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Colorado Avalanche Sign Anton Lindholm

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Anton Lindholm decided not to file for arbitration earlier this month and he didn’t need to. The young defenseman has re-signed for two years with the Colorado Avalanche. CapFriendly reports the contract is a two-way deal and worth an average annual value of $742,500 at the NHL level.

Now 24, Lindholm’s career to a slight step backwards last season when he spent nearly the entire year in the minor leagues. After a 2017-18 campaign where he played 48 games with the Avalanche, he suited up just twice in the NHL and instead played 57 games with the Colorado Eagles. Now with an incredibly crowded NHL blue line he’ll be in a tough spot once again.

The Avalanche do have both Erik Johnson and Ian Cole on the shelf to start the season, but with Kevin Connauton, Cale Makar, Calle Rosen and Bowen Byram all competing (or already taking) NHL roles there isn’t a ton of room for Lindholm. Instead, he’ll probably serve as some injury insurance and anchor the minor league group. That would require waivers however, making him a possible target for teams looking for defensive depth at the end of training camp.

Lindholm will actually be a Group VI unrestricted free agent at the end of the deal if he doesn’t play in another 18 games. Otherwise, he’ll still be a restricted free agent in 2021.

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.

Bowen Byram Signs Entry-Level Contract

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed top prospect Bowen Byram to a three-year entry-level contract. The deal will only kick in for the 2019-20 season if Byram plays in more than nine games at the NHL level.

The fourth-overall pick in June’s draft, Byram was the top defenseman selected and is coming off an incredible season with the Vancouver Giants of the WHL. Playing this season at just 17 years old, Byram recorded 71 points in 67 games and led all players—defensemen or otherwise—in playoff scoring with 26 points. His upside as a puck-mover is unquestioned, but he’ll have to prove himself at Avalanche training camp before they hand him a full-time role in the NHL.

If he had been selected by another team, Byram’s chances at playing in the NHL for the entire 2019-20 season may have been higher. Colorado has built quite an impressive blue line over the last several years, and even after trading Tyson Barrie to the Toronto Maple Leafs still have eight or nine legitimate roster options. Ian Cole and Erik Johnson are expected to miss the start of the season with injuries, but that still leaves Cale Makar, Nikita Zadorov, Samuel Girard, Kevin Connauton, Mark Barberio, Calle Rosen and even Ryan Graves as possibilities, not to mention Conor Timmins if he can prove he’s healthy enough to contribute.

Though playing more than nine games would start Byram’s contract, teams around the league are worrying less and less about that threshold and more about the 40-game mark. That’s when the season would count towards his eventual unrestricted free agency status, meaning there is a scenario where the young defenseman plays more than nine and still returns to junior eventually. The team could potentially keep him until Cole or Johnson (or both) are set to return, and then potentially even send him to the World Juniors in December to delay the junior decision even further. Once they return him to the Giants they can’t recall him, making it an even tougher decision.

Even if Byram does return to the CHL at the beginning of the season, he represents another high-end piece for the Avalanche to build around. With Nathan MacKinnon still just 23 and Mikko Rantanen 22, there are good times coming in Colorado.

Morning Notes: Kelly, Rantanen, Penguins

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The Boston Bruins have hired former NHL forward Chris Kelly as a player development coordinator. The 38-year old was with the Ottawa Senators last season as a development coach, and is only just removed from a professional playing career that spanned 17 years, including an appearance at the 2018 Olympics for Team Canada. Kelly suited up 288 times in the regular season for the Bruins, and was part of the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011. The team has also hired long-time pro scout Andrew Dickson, who was most recently with the Detroit Red Wings.

More notes from around the league…

  • The KHL rights for Mikko Rantanen have been traded, as the league prepares for the possibility of a potential NHL work stoppage. Even though Rantanen still doesn’t have a contract with the Colorado Avalanche, the acquisition by Ak Bars Kazan should not be considered an indication that he is heading overseas. Rantanen has developed into one of the premiere offensive wingers in the entire world, and should a work stoppage actually occur in the coming years teams all over the world will be scrambling for his (temporary) services.
  • Josh Yohe of The Athletic (subscription required) still believes that the Pittsburgh Penguins will make another trade before the end of the offseason, and has updated his look at the likelihood of that for each roster player. Yohe continues to list Nick Bjugstad, Bryan Rust and Tristan Jarry in the “favorite” category, though examines everyone else thoroughly (okay, Sidney Crosby’s blurb is anything but thorough). The Penguins re-signed Teddy Blueger recently and are now have less than $1MM in cap space remaining with Zach Aston-Reese and Marcus Pettersson still sitting as restricted free agents. While there is certainly some ways to wiggle around the cap issue, the team would still be pushed right to the ceiling all season and limited to what they can do to improve the club. A trade to free up some more cash does seem likely, though how long it will take for that to happen is unclear.

Poll: How Many Unresolved Arbitration Cases Will Require An Award?

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In the NHL, the salary arbitration process is more often used as a negotiating tool – an incentive to get a deal done before the uncomfortable setting of a hearing and the unknown of an arbitrator’s decision – than it is for its actual purpose. A vast majority of players who file for arbitration end up settling before their hearing or even at the last moment before an award is handed down. Last year, 44 players filed for arbitration and 40 settled prior to their hearing. The year before, all 30 cases were resolved before an arbitration award could be made.

So what about this year? There were initially 40 cases of player-elected arbitration and one case of team-elected arbitration (the St. Louis Blues and goalie Ville Husso), but that number is now down to 25 open cases. That’s a substantial drop-off, but time is running out for some RFA’s and their teams to come to terms, as the first scheduled hearing is set to take place on Saturday, July 20th. Listed below are all of the remaining cases:

July 20: Brock McGinn, Carolina Hurricanes
July 21: Andrew Copp, Winnipeg Jets
July 22: MacKenzie Weegar, Florida Panthers; Zach Aston-Reese, Pittsburgh Penguins; Ville Husso, St. Louis Blues; Christian Djoos, Washington Capitals
July 23: Evan Rodrigues, Buffalo Sabres
July 24: Oskar Sundqvist, St. Louis Blues; Neal Pionk, Winnipeg Jets
July 25: Jacob Trouba, New York Rangers
July 26: Colton Sissons, Nashville Predators
July 27: Sam Bennett, Calgary Flames
July 28: Mirco Mueller, New Jersey Devils
July 29: David Rittich, Calgary Flames; Pavel Buchnevich, New York Rangers
August 1: Remi Elie, Buffalo Sabres; Chandler Stephenson, Washington Capitals
August 2: Linus Ullmark, Buffalo Sabres; Charles Hudon, Montreal Canadiens; Will Butcher, New Jersey Devils
August 4: Jake McCabe, Buffalo Sabres; Anton Forsberg, Carolina Hurricanes; Sheldon Dries, Colorado Avalanche; Rocco Grimaldi, Nashville Predators; Joel Edmundson, St. Louis Blues

Given the time constraints and the complexity of each of these cases, how many will feel forced to go to hearing? Will Trouba be one of that select group, as he was last year? Will the Sabres struggle to settle four cases before their scheduled hearing dates? Will the Blues see through their team-elected case with Husso? Will other goalies prove to be difficult negotiations? And will polarizing players like Bennett and Buchnevich fail to find common ground with their teams? Or will it be under-the-radar players like Gemel Smith and Brett Kulak last year who go through the full process?

There are many questions left about this group of restricted free agents and time is running out before we know the answers. So the choice is yours: will we see an unprecedented class of arbitration awards or will all or most cases reach a resolution in the coming weeks?

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Minor Transactions: 07/17/19

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Arbitration hearings start in just a few days and we’re still waiting on new deals for many of the league’s top restricted free agents. In the meantime, teams continue to fill out their organizational depth charts. We’ll keep track right here:

  • Chris Conner has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Binghamton Devils, ending a four-year run with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Conner is an excellent offensive player at the minor league level and does actually have 180 games of NHL experience under his belt. The 35-year old winger will give Binghamton another veteran to help their attack and mentor their young forwards.
  • Brandon Saigeon has signed a one-year AHL contract with the Colorado Eagles, giving him a chance to start his professional journey with the organization that drafted him. A fifth-round pick in 2018, Saigeon’s exclusive rights with the Colorado Avalanche will actually expire next June, at which point they would need to decide whether he’s worth an NHL entry-level deal. Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now reports that deal is already expected to be signed in March, 2020.
  • The Bakersfield Condors have signed Anthony Peluso and Vincent Desharnais to AHL contracts, adding some depth to the minor league organization. Peluso has played 148 NHL games over his career, most recently with the Calgary Flames. The 30-year old forward has never been much of an offensive threat though, and scored just eight points with the Stockton Heat last season.

J.T. Compher Signs With Colorado Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed J.T. Compher to a four-year deal. The contract will carry a $3.5MM average annual value. Compher was scheduled to have an arbitration hearing at the end of the month.

Compher, 24, is coming off his third season in the Colorado organization and his best offensive one to date. Scoring 16 goals and 32 points in 66 games, he was one of the most versatile forwards the Avalanche had, lining up on both the wing and at center (though the former much more often). Compher was also used extensively on both the powerplay and penalty kill, and averaged the most ice time of any forward outside of the top line—Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog.

It was that versatility that made Compher such an attractive piece when the Avalanche acquired him as part of the Ryan O’Reilly trade in 2015, even before he had exploded offensively at the University of Michigan. The season following the trade Compher had 63 points in 38 games for the Wolverines, but happened to lose the Hobey Baker award as the nation’s top collegiate player to Jimmy Vesey.

Still, it took some time for the young forward to really find his groove at the NHL level. Compher tallied just 28 points in his first 90 games for the Avalanche but as his role has increased so has his production. With this contract, the Avalanche are betting that he can at least maintain the lever he showed last season and continue to be an all-situation player for the team.

A four-year deal will buy out one unrestricted free agent season for the Avalanche, leaving Compher a UFA when the deal expires in 2023. In that sense it could be quite the bargain if he ends up improving his offense even further (and staying healthy through an entire season) and is able to continue contributing in all situations. It will be interesting to see exactly where he ends up in the new lineup, as the team brought in Nazem Kadri, Joonas Donskoi, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Andre Burakovsky this offseason to strengthen the Colorado forward group.

The deal is the same one that former teammate Alexander Kerfoot signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs after the trade that brought Kadri to Colorado, an interesting comparison given Kerfoot’s higher point production through nearly the same amount of NHL games. The total is also the same as what Micheal Ferland signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Vancouver Canucks, though he plays a much different role than Compher with his physicality. In all, this certainly doesn’t make Compher an albatross contract for the Avalanche but it does put some pressure on the young forward to continue his development and take another step forward.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet broke news of the signing on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Sergei Boikov Heading To KHL

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The Colorado Avalanche won’t be bringing Sergei Boikov back for another season in the AHL, at least not in 2019-20. The 23-year old defenseman has returned to the KHL to play for Dynamo Moscow, signing a two-year contract. Boikov is a restricted free agent for the time being, and since Colorado issued him a qualifying offer they will retain his exclusive rights.

Andre Burakovsky Signs With Colorado Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche have inked one of their restricted free agents, signing Andre Burakovsky to a one-year contract. Burakovsky decided not to file for arbitration earlier this month after being issued a $3.25MM qualifying offer, for which the deadline to accept was today. The young forward will still be a restricted free agent at the end of the contract in 2020.

Burakovsky, 24, was acquired by the Avalanche earlier this offseason after playing the last five years with the Washington Capitals. The 23rd-overall pick from 2013 has already amassed 328 regular season games with the Capitals, recording 145 points. Those total include consecutive seasons of 25 points, a disappointing drop that made the talented Austrian available. The Capitals couldn’t afford to keep Burakovsky around for that $3.25MM price tag, but the Avalanche are happy to take a shot on a player that had previously looked like a top-six winger in the making.

It’s difficult to find players with Burakovsky’s skill and size combination, but unfortunately that mix still hasn’t been able to produce a huge offensive season to this point. With a career-high of 38 points now several years behind him, Burakovsky will have to find a different level of success in order to deserve this contract and avoid going non-qualified next summer. Even the Avalanche, who have plenty of cap space at the moment, won’t be able to pay $3.25MM for a 12-goal winger, the total he has reached in each of the past three seasons.

It certainly appears as though he’ll the the opportunity to show he is better than that. The Avalanche have been reliant on their top line for a huge amount of their offense the past few years, but worked hard this summer to expand their attack and bring in some more secondary scoring options. Burakovsky joins Nazem Kadri and Joonas Donskoi as potential options for the second line, though each of them will have to prove their worth in new surroundings.

At the very worst, Burakovsky is a lottery ticket that doesn’t pay out and only cost the Avalanche a pair of draft picks. At best, he finally breaks out and becomes the dominant offensive piece he was in junior. Not a bad gamble for a team looking to make a splash in the Western Conference playoffs this season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Poll: Is Tyson Barrie A Significant Upgrade Over Jake Gardiner?

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While most people look at the Toronto Maple Leafs’ acquisition of Tyson Barrie as a major plus when the team picked up the lead defenseman and Alex Kerfoot for Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen on July 1, there are other analytics experts who suggest that the addition of Barrie isn’t much, if any improvements over Jake Gardiner, who the team has allowed to walk away in free agency.

Of course, Barrie looks like an impressive upgrade, especially when you look at his offensive numbers. Barrie scored 14 goals and 59 points last season and posted 57 points the previous year, giving Toronto another top-notch offensive defenseman next to Morgan Rielly. Gardiner was a second-pairing defenseman whose offense disappeared last year with 30 points, even though he posted 52 points the previous season. However, only one player, Barrie or Rielly, can get those first-line power play minutes and there is no guarantee that Barrie will be able to pry those minutes away from Rielly next season, suggesting that Barrie’s number’s could drop quite a bit. In fact, two goals and 23 assists came off the power play last season where Barrie was the team’s quarterback of the first power play unit.

However, analytics suggest that Gardiner, despite his struggles might prove to be a better blueliner, especially defensively. While Toronto is an offensive juggernaut, Gardiner still had a plus-19 rating in plus-minus, while there are some questions about how good a defender Barrie is. In Colorado, Barrie posted a minus-3 on an Avalanche squad that made the playoffs last season and a minus-19 the previous year, when they were a playoff team as well. While plus-minus might be considered to be an unreliable fact, Gardiner has been solid for Toronto despite the fact receiving Toronto fans wrath for years. He has averaged over 21:48 of ATOI over the past three years and in those three years ranks 23rd in the league in points with 125. In goals above replacement (GAR), which is an all-encompassing stat to evaluate skaters, Gardiner ranked 17th among defenseman last year and fifth in the league at even strength, according to evolving-hockey.com. Barrie ranked 50th last season and 66th at even strength.

However, Gardiner’s value seems to have dropped. Despite being considered one of the top defensive free agents on the unrestricted free agent market, Gardiner remains unsigned with rumors he’s seeking $7MM per season. While a change in scenery might have been needed for Gardiner, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Barrie will be the better player.

So, is Barrie a significant upgrade over Gardiner?

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