Pavel Francouz Confirms Retirement
Avalanche netminder Pavel Francouz confirmed his retirement in an interview with ČT Sport on Friday. GM Chris MacFarland told reporters last month that retirement was overwhelmingly likely for the veteran backup due to groin and knee injuries that held him out of the 2023-24 season entirely and marred most of 2022-23. The Czechia native played in parts of four seasons with the Avs.
Francouz played the majority of his professional career overseas, making his top-level debut with his hometown team HC Plzeň in the Czech Extraliga back in 2008-09. He didn’t latch on as a starter until 2012-13 with HC Litvínov, where he remained for three seasons. He was named the best goalie in the Extraliga in two of those campaigns, compiling a .928 SV% and 14 shutouts in 140 games. He was even better in postseason play with Litvínov, putting up a .949 SV%, 1.57 GAA, and six shutouts in 26 games and ending his run with a league championship in 2015.
He then moved to the brighter lights of the Kontinental Hockey League, signing a three-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk. Francouz spent another three seasons with the Russian side, earning Best Goaltender and First All-Team honors in the 2017-18 campaign with an impeccable .946 SV%, 1.80 GAA and five shutouts in 35 appearances. He was also the starter for Czechia at the 2018 Winter Olympics, putting up a .905 SV% in six games, but failed to medal.
After six seasons of solidifying his resume as one of the top goalies in Europe, Francouz finally earned his first NHL deal – a one-year, one-way pact with the Avs for the 2018-19 season worth $690K. He spent most of the season on assignment to AHL Colorado, only making two NHL appearances in relief, but won the backup job behind Philipp Grubauer heading into 2019-20. He immediately positioned himself as one of the best backups in the league, posting a .923 SV% in 30 starts and four relief appearances and earning some year-end All-Star consideration. Lower-body injuries unfortunately reared their head immediately, costing him all of the COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign. Upon his return, he again excelled in a backup role behind Darcy Kuemper, making 21 regular-season and seven playoff appearances as the Avs won the Stanley Cup.
Unfortunately, he would never fully rebound from those lower-body injuries. They limited him to 16 starts in 2022-23 and cost him all of the current season, forcing his retirement at age 33.
Francouz concludes his brief but solid NHL career with a .919 SV%, 2.49 GAA and four shutouts in 64 starts and nine relief appearances. He compiled a 44-21-6 record for Colorado and saved 25 goals above average across his four major league campaigns. PHR congratulates Francouz on a spectacular international career and his solid NHL run and wishes him the best in his post-playing days.
Islanders Sign Alex Jefferies, Henrik Tikkanen To Entry-Level Deals
The Islanders have inked left wing Alex Jefferies and goaltender Henrik Tikkanen to two-year entry-level contracts, per a team release. The deals begin in the 2024-25 season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
A fourth-round pick by the Isles in 2020, Jefferies spent the last four seasons in collegiate hockey with Merrimack. He leaves the program as its highest-scoring player of the decade thus far, posting 41 goals, 56 assists, 97 points and a -1 rating in 105 games played. Jefferies signed an ATO with AHL Bridgeport to finish the season last month, faring well with three goals and three assists in 10 games on a bottom-feeder club. The baby Isles still have two games left on their regular-season schedule.
The 22-year-old is unlikely to contend for a roster spot next season, but back-to-back point-per-game campaigns at Merrimack suggest he could receive an NHL call-up before his ELC expires in 2026. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked him as the sixth-best prospect in the Islanders’ league-worst pool earlier this year, praising his quick release, skating ability, and overall offensive IQ.
Tikkanen, 23, was selected three rounds after Jefferies in 2020. The 6’7″ netminder came to North America before last season, signing a minor-league contract with Bridgeport. He didn’t suit up for the top-level affiliate in 2022-23, though, spending the entire season on assignment to ECHL Worcester, where he had a .914 SV%, 3.02 GAA and two shutouts in 38 appearances. It was the same story last summer – Bridgeport re-upped him but sent him to Worcester to begin the campaign. He got off to a mediocre start there but was recalled to Bridgeport in late December, where he broke out with a .927 SV% and 2.17 GAA in 16 showings behind the worst team in the AHL.
Bridgeport sent him back to the ECHL last month, where his overall numbers on the season have actually been quite disappointing (.892 SV%, 3.22 GAA in 20 GP). The Isles are hoping Tikkanen’s ceiling is more reflective of the form he flashed with Bridgeport mid-season. With an NHL contract in hand, he joins the organization’s top goalie prospect Tristan Lennox and underwhelming farmhand Jakub Skarek as recall options behind Ilya Sorokin and Semyon Varlamov next season. Veteran Bridgeport netminder Kenneth Appleby was signed to an NHL contract this season but is a pending UFA.
AHL Shuffle: 4/19/24
Half the league has played their last games for the 2023-24 campaign, while the other half is gearing up for postseason action starting tomorrow. Either way, squads are making roster adjustments today, whether it’s assigning players back to the minors after their NHL seasons came to a close or recalling reinforcements for their playoff runs. We’ll keep track of all of today’s moves here:
- The Bruins have recalled center John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence. Both will be available for tomorrow’s Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs. The pair of youngsters were assigned to the minors throughout the last week for playing time down the stretch after spending most of the campaign on the NHL roster. They’ll likely be scratches for tomorrow’s contest, but after combining for 93 games played in the regular season, head coach Jim Montgomery won’t hesitate to plug them into the playoff lineup.
- The Flames have assigned forwards Matthew Coronato and Adam Klapka, defenseman Ilya Solovyov, and goaltender Dustin Wolf to AHL Calgary. The NHL club’s regular season came to an end last night in a 5-1 win over the Sharks, a game all four players involved in today’s transaction played in. Wolf, one of the league’s top goaltending prospects, ended his season on a high note with 16 saves on 17 shots after putting up underwhelming numbers down the stretch for the Flames. All four will play major roles for the Wranglers over the next couple of weeks, at the very least, as they’ve clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
- The Capitals have recalled goaltender Mitchell Gibson from ECHL South Carolina. The 24-year-old, who has no NHL experience, is in his first full season of pro hockey after spending the last four seasons in collegiate hockey at Harvard. He’ll serve as a Black Ace and emergency backup as their first-round matchup against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers gets underway. A fourth-round pick of the Caps back in 2018, he has a .899 SV%, 2.56 GAA, three shutouts, and a 22-14-3 record in 42 appearances with South Carolina this year, as well as a .915 SV% and a perfect record in two showings with AHL Hershey.
- In a similar move, the Predators have brought up netminder Gustavs Grigals from ECHL Atlanta. Undrafted, the Latvian had spent the season in the Nashville organization on a minor-league contract before receiving a two-way deal from the Preds on deadline day. The 25-year-old was excellent last year for UMass-Lowell after transferring from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, posting a .924 SV% in 24 games and earning Hockey East Third All-Star Team honors. He’s adjusted decently well to the pro ranks, posting a .900 SV% and three shutouts behind a defensively challenged Atlanta squad in 34 appearances with an 11-19-0 record.
- The Blackhawks have assigned forward prospect Lukas Reichel to AHL Rockford to finish his season. Chicago expected the 21-year-old to take a major step forward in his development this season and supplant himself as a top-six fixture for the future along with Connor Bedard, but it didn’t work out that way. The 2020 first-round pick was arguably among the worst players in the league this season, limited to five goals and 16 points in 65 games with a -29 rating despite seeing second-line looks for much of the season. His average ice time dipped to almost 14 minutes per game by the end of the campaign, however.
- The Jets have assigned forwards Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, Brad Lambert, and goaltender Collin Delia to AHL Manitoba. Winnipeg recalled the foursome yesterday to provide reinforcements for yesterday’s regular-season finale against the Canucks. Chibrikov and Lambert made their NHL debuts, with the former notching his first NHL goal in the process. Delia backed up Laurent Brossoit while Jennings Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck was given the night off entirely, while Ford was a healthy scratch. Delia was again recalled under emergency conditions later Friday, suggesting he’ll be available as a Black Ace/emergency backup for Game 1 against the Avalanche on Sunday.
- The Coyotes have made likely the final group of transactions in franchise history, returning forwards Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, Aku Raty, and defensemen Michael Kesselring and Vladislav Kolyachonok to AHL Tucson. The sale of the team’s hockey operations to Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group was approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors yesterday, rendering the Coyotes franchise inactive and establishing a new franchise in Utah. The five youngsters will finish the season in the Calder Cup Playoffs with the Roadrunners. Some of these players, likely Guenther and Doan at a minimum, will travel to Salt Lake City and will be a part of that team’s opening-night squad next season. The others may remain in Tucson, which is expected to serve as the Utah franchise’s minor-league affiliate.
- The Oilers have assigned defenseman Philip Broberg and winger Adam Erne to AHL Bakersfield. The pair were recalled earlier in the week to allow the Oilers to rest stars like Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard before kicking off their first-round playoff series against the Kings in a few days. They’ll return to playoff-bound Bakersfield for now but will be among the first in line for recalls if necessary.
- The Kings have assigned forward Alex Turcotte to AHL Ontario. He’d spent most of the last week in the minors on an LTI conditioning loan, but was activated off LTIR and reinstated to the NHL roster on Tuesday. He didn’t play in the Kings’ final game of the regular season last night, though. The 23-year-old presumably won’t be in their Game 1 lineup against the Oilers and will report for playoff action with the Reign.
- The Islanders have summoned goaltender Jakub Skarek from AHL Bridgeport, per the league’s media site. The 23-year-old comes up to serve as the extra/reserve netminder as the Islanders begin their first-round series with Bridgeport eliminated from playoff contention. The 2018 third-round pick has again struggled in the third-string spot, posting a .888 SV% and 7-22-6 record in 36 appearances for the AHL Isles this year. He was passed over for recalls earlier in the regular season in favor of veteran Kenneth Appleby.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Art Ross, Richard, Jennings Trophy Winners Confirmed
With the last day of the regular season schedule behind us, the three major stat-based award winners for the 2023-24 season are set in stone. Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov has won his second career Art Ross Trophy as the overall scoring champion, while Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews takes home his third Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy after setting the salary cap era goal-scoring record. Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck clinched his first William M. Jennings Trophy as well, with Winnipeg allowing the fewest goals against in the league.
Kucherov’s season was a franchise-defining performance in every sense offensively. With a Lightning-record 144 points (44 goals, 100 assists) in 81 games, Kucherov finished four points clear of Avalanche pivot Nathan MacKinnon. He joins Martin St. Louis as the only Tampa player to win the Art Ross multiple times and becomes the fourth active player to do so, alongside Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Connor McDavid.
The 30-year-old Russian contributed to exactly half of the Lightning’s 288 total goals and will be the favorite in what’s expected to be an extremely tight Hart Trophy race with Crosby, MacKinnon, Matthews and McDavid all as potential challengers. He’s the 12th player all-time to register points on at least 50 percent of his team’s scoring within a single season.
Kucherov capped off his regular season Wednesday in Toronto by becoming the fifth player in league history to put up 100 assists in a single season, joining McDavid, who’d only done it two days before. He registered a point 68 of his 81 appearances, including 41 multi-point games, 23 three-point efforts, and eight games with at least four points.
Matthews, who takes home his third goal-scoring title in four years in a rather dominant fashion, is not to be ignored. His 69 goals in 81 games were a Maple Leafs record and the most in a single season since Penguins star Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. He was 12 goals ahead of second-place Panthers winger Sam Reinhart. He became the second player in the modern era to record hat tricks in each of his first two games. His 18 multi-goal performances were the most since the Sabres’ Alexander Mogilny in the early ’90s.
Hellebuyck gets to add to his trophy chest ahead of his seven-year, $59.5MM extension kicking in next season. The Jets were the only team to allow fewer than 200 goals, and the three-time Vezina finalist is mostly responsible, posting a .921 SV%, five shutouts and a league-leading 33.1 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. He was a wide margin ahead of Canucks starter Thatcher Demko in that category, who had 22.0 GSAx, while Panthers backup Anthony Stolarz managed to work his way into the top three with 20.1 GSAx despite making only 27 appearances. As he was the only Jets netminder to play more than 25 games, he’s the first sole recipient of the award since the Kings’ Jonathan Quick in 2018. The 30-year-old held opponents to three or fewer goals in 50 of his 60 appearances.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Red Wings Reassign Zach Aston-Reese, Simon Edvinsson; Waive Austin Czarnik
04/18: Austin Czarnik has cleared waivers (Twitter link).
04/17: Detroit has also placed center Austin Czarnik on waivers for assignment to Grand Rapids, per CapFriendly. The 29-year-old mustered a lone assist in 34 NHL appearances this season, while tallying 26 points in 36 games thus far with the Griffins.
04/17: The Red Wings have sent forward Zach Aston-Reese and defenseman Simon Edvinsson back to AHL Grand Rapids. Detroit’s season ended last night with a 5-4 shootout win over the Canadiens. However, a Capitals win over the Flyers eliminated them from playoff contention and clinched the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot for Washington.
Edvinsson, the Wings’ top defense prospect along with countryman Axel Sandin Pellikka, ends his second NHL season with a goal and an assist in 16 games. Since he played nine games in 2022-23, he won’t be eligible for Calder Trophy voting next season and has lost rookie status. The 21-year-old may not have impressed with his point production, but he looked much more comfortable in major league minutes this year than last. His possession numbers reflected the improvement, posting a 47.7 CF% and 50.0 xGF% at even strength, up from 44.1% and 47.9% last season, respectively.
He’ll head back to the Griffins, who are second in the Central Division with a 35-22-8-4 record and have clinched a playoff berth for the first time in five years. Edvinsson leads their blue line with 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 52 games. His 51 PIMs are tied with Aston-Reese for fourth on the team. It’s been a strong sophomore season in Grand Rapids for the 2021 sixth-overall pick, who came over from his native Sweden in the summer of 2022 after signing his entry-level contract.
Aston-Reese ends his campaign with just three NHL appearances, his fewest since making his NHL debut in 2017-18. The former bottom-six mainstay averaged just 5:09, failing to record a point with a lone shot on goal and three hits. Two of his appearances came down the stretch with a handful of injuries to Detroit’s depth forwards, but he was a healthy scratch in their season-ending back-to-back against Montreal. The 29-year-old has been effective in a middle-six role with Grand Rapids, notching 14 goals and 29 points in 59 games with a +4 rating. He’ll be a UFA this summer after completing his one-year, two-way deal ($775K/$300K/$350K).
Jeff Carter Announces Retirement
The Penguins announced postgame that veteran center Jeff Carter is retiring after a 19-year NHL career. He’d spent the last three seasons and change in Pittsburgh, maintaining his status as a regular but slipping to bottom-six minutes as his point production and all-around game declined.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion cited family reasons as his primary reason for stepping away from the game, confirming he’ll stick around in the Pittsburgh area moving forward:
Yeah, we’re staying. We moved here in August full-time. We’ve loved it. It’s been a great fit for our family. It’s central to both our extended families. It has worked out really well.
Carter’s career began with the cross-state rival Flyers, who selected him with the 11th overall pick in 2003 as part of arguably the most star-studded first round in modern history. The now-39-year-old wouldn’t make his NHL debut for another two years, sticking around with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League while a labor lockout canceled the 2004-05 campaign. At age 21, he immediately stepped in as a solid complementary scorer, scoring 23 goals and 42 points in 2005-06 while averaging only 12:04 per game.
He was promoted to Philadelphia’s top six the following season, where he largely remained for the Flyers and three other clubs before being demoted last season. By 2008-09, he’d cemented himself as one of the better two-way centers in the league, leading a deep Flyers offense in scoring with a career-high 46 goals and 84 points, averaging nearly 21 minutes per game.
His point production trailed off marginally over the next two seasons but nonetheless remained a top-six fixture. Injuries began to take a minor toll, as he was limited to 12 appearances in the Flyers’ run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. Philly inked him to an 11-year, $58MM extension early in the 2010-11 campaign, but he would never play a game for the franchise under that deal. Then-Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had a quick case of buyer’s remorse amid his early 2010s roster-retooling, dealing Carter to the Blue Jackets for young winger Jakub Voráček, a first-round pick that became captain Sean Couturier, and a third-round pick that became depth contributor Nick Cousins.
It was a slam-dunk deal for Philly, who got 604 points and 727 games out of Voráček, 795 games and 498 points (and counting) out of Couturier, and three seasons of decent depth scoring out of Cousins. Carter played less than a full season in Columbus, as he was flipped to the Kings at the 2012 trade deadline after just 15 goals and 39 games in a Blue Jackets uniform.
His offensive peak may have been in Philadelphia, but he found the most success in Los Angeles. He posted nine points in 16 games down the stretch in 2012 before tying for the league lead with eight goals in 20 postseason games as the eight-seed Kings had one of the most dominant Cinderella runs in professional sports, winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history while going 16-4. Splitting duties with former Flyers teammate Mike Richards as some of the Kings’ primary secondary scorers behind Anže Kopitar, he returned with a vengeance in 2014, erupting for 10 goals and 25 points in 26 playoff games as L.A. captured its second championship in three years.
Carter eclipsed the 60-point mark in each of the next three seasons and was on his way to doing so again in 2017-18 until an October skate cut caused tendon damage in his lower left leg, requiring surgery and keeping him out for over four months. He was strong in limited action, posting 22 points in 27 games, but was held without a point in four playoff games as the Kings were quickly dispatched by the expansion Golden Knights in the first round.
Unfortunately, he was never the same after that. He managed 60 points combined over the following two seasons (136 games), posting a -41 rating in the process. After he was limited to eight goals and 19 points through the first 40 games of the COVID-shortened 2021 season, the retooling Kings traded the final season-and-a-half of his aforementioned extension to the Penguins for a pair of mid-round draft picks, retaining half his $5.27MM cap hit in the swap.
The move worked out well in the short-term for Pittsburgh. Carter had a resurgence in slightly increased minutes down the stretch, recording 11 points in 14 games and four goals and six playoff games as the Pens were eliminated in the first round by the Islanders. He put up 45 points the following season, his highest total in five years, but Pittsburgh was again dispatched in the first round, this time by the Rangers.
Given his mild rebound, Penguins GM Ron Hextall inked Carter to a two-year, $6.25MM extension midway through the 2021-22 campaign. Unfortunately, the unavoidable aging curve took effect sooner than they’d hoped, knocking his production down to 13 goals and 29 points last season while having his ice time slashed to its lowest since his rookie season. This year marked another significant slide, posting 11 goals and just four assists in 72 contests. He is coming off his best-ever year in the faceoff dot, winning 61.5% of his draws.
Carter’s final goal came earlier tonight in a 5-4 loss to the Isles, a power-play tally assisted by Sidney Crosby and Michael Bunting. All told, his 1,321 career games played stand alone at 63rd on the all-time list. He tallied 441 goals, 409 assists, and 850 points with a career +9 rating and captured Selke Trophy votes on four occasions (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017). His estimated career earnings to date are $76.5MM, per CapFriendly.
With Carter sticking around in Pittsburgh, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take an off-ice role in GM Kyle Dubas’ front office. PHR extends its best wishes to Carter and his family in their next chapter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Islanders Recall Ruslan Iskhakov
The Islanders have recalled forward prospect Ruslan Iskhakov from AHL Bridgeport, per a team announcement. He’s expected to make his NHL debut tonight in the Isles’ final regular-season game against the Penguins.
New York selected Iskhakov, 23, in the second round of the 2018 draft. It’s been a steady climb for the undersized Russian center since then, as he’s now solidified himself as one of the organization’s top point producers at the minor league level.
He was always going to need to put up strong numbers to have a shot at cracking the NHL. At 5’8″ and 163 lbs, he’s far from being the strongest or most aggressive player on the ice, but he’s made up for it so far with great passing and skating. Drafted out of the Russian junior circuit, Iskhakov came to North America immediately after being drafted, spending two years with UConn. He notched 21 points in 32 games each season before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, causing him to return overseas. There, he made his professional debut with TPS in the Finnish Liiga in 2020-21, tying for third on the club with 38 points (10 goals, 28 assists) in 54 games on a team that featured Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen as its backup. He stayed overseas the following year, transferring to Adler Mannheim of the Deutsch Eishockey Liga, where he was limited to 25 games but led the team in per-game scoring with 22 points.
His strong stints in European top-level hockey convinced the Isles to sign him to a two-year entry-level contract beginning last year, and he hasn’t disappointed. He’s combined for 35 goals and 101 points in 138 games with Bridgeport, leading the offensively challenged club in scoring this season. The Isles are holding star forward Mathew Barzal and a few others out of tonight’s matchup for rest, as they’re already locked into a first-round matchup with the Hurricanes.
Iskhakov is expected to skate on a line with captain Anders Lee and Jean-Gabriel Pageau in his NHL debut, per NHL.com’s Stefen Rosner. A pending RFA with arbitration rights, he’s in need of a new contract this summer. With Bridgeport eliminated from Calder Cup Playoff contention, Iskhakov could remain with the Isles during their playoff run.
Canadiens Notes: Reassignments, Offseason Plans, Slafkovsky, Caufield, Gorton
The Canadiens trimmed their roster significantly today, assigning four players to AHL Laval. Defensemen Justin Barron, Logan Mailloux and Jayden Struble, as well as forward Joshua Roy, are headed down to the minors to finish the 2023-24 season. Laval, with two games remaining, is attempting to clinch a playoff berth in the North Division.
Roy’s reassignment confirms he’s been cleared to return from an upper-body injury that kept him out of the lineup since mid-March. The 2021 fifth-round pick has quickly risen up the professional ranks, posting four goals and nine points in 23 games during his first couple of NHL stints this year. The 20-year-old was among Laval’s most effective per-game producers before being called up to the Habs, impressing in his rookie season with 13 goals and 32 points in 40 games.
Mailloux, selected in the late first round in 2021, made his NHL debut last night against the Red Wings, posting an assist and a +1 rating in 21:14 of ice time. He leads Laval defenders and is third on the team in scoring with 47 points (14 goals, 33 assists) in 70 games, his first in the professional ranks.
Barron and Struble both spent significant time on the NHL roster this season but weren’t exactly full-timers, seeing extended stints in the minors as well. The 22-year-old Barron’s season was a more even split, skating in a career-high 48 NHL games but failing to eclipse last year’s career-high of 15 points. He knocked on the door of playing top-four minutes, averaging 18:38 per game, and posted strong relative possession numbers. While he hasn’t impressed much in Laval with 11 points and a -5 rating in 30 games, his major-league showing was strong enough to keep him in consideration for an opening-night job on next season’s roster.
Like Mailloux and Roy, Struble is in his first full professional season. The 22-year-old has been on the NHL roster exclusively since November, aside from a brief reassignment to Laval on March 8 to make him eligible for minor-league playoff action. He became a bottom-pairing mainstay on the Habs’ blue line, notching 10 points in 56 games with a -3 rating while averaging 16:07 per game. He was similarly strong in limited action with Laval early this season, posting six points and a +4 rating with 29 PIMs in 12 games before heading up to Montreal.
Other updates coming from the Habs’ front office in today’s end-of-season availability:
- GM Kent Hughes made apparent to reporters today that adding on offense will be his off-season priority. The Fourth Period reports he may leverage the organization’s surplus of young defensemen to get it done rather than gunning for a top-six scoring forward on the free agent market. Eight defensemen on the NHL roster for last night’s game are already under contract for next season, not including Barron and Arber Xhekaj, who are pending RFAs. Hughes also confirmed that he doesn’t intend on taking advantage of the two buyout windows this summer to open up some cap space or part ways with a veteran (via Sportsnet’s Eric Engels). The club will have no buyouts on the books next season, with Karl Alzner‘s expiring this summer. A likely candidate would have been center Christian Dvorak, who was limited to nine points in 30 games this season with a pectoral injury and has one season left at a $4.45MM cap hit with an eight-team no-trade list.
- Sophomore winger Juraj Slafkovsky scored his 20th goal of the season last night, awarding him a $250K performance bonus. That will be applied to next season’s books as a dead cap charge, PuckPedia reports, as Montreal had already exhausted the performance bonus pool awarded to them by Carey Price‘s LTIR placement. Slafkovsky also informed reporters today he intends to represent Slovakia at the 2024 World Championship next month.
- Joining Slafkovsky at the Worlds will be star goal-scorer Cole Caufield, who’s accepted an invitation from Team USA GM Bill Guerin to play at the tournament. Caufield largely fell short of expectations this season, limited to 28 goals in 82 games after sniping 26 in only 46 contests last year. The 2019 first-round pick still finished second on the team in scoring behind Nick Suzuki, however, and has a long runway to rebound with seven years remaining on his contract with a $7.85MM cap hit.
- Habs executive VP of hockey operations Jeff Gorton was expected to draw some interest for any current or future GM vacancies that may arise this offseason, but he told reporters today, including TVA’s Renaud Lavoie, that he plans on sticking in Montreal. He was hired in November 2021 after the team relieved former GM Marc Bergevin of his duties, serving as interim GM for a few months before appointing Hughes in the role. Before joining the Habs, Gorton was the GM of the Rangers for six seasons and oversaw most of their late-2010s retool.
Hurricanes Reassign Dylan Coghlan, Max Comtois
The Hurricanes have reassigned defenseman Dylan Coghlan and winger Max Comtois to AHL Springfield and Chicago, respectively, GM Don Waddell announced today. The latter recorded an assist in his Carolina debut, a 6-3 loss to the Blue Jackets yesterday. Both were summoned yesterday to play spot duty in the Canes’ final game of the season while they rested multiple stars, including Sebastian Aho and Jaccob Slavin.
Comtois, 25, has posted 19 goals and 24 assists for 43 points in 62 games with Chicago this season, his first as a professional outside the Ducks organization. He was a second-round pick of Anaheim in 2017. He led the team in scoring during the shortened 2021 season but followed that up with 35 points and a -37 rating in 116 games over the following two years and was not given a qualifying offer when his contract expired last summer.
The Quebec native didn’t land an NHL offer in free agency and ended up in training camp with the Golden Knights on a PTO but failed to earn a contract. He signed a minor league pact with Chicago shortly thereafter, and the Canes picked up his NHL rights on a one-year, two-way contract in early March. They’ll maintain control of his signing rights this summer as a pending RFA with arbitration rights.
Coghlan, 26, is in his second season in the Carolina organization. Most of his time with the Canes has been spent in the minors, though, and yesterday was his first and only NHL appearance of the season. He was held without a point and posted a -2 rating in nearly 18 minutes of ice time. With no AHL affiliation agreement in place in 2023-24, Carolina has loaned Coghlan out to Springfield, the Blues’ top-level affiliate, for the whole season. He’s got 16 goals and 41 points in 59 games there, leading their defenders in scoring.
The former Golden Knight was trending toward being a full-time NHLer during the end of his time in Vegas, recording 13 points in 59 appearances with them in 2021-22 while averaging 14:12 per game. However, he was traded to Carolina following that season as the sweetener for them to take the final season of winger Max Pacioretty‘s contract at a $7MM cap hit. He played sparingly for the Canes last year, averaging 12:43 per game in 17 appearances, and re-signed with them at an $850K cap hit last July after reaching restricted free agency. He’ll be an RFA again this summer, his final year of such eligibility.
Senators Reassign Zack Ostapchuk, Jiri Smejkal
The Senators have begun re-staffing their minor-league affiliate after wrapping up their season with a 3-1 win over the Bruins last night. Forwards Zack Ostapchuk and Jiri Smejkal were assigned to AHL Belleville today as the B-Sens look to hold onto the fifth and final playoff berth in the North Division.
Ostapchuk, 20, was a second-round pick by the Sens in the 2021 draft. He’s had a decent professional debut with Belleville this season, recording 17 goals (fourth on the team) and 11 assists for 28 points in 66 games. The 6’4″ pivot received two post-trade deadline callups with injuries continuing to decimate Ottawa’s forward group but failed to record a point in his first seven NHL games. He took on bottom-six duties, averaging 10:30 per game, and struggled heavily in the faceoff circle (11/41, 26.8 FO%). He received no special teams usage and had a decidedly negative possession impact, posting a relative CF% of -10.3 despite receiving highly favorable offensive zone usage. It wasn’t the most promising debut, although he did get involved physically with six blocks and 13 hits.
Smejkal wraps up his first NHL season with 20 appearances after the Czech forward signed a one-year, two-way deal in free agency. The 27-year-old power winger had spent his entire career in European leagues, splitting the 2023-24 campaign between the majors and minors. He wasn’t given much of a leash by interim head coach Jacques Martin, averaging 9:29 per game in his NHL showings, but he managed two points – including his first NHL goal last night in Boston. Smejkal failed to impress much in the minors, though, posting nine goals and 22 points in 45 contests with a -7 rating. A UFA this summer, he’ll likely return overseas.