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Ron Francis Officially Named GM Of Seattle Expansion Team

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The Seattle expansion team has officially announced the hiring of their first ever general manager. Ron Francis, legendary NHL player and former Carolina Hurricanes GM has been hired for the job. The team released an exhaustive history of Francis’ hockey career, explaining exactly why they chose him and including several quotes from other executives around the league. One from Mike Vellucci, who was an assistant GM during Francis’ tenure in Carolina, explains how he’ll build the Seattle team:

Ron is an intelligent manager who knows the kind of players he wants. He will draft and acquire players with a high-hockey IQ who understand how to play together, think a couple plays ahead and know the right way to play the game. He looks for players with high-level skills, such as skating, puck protection and stick-handling.

Though he left the Hurricanes before they experienced so much success last season, his fingerprints are still all over the roster. Most notably perhaps was his selection of Sebastian Aho in the second round of the 2015 draft, a player that currently sits fifth in scoring among that draft class behind only Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen.

Francis will need to find some steals like that if he wants the Seattle team to be competitive quickly. Though they will have the same rules for the expansion draft that Vegas took advantage of, teams will likely be much more prepared this time around. An advantage he will have however is the almost two full years of preparation he now has, as the Seattle front office including CEO Tod Leiweke have committed to a GM earlier than any other expansion team. Francis will have a say in the training facilities for both the NHL team and the proposed AHL affiliate in Palm Springs, building the entire player development department from the ground up.

Still, it will be a tough task for Seattle to follow in the incredible footsteps of the Golden Knights and GM George McPhee. Reaching the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season should not be an expectation, and likely isn’t even a goal of this group. Francis’ plan in Carolina included a slow build through the draft given the team’s limited resources, and even with an increase in those it seems as though he’ll follow a similar path.

The Seattle team—which still does not have a name as of now—will begin play in the 2021-22 season.

Morning Notes: Kelly, Rantanen, Penguins

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The Boston Bruins have hired former NHL forward Chris Kelly as a player development coordinator. The 38-year old was with the Ottawa Senators last season as a development coach, and is only just removed from a professional playing career that spanned 17 years, including an appearance at the 2018 Olympics for Team Canada. Kelly suited up 288 times in the regular season for the Bruins, and was part of the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011. The team has also hired long-time pro scout Andrew Dickson, who was most recently with the Detroit Red Wings.

More notes from around the league…

  • The KHL rights for Mikko Rantanen have been traded, as the league prepares for the possibility of a potential NHL work stoppage. Even though Rantanen still doesn’t have a contract with the Colorado Avalanche, the acquisition by Ak Bars Kazan should not be considered an indication that he is heading overseas. Rantanen has developed into one of the premiere offensive wingers in the entire world, and should a work stoppage actually occur in the coming years teams all over the world will be scrambling for his (temporary) services.
  • Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) still believes that the Pittsburgh Penguins will make another trade before the end of the offseason, and has updated his look at the likelihood of that for each roster player. Yohe continues to list Nick Bjugstad, Bryan Rust and Tristan Jarry in the “favorite” category, though examines everyone else thoroughly (okay, Sidney Crosby’s blurb is anything but thorough). The Penguins re-signed Teddy Blueger recently and are now have less than $1MM in cap space remaining with Zach Aston-Reese and Marcus Pettersson still sitting as restricted free agents. While there is certainly some ways to wiggle around the cap issue, the team would still be pushed right to the ceiling all season and limited to what they can do to improve the club. A trade to free up some more cash does seem likely, though how long it will take for that to happen is unclear.

New York Rangers Agree To Terms With Phillip Di Giuseppe

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Though it has been expected for a few days, the New York Rangers finally made it official today when announcing they have agreed to terms with Phillip Di Giuseppe on a one-year contract. Di Giuseppe was an unrestricted free agent after failing to receive a qualifying offer from the Nashville Predators.

The 25-year old was picked 38th overall in 2012 by the Carolina Hurricanes, and eventually found a way onto the team as the 12th or 13th forward. Playing 147 games over parts of four seasons for the Hurricanes, he recorded 41 points but never could quite escape the minor leagues entirely. Last year after being placed on waivers for the second time, he was claimed by the Predators and played three games for them. Held scoreless in those he was on waivers once again and even the Hurricanes didn’t put in a claim to bring him back. He finished the year with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.

Even if Di Giuseppe isn’t going to make a huge impact at the NHL level, he still represents some nice forward depth for the Rangers. He can be the first call-up if the team runs into injury trouble and doesn’t want to sit a top prospect in the press box, or serve as an experienced leader at the AHL level. He will need waivers again obviously, but at the end of training camp when everyone has a full roster it would be surprising to see him claimed. That is of course assuming he doesn’t play his way onto the team, which is still possible given the uncertainty any roster filled with prospects and rookies has.

Brock McGinn, Carolina Hurricanes Exchange Arbitration Figures

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Brock McGinn’s arbitration hearing is first on the books this year, scheduled for Saturday in Toronto. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet has received word on the figures exchanged from both sides, tweeting that McGinn’s camp is looking for $2.7MM while Carolina is hoping for $1.75MM. It is important to remember that not only can the two sides still negotiate a different deal in the time remaining (and even for a short period after the hearing), the arbitration decision also does not need to be one figure or the other. The award can (and usually does) fall somewhere in the middle of the submitted salaries.

McGinn, 25, is coming off a two-year, $1.775MM contract so regardless of where the decision lands he is about to get a healthy raise. The second round pick has developed into a useful bottom-six winger that can chip in offensively from time to time and bring a strong level of physicality every night. Though he had just ten goals in 2018-19 he had 16 the year prior, and is the team’s leading penalty killing forward. That’s a useful piece for a team trying to return to the playoffs and contend for the Stanley Cup, especially when he has shown he can play up in the lineup when asked to, at least for short periods of time.

The Hurricanes have a few other restricted free agents to sign but are working with a healthy amount of cap space even after signing Sebastian Aho to a big extension and bringing in some help up front. With additions like Ryan Dzingel and Erik Haula the team should have a deeper group of forwards who can score, letting others like McGinn feast on even easier matchups.

Remember that the team is allowed to select whether the award is for one or two years, a decision that may not be quite so simple. While a one-year term would leave McGinn a restricted free agent again next summer, a two-year award would lock him in at a reasonable number while the team works to build the rest of the roster. Cost controlled players are valuable, and there would still be the option to extend him at some point before he reached unrestricted free agency in 2021. None of that will matter if the two sides can work out a deal in the coming days however, which is still definitely a possibility.

Joe Hicketts Re-Signs With Detroit Red Wings

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The Detroit Red Wings have re-signed defenseman Joe Hicketts to a two-year contract, bringing back a key member of the Grand Rapids Griffins. Hicketts will qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency at the end of the deal unless he plays in at least a total of 64 NHL games over the next two seasons.

Now 23, Hicketts was an free agent signing out of the WHL in 2014 after no one took a chance on him in the draft. That was likely due to his diminutive stature, but the young defenseman proceeded to dominate his junior opponents over the next two seasons, recording 125 points in 121 games for the Victoria Royals. Upon graduating to professional hockey, little has changed as Hicketts is still a strong point producer in the AHL and continues to quarterback their powerplay.

Unfortunately, that success at the minor league level hasn’t translated into much opportunity for Hicketts in the NHL. He has played just 16 games with the Red Wings including 11 last season, and has three points. It’s hard to imagine that will change this year after the team brought in some new faces like Patrik Nemeth, Oliwer Kaski and Madison Bowey. Not to mention the team has plenty of young defense prospects pushing their way up the ladder, giving Hicketts even more competition for playing time in the future.

That said, a two-year deal will provide some security and stability for the 23-year old and is a nice reward just a few years after no one believed he would ever reach the NHL at all. He’ll need to clear waivers to start in the minor leagues, but with the length of this deal that shouldn’t be a problem for the Red Wings.

Latest On Brendan Perlini

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The Chicago Blackhawks have completely overhauled their roster over the last several weeks, and just yesterday completed a trade to send Artem Anisimov to the Ottawa Senators. That freed up $1.3MM in cap space for each of the next two seasons, giving GM Stan Bowman a little more room to operate. Today, Bowman spoke with reporters including Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago about several topics from development camp including unsigned restricted free agent forward Brendan Perlini:

We had some roster things we had to take care of to be in a position to sign him. Negotiations are probably going to pick up as we go forward here. …I don’t have a timetable on when we’re going to get him signed.

Notably, Perlini’s name was included in a report on the weekend that indicated he was being shopped around the league in trade talks. Anisimov was also in that report, but that came as little surprise given his declining role with the team and hefty cap hit. Perlini meanwhile is just 23 years old still and five years removed from being the 12th player picked in the 2014 draft. The Blackhawks acquired him along with Dylan Strome during last season and though he didn’t make quite the same impact, Perlini still did score 12 goals in 46 games for Chicago—an 82-game pace of 21.

Nine of those goals (and two of his three Blackhawks assists) came in the last 17 games of the season for Perlini, indicating that perhaps he had found some level of comfort on the roster after failing to fit in right away. Now the team has to decide what that is worth moving forward, especially given they still don’t have a ton of cap room available. After changing basically half of the roster in a month, the team is sitting with just over $3.3MM in cap space with only 20 players signed. That doesn’t leave much space for Perlini, who obviously turned down his $874K qualifying offer and is looking for more than that.

The 6’3″ forward is obviously not someone you want to discard and give up on, but with the recent additions of young players like Kirby Dach, Dominik Kubalik and Alexander Nylander, the Blackhawks do have some other ways to fill out the rest of the roster for a very low cost. All three of those young forwards are on entry-level deals, but none are tested at the NHL level just yet. Perlini, like many of the other restricted free agents who are not eligible for arbitration, is in a tough negotiating situation where cap room on the other side is limited. We’ll have to keep watch and see if they can come to an agreement, or if Bowman will have make yet another move.

2019 Arbitration Tracker

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The deadline to file for player-elected salary arbitration comes in at 4pm today, while tomorrow brings the deadline for team-elected filings. To understand the entire arbitration process, make sure you read Mike Furlano’s Capology 101 posts from 2016 on the process (part 1, part 2). Filing for arbitration also removes the opportunity for other teams to sign a player to an offer sheet.

Below, you can find a complete list of unsigned arbitration eligible players broken down by team. Refresh this page often as new information will be added as it comes in.

Updated July 17

Anaheim Ducks

Chase De Leo  – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Justin Kloos – Re-signed without filing

Arizona Coyotes

Emil Pettersson – Will play in SHL
Michael Bunting – Re-signed prior to deadline
Hudson Fasching – Re-signed prior to deadline

Boston Bruins

Peter Cehlarik – Re-signed without filing
Danton Heinen – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing

Buffalo Sabres

Remi Elie – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 1
Zemgus Girgensons – Re-signed prior to deadline
Johan Larsson – Re-signed without filing
Jake McCabe – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 4
Evan Rodrigues – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 23
Linus Ullmark – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 2

Calgary Flames

Sam Bennett – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 27
Spencer Foo – Will play in KHL
Ryan Lomberg – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
David Rittich – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 29
Rinat Valiev – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing

Carolina Hurricanes

Brock McGinn – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Trevor Carrick – Did not file, remains unsigned
Anton Forsberg – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 4
Saku Maenalanen – Did not file, remains unsigned

Chicago Blackhawks

Victor Ejdsell – Will play in SHL

Colorado Avalanche

Andre Burakovsky – Re-signed without filing
J.T. Compher – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Sheldon Dries – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 4
Ryan Graves – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Anton Lindholm – Did not file, remains unsigned
Nikita Zadorov – Re-signed prior to deadline

Columbus Blue Jackets

Scott Harrington – Re-signed prior to deadline
Justin Scott – Re-signed without filing
Lukas Sedlak – Will play in KHL

Dallas Stars

Gavin Bayreuther – Re-signed without filing
Jason Dickinson – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Niklas Hansson – Will play in SHL
Dillon Heatherington – Re-signed without filing

Detroit Red Wings

Patrik Rybar – Will play in Liiga

Edmonton Oilers

(none)

Florida Panthers

Anthony Greco – Re-signed without filing
Maxim Mamin – Will play in KHL
Ian McCoshen – Did not file, remains unsigned
Dominic Toninato  – Re-signed without filing
MacKenzie Weegar – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 22

Los Angeles Kings

Alex Iafallo – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Calvin Petersen – Re-signed without filing
Matt Roy – Re-signed without filing

Minnesota Wild

Louis Belpedio – Did not file, remains unsigned
Ryan Donato – Re-signed without filing
Carson Soucy – Re-signed without filing

Montreal Canadiens

Joel Armia – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Charles Hudon – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 2
Artturi Lehkonen – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Michael McCarron – Did not file, remains unsigned

Nashville Predators

Rocco Grimaldi – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 4
Colton Sissons – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 26

New Jersey Devils

Brandon Baddock – Re-signed without filing
Will Butcher – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 2
Connor Carrick – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Mirco Mueller – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 28

New York Islanders

(none)

New York Rangers

Pavel Buchnevich – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 29
Vinni Lettieri – Did not file, remains unsigned
Jacob Trouba – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 25

Ottawa Senators

(none)

Philadelphia Flyers

Scott Laughton – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing

Pittsburgh Penguins

Zach Aston-Reese – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 22
Teddy Blueger – Re-signed without filing
Adam Johnson – Re-signed without filing

San Jose Sharks

Nick DeSimone – Re-signed without filing
Antti Suomela – Re-signed without filing

St. Louis Blues

Jordan Binnington – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Joel Edmundson – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 4
Ville Husso – Team filed for salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 22
Zach Sanford – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Oskar Sundqvist – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 24

Tampa Bay Lightning

Adam Erne – Did not file, remains unsigned
Cedric Paquette – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Carter Verhaeghe – Re-signed prior to deadline

Toronto Maple Leafs

(none)

Vancouver Canucks

Reid Boucher – Re-signed without filing
Josh Leivo – Re-signed prior to deadline

Vegas Golden Knights*

Malcolm Subban – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Re-signed prior to hearing
Jake Bischoff – Re-signed without filing

Washington Capitals

Chandler Stephenson – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled August 1
Christian Djoos – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 22
Colby Williams – Re-signed without filing

Winnipeg Jets

Eric Comrie – Did not file, remains unsigned
Andrew Copp – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 21
Neal Pionk – Filed for player-elected salary arbitration – Hearing scheduled July 24

 

*Of note, CapFriendly explained on Twitter that though Nikita Gusev appears on their calculator, he is not actually eligible for salary arbitration this year.

Florida Panthers Agree To Terms With Three Players

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The Florida Panthers officially have agreed to terms with Dryden Hunt, Thomas Schemitsch and Jayce Hawryluk on one-year two-way contracts. Hawryluk’s agreement had been previously reported, with CapFriendly noting that he had accepted his qualifying offer worth $874K in the NHL. The other two will earn $715K at the NHL level. All three will still be restricted free agents next summer.

Hunt, 23, is one of the players who has quietly developed into a legitimate NHL option for the Panthers the last few seasons. Undrafted out of the WHL, Hunt ended up exploding in his final year of junior to the tune of 58 goals and 116 points in 72 games for the Moose Jaw Warriors. Jumping to the professional ranks didn’t slow him down, and he has now posted consecutive 23-goal seasons for the AHL Springfield Thunderbirds, despite spending time in both seasons with the Panthers. In 42 NHL games he has 11 points, and he heads into 2019-20 as a player fighting for a role on an improved team. If he can make it, it’s hard to bet against a player that has been overlooked for so long but defied the odds at every opportunity.

Hawryluk is another player who will be battling for a chance to start the year in the NHL, but comes with a much higher draft pedigree. The 32nd overall pick in 2014 made his NHL debut last season, suiting up 42 times for the Panthers and recorded 12 points. Hawryluk has proven he can hang in the bottom-six for the Panthers, but with additions like Brett Connolly and Noal Acciari lengthening out the lineup, there is no guarantee he sees a full season this year.

Schemitsch, 22, is the only one of the three yet to make his debut in the NHL but is not to be overlooked. The third round pick from 2015 had 24 points in 56 games for Springfield while also having the size and reach to handle defensive coverage at the professional level. The 6’4″ defenseman will continue to try and take the necessary developmental steps to make it to the highest level, though things are a little crowded there after the addition of Anton Stralman in free agency.

Minor Transactions: 07/17/19

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Arbitration hearings start in just a few days and we’re still waiting on new deals for many of the league’s top restricted free agents. In the meantime, teams continue to fill out their organizational depth charts. We’ll keep track right here:

  • Chris Conner has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Binghamton Devils, ending a four-year run with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Conner is an excellent offensive player at the minor league level and does actually have 180 games of NHL experience under his belt. The 35-year old winger will give Binghamton another veteran to help their attack and mentor their young forwards.
  • Brandon Saigeon has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Colorado Eagles, giving him a chance to start his professional journey with the organization that drafted him. A fifth-round pick in 2018, Saigeon’s exclusive rights with the Colorado Avalanche will actually expire next June, at which point they would need to decide whether he’s worth an NHL entry-level deal. Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now reports that deal is already expected to be signed in March, 2020.
  • The Bakersfield Condors have signed Anthony Peluso and Vincent Desharnais to AHL contracts, adding some depth to the minor league organization. Peluso has played 148 NHL games over his career, most recently with the Calgary Flames. The 30-year old forward has never been much of an offensive threat though, and scored just eight points with the Stockton Heat last season.

J.T. Compher Signs With Colorado Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed J.T. Compher to a four-year deal. The contract will carry a $3.5MM average annual value. Compher was scheduled to have an arbitration hearing at the end of the month.

Compher, 24, is coming off his third season in the Colorado organization and his best offensive one to date. Scoring 16 goals and 32 points in 66 games, he was one of the most versatile forwards the Avalanche had, lining up on both the wing and at center (though the former much more often). Compher was also used extensively on both the powerplay and penalty kill, and averaged the most ice time of any forward outside of the top line—Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog.

It was that versatility that made Compher such an attractive piece when the Avalanche acquired him as part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade in 2015, even before he had exploded offensively at the University of Michigan. The season following the trade Compher had 63 points in 38 games for the Wolverines, but happened to lose the Hobey Baker award as the nation’s top collegiate player to Jimmy Vesey.

Still, it took some time for the young forward to really find his groove at the NHL level. Compher tallied just 28 points in his first 90 games for the Avalanche but as his role has increased so has his production. With this contract, the Avalanche are betting that he can at least maintain the lever he showed last season and continue to be an all-situation player for the team.

A four-year deal will buy out one unrestricted free agent season for the Avalanche, leaving Compher a UFA when the deal expires in 2023. In that sense it could be quite the bargain if he ends up improving his offense even further (and staying healthy through an entire season) and is able to continue contributing in all situations. It will be interesting to see exactly where he ends up in the new lineup, as the team brought in Nazem Kadri, Joonas Donskoi, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Andre Burakovsky this offseason to strengthen the Colorado forward group.

The deal is the same one that former teammate Alexander Kerfoot signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs after the trade that brought Kadri to Colorado, an interesting comparison given Kerfoot’s higher point production through nearly the same amount of NHL games. The total is also the same as what Micheal Ferland signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Vancouver Canucks, though he plays a much different role than Compher with his physicality. In all, this certainly doesn’t make Compher an albatross contract for the Avalanche but it does put some pressure on the young forward to continue his development and take another step forward.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet broke news of the signing on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

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