Winnipeg Jets Sign Morgan Barron
The Winnipeg Jets signed restricted free agent forward Morgan Barron to a two-year contract today, the team announced via press release. The contract is worth $2.7MM and carries a cap hit and average annual value of $1.35MM.
It’s a nice bit of work for the two sides, who avoid arbitration with the two-year pact. The Jets still have quite a bit of work to do with Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari and Logan Stanley needing new deals, but it’s a good dent in their remaining offseason work.
The 24-year-old forward is coming off a career year in 2022-23, setting career-highs in goals (eight), assists (13) and points (21) while transforming into an everyday NHLer for the first time, skating in 70 regular season games for the Jets. As part of the trade return for Andrew Copp at the 2022 trade deadline from the Rangers, Barron looks to develop into a solid bottom-six forward who could have staying power in Winnipeg. He also appeared in all five games of Winnipeg’s first-round playoff loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Barron will look to build on those offensive totals next season, although he’s likely to start the campaign in a fourth-line role. A healthy Cole Perfetti, plus full seasons from depth players like Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter, likely push him down the depth chart slightly, although he’s shown the ability to be effective in a limited role.
Boston Bruins Sign Three Players
The Boston Bruins signed a trio of restricted free agents to one-year, two-way contracts today, per a team announcement. Goaltender Michael DiPietro, defenseman Alec Regula and defenseman Reilly Walsh all agreed to deals with $775K cap hits.
In doing so, the Bruins have retained some notable depth pieces for the AHL’s Providence Bruins, and they’ve also taken care of business with all their restricted free agents aside from their two pending arbitration cases – forward Trent Frederic and goalie Jeremy Swayman.
DiPietro will get another shot at trying to work his way up the organizational ladder after coming over from the Vancouver Canucks via trade last year. Once regarded as one of the better goalie prospects in the league, some perceived rushed development on Vancouver’s part, as well as limited play during the COVID-19 pandemic, significantly stunted the 24-year-old’s development. Boston decided to assign DiPietro to the ECHL’s Maine Mariners for most of last season, where he regained some confidence by compiling a 19-9-0 record with a 2.61 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in 29 games. PuckPedia later added DiPietro’s minor-league salary will be $80K.
Regula recently came over to the Bruins from the Chicago Blackhawks as part of the trade return for winger Taylor Hall. The 22-year-old is now in his third NHL organization after being selected 67th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 2018, but he’s shown good defensive upside during his time in the minors and has 22 NHL games under his belt with the Blackhawks. The 6-foot-4, 218-pound right-shot defender put up five goals, 16 assists and 21 points in 51 games for the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs last year.
Walsh also arrived in Boston via trade this summer, coming over from the New Jersey Devils in a minor swap nearly a month ago. At 24, Walsh immediately became one of the more promising young defenders in the Bruins’ system, and he’ll be one of Boston’s first call-up options (along with Regula) if injuries strike. He’s displayed solid two-way skills in the minors, recording nine goals, 32 assists and 41 points in 71 games with the AHL’s Utica Comets last year. He does have one NHL game under his belt, recording an assist in his lone appearance with the Devils in 2021-22.
All three players are slated to become restricted free agents with arbitration rights at the season’s end.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Linus Weissbach
The Buffalo Sabres signed left wing Linus Weissbach to a one-year, two-way contract today, the team said in a release. Weissbach’s new deal carries a $775K cap hit; however, the team did not disclose the complete structure of his contract.
With no pending arbitration cases, Weissbach was Buffalo’s last unsigned restricted free agent. Weissbach was eligible for arbitration but chose not to file.
The Swedish winger had quite a solid sophomore campaign with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, finishing fourth on the team with 47 points in 69 regular-season games last season and recording his first 20-goal campaign in the pros. He added on three goals, seven assists and ten points in 12 games of postseason play as the Americans advanced to the Eastern Conference Final, losing to the eventual Calder Cup champion, the Hershey Bears.
At 25 years old, Weissbach is a bonafide top-six AHL winger. How much farther he can rise from there remains to be seen. Still, his high-energy play and consistent forechecking earned him a qualifying offer last month and at least one more season of action in the Sabres organization.
Getting any games played within the organization out of a seventh-round pick is generally a victory for a team’s scouting department, and it’s fair to say the Sabres’ scouts can be happy with their choice after selecting Weissbach 192nd overall in 2017. The 5-foot-10 winger has gathered 84 points in 136 games over two seasons in Rochester after a successful four-year stay at the University of Wisconsin, where he earned Big Ten All-Rookie honors in 2017-18 and an All-Star team nod in 2020-21.
Snapshots: Blues, Lightning, Coyotes
Settling with Alexey Toropchenko today gave the St. Louis Blues come salary cap flexibility, says CapFriendly. Much like the Philadelphia Flyers did with Anthony DeAngelo, settling with Toropchenko, the Blues’ last remaining player who had filed for arbitration, opens a second buyout window for the team, which will open in three days and last for 48 hours. The rules for this unique buyout are limited, though – a player must have been on their reserve list at the trade deadline and must carry a cap hit of at least $4MM.
The Blues are cap-compliant but barely – CapFriendly projects them with roughly $290K in space with a full 23-player roster. They’ve expressed a clear desire to move out one of their aging top-four defensemen via trade, but nothing’s manifested yet, and it’s becoming less and less likely as the offseason trods on. It’s entirely possible general manager Doug Armstrong could choose to execute a buyout for someone like Nick Leddy, who’s struggled during his time in St. Louis and carries a $4MM cap hit through 2026. It would be a hefty buyout, running through 2028-29, but it wouldn’t carry a cap penalty of more than $2MM in any of the six seasons – it might be appealing.
More from around the NHL this weekend:
- The Tampa Bay Lightning are also granted a second buyout window after settling with forward Tanner Jeannot before arbitration. The team has cut costs wherever possible, but they still have less than $1MM in cap space, even taking into account Brent Seabrook‘s long-term injured reserve relief. Unfortunately for them, there are no possible candidates here – all of their players carrying a cap hit of $4MM are core parts of the team and won’t be considered for a buyout. General manager Julien BriseBois is prepping for another long season of cap management on a day-to-day basis.
- PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan today offered updates on a pair of Arizona Coyotes RFA forwards – Jan Jenik and Jack McBain. Morgan notes that Jenik’s deadline to accept his qualifying offer passed yesterday, meaning the team now has to negotiate a new deal with him to return to the desert. The 22-year-old was a 2018 third-round pick and notched 23 points in 30 games with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners last season. Morgan also notes that there hasn’t been any progress between the Coyotes and McBain on a new contract with his arbitration hearing looming at the end of the month, although they still have about two weeks to come to a deal before the hearing.
Minnesota Wild Avoid Arbitration With Brandon Duhaime
It appears the Minnesota Wild and winger Brandon Duhaime have worked out a deal before their arbitration hearing, which was set for Thursday. The two sides have agreed to terms on a one-year deal worth $1.1MM, the team announced Sunday.
The one-year deal will walk Duhaime to unrestricted free agency next summer. A 2016 fourth-round pick of the Wild, Duhaime made his NHL debut early in 2021-22 and hasn’t looked back – he’s played 131 games over the past two seasons with the Wild and has avoided assignment to the minors. He’s demonstrated solid consistency and defensive awareness, leading to an everyday role in the lineup when healthy.
He gets some nice seven-figure compensation because of that, and the Wild get some much-needed financial certainty out of the way without risking an arbitration ruling that could upset their delicate dance with the salary cap’s Upper Limit. CapFriendly does list the Wild with just over $7MM in projected cap space after signing Duhaime, but that’s with just 11 forwards and new contracts needed for Filip Gustavsson and Calen Addison.
While it’ll be close, getting Duhaime locked in for next season under $1.5MM is a solid win for general manager Bill Guerin. It should spare him enough room to get the Gustavsson and Addison extensions done, albeit likely short-term, and keep a core together that’s gotten the Wild to the playoffs in four straight seasons.
Duhaime finished last season with nine goals and one assist in 56 games.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the Wild and Duhaime had reached a deal.
Anaheim Ducks Extend Lukas Dostal
The Anaheim Ducks got an essential bit of business done today, locking in their presumed backup netminder (and potentially soon-to-be-starter) to a contract for the next two years. 23-year-old Lukas Dostal has signed a deal carrying a two-way structure in 2023-24 and a one-way structure in 2024-25. Per The Athletic’s Eric Stephens, Dostal will earn $775K in the NHL and $325K in the AHL in the first year while earning $850K in the NHL in the second year. The deal carries a cap hit of $812.5K.
Anaheim’s third-round pick in 2018, Dostal has rocketed up goalie prospect ranking boards in recent years thanks to some dominant performances in the minors and pro leagues overseas. The Czech-born netminder has quite the career resume already, winning the Urpo Ylonen Award for the best goalie in the Finnish Liiga in 2019-20 after he posted a 1.78 goals-against average, .928 save percentage, three shutouts, and a 27-8-6 record in 43 games with Ilves while on loan from the Ducks.
He’s since posted a .915 save percentage in 98 games with the AHL’s San Diego Gulls over the past three seasons since coming to North America, good numbers for a young netminder behind a team that failed to finish above the .500 mark in two out of the last three years. He got an extended NHL look last season after injuries took down John Gibson and Anthony Stolarz, recording a .901 save percentage in 19 games behind one of the weakest defensive teams in recent memory.
With Stolarz departing the organization for the Florida Panthers in free agency, the path is clear for Dostal to remain in the NHL full-time next season, and they’ll have him there at an affordable cap hit. Dostal will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in 2025.
Arizona Coyotes Sign Ivan Prosvetov
The Arizona Coyotes have locked in one of their few remaining restricted free agents, signing netminder Ivan Prosvetov to a one-year, two-way contract, per the team. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Prosvetov, 24, was eligible for salary arbitration but did not file. The 2018 fourth-round pick now has four pro seasons under his belt with the Coyotes organization after coming up through both the Russian and North American junior hockey circuits.
The Moscow-born netminder took a step in the right direction with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners last season, posting stronger numbers after a pair of middling campaigns. His 3.06 goals-against average and .900 save percentage were his best since his rookie season when Prosvetov registered a .909 save percentage in 27 games in 2019-20.
Prosvetov’s numbers in the minors haven’t been terribly encouraging, but to be fair, the Roadrunners haven’t put the strongest team on the ice in the past few seasons. The team has a combined record of just 56-92-18 over the past three campaigns, reflecting the struggles of their parent club during that time.
After earning limited NHL action in each of the past three seasons with the Coyotes, Prosvetov firmly holds the third spot on the organization’s goalie depth chart behind Karel Vejmelka and Connor Ingram. He’ll likely see a handful of games with the Coyotes again next season, whether it be due to injury or a performance-warranted callup from Tucson.
Ondrej Kase Signs In Czechia
After dealing with significant concussion issues throughout his career and playing just one game in 2022-23, Czech winger Ondrej Kase is healthy enough to continue his pro career. It will be overseas, however, as he’s returning home to Czechia on a one-year deal with Extraliga club HC Litvinov.
Kase was expected to be a solid depth contributor for the Carolina Hurricanes last season after recording 14 goals and 27 points in 50 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021-22. However, another concussion limited him to just a handful of NHL games for the second time in three seasons, leaving his playing future in significant doubt.
The 27-year-old returns to Czechia after playing 258 NHL games across seven seasons, a North American career cut much too short by those concussion issues. When healthy, especially early in his career with the Anaheim Ducks, he showed flashes of actual top-six upside. However, he was never healthy for a long enough period to round out his game and develop properly.
It makes sense that Kase would want to return home, now playing on the same team as his brother, David Kase. It’s been a trying few years for Kase since coming over to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls in 2015, and he’ll look to, first and foremost, maintain good health while assumedly playing out his pro hockey days overseas.
Kase’s last experience in the Czech pro hockey circuit came in 2014-15 when he registered 21 points in 37 games with second-tier club Pirati Chomutov. He immediately becomes the highest-profile player on Litvinov and the only one with any extended NHL experience.
Free Agent Profile: Vladimir Tarasenko
This year’s free agent market was a tough one to gauge for teams and players alike. Another year of a tight salary cap situation for most teams, along with a relatively weak class of UFAs, made for some interesting decisions. Take gritty winger, Tyler Bertuzzi, for example. He didn’t get far into extension discussions with the cap-strapped Boston Bruins because he wanted a long-term deal but signed a one-year pact with the Toronto Maple Leafs just a few days into free agency.
But perhaps no player misread the market more than Vladimir Tarasenko, leading to the two-time All-Star being available on the market over two weeks into free agency. While he was reportedly close to a deal with the Carolina Hurricanes earlier in the month, he changed his representation less than a week after July 1, restarting the clock on all pending negotiations. After a bit of a down season, scoring just 18 goals in 69 games split between the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers, the 31-year-old likely didn’t get any offers reflecting the level of commitment he was expecting.
Why teams wouldn’t want to take a longer-term gamble on the 2019 Stanley Cup champion is understandable. Shoulder injuries limited him to 34 games combined in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons. While a return to form in 2021-22 (34 goals and 82 points in 75 games) revitalized his stock, a tough season for him (and the Blues) last year lowered it again, and his post-deadline stint with the Rangers wasn’t at his previous elite goal-scoring level, either.
Still, he is a six-time 30-goal scorer and brings a winning pedigree. He’s worth a spot in almost any team’s top six, although slightly sheltered minutes wouldn’t hurt. With Patrick Kane, the other marquee winger still on the market, not expected to sign until closer to the start of next season, Tarasenko is the best player available for teams looking to add a forward.
Stats
2022-23: 69 GP, 18-32-50, -14 rating, 8 PIMs, 169 shots on goal, 45.7% CF, 16:48 ATOI
Career: 675 GP, 270-304-574, +61 rating, 185 PIMs, 2,124 shots on goal, 52.5% CF, 17:27 ATOI
Potential Suitors
At his age, the likelihood of Tarasenko earning a long-term pact after betting on himself this season is small. Knowing he isn’t getting the compensation he initially set out to receive this summer, signing somewhere that gives him a chance to win a second Stanley Cup will likely be at the top of his mind.
The Hurricanes still give him the best shot of doing just that. Whether it can financially come to fruition, though, is another question. Carolina’s already backed out of one widely-reported transaction this summer, forcing the Philadelphia Flyers to go the buyout route with defenseman Anthony DeAngelo instead of re-acquiring him at half-price. The team is reportedly in discussions with the San Jose Sharks about acquiring reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, and top-four shutdown defender Brett Pesce remains without a contract extension. There are many moving parts still to come with Carolina, leaving a lot of uncertainty about their ability to fit in another UFA signing under the salary cap after signing Michael Bunting and Dmitry Orlov earlier in the month. Still, Tarasenko would add to what’s already one of the most terrifyingly deep forward groups in the league and, if healthy, could provide the sniper element sorely missing from their recent string of playoff runs.
Another team connected to Tarasenko is the Ottawa Senators, who have an Alex DeBrincat-sized hole in their top six after trading the young winger to the Detroit Red Wings. There are similar financial holdups there, though, as CapFriendly lists them with roughly $5MM in projected space for next season while still needing a new contract for center Shane Pinto. Receiving Dominik Kubalik in return from Detroit gives Ottawa a solid secondary scoring option. Still, he’s been quite streaky throughout his brief NHL career, and Tarasenko provides a high-end, veteran backup option if Kubalik doesn’t pan out in Canada’s capital. Ottawa is a team hungry to make their postseason appearance in six years, and adding Tarasenko could push them right back into the conversation of playoff hopefuls in the Atlantic Division.
The New York Rangers would also love to have Tarasenko back in the fold as a more experienced, higher-ceiling scoring option than some of their other depth names, but they’re in a more dire financial situation than both Carolina and Ottawa. Finding a way to move out or reduce Barclay Goodrow‘s cap hit ($3.64MM through 2026-27) could open up some options for them, though.
Projected Contract
Unfortunately for Tarasenko, playing the waiting game has likely cost him a lot of cash in a tight market. Don’t expect him to sign a deal much longer than three seasons when he does sign, and it could very well come in under the $5MM mark per season, given the lack of financial flexibility available among contenders.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
St. Louis Blues Settle With Alexey Toropchenko
The St. Louis Blues have settled on a new contract with forward Alexey Toropchenko before his arbitration hearing next Thursday, the team announced this morning. His new deal will keep him in St. Louis for two more seasons and carry a cap hit of $1.25MM, earning him $2.5MM in total.
Toropchenko was St. Louis’ last unsigned restricted free agent. It’s a good thing they don’t have more off-season business to handle, as CapFriendly listed the Blues with just $810K in projected cap space before Toropchenko signed.
However, that figure assumes a roster of 14 forwards and eight defensemen, one player over the 23-person roster limit. They’ll get cap-compliant by assigning someone to the minors or trading one of their multiple defenders rumored to be on the trade block.
For Toropchenko, this is a nice pay bump after the 24-year-old winger made the league-minimum salary on a two-way deal last season. Drafted 113th overall in 2017, Toropchenko set career highs across the board in 2022-23, recording ten goals, nine assists, 19 points, and a +6 rating in 69 games played.
Head coach Craig Berube primarily utilized Toropchenko in a fourth-line role last year, and he’s likely to do so again. The Blues bolstered their forward corps over the last few months of 2022-23 with the additions of Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrana, and they also acquired Kevin Hayes from the Philadelphia Flyers via trade last month, mainly filling up their top nine.
Toropchenko did post strong defensive metrics in that limited role, and he uses his 6-foot-3 frame to his advantage when forechecking. While it’s unlikely he’ll ever reach a top-six role, there’s a lot to like about his game in his limited role.
He’ll be a restricted free agent once again when his new contract expires in 2025, although he’ll be just one year away from unrestricted free agency.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the new contract.