Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen Appears To Be Ahead Of Schedule In Recovery From Offseason Surgery
- Sabres goaltending prospect Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen appears to be recovering well from his offseason hip surgery. Assistant GM Randy Sexton told Mike Harrington of The Buffalo News that the soon to be first-year pro may be slightly ahead of schedule in his recovery but he won’t be taking part in their upcoming rookie tournament. His initial timeline was that he’d be ready to return in late October or early November. Sexton also indicated that they’re unsure where they’ll assign Luukkonen when he does get the green light to play. As their top goaltending prospect, they may opt to start him at the ECHL level to get as much playing time as possible.
Evening Notes: Hanzal, Pominville, Pilut
Last season, the Dallas Stars freed up some cap space at the trade deadline by placing both Martin Hanzal and Marc Methot on LTIR, which allowed the team to go out and acquire New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello and Pittsburgh’s Jamie Oleksiak. While Methot’s contract has expired, the team still has Hanzal under contract for one more season and while his on-ice contributions are in question with recurring back issues, his contract could help the team once again.
According to Dallasnews.com’s Matthew DeFranks, the team may be able to do something similar. Hanzal hasn’t played any hockey since before last Christmas and has appeared in only 45 games since signing a three-year, $14.25MM deal back in 2017. However, while there are quite a few variables when dealing with LTIR, the Stars could conceivably open up between $4-5MM in cap space during the season and use that to acquire a player.
DeFranks lists a number of potential targets, including T.J. Brodie, Chris Kreider, Tyler Toffoli, Craig Smith, Evgenii Dadonov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Jake Muzzin.
- In his most recent mailbag column, the Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski writes that it’s highly unlikely the Buffalo Sabres will be bringing back veteran forward and current unsigned unrestricted free agent Jason Pominville, even if it’s on a tryout basis. At 36 years old, Pominville still seems to have something to give after posting 16 goals and 31 points last season, but after adding Jimmy Vesey and Marcus Johansson to their roster and with a number of young forwards looking to step up, including Tage Thompson, Victor Olofsson and C.J. Smith, there really isn’t space for Pominville. The team did opt to keep Johan Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons as fourth-line options, where they could have retained Pominville, but both Larsson and Girgensons have penalty kill experience, while Pominville doesn’t.
- Sticking with the Sabres, The Athletic’s Joe Yerdon (subscription required) wonders whether Buffalo Sabres defenseman Lawrence Pilut could be ready to immediately jump in as the team’s No. 2 defenseman on the left side. Pilut, despite recovering from offseason shoulder injury and might miss some time early in the season, played just 33 games for Buffalo, posting a goal and six points, and impressed with his corsi-for with a 53.2 percent, only behind Brandon Montour. The 23-year-old proved in Rochester that he can be a dependable blueliner in his own end. The question is whether he’s ready for the same role in Buffalo.
Snapshots: Werenski, Kempny, Pominville
Despite all that has happened over the past few month, Columbus Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen has no regrets. He tells ESPN’s Greg Wyshysnki that the team’s decision to go “all in” at the trade deadline, holding on to Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky and acquiring Matt Duchene and Ryan Dzingel, was a “calculated risk”. Even though all four have departed this summer via free agency, Kekalainen made his best effort to retain them and isn’t doing to dwell on the players’ decisions not to return. Instead, the bold executive is focused only on the coming season. Kekalainen answered Wyshynski confidently about a number of issues facing his team entering 2019-20, but paid extra attention to the stalled contract talks with RFA defenseman Zach Werenski:
The real frustration for me [is when it] drags on into training camp, because that’s a time for ‘team’… They start preparing and jelling and building that chemistry that we need as a team. When it goes to training camp time, it takes away from that preparation. It takes away from the team. That’s what I’m concerned about. And that’s where we’ve drawn the hard line before: We don’t believe in taking that preparation time away from the team. We think it should be resolved before the team gets together and gets ready for the season.
It seems that the Blue Jackets and Werenski are no closer to a resolution in contract talks and it is starting to impact the GM. With so much talent leaving Columbus this off-season and very few new faces arriving, Columbus needs their leaders and core players in training camp to get ready for what will likely be a more challenging season. Werenski is one of those key players and Kekalainen is clearly doing all that he can to get the talented young blue liner back under contract as soon as possible. As training camp draws closer, the question will be whether the Blue Jackets cave to Werenski’s demands to ensure that their valuable “preparation” is not adversely affected.
- The division rival Washington Capitals may also be without a key defenseman in training camp and perhaps longer. Michal Kempny is still working his way back from a season-ending hamstring injury and The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir writes that there is no clear timeline for his return. Fortunately, after a summer spent rehabbing at home in the Czech Republic, Kempny has resumed skating back in D.C. and is working one-on-one with Capitals strength coach Mark Nemish. Kempny hopes to be ready for training camp, but truly has his sights set on simply being at full strength for the team’s regular season debut. “I’m getting there,” Kempny said, “I’m not 100 percent yet, for sure. I still need some time. If I’m going to make the (start of) training camp, that’s going to be great. But we’ll see… My goal is to be ready for the season.”
- At one point this off-season, veteran forward Jason Pominville was also hoping to see another opening night of NHL action, but as the summer has drawn on without much interest in the free agent, his mindset has shifted. Pominville explained to NHL.com that he is “fine with the way things ended” last season, if it was indeed the end of his playing career. The 36-year-old returned to the Buffalo Sabres two years ago, re-joining the team with which he spent the first nine years of his now 15-year NHL career, and proved that he could still be a contributor, posting back-to-back 30+ point seasons and taking on an important role in the locker room. Pominville hoped that he could return to Buffalo for another season, but since that seems like a longshot, he’s content to stay in the city and not move his family, even if that means hanging up his skates.
Matt Hunwick Not Expected To Play This Season
The Buffalo Sabres have a glut of defensemen fighting for just a few spots, but at least one of them won’t be in training camp after all. Sabres GM Jason Botterill announced today that Matt Hunwick is not expected to play this season:
After further medical evaluation this offseason, we unfortunately do not expect that Matt will be physically able to play this upcoming season due to a neck condition.
Hunwick, 34, has one year remaining on his contract and carries a $2.25MM cap hit. He will likely be placed on long-term injured reserve if the team requires some additional cap space. That’s a very real possibility for the Sabres as they currently project just over the cap ceiling, though there are more cuts coming on defense even with Hunwick out of the picture. The team has at least eight other players vying for spots on the NHL blueline including five right-handed options, leading many to believe—especially when combined with Rasmus Ristolainen‘s comments earlier this summer—that another trade was coming from Buffalo at some point.
Originally coming to Buffalo in part of the Conor Sheary trade last summer, Hunwick played just 14 games with the club last season and was unlikely to see much action even if healthy this year. Once a reliable option for teams like the Boston Bruins, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs, Hunwick hasn’t been able to stay healthy or effective since signing a three-year $6.75MM contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2017.
While this release doesn’t guarantee that Hunwick’s career is over, it does certainly put his future into question as an NHL player. He will be 35 next summer when he reaches unrestricted free agency and three full years removed from his last season of more than 42 games played.
Buffalo’s Dylan Cozens Hopes To Be Cleared For Prospect’s Challenge
Just a few days after the NHL draft, the Buffalo Sabres top prospect and 2019 first-rounder Dylan Cozens dislocated his left thumb at Sabres Development Camp and was forced to undergo surgery to repair the injury. Not the way the Sabres were hoping things to go. It was reported that he would miss two to three months, but NHL.com’s Adam Kimmelman writes that Cozens has already been on the ice since Aug. 15, shooting pucks and is working hard to be ready for the Prospects Challenge, starting on Sept. 7.
“I’m not fully cleared yet, but I hope to be as soon as possible,” said Cozens during the NHLPA Rookie Showcase Sunday. “There’s no rushing things. I don’t want to rush it. But right now, I can shoot. I want to be cleared for that (Prospect’s Challenge) and I’m optimistic for that. I feel like I have a good chance at being ready for that, but you never know. We’ll see by then.”
Cozen’s main goal would be to make the Sabres’ team out of training camp. The 18-year-old center, who the team drafted with the seventh-overall pick, might already be talented enough to make the team, especially considering there is no guarantee that the team has an adequate second-line center on their roster this season after Casey Mittelstadt struggled in that role last season.
The injury, which he sustained on the final day of development camp during a 3-on-3 scrimmage when he was clipped by a defenseman against the wall, looked to be an obvious candidate to be sent back to his junior team, the WHL’s Lethbridge Hurricanes, after the injury.
“The puck was going to the wall and I tried to chip it around [the defenseman] and dodge him to the inside and he kind of clipped me a little bit,” Cozens said about the injury. “It was awkward, and I fell right down on my thumb, perfectly straight on my thumb, all my weight went down on it, and it shot it back.”
Because he was expected to miss training camp, which would only have made his chances to make the team nearly impossible. However, if Cozens can be cleared before the Prospects Challenge, which would allow him to face off against the top prospects of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils, and he would get that showcase as well as a full training camp to get a true shot at a spot immediately in Buffalo.
“I believe I do have a shot at making the team,” Cozens said. “Obviously, not too many 18-year-olds make it, but I feel that I have the size, I have the skating, I have the strength to be a guy who can step in at a young age.”
Atlantic Notes: Point, Senators Prospects, Olofsson
With the Tampa Bay Lightning preparing for another run to challenge for a Stanley Cup, one of the team’s top players remains unsigned in Brayden Point, who continues to sit out with a number of top restricted free agent forwards, including Toronto’s Mitch Marner, Colorado’s Mikko Rantanen, Calgary’s Matthew Tkachuk, Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor. Several defensemen, including Boston’s Charlie McAvoy and Columbus’ Zach Werenski.
However, there has been no end in sight for any of these players and there remains no timeline as all of these players are waiting for the first one to sign and set the market, according to Tampa Bay Times’ Diana Nearhos. Most expect that the first domino to fall will be Marner with everyone signing contracts just underneath him. However, that could change if one of the others opts to sign first. Point’s deal will be an interesting one on a team that already has quite a few top-paid players, but Point, who tallied 41 goals and 92 points.
“It’s a unique marketplace,” said agent Gerry Johannson, who counts Point among his clients. “Everyone is waiting for some clarity.”
So far only two key restricted free agents have signed, both in peculiar circumstances. Jacob Trouba forced a trade to the New York Rangers before finally signing, while Carolina matched Montreal’s offer sheet to Sebastian Aho in early July. In the meantime, the wait continues.
- With the signing of Colin White, the Ottawa Senators have 10 guaranteed spots on their forward line, according to Ken Warren of the Ottawa Sun. That will leave quite a training camp battle for three spots (assuming Ottawa keeps 13 forwards) between some of the team’s top prospects, including Max Veronneau, Rudolfs Balcers, Drake Batherson, Logan Brown, Alex Formenton, Jonathan Davidsson and Nick Paul. On defense, the team has five players already set, leaving two (or three) spots on their defense for prospects, which will include Christian Wolanin, Maxime Lajoie, Erik Brannstrom and Christian Jaros.
- One major question in Buffalo will be what role will forward prospect Victor Olofsson play next season. The 24-year-old prospect had dominant season in his first year in North America last season, tallying 30 goals and 63 points in 66 games with the Rochester Americans of the AHL and scored two goals and four points in six games for the Sabres last season. The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski reports that Oloffsson is likely to start the season with the Sabres and despite the logjam at left wing, he is likely to force either Conor Sheary or Marcus Johansson to the right-wing position as both have some experience playing there. However, Olofsson will likely have to beat out both Tage Thompson and C.J. Smith to earn a spot.
Limited Trade Market For Rasmus Ristolainen
While Rasmus Ristolainen has been a productive defenseman at the offensive end over the past four seasons, it doesn’t appear to be enough to move the needle on his trade value. Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News notes that the market for Ristolainen’s services doesn’t appear to be particularly large. While his name has been in trade speculation dating back to last season (and the 24-year-old certainly appears to be open to a move), the Sabres indicated at a fan event earlier this summer that they’re not against giving him another opportunity with new head coach Ralph Krueger now running the bench. Ristolainen has three years left on his deal with a $5.4MM cap hit and will be an unrestricted free agent in 2022.
Atlantic Notes: Senators, Dahlin, Alzner
The Ottawa Senators are very much a brand new team entering the 2019-20 season. Gone are the likes of Mark Stone, Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, Cody Ceci, and Zack Smith. New to the team are names like Artem Anisimov, Nikita Zaitsev, Ron Hainsey, and Connor Brown, while prospects like Erik Brannstrom, Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, and Max Veronneau are set to push for regular roles. On top of all of the roster turnover, the team also has a new head coach in D.J. Smith. Given these considerable changes, Smith’s comments to Sportsnet’s Wayne Scanlan comes as little surprise. First and foremost, Smith tells Scanlan that the Senators will not name a captain in the coming season. The team did not have a captain last season following the departure of Erik Karlsson and now has even fewer tenured veterans. He did say that there will be veteran members, old and new, who he will rely on to play leadership roles in the locker room, but simply feels that the team must wait for a captain to naturally emerge. It also may not necessarily be one of the established veterans, as Smith notes that he will make a “conscious effort” to share ice time and responsibility evenly between the older players and many young players pushing for an opportunity. More than anything, Smith states that he hopes to change the culture in Ottawa, instilling a sense of belief and confidence in the new additions, young players, and perhaps even some of those long-time Senators who have survived a couple of difficult seasons. Based on Smith’s comments, it seems that the Senators will be a very new team indeed in many ways this coming season.
- A young leader is developing for one of the Senators’ divisional rivals, the Buffalo Sabres. Phenom Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018 and a Calder Trophy finalist last season, is not afraid to speak his mind and knew what he was doing when he made some bold predictions to the Associated Press’ John Wawrow. “We’re going to be a winning team and be in the playoffs,” Dahlin told Wawrow, “I’m putting more pressure on myself… I think everyone is putting more pressure on ourselves now, and we’re ready to go… I feel more prepared. I feel more mature. Like that one year of experience, I know what’s coming this season. I feel more comfortable in my position… we’re going to get something good going on here.” It’s a strong statement from Dahlin and one that will surprise many. The Sabres have not made the playoffs since 2011 and finished 13th in the Eastern Conference this past season after a late-season collapse. The team arguably plays in the toughest division in the game as well, as Atlantic powerhouses Tampa Bay, Boston, and Toronto will almost certainly claim the top three seeds in the division, leaving Buffalo to fight for one of two wild card spots. Yet, the Sabres have to be happy that their 18-year-old centerpiece is bold enough to put those playoff expectations on his shoulders and will look to follow him back to postseason glory this season, no matter how tough the road may be.
- Montreal Canadiens defenseman Karl Alzner would like to be part of his team’s playoff push next season as well. Unfortunately, Alzner’s poor play left him relegated to the AHL for all but nine games last season. After spending the summer working out with teammates Carey Price and Shea Weber, Alzner tells TVA’s Louis-André Larivière that he feels he is ready to once again be a regular contributor and hopes he is given a fair shot to compete for such a role in the team’s upcoming training camp. While Alzner stated that he does not want to waste years of his career, whether or not he has an NHL role is ultimately up to him. His own play and taxing $4.625MM cap hit are why he spent last season with the Laval Rocket and he must prove that he is worth keeping on the roster. Alzner revealed that he did not formally request a trade last season, but that he will likely do so if he is cut from Canadiens camp this fall. However, there may not be much of a market for his services and likely even less interest in promising him a regular role at the NHL level.
Evening Notes: Ristolainen, Pastrnak, Andersson
Just a week ago, Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen implied that he might be better off on another NHL team in an interview with a Finnish newspaper. However, Sabres general manager Jason Botterill has made it clear that the franchise expects Ristolainen in training camp next month, according to Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington.
Botterill said while his discussion with Ristolainen are private, the team has worked hard to put the 24-year-old in the best situation possible for success in the future.
“We’re continuing to try to set this team up where we’re putting ‘Risto’ in positions to have success,” Botterill said. “Yeah, he wants to win. We also want to put him in a situation where he plays very well, and that’s what we’ve tried to do with some of the acquisitions, add depth to our defense, add competition to our defense.”
The Sabres do have options in front of them as the team has an overload of defensemen on the right side and a dearth of scoring options on the forward lines, suggesting that a trade could solve problems for both the Sabres and Ristolainen, who finished the season with 43 points, but also with an NHL-worst minus-41 plus/minus.
- Boston Bruins President Cam Neely said that while Bruins forward David Pastrnak seemed to lose confidence late in the playoffs on their Stanley Cup Finals run, he isn’t worried that it will be a long-term issue, according to NBC Sports’ Joe Haggerty. Pastrnak, who still held the team lead tied for nine goals and 19 points in 24 playoff games, but wasn’t dominant in the playoffs like he was during the regular season. Neely believes that Pastrnak should only benefit from his struggles and become a better player. “Then you get to the conference final and the finals and it’s tough hockey out there,” said Neely. “I look at Pasta and he’s grown from the first playoff experience to this last one, and I expect even more growth out of him moving forward. I understand losing confidence, but I don’t understand losing confidence and not shooting. That’s what I’d talk to him about.”
- The Athletic’s Darren Haynes (subscription required) writes that while the Calgary Flames lost a lot when Juuso Valimaki was injured after tearing his ACL during offseason training, the team does have some young players who are ready to take that next step to fill in the holes that they lost. The scribe writes that Rasmus Andersson might be ready to move into a more permanent top-four role. Andersson started taking minutes away from veteran T.J. Brodie last year and even has seen some power play time. Youngster Oliver Kylington also has shown that he’s ready for a bigger NHL role despite some of his defensive deficiencies.
Poll: Which GM Will Be Fired Next?
Despite missing the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, the Vancouver Canucks decided to extend GM Jim Benning today. The reasons for that are complicated—and obviously do not hinge entirely on his postseason record—just as they were when the Minnesota Wild made the decision to fire Paul Fenton just 14 months into his tenure with the team. The inner workings of an NHL front office are almost never made public (unless there is an intrepid reporter like Michael Russo of The Athletic who gets the incredible story), and it is hard to see why some decisions are made.
Still, even the most casual fan can see the seat of specific executives and coaches heating up. When the Edmonton Oilers decided to move on from Peter Chiarelli during another disappointing season, it didn’t come as much of a surprise. On the other hand, it was easy to see why the Carolina Hurricanes recently locked up Don Waddell after he interviewed for another job.
Looking around the league, who is next? Which GM will be let go, either this year or next summer?
It might be easy to look at the teams that have struggled recently, but many of them have replaced their top hockey operations executive over the last few seasons. The Oilers brought in Ken Holland to change the culture in Edmonton, while Steve Yzerman returned to the Detroit Red Wings to bring a new voice to a stagnant team. Florida has gone through quite a bit of turmoil in the front office since their ownership changed but Dale Tallon now seems to be entrenched as a veteran leader.
There are others though that may not be so lucky. The Ottawa Senators are heading in a new direction after shedding their previous core, but if the young talent doesn’t develop as hoped Pierre Dorion could be held responsible. John Chayka was the youngest GM in history when he took over the Arizona Coyotes in 2016, but they still haven’t made the playoffs under his watch and now have new ownership of their own. Jason Botterill was expected to have success in Buffalo after finding so much of it in Pittsburgh, but the Sabres haven’t been able to build a full roster around Jack Eichel despite some outstanding individual players.
Nothing is certain when it comes to front offices however. Cast your vote below and explain just why you think they’ll be the first to go!
Which GM will be fired next?
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Pierre Dorion, Ottawa Senators 9% (256)
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Marc Bergevin, Montreal Canadiens 9% (243)
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Stan Bowman, Chicago Blackhawks 9% (242)
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Kevin Cheveldayoff, Winnipeg Jets 8% (226)
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Bob Murray, Anaheim Ducks 8% (220)
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Jason Botterill, Buffalo Sabres 7% (186)
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Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings 6% (181)
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Jarmo Kekalainen, Columbus Blue Jackets 6% (159)
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Kyle Dubas, Toronto Maple Leafs 5% (148)
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Jim Rutherford, Pittsburgh Penguins 5% (146)
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John Chayka, Arizona Coyotes 5% (139)
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Brad Treliving, Calgary Flames 3% (93)
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Jim Benning, Vancouver Canucks 3% (86)
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Jim Nill, Dallas Stars 3% (74)
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Chuck Fletcher, Philadelphia Flyers 2% (68)
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Ken Holland, Edmonton Oilers 2% (55)
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Doug Wilson, San Jose Sharks 2% (49)
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Jeff Gorton, New York Rangers 2% (46)
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Don Sweeney, Boston Bruins 1% (35)
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Dale Tallon, Florida Panthers 1% (29)
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David Poile, Nashville Predators 1% (24)
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Julien BriseBois, Tampa Bay Lightning 1% (24)
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Doug Armstrong, St. Louis Blues 1% (19)
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Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings 1% (18)
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Lou Lamoriello, New York Islanders 1% (16)
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Don Waddell, Carolina Hurricanes 1% (15)
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Kelly McCrimmon, Vegas Golden Knights 1% (15)
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Brian MacLellan, Washington Capitals 1% (15)
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Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche 0% (11)
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Ray Shero, New Jersey Devils 0% (8)
Total votes: 2,846
[Mobile users click here to vote]
*We’ve used Kelly McCrimmon as the Vegas GM, though he won’t officially take that title from George McPhee until September