Boston Bruins Re-Sign Karson Kuhlman
The Boston Bruins have re-signed depth forward Karson Kuhlman to a two-year contract worth an average of $725K at the NHL level. Kuhlman’s deal will be two-way in 2020-21 and one-way in 2021-22.
The 25-year-old forward was an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 2018 and has played 49 games for the Bruins over the last two seasons, including playoffs. In that time he’s contributed just 14 points but is an energy option that can be inserted into the lineup without hurting you.
In fact, Kuhlman has posted strong possession numbers whenever he does get a chance to play and saw a little bit of time on the penalty kill this year. It will be hard for him to ever really secure a full-time spot in the lineup without an injury to someone else on the roster, but as an extra forward that is still waiver-exempt, he’s a nice option.
Calgary Flames Sign Joakim Nordstrom
The Calgary Flames have signed free agent forward Joakim Nordstrom to a one-year, $700K contract. Nordstrom spent the last two seasons with the Boston Bruins after starting his career with stints in Carolina and Chicago.
Nordstrom, 28, didn’t quite make it onto our Top 50 UFA board, but easily could have in a normal offseason. There’s almost no offensive production in the Swedish winger, but that doesn’t mean he can’t an effective NHL option. Just like those players that need sheltered minutes and time on the powerplay to contribute, Nordstrom is deployed in hard defensive matchups almost exclusively. In the 48 games he played for Boston this season, nearly 72% of his zone starts were in the defensive end, more than any other player on the team. He also led all Bruins forwards in average shorthanded ice time, spending nearly two minutes a game on the penalty kill.
In the Bruins 2018-19 playoff run that ended in the Stanley Cup Finals, those numbers were even more dramatic as Nordstrom was deployed on an incredibly important checking line. He managed to actually record eight points in those 23 playoff contests, more than he had in the entire 2019-20 regular season.
You simply can’t rely on Nordstrom to score, given he’s only accumulated 68 points in a 400-game NHL career, but he’ll help Calgary’s bottom-six become much tougher to score against. The team allowed players like Mark Jankowski, Tobias Rieder, and Austin Czarnik to hit the open market, leaving some opportunity for young players or a name like Nordstrom to slide into the lineup on a regular basis.
Toronto Maple Leafs, Ilya Mikheyev Exchange Arbitration Figures
After Tony DeAngelo, Matt Grzelcyk and Andrew Mangiapane all signed new contracts before their hearings this week, the arbitration schedule will be kicked off on Wednesday with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ilya Mikheyev. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the two sides have exchanged filings. The Maple Leafs have filed for a two-year contract that carries an average annual value of $1MM, while Mikheyev’s camp has filed for a one-year, $2.7MM contract. It is important to remember that in the NHL, the arbitrator does not need to choose one filing or the other and usually instead awards a contract somewhere in the middle. The two sides can also come to an agreement in the coming days, though this year once the hearing begins they must wait for the reward and cannot settle while the arbitrator deliberates.
After moving out $6.6MM in the form of Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson the Maple Leafs are actually in a fine position to afford Mikheyev’s arbitration result and re-sign restricted free agent Travis Dermott. The bargain-bin shopping of GM Kyle Dubas resulted in low-cost additions of Wayne Simmonds, Jimmy Vesey, Zach Bogosian and Joe Thornton, meaning they aren’t in quite the salary cap pickle as they were a year ago. Remember that when Mikheyev and Dermott are signed, two other players can be sent to the minors (or junior, in the case of Nick Robertson) to clear up that extra room.
The hearing for Mikheyev will be interesting though, given how little experience the 26-year-old has at the NHL level. Signed out of the KHL in 2019, Mikheyev was a revelation for the Maple Leafs early on, recording eight goals and 23 points while providing strong penalty killing. He regularly saw time playing beside John Tavares and looked well on his way to becoming a valuable middle-six option for the team. Unfortunately, Mikheyev suffered a scary wrist injury in late-December. New Jersey Devils forward Jesper Bratt‘s skate came up and sliced Mikheyev’s arm, severing tendons and causing the Russian forward to require immediate surgery.
Though he did return for the Maple Leafs short-lived postseason, he failed to score a single point against the Columbus Blue Jackets and now heads into arbitration with just 23 points in 44 career NHL games. Since these hearings are based on actual production, not potential, it’s likely that the Maple Leafs will get a bargain relative to what he could have demanded had the injury never have occurred.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Minnesota Wild Sign Ian McCoshen
The Minnesota Wild have added some more depth on defense, signing Ian McCoshen to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal is worth $700K at the NHL level. McCoshen was not given a qualifying offer by the Chicago Blackhawks after spending almost the entire 2019-20 season in the minor leagues.
McCoshen, 25, was once a highly-regarded prospect for the Florida Panthers, selected 31st overall in 2013. He spent three years at Boston College following his draft, twice suiting up for Team USA at the World Juniors in the process. When the team convinced him in 2016 to forego his senior year and turn pro, it seemed as though they had a future full-time NHL player on their hands. It hasn’t worked out quite that well, with McCoshen playing just 60 games over three seasons with the Panthers, spending a lot more time in the minor leagues than the NHL.
Last October, he was sent to the Blackhawks in a trade for Aleksi Saarela and spent the rest of the year with the Rockford IceHogs. He failed to create much offense for the AHL club and obviously wasn’t in the team’s plans this offseason.
In Minnesota, it’s going to be difficult for McCoshen to see much NHL action given the wealth of defenders ahead of him on the depth chart. The team re-signed Carson Soucy this offseason, giving them six defensemen earning at least $2.25MM and seven on one-way contracts.
Vancouver Canucks Re-Sign Adam Gaudette
The Vancouver Canucks have re-signed Adam Gaudette to a one-year contract that will carry a cap hit of just $950K. Gaudette was a restricted free agent but was not eligible for arbitration this offseason. Vancouver GM Jim Benning released a statement regarding his young forward:
Adam has been an excellent young player for us and we are happy to have him continue his progress for another year in Vancouver. We look forward to his intensity and compete level continuing to be a great source of energy for our team.
Gaudette, 24, was a fifth-round pick of the Canucks back in 2015 but shot up the prospect depth chart with his incredible collegiate performance in 2017-18. The Northeastern University star led the entire country in scoring with 30 goals and 60 points, winning the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s best player. He stepped nearly immediately into the NHL and has spent the majority of his career there, suiting up for 120 games over parts of three seasons.
Unfortunately, Gaudette’s scoring touch didn’t immediately follow him to the NHL, with his first 61 games resulting in just five goals and 12 points. The recent season was much better, however, with the young two-way forward racking up 12 goals and 33 points in just 59 games. He was blanked in 10 postseason appearances but should return as a valuable bottom-six player for the Canucks next season.
Whether he can ever climb his way further up the lineup isn’t clear, but at $950K he doesn’t really need to. Gaudette will be arbitration-eligible next offseason as a restricted free agent.
Vegas Golden Knights Re-Sign Keegan Kolesar
The Vegas Golden Knights have inked one of their restricted free agents, signing Keegan Kolesar to a two-year contract. The deal carries a $725K average annual value at the NHL level.
Kolesar, 23, came to the Golden Knights in one of the franchise’s first post-expansion draft trades back in 2017. The team used a recently acquired second-round pick to bring the power forward over from the Columbus Blue Jackets organization just after he posted a WHL-leading 31 points in the Seattle Thunderbirds playoff run. He was a nearly unstoppable force for the Thunderbirds that season and obviously one that made an impression on the Golden Knights staff. That pick, it turns out, was used by the Blue Jackets to select Alexandre Texier, who has already established himself as a full-time NHL option.
That can’t be said about Kolesar, who has just a single NHL game under his belt as he heads into his fourth professional season. The 6’2″ 227-lbs winger did score 20 goals in 2018-19 for the Chicago Wolves but took a step backward offensively this year by finding the back of the net just three times. While his offense was never his real calling card, if Kolesar is to ever really become an impact player for the Golden Knights he’ll have to find a little more consistency at that end of the rink.
For now, he represents a hard-working, physical presence that could be inserted into the bottom-six as early as this season. As the Golden Knights continue to work around huge monetary commitments to players like Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Marc-Andre Fleury and now Alex Pietrangelo, they will always have the need for inexpensive fourth-line options. At the league minimum for the next two years, Kolesar represents just that, even if he doesn’t have a lot of NHL experience to this point.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Hunter Miska Re-Signs With Colorado Avalanche
The Colorado Avalanche have signed one of their depth goaltenders, inking Hunter Miska to a two-year contract. Miska played most of last season with the Colorado Eagles on an AHL contract before signing an NHL deal with the Avalanche in February. After issuing a qualifying offer this fall, he’ll instead sign a multi-year deal and stick with the team through the 2021-22 season.
Miska actually ended up on the bench for the Avalanche in the playoffs, backing up Michael Hutchinson after the team lost their other goaltenders to injury. That came a little more than a year after the Arizona Coyotes decided not to give him a qualifying offer, allowing him to join Colorado as a free agent. In 26 appearances for the Eagles this season, Miska posted a .924 save percentage and got his career right back on track.
The 25-year-old was never drafted, but posted strong numbers at the BCHL, USHL and collegiate levels before jumping into professional hockey in 2017. Slightly undersized for an NHL goaltender, he nevertheless has been excellent since joining the Colorado organization and will now serve as valuable depth behind Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz. The Avalanche of course also have Adam Werner under contract, who figures to get a good chunk of the AHL starts again this season.
Vancouver Canucks Sign Jayce Hawryluk
The Vancouver Canucks have added another depth option to the organization, signing Jayce Hawryluk to a one-year, two-way contract. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the deal will carry an $800K salary in the NHL, paying $200K in the AHL. Hawryluk became an unrestricted free agent when the Ottawa Senators decided not to issue him a qualifying offer this fall.
The 24-year-old Hawryluk was the 32nd overall pick back in 2014, selected at the beginning of the second round by the Florida Panthers. After becoming a dominant presence in the WHL for the Brandon Wheat Kings, he transitioned to professional hockey and made his NHL debut in 2018. During that 2018-19 campaign, he played in 42 NHL games but wasn’t able to really land a guaranteed full-time spot in the Panthers lineup. After playing in just 15 games for Florida this season, he ended up on waivers where the Ottawa Senators put in a claim.
Down the stretch, Hawryluk took advantage of his opportunity in Ottawa, scoring seven points in 11 games before the season was suspended. The team decided not to keep him around, however, likely because of the fact that he was arbitration-eligible. The Senators let several players reach free agency instead of dealing with arbitration, including Hawryluk and Anthony Duclair.
He’ll have to fight for a spot on the Canucks, but there is certainly reason to believe Hawryluk could land a spot in the team’s bottom-six. With cap issues coming (or perhaps here already), Vancouver will need inexpensive NHL options to fill out their third and fourth lines in the coming years. Importantly, though Hawryluk was an unrestricted free agent this season, he will be a restricted free agent again next offseason for the Canucks as long as he plays in 12 games. Should he fail to play in that many at the NHL level, he would qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency in 2021.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Steven Fogarty
The Buffalo Sabres have signed free agent forward Steven Fogarty to a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K at the NHL level. The 27-year-old has spent the last several seasons in the New York Rangers organization, splitting time between the AHL and NHL.
Fogarty began his professional career with the Hartford Wolf Pack in 2016, signing out of Notre Dame after four successful seasons. The 2011 third-round pick would score 20 points in each of his first two minor league seasons, earning his first NHL call-up in 2018. Since then, he has put up a 52-point season in the AHL and played 18 games in the NHL but is still looking for his first point at the highest level.
For the Sabres, the 6’3″ winger will provide some additional forward depth at an inexpensive price. If he’s to earn a real opportunity to compete for NHL minutes out of camp though, he’ll have to beat out some younger, more dynamic wingers. The Sabres entered the offseason with only a handful of forwards under contract, but have added names like Taylor Hall, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin and Tobias Rieder over the last few weeks. That should give them a much more well-rounded attack, but does make the battle for those last few spots even more intense.
Rudolfs Balcers Signs With Ottawa Senators
Oct 19: Balcers has been loaned overseas to the Stavanger Oilers of the Norwegian professional league for the time being, though he is expected to return in time for Ottawa’s 2020-21 training camp.
Oct 16: The Ottawa Senators have signed Rudolfs Balcers to a one-year, two-way contract worth $735K at the NHL level. Balcers split the 2019-20 season between Ottawa and Belleville of the AHL. Senators GM Pierre Dorion released an encouraging statement on his young forward:
Despite a discouraging injury at the start to the year, Rudolfs battled back to become an important contributor to Belleville’s success last season. He’s a dynamic player with a great release, who’s quick and who has good skill. We’re confident that he’ll set out to prove that he’s overcome last year’s setback to be a full-time player in Ottawa.
Balcers, 23, was one of the big pieces of the Erik Karlsson trade in 2018 and quickly made his NHL debut with the Senators the following season. He has now played in 51 games for the team, scoring six goals and 17 points in the process.
The injury Dorion is referring to happened in the preseason, halting his preparation for the 2019-20 campaign and limiting him to AHL action through the first part of the season. Once he got back up to speed he showed exactly why Senators fans are so excited about the Latvian winger, recording a point in his first 15 minor league games and 17/19 before a call-up to the NHL.
There’s a lot of talent in Balcers and the Senators are committed to giving the reins to their young core this season, even if they did bring in Evgenii Dadonov this week. He should be in the mix for a full-time spot out of camp.