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Pacific Notes: Lucic, Valamaki, Steel

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After a disappointing season a year ago, Edmonton Oilers’ fans have taken their anger on high-priced winger Milan Lucic. After all, the 6-foot-3, 234-pound bruising winger was signed not only to protect their elite players like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but also to produce goals on the wing. That’s why the team signed him to a seven-year, $42MM deal back in 2016.

While Lucic showed the deal was a promising one after the first season when he tallied 23 goals and 50 points, he made the contract look like a disaster after last season when he managed just 10 goals and 34 points. Suddenly with five years remaining at $6MM AAV, and Lucic looking slower than he ever has, rumors have been flying about how Edmonton must get out of the deal which is suddenly weighing down the Oilers team and salary cap.

However, David Staples of the Edmonton Journal confirms rumors that Edmonton Oilers have no intention of moving him this offseason. The key problem is that no trade would be likely as few teams would be willing to take on that contract and if they did, it might cost Edmonton even more to dump it. However, Staples adds that what the Oilers need to do is have him settle into a lesser role with lesser expectations and allow him to produce a 35 to 40-point season and along with his defensive abilities as well as his physicality, teams will eventually call on him.

  • With the Calgary Flames having their development camp this weekend, Darren Haynes of the Canadian Press reports that the standout prospect so far has been 2017 first-round pick Jusso Valimaki. The 16th overall pick has been a force around the other prospects and Haynes speculates the 6-foot-2, 204-pound defenseman might make things interesting in September for the Flames. Valamaki posted 14 goals and 45 points in 44 games last year for Tri-City of the WHL, but showed his mettle in the playoffs when he put up four goals and 17 points in just 12 games.
  • Eric Stephens of The Athletic (subscription required) writes a profile on the Anaheim Ducks prospect Sam Steel, who has a legitimate chance to crack the Ducks’ opening day lineup this year, especially with recent question marks surrounding the availability of veteran Ryan Kesler. Steel, who won the WHL Player of the Year award after the 2016-17 season when he scored 50 goals and 131 points, failed to duplicate his success last year when he returned to the Regina Pats last season. Regardless, the 20-year-old has been focusing this summer on getting more explosion on his first step. Steel, whose junior career is now over, will either be with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL or he will be a rookie in the NHL.

Mutual Interest In A Long-Term Extension For Elias Lindholm

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  • The Flames are prioritizing signing newly-acquired forward Elias Lindholm to a long-term deal, GM Brad Treliving told Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). Treliving added that Lindholm’s camp is open to that type of contract as well.  Calgary acquired Lindholm back at the draft after his contract talks with Carolina failed to yield a new deal.  As things stand, he’s a candidate to fill their long-standing vacancy on the right wing of the top line next season.

Buddy Robinson Signs Two-Year Contract With Calgary Flames

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The Calgary Flames have brought in a new friend, signing Buddy Robinson to a two-year contract. Robinson was a Group VI unrestricted free agent after failing to get a real opportunity in the NHL with the Winnipeg Jets last season. The deal will carry a $700K cap hit at the NHL level.

Robinson, 26, is a big (6’6″ 230-lbs) winger that put up a career-high 25 goals and 53 points last season as part of a dominant Manitoba Moose team, but has just seven NHL games to his name. Though he’ll probably play much of the same role with the Flames—that is, spending the season in the minor leagues with the Stockton Heat—there is a chance he could contribute at the higher level if give the chance. Calgary has plenty of options on the wing at the moment, but should injuries strike Robinson is a valuable depth piece to have waiting in the wings.

At the very least he should be able to bring some of his offense over to Stockton. The Heat missed the playoffs last season and struggled to create goals at times, with their team leader in points being Andrew Mangiapane despite playing only 39 games. Robinson’s goal and point totals would have led the club, and though he might not get the same kind of opportunities on a weaker team, should still compete for the team lead.

Calgary Flames Sign James Neal

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The Calgary Flames worked through the night to secure another free agent asset, signing James Neal to a five-year deal. The average annual value of the contract will be around $5.75MM.

Neal was the highest ranked player left on our Top 50 UFA List after day one of free agency, and is the picture of offensive consistency in the salary cap era. Scoring at least 21 goals in each of his ten seasons, Neal was once again a positive possession player and an on-ice leader for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18. Though he’s almost never been his team’s leading scorer, he quietly goes about his business at both even-strength and on the powerplay providing excellent secondary scoring and reliable two-way play. That’s huge for the Flames, who have rebuilt their roster over the last few weeks with the additions like Neal, Derek Ryan, Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm.

The Flames enter 2018-19 with a new head coach behind the bench in Bill Peters, and several new faces up front. Where Neal fits into the group isn’t clear, but he’ll be another option for the middle-six, or potentially even spend time on the top line if Lindholm doesn’t fit as well as expected with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. It will be interesting to see what this means for Troy Brouwer, who still has two years at $4.5MM on his contract but is coming off back-to-back seasons of 25 or fewer points.

Even with Neal’s remarkable consistency, this deal does bring some substantial risk. The 30-year old winger has seen his assist totals decline in recent years as he tends to create less room for himself and teammates, and he isn’t the same dynamic powerplay scorer that he was earlier in his career. There’s no guarantee that as he enters the latter part of the contract he’ll still be an effective second-line option, but at a near $6MM price tag will still be paid like one.

The Flames are obviously disappointed with their lack of success in 2017-18, and have done some hard work this summer to put themselves in a better position come the fall. After waiting until the middle rounds to even make a selection at the draft, they’re clearly in a win-now mode and can’t deviate from that plan.

Calgary Flames Sign Alan Quine, Tyler Graovac

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The Calgary Flames continue to add to their forward depth, following up acquisitions of Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik earlier with yet another pair intriguing signings. The team has inked Tyler Graovac and Alan Quine to one-year, two-way contracts that will carry cap hits of $650K and $700K respectively in the NHL.

Flames To Sign Austin Czarnik

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The Flames are expected to be active in free agency and after getting a deal done with Derek Ryan, they’ve agred to to terms with winger Austin Czarnik on a two-year, $2.5MM deal, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link).

The 25-year-old is relatively untested at the NHL level as he has played in just 59 career games which made him eligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency.  He did get into ten games with Boston last season and was relatively productive, recording four assists.  In his career, he has five goals and 12 assists, all with the Bruins.

What is getting Czarnik this contract is his minor league production.  He ranked third in AHL scoring in 2017-18 with 25 goals and 44 assists in just 64 games while adding six more points in four postseason contests.  It’s clear that many around the league believe he has some untapped upside as it was reported on Saturday that 24 teams had shown interest in his services.  He’ll likely get a chance to start in Calgary’s bottom six and should have an opportunity to prove that he can be a full-time NHL player.

Flames Expected To Sign Derek Ryan

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After receiving interest from 20 teams, it appears center Derek Ryan is off to Calgary.  TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that the Flames are in agreement with Ryan on a three-year contract.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman adds (via Twitter) that the deal carries an approximate cap hit of $3.125MM.

It has been quite the journey for 31-year-old.  After going undrafted, he decided to the Canadian college route where he spent four years before heading off to Austria for three more seasons.  A stint in the SHL back in 2014-15 got him on the NHL radar and the Hurricanes signed him to a two-way deal the following season.

Since then, Ryan has emerged as a dependable secondary scorer.  Last season, he posted 15 goals and 23 assists in 80 games while winning 56.5% of his faceoffs, solid numbers for a third liner which is where he will likely line up in Calgary.  We ranked him 22nd in our Top 50 UFA list and had projected that he would sign with the Flames.

With the move, he will be reunited with his former head coach Bill Peters, who left Carolina to join the Flames earlier this offseason.  He’ll also be back with a couple of familiar teammates as Calgary picked up defenseman Noah Hanifin and forward Elias Lindholm in a draft day deal last weekend.

Ryan Reaves Agrees To Two-Year Deal To Return To Vegas

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Saturday — 8:10 p.m.: Dreger adds that Reaves will receive a two-year deal for $2.775MM per year.

Saturday — 5:50 p.m.: TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that Reaves will indeed be staying with the Vegas Golden Knights on a two-year deal despite receiving quite a bit of attention from multiple teams, including extensive talks with the Calgary Flames.

Friday: Though he was attracting interest from other teams, it appears that winger Ryan Reaves is sticking around with Vegas.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that the Golden Knights are expected to sign him.  Meanwhile, Larry Brooks of the New York Post adds (via Twitter) that the Rangers, who were one of the other teams interested in signing him, are aware that he is off the market.

Reaves started this past season with Pittsburgh but didn’t fare too well with them which resulted in him being dealt to the Golden Knights as part of the three-team Derick Brassard trade.  He played a regular role down the stretch and even worked his way into a regular spot in the lineup as the postseason progressed.  On the season, he wound up with ten points, 94 penalty minutes, and 236 hits in 79 games while adding a pair of goals in ten postseason contests.

The 31-year-old ranked 44th in our Top 50 UFA list with a projected contract of two years and $3MM.  While financial terms of Reaves’ deal are not yet known, it’s likely that he will receive a raise on the $1.125MM AAV he had on his last contract given the interest he was generating around the league.

Calgary Flames Sign Dalton Prout To One-Year Extension

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The Calgary Flames added some defensive depth when they signed Dalton Prout to one-year, $800K extension. The 28-year-old Prout was acquired in late December from New Jersey for veteran goaltender Eddie Lack, but never played a game for the Flames last year, as he ended up being outrighted to the Stockton Heat of the AHL instead.

Prout adds much needed depth to the team’s blueline as the team only has four defensemen under contract at the moment in Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, Travis Hamonic and Michael Stone. The team also has two restricted free agents in Noah Hanifin and Brett Kulak to round out the top six. However, while the team has a number of talented defensive prospects that could be ready to play for Calgary this year such as Rasmus Andersson and 2017 first-rounder Juuso Valimaki, Oliver Kylington and Josh Healey, the addition of a veteran, who could be the team’s seventh-defenseman is a great insurance policy if a youngster doesn’t impress in training camp.

Prout, who was placed on waivers almost immediately after being acquired from the Devils, played 34 games for the Stockton Heat, posting two goals, nine points and 44 penalty minutes. He only played four games for the Devils last season. He hasn’t played a regular defensive role in the NHL since the 2015-16 season when he played 64 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Flames Have A Multi-Year Offer On The Table For Derek Ryan

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While center Derek Ryan won’t be returning to Carolina, he will have quite a few teams to choose from.  TSN’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link) that he has a pair of multi-year offers on the table, one from Calgary and another from an unidentified Central Division team.  He adds that Detroit, Columbus, and Toronto have all expressed interest as well.  Meanwhile, Michael Russo of The Athletic notes (subscription required) that the Wild are also interested but doesn’t specify if they have an offer on the table for him just yet.

The 31-year-old is coming off of his best NHL season, one that saw him post a respectable 38 points (15-23-38) in 80 games while winning an impressive 56.5% of his faceoffs.  He’s still a relatively unknown player with just 153 career NHL games under his belt but he should slot in nicely as a third line pivot with his new team.  Ryan ranks 22nd on our Top 50 Free Agents list with a projected contract of two years and $4.8MM.

More free agent notes with the market set to officially open less than 24 hours from now:

  • Winger Austin Czarnik has largely flown under the radar but he has received interest from 24 different teams, reports Craig Custance of The Athletic (via Twitter). He adds that a two-year deal with a Western Conference team appears to be the likeliest outcome at this time.  The 25-year-old lit up the AHL this past season with 25 goals and 44 assists in 69 games which ranked third overall in league scoring.  He also added four assists in ten games with the Bruins.  NBC Sports Boston’s Joe Haggerty tweets that the Oilers are among the teams making a push.
  • It doesn’t appear that there is a big gap to bridge between the Bruins and goaltender Anton Khudobin. Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports (Twitter link) that the two sides were only $150K per year apart on talks.  However, it appears that Khudobin, barring a change in the next little while, will go to the open market.  TSN’s Darren Dreger tweets that Dallas could make sense as a landing spot.
  • The Blue Jackets have expressed a desire to keep defenseman Ian Cole in the fold, GM Jarmo Kekalainen told reporters, including George Richards of the Columbus Dispatch (Twitter link). However, based on Kekalainen’s comments, it appears that Cole has his sights set elsewhere.  The blueliner ranks 16th on our Top 50 Free Agents list but is the number three rearguard behind only Mike Green and Calvin de Haan.

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