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Influx Of Foreign Talent A Trend In 2018 Off-Season

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While the NHL free agent market remains flush with talented veteran players, some now beginning to depart for Europe without any leads around the league, NHL teams have quietly imported a fair amount of foreign talent this off-season. While few of these players are stars or even surefire regulars at the NHL level, the fact remains that those on two-way deals slated for depth roles are nevertheless taking those jobs from the current remnants of the market, who at this point would gladly take an AHL assignment with upside. Teams clearly have felt this off-season that taking a chance on a promising foreign player was a better use of a contract than recycling aging domestic veterans. A total of 36 players who played in Europe last season are now headed to North America, where they will suit up for 24 different organizations – showing the popularity of importing talent this off-season. Here are the foreign free agent signings this summer:

D Ilya Lyubushkin (Arizona Coyotes)
F David Ullstrom (Arizona Coyotes)
F Martin Bakos (Boston Bruins)
D Lawrence Pilut (Buffalo Sabres)
F Yasin Ehliz (Calgary Flames)
D Marcus Hogstrom (Calgary Flames)
F Saku Maenalanen (Carolina Hurricanes)
F Dominik Kahun (Chicago Blackhawks)
G Kevin Lankinen (Chicago Blackhawks)
F Jacob Nilsson (Chicago Blackhawks)
G Pavel Francouz (Colorado Avalanche)
F Valeri Nichushkin (Dallas Stars)*
G Patrik Rybar (Detroit Red Wings)
G Mikko Koskinen (Edmonton Oilers)
D Joel Persson (Edmonton Oilers)
D Bogdan Kiselevich (Florida Panthers)
F Ilya Kovalchuk (Los Angeles Kings)
D Eric Martinsson (Minnesota Wild)
D Michal Moravcik (Montreal Canadiens)
D David Sklenicka (Montreal Canadiens)
F Carl Persson (Nashville Predators)
D Filip Pyrochta (Nashville Predators)
G Miroslav Svoboda (Nashville Predators)
D Egor Yakovlev (New Jersey Devils)
F Jan Kovar (New York Islanders)
D Yannick Rathgeb (New York Islanders)
F Michael Lindqvist (New York Rangers)
F Ville Meskanen (New York Rangers)
D Juuso Riikola (Pittsburgh Penguins)
F Lukas Radil (San Jose Sharks)
F Antti Suomela (San Jose Sharks)
F Par Lindholm (Toronto Maple Leafs)
D Igor Ozhiganov (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F Brooks Macek (Vegas Golden Knights)
F Juuso Ikonen (Washington Capitals)
F Maximilian Kammerer (Washington Capitals)
F Dennis Everberg (Winnipeg Jets)

While the obvious highlight of this list is the return of Kovalchuk, inking a substantial deal with the L.A. Kings, the rest are far more than just AHL placeholders. Nichushkin, albeit not a true free agent signing since his rights never left the Stars, is back in Dallas and looking to make an impact. Koskinen is set to be the primary backup to Cam Talbot in Edmonton and, while his role was muddied somewhat by the acquisition of Philipp Grubauer, Francouz is sure to see some action in net with Colorado. Kovar was brought in to be a starter in New York, while Ullstrom – a former Islander – will push for a roster spot with Arizona. After a couple of years abroad, Everberg is back in the league and hoping to find a role in Winnipeg. If Simon Despres, on a PTO with the Montreal Canadiens, earns a contract, he could make a difference as well.

Several more of these players could wind up winning spots in training camp battles, while even more will earn call-ups throughout the year. It is an extensive list and each and every name bears watching as they begin or continue their North American pro careers. Both the risk and upside of bringing over fresh, foreign talent versus sticking with experienced yet stagnant veterans is apparent. For some teams these gambles will fail, while others may find a diamond in the rough.

 

Retained Salary For 2018-19

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Among the ways teams can increase the value of potential trade candidates is by retaining a portion of their salary. These moves are often used on star players who may have declined slightly and are no longer deemed worthy of their big cap hits, or at the deadline in order to fit in as many contracts as possible for the playoff stretch. Any team can retain up to 50% of a player’s salary for the remainder of the contract, though a single player can only be involved in two of these transactions per contract.

Teams meanwhile are limited to three retained salary transactions on the books at any one time, and they cannot in aggregate equal more than 15% of the cap ceiling. That means, for this season a team can retain up to $11,925,000 in salary given the $79.5MM cap ceiling. Some teams have already started in on that number given the previous retained salary transactions that they are still paying off. Below is a list of all the active contracts involved in transactions like this:

Arizona Coyotes

Mike Smith – Retained $1,416,667 per season through 2018-19

Boston Bruins

Matt Beleskey – Retained $1,900,000 per season through 2019-20

Carolina Hurricanes

Marcus Kruger – Retained $308,333 per season through 2018-19

Florida Panthers

Jason Demers – Retained $562,500 per season through 2020-21

Ottawa Senators

Dion Phaneuf – Retained $1,750,000 per season through 2020-21

Toronto Maple Leafs

Phil Kessel – Retained $1,200,000 per season through 2021-22

Vancouver Canucks

Roberto Luongo – Retained $800,000 per season through 2021-22

Vegas Golden Knights

Derick Brassard – Retained $2,000,000 per season through 2018-19

While these transactions are hardly crippling the above teams, they are something to remember when the trade deadline rolls around and clubs are trying to swap contracts. Teams like Toronto and Vancouver who have retained salary for another four years might not want to get into a similar situation and lock up two of their three possible options for the future.

The other question surrounding retained salary transactions will be how they affect the upcoming CBA negotiations, after teams like Vegas have acted as a sort of middle man. Brassard was never really part of the Golden Knights, only coming there on his way from Ottawa to Pittsburgh in order to reduce his salary for the Penguins. Though Vegas received compensation, it is not how the rule was intended to be used.

Hurricanes Have Started Extension Discussions With Sebastian Aho

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The Hurricanes have started discussions on a contract extension for forward Sebastian Aho, notes NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti.  Aho acknowledged that he’s hopeful that his agent Gerry Johansson can get a long-term deal done but that he has “nothing to say yet”.

The 21-year-old is coming off of a very strong sophomore campaign that saw him improve his point total from his rookie season by 16.  His 65 points on the year led all Carolina players and he followed that up with a stellar showing at the World Championships where he finished second in the tournament in scoring with 18 points in just eight contests.

Aho could also be in line for a position change for next season.  After finishing the year as a center, new head coach Rod Brind’Amour noted that they will consider moving him back to the wing.  Despite losing both Elias Lindholm (trade) and Derek Ryan (free agency), Carolina still has some good options down the middle in Jordan Staal, Victor Rask, as well as youngster Martin Necas who is expected to be a regular in 2018-19.

Aho is already signed through the upcoming campaign with a $925K cap hit plus another $850K in Schedule ‘B’ bonuses that he should have a strong chance at achieving.  It’s safe to say that his next deal, whenever it’s signed, will vastly surpass that amount.  Fortunately for Carolina, they have plenty of room to work with under the salary cap so they shouldn’t have to move anyone out to accommodate his eventual new salary.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Carolina Hurricanes

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2018-19 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Carolina Hurricanes

Current Cap Hit: $61,879,997 (under the $79.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Sebastian Aho (one year remaining, $925K)
D Haydn Fleury (one year remaining, $863K)
F Martin Necas (three years remaining, $894K)
F Andrei Svechnikov (three years remaining, $925K)

Potential Bonuses

Aho: $850K
Fleury: $850K
Necas: $538K
Svechnikov: $2.6MM

Total: $4.838MM

Aho very quietly led the Hurricanes in scoring last season with 65 points (29-36-65) in 78 games.  He’s poised to be on the top line once again next season and if he picks up where he left off, he’ll be looking at a significantly more expensive long-term deal next summer around the $6MM-$7MM range.  Fleury spent the bulk of last season with the Hurricanes but with their extra depth on the back end, it wouldn’t be surprising if he was sent to the minors at times to get some extra work in.  With that in mind, he’s a strong candidate for a bridge deal next summer.

Svechnikov, the second-overall pick back in June, is expected to play an important role right away, especially after they dealt winger Jeff Skinner to Buffalo for a package of future assets.  A top-six spot isn’t out of the question which should put him in line to at least hit some of his Schedule B bonuses.  Necas actually made the big club out of training camp last year but was quickly sent back to the Czech league.  He’s likely to fill the vacancy opened up by Derek Ryan’s signing in Calgary.  If he’s in the bottom-six, he probably won’t hit most of his bonuses but if he moves into a top-six role, that could certainly change.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Phillip Di Giuseppe ($750K, RFA)
F Micheal Ferland ($1.75MM, UFA)
F Jordan Martinook ($1.8MM, UFA)
F Brock McGinn ($888K, RFA)
G Petr Mrazek ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Teuvo Teravainen ($2.86MM, RFA)
F Justin Williams ($4.5MM, UFA)

Teravainen, the ‘prize’ that the Hurricanes received for taking on Bryan Bickell’s contract from Chicago two years ago, really blossomed into a top-line talent last season.  He certainly has outperformed his bridge contract already and will be pegged to more than double his current AAV on his next deal.  Williams, who is their second-highest-paid forward, had a nice year in his return to Carolina with 51 points.  He’ll turn 37 right before the season starts and it will be interesting to see if he can repeat those numbers.  If he shows signs of decline, it will have a big impact on his next deal.  Ferland took advantage of the opportunity to play in the top-six with Calgary last year as he set career highs across the board offensively.  Those opportunities probably won’t present themselves with the Hurricanes which will hurt his value on the open market.  Despite that, he could still push to double his cap hit with a solid season.

Mrazek had a rough year in 2017-18 split between Detroit and Philadelphia and he will be looking to rebuild his value.  Given the questions surrounding their starter, the opportunity will certainly be there for Mrazek to do well and look for a longer-term deal next summer.  If not, he could join the list of backups that seem to bounce around several organizations rather quickly.  Martinook was added during the playoffs in what was basically a move to save a little bit of money.  He’ll likely suit up on their fourth line and could very well be flanked by McGinn and Di Giuseppe.  McGinn is coming off a 16-goal, 30-point season and another year like that could push him into the $2MM per year range while Di Giuseppe will be looking to lock down a regular role next season.

Two Years Remaining

D Justin Faulk ($4.83MM, UFA)
D Trevor van Riemsdyk ($2.3MM, UFA)
F Valentin Zykov ($675K, RFA)

Faulk is coming off of a down year by his standards.  After averaging 16 goals over the previous three years, he tallied just six in 2017-18 which has certainly contributed to the significant increase in trade speculation.  With their current roster construction, he projects to be on the third pairing and while that’s a very nice luxury to have, that’s also not the best use of an asset like that, especially when there appears to be a mandate to keep payroll low for the time being.  If the right deal doesn’t present itself then Faulk will start the season in a Carolina uniform but it certainly feels like a question of when, not if, a trade eventually gets done.

The player to really benefit from the expected move is van Riemsdyk who either will have to play his off-side as things stand or serve as the extra defender to start the season.  Neither of those are particularly ideal scenarios as the Hurricanes didn’t more than double his previous deal to have him in a different spot than he was last year.  As for Zykov, he’s now waiver-eligible and will be trying to lock down a full-time spot.  He showed some promise in limited action last year and could push for a top-nine spot quickly.

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Poll: Did The Carolina Hurricanes Improve This Offseason?

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The Metropolitan Division is a meat grinder. In the five seasons since the NHL realigned into the current divisional structure, the Metro has produced 14 teams with 100 or more points, sent a team to the Stanley Cup Finals four times and won it on three occasions. The Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils have all been to the playoffs at least twice. Notoriously absent from that group is the eighth team in the division, the Carolina Hurricanes.

Not only have the Hurricanes failed to make the postseason in each of the five seasons they’ve been part of the Metro, but they haven’t even cracked 88 points during that period, instead topping out at 87 in 2016-17. Even before the realignment the Hurricanes hadn’t been finding any success, failing to reach the postseason since 2008-09. It’s been a long run of futility for the franchise, and this year looks like they’ll have another powerhouse division to take on with the Devils, Flyers and Blue Jackets all potentially taking steps forward while the Capitals and Penguins try to continue their dominance.

The other teams in the Hurricanes division aren’t going to get out of their way, meaning the only way to the top for Carolina is by improvement. With new ownership, management and coaching staff in place now is the time to try something different. That’s been shown in plenty of different examples this offseason, including most recently with the trade of scoring winger Jeff Skinner. Skinner was sent to Buffalo (and the Atlantic Division) for a package of picks and prospect Cliff Pu, in order to give the team a different look up front. That trade followed the draft blockbuster that sent Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin out west in exchange for Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland (and the rights to Adam Fox), which certainly shook up the roster construction for new head coach Rod Brind’Amour.

In free agency, Carolina shocked many by signing another defenseman in Calvin de Haan, and brought in Petr Mrazek to compete with Scott Darling for starts in goal. The team also drafted Andrei Svechnikov with the second-overall pick, and could get full-time contributions from prospects like Martin Necas and Janne Kuokkanen.

The question though now remains: did Carolina actually improve this offseason?

Up front the team still doesn’t have the first-line center they’ve been searching for since trading Eric Staal, despite his younger brother Jordan Staal and 25-year old Victor Rask being fine players. With time Necas may become that, but certainly shouldn’t be expected to shoulder that role this season. Even with the added skill of Svechnikov up front, it’s hard to imagine he and Ferland replacing the contributions of Skinner, Lindholm and outgoing free agent Derek Ryan right away. The improvement on defense is real, as Hamilton is close to being an elite offensive defenseman in the NHL and is basically the ceiling of what the team had hoped Hanifin had become. But it’s tough to think that de Haan really pushes the needle given that his addition comes at the expense of Trevor van Riemsdyk and Hayden Fleury’s playing time.

In goal, adding Mrazek doesn’t at all address the situation that they found themselves in last year after Darling struggled. In fact, there’s not much of a reason to believe that Mrzak will perform any better than Cam Ward did. Mrazek has shown potential in the past, but struggled immensely in Philadelphia and has shown real inconsistency in his game.

In aggregate, it doesn’t seem all that clear if the Hurricanes actually improved much this summer. To overcome some of the other teams in the Metro they’ll have to take a big step forward, and if some of their young players struggle there may be tough times coming. Do you think they’ll be able to jump up in the standings and make the playoffs? Or is another disappointing season coming in Carolina? Cast your vote and make sure to explain your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Metropolitan Notes: Dundon, Schneider, Devils Defense, O’Brien

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When Tom Dundon took ownership of the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this year, he said he was going to make changes. Trading one of its top scorers in Jeff Skinner certainly qualifies, but the owner made it clear that it wasn’t even a hard decision to make, according to Chip Alexander and Luke DeCock of the News & Observer.

“It had to be done,” Dundon said Friday. “The consensus in the organization, and it has been for a while, was it was better for all parties. It’s good for him, too.”

The team didn’t get a top return for the 26-year-old who has scored 204 goals for Carolina over the course of eight seasons. He had a no-trade clause and could have chosen to play out his final season in Carolina and then walk away leaving the Hurricanes with nothing to show for him. Instead, Carolina walked away with prospect Cliff Pu and three draft picks, none of which are first-round picks. Buffalo has three of them in 2019.

“This was not money motivated,” Dundon said. “This was simply that we think the team has a better chance to perform at the level we think it can perform at right now.”

  • New Jersey goaltender Cory Schneider isn’t going to be rushed back after undergoing hip surgery this offseason, according to Corey Masisak of The Athletic (subscription required). The 32-year-old goaltender had another turbulent season in which he started the season strong, struggled and then fared well to end the season. He finished the season with a 2.93 GAA and a .907 save percentage in 40 games, his worst season statistically of his career. Masisak says the timetable for Schneider to return remains murky and general manager Ray Shero has commented on Pekka Rinne’s post-surgery success on multiple occasions, suggesting the team will almost certainly be starting the season with Keith Kinkaid as their starter.
  • With four top defenders on their roster, the New Jersey Devils have to choose their new pairings between Sami Vatanen, Will Butcher, Andy Greene and Damon Severson. While the obvious choice might be that Vatanen and Greene should remain together as their shutdown line, Todd Cordell of HockeyBuzz writes that they should look at a different option which would be to match Severson with Greene instead, pointing out that Severson’s numbers alongside Greene have been as good, if not better, than Vatanen’s. That would leave Butcher with Vatanen, which could also provide a solid pairing.
  • Bill Meltzer of NHL.com writes that the Philadelphia Flyers walked away with a good feeling about many of their prospects at the World Junior Summer Showcase today, especially with the success of their 2018 first-round pick Jay O’Brien. The 18-year-old has not had much of an opportunity to play against top competition against his own age, but thrived in the game against Canada where he was named Player of the Game for Team USA after potting two goals and showing a great defensive presence.

Sabres Notes: Botterill, Skinner, Reinhart, Smith, Okposo

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The Buffalo Sabres acquisition of winger Jeff Skinner only suggests to a defeated Buffalo fanbase that the Sabres intend to shake things up and improve on their inability to even reach the playoffs since the 2010-11 season. However, Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News takes it a step further as he suggests that general manager Jason Botterill and the Sabres fleeced the Carolina Hurricanes in their stealing of Skinner and it shows how Buffalo means business.

The key to the deal is the fact that Buffalo didn’t give them anything off their current rosters for a top-line left wing. The only player they did hand over will be playing in the NHL next season. Of the picks that Botterill did give to Carolina, the GM didn’t give up one of the three first-rounders that Buffalo has in the 2019 draft. And for Buffalo, Harrington writes, it’s a no-lose for the Sabres. If Skinner signs a long-term deals, they win. If they trade him at the deadline, they should be able to get a similar return than what they paid for him in the first place.

  • The Athletic’s Jon Vogl (subscription required) writes that Skinner is currently focused on getting integrated in Buffalo and coach Phil Housley’s system and his mind is not on his contract. The 26-year-old has said he is not focused on his contract. “Our focus with Jeff is to make this transition into Buffalo as easy as possible for him,” general manager Jason Botterill said, “for him to get settled in, focused in on the start of the season, go through the process here for him to get to know his teammates, get to know Phil (Housley), get to know myself, and we’ll talk about things such as extensions or contract down the road.”
  • The Athletic’s Joe Yerdon writes that there is little movement on a contract for Sabres’ restricted free agent Sam Reinhart. Botterill said the team would be waiting until all arbitration cases are completed, which suggests that Reinhart and his camp wanted to see how everyone did before agreeing to a new deal. Reinhart is coming off a career-high 25 goals and 50 points.
  • In another Yerdon piece, the scribe writes that the Sabres are expecting a lot of development from their defensemen now that they have assistant coach Steve Smith aboard for this upcoming season. The former Carolina Hurricanes’ assistant is well known for working well with young defensemen including Justin Faulk, Brett Pesce, Jaccob Slavin and Noah Hanifin to name a few. He could have a positive affect on a number of players in Buffalo, including Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Nathan Beaulieu, Marco Scandella and Brendan Guhle.
  • Scott Billeck of NBC Sports writes that this will be a big year for high-priced winger Kyle Okposo to prove himself. After suffering through two major concussions over the past two years, the 30-year-old needs a bounce back season after posting just 34 goals over the past two seasons. He’s likely going to start on the team’s second-line next to rookie center Casey Mittelstadt. However, he must show he can stay healthy to even come close to showing he’s worthy of the $6MM AAV he’s carrying for the next five years.

Snapshots: Faulk, Skinner, Hanifin

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The Carolina Hurricanes traded Jeff Skinner yesterday, and many immediately jumped to a conclusion that they would be dealing Justin Faulk in the coming weeks. Faulk’s name has been listed just behind Skinner’s as potential trade bait for months, and with the extremely deep Carolina blue line there was an assumption someone would have to be moved. That might not necessarily happen just yet, as GM Don Waddell told reporters including Luke DeCock and Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer:

We never said we wanted to trade Justin Faulk. People assumed when we picked up Dougie Hamilton that was the direction we were going to go, but we don’t feel that same way. We feel if we do stay status quo, we’re going to have one of the best defensive corps in the league. Saying that, if some team steps up to the plate for him or another of our players we’re going to continue to look at that.

Faulk has two years left on his current contract and is a talent puck-moving defenseman, but currently projects out as the Hurricanes third option on the right side behind Hamilton and Brett Pesce. While it’s not clear exactly how the team will deploy their big crop of defensemen, with other teams in the league starved for right-handed blue line help you would think some offers have been brought to Waddell already. Interestingly though Waddell revealed that Faulk has a 16-team no-trade clause, something that hadn’t previously been reported.

  • Skinner meanwhile had a conference call of his own today, and explained why he waived his no-movement clause to go to the Buffalo Sabres. Joe Yerdon of The Athletic passes on that Skinner is excited about the young core in Buffalo, and that he’s looking forward to playing with Jack Eichel if he gets the chance. The Hurricanes meanwhile didn’t bring any other offers to him to try to get him to waive his clause, though Waddell told DeCock and Alexander that there was a “very limited” list of teams the young forward would have considered. The Sabres will now get a chance to convince Skinner to re-sign, given that his contract will expire in the summer of 2019.
  • A former Hurricane was the subject of conversation on Sportsnet 960 radio today, when Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving joined The Big Show with Rob Kerr and Pat Steinberg. Treliving said that the team is working with Hanifin on a new contract and that they’re heading in a “positive” direction, admitting that the arbitration cases were their priority for most of the summer. With arbitration finished, the Flames have just Hanifin and Hunter Shinkaruk still to sign as restricted free agents.

Sabres Acquire Jeff Skinner

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The Sabres have added to their forward group, announcing that they have acquired winger Jeff Skinner from Carolina.  In return, the Hurricanes receive prospect winger Cliff Pu, a 2019 second-round pick, a 2020 third-round pick, and a 2020 sixth-rounder.

Skinner spent his entire eight-year career with Carolina and had been one of their more consistent scoring threats during that time.  He had scored at least 20 goals in six of those seasons (and one of the years he didn’t was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign).

He is, however, coming off of bit a quieter year by his standards.  Last season, he played in all 82 games, tallying 24 goals and 25 assists which ranked him fourth in team scoring.  That production was down considerably from 2016-17 when he posted a career-best 63 points.

It was a bit surprising how much the Hurricanes seemed to be interested in moving Skinner but with Don Waddell now at the helm of the franchise instead of former GM Ron Francis who was much more methodical, Carolina has been trying to shake up their roster this summer.  This is the second significant move they’ve made this offseason with the other seeing defenseman Noah Hanifin and forward Elias Lindholm shipped to Calgary for a package highlighted by blueliner Dougie Hamilton.

The Sabres likely will envision their new acquisition playing alongside Jack Eichel on a new-look top line.  Eichel hasn’t had someone like Skinner to play with thus far in his career and the same can be said for Skinner not quite having someone like Eichel as his center.  That combination should have Buffalo fans more enthusiastic heading into the season and if the two click, Skinner should be in line for quite the season as free agency approaches.

Buffalo is taking on Skinner’s full $5.725MM cap hit (with a $6MM salary).  The winger also waived his no-move clause to facilitate a deal, something that Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer reported earlier this week was complicating their efforts to move him.

As for Pu, Carolina is bringing in a quality prospect who has been a productive OHL scorer since being drafted in the third round (69th overall) two years ago.  He split last season between London and Kingston, combining to score 29 goals and 55 assists in 65 games.  Pu is now signed to his entry-level deal and will likely start next season with Charlotte of the AHL.

It will be interesting to see if the Hurricanes look to replace Skinner outside of the organization now that they have some payroll freed up.  Alternatively, they could look to second-overall pick Andrei Svechnikov to step in and play a top-six role right away.  Either way, Carolina is going to look quite different when the puck drops on the new season in October.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Negotiation Notes: Arbitration Hearings, Nylander, Islanders

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Two more players sat down for arbitration hearings today, as Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports that neither the Ottawa Senators and Cody Ceci nor the Dallas Stars and Gemel Smith were able to come to terms beforehand. Both situations bear watching over the next 48 hours, as they must agree to a deal in that window or else get stuck with the arbitrator’s award. Ceci’s case is similar to that of the Winnipeg Jets’ Jacob Trouba, which went through to a decision earlier this off-season. Both Ceci and Trouba filed at a number that shares few reasonable comparisons – Trouba at $7MM and Ceci at $6MM. While Trouba’s side likely tried to use several recent cases of offensive-minded defenseman who settled for $5.5MM and then argue that he is the superior defensive player, Ceci does not have the comparable offense to make as strong a case. As such, he is unlikely to get the $5.5MM award that Trouba landed, the midpoint of his case. Instead, look for Ceci to get somewhere in the $4-4.5MM range. Smith’s is a much different scenario, similar to another previously decided case this summer, that of Calgary Flames defenseman Brett Kulak. In both cases, the team offered only a minimum, two-way contract while the player filed at a higher value for a one-way deal –  Kulak at $1.15MM and Smith at $900K. While Kulak was able to land a $850K one-way deal from the arbitrator, he also played in 71 games in the platform year, while Smith only suited up for 46. Smith faces a far tougher argument that he is a bona fide NHL player at this point in his career.

  • Restricted free agent William Nylander continues to negotiate with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but the explosive young forward is not interested in a short-term bridge deal. Sportsnet’s Luke Fox suggests that Nylander is only talking about a long-term deal right now. While the Leafs might be trying to play it safe, with both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner also in need of extensions next summer (along with the majority of their roster), Nylander doesn’t seem willing to take a bridge deal only to watch his fellow budding stars sign long-term contracts instead. Nylander may have hit restricted free agency earlier than Matthews and Marner, but the trio all have similar games played and points since Nylander only played in 22 games with Toronto in his first season before the other two joined the squad. All three have been remarkably consistent early on and, given their similarities, it is hard to blame Nylander for wanting a long-term deal when he knows that Matthews and Marner are likely to get them.
  • While it makes sense that the New York Islanders have focused on adding forwards and a new goaltender this season, after losing superstar center John Tavares and starting goalie Jaroslav Halak to free agency, Newsday’s Andrew Gross thinks it’s strange that the team has not added to the blue line at all. The team re-signed Thomas Hickey and Ryan Pulock, but have added no one else while losing Calvin de Haan and opting not to bring back Brandon Davidson and Dennis Seidenberg. Gross notes that recently re-signed center Brock Nelson, an impending free agent, could be used as a trade chip to add to a blue line that struggled greatly last season. There are certainly teams out there with a plethora of defensemen who could use Nelson up front. The Carolina Hurricanes, Boston Bruins, and Winnipeg Jets are clubs that fit the bill, but Nelson would not be nearly enough to land a Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, or Jacob Trouba and an expendable piece that he might fetch, like a Trevor van Riemsdyk, Adam McQuaid, or Tucker Poolman might not be enough to fix the Islanders blue line. New York may have to up the ante beyond Nelson to land a difference-maker on the back end.

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