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Vancouver Canucks Sign Linus Karlsson

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The Vancouver Canucks have added another Swedish forward, announcing a two-year contract for Linus Karlsson. The 22-year-old Karlsson is signing his entry-level deal after exploding onto the SHL scene this season. General manager Patrik Allvin released a statement on the deal:

We are excited to officially welcome Linus to Vancouver. He is a good goal scorer who plays a solid two-way game, and he is coming off an impressive rookie season in Sweden. We look forward to seeing him develop his game in North America.

Named rookie of the year, Karlsson scored 26 goals and 46 points in 52 games for Skelleftea AIK. That tied him for second in the entire league in goals, just a year removed from putting up similar totals at the Allsvenskan level, Sweden’s second tier. The young forward, originally selected by the San Jose Sharks, was acquired by the Canucks in a 2019 trade for Jonathan Dahlen.

Notably, Karlsson would be one of the players affected by the new transfer agreement with Sweden. Previously, because he is over the age of 21, he would have been able to sign his entry-level deal and be assigned to the minor leagues. Now, with that age limit raised to 24, he’ll have to be offered back to Skelleftea if he fails to make the Canucks roster, as he is still under contract in the SHL through 2022-23. Despite that, Allvin’s statement suggests that he might be playing in North America next year, meaning Vancouver may have worked out an agreement with his Swedish club.

Either way, getting him signed now was a necessary move for the Canucks, as Karlsson’s exclusive draft rights would have expired in just a few days. If not signed by June 1, he would have become an unrestricted free agent, able to sign a similar entry-level contract with any team in the league. Even if he does spend next season overseas–something which is clearly not a sure thing yet–getting him under contract will keep him under the Canucks’ control for years to come.

Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reported this morning that a deal was imminent.

Dylan Larkin Changes Representation

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One of the biggest items on Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman’s checklist this offseason is a potential contract extension with captain Dylan Larkin. The 25-year-old center is signed through 2022-23 and would become an unrestricted free agent next offseason if a deal isn’t reached. It seemed as though Yzerman and the Red Wings front office would be negotiating that extension with KO Sports, but last night Max Bultman of The Athletic reported that Larkin has changed representation. He’s now with CAA, represented by Matt Williams and NHL super-agent Pat Brisson.

It appears as though that was a very unexpected decision, given the statement that Kurt Overhardt, CEO of KO Sports, released to Bultman today:

From a relationship standpoint, Dylan Larkin worked primarily with my business partner, Joe Oliver. Throughout the past 11 years, Joe has thoughtfully guided Dylan through countless matters both on and off the ice. There was never a single issue raised between Dylan and Joe for the entirety of their professional relationship and Joe was completely blindsided by this decision. For the past several months, Joe had been working directly with Dylan in preparation to negotiate his contract extension with the Detroit Red Wings. 

As with all of our clients, our work on behalf of Dylan was at the highest standard in all situations. We are very disappointed in his decision and the timing. 

Obviously, the interest of the agents is to remain with a client through what should be a massive negotiation, and Overhardt’s statement should be taken with a grain of salt. But it does confirm for Red Wings fans that Larkin is ready to negotiate this offseason–or at least was with his previous representation.

While KO Sports is no small outfit, moving to CAA takes Larkin right to the top. Brisson has more than $1B in negotiated active contracts according to PuckPedia, including clients like John Tavares, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Anze Kopitar, all players with an average annual value of at least $10MM. For what it’s worth (which may be nothing), Brisson currently has just one client with the Red Wings–Jared McIsaac–and none with Yzerman’s former outfit in Tampa Bay.

Larkin is coming off quite the platform year to start negotiating. Reinvigorated by his young, up-and-coming teammates, the speedy forward scored 31 goals and 69 points in 71 games. His overall production is similar to CAA client Matt Duchene through the early part of his career; Duchene ended up signing a seven-year, $56MM contract with the Nashville Predators when he hit the open market in 2019. He did negotiate a multi-year deal with the Red Wings for Anthony Mantha in 2020.

Players signed through 2022-23 are eligible for extensions on July 13, when free agency opens this year.

Andrei Svetlakov Re-Signs In KHL

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Usually, a team’s reserve list is limited to young prospects, waiting to sign their first entry-level contract in the years following their draft. Sometimes though, because of the lack of transfer agreement between the NHL and certain other leagues (the KHL and NL most notably), a reserve list also includes a player that is no longer considered a prospect. The rights of these players are held indefinitely if they never attempt a career in North America, and one example is Andrei Svetlakov.

Selected by the Minnesota Wild in the sixth round in 2017, when he was already an overage prospect, Svetlakov remains on the team’s reserve list, with his exclusive rights wrapped up forever. Now 26, Svetlakov has never attempted a North American run, despite plenty of success at the KHL level. That is only going to continue, as the veteran forward has signed a new two-year contract, staying with CSKA in the KHL.

A two-time winner of the Gagarin Cup as a member of the powerhouse CSKA program, Svetlakov was a strong contributor in this year’s playoffs with four goals and nine points in 22 games. Though not usually much of an offensive weapon, he has nevertheless been a reliable two-way option, receiving somewhere between 14 and 16 minutes a night. At this point, an NHL career seems extremely unlikely. If it never happens, he’ll stay on the Wild reserve list until retirement–but he isn’t alone in that category.

The Wild also have 35-year-old Julian Walker on their reserve list, selected in the sixth round of the 2006 draft. He’s spent his entire career in Switzerland and is still signed through next season.

Johan Sodergran Signs In Sweden

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If it wasn’t clear that Johan Sodergran’s time with the Los Angeles Kings was over, it is now. The young forward has signed a two-year contract with MODO in Sweden’s second tier.

Sodergran, 22, signed his entry-level deal with Los Angeles in 2019 but ended up playing in just 55 games in North America. This season, he suited up just seven times for the Ontario Reign before being loaned to the DEL, where he ended up winning a league championship with Eisbaren Berlin. In 2020-21, he also played overseas, loaned to Almtuna IS of the Allsvenskan before suffering a back injury that ended his year.

Given how much he struggled to produce in his time with Ontario, Sodergran was already a candidate to go unqualified this offseason. That likely won’t happen now that he’s signed overseas, but a return to the Kings organization certainly isn’t on the horizon. The team will be able to retain his exclusive rights by handing out that qualifying offer, though unless he experiences a real breakout, another NHL contract might not be waiting down the road.

It makes sense for a prospect like Sodergran to take his talents elsewhere, given how many forward prospects are in the Kings’ pipeline. Even with some of the top names graduating, there is another set of 19-year-olds soon to join the Reign attack, ones that will need plenty of playing time to continue their development. If there’s any chance of Sodergran taking his game to a new level, playing back in Sweden is likely the best option.

Snapshots: PWHPA, Kane, Chiasson

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The Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association has entered into a relationship with Billie Jean King Enterprises and The Mark Walter Group according to Hailey Salvian of The Athletic, with the purpose of exploring the launch of a new professional league. The list of “foundational pieces” needed for a new league are as follows:

  • A six-team league with 23-player rosters and three coaches
  • A 32-game schedule played from January to April
  • A four-team playoff with three best-of-five series to determine the league’s champion
  • A minimum salary of $35,000 and a league-average salary of $55,000

The PWHPA recently met with the PHF–currently the only pro women’s league in North America–along with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Ties were cut soon after and as Salvian reports, the PWHPA board unanimously voted to end discussions of collaboration between the two sides.

  • Evander Kane did not travel with the rest of the Edmonton Oilers, as he was away for the birth of his son. Daniel Nugent-Bowman of The Athletic tweets that there is not yet an update on whether Kane will be available for game five tomorrow. The 30-year-old winger has been outstanding for the Oilers in the playoffs, scoring 12 goals in 11 games to lead the entire league. He also leads in shots, as Edmonton’s top line continues to dominate play whenever on the ice.
  • With rumors circling that Alex Chiasson may be on his way to Switzerland last season, Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV reached out to Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford. The executive explained that the team “will not make a decision on him until after free agency,” presumably meaning following the frenzy of early July. Chiasson, 31, ended with 13 goals and 22 points in 67 games after signing a one-year, $750K contract on the first day of the season.

Examining Sergei Bobrovsky’s Future

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When a team is eliminated from the postseason, and especially when it is four straight games, the entire organization goes under the magnifying glass. That’s exactly what has happened for the Florida Panthers, after bowing out quietly against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round. The Panthers scored just three goals in four games and were shut out completely in the deciding match.

Suddenly, the Presidents’ Trophy-winning squad went from the elation of advancing in the playoffs for the first time since 1996, to a team judged as a huge disappointment. Things like interim head coach Andrew Brunette’s future, which seemed so clear just a few weeks ago, have immediately come into question.

The same could be said about Sergei Bobrovsky, the veteran netminder with a checkered (if not downright bad) history in the playoffs. No team can blame their goaltender when they score just three goals in a four-game stretch but given his contract, which extends through 2025-26 and carries a $10MM cap hit, Bobrovsky was still expected to do more than the .911 save percentage he posted in the playoffs. It doesn’t ever help to be directly compared to Andrei Vasilevskiy at the other end of the rink, but given that he makes more money than the Tampa Bay netminder, some obviously will.

It’s not really about whether Bobrovsky was to blame, though. Nothing can change that fact, and the Panthers still have the core of a Stanley Cup contender in place. The question now is whether the 33-year-old goaltender will be the one playing behind them next season, especially given the presence of top prospect Spencer Knight.

Because the team selected Knight 13th overall in 2019, Bobrovsky’s name has been continuously thrust into trade speculation. But now with Knight pushing for more playing time and Bobrovsky’s game still not back to the Vezina-winning level he found in Columbus, there’s good reason for that speculation. Elliotte Friedman even spoke about how the Panthers did some work in that regard this year in the latest 32 Thoughts podcast for Sportsnet:

I suspect that they tried hard to trade him this year, or at least lay the groundwork to do it. I don’t know if it’s possible. I’ve heard they really worked on it. They really tried to see if it was possible. 

Even if the Panthers worked hard, a trade isn’t really even up to them. Bobrovsky holds a full no-movement clause through the end of 2023-24. At that point, it would change to a 16-team no-trade list, meaning the team could potentially get out of the last two years. As of right now, anything would have to go through the veteran netminder.

Notably, the Panthers have quite a few pending free agents and a buyout penalty that jumps to more than $6.5MM for the 2022-23 season. Combine that penalty with the rising salaries of players like Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe, and you have a team that is almost already right up against the cap ceiling for next season. Moving Bobrovsky would obviously alleviate that problem, though there is certainly no guarantee the team would actually improve.

While Knight is still one of the top young goaltending prospects in the world, it is not like he has absolutely dominated to this point. The 21-year-old had a .908 save percentage in 32 NHL games this season, and a .905 in 11 minor league appearances. While there isn’t much doubt that he should become a legitimate NHL starter in time, the Panthers want to contend now with the in-their-prime core they have built.

This all leads to a very difficult summer for general manager Bill Zito and his front office, who has to make some tough decisions about the direction of the franchise.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tom Wilson Undergoes Knee Surgery

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The Washington Capitals won’t have Tom Wilson for the start of the 2022-23 season. The team announced today that Wilson underwent a successful surgical procedure to reconstruct the torn ACL of his left knee. The current recovery timeline is set at six to eight months.

That would essentially rule Wilson out for all of training camp and the first month of the season at least, with the very real possibility of him missing a much bigger chunk of games. The seriousness of the surgery will also immediately draw speculation about Wilson’s effectiveness going forward, something that won’t be known for quite some time.

A player that is known for his power, speed, and physicality, Wilson has developed into quite an offensive threat for the Capitals. Selected 16th overall after scoring just nine goals in his draft season for the Plymouth Whalers, the 28-year-old forward now has three seasons with at least 21 goals and set a new career high of 52 points in 78 games this year.

He even scored on one of his three shifts against the Florida Panthers before exiting game one with an injury. Amazingly, Wilson actually skated with the team several times as the series continued–on what is now confirmed to be a torn ACL–but did not re-enter the lineup.

This news will come as a brutal blow to the Capitals as they try to reload for another Stanley Cup run in 2022-23. The team is already dealing with some uncertainty for Nicklas Backstrom as he deals with a serious hip injury and has an aging core led by Alex Ovechkin (36) and T.J. Oshie (35). While the Washington roster is still a good one, red flags are starting to wave.

For Wilson in particular, any loss of that full throttle speed and power could be devastating to his game. Always among the league leaders in hits, he has missed quite a few games throughout his career (even outside of the suspensions) and will now face a lengthy rehab.

Brian Lashoff Signs AHL Contract

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The Grand Rapids Griffins will retain their captain, as Brian Lashoff has signed a one-year AHL contract with the club. The team has also signed Tyler Spezia to a two-year AHL deal.

Lashoff, 31, has spent his entire professional career with the same organization, originally signing with the Griffins as an undrafted free agent more than a decade ago. During the time he’s been there, the veteran defenseman has signed several NHL contracts with the Detroit Red Wings, including one that covered 2021-22. That two-way deal carried a cap hit of $750K in the NHL while also rewarding him handsomely with a $325K minor league salary.

Given he hasn’t appeared with the Red Wings since the 2019-20 season, an AHL deal seems appropriate at this point. Once a regular call-up and injury replacement, Lashoff has been passed on the organizational depth chart by several younger defensemen. Over the years, he racked up 136 regular season appearances, and 15 points.

Still, his value to the Griffins can’t be overstated, as he has become something of an institution with the AHL club. Captain since 2020, he’s played nearly 600 regular season games in the minor leagues and is a two-time Calder Cup champion.

Should the Red Wings need him at any point in 2022-23, they would have to first sign him to a new NHL contract.

Arizona Coyotes Sign Ivan Prosvetov

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The Arizona Coyotes have inked goaltender Ivan Prosvetov to a one-year contract, avoiding restricted free agency this summer. The young netminder is coming to the end of his entry-level contract and would not have had arbitration rights. General manager Bill Armstrong released the following statement:

We are very pleased to sign Ivan to a contract extension. He is a big, athletic goaltender who is very talented. We look forward to continuing to watch him develop.

Prosvetov, 23, has made a handful of appearances at the NHL level already, entering the net three times in each of the last two seasons. Selected 114th overall in 2018, the Russian-born netminder had already come to North America to play in the NAHL and USHL before his draft, and then spent the 2018-19 campaign in the OHL. That meant getting him into the organization was no issue, though the results have not followed in the years since.

Through those six NHL appearances, the 6’5″ goaltender has just an .858 save percentage, but it’s his performance at the minor league level that is perhaps more concerning. He posts an .880 save percentage in 45 games this season for the Tucson Roadrunners, a step backward from the numbers he put up in his first two go-rounds. While there is obviously still plenty of potential, Prosvetov will need to start delivering results if he’s to really be in the Coyotes’ plans for the NHL level.

Maple Leafs Make Front Office Changes

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Though they won’t be making sweeping changes, the Toronto Maple Leafs front office will look a little different next year. David Alter of The Leafs Nation reports that senior director of player evaluation Jim Paliafito and hockey research and development analyst Cam Charron are no longer with the club.

Paliafito is the bigger news here, as he has been with the club since 2015 and is often credited with finding some of the late-round or undrafted European players the team has iced over the last several years. After spending several years as the general manager of the Saginaw Spirit, he joined the Maple Leafs for the 2015-16 season in the same player evaluation role he is now exiting.

Involved in the recruitment of players like Nikita Zaitsev, Ilya Mikheyev, and others, Paliafito impact has been significant on the Maple Leafs, despite the lack of organizational playoff success that has been achieved with this group.

Charron meanwhile has been with the team’s analytics department since 2014, when Brendan Shanahan took over the organization and made sweeping changes to the front office and hockey operations.

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