Bruins Expected To Sign Chris Wagner
The Bruins are poised to add some grit into their bottom six group of forwards as they are expected to ink center Chris Wagner to a two-year contract, reports Fox Sports West’s Andy Strickland (Twitter link). Mark Divver of the Providence Journal adds (via Twitter) that Wagner will get a two-year deal with a $1.25MM AAV.
The 27-year-old spent the majority of the season with Anaheim before being dealt to the Islanders at the trade deadline in exchange for winger Jason Chimera. He is coming off of a career year offensively as he collected 16 points (7-9-16) in 79 games while logging 13:17 per night of playing time. For perspective, he came into 2017-18 with a total of 13 points in 95 games over parts of three seasons.
However, despite his increase in production, Wagner is most known for his physicality. He ranked third in the league – second among forwards – in hits last season with 253, an average of 3.2 per game. The Bruins will be counting on that to continue from their fourth line for the next couple of years.
Western Notes: Winnipeg Goalies, Seguin, Lehtonen, Fehr, Beagle
With the trade of goaltender Steve Mason this morning to open up some cap space, the Winnipeg Jets find themselves with a sudden hole in their lineup as the team no longer has a viable backup goaltender behind starter Connor Hellybuyck. Their top goalie out of the AHL, Michael Hutchinson, is already an unrestricted free agent and likely to move on, while the next in line is Eric Comrie, who has a total of four NHL games to his name.
That will force the cap-saving Jets to find a cheap solution on the free agent market. A few days behind in the recruiting market, many of those backup options are already off the board, such as Carter Hutton (Buffalo), Jonathan Bernier (Detroit) and Cam Ward (Chicago).
The Winnipeg Sun’s Ken Wiebe writes there are options out there, suggesting the team look at some under-the-radar goaltenders who struggled a year ago. Tops on his list is former Buffalo Sabres netminder Chad Johnson, who struggled last year in Buffalo with a 3.55 and a .891 save percentage. However, the 32-year-old was behind one of the worst defenses in the league, while the Jets’ offense could easily protect Johnson better.
- Sean Shapiro of The Athletic writes that extension talks between the Dallas Stars and Tyler Seguin can’t even start until after John Tavares signs a contract and sets the market. Whatever Tavares gets will be the starting point for negotiations between the two parties. Seguin, who is eligible to sign an extension starting tomorrow, put up a career-high 40 goals for the Stars. However, the 26-year-old can also opt to become a free agency next year in a similar fashion to what Tavares is doing now. Dallas has made it clear they want to lock the center up long-term.
- Former Dallas Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen and current unrestricted free agent could be an interesting watch, according to Fox Sports Andy Strickland. The 34-year-old backup was interested in joining the Boston Bruins as a backup to Tuuka Rask, but now doesn’t seem likely. While there has been some interest from some Western Conference teams, he could choose to retire if the right opportunity doesn’t present itself. Lehtonen finished last season with a pedestrian 2.56 GAA and a .912 save percentage as a backup for the Stars.
- The Athletic’s Michael Russo writes the Minnesota Wild have had conversations with free agent center Eric Fehr. The 32-year-old veteran had trouble cracking the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup this year and was eventually traded to the San Jose Sharks for a 2020 seventh-round pick, but made an impression centering the team’s fourth line. He put up three goals in 14 games and played in 10 playoff games. The scribe also writes that he doubts Fehr ends up in Minnesota.
- Despite rumors that the Vancouver Canucks were closing in on an agreement with unrestricted free agent center Jay Beagle yesterday, Rick Dhaliwal of Sportsnet reports that the market for Beagle is increasing and driving up his pricetag. Vancouver remains quite interested in signing the veteran and are very, very much in the race to acquire him.
Bruins, Anton Khudobin $150K Per Year Apart In Negotiations
- Winger Austin Czarnik has largely flown under the radar but he has received interest from 24 different teams, reports Craig Custance of The Athletic (via Twitter). He adds that a two-year deal with a Western Conference team appears to be the likeliest outcome at this time. The 25-year-old lit up the AHL this past season with 25 goals and 44 assists in 69 games which ranked third overall in league scoring. He also added four assists in ten games with the Bruins. NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty tweets that the Oilers are among the teams making a push.
- It doesn’t appear that there is a big gap to bridge between the Bruins and goaltender Anton Khudobin. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports (Twitter link) that the two sides were only $150K per year apart on talks. However, it appears that Khudobin, barring a change in the next little while, will go to the open market. TSN’s Darren Dreger tweets that Dallas could make sense as a landing spot.
Free Agent Focus: Boston Bruins
Free agency is now just days from opening up and there are quite a few prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of Boston’s free agent situation.
Key Restricted Free Agent: F Sean Kuraly – This was Kuraly’s first season as a regular and he acquitted himself relatively well on the fourth line as he provided the Bruins with a physical presence and the odd timely goal. Given his limited track record though, he won’t have much leverage when it comes to contract negotiations even though he is eligible for salary arbitration. His qualifying offer came in just shy of $875K and his next deal should be close to that amount.
Other RFAs: W Anton Blidh, D Colby Cave
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: F Rick Nash – While his production has tapered off in recent years, that didn’t stop several teams from pursuing Nash at the trade deadline. His days as a top-line scorer are finished but he can still slot in nicely as a second liner, something that the Bruins were hoping for when they acquired him. Unfortunately for them, he suffered a concussion shortly after joining the team and while he was back for the playoffs, he didn’t make much of an impact.
Nash was projecting to be one of the top free agents available this summer – he’s ranked sixth in our Top 50 UFA Rankings – but he has taken himself off the market for the time being as he has told teams that he is unsure if he intends to play in 2018-19. Boston was among the teams that had expressed interest in signing him during the interview period so it will be interesting to see if they leave enough cap space freed up this summer to circle back to Nash if he decides later on that he’s going to play next season.
F Riley Nash – The other Nash had quite the season. After being expected to be primarily a depth player, he worked his way into a regular spot on the third line and never looked back, posting career highs in goals (15), assists (26), and points (41) while winning a respectable 48.4% of his faceoffs. With it being a pretty weak market for centers in free agency, the 29-year-old is poised to land a considerable pay raise and some long-term contract security on the open market.
Other UFAs: F Kenny Agostino, D Christopher Breen, D Tommy Cross, F Austin Czarnik, D Nick Holden, G Anton Khudobin, D Paul Postma, F Tim Schaller, F Tommy Wingels
Projected Cap Space: The Bruins currently have just shy of $12MM in cap room this offseason, per CapFriendly. Even after re-signing Kuraly and finding a replacement for Khudobin with his return appearing to be unlikely, they should have enough room to add a notable player either through trade or free agency.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Free Agent Rumor Round-Up: Roussel, Calvert, Hickey, Rieder, Perron, And More
The Vancouver Canucks are closing in on an agreement with one of their top free agent targets. After Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman revealed that the Canucks were talking to two-way winger Antoine Roussel, colleague Rick Dhaliwal did some digging and discovered that the two sides were close on a long-term deal. Dhaliwal expects Roussel to sign a four-year deal worth more than $3MM per year with Vancouver. The former Dallas Stars brings grit and energy to the Canucks and has previously teased 30+ point potential. If the 28-year-old Frenchman can reach those levels of production while maintaining his notorious physical game, this could be a great signing by GM Jim Benning. However, it is well above what many would have expected Roussel to sign in both term and salary and could just as well be a disaster for Vancouver. Roussel is ranked 38th on PHR’s Top 50 Free Agents list with an estimated contract of two years and just over $2MM AAV.
- Friedman has also linked the Colorado Avalanche and forward Matt Calvert. TSN’s Darren Dreger is among a few sources who have also heard about that pairing. Calvert, 28, has played his entire career for the Columbus Blue Jackets, but Dreger seems convinced that he is definitely on the move. The versatile, two-way winger would be a nice fit as a bottom-six regular who can fill gaps in the top-six, much like the role that Blake Comeau played for the team.
- Dreger also reports that interest is high in defenseman Thomas Hickey. A shallow defense market is likely boosting the value of the serviceable defenseman, who is a tough defensive match-up and a dangerous off-the-puck play-maker, but prone to mistake when moving play. Many speculated that the Islanders would turn their attention to re-signing Hickey once the John Tavares situation had sorted itself out, but with Tavares dragging his feet and Hickey in talks with numerous teams, New York may not get that chance. We predicted that Hickey would land with the Montreal Canadiens on a multi-year deal in PHR’s Top 50 Free Agents list.
- Another player getting a lot of attention is winger Tobias Rieder and the status of his suitors is changing quickly as the price rises. Just earlier today, the Vancouver Canucks were the first team confirmed to be in on Rieder and by now that list has increased dramatically. TSN’s Ryan Rishaug reports that the Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, and Ottawa Senators are also in the running and that the price has gotten so high as to drive the Edmonton Oilers out of the bidding. The Athletic’s Craig Custance confirms the interest from the Canucks, Flames, and Habs and adds the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers to the list of interested parties. All this for a player that the Los Angeles Kings deemed unworthy of a qualifying offer.
- As expected, David Perron is also one of the hottest names on the free agent market and his former team, the Vegas Golden Knights, are seemingly out of the running. Friedman calls it “very unlikely” that Perron returns to Las Vegas, where he set a career high with 66 points this season. For an idea on the price for Perron, he landed at #5 on the PHR Top 50 Free Agents list with a projected six-year, $32MM contract, which could be a conservative guess.
- One team that is somewhat surprisingly in talks with Perron is Arizona. Craig Morgan of Arizona Sports details the off-season so far from the Coyotes and lists Perron, James van Riemsdyk, and Michael Grabner as Arizona’s top targets. Morgan also says that the team has not ruled out bringing back veteran forward Brad Richardson as well.
- The Boston Bruins are moving on from Anton Khudobin and reportedly working fast to find his replacement. Beat writer Matt Kalman and The Boston Globe’s Kevin-Paul Dupont both hear that the team is very interested in Kari Lehtonen as the new backup to Tuukka Rask. With many talented goalies on the market, Lehtonen has flown under the radar somewhat despite incredibly comparable numbers to Khudobin in more starts and superior numbers to the likes of Jonathan Bernier, Cam Ward, Robin Lehner and others. Lehtonen also had the highest Quality Start rate of any of that group in 2017-18. Even here at PHR we may have underestimated Lehtonen, making him our sixth-best goalie among the Top 50 free agents.
- Unsurprisingly, TSN’s Pierre LeBrun notes that the Washington Capitals have checked in with defenseman Brooks Orpik. A veteran leader and key contributor to their Stanley Cup run, the Capitals faced little choice but to trade Orpik away earlier this off-season in order to clear cap space to maintain their championship roster. Now that he has subsequently been bought out by the Colorado Avalanche, Orpik is fair game and could return to D.C. at a much more affordable rate. However, LeBrun warns that other teams are also in the running and Orpik may not take a discount rate in Washington over more legitimate offers.
Anton Khudobin Not Expected To Remain In Boston
While the Bruins had expressed an interest in keeping him, it doesn’t appear that goaltender Anton Khudobin will be sticking around in Boston. GM Don Sweeney told reporters, including Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic (Twitter link), that he’s not optimistic about their chances of keeping the 32-year-old around.
Khudobin is coming off one of the best seasons of his career where he posted a 2.56 GAA with a .913 SV% in 31 appearances for the Bruins. The fact he played as well as he did also allowed the team to keep Tuukka Rask fresher and Boston’s starter responded with his best save percentage in three years.
Internally, the Bruins have Zane McIntyre at AHL Providence but he’s likely not ready to step in and make 20-25 starts at the NHL level. As a result, they will likely be active in the free agent goalie market once it opens up on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Khudobin will enter a goaltending market that appears to feature more supply than demand. However, considering he has established himself as someone that can play more than a typical workload for a backup, he should still garner some interest on the open market. He’s coming off a $1.2MM contract and in our Top 50 Free Agent rankings (where he sits 26th), we project a small raise to a $1.75MM AAV for the next two years.
Bruins Show Interest In Slater Koekkoek And Michael Grabner
The Bruins have expressed an interest in Lightning pending RFA defenseman Slater Koekkoek, NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty reports (Twitter link). The tenth overall pick in 2012 has yet to progress beyond the level of a depth defenseman and could be a candidate for a change of scenery. However, Tampa Bay has been in contract talks with Koekkoek, per Joe Smith of The Athletic (via Twitter). Given that the two teams are division rivals, both Haggerty and Smith think a trade is unlikely although Haggerty suggests that the Oilers could be a landing spot for the 24-year-old if he winds up being dealt.
- Also from Haggerty, the Bruins have checked in on UFA winger Michael Grabner. Boston had shown interest in the speedster back at the trade deadline before they ultimately wound up acquiring Rick Nash. Grabner scored 27 goals in 2017-18 (the third-most among all unrestricted free agents) and is believed to have interest from several teams already.
2018 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 last season. 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 Barrie Colts found out last season. Andrei Svechnikov was the first-overall selection, and ended up scoring 40 goals in 44 games before being the second-overall pick in the NHL draft last week. This year saw Slovakian-born Maxim Cajkovic go first to the Saint John Sea Dogs after tearing up the Swedish junior leagues last season. Cajkovic is eligible for the 2019 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 full results are below:
Round 1
1. Saint John – Maxim Cajkovic (RW, Slovakia)
2. Edmonton – Vladimir Alistrov (LW, Belarus)
3. Sudbury – Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (G, Finland/Buffalo Sabres)
4. Shawinigan – Valentin Nussbaumer (C, Switzerland)
5. Prince George – Matej Toman (LW, Czech Republic)
Winnipeg Extends Defenseman Joe Morrow
Wednesday: The team has officially announced the contract, bringing back Morrow for one year at $1MM.
Tuesday: A team declined to extend a qualifying offer to a restricted free agent defenseman who had been a good fit, only to re-sign him to an affordable one-year deal. Sound familiar? Less than an hour after the Vancouver Canucks re-signed Derrick Pouliot to an extension, the Winnipeg Jets have followed suit with a new contract for Joe Morrow. TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports that Morrow has signed a one-year, $1MM extension to remain in Winnipeg.
Like Pouliot, Morrow does not lose out on not getting a qualifying offer by yesterday’s deadline. The 25-year-old defender made the league minimum $650K last year, making a new million-dollar pact a substantial upgrade. In fact, it is almost a surprising raise for Morrow. The young journeyman, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins and traded to the Dallas Stars and then to the Boston Bruins before even making his NHL debut, was on his third team in two years when he finished the 2017-18 season with the Jets. Boston had declined to qualify Morrow last summer, only they intended to let him walk as a free agent. Morrow signed with the Montreal Canadiens and posted a career high in games played and points while also showing some defensive improvements. However, Morrow was still less than a full-time player and his move to Winnipeg was more of an afterthought depth addition at the time of the NHL Trade Deadline. Morrow was solid albeit unspectacular down the stretch for the Jets and was used only sparingly in the postseason. With that said, the Jets were vocal about how pleased they were with Morrow’s acquisition.
The Winnipeg front office and coaching staff clearly saw enough of the puck-moving defenseman to decide on using some of their precious cap space to bring him back. The Jets face a daunting number of restricted and unrestricted free agency conundrums this summer, but seemingly worked quickly to get a deal done with Morrow. With four veteran defenseman signed for next season and three more qualified as RFA’s, Winnipeg has plenty of depth on the blue line, but must have plans to use Morrow in some capacity next season.
Final Group Of Six Will Wait For Decision From John Tavares
The free agent interview period is supposed to drum up intrigue around dozens of names that will undoubtedly change teams on July 1st, but all eyes this year have been on pitch meetings taking place at the CAA headquarters in Los Angeles. Those meetings are meant to woo John Tavares, who would arguably be the best free agent to ever hit the market in the salary cap era. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Tavares’ current team the New York Islanders presented on Monday, with the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks meeting with the superstar center and his representatives on Tuesday. Wednesday is blocked off for the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning, after which, according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, Tavares will shut down all communication with other teams. There were previous reports that some teams, namely the Vegas Golden Knights and Nashville Predators, were in the running through phone conversations, but that doesn’t appear to be the case any longer.
So six teams—New York, Toronto, Boston, San Jose, Dallas and Tampa Bay—will wait patiently tonight after Tavares hears the final pitches, and await word of whether he’ll be leaving for a new address this summer. The Islanders of course are the only team that can offer Tavares an eight-year deal, and the other teams are not currently allowed to discuss contract details, only express interest. If Tavares reaches Sunday without a contract, the Islanders lose their advantage and become like any other team able to sign him to seven years. Should that happen, it seems unlikely that he’d be heading back to the Islanders, meaning the countdown is on for New York.
Of course there are different strengths and weaknesses from each market, and TSN has released a calculator to show off the differences surrounding state (or provincial) taxes. The Lightning and Stars have a huge advantage in this way, though it is obviously not the only determining factor. Even with a no-movement clause, there is no guarantee that a player spends his whole career in a certain state, meaning there likely won’t be any discounts for the teams which have the best tax rates.