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Snapshots: Russell, Vesey, Forsling

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After rumors swirled the past two days indicating that the Maple Leafs had offered a contract to free agent defenseman Kris Russell, agent Allain Roy took to Twitter to set the record straight:  “Reports of Kris Russell turning down any offer from the Maple Leafs are false. Simply rumors…”  The former member of the Dallas Stars is still available as of Sunday evening, and ranked 12th on our Top 50 UFA list last month.  Here is some more news from around the league:

Central Notes: Blackhawks, Blues, Stars, Wild

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The Chicago Blackhawks welcomed Brian Campbell back into the fold with a one-year, $2MM deal on Friday. Hawks beat writer Chris Kuc writes that not only does the decision strengthen the Blackhawks top four defensemen, but that it brings back a player who always wanted to return. The signing was lauded by Blackhawk superstars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, and was a move that general manager Stan Bowman made for a defenseman he feels has an “underrated” game. In 2015-16, Campbell was a +31 and registered 31 points (6-25).

  • The St. Louis Blues are grappling with the loss of two major leaders in their locker room writes Jeremy Rutherford. When David Backes signed with Boston and Troy Brouwer headed to Calgary, Rutherford reports that the roster is a far cry from the one that propelled the Blues to a Western Conference Final trip in 2016. The Blues will also have to name a new captain for the first time since 2011, and general manager Doug Armstrong said that the term Backes was looking for served as a pause for his re-signing. On Brouwer, Rutherford writes that Armstrong countered with what he thought was a strong deal, but at the end of the day, the winger decided on Calgary’s offer instead.
  • Yahoo’s Greg Wyshynski writes that Dallas’ signing of defenseman Dan Hamhuis was “genius.” Wyshynski notes that the term and amount (two-year, $3.75MM) is a bargain for a defenseman the Stars wanted to acquire at the trade deadline.  Mike Heika reports that the Stars got the man that is the best fit for their team, and also at a price and term that is very flexible. Heika sees Hamhuis as a natural pairing with Stars youngster John Klingberg for bench boss Lindy Ruff.
  • The Star Tribune’s Michael Russo reports on what the Wild could look like on the ice next season. Russo pencils newly acquired Eric Staal in the middle with Zach Parise at left wing and also indicates that the Wild are talking with free agent Matt Cullen, who is fresh off a Stanley Cup win with the Penguins. Russo adds that Cullen’s intrigue with the Wild would be that close friend Staal signed yesterday.

Flyers Ink Weise To Four-Year Deal

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TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that the Philadelphia Flyers have signed Dale Weise to a four-year, $9.4MM deal. The Broad Street Bullies bring in one of the league’s best grinders who is coming off his best offensive season.

Weise, 27, was traded last season from Montreal to Chicago, where he found himself struggle on the talented Blackhawks squad and only see about nine minutes of ice time a night. Scoring 14 goals and 27 points in Montreal, the winger added only a single regular season point in 15 games for the Hawks.

He’ll head to a Flyers team looking for some grit in their bottom six, as the team already has a ton of offensive skill up front. With Wiese, they’ll get a solid defensive player who will chip in offensively every now and again and can move up to the second line in a pinch.

Campbell Returns To Chicago

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After five seasons with the Florida Panthers, defenseman Brian Campbell will reportedly sign with the Chicago Blackhawks, the team with which he played for from 2008 to 2011 and helped to lead to the 2010 Stanley Cup championship.

Ironically, Campbell signed his last contract with the Blackhawks, an eight-year $57MM deal on this day in 2008, but he was traded to Florida in June of 2011 to serve out the remainder of that mammoth contract. Now that it has expired, Campbell will sign quite a different deal with Chicago, as John Shannon of Sportsnet first reported that the opening of free agency will make official a one-year, $2MM contract for Campbell, who is likely looking for another championship with the talented, but cash-strapped Blackhawks.  Campbell is also eligible for performance incentives on a one year deal.

Last season, Campbell played in all 82 games with Florida, scoring six goals and 25 assists.  He also added an assist in six postseason contests.  In his career, he has played in 1,002 games , scoring 82 goals and adding 405 assists.

Yesterday, Campbell indicated that his preference was to rejoin the Hawks and that he would be willing to take a cheaper deal to get it done to help accommodate Chicago’s cap concerns.

 

The Latest On Brian Campbell

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Brian Campbell will be one of the top defensemen on the UFA market on Friday.  He has already indicated to Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune that he is “totally fine” with signing a one year contract which, at 37 years of age, isn’t a big surprise.

Campbell told Kuc in a separate article that there are two key elements to his wish list: He’d like to go to a winning team and to a place where he wants to go.  A combination of those two has Chicago at the top of his list.  When asked about rejoining his former team, Campbell had the following to say:

“I’m hopeful.  A lot of people know it’s my No. 1 place I’d like to play. So I’ll wait and see and hopefully it all works out.”

Finding the right fit financially with the Blackhawks may be a bit of a challenge though.  Chicago has just over $5MM in cap space and only 19 players under contract.  Campbell told Kuc he’s willing to take a discount to go to the Hawks but how much of one remains to be seen.  There’s no doubt he’ll take a reduction from the more than $7.1MM he earned each of the last seven years but is there an amount that works for both sides?

Fortunately for Chicago, Campbell is eligible for a bonus-laden contract.  That would potentially allow them to give him a smaller base salary with some reachable incentives that could be charged against the 2017-18 salary cap.  While that would create challenges for next season’s salary cap situation, it would allow them to add Campbell now who would give them a legitimate top four blueliner to round out their back end.

Campbell ranks 14th on PHR’s Top 50 UFA list with a projected contract of a $3.5MM base salary and another $1.5MM in incentives.  If Chicago wants to work Campbell under their cap this season, he may have to take a lot less of a base salary and more performance incentives.

Chicago Re-Signs Michal Rozsival And Brandon Mashinter

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The Blackhawks announced a pair of signings late Thursday morning.  They’ve inked D Michal Rozsival and LW Brandon Mashinter to one year contracts.  Pierre LeBrun of ESPN/TSN reports that Rozsival will earn $600K and Mashinter $575K.  Both amounts are identical to what each player earned in 2015-16.

The 37 year old Rozsival played in 51 games with Chicago last season, picking up a goal and 12 assists in a #6/7 defenseman role, a spot he’ll likely hold on the depth chart again in 2016-17.  The 15 year veteran has played in 941 career NHL games between the Penguins, Rangers, Coyotes, and Blackhawks, recording 67 goals and 239 assists.  He averaged 16:09 per game in ice time last year.

Mashinter split last season between the Blackhawks and their AHL affiliate in Rockford.  In 41 NHL games, he picked up four goals and an assist while playing 7:29 per game.  He also added seven points (4-3-7) in 12 AHL contests.  Prior to last season, Mashinter had been held pointless in his previous 20 NHL games.  He will likely serve as a depth forward for the Blackhawks next year.

Full List of Players Who Did Not Receive a Qualifying Offer

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The deadline to make a qualifying offer to a restrict free agent ended at 5pm today. Below is a list of players who did not receive an offer and sorted by team for easy reference. Any player that did not receive a qualifying offer is eligible to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

(as of writing the Toronto Maple Leafs were the only team not to confirm which players received QOs)

Anaheim Ducks

F Matt Bailey, F Brandon Pirri, F Charles Sarault, D Kevin Gagne, and D Martin Gernat.

Arizona Coyotes

F Sergei Plotnikov, , D Philip Samuelsson, F Christian Thomas, D Kevin Connauton, D Jarred Tinordi, D Klas Dahlbeck, and G Niklas Treutle

Boston Bruins

F Landon Ferraro and F Brett Connolly.

Buffalo Sabres

F Alex Guptill, F Colin Jacobs, F Jack Nevins, and Nathan Lieuwen.

Calgary Flames

F Kenny Agostino, F Bill Arnold, F Joe Colborne, F Turner Elson, F Josh Jooris, F Drew Shore, F Bryce Van Brabant, G Joni Ortio, and Kevin Poulin.

Carolina Hurricanes

F Zach Boychuk, F Anthony Camara, F Dane Fox, F Carter Sandlak, F Justin Shugg, D Danny Biega, D Michal Jordan, D Rasmus Rissanen, and G Rasmus Tirronen.

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Snapshots: Blackhawks, Lightning, Vanek, Higgins

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The Blackhawks may no longer be in salary cap hell, but they are certainly thinner up front writes the Chicago Sun-Times Mark Lazerus. With Andrew Shaw being dealt to Montreal, both Bryan Bickell and Teuvo Teravainen off to Carolina, and Andrew Ladd hitting free agency, the Hawks have a number of open spots to shore up. While Chicago can now collectively breathe under the repressive Cap that has had them selling off parts since the summer of 2010, the casualties have come in the way of losing skill players. Lazerus has the Blackhawks possibly bringing back Brian Campbell, who could carry a $2MM/yr cap hit. Meanwhile, the bottom six forwards would look very different than the pedigree most Hawks fans are accustomed to. Lazerus lists Dale Weise and Tomas Fleischmann as potential candidates to return, while naming P.A. Parenteau or Sam Gagner as possible options to add in free agency.

In other league news:

  • The Lightning have tendered qualifying offers to Yanni Gourde, Kristers Gudlevskis, Alex Killorn, Nikita Kucherov, Tye McGinn, Vladislav Namestnikov, and Nikita Nesterov tweets Erik Eriendsson. In the meantime, general manager Steve Yzerman has a number of decisions to make as the free agency window opens on Friday. Steven Stamkos is still the top priority as teams are lining up to make their pitch. But the equally intriguing angle is what to do with goaltender Ben Bishop. Entering the final year of a contract with a $5.95MM cap hit, Bishop was reportedly working on contract specifics after the Flames were given permission to do so. That was scrapped as soon as the Flames acquired Brian Elliott from the Blues.
  • Jason Brough reports that both the Canucks and Rangers may have interest in free agent Thomas Vanek. Though Vanek would be a backup plan to the higher tier free agents, namely Milan Lucic and Loui Eriksson, he could be a decent pickup at a reasonable price for both teams seeking scoring help. Vanek had 41 points (18-23) and will see a much lower offer than the three-year/$19.5MM offer he received from Minnesota, who bought him out last week.
  • Elliotte Friedman tweets that Canucks winger Chris Higgins was placed on waivers for the purposes of being bought out. According to CapFriendly, the cap hit would be $833,333 through the 2017-18 season. CBS Sports listed Higgins as one of their buyout candidates, and the Vancouver Sun reported the Canucks actively shopping Higgins back in January. Higgins had 4 points (3-1) in 33 games last season.

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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Canadiens Acquire Shaw, Draft Picks In Separate Deals

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The Canadiens acquired forward Andrew Shaw from the Chicago Blackhawks for two second round picks (39th and 45th overall).

The move doesn’t come as a huge surprise as Shaw was apparently asking for $4.5MM and the Blackhawks didn’t have the salary cap room to add that as a deal. The Canadiens get a rugged, 20-goal scorer in Shaw while the Blackhawks get more cap relief and a couple high second round picks.

In another move, the Canadiens dealt Lars Eller to Washington for second round picks in 2017 and 2018.

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