New Jersey Devils Hire Mark Recchi
The New Jersey Devils have added another big name to their coaching staff, this time hiring Mark Recchi as an assistant. Recchi joins Lindy Ruff‘s staff after he was recently let go by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald released a statement on his new coach:
We are extremely excited to add Mark to our coaching staff, where his experience as a player, coach, and in development will be invaluable. His work with the power play and managing personnel in Pittsburgh are skills that will benefit our group moving forward. Mark’s leadership, communication abilities, patience, and presence will be integral for the growth of our young core.
There are few people with more NHL playing experience than Recchi, who sits sixth all-time in games played with 1,652 regular season contests. The Hall of Fame forward won three Stanley Cups, including one at the age of 42 with the Boston Bruins in 2011. A coach with the Penguins since 2014, he was let go with Sergei Gonchar and Jacques Martin earlier this summer when Pittsburgh GM Jim Rutherford made sweeping changes to the coaching staff.
In New Jersey, he’ll join Ruff in a new journey, trying to bring the Devils back to relevance in the Eastern Conference. Once a powerhouse that won three Stanley Cups in less than a decade, the Devils have gone to the playoffs just once in the past eight seasons.
Snapshots: NHL Draft, Suter, Point
The 2020 NHL Entry Draft will be held a few days earlier than expected, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that it has been moved up to October 6-7. The change is thanks to a playoffs that is moving along briskly, with the first game of both conference finals already in the books.
An earlier draft only makes it even more imperative for teams like the Arizona Coyotes to get a new GM in place over the next few weeks, though it’s already probably too late for a new executive to really make his mark on the draft process. Even though four teams are still working to win the Stanley Cup, the offseason is fast approaching.
- Pius Suter is headed back to Switzerland for the time being, as expected. The 24-year old Chicago Blackhawks forward has been loaned to GCK Lions of the Swiss second league until training camp starts in North America. Suter signed a one-year deal with the Blackhawks a few months ago after winning the MVP in Switzerland’s top league.
- Brayden Point has become one of the very best players in the entire NHL, and Chris Johnston of Sportsnet examines his early case for the Conn Smythe trophy this year. Point now has 23 points in 14 postseason games and is an obvious leader on the Tampa Bay Lightning roster, but is in just the first year of a contract that carries a $6.75MM cap hit. While he’ll still be a restricted free agent in 2022 when this deal expires, Point will be owed a $9MM qualifying offer and could easily become one of the highest-paid players in the entire league.
Edmonton Oilers Loan Gaetan Haas, Evan Bouchard
The Edmonton Oilers continue to send their young players all over the world, loaning them out to European leagues to get them back on the ice while we wait for the start of the 2020-21 season in North America. Today, they announced that Gaetan Haas and Evan Bouchard will be heading overseas to play for the next few months. Both players are expected to return for training camp.
Haas, 28, will return to SC Bern in the Swiss NLA for the time being, the same club he played two seasons for before coming to Edmonton. A star in the Swiss league, he recorded 38 points in 50 games during the 2018-19 season and won the league championship. In his first taste of North American hockey, Haas didn’t have quite the same offensive impact but still represented a solid depth forward for the Oilers. In 58 games he recorded ten points and in April re-signed for the 2020-21 season. He’ll earn $915K on a one-way deal, whenever the next NHL season gets underway.
Bouchard of course doesn’t come with quite as much NHL experience, given he was only drafted in 2018. The tenth-overall pick played seven games with the Oilers that first season, but has spent the rest of his professional hockey in the minor leagues with the Bakersfield Condors. Bouchard did continue his excellent play in the AHL this season, recording 36 points in 54 games, but it’s not exactly clear when he’ll take that next step and become a full-time member of the Oilers defense. Still just 20, there is plenty of time for Bouchard to develop, which is exactly why it was so imperative that he find a place to play for the next few months. Bouchard will head to Sweden and suit up for Sodertalje SK of the second league.
Columbus Blue Jackets Announce Several Loans
The Columbus Blue Jackets have found a few landing spots for some of their most important young players. Emil Bemstrom will head to HIFK Helsinki, Alexandre Texier will return to KalPa and Veini Vehvilainen will head to JYP (a move we detailed yesterday). All three are expected back before the start of the 2020-21 NHL season.
The two young forwards are more than just prospects at this point, but rather full-time NHL players. Bemstrom, 21, played in 56 games for the Blue Jackets this season scoring 20 points as a rookie. Selected in the fourth round of the 2017 draft, he quickly climbed the prospect charts after excelling in Sweden, including a 35-point season in the SHL that earned him Rookie of the Year honors. Bemstrom is only heading into the second year of his entry-level contract, meaning he’ll be an extremely inexpensive option for the Blue Jackets through the 2021-22 season.
Texier meanwhile heads into the final season of his own entry-level deal, after first appearing in North America during 2018-19. The speedy forward made an impact even then for the Blue Jackets, jumping right into the playoffs with the team and being a difference-maker in their first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This season didn’t go exactly as planned, with Texier only recording 13 points in 36 games, but once again he looked the part of a top-six option when the Blue Jackets hit the postseason. Still just 20 (he’ll turn 21 next week), Texier has a very bright future in Columbus.
Vehvilainen, as we detailed yesterday, is another brilliant goaltending prospect that the Blue Jackets will have to find room for eventually. The 23-year-old could be in contention for an NHL roster spot if the team moves on from one of Joonas Korpisalo or Elvis Merzlikins in a trade this offseason.
Free Agent Focus: Arizona Coyotes
While the official start date of free agency remains in flux depending on when the playoffs end (the later of October 9th or a week after the completion of the Stanley Cup Final), many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Arizona has been in constant turmoil for two decades and now face an offseason with incredible challenges.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Christian Fischer – What happened to the promising young power forward that scored 15 goals and 33 points as a rookie? Fischer, a second-round pick from 2015, burst onto the scene with the Coyotes in 2017-18 as a 20-year old wrecking ball, using his 6’2″ frame effectively to punish opponents and create offense. Now 23, Fischer is coming off a nine-point season that saw him averaging less than ten minutes a night in the second half. That offensive drop off coincided with plummeting possession stats, while the playoffs didn’t bring much change. In nine postseason games, Fischer recorded just one point. He shouldn’t be expensive for the Coyotes to retain after that dreadful year, but a return to form for Fischer would go a long way in helping the Coyotes lengthen out their lineup.
F Vinnie Hinostroza – You can basically cut-and-paste the disappointing year quotes for Hinostroza, who scored just five goals in 2019-20 after tallying 16 in his first year with Arizona. The 26-year-old forward ended with just 22 points in 68 games, a substantial step backward for a player that was an exciting piece of the Marian Hossa deal in 2018. Unlike with Fischer however, Hinostroza is heading into restricted free agency for the final time, is arbitration-eligible and could potentially be a player the Coyotes walk away from if things are getting too expensive. He’s coming off a contract that paid him just $1.5MM this season, and it’s hard to imagine him providing much excess value for whatever the arbitrator awards.
Other RFAs: D Ilya Lyubushkin, D Jordan Gross, D Dane Birks, D Kyle Capobianco, D Vili Saarijarvi, D Jalen Smereck, G Merrick Madsen, G Adin Hill
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Taylor Hall – Here’s where the real tough decisions come for the Coyotes. Nick Merkley, Nate Schnarr, Kevin Bahl, and two high draft picks is what the Coyotes paid for 44 games of Hall. 12 goals, 33 points, and a first-round exit were the return, not exactly what they were hoping for when they made the deal with New Jersey midway through the season. Now, a team operating without a permanent GM is trying to sell Hall on the perks of remaining a Coyote, but it’s hard to imagine him taking any contract before seeing what’s available on the open market. The former MVP is still an excellent offensive player and he’s only 28. While his market may be significantly depressed by the flat cap, that doesn’t mean he’s going to come cheap. The Coyotes aren’t really in a position to be giving out the biggest contract of the offseason, meaning they may end up without a chair when the music stops on Hall’s free agency.
F Carl Soderberg – A veteran forward with a history with the Boston Bruins finished third in goals for the Coyotes in their first season in Arizona. Phil Kessel? No, it’s Soderberg, who ended up with 17 goals and 35 points in 70 games (Kessel had 14 and 38) while playing nearly 16 minutes a night. That ridiculous 14-point season in 2016-17 is the obvious outlier now for Soderberg, who has scored at least 12 goals and 35 points in each of his other six NHL seasons. After just one season in Arizona, Soderberg will be 35 next month and could find himself on the way out given the team’s cap crunch. You can bet other teams are watching to see if the veteran center will hit the open market as a strong depth option.
Other UFAs: F Brad Richardson, F Markus Hannikainen, F Beau Bennett, D Robbie Russo
Projected Cap Space
That flat cap will have several teams struggling to piece together the offseason puzzle, perhaps in Arizona most of all. Even without Hall, the team has more than $80MM committed for next season thanks to expensive extensions kicking in for Darcy Kuemper and Clayton Keller. Hossa’s $5.275MM cap hit will be kept on long-term injured reserve again to give some added flexibility, but even so, the team is going to be cap-strapped in the offseason. That’s exactly the reason why captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson‘s name has already been floated in the trade rumor mill, along with several other of the team’s veteran defensemen—Alex Goligoski, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Jason Demers, and Jordan Oesterle are all unrestricted after next season.
If Hall is to come anywhere near a return to Arizona, the team is going to have to move some money out. Does interim GM Steve Sullivan pull that trigger, or will the team wait for their next front-office leader to be hired before issuing sweeping changes to the roster?
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Veini Vehvilainen Loaned To JYP
The short-term exodus of European players in the AHL continues, this time with Columbus Blue Jackets goaltending prospect Veini Vehvilainen being loaned to JYP in Finland. The agreement states that Columbus can recall Vehvilainen at any point, meaning he’ll likely be back for whenever training camp opens in North America.
Vehvilainen, 23, is just another goaltending prospect in the pipeline for the Blue Jackets, who have become something of a goalie factory this season. Both Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins came out of obscurity to put up All-Star numbers in the NHL, and Vehvilainen could potentially be next in line. Selected in the sixth round in 2018, the relatively small goalie has done nothing but dominate at Finland’s highest level. In 119 regular season Liiga appearances, Vehvilainen has posted a .926 save percentage, only increasing that to .929 in his 37 postseason matches. Twice he was named Finland’s top goaltender, while also helping win World Junior and World Championship gold medals.
In his first season in the AHL, Vehvilainen posted a .901 save percentage in 33 games. He and Matiss Kivlenieks, another interesting prospect, could very well battle for the NHL backup role if the Blue Jackets decide to move one of their other talented goaltenders this summer. For an organization that watched a two-time Vezina winner walk away in free agency last summer, the crease looks to be in plenty of good hands.
Marc Savard Will Not Return To Blues’ Coaching Staff
The St. Louis Blues will be looking for a new assistant coach, announcing today that Marc Savard will not return to the team for next season. Savard will instead return to Ontario to be with his family after just one season behind the bench. Blues GM Doug Armstrong released a statement on the move:
Marc has decided to step away and will not coach in the National Hockey League in 2020-21. I want to thank Marc for his work with our coaches and players during his time in St. Louis and wish him nothing but the best.
Savard, 43, joined the Blues a little over a year ago as a powerplay coach and helped St. Louis to the third-best success rate with the man-advantage this season. A dynamic playmaker during his career, Savard was forced from the NHL due to chronic concussion issues in 2011 after scoring 706 points in 807 games.
This was his first stint as an NHL coach, but perhaps Savard will return down the road at some point.
Latest On Frederik Andersen
The Toronto Maple Leafs have now gone another year without winning a playoff series (this time not even getting out of the qualification round) and there are changes coming to the roster. Kasperi Kapanen has already been shipped out of town to the Pittsburgh Penguins for cap space and a draft pick, but more names are swirling in the rumor mill already.
One of those names is starting goaltender Frederik Andersen, who has been already been linked to the Carolina Hurricanes by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Continuing that story, Friedman was on the radio this morning and explained what he knew about the situation:
The most concrete information I can give you is that since the rumors really got going, I think Kyle Dubas has reached out to Frederik Andersen and spoken to him twice, just to kind of fill him in on what’s happening. From what I understand, [Dubas] has told [Andersen] ‘we are not shopping you, but we are getting asked about you. And there are teams that have interest in you.’
Where those conversations have gone from there, I can’t tell you. But I know that’s the general tone of the message.
Friedman goes on to say that he doesn’t beleive the Maple Leafs will make a move “just for the sake of making a move.”
There has certainly been a lot of smoke around the veteran goaltender the last few weeks, though it’s not clear exactly how the Maple Leafs will deal with the situation just yet. The most important factor in Andersen’s situation, perhaps other than his struggles during the 2019-20 regular season, is his contract status. Signed only through 2020-21, he would need a new deal from the Maple Leafs if he is to be their starter moving forward. The fact that he will turn 31 next month and just had the worst season of his career doesn’t help his case to sign a long-term deal, but it’s not like Toronto has an in-house option ready to replace him.
In terms of their depth chart, the Maple Leafs did acquire Jack Campbell from the Los Angeles Kings earlier this year, but he has never appeared in more than 31 games in a season. The team locked him up with a two-year extension, but it’s hard to see them handing the keys to him for the majority of the games next year. Joseph Woll and Ian Scott are both interesting prospects but neither one appears to be ready for the NHL, leaving free agency and trade the only options to find an upgrade in net should they move on from Andersen.
Of course, this year may be the best chance to do that given the glut of goaltenders available. Robin Lehner, Jacob Markstrom and Braden Holtby are all scheduled for unrestricted free agency, while other names like Matt Murray (a former Sault Ste. Marie Greyhound, where Dubas cut his teeth in the OHL) and Alexander Georgiev could be available in trade.
If the Maple Leafs are looking for a substantial return in an Andersen trade, it might not be out there. The St. Louis Blues recently had to settle for a third-round pick in a trade for Jake Allen, despite a pretty comparable situation. Andersen is almost a year older than Allen and costs a little more against the cap next season, but both are scheduled to reach free agency in 2021. Allen lost is starting gig in St. Louis last year, but had a much better statistical season than Andersen in 2019-20. While an argument can certainly be made about the defense corps each goaltender is playing behind, it’s hard to see a considerable package coming back to the Maple Leafs in a trade.
There is one more interesting twist in his value however, and that is the fact that $4MM of Andersen’s $5MM cap hit will be paid in a signing bonus this season. That means an acquiring team would only need to pony up $1MM for the year, something that might be very interesting in a depressed financial climate. Andersen also holds a partial no-trade clause, with which he can block moves to ten teams around the league.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Yakov Trenin Linked To KHL
The Nashville Predators may end up losing prospect Yakov Trenin if they aren’t willing to give him a one-way contract. The 23-year old’s agent posted a picture of Trenin with a SKA St. Petersburg jersey earlier today, and then followed up with Adam Vingan of The Athletic to explain that they would not accept a two-way deal. The agent, Shumi Babayev, told Vingan that the chances are not great of him returning to Nashville, though he hasn’t technically signed in the KHL just yet.
Trenin, a second-round pick from 2015, finally broke into the NHL this season after several years in the minor leagues. Russian-born but drafted out of the QMJHL, he ended up playing 21 games for the Predators in 2019-20 and scored six points. Trenin’s entry-level contract is set to expire and he obviously believes he deserves more than just the two-way deal many prospects have to accept with little NHL experience. With little leverage as an arbitration-ineligible restricted free agent, Trenin’s only real out would be heading to Russia. Even then, the Predators could retain his rights with a qualifying offer, one that would be a two-way contract worth just $787,500 at the NHL level.
Of course, this could be just a negotiating tactic if Trenin hopes to stay and compete for a roster spot next season on a Nashville team that will be looking for cheap options upfront. His waiver-exempt status will expire after this season, meaning even if he does sign a two-way deal he could very well end up at the NHL level all year. An interesting young player that dominated the AHL level this year, it seems unlikely that the Predators would risk him to waivers in order to send him down even if he’s not playing every night for them.
Bruins Notes: Krejci, Injuries, Wagner
After yesterday saw Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, and others speak with the media, several other Boston Bruins were on a conference call with reporters today to talk about what went wrong in their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning and what the future will hold. David Krejci, an incredible playoff performer once again, a reputation he has rightly earned over the last decade, was asked about what he’ll do when his current contract expires. The 34-year-old center, who is signed through 2020-21, told Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com that he “definitely” wants to keep playing past next season.
In 145 playoff games with the Bruins, Krejci has now recorded 115 points and tied for the lead this year with Brad Marchand. His 911 career regular season games have all come with the spoked B on his chest, but for the last several years his name has continuously been in trade speculation. With a $7.25MM cap hit Krejci doesn’t come cheap but continues to rack up points and strong possession numbers for the Bruins. He’s scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
- Two more players spoke about injuries today, including David Pastrnak admitting to Benjamin he was dealing with a lower-body injury the whole time. Sean Kuraly‘s ailment that kept him out of the last few games was a groin injury. Both players weren’t quite up to their respective standards in the postseason, though Pastrnak did still record ten points in ten games.
- Perhaps more shocking was Chris Wagner‘s revelation that he had dealt with an irregular heartbeat that sent him to the hospital before game five of the series. Wagner explained that he does not believe there will be long-term effects, but “when it comes to your heart, you really gotta be careful.” The 29-year-old will receive further testing to determine whether the incident will happen again. Wagner is set to begin a three-year contract extension that will pay him an average of $1.35MM through the 2022-23 season.