West Notes: Woodcroft, Nill, Preseason
A few months ago, many would have identified the Edmonton Oilers as a team with coaching uncertainty heading into the offseason after they fired Dave Tippett mid-season. However, after their run to the Western Conference Final this year, Jay Woodcroft would appear to have earned the confidence of the team and fanbase to continue in his role. TSN’s Darren Dreger is reporting today that Woodcroft and the Oilers continue to have ongoing discussions about a new contract this week, although there’s still more to be done.
With the Oilers yet to be linked publicly to any other coaching free agents, it’s becoming clear that the team prefers to retain Woodcroft as their head coach. It’s important to note that Woodcroft was fully named the head coach when he took over for Tippett; he was not given the interim title. Woodcroft led the Oilers on a 26-9-3 run to end the regular season in addition to their playoff run.
- One team that isn’t having such a smooth time with their coaching hiring process is the Dallas Stars. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that potential candidates are hesitant to commit to the Stars given the fact that general manager Jim Nill only has one year left on his deal. It’s understandable that when a coach commits long-term, they’d like to have a solid idea of the team’s vision for the future. With Nill’s future uncertain, Dallas’ new coach won’t have that guarantee.
- The Stars will be playing in two neutral-site preseason games come September and October. On October 1, they’ll be facing off against the St. Louis Blues at Cable Dahmer Arena in Kansas City, home of the ECHL’s Kansas City Mavericks. Before that, though, they’ll be playing the Arizona Coyotes in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on September 27, as previously announced. It marks a return to normalcy for the NHL’s regular-season preparations.
Avalanche Notes: Kuemper, Burakovsky, Kadri
The goaltending uncertainty surrounding the Colorado Avalanche entering the Stanley Cup Final appears to be resolved. Darcy Kuemper, who is now 100% healthy after leaving Game 1 of the Western Conference Final with an injury, took the morning skate today in the starters’ crease for the Avalanche. While head coach Jared Bednar declined to officially name Kuemper the starter, all signs at this juncture point to Kuemper regaining the starter’s net for Colorado tonight.
Kuemper has struggled somewhat in the playoffs up until this point, but despite his .897 save percentage, he still boasts a 6-2 record in the postseason in 10 starts. Backup Pavel Francouz, in four starts and six games played, has yet to lose a game this postseason with a 6-0 record and .906 save percentage. Kuemper’s shown the ability to elevate his game more consistently than Francouz though, and with Kuemper hopping in and out of the playoff lineup due to injury, it’s been hard to make a real judgment call on his playoff performance. With such a close margin separating the two goalies right now with Francouz’s undefeated record, expect Colorado not to hesitate to make a switch if Kuemper’s goaltending performance is subpar in Game 1. However, the 32-year-old Kuemper has had a fantastic season as a whole and has earned the right to keep his net.
- Andre Burakovsky left the morning skate early today, but Bednar says the winger is still expected to be available tonight for Game 1. Burakovsky’s had a tough playoff, missing four games due to a combination of injuries and healthy scratches, but he’s still managed five points in 10 games despite limited ice time. The 27-year-old pending free agent had a career-high 22 goals and 61 points during the regular season. Burakovsky’s expected to slot in alongside Mikko Rantanen (playing center) and Artturi Lehkonen on the second line in the absence of Nazem Kadri.
- Speaking of Kadri, Bednar notes that he and Andrew Cogliano are both listed as day-to-day after suffering injuries during the Western Conference Final. Neither is expected to play tonight, but as the Tampa Bay Lightning get healthier with the return of Brayden Point, the team is anxious for them to return.
Ottawa Senators Sign Dylan Gambrell To Extension
Forward Dylan Gambrell has agreed to a one-year extension with the Ottawa Senators, as announced today by the team. The deal carries a cap hit of $950,000 and will make him a restricted free agent again in 2023.
Ottawa acquired Gambrell from the San Jose Sharks a few weeks into the 2021-22 season in exchange for a 2022 seventh-round pick for some additional forward depth. San Jose’s second-round selection in 2016 didn’t exactly pan out in Ottawa either, scoring just three goals, four assists, and seven points in 63 games. Aside from the games played, those were all career lows for Gambrell in a full NHL season, of which this was his third.
Gambrell is a decent defensive specialist and could succeed alongside offensively-inclined linemates in a limited role, but he’s struggled considerably in pretty much every other area of the game at the NHL level. It’s certainly not anywhere close to the upside Gambrell had when the Sharks drafted him after his 47-point freshman season at the University of Denver.
The Washington native will stick around in Ottawa for another season, likely in a mirrored role to last season.
Columbus Blue Jackets Extend Daniil Tarasov
A promising young goalie is under contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets for the next three years. The team announced a three-year extension for Daniil Tarasov today worth $3.15MM, paying him $1.05MM per season. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reports that the deal pays Tarasov $750,000 in 2022-23, $1.05MM in 2023-24, and $1.35MM in 2024-25.
Just 23 years old, Tarasov had a .937 save percentage and 2.40 goals-against average in his first four NHL games last season before suffering a season-ending hip injury. In 11 games with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, Tarasov also had a 5-3-4 record, 3.06 goals-against average, and .893 save percentage. The Blue Jackets took Tarasov in the third round, 86th overall, in the 2017 draft.
A multi-year, seven-figure commitment seems like a lot for a netminder who’s played less than five NHL games and is looking for his first NHL win. However, Tarasov’s put together an impressive professional career over the past few seasons despite the lack of NHL experience. He emerged as a full-time starter for Ässät in the Liiga at just 21 years old in 2019-20, playing in 41 games with a .899 save percentage and 11-17-9 record for the Finnish team. Columbus loaned him back to his native Russia in 2020-21, where Tarasov exploded for a .925 save percentage and 11-3-2 record for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL.
Tarasov is still waivers-exempt, meaning the team can safely send him back to AHL Cleveland if they desire. Yet, the worth of the deal and its one-way nature could indicate that the team views him as an NHL option next season as the backup to Elvis Merzlikins, or at least working as a team of three with Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo. Korpisalo only has one season remaining on his deal with a $1.3MM cap hit, so it’s entirely likely the team could opt to trade him this offseason and open the door for Tarasov full-time.
Again, that’s still a risky move considering Tarasov’s inexperience at the NHL level, but he remains one of the better goalie prospects in the league.
Latest on John Tortorella
After John Tortorella and the Columbus Blue Jackets mutually parted ways after the 2020-21 season, it was unclear whether Tortorella would return to coaching in the NHL. The now 63-year-old coach had been in NHL roles for what seems like forever, getting his start as an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres in 1989. When he made the move to broadcasting, joining ESPN’s NHL coverage for the 2021-22 campaign, some had thought that signaled the end of his lengthy coaching career.
It now seems that Tortorella will be back in the fold next season. Tortorella reportedly interviewed with the Philadelphia Flyers for their head coaching vacancy in late May, and the fit between the coach’s infamous personality and the team’s historically aggressive identity seemed just too perfect. After a few weeks, the Flyers have zeroed in on Tortorella as their top finalist, with ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reporting late last night that the team had offered the position to Tortorella. He also noted that there were “more negotiations required for the deal to be completed,” which TSN’s Pierre LeBrun says will take place Thursday.
There’s some fair criticism of the Flyers for choosing an option with such an old-school approach in a league that’s evolving more every season. Tortorella went viral for some of his quips on ESPN this past season, including chastising Anaheim Ducks forward Trevor Zegras for his lacrosse pass to Sonny Milano for a goal early in the season and saying that Connor McDavid would have to change his game for the Edmonton Oilers to win in the playoffs, which didn’t age well. It’s fair to wonder if that’s the right voice in the room for the Flyers, who, as their core continues to age past its prime, need to focus on the development of their existing prospects in order to be competitive.
However, Tortorella does have a track record of success that’s impossible to ignore. His time with the Columbus Blue Jackets gives the most accurate picture of the coach the Flyers might get, and there are definitely some good takeaways there. Aside from guiding the team to their first playoff series win in franchise history (against a historically great Tampa Bay Lightning squad), he showed an ability to cool his temper and adapt that he hasn’t shown in past jobs. However, he did have some pretty notable rifts with younger players, especially Pierre-Luc Dubois. The Flyers can ill-afford to botch prospect development at this point.
If Tortorella does complete negotiations with the Flyers and takes the job, he’ll be one of the most interesting stories to watch in the NHL for the 2022-23 season.
Vegas Golden Knights Hire Bruce Cassidy
The Vegas Golden Knights have officially named Bruce Cassidy as the third head coach in franchise history. GM Kelly McCrimmon released the following statement about his new bench boss:
The Golden Knights are very pleased to have Bruce come in to coach our team. His success in Boston over six years is extremely impressive. His teams have had a clear identity, having been among the very best in the NHL in terms of goals for, goals against, goal differential and special teams. This is the right coach for our team at this time.
Vegas’ head coaching vacancy opened up when the team fired Peter DeBoer on May 16 after they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Cassidy met a similar fate last week, despite his Bruins taking the Metropolitan Division champion Carolina Hurricanes to seven games in their First Round series.
Cassidy had an incredibly successful five-and-a-half-season stretch in Boston, and he’ll look to bring that consistency to the Golden Knights. The 57-year-old Ottawa native brings an Eastern Conference title in 2019 under his belt as well as a consistent regular-season track record. The worst points percentage a Bruins team had under Cassidy was .652, a mark they hit in 2018-19, 2020-21, and 2021-22. That’s a 107-point pace over a full 82-game season. It was an unexpected firing, to say the least, and the Golden Knights hope they’ve capitalized on another team’s seemingly poor decision.
The veteran of 509 games as an NHL coach instantly became one of the elite names on the coaching market this offseason alongside DeBoer and former New York Islanders bench boss Barry Trotz. Cassidy had multiple suitors, but the Golden Knights were the first to focus on Cassidy as their top candidate. He’s got a history of managing a top line that’s terrorized opponents, something the Golden Knights hope they can replicate with a trio of Max Pacioretty, Jack Eichel, and Mark Stone. With arguably a better supporting forward cast in Vegas than Cassidy had in Boston, at least on the wings, the Knights hope Cassidy can help guide a healthy team back to elite status.
ESPN’s Kevin Weekes was the first to report that Vegas would be hiring Cassidy.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Dallas Stars Sign Fredrik Karlstrom To Contract Extension
An intriguing youngster has re-upped his contract with the Dallas Stars. The team has signed forward Fredrik Karlstrom to a one-year, two-way contract extension for the 2022-23 season. Financial terms are unavailable at this time.
A native of Stockholm, the 24-year-old forward was Dallas’ third-round (90th overall) selection in the 2016 draft. After signing his entry-level contract in 2020, the team loaned him back to the SHL’s Växjö Lakers, where he netted five goals and 10 points in 14 games en route to the league championship. He came over to North America for the first time this season, playing in three games with the Stars and getting his first NHL assist on April 21, 2022, in a game against the Calgary Flames. The two-way center prospect also had 16 goals, 13 assists, and 29 points in 65 games with AHL Texas.
Karlstrom will likely return to Texas again for the most part next season but has shown that he’s an option for an NHL call-up. A stronger AHL season in 2022-23 could force the organization to pencil him in as a candidate for a bottom-six role full-time in the NHL moving forward.
Montreal Canadiens Bring Back Otto Leskinen
The Montreal Canadiens are bringing a familiar face back to the organization. Montreal announced today they’ve agreed to terms with defenseman Otto Leskinen on a one-year, two-way contract, paying him the league-minimum $750,000 at the NHL level and $300,000 at the minor-league level.
It’s the second time Leskinen has signed with the Canadiens as a free agent. The native of Pieksämäki, Finland, spent the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons in the Canadiens organization before he returned to Finland for 2021-22. He played six games with Montreal at the NHL level over those two years.
He returns to North America after a triumphant return to his native Finland last season. Starting the season with Jokerit Helsinki of the KHL, Leskinen left mid-season and joined Tappara in the Liiga for the stretch run, notching eight points in 10 regular-season games and 10 points in 15 playoff games en route to a league championship.
The 25-year-old will play a prominent role in AHL Laval next season in all likelihood, but he’s also solid injury insurance and a good call-up option if things go awry on the back end for Montreal. Leskinen will again be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.
Los Angeles Kings Extend T.J. Tynan
The Los Angeles Kings announced this morning that the team signed forward T.J. Tynan to a two-year contract extension worth $1.575MM ($787,500 per season), expiring in 2023-24. According to PuckPedia, Tynan will make $800,000 in NHL salary in 2022-23, along with a $500,000 minors salary and $525,000 in guaranteed salary. In 2023-24, the contract is a one-way deal earning him $775,000.
Now 30 years old, Tynan is one of the best definitions of a “tweener” — a player who excels at the minor-league level but can’t put sustained success together in the NHL. To say Tynan excels at the AHL level would be an understatement — he’s a one-time Calder Cup champion with the Lake Erie Monsters (2016) and the back-to-back AHL MVP. He was second in the entire league in scoring this season, scoring 14 goals, and leading the league with 84 assists for 98 points in 62 games. With all that success, though, Tynan has just one assist in 21 career NHL games.
He’ll stay around in the Kings organization, though, helping the team develop their prospects through their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Tynan is a good role model for young players offensively, as he plays a smart, versatile game that allows him to succeed as a playmaker and a penalty killer.
Appearing at the World Championships this year for the United States, Tynan managed a strong five assists in six games.
Florida Panthers Sign Anton Levtchi
The Florida Panthers have made another splash in the European free-agent class. The team announced the signing of Finnish forward Anton Levtchi to a one-year, entry-level contract. CapFriendly notes that Levtchi’s two-way deal carries a cap hit of $842,500, and he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Levtchi, 26, has spent his entire hockey career in his native Finland. Not only that, he’s spent his whole career with the same club — Tappara, all the way from playing with their U16 club starting in 2010-11 up to now, where Levtchi is now a six-year Liiga veteran. Levtchi was the leading scorer in the entire league last season, tied for the league lead in goals (26) and leading the league in points (61) by a margin of two. He had a banner 2021-22 season, guiding Tappara to the league title with 10 points in 14 playoff games as well.
He joins a Florida team that should be complementary to his skilled game. Whether or not he carves out a regular lineup spot on one of the best teams in the world remains to be seen, but he’ll certainly provide cheap, skilled, capable depth for a cap-strapped Panthers squad.