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Flames Acquire Alex Chiasson From Ottawa

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The Senators announced a trade Monday as they have dealt W Alex Chiasson to Calgary in exchange for D Patrick Sieloff.

Chiasson spent the last two seasons with Ottawa after being acquired as part of the Jason Spezza trade in 2014.  Last year, he played in 77 games with the Sens, recording a career low 8 goals and 6 assists.  In 239 career NHL games, the 25 year old has 38 goals and 44 assists.

Sieloff was Calgary’s 2nd round pick (42nd overall) in 2012.  He made his NHL debut this past season, scoring in his lone game.  He also suited up in 52 games with their AHL affiliate in Stockton, picking up 2 goals and 9 assists.

Shortly after the deal was announced, the Flames announced that they have inked Chiasson to a one year contract.  Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports the deal is for $800,000, well below his qualifying offer of $1.2MM.

2016 NHL Draft Results

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Pro Hockey Rumors will be following and updating every selection of the 2016 NHL Draft. Below are the results of the first round.

Round 1

1. Toronto Maple Leafs: C Auston Matthews (Zurich Lions – SUI)

2. Winnipeg Jets: RW Patrik Laine (Tappara – SM-liiga)

3. Columbus Blue Jackets: LW Pierre-Luc Dubois (Cape Breton – QMJHL)

4. Edmonton Oilers: RW Jesse Puljujarvi (Karpat – SM-liiga)

5. Vancouver Canucks: D Olli Juolevi (London – OHL)

6. Calgary Flames: LW Matthew Tkachuk (London – OHL)

7. Arizona Coyotes: C Clayton Keller (USA NTDP – USHL)

8. Buffalo Sabres: F Alexander Nylander (Mississauga Steelheads – OHL)

9. Montreal Canadiens: D Mikhail Sergachev (Windsor – OHL)

10. Colorado Avalanche: C Tyson Jost (Penticton – BCHL)

11. Ottawa Senators (from New Jersey): C Logan Brown (Windsor – OHL)

12. New Jersey Devils (from Ottawa): C Michael McLeod (Mississauga Steelheads – OHL)

13. Carolina Hurricanes: D Jake Bean (Calgary – WHL)

14. Boston Bruins: D Charlie McAvoy (Boston University – NCAA)

15. Minnesota Wild: C Luke Kunin (Wisconsin – NCAA)

16. Arizona Coyotes (From Detroit): D Jakob Chychrun (Sarnia – OHL)

17. Nashville Predators: D Dante Fabbro (Penticton – BCHL)

18. Winnipeg Jets (From Philadelphia): D Logan Stanley (Windsor – OHL)

19. New York Islanders: LW Kieffer Bellows (US NTDP)

20. Detroit Red Wings (from Arizona via New York Rangers): D Dennis Cholowski (Chilliwack (BCHL)

21. Carolina Hurricanes (from LA Kings): RW Julien Gauthier (Val-d’Or Foreurs – QMJHL

22. Philadelphia Flyers (From Winnipeg via Chicago): C German Rubtsov (Team Russia U-18)

23. Florida Panthers: C Henrik Borgstrom (HIFK – SM-liiga Jr)

24. Anaheim Ducks: LW Max Jones (London – OHL)

25. Dallas Stars: LW Riley Tufte (Blaine – USHSW)

26. St. Louis Blues (From Washington): C Tage Thompson (Connecticut – NCAA)

27. Tampa Bay Lightning: C Brett Howden (Moose Jaw – WHL)

28. Washington Capitals (From St. Louis): D Lucas Johansen (Kelowna – WHL)

29. Boston Bruins (from San Jose): C Trent Frederic (USA U-18 NTDP)

30. Anaheim Ducks (from Pittsburgh via Toronto): C Sam Steel (Regina – WHL)

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Flames Acquire Brian Elliott From Blues

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7:19pm: The deal also includes a conditional third round pick in 2018. Elliott is entering the final year of a 3-year/$7.5MM contract.

7:13pm: CapFriendly shows that the Blues save $2.5MM from their cap next season by dealing Elliott. The Flames were linked all day with several goaltenders, including Detroit’s Jimmy Howard, Tampa Bay’s Ben Bishop, and Columbus’ Sergei Bobrovsky.

7:04pm: According to Darren Dreger, the Calgary Flames have acquired goalie Brian Elliott from the St. Louis Blues.  Elliotte Friedman reports it’s for the 35th overall pick in the 2016 draft.

 

Free Agent Focus: Calgary Flames

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The Calgary Flames were a team expected to make strides with young talent bursting at the seams. It was a team coming off optimism from a strong playoff showing. Instead, the Flames muddled through the season, missed the playoffs and fired head coach Bob Hartley. The Flames are constantly mentioned as a hunting for a goalie, and still have some unfinished business as they look to lock up some young players critical to the organization’s future.

Cap Space: $23,232,933 (Via CapFriendly). 

Key RFA: Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. Both are under 23 years of age. Both finished one and two respectively in goals and points during the regular season. And both are restricted free agents. Monahan is expected to cash in, with some reports indicating he could get as high as $7MM annually, while seeking out a long term deal. For a player considered a captain in waiting, at 21, it would behoove both sides to get a reasonable long term deal finished. Meanwhile, Gaudreau’s stock continues to rise. In March, it was reported that he was working on the biggest contract in Flames history. In another, it was written that he and Monahan both wanted to be in Calgary for years to come.   Any long term success of a franchise has included a dynamic one-two punch in terms of scoring forwards. Malkin and Crosby. Toews and Kane. Gaudreau and Monahan should be the next in line.

Other RFAs: G Joni Ortio, F Joe Colborne, F Josh Jooris, F Drew Shore.

Key UFA: G Karri Ramo. The goaltender, who was looked at to lead the Flames to another playoff appearance, struggled and then tore his ACL in February, casting doubt on his return to the Flames. Such a significant injury will hurt his stock in free agency, but a cheap deal in Calgary shouldn’t be thrown out. But with the Flames being constantly named as a team looking for goaltending, Ramo may be looking for a job elsewhere.

Other UFAs: D Jakub Nakladal

Outlook: If the Flames can add a premier, battle tested goalie, they can be a team that causes havoc in the Western Conference. They still have plenty of cap room to work with, even after signing cornerstones Gaudreau and Monahan to expensive deals that will keep them in Calgary for years to come.

 

Snapshots: Anisimov, Mrazek, Gaudreau

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The NHL released the home openers for many teams on Monday morning – Ben Whyte of The Score compiled a list of those announced. Among the highlights is the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins raising the 2015-16 banner in front of their rival Washington Capitals on October 13th. The league is set to release the full schedules for the 2016-17 season on Tuesday morning.  Here is some more news from around the league:

  • Cap Friendly reports that Artem Anisimov of the Blackhawks actually has a no-movement clause (NMC) for the next two seasons. Not only does this limit the options Chicago has this offseason, but makes Anisimov an automatic protection in next year’s expansion draft.
  • While speaking to Torie Peterson, Flames’ GM Brad Treliving intimated that he’ll eventually get deals done with top RFAs Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. “We’ll continue to bang away at it. We’ve got to get to something that makes sense for them and for us…I have every confidence that we will.”
  • TB Times writer Joe Smith says that UFA Jonathan Marchessault “loves the place” and “wants to stay” in Tampa Bay this summer. Marchessault put up 18 points last season and is only 25.
  • Matt Brown, producer of Sportsnet’s Hockey Central @ Noon reports that Ken Holland said Petr Mrazek will be the Red Wings’ #1 goaltender coming into camp this season. Mrazek played in 54 games for the Red Wings this past year, but is sure to earn less than Jimmy Howard’s $5.29MM this season.

Coaching Notes: Groulx, Shaw, Pollock

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After being confirmed earlier this week that Glen Gulutzan would be hired as the Calgary Flames head coach, the team held a press conference Friday to officially announce him. Gulutzan will try to take the Flames back to the playoffs after an underwhelming season in which they 35-40-7 and were surrounded by controversy all season, from Dennis Wideman’s collision with an official and eventual suspension and appeal, to the benching of star players Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan for “disciplinary reasons”. He’ll come in as a much different voice than outgoing coach Bob Hartley, and will try to instill a different tone in the locker room.

Here are more coaching notes from around the league:

  • The Ottawa Senators have hired Pierre Groulx as their next goalie coach, replacing the outgoing Rick Wamsley who was jettisoned along with head coach Dave Cameron and the rest of the staff in April. Groulx, formerly the goalie coach in Florida and Montreal, will lead a group that allowed the third most goals in the NHL last season, and had poor performances throughout the season. Number 1 goaltender Craig Anderson should appreciate the familiar face; Groulx was his coach for three years in Florida.
  • Former St. Louis Blues’ assistant Brad Shaw has been brought into Columbus to work with head coach John Tortorella according to Aaron Portzline with the Columbus Dispatch. Shaw spent nine seasons with the Blues, and actually was the New York Islanders’ head coach for half a season in 2005-06, after the firing of Steve Stirling midway through a disappointing year.
  • According to Gary Lawless of TSN, while not as a coach, Richard Pollock has been hired by the Florida Panthers as a pro scout. This comes after the organization has changed direction in scouting, firing long time director Scott Luce and hiring the more analytics-based Cam Lawrence and Josh Weissbock. Former Panther and veteran-NHLer Bryan McCabe, currently the team’s manager of player development, has also taken a larger role.

Calgary’s Goalie Dilemma

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With Carolina re-signing Cam Ward earlier today, one of the top goalies was taken off the UFA market.  That’s not the best of news for the Calgary Flames who are looking to rebuild their goaltending tandem after Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo, and Joni Ortio all struggled last season.

With Ward off the market, the only two remaining free agents that have spent some time as a starting netminder in recent years are San Jose’s James Reimer and Ramo, both of whom have struggled at times when given a greater workload.

Accordingly, a trade may be the way to go for Calgary to get their starting goalie.  Eric Francis of the Calgary Sun believes that Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury could be a solution for the Flames and reports that GM Brad Treliving has been in contact with his Penguins counterpart Jim Rutherford regarding the 31 year old.

Fleury could be deemed expendable following Matt Murray’s strong efforts en route to Pittsburgh’s Stanley Cup victory and trading him would also free up some much-needed cap space for the Penguins, who currently have just shy of $74MM in contracts for next season.  With the ability to only protect one goalie in an expansion draft, the Penguins may have some motivation to do something this offseason over risking losing one for nothing next June.  Fleury carries a cap hit of $5.75MM for each of the next three season but does, however, have a no-move and partial no-trade clause which could make a trade more difficult.

There’s no denying that Fleury would represent an upgrade between the pipes for the Flames.  Last year, Calgary’s goaltenders combined for a league-worst save percentage of just .892.  By comparison, Fleury has posted at least a .913 SV% in each of the last six seasons and recorded a 2.29 GAA and a .921 SV% last season.

If the Flames and Penguins can’t reach a deal though, there could be other goalies available this offseason.  Here are a trio that could be on the trade block for various reasons:

  • Ben Bishop (Tampa Bay): Andrei Vasilevskiy is viewed as the goalie-in-waiting for the Lightning and he certainly more than held his own in the postseason. Bishop has one year left on his deal and GM Steve Yzerman may want to get something for Bishop now and hand the goaltending reins to the young Russian.
  • Frederik Andersen (Anaheim): Andersen is a restricted free agent this offseason and is just one year away from UFA eligibility. He has been the starter for the Ducks for each of the past two years but saw his job usurped at times by John Gibson.  Gibson is widely viewed as their goalie of the future and accordingly, it’s expected that Anaheim will likely move Andersen at some point this offseason.
  • Jimmy Howard (Detroit): Howard played in a career-low 38 games last year as he lost his #1 job to Petr Mrazek (an RFA this offseason). He has three years left on his contract with a cap hit just below $5.3MM which is too pricey for a backup or platoon goalie.  As a result, they could be a motivated seller and Howard would give the Flames an upgrade over what they had last season.

This is not the year to rebuild a goalie tandem through the free agent market which means it’s likely that Treliving will have to resort to the trade route to shore up that position at least once this offseason.

Glen Gulutzan Hired As Flames Next Head Coach

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Wednesday 10:35am: The Flames have indeed hired Gulutzan as their next head coach, as CTV’s Heath Brown reports. He’ll be announced as soon as Thursday.

Tuesday 10:46am: It appears the Calgary Flames have found their new bench boss as multiple reports suggest they are set to hire Glen Gulutzan as their 16th head coach in franchise history.  He would take over from Bob Hartley who was relieved of his duties in early May.  Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province says to “bet on it” that Gulutzan will get the job while TSN’s Bob McKenzie suggested earlier today that if the Flames can reach a “satisfactory contract situation” with him that he’s the “likely guy” (transcription from Today’s Slapshot’s Chris Nichols).

Gulutzan has spent the past three years as an assistant coach with the Vancouver Canucks working on the staffs of John Tortorella and Willie Desjardins.  The Canucks only made the postseason once in those three seasons, coincidentally losing to Calgary back in 2014-15.

The 44 year old Gulutzan has some NHL head coaching experience under his belt having coached the Dallas Stars in 2011-12 and the lockout-abbreviated 2012-13 seasons, compiling a 64-57-9 record in that stretch.

With Calgary featuring young, up-and-coming players such as Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, and Sam Bennett, it was expected that GM Brad Treliving would look to bring in someone who is more experienced with dealing with younger players and isn’t as much as a hard-line coach as Hartley.  Gulutzan fills that bill, having spent five years in the ECHL with Las Vegas (at one point, an affiliate of the Flames) and two years in the AHL as a head coach with the Texas Stars, affiliate of Dallas.

With Anaheim’s hiring of Randy Carlyle, Calgary’s vacancy is the last one to be filled this offseason.

Snapshots: Strader, Hutton, Alfredsson, Cullen, Coaching Vacancies

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Some sad news out of Dallas today as the team announced that their play-by-play announcer, Dave Strader, has been diagnosed with cancer.  Strader just completed his first season as the voice of the Stars and has been in play-by-play booths for the last 36 years.  Everyone at PHR sends their best wishes to Dave and his family through this difficult time.

Other news and notes from around the NHL:

  • The re-signing of goalie Marek Mazanec in Nashville earlier today brings forth some doubt as to Carter Hutton’s future with the team. GM David Poile confirmed the two sides are in talks on a new contract but that he feels that “Going to another team will give him a better opportunity to get more games and to probably extend his career” and that “It’s not over yet, but I would say that is probably the way that Carter is leaning”.  Hutton has spent the last three years with the Preds, posting a 33-23-12 record in 75 games with a 2.55 GAA and a .910 SV% and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1st.
  • Former NHLer Daniel Alfredsson has signed a one year extension to stay on as Ottawa’s Senior Advisor of Hockey Operations, a role he first began in this past season. Alfredsson is the Senators’ All-Time scoring leader, collecting 1,108 points over 17 seasons with the team.
  • Pittsburgh center Matt Cullen has yet to decide on his playing future. The 39 year old is an unrestricted free agent on July 1st and played with a broken toe since Game 2 of the Conference Finals.  Cullen was the fifth oldest NHLer to suit up in a game this past season.
  • It appears that one of the two remaining head coaching vacancies is close to being filled as Calgary GM Brad Treliving said in a radio interview this morning that their search would be “coming to a conclusion very quickly”.
  • Following Lake Erie’s AHL title, Columbus will now look to fill their replacement for former Associate Coach Craig Hartsburg. Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch reports that Lake Erie coach Jared Bednar, as well as Darryl Sydor and Brad Shaw, are likely to be interviewed for that position.

Minor NHL Transactions: 6/13/16

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Some free agent signings to report around the NHL:

  • The Montreal Canadiens have re-signed defenseman Mark Barberio to a 2-year deal worth $1.5MM. The 26-year-old spent last season with the Canadiens before a concussion ended his season in March. Barberio had two goals and ten points in 30 games last season.
  • The Nashville Predators inked G Marek Mazanec to a one-year, $575,000 deal according to a team report. The 24-year-old netminder was signed to a two-way contract and spent the 2015-2016 season playing for the Milwaukee Admirals, Nashville’s AHL affiliate.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes agreed to a 3-year deal with 18-year-old  forward Sebastian Aho. The cap hit is $925,000. Aho was a second round pick for the Hurricanes in the 2015 draft and spent last season in the Finnish league Liiga where he registered 45 points in as many games. Aho will also play for Team Finland in the World Cup of Hockey.  They also inked 19-year-old forward Aleksi Saarela to a two year, entry level deal.  Saarela was acquired as part of the Eric Staal deal prior to the trade deadline.
  • The Calgary Flames signed G David Rittich to a one-year, $925,000 deal. A team report stated that the 23-year-old Czech netminder agreed to a two-way contract. Rittich spent last season with BK Mlada Boleslav of the Czech Extraliga.

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