West Notes: Tkachuk, Krebs, McDavid
While Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Laine have joined a European team to continue their training while waiting on a new contract, Matthew Tkachuk has taken a different route. The Calgary Flames restricted free agent has started skating with the London Knights according to Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press, taking the ice with some former teammates in Ryan Rupert and Matt Rupert.
Tkachuk spent just one season with the Knights before being drafted by the Flames in 2016, but formed one of the most dominant lines the OHL has seen in many years alongside Mitch Marner and Christian Dvorak. The trio each totaled more than 100 points that season en route to a Memorial Cup championship. Both Marner and Dvorak have signed long-term extensions with their respective NHL teams, but for the Flames to do the same with Tkachuk might be tricky. The team currently projects to have just over $6.3MM in cap space and would likely have to make an additional move of some kind before signing the star winger to any deal buying out unrestricted free agent years.
- Speaking of impressive junior players, Vegas Golden Knights first-round pick Peyton Krebs has been named captain of the Winnipeg Ice for their first season after the recent relocation. Krebs served in that role last season when the team was still located in British Columbia as the Kootenay Ice, and scored 68 points in 64 games. The 18-year old forward was expected to go even higher than his eventual draft position of 17, but suffered an Achilles injury just a few weeks before the draft and ended up falling out of the first half of the round. The Golden Knights certainly weren’t disappointed to get a player of his caliber that late, and they’ll be keeping a close eye on him in Winnipeg this season.
- Edmonton Oilers GM Ken Holland told reporters he is “pretty optimistic” that Connor McDavid will be fully recovered from his knee injury in time to suit up for opening night, and that there is a chance that he gets into at least one preseason game. While it hasn’t been officially decided, having McDavid in the lineup to start the year is huge for an Oilers team that needs every point they can get this season as they look to try and get back into the playoffs. The Pacific Division is packed with teams that believe they can represent the division in the postseason this year, and the Oilers will have to get off to a strong start if they want to keep pace.
Latest On Patrik Laine, Mikko Rantanen
When the Mitch Marner saga came to an end, some believed that it would move along some of the other restricted free agent negotiations around the league. That may not be the case for two Finnish forwards, who are currently training overseas. Mikko Rantanen and Patrik Laine are both practicing with SC Bern of the Swiss NLA, and don’t appear close to new deals with the Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets respectively. In fact, their agent Mike Liut joined Sportsnet radio this morning and talked about the negotiations, bluntly stating that they’re “not close” on either player. Liut went on to draw comparisons for one of his clients to Marner:
I think that Mitch Marner and Mikko Rantanen are probably the two closest comparables in terms of how they play the game. Where you have wingers that are adept at creating offense for those that they’re playing with. They do it maybe a little bit differently. Mikko’s 225 (lbs) and Mitch is not, but Mitch is a carrier and a great player. The Leafs have really looked into the future. You’re going to have a salary cap at $81.5MM, there’s no growth factor, one half of one percent. History has shown what the league does on a year-over-year basis, it’s going to 2.5% revenue growth.
Your top line, your top three players whether they’re defensemen or forwards are going to be in that range that the Leafs have created.
Liut also discussed how teams are going to have to roll through players on a more constant basis in order to keep their top players paid. Laine and Rantanen both certainly want to be compensated like top players, and it’s easy to see why. Laine has scored 110 goals in his three-year career, one of the highest rates in the league thanks to his incredible shot and ability to float away from traffic at the right time. Though his overall point totals declined sharply last season, goal-scorers are rewarded handsomely in the NHL and Laine should be no different.
Rantanen meanwhile has become one of the most impressive offensive players in the league, recording 171 points over the last two seasons. While some of that is because of his time with Nathan MacKinnon, there’s no doubting Rantanen’s talent. The tenth overall pick from 2015, Rantanen stands 6’4″ but has the puck skills and playmaking ability often associated with much smaller players. Even in the playoffs where young players often struggle, the Colorado forward led his club with 14 points in 12 games and was a force on the ice on almost every shift. If his camp truly sees a direct comparison to Marner, they must be looking for a pretty big raise. The Toronto Maple Leafs forward recently signed a six-year deal worth more than $65MM, putting him among the top handful of salaries ($10.893MM AAV) in the NHL.
While both are practicing overseas at the moment, Liut downplayed the idea that either one would sign with a European club even if the contract included an NHL-out clause. That should settle some nerves in Colorado and Winnipeg, but if contracts aren’t close at this point there should be real concern that the Finns will miss a good chunk of training camp or perhaps even the start of the regular season.
Anton Burdasov To Attend Edmonton Oilers Training Camp
As expected, Anton Burdasov will try to land a job in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers this fall. The Russian winger has signed a professional tryout with the Edmonton Oilers. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reported last month that there was interest from several teams. Burdasov has spent the last decade playing in the KHL, most recently with Ufa Salavat Yulayev.
Burdasov, 28, was never drafted by an NHL team, but slowly became one of the more consistent offensive pieces in the KHL. The 6’2″ 227-lbs winger not only scored 19 goals last season in 50 games, but he also led the KHL in penalty minutes with 114. With the Oilers desperately searching for answers on the wing, that kind of size and scoring ability could be very useful.
With Edmonton sitting close to the cap, they couldn’t commit to Burdasov without seeing him in action on an NHL rink. Bringing him in on a tryout basis will give them a much closer look at what he can offer, and whether or not he could fit into their group. He’s already reported to camp and is in uniform, giving him plenty of time to make an impact on the coaching staff and players.
Ryan Suzuki Signs Entry-Level Contract
The Carolina Hurricanes as still hard at work as the season begins, signing another young player for the future. The team has announced a three-year entry-level contract for Ryan Suzuki, who was selected in this year’s first round. GM Don Waddell released a short statement on his newest prospect:
Ryan is a skilled center with strong playmaking ability. He’s an exciting young player, and we believe he has a bright future in the NHL.
Suzuki was the 28th overall pick in June, just two years after his brother was also a first round selection by the Vegas Golden Knights. The younger Suzuki is expected to play with the Barrie Colts again this year, but will climb up the prospect ladder quickly if he continues to find the kind of success he had last season. In 65 games with the Colts, Suzuki recorded 25 goals and 50 assists, totaling 25 more points than the next highest forward on the team. If given a stronger cast this year he very well may challenge for the OHL scoring lead, and perhaps even his brother’s OHL high of 100 points.
The Hurricanes have built quite the prospect pipeline over the last several years, but now as they transition into a contender in the Eastern Conference they will need to keep hitting on late first-round picks like Suzuki. If they can keep supporting their young core with more talent through the draft, the team looks poised for a large competitive window.
Dustin Byfuglien Contemplating NHL Future
When the Winnipeg Jets announced recently that Dustin Byfuglien was taking a leave of absence from the team but it was not due to injury, eyebrows raised all around the league. Support poured out for whatever Byfuglien was dealing with, hoping that it would not affect his playing status for this year. According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, it might. McKenzie reports that the Winnipeg Jets defender is “using the time to ponder his NHL future” and explained there is no timetable for a decision.
Byfuglien is currently on the fourth of a five-year contract and is set to earn $8MM this season and $6MM next, all in salary. Retirement would forfeit all of that and remove one of the Jets’ most consistent defensemen from the team right before they are expected to contend for the Stanley Cup again. Winnipeg has already seen Jacob Trouba, Tyler Myers and Ben Chiarot leave through various methods this summer, meaning a loss of Byfuglien would sting even more.
Of course, there is also a potential silver lining for the Jets, who are still without Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor as they negotiate new contracts. The team doesn’t have a ton of cap space to fit the pair in if they wanted to go for long-term contracts, a problem that would be alleviated if Byfuglien retired. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic also suggests that the team could then pursue either Rasmus Ristolainin or Justin Faulk in trade to try and replace some of what Byfuglien brings, though that is just speculation at this point.
Ben Hutton Agrees To Terms With Los Angeles Kings
Late last night the Los Angeles Kings added another defensemen to their group, agreeing to terms with Ben Hutton on a one-year, $1.5MM contract. The deal comes after a competitive market failed to develop for the 26-year old, but will get him into training camp before the season starts.
Hutton has spent the last four seasons as a regular on the Vancouver Canucks blueline, playing in 276 games and recording 70 points. He averaged more than 22 minutes a night last season, but was likely a bit over his head as the Canucks dealt with injuries. The fifth-round pick has been effective at the professional level since signing out of the University of Maine, but failed to receive a qualifying offer from the Canucks who were looking to move in a different direction.
In Los Angeles, Hutton joins a group that is just looking to start moving in the right direction. His one-year deal lines him up with nearly the entire rest of the defense corps, as only Drew Doughty and Alec Martinez have any type of term on their deals. Derek Forbort, Paul Ladue and Joakim Ryan will all join Hutton in unrestricted free agency again next summer, giving the team some potential trade bait at the deadline if they are out of the race once again.
Going to the Kings gives Hutton the potential to play in the top-four once again, and perhaps even with a partner like Doughty if the team decides to go that route. For a player trying to rebuild his value that’s not a terrible situation to be in. We ranked Hutton 38th among our Top 50 UFAs this summer, predicting he would land a two-year deal with the Kings.
NWHL Sells Boston Pride
In the midst of a boycott by many of the sport’s best players, the National Women’s Hockey League is forging ahead and today announced some significant news. The league has sold the Boston Pride franchise to a team of investors led by Cannon Capital managing partner Miles Arnone. The Pride will become the only independently operated franchise in the NWHL after the Buffalo Sabres ownership group relinquished control of the Buffalo Beauts back to the league earlier this year. Arnone released a statement explaining why he purchased the team:
My investors and I believe in the NWHL, and we are honored to take on the responsibility of leading the Boston Pride during this important era of growth for women’s sports. We will build the Pride into a world-class team and an innovative and thoughtful business venture that demonstrates the power of professional women’s hockey and the value of the game’s remarkable athletes.
The NWHL has faced public scrutiny after a group of nearly 200 players, including top women’s hockey names like Kendall Coyne Schofield, Marie-Philip Poulin and Hilary Knight announced they would not take part in the upcoming 2019-20 season. That group subsequently founded the PWHPA and have organized the “Dream Gap Tour,” showcasing their talent in several cities across North America. Even in spite of the boycott, the NWHL has taken strong steps forward financially, increasing the league’s salary cap to $150,000 per team and introducing a 50-50 revenue split similar (though not exactly like) the one the NHL uses. They also announced that many of their games would be streamed live on Twitch, signing a three-year deal with the platform earlier this month.
Having an investor take control of a franchise like the Pride could lead to incredible opportunities for growth of the league, including increased resources for the players and fan engagement. League commissioner Dani Rylan released a statement explaining how important this step is for the NWHL:
The NWHL congratulates Miles Arnone on his acquisition of the Boston Pride, and we thank Miles and his investors for their belief in our league and players. Miles has a love for the game and deep connections in the New England community. The Pride’s new ownership is passionately committed to the team for the long haul, and we are confident they will set a new standard for how professional women’s hockey teams are run in North America. Their dedication to investing in the Pride’s infrastructure, player development, and every aspect of the sport and business is a game-changer.
The 2019-20 NWHL season will begin on October 5th and will include 24 regular season games for each team.
NHL Releases Detailed Rule Changes For 2019-20
The NHL’s Public Relations team has released a video updating all of the rule changes for the upcoming season, agreed upon earlier this year. The five-minute video goes in-depth on each change, noting that the focus was on expanded video review, promoting player safety and encouraging more offense. The full list is as follows:
Video Review:
Referees will be required to review any major or match penalty, excluding fighting majors. The penalty can be confirmed or reduced to a minor penalty, but not completely rescinded.
The officials can also review any double-minor high-sticking penalty, and either confirm or rescind it if it wasn’t an opponent’s stick that caused the damage. It cannot be reduced to a minor penalty.
In both cases, review will not be used to call a penalty, only review. It also cannot be used to increase a penalty from a minor to a major.
Coaches Challenge:
In addition to offside and goaltender interference, coaches can now challenge plays in the offensive zone that should have resulted in a stoppage but did not prior to a goal. The examples given are pucks off the spectator netting, a hand pass or high-stick.
All three categories now result in a two-minute minor penalty for the first unsuccessful challenge, and a four-minute double-minor penalty for the second unsuccessful challenge. Plays in the final minute of the third period and overtime will be automatically reviewed by the league situation room.
Helmets:
Rule 9.6 – A player on the ice whose helmet comes off during play shall be assessed a minor penalty if he does not either exit the playing surface or retrieve and replace his helmet properly on his head within a reasonable amount of time.
“Reasonable” is at the discretion of the referee. A player who intentionally removes an opponent’s helmet, will be assessed a minor roughing penalty.
Line Changes:
Teams will no longer be allowed to execute a line change if their goalie initiates a stoppage on a puck shot from the other side of center, or if the net is unintentionally dislodged by a defensive skater (does not include the goaltender). In either case, time-outs are also not permitted.
Face-Offs:
Face-offs will take place in zone where puck was shot out of bounds from, regardless of which team shot it.
The offensive team will be allowed to choose which face-off location following an icing, following a goalie stoppage from behind the red line, following a defensive skater unintentionally dislodging the net, and on the first face-off to start a powerplay.
2007 NHL Draft Take Two: Seventeenth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2007 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?
Here are the results of the redraft so far, with their original draft position in parentheses:
1st Overall: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks (1)
2nd Overall: Jamie Benn, Philadelphia Flyers (129)
3rd Overall: P.K. Subban, Phoenix Coyotes (43)
4th Overall: Logan Couture, Los Angeles Kings (9)
5th Overall: Max Pacioretty, Washington Capitals (22)
6th Overall: Jakub Voracek, Edmonton Oilers (7)
7th Overall: Ryan McDonagh, Columbus Blue Jackets (12)
8th Overall: James van Riemsdyk, Boston Bruins (2)
9th Overall: Wayne Simmonds, San Jose Sharks (61)
10th Overall: Kevin Shattenkirk, Florida Panthers (14)
11th Overall: Jake Muzzin, Carolina Hurricanes (141)
12th Overall: Kyle Turris, Montreal Canadiens (3)
13th Overall: David Perron, St. Louis Blues (26)
14th Overall: Mikael Backlund, Colorado Avalanche (24)
15th Overall: Evgenii Dadonov, Edmonton Oilers (71)
16th Overall: Alec Martinez, Minnesota Wild (95)
As the back half of the first round gets underway, the Wild snatch up a solid and perhaps underrated defenseman in Martinez. That’s a huge raise for a player who wasn’t even selected in his first two years of eligibility or ranked at all by NHL Central Scouting. Martinez, who was set to turn 20 the month following the draft, had already played two seasons at Miami University (Ohio) and showed he could be a reliable two-way presence. Though there is obviously risk in drafting a player already deep into his college years—the Kings could have lost him to unrestricted free agency just two summers later—they ended up convincing him to sign in 2008 and he quickly became a rising star in the organization.
Making his debut during the 2009-10 season, it would be just a couple of years before he was a huge part of the team’s 2012 Stanley Cup championship. A few years after that he would scoring the Cup-winning goal in the Kings’ second title—in double overtime to boot—cementing him in franchise lore. Jumping up into the rush wasn’t something Martinez made a habit of, but it is well within his capabilities. Through a decade with the Kings he has played 556 regular season games, scoring 61 goals and 190 points. That puts him fifth among all defensemen selected in the 2007 draft, despite almost slipping out of the top-100 picks.
The New York Rangers, who selected 17th in 2007, will never know if they made the right choice. Only one player to that point—Lars Eller at 13th—had been selected from outside of North America, so the Rangers decided to test their luck with the supremely skilled Russian forward Alexei Cherepanov. The young winger had just recorded 36 points in 57 games at the highest level of Russian hockey, won gold at the U18 and silver at the U20 World Juniors while being named the tournament’s best forward. Cherepanov was the highest ranked international skater by NHL Central Scouting, and looked like a lock to be a top-line player in the NHL if the Rangers could convince him to come over.
Tragically however, just 16 months later in the first official KHL season, Cherepanov would collapse on the bench. He was pronounced dead at hospital later that day while he was still just 19 years old. Playing on a team with Jaromir Jagr, Cherepanov was off to a blazing start with eight goals and 13 points in 15 games. His potential seemed boundless, but the Rangers never got to find out what he could do at the highest level of hockey. The KHL has since named their Rookie of the Year trophy after Cherepanov, while Avangard retired his jersey number.
If you gave the Rangers front office the pick over again, you can bet they would select Cherepanov again. We have chosen to exclude him from this exercise, meaning someone else will have to take his place on the list.
With the seventeenth pick of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, who should the New York Rangers select? Cast your vote below!
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Snapshots: Juulsen, Rantanen, Gust
The Montreal Canadiens have announced some troubling news regarding young defenseman Noah Juulsen, who is planning on consulting a specialist for his ongoing headaches. Juulsen just can’t seem to stay healthy long enough to take a real step forward in his development, having missed all but 24 games at any level last season after taking two pucks to the face in November.
Originally drafted 26th overall in 2015, the former WHL standout has actually only played in a total of 80 games as a professional and seems to still be facing symptoms that could put the start of his season in jeopardy. Even if he does get them sorted out quickly the team now has eight NHL defensemen on the roster and more coming up the pipeline. While Juulsen could likely pass over names like Karl Alzner and Christian Folin quickly, he’ll have to get healthy to even give himself a chance.
- After another report recently that the Colorado Avalanche and Mikko Rantanen are not close to a deal, it looks like he’s found another unsigned RFA to spend some time with. According to a report out of Finland, Rantanen will join Patrik Laine with SC Bern of the Swiss NLA to train until things are resolved. Rantanen also played in the 2016 World Championship under Bern head coach Kari Jalonen, where Laine earned tournament MVP honors and the Finns took home a silver medal.
- Even though most minor league rosters are set at this point and just waiting for training camp cuts from their NHL affiliates, the Charlotte Checkers aren’t done adding depth. The team signed Dave Gust to an AHL deal today, bringing in the former Ohio State star to give them another option up front. The 25-year old Gust has played the last two seasons with the Bakersfield Condors, scoring 33 points in 59 games last year.