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Snapshots: Botterill, Subban, Colorado

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will decide their Stanley Cup playoff fate tonight against the Washington Capitals, and John Vogl of the Buffalo News believes the Sabres’ future may be along for the ride. Vogl writes that the hiring announcement of Jason Botterill, associate General Manager of the Penguins and leading candidate to take over as GM of the Sabres was likely delayed due to the ongoing series. The Sabres haven’t interviewed anyone since their second meeting with Botterill, and need to get someone in place with enough time to prepare for the expansion and entry drafts.

Though it was previously reported that Jeff Crisp, the Sabres head scout would handle the entry draft this season, it’s obviously important for the incoming GM to be involved in the operation. Botterill has a background in scouting, and will have been kept abreast of the incoming draft class during his Pittsburgh tenure. Whether the Penguins move on or not, Vogl expects the decision to come down before the beginning of the next series, perhaps even as early as Thursday. On Friday, owner Terry Pegula has a press conference scheduled to introduce Brandon Beane, the new GM of the Buffalo Bills.

  • P.K. Subban has been fined $2,000 for embellishment after being assessed a penalty on May 2nd. It was the second citation he had received from the league, following one given on January 22nd. Subban was unable to serve the penalty as he was being treated in the Nashville dressing room for an apparent injury, but it isn’t the first time he’s been hit with a fine for diving. In 2015, he received two fines from the league for a combined three embellishment citations. Fines for diving escalate on each occasion, capping at a $5,000 penalty for the player and head coach should a player be cited eight times in a single season.
  • Adrian Dater of BSN Denver reports that the Colorado Eagles are working to become a future AHL affiliate of the Avalanche. The Eagles are currently the team’s ECHL affiliate, but with some shuffling coming in the AHL due to Vegas entering the league they will try to gain standing in the next few years. According to Dater, the Eagles have plans to expand their current ~5,000-seat arena to try and accommodate the increased attendance that would come with a promotion to the AHL. This is the latest in a long line of teams that have worked to get their affiliates geographically closer to them, in order to move players back and forth quickly. It can also obviously provide fans that want to see the next generation of stars for their club before they graduate to the NHL, and the ticket prices that come with it.

Snapshots: Sakic, Mironov, Sobotka, Murray

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Changes are coming in Colorado, according to Joe Sakic. The Avalanche GM was on Altitude Sports 950 yesterday (h/t Sportsnet) and was quite clear with his plans for this summer. Sakic said there will be a “lot of turnover” this offseason, and that the team is going to get younger. When Sakic named his untouchables earlier in the season, he only listed Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Jost, and Mikko Rantanen, three of the youngest players on the team.

While there were many rumors of Matt Duchene potentially being moved at the deadline, it seems an inevitability that the young center—if he is indeed considered a center around the league still—is moved before the 2017-18 season begins. Sakic mentioned Jost and J.T. Compher in particular as future centers for the Avalanche, which wouldn’t leave much room for Duchene in the future.

  • Sakic also confirmed that the team has reached an agreement with Andrei Mironov, but is just waiting for the official KHL release before announcing the contract. The GM did caution though that anything can happen before the release is announced, though he certainly hopes it will come through in the next few days. Mironov is currently playing in the World Championships with Russia.
  • Vladimir Sobotka will be skating against Mironov, as the Blues’ forward is heading to the World Championships for the Czech Republic. Sobotka finally returned from the KHL to help the Blues in the playoffs, who held onto him despite the interest over the years from teams around the league. Sobotka will be a big part of the Blues going forward as he starts in on a three-year contract extension next season. Able to play both center and the wing, he’ll fit in somewhere on a team that will have their sights set on the playoffs once again.
  • Matt Murray won’t start game 7 for the Penguins tonight, but he will be in uniform. The goaltender has recovered enough to backup Marc-Andre Fleury, posing a bit of a dilemma for the next series should Pittsburgh defeat the Capitals and move on. After injuring himself in warm up during the first game of the first round, Murray hasn’t played a single minute of these playoffs. The 22-year old led the Penguins to the Stanley Cup last spring, but will now wait for the veteran Fleury to falter in order to get back into the lineup.

Andrei Mironov Will Sign With Colorado Soon

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Colorado Avalanche fans that are hoping for a certain NCAA prospect to sign will have to wait a little longer, but may have something to cheer them up. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Andrei Mironov has been given a verbal release from his KHL club and will sign with the Avalanche in the next few days.

Mironov was selected in the fourth round of the 2015 draft, and has shown the potential to be an NHL defender capable of doing several different things on the ice. His offensive game is improving, but it’s his ability to get under opponents’ skin and play on (or sometimes over) the edge. Adrian Dater of BSN Denver says that he models his game after former NHL veteran Darius Kasparaitis. He can sometimes cross the line into dangerous territory, but is effective all the same.

Mironov is currently playing in the World Championships with Russia, and has a chance to continue to play against NHL talent as soon as next season. The 22-year old shoots left, and could slide in behind Nikita Zadorov and Francois Beauchemin next season.

PHR Originals: Weekend Edition

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Alongside breaking NHL news, ProHockeyRumors staff pen original and engaging work. This weekend brought pieces on individual teams’ expansion draft issues, offseason considerations, and free agency. In case you missed them, here are the top five original pieces published this weekend:

Blue Jackets Must Convince Hartnell to Waive NMC
The Columbus Blue Jackets had an excellent season spurred by the exciting play of several young forwards. The team faces a potential setback, however, if they lose one of those young players to the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL expansion draft this summer. The biggest obstacle preventing the Blue Jackets from protecting all their young prospects is aging veteran forward Scott Hartnell. Hartnell has a No-Movement Cause, and the expansion draft rules require that any player with a NMC must be protected in the draft. That means that Columbus must protect Hartnell over one of its more promising younger players. The Blue Jackets can solve this issue by convincing Hartnell to waive his NMC.

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Course Adjustment For Colorado

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Colorado needs to determine the road ahead for its franchise. The unexpected plummet to the 4th overall pick in the draft lottery did not help matters, to be sure, but the Avalanche need more than a Nolan Patrick to catapult them back into contention. The team has lacked identity for years and a team philosophy is hard to isolate. The team finished a league worst 22 wins, good for an embarrassingly bad 48 points. They were not expected to be serious cup contenders coming into the year, but this is a team that had veteran scorers and a decent goaltending duo to back up their young forward core. Yet they finished in dead last in both offensive and defensive categories – 1.74 goals for per 60, and 2.93 goals against. With such an incredible disparity it’s actually impressive they won as many contests as they did.

GM Joe Sakic needs to determine which pieces of his core (if any) are worth keeping. It seems probable that the team could consider trading away its captain in Gabriel Landeskog, and the case for doing so is strong. He potted only 18 goals and 15 assists this season, his 5th full campaign – at the exorbitant price of $5.5 MM (which will become $6 MM next season). The center has never developed into the offensive threat the franchise had hoped when he was selected 2nd overall in 2011. His point totals have dropped for the second season in a row. However, his Corsi For % was actually his career best at 52.8, and on a team that bled goals and chances, he performed admirably in his own end. Whether he is worth his deal is certainly a less pressing issue than stopping the bleeding. Unless an over-payment comes along the Avalanche would be wise to stick out at least another season with the still-promising left wing.

Speedy forward Matt Duchene is two years older, and fared only marginally better, with 18 goals and 23 assists. Duchene is not physically imposing a 5’11”, and he is more effective on the rush. His speed and versatility are his greatest assets. Duchene’s skating can burn defenders and his skating is among the tops in the league. When considering that the quick and fleet-footed Nathan MacKinnon is also on the team, it seems that Colorado might want to double down on the speed aspect of their negligible identity. Duchene would almost certainly draw more interest than Landeskog, as the forward did pot 30 goals just the previous season. Although the talk seems distant now, there was considerable conversation following the 2009 draft that the Islanders would have done better to draft Duchene than John Tavares. This is a player who can make a meaningful difference on the playmaking side of things, but saw a drastic drop off in play. Trading Duchene seems the most logical option, but his departure will only leave the center ice position more lackluster.

The Avalanche could toy with moving RFA center Mikhail Grigorenko, or RFA defenseman Patrick Wiercioch, but the returns after last season would be marginal at best. One can only assume that Sakicc attempted to unload forwards like Blake Comeau ($2.5 MM), and now UFA defenseman Fedor Tyutin to no avail. Thankfully the well-worn Jarome Iginla was shipped off to Los Angeles and there are indeed older players coming off the books. The 35 year-old Rene Bourque and 32 year-old John Mitchell will both be UFAs and will have difficulty finding work next season in the league.

Ultimately, the problem for the Avalanche wasn’t that their stars didn’t produce, although that certainly didn’t help their goal totals. Their team was filled with washed-up veterans and outside of the big 3 on offense there was really no threat to score. On the backend, once Erik Johnson went down, the rest of the defense was not nearly good enough to keep up. Tyson Barrie is the only player who should feel remotely safe, and the young RFA Nikita Zadorov is likely to hang around. Francois Beauchemin is not the defender he was even two seasons ago, and if he could somehow be traded it would help performance substantially.

Trading away the #4 selection is usually an unthinkable notion with a team at this stage of a rebuild, but if they can move it for substantial help on defense or on the wing, it should be considered. Especially considering how mediocre this draft class is, it might turn out to be a prudent maneuver. One of Landeskog or Duchene seems likely to depart, but without a king’s ransom coming back, it’s not likely to alter long-term prospects for the franchise. Colorado simply needs to draft better, develop better, and find a coach with the structure that a young, struggling squad will need. If they could make a serious pitch to Karl Alzner this off-season, or perhaps even Thomas Vanek on the wing, they would be in a better position to compete on a nightly basis. Their offensive stars are unlikely to be quite as dreadful in points production yet again. Perhaps the most positive aspect of the upcoming season will be the infusion of youth from the minor leagues, and the ditching of dead weight up and down the lineup. Sakic will need to provide stability for the franchise and perhaps even display some patience rather than dumping a slumping offensive talent for a lackluster package. Although fans may wish for change at any cost, ditching their core players for scraps is not likely the best way forward. Whatever course Colorado decides to take, fans around the league will be watching with interest this summer.

Western Notes: MacKinnon, Barrie, Shipachyov

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They may not have won the lottery despite having the best chance, but if there is a consolation prize about their franchise, it’s that their players seem to be thriving at the preliminary round of the 2017 IIHF World Championships. Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon of Team Canada got into the act during this morning’s 7-2 blowout victory over Slovenia with a hat trick and an assist. Teammate Tyson Barrie scored four points of his own, including a goal to continue a successful string of Avalanche performances so far.

The Avalanche have eight players and a potential prospect at the World Championships, including MacKinnon, Barrie, Matt Duchene and goaltender Calvin Pickard who play for Canada (2-0-0-0), Gabriel Landeskog and Carl Soderberg who play for Sweden, Mikko Rantanen who plays for Finland and J.T. Compher who is playing for the USA. Prospect Andrei Mirinov is playing for Russia.

While it’s still early in the championships, the Avalanche have to be thrilled with their players’ performance. Friday, Pickard got the win in goal after allowing just one goal in Canada’s win over the Czech Republic. Barrie had a goal and assist in that game as well, giving him six points in just two games played so far. Rantanen had an assist in Finland’s victory over Belarus Friday, while Landeskog also picked up an assist for Sweden in their first game on Friday as well.

The Avalanche have high hopes that MacKinnon, 21, who was the first overall pick from the 2013 draft, can take his game to a new level after four solid, but unspectacular seasons. He finished last season with 16 goals and 37 assists for 53 points.

  • CapFriendly tweeted the breakdown of Vadim Shipachyov’s contract breakdown with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. It will be two years with a AAV of 4.5MM. In 2017-18, the veteran will receive a $3MM base salary and a $2MM signing bonus. Then in 2018-19, Shipachyov will receive a $4MM base salary.

Offseason Keys: Colorado Avalanche

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While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead.  Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Colorado Avalanche.

Things haven’t gone well for Colorado this season.  In fact, that’s really an understatement.  After Patrick Roy abruptly resigned back in August, GM Joe Sakic had to scramble to find a late replacement in Jared Bednar.  That seemed to set the stage for a disastrous season, one that saw the team bottom out in the standings and then to make matters worse, they had no good fortune in the lottery, dropping from the first overall pick down to fourth.  That’s far from the only concern for them moving forward, however.  Here are three key issues that Sakic and the Avalanche need to address beyond the upcoming expansion draft.

Reshaping The Defense Corps

The back end has been an area of concern for Colorado for several years now and it played a large role in their struggles this past season.  They have a pretty good group of forwards but without a solid blueline, a lot of those talents are going to waste.

The Avs have a decent starting point to work with as Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie both have at least three years left on their respective contracts.  Johnson hasn’t lived up to the billing of his number one status but is a quality option at both ends of the ice.  Barrie isn’t the most reliable in his own zone but is one of the more dangerous offensive threats from the back end.  Nikita Zadorov is a pending restricted free agent but should be a part of their future moving forward.  After that though, there’s a sizable drop-off.

Whether it’s via the free agent market where they could make a run at repatriating Kevin Shattenkirk (who was a first rounder of Colorado back in 2007) or via the trade route, it’s likely that a big part of Sakic’s focus this offseason will be to give the defense a new look heading into 2017-18.

Matt Duchene’s Situation

The rumor mill was buzzing during the season with the revelation that the team was listening to offers on Matt Duchene and even captain Gabriel Landeskog.  Most of the attention was paid to the 26 year old Duchene and after he wasn’t dealt at the deadline, many expect him to be moved before training camp.

Dec 20, 2016; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Colorado Avalanche forward Matt Duchene (9) against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Avalanche 2-0. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY SportsDuring the season, Sakic was believed to be seeking a kings’ ransom and while there were some teams known to be interested, no one was able to meet the asking price.  There is typically more flexibility with the salary cap in June than there is midseason so it’s quite possible that there will be more teams involved in the discussion in the weeks and months ahead.  It’s quite likely that any move for Duchene will bring back a core blueliner as well.

If they aren’t able to find the right fit in the summer, it will be interesting to see if Sakic decides to publicly take Duchene off the block.  At some point, frequent trade chatter begins to become a distraction and if they head into training camp without this case resolved one way or the other, it could dominate the headlines once again.

Veteran Supporting Cast

Three years ago, Colorado signed Jarome Iginla to act as a mentor to their young core while also providing some top six production.  The move started off well but by the end of his deal, the veteran was a shadow of himself and was virtually given away to the Kings at the deadline.

The Avalanche have a trio of core forwards aged 21 or younger in Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Jost, and Mikko Rantanen while Landeskog is still only 24.  As we’ve seen in other rebuilds over the years, simply acquiring top young talent isn’t enough to win.  Instead, adding quality options as a supporting cast both on and off the ice is required.

Even though Colorado is squarely in a rebuilding mode, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sakic try to add a quality veteran or two up front to give his young core some help while also taking some of the pressure off their shoulders.

Cap Situation

$54.4MM in commitments to 15 players per CapFriendly.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

No Deal In Sight Between Colorado, Butcher

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With just a few months to go before the Aug. 15 deadline, the Colorado Avalanche and Will Butcher have made no progress to agreeing to a deal, according to Adrian Dater of BSN Denver. The University of Denver defenseman and the winner of this year’s Hobey Baker Award, given to the best player in college hockey, has still not accepted a contract from the Avalanche, who drafted him in the fifth round of the 2013 NHL Draft.

If the 5-foot-10 defenseman waits until the Aug. 15 deadline, Colorado loses their exclusive rights to sign him and Butcher can negotiate with any club, leading to speculation that he might be interested in signing with a different team. This has nothing to do with money, however, as league rules dictate that the 22-year-old Butcher can only sign a two-year entry-level deal of no more than $925,000 base salary. This comes down to Butcher being allowed to pick which team he wants to play for.

A similar situation happened last year when Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey, the previous year’s Hobey Baker Award winner, was the property of the Nashville Predators. They were unable to sign him and traded his rights to the Buffalo Sabres before the deadline for a third round pick. Despite the Sabres’ attempts, they failed to sign him and Vesey eventually inked a deal with the New York Rangers.

Butcher finished his season at the University of Denver last year with seven goals and 30 assists.

 

NHL Draft Lottery Results

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The lottery balls were picked, the cards were flipped, and the New Jersey Devils will be selecting first in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. New Jersey was the winner of this year’s NHL Draft Lottery, jumping up four spots to take over the top pick. Against all odds, just an 8.5% chance at #1, they will now have their pick of all the top available prospects come Friday, June 23rd. The Philadelphia Flyers will pick second and the Dallas Stars will pick third, as the balls fell their way as well. Philadelphia leaped forward eleven slots and Dallas up five slots.

With three teams “winning” the lottery, it’s a tough pill to swallow for the Colorado Avalanche. One of the worst teams in recent memory, the 2016-17 Colorado Avalanche finished the season with just 48 points, 21 less than the Vancouver Canucks at 29th. Yet, the Avs may miss out entirely on selecting a franchise player in a draft without a consensus star atop the charts. It’s also an unfortunate start for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. Given the same odds at the third-worst team in the league, Vegas will instead select sixth and will be hard-pressed to find a player ready to jump immediately to the NHL, even though they’ll likely be hungry for help.

For Metropolitan Division foes New Jersey and Philadelphia, the question now becomes: who goes #1? Unlike the past two years – Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews – there is no consensus top prospect in 2017. Heading into 2016-17, Canadian forward Nolan Patrick, of the WHL’s Brandon Wheat Kings, was considered the favorite to go first overall. However, after a season filled with injuries, that status is far from a sure thing. The last player to be taken #1 following a final junior season spent mostly on the sidelines was Gord Kluzak by the Boston Bruins in 1982, and Kluzak played only four full NHL seasons before his injuries caught up with him. Patrick did score 46 points in 33 games this season, and racked up 102 points in just 72 games last season, but as they say, “the most important ability is availability”. Flying up draft boards over the last year has been Swiss center Nico Hischier of the QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads, and with questions lingering about Patrick, Hischier may wind up as 2017’s top pick. While Hischier doesn’t quite have the size and strength of Patrick, he has all the offensive ability. The swift scorer recorded 86 points in 57 games this season for Halifax and put on a show for Switzerland at the World Juniors.

It’s a difficult choice for the Devils, but one that GM Ray Shero and the New Jersey front office are happy to make. And GM Ron Hextall and the Flyers should be content with the runner-up.

NHL Draft Lottery Odds For First 15 Picks

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In under two hours, a disappointing season for one team, or three depending on the results, won’t hurt as much if they are fortunate enough to land a top pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. The Draft Lottery kicks off at 8:00 PM ET and will determine which teams, if any, leapfrog their fellow non-playoff teams to earn a shot at one of the top prospects in the draft, coming up on June 23rd.

Starting in 2016, the NHL increased the stakes of the draft by putting pick #1 and picks #2 and #3 up for grabs, increasing the excitement of the lottery and also disincentivizing “tanking”, by making it possible for the worst team in the league to drop out of the top three entirely. In 2016-17, that was the Colorado Avalanche, who were historically bad with just 48 points on the year. For perspective, the Vancouver Canucks finished second-to-last with 69 points – 8 more wins than Colorado. Making things more difficult for the Avs tonight is the addition of the Vegas Golden Knights expansion team to the league starting this season. A lottery system normally based upon 14 teams was increased to 15, with everyone else’s odds being adjusted to accommodate the newcomers. Vegas was given the same odds as the third-worst team in the league, the Arizona Coyotes, and were guaranteed a top top six spot.

So, 15 teams have a shot at picks #1-#3 tonight and no team can slide more than three slots back from their regular season finish. Based upon the odds given to each team for a lottery pick, below are the complete odds of all 15 teams in the running for tonight’s NHL Draft Lottery. Be sure to check back in afterwards to see the results of tonight’s event – one that could re-shape the draft outlook in a major way.
2017 Draft Lottery Odds

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