Pontus Aberg Signs In KHL
When the Toronto Maple Leafs recently released their training camp roster for the qualification round, there was a notable absence—at least in terms of depth players. Pontus Aberg, who had been one of the team’s injury recalls during the season, was not found on the list. Perhaps now we know why, as Aberg has signed a one-year contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL. Earlier this spring there were reports that Aberg had been offered a deal, though it wasn’t clear at that point which organization was trying to bring him overseas.
Though he spent only five games in a Maple Leafs sweater this season, the 26-year old Aberg dominated at the minor league level once again. Scoring 20 goals and 44 points in 55 games for the Toronto Marlies, it was easy to expect his name as a reserve option for the upcoming tournament. Instead, the two sides will part ways for now with Aberg heading overseas to try and get his career back on track.
Originally selected 37th overall by the Nashville Predators, Aberg was once a promising young forward with oodles of offensive potential. His presence was felt in the 2016-17 playoffs when he stepped into a larger role on the injury-riddled Predators and helped them reach the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately, his NHL playing time has wavered ever since, with only 132 regular season games under his belt to this point.
The Maple Leafs can retain Aberg’s rights temporarily by issuing him a qualifying offer this summer, but it’s hard to know if he will ever get another legitimate chance in the NHL.
Minnesota Wild Name Dean Evason Full-Time Head Coach
Lose the interim tag, Dean. The Minnesota Wild have announced that Dean Evason will no longer be known as the interim head coach after taking on the full-time role and signing a two-year extension with the club. That contract keeps him in the organization through the 2021-22 season. Wild GM Bill Guerin released the following statement:
I am very excited to announce that Dean Evason is our full-time head coach. Dean has done a fantastic job as our interim head coach and deserves this opportunity. I look forward to watching our team under his leadership going forward.
There were quiet signs that Evason had impressed Guerin recently, including his obvious connection with young star Kevin Fiala from their days in the minor leagues. Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required) detailed how that connection has worked out well for the team, as Fiala grew into an all-situations presence and scored a career-high 54 points in just 64 games this season.
Evason, a veteran of over 800 NHL games as a player, was the head coach of the Milwaukee Admirals for six seasons before joining the Wild as an assistant in 2018. This will be his first real opportunity leading an NHL bench and he’ll get a chance to make quite an impact when the team takes on the Vancouver Canucks in a qualification round.
Examining Some Major CBA Changes
While the focus for many hockey fans today will be on the return to play protocols and when their individual team will resume the chase for the Stanley Cup, the vote between the NHL and NHLPA also officially introduced a CBA extension. With that extension, that will run through September 15, 2026 (but also has some built-in extenders), the two sides also agreed to several changes to contract structure rules and enforcement. We’ll go over some of the most striking changes here:
- NMC/NTC: No-move or no-trade clauses that have been included in contracts but have not yet kicked in will remain even if a player is traded. In 2016, the Montreal Canadiens traded P.K. Subban to the Nashville Predators just a few days before his no-trade clause was set to begin. Under the old rules, the Predators had the choice of whether to honor that clause or not. They decided not to (Predators GM David Poile is notorious for not including no-trade clauses in most of his own deals) and subsequently traded Subban to the New Jersey Devils a few years later.
- UFA Interview Period: The interview period that immediately precedes the league’s free agency period has been eliminated. Previously, the league allowed teams to speak with pending free agents a few days before their contracts actually expired, in order to allow players and front offices a little more time to negotiate. That period has been eliminated, meaning there will be a rush to get in contact with players the moment free agency begins.
- Recapture Penalties: Cap recapture penalties cannot exceed in any one year the contract’s average annual value. Under the old rule, the Predators were in danger of facing a ~$24.6MM cap penalty if Shea Weber decided to retire before the 2025-26 season. That penalty, should it happen, would now be spread over several years and not be able to exceed the $7.86MM cap hit Weber carries. So far, only the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers have been dinged with recapture penalties, both stemming from Roberto Luongo’s early retirement.
- Trade Conditions: A team can no longer include a condition in a trade that would send further compensation if a player is re-signed. This is only applicable if the traded player has an NHL contract at the time of the trade. Before this rule, teams were almost always including an additional condition in trades that would net them an extra piece of compensation if the acquiring team re-signed the player. A notable recent example was when the San Jose Sharks re-signed Evander Kane after acquiring him from the Buffalo Sabres. The decision to re-sign Kane came with an increased cost to the Sharks, as a conditional fourth-round selection was upgraded to a first-round pick.
- Eight-Year Extensions: Teams no longer need to wait until after the following trade deadline to sign a newly acquired player to an eight-year extension. In the case of Erik Karlsson, the Sharks were not permitted to sign him for an eighth year until the trade deadline had passed after acquiring him from the Ottawa Senators.
- Qualifying Offers: A qualifying offer for a restricted free agent is no longer automatically equal to the final year’s salary. Instead, it will be the lower of the salary in the final year or 120% of the AAV of the contract. Timo Meier notably used the old rule to his advantage when negotiating his new contract, back-loading the deal to force a $10MM qualifying offer when it expires. This change only applies to contracts signed from here on out, meaning Meier (and others like Brock Boeser) will still receive qualifying offers equal to their final contracted year.
- Olympic Participation: Both sides have committed to participating in both the 2022 and 2026 Olympic Games. Though this isn’t contractual, it was a big point of emphasis for the players in CBA negotiations.
- RFA and Draft Pick Contracts: Teams can start signing restricted free agents and draft picks to contracts starting in 2020-21 on Monday. They can also extend players who have contracts expiring after the 2020-21 season. Players like Kirill Kaprizov, Ilya Sorokin and Alexander Romanov will have a three-day window to sign for 2019-20 and burn a year off their entry-level contracts, but will not be allowed to play in the playoffs.
Given that the document released today is only a memorandum of understanding and not the official CBA, there are bound to be more changes noticed in the weeks to come.
NHL, NHLPA Ratify Return To Play, CBA Extension
The NHL’s Board of Governors and the NHLPA have ratified their agreement that covers both a return to play for the 2019-20 season and an extension to the current CBA until 2026. The deal includes several tweaks to transaction and contract rules but will ensure financial stability for the players and labor peace for the next several years.
Frank Seravalli of TSN reports that the vote among players was 502-135 in favor of the agreement.
With the ratified deal in place the league’s Phase 3—training camp for those 24 teams involved in the expanded playoffs—is set to begin on Monday with games scheduled to kick off on August 1. The Stanley Cup is scheduled to be awarded in October, while the 2020-21 season will hopefully start in December.
The salary cap ceiling is expected to stay at $81.5MM for the 2020-21 season and potentially for several years thereafter.
Should any player wish to opt-out of the upcoming playoff tournament, he will be allowed to penalty-free as long as he does so in writing before 4pm on Monday. The MLB has recently seen several high-profile players opt-out of their shortened season, though they are not working out of hub cities and continuing to travel around North America. The NBA, which has set up a bubble in Florida, has also seen players opt-out including two-time All-Star Victor Oladipo.
The NHL has also announced that the 2020 Entry Draft has been tentatively scheduled for October 9-10. The second phase of the draft lottery will be held after the qualification round.
As part of the agreement, the NHL will once again be sending players to the Olympic Games.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman released the following statement:
Today, the NHL and the NHLPA announced a significant agreement that addresses the uncertainty everyone is dealing with, the framework for the completion of the 2019-20 season and the foundation for the continued long-term growth of our League. I thank NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr and Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider, the more than 700 NHL Players – particularly those who worked on our Return to Play Committee – and the NHL’s Board of Governors for coming together under extraordinary circumstances for the good of our game. While we have all worked very hard to try to address the risks of COVID-19, we know that health and safety are and will continue to be our priorities. We know that all of our fans are excited about our return to the ice next month and that has been our goal since we paused our season on March 12.
The league has also included a schedule for the first ten days of the qualification round.
Prospect Notes: Summer Showcase, USHL, Blues
Three players from the US National Team Development Program have tested positive for COVID-19 according to Katie Strang and Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required), throwing the viability of holding the World Junior Summer Showcase later this month into question. Though the other usual participating nations—Canada, Finland, and Sweden—had pulled out of the event already, USA Hockey was still planning on holding the event in Plymouth, Michigan starting July 24.
The report examines how that will be difficult given Michigan’s current health mandates. Last month, USA Hockey announced the 43-man roster for the event, which includes nine members from the previous World Junior team that finished in sixth place. Other high-profile prospects like Cole Caufield (MTL), Spencer Knight (FLA), Trevor Zegras (ANA), and Alex Turcotte (LAK) were all included on the roster.
- The USHL will drive forward with plans to hold a full 2020-21 season, announcing today that is still their main focus. The league was forced to cancel the remainder of the 2019-20 season due to the coronavirus outbreak but like all junior leagues are trying to find a way back into competition this fall. While there were no dates or timelines in the release, the league’s board of directors will (digitally) meet weekly to work towards a “return to play for the 2020-21 season while ensuring the safety of everyone involved.”
- How will Scott Perunovich fare in professional hockey? The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler (subscription required) took a look at the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner and several other St. Louis Blues prospects today, giving NHL comparisons for each one. In Wheeler’s words, Perunovich was the most difficult one to find a comparison for because “there aren’t a lot of 5-foot-10 defensemen in the NHL and none of them play quite like [him].”
Snapshots: Ratification, Murray, Evason
The NHL’s Board of Governors has a conference call scheduled for this evening to vote on the proposed CBA extension and return to play agreement. That vote is expected to go smoothly according to Bob McKenzie of TSN, who points out that it is “virtually unheard of” for the governors to go against something put forward by commissioner Gary Bettman. The NHLPA however, which also needs to ratify the agreement for it to come into effect, has been voting since Wednesday evening and will complete the process tonight.
Though there is plenty of positivity around the player vote, McKenzie does point out that this is likely an all-or-nothing situation when it comes to the 2019-20 season. The veteran scribe does not see a way the two sides could immediately go back to the negotiating table or find a way to finish the 2019-20 season if the players were to reject this package. A rejected proposal would also have far-reaching effects on the league, with some sources even indicating to him a substantial drop in the salary cap ceiling for next season without the CBA extension. McKenzie also mentions the dreaded “lockout” term in his explanation of the importance of this vote, something no hockey fan wants to hear at this point. News of the ratification could come as early as tonight.
- Michael Russo of The Athletic has a few notes about the Minnesota Wild’s front office and coaching structure, including a suggestion that Mike Murray could be joining the organization soon. While Murray has only said he left the AHL to “accept a position with an NHL club” in October, Russo tweets that fans shouldn’t be surprised if that’s Minnesota given his familiarity with Wild GM Bill Guerin. Murray served as the AHL’s vice president of hockey operations.
- While Murray’s connection seems speculative at this point, Russo goes into far more depth on interim head coach Dean Evason and his future with the organization. In his latest piece for The Athletic, Russo lists Gerard Gallant, Peter Laviolette, Tim Army, Scott Sandelin, Mike Hastings, and Tony Granato as other potential candidates, but notes that Evanson has “elevated himself” into consideration. The Wild are scheduled to face the Vancouver Canucks in their qualifying round, giving Evason even more opportunity to show what he can do behind the bench.
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NHL Adjusts Recapture Penalties
With the NHL set to ratify a new extension for the Collective Bargaining Agreement, labor peace will be guaranteed for at least the next six years. That comes as very welcome news for hockey fans that have been waiting to see their favorite players back on the ice for several months. With any CBA negotiation, however, small changes will be made that benefit one side or the other—the NHL and NHLPA.
One of those changes, as reported by Michael Russo of The Athletic and explained by Frank Seravalli in his latest piece for TSN, is to the rules governing recapture penalties. Previously, a complicated formula would force substantial cap penalties onto teams if a player with a front-loaded contract retired before its expiration. Now, that penalty cannot eclipse the original contract’s cap hit in a single year.
So far only Roberto Luongo has created such penalties with his retirement last year.
When Luongo hung up his pads, the Vancouver Canucks and Florida Panthers were each forced to deal with penalties against their salary cap, with the former suffering the bigger charge. The Canucks have a $3.033MM penalty through the 2021-22 season and unfortunately will not receive any relief from this rule change given Luongo’s cap hit was $5.33MM.
The biggest winner (if you can even call it that) out of this new change may be the Nashville Predators, who were in danger of a potential ~$24.6MM cap charge if Shea Weber had retired just before the 2025-26 season. That number will now not eclipse the $7.86MM cap hit he carries, though that means it would be spread out over several years as the entire penalty must still be paid eventually.
The Minnesota Wild are another team who could be affected, given the front-loaded nature of contracts signed by Ryan Suter and Zach Parise in 2012. Those deals don’t expire until 2025 but will have paid out $88MM of the initial $98MM guarantee by the end of next season.
Seravalli has a comprehensive list of the other changes, but they include an increase to minimum salaries and a rule that no-trade clauses will remain in contracts even if the player is traded before the clause kicks in. Previously, the acquiring team was given the option to honor them—something the Predators chose not to do when they acquired P.K. Subban in 2016, days before the clause kicked in.
Chicago Blackhawks Expected To Sign Wyatt Kalynuk
The Chicago Blackhawks will be adding another interesting defensive prospect to their organization, as Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that they will sign Wyatt Kalynuk to an entry-level contract. Originally drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers, Kalynuk became an unrestricted free agent last month after failing to reach an agreement with the team in their exclusive negotiating window. The 23-year old had informed the team that he would not be returning for his senior season at the University of Wisconsin and instead will end up turning pro with the Blackhawks instead.
Kalynuk, a seventh-round pick in 2017, has put up consistent offensive numbers at Wisconsin over his three years of collegiate hockey and now joins a Blackhawks pipeline brimming with defensive prospects. Chicago had already convinced Ian Mitchell earlier this spring to forgo his senior season, signing him to his own entry-level contract.
While Mitchell’s deal will be for three seasons, Kalynuk will be signing just a two-year pact given his age. With reports recently emerging that players can burn the first year of entry-level contracts this summer and no further clarification coming from Lazerus, it is not clear exactly when Wyatt’s will kick in.
The smooth-skating defenseman could potentially be an option for the Blackhawks as soon as 2020-21 given his age and experience, but will not be eligible to play this summer in Chicago’s playoff run.
Kaprizov, Others Will Not Be Eligible For 2020 Playoffs
As the NHL and NHLPA move towards the ratification of an extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, fans of several playoff teams are still wondering whether or not they’ll be able to include some overseas reinforcements. Players like Minnesota Wild draft pick Kirill Kaprizov have been waiting to see if the league would change their stance on eligibility this summer, allowing them to sign an entry-level contract and burn the first year of it while suiting up for the 24-team tournament. Previously, the league was firm that they would not allow new contracts to be signed, but several reports have simultaneously emerged suggesting that has changed–at least in part.
Still, Kaprisov won’t be hitting the ice for Minnesota in their qualification round against the Vancouver Canucks. Michael Russo of The Athletic, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, and Andrew Gross of Newsday all report that once the CBA extension has been ratified, players will be allowed to sign their entry-level contracts this summer to burn the first year, but will not be eligible to play. Russo predicted this very outcome just last week, and outlined the challenges this presents teams who want to get these talented draft picks under contract.
Kaprizov, widely considered the best hockey player not currently in the NHL, is joined by top prospects like Ilya Sorokin and Alexander Romanov in this situation. Signing a deal now would guarantee that they are able to play for their respective team next season, but would also get them a year closer to restricted free agency.
As Russo points out with regards to Kaprisov in particular, burning a year of entry-level without anything to show for it comes with both pros and cons. The 23-year old Russian is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season regardless of whether he signs for 2019-20 or starts his two-year entry-level deal in 2020-21, meaning the Wild will likely have to try and sign him to a long-term extension after this first deal expires. The young forward could also decide to return to the KHL for another season instead, given that the 2020-21 NHL campaign is not expected to begin until the middle of winter, while the Russian league is still aiming for a September start.