Minnesota Not Given Permission To Interview Bill Zito
In June, the Columbus Blue Jackets promoted Bill Zito to senior vice president of hockey operations and associate general manager. It sounds like they don’t want to lose him from that position, as Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that the Minnesota Wild asked for permission to speak with Zito for their vacant GM position and were not granted it. Russo had previously reported the same regarding New York Rangers assistant GM Chris Drury.
Interestingly though, the Wild interviewed Zito for the job last summer before eventually going with Paul Fenton. Now that Fenton has been relieved of his duties just 14 months into his tenure, it seems as though they have missed their chance to hire the Columbus executive. Zito has been on the short list for several positions around the league over the last few years, including the Philadelphia Flyers job that eventually went to former Wild GM Chuck Fletcher and with the Seattle expansion team who eventually hired Ron Francis.
There’s good reason for the interest, as Zito has deep ties to the hockey world. Once one of the more powerful player agents in the league, Zito has experience negotiating contracts from both sides of the table. He has now been with the Blue Jackets since 2013, and took over as general manager of their AHL affiliate in 2015. In his first season running the Lake Erie (now Cleveland) Monsters the team won a Calder Cup. He also served as GM of Team USA at the 2018 World Championship, bringing home a bronze medal.
Don Waddell also obviously won’t be taking the Minnesota position after inking an extension with the Carolina Hurricanes today. Ron Hextall, Bill Guerin and Tom Fitzgerald are among the candidates previously linked to the Wild.
Calgary Flames Looking At Trade Options On Defense
After learning that Juuso Valimaki will miss a considerable amount of time following ACL surgery, the Calgary Flames are in a bit of a pickle. The team needs to clear some cap room in order to sign Matthew Tkachuk, but can’t afford to send out T.J. Brodie to do it anymore. With Valimaki out their defensive depth is razor thin, which is why Flames GM Brad Treliving told reporters including Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet that the team will “be looking externally” for an addition on the blueline. Treliving did mention Oliver Kylington as an internal option.
While this news comes right as rumors swirl around Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, the Flames would need to move out even more money if they brought in an expensive option like the young Finn. Ristolainen carries a $5.4MM cap hit for the next three seasons, a deal that would leave very little room to sign Tkachuk. The most obvious move now would be trading Michael Frolik, who is on the final year of his deal and has been involved in trade talks in the past. In fact, Frolik was expected to be included in a deal that would have brought Jason Zucker to Calgary at the trade deadline, though that transaction was never completed.
There are certainly no shortage of defensemen the team could go after, but if they want an inexpensive player who can make the same kind of impact that was expected of Valimaki this season they will need to give up more than just Frolik. Those kind of players are few and far between, and usually cost quite a bit in trade if they are even available.
Of course there is always the free agent market as well, though it’s not clear if Treliving wants to go down that route. Veterans like Dion Phaneuf, Dan Girardi, Adam McQuaid and Ben Lovejoy are out there still, along with younger options like Ben Hutton and Alex Petrovic. None of those seem like perfect fits, although they would likely come at a reasonable cost.
One player to consider may be Boston Bruins defender Kevan Miller, who was recently included in some trade speculation thanks to another cap crunch. The Bruins have their own financial troubles when it comes to signing restricted free agents, given they still need to get new contracts done with Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo. The pair of young defenders are huge parts of the team’s future, and with Miller on the final year of his contract he could be moved out to make a little extra room. The 31-year old carries a $2.5MM cap hit, though his right-handedness may be an issue for the Flames, who already have Brodie, Travis Hamonic and Rasmus Andersson who normally line up on the right.
In any case, there are things to come for Treliving and the Flames who will likely have to pivot any trade talks they’ve had over the last few weeks and months while also hammering out a new deal with Tkachuk.
Snapshots: 2020 Draft, Williams, Capitals
The 2020 draft is shaping up to have some incredible talents available, and Craig Button of TSN shared some of his thoughts on the most impressive young players today. In fact, Button believes that there are six different players who could all challenge for first overall, a spot that has had Alexis Lafreniere penciled in for years. Button lists Hendrix Lapierre, Quinton Byfield, Cole Perfetti, Lucas Raymond and Yaroslav Askarov as the other top prospects and reveals some of his scouting takes on each one.
Not surprisingly, that group were some of the standouts at the recent Hlinka-Gretzky tournament that ended in a gold medal for Team Russia. Askaraov, the young Russian goaltender who has been dubbed the next great net prospect, stood on his head in the gold medal game leading Russia to a 3-2 victory despite being outshot 37-13. With so much talent at the top of the draft you can bet bubble teams will be hesitant to give up first round picks that could give them a chance at the draft lottery next year.
- Justin Williams still hasn’t decided whether he is coming back for another season, GM Don Waddell explained to reporters today including Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer. Williams came second to Joe Thornton in our recent poll about veteran free agents and would be a big addition if he decides to return for the Carolina Hurricanes this season. The 37-year old scored 23 goals and 53 points last season and was his usual excellent self in the postseason.
- With several NCAA players about to become unrestricted free agents, Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic gives us updates on the two that currently belong to the Washington Capitals. Chase Priskie was never expected to sign, but Steven Spinner will also not get a contract and will become a UFA at the end of the week. Spinner played four seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha but saw his offense completely dry up in 2018-19 when he scored just four points in 29 games. He still received a tryout with the Hershey Bears at the end of the year, but won’t be getting an NHL contract.
Minor Transactions: 08/12/19
As August continues and we get further into restricted free agent contract negotiations, teams continue to fill our their organizational depth charts. Here are some minor moves from around the hockey landscape. We’ll keep updating as more come in:
- The Hershey Bears have signed Cole Ully to an AHL contract for the upcoming season, bringing in the former Dallas Stars prospect after two years spent mostly in the ECHL. Ully was drafted in the fifth round in 2013, but has still yet to really make a big impact at the AHL level.
- The Fort Wayne Komets have signed Brycen Martin and Olivier Galipeau to ECHL deals, giving them some added defensive depth. Martin, 23, was actually a third-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2014 but has only played in 21 AHL games and was not given a qualifying offer this offseason.
- The San Antonio Rampage have added some veteran goaltending to the mix, signing Adam Wilcox to a one-year AHL contract. Wilcox has played four seasons of professional hockey since leaving the University of Minnesota and even has an NHL appearance under his belt. The 26-year old put up an .896 save percentage in 28 games with the Rochester Americans last season.
Juuso Valimaki Suffers Torn ACL
Some terrible news has come down the pipe for the Calgary Flames, as the team announced today that Juuso Valimaki has suffered a torn ACL in his offseason training and will need surgery. Valimaki will be out indefinitely, but ACL surgery usually comes with around a six-month recovery timeline and could potentially put his entire 2019-20 season at risk.
Valimaki, 20, was expected to compete for a full-time role on the Flames blueline this season after showing he could handle the NHL level last year. Playing in 24 regular season games he registered just three points, but in his two playoff contests looked more than capable against the Colorado Avalanche. Originally selected 16th overall in 2017, Valimaki was about to enter his second professional season with high expectations but will now have to fight just to get back on the ice.
The injury also complicates things even further for the Flames, who don’t have a ton of cap room available to sign Matthew Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane before the year starts. Recent speculation had T.J. Brodie as the most likely player to be traded to make some room, but with Valimaki now on the shelf the team’s defensive depth is a lot thinner. Oliver Kylington will likely step into a bigger role, but moving out Brodie would make the team extremely susceptible to injury troubles throughout the year.
The long-term status of the young defenseman is perhaps more important though, as knee injuries have derailed more than a few careers over the years. We won’t be seeing Valimaki on the ice for quite some time, but hopefully he can return to full strength at some point in the future.
Carolina Hurricanes Sign Don Waddell To Multi-Year Extension
Despite recently saying that he doesn’t necessarily believe in contracts, Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon has committed to his top hockey executive. The team has announced a multi-year extension for GM Don Waddell, keeping him in the organization after he recently interviewed with the Minnesota Wild. Waddell had still been working as the GM of the Hurricanes after his previous contract had expired at the end of June. Dundon released a short statement on the deal:
Don’s leadership and experience are invaluable to our organization and I’m happy we were able reach an extension. Don and I have a great relationship and he is someone I trust. I’m excited to continue to build a championship team with Don.
Waddell took over as GM after Ron Francis left the organization in 2018 and led the team to the playoffs for the first time in a decade. The Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference Final, but unfortunately fell to the Boston Bruins in four games. Waddell’s signature move during the season was acquiring Nino Neiderreiter from the Wild, who promptly put up 30 points in 34 games and found immediate chemistry among the Hurricanes’ best forwards. He also was the GM when the team pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal last summer, sending Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland.
This offseason, Waddell has been hard at working trying to improve the club even further. Though he failed to re-sign Ferland and watched him hit unrestricted free agency, the Hurricanes replaced his offense by adding Erik Haula and Ryan Dzingel while also locking up Sebastian Aho to a long-term deal (with a little help from the Montreal Canadiens, who signed Aho to an offer sheet).
Ultimately his offseason plan may hinge on the goaltending position, where Waddell managed to retain Petr Mrazek and acquire more NHL experience in James Reimer and Anton Forsberg. Playing behind such a strong defense corps will help insulate the goalies—who have all proven to be wildly inconsistent in the past—though Calvin de Haan is now gone, leaving a few more minutes for the young options coming up.
Regardless of the outcome, Dundon has obviously found someone he can communicate with and trust to run the hockey operations. The Hurricanes were one of the best stories in the NHL last season and saw skyrocketing fan engagement through things like the “Storm Surge” and “Bunch of Jerks” moniker. For an organization that has struggled at times in the past to carve out their place in the Carolina sports market, the time under Waddell’s leadership has so far been a huge success.
Poll: Who Are The Best Wingers In The NHL?
Last week the NHL Network started their annual exercise rating the top players in the NHL by position, and gave us Connor McDavid as the best center in the world. The rest of the list created such debate that we polled the members of the PHR community and came up with our own ranking, which differed quite a bit. In fact, for the second year in a row our readers picked Sidney Crosby as the top center just barely ahead of McDavid. Nathan MacKinnon took up residence in spot three, while Auston Matthews managed to maintain his position ahead of Patrice Bergeron and the rest of the group.
Our PHR community-voted Top 20 Centers list currently looks like this:
- Sidney Crosby (838 votes)
- Connor McDavid (823 votes)
- Nathan MacKinnon (607 votes)
- Auston Matthews (509 votes)
- Patrice Bergeron (488 votes)
- John Tavares (445 votes)
- Steven Stamkos (350 votes)
- Evgeni Malkin (304 votes)
- Ryan O’Reilly (298 votes)
- Aleksander Barkov (283 votes)
- Jonathan Toews (264 votes)
- Mark Scheifele (242 votes)
- Brayden Point (209 votes)
- Jack Eichel (207 votes)
- Nicklas Backstrom (175 votes)
- Tyler Seguin (166 votes)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov (133 votes)
- Sebastian Aho (132 votes)
- Anze Kopitar (116 votes)
- Elias Pettersson (96 votes)
Now, the network has released their ranking of the best wingers in the NHL and the debate is even hotter. Nikita Kucherov took down the top spot once again following his 128-point MVP season. The Tampa Bay Lightning forward took home three individual awards after his incredible year but failed to help the team get out of the first round of the playoffs (or even win a single postseason game). Nevertheless, Kucherov is a rock solid choice at the top of the list and looks to be on a Hall of Fame path through the first six years of his career.
Behind him are a pair of players who will undoubtedly reach the Hall quickly after retirement. Patrick Kane and Alex Ovechkin continue to dominate the league in different ways, but have rarely found themselves out of the conversation of best wingers in the world. The rest of the top five is where the real debate happens however, as Atlantic Division rivals Brad Marchand and Mitch Marner round out the group. 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall dropped all the way to 15th, something the NHL Network fan vote corrected in their version of the list.
Just like our poll of centers, we want the PHR community to let us know who the best wingers in the world are. Unlike the last poll however, we’ll ask you to select 20 names because of the huge number of options. Make sure to leave a comment below on who you think deserves to be recognized, or your thoughts on how the center poll ended. We’ve included many names that could be considered, but if you think we’ve missed someone important (which we undoubtedly have) make sure to leave his name down below.
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Florida Panthers To Retire Roberto Luongo’s Number
On March 7th, 2020 the Florida Panthers will raise the No. 1 into the rafters, never to be worn again. Roberto Luongo will be the first player in Panthers franchise history to have his number retired after he recently called it quits on a phenomenal career. Panthers GM Dale Tallon explained why the team made this decision:
A true professional, competitor and gentleman, Roberto set the standard for players in this organization. There was never a question in any of our minds that Roberto would be the first Panthers player to have his number retired by the franchise. One of the game’s most iconic goaltenders, he gave his heart and soul to the Panthers and the South Florida community and carried himself with dignity, modesty and humor. Roberto is most deserving of this honor and we are thrilled for him, and his family.
Luongo finished his career with the second-most games played by any goaltender in the history of the NHL, and trails only Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy in wins. Despite having a career .919 save percentage including eight seasons of at least .920, Luongo never won a Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender. Though he never took home that honor, there was no denying his impact on the Panthers and Florida both on and off the ice.
In 572 games with the Panthers, Luongo did his very best to keep the organization afloat. Playing through some very lean years in the early part of his career he established himself as one of the league’s premier workhorses, facing the most shots in the league on a regular basis. He unfortunately never did make the playoffs until transitioning to the Vancouver Canucks in the middle of his career, though he eventually made it back with Florida closer to the end.
Even for all the work he has done in goal, his off-ice contributions may be even bigger. While some players may only be present in a community during the season, Luongo has entrenched himself in South Florida and took up residence in Parkland. When the suburb was shaken by the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year, Luongo delivered an emotional speech explaining what the community meant to him, and how he will be a part of it for the rest of his life. The Panthers have decided to make sure he endures in their building as well.
Snapshots: Brodie, Marner, Staal
The Calgary Flames still need to shed some more salary in order to fit in what is expected to be a big contract for Matthew Tkachuk, and Sportsnet’s Eric Francis suggests on radio that T.J. Brodie might have to be the one to go. The defenseman has been involved in trade speculation for some time and as Francis notes, the team has two up-and-coming options in Rasmus Andersson and Juuso Valimaki (not to mention Oliver Kylington, who is also pushing for an NHL spot.)
The Flames already shed themselves of some money by buying out Michael Stone recently, but project to have just over $7.75MM in cap space to sign both Tkachuk and Andrew Mangiapane. The 29-year old Brodie has just one year left on his current contract with a $4.65MM cap hit and is still an effective offensive option from the blueline. Francis worries that the Flames may have to part with another player to find a fit for Brodie after a deal earlier this offseason fell apart with the Toronto Maple Leafs thanks to Nazem Kadri‘s no-trade clause. With just a month left before training camps open, Flames GM Brad Treliving still has plenty of work to do.
- Speaking of the Maple Leafs, they too have an unsigned restricted free agent holding things up. Mitch Marner still doesn’t have a contract for the 2019-20 season, but linemate John Tavares doesn’t seem worried. Speaking with TSN this weekend, Tavares explained that “there’s still some time” for the contract to be worked out and is hopeful that Marner is there on the first day of training camp. The Maple Leafs currently project over the salary cap for the upcoming season but have more than $10MM tied up in Nathan Horton and David Clarkson who will be placed on long-term injured reserve at some point.
- Jared Staal has been hired by the ECHL’s Orlando Solar Bears as an assistant coach, transitioning to a new role in professional hockey. The younger brother of Eric Staal, Jordan Staal and Marc Staal played two games for the Carolina Hurricanes in 2012-13 but had spent most of his career in the minor leagues. His playing days ended after suiting up for the Edinburgh Capitals of the EIHL in 2016-17. The 28-year old was originally drafted in the 2008 second round, but couldn’t quite climb to the same heights as his brothers. Perhaps he’ll get to that level as a coach, something he’s obviously getting an early start on.
Poll: Which Team Has Improved The Most This Offseason?
In two consecutive years a superstar offensive talent in his prime has changed teams in unrestricted free agency. Something that was previously almost unheard of went down in 2018 when John Tavares ditched the New York Islanders in favor of his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, and this summer featured a sequel. Artemi Panarin took the money and ran to the New York Rangers for a whopping seven-year, $81.5MM deal, leaving the Columbus Blue Jackets searching for an answer up front. That wasn’t the only thing the Rangers did. Jacob Trouba and Adam Fox have reshaped the right side of their defense, while they also just so happened to nab Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick.
Does that make them the early winners of the offseason? New York wasn’t the only team making sweeping changes.
Just down the highway the New Jersey Devils weren’t going to be left behind. Adding Jack Hughes and P.K. Subban in a matter of days completely changed the face of the franchise, while Wayne Simmonds and Nikita Gusev came a little later to the party. If the big task for GM Ray Shero this summer was showing Taylor Hall the team was heading in a competitive direction, mission successful.
The Colorado Avalanche, Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres have all made meaningful additions through trade as well, acquiring names like Nazem Kadri, Andre Burakovsky, Erik Haula, Jimmy Vesey, Colin Miller and Henri Jokiharju. The latter came to Buffalo in a deal from the Chicago Blackhawks, who have certainly shaken things up over the last couple of months.
You can’t forget the Arizona Coyotes who finally have that star forward to build their offense around in Phil Kessel. The team has plenty of young talent and will happily welcome in the two-time Stanley Cup Champion, while also accepting a new owner into the fold.
Several teams around the league have taken drastic steps forward in their pursuit of playoff glory, but who had the best offseason of them all? Cast your vote below and make sure to explain yourself in the comments!
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