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Central Notes: Avalanche, Predators Goaltending, Chau

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Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now offered a few things the Colorado Avalanche could do before next season starts in October. Unsurprisingly, Rawal asserts that the Avalanche would do well by adding more to the bottom six of their forward core.

Currently, Colorado’s bottom line is projected to be comprised of middling NHL options including Joel Kiviranta, Chris Wagner, and Parker Kelly. The Avalanche need to improve upon this facet of their roster if they have any hopes of contending during the 2024-25 NHL season. The team may have three solid forward lines — but it won’t be enough to compete in a hotly contested Central Division.

The team may be able to fill these roster spots internally with prospects like Nikolai Kovalenko but there are still options to add in free agency. At this point in the offseason, Rawal contends that Colorado could pursue the likes of Steven Lorentz to center the team’s fourth line while filling in the rest of the forward core with internal options.

Other Central notes:

  •  In a group effort, The Athletic ranked (Subscription Required) the Nashville Predators with the best goaltending situation in the National Hockey League. The Predators have one of the best goaltenders in the league in Juuse Saros who has maintained a .917 save percentage in 333 starts. Even after signing Saros to an eight-year, $61.92MM extension, the Predators arguably have one of the best goaltending prospects too. Yaroslav Askarov played 44 games for the organization’s AHL affiliate in Milwaukee this past season while earning a 30-13-1 record with a .911 SV%.
  • The AHL affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, the Springfield Thunderbirds, has made a big addition to the lineup by adding Oliver Chau on an AHL contract for the 2024-25 season (X Link). Chau was an impressive scorer for the ECHL’s Florida Everblades last year after scoring 26 goals and 60 points in 70 games. Outside of regular season success, Chau recorded nine goals and 23 points in 23 postseason contests en route to playoff MVP honors and a Kelly Cup Championship.

Extension Retrospective: Alex Ovechkin

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It’s the third anniversary of the five-year, $47.5MM extension signed by Alex Ovechkin with the Washington Capitals in 2021. On the wrong side of 30 for a professional hockey player, Ovechkin has proven to be an above-average signing on a high-priced deal.

At an average annual value of $9.5MM, Ovechkin has been a point-per-game presence in his chase for Wayne Gretzky’s goal record of 894 goals throughout his career. Since starting his new contract in the 2021-22 NHL season, Ovechkin has scored 123 goals and 230 points in 229 games. Now, sitting just 41 goals behind the record with two years left to go on his current deal, Ovechkin should be able to cross the all-time barrier.

The major question surrounding Ovechkin’s legacy is his ability to win. The goal-scoring legend has one Cup ring under his belt from the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs but has failed to reach beyond that with the Washington Capitals. There has been some speculation that the team is more focused on Ovechkin’s individual metrics than the organization’s desire to win. The Capitals were able to navigate around Ovechkin’s contract this summer with several moves this offseason, which put them in a much more competitive spot than they were a year ago.

Ovechkin’s contract shouldn’t get in the way of any future spending for the Capitals — especially after the team made significant additions this offseason. Washington has made the playoffs in 15 of the last 17 seasons and should be able to help Ovechkin pursue the all-time goal record set by Gretzky and qualify for the playoffs in 2024-25.

Bob Jones Passes Away At Age 54

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Recent assistant coach for the Ottawa Senators, Bob Jones, has passed away at the age of 54 due to complications from ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease (X Link). In his only coaching role within the NHL, Jones spent the last five years serving on the bench for the Senators.

Jones first made a name for himself as an assistant coach in the Ontario Hockey League. Starting his work as a coach for the Soo Greyhounds in 1995-96, Jones would spend four years in the Soo before moving on to the Brampton Battalion for the 1999-00 OHL season.

He was elevated to the role of associate coach with the Toronto St. Michael’s Majors for three years between 2000-03 and helped the team win the Central Division in 2001-02. Jones moved on to the Sudbury Wolves for another brief three-year stretch until landing with the Windsor Spitfires in 2007-08. The long-time OHL coach helped elevate the Spitfires to Memorial Cup Champions in 2009 and 2010 while also working with the number one overall selection of the 2010 NHL Draft, Taylor Hall.

After nearly two decades working as an assistant and associate coach at the OHL level, the Oshawa Generals brought in Jones to serve as the team’s head coach in 2015-16. Unfortunately, the Generals never advanced past the semi-finals during Jones’s tenure and the team moved on from his services after the 2017-18 OHL season. Jones spent one year as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Texas Stars before joining the Senators organization.

Jones is survived by his wife Paula and his two children, Blake and Brianna. PHR sends our condolences to the Jones family.

International Notes: Caamano, Hamaliuk, Ekberg

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A six-year member of the Dallas Stars organization will be heading overseas for the first time in his career. The Grizzlys Wolfburf of the DEL announced the team signed former prospect Nicholas Caamano for the 2024-25 season.

Caamano originally joined the Stars organization as the 146th overall pick of the 2016 NHL Draft but would spend another two seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Flint Firebirds and the Hamilton Bulldogs. The winger became an effective score in his last two years in the OHL with 60 goals and 121 points in 131 games.

Unfortunately, his offensive prowess did not transfer to the professional ranks as Caamano quickly became an average forward option at AHL Texas. Over six campaigns with the Stars’ top affiliate, Caamano participated in 246 contests while scoring 44 goals and 98 points. Dallas gave Caamano a decent opportunity between 2019-2021 but he only tallied three points in 36 NHL games.

Other international notes:

  • Former Pittsburgh Penguins’ prospect Dillon Hamaliuk is also hopping across the pond next year as HC Nove Zamky of the Tipos Extraliga announced they had signed the forward on the team’s Instagram. Hamaliuk was originally drafted by the Sharks in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft after the young forward scored 11 goals and 26 points in 31 WHL contests. Hamaliuk’s short but strong stretch in the WHL never materialized into anything better as he’s been middling between the AHL and ECHL over two professional years in North America.
  • It appears that 2025 NHL Draft hopeful Filip Ekberg will be taking his talents to the OHL as he’s reportedly told Almtuna IS of HockeyAllsvenskan that he will not be returning to the team next season. The winger was drafted by the Ottawa 67’s in last year’s CHL Import Draft and will likely suit up in Canada’s capital next year. Ekberg was utilized as a solid playmaker in Sweden and is projected to fall somewhere near the end of the first round in 2025.

Metro Notes: Penguins, Nurmi, Pikkarainen

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In a think piece regarding the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier today, Matt Vensel of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette suggests the Penguins could still do more to improve their team this summer. Pittsburgh has nearly $3.5MM available in cap space and could weaponize that in a few ways to improve their playoff chances for the 2024-25 NHL season.

Next year, one of the bigger question marks surrounding the Penguins is who will play next to Sidney Crosby on the team’s top line. Currently, Drew O’Connor is penciled in, but Pittsburgh may be able to snag Max Pacioretty or James van Riemsdyk on the free-agent market. Additionally, Vensel puts forward the idea that the Penguins could go after Trevor Zegras from the Anaheim Ducks or Rutger McGroarty from the Winnipeg Jets organization.

Zegras may be hard to capture at this point in the offseason as the Ducks will look to get higher above the cap floor and will look to capitalize off a better season from Zegras. Although McGroarty has already made public his desire to move away from the Jets organization, Winnipeg is under no time crunch to move him. The Penguins may be best served by scouring the crumbles on the free-agent market this summer and attempting to pursue a bigger fish next offseason.

Other Metro notes:

  • Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports New York Islanders’ prospect Jesse Nurmi will make his way to North America next season as he will suit up for the OHL’s London Knights. It would be difficult to find a better program for Nurmi as he looks to rebound from an average season in the Finnish Liiga with KooKoo. The former 113th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft skated in 19 games for KooKoo last year where he tallied two assists overall. On the U20 international junior level, Nurmi skated in six games for Team Finland while collecting another two helpers.
  • Moving west of UBS Arena, the New Jersey Devils will similarly have a prospect coming overseas, this time with the WHL’s Red Deer Rebels (Article Link). Although signing a three-year extension with TPS earlier this offseason, the Devils third-round pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, Kasper Pikkarainen, will join Red Deer for the 2024-25 WHL season. Pikkarainen played well for TPS U20 last year as he scored 12 goals and 28 points in 34 contests.

Morning Notes: Cowan, Simon, Fletcher

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In an interview with NHL independent correspondent Dave McCarthy, Maple Leafs prospect Easton Cowan is confident he will make the opening night roster out of training camp. After an impressive season with the OHL’s London Knights, it is hard to argue against Cowan making the Maple Leafs’ lineup next season.

Cowan originally came to the Maple Leafs organization as the 28th overall selection of the 2023 NHL Draft. The young forward was coming off a season in which he scored 20 goals and 53 points in 68 games, including another 21 points in 20 playoff contests, but was not projected to be a first-round talent in many 2023 mock drafts.

Nobody is denouncing the pick by Toronto any longer, as Cowan exploded for 34 goals and 96 points in 54 games this past season while collecting 10 goals and 34 points in 18 postseason contests, along with OHL Playoff MVP honors. The quick and highly intelligent forward would be a cheap top-six option for the Maple Leafs next season, who may benefit greatly from putting him alongside Auston Matthews.

Other snapshots:

  • Former NHL depth forward Dominik Simon will stay in his native Czechia as HC Plzeň announced they will be bringing him in for next season. Simon is a veteran of 256 games at the NHL level, where he scored 22 goals and 77 points over seven years in the league. He spent most of his time with the Penguins organization and briefly played for the Flames and Ducks. Simon is coming off a season in which he scored five goals and 17 points in 39 games for Motor České Budějovice.
  • Moving back to Toronto, Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun reports Cliff Fletcher will return to the Maple Leafs organization as a senior advisor. Fletcher may have the lengthiest résumé in the NHL at this point after beginning work as a scout for the Canadiens before the start of the 1956-57 season. The veteran front office member spent a decent chunk of time as general manager for the Atlanta/Calgary Flames in the 70’s and 80’s before serving in the same role for the Maple Leafs. Additionally, Fletcher served as general manager of the Phoenix Coyotes before returning to Toronto and has been serving as a senior advisor since the 2009-10 NHL season.

San Jose Sharks Sign Henry Thrun

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The San Jose Sharks have shored up the left side of their defense as the team announced they have signed defenseman Henry Thrun to a two-year, $2MM contract. The deal will keep the young defenseman in San Jose for the next two years after the team acquired him towards the end of the 2022-23 NHL season.

General manager of the Sharks, Mike Grier, sang high praises for Thrun by saying, “Henry has been a reliable addition to our defense corps since he joined the organization. We are encouraged by his development since he came to San Jose and look forward to seeing him continue to grow his game with our club“.

San Jose acquired Thrun in February of 2023 from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2024 NHL Draft. Thrun was selected with the 101st overall pick by the Ducks organization in the 2019 NHL Draft but may have indicated he was unwilling to sign with Anaheim.

The Southborough, MA native spent three years with Harvard University in the NCAA and was named team captain ahead of the 2022-23 season. In his last two years with the Crimson, Thrun scored 14 goals and 63 points in 68 games before eventually signing his entry-level deal with the Sharks after his junior campaign.

In his first full season in San Jose, Thrun scored three goals and 11 points in 51 games while posting a -22 rating. He held an expected +/- of -16 according to HockeyReference which indicates he was disadvantaged by playing in a poor Sharks defense. The young defenseman finished tied for eighth on the team in blocked shots in limited action with 71.

Now that San Jose has decided to keep defenseman Mario Ferraro after some trade chatter and has added to the left side of their defense with the offseason acquisition of Jake Walman, Thrun should slot in on the team’s bottom pairing. Being one of the better puck movers on the team’s blue line, Thrun should also slot in one of the team’s two powerplay units.

Sabres Sign Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen To Five-Year Contract

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The Buffalo Sabres have solidified their goaltending situation for the next half decade as the team announced they signed Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to a five-year, $23.75MM contract. The deal will pay Luukkonen an AAV of $4.75MM each year of the contract and keep the young netminder in Buffalo until the 2028-29 NHL season.

The deal comes just under the current contract of Vancouver Canucks’ netminder Thatcher Demko who secured a five-year, $25MM contract back in 2021. Luukkonen is arguably coming off a better season than when Demko signed his extension in 2021 which may indicate this deal is somewhat of a bargain for the Sabres.

If any positives came from Buffalo during the 2023-24 season, they largely centered around Luukkonen. The start of the year was disappointing as he produced a 6-8-2 record in his first 17 games with a .893 save percentage. At the turn of the calendar, however, Luukkonen went on an impressive stretch to end the season.

Since his first game at the start of the calendar year, Luukkonen concluded the season with a 20-14-2 record in 36 games while maintaining a .919 SV%. Luukkonen finished the season with a 27-22-4 record in 51 starts while earning a .910 SV% and 2.57 goals against average.

Aside from becoming the undisputed starter for the Sabres, the young Finnish netminder recorded five shutouts, 10.1 goals saved above average, and 2.65 adjusted goals against average according to HockeyReference. All of these served as career highs for Luukkonen after coming off a disappointing season the year prior.

This will be the major question surrounding this contract in Buffalo as Luukkonen has only produced one good season in the NHL. This is not to take away from his dominance last year but he has failed to produce back-to-back quality seasons in the best league in the sport.

Luckily, the Sabres do have a fallback option if this contract doesn’t pan out as expected with Devon Levi ready for full-time NHL responsibilities. The young netminder split time between Buffalo and the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans and he produced a 16-6-4 record in the AHL with a .927 SV% and 2.42 GAA.

General manager of the Sabres, Kevyn Adams, acknowledged this in the announcement when he said, “We really like the position we’re in with having UPL and Devon Levi as still young, developing goaltenders, guys we think are going to continue to grow and get better, that are extremely talented, hard-working, and character people“.

West Notes: Rockford, Pryor, Connelly

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The Rockford IceHogs made a handful of signings today as the team announced four separate one-year AHL contracts for Kevin Lombardi, Lucas Brenton, Colin Felix, and Adam McCormick. None of the four are a needle mover at the AHL level but it does improve the team’s overall depth — especially on the blue line.

As the only forward of the group, Lombardi recently ended his five-year NCAA career at Sacred Heart University. Lombardi showed some offensive growth during his last two years at school as he scored 23 goals and 26 assists in 72 games. He has good size for a forward and almost became a member of the IceHogs last season before deciding to return to school for his last season of eligibility.

Felix and Brenton are both physical defensemen who have had success in recent years. The former put up four goals and 32 points in 140 games at the University of Massachusetts from 2018-2022 while helping the program win its first National Championship in 2021. Brenton, on the other hand, spent the last four years with the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors and earned a berth in the 2024 Memorial Cup tournament after sweeping Portland in the WHL Championship series.

If any defensemen of the trio projects to make an impact on the score sheet it would be McCormick. He recently wrapped up a three-year run at the University of New Brunswick in the USports league in Canada. In his junior campaign, McCormick scored eight goals and 41 points in 28 games which was good for fourth on the team in scoring.

Other West notes:

  • The Colorado Avalanche are reportedly set to hire a new man to lead their Amateur Scouting Department as Penguins beat writer Josh Yohe reports Nick Pryor will be leaving the Penguins organization to take on a new role in Denver. It will be a major change for Pryor as the new vice president of player personnel in Pittsburgh, Wes Clark, looks to reshape the Penguins scouting departments. Pryor previously served as an amateur scout for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2013-2021 before spending the last three years as director of amateur scouting for the Penguins.
  • According to Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal, there are no long-term concerns for the recent 19th overall pick of the Vegas Golden Knights, Trevor Connelly. The young forward prospect will not participate in the World Junior Summer Showcase and was limited to one scrimmage the the Golden Knights’ development camp due to a knee injury. Connelly is committed to Providence College for the 2024-25 NCAA season and is still expected to start the season on time.

Evgeny Kuznetsov Clears Unconditional Waivers, Contract Terminated

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July 18: Kuznetsov has cleared unconditional waivers and has had his contract terminated, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He’s now a UFA.

July 17: After multiple conflicting reports over the last several days, it appears Evgeny Kuznetsov’s time in the NHL is coming to an end for the foreseeable future. According to a team announcement, the Carolina Hurricanes have placed Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers for contract termination. Assuming that Kuznetsov clears waivers, it is expected he will return to Russia to play in the Kontinental Hockey League.

Although his landing spot in the KHL has not been announced, it is more than likely that Kuznetsov will end up with SKA St. Petersburg on a multi-year agreement according to prior reporting yesterday. SKA St. Petersburg is the current home of former NHL players Alex Galchenyuk, Brendan Leipsic, and Valentin Zykov while also being the home of the recent fifth overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, Ivan Demidov.

According to PuckPedia, Kuznetsov will walk away from $6MM by mutually terminating his contract while his separate $3.9MM cap hits with the Hurricanes and Washington Capitals will be lifted from both team’s salary cap structures. Kuznetsov was due a $2MM signing bonus on July 1st as part of his contract which has already been paid out.

Kuznetsov was the 26th overall selection of the Capitals in the 2010 NHL Draft and he made his debut a few years later in the 2013-14 NHL season. He got off to a relatively slow start during his freshman and sophomore campaigns in the NHL but became one of the game’s top centers only a year later. Kuznetsov scored 20 goals and 77 points in 82 games for Washington in the 2013-14 regular season while finishing 19th in Hart Trophy voting.

He became a steady playmaker for the Capitals during the organization’s most successful run in their history. The Russian forward scored 119 goals and 373 points over 420 games in Washington from 2016-2022 while leading the playoffs in assists (20) and points (32) during the team’s run to a Stanley Cup championship in 2018. Unfortunately, due to numerous off-ice issues and a stint in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program, it became apparent that Kuznetsov had a lack of desire to continue playing in Washington as his on-ice production suffered.

The Capitals moved on from Kuznetsov this past trade deadline by dealing him to the Hurricanes for a draft pick and retaining 50% of his salary. Kuznetsov notched two goals and seven points in 20 regular season games for Carolina while collecting another four goals and six points in 10 postseason contests.

At 32 years old, Kuznetsov theoretically could return to the NHL in the future but that does not appear as the route he will take. He will more than likely finish his NHL career with 173 goals and 575 points in 743 games with another 33 goals and 73 points in 97 postseason contests, including a Stanley Cup ring.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the Hurricanes would place Kuznetsov on unconditional waivers. 

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