Snapshots: Montour, Barbashev, Coyotes
The Buffalo Sabres have a new GM and need a new identity for their team, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be throwing away assets this offseason. Speculation has run rampant lately that the team will leave Brandon Montour unqualified after the defenseman’s up-and-down start with the organization, but when GM Kevyn Adams was asked about it today he told reporters including Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News “that’s definitely not something we’ve talked about.”
The 26-year old defenseman will require a $3.525MM qualifying offer in order for the Sabres to retain his rights as a restricted free agent and is eligible to argue for an even bigger raise in arbitration. Montour has 28 points in 74 games since coming to Buffalo in 2019 but hasn’t quite turned into the top-pairing option they were hoping for. Remember that if Montour opts for arbitration, he can force his way to UFA status in 2021 with a one-year contract award.
- The St. Louis Blues lost Vladimir Tarasenko when he left the bubble today, but are getting back one of their important bottom-six names. Ivan Barbashev has cleared the quarantine protocols after returning from the birth of his first child, meaning he can be inserted back into the lineup by head coach Craig Berube. The Blues were able to tie their series against the Vancouver Canucks, but have been noticeably missing the physical presence that Barbashev provided last year when he led all players with 87 hits in the postseason.
- The Arizona Coyotes are holding onto the postseason by a thread after being dismantled by the Colorado Avalanche last night, but could still be missing two of their most important forwards when they start game five. Head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters including Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider that Conor Garland didn’t practice today and is “uncertain” for tomorrow’s match. The same can be said about Nick Schmaltz, who is still recovering from the hit he took in the exhibition from Ryan Reaves. Schmaltz, the team’s leading scorer during the regular season, hasn’t played a single game in the postseason.
Sabres Hire Seth Appert As AHL Head Coach
August 18: The Sabres have made it official, announcing Appert as the new head coach of the Americans. New Sabres GM Kevyn Adams released a statement on the move:
Seth has a proven track record of developing talent at various levels and we are looking forward to him being the next head coach of the Rochester Americans. His approach to coaching and leadership, both on and off the ice, is a natural fit with the philosophy Ralph Krueger and I have started to implement as we build the organization. Seth will be an asset to Rochester and to the Sabres organization, and I’m excited to see him succeed behind the bench with the Amerks.
August 14: As part of a massive shakeup earlier this offseason, Buffalo let go of their entire AHL coaching staff. It appears that new GM Kevyn Adams has found his next coach for AHL Rochester as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports that Seth Appert will be appointed to the position with an official announcement expected next week.
This will be Appert’s first professional coaching opportunity but he has plenty of experience behind the bench. He has spent the last three seasons with the USA Hockey National Development Team Program in a head coaching role which was preceded by an 11-year stint as the head coach at RPI. Before that, he was an assistant for nine years at Denver. Appert was pegged to be head coach for the USA’s entry in the World Under-18 Championship before the pandemic put an end to that tournament.
In recent years, the Sabres have iced a veteran-laden team in Rochester but by all accounts, that approach will be shifting to a younger, more cost-efficient team. Accordingly, bringing in a head coach with considerable experience working with young players makes a lot of sense for Buffalo. While the team may not have quite as much success as they did under former coach Chris Taylor (who led the team to a 116-65-33 record in his time with the team), the goal will be to have more success on the player development front, an area that the Sabres have struggled with in recent years.
Lysowski notes that former NHL winger Alex Tanguay and J.D. Forrest were others considered for the position. Tanguay is an assistant coach with AHL Iowa, the affiliate of the Wild but his coaching experience is limited to just this season. Forrest, meanwhile, has been an assistant with Pittsburgh’s AHL squad in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the last four years.
Matt Moulson Re-Signs In AHL
Now three years removed from NHL action, Matt Moulson isn’t done his professional career just yet. The 36-year old veteran has re-signed with the Hershey Bears of the AHL for the 2020-21 season. Moulson served as an alternate captain for the Bears this year after spending the last two with the Ontario Reign.
Once a three-time 30-goal scorer in the NHL, Moulson’s career took a nosedive after signing a five-year, $25MM contract with the Buffalo Sabres in 2014. His first full season in Buffalo went okay, recording 41 points, but he’d never reach that total again and by 2017 found himself buried in the minor leagues. In fact, Moulson didn’t even play for the Sabres AHL affiliate, instead requesting a transfer to the Reign. That megadeal expired after the 2018-19 season, with the Sabres receiving a total of 46 goals and 123 points in 297 games from the former New York Islander.
Still, Moulson has accepted his fate and become one of the most consistent scorers in the AHL. Since his demotion, he has recorded 149 points in 179 games and from all accounts been a model teammate and leader. He’ll turn 37 before the next season begins, but the Bears can rely on him to be a force on the wing once again.
With an AHL contract Moulson can’t be recalled to the NHL, but those days are long behind him anyway. His time at the top resulted in 650 games played, 176 goals and 369 points.
Offseason Keys: Buffalo Sabres
The offseason has arrived for at least seven teams that were not invited to take part in the Qualifying Round that has now started. With that in mind, our Offseason Keys series is underway for the teams that are on the outside looking in. Next up is a look at Buffalo.
This season was certainly a disappointing one for the Sabres. After bringing in a new head coach and bolstering their depth, the results weren’t much different than in previous years with another playoff miss. After originally giving Jason Botterill a public vote of confidence, ownership decided to make a change at GM, promoting Kevyn Adams to the role despite minimal front office experience. The team has already made significant cuts to its front office and while making some moves to replace those that were let go (such as a new AHL coaching staff), Adams will have several things surrounding the Sabres on his plate this summer.
Looking Forward
Generally speaking, new general managers don’t often get the cleanest of canvasses to work with as they look to put their stamp on the team. Adams is in somewhat of a unique situation when it comes to his forward group as Buffalo has just four regulars signed for next season in Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Marcus Johansson, and Kyle Okposo, the latter of which is likely earmarked for a fourth line or reserve role.
This isn’t just a case of having a bunch of restricted free agents either as they have more unrestricted free agents than restricted free agents. It’s a safe bet that three of those RFAs will be brought back in Sam Reinhart (whose post-bridge contract is going to be one of the more interesting ones of the offseason), Victor Olofsson, and Dominik Kahun. But even with them eventually getting signed, that’s only seven forwards under contract which leaves up to seven roster spots available.
Of their unrestricted free agents, there aren’t any must-sign players although if the price is right, they’ll likely look at what it would cost to keep Zemgus Girgensons and Johan Larsson around. Having said that, losing one or both of them won’t drastically change their fortunes either.
Some of those open spots will likely be earmarked for youngsters. Casey Mittelstadt will assuredly get another look while their top 2019 pick in Dylan Cozens may get a shot as well. But even if those two make the team, there will be room to add.
Buffalo has less than $50MM in commitments for next season and even when they re-sign all of their restricted free agents, they will have a fair bit of room to play with in an offseason where cap space is going to be at a premium. The Sabres will be well-positioned to try to add an impact forward or two via free agency and if that falls through, they should be able to take advantage on the trade market. Many new general managers are hamstrung with limited flexibility when they take over but Adams will be the exception and will have a good chance to change up their forwards pretty quickly.
Determine Ullmark’s Future
Last summer, Buffalo decided to kick the can on deciding Linus Ullmark’s long-term future with the team down the road, inking him to what amounted to a second bridge deal, a one-year pact worth $1.325MM. Given that he only had one full year of NHL experience under his belt, the decision was certainly justifiable.
Punting that call again is no longer an option though. The netminder is now one year away from UFA eligibility so another one-year deal just sets him up to walk away. Adams is going to have to decide if Ullmark is a goalie that they want to build around pretty quickly.
Given his limited NHL track record (97 games over parts of five seasons), it would be difficult to make the case that he has shown enough to be their undisputed starter of the future. On the other hand, Ullmark posted a more than respectable .915 SV% with a 2.69 GAA in 34 games this season. On a non-playoff team, that’s pretty good. At a minimum, those are pretty good numbers for someone in a platoon role which is basically the role he has held the last two years.
At 27, is that a role that Ullmark wants to lock himself into for several more seasons, even with Carter Hutton only a year away from free agency of his own? If he envisions himself as a starter, he may prefer another short-term deal to let him test the open market quicker. On the other hand, with less than 100 games of experience, a multi-year commitment at a decent-sized raise on his deal from this season would give him some security that he hasn’t had before.
The Sabres have a promising young goalie in the system in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen but he’s still two or three years away from being ready for the NHL. Is Ullmark the right one to bridge the gap? Adams will have to decide that over the next few months.
Dahlin Extension
Based on the new salary cap situation, it’s not shaping up to be a fun offseason for many pending free agents. But what about those who will be entering the final year of their deals and are now eligible for a contract extension? It certainly stands to reason that teams may not be as willing to hand out a big-ticket contract to players in those situations as well.
Rasmus Dahlin appears to be a particularly interesting case study for players that can sign an extension. The 2018 top pick actually saw his ice time scaled back this season under Ralph Krueger by nearly two minutes per game but it appeared to work for him as he nearly matched his rookie point total this season despite playing in 23 fewer games.
Between that and the expectations of him continuing to develop into an eventual franchise defenseman, this would normally be the recipe for a long-term deal getting done relatively quickly as other number one picks have done. But that was then and this is now. Is Buffalo going to be as willing to hand him a mammoth contract? Will Dahlin prefer a bridge deal in the hopes that the cap picture will be improved once the next television contract is completed? That’s a path that a lot of players will likely take in the coming months.
One element that Buffalo has that many other teams don’t is cap space. They have the ability to ink Dahlin to a long-term deal now without it really creating a huge impact on their long-term cap picture. Presumably, it will take more than what Florida gave Aaron Ekblad, a former top pick himself; the 24-year-old signed an eight-year, $60MM deal after his sophomore season which is where Dahlin is now. (Based on Ekblad’s cap percentage at the time the deal was signed, an equivalent rate would be roughly $8.7MM per season instead of $7.5MM.) There’s a roadmap to getting a contract extension done with Dahlin but will the new marketplace give one or both sides pause? We’ll find out soon enough.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Arttu Ruotsalainen Staying In Finland
While hockey fans in North America drink in 10-12 hours of playoff (or round-robin) action every day, other leagues around the world continue to prepare for a 2020-21 season. In Finland, Ilves has announced that Arttu Ruotsalainen will be back after a loan from the Buffalo Sabres. The release notably does not indicate that it will be for the entire season, using the term “until further notice” instead, meaning Ruotsalainen could be back for Sabres training camp in November.
The 22-year old forward signed his three-year entry-level contract in the spring of 2019, but spent this season back in Finland continuing his development. That’s the same arrangement they’ll go with now, but after dominating offensively once again you can bet the Sabres want to get a look at him on North American ice eventually.
Ruotsalainen is undersized, standing at just 5-foot-8, but has continued to find success as he climbs the levels in Finland. This past season he recorded 43 points in 44 games. With the Sabres having trouble finding offensive talent to surround players like Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson, taking a chance on a player like Ruotsalainen makes sense.
Still, while Finland’s top league is competitive, it’s not the NHL. The young forward will be in tough trying to replicate those offensive totals when he eventually does come over, if he even gets an opportunity with Buffalo at all.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Brett Murray
With the rest of the league preparing for a summer tournament, the Buffalo Sabres are focused on next season. Today, they added some prospect depth, signing Brett Murray to a two-year entry-level contract. Murray earned himself this deal with a strong rookie season for the Rochester Americans in 2019-20.
Murray, 22, was a fourth-round pick of the Sabres in 2016 and had quite the winding road to professional hockey. He first went to the USHL following his draft, playing 27 games for the Youngstown Phantoms in 2016. After producing at that level he decided to enroll early at Penn State and joined the college hockey program for the second half of 2016-17. Unfortunately, that proved to be a mistake, as Murray struggled to keep up and recorded just a single point in 12 games. He returned the next season and continued to fail offensively, leading to a decision to leave Penn State in 2018.
He returned to the USHL for a year while he waited out a transfer to Miami University, but after dominating the junior league to the tune of 41 goals and 75 points in 62 games, he ended up signing an AHL contract with Rochester instead of returning to the NCAA. Murray actually saw his exclusive draft rights with the Sabres expire a few months ago, but will remain in the organization with this new entry-level deal.
In 55 games for Rochester he scored 24 points and will likely be back in the minor leagues developing his game next season. The 6’5″ forward has a chance to be a difference-maker at that level, but his NHL future is still unclear.
Could John Chayka Be Headed To Buffalo?
Plenty has been written about the status of Arizona Coyotes general manager John Chayka over the last couple of days. NHL writers Elliotte Friedman and Pierre LeBrun both indicated that the Coyotes and Chayka could be headed for a divorce despite three years remaining on Chayka’s contract. The belief is that Chayka was given permission to speak to another “professional opportunity,” six weeks ago. However, with a new owner and new management in place in Arizona, it’s not surprising if the team might prefer to bring in its own GM.
The Province’s Patrick Johnston has another theory, however. The scribe wonders whether that opportunity might have been with the Buffalo Sabres as the franchise fired their general manager six weeks ago and is currently operating with a skeleton executive office staff. Granted, the GM position is currently filled by newly-hired Kevyn Adams. However, the Sabres’ ownership, the Pegulas, own quite a bit more than just the Sabres. They own the Buffalo Bills, the Rochester Americans, the ice rink and a hotel nearby. He could be a candidate to run the whole entertainment combination. Buffalo, a team who has struggled with both success on the ice and struggles to generate much income on their own, might need someone who has had some success in that area, although the Coyotes haven’t necessarily shown that success on the ice as of yet.
Chayka was a candidate for Buffalo’s GM position three years ago before the team opted to go with Jason Botterill. However, the Coyotes refused to allow the Sabres the opportunity to interview him for the position. Throw in the fact that Chayka is a native of Buffalo, having grown up 40 minutes from there in Jordan Station and the dots do connect to a possible opportunity for Chayka if the Coyotes eventually let him out of his contract.
Maple Leafs’ Eddie Shack Dies At Age 83
He played 16 seasons with six different NHL teams, but Eddie Shack was considered to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. The team announced that the forward, who helped lead the Toronto franchise to four Stanley Cup Championships in the 1960s, passed away Saturday after a long fight with throat cancer. He was 83 years old.
Shack was a popular player in his time in the NHL, who held several nicknames throughout his career, including “The Entertainer,” “The Nose,” and even had a novelty song written about him called “Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack.” However, his on the ice play, especially in his years with the Maple Leafs was what stood out. Shack played nine seasons with Toronto, including a seven-year run from 1960 to 1967 where he played on four Stanley Cup title teams in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967. He also scored the game-winning goal in 1963 to capture the cup and was well known for his celebrations on the ice after scoring a goal.
He did get traded five different times throughout his career and spent time with a number of other teams, including the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, before finally wrapping up his career with two more years in Toronto before retiring after the 1974-75 season. He was even almost traded to the Detroit Red Wings in a package in 1960 for Red Kelly, but the trade was cancelled after Kelly opted to retire rather than be traded. Shack played in 1,047 games, scoring 239 goals and accumulating 1,439 penalty minutes over the course of his career. He was just a handful of players to score 20 or more goals for five different teams.
Everyone at PHR wishes the best for the family and friends of Shack at this time.
Michael Frolik Receiving Overseas Interest
It hasn’t been a great last few NHL seasons for Michael Frolik. He has gone from being a valuable middle-six winger to more of a depth role and it appears teams overseas have taken notice in the hopes of luring him across the pond. Sport-Express in Russia reports that Avangard Omsk of the KHL has offered him a one-year contract while iSport’s Pavel Barta adds that Frolik’s camp has been in talks with Lausanne of the Swiss NLA about a deal as well.
Frolik wrapped up his five-year, $21.5MM deal this season on a quiet note. He started off the season in Calgary where he had a very limited role and Buffalo decided to take a chance on him midseason, flipping the Flames a fourth-round pick for his services. The change of scenery didn’t do him much good though as he only managed a single goal (an empty-netter) plus three assists in 19 games with the Sabres which was actually a small step back from the five goals and five helpers he had in 38 contests with Calgary. Suffice it to say, he’s going to be looking at a significant pay cut one way or the other as he hits the UFA market.
While Frolik is looking at his options overseas, his European agent Josef Machala told Barta that Frolik’s preference is to remain in the NHL.
That may wind up complicating things for him. While the final date for the start of free agency hasn’t been set yet, the NHL’s critical dates calendar pegs it to be around the middle of October; all contracts have been extended through the end of that month which gives them a bit of extra wiggle room. That’s the earliest that the 32-year-old will be allowed to talk to other NHL teams even with Buffalo not being part of the NHL’s return to wrap up this season.
By then, most international leagues (with the exception of Germany’s DEL) will be underway and while it’s not impossible to join a team midseason, it becomes trickier. By then, most teams will have filled up their higher-priced import slots which will limit the options for him if he waits to see if any NHL opportunities arise first. Those leagues won’t be getting underway until September so there’s still time for Frolik to assess his European options but if he turns down those options, there’s no guarantee they’ll still be around if opportunities in the NHL don’t present themselves which means he’ll have a big decision to make in the coming weeks.
Overseas Notes: Andrighetto, Berglund, Morrow
It was a bit of a surprise when forward Sven Andrighetto bolted for Europe last summer. The 27-year-old had shown flashes of great ability over the years, and while he failed to score consistently, he still had developed into a serviceable depth forward. Andrighetto had recorded 83 points in 216 NHL games with Montreal and Colorado and had played in a career-high 64 games in 2018-19. Yet, when the Avalanche declined to extend him a qualifying offer, Andrighetto left North America entirely, signing a two-year deal with the KHL’s Avangard Omsk. A year later, he clearly has no regrets. Andrighetto has made a major career decision that puts a future NHL career in doubt. The ZSC Lions of the Swiss NLA, the same club who Andrighetto played for during his early developmental years, announced that they have brought their homegrown product back on a stunning five-year deal. The final year of Andrighetto’s deal with Omsk has been terminated and he is now under contract with ZSC through the 2024-25 season. Should he play out that entire contract, Andrighetto would be well into his 30’s by the next time he is a free agent. While he has the potential to put up big numbers with the Lions, filling the shoes of the departed Pius Suter under the tutelage of head coach Rickard Gronberg, it may not be enough to drum up interest in a 32-year-old who is six years removed from NHL action. If Andrighetto is to play in the NHL again, it would likely mean he has to break his contract with his hometown club to return within the next five years. That seems unlikely at this point, which could mean we have seen the last of a talented, capable forward in the NHL ranks.
- The same goes for NHL veteran Patrik Berglund. Hinted at earlier this month with reports that he was negotiating with the SHL’s Brynas IF, Berglund seemingly had no intention of a return to the NHL this off-season after abandoning the Buffalo Sabres midway through the 2018-19 season. That has now been confirmed, as Berglund has signed a two-year deal with Brynas per a team release. Berglund, 32, spent this year with Djurgardens IF and found great success; the long-time St. Louis Blue recorded 31 points in 49 games for one of the best per-game scoring seasons of his pro career. He now moves to Brynas, who did not make the SHL playoffs this year despite the efforts of star forward Anton Rodin. The team could desperately use some veteran leadership and Berglund hopes that he can fill that role and that he and Rodin can turn the team back into a contender. With his efforts clearly focused on making an impact at home in Sweden, Berglund is unlikely to be back in the NHL again.
- A wild ride continues for defenseman Joe Morrow. Morrow, 27, who earned a contract extension and 41 games with the Winnipeg Jets just two years ago, has been in a whirlwind ever since. Morrow was unable to find an NHL contract last off-season and attended training camp with the New York Rangers, only to earn a contract offer from the rival New Jersey Devils. However, after months with the Devils without seeing any NHL action, Morrow’s contract was terminated and he departed for the KHL, signing a two-year deal with Dynamo Minsk. This was amazingly the first multi-year deal of Morrow’s pro career since his entry-level deal had expired and it looked like Minsk might be a good place for the veteran to rebuild his stock as a top player for the club. Instead, Morrow was a bust in Minsk, managing just three assists and a -8 rating in 22 games. Perhaps not so surprisingly, the two sides have now gone their separate ways, with the second year of Morrow’s contract terminated according to the team. What’s next for the veteran defenseman remains a mystery at this point.