Pavelski, Duchene Visit Potential Landing Spots
The UFA interview period has been open for several days, and though not every free agent wants to jet around the continent meeting with potential teams some want to see what they would be getting themselves into first hand. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) gives some updates on a pair of top names today, reporting that Matt Duchene met with the Montreal Canadiens yesterday and the Nashville Predators today, while Joe Pavelski spent Wednesday meeting with the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning. Pavelski was again spotted by reddit user Boltsfan91 at the team’s development camp alongside head coach Jon Cooper.
While obviously visits don’t necessarily mean a player will end up in that city when the dust settles on July 1, it does at least indicate some level of interest from the hosting club. Tampa Bay is especially interesting because of their own financial issues related to restricted free agent Brayden Point, who should be eating up a substantial amount of their $10.6MM in cap space. The Lightning do have some flexibility after Ryan Callahan was ruled out with degenerative disc disease allowing them to place his $5.8MM on long-term injured reserve, but signing a player like Pavelski would be difficult without moving another contract out.
Duchene has been linked to the Predators for years, but LeBrun notes that he grew up a Canadiens fan thanks to his family’s support of the team and GM Marc Bergevin did inquire on his price at the trade deadline before he eventually landed with the Columbus Blue Jackets. There are still several days before free agency officially opens on July 1, and anything could still happen with these top names.
2019 CHL Import Draft Results
The CHL held its annual import draft today, where teams from across the Canadian junior leagues get to select the rights of players around the world. Often these are recently drafted prospects, or those seen to have good chances at next year’s draft. Being selected has no guarantee that the player will actually ever suit up for the team, as Filip Chytil proved in 2017. Chytil was selected seventh-overall by the North Bay Battalion, but ended up spending the year with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack after impressing in his first training camp.
There are clear benefits from picking at the top of the draft though, as the Sudbury Wolves found out last season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was the third-overall selection, and ended up winning the Red Tilson trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player. This year saw Finnish-born Kasper Puutio go first to the Swift Current Broncos after being promoted to the U20 Finnish junior league last season even at the age of 16. Puutio is a right-handed defenseman eligible for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Teams are only allowed a certain number of import players, which leads to some passing on their selections even in the early part of the draft. Check out last year’s draft to see some familiar names.
The results will be updated below as picks are made:
Round 1
1. Swift Current – Kasper Puutio (D, Finland)
2. Kingston – Martin Chromiak (RW, Slovakia)
3. Acadie-Bathurst – Noah Delemont (D, Switzerland)
4. Winnipeg – Michal Teply (LW, Czech Republic)
5. Flint – Yevgeni Oksentyuk (RW, Belarus)
Vegas Golden Knights Trade Erik Haula
The Vegas Golden Knights have officially announced a trade that will send Erik Haula to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for prospect Nicolas Roy and a conditional 2021 fifth-round pick. According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, the two teams were talking about this trade at the draft but didn’t get it worked out for some reason. If Haula is on the Hurricanes roster in 2020-21, or if he is traded next season for a player, multiple draft picks or a single pick between rounds 1-5, the Golden Knights will receive the 2021 fifth. If none of those things occur, no pick will be sent.
Haula, 28, played just 15 games for the Golden Knights last season thanks to a gruesome injury sustained in November. His year would finish with just seven points and though he was close to returning by the end of the Golden Knights’ playoff run, he wouldn’t be able to help them survive that wild game seven against the San Jose Sharks. In fact, he couldn’t help them at all for much of the season and Vegas got to see what it would be like to ice a team without the former Minnesota Wild forward. That absence plus the fact that the team desperately needs to shed salary this summer led to plenty of speculation that he could be one of the players on his way out.
The versatile forward had just one year left on his current contract, signed with the Golden Knights immediately after they plucked him from Minnesota along with Alex Tuch in the expansion draft. It carries just a $2.75MM cap hit, but with the ceiling set even lower than expected the crunch was on in Vegas to try and shed salary quickly. The fact that it seemed unlikely they would be able to re-sign Haula was only to the benefit of the Hurricanes, who bring in another talented forward to give them some more offensive punch.
It’s hard to remember given all the incredible storylines in the Golden Knights’ inaugural season, but Haula was another one of the players to shatter his previous career highs offensively after being offered a bigger role. He actually ranked second on the team in goals with 29 in 2017-18, establishing himself as a legitimate second-line center option and powerplay threat. The question was whether he would continue to line up in the middle now that the Golden Knights had Paul Stastny, another reason he became expendable this summer.
In Roy, the Golden Knights are at least getting back a little something of value in what was essentially a cap dump. The 22-year old forward was originally a fourth-round pick by the Hurricanes in 2015, but exploded offensively in junior hockey following his draft and seemed to be a classic case of a big frame taking a few more years to develop. The 6’4″ Roy continued to produce when he made the jump to professional hockey, recording seasons of 38 and 36 points for the Charlotte Checkers. The most impressive showing for the power forward may have been these most recent Calder Cup playoffs, where he was a force for the Checkers and recorded 15 points in 19 games en route to a league championship.
Still, this move was about getting some salary out of the way while moving out a body on the roster at the same time. The Golden Knights still project several million above the $81.5MM cap ceiling and have more work to do, and will continue to be one of the most interesting teams to watch this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Teams Contacting Top RFAs As Interview Period Opens
The NHL hasn’t seen an offer sheet in some time, but with an unprecedented amount of talent on the restricted free agent market this season some have speculated might be time for it to happen again. Today that speculation has turned into reporting that some teams are reaching out to at least inquire about the possibility. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that Mitch Marner‘s camp has received calls from multiple teams, while Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports on similar situations regarding Kyle Connor and Sebastian Aho. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Winnipeg Jets and Carolina Hurricanes remain at the forefront of any negotiations with their young free agents, but even this kind of outside contact is irregular for the NHL offseason.
Today was the first day teams could contact restricted free agents, and while it has likely happened in the past the media chatter this year has been at another level. It is important to remember that the player has to agree to sign an offer sheet and his original team is then given a chance to match it. If they choose not to, that team receives compensation in the form of draft picks depending on the value of the signed deal.
The Maple Leafs and Jets especially are in tight financial situations given their proximity to the cap ceiling, and could be at risk of an offer sheet if a team were willing to go high enough with the salary. That said, giving up a number of future draft choices just for the opportunity to overpay a player does seem quite counter-productive in terms of building a competitive team. Still, the RFA group includes some incredible talent this year that may never be available again.
Coaching Notes: Schultz, Blues, Senators
The Philadelphia Flyers have hired Nick Schultz as a player development coach, beginning his transition from a playing career that only ended a couple of seasons ago. The former Flyers defenseman retired in 2017 after 1,069 games in the NHL, most of which were spent in a Minnesota Wild uniform. Originally selected in the second round by the Wild in 2000, he carved out a career as a stay at home defender that could be relied on in the toughest situations. He released a statement on his new position:
It’s exciting. I’m looking forward to working with the guys, helping [director of player development] Kjell Samuelsson with the defensemen, and getting to know the kids and their game a little bit. I’m looking forward to working with them throughout the year, watching them play and helping them make it to the next step, and ultimately one day become a Flyer.
The Flyers made a pair of other promotions in the hockey operations staff as they continue to transition under relatively new GM Chuck Fletcher. Some other coaching notes from around the league:
- Not only is Craig Berube sticking around as St. Louis Blues head coach after agreeing to a multi-year contract this week, but the entire coaching staff. St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong announced that all of the current assistants would be returning next season, though the team may add another one because of the vacancy left when they promoted Berube during the year. Mike Van Ryn and Steve Ott currently serve as assistants for Berube.
- Another team that is looking for assistants is the Ottawa Senators, and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that candidates for the job include Stu Barnes, Kris Knoblauch, Dave Lowry, Davis Payne and Manny Viveiros. If it were Knoblauch, who served as an assistant with the Flyers the last two seasons, it would be a meeting of former enemies as Senators head coach D.J. Smith was behind the bench of the Oshawa Generals when they defeated Knoblauch’s Erie Otters in the 2015 OHL Championship. Smith already brought in Jack Capuano to serve as an associate coach and lend some experience to the staff.
Carolina Hurricanes Partner With Greenville Swamp Rabbits Of ECHL
The Carolina Hurricanes have a new ECHL affiliate, reaching a one-year agreement with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Swamp Rabbits President Steve Donner released a statement on the partnership:
This a landmark day for our franchise. A year ago, we set out on a goal to find a regional NHL partner to build a relationship with who is committed to development at the AHL and the ECHL level. In partnering with the Hurricanes, we have found that partner for player development with a huge added bonus of marketing synergy in the Carolinas.
The Hurricanes had previously been affiliated with the Florida Everblades, but watched them reach a new agreement with the Nashville Predators organization last month. Greenville will provide a much closer geographical match, located just a four hour drive away from Raleigh. The Swamp Rabbits meanwhile get an NHL affiliate again after operating without one last season. They previously were partnered with the New York Rangers from 2015-18.
Moving from Johnstown in 2010, the Greenville team was originally named the Road Warriors and made the playoffs in four consecutive seasons after the relocation. That success hasn’t continued, as the team has missed the playoffs in four of the last five years and haven’t won a postseason series as the Swamp Rabbits. In fact, the team went just 25-41-6 last season under the coaching of Kevin Kerr, and will hope to turn things around with this new affiliation. That hope may well come to pass, as the Everblades have been one of the most successful teams in the entire ECHL for many years, making the playoffs in all but one season since being affiliated with the Hurricanes.
Joonas Donskoi Drawing Interest
The San Jose Sharks won’t be able to afford new contracts for all of their pending free agents, so names like Joonas Donskoi are going to have to scour the market for a new opportunity. That isn’t going to be very difficult, as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that nearly have the league has already “kicked the tires” on Donskoi, and lists the Edmonton Oilers, Colorado Avalanche and Buffalo Sabres as teams with real interest.
The 27-year old winger has scored 14 goals in each of the last two seasons and reached a new career-high with 37 points in the 2018-19 campaign. That was despite averaging just over 13 minutes a night, making him quite an efficient scorer in the lower half of the Sharks’ lineup. It comes as no surprise then that teams are interested in bringing him aboard, hoping they can coax even more production out.
It is important to note that unlike many depth wingers, Donskoi has virtually no experience on the penalty kill and thus would need to be able to contribute enough offensively to warrant whatever deal he eventually earns. Though he’s not useless defensively and isn’t completely against physical play, those are certainly not his calling cards.
Edmonton, as LeBrun points out, is checking the market on basically every free agent winger including Donskoi’s teammate Gustav Nyquist, who is also drawing interest but hasn’t ruled out a return to San Jose. The Oilers are in desperate need of help this season to try and avoid missing the playoffs again, and will look to add some skill to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the open market.
Roberto Luongo Announces Retirement
One of the greatest goaltenders in the history of the NHL is finally hanging up his pads (literally). Roberto Luongo took to Twitter to announce his retirement and detailed his decision in a long letter to fans of his, explaining that he would love to stay on as part of the Florida Panthers’ organization in some capacity:
…Once I’ve had some time to process this and make the adjustment, I’d love to be part of the Panthers organization. This is where my home is and I still love and want to be involved with hockey. At the end of the day, maybe I didn’t win the Stanley Cup on the ice, but perhaps I can still put my name on it in another way. It wouldn’t be quite the same, but it would still be quite the accomplishment.
His retirement brings with it more than just a vacancy in the Panthers’ crease. Because of the structure of his contract and the fact that he is retiring before it is completed, both Florida and the Vancouver Canucks will face cap recapture penalties for the next several seasons. Though there is some dispute over the exact numbers, the most recent estimate from Frank Seravalli of TSN had the Canucks facing a $3.03MM penalty for each of the next three years, while the Panthers would face a $1.09MM penalty for the same duration. Luongo had three years left on his deal that carried a $5.33MM cap hit, though the Canucks were retaining $800K of that. The actual salary however was set to drop to just $3.62MM total over those three years, meaning he’s not giving up very much compared to the ~$93MM he has already earned in his career.
Regardless of the cap implications that his retirement causes, Luongo’s presence in the NHL will be sorely missed. The sarcastic, humble personality that he crafted through social media and interactions with fans made him well-liked across the entire league, even as he continued to put up incredible numbers. Third all-time in wins with 489, he will go down as one of the best goaltenders to never win a Stanley Cup or Vezina Trophy. His best chance at the latter may have been in 2004, when he recorded a .931 save percentage while appearing in 72 games for the Panthers. Unfortunately the team wasn’t able to help him and his 25-33-14 record cost him votes to the eventual winner, Martin Brodeur.
Or perhaps it was 2011 when Luongo led the league in wins with 38 and took home the Jennings trophy as the goaltender for the team who allowed the fewest goals. His .928 save percentage was a huge part of the success for the Canucks that season, though he would eventually watch Tim Thomas accept the award after an otherworldly season. Overall, Luongo finishes his career with a .919 save percentage across 1,044 regular season games.
Obviously it is impossible to see a hole appear in the Panthers net and not immediately speculate on who will fill it next season. While the team has James Reimer under contract they have explored trading him over the last few weeks, and are still being linked to free agent Sergei Bobrovsky. Though the cap recapture penalty is annoying, it actually may be better for a team with the cap space of the Panthers than trying to navigate the tricky long-term injured reserve waters. Bobrovsky reportedly met with the Panthers in recent days, but is also headed to New York to have some further meetings.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Nikita Scherbak Signs In KHL
Though it had been expected for a while, Nikita Scherbak officially signed in the KHL today after failing to receive a qualifying offer from the Los Angeles Kings. Scherbak inked a three-year contract with Avangard Omsk, ending his NHL career for at least the time being.
Scherbak, 23, was selected in the first round by the Montreal Canadiens back in 2014 but was never able to live up to that top prospect status. The Russian winger was a strong offensive weapon in the minor leagues, but registered just eight points in his 37 NHL contests. Eight of those came with the Kings after he was claimed off waivers in December, but by January he had been waived again and sent to the minor leagues to finish the season with the Ontario Reign.
An unrestricted free agent now that he was not given a qualifying offer, there is potential for a return to North America one day for the speedy winger. That won’t come for at least a few years, but perhaps if he can develop his game further back home and find some of what made him such a high draft pick in the first place there will be another team that is willing to take a chance on him.
Pittsburgh Penguins Re-Sign Trotman, Czuczman
The Pittsburgh Penguins have found some common ground with a pair of pending free agents, signing Zach Trotman and Kevin Czuczman to matching two-year, two-way contracts. Both deals carry a $700K salary at the NHL level.
Trotman, 28, has never quite landed a full-time NHL role, but after being selected in the seventh round and battling for years in college and the minor leagues, even getting to this point was a long shot. The big, physical defenseman played 13 games for the Penguins last season and has suited up 83 times in his entire career, and very well may not add many more to that number next season. Pittsburgh already has seven defensemen on one-way deals with Marcus Pettersson still to sign.
The same could be said about Czuczman, who has played even fewer NHL contests since being signed out of college by the New York Islanders—coincidentally the same one Trotman attended, Lake Superior State University. In fact, Czuczman hasn’t played an NHL contest since 2013-14, and instead is now a leading figure on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In 65 games last season he recorded 21 points while serving as an alternate captain.
Neither of these signings will have a huge impact on Pittsburgh’s season, but do give the team some added depth on the blue line if they face injuries. For now, you can expect both to start the season in the minor leagues provided of course that they clear waivers at the end of training camp.