Buffalo Sabres Re-Sign Casey Mittelstadt
The Buffalo Sabres have signed Casey Mittelstadt to a new one-year contract worth $847,125, the same amount as his qualifying offer. Mittelstadt was a restricted free agent with no arbitration rights and thus little leverage in negotiations.
Mittelstadt, 22, is one of the most fascinating players to keep an eye on in Buffalo this season as he enters his third full season. Selected eighth overall in 2017 he has been a huge disappointment so far, recording just 39 points in 114 NHL games and spending the majority of last season in the minor leagues. Though he did score 25 points in 36 games for the Rochester Americans, a player drafted that high is expected to be either in the NHL or dominating the minor league level after three years.
In reality, it’s unclear if Mittelstadt will even have a role on this version of the Sabres. The team added Eric Staal, Cody Eakin, Tobias Rieder, and Taylor Hall in the offseason, giving them a much deeper forward group than the last few years. Given that increased depth and the fact that Mittelstadt is still waiver-exempt, it makes more sense for him to be on the taxi squad than the active roster unless he forces the coaches’ hands at training camp. That’s certainly possible, but remember the team will also have Dylan Cozens returning from the WJC at some point and potentially joining the club, plus have some older prospects who could also push for playing time.
If Mittelstadt wants to be a part of this rebuild in Buffalo, he has to show it this season. Whenever he gets a chance to get onto the ice, his game has to be more polished and capable at both ends of the rink. That’s certainly not out of the question for a player who has such high skill, but he’s in danger of being left behind while the team improves without him.
Nikita Kucherov To Undergo Hip Surgery
The Tampa Bay Lightning may have solved their cap problem, but it’s at the expense of one of the best players in the world. GM Julien Brisbois told reporters including Joe Smith of The Athletic that Nikita Kucherov will need hip surgery and will not play in this regular season. Kucherov can now be moved to long-term injured reserve to give the team more cap flexibility and return in the playoffs (if healthy) when there is no salary cap.
Still, this is certainly not an ideal situation for the Lightning as they look to defend their Stanley Cup championship. Kucherov is without a doubt a difference-maker on the ice and easily could have been awarded the Conn Smythe after leading the playoffs in scoring with 34 points in 25 games. The 2019 Hart, Lindsey, and Art Ross winner, the Russian winger had a career-high 128 points two seasons ago before returning with 85 in 68 during a pandemic-shortened 2019-20.
Moving his $9.5MM cap hit to LTIR though can open some interesting scenarios for the Lightning. Steven Stamkos, the team’s other injured superstar, is expected to be ready for opening day, meaning the team may actually have a few more moves to come. Even with the added flexibility of putting Kucherov on reserve, the team still only has about $3.5MM in space to sign breakout checking center Anthony Cirelli, who remains a restricted free agent. Though Cirelli doesn’t have a ton of leverage right now if he wants to play this season, it still seems unlikely that he signs for less than that unless it is an extremely short-term deal.
More likely, the team is still going to have to pursue other opportunities to shed one of their high-priced forwards. Tyler Johnson was the obvious option earlier this summer when he agreed to give the team a short list of trade destinations, but nothing was worked out and even when the Lightning placed him on waivers, he went unclaimed. Johnson, Ondrej Palat, and Yanni Gourde all count for at least $5MM against the cap this season and all have full no-trade clauses. Alex Killorn, who is the next highest-paid forward behind those three at $4.45MM has a 16-team no-trade clause.
Of course, there may be some other more creative ways around the cap given this year’s taxi squad rules. In any case, the team will have to secure a playoff spot without their most dangerous offensive weapon—not a great situation in an anything-can-happen shortened season.
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Vancouver Canucks Hire Jason King, Chris Higgins
The Vancouver Canucks have filled their coaching vacancy, hiring Jason King as an NHL assistant coach. King previously served as an assistant with the Utica Comets, Vancouver’s AHL affiliate. The team has also hired Chris Higgins as a skills and development coach.
Both should be familiar for Canucks fans, given they each played for the team during their on-ice careers. King, 39, was drafted 212th overall by the Canucks in 2001 and made it all the way to the NHL, recording 12 goals and 21 points in 47 games during the 2003-04 season. His career never took off after that, instead taking him through several stops in the AHL and some overseas adventures in Sweden and Germany, but he returned as an assistant coach for the St. John’s IceCaps in 2013. He has been with Utica for the last four seasons and will now take the next step in his coaching career.
Higgins meanwhile was a much more successful NHL player, who spent parts of six seasons with the Canucks at the end of his career. A veteran of more than 700 games, he scored a career-high 27 goals and 52 points during the 2007-08 season with Montreal. Higgins retired in 2016 and will now start the next chapter of his hockey story.
Vancouver lost Manny Malhotra this offseason to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who hired him away to serve as an assistant on Sheldon Keefe‘s staff. Malhotra had been a development coach for the Canucks and was the “eye in the sky” assistant for them in recent years.
League Notes: OHL, Stadium Series, Schedule
The OHL has pushed back the start of their season even further, with many now questioning whether it will happen at all. The entire province of Ontario will go into a lockdown on December 26, leading to a decision by the junior league to push things back indefinitely.
If the league does eventually cancel the season, it will be a lost year for many prospects trying to further their development. In that scenario, those that are already under NHL contracts could potentially join the team’s taxi squad or report to the AHL (should there be a minor league season). Those that are not signed could potentially also sign amateur contracts with the AHL like they often do after the CHL season ends, but it appears as though many will just lose an entire year of play. For draft-eligible juniors, that will only confuse their stock even more, perhaps leading to some wildly different evaluations come draft day.
- The NHL has postponed the 2021 Stadium Series game that was set to be held at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh on February 20. Though that comes as no surprise, it is just another disappointment in a long year of them. The Carolina Hurricanes have never been involved in an outdoor game and will have to wait even longer for their first appearance. The league does say it “intends to return to North Carolina for this signature event in the near future.”
- The league will release the full schedule for the upcoming season later today, which is expected to include short baseball-like series between teams. An earlier report even indicated that there could even be four-game segments between teams, though that seems to be the exception, not the rule. Leaks for opening night opponents have continued to spring up, including one recent report from Chris Johnston of Sportsnet that indicates the Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers could play on January 13.
Nashville Predators Sign Erik Haula
It’s not only Mikael Granlund that is heading to Nashville today. The Predators have also signed Erik Haula according to several reports including Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The deal will pay Haula $1.75MM for the 2020-21 season.
Haula, 29, joins a crowded room in Nashville for the upcoming season. The team had already added Nick Cousins, Luke Kunin, and Brad Richardson this offseason and now will be bringing back Granlund, meaning there are certainly more than 12 NHL forwards vying for spots. In Haula, arguably the best center on the market, the Predators are securing a bottom-six option that has shown an ability to move up in the lineup in the past.
During the magical 2017-18 season with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, he scored 29 goals and 55 points in 76 games. That was followed by an unfortunate injury early in the 2018-19 campaign that limited him to just 15 regular season games and then a disappointing 2019-20 campaign. Haula played 41 games for the Carolina Hurricanes and registered 12 goals and 22 points before a trade took him to Florida for a handful of matches.
Now in Nashville, it’s unclear exactly what role he’ll be asked to fill, but for $1.75MM it doesn’t really matter. The Predators are taking a swing with a bargain-basement contract for a player who was being squeezed out of the market and could win big if he returns to that 2017 level. If he performs like he did last year, he’s still likely worth the money as a checking depth option.
With Granlund and Haula signed, all eyes will now turn to Mike Hoffman and his continued unemployment. There’s no doubt that he’s the best forward left on the market, though there are still some interesting names like Andreas Athanasiou out there. The market is obviously picking up now that the season is a go, with more signings to come in the next few days and weeks.
St. Louis Blues Name Ryan O’Reilly Captain
The St. Louis Blues not only lost a Norris-level defenseman but also lost their captain when Alex Pietrangelo decided to sign with the Vegas Golden Knights in free agency. Today, one of those things has been restored, with the Blues’ announcement that Ryan O’Reilly will serve as captain moving forward. O’Reilly will be the 23rd captain in franchise history and is joined by Vladimir Tarasenko, Brayden Schenn, and Colton Parayko, who will serve as alternates. Blues head coach Craig Berube explained just why O’Reilly was the choice:
Ryan’s work ethic on and off the ice and his commitment day in and day out is second to none. He leads by example with how hard he works during practices and our games and he relays the right message from our coaching staff to our entire team.
O’Reilly, 29, has actually only been in St. Louis for two seasons but is already a franchise icon. The team’s second Conn Smythe winner, he led the Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019 with a playoff-leading 23 points in 26 games. That followed a 77-point season, a career-high of O’Reilly, but it’s really not even his offense that is so important to the team. The 2019 Selke Trophy winner is one of the very best defensive forwards in the entire world, shutting down the middle of the ice while always among the league leaders in faceoff wins. He has received votes for the Selke in each of the last ten seasons, starting when he was just a 19-year-old for the Colorado Avalanche.
Not only does O’Reilly drive offense and shut down opponents, but he also almost never takes a penalty, recording just 106 PIM over his 804-game career, 46 of those coming in his first three seasons. He won the Lady Byng trophy in 2014 when he took just a single minor penalty, a feat he repeated in 2017-18. Though that lack of penalties isn’t a flashy stat, it’s more important than you might think given that O’Reilly is so important on the penalty kill. When it’s never him serving, he’s always available to take crucial defensive-zone draws for the Blues.
All of that makes O’Reilly one of the best players on the Blues, but his leadership off the ice and camaraderie with teammates also likely made this an easy choice for the coaching staff. With three years left on his contract, St. Louis has found their leader for at least the next few seasons.
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Montreal Canadiens Sign Michael Frolik
The Montreal Canadiens have signed free agent forward Michael Frolik to a one-year contract worth $750K. Frolik is coming off a five-year, $21.5MM contract signed in 2015 and spent last season with the Calgary Flames and Buffalo Sabres.
You might think $750K is extremely inexpensive for a 32-year-old with nearly 400 points and 850 NHL games on his resume, but Frolik was one of the most disappointing players in the entire NHL last year. After recording double-digit goal totals for six straight seasons, he struggled at the start of the year with Calgary and registered just five goals and ten points in his first 38 games. A deal to the Sabres didn’t help matters, where he added just one goal and four points in 19.
Frankly, it might be over for Frolik, who was once a lock for 40 points but hasn’t reached that mark since the 2016-17 season. But if it’s not, if he has anything left to give even in a depth role, why not take a risk-free near-minimum chance to find out if you’re the Canadiens. Frolik now pencils in as the team’s 13th forward, a luxury for head coach Claude Julien who will attempt to navigate the All-Canadian division this season and take Montreal back to the playoffs. The team has added depth at every position, bringing in names like Tyler Toffoli, Josh Anderson and now Frolik upfront, Joel Edmundson and Alexander Romanov on the blueline, and Jake Allen to serve as the backup to Carey Price.
That’s a lot of experience and talent added to a group that already shocked the Pittsburgh Penguins in a qualifying round and stole a couple off the Philadelphia Flyers. The Canadiens should be a much more successful team in the upcoming season, if only because of how deep their roster will be.
Alex Nylander Undergoes Knee Surgery
The Chicago Blackhawks will be without Alex Nylander for the next while, announcing today that the young forward underwent surgery Monday on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus and will be out for four to six months. Nylander was originally injured in the playoffs but decided to try and rest and rehab it initially. Symptoms returned recently and the decision for surgery was made.
This is a worst-case scenario for the 22-year-old Nylander who still hasn’t come close to fulfilling the potential that made him the eighth-overall pick in 2016. That pick was made by the Buffalo Sabres, who cut bait on the disappointing forward in 2019 by sending him to the Blackhawks in exchange for Henri Jokiharju. In his first year in Chicago, Nylander played in 65 games but managed just ten goals and 26 points before going scoreless in eight postseason contests.
For a player that is consistently compared to his brother William Nylander who was also an eighth-overall pick but just had a 31-goal season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, losing an entire season due to injury will do nothing to remove the “bust” tag that some have already placed on him. Not only are his days as a top prospect are gone—he’ll be 23 by the time he has recovered—but Alex Nylander will need to fight for his future in Chicago. His entry-level contract will expire after this season, leaving him a restricted free agent without much leverage or arbitration eligibility.
Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Alexander Volkov, Mathieu Joseph
The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to wrap up negotiations with their restricted free agents, this time signing Alexander Volkov to a one-year, one-way contract according to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the deal is worth $700K. The team has also announced a two-year, one-way contract for Mathieu Joseph which will carry an average annual value of $737,500.
Volkov, 23, is a very interesting player to watch this season in Tampa Bay, given how tight they are to the cap and how inexpensive he now will be. Selected 48th overall in 2017 he has done nothing but dominate at the minor league level, scoring 55 goals and 123 points in 195 games with the Syracuse Crunch since debuting in 2017. In 2019-20 he played nine games with the Lightning, scoring just a single point but flashing the same interesting mix of speed and skill that makes him dangerous in the minor leagues.
If you want to know how highly Volkov is regarded by the Lightning coaching staff and front office, remember that he dressed in a single playoff game this summer. That happened to be game six of the Stanley Cup Final, when Tampa Bay clinched a series win over the Dallas Stars to become champions.
Joseph meanwhile, who is also 23, actually already has 107 games under his belt with the Lightning and will get a chance to add to that total this season. The fourth-round pick from 2015 has a well-rounded game that can play up or down the lineup and he proved he could contribute offensively when given the chance in 2018-19. Joseph scored 13 goals and 26 points in 70 games with the Lightning that season, despite averaging just over 11 minutes a night. Though his offensive numbers dropped to just seven points in 37 games this year, he is still a valuable depth piece that the team now has locked up at a bargain price.
The Lightning may have cap problems that they need to sort out, but players like Volkov and Joseph represent exactly why they are such a tough organization to beat. They’ve built arguably the strongest player development pipeline in the entire league, which continues to churn out NHL-level talents each year out of mid-round picks or trade throw-ins. Even if they have to move on from some of their more high profile talents, they have the depth to fill out the roster internally (while also being an appealing destination for free agents).
Mackenzie Blackwood Re-Signs With New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils have signed restricted free agent goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood to a new three-year contract. The deal will pay the young netminder $1.475MM in 2020-21, $2.8MM in 2021-22 and $4.125MM in 2022-23 for an average annual value of $2.8MM. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald explained just what Blackwood means to the organization:
Mackenzie is going to be one of the key young, core pieces for this organization for a long time and we are excited and extremely happy to have him under contract. He’s obviously shown that he can be a number one goalie, and the sky’s the limit for him.
The sky is the limit indeed. The 24-year-old Blackwood was selected 42nd overall in 2015 and has slowly but surely worked his way up the ladder to become a starting goaltender in the NHL. In 2018-19 he appeared in 23 games for the Devils, posting a .918 save percentage and going 10-10 on a dreadful team. Last season the Devils still struggled, but Blackwood was a bright light in the darkness, posting a .915 and a 22-14-8 record. Remember that New Jersey went 28-29-12 overall, meaning the team won only six games all year without Blackwood in the crease.
That kind of reliance might not be necessary this season as the Devils brought in Corey Crawford to serve as a tandem option during a shortened season. The 35-year-old Crawford is still an effective netminder and can help take some of the pressure off Blackwood this year, while still serving as a capable backup in a regular 82-game 2021-22 season.
New Jersey will be spending quite a bit on goaltending, even if it pales in comparison to places like Montreal and Florida who have spent big in recent years. Not only will Crawford carry a $3.9MM hit and Blackwood this $2.8MM, but the Devils will also still owe $2MM to Cory Schneider in each of the next four seasons after his October buyout.
At any rate, this is Blackwood’s net to take for the next decade if he wants it. The Devils are trying to build the organization back up to compete with the other Metropolitan powerhouses, who each seem to have their own young goaltending star, and will need the Thunder Bay native to be a big part.
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