Minnesota Wild Sign Andrew Hammond
The Minnesota Wild have grabbed one of the last few goaltenders on the market with any NHL experience, signing Andrew Hammond to a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K at the NHL level. The announcement came with some bad news, however, as Alex Stalock is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury.
Earlier this month our Zach Leach profiled Hammond, making the case for him as the market’s top remaining goaltender. That’s hard to believe given he hasn’t played in the NHL since the 2017-18 season, but here he is just a few weeks later earning himself a contract. Given Stalock’s injury, he may earn himself some time in the NHL as well.
Make no mistake, Hammond isn’t here to become the future in net for Minnesota. The team signed Cam Talbot to a three-year contract in free agency and have top prospect Kaapo Kahkonen waiting in the wings for his chance to take over. If Kahkonen isn’t going to get regular playing time in the NHL though, it makes sense for him to not have to serve as Talbot’s backup, anchoring the AHL’s Iowa Wild instead.
If 2020 seems like it has been a full decade and you can’t remember back to the spring of 2015, you may have forgotten about how Hammond took the NHL by storm. The undrafted goaltender came up for the Ottawa Senators and proceeded to go 20-1-2 down the stretch, posting a .941 save percentage and even earning himself Hart and Vezina Trophy votes. The “Hamburglar” became a folk hero in Ottawa and will always be remembered for that run.
Amazingly, even though he has appeared in just 31 regular season games since that 2014-15 season, Hammond was again forced into playoff work with the Colorado Avalanche in 2018. He appeared in three games against the Nashville Predators and actually posted a .933, but failed to get the Avalanche through to the second round.
It’s those impressive short-term performances that make Hammond such a perfect fit for the Wild as they deal with Stalock’s injury. He can potentially spell Talbot early in the year as the team navigates a condensed schedule, while still allowing Kahkonen to start at the AHL level if the team chooses.
Calgary Flames Expand Goaltending Department
The Calgary Flames, perhaps taking a page from the Florida Panthers book, have created a new goaltending department in the front office, which will be led by Jordan Sigalet as Director of Goaltending. General manager Brad Treliving explained just what the department’s role in the organization will be:
The goal and mission of this change is to provide us with the best process to identify, draft, develop, procure and coach goalies for the Calgary Flames. We believe this structure and process will provide us with the best and deepest goaltending expertise throughout all parts of the organization.
Under Sigalet, who will focus on drafting and development of all the goaltenders in the organization, will be Jason Labarbera who has been named Flames Goaltending Coach. The former NHL goaltender comes to the Flames from the Calgary Hitmen where he served in a similar role for the past four years. Thomas Speer will continue to serve as a Development Goalie Coach for the Flames AHL affiliate in Stockton.
Labarbera, 40, played in 187 NHL games during his journeyman professional career, which took him through New York, Charlotte, Hartford, Los Angeles, Manchester, Vancouver, Phoenix, Edmonton, Oklahoma City, Rockford, Norfolk, Anaheim, and Lehigh Valley. He finished with a .907 save percentage at the NHL level and began work with the Hitmen almost immediately after retirement.
The Flames of course have struggled to find consistent goaltending at the NHL level for years but recently committed term and money to Jakob Markstrom in free agency. For the team to ever truly contend for another Stanley Cup they will need to find success in the crease, which Sigalet and Labarbera are now tasked with.
Jaromir Jagr Returns To Professional Hockey
At the young age of 48, Jaromir Jagr will once again lace up his skates and hit the ice as a professional hockey player. The legendary forward will play for Kladno in the Czech Republic today, his hometown club that he happens to own. Unfortunately, after bringing the club back to the top league for one season, Jagr and Kladno faced relegation earlier this year and are now back in the second tier of Czech hockey.
It’s hard to know exactly when Jagr’s decades-long pro hockey journey will end. In 1,733 NHL games, more than any not named Gordie Howe or Mark Messier, he registered 1,921 points, putting him second behind only Wayne Gretzky. His 766 regular season goals rank third all-time, while he also earned plenty of individual and team awards, taking home the Art Ross trophy five times as the league’s top scorer, winning the Hart Trophy in 1999 as league MVP, and lifting the Stanley Cup twice with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
All that excellence and his longevity and fitness may still be the most impressive thing about Jagr, as he gets ready for his 33rd season of pro hockey. That career includes stops in the NHL and Czech Republic, but also the German and Italian leagues plus a three-year stint as a star in the KHL. Internationally, he helped the Czechs win Olympic gold in 1998 and two World Championship titles.
There’s not really anything left for Jagr to accomplish in hockey, but he keeps playing anyway.
Minor Transactions: 12/15/20
As we wait patiently for the NHL to return in a few weeks, minor, junior, and European leagues continue to fill out and tweak their rosters in the hope of title contention. As always, we’ll keep track of the notable minor moves right here.
- Isaac Johnson, who had previously signed with the Manitoba Moose earlier this year, now appears to be heading to the SPHL for the 2020-21 season. Johnson, an undrafted free agent who scored 28 goals and 73 points last season with the Winnipeg ICE of the WHL, has signed with the Huntsville Havoc.
- Matthew Spencer did not receive a qualifying offer from the Buffalo Sabres when his entry-level contract expired this offseason, but he has found the next stop of his hockey career. The unrestricted free agent has signed an ECHL contract with the Orlando Solar Bears for the 2020-21 season. Still just 23, Spencer was a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2015 (44th overall) and was flipped to Buffalo last year in exchange for Devante Stephens who happens to now be his teammate with the Solar Bears
- Stephen Davis, who had previously been with the Boston College hockey program, has decided to take his talents to the QMJHL. Davis will join the Halifax Mooseheads when their season resumes in January after failing to play in a single game with BC. Not ever really expected to go to the CHL, Davis was nearly the last pick of the 2018 QMJHL Entry Draft, selected 250th overall by the Mooseheads.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Florida Panthers
We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.
What are the Panthers most thankful for?
The Pittsburgh Penguins front office.
Getting Patric Hornqvist is nice, but the real magic this offseason for Florida was ridding themselves of Mike Matheson‘s contract without having to really sweeten the pot. The team moved Matheson and his huge contract up to Pittsburgh after his play had fallen off a cliff, meaning their salary commitments past the 2022-23 season now lie only with Aaron Ekblad and Sergei Bobrovsky. Sure, Matheson might somehow turn his career around, but he is still set to carry a cap hit of $4.875MM through the 2025-26 season, one of the worst anchors in the league at the moment. Even at his best, that deal provides no room for excess value, meaning it’s deadly for a team like the Panthers who are still trying to push into a contention window.
Who are the Panthers most thankful for?
GM Bill Zito.
So far, so good for the new general manager, who has rid the books of some unhealthy cap and landed a few nice short-term bargains over the last few months. Alexander Wennberg agreed to sign a one-year deal in Florida while the team also landed Markus Nutivaara for almost nothing in a trade with his old team. There is certainly a lot more work to be done, but Zito appears to be turning things in the right direction.
The next big test for the executive will come quickly, as after this season Aleksander Barkov is eligible for an extension. With his bargain deal coming to an end after the 2021-22 season, leaving him an unrestricted free agent, Zito has to get to work on a new contract as soon as possible. The face of the franchise, Barkov will still be only 26 when he could potentially hit the market and a target for every team in the league.
What would the Panthers be even more thankful for?
The return of Bobrovsky.
There is not a single thing that could help the Panthers more than a return to form for Bobrovsky, who posted just a .900 in 50 appearances last season. That’s completely unacceptable for a goaltender making $10MM per season, even if the defense in front of him was not up to snuff. That defense should be improved (somewhat), so the excuses will start to run out for the 32-year-old superstar this season if he can’t get back to at least acceptable levels. One of only 22 goaltenders to ever win the Vezina Trophy more than once, Bobrovsky only has himself to blame if that save percentage doesn’t rebound.
If it does though and Bobrovsky can get anywhere close to the .931 that won him the award in 2017, the Panthers would suddenly become a real contender in the new makeshift divisions. Sure, they still have to deal with their state rival in the Tampa Bay Lightning, but perhaps getting away from the other top Atlantic Division teams for a few months will do them some good.
What should be on the Panthers’ holiday wish list?
Goal scoring.
Wennberg is a fine player to bring in as a reclamation project, and Hornqvist will likely improve their net-front powerplay presence, but it’s hard to really expect either player to fill the shoes of Mike Hoffman and Evgenii Dadonov. The team’s two top goal scorers in 2019-20 became unrestricted free agents and though Hoffman hasn’t actually signed yet, Dadonov inked a deal in Ottawa already. Pulling ~60 goals out of the lineup all at once can be devastating and the Panthers will need to find them elsewhere if they want to compete. Remember the team also traded away Vincent Trocheck at the deadline, removing another one of their best offensive weapons.
Perhaps they can still look outside the organization for a mercenary or two, but the offensive development may have to come from internal sources. There will be more than enough opportunity for a young player like Owen Tippett to show he can fill that goal-scoring role, but nothing is guaranteed at this point. Henrik Borgstrom, another top Panthers prospect, doesn’t even have a contract for the upcoming season yet and is currently in Finland playing with HIFK (or, waiting for the Liiga season to resume, more accurately). If the team doesn’t add firepower and doesn’t get a return to form from Bobrovsky, it could be a long season even with the additions on defense.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Arizona Coyotes Expected To Hire Cory Stillman
Dec 15: The Coyotes have officially announced the hiring, bringing Stillman in as an assistant coach. In the release, GM Bill Armstrong explains just why they believe Stillman can help the team:
We are very pleased to have Cory join Rick Tocchet’s coaching staff. Cory was a great player who won back to back Stanley Cups during his career. He is a very good coach who has a strong work ethic and a passion for the game. I’m confident that our players and staff will benefit from his knowledge, insight and expertise.
Dec 14: The Arizona Coyotes have rebuilt the front office and are about to add to their coaching staff as well, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Cory Stillman is expected to be hired as an assistant coach, leaving his job with the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL where he served as head coach the last two seasons.
Stillman, 46, had previously worked with the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes, serving as director of player development with the latter. As Jeff Marek of Sportsnet points out on Twitter, a move like this comes at an interesting time, given that Stillman coaches his draft-eligible son with the Wolves.
Of course, there is more than just a few years of OHL experience in Stillman, who played more than 1,000 games in the NHL and won the Stanley Cup twice. A member of the hall-0f-very-good, Stillman managed to rack up 727 points in the regular season and even hit the 80-point mark in 2003-04. He has another son, Riley Stillman, who is an NHL player in his own right, playing 34 games this season for the Panthers.
In Arizona, Rick Tocchet remains head coach after managing to lead the club past the Nashville Predators in this summer’s qualification round. While the Coyotes went out with a whimper against the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche, Tocchet has been reasonably successful, posting winning records with Arizona the past two seasons.
Snapshots: Canucks, Tolvanen, Trenin, Zavgorodniy
The Vancouver Canucks appear to be over the cap as the season approaches, but with Micheal Ferland likely to move to long-term injured reserve at some point in the near future, they actually may have some flexibility. Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic examine exactly how much space the Canucks could potentially create with several roster moves and weigh in on the recent report that Vancouver is interested in Travis Hamonic.
The pair of insiders have also heard of the Vancouver interest in Hamonic, though they believe there has been “no recent momentum” between the two sides. They also note that there was interest in Erik Haula, though have not spoken to his camp recently either. Of course, things can change at the drop of a hat in today’s market so the Canucks are a team to keep an eye on in the weeks leading up to training camp next month.
- With those camps coming quickly, players from all over the world continue to head back to North America. Today, Eeli Tolvanen and Jokerit have terminated their agreement, allowing the young forward to return to the Nashville Predators for the upcoming season. Tolvanen, 21, is in the final year of his entry-level contract but has still yet to establish himself at the NHL level. Even his KHL numbers were disappointing so far, with just five goals and 13 points in 25 games. The last time Tolvanen was in the KHL, during the 2017-18 season, he scored 19 goals and 36 points in 49 games.
- Also returning from the KHL are Yakov Trenin and Dmitry Zavgorodniy, who have been recalled from loan with SKA St. Petersburg. Trenin signed a new two-year deal with the Predators in September and will be competing for an NHL roster spot at training camp, while Zavgorodniy is going to start his North American professional career after playing the last few seasons in the QMJHL. The Calgary Flames prospect is on his entry-level deal but has already impressed much more than a seventh-round pick usually does.
- SKA also announced a trade of Winnipeg Jets goaltending prospect Mikhail Berdin back to HC Sochi. Berdin is also expected to return to North America in time for the 2020-21 season, though the SKA release does not actually include that news.
Adam Johnson Signs With Malmo Redhawks
After becoming a Group VI unrestricted free agent, Adam Johnson is headed to Sweden. The 26-year-old forward has signed with the Malmo Redhawks of the SHL for the rest of the season.
Not every undrafted college free agent can turn into a star. The Pittsburgh Penguins signed Johnson in 2018 after his outstanding sophomore season at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and he quickly worked his way up the ranks to make his NHL debut in 2019. He played 13 games with the Penguins over two seasons, recording four points. His real contribution was at the AHL level, however, where he racked up 108 points in 185 games.
Johnson has dealt with nagging injuries throughout his time with the Penguins organization and will now have to try and get his game to another level overseas. There’s no doubt he can help an AHL team, but without much NHL experience, it’s hard to justify even a two-way contract. That doesn’t mean he can’t get back though, especially if he dominates the competition overseas.
Melker Karlsson Signs In Sweden
There won’t be an NHL contract coming this year for Melker Karlsson. The former San Jose Sharks forward has decided to return to Sweden, signing with Skelleftea AIK in the SHL for the rest of the 2020-21 campaign. Karlsson had spent the last six seasons in San Jose but became an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
Now 30, Karlsson is one of the European free agent success stories in the NHL, able to make the transition from SHL to NHL in 2014. Signed away from Skelleftea by the Sharks, he managed 13 goals and 24 points in his rookie season and never really looked back. In his second year in North America, he went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals with San Jose, scoring five goals in their long playoff run. He would be on the ice in their next three postseason appearances as well, providing reliable play in the bottom-six and some secondary scoring.
With the job market shrinking for bottom-six veteran players though, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Karlsson is going to stay in Sweden for the year. His return certainly doesn’t mean that the NHL is a thing of the past for his career, but it does mean another free agent is off the market. Karlsson’s name will surely be brought up again next offseason as a potential piece to bring back, once things have started to get back to normal.
Latest On Travis Hamonic
It’s been a long time since Travis Hamonic‘s name was in the news, partly because of his own decision and partly because of the complete standstill of the free agent market. The veteran defenseman opted out of the NHL’s return to play this summer citing family reasons but was also injured before the original pause, meaning his last competitive game was way back on February 8 of this year. It’ll be almost a full year before he hits the ice again but at just 30 years old could still be an effective part of any team’s blueline.
While there hasn’t been much to speculate on, Hamonic’s name did come up in conversation today on TSN radio in Vancouver, when Bob Marjanovich explained he had heard that both the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames were interested. Both teams are currently dealing with cap crunches, so would need to move money out before signing Hamonic to a one-year deal, according to Marjanovich.
The idea of a one-year deal for Hamonic seems likely at this point, given how cash-strapped so many teams around the league are, but it does seem difficult for either Vancouver or Calgary to fit him in. The interesting part of the Canucks connection is that he would essentially be there to replace the outgoing Chris Tanev, who took his job as a defensively-minded right-handed defenseman in Calgary this free agency. But Vancouver is already over the cap ceiling and though they may be able to get some relief if Micheal Ferland can be moved to long-term injured reserve, it’s not like they have much money to throw around at free agents.
In Calgary, bringing Hamonic back could make some sense given the familiarity there after three seasons together, but he struggled at times in 2019-20 and again, was replaced by Tanev on the open market. The Flames also have Rasmus Andersson signed and ready to take on more responsibility, not leaving very much chance for Hamonic to really boost his value for a bigger contract next season.
There likely would be better fits for Hamonic elsewhere, including with the Winnipeg Jets, where the Manitoba native played his minor hockey. If any of those family concerns remain, perhaps a Canadian team would be the only place he would consider for the shortened season, given the division realignment and border protocols. The Toronto Maple Leafs were linked to him several years ago but added former teammate T.J. Brodie in free agency and don’t have much money, while the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators don’t really have obvious openings either.
Like the other high profile free agents remaining, Hamonic’s career is at something of a crossroads thanks to the COVID-affected market. He should be a sought-after commodity given his experience—Hamonic has averaged more than 20 minutes a night in each of his ten NHL seasons—but not faces a difficult search for playing time that he can use in the next offseason negotiations.