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Boston’s Taylor Hall: “I Want To Play Here, Not Just For One Or Two More Years”

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The Taylor Hall trade has worked out splendidly so far for the Boston Bruins. The East Division finalists gave up the below market price of a (late) second-round pick and ill-fitting young forward Anders Bjork to land the 2018 Hart Trophy winner, at 50% retention, and Curtis Lazar, with an additional year on his contract, from the division rival Buffalo Sabres. Lazar as a throw-in has been excellent in his own right as the anchor of the fourth line, but Hall has come back to life in Boston and has made a major impact on the club. Since he was acquired on April 12, the Bruins have lost just three games in regulation out of the 21 in which Hall has played, including the playoffs, and have just one loss by more than one goal. In 16 regular season games, Hall quadrupled his goal total and nearly matched his total points from 37 games with Buffalo, tallying 8 goals and 14 points. He then added two goals and an assist in the Bruins’ five-game upset of the Washington Capitals in round one. Entering their second round series against the New York Islanders, the Bruins have been in every single game since Hall arrived and are 3-0 against the Isles in that span.

Unsurprisingly, both sides are very happy about the current arrangement and have interest in an extension. The Bruins actually courted Hall this past off-season, but could not find a way to afford the winger. Even with his return to form in Boston, Hall will likely have a much lower market value as compared to the $8MM price tag paid by the Sabres for a one-year deal. Hall admitted as much to ESPN, stating “I don’t even know what my worth is right now, honestly.” That alone is an exciting sound byte for the Bruins, who would like to bring Hall back at a more manageable cost, especially with his center, David Krejci, also in need of a new deal. However, that wasn’t even the most notable part of Hall’s interview:

I do want to play here, not just for one or two more years, hopefully longer than that… I was eager to join a playoff team, I was eager to join somewhere that had good culture, and where winning was sustainable. Because I was looking for somewhere I could re-sign, not just the 20 games to end the season… I’ve been surprised at how much better it’s been than I even thought it was…It showed me how fun hockey can be… So hopefully it all works out.

After a career spent almost exclusively on poor clubs, the soon-to-be 30-year-old Hall is clearly enamored with the idea of remaining in Boston long-term, playing on a deep, talented roster and competing for a Stanley Cup for years to come. He seems intent on spending a substantial portion of his remaining playing career with his current club, and may even be willing to take a discount to do so. With top-six forwards Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, and Craig Smith all signed for years to come at below-market value, the likes of  Krejci, Tuukka Rask, and Patrice Bergeron all considered likely to re-sign when their current deals expire, and young pieces like Charlie McAvoy, Brandon Carlo, and Jeremy Swayman in place, Boston isn’t going anywhere – especially if Hall signs long-term and maintains this production. Bruins President Cam Neely sees this potential as well, as he too expressed to ESPN that the team hopes to get a new deal done with Hall.

For now, the focus remains on the postseason; negotiations can wait. “I’m not worried about my contract right now, it’s something we’ll figure out in the summer,” Hall said. “I have much bigger things to worry about as a player, as a teammate.” If the Bruins continue to play as they have since the star forward was acquired, it’s fair to wonder how long this run could last and who could stand in the way on their path to a Stanley Cup. The Capitals were no match, the Islanders are up next.

 

Minor Transactions: 05/27/21

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs are front and center right now, especially with Round Two now on the schedule, but there still continue to be some meaningful moves made elsewhere around the hockey world. Here are some of those recent notable minor transactions:

  • After a mutual termination of his contract was completed earlier this month, former Boston Bruins prospect Pavel Shen has found his new team; well, a new, old team. After playing with the KHL’s HK Sochi on loan to begin the 2020-21 season, Shen has opted to return to the club on a more permanent basis. Sochi has signed Shen to a one-year deal for next season. Where his career takes him after that remains unknown. Shen flashed good two-way ability in his pair of seasons with AHL Providence and seemed like he was on his way to becoming a solid depth option – a good value for a 2018 seventh-round pick. However, if Boston felt he had long-term NHL upside they would not have terminated his contract so easily. Shen seems destined to spend his career at home in Russia, but continued development could put him back on NHL radars.
  • After a 15-year pro career, including eight seasons in the NHL with six different teams, Andrew Ebbett has decided to hang up his skates. However, he won’t be leaving the game behind just yet. Swiss club SC Bern, where Ebbett spent five seasons following his NHL career, has announced that they have hired the veteran as their “sports director” i.e. general manager. Ebbett brings plenty of experience, including a number of years in the NLA, to the position. He also expanded his knowledge of the European game while playing his final season this year with EHC Munich of the German DEL. A versatile, two-way player and locker room presence throughout his career, Ebbett is well suited to lead the club.
  • In an uncommon move for today’s day and age, U.S. National Team Development Program forward Liam Gilmartin has decided to switch development paths and join the OHL’s London Knights next season. Gilmartin, a 2021 NHL Draft product, was expected to follow the collegiate path like nearly all USNTDP products, having committed to Providence College. Instead, he will forego his NCAA eligibility and join the major junior ranks. A big winger with high-end stick skills, Gilmartin is expected to be drafted as early as the late second round in July after finishing among the top-six scoring forwards for the U-18 team this year. How this development decision impacts his draft stock remains to be seen.
  • The USHL held their Phase I Draft for all 2005 players on Wednesday and the more intriguing Phase II Draft for all other uncommitted prospects on Thursday. While there were many players selected in both drafts with familiar names to past NHL players and executives alike, some of the most interesting picks were those that seem hardly likely to pan out. Presumptive 2022 and 2023 NHL Draft first overall picks, Shane Wright and Connor Bedard respectively, were each selected in the later rounds of the Phase II draft. While neither seems like to abandon their current teams – Wright with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs and Bedard with the WHL’s Regina Pats – this year saw a number of Canadian major junior players jump to the USHL with their own leagues on hold. The Chicago Steel (Wright) and Dubuque Fighting Saints (Bedard) would certainly be excited if their late-round waivers panned out somehow. For a full list of USHL Draft selections, follow this link.

Rask, Bruins Table Talks Until After Playoffs

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The Boston Bruins are focused on the next round and a long playoff run, meaning contract talks can wait for pending free agent goaltender Tuukka Rask. Bruins president Cam Neely told reporters today including Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com that Rask and the team have agreed to push off any negotiations until after the season.

Though he is unquestionably their starting goaltender right now and just posted a .941 save percentage in the first round, it will be interesting to see how the two sides come together this offseason. The Bruins have a young goaltender in Jeremy Swayman who looks ready for the job and Daniel Vladar who has dominated the minor leagues. The 34-year-old Rask and longtime tandem partner Jaroslav Halak are pending free agents, meaning if the Bruins wanted to, they could make a pretty drastic shift in net next season and reinvest the cap space elsewhere.

There is very little that Rask has failed to accomplish at the NHL level. A Stanley Cup, a Vezina Trophy, a Jennings Trophy, a First All-Star team selection, nearly 100 playoff appearances—the list goes on for one of the most successful goaltenders of his generation. Rask’s .921 regular season save percentage puts him third all-time behind only Dominik Hasek and Johnny Bower; his .927 in the playoffs close to the top as well.

Still, there has been a faction of Bruins supporters that have had a near-constant call for change in the Bruins crease thanks to perceived aloofness or inconsistency from the Finnish netminder. Now, as the offseason approaches, there will be a difficult decision to be made. Bruins GM Don Sweeney is used to those; he let franchise icons Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug leave in free agency last summer, noting a need to give more ice time to their young defensemen. The same could be said about the goaltending position after Swayman, who has two more years on his entry-level contract, burst onto the scene and recorded a .945 save percentage in 10 appearances.

Boston carried a $9.25MM cap hit this season between Rask and Halak, a number that could drop dramatically next year if they handed the reins to Swayman. That kind of financial capital would be more than enough to reinforce other parts of the lineup or perhaps even help to retain the services of deadline addition Taylor Hall.

Of course, handing the crease to a relatively unproven goaltender as key members of the team continue to age out of their prime is a risky proposition. There’s no reason the decision has to be made now, in fact, what happens over the next several weeks in the playoffs should hold weight. But there is a tough call coming in Boston when the talks between Rask and the Bruins resume.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Bruins Issue Injury Updates On Several Players

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With Boston set to be off for a few days while they await the winner of the Penguins-Islanders series to see who their next opponent is, GM Don Sweeney provided updates (video link) regarding several of their injured players.

Ondrej Kase’s postseason has come to an end before it even began.  The winger was limited to just three games this season due to concussion trouble although one of those came in the regular season finale, providing some hope that he’d be able to suit up for the Bruins at some point in the playoffs.  Instead, he has been shut down and at this point, it seems rather unlikely that he’ll be tendered a $2.6MM qualifying offer this summer.

As for Kevan Miller, who was injured in Game Four against Washington, Sweeney indicated that he is doing well but is early in the recovery process which suggests he isn’t expected to be back anytime soon either.  Fellow blueliner Steven Kampfer has undergone hand surgery and is not available either.

However, they may get some good news on the injury front as Sweeney stated that he’s hopeful that blueliners Jeremy Lauzon and Jakub Zboril will be available for the second round.  Lauzon suffered a hand injury in the series opener against Washington while Zboril sustained an upper-body injury in the final game of the season (also against Washington).

With the other East Division series going until Wednesday at the earliest, Boston will probably be off for the better part of a week so there should be ample opportunity for other players nursing smaller aches and pains to recover before the puck drops on the second round.

Snapshots: Kampfer, Stars Goaltenders, Caufield

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The Boston Bruins lost some of their defensive depth today when head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Steven Kampfer will miss the rest of the playoffs with an arm injury, according to NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin. No word on how he got hurt.

Kampfer has only appeared once in the last 13 games for Boston, including no playoff games. The one game he did play, back on May 11, he did get 24:05 of ice time. For the season, the 32-year-old appeared in 20 games, scoring two goals and five points, while blocking 24 shots.

The team will have to depend more on some of their remaining defensive depth, including Connor Clifton and Jarred Tinordi. With an injury to Kevan Miller, the team will turn to Tinordi to fill in.

  • Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News writes the Dallas Stars will have a goalie logjam next season with the return of Ben Bishop. While there was some early speculation that the team believed that the Seattle Kraken might grab veteran Anton Khudobin in the expansion draft (Jake Oettinger is exempt and Bishop has a no-movement clause), the scribe believes that Khudobin’s disappointing season, his age (35 years) and two years on his contract at $3.33MM doesn’t make that much sense for an expansion team. While the expansion draft is one potential way to fix the issue, the team might be better off trying to trade Khudobin to team looking for a solid backup. With many goaltenders going for quality prices, the team could pick up a solid draft pick if they decided to go that way.
  • The Montreal Canadiens got the split they needed in Toronto and now have home-ice advantage for the time being. However, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu (subscription required) believes the team needs youngster Cole Caufield to step into Game 3. The scribe notes that Montreal spent much of the second period of Game 2 short-handed mainly because Toronto controlled the puck almost entirely. To fix that problem, the team must add speed, something that Caufield and defenseman Alexander Romanov could provide the team. When asked, coach Dominique Ducharme shrugged. “Possible, like everyone available,” he said. “We have depth, and we’re going to use it.”

Kevan Miller Taken To Hospital

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Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller was taken to hospital for scans and further evaluation following an injury sustained on a hit from Washington blueliner Dmitry Orlov in tonight’s Game Four, the team announced (Twitter link).   A video of the hit can be seen here.  Orlov was initially given a major penalty on the play but it was subsequently dropped to a double-minor before play resumed.

Minors Notes: Heartlanders, McKinnon, Senn

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One of the ECHL’s 2021-22 expansion teams is now official. The team slated to play in Coralville, Iowa beginning next season will officially be called the Iowa Heartlanders, the league announced today. The team debuted a buck logo that also implies a gold, black, and gray color scheme. The Heartlanders, on obvious nod to their Iowa locale, will also use the local wild prairie rose as a secondary logo. While Iowa finally has a name and logo, their yet-to-be-named expansion companions in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec have the all-important NHL affiliation, having linked up with the Montreal Canadiens. Iowa has yet to strike a deal of their own, however the obvious link would be to the Minnesota Wild, whose AHL affiliate also plays in the state. The Wild were affiliated with the Allen Americans this past season, but there has been no word on whether that relationship will continue or if Minnesota will instead recruit the newfound Heartlanders.

  • Ian McKinnon made quite a name for himself in just a short time in the AHL this season and has now been rewarded. On loan from the Jacksonville Ice Men to the Providence Bruins for ten games this year, McKinnon racked up a whopping 81 penalty minutes. It was enough to finish third in the league in total PIM while obviously taking the PIM per game crown. McKinnon was a physical force and unafraid to drop the gloves, but also contributed three points in those ten games as well, including his first AHL goal in the Bruins’ division title-clinching season finale win. It was enough to earn him an AHL deal for next year, as the Providence Bruins have announced a one-year pact. The junior-level journeyman has finally found his stride in the pros and the Bruins are looking forward to seeing what he can do moving forward with some experience now under his belt.
  • One player who may not be as thrilled about playing in the minors is New Jersey Devils goaltender Gilles Senn. A restricted free agent this summer, the 25-year-old played exclusively with AHL Binghamton this season – and poorly at that – after seeing NHL action last year and doesn’t seem to be happy with that career progression. Word out of Senn’s native Switzerland is that the netminder is “on the market.” The GM of National League squad HC Davos, Marc Gianola, claims that his off-season plans to make a change in goal shifted when he heard that Senn could be available. Senn played six seasons with Davos prior to making the jump to North America and could be eyeing a return, especially with the GM publicly acknowledging his interest. However, if Senn does choose to return to Switzerland, there will be no shortage of interest. Is that enough to convince him to abandon his NHL pursuits? A decision will be made one way or another shortly with the off-season coming up quickly.

KHL Notes: Demchenko, Weal, Kampfer

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The Montreal Canadiens won’t be bringing back Vasili Demchenko next season, as the minor league goaltender has decided to return to Russia. Demchenko signed a new one-year contract with Avangard Omsk, meaning his North American sojourn lasted all of one year.

Signed to a one-year two-way contract in April of 2020, the 27-year-old ended up playing just four games at the AHL level, posting a .905 save percentage with the Laval Rocket. He was recalled to the taxi squad for just one day earlier this month and was ticketed for unrestricted free agency this summer.

  • Another Canadiens player likely headed to the KHL is Jordan Weal, as Eric Engels of Sportsnet reports that the minor league forward has signed a one-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan in the KHL. Weal, who actually played in 49 games for the Canadiens last season and has more than 200 games played at the NHL level, spent the entire 2020-21 campaign in the minor leagues. In 34 games for the Rocket, he registered 24 points.
  • Weal will likely be joined by Steven Kampfer, according to Engels and a report from Sport-Express in Russia. Kampfer has played in 20 games for the Boston Bruins this season but is also a pending unrestricted free agent. The 32-year-old defenseman has 39 points in 231 career games.

Pavel Shen Clears Unconditional Waivers

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May 18: Shen has cleared unconditional waivers and will have his contract terminated.

May 17: The Boston Bruins have placed Pavel Shen on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a mutual contract termination. Shen has spent the past two seasons with the Providence Bruins of the AHL after signing his entry-level contract in 2019. The young forward had another year left on that contract, but will become an unrestricted free agent when the termination goes through tomorrow.

In what will be Shen’s last AHL game for the Providence Bruins, the 21-year-old forward recorded two points, bringing his season total to just four. Selected 212th overall in 2018 he earned an NHL deal with an impressive performance at the World Juniors but managed to record just 13 points in 51 games for Providence. In all likelihood, Shen is headed back overseas where he can resume his career. Earlier this year, he played six games for HK Sochi in the KHL but failed to score a point.

A termination will clear a contract slot for the Bruins, though they have plenty for next season. The team has just 27 players in the organization signed to NHL contracts for 2021-22, with 12 (13 with Shen) ticketed for unrestricted free agency. There is a fair amount of work for the Boston front office this summer.

Overseas Notes: Lindholm, Bobkov, Vladar

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It’s been an interesting season to say the least for forward Par Lindholm. The veteran sought his release from the Boston Bruins back in February and was granted a contract termination, citing his desire to play a more meaningful role than the 15th or 16th forward on the Bruins’ depth chart. His wish for more commitment and standing was granted almost immediately after he left Boston, returning to his former SHL club Skelleftea AIK on a whopping five-year deal. Lindholm played in 11 games down the stretch for Skelleftea, recording nine points, and then added six points in a dozen playoff games for the semifinalist. Lindholm quickly proved to be an invaluable piece for Skelleftea and with a long-term deal in place, it seemed that it would stay that way for some time. Well, that may not be the case. Skelleftea has announced today that Lindholm has exercised a previously unreported “out clause” in his contract to leave the team for the 2021-22 season. The team notes that the remaining four years on his deal do remain valid and they hope he returns to play out his contract. Where Lindholm is off to next that he considers an upgrade to Skelleftea remains unknown; his time in the NHL showed that the league’s teams do not see him as any more than a bottom-six depth player, so remaining in Europe seems likely. A better offer in Sweden or an opportunity in the KHL could have prompted this decision by Lindholm, but only time will tell.

  • So much for the Igor Bobkov NHL comeback speculation. Fresh off of a Gagarin Cup title, Bobkov was granted a release from the newly-crowned champs Avangard Omsk on Monday, with the expectation being that he would be looking to test the NHL free agent market this summer. The former Anaheim Ducks top prospect has dominated the KHL for six years running and at 30 years old could still have had appeal in a second try in North America. Instead, another KHL club, Ak Bars Kazan, has inked Bobkov to a one-year deal, putting an end to any NHL possibilities for next season. Why Omsk, who still had Bobkov under contract for one more year, opted to terminate him instead of trade him to Kazan remains a mystery, but regardless the KHL retains one of its very best netminders for at least the 2021-22 campaign.
  • Another KHL club has made an interesting move in net, although they may never reap the benefits. Automobilist Yekaterinburg announced today that they have acquired the KHL rights of Boston Bruins goaltender Dan Vladar in exchange for minor league forward Kirill Pilipenko. Vladar would of course be an excellent addition for Yekaterinburg, that is if he ever leaves North America in his pro career. While Jeremy Swayman has overshadowed Vladar in Boston this season, the latter has quietly been one of the very best goalies in the AHL both this season and last. In fact, he held the best save percentage and GAA mark in the AHL in 2019-20. The 23-year-old was a third-round pick by the Bruins back in 2015 and already has five pro seasons under his belt, including three AHL seasons with a .923 save percentage or better. While Vladar’s early NHL results have not been spectacular, that shouldn’t hurt his value as a prospect as compared to his size, composure, and minor league track record. Heading into next season, other teams may even get a chance to show just how much upside they see in Vladar. The young goaltender will lose his waiver exemption in 2021-22 and if, as many expect, the Bruins go with a tandem of re-signed Tuukka Rask and Swayman next year, the team may try to trade Vladar if they don’t think they can sneak him through waivers. Via trade or waiver claim, Vladar could find himself on an NHL roster on a permanent basis beginning next season. If it goes well, Vladar could be on an NHL roster for much of the rest of his career, as opposed to joining Automobilist in the KHL. Things would have to go south in a major way for the young keeper in order for Yekaterinburg to see any returns on this trade in the near future.

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