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.
Flyers Sign Massimo Rizzo To Entry-Level Deal
10:46 a.m.: Rizzo’s deal carries a $925K cap hit, per PuckPedia. That’s broken down into an $832.5K base salary and a $92.5K signing bonus each season. When assigned to the minors, he’ll earn a $70K salary.
10:19 a.m.: The Flyers announced this morning that they’ve signed center prospect Massimo Rizzo to a two-year entry-level contract beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed, nor did the team confirm if he’ll join AHL Lehigh Valley on a tryout to end the campaign.
Rizzo, 22, was selected by the Hurricanes in the seventh round of the 2019 draft but had his signing rights picked up by Philadelphia in an August 2023 trade. This was part of a complicated saga that saw the Flyers buy out the final season of defenseman Tony DeAngelo‘s two-year, $10MM contract so that he could sign with Carolina.
The Hurricanes drafted Rizzo out of Penticton in the British Columbia Hockey League, and he didn’t make his collegiate debut for the University of Denver until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He broke out in a big way with the Pioneers, averaging well north of a point per game across his three seasons there and capturing two national championships. Rizzo capped off his university career with 10 goals, 34 assists and 44 points in 30 contests this season and a +24 rating. That earned him NCHC Second All-Star Team honors, a nomination to the NCAA Second All-American Team for the West Region, and Denver’s Hobey Baker Award nominee for the top player in college hockey.
The high-skill playmaker will make a decent case to challenge for a roster spot as soon as next season, although it shouldn’t be viewed as a major disappointment if he begins 2024-25 in the minors. The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler named him the fifth-best prospect in the Flyers system in February, trailing only 2023 top-10 pick Matvei Michkov and rookie winger Bobby Brink among forwards. His ELC will expire in 2026, making him an RFA at that time.
Red Wings Sign Shai Buium To Entry-Level Deal
10:37 a.m.: Buium’s deal carries a cap hit of $925K, per PuckPedia. He’ll earn a base salary of $832.5K, a $92.5K signing bonus, and a minors salary of $80K each season.
9:48 a.m.: The Red Wings announced that defense prospect Shai Buium has signed his three-year, entry-level contract. The deal begins next season, although he’ll finish 2023-24 on an amateur tryout with AHL Grand Rapids. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Detroit selected Buium in the early second round (36th overall) of the 2021 draft. The 21-year-old turns pro after three seasons at the University of Denver, recording an assist in last weekend’s national championship game as the Pioneers won their record 10th NCAA title. He also won a championship with DU in his freshman campaign.
He doesn’t have the ceiling of his younger brother, 2024 projected top-10 pick Zeev Buium, but he’s still a legitimate prospect. He totaled 14 goals and 75 points in 120 games with Denver over the past three years with a +61 rating, including a standout 36-point, +33 rating campaign this year. The latter tied with Zeev for the fourth-best in the country, while his point total was good enough for eighth place. He was named to the NCHC All-Rookie Team in 2022 and took home conference Second All-Star Team honors this season.
A strong-skating puck-mover, Buium likely isn’t ready for NHL action yet. He’ll need at least one full season of development in Grand Rapids but should challenge for NHL call-up duty at the very least by the end of his ELC. The 6’3″, 220-lb left-shot blue-liner has a pro-ready frame, though, and there’s a good chance he could step into top-four minutes in the minors next season. He was ranked 11th in an incredibly deep Red Wings prospect pool by The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler earlier this year, who projects him to top out as a steady third-pairing piece at the NHL level.
Buium’s ELC will expire in the 2027 offseason, at which point he’ll be an RFA. The Red Wings will control his rights for three further years until he becomes automatically eligible for unrestricted free agency as a 27-year-old in 2030.
Wild Extend Marc-André Fleury
The Wild have signed netminder Marc-André Fleury to a one-year extension worth $2.5MM, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports. The contract contains a full no-move clause, per PuckPedia.
Fleury returns for his 21st NHL season, which he confirmed will be his last, as he attempts to widen the gap between him and Patrick Roy for second place on the NHL’s all-time wins list. The future Hall-of-Famer was the first overall pick by the Penguins in 2003. He immediately made the jump to the NHL – incredibly rare for a goalie – and was Pittsburgh’s undisputed starter by the time the league emerged from the 2004-05 lockout.
His time in Pittsburgh was incredibly fruitful, starting en route to their 2009 Stanley Cup win and working in tandem with Matt Murray for their 2016 and 2017 championships before heading to the Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft. There, he led Vegas to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final and captured his first and only Vezina Trophy in 2021. He was dealt to the Blackhawks for salary cap management purposes the following summer and later flipped to the Wild at the 2022 trade deadline, where he’s remained since.
The veteran was prone to a few stinker seasons once in a while, but he hasn’t truly performed at a high level since his Golden Knights days. That age-36 season in 2020-21 was truly remarkable. During the COVID-shortened season, he posted a career-high .928 SV% and 1.98 GAA with six shutouts in just 36 starts. He wasn’t bad by any stretch in the following two seasons with Chicago and Minnesota, posting a 52-39-9 record with a .908 SV% in 102 appearances in 2021-22 and 2022-23, but it was clear he was no longer cut out for a full-time starting role. Thus, he’s served in tandem with the younger Filip Gustavsson for the life of the two-year, $7MM extension he signed with Minnesota in 2022.
Fleury’s numbers were decidedly worse this season. Making only 35 starts, his fewest since 2016-17, the 39-year-old has a 17-14-5 record, 2.98 GAA, and .895 SV% entering the Wild’s final game of the season tomorrow, which he’s slated to start. He’s allowed 10.8 goals above expected this season, the worst among Wild netminders and sixth-worst in the league, per MoneyPuck. His save percentage is his worst ever, including his first couple of seasons behind a developing/rebuilding Pens team.
His extension indicates one of two possibilities for the Wild crease – either last year’s breakout star Filip Gustavsson is on the trade block after crashing down to Earth in 2023-24, or the organization doesn’t believe top goaltending prospect Jesper Wallstedt is quite ready for full-time NHL duties. Gustavsson, who has two years remaining on his deal at a $3.75MM cap hit, posted only marginally better numbers than Fleury this year, with a .899 SV% in 43 starts and two relief appearances. Wallstedt, 21, put up a .908 SV% in 43 contests behind a subpar AHL Iowa squad and ended his season on a high note, stopping 51 of 53 shots in wins this month against the Sharks and Blackhawks after conceding seven goals against the Stars in his NHL debut in January.
Awarding a declining Fleury $2.5MM after the netminder already made it clear Minnesota or retirement were his only two options next season is an arguably questionable decision by GM Bill Guerin. The club still has one season remaining of the most extreme effects of the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, which leave them with a $14.7MM dead cap charge. The Wild are now down to $5.2MM in projected cap space next season, per CapFriendly, although their roster is mostly filled out with only three open spots.
Still, a lower cap charge for Fleury would have given Guerin more flexibility to add on the free agent market this summer in an effort to get Minnesota back to the playoffs in 2025 after missing out this year. It’s much higher than last year’s comparable, all-time American wins leader Jonathan Quick coming off an inconsistent 2022-23 campaign, who earned just $825K with an additional $100K performance bonus on the open market from the Rangers.
Nonetheless, Fleury returns for his third full season with Minnesota. The Quebec native has accumulated an estimated $84.4MM in career earnings before today’s extension, per CapFriendly.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Bruins Reassign Jayson Megna
The Bruins announced that forward Jayson Megna has been returned to AHL Providence. There is no corresponding transaction.
Boston recalled Megna for the first time this season ahead of yesterday’s loss to the Senators, assigning the younger John Beecher in return and sending veteran defenseman Derek Forbort to Providence on a conditioning loan. He logged 11:45 against Ottawa but was held off the scoresheet, with two shot attempts being all he had to show for his brief season-ending NHL stint.
The 34-year-old heads back to Providence to close the season with three games left on their regular-season schedule. He’ll get some postseason action, too, as the P-Bruins have all but locked up second place in the Atlantic Division. The minor-league mainstay has been one of their best offensive talents, ranking third on the squad with 18 goals and 33 assists for 51 points in 67 games while serving as an alternate captain.
2023-24 was the journeyman’s first season in the Bruins organization after signing a one-year, two-way pact ($775K/$400K/$450K) hours after free agency opened last July. In doing so, he settled for a greatly diminished role after suiting up 55 times for the Avalanche and Ducks last season, posting two goals and eight points with a -21 rating. While a high-end offensive talent in the minors, Megna has consistently struggled to control possession in his multitude of NHL call-ups, recording a career 45.1 CF% across his 204 games.
Without an extension, he’ll hit the UFA market again in July. He’ll be a contender to land another one-year, two-way deal, although he’ll likely take a cut in his minor league and guaranteed salaries thanks to his lack of call-ups this season.
Canadiens Exercise Club Option, Extend Martin St. Louis
The Canadiens have exercised the club option on head coach Martin St. Louis‘ contract, extending their bench boss through the 2026-27 season. St. Louis’ deal was slated to expire in the summer of 2025 without the two-year option.
At 48 years old, St. Louis is one of the youngest coaches in the league. Since taking over the rebuilding Canadiens from Dominique Ducharme midway through the 2021-22 season, St. Louis has managed a 75-100-26 record. That includes guiding the Habs to a 14-19-4 finish in 2021-22 after they went 8-30-7 under Ducharme and overseeing a marginal increase from 68 points last season to 76 points this year after ending their season with back-to-back overtime/shootout losses to the Red Wings.
Speaking with reporters today, GM Kent Hughes indicated more extensions could be coming after meeting with St. Louis’ staff tomorrow. Assistant coaches Alexandre Burrows and Trevor Letowski, as well as goaltending coach Éric Raymond, are not signed for 2024-25, per Sportsnet’s Eric Engels. Hughes said he doesn’t feel the need to add a more experienced name to St. Louis’ bench and will likely keep 2023-24’s crew intact moving forward, via TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.
The Laval, Quebec, native didn’t get a chance to suit up for his hometown team during his illustrious 1,134-game NHL career, but he’s been able to make his professional coaching debut in front of one of the largest markets in the league to largely positive results. Before being named Ducharme’s interim replacement in February 2022 and being given the permanent head coach title the following offseason, St. Louis’ only NHL staff experience came as a special teams consultant with the Blue Jackets for the back half of the 2018-19 season.
He hasn’t yet been given the chance to manage a playoff-contending roster, but with a top-10 prospect pool set to continue graduating over the remainder of his extension, he should get the chance before his option expires in three years. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment this season was guiding 2022 first-overall pick Juraj Slafkovsky to a breakout sophomore campaign, ending his season with 20 goals and 50 points while playing in all 82 games. He also presided over a legitimate improvement in the team’s defense and possession play. Their overall 5-on-5 CF% jumped from 45.4 in 2022-23 to 46.3 this year, and their expected goals against per game at 5-on-5 improved from 2.37 to 2.13 while also generating more offense.
As such, Canadiens management believes St. Louis is the man to guide the franchise to their first playoff appearance in the post-Carey Price era. He’ll need an assist along the way from Hughes in constructing a capable roster, but early on in his coaching tenure, it’s clear he’s jelled with the team’s young core.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Oilers Recall Philip Broberg
The Oilers recalled blue-liner Philip Broberg yesterday night, according to a team release. Broberg, the organization’s top defense prospect, had been on assignment to AHL Bakersfield since early December.
The young Swede could now suit up in Edmonton’s final two games of the regular season with nothing left to play for. The Canucks’ 4-1 win over the Flames last night clinched the Pacific Division for Vancouver, locking the Oilers into second place. Broberg only got into 10 games early this year and was a frequent healthy scratch before being sent to the Condors, going without a point and posting poor relative possession numbers while averaging 10:36 per game.
Things went considerably better for the 22-year-old in the minors, where he flashed what made him the eighth overall selection in 2019. He’s been Bakersfield’s top defenseman at both ends of the rink, leading their blue-liners in scoring with five goals and 30 assists for 35 points in 48 games. His +9 rating is third on the squad, but would be tied for the team lead had he played in all 69 games.
This year still isn’t what Broberg envisioned after spending most of last season in the NHL, scoring a goal and seven assists in 46 games while posting an exemplary 57.5 CF% and 58.4 xGF% at even strength. He wasn’t given a shot at anything resembling top-four minutes however, averaging 12:36 per game. There’s no path to such minutes anytime soon, either. The left-shot defender is stuck behind Mattias Ekholm and Darnell Nurse, both of whom are signed through at least 2026, on Edmonton’s depth chart. 30-year-old Brett Kulak, who anchors their third pairing alongside the right-shot Vincent Desharnais, is also signed through 2026, muddying his path to NHL minutes in general.
Thus, Broberg has been the subject of plenty of trade rumors as part of a package to land more NHL-ready talent. His minor-league showing this season indicates he’s ready for another extended NHL look – whether that will come in Edmonton or another organization remains to be seen. He’s wrapping up the final season of his entry-level contract and will be an RFA this summer, although he won’t be eligible for salary arbitration until the 2025 offseason.
Islanders Sign Marshall Warren To Entry-Level Deal
The Islanders have announced the signing of free agent defenseman Marshall Warren to a two-year, entry-level contract beginning next season. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The Long Island native was a sixth-round pick of the Wild in 2019, but his exclusive signing rights expired last summer, and he became a UFA. Warren, 23 later this week, had spent four seasons with Boston College and served as their captain in 2022-23. However, he entered the transfer portal ahead of this season and landed with the University of Michigan for his graduate campaign. There, the left-shot defender was named an alternate captain and posted four goals, 14 assists, 18 points, and 30 PIMs in 41 games.
A two-way blue-liner by trade, Warren isn’t the stereotypically stout archetype the Isles tend to prefer on the back end. He’s not overly large at 6’0″ and 181 lbs and doesn’t frequently get involved in the play physically. He makes up for it with great puck skills and strong skating, which he uses as an important factor in his team transitioning the puck up the ice.
He put up solid numbers throughout his college career, totaling 24 goals and 51 assists for 75 points with a +32 rating in 171 appearances across five seasons. The Islanders will control his signing rights as an RFA when his ELC expires in 2026, and he’ll be eligible for unrestricted free agency again in the 2028 off-season.
Bruins Recall Jayson Megna; Reassign John Beecher, Derek Forbort
The Bruins announced a flurry of transactions Tuesday prior to their final game of the regular season against the Senators. Forward Jayson Megna has been recalled from AHL Providence for the first time this season, while center John Beecher was returned to the minors. Defenseman Derek Forbort was also assigned to Providence on an LTI conditioning loan as he works his way back from an undisclosed injury that’s kept him out since the trade deadline.
Megna, 34, hasn’t suited up in an NHL game in over a year, last skating on April 9, 2023, as a member of the Ducks. He’s spent the entire season with Providence after signing a two-way deal with the Bruins over the summer and clearing waivers during training camp. The Fort Lauderdale native has again produced at a high-end level in the minors, ranking third on the P-Bruins in scoring with 51 points (18 goals, 33 assists) in 67 games.
The University of Nebraska-Omaha product has been a reliable tweener forward for more than a few organizations, suiting up in over 200 NHL games for the Avalanche, Canucks, Ducks, Penguins, and Rangers since making his debut in 2013. He hasn’t been able to convert his 0.63 career points per game rate in the AHL into major league success on the scoresheet, though, limited to 12 goals and 33 points while averaging less than 11 minutes per game.
Beecher, the Bruins’ 2019 first-round pick, heads back to Providence for the first time since a brief reassignment on March 24. He’s eligible to suit up with the farm club in the Calder Cup Playoffs, so he may remain there when the postseason begins instead of coming back to the NHL roster. The 23-year-old has made 52 appearances for Boston in his first NHL campaign, doing well in the faceoff dot with a 54.6 FO% while adding seven goals and 10 points in limited minutes.
Forbort has missed more than half the season with nagging injuries, ending his regular season with 35 appearances and four assists while averaging 17:48 per game. His possession numbers improved to a +1.7 expected rating after posting a -4.0 expected rating during last season’s record-breaking campaign for the Bruins. However, his third-pairing/penalty-kill role has largely been superseded by trade-deadline acquisition Andrew Peeke. Since he’s been out of action for so long, it’s unlikely he’ll draw back into the playoff lineup when his six-day, three-game conditioning loan to Providence ends.
Maple Leafs Notes: Domi, McMann, Järnkrok, Edmundson
Maple Leafs forward Max Domi is expected to miss the final two games of the regular season, head coach Sheldon Keefe said (via David Alter of The Hockey News). It’s an undisclosed injury that’s been nagging him for a while, Keefe said, although he’s aggravated it slightly in recent outings. It’s not expected to plague him heading into the postseason, so they’ll hold him out now with a playoff spot under wraps and make sure he’s ready to go. The 29-year-old has been a late-season revelation, excelling since being bumped up to the first line alongside Auston Matthews and Tyler Bertuzzi. He’s scored just nine goals but has 47 points in 80 games on the year. 37 of his 38 assists have come at even strength, placing him inside the top 15 league-wide.
Elsewhere in Leafland:
- While there’s still a glimmer of hope for Domi to suit up in the regular-season finale Wednesday against the Lightning, the same can’t be said for Bobby McMann. His lower-body injury will keep him out of both their remaining contests, Keefe said. He also didn’t confirm McMann’s availability for Game 1 of their likely opening-round series against the Panthers, saying, “We’ll see where he’s at as that approaches” (via Mark Masters of TSN). McMann left Saturday’s overtime loss to the Red Wings after skating only four minutes. The undrafted free agent has been Toronto’s most unlikely producer, working his way up from the ECHL over the past few seasons and eventually solidifying his spot as an everyday NHLer this season. He has 15 goals and 24 points in 56 games this season, ranking ninth among Leafs forwards in points per game.
- Winger Calle Järnkrok‘s availability for Game 1 is also in doubt as he continues to recover from a hand injury. Keefe said that his status is “still to be determined, but I think he’s more in a day-to-day situation. Unfortunately, we’re running out of schedule here” (via Masters). Järnkrok was a partial participant in today’s practice and did travel with the team on their regular season-ending road trip to Florida. He hasn’t played since March 14, sustaining his second hand injury of the season after missing over a month with a knuckle fracture in February.
- Defenseman Joel Edmundson will be re-evaluated by the team’s medical staff ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Panthers, Keefe said (via Masters). The defenseman practiced today as he continues to try and shake an undisclosed injury, which Keefe called a “positive sign” for the trade deadline pickup. He’s been injured for most of his Toronto tenure, missing 10 of 18 games. When in the lineup, he’s averaged 17:56 per game with a +3 rating.