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Carolina Hurricanes Sign Justin Robidas

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If you watched the Quebec Remparts open the Memorial Cup against the Kamloops Blazers last Friday, you probably noticed an undersized QMJHL forward flying around the ice setting up his teammates with creative, deceptive passes.

That was Justin Robidas, who put up three assists in the blowout win, continuing a brilliant playoff performance. As the young forward waits to see who he’ll face in the tournament finale, he’s made another huge step in his career.

Robidas has signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Carolina Hurricanes. General manager Don Waddell released the following statement:

Justin has produced offensively throughout his junior career, and he has played a key role for Quebec throughout the QMJHL playoffs and Memorial Cup this season. We are excited to watch his development progress at the next level.

The 20-year-old forward was picked 147th in 2021, scoring 78 points in 63 regular season games this year. Even better, he put up 27 in 18 postseason games, helping the Remparts take home the QMJHL title.

While his size, a diminutive 5’8″, will likely pose a challenge for him at the next level, Robidas has shown elite playmaking ability at the junior level. He’ll be ticketed for the AHL next season, where he’ll try to translate his game to the professional ranks.

If he does struggle, there’s certainly someone he can ask for advice. Robidas is the son of Stephane Robidas, a veteran of more than 900 games and currently an assistant coach with the Montreal Canadiens.

Coaching Notes: Gallant, Laviolette, Carbery

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The offseason coaching carousel continues, with Andrew Brunette taking over for the Nashville Predators today. That puts another experienced head coach on the market in John Hynes, adding to a long list of candidates for any vacancies.

Here’s a rundown of notes from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, on upcoming (and past) interviews:

  • The Calgary Flames have contacted former New York Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant, who will be part of an extensive interview process as they look to replace the outgoing Darryl Sutter. Gallant has had great success in all his head coaching roles but has never made it through a third season with the same team.
  • The Rangers are expected to meet with Peter Laviolette again today as they look to replace Gallant. Hynes has also been linked to the New York job, suggesting they’ll go with another experienced name after parting ways with Gallant earlier this month.
  • Laviolette’s replacement with the Washington Capitals, Spencer Carbery, also interviewed with the Predators, according to LeBrun. As shown by the hiring of Brunette, Nashville was clearly willing to go with less experience; Carbery will be getting his first NHL head coaching opportunity in Washington.

Hurricanes Notes: UFAs, Noesen, Svechnikov

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The Carolina Hurricanes had one of the most shocking playoff exits in recent memory, swept out of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers after dropping just three games in the first two rounds combined. The combination of key injuries and some outstanding performances from star Panthers left them searching for answers again.

Now, with free agency right around the corner, news poured out of the Hurricanes’ locker cleanout day:

  • It started with captain Jordan Staal, who explained that he doesn’t plan to play anywhere but Carolina next season. The pending UFA will be 35 before the 2023-24 campaign kicks off, but loves being a Hurricane and wants to come back. He even went so far as to say that he wants to finish his career in Carolina.
  • Frederik Andersen, a pending free agent, also wants to return. That’s his “priority” as the two-year deal he signed in 2021 comes to an end. Both Andersen and fellow veteran goaltender Antti Raanta are set to hit the open market, while Pyotr Kochetkov’s new four-year deal kicks in.
  • There was also some injury news, though, with Stefan Noesen explaining that he suffered a grade three shoulder separation. Fortunately, it isn’t expected to require surgery, meaning he’ll be ready for the start of next year. Noesen, 30, finally found a home in Carolina, scoring 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games.
  • Andrei Svechnikov, who had to watch the entire playoff run after suffering a serious knee injury, was optimistic about his recovery timeline and told reporters he’d be on the ice in a month. His absence was certainly felt in the Florida series, after scoring 23 goals and 55 points in 64 games this season.

More On Toronto’s GM Search

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have a critical offseason ahead of them, with decisions on the future of several core players, potential extension talks with Auston Matthews, and a roster with ten pending unrestricted free agents. All of this to do, and no general manager to do it.

Toronto continues to search for a new front office leader after firing Kyle Dubas following another disappointing playoff exit. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports four names—Brad Treliving, Jason Botterill, Peter Chiarelli, and Marc Bergevin—that he expects to have interviews with the Maple Leafs.

Treliving, in particular, seems to have plenty of momentum as a top candidate after exiting the Calgary Flames earlier this spring. The veteran executive had been GM of the Flames since 2014, previously serving as an assistant with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Chiarelli, Bergevin, and Botterill should all be very familiar to Maple Leafs fans, given their respective terms as general managers of the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, and Buffalo Sabres. They are also likely not very exciting choices, at least from the fans’ perspective, given their questionable roster management in the past.

Still, it seems likely that Toronto will go with an experienced NHL name this time around as they try to figure out what’s holding them back from playoff success. Since Matthews and the rest of the young core debuted in 2016, the team has had just one playoff victory past the first round.

Colton Sceviour Re-Signs In Switzerland

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It was quite the European debut for long-time NHL forward Colton Sceviour in 2022-23. Joining SC Bern of the Swiss NL, the gritty forward put up 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points, only trailing other foreign-born skaters Chris DiDomenico and Oscar Lindberg.

The club was clearly impressed, as they have inked Sceviour to another one-year contract for 2023-24. Team director Andrew Ebbett called him one of their most “consistent” players, a work ethic that he was well known for in North America as well.

Now 34, Sceviour played over 500 games in the NHL, never scoring more than 11 goals or 26 points in a single season. But he maintained his spot in the lineup—playing for the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Edmonton Oilers—through attention to detail, a willingness to engage physically, and never-ending energy on the penalty kill.

It appears, with this new contract, that we can close the book on his NHL career. Sceviour scored 66 goals and 156 points over his 535 regular season games.

Mark Barberio Re-Signs In KHL

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The winding hockey career of Mark Barberio will take him to Cherepovets next season, as the free agent defenseman has signed a one-year deal with Severstal for 2023-24.

Barberio, 33, left North American pro hockey in 2020 to serve as captain of Lausanne HC in Switzerland before transitioning to the KHL in 2022. The puck-moving defenseman was part of Team Canada at the most recent Olympics and registered 12 points for Dinamo Minsk last season.

It’s been an interesting career to this point for the former QMJHL star, who took the Moncton Wildcats to the 2010 Memorial Cup as part of an incredibly versatile and dynamic defense corps. He and David Savard combined for 137 points that year, and it became obvious that Barberio wouldn’t be the average sixth-round pick.

By 2012, he won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s best defenseman with the Calder Cup champion Norfolk Admirals, a team loaded with future NHL talent. Unfortunately, while Tyler Johnson, Ondrej Palat, Alex Killorn, and Radko Gudas would go on to huge success at the next level, Barberio struggled with the transition and bounced around for the next several years.

Overall, he played 272 games in the NHL, last appearing with the Colorado Avalanche in 2020. At his age, any thought of a return to the highest level of professional hockey is unlikely, so he’ll have to play out the last few chapters overseas.

Jamie Benn To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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It was not a good night for the Dallas Stars. Already down 2-0 in their third-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights, the team allowed Jonathan Marchessault to get free in the left circle and wire home his seventh goal of the playoffs. Less than a minute later, captain Jamie Benn would let his frustration get the better of him, delivering a cross-check to a prone Mark Stone.

The incident would result in a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for Benn, who played just 42 seconds in a must-win game. The Stars would lose 4-0, fans would throw trash onto the ice, forcing team president Brad Alberts to issue a public apology, and now, all but eliminated, will likely be without Benn for at least another game.

Benn will have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety today to determine if supplemental discipline is required.

The Stars captain refused to take questions after the game, and may not get another chance to hit the ice, should a suspension come down the pipe. Vegas managed just 16 shots on goal last night but still somehow cruised to an easy victory, inching them closer to another Stanley Cup Final appearance.

Benn had a brilliant bounce-back season with 78 points in 82 games (his highest total since 2018) but has struggled to find the back of the net in the playoffs. He now has three goals in 16 games while recording 51 penalty minutes.

Champions Hockey League To Test New Rule Changes

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“If you were commissioner for a day, which rule change would you implement?” That’s the question bandied about sports bars, backyard barbecues, and live chats as hockey fans try to figure out a way to improve (or, as some would say, fix) their favorite sport.

Take away icings. Remove offsides. Forget about that darned trapezoid.

The NHL may be loath to make significant changes, but one league will try something new next season. The Champions Hockey League, a season-long tournament that sees the best clubs across all European leagues battle it out, will institute three changes to how penalties are dealt with.

  • Scoring does not end a two-minute powerplay
  • A goal during a delayed penalty does not negate the upcoming powerplay
  • A shorthanded goal will end the powerplay

These aren’t completely brand new ideas. Hockey minds (notably Jeff Marek of Sportsnet) have been pushing for the first two rule changes for a long time. The third will likely be most interesting to hockey fans in North America.

One has to wonder if it will hurt the number of shorthanded chances, though, with teams icing two defensemen on the powerplay instead of the four- or five-forward units we’ve seen over the last decade.

Regardless of how it turns out, this will be an intriguing experiment to run and something the NHL will certainly be watching.

More On Penguins’ GM Search

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The Pittsburgh Penguins continue to whittle down their list of potential general manager candidates as they try to decide who will lead them into 2023-24. On TSN’s Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reports that Eric Tulsky and Dan MacKinnon have both been eliminated from the race.

Tulsky, currently the assistant general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, has seemingly become the fan favorite for every vacancy in the league in recent years. The analytically-minded executive has made quite an impact on the Hurricanes organization, overhauling everything from how they scout to their contract negotiations.

But he’ll have to wait a little longer for his first chance in the big chair, unless another team decides to turn their attention to him over the next few weeks.

MacKinnon, a former member of the Penguins front office and current AGM with the New Jersey Devils, is another name linked to several vacancies recently. With more than two decades of hockey operations experience, he has taken a more traditional route to candidacy, including his time as an AHL GM in the last few years.

The Penguins will now have to decide between their last few candidates, which are expected to include names like Kyle Dubas, Jason Botterill, and Mathieu Darche.

Alexander Burmistrov Re-Signs In KHL

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Though it may seem like a decade since Alexander Burmistrov last appeared in the NHL, the 2010 first-round pick is actually less than six years removed from his final game with the Vancouver Canucks, an overtime loss in which he received just nine shifts.

The very last first-round pick the Atlanta Thrashers ever made is still only 31, and has signed another one-year contract in the KHL—inking a deal with Spartak Moscow. It comes after a very poor 2022-23, where Burmistrov scored just five points in 42 games split between Ak Bars Kazan and Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

There was real talent in young Russian when Atlanta picked him in 2010. He had just finished a season with the Barrie Colts, scoring 65 points in 62 games during his first taste of North America. He would immediately jump to the NHL, playing 74 games as a teenaged rookie, scoring six goals and 20 points.

The Thrashers would move to Winnipeg, and Burmistrov looked like a true building block for a while. His 13 goals and 28 points in the 2011-12 season, when he was still just 19, were encouraging signs. The forward core also had young Blake Wheeler, Evander Kane, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little, and Mark Scheifele, suggesting better times were ahead.

Unfortunately, things would quickly go off the rails for Burmistrov, who returned to Russia for two seasons in 2013 and could never get his NHL career back on track following that absence.

While he does have a Gagarin Cup and World Championship gold, it has been a rather disappointing career for Burmistrov, individually. He hasn’t crossed 20 points in any season since returning to Russia in 2017, and is a fringe depth player at this point.

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