Financial Flexibility Key To Sharks’ Offseason
The San Jose Sharks went all-in this season. A team that was already strong enough to compete for the Stanley Cup decided to go out and acquire Erik Karlsson before the start of the season, sending a huge package of assets to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for the star defenseman. That came just a few months after the team had snatched Evander Kane at the 2018 trade deadline, which had already cost them a fair amount of draft capital. As if that wasn’t enough, they then went out at this year’s deadline and acquired Gustav Nyquist for another set of picks, leaving them with just one selection in the first four rounds this year and without their first and third picks next season.
That kind of shopping spree usually leaves a team with plenty of regret if they don’t end up winning it all. The Sharks, if you weren’t paying attention, didn’t win it all.
Still, as San Jose head into the offseason after another disappointing playoff loss, there is still hope. Despite having a relatively bare cupboard of draft picks, and three players on the roster making more than $8MM per season despite being on the wrong side of thirty, the Sharks have an incredible amount of flexibility this summer. That’s thanks to a whopping seven players reaching unrestricted free agency, allowing the team to pick and choose who they bring back and for how much.
Obviously, watching Karlsson walk after one year—or Nyquist after a few months—would be frustrating for the Sharks. The same could be said about long-time leaders in Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton, both of whom are also set to become unrestricted free agents. But within that potential frustration is also an opportunity, one which could result in the Sharks being just as competitive again next season, albeit with a different cast of characters.
Specifically, Karlsson and Nyquist come with more than just a monetary price tag. Both players will cost the team a second round pick if they re-sign, to Ottawa or Detroit respectively, as part of the conditions of their trades. That may end up being a deciding factor if GM Doug Wilson doesn’t want to lose any more of his already rare picks. Pavelski and Thornton meanwhile come with age and injury concerns, given how their last few seasons have gone. Both—and perhaps especially Pavelski—are still effective, but Wilson may have to make the hard decision of letting franchise icons leave, as he did with Patrick Marleau two years ago, if they demand too much money.
It’s that money question that is what makes this summer so interesting for the Sharks. CapFriendly currently projects San Jose to have nearly $25MM in cap space for next season, thanks to just 14 players in the entire organization with one-way contracts. Obviously the team will need to sign several players to fill their ranks, but they aren’t forced into anything at the moment. The next wave of on-ice leaders for the Sharks is going to include players like Kevin Labanc and Timo Meier, but both are restricted free agents who can either be signed long-term or short depending on the rest of the offseason. Neither one has arbitration rights, meaning the team can take negotiations slow if they choose.
Like last offseason, when the Sharks made a pitch to top free agent John Tavares, Wilson can see what the prices are on some of the other top names before backing himself into a corner. Thornton has already said that he would only come back to play for San Jose, while it would be hard to see Pavelski running into the arms of another team without giving the Sharks every chance to match whatever offers come in.
There’s nothing good about having such a small selection of draft picks, but the Sharks have done so well over the last few years—Labanc, for instance is a sixth-round pick from 2014 who looks like he may be a 70-point scorer one day—they have enough built into the system to overcome this short lull. It’s free agency that will be really interesting for a team that can’t seem to get over the hump, and they have more than enough financial ammunition to make it a show.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Kristers Gudlevskis Re-Signs In KHL
After another solid performance at the IIHF World Championship, Kristers Gudlevskis is staying at home. The Latvian netminder has re-signed with Dinamo Riga of the KHL, ending any speculation that he may revisit an NHL career this season. Gudlevskis became a Group VI unrestricted free agent when his last contract expired in 2018 with the New York Islanders, and decided to return to Latvia after struggling to find much NHL opportunity.
The 26-year old goaltender was originally selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2013, and actually made his NHL debut the following season. Despite that quick entrance into the North American landscape, Gudlevskis battled through five seasons in the AHL and only received two other NHL appearances. Last season he returned to the KHL where he posted a .910 save percentage even on a poor Riga team, before suiting up for the national team in his fourth World Championship.
It didn’t seem likely that there was much of an NHL opportunity for Gudlevskis this offseason, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be down the road. We have recently seen Mikko Koskinen return after several years abroad to land a multi-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers despite little NHL experience. Perhaps Gudlevskis can pull of the same feat, though he’ll need to find even more success in the KHL.
St. Louis Blues Making Changes For Game Four
The St. Louis Blues are down 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final after a thorough drubbing in game three, and will now make some changes to their lineup. Based on the morning skate, the team is expected to welcome back Oskar Sundqvist after serving his one-game suspension while Vince Dunn is also expected to return to the lineup and re-take his spot on the second powerplay unit. Robby Fabbri and Robert Bortuzzo are the expected scratches, while Zach Sanford will move up to the second line beside Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron.
The Blues need to try something after letting game three get out of hand in a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Boston Bruins. The team has never won the Stanley Cup in their history and it has been nearly 50 years since they were even in the finals. They’ll have to find a way to take game four at home or face a nearly insurmountable task for the rest of the series.
Getting Dunn back is a substantial addition however. The 22-year old defenseman has become a dominant force for the team, posting seven points in 16 playoff games while continuing to post impressive possession numbers. Though he isn’t used as much as some of the Blues other more experienced defenders, he provides some punch from the third pairing that Bortuzzo cannot. That kind of offensive upside may be crucial as the team tries to topple Tuukka Rask, who still easily leads the playoffs with a .939 save percentage and is a front runner for the Conn Smythe trophy.
Nikita Soshnikov Signs In KHL
The St. Louis Blues won’t be re-signing Nikita Soshnikov this summer. The oft-injured forward has decided to take his talents back to Russia, and today signed a two-year contract with Salavat Yulaev Ufa after the team acquired his rights from SKA St. Petersburg in exchange for those of young forward Vladimir Tkachev. In the release, the team mentions that Soshnikov has not completely given up on an NHL career.
Soshnikov, 25, originally signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2015 after going undrafted. The speedy forward had excelled as a young player in the KHL and looked to be a legitimate prospect for the Maple Leafs, who allowed him to develop in the minor leagues during his first season in North America. After a late-season taste of the NHL, he ended up playing nearly the entire next year there, but was limited by injury and recorded just nine points in 56 games. In March, 2017, he was hit twice by Zdeno Chara in the same game and suffered a concussion that would torpedo the rest of his time in Toronto.
Eventually finding himself on the Blues in 2017-18 after threatening to use his European Assignment Clause in order to return to Russia, Soshnikov would again miss a good chunk of the season due to injury. He would play just 12 games for them that season, and five this year. Scheduled to become a restricted free agent, the Blues can temporarily retain Soshnikov’s exclusive rights by issuing him a qualifying offer, but at this point he obviously intends on getting his career back on track back in Russia.
Zachary Emond Signs With San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks have signed Zachary Emond to a three-year, entry-level contract. The young goaltender recently captured the 2019 Memorial Cup with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL, and will now sign his first professional contract just a few days later. Sharks’ GM Doug Wilson had this to say about his new prospect:
Zach’s overall development and growth improved immensely this season, recording seven shutouts and an unprecedented 24-0-1 record. He had the opportunity this season to learn under the Huskies veteran goaltender Samuel Harvey and head coach Mario Pouliot during the team’s Memorial Cup run. We’re excited to watch him take over the helm in the crease next year and build on his impressive performance from the previous campaign.
You didn’t read that wrong, Emond was a near perfect 24-0-1 in the regular season for the Huskies and those seven shutouts led the entire QMJHL. The same can be said about his goals against average of 1.73 and save percentage of .932, making it quite the historic season for the young goaltender. That performance must have Wilson and his scouting staff smiling from ear to ear after they used a sixth-round pick to select Emond last June despite his 9-10-1 record in 2017-18, caused by an .897 save percentage and 3.26 goals against average. That kind of improvement is obviously unexpected, but pushes the 18-year old right to the forefront of goaltending prospects in the Sharks’ system.
Because he’s so young, Emond is expected to return to the QMJHL next season as a 19-year old, allowing his entry-level deal to slide forward a year. He wouldn’t be allowed to play in the AHL anyway because of his age, meaning the Huskies very well could have the top goaltender in the league once again.
Poll: Where Will Nikita Zaitsev End Up?
As the Toronto Raptors prepared to host the first NBA Finals game in franchise history, their hockey counterparts were making news of their own. Toronto Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas admitted that defenseman Nikita Zaitsev had requested a “fresh start” elsewhere, after Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had broken the news a few hours earlier. Dubas wouldn’t commit to trading Zaitsev at all costs, but did tell reporters that he would try to find a landing spot if possible:
I met with Dan [Milstein, Zaitsev’s agent] here and I don’t want to get too much into the details, that’s up to Dan and Nikita on their end. That will be our goal, to try and find a fresh start for him, for his own personal and private reasons. I’ll leave that to Dan and Nikita to talk about. In the case of what it means for our team, it’s not any definitive type of, “he’s definitely not going to be back.” Especially as the year went on, especially as he was paired with [Jake] Muzzin, his value began to shine through a little bit more. His penalty killing, his right shot, he plays in our top four and he’s signed reasonably for a long time.
Already speculation has started on where Zaitsev could end up. Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun suggests that the Ottawa Senators could be a potential fit, given their need to add salary to reach the cap floor this season. The 27-year old defenseman has five years remaining on his current contract which carries a $4.5MM cap hit. That would immediately become the Senators’ most expensive contract among defensemen, though Cody Ceci‘s impending deal would likely surpass it in terms of cap hit for next season. Interestingly, Zaitsev is owed a $3MM signing bonus on July 1, reducing the cost for a team like Ottawa even further.
There is also the obvious connection to the New York Islanders, where former Maple Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello now runs the ship. Lamoriello was an integral part in recruiting Zaitsev in the first place, and was the one who signed him to the seven-year extension after just one season in the NHL. He obviously felt at one point that the Russian defenseman was worth investing in, and perhaps he still does.
There’s no indication yet though of where Dubas would be looking, or even what kind of return he’d be after. The Maple Leafs were already likely considering a move of Zaitsev given their cap constraints this summer, with new contracts due for Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. The smooth-skating defenseman is valuable to the team, especially given his handedness, but may be too expensive to hold on to anyway. That would also mean they can’t take a lot of salary back in any deal, unless Dubas and the rest of the front office plan on cutting cap dollars somewhere else.
So where will Zaitsev end up? Will any team even come forward with a legitimate offer? Cast your vote below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Where will Nikita Zaitsev end up?
-
New York Islanders 14% (242)
-
Ottawa Senators 10% (177)
-
Toronto Maple Leafs 7% (121)
-
Edmonton Oilers 6% (102)
-
Vancouver Canucks 6% (102)
-
Detroit Red Wings 5% (94)
-
New Jersey Devils 4% (75)
-
Los Angeles Kings 4% (69)
-
Winnipeg Jets 4% (68)
-
Chicago Blackhawks 4% (65)
-
New York Rangers 3% (56)
-
Arizona Coyotes 3% (52)
-
Pittsburgh Penguins 3% (50)
-
Montreal Canadiens 3% (43)
-
Dallas Stars 2% (42)
-
Buffalo Sabres 2% (38)
-
Florida Panthers 2% (36)
-
Philadelphia Flyers 2% (35)
-
Minnesota Wild 2% (34)
-
Anaheim Ducks 2% (28)
-
Colorado Avalanche 2% (26)
-
San Jose Sharks 1% (24)
-
St. Louis Blues 1% (23)
-
Washington Capitals 1% (21)
-
Carolina Hurricanes 1% (19)
-
Boston Bruins 1% (16)
-
Nashville Predators 1% (14)
-
Vegas Golden Knights 1% (14)
-
Tampa Bay Lightning 1% (12)
-
Columbus Blue Jackets 1% (9)
-
Calgary Flames 0% (7)
Total votes: 1,714
[Mobile users click here to vote]
New York Islanders Agree To Terms With Two Players
Tanner Fritz will be back in the New York Islanders organization next season, after agreeing to terms on a two-year contract. The deal will keep Fritz from reaching unrestricted free agency this summer and pay him an average of $700K at the NHL level. The team has agreed to terms with draft pick Arnaud Durandeau on a three-year entry-level contract, who would have seen his exclusive rights expire tomorrow.
Fritz, 27, has never known an NHL organization other than the Islanders, who gave him his first professional chance after playing four years at Ohio State University. Turning a tryout into a minor league deal and then eventually an NHL contract in 2017, Fritz has seen every level including nearly an entire year in the ECHL. In the minor leagues he has been an excellent offensive player including a 37-point season this year, but hasn’t quite been able to carry that over to the NHL. In 42 games with the Islanders he has just eight points.
Still, he will provide extremely inexpensive depth for the team as they try to get back to the playoffs next season. In fact, his deal is actually a two-way contract in the second season, an interesting structure for a player trying to find an opportunity. Fritz was obviously happy to get some stability before heading to free agency, and will now have a chance to stay with the Islanders for another two years.
Durandeau, 20, was a sixth-round pick of the Islanders in 2017 and spent this season back with the Halifax Mooseheads of the QMJHL. The left winger was a huge part of the team’s Memorial Cup run, which was ultimately unsuccessful despite their best efforts. Better than a point-per-game player in his final year of junior, Durandeau will now need to make the adjustment to the professional ranks where his hard-nosed forechecking skills should come in handy.
Submit Your Questions For The #PHRMailbag
The Stanley Cup Final is starting and the St. Louis Blues are still alive. The organization that has never won a Cup in their history will get a chance to raise hockey’s legendary chalice, but have to go through the team that beat them the last time they had this opportunity. The Boston Bruins put St. Louis out in 1970, starting a 49-year streak of failure to reach the final round.
Even as hockey fans focus on the final few games of the season, work is being done in front offices across the league to prepare for the upcoming entry draft. Prospects are gathering this week in Buffalo for the draft combine, while management is prepping on all the free agents that will be available this summer. The interview period begins in just a few weeks, and top names like Erik Karlsson, Artemi Panarin and Matt Duchene remain unsigned.
With that in mind it’s time to run another edition of our mailbag. You can submit your query by using #PHRMailbag on Twitter or by leaving a comment down below. Make sure to get your questions in early and we’ll try to get through them all when the mailbag runs this weekend.
If you missed out on the last mailbag, it was split into two parts that you can read here and here. The first tackled topics like Karlsson’s pending free agency, playoff formats and the Nashville Predators, while the second looked at the future for the New York Rangers, the goaltending market, and the top defensive prospects in the game.
Snapshots: Edmonton, Sedlak, Blackhawks
The Edmonton Oilers will not be bringing back Trent Yawney or Manny Viveiros as assistant coaches next season, according to Jason Gregor of TSN. It’s not a totally unexpected move given the changes in leadership behind the bench and in the front office for the Oilers, but now means that head coach Dave Tippett will get to put together his own staff. The early speculation is that Yawney could re-join Todd McLellan‘s staff, this time in Los Angeles. Assistant Glen Gulutzan will remain and run the Oilers’ powerplay next season.
While both Yawney and Vivieros can hardly be blamed entirely for what happened last season in Edmonton, it makes sense to wipe the slate (mostly) clean and start anew. Edmonton must get it right this time with GM Ken Holland and Tippett on board, or risk wasting more prime seasons of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
- Lukas Sedlak has signed in the KHL, inking a two-year deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk. The Columbus Blue Jackets forward was set to become a restricted free agent this summer, but according to team reporter Brian Hedger, was looking for a bigger opportunity and more money. Sedlak played just 47 games for the Blue Jackets last season in a depth role, and made $850K in the second year of a two-season contract signed back in 2017.
- The Chicago Blackhawks are on the clock third in June’s draft, and are taking a close look at the prospects taking part in this week’s scouting combine. Mark Lazerus spoke with Blackhawks scouting director Mark Kelley, who told him that the team has narrowed their list to six potential players to pick with the third-overall selection, though he wouldn’t specify. Lazerus has heard though that Bowen Byram, Alex Turcotte, Cole Caufield and Trevor Zegras are among them.
Dallas Stars Sign Joel Kiviranta
The Dallas Stars have inked an international free agent, signing forward Joel Kiviranta to a two-year, entry-level contract. Kiviranta was most recently seen at the IIHF World Championship with Finland, winning a gold medal.
Kiviranta, 23, has played in Finland’s top league for five seasons now, steadily growing as an offensive player. This season saw him record 16 goals and 31 points before being named to the national squad, where he added another three points in nine tournament games. While undrafted, the amount of professional experience that Kiviranta brings with him is exceptional for such a young player, and he immediately adds some depth to the Dallas forward pipeline.
Though it’s not clear if he will make an impact right away, there is certainly no risk in signing a player of his ability. If he can show the same steady two-way game that the world saw in the recent tournament, Dallas has added a legitimate NHL player without spending any more than an entry-level deal. If not, he can at least help out the Texas Stars for a year or two before deciding where he wants to continue his career. The Stars organization has plenty of Finns already on the roster, including budding superstar Miro Heiskanen who would have faced off against Kiviranta multiple times.