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Pekka Rinne Wins 2020-21 King Clancy Memorial Trophy

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The NHL kicked off awards season on Monday night with the announcement of this year’s King Clancy Memorial Trophy winner for “leadership qualities on and off the ice” and “noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” The 2020-21 recipient is none other than well-respected veteran goaltender Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators, who beats out New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban and San Jose Sharks forward Kurtis Gabriel for the honor.

A career Predator, Rinne has long been making his presence felt in the Nashville community in many ways. He has been an active member of the Best Buddies program and Make-A-Wish Foundation, has organized events for the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease, and stepped up in a major way during the COVID-19 pandemic, participating in the Predators’ “Feed the Frontline” initiative that provided meals to police and firemen and partnering with Chick-Fil-A and Dunkin Donuts to provide food to Nashville doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. However, Rinne’s greatest contribution to the community has been his leadership of the 365 Pediatric Cancer Fund, raising over $3MM for Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt Medical Center and bringing patients and their families to Bridgestone Arena to enjoy games from the 365 Fund suite, which he personally funds in full. For all he gives to his community, Rinne remains humble:

After spending 15 years with the same organization and in the same city, and with the opportunities I’ve had through local charities in my community – this is very special to me. At the same time, I want to congratulate P.K. and Kurtis on their nomination and for everything they do for their communities. I want to thank the Predators and the Predators Foundation for letting us players get involved and help in our community. I also want to recognize Shea Weber, who helped start the 365 Fund with me. This award means a lot to me and my family, and it’s a huge honor.

Predators General Manager David Poile also had plenty to say about Rinne’s deserving recognition:

I view the King Clancy Memorial Trophy as a lifetime achievement award of sorts, and Pekka winning this year is totally reflective of what he has done on the ice, but equally, if not more importantly, what he’s done off the ice in our community. For years, and for good reason, Pekka has been the face of our franchise and our most popular player. This is shown by the countless hours he’s spent working to make our community a better place and the sacrifices he’s made to make the lives of everyone around him better. Pekka is completely deserving of this honor, and our organization couldn’t be happier for him.

In honor of Rinne’s King Clancy victory, the NHL will donate $25,000 to the 365 Fund, an amount that the Predators have also promised to match. For more on Rinne’s contributions, the Predators provided this great video tribute to his work with kids. An impending free agent nearing the end of his career, if this is the last of Rinne in the NHL, it is a fitting sendoff for the star goalie.

Snapshots: Capuano, Tardif, Asselin

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With the divisional playoffs now over, the days of the North, East, West, and Central (sort of) are over. Teams are already shifting their mindsets back to the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Pacific, and the true Central, working out how best to beat out their division rivals and make the postseason next year. After taking a step forward this season, albeit against lesser competition, the Ottawa Senators are no exception. The long-time bottom-dwellers are just as cutthroat in their pursuit of success, even if that means handicapping one of their own. Joe MacDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that the Senators have blocked associate head coach Jack Capuano from interviewing for the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach vacancy. Buffalo will be Ottawa’s divisional rival once again next season and beyond and the team will not lose a valued member of their staff with inside knowledge of the organization to one of their most frequent competitors. After leading Team USA to a bronze medal and the best record in group play at the recent IIHF World Championships, Capuano’s name is back in the mix as a head coach candidate. The long-time New York Islander bench boss is still held in high regard around the league and the Sabres may not be the only team kicking his tires. Perhaps the Senators will let him go elsewhere, just not within the Atlantic Division.

  • After wrapping a strong junior career in the QMJHL, capped off by a stellar run with the Victoriaville Tigres that ended with a league title, Ben Tardif was expected to have some NHL interest. The 21-year-old forward had scored at better than a point-per-game clip in each of the past two seasons, culminating in 11 goals and 22 points in 19 games for Victoriaville en route to the President’s Cup. However, Tardif seemingly did not receive the attention he might have expected and has settled for an AHL contract. The Colorado Eagles announced that they have signed Tardif to a two-year contract. The Colorado Avalanche obviously have some stock in the move as well, hoping that Tardif can use the time to round out his game and show that his offense can translate to the pro level. If he succeeds, Tardif will find himself in a great spot as part of an Avs club that looks like it will contend for many years to come.
  • One player whose career Tardif will likely be following is Samuel Asselin. A QMJHL star himself –  a Memorial Cup champion and league-leading goal-scorer – Asselin too was surprisingly unable to land an NHL contract after his junior career ended. Like Tardif, he signed a two-year deal with the AHL’s Providence Bruins instead. Following a point-per-game, All-Star season in the ECHL last year, Asselin was a full-time member of the P-Bruins this season and showed that there is more to his game than scoring ability with a gritty, high-energy style. And other teams took notice. Mark Divver of The New England Hockey Journal writes that NHL competitors are sniffing around Asselin and time is running out for the Bruins to lock him in to an entry-level contract. The club holds the right of first refusal to match any competing offer, but only while Asselin remains under contract. Once the off-season arrives, Asselin could depart with Boston having nothing to show for two years of development.

Carolina Hurricanes Sign Eric Gelinas

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Two days after the Carolina Hurricanes lose a defenseman to Sweden, they import another. NHL.com’s Michael Smith reports that the Hurricanes have signed veteran defender Eric Gelinas to a one-year, two-way contract. Gelinas will make the minimum $750K at the NHL level and $100K at the AHL level, with $125K guaranteed. This move comes on the heels of Joakim Ryan officially signing with the SHL’s Malmo Redhawks on Friday.

Gelinas should be a name familiar to NHL fans. Although the 30-year-old last played in the league in 2016-17, he has nearly 200 NHL games to his credit with the New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche. A 2009 second-round pick of the Devils with great size and strong production in the QMJHL, Gelinas was long expected to become a dynamic top-four defenseman at the highest level. He continued to produce in the AHL and had one tremendous season with New Jersey, but largely failed to translate his offense to the NHL and settled into a stay-at-home role and eventually his exit from the league. Gelinas spent the 2017-18 season playing in the AHL with the Laval Rocket before spending the past three years in Europe, mostly in the SHL. While his production improved overseas, it was not until this season with Rogle BK that it truly took off. Gelinas recorded 34 points in 46 games, leading all league defensemen in per-game scoring, and added another seven points in the postseason en route to a finals appearance.

The Hurricanes clearly hope that Gelinas’ season is not just another example of strong production at a weaker level but rather that something has finally clicked with the big defenseman’s all-around game. With Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, Jake Gardiner, and Joey Keane signed through at least next year, Jake Bean and Maxime Lajoie under team control as restricted free agents, and mutual interest in an extension with Dougie Hamilton, Carolina still has some of the best defensive depth in the NHL and by no means will have to rely on a breakout season from Gelinas. However, they rushed to sign him for a reason and may very well hand him a roster spot to begin the year in hopes that he can prove he belongs at the top level.

Expansion Primer: Vancouver Canucks

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Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, who will likely warrant protection, and which ones may be on the block to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing? Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4:00 PM CDT on July 17th. The full eligibility rules can be found here, while CapFriendly has an expansion tool to make your own lists.

When the Vegas Golden Knights entered the NHL in 2017, it was unclear who might become the expansion team’s biggest rival. Las Vegas was located close to a number of Pacific Division foes, but with deep-seated rivalries already in place in Southern California, it was unclear if there would be room for the Knight. The Seattle Kraken don’t have that problem. The Vancouver Canucks, located on the same body of water less than 150 miles north, will be immediate geographical rivals of the NHL’s newest team. While Seattle may not be as competitive right off the bat as Vegas – opposing teams learned their lesson in the last Expansion Draft – an attainable goal for the club in their inaugural season could be to get the best of the rival Canucks in the season series and the division standings. The rivalry could get off to a hot start if the Kraken can steal a player of value out of Vancouver in next month’s draft.

The problem? Just as they did in the last Expansion Draft, in which they lost stay-at-home defenseman Luca Sbisa, the Canucks have again set themselves up well to protect their key players from exposure. Seattle will have a number of options, but it is hard to picture any of them swaying the tide in the new rivalry.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards:
Jay Beagle, Brock Boeser, Loui Eriksson, Micheal Ferland, Jonah Gadjovich, Jayce Hawryluk, Matthew Highmore, Bo Horvat, Lukas Jasek, Kole Lind, Zack MacEwen, J.T. Miller, Tyler Motte, Petrus Palmu, Tanner Pearson, Elias Pettersson, Antoine Roussel, Jake Virtanen

Defense:
Guillaume Brisebois, Madison Bowey, Olli Juolevi, Tyler Myers, Nate Schmidt

Goalies:
Thatcher Demko, Braden Holtby

Notable Unrestricted Free Agents

D Alexander Edler, D Travis Hamonic, F Brandon Sutter

Notable Exemptions

G Michael DiPietro, F Nils Hoglander, D Quinn Hughes, F Marc Michaelis, F Vasily Podkolzin, D Jack Rathbone, D Jett Woo

Key Decisions

The Canucks really only have decisions to make at one position: forward. In goal, last summer’s free agent addition Holby was expected to be a player that Seattle might pursue, but after a poor season the 31-year-old not longer looks like an attractive option. Vancouver will protect the younger and superior Demko and won’t put any effort into a side deal to protect Holtby. No other goalies are eligible for selection. On the blue line, only five non-UFA defenseman are eligible for selection and Bowey was acquired specifically to meet the exposure requirement on defense. Barring a trade addition, the Canucks face the easy choice of protecting top-four defensemen Myers and Schmidt and choosing the younger, more experienced, and more highly-regarded young player in Juolevi over Brisebois. Even if any of their impending UFA defenders were re-signed, including veterans Edler and Hamonic, it is unlikely to change the protection plan on the back end. Signed or not, the Kraken selecting and extending career Canuck Edler would be a fun start to the rivalry albeit an unlikely result.

Up front, things are not so simple. The Canucks have a whopping 18 eligible non-UFA forwards and it is a mix of both NHL contributors and promising prospects. The locks are core forwards Horvat, Boeser, Pettersson, Miller and the recently-extended Pearson, leaving two spots available for the remaining 13 forwards. From there, it may be easier to begin with who won’t be protected. Veterans Ferland (injury), Beagle (injury), and Eriksson (overpaid and ineffective) will be exposed. Roussel is also very likely to fall into that group after consecutive seasons of poor play and injury concern. Prospects playing overseas in Jasek and Palmu also have no chance at protection. MacEwen, if only by process of elimination, is also unlikely to be protected as a one-dimensional checking forward.

What is left is a group of six bubble forwards, all with a case for why he should be protected. Despite a disastrous 2020-21 season, the best NHL resume of the bunch belongs to Virtanen Even with just five points in 38 games this year, the 2014 sixth overall pick has 100 points in 317 games, outpacing his fellow bubble candidates. The Canucks shopped the struggling Virtanen this year, but also refused to give him away for less than what they felt he was worth. If that sentiment remains, the team will not allow Seattle to get him for nothing.

With that said, Virtanen’s $2.55MM cap hit is also the heaviest of the bunch and was a roadblock in trade dealings this year. His ongoing legal troubles are also a serious cause for pause. If Vancouver feels that the Kraken will not select Virtanen based on these issues on top of his poor production this year, they could expose him. That idea becomes more likely when considering that three other, more affordable forwards outscored Virtanen on a per-game basis this year: Motte, Hawryluk, and Highmore. All three have a strong case for protection too. Motte, 26, when healthy last season, saw a major uptick in ice time to near top-six levels. A talented defensive forward involved in the checking game and serving on the top penalty kill unit, Motte has proved himself valuable to the Canucks and his timely offense in last year’s postseason helped to make him a fan favorite. However, with Motte out of the lineup down the stretch, it was Highmore who took on a similar role and thrived following a trade from the Chicago Blackhawks. Recording five points in 18 games and taking on some short-handed responsibility, Highmore, 25, looked at home in a bottom-six role with Vancouver. His ease of transition to a new team could peak the interest of Seattle. Hawryluk, 25, surprisingly has the second-best career offensive profile within the bubble, with 27 points in 98 games despite playing for three different teams over three years. Underutilized by the Canucks this year, Hawryluk showed promising flashes with more opportunity late in the year.

The two names remaining are prospects Gadjovich and Lind. Both 2017 second-round picks, Gadjovich and Lind are each high-scoring junior products who have improved every year in the pros and were point-per-game players in the AHL this year, as well as seeing their first NHL action. Both should see increased roles next year with the Canucks, potentially ahead of any of the aforementioned bubble forwards. The upside is certainly greater for either scoring winger than any of the group outside of possibly a resurgent Virtanen. If Seattle was to select either one, they would not be selecting “prospects”. Both will lose their waiver exemption next season. If the Kraken want to take and keep Gadjovich or Lind, they would need to be prepared to hand them a roster spot, as neither would be likely to clear waivers. This calculus would of course change if the Kraken plant to select then trade one of the promising young players.

One mitigating factor to the selection of Lind, as well as Hawryluk, is that they are unsigned restricted free agents. Seattle must select 20 players under contract in 2021-22. With just ten slots to use on both unrestricted and restricted free agents, the team may not feel that Lind or Hawryluk are worthy of a spot. Vancouver could extend Hawryluk to make him a more attractive selection and possible convince Seattle to take him over another more valuable forward. They will not do the same with the coveted Lind.

Projected Protection List

F Brock Boeser
F Jonah Gadjovich
F Bo Horvat
F J.T. Miller
F Tyler Motte
F Tanner Pearson
F Elias Pettersson

D Olli Juolevi
D Tyler Myers
D Nate Schmidt

G Thatcher Demko

Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist

When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined.  Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019-20 and 2020-21 combined.  In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.

Forwards (6): Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, Matthew Highmore, Zack MacEwen, Antoine Roussel, Jake Virtanen
Defensemen (1): Madison Bowey

With several top young players and near future contributors exempt and all core players protected, the list of options for Seattle is not strong. Vancouver does not appear to be a team that offers any UFA’s worth selecting, so the team will still lose a current roster player. However, they stand almost no chance of losing a player of any great meaning. The greatest impact would perhaps be if the Kraken went with the surprise selection of Holtby, as it would force the Canucks to find a new backup this off-season. However, this season provided little evidence that Holtby would be a worthwhile pick, especially at his current cost. There are no defenseman of value to Vancouver available and it hard to envision Seattle going in that direction anyway.

So again, it all comes back to forward. With Vancouver opting to protect defensive ace Motte and budding power forward Gadjovich with their final two protection slots, the Kraken will be looking at the other four bubble forwards and MacEwen, as barring trade incentive from the Canucks they will not touch any of the overpriced veterans. Virtanen and Lind have the highest upsides, but each come with concerns. Virtanen is expensive, has off-ice baggage, and is coming off a poor season. If selected, he likely has no trade value as the Canucks were unable to deal him themselves this year. Lind would have to be selected with the intention of being a key, everyday starter. He would not clear waivers and would require a roster spot and would take up a valuable unsigned draft slot if selected. Lind is still a very viable option in this scenario, especially if the Kraken are high on him, as his junior and minor league production shows NHL potential and he would have trade value to other teams if he cannot crack the Seattle roster. If either of these two are selected and blossom with the Canucks new rivals, it will sting.

If the issues surrounding potential top-nine forwards Virtanen and Lind are too much for the Kraken, they will likely look for a dependable fourth-liner in Highmore or MacEwen rather than a depth option in Hawryluk, who is also unsigned. In fact, Highmore’s recent success jumping from Chicago to Vancouver and thriving in a bottom-six role could inspire the Kraken. If they don’t love Lind and don’t want to risk Virtanen, then Highmore is the likely choice.

Jake Evans Improving, Could Return In Semifinals For Montreal

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Sometimes “indefinitely” really does just mean unknown and not extended. The term is never intended to imply a long injury absence, but has taken on that ominous message when included in NHL injury timelines. Case in point: Montreal Canadiens’ forward Jake Evans. Just ten days after being ruled out “indefinitely” with a concussion and only four days since an update indicated there was still no timeline for a return, Evans is reportedly making progress in his recovery and traveling with the team to Las Vegas to open up their semifinal series with the Vegas Golden Knights, per TSN.

When Evans took a massive, long-distance hit from Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele at the end of Game One of the North Division finals, it certainly didn’t look good. Evans was stretched off the ice following the bone-rattling check and there was great concern for a player with a history of concussions. The play ended up ending Scheifele’s season, as his suspension outlasted the end of the Jets’ postseason efforts, but it was also expected to end Evans’ as well. Yet, TSN reports that Evans has been working out off-ice for several days without issue, skated on Saturday, and overall is making great progress while also going through the league’s concussion protocol. Evans will join the traveling party for the team’s trip to Vegas for Games One and Two, something that would definitely not be happening if he was still experiencing concussion symptoms and likely would not be happening if there wasn’t at least a chance that he might play.

With all that said, Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme has stated that is “not very confident” that Evans will play in Game One. It’s unclear if Evans is simply not healthy to play yet, or if this is a roster decision based on the bottom-six forward not being at full strength. Ducharme applied the same label to injured defensemen Jeff Petry and Jon Merrill as well, providing not added insight. However, Ducharme did say that he believes Evans could be “ready” in three-to-four days, which could put him in line for a Game Two start on Wednesday. If Evans returns at any point in this series, or even this postseason, it will be a surprise to many who saw his injury occur and expected the worst.

Tampa Bay’s LTIR Usage Investigated By NHL, No Wrongdoing Found

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As could have reasonably been expected, the Tampa Bay Lightning have faced some criticism of their handling of the salary cap this season, especially as they race toward what could very likely be back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships. The Lightning employed the Long-Term Injured Reserve to keep forward Nikita Kucherov off the pay roll for the entire 2020-21 regular season, allowing them to re-sign other players and add at the trade deadline by using the entirety of his $9.5MM cap hit as added space. Then, when the postseason began and the salary cap was no longer a factor, the 2018-19 Hart Trophy winner was ready to return, looking fresh and looking no worse for wear. At best, the timing of it all was extremely lucky. At worst, it was salary cap circumvention.

Defending his team against these allegations, Tampa GM Julien BriseBois tells Sportsnet’s Josh Beneteau that the NHL did in fact investigate the club’s LTIR usage and found that they had not broken any rules.  The league had issued a warning earlier this season, with an unusually high number of teams using the LTIR, that they would be monitoring those transactions and would investigate. This was the case with Kucherov, but nothing about the Bolts’ actual transactions raised any alarms. After all, the LTIR, for all intents and purposes, is a legal form of circumvention. If other clubs are upset with how it is being used, it is an area that will need to be addressed in the next CBA negotiation in 2026.

However, the vast majority of complaints were not how the LTIR itself is structured or was used by Tampa, but rather the suspicious timing of Kucherov’s rehab lasting through the entire regular season but not into any of the postseason. BriseBois noted that this too had to be proven to the league. “We had to be able to justify the surgery, the rehab time, (and) the return to play clearance,” he told Beneteau. “Sometimes the stars align for you,” he added, qualifying what others believed to be a designed manipulation of the LTIR system. If the NHL was convinced that the timing was just right, then other teams and fans alike should be as well. BriseBois is right though – the team certainly got lucky and that luck might just lead them to another title.

St. Louis Blues Extend Tanner Kaspick

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The St. Louis Blues are already getting started with their off-season moves. The team has announced that minor league forward Tanner Kaspick has signed a new one-year, two-way contract extension. The deal includes a raise at the NHL level (by default) and AHL level, moving from his entry-level values of $739K and $70K in the minors to the increased league minimum of $750K and slight uptick to $80K in the AHL. Kaspick, 23, was set to be a restricted free agent this summer.

If Kaspick’s name is unfamiliar, it shouldn’t be a surprise. The forward has yet to make his mark on the NHL through three pro seasons. A 2016 fourth-round pick out of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings following their league championship, Kaspick went on to captain the team before joining St. Louis in 2018. He spent his first two seasons with the San Antonio Rampage before joining the Utica Comets this year when the Blues’ new AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, announced they would sit out the 2020-21 season.  In 125 career AHL games, he has recorded 27 points, but only 20 games and five points came this year as Utica tried to balance a mass amount of prospects and remained focused on developing those of their own parent club, the Vancouver Canucks.

While St. Louis clearly sees Kaspick as valuable to the club, his ceiling appears to be as a fourth-line forward in the NHL. His final two seasons in the WHL included impressive scoring, but that has fallen off tremendously in the pros. Instead, Kaspick’s high-end hockey IQ and sizeable 6’1″, 205-lb. frame appear to be his greatest assets rather than his scoring skill and could lead to him to taking on a checking and penalty kill role at the next level. However, after a relatively inactive season, not to mention a deep St. Louis forward corps, he will likely stay in the AHL for at least one more season before having the opportunity to see any consistent NHL action.

Gabriel Bourque Signs AHL Contract With Laval

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After a year off from hockey, Gabriel Bourque is back. The Montreal Canadiens may still be focused on their Stanley Cup pursuit, but GM Marc Bergevin and company know opportunity when they see it and have locked in the NHL veteran and Quebec native for the 2021-22 season. Locked him into an AHL contract that is. It is the Laval Rocket who have announced the signing of Bourque to a one-year deal. After a year away from the game, Bourque will have to prove that he can still be an impact player by at least starting the season in the minors.

Bourque, 30, was unable to find an NHL contract last off-season and without much of a PTO market and a then-unknown future for the AHL in 2020-21, the experienced winger opted to take the season off rather than jump to Europe for the first time in his career in the midst of a pandemic. This is not as unusual as it may seem, as a number of players did the same thing. Included in that list is a fellow established NHL veteran in Brian Boyle, who after suiting up for Team USA at the IIHF World Championships is also hoping to make a comeback next season. Bourque also struggled through a lingering lower-body issue in 2019-20, so health may have played a part in his decision as well.

Don’t be surprised if Bourque pushes for more than just a full season spent in the minors, though. A veteran of over 400 NHL games who has also topped 100 points in that time, Bourque is a proven NHL commodity. Since turning pro in 2010-11, the versatile wing has played in at least half of his NHL team’s games in six of nine seasons, including 50+ games played in each of the three seasons leading up to his gap year. A two-way forward with a strong turnover differential and good checking ability, Bourque is an asset as a bottom-six forward. Both the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche kept him around for several seasons as a result, before a one-and-done stay with the Winnipeg Jets. If the Canadiens find that they are impressed by his play in training camp or suffer a bottom-six injury during the season, it would not be a shock to see Bourque get bumped up to an NHL contract. There is also potential for a partnership beyond next season for the local product and the team.

Penguins Notes: Goaltending, Jarry, DeSmith, Malkin

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The Penguins’ new brain trust threw their support behind goaltender Tristan Jarry after his struggles led to another early exit for the team this postseason. At least publicly, the team claimed that they still believed in the 25-year-old as their starter. In fact, they went so far as to say that adding size and physicality was their only objective this off-season. Behind closed doors, the conversation seems to have gone differently. Dan Kingerski of Pittsburgh Hockey Now reports that multiple sources close to the team confirm that the Penguins aim to add a veteran goaltender on the trade or free agent market this summer. While Kingerski calls the focus an “experienced backup”, in all likelihood that means they are looking for someone with starting experience to play 1B to Jarry’s 1A and take over if he again has issues. Frederik Andersen is a name that has already been linked to the Penguins, while other UFA options include Jonathan Bernier, James Reimer, Antti Raanta, Jaroslav Halak or Devan Dubnyk. Younger names like Linus Ullmark or Chris Driedger could really push Jarry if brought in. Trade options are numerous and the Expansion Draft will likely shake up the market, but Anton Khudobin stands out as an ideal fit for what the Penguins are looking for.

  • Again, this means that Casey DeSmith is the odd man out – and not just on the depth chart. Kingerski put to rest any speculation to the contrary by stating definitively that Jarry will be protected by the Penguins in the impending Expansion Draft. That will leave DeSmith, 29, up for grabs for the Seattle Kraken, though the team will likely have better options elsewhere on the Pittsburgh roster. Nevertheless, DeSmith’s time with the Penguins could be running out. After outplaying Jarry in everything but games played this season, DeSmith has proven himself to be a solid backup in his own right. Injury prone and unaccustomed to a starter’s workload at the NHL level, teams may not be clamoring to acquire DeSmith, but he also is unlikely to clear waivers if the Penguins add another goalie.
  • Another player that Kingerski confirms for the Penguins’ protection list in next month’s Expansion Draft: Evgeni Malkin. No, its not exactly a revelation. Not only is Malkin one of the faces of the franchise, but his contract also carries a No-Movement Clause, requiring him to be protected. Malkin could waive his NMC, but the team will not ask him to do that. That may seem like common sense, but after a down year by his standards, advancing age, an expensive contract, a serious injury that could carry over into the season, and very poor Expansion Draft outlook for their deep roster, the Penguins have plenty of reason to at least consider exposing Malkin. However, Kingerski adds that it probably would be a useless request anyway. As as has been the book on Malkin throughout his whole career, he would only leave Pittsburgh if he was traded to a Florida team, where he makes his home in the off-season. Seattle is on the other side of the continent.

Joakim Ryan Signs With SHL’s Malmo Redhawks

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When rumors emerged in early May that Sweden’s Malmo Redhawks were interested in signing defenseman Joakim Ryan, it didn’t make much noise. After all, the Carolina Hurricanes were marching towards the postseason and Ryan was not going to sign before the end of the season, even if he wasn’t seeing regular ice time with the club. Well, the postseason came and went for the ’Canes and Ryan stayed firmly planted in the press box through two series. It was apparently enough to convince him that perhaps a break from the NHL was in order. Ryan’s camp returned to negotiations with Malmo and the result was today’s announcement that the blue liner has signed a one-year deal with the Redhawks.

This is not exactly the homecoming that some might be thinking. Sure, Ryan is of Swedish descent and holds Swedish citizenship. However, Ryan was born in New Jersey and spent more of his childhood in the United States than in Sweden, including all of his formative hockey years. Yet, what little time Ryan did spent overseas meant something to him. Ryan has stated on several occasions that he has an affinity for the Malmo area and would like to play there at some point in his career. This coming season, he will get that chance.

The real question now is just how long Ryan’s stay in Sweden will last. As part of an incredibly deep Carolina defense corps in 2020-21, it is no surprise that he was used sparingly, playing in four games apiece in the NHL and AHL. However, Ryan is just a few years removed from being an everyday starter for the San Jose Sharks, where he spent the first four years of his pro career. Even last season, spent with the Los Angeles Kings, Ryan only played in 35 games – about have of L.A.’s shortened schedule – but saw top-four minutes when he was on the ice. A player who is known for dependable performance in a pinch, Ryan has demonstrated his value as an NHL depth asset. He seemingly chased a dream with this Malmo signing, but a strong year in the SHL and the potential promise of more money and the chance to compete at the highest level once again could have back home in North America soon. At 27, Ryan still has plenty of gas in the tank.

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