Latest On Torey Krug’s Pending Free Agency
It’s hard to know just how many more games Torey Krug will play for the Boston Bruins. He’ll be there when the team plays their round-robin against the other top teams in the Eastern Conference to determine playoffs seeding. He’ll be there in that first-round matchup with whoever comes out of the qualification games. But after that, there’s no guarantee he ever suits up for the black-and-gold again. Krug’s contract will expire at the end of the season and with a salary cap that will stay exactly where it is, re-signing him might be a challenge for the Bruins.
Krug understands those challenges and when he spoke with reporters yesterday including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic (subscription required) he explained that he doesn’t know any more than the fans who want to keep him:
I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I’m just trying to take it day by day and worry about the playoffs right now. I’ll have to probably prepare for free agency. Then we’ll see what happens there. In terms of what’s going on with the Bruins and everything else, that’s probably a question for someone else.
There’s no doubt that Krug would love to stay in Boston, he has expressed that multiple times in the past. But as he heads into free agency as one of the best available defensemen—perhaps the best if Alex Pietrangelo re-signs with the St. Louis Blues—preparing is the only prudent option.
The Bruins do have some room to play with when it comes to next year’s salary cap. They currently have just over $63.5MM committed to 18 roster players (and David Backes‘ retained $1.5MM), but there are some other contracts needing fresh ink. Jake DeBrusk is one of the team’s restricted free agents that will need a new deal, plus captain Zdeno Chara if he wants to play another year.
There is also the question of what will happen in net beyond 2020-21, when Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak are both scheduled to become unrestricted free agents and will be in their mid-thirties. The Bruins have some promising young goaltending prospects, but will they be ready to take on a large role and save the team some money?
Players on expiring contracts will become free agents on the later of October 9th or seven days after the Stanley Cup is awarded. That doesn’t leave a ton of time to get an extension in place if the two sides don’t negotiate during the playoffs. Still, losing Krug would be a hefty blow even with some young players pushing for more playing time.
The 29-year old has now recorded seven consecutive seasons with at least 39 points, an impressive accomplishment in a league that has such turnover among point-producing defensemen. He’s been a constant on the Bruins powerplay during that entire stretch, tallying 136 of his 270 total assists with the man-advantage. It’s the playoffs though where he has perhaps been even more impressive, recording 46 points in 62 career games. He even led the field with 16 assists during last year’s Stanley Cup Finals run.
Krug will get at least a few more games to prove he can do it again for the Bruins in the playoffs. But beyond that, nothing is clear.
Kirill Kaprizov Signs With Minnesota Wild
Tuesday: Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Kaprizov’s deal will include a European Assignment Clause for next season. He explains that if the Wild for whatever reason decide to try and assign the young forward to their AHL team, he can instead go overseas. Russo also writes (subscription required) that the team could loan Kaprizov to an overseas team for some games before the 2020-21 season begins in December.
Monday: The wait is over. Kirill Kaprizov has finally signed his entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild. The two-year deal will start for the 2019-20 season, meaning Kaprisov will burn the first season without actually playing. He is not eligible to suit up for the playoffs, though he can practice with the team during this short training camp. Wild GM Bill Guerin released a statement on the move:
We are thrilled to officially sign and welcome Kirill to our organization. He has exceeded all expectations in his development since he was drafted in 2015. Kirill is a smart and dynamic forward that has led the KHL in goals each of the past two seasons and we look forward to having him on our roster when next season starts.
It’s hard to overstate just how much hype has been built around Kaprizov’s arrival. The 23-year old forward has been widely regarded as the best player not currently in the NHL, given his dominance of the KHL to this point. While Guerin mentions his goal-scoring ability over the past two seasons, it’s been more than just putting the puck in the net for Kaprizov. Over his last four seasons, the 5’10” winger has 195 points in 209 regular season games, has won a Gagarin Cup, Olympic gold, World Junior bronze, World Championship bronze, and was named to the KHL All-Star game four times.
In Minnesota—where he will wear #97—Kaprizov is expected to step directly into a top-six role and produce high offensive numbers. While that is a big task for anyone changing leagues and continents, scouts everywhere have agreed that the young forward could be a game-changing presence right away.
The question now becomes how long the Wild will be able to keep him. Burning the first season of a two-year entry-level deal means that Kaprisov will be a restricted free agent next summer. Being 23 already means he is also a lot closer to unrestricted free agency than most new players and could force the Wild to make a big long-term extension offer for his second contract. That puts a lot of pressure on him during the 2020-21 season to perform, especially since he’ll have a long wait before playing in any meaningful games. Next season isn’t expected to start until December at the earliest.
2019-20 Ted Lindsay Award Finalists Announced
Now that the regular season is officially finished and we’re on our way towards the playoffs, the league and player’s association will be releasing the finalists for the major awards this week. First up is the Ted Lindsay Award, given to “the most outstanding player in the NHL” as voted on by members of the NHLPA.
The three finalists this year are Leon Draisaitl (EDM), Nathan MacKinnon (COL), and Artemi Panarin (NYR).
It’s hard to not see Draisaitl as the favorite in this vote, given his pure dominance at the offensive end of the rink this season. The 2019-20 Art Ross Trophy winner with 110 points in just 71 games, Draisaitl eclipsed even teammate Connor McDavid in Edmonton and proved that he could be a force of his own. With 43 goals he came fourth in the Rocket Richard race while logging nearly 23 minutes a night for the Oilers. Draisaitl now has exactly 422 points in his 422-game NHL career and is one of the premier talents in today’s game.
Not to be outdone is MacKinnon, who has been a finalist for the award in the past. The Colorado Avalanche powerhouse recorded his third-straight season with at least 90 points, this time tallying 93 in just 69 games. MacKinnon led the entire league in shots on goal with 318 and was once again the engine that drove the Avalanche to the playoffs. While some critiqued the 2013 first-overall pick for a slow start to his NHL career, the last three years have been proof that he is one of the elite offensive weapons in the league and will likely contend for awards such as these many more times.
Panarin’s story is a little bit different than those of Draisaitl and MacKinnon, though he is certainly their equal in terms of skill and offensive prowess. Some of the respect he has received from his peers today may come from his situation however, as Panarin’s New York Rangers were an afterthought for much of the season. With Mika Zibanejad as his only real star-powered help up front, Panarin managed to record 95 points in 69 games (36 more than the third-place Ranger) and drag New York to a playoff qualification round. Sure, the team may be a long-shot to win the Stanley Cup in the early years of their rebuild, but for the 20 minutes of ice time he logs each night the Rangers know they usually have the best player out there.
Mikhail Grigorenko Signs With Columbus Blue Jackets
With all of the news over the last few months, it may have been easy to forget that the Columbus Blue Jackets tried and failed to sign a former top prospect back in April. Mikhail Grigorenko signed a one-year contract with the team, but thanks to the filing window closing the deal was rejected by the league. According to his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey, Grigorenko has now officially signed that one-year deal. The contract is for the 2020-21 season and will be worth the original $1.2MM according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet.
Originally selected 12th overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2012, Grigorenko was supposed to be a do-it-all power forward in the NHL. After dominating the QMJHL as a rookie he quickly made his NHL debut with the Sabres before eventually finding his way back to junior. By the end of the 2014-15 season, however, he had just 14 points in 68 NHL games and was included in a deal that saw him shipped to the Colorado Avalanche. Two relatively unproductive seasons later, Grigorenko was heading back to Russia to join CSKA Moscow where he has played the last three years.
Those years in the KHL have been good to Grigorenko, who has tallied 115 points in 147 regular season games. Even better perhaps was his performance in the 2019 playoffs, scoring 13 goals and 21 points in 20 games en route to a Gagarin Cup championship. He was also part of the Russian Olympic team (the Olympic Athletes from Russia) who took home gold in 2018.
What’s so notable about these accomplishments for Grigorenko, is that even though he has played parts of five seasons in the NHL and three in the KHL, he only turned 26 a few months ago. It’s easy to wonder whether his game has progressed to the point where he can be a positive impact player in the NHL, and for just $1.2MM the Blue Jackets intend to find out.
Vegas Golden Knights Sign Logan Thompson
The Vegas Golden Knights have added a goaltending prospect to the organization, signing Logan Thompson to a two-year entry-level contract. The deal will presumably start with the 2020-21 season
The undrafted Thompson spent this season with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, where he posted a .929 save percentage over 32 games. The 23-year old was once a member of the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, the organization that Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon owns. In fact, McCrimmon was the head coach of the club when Thompson started his career there and the two won a WHL championship in 2016 together.
Thompson will join an organization that could be losing both Robin Lehner and Garret Sparks from their goaltending depth as both players are scheduled for unrestricted free agency after the season is over. While there are several other goaltenders who will be pushing for playing time in the minor leagues, Thompson’s success in the ECHL at least gives him some experience to rely on.
Mike Kitchen Opts Out Of Return To Play
The Florida Panthers will be without assistant coach Mike Kitchen for the return to play program, announcing today that he has opted out. Kitchen released a short statement on his decision:
It was a difficult decision to say the least, but the right decision for me and my family.
Kitchen joined the Panthers this season after spending years alongside head coach Joel Quenneville in previous stops and has the team’s full support in his decision.
A veteran of 474 regular season games as a player, Kitchen has been an NHL assistant coach for most of the last three decades. The Panthers will have to move forward without him as they prepare for their qualification series against the New York Islanders.
Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Patrick, Gostisbehere
The Pittsburgh Penguins have decided to sideline nine players from training camp after they were potentially exposed to an individual that has tested positive for COVID-19. The players will now go through the NHL’s protocol to be deemed safe to return before taking part in training camp. The team did not release the names of the players who have been held out because of this exposure.
These kinds of restrictions will likely happen in several camps as teams prepare for the upcoming playoff tournament. Today the league announced that 43 players have now tested positive for COVID-19, including 30 that were taking part in Phase 2 activities. Players all around the league are being deemed “unfit to participate” in camp, though that does not necessarily indicate coronavirus-induced absences. In Washington for instance, Michal Kempny, Alexander Alexeyev, and Ilya Samsonov were all absent from Capitals practice, but the team did not provide any specifics as to why.
- For the Philadelphia Flyers, one important player will be absent from the entire training camp and playoffs, but it isn’t due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nolan Patrick was not listed on the team’s training camp roster after missing the entire season with a migraine disorder, and Flyers GM Cliff Fletcher told reporters including Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer that the focus for their young forward is getting healthy enough for 2020-21. Patrick, the second overall pick in 2017, has played 145 regular season games to this point in his career and has 61 points. The 21-year old will also be a restricted free agent this offseason.
- One player that is at Philadelphia training camp is Shayne Gostisbehere, despite apparently undergoing knee surgery seven weeks ago. Gostisbehere revealed the surgery to reporters today, indicating that it was an arthroscopic procedure. That may sound familiar to Flyers fans, as the 27-year old defenseman had a similar procedure in January but while that surgery was on his left knee, this was his right. Gostisbehere’s production fell off a cliff this season as he scored just 12 points in 42 games after amassing 187 through his first four seasons in the NHL. As he hopes to be ready for the tournament, the team will have some tough decisions on who to ice on defense once they find out who they’re up against. The Flyers are one of four teams that will play a round-robin to determine seeding before matching up against one of the qualification round winners.
Mark Friedman Signs Two-Year Extension
The Philadelphia Flyers have inked Mark Friedman to a new two-year, one-way contract extension that will keep him in the organization through the 2021-22 season. Friedman was scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of this season when his entry-level deal expired, but will now get some financial stability with a $725K average annual value over the next two years.
Friedman, 24, was a third-round pick of the Flyers back in 2014 and has slowly climbed up the organizational depth chart. Three seasons at Bowling Green State University led to an NHL contract and opportunity with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, where he has spent the last three seasons almost exclusively. In 186 regular season games for the Phantoms, Friedman has recorded 61 points and earned himself seven games with the NHL club. That NHL opportunity will likely only increase with the one-way contract, though Philadelphia certainly doesn’t have a lack of defensive options.
This marks the first of many contracts that will likely be signed over the next few days and weeks as front offices start to prepare for next season. Given how condensed the offseason will be after the 24-team playoffs are finished, teams may want to get a head start on negotiations during these few weeks of training camp. For the Flyers specifically, Friedman’s signing leaves seven pending restricted free agents in the organization including important names like Oskar Lindblom and Nolan Patrick.
St. Louis Blues Sign Scott Perunovich
The St. Louis Blues have officially signed prospect Scott Perunovich to an entry-level contract, but unlike Alexander Romanov and Kirill Kaprizov, the young defenseman will not be burning a year in 2019-20. Instead, Perunovich’s two-year contract will begin in the 2020-21 season.
You can’t have a much better season than Perunovich just did. After winning the NCAA championship in 2019, the defenseman decided to head back to the University of Minnesota-Duluth where he reached a new level of dominance. Not only was he UMD’s most potent offensive weapon, but Perunovich ended up taking home the Hobey Baker award as the country’s top collegiate player, the Jim Johannson award as the USA Hockey college player of the year, a first-team All-American selection and almost countless other conference awards. After all that success there was little left for Perunovich to accomplish in college, meaning the NHL and professional hockey was the obvious step this summer.
After the decision by the league to not allow new players to compete in the playoffs, it was just down to whether Perunovich would get to burn a year of his deal or not. Unlike Romanov and Kaprizov however, there wasn’t the threat of returning to the KHL for another season.
The smooth-skating defenseman will immediately be in the Blues’ plans for next season and could potentially be a very important one given the situation the team is in. Captain Alex Pietrangelo is still unsigned and scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, and with the salary cap staying flat next season it may be difficult to bring him back. That’s not to say the Blues won’t try, but if they for whatever reason can’t reach an agreement with Pietrangelo there will be huge minutes up for grabs in St. Louis.
While Perunovich isn’t the same type of 25-minute two-way player, he does bring huge offensive upside and could potentially slide into a powerplay unit right away. Unfortunately we won’t get to see what he can bring until December at the earliest, but that only gives him even more time to get accustomed to life in professional hockey and a new organization.
Alexander Romanov Signs With Montreal Canadiens
The window to officially sign contracts for the 2019-20 season opens this afternoon and it seems as though at least one player will be inking a deal to burn the first year of his entry-level pact. Alexander Romanov has officially signed with the Montreal Canadiens. The deal will start in 2019-20 and though he can join the team in training camp, the young defenseman will not be permitted to suit up in the playoffs. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet reports that Romanov’s deal will also include a European out-clause in the second two seasons, allowing him to return to the KHL under certain circumstances (usually being held down in the minor leagues for a certain amount of time.)
The 20-year old Romanov arrives in Montreal with plenty of hype after his performances in the World Junior Championship. For two straight years, he has been among the best players in the tournament, taking home two medals and a tournament Best Defenseman award in the process. Add those performances to a pair of seasons playing a regular role in the KHL with the powerhouse CSKA Moscow club (as a teenager no less), and you’ve got the making of a top NHL prospect.
That’s exactly what Romanov is, despite falling all the way to 38th overall in the 2018 draft. He comes to Montreal as a potential anchor for their back end, one that has shown the ability to move the puck and shut down opposing players with ease. The fact that he’s left-handed only adds to his value for a team that already has right-handers Shea Weber and Jeff Petry locked up.
Romanov won’t be taking part in any games this summer, but you can bet he’ll be a factor for the Canadiens in 2020-21. While they lose a year of his entry-level deal, he still won’t be a restricted free agent until 2022.