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Avalanche Sign Fedor Tyutin To One-Year Deal

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Bob McKenzie tweets that defenseman Fedor Tyutin has signed a one-year, $2MM with the Colorado Avalanche. Mike Chambers confirmed the deal on Twitter.

Tyutin was recently bought out by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 32-year-old was acquired by the Jackets from the Rangers in 2008 and is second all time in career games played with Columbus. In 2015-16, Tyutin had 3 points (1-2), a significant fall off from the 15 points (3-12) he registered a season prior. Until 2014-15, Tyutin was a solid contributor, registering 20+ points per season dating back to 2007-08.

While Tyutin was once considered a top-four defensemen, he’s seen his ability decline in recent years as he was passed over by younger blueliners in Columbus. With the possibility still remaining that Tyson Barrie will be moved out of town, Tyutin might be relied on heavily next season.  Francois Beauchemin, one of the team’s best performers from last season, will be 36 when the season begins and cannot continue his strong play forever.

The small $2MM hit is a clear salary cut from Tyutin’s last contract (six years, $27MM), but he’ll be payed just over $1.45MM per season by Columbus until 2020. Not a bad combination for a player who was drafted 15 years ago.

Free Agent Profile: Loui Eriksson

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Once Steven Stamkos was crossed off several teams’ wishlist, a name that continues to rise to the top is Loui Eriksson. The one time Dallas Star and current Boston Bruin is a 30-year-old winger who could provide a scoring punch for any team that signs him.

Eriksson is coming off a season where he had 63 points (30-33), his best season statistically since 2011-12 when he was in Dallas. Fairly or unfairly, Eriksson was seen as the lesser of the two in the deal for Tyler Seguin and his first couple seasons in Boston didn’t entirely quiet that notion. Though he had 47 points in 2014-15 (22-25),  it was a far cry from the three 30+ goal seasons Seguin produced in Dallas. Regardless, Eriksson has been a 20+ goal scorer six out of his nine NHL seasons.

Potential Suitors

After Stamkos re-signed with Tampa Bay, Eriksson had a lot of teams–possibly up to eight–kicking the tires. Vancouver, Montreal, Nashville, and San Jose are thinking about a future with the 31-year-old forward. Boston should not be counted out from re-signing him, either. The Hockey News listed Eriksson as one of the better bets to pick up during the free agent period because of his size, skill, and scoring prowess. Teams looking for scoring, Detroit and Buffalo also come to mind, may be intrigued should the bidding not get completely out of hand.

Expected Contract

PHR listed Eriksson #10 out of the top 50 free agents and had him staying with the Bruins. The predicted contract was six years, $27.5MM. While the price tag might go up due to Eriksson being one of the better goal scorers available, expect a yearly deal somewhere between $4.5-$5.25MM.

Buffalo Re-Signs McCabe To Three-Year Deal

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According to Renaud Lavoie via Twitter, Buffalo restricted free agent Jake McCabe signed a three-year, $4.8MM deal. The cap hit is $1.6MM. CapFriendly also confirmed the move and included specifics about the contract.

The 22-year-old defenseman played in 77 games for the Sabres, registering 14 points (4-10). After a productive first full year in the NHL, McCabe will most likely see his ice time increase from an average of 19:07 this past season.

  • In related news, Patrick Williams tweets that Buffalo also re-signed forward Cole Schneider to a one-year deal. In 74 AHL games with both Binghamton and Rochester, Williams had 56 points (21-35). Schneider recorded no points in two games with the Sabres.

 

 

Wild Re-Sign Zac Dalpe And Tyler Graovac

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According to CapFriendly, the Minnesota Wild have re-signed forwards Zac Dalpe and Tyler Graovac. Dalpe spent time with the Wild in 2015-16 while Graovac primarily played with AHL affiliate Iowa, though he did appear in two NHL games.  Both were restricted free agents. Chad Graff also tweeted confirmation of the deals.

Dalpe’s deal is a one-year, 600K two-way contract while Graovac’s is a two-year, $1.25MM deal. The cap hit is $625k. Graovac will have a two-way deal in 2016-17, but a one-way deal in 2017-18.

The 23-year-old Graovac played 39 games in Iowa, notching 16 points (5-11). Dalpe appeared in eight games for Iowa and had 4 points (3-1). In addition to two games (1 goal) with the Wild during the regular season, Dalpe suited up for three games in the playoffs, registering no points.

Atlantic Notes: Red Wings, Lightning, Bruins

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The Detroit Red Wings are apparently talking more with Darren Helm after many analysts figured his time in Detroit was up. This all changed after Steven Stamkos was locked up in an eight-year deal with the Lightning. Craig Custance tweets that both Helm and the Wings will talk until tomorrow when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. An afterthought after Drew Miller signed a one-year extension, Helm could fill a need at center now that Stamkos is off the market, though it will not be the type of production Stamkos would have generated. Helm, 29, has spent his entire career with the Red Wings.

Nick Cotsonika wonders where the Red Wings go from here after not even getting a chance to talk with Stamkos. Cotsonika reports that Stamkos would have been the first bona-fide superstar signing for Detroit in quite some time, and that a quarter-century of success has its drawbacks in terms of not drafting generational talent due to having lower draft picks. The Red Wings, Cotsonika writes, will have to be deft at not only acquiring the right free agent, but outbidding other teams without overpaying.

Other Central Division notes:

  • Speaking of Stamkos, Kevin McGran writes how the 25-year-old never intended to leave Tampa in the first place. Though he had the chance to be a “hometown hero,” Stamkos opted to stay with the Lightning where the opportunity to win a Cup remains very strong. McGran reports that not only did Stamkos sign for a very cap friendly $8.5MM, he did so knowing it was about $3MM less than what he could have received on the open market.
  • DJ Bean reports that the Bruins would have preferred to trade Dennis Seidenberg instead of buying out his contract. Bean writes that a source told him that general manager Don Sweeney never approached Seidenberg with a trade scenario. Seidenberg’s contract included a no trade clause until December. Bean surmises that this either meant no one was interested in taking Seidenberg’s contract or if willing to take it, they would have expected a return similar to the Blackhawks Bryan Bickell trade that included Teuvo Teravainen.

Pacific Notes: Canucks, Ducks, Coyotes

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Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning found out talk isn’t so cheap after all. The NHL fined Benning $50,000 for his comments regarding Steven Stamkos and P.K. Subban reports Navin Vaswani. According to the report, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said that Benning violated By-Law 15 for speaking about his interest in other teams’ players. Sports Illustrated’s Allan Muir writes that while the comments may seem harmless, it’s the willingness to express signing desires for “public consumption” that landed Benning a fine.

Other Pacific Division Notes:

  • The Ducks have indeed been talking with the Red Wings about Cam Fowler writes Mike Halford. The news was also reported by The Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James. The Ducks would be a perfect trade partner for the Red Wings as they recently re-signed Sami Vatanen and could move Fowler’s reasonable contract that has a $4MM cap hit. After the Wings balked at the apparent price for Kevin Shattenkirk, which included Dylan Larkin. Fowler has also been linked with Buffalo.
  • Sarah McLellan writes that new Coyotes general manager John Chayka says that the Pavel Datsyuk contract poses no issues for the organization. Chayka indicates that he wouldn’t have made the move had it hindered the ’Yotes financially. But because Datysuk retired from the NHL, there is no payment attached to the contract. Instead, the Coyotes absorb the $7.5MM cap hit. McLellan also writes that the possibility of gaining a defenseman of Jakob Chychrun’s caliber was too good to pass up. As a result, they agreed to take on the contract. McLellan also spoke to Chayka about acquiring defenseman Anthony DeAngelo from Tampa Bay, an Arizona target for quite some time.

Free Agent Profile: Milan Lucic

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When it was announced last week that talks between Milan Lucic and the Los Angeles Kings broke down, many teams around the NHL looking for size up front and scoring cackled with glee.

Listed as the #2 free agent available by the USA Today’s Kevin Allen, Lucic is a hard nosed forward known for his scoring prowess, and ability to irritate on the ice.  Traded to the Kings prior to the 2015-16 season, Lucic had 55 points (20-35) in a 81 games, an improvement from the 44 points (18-26) he had a season’s prior in Boston. Lucic has been a 20+ goal scorer four times in his career. Last season, Lucic averaged .68 points/game

Potential Suitors

Lucic’s landing spot is anyone’s guess, though most pundits believe he’ll be tempted to go back to his hometown Vancouver where he saw tremendous success in junior hockey. The National Post reports that if Lucic were to take a discount, he would still be in Los Angeles, so the Canucks should be expected to pay a higher price for Lucic to come home.  Canucks GM Jim Benning also indicated to the Vancouver Sun that he would be making a run at Lucic. The Bruins have expressed their desire to make calls on significant free agents–which would include Lucic. Lucic had a number of great seasons with the B’s, and there is certainly more than enough cap room to get a deal done. However as CBS Boston’s Matt Kalman writes,  the Bruins dealt Lucic away because of salary cap concerns, inconsistency, and a style of play that breaks the body down sooner. Though Lucic wasn’t specifically named as someone spoken with, Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland had conversations Monday with several prominent free agent targets writes Helene St. James. Lucic would be a rugged, scoring option who could help the Red Wings scoring woes. Darren Dreger tweeted that Lucic was on the Red Wings “want” list.

Finally, Scott Burnside listed the Edmonton Oilers as another potential team because of Lucic’s relationship with current Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli, who oversaw the Bruins during Lucic’s tenure with the team. Pierre LeBrun tweeted that Lucic was scheduled to meet with Edmonton officials today and wrote more about the possibility of Edmonton snagging the winger.

Expected Contract

PHR has Lucic as the #3 free agent available, fetching a 5 year/$28.75MM deal by someone in the marketplace.  PHR had him re-signing with Los Angeles, but talks broke down last week. Jim Matheson recently tweeted that the Oilers could offer upwards to $6MM/year and that it would force a trade of another forward currently on the roster. Ryan Rishaug agrees, thinking that a Lucic deal shuttles a forward to another team, possibly Taylor Hall.

If Edmonton is looking at a long term deal around $6MM, it will be interesting to see if other teams are willing to offer the same amount. Expect a deal somewhere between that $5.5MM-$6MM range.

Predators Considering Nystrom Buyout

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Brooks Bratten tweets that the Predators are currently working to trade or buy out the contract of forward Eric Nystrom. The 33-year-old center currently has a cap hit of $2.5MM, but a buyout according to CapFriendly would save the Preds $2MM in the upcoming season. Bratten also indicated that the Preds would be letting Carter Hutton go to free agency.

Nystrom was signed to a four-year, $10MM deal prior to the 2013-14 season. Though he had 21 points in his first season (15-6) as a Predator, including a 4-goal game,  Nystrom’s numbers fell each season after 2013-14.

Last week, Adam Vignan reported that the Preds were trying to deal the contract away prior to the draft. With no takers, it appears that the Predators will entertain a buyout.

Snapshots: Cullen, Brown, Panthers

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Pittsburgh forward and 20-year veteran Matt Cullen announced that he will be back for another season. Elliotte Friedman tweeted that the Penguins hope to keep him. Dave Molinari reports that the Penguins do indeed want to re-sign him and that Cullen, who made $800,000 last season, shouldn’t expect a raise if he returned to Pittsburgh. because of the lack of cap room. Cullen had 32 points (16-16) during the regular season and 6 points (4-2) in the playoffs for the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins.

  • The Carolina Hurricanes re-signed forward Patrick Brown to a one-year, $650,000 contract. The 24-year-old Brown is the son of former NHL player Doug Brown.  Brown spent time between the big club and AHL affiliate Charlotte in 2015-16. With the Checkers, Brown had 25 points (13-12) and was fifth in team scoring. During the 14 games with Carolina, Brown had 2 points (1-1).
  • The Florida Panthers have announced the hiring of Leo Luongo as the goalies coach for AHL affiliate Springfield. The 31-year-old was the goaltending coach of HC Lugano in the Swiss League for the past three seasons. He is also the younger brother of current Panthers netminder Roberto Luongo.

Red Wings Re-Sign Drew Miller To One-Year Deal

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Ansar Khan of MLive reports that the Detroit Red Wings have re-signed forward Drew Miller to a one-year contract extension at $1.025MM. The Red Wings also announced the deal.

Miller was an unrestricted free agent. Injuries limited Miller to just 28 games last season where he had 2 points (1-1). The move is a curious one only in that the Wings are still waiting to hear from speedy center Darren Helm, and expected to make a serious run at Steven Stamkos, as well as other marquee free agents should Stamkos be retained by Tampa Bay or sign elsewhere. Additionally, it seemed that the Wings were more willing to embrace the youth movement they’ve been hinting at for several seasons. Miller would conceivably take ice time away from the younger players Detroit intends on giving greater opportunities–specifically  Andreas Athanasiou, Tomas Jurco, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Anthony Mantha. The re-signing of Miller could very well be a depth move and nothing more. However, the Wings insistence on playing veterans–despite many of them being past their best years–says otherwise.

Miller is known for his penalty killing capabilities, but brings little else to the table in terms of goal scoring or other production as his numbers have fallen since his career high of 25 points (14-11) in 2011-12.  The financial deal is slightly below the $1.35MM Miller earned in his last contract, which was a three-year deal signed before the 2013-14 season.

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