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Training Camp Invite Tracker

By | at August 13, 2016 7:34 pm

Over the course of the offseason more and more players will accept invitations to join team training camps. Usually these are players trying to resurrect their career or to show that they have one or two more years left before retirement. Notable training camp invites last year included Lee Stempniak and Jonas Gustavsson.

Making a team as an invitee is harder than just being one of the top-12 forwards or top-6 defensemen. Teams are usually looking for specific needs, such as a speedy second line forward or a defenseman who can eat minutes. Teams may want to save their bottom roster spots for developing prospects, so invitees risk being cut unless they meet a team’s identified need.

Here are the notable players who have been invited to training camps thus far. The list excludes players that are attending camps but are already signed to minor league contracts or prospects who are hoping to earn a minor league deal. Check here often for updates.

Training Camp Invites

Anaheim Ducks:
Sean Bergenheim
David Booth
Yann Danis
David Jones

Arizona Coyotes:
Zach Boychuk

Boston Bruins:
Peter Mueller

Calgary Flames:
Luke Adam
Jamie Devane
Matt Frattin
Nicklas Grossmann
Chris Higgins
Lauri Korpikoski
Colby Robak

Carolina Hurricanes:
Raffi Torres

Colorado Avalanche:
Gabriel Bourque
Rene Bourque
Jiri Tlusty

Columbus Blue Jackets:
Keith Aule
Marc-Andre Bergeron
Mike Brown
Aaron Palushaj
Jarret Stoll

Edmonton Oilers:
Eric Gryba
Kris Versteeg
Ryan Vesce

Florida Panthers:
Justin Fontaine
Adam Pardy

Los Angeles Kings:
Lucas Lessio
Tom McCollum
Devin Setoguchi

Minnesota Wild:
Ryan Carter
Tomas Fleischmann

New Jersey Devils:
Brian Gibbons
Anders Lindback

New York Islanders:
Steve Bernier
Stephen Gionta

New York Rangers:
Maxim Lapierre

Ottawa Senators:
Matt Bartkowski

Philadelphia Flyers:
Corban Knight

St. Louis Blues:
T.J. Galiardi
Eric Nystrom
Chris Porter
Yan Stastny
Mike Weber

Tampa Bay Lightning:
James Wisniewski

Toronto Maple Leafs:
Jeff Glass
Raman Hrabarenka
Brandon Prust

Vancouver Canucks:
Jack Skille
Tuomo Ruutu
James Sheppard

Washington Capitals:
Drew MacIntyre

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Off-Season To Date: Atlantic Division

By | at August 13, 2016 2:00 pm

While there’s still business to be done, most of the major moves are over with by now. Today we’ll be providing a run down of where teams stand, along with notes on what they have left to do. We’ll start with the Atlantic division. For our purposes, lists of arrivals, departures, re-signings, and remaining restricted free agents will include players without NHL rookie eligibility. Cap numbers and roster sizes are per CapFriendly.

Boston Bruins

Buffalo Sabres

Detroit Red Wings

Florida Panthers

Montreal Canadiens

Ottawa Senators

Tampa Bay Lightning

Toronto Maple Leafs

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Latest On Jimmy Vesey

By | at August 11, 2016 11:57 am

11:57am: Speculation is running rampant now, but Adrian Dater of Bleacher Report is hearing that the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs are the finalists for Vesey, and that Jonathan Toews will be present at the Hawks’ recruitment on Monday.  He’s confirmed that Stan Bowman, the Hawks’ GM, has gone to see Vesey skate twice recently. With so many conflicting reports, the “Vesey Sweepstakes” has become the biggest story in the NHL, though he still has to prove his ability at the next level.

10:55am: Mark Divver of The Providence Journal reports that New York Islanders’ GM Garth Snow was in Foxboro yesterday to see Vesey skate. Assuming that most teams at least have some interest in the soon-to-be free agent this doesn’t come as much of a surprise, though it does add some intrigue to the next few days.

9:42am: All offseason, one of the biggest stories has been the upcoming free agency of Harvard forward Jimmy Vesey. After being selected by the Nashville Predators, Vesey would not sign and, after having his rights traded to the Buffalo Sabres a few months ago, will become a free agent on August 15th.  Here’s the latest:

Today, Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald tells us that the Vesey camp has narrowed their list down to six teams that still includes Buffalo. Vesey’s agent, Peter Fish, said:

What Jimmy wants to do is see it through. He’s wanted to go to free agency and he’s going to see it through. There’s about 4-5 teams other than Buffalo that he wants to hear from. And then after that he’s going to make a decision. I think he’d love for the Bruins to be one of those teams. I assume that we will be taking a call from them.

This, obviously, stands in the face of Joe Haggarty’s report yesterday that the Bruins had become an unlikely landing spot for Vesey. Haggarty had a source that said the Blackhawks, Devils, Rangers, Leafs and Sabres had all passed Boston on the list of likely suitors leaving the Bruins to try and make up ground in the next few days.

Fish of course, was at the Beantown Summer Classic when he spoke to reporters, making the addition of the Bruins note understandable. In the Herald piece, Harris writes that one “very-well informed area NHL scout” believes that the Blackhawks, Rangers and Bruins will eventually be the finalists. Vesey will ultimately choose whichever team he wants to play for regardless of money, since each club will likely offer him the same ELC. Fish lends credence to this, with another telling quote:

We’ve looked at depth charts with some teams and talked about them. . . . There’s obviously a lot of thought that goes into it: The city, the coach, the GM, the salary structure, how a team treats their players in the second and third contracts down the road.

Whatever happens, Vesey has a huge reputation to now uphold, as he’s been the belle of the ball this summer. If he struggles – and he likely will struggle at times – fan perception could turn quickly on the 23-year old.  We’ll keep an eye on the situation for the next few days, and look to bring you the news of his decision as soon as it happens – whether it be Monday or down the line.

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Boston Signs Brian Ferlin To Two-Way Deal

By | at August 11, 2016 10:17 am

According to Cap Friendly, the Boston Bruins have signed their final restricted free agent Brian Ferlin to a one-year, two-way deal that will pay the winger $725K at the NHL level.

Ferlin, a fourth-round pick who attended Cornell University for three seasons, made his professional debut in 2014-15, spending most of the season with the Providence Bruins.  He got into seven NHL games that season, but was limited to the AHL in 2015-16.

Not an offensive force, the 24-year old has 17 goals and 35 points in 83 professional games. He’ll look to improve on his all-around game in Providence this season, and try to crack Boston’s bottom-six at some point during the year.

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Haggerty: Bruins Unlikely To Sign Vesey

By | at August 10, 2016 4:47 pm

CSN New England’s Bruins beat writer, Joe Haggerty, wrote today that sources have informed him that Boston is no longer considered to be a top contender for college phenom and impending free agent Jimmy Vesey. While the Bruins remain one of the teams that Vesey has previously said he will speak with on August 15th when he can officially explore his free agency options, Haggerty does not believe that the B’s are a likely to sign him.

When Vesey announced that he would not sign with the Nashville Predators, the team that drafted him, and even after his rights were traded to the Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins were considered one of the most likely destinations for the reigning Hobey Baker winner. A hometown kid, Vesey grew up in the Boston suburb of Charlestown, and his father briefly played for the Bruins during his short NHL career. Vesey played his prep school hockey at Belmont Hill in the Boston suburb of Belmont, and then attended Harvard University during the past four years in the Boston suburb of Cambridge. Noticing a trend? Vesey himself has not been shy about his attachment to the city as well, stating that he is a lifelong fan of the Bruins and wears #19 as a tribute to Joe Thornton. However, what many don’t realize is not only the city of Boston familiar to Vesey, but the future of the Bruins is as well. Within the Bruins system currently is forward Ryan Fitzgerald, a childhood friend of Vesey’s from Charlestown who is entering his senior year at Boston College, defenseman Rob O’Gara, Matt Grzelcyk, and Matt Benning, who Vesey squared off against at local New England NCAA schools over the past four years, goalie Zane McIntyre, a fellow Hobey Baker runner-up in 2015, and even Harvard teammates Ryan Donato and Wiley Sherman. Harvard coach and former Bruin Ted Donato has also been rumored to be a top candidate for the Bruins head coaching job during hot seat periods for Claude Julien. Add in that Vesey is friends with Torey Krug and Jimmy Hayes and idolized the Bruins 2011 Stanley Cup team, which included current Bruins Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Adam McQuaid, and Tuukka Rask, and it seems as if the past, present, and future would lead many to assume that Boston has always been Vesey’s preferred destination.

However, if Haggerty’s sources are correct, that is not true and all of those connections to the Bruins are not enough to sway Vesey. He believes that the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, and New Jersey Devils have all passed up the Bruins, as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres, as the most likely destination for Vesey’s services. Since all of the teams can essentially only pay Vesey the same amount, his decision is all about fit and opportunity. Haggerty believes that the draw of playing alongside Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in Chicago or Taylor Hall and the upstart Devils in New Jersey may be too much for Vesey to instead stay with his comfortable choice of sticking around in Boston.

The Bruins certainly have space for Vesey to play on the left side in Boston, with only 2017 potential free agent Marchand as a bona-fide top six player at left wing. Both Krejci and Ryan Spooner would love to have the Harvard star on their wing. Should Vesey choose to sign elsewhere though, the Bruins will not be out of luck. The team was happy with the production from Matt Beleskey last season, and was very excited by the play of AHL top goal scorer Frank Vatrano. It would also open up opportunities for the AHL’s second-best scorer, Seth Griffith, 2015 first rounder Jake DeBrusk and another NCAA dominant force, Danton Heinen, to make the team.

Regardless, Vesey is certainly a player that any NHL team would like on their roster and there is no doubt that the Bruins will make a strong push to sign him next week. Even Haggerty acknowledged to his Twitter followers that there has been little indication surrounding the eventual landing place of Vesey, and no team can be taken out of the equation before the courting process even starts. The “sources” surrounding the Vesey camp have been pegged by many as unreliable and inconsistent as well, so the Vesey saga will continue until the ink has dried on his contract. Keep an eye on this summer’s biggest story right here at Pro Hockey Rumors when Vesey hits free agency on Monday, August 15th.

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Roster Crunch: Atlantic Division

By | at August 10, 2016 12:25 pm

Over the past few days, we’ve looked at the final few spots on the roster for both the Pacific and Central divisions. This time, we’ll turn our attention to the East starting with the Atlantic.  This division will be in turmoil over the next few years, with clubs like the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs going through slow, deliberate rebuilds, and perennial contending squads like the Detroit Red Wings finally starting to slow down.

Florida Panthers – While the Panthers have pretty much accomplished everything they set out to do this off-season – improving the blueline with Keith Yandle and Jason Demers, getting a capable replacement for Roberto Luongo in James Reimer, and locking up their young core – they failed in one, big $5.5MM way. Dave Bolland failed his physical and therefor couldn’t be bought out. He’ll try to prove he deserves some playing time this season, but may find himself buried in the AHL to make room for Jared McCann, the prize Florida received when they dealt Erik Gudbranson to the Canucks.

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Minor Transactions: 8/9/16

By | at August 9, 2016 6:52 pm

Some news and notes throughout the hockey world:

  • Renaud Lavoie tweets that the Bruins have to come to terms with defenseman Chris Casto. Lavoie writes that the  deal is worth $650K and is a two-way deal. Last season, Casto spent the season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins, registering 23 points (7-16).
  • The Lake Erie Monsters are now the Cleveland Monsters according to the team’s official Twitter account. The Monsters are the defending Calder Cup champions, and are the affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Jackets also released a statement via their website.
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Bruins Notes: Junior Showcase, Hardy, Vatrano, Vesey

By | at August 8, 2016 4:39 pm

Joe Haggerty relayed his thoughts on the impressive performance by the Boston Bruins’ prospects who took part in the National Junior Evaluation Showcase last week, including the three Americans that the Bruins selected early in the draft this past June. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy, the 14th overall pick who played in the United States National Development Program and is now a rising sophomore at Boston University, in particular caught Haggerty’s eye and continues to impress this summer, first at Bruins camp and now against even tougher competition, displaying both offensive skill and surprising physicality. Fellow first rounder Trent Frederic showed outstanding face-off ability and two-way presence, and second round defenseman Ryan Lindgren put on a solid performance. Over on Team Canada, 2015 first round winger Zach Senyshyn, who will try his best to crack the Boston Bruins lineup this fall, and 2015 second round blue liner Jeremy Lauzon, both looked good. Surprise addition to the Swedish team, 2016 sixth rounder Oskar Steen, was also flying around the ice all week. Haggerty opines that McAvoy may already be the Bruins top prospect, and that this Junior Showcase crew, as well as top prospects like Jakub Zboril, Jake DeBrusk, Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, Brandon Carlo, Danton Heinen, and more represent a very bright future for a Boston team that has had its fair share of struggles of late.

  • The Director of Player Personnel for the U.S. National Development Program who worked with McAvoy, Frederic, and Lindgren is now joining them as a member of the Bruins organization. Ryan Hardy, who has also worked in the USHL, NAHL, and NCAA, was primarily in charge of recruiting and evaluating young talent for the USNTDP and will be asked to put those tools to work as a scout for Boston. His New England roots, having grown up in Connecticut and worked as an assistant coach for Sacred Heart University, seem to have made his link to the Bruins an inevitability as he rose through the ranks of the hockey world
  • Another local kid who worked his way on to the Bruins is Frank Vatrano, who was recently profiled by the Professional Hockey Player’s Association. A native of Longmeadow, Massachusetts who played his youth hockey for the Boston Jr. Bruins, played in the USNTDP, and then attended Massachusetts’ flagship school at UMass – Amherst, Vatrano predictably is a lifelong Bruins fan. The article goes into detail on his excitement to be signed by Boston after his first full season in Amherst, and the Bruins could not be more excited with how Vatrano has developed. In his first pro season, Vatrano led the American Hockey League with 36 goals, and amazingly he did it in 36 games. He finished 19th in AHL scoring, despite playing in half as many games as the majority of players who finished in the top 20. His presence helped Providence Bruins teammates Seth Griffith, Alexander Khokhlachev, and Austin Czarnik finish alongside him in the top 20 as well. When Vatrano wasn’t lighting the AHL on fire in 2015-16, he was contributing at the NHL level, with eight goals and three assists in 39 contests with the big Bruins. Now in 2016-17, Vatrano will be given every chance to earn a full-time role and a full 82 games in Boston, where they hope that his impeccable scoring ability continues.
  • The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa suggests several local possibilities to replace the recently departed Keith Gretzky as the Bruins’ Director of Amateur Scouting. From Cape Cod to the Berkshires, amateur scouts from around the NHL reside in Massachusetts and may be up for a promotion and more convenient commute to Boston. The most interesting candidate he mentions though is Jim Vesey, a former Bruin who is currently an amateur scout for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and yes, of course, is the father of Harvard star and impending free agent Jimmy Vesey.
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Week In Review: 8/1/16 – 8/7/16

By | at August 7, 2016 6:40 pm

August is generally the quietest month of the entire calendar year for hockey news stories. The first week certainly reinforced that notion with little in the way of compelling story lines. Nonetheless, here’s your roundup of the week’s news.

Notable UFA Signings

Sam Gagner (Blue Jackets) – One year, $650K

Key Prospect Signings

Olli Juolevi (Canucks) – ELC – Three Years, $925K AAV with $850K in Schedule A bonuses available and $600K in Schedule B bonuses for the 2017-18 season.

Coaching/Management Hires

Former NHL players Jay Leach and Trent Whitfield were added to the coaching staff of the AHL Providence Bruins.

Las Vegas made a number of hires as they fill out their front office. Kelly McCrimmon becomes the team’s assistant GM, while Wil Nichol, formerly a scout in the Washington organization, was hired as the club’s director of player development.

Overseas Transactions

Marc-Andre Bergeron, who appeared in 490 NHL regular season games and tallied 253 points primarily filling the role of power play specialist for seven NHL clubs, was released from his contract with Zurich in the Swiss League.

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Questions On Four Players On Expiring Contracts

By | at August 6, 2016 6:32 pm

It’s just under eleven months until the 2017 free agent period, but the concerns about players on expiring deals should already be starting. Many bigger names sign quickly once they’re eligible to, a year in advance. This year, we’ve already seen Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman and Stars forward Jamie Benn signed to long-term extensions.

Those are contending teams extending superstars who are obviously in their prime. Not every good player on an expiring contract is such an obvious case. Here are four players whose contracts will expire after this season, and what their teams might think about them.

  • Brad Marchand – Marchand is a great player, who scores goals, agitates, and plays well defensively. Coming off a 37 goal season, he’s in line for a pretty big contract. Still, he’ll be 29 when his contract expires next July, and the Bruins are going to have to reckon with where they are as a franchise. They have plenty of cap room, but should they miss the playoffs for a third straight year, it might be time to rebuild. Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, and Tuukka Rask aren’t getting any younger. It’s not that Marchand is old, or has to be moved. The question is whether to give the kind of term that will likely be demanded from a player who will be well into his thirties at the end of a rebuilding effort.
  • Ben Bishop – Bishop has been the subject of trade speculation all summer. The Lightning are serious contenders, winning five playoff rounds in two years, and aren’t looking to give away key players off their roster. The dilemma is about his salary, and the expectations around backup Andrei Vasilevskiy. The Lightning will probably give Vasilevskiy every opportunity to win the job, and if he does, trade Bishop at the deadline. Should Vasilevskiy be unable to demand the starting job, Tampa Bay could be forced to try to re-sign Bishop at the last minute.
  • Brent Burns – Burns has probably the fewest question marks of anyone on this list. The Sharks have managed to keep bringing back other stars, like Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, despite their age, and continue to contend. Burns can play on the wing or defense, scores at a ridiculous rate, and was arguably their best player during their Stanley Cup run this year. The question comes down to price tag, and how much Burns wants to stay in San Jose. Given his teammates, their success, and the California weather, if they can make room, Burns should be in San Jose for a long time.
  • Kevin Shattenkirk – Another subject of trade discussion all summer, it’s looking less likely he’ll be a Blue this time next year. It’s just rare for a team to shop a player of his caliber if the team thinks they can keep him. Still, the Blues are really good, and it’s hard to see him being moved for prospects or draft picks. If Shattenkirk is traded before his contract expires, St. Louis will want back a scoring forward. There’s been speculation about Rick Nash and Taylor Hall, but the latter has already been dealt. Of all the players here, Shattenkirk looks most likely to hit free agency in 2017.
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