Dallas Stars Sign Gavin Bayreuther
Late last night, the Dallas Stars announced that they had won out in their battle with the Buffalo Sabres for the right to sign Gavin Bayreuther. The St. Lawrence University defenseman was a free agent and was considering the two teams up until yesterday. The two sides have come to an agreement and will release details today.
Bayreuther was considered one of the top free agents available from the college ranks this year, and for good reason. The 22-year old defenseman has put up 29 points in two straight seasons and generally been a dominant presence on the St. Lawrence blue line for all four years. He’ll go down as the second highest scoring defenseman in school history, behind only Daniel Laperriere, a former St. Louis Blues draft pick and NHL player.
The 6’1″, 195-lbs Bayreuther has much of what any NHL team would be looking for in a defensive prospect; great first pass, solid decision making, hard shot from the point. It’s mostly his positioning and one-on-one battles that need work, and will be challenged at the next level. With some solid professional coaching, he could turn into a nice all-around defenseman.
For the Stars, adding another prospect to their defensive pool can’t hurt as they look to rebuild what has been a shattered blue line. The team has watched Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, Kris Russell, Johnny Oduya, Jordie Benn, Jyrki Jokipakka and Trevor Daley all leave one way or another over the past couple of years, leaving them with a makeshift lineup behind the stalwart John Klingberg. Now with the youth of Bayreuther, Stephen Johns, Esa Lindell, Julius Honka, Patrik Nemeth and Dillon Heatherington they’ll be able to fill that pipeline once again.
While this signing doesn’t fix everything there is wrong with the Stars—as no one signing would—it does take another step in the right direction for a team that was in first place as recently as last year. We’ll now see how active they are heading into the expansion draft, where they will have several key decisions to make.
KHL’s Bereglazov, Atinpin May Sign In The NHL Before Next Season
In Elliotte Friedman’s latest 30 Thoughts column for Sportsnet, he touches on a pair of names from the KHL that may soon be heading across the pond. Alexei Bereglazov and Viktor Antipin are both currently playing for Magnitogorsk Mettalurg but may be heading to the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres respectively at some point in the near future.
Magnitogorsk will play tomorrow night in game four of the Conference semi-finals in the KHL, up 3-0 over Astana Barys in the current series. The team—which includes Alexander Semin—finished first in their division this year with a record of 41-13-6. The two defensemen were a big part of that, ranking second and third in scoring among defenders on the team.
Bereglazov is just 22 and has broken out this year with 19 points in the regular season and six more in seven playoff games. At 6’4″ he has the size to fit into the NHL right away, if someone believes he can adapt quickly enough. Friedman notes that the Rangers should be considered favorites for him this summer.
Antipin is the older of the two at 24 and takes on much more responsibility for Magnitogorsk. Playing well over 20 minutes a night in the playoffs, Antipin has a longer track record of success in the KHL as he debuted in the league at just 19 years old. Standing under six feet tall and around 180-lbs, the Russian defender isn’t as physically imposing as Bereglazov, but contributes offensively at a higher rate. A staple on the powerplay for the past few seasons, he could find a similar niche in the NHL.
Snapshots: College FA, Fasching, Hamilton
After releasing our (partial) list of prominent NCAA free agents yesterday, Bob McKenzie of TSN has released his own today. While we looked at just the defensemen, McKenzie covers all the top prizes including Zach Aston-Reese and Gavin Bayreuther, both of whom are expected to sign within the next 48 hours. McKenzie lists Pittsburgh, Edmonton, Vancouver, San Jose, Los Angeles and Detroit among the suitors for Aston-Reese, who we learned was being pursued by as many as fifteen teams last week. McKenzie connects Buffalo, Dallas, New Jersey and Colorado to Bayreuther, a offensive defenseman who still lacks consistency in his own end.
McKenzie told us earlier today that Daniel Brickley would be heading back to Minnesota State next season, meaning that Bayreuther and the other top defensemen might be in even more demand. The insider has a ton of great information on the immediate future for several drafted prospects playing in college, like Adam Gaudette (Vancouver) and Luke Kunin (Minnesota). As teams continue to get eliminated from tournament contention, decisions will come quickly on their players. NHL clubs want to get them into their systems as soon as possible to help at the professional level.
- The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Hudson Fasching from the AHL for the latest chapter in a very tumultuous season thus far. Fasching, a NCAA standout of his own last season, has played just six games with the Sabres this season. Still looking for his first point of the year in the NHL, Fasching has battled a groin injury all season. It has kept him out for months at a time, as he has just 31 combined games under his belt this season. The powerful winger out of the University of Minnesota made his NHL debut last spring after signing, and was expected to contribute more this year to a young Sabres squad. Hopefully now he’ll get into the swing of the NHL, and after another lost season from the Sabres lock down a role next fall.
- It was a crazy first half of the season for Dougie Hamilton, as trade rumors swirled despite being repeatedly shot down by the Calgary Flames front office. As Eric Francis of Sportsnet writes, with that behind him Hamilton has turned into the elite defenseman the Flames had hoped for when they acquired him from the Bruins. The Flames have won nine straight games, and a big part of that should be placed at the feet of the 6’6″ defender. Still just 23-years old, Hamilton set a new career high this weekend in points and looks like he could challenge one day for a Norris trophy. Calgary has their sights set on the Anaheim and second place in the Pacific Division, as with a win tonight against Pittsburgh they could overtake the Ducks with just 13 games to go.
Garrioch’s Latest: Kulikov, Franson, Kane, Sakic, Olympics
While the Sabres were expected to be active at the trade deadline earlier this month, they wound up being quiet. In his latest Insider Trading column, Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reports that teams weren’t interested in pending UFA defenseman Dmitry Kulikov as a result of the various injuries he has dealt with this season while there was limited interest in fellow UFA rearguard Cody Franson.
Winger Evander Kane was also a player that some thought could be moved but the scribe notes that interest in him was only mild before the deadline. He expects that GM Tim Murray will revisit those talks in the summer. Kane has one season left on his contract after this one with a cap hit of $5.25MM.
As always, the full article is worth a read (including plenty on the potential coaching carousel) but here are a couple of the other highlights:
- Despite their struggles this year, Avalanche GM Joe Sakic is likely to hold onto his title and will be tasked with completing the widely anticipated Matt Duchene deal in the offseason. Colorado is heading for what appears to be a significant rebuilding process so if Sakic is allowed to retain his role now, there’s a good chance he’ll be given a long leash to work with as it wouldn’t make sense for the team to have Sakic start the rebuild and then change course shortly thereafter.
- The wait continues for any concrete information regarding whether or not the NHL will stop their schedule to allow their players to play in the Olympics next season and there wasn’t any coming out of the GM meetings this past week. Garrioch suggests a couple of possibilities for the delay – it’s still a big issue for the players and the TV rights holders in the US (NBC – who also holds the Olympic rights) could very well be pushing the owners to allow them to go as well. There has been talk that the league may be willing to change its stance if they get the right concessions either from the players in the form of CBA elements or perhaps the International Olympic Committee in terms of access and content rights.
Atlantic Division Notes: Sabres, Erne, Gourde, Panthers
Entering the 2016-17 season, the Buffalo Sabres were considered by some as a dark horse playoff contender after the team added top-six winger Kyle Okposo in free agency and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov via trade last summer. However, a preseason ankle injury shelved sophomore center Jack Eichel for the first 21 games of the season and the team stumbled to a 7 – 9 – 5 mark in his absence. The team’s defense has also contributed to Buffalo’s struggles and unfortunately for the Sabres, there may not be much help on the way next summer, according to John Vogl of The Buffalo News.
Vogl examines the list of potential UFA defenders, a list which happens to include current Sabres Kulikov and Cody Franson, and aside from Kevin Shattenkirk and perhaps Karl Alzner, the scribe doesn’t see free agency as presenting a solution to Buffalo’s blue line woes. That means in all likelihood the Sabres will have to go the trade route in order to address their defensive shortcomings. Naturally, any deal to add a defenseman will likely cost the team a key forward and would essentially represent an example of “robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- We touched earlier on the injury issues impacting the Tampa Bay Lightning, but for the glass half full crowd, the absences of Tyler Johnson, Vladislav Namestnikov and Cedric Paquette offer opportunities for young players to step into more prominent roles and show the team’s coaching staff and management team what they are capable of at the NHL level. As Bryan Burns, NHL.com’s Tampa Bay Lightning contributor writes, the early beneficiaries of extra ice time and responsibility in Tampa are rookies Adam Erne and Yanni Gourde. As Burns notes, Gourde filled in as the team’s second line pivot Thursday night, recording a career-high 16:35 of ice time and registering the second point of his NHL career. Erne saw better than 14 minutes and even got some time on the power play. With Tampa Bay wrapping up a disappointing campaign, it’s quite possible the the team continues to give opportunities to some of its young talent as the front office begins to hatch its offseason strategy.
- Last night’s 7 – 4 loss to Minnesota leaves Florida six points out of the second and final Eastern Conference wild card slot with just 16 games remaining in their season and with four teams to leapfrog in the standings. As Adam Gretz of Pro Hockey Talk writes, time is running out on the Panthers and barring a strong finish it appears Florida won’t be making their second straight postseason appearance. Missing the playoffs would represent a disappointing outcome for a team that was particularly aggressive in the offseason trying to build upon last year’s success. Florida acquired the rights to Keith Yandle and then inked the skilled puck-moving defender to a massive seven-year, $44.45MM contract extension. They signed Jason Demers as a free agent and traded for Mark Pysyk to further bolster their blue line. The Panthers also made smart under-the-radar signing, adding Jonathan Marchessault via free agency. The diminutive winger has registered a 20-goal, 39-point campaign for Florida. Yet all of those additions will be in vain unless the Panthers can close out on a hot streak and somehow sneak into the playoffs and that possibility is fading more and more with each passing day.
July 1st Free Agent Frenzy Reflection
The National Football League officially opened the 2017-18 league year yesterday at 4:00pm ET, and the annual onslaught of massive free agent signings has been ongoing ever since, keeping our friends over at Pro Football Rumors pretty busy. The NHL has a similar ritual, as flurry of free agent activity is common each and every July 1st, when a new hockey season officially begins. Last summer, a handful of huge contracts were handed out on July 1st. With the season winding down, how have those players performed in their first seasons? (Hint: mostly really bad)
Signed: Seven-year, $42MM deal with the Edmonton Oilers
2016-17 stats: 66 games, 14 goals, 22 assists, 36 points, -7 rating, 134 shots, 17:13 ATOI
Of all six players who received the biggest contracts on July 1st, Lucic is the only one on a team that appears to be a lock for the postseason in 2016-17. Now, that may say more about the effectiveness of hastily giving out money to the best players on the market, but Lucic at least deserves some credit. His offensive production doesn’t quite match up with his $6MM yearly price tag, but Lucic has added the same degree of grit and toughness that made him a fan favorite and Stanley Cup champion with the Boston Bruins. Lucic is always a physical threat on the ice and can make plays through his ability to crash the net and win battles along the boards. He’s never been able to score much more than 60 points per season, with just one 30-goal campaign in his career, but he earns his money through protecting the talented players on the ice while also having the ability to skate alongside them. Lucic is also spending an abnormal amount of time not in the penalty box, with just 41 penalty minutes as opposed to a career average closer to one hundred. Lucic is spending more time on the ice, most recently with his new line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, than he is in the box, and as long as that continues, this contract will pay off for the Edmonton Oilers.
Signed: Seven-year, $42MM deal with the Buffalo Sabres
2016-17 stats: 63 games, 19 goals, 24 assists, 43 points, -6 rating, 151 shots, 19:04 ATOI
Okposo may have been named an All-Star in his first season in Buffalo, but the Sabres were likely expecting more from their major 2016 investment. The Sabres were likely expecting more from the 2016-17 season overall, but Okposo’s lack of production doesn’t help the matter. As it stands, Okposo is on pace to have his worst scoring season since 2012-13 unless he picks up the pace over Buffalo’s final 15 games. At $6MM a year for six more seasons to come, the Sabres can only hope that Okposo hasn’t already begun his decline at just 28 years old. Okposo has looked good alongside Ryan O’Reilly for stretches this season, but there hasn’t been enough consistency. He is still a safer asset than many of the other older players on this list, but we’ll have to wait until next year to know for sure whether this was a bad call by Buffalo.
Signed: Seven-year, $38.5MM deal with the New York Islanders
2016-17 stats: 62 games, 19 goals, 6 assists, 25 points, -11 rating, 112 shots, 15:56 ATOI
The Islanders have made an impressive comeback from a dismal beginning to 2016-17, but even if they find a way into the playoffs, that won’t be enough to make them feel good about the deal they gave Ladd this summer. At just 31 years old, no one could have predicted that the veteran winger would fall off a cliff this quickly. After scoring 46 or more points in each of the past six seasons, Ladd will be lucky to reach 3o this year. His $5.5MM cap hit over six more seasons could be yet another big mistake by a team with a long history of issues with long-term contracts. John Tavares and the Islanders can only hope that 2016-17 was a fluke and that they’ll get the real Ladd next season, but don’t count on it.
Signed: Six-year, $36MM deal with the Vancouver Canucks
2016-17 stats: 65 games, 11 goals, 13 assists, 24 points, -9 rating, 132 shots, 18:41 ATOI
From bad to worse, we move from Ladd to Eriksson, who may be the worst signing of the summer at this point in time. After a stellar 63-point season with the Bruins in 2015-16, Eriksson signed a long-term deal worth $6MM annually in Vancouver, and the Canucks brass expected that his addition would keep the championship window opened a bit longer. Instead, the team has faltered and appears headed toward a rebuild. One of the main factors to this collapse has been an utter lack of production out of Eriksson. The Swedish winger supposed to put up huge numbers alongside Daniel and Henrik Sedin, but with a month to go, he has been off the top line for a while now has has less than half the points as he did at this time last year. Whether it is a poor fit or simply poor play, this signing could end up being a long-term headache for the Canucks if Eriksson can’t turn it around in 2017-18.
Signed: Six-year, $31.5MM deal with the Detroit Red Wings
2016-17 stats: 62 games, 13 goals, 17 assists, 30 points, -17 rating, 125 shots, 17:09 ATOI
Though the streak of failures was over? Not yet. Nielsen left the Islanders this summer, like Okposo, to help keep the postseason hopes of the Detroit Red Wings alive, like Eriksson in Vancouver, and like Okposo and Eriksson he has struggled. Because of this, the Red Wings’ historic playoff streak is all but snapped and they are left scratching their heads with a roster full of veterans on long-term contracts who didn’t perform up to snuff in 2016-17. Nielsen may be the worst of the bunch, as his 30 points teeters on the edge of being the worst full season of his career. Beyond just the lack of production, Nielsen’s -17 rating is atrocious, especially compared with his numbers in New York, where he was considered a good two-way center. No one on the Red Wings has exceeded expectations this season – now that Thomas Vanek has been traded – but that’s no excuse for Nielsen. He finally got the big pay day he had always wanted, but if really wants to earn that yearly $5.25MM and stay in Detroit for the remaining five years, his play will need to pick up next season.
Signed: Five-year, $30MM deal with the Boston Bruins
2016-17 stats: 59 games, 13 goals, 18 assists, 31 points, even rating, 140 shots, 17:21 ATOI
Finally we get to Backes, who despite scoring less than Okposo and not much more than the other two, can count his first season in Boston as a success. Backes has taken his fair share of criticism in 2016-17, but at the end of the day he has always been a two-way threat more than an offensive threat and has done well in that role this season. Backes’ 31 points is well behind his 45 points in St. Louis last year and 58 the year before, but the 32-year-old has also been asked to move from his old first-line center role to a top-six winger role this season, on a team that hasn’t been great at scoring goals. Despite all that, Backes may still end up with about 40 points, as he has been playing his best hockey of the year of late, now a member of the team’s top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand since the Bruins’ coaching change. Like the role Lucic once played in Boston, Backes has provided a dominant physical presence wherever he has played in the lineup this season and has contributed some offense along the way. Might the Bruins regret this contract in year four or five? Possibly, but for now Backes is a good fit and will continue to be this season, postseason, and beyond.
Snapshots: Jackals, Lightning, Oilers
The ECHL continues to shrink, as the Elmira Jacksls announced today that they will cease operations at the end of the season. That’s the second team in less than a month to announce they are shutting down, after the Alaska Aces broke the news to their fans a few weeks ago. The Jackals have been around for 17 years, and are currently the affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. They will play out their remaining 14 games but, as they are at the very bottom of the league standings, will be shutting their doors immediately afterwards.
- Tampa Bay looks like it might have avoided certain doom last night when they lost three centermen to injury. The team reports that Tyler Johnson, Vladislav Namestnikov and Cedric Paquette all are day-to-day with lower-body injuries. All three looked much worse during the game, but each player has been spotted walking around the arena today.
- The Edmonton Oilers will welcome Benoit Pouliot, Kris Russell and Iiro Pakarinen back into the lineup tonight, as they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. None of the three have played yet in March, with Pouliot’s injury taking him back even further than that. As the team fights with the surging Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division, they’ll welcome all the help they can get.
- Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg is reporting that the Flames will recall Rasmus Andersson before they take on the Winnipeg Jets tomorrow night. The Flames’ second-round pick in 2015, Andersson has impressed during his first taste of professional hockey and has 22 points in 50 AHL games. The Swedish defenseman could step into a spot vacated by Dougie Hamilton or Michael Stone, should either one miss time with their nagging injuries.
East Notes: Hyman, Tynan, Eichel
The Toronto Maple Leafs have outplayed all of the preseason expectations of the club, and much of that has to do with the excellent performance of Auston Matthews in his rookie season. The first-overall pick has become an impact player right away with 55 points in 64 games, despite spending the whole season skating alongside fellow youngster Zach Hyman. When the team was winning, everything seemed fine with that arrangement but now that they’ve lost five straight people are starting to call for some more experienced wingers to be put with Matthews.
Craig Button of TSN thinks (video link) that’s “laughable” though, as he details the amount of room Hyman creates with his forechecking ability and unstoppable energy level. Hyman has just 25 points all season, and is one of the most divisive players in Toronto at the moment. While he obviously works as hard as any player in the league, some question his offensive upside and whether he can be an option long-term on Toronto’s top line. For now, the team looks like they’ve moved William Nylander away from that group and back to the wing of Nazem Kadri to try and spark some offense (via Kristen Shilton of TSN).
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled T.J. Tynan from the AHL on emergency conditions after Josh Anderson was given a 7-10 day timeline for his knee injury. Tynan was up just a few days ago but still has yet to make his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets. The undersized winger is an excellent passer and has 30 points in 55 AHL games this season. The Blue Jackets have a rematch with the New Jersey Devils tomorrow night, after defeating them 3-0 on Sunday evening.
- Jack Eichel has been the oft-forgotten member of the exceptional 20 and under club this season because of the injury that held him out of 21 games to start the season. The young Sabres forward is here to remind you of his talent though, with 42 points in 45 games and a shot at passing his full-season mark of 56 last year. Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News writes that greatness isn’t far off for Eichel when it comes to the NHL, and that he expects him to play a big role at the World Championships this spring if the Sabres do in fact miss the playoffs. If he’s healthy next year, Eichel could easily push to be crowned among the best young players in the game. He’s just scratching the surface of his offensive potential.
Okposo Out 7 – 10 Days WIth Upper-Body Injury
Buffalo’s dwindling postseason chances have taken yet another hit with news that top-six forward Kyle Okposo would miss seven-to-10 days with a rib injury, as Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma told a pool of reporters covering the team this morning. Joe Yerdon of NHL.com adds that Bylsma compared Okposo’s injury to the one teammate Evander Kane suffered earlier this season.
Okposo, in the first season of a seven-year, $42MM contract he inked with the Sabres this past summer, leads Buffalo in scoring with 43 points. His 19 goals rank second on the squad.
Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News joined Yerdon among the reporters this morning in attendance for Bylsma’s statement and adds that in Okposo’s place, Nicolas Deslauriers draws into the lineup. As Harrington notes in his tweet, the Sabres have already utilized two of the four minor league recalls the team is allowed to make after the trade deadline and that for the time being the club has elected not to spend another. Recalls are allowed on an emergency basis when a team either doesn’t have enough healthy skaters to ice a full lineup or need a second netminder for a short stretch. Those recalls do not count against the limit of four.
The loss of Okposo, even if just for a week, dampens Buffalo’s already long odds of making the playoffs. Currently the team is five points out of the final wild card spot in the East and with Jack Eichel healthy and contributing at a high level, the Sabres could still make a late charge but the task is more difficult with Okposo sidelined.
Injury Updates: Ellis, Connauton, Okposo
Injury updates from around NHL games this evening:
- Tennessean reporter Adam Vingan noted that Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis left tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens after suffering an apparent leg injury. Ellis had to be helped off the ice by teammate Vernon Fiddler. An extended injury to Ryan Ellis would dampen Nashville’s playoff chances. Ellis is second in playing time for the Predators, and has 10G and 18A in 55 games.
- Arizona Coyotes defenseman Kevin Connauton suffered an injury tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, reports the Arizona Coyotes PR rep Dave Vest. Connauton has hit by Sabres forward Marcus Foligno and fell hard onto his left arm. As of writing, Connauton has not returned. The 27 year-old has one assist in 19 games for the Coyotes.
- Buffalo News columnist Mike Harrington reports that Buffalo Sabres forward Kyle Okposo did not start the third period after being hit by the above-mentioned Kevin Connauton. Okposo appeared to have skated off the injury and played the remainder of the second period, but as of writing has not returned to the game. The Sabres’ star free agent signing has 19G and 22A in 62 games so far this year and leads the team in scoring. The Sabres have now announced that Okposo suffered an upper-body injury and will not return tonight.