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Team Canada Announces Roster For Hlinka-Gretzky Cup

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One of the tournaments that has a huge impact on draft position is the Hlinka-Gretzky Cup, held each year in August for the best U18 players in the world. Many of these players will be eligible for selection in the following draft, though some are even younger than that. It gives many fans a first chance to see some of the top stars that they’ll hear about for the coming season and an inside look at the prizes they’re competing for in the first round.

Today, Hockey Canada released its 22-player roster for the tournament, which starts on August 5th in the Czech Republic. Among the names are some spectacular talents, including Quinton Byfield who took home the 2019 CHL Rookie of the Year award and is projected to go very near the top of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Plenty of other talent like Cole Perfetti, Hendrix Lapierre and Jamie Drysdale have made the team, giving Canada a very exciting crop to keep an eye on.

Below is the full roster:

F Theo Rochette
F Ozzy Wiesblatt
F Justin Sourdif
F Jean-Luc Foudy
F Ridly Greig
F Connor McClennon
F Will Cuylle
F Hendrix Lapierre
F Quinton Byfield
F Jake Neighbours
F Cole Perfetti
F Mavrik Bourque
F Seth Jarvis

D Daemon Hunt
D Lukas Cormier
D Jamie Drysdale
D Jeremie Poirier
D Kaiden Guhle
D Donovan Sebrango
D Ryan O’Rourke

G Tristan Lennox
G Dylan Garand

Snapshots: Hughes, MacKenzie, Dwyer

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Jack Hughes hasn’t played a game in the NHL and Quinn Hughes has played just five, but already some are looking ahead to another member of the family. Young Luke Hughes, a 15-year old defenseman who will join the USNTDP next season is on the radar as a potential top pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and was recently profiled by Ryan Dixon of Sportsnet.

Hughes has the same exceptional skating ability as his older brothers, but already stands 5’11” and has plenty of time to grow. Even if he never becomes a hulking defenseman there seems to be a good chance the trio will all be in the NHL at the same time down the road. The young prospect is currently committed to the University of Michigan for 2021-22, the same school that Quinn went to for two seasons before signing his entry-level deal with the Vancouver Canucks a few months ago.

  • The CHL has hired former NBA executive Dan MacKenzie as the league’s first full-time president, responsible for growing the junior leagues and “enhancing the player and fan experience.” All three commissioners—David Branch of the OHL, Gilles Courteau of the QMJHL and Ron Robison of the WHL—will stay in their current positions and work with MacKenzie, who has spent the last eight years as managing director of NBA Canada.
  • The Carolina Hurricanes have hired Patrick Dwyer as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Checkers. Dwyer only just finished his playing career after suiting up for a season with the Belfast Giants, but is very familiar with the Hurricanes organization. The 36-year old played 416 NHL games, all with Carolina and recorded 93 points. He’ll join new Checkers head coach Ryan Warsofsky in trying to replace the success delivered by Mike Vellucci before he left for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization earlier this summer.

Snapshots: Dahlen, Teply, Boston University

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Many believe that talented, but under-performing forward Jonathan Dahlen may be primed for a breakout year in 2019-20, beginning his first full season with the San Jose Sharks. Dahlen, 21, was acquired by the Sharks at the trade deadline in a swap with the Vancouver Canucks for fellow Swedish forward prospect Linus Karlsson. Dahlen had failed to do enough in the AHL to earn a call-up to the Canucks in his first season in North America, but after a four-point outburst in the final seven games of the regular season with AHL San Jose, many felt a change of scenery could be all he needed to battle for an NHL spot this upcoming season. However, Dahlen may not break camp with the Sharks this fall because he may not even be in camp. Swedish news source Hockey Sverige reports that Dahlen is expected to return to his former club, Timra IK. Dahlen is in the final year of his entry-level contract, but that deal does include a European Assignment Clause, which allows Dahlen to play in Europe if he does not make the NHL club. The fact that this information has been leaked so early before training camp likely indicates that Dahlen either believes or knows that he won’t be playing for the Sharks in 2019-20 and would prefer to return home to Sweden rather than suit up for the Barracuda. Dahlen exercised his European Assignment Clause in the first year of his ELC, playing for Timra rather than the AHL’s Utica Comets. After a season in Utica last year that left a lot to be desired, Dahlen is likely eager to get back to his roots, especially since Timra has been promoted to the SHL from the minor league Allsvenskan since the last time he played there. If Dahlen does indeed jump overseas next season, it doesn’t mean his career with San Jose is over. The Sharks would merely need to make him a qualifying offer next season to retain his rights moving forward, should he re-discover his game and try again to make it in the NHL.

  • One player making the reverse move, going from Europe to North America, is Chicago Blackhawks prospect Michal Teply. Teply played professionally in his native Czech Republic last season, but is ready to return to the junior ranks. After being selected No. 4 overall in the recent CHL Import Draft, Teply has delivered on the pick used by the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice, as the team announced he has signed. The Ice, who are moving from Kootenay to Winnipeg and looking for a fresh start after a second-to-last league finish, are likely to see immediate results from Teply. A big winger who uses his size well to create space and make plays, many were surprised that Teply fell into the fourth round for the Blackhawks. In fact, there was a consensus among the top scouting services that Teply was a surefire second- or third-round pick. From fourth round to fourth overall, Winnipeg still may have found a steal in Teply, as the skilled forward has already proven he can compete with men at the pro level and could be in for breakout year against junior competition.
  • Boston University has found its new starting goaltender via transfer. The program has announced that a pair of graduate transfers have joined the team in Alex Brink and Sam Tucker. While Brink was a nice piece as a depth forward at Brown University, Tucker is the big news. The 23-year-old keeper split starts in net for Yale University over the past three seasons, including leading the team in appearances in each of the past two years, and his numbers took a sharp upturn in 2018-19. He now joins an elite NCAA program in BU where superior defense and possession ability should allow him to excel even more. After losing Jake Oettinger to the pros, it was looking like the Terriers were going to enter next season with untested Vinnie Purpura in net, but Purpura can take another year to continue developing while Tucker presumably takes over the starter role. Brink and Tucker join a new group of players that is arguably the best recruiting class in the nation, helping to make up for an exodus of nearly a third of last year’s roster to the pros.

Snapshots: Maroon, Rantanen, Ryczek, Puutio

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Defending Stanley Cup champion Patrick Maroon tells NHL.com’s Lou Korac that “it’s tough right now” for veterans to find a contract. Given the meager increase of the salary cap and the immense number of restricted free agents still unsigned, there has been a considerable break in unrestricted free agent signings over the past week or two. 14 of PHR’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents still remain available, including Maroon, with little chatter pertaining to any of them. Maroon at least offers a glimmer of hope for his own situation, also informing Korac that he has had discussions with GM Doug Armstrong about a return to his hometown St. Louis Blues, saying that they’ve “had good conversations.” However, the Blues still have four RFA’s to sign, including three potential arbitration cases in Joel Edmundson, Oskar Sundqvist, and Ville Husso. Maroon will also be looking for fair value from St. Louis after taking a hometown discount last summer and becoming a key contributor for the team down the stretch and in the postseason. An extension won’t come easy for either side, but both parties and fans would surely like to see Maroon back in town next season. He and other unsigned veterans may just have to wait a while longer for offers to finally come through.

  • On the off chance that RFA Mikko Rantanen and the Colorado Avalanche cannot come to terms on an extension this summer, his KHL rights holder is preparing their pursuit. However, it’s not exactly a Godfather offer. Sport Express’ Igor Eronko reports that Ak Bars Kazan is willing to offer Rantanen a one-year, $4MM contract. While Eronko notes the lower tax rate in Russia and lack of escrow concerns, it’s still a very underwhelming number for a 22-year-old star forward coming off back-to-back 80+ point seasons. The Avalanche would be happy to top that salary, even taking the differences in tax and escrow into consideration. Rantanen is well within his right to be seeking a long-term contract with an AAV of $10MM+ or at least a bridge deal in the $8MM range, so Ak Bars’ offer is unlikely to move the needle toward a return to Europe.
  • Chicago Blackhawks prospect Jake Ryczek will have to prove himself in the AHL before earning an entry-level contract. The 21-year-old defenseman has signed a one-year deal with Chicago’s affiliate, the Rockford Ice Hogs, the team announced. Ryczek was a 2016 seventh-round pick, expected to be a long-term project developing at Providence College. Instead, Ryczek left the Friars midway through his freshman year and joined the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads. The problem now is that Ryczek has aged out of the junior level with just a year and half of QMJHL experience and is still a raw prospect. Rather than use a limited roster spot to sign an unproven commodity, the Blackhawks will see what he can do in the AHL for the time being. Ryczek remains Chicago’s exclusive property until June 1st of next year.
  • The first overall pick in the CHL Import Draft has signed. Finnish defenseman Kasper Puutio, taken at No. 1 by the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos in June, has officially joined the team. Puutio began turning heads this past season when he was called up to the top level of Finland’s junior ranks at the age of 16 and performed well to boot. Draft source Future Considerations ranks Puutio as the No. 67 prospect for the 2020 NHL Draft in their early initial rankings, but some have called him a first-round caliber player, and that was before he joined the Canadian junior ranks. If he can continue to grow and produce in the more competitive WHL as a very young prospect, he could easily climb into the top 31 picks next year. Either way, the Broncos hope that they can take advantage of his puck-moving ability and competent defensive game for several years to come.

College Notes: Rowe, Stratton, Makar

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It’s been a difficult stretch for goaltender Cameron Rowe. The backup to first-round pick Spencer Knight for the U.S. National Team Development Program this season, Rowe nevertheless entered the draft expecting to be selected based on countless reports. NHL Central Scouting in particular ranked him as the No. 4 goaltender in North America. Yet, the young netminder did not hear his name called this year. Now, his future is changing again. According to Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald, the University of North Dakota has released Rowe from his commitment. Rowe was expected to arrive at North Dakota in 2020-21, but instead will be playing elsewhere. Schlossman reports that the Fighting Hawks staff grew frustrated with Rowe’s interest in pursuing the Canadian junior route instead of the NCAA path and did not want to wait around to find out if they had a starting goalie of the future or not. It’s unclear now what Rowe will do moving forward, although he is currently expected to play for the USHL’s Des Moines Buccaneers next season. Rowe could simply commit to a new college program or, as North Dakota suspected, could sign with the OHL’s London Knights, who own his CHL rights. Either way, the winding and unpredictable development path for Rowe is not done twisting and turning just yet.

  • North Dakota also lost the commitment of BCHL forward Murphy Stratton, Schlossman writes. Stratton, 19, played 45 games for the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen in 2016-17 before realizing that the major junior route was not for him. Stratton wished to pursue the collegiate route, but the NCAA considers the CHL to be a “professional league” barring former players from NCAA participation due to amateurism rules. In some cases, limited CHL action has been overlooked at a cost in terms of eligibility years, but Stratton’s half season would have been an unprecedented case. Yet, he still committed to UND last year, expecting a ban of one year and seven games to begin his sophomore year. Schlossman reports that Stratton recently found out that the ban would actually be much longer and has opted to change course on the college level as a result. He will not play at North Dakota nor any other NCAA program and is likely to return to the WHL. Over the past two years, Stratton has compiled 99 points in 110 games as arguably the best player for the BCHL’s Wenatchee Wild, so this is a substantial loss for the Fighting Hawks. Stratton however should be able to continue pushing for pro hockey relevance if he can produce at a similar level in the WHL.
  • Another Makar is headed to the University of Massachusetts. The Athletic’s Ryan S. Clark reports that Taylor Makar, brother of Colorado Avalanche top prospect Cale Makar, has committed to UMass. Now, Taylor is not the player that Cale is; Taylor is an undrafted center who put up pedestrian numbers for the AJHL’s Brooks Bandits – another former team of Cale’s – this season. However, Taylor is likely familiar with head coach Greg Carvel and his staff and should head to a great environment for him to grow as a player and perhaps break out. No one is expecting Taylor to ever come close to his Hobey Baker-winning brother, but his tenure in Amherst will certainly be interesting to follow.

Boston Bruins To Sign Samuel Asselin

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July 8: The Bruins have announced the signing of Asselin, but not to a three-year entry-level contract. In fact, not to an NHL contract at all. Asselin has signed a two-year AHL deal and will begin his pro career under contract with Providence rather than Boston. This change allows the Bruins to maintain some degree of control over Asselin, without having to use up a valued NHL contract slot. The Bruins have nine such slots remaining with at least three more signings guaranteed this off-season.

June 7: According to Mikael Lalancette of TVA Sports, the Boston Bruins will be signing undrafted CHL free agent Samuel Asselin to a three-year entry-level contract. Lalancette adds that the Montreal Canadiens had also shown interest in the Quebec native.

Asselin, 20, had his best season of junior this year after being traded to the Halifax Mooseheads early on. In 68 regular season games he scored 48 times, leading the QMJHL in goals and placing tenth in overall scoring with 86 points. The undersized forward was almost as effective in the playoffs, recording nine goals and 17 points in 22 games as the Mooseheads went to the league final. He was named a QMJHL Second Team All-Star for his efforts, though the real prize is the NHL contract he is about to sign.

The Bruins have done extremely well with overlooked QMJHL stars in the past, as star forwards Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron were both selected outside of the first round. Obviously reaching that kind of level is a stretch for a player like Asselin, the team obviously believes he has shown some NHL potential this season. He had attended development camp with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the past but failed to earn a deal.

Asselin will turn 21 next month and will have to deal with a jump to the professional ranks in 2019-20, likely suiting up for the Bruins’ AHL affiliate. Not only will he have to continue to produce offensively, but if he wants to make it all the way to the NHL—especially as a center—he’ll have to compete physically and tighten up defensively. His faceoff skills are already strong, winning 54.1% of his draws this season, but it will only get tougher as the competition increases.

Andrej Sekera, David Schlemko To Be Bought Out

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Two players have been placed on unconditional waivers today as the Edmonton Oilers announced they have placed veteran defenseman Andrej Sekera on unconditional waivers for the purposes of a buyout, while the Philadelphia Flyers also reported the same about defenseman David Schlemko.

Sekera had two years remaining on his six-year, $33MM deal ($5.5MM AAV) he signed in 2015 when he was the team’s No. 1 defenseman. However, major injuries have derailed his career since then as the 33-year-0ld has played just 60 games combined over the past two seasons. He played 24 games last season, putting up just four assists. While the team was hoping that Sekera might work his way back into his old form, the team decided they would rather move forward. The team is loaded with a number of young defenseman who the team wants to give a chance to on the ice, including Evan Bouchard, Ethan Bear, William Lagesson, Caleb Jones, Joel Persson, Dmitri Samorukov as well as their unsigned 2019 first-round pick, Philip Broberg. The team had been trying to find a trade partner to take Sekera off their hands, but failed even though the Oilers were willing to retain half his salary. Thus, with no trade partner available, Edmonton opted to buy him out.

The buyout will last four years with the following cap hit (according to CapFriendly):

2019-20: $2.5M
2020-21: $2.5M
2021-22: $1.5M
2022-23: $1.5M

With Sekera’s contract cleared, the Oilers should have an extra $3MM to spend as they now should have $11.3MM in projected cap space this summer with a roster of 17, including nine forwards and seven defensemen.

Schlmeko, on the other hand, has bounced around over the last few years and the 32-year-old never took the ice for Philadelphia. He was acquired along with Byron Froese in February of this year in a trade with Montreal for Christian Folin and Dale Weise. Schlemko spent the rest of his season playing for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the AHL, where he played 18 games, tallying four assists in the process.

The veteran was going into the final year of a four-year, $8.4MM deal ($2.1MM AAV) he signed with the San Jose Sharks. The Sharks, however, chose to expose Schlemko to the expansion draft in 2017 and the Golden Knights selected him and then flipped him to Montreal for a fifth-round pick in this year’s draft. Although he’s dealt with numerous injuries, he spent most of his time in Montreal as the seventh defenseman, playing just 55 games over those two years.

The buyout will last just two years with the following cap hit (according to CapFriendly):

2019-20: $900K
2020-21: $600K

The team will now have $16.3MM in projected salary cap space for the offseason with 18 players on their roster, including nine forwards, six defensemen and three goaltenders.

 

Pittsburgh Penguins Trade Phil Kessel To Arizona Coyotes

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The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they have traded forward Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes, finally ending a long saga in which Pittsburgh has been trying to unload the unhappy veteran. The Penguins will send Kessel, prospect Dane Birks and a 2021 fourth-round pick to Arizona for forward Alex Galchenyuk and prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

“First and foremost, I want to thank Phil Kessel for his contributions to the Penguins. He was a key component to our success in winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. We couldn’t have done it without him, and for that, we are grateful,” said Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford. “With that being said, we are excited to welcome a young, skilled player in Alex, and add depth to our defense with first-round draft pick Pierre-Olivier Joseph.”

Kessel’s name has been in the news all offseason as the team is interested in moving the veteran forward and the three years remaining on his deal at $6.8MM and with some bad blood between Kessel and the Penguins, general manager Jim Rutherford was looking to move him. Rutherford said that Kessel requested to be traded several times during last season and then changed his mind, although Kessel denies that, according to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. The Penguins attempted to trade Kessel to Minnesota in May in a package that included Jason Zucker, but Kessel, who has a modified no-trade clause where he can pick eight teams that he can be traded to, rejected the deal as he had no interest in going to Minnesota. However, Kessel would be interested in going to Arizona as he has a great relationship with their coach, Rick Tocchet, who was an assistant coach in Pittsburgh before he took the Coyotes’ job. Tocchet was, in fact, known in Pittsburgh as the “Phil Kessel Whisperer,” and is considered the one coach who can get the most out of the veteran.

The 31-year-old Kessel is coming off a solid season in which he scored 27 goals and 82 points, which would have been tops on Arizona’s squad by 35 points as the team’s points leader was Clayton Keller, who put up 14 goals and 47 points. Kessel provides the Coyotes with a proven veteran scorer, something that was desperately needed as no one in Arizona got to 20 goals last season. In fact, Kessel has scored 291 goals in the last 10 seasons, which is only behind a handful of top players in the league, including Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane and Joe Pavelski. Kessel’s contract will be the second-biggest on the team behind defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Kessel also should provide some stability in the lineup as Arizona was ravaged by injuries last year. Kessel has gone nine straight seasons without having missed a regular-season game. While Kessel isn’t known for his defensive play, it evens out as Galchenyuk is considered to be just as weak defensively.

In Galchenyuk, the Penguins would still get a solid top-six forward, but at both a cheaper price tag and with less term. Galchenyuk has just one year remaining on his deal at $4.9MM, which gives the Penguins some much-needed cap room to attempt to add to a team that got swept in the first-round of the playoffs last year and have a limited time to make a Stanley Cup run as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin aren’t getting any younger. The 25-year-old Galchenyuk put up 19 goals and 41 points in 72 games last season, his first in Arizona after being acquired last offseason via trade from Montreal and should become a solid winger on one of Pittsburgh’s top two lines.

The Penguins also added some young defensive depth as Joseph was Arizona’s first-round pick in 2017 and is ready to turn pro, although he will likely need at least one year in the AHL. The 19-year-old posted nine goals and 42 points for two junior squads last year. Birks is likely to even out the trade as the 23-year-old spent all of last season in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the trade. 

2019 CHL Import Draft Results

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The CHL held its annual import draft today, where teams from across the Canadian junior leagues get to select the rights of players around the world. Often these are recently drafted prospects, or those seen to have good chances at next year’s draft. Being selected has no guarantee that the player will actually ever suit up for the team, as Filip Chytil proved in 2017. Chytil was selected seventh-overall by the North Bay Battalion, but ended up spending the year with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack after impressing in his first training camp.

There are clear benefits from picking at the top of the draft though, as the Sudbury Wolves found out last season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was the third-overall selection, and ended up winning the Red Tilson trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player. This year saw Finnish-born Kasper Puutio go first to the Swift Current Broncos after being promoted to the U20 Finnish junior league last season even at the age of 16. Puutio is a right-handed defenseman eligible for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Teams are only allowed a certain number of import players, which leads to some passing on their selections even in the early part of the draft. Check out last year’s draft to see some familiar names.

The results will be updated below as picks are made:

Round 1

1. Swift Current – Kasper Puutio (D, Finland)

2. Kingston – Martin Chromiak (RW, Slovakia)

3. Acadie-Bathurst – Noah Delemont (D, Switzerland)

4. Winnipeg – Michal Teply (LW, Czech Republic)

5. Flint – Yevgeni Oksentyuk (RW, Belarus)

Read more

Morning Notes: Eriksson, Sabres, Afanasyev

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Loui Eriksson has been at the center of trade speculation for the last few weeks, and his name came up again when agent J.P. Barry was on Sportsnet radio today. Barry explained that he will work with Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning on how to go about Eriksson’s future, and noted that “for a lot of hockey reasons, it might be better for Loui to play somewhere else.” These comments come after Eriksson spoke out last month about how he was being used and how he didn’t see eye to eye with head coach Travis Green.

The 33-year old was infamously part of a spending spree on July 1, 2016 that has resulted in some of the worst contracts around the league, and still has three years remaining on the deal he signed that day. Eriksson comes with a $6MM cap hit for those three years, and actually has a full no-trade clause for this season. That means he gets to have a say in where he plays in 2019-20, but it may be difficult to find a taker given he has scored just 32 total goals in his three seasons in Vancouver.

  • The Buffalo Sabres announced they have hired Don Granato and Mike Bales as assistant coaches, adding them to Ralph Krueger’s staff that also includes Steve Smith. Goaltending coach Bales recently parted ways with the Carolina Hurricanes and was immediately linked to the Sabres, given his history with Buffalo GM Jason Botterill from their time in Pittsburgh together. Granato meanwhile spent the last two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, but has plenty of head coaching experience in the USHL, ECHL and AHL.
  • The Windsor Spitfires have convinced Egor Afanasyev to commit to the OHL next season, giving them another intriguing weapon to deploy up front. The 18-year old forward starred for the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL last season scoring 62 points in 58 games and could very well find himself selected early in this month’s NHL Entry Draft. Afanasyev was ranked 16th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, and is an attractive mix of size and skill that could be snapped up by a team who believes in his ceiling. No matter what NHL team picks him, the 6’4″ forward will be part of an excellent junior program in Windsor and should be given every chance to develop.

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