Canadian Notes: Tkachuk, Brown, Tullio
Training camps are mere days away for all 32 teams in the NHL now as we enter the second week of September. The upcoming season comes with an added sense of anticipation for Canadian teams, some of which will have fans in the stands for the first time since March of 2020. One team with signs of promise this year is the Ottawa Senators, who seemed to catch lightning in a bottle at the end of last season and went on an unexpected run to finish 23rd in the league. A huge reason for that success was Brady Tkachuk, who remains without a contract heading into the 2021-22 campaign. TSN’s Shawn Simpson now reports that Tkachuk won’t travel back to Ottawa until a contract is done and that no progress has been made since it was reported that the team and player were at a deadlock. The 21-year-old American has been the epitome of consistency since breaking into the league with Ottawa, making himself an integral part of the team and a potential candidate for the captaincy. His importance on and off the ice can’t be understated, and this situation dragging out into the camp and the season will surely negatively affect the team’s performance.
More from around Canada:
- An additional report from Shawn Simpson regards the future of prospect Logan Brown. While he’s been involved in many trade discussions recently, he won’t be returning to Ottawa this season no matter what. If a deal can’t be reached, it’s likely the 23-year-old will play the season in Sweden and continue his development there. Drafted 11th overall in 2016, Brown’s only received limited looks at the NHL level, scoring nine points in 30 career games (only played in one game this season). More ice time in a professional setting could do wonders to spark his career moving forward.
- The Edmonton Oilers announced this morning that they’ve signed forward Tyler Tullio to his entry-level contract. Tullio, a fifth-round selection of the team in 2020, was one of many players affected by the OHL’s shutdown last season due to COVID-19. He’ll be returning to the Oshawa Generals this season in all likelihood, looking to build on his 66 points in 62 games that he scored during his draft year. He did show immense promise on loan overseas this season, scoring 13 points in 19 games with HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas in the Slovakian Extraliga. Per PuckPedia, the three-year entry-level deal has a cap hit of $843,000.
Toronto Marlies Hire Hannu Toivonen, Troy Paquette
The Toronto Marlies have made a duo of coaching hires today. Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun reports that the team will bring on Hannu Toivonen as their goalie coach and Troy Paquette as their video coach.
Toivonen’s a name that will likely ring a bell for some. Drafted by the Boston Bruins in the first round in 2002, Toivonen could never stick around at the NHL level despite strong showings early in his career in the AHL. Toivonen’s NHL career lasted just three seasons between 2005 and 2008, but he continued playing overseas and in minor leagues until his retirement just recently in 2019. After taking 2019-20 off, Toivonen got his first coaching gig as a goalie coach with the University of New England last season. He’ll now join the Marlies as his first professional coaching job, looking to make an impact with prospects such as Joseph Woll, Ian Scott, and Erik Kallgren.
The hire of Toivonen comes after the Marlies quickly announced and renounced the hiring of Dusty Imoo last month after social media backlash.
Paquette is somewhat of an early bloomer in the coaching world at just 25 years old. A former goalie, Paquette never played at a level higher than junior hockey with his last game action in 2015-16. However, this will be Paquette’s fourth season already as a video coach. He’s been with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs for the past three years, as well as serving as the goalie coach for Queen’s University the past two seasons.
Canadiens Notes: Kotkaniemi, Roster Moves, Captaincy
The Montreal Canadiens held a press conference this morning with general manager Marc Bergevin to discuss the loss of Jesperi Kotkaniemi and the subsequent acquisition of Christian Dvorak. Bergevin gave information on multiple aspects of the situation that had evolved over the past week, as well as some other pressing questions that Montreal’s offseason inferred. In terms of the Kotkaniemi negotiations, though, Bergevin mentioned that they were discussing a two-year bridge deal with the 21-year-old Finnish forward. While he didn’t mention any specific financial terms, it’s hard to believe that the total value of the contract would’ve eclipsed the $6.1MM he received from the Hurricanes, let alone the average annual value. A two-year bridge deal would still have left Kotkaniemi with two seasons of RFA eligibility, only taking him through his age 23 season.
More from today’s Habs press conference:
- Montreal’s roster is extremely unlikely to change before training camp, Bergevin admitted today. The statement doesn’t come as a surprise to many, as Montreal sits only $1.1MM away from the amount of which they’ll be able to exceed the salary cap’s Upper Limit when Paul Byron is removed from long-term injured reserve. Considering Montreal’s playoff hopes, salary cap flexibility at this year’s trade deadline will likely be of utmost importance to the squad. The team does still have five available contract slots, though, so signings for minor-league depth shouldn’t be completely ruled out just yet.
- Bergevin also confirmed today that the Montreal Canadiens won’t name an interim captain this season. Questions have been raised about the situation ever since it was announced that captain Shea Weber would miss the entire 2021-22 season (and potentially more) with injury. Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron remain as alternate captains into the 2021-22 season, but the Canadiens are likely to name a third assistant and potentially fourth to compensate for Weber’s and Byron’s absences. Tyler Toffoli‘s and Jeff Petry‘s experience and leadership skills make them likely candidates for the titles.
Minor Transactions: 09/06/21
While the NHL season is still a few weeks away from commencing, many European leagues are in the process of starting their regular seasons as we speak. With those starts come a flurry of roster moves, and we’ll keep track of those here today.
- Martin Reway, a former fourth-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens in 2013, has been released by HC Kosice of the Slovakian Extraliga, Slovakian outlet Sportnet reports. Reway no longer remains on Montreal’s reserve list after the team terminated his entry-level contract on October 29, 2017. Reway had played just five professional games in North America at the time, scoring two points in five games with the AHL’s Laval Rocket after missing the entire 2016-17 campaign. Reway’s shown the ability to produce at every level, including his 30 points in 39 games with Kosice just last season. While unlikely he’ll be a factor at the NHL level, it’s unknown whether Reway is interested in a return to North America.
- HC Plzen of the Czech Extraliga announced the signing of winger Martins Dzierkals to a one-year contract. The 24-year-old spent last season in the KHL, notching 24 points in 52 games with Dinamo Riga. Dzierkals’ NHL rights were traded to Vegas as part of the Robin Lehner move back in 2020 and the Golden Knights continue to hold his rights.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Denis Malgin Signs In Switzerland
Forward Denis Malgin has signed a four-year contract with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League, the team announced early this morning. Taking him through the 2024-25 season, the announcement means we’ve seen the last of Malgin in the NHL for a solid bit of time.
Malgin spent last year under contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs but played the entire season on loan in the Swiss league with Lausanne HC. His last NHL action came in 2019-20, splitting the season between the Florida Panthers and the Maple Leafs. Swapped between the two teams midseason in exchange for forward Mason Marchment, Malgin had 12 points in 36 games for Florida but none in eight games for Toronto down the stretch. Malgin, a fourth-round pick of Florida in 2015, enters this extended pause in his NHL career with 28 goals, 32 assists, and 60 points in 192 games, all but those last eight coming with the Panthers.
A skilled playmaker, Malgin impressed with Lausanne last season, potting 19 goals and 42 points in 45 games. He’ll look to continue that run of success as one of the best players in the league. Returning to ZSC marks a bit of a homecoming for Malgin, who played within the club’s youth and professional system from 2010 to 2016.
It’s important to note that Malgin was indeed issued a qualifying offer by Toronto at the beginning of the summer. Due to this, the Leafs will retain his NHL rights indefinitely and Malgin will remain on their reserve list. If Malgin does choose to return to the NHL in the summer of 2025, it will be with Toronto barring a trade.
Seven Notable RFAs Still Remain Unsigned
It’s September 5th, which means that NHL preseason hockey is now less than three weeks away. Teams have been dealing with the realities of a flat salary cap for two offseasons now, but for some teams, it’s crunch time as their young star (or stars) remain in need of a new contract for the 2021-22 season.
While it’s obviously preferable for teams to get these players signed so they can join the team right away, teams do technically have until December 1st to sign any RFAs for them to be eligible to suit up this season. However, waiting into the season to sign the RFAs will increase the cap hit for the first year of the deal, something the league saw with William Nylander‘s contract in 2018-19.
For some teams, mainly the Vancouver Canucks, that could be an issue. They’re the team that faces the largest potential cap crunch with both Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes to sign. The team currently carries $10.7MM in cap space, but that number could increase to as much as $14.2MM with Micheal Ferland being placed on long-term injured reserve. Pettersson and Hughes both struggled at times this season, but it’s hard to take results from any Canuck into account too much due to the team’s large-scale COVID-19 outbreak. Pettersson was limited to just 26 games because of injury, scoring 21 points. Hughes netted 41 points in 56 games. However, it’s still a hard argument to make that these two aren’t elite talents. Because of this, it’s likely impossible for Vancouver to afford both on long-term deals. One of them will likely be receiving a two-to-four-year contract with a much lower cap hit, but the contracts need to be signed before the start of the season in order to avoid any inflation on the already tight cap hits.
Then there’s two teams who’ve had long, drawn-out negotiations with their respective stars this offseason – the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators. Both Kirill Kaprizov and Brady Tkachuk remain without deals. There appears to be some amount of hope for one team, though. Multiple reports in recent days have suggested the Wild are making progress on a deal, especially considering the deadline has now passed for Kaprizov to sign back home in Russia. The same can’t be said for Ottawa, as Tkachuk has claimed he hasn’t received a legitimate offer from the team and is beginning to get frustrated with the situation (as reported here by TSN’s Shawn Simpson). Ottawa does still have a great amount of salary cap flexibility, though, and they can afford for contract negotiations to stretch into the season.
Staying in Canada, the Edmonton Oilers still have Kailer Yamamoto to lock down in order to fill out their top-six forward group. When Oscar Klefbom is placed on LTIR and Alex Stalock is presumably sent down to the minors, the team will still have just around $1.8MM in cap space. Yamamoto likely won’t be signing anything longer than a two-year deal due to the situation. And though they can create some additional flexibility by not operating with a full roster, Edmonton will still be very interested in avoiding a prorated cap hit as the salary cap situation will remain tight no matter what.
Then there’s the remaining duo of youngsters playing for American teams – Rasmus Dahlin and Robert Thomas. Dahlin’s negotiations will be interesting to watch, purely to see if the team will commit to him long-term or not. The Sabres likely want to pay him more as the team still hasn’t reached the salary cap floor, as they still need to add roughly $2.5MM in cap hits to be cap-compliant. Dahlin will receive much more than that on any deal he signs. The Blues are in a bit of a pickle with Thomas, as the team has just $1.5MM in cap space remaining to ink the promising young forward. Thomas had only 12 points in 33 games this year and spent time injured, but had 10 goals and 42 points the season prior. It’ll likely be a one-year or two-year deal for Thomas, who finds himself in a very similar situation to Yamamoto in Edmonton.
All seven of these players will be watched with a keen eye by many in the hockey community as each day passes before camps open across the league. As the league emerges from the quiet part of the offseason, these players will likely dominate headlines sooner rather than later.
All salary cap figures via CapFriendly.com.
Poll: Are The Montreal Canadiens A Playoff Team In 2021-22?
After making it all the way to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, losing in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Montreal Canadiens have had one of the most interesting offseasons of any team. That much roster turnover is unusual for a team that made it that far in the playoffs, but a decent portion of it has been out of their control.
A good portion of Montreal’s starting 12 forwards will look different next season. Gone down the middle are Phillip Danault, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and Eric Staal. Dvorak will attempt to replace Danault’s shutdown role with a little more offensive touch but less defensive prowess. Kotkaniemi’s third-line role is likely to be replaced by another young center, most probably Jake Evans. Staal’s fourth-line role will likely be comprised of a more defensive-minded pivot in Cedric Paquette. Their group of wingers will look different too, losing out on Tomas Tatar‘s two-way play in favor of a power-play specialist in Mike Hoffman. Gone is veteran Corey Perry in the bottom six, being replaced by another veteran presence in Mathieu Perreault.
The team’s defense faces the loss of the team’s captain in Shea Weber. His injury will keep him out for at least this entire season and puts the rest of his career in jeopardy. His absence will be replaced by committee, as youngster Alexander Romanov and new addition David Savard should see more minutes. The left side stays relatively constant from last season, and overseas addition Chris Wideman could challenge for some games as well.
A tandem of Carey Price and Jake Allen returns after a successful regular season campaign.
However, a team that barely squeaked into the playoffs last season returns with some question marks. Full seasons of Jonathan Drouin and Cole Caufield help boost the team, but downgrades from Danault to Dvorak and Tatar to Hoffman raise near-negating doubts. The success of youngsters like Evans and Romanov will be crucial if Montreal wants to make a return to the playoffs in 2022, and they’ll need repeat performances from players such as Jeff Petry and Josh Anderson.
So the question to you, PHR readers, is this: has Montreal done enough this offseason to yield a playoff team in an increasingly competitive Eastern Conference? Make your voice heard below:
Do The Montreal Canadiens Make The Playoffs In 2022?
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Yes, just barely 43% (911)
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No, just miss 31% (666)
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Yes, 100+ point season 14% (293)
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No, bottom-tier team 13% (272)
Total votes: 2,142
Mobile users, click here to vote!
Marcus Sorensen Signs In Sweden
Former San Jose Sharks forward Marcus Sorensen has chosen to continue his hockey career overseas. Sorensen has signed a four-year contract with Djurgardens IF in the SHL, per Swedish outlet Telgenytt, meaning that Sorensen likely won’t be returning to the NHL anytime soon.
Sorensen returns to his native Sweden after a five-year NHL career which saw him tally 31 goals and 64 points in 226 games, all in a San Jose Sharks uniform. Originally drafted by the Ottawa Senators in 2010, the now 29-year-old forward never signed with Ottawa and instead signed his entry-level deal with San Jose on May 13, 2016. He played in the NHL right away as a 24-year-old at the time, scoring four points in 19 games. Sorensen continued to progress within the Sharks system, including a career-best 17 goals and 30 points in 80 games in 2018-19. Never more than a third-line depth option for San Jose, though, Sorensen never topped those numbers.
A pending unrestricted free agent this year, Sorensen put up arguably the worst performance of his NHL career. It’s not that hard to blame him given the state of the team this season, but only one goal and five points in 29 games was a far cry from the production he’d put up in the past. He’ll look to rediscover his game overseas while returning home to his native Sweden. Considering the fact that he’ll be 33 years old at the expiry of the deal, Sorensen may have played his last NHL game.
Snapshots: Kotkaniemi, Hurricanes Cap, Quenneville
It’s been an unusually busy weekend in the hockey world, with yesterday’s successful Jesperi Kotkaniemi offer sheet and Christian Dvorak trade dominating headlines. Both of those moves have some corresponding implications that reach into today’s news cycle, including Kotkaniemi’s future as a playing member of the Carolina Hurricanes. General manager Don Waddell stated in his press conference this morning that the team’s plan is to start Kotkaniemi at the left-wing position in Carolina. It won’t be anything completely new for the 21-year-old Finnish forward, who’s played wing sparingly at times during his tenure with the Montreal Canadiens, but was mostly used as a bottom-six center there. Given his still-tantalizing potential and $6.1MM price tag, it’s likely that Kotkaniemi could slot in the top six along with Vincent Trocheck, but it’s all speculation until training camp begins. What’s for certain is that Carolina aims to give Kotkaniemi more opportunity and a better supporting cast than he’s had previously, hoping to get the most out of Kotkaniemi for the gamble of a price.
Some more fallout from the Kotkaniemi offer sheet, as well as a note about a Seattle Kraken expansion draft selection:
- With today’s news of Jake Gardiner‘s back and hip surgery and pending long-term injured reserve placement, the Carolina Hurricanes now have some salary-cap maneuvering to do. PuckPedia notes that Carolina will be able to exceed the cap by $4.05MM, the average annual value of Gardiner’s contract. The team currently sits at $1.5MM over the cap after the Kotkaniemi deal became official. PuckPedia also surmises that Carolina won’t have to go through too much trouble in order to maximize their salary cap relief, only sending two players down to be as close to the Upper Limit as possible before placing Gardiner on LTIR. Martin Necas remains the only non-waiver-eligible player on the roster and considering his role on the team, it’s unlikely he’ll be involved in a paper transaction. Steven Lorentz and Brendan Smith seem likely candidates to be waived and sent down in order to make the team cap-compliant.
- The ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League announced today that they’ve signed former NHL forward John Quenneville to a contract after signing him to a professional tryout last month. Quenneville is one of a few Seattle Kraken expansion draft selections to not remain with the team into the 2021-22 season. Their selection from the Chicago Blackhawks, Quenneville was a pending unrestricted free agent and wasn’t signed by the Kraken. A first-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2014, the now 25-year-old Quenneville never secured a full-time role in the NHL and will likely see much more opportunity overseas. Quenneville appeared in 42 NHL games between 2016 and 2020, scoring two goals and five points.
Jake Gardiner To Have Hip Surgery
Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jake Gardiner will have back and hip surgery and will be placed on long-term injured reserve, general manager Don Waddell announced today. The announcement comes less than 24 hours after the team exceeded the salary cap’s Upper Limit by signing Jesperi Kotkaniemi to a one-year, $6.1MM offer sheet.
Gardiner’s career as a Hurricane hasn’t been smooth since signing a four-year, $16.2MM contract in free agency on September 6, 2019. The 31-year-old Minnesota native has played in just 94 games over the past two seasons, missing time due to a combination of injuries and healthy scratches. He’s posted just four goals and 32 points in that time. The timeline of Gardiner’s injury isn’t known at this present moment, but his placement on LTIR confirms that he won’t be ready for the start of the season.
Even when healthy, Gardiner’s been utilized mostly in a third-pairing role, sitting behind Jaccob Slavin and Brady Skjei on the depth chart. Still a skilled offensive play driver, his all-around game has dipped since arriving in Carolina. Still, with a large hole to fill due to Dougie Hamilton‘s departure, Carolina could have used Gardiner’s offensive skills on the blueline.
Carolina presently sits at $1.5MM over the salary cap upper limit of $81.5MM. With Gardiner’s $4.05MM cap hit heading to LTIR, Carolina will have up to $2.55MM in usable cap space to fill while Gardiner is on long-term injured reserve.
All salary cap data via CapFriendly.com.