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Alex Nylander Undergoes Knee Surgery

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The Chicago Blackhawks will be without Alex Nylander for the next while, announcing today that the young forward underwent surgery Monday on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus and will be out for four to six months. Nylander was originally injured in the playoffs but decided to try and rest and rehab it initially. Symptoms returned recently and the decision for surgery was made.

This is a worst-case scenario for the 22-year-old Nylander who still hasn’t come close to fulfilling the potential that made him the eighth-overall pick in 2016. That pick was made by the Buffalo Sabres, who cut bait on the disappointing forward in 2019 by sending him to the Blackhawks in exchange for Henri Jokiharju. In his first year in Chicago, Nylander played in 65 games but managed just ten goals and 26 points before going scoreless in eight postseason contests.

For a player that is consistently compared to his brother William Nylander who was also an eighth-overall pick but just had a 31-goal season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, losing an entire season due to injury will do nothing to remove the “bust” tag that some have already placed on him. Not only are his days as a top prospect are gone—he’ll be 23 by the time he has recovered—but Alex Nylander will need to fight for his future in Chicago. His entry-level contract will expire after this season, leaving him a restricted free agent without much leverage or arbitration eligibility.

Minor Transactions: 12/21/20

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The countdown has begun to the start of the NHL season and as expected there is no shortage of moves being made in response. Combine a slew of recalls from loans with the usual moves from the junior, collegiate, and European levels and there was plenty going on across the hockey world on Monday:

  • The Chicago Blackhawks have recalled Pius Suter from Switzerland’s ZSC Lions, the club announced. Suter was signed as a free agent by the Blackhawks this summer after a career year in the NLA. The Swiss forward stayed home when the NHL season was delayed but is finally ready to make his move to Chicago to show that he has what it takes to play in the NHL. The Blackhawks also recalled Swiss prospect Philipp Kurashev from the NLA’s HC Lugano. Kurashev played well in his first AHL season, but Chicago hopes the dynamic forward can take another step forward this year.
  • The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled a recent free agent addition of their own in Radim Zohorna. The big power forward had returned to his Czech club, BK Mlada Boleslav, while awaiting the NHL season but will now report to Penguins camp, the team announced. Zohorna faces an uphill battle to crack the NHL roster but the Penguins are excited to see what he can do in the AHL.
  • After returning to his former KHL club Dinamo Minsk on loan, Yegor Sharangovich has been recalled by the New Jersey Devils, the team announced. The young forward has played well in the AHL over the past two seasons, but took his game to a new level during his brief stay in Belarus. The Devils hope that is the game that will show up in training camp and at whichever level Sharangovich ends up this season.
  • Goaltender Jacob Ingham’s stint in the ECHL didn’t last long, as the league’s transactions indicate that he has been recalled by the Los Angeles Kings after two games with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. Ingham didn’t exactly impress in the minors either, but he is still a top prospect who will look to impress in training camp and win the top role in the AHL this season.
  • Forward Max Veronneau will not be among the second wave of NHL free agent signings. After just one season in the NHL with the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, the Princeton product has signed in Sweden. The SHL’s IK Oskarshamn has announced a one-year deal with the skilled forward, who seemingly feels he has a better chance of impressing future NHL suitors overseas than with a season in the AHL.
  • QMJHL standout Nathan Legare, a prospect of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is on the move. On the first day that the QMJHL has re-opened trading, Baie-Comeau Drakkar has traded their captain and last season’s leading scorer to the Val-d’Or Foreurs. It’s a hefty return for the prized prospect: a future first-, third-, and a trio of fourth-round picks, as well as rookie forward Justin Sullivan. 
  • The fallout of the Ivy League’s cancelled winter season extends beyond just this year. Ivy League schools do not use graduate student-athletes, meaning current seniors missing their seasons cannot use their fifth and final year of NCAA eligibility at their current schools. UMass has reaped the benefits with a pair of additions today, as Cornell’s Cam Donaldson and Dartmouth’s Matthew Baker have committed to transferring to Amherst next year, reports Jeff Cox of the New England Hockey Journal.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Chicago Blackhawks

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Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM.  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 2020-21 season.  This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL.  All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Chicago Blackhawks

Current Cap Hit: $74,286,313 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Ian Mitchell (three years, $925K)
F Kirby Dach (two years, $925K)
F Pius Suter (one year, $925K)
D Adam Boqvist (two years, $894K)
F Alexander Nylander (one year, $863K)
D Lucas Carlsson (one year, $792K)

Potential Bonuses
Dach: $2.5MM
Mitchell: $850K
Suter: $850K
Boqvist: $850K
Nylander: $850K
Carlson: $83K

One of the biggest positives is the Blackhawks have accumulated quite a bit of talent on entry-level deals and most of them will be on entry-level deals for at least two years, giving Chicago some cheap, but highly productive players on their roster, something they need with their core being both expensive and aging. Dach has been the biggest revelation as the forward was an afterthought after being drafted third-overall in the 2019 draft behind Jack Hughes and Kappo Kakko, but Dach put up identical numbers in his first NHL season to those two, scoring eight goals and 23 points last season. Hughes (21 points) and Kaako (23 points) did not play in the playoffs, but Dach established himself as a top-six center during that time, posting six points in nine playoff games and could be in for a big year.

With the defense in flux, the Blackhawks will have to hope that some of their young blueliners are ready to take that next step. Boqvist established himself last year with 13 points in 41 games and could be ready for a full-time role in the top four. Next is Mitchell, fresh from a dominant three-year stint at the University of Denver, who is expected to step right in and contribute. Carlsson is another blueliner who stepped in last year and could help out at the back end of the defensive lineup.

The team brought in Suter from Switzerland after a breakout season in the Swiss League where he posted 30 goals and 53 points in 50 games there. The 24-year-old is likely to earn a potential middle-six role in his first season in Chicago. Nylander will be one of the biggest question marks this season. The 22-year-old has struggled to establish himself as a top prospect after being the eighth-overall pick in 2016 by Buffalo and while he scored 10 goals in his first full season in the NHL with the Blackhawks, he went scoreless in eight playoff games and will have to prove he is an up-and-coming player.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Zack Smith ($3.25MM, UFA)
D Nikita Zadorov ($3.2MM, RFA)
F Mattias Janmark ($2.25MM, UFA)
F David Kampf ($1MM, RFA)
F Lucas Wallmark ($950K, RFA)
D Nick Seeler ($725K, UFA)

The Blackhawks do have one decent-sized contract coming off the books in a year with Smith, who struggled putting up numbers in his first year in Chicago last year, scoring four goals and 11 points in 50 games and likely will be let go in a year. Janmark and Wallmark were given a one-year deal and will have to prove that they are worth bringing back on longer contracts. Kampf, who put up a career-high eight goals and provides solid defense, is another RFA who should earn a new contract.

Zadorov is an interesting addition. Acquired in a deal for Brandon Saad, the 6-foot-6 blueliner should add much needed size, grit and physicality to a defense that needs it, but will also need to be locked up in a year. After struggling to establish consistent playing time in Colorado, Zadorov could get quite a bit more playing time and could have a career season in Chicago.

Two Years Remaining

D Calvin de Haan ($4.55MM, UFA)
F Andrew Shaw ($3.9MM, UFA)
D Connor Murphy ($3.85MM, UFA)
F Dominik Kubalik ($3.7MM, RFA)
F Ryan Carpenter ($1MM, UFA)
G Collin Delia ($1MM, UFA)
G Malcolm Subban ($850K, UFA)
F Matthew Highmore ($725K, RFA)

De Haan and Murphy are two veteran blueliners who should fill in the top-four on defense, but if they can get something out of some of their young players, could be expendable and possibly moved at the trade deadline if either can produce. De Haan is coming off a 29-game season as he has been riddled with injuries, but is expected to be healthy and can be quite an impressive defenseman when healthy. The defensive-first Murphy posted a career-high 19 points last year and should be a fixture in their defense.

Kubalik was a big addition last year, putting up 30 goals and 46 points in his rookie campaign. The 25-year-old should continue to put up big numbers and is just another young player who has helped reshape the Blackhawks quick rebuild. If he continues his scoring ways, he will likely require an expensive long-term deal to retain him. Shaw is another player who must take his game to another level and prove his value.

The goaltending situation will also be interesting to watch. The team wants to see what it has in Delia and Subban. If one of the two succeeds, then they will be guaranteed a bigger deal, but neither has much experience at the NHL level and neither has ever been a starter in the NHL.

Three Years Remaining

F Patrick Kane ($10.5MM, UFA)
F Jonathan Toews ($10.5MM, UFA)
D Duncan Keith ($5.54MM, UFA)
F Alex DeBrincat ($6.4MM, RFA)

The huge overwhelming contracts of the former Stanley Cup core are suddenly down to a manageable three years and Kane, Toews and Keith (both 32) are aging reasonably well. Kane tallied 33 goals and 84 points in 70 games last year, making his contract quite palatable. Toews did see a decline in his production, going from 35 goals to just 18 goals last year. Yet Toews still posted 60 points in 70 games. The Blackhawks have to hope he can bounce back to his usual standards, otherwise the next three years will be challenging. Keith, on the other hand, is 37 years old now, meaning his contract won’t run out until he is 40 years old. However, the defenseman is still a solid player on the team’s blueline even if his offense is starting to decline.

The team also has high hopes for DeBrincat, who had a down year in 2019-20. He scored 28 goals in his rookie campaign, 40 goals in 2018-19, but struggled last year with just 18 goals and 45 points. Chicago will also have to hope that the five-foot-seven forward can find his scoring touch for this coming season.

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Snapshots: Strome, Hallander, NHLPA Update

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The last few days have come with a few new contracts in the NHL, with restricted free agents like Justin Bailey and Oliver Kylington inking new two-way deals. We’re still waiting on the big RFA dominoes to fall though, with one of those being Chicago Blackhawks forward Dylan Strome who remains unsigned. This morning, Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman told reporters including Brandon Cain of NHL.com that the team has had conversations with Strome’s representatives and is optimistic something will get done, but couldn’t provide any timeline on the process.

Strome, 23, was included in our look at the mid-tier restricted free agents still waiting on contracts, but for Chicago, he’s all that really matters right now. The team’s roster appears largely set for the upcoming season, given that Strome’s eventual deal will likely eat up a good chunk of the remaining cap space. The young forward hasn’t lived up to the third-overall pick that Arizona used on him in the 2015 draft but does have 89 points in 106 games since coming to Chicago. As the team inevitably moves away from aging franchise icons like Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane over the next few years, a player like Strome could step up and be a leader for the Blackhawks.

  • When the Toronto Maple Leafs dealt Kasperi Kapanen to the Pittsburgh Penguins, much of the focus was on the first-round pick coming the other way. The Maple Leafs actually acquired another piece in that deal though, 20-year-old center Filip Hallander, who had been drafted in the second round in 2018. Hallander was expected to come to North America this winter to take part in training camp with Toronto but is now going to stay in Sweden where he plays for Lulea HF in the SHL. Hallander has 10 points in 21 games this season and is an intriguing prospect for the Maple Leafs, whose system didn’t have much center depth beyond the NHL.
  • In his daily update, Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweeted this morning that there is a call scheduled for this evening between the executive board of the NHLPA to update the player reps on where things stand. LeBrun does not expect the call to include a vote as the documentation for the upcoming season is not yet completed. While there seemed like some momentum for things to be finalized this weekend, it does not appear as that will happen tonight.

Kirby Dach Named Team Canada Captain

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Though it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, Kirby Dach was officially named team captain today for Canada at the World Junior Championship. The Chicago Blackhawks forward has a full NHL season under his belt and is expected to be one of the most effective players in the entire tournament. He’ll be joined in the leadership group by Dylan Cozens and Bowen Byram, who have both been named alternate captains for the event.

The captaincy is often given to a returning player, but Dach actually didn’t get to play for Canada last year because he was too busy with the Blackhawks. The 19-year-old forward was picked third overall in 2019 and stepped nearly directly into the NHL, scoring 23 points in 64 games with Chicago. His play in the postseason bubble was even more impressive when he was one of the most dangerous players on the ice for the Blackhawks and recorded six points in nine games.

Cozens meanwhile returns to the WJC after dominating a year ago, scoring nine points in seven games for Canada to help them win the gold medal. The Buffalo Sabres prospect trailed only Alexis Lafreniere and then-captain Barrett Hayton in scoring for the team and should be another top player for Canada this year. An absolute freight train when he gets up to full speed, Cozens’ size, skating ability, and reach make him an incredibly difficult player to contain.

Byram will wear an “A” and likely anchor the top pairing for Canada after playing a lesser role last year at the tournament. The fourth-overall pick from 2019 has almost limitless upside at the offensive end and should be a big part of Canada’s quick transition game. Another excellent young defenseman in the Colorado Avalanche system, this WJC could certainly be his coming out party in front of the rest of the hockey world.

Snapshots: Lindblom, Zadina, Saarela

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One year after being diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer, Philadelphia Flyers forward Oskar Lindblom is still cancer-free. The young man had his second checkup and scans were clear, according to his girlfriend on Instagram. The news received an outpouring of congratulations from all over the hockey world as teammates, opponents, and fans all want to see Lindblom back on the ice.

The 24-year-old forward was off to a blistering start in 2019-20 before his diagnosis, scoring 11 goals and 18 points in the first 30 games of the season. To the surprise of many, he made an emotional return for the Flyers in the postseason bubble, playing in two games during their second-round series against the New York Islanders. One of the most natural goal-scorers on the Flyers roster, his return should give the team quite a boost this season should his health remain intact and his play goes back to previous levels. From everyone here at PHR, congrats Oskar!

  • Filip Zadina is on his way back to Detroit to join the Red Wings for training camp, leaving HC Ocelari Trinec after scoring 14 points in 17 games in the Czech Republic. The 21-year-old forward hasn’t yet made his mark at the NHL level but should have an inside track for a roster spot this year. In 37 games with the Red Wings, Zadina has nine goals and 18 points.
  • Chicago Blackhawks fourth-round pick Antti Saarela won’t be coming to North America for a while yet after his club team exercised an option year for 2021-22. The 19-year-old forward still has a lot of development to do anyway, so staying in Europe another year probably isn’t very upsetting for the Blackhawks anyway. He has shown improvement this year though, scoring ten points in 17 games, nearly reaching his total from last season already.

Chicago Blackhawks Reorganize Front Office

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The Chicago Blackhawks have announced a reorganization at the very top of their front office, naming Danny Wirtz CEO, hiring Jaime Faulkner as President of Business Operations, and elevating Stan Bowman to President of Hockey Operations and General Manager. These moves follow the removal of John McDonough earlier this year, after which Wirtz served for a time as interim president.

Bowman will continue to oversee the entire hockey operations department and serve as general manager, while Faulkner will take over the business side and focus on fan experience. She will also represent the Blackhawks as an alternate governor. Wirtz explained exactly why he sees the two as a good pair to lead the Blackhawks:

Jaime and Stan bring a modern leadership style that embodies the approach needed to evolve in these dynamic times, continuing to elevate the Blackhawks to elite levels on and off the ice. I look forward to partnering with them and watching them work together with our on and off ice teams to achieve our collective goals. Both with backgrounds in data and analytics, Jaime and Stan are a dynamic duo whose partnership will trickle down to everything in our organization from on-ice hockey strategy to the fan experience at the United Center and beyond.

McDonough, who had served as president for the Blackhawks since 2007, was released in April. At the time, questions were raised about the future of Bowman, who had been hired by McDonough in 2009 and backed even when the Blackhawks’ on-ice performance started to waver. With this new appointment, it seems as though Wirtz—who happens to be the son of team owner Rocky Wirtz—has continued confidence in Bowman as the leader of the team’s hockey operations.

Blackhawks Recall Brandon Hagel

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Brandon Hagel’s time in the Swiss NLA has come to an end as NHL.com’s Brandon Cain notes (Twitter link) that the Blackhawks have recalled the winger from HC Thurgau.  He is expected to spend the holiday season back home before making the trip to Chicago for training camp as things stand.

The 22-year-old opted to head overseas back in late September and it certainly was a good decision as he picked up eight goals and seven assists in 14 games to put him second on the team in scoring.  It’s a step up offensively from his production in the minors last season (in terms of points per game) when he had 19 goals and 12 assists in 59 games with AHL Rockford.  He did well enough to earn one game with the big club right before the pandemic shut down the rest of the season.

Hagel will soon head to training camp with an eye on trying to earn one of the final spots on the roster but at this point, it seems more likely that he’ll wind up back with the IceHogs or perhaps on the taxi squad if those plans get finalized.  He’s entering the final year of his entry-level contract so a lot will be at stake in this shortened season.

What Your Team Is Thankful For: Chicago Blackhawks

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We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.

What are the Blackhawks most thankful for?

The World Junior Championship.

Kirby Dach isn’t a junior player anymore. In fact, he’s barely a prospect at this point, after playing in 64 regular season games and then being one of the Blackhawks’ best players in the postseason. He’ll almost certainly be part of the team’s NHL roster whenever the upcoming season starts. Despite all that, Dach is about to play against the best junior-aged players in the world. The 19-year-old was loaned to Team Canada’s month-long selection camp and is expected to play in the upcoming tournament unless it somehow gets in the way of the NHL season (which appears very unlikely at this point).

Dach didn’t get to play at the WJC last year, he was too busy suiting up for the Blackhawks. It’s not often that a player gets to go back to the tournament after missing it for professional action, but that’s exactly what the Blackhawks chose for Dach while he and the rest of the NHL players wait around for a season that is still uncertain. There’s a very real chance that the young forward is the best player in the tournament, given his experience and success at the highest level. But even if he isn’t, Dach will certainly be able to shake off any offseason rust and should be ready to fire as soon as NHL games start.

Who are the Blackhawks most thankful for?

Dominik Kubalik.

Players like Dach and Adam Boqvist may be the next generation of stars for the Blackhawks, but both cost high picks to bring in (third overall for Dach, eighth for Boqvist). Kubalik on the other hand was just a forgotten seventh-round pick by the Los Angeles Kings that Chicago managed to acquire for a fifth in 2019. He wasn’t even signed at that point and it certainly wasn’t clear that he would be a difference-maker at the NHL level.

But a difference-maker he is. Kubalik burst onto the scene with 30 goals in his rookie season, earning himself a third-place finish in the Calder Trophy voting behind Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes. He was another one of the success stories in the postseason for the Blackhawks with eight points in nine games and earned himself a new two-year contract this fall. If the Blackhawks have any chance of competing in the next few years, it will be because of savvy additions like Kubalik, who cost almost nothing and has now become one of the team’s most important players.

What would the Blackhawks be even more thankful for?

Breakout goaltending.

No one believed the Blackhawks would go with a tandem of Collin Delia and Malcolm Subban in net, but that is what it appears will happen whenever this season begins. Both players have shown flashes of potential, with Subban even a first-round pick in 2012, but neither has had any sort of sustained success at the NHL level. If the playoffs are a realistic target and there isn’t any help coming, the Blackhawks desperately need one of the two to take control of the net and become the kind of mid-career breakout goaltender that Jordan Binnington was for the St. Louis Blues was in 2018-19.

What should be on the Blackhawks’ holiday wish list?

More young defense.

The Blackhawks have a bunch of talented defense prospects, between Boqvist, Ian Mitchell, Alec Regula, Nicolas Beaudin, and others. But there’s no guarantee that any of them realize their potential at the NHL level and with the legendary duo of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook clearly on their way out, new leaders will have to step up.

In 2019, Chicago traded away Henri Jokiharju in exchange for Alexander Nylander, moving some of their prospect capital from defense to forward. If any of those young defenders bust, that move could be regretted for years. It’s not necessarily more lottery tickets that they should add, but young players that are a little more established to fill out the depth chart.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Dylan Strome Contract Talks Likely To Be Stalled Due To Agent Change

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  • Blackhawks center Dylan Strome could see his negotiations delayed following the departure of his agent Mark Guy, suggests Ben Pope of the Chicago-Sun Times. Guy has left Newport Sports Management after spending more than 20 years there to move to the auto industry.  Both GM Stan Bowman and head coach Jeremy Colliton have indicated a willingness to re-sign Strome but until the restricted free agent finds new representation, those talks will probably have to be shelved for the time being.

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