraken
C Kyle Jackson (196th overall, 2022)
St. Louis Blues
RW Landon Sim (184th overall, 2022)
Tampa Bay Lightning
G Nick Malík (160th overall, 2022)
Toronto Maple Leafs
LW Brandon Lisowsky (218th overall, 2022)
Utah all players selected by the Arizona Coyotes franchise, rights transferred to Utah in sale of hockey operations in April
C/LW Filip Barklund (173rd overall, 2020)
RW Elliot Ekefjärd (192nd overall, 2020)
LD Jérémy Langlois (94th overall, 2022)
Vancouver Canucks
RD Viktor Persson (191st overall, 2020)
Vegas Golden Knights
LW/C Patrick Guay (145th overall, 2022)
Washington Capitals
C Jake Karabela (149th overall, 2022)
C/RW Oskar Magnusson (211th overall, 2020)
Winnipeg Jets
LD Anton Johannesson (133rd overall, 2020)
PHR Live Chat Transcript: 5/29/24
PHR’s Josh Erickson hosted his weekly live chat today at 2 p.m. Central Time! You can view the transcript for today’s session using this link.
Predators Hire Mitch Korn As Director Of Goaltending
The Predators have hired Mitch Korn to be their new director of goaltending, the team said in a statement Wednesday. Korn, the team’s goalie coach for its first 15 seasons from 1998 to 2014, had been working as the Islanders’ director of goaltending and was previously expected back with the team next season.
Korn, 66, began his coaching career at the low collegiate level with Kent State University in 1979. He worked his way up the ranks over the next decade before being named the Sabres’ goalie coach in 1990. After being hired by the expansion Predators under head coach Barry Trotz in 1998, Korn and Trotz were nearly inseparable. He’s followed him to subsequent coaching jobs with the Capitals and Islanders, winning a Stanley Cup in Washington in 2018. He re-joins Trotz, now the Preds’ general manager, in Nashville.
The New York native is arguably one of the best goalie specialists in league history despite not having played professionally. He played a significant role in the development and success of all-time great Dominik Hašek in Buffalo before doing the same with All-Stars Pekka Rinne and Tomáš Vokoun in Nashville. He also presided over the best years of Braden Holtby‘s career in Washington and helped Ilya Sorokin become one of the best goalies in the league with New York.
Predators fans hope Korn can have the same effect with 2020 11th-overall pick Yaroslav Askarov, who’s set to challenge for full-time NHL duties after back-to-back All-Star seasons with AHL Milwaukee. Korn will have direct reports in Preds goalie coach Ben Vanderklok, who’s held the role since 2014, goaltending development coach Jason Barron, and Rinne, their European development coach and scout.
Hurricanes Re-Sign Ryan Suzuki To Two-Way Deal
The Hurricanes have re-signed center Ryan Suzuki to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced Wednesday. He avoids restricted free agency and will make $775K in the NHL and $70K in the AHL next year with a $90K guarantee.
The younger brother of Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki has been in the Canes organization since they drafted him 28th overall in 2019. He signed his entry-level deal that summer, spending one season in juniors before graduating to professional play in 2020-21.
Suzuki hasn’t put up the offensive numbers worthy of an NHL call-up, though, and he’s remained entirely in the minors throughout his pro career. Unlike some other Hurricanes prospects, his development wasn’t completely derailed by their lack of a full-time AHL affiliate this season. He remained semi-productive while on loan to the Blues’ affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, posting 14 goals and 30 points in 51 games. That nearly mirrored his stat line with AHL Chicago the year prior, which were all career-highs at the time.
At 23 years old, there’s still a little time for Suzuki to shift his development into high gear and earn a roster spot down the line, but it likely needs to happen this season. The lack of game-breaking offense suggests a top-six role in the NHL is out of the question, but he likely still has a ceiling as a center on a depth scoring line thanks to his historically above-average passing ability. He’s unlikely to challenge for a roster spot in Carolina next fall, even with a fair amount of roster turnover expected, but a midseason call-up is an achievable goal.
Suzuki was not eligible for salary arbitration this offseason, but he will be when his new deal expires next summer. He’s still four years away from being eligible for standard unrestricted free agency. However, if he’s played less than 80 NHL games by the 2026 offseason, he’ll be eligible for Group Six UFA status then.
Adam Ruzicka Signs With KHL’s Spartak Moscow
Center Adam Ružička has signed with Spartak Moscow of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, the team announced today on X. He joins the club on a one-year deal after having his contract terminated by the Coyotes in February after he posted a video of himself on his Instagram story showing him next to an unidentified white powdered substance, believed to be cocaine.
Ružička, 25, looked like he was on his way to becoming an NHL regular with the Flames after posting 20 points in just 44 games in the 2022-23 season. Unfortunately, the 6’4″, 215-lb pivot couldn’t keep up the momentum this year, limited to three goals and nine points in 39 games before landing on waivers in January. The Coyotes claimed him, but an illness and work visa issues limited him to three appearances, going without a point and averaging just 8:17 per game, before the contract termination.
He wasn’t a highly-touted prospect, going 109th overall to Calgary in 2017, but he did have spectacular showings with the AHL’s Stockton Heat that got him into an extended NHL tryout three years after turning pro. The Slovak pivot put up 32 goals and 36 assists for 68 points in 98 games with Stockton over three campaigns there, including 11 goals and 20 points in just 16 games in his final minor-league stint in 2021-22. There’s a good amount of offensive skill in his game, but a surprising lack of physicality and aggression, given his frame, has limited his effectiveness defensively. This year, he had a 45.4 CF% and 39.5 xGF% at even strength across 42 games with the Coyotes and Flames.
Ružička is set to be a top-six force for Spartak, given his previous offensive effectiveness in minor-league and limited NHL roles. He joins a club with longtime NHLers Alex Kovalev and Alexei Zhamnov on its coaching staff. Their top forward, former Canucks and Sharks winger Nikolay Goldobin, tied for second in the KHL in scoring last season with 37 goals and 78 points in 67 games.
Canadiens Extend AHL Head Coach Jean-Francois Houle
May 29: The Canadiens confirmed a multi-year extension for Houle and the rest of his staff – assistant Martin Laperrière, goalie coach Marco Marciano and video coach Charles Juneau.
May 28: The Canadiens are signing AHL head coach Jean-François Houle to a multi-year contract extension, as reported by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period (X link). It’s a three-year commitment, TFP’s Dennis Bernstein adds.
Houle, 49, has spent the last three years heading up the Canadiens’ top farm club, the Laval Rocket. The son of winger Réjean Houle, who won five Stanley Cups with Montreal, Jean-François began his coaching career as an assistant with Clarkson University in 2003 after a brief collegiate and minor-league playing career.
By 2010, he’d made the jump to head coaching in the major junior ranks, taking over the reins of the Lewiston MAINEiacs of the QMJHL. He won the QMJHL’s Coach of the Year award in 2011-12 behind the bench of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada, guiding the expansion franchise to a 40-win inaugural season with a roster thin on NHL prospects, aside from future depth players Xavier Ouellet and Cédric Paquette.
Houle landed his first professional coaching job as an assistant with the ECHL’s Bakersfield Condors in 2014, staying on when they jumped to the AHL the following season to become the Oilers’ primary affiliate. He remained there until taking the head coaching job with Laval in 2021.
He’s guided the Rocket to a middling 105-86-25 record during his three seasons behind the bench. The team missed the playoffs this season for the third time in its seven seasons of existence. However, Houle did aid Habs prospects Logan Mailloux and Joshua Roy to AHL rookie seasons that exceeded expectations, earning them both their first NHL call-ups. They’ll be in contention for roster spots when October rolls around.
Montreal hopes Houle can continue doing the same work with their young players as they rely heavily on their development to exit their rebuild. 2023 fifth-overall pick David Reinbacher could very well end up starting next season under Houle on the farm as the defender begins his first full campaign in North America.