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Overseas Notes: Blankenburg, Verbeek, Merkulov

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Nick Blankenburg’s World Championship is over. Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Blue Jackets’ rookie defenseman has left Team USA due to injury. Blankenburg sustained a knee injury during the international tournament in Finland and decided to return home. However, Hedger adds that the injury is not supposed to be severe and that Blankenburg’s health by the start of next season is not in doubt. Even with the early exit from the Worlds, Blankenburg has had quite the unforgettable year. The 24-year-old defender had a career season as the senior captain of Michigan, recording 14 goals and 29 points in 38 games en route to a Frozen Four appearance. He then signed with Columbus as an undrafted free agent and proceeded to record three points in seven NHL games down the stretch. Blankenburg earned a spot with Team USA at the World Championship and played in four games with the team. He will look to continue his success streak by winning a regular role with the Blue Jackets next season.

  • Hayden Verbeek’s uncle may be the new GM of the Anaheim Ducks, but the young forward won’t wait around for NHL free agency in hopes of a family deal on a new contract. Verbeek has opted to leave North America altogether and sign a one-year deal with Slovakian club HK Spisska Nova Ves, the team announced. Verbeek is no stranger to Slovakia, having played in the Extraliga early in 2020-21 while awaiting the delayed AHL season. While Verbeek played exclusively in the AHL after returning last year, he did spend some time in the ECHL this season, which could have been the deciding factor in his move overseas. Four seasons into his pro career, including the first three on an NHL contract, Verbeek has played largely in the AHL but has been demoted to the ECHL in three seasons and has seen no NHL action. Looking for a more consistent role in a top league, Verbeek will try his hand again in Slovakia next season.
  • When Georgi Merkulov, a star prospect out of the MHL, left Russia in 2020 to embark on a development path in North America with the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms and then the NCAA’s Ohio State Buckeyes, the odds that he would one day star in the KHL slipped. Then-rights holder HK Sochi decided to trade Merkulov to Amur Khabarovsk, doubting that he would ever suit up for the team. When Merkulov surprisingly turned pro after just one college season, signing with the Boston Bruins this spring, those odds fell even further. Amur has now decided to move on as well. KHL powerhouse CKSA Moscow, whose youth system Merkulov developed in, has decided to take a long-term gamble, acquiring the rights to their former prospect, per the KHL. In exchange, Amur received minor league defenseman Ilya Dervuk. Merkulov recorded 20 goals and 34 points in 38 games this season for Ohio State as one of the top freshmen in the NCAA and then added five points in eight AHL games with the Providence Bruins. Boston certainly hopes that this scoring prowess translates to the NHL and that these KHL trades are ultimately meaningless.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Marcus Bjork

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have entered the early free agency mix, adding to their blue line with an overseas addition. Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch relays a team press release announcing that Swedish defenseman Marcus Bjork has signed a one-year entry-level contract with the Blue Jackets. The 24-year-old has spent the past four seasons in the SHL.

Bjork will not be entirely new to North American hockey when he arrives in Columbus next season. In 2016-17, the young defender began the season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers. However, he returned to Sweden after just eight games. The following year, Bjork played in Sweden’s second-tier pro league, the Allsvenskan, and earned Defenseman of the Year honors by leading the league’s defensemen in goals and points. The breakout campaign earned him a contract in the SHL, but he didn’t immediately continue his upward trajectory. Bjork has found more success in recent years with Brynas IF however, recording 39 points in 116 games over parts of three seasons.

The Blue Jackets clearly like what they have seen from Bjork, whose game has balanced out since his younger years as well. At 6’3″ and over 200 lbs., Bjork brings good size and physicality to go with his offensive game. While he may take some time to adjust to the NHL – or perhaps more likely the AHL – Bjork could become a nice two-way piece for Columbus. He joins a young blue line that includes Zach Werenski, Andrew Peeke, Jake Bean, Adam Boqvist, Nick Blankenburg, and Jake Christiansen as NHL options under 25.

Korpisalo On Track To Be Ready For Training Camp

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  • Blue Jackets goaltender Joonas Korpisalo told Bailey Johnson of the Columbus Dispatch that his recovery from hip surgery is on track and that he should be ready for the start of training camp. He indicated he had been playing through the injury for the last four seasons with the issue worsening until it was decided that surgery was the best way to go.  He’ll get one more opportunity with Columbus after they signed him to a one-year, $1.3MM deal on Friday.

Columbus Blue Jackets Extend Joonas Korpisalo

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After a bad year and a serious surgery, Joonas Korpisalo isn’t going anywhere. The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed the pending free agent goaltender to a one-year contract extension for the 2022-23 season. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that the deal is worth $1.3MM.

Korpisalo, 28, underwent hip surgery in early April, ending his season after just 22 appearances. Those games also went poorly, with the netminder posting an .877 save percentage and a whopping 4.15 goals-against average. That followed a 2020-21 season that also ended with disastrous numbers, making the extension surprising at this juncture.

General manager Jarmo Kekalainen released a statement to explain:

Joonas has been a consummate pro during his Blue Jackets career and just two years ago was coming off a season in which he was selected to play in the All-Star Game and had a record-setting performance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. His 2021-22 season was derailed by injury, but we fully believe he will return to form, and are happy that he will continue to be a part of our team.

Still, the Blue Jackets already have their starter Elvis Merzlikins in place, and Korpisalo is taking a serious pay cut on this new contract. He made $3.4MM this season and carried a cap hit of $2.8MM, meaning he’ll cost the team a relatively small amount. With Daniil Tarasov also a pending restricted free agent and Jet Greaves not ready for the NHL, the team did need a second netminder.

Whether he can come back from injury and establish himself as a legitimate option in the NHL again remains to be seen. Four of Korpisalo’s seven seasons in the NHL have finished with a save percentage under .900, and the big netminder has a career number of .902. The team has continued to show plenty of trust in him but has rarely been rewarded, with his best season coming way back in 2015-16 when he posted a .920 save percentage as a rookie.

Of course, there was also that performance in the 2020 bubble playoffs that showed just how much potential there is in the 6’3″ frame. Korpisalo posted a .941 over nine games, including an 85-save performance against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a game that went to a fifth overtime period. If that’s the goaltender they’re signing, $1.3MM will be a huge bargain. If not, this could be his last chance in Columbus.

Dean Kukan To Sign In Switzerland

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Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dean Kukan is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, and he isn’t expected back. While playing for Switzerland at the World Championship, Kukan told SRF that he will return home next season to play in the National League, though wouldn’t confirm which team.

Kukan, 28, was a regular in the Blue Jackets lineup the last few seasons, playing in 41 games this year. Signed to a two-year, $3.3MM deal in 2020, he would have entered the market as an interesting depth option that has more than 150 games of NHL experience. Still, even the Blue Jackets never iced him much, with Kukan averaging just over 16 minutes a night this season, and he provides almost no offensive upside with 30 career points.

It will be interesting to see how long his new contract is, and if it will essentially end his career in North America. Given he will turn 29 in July and obviously wants to return home, this season may have been the last we’ll see him in the NHL.

Undrafted, he came up through the ZSC Lions program before heading to Sweden back in 2011, meaning this will be quite the homecoming for the 2016 Calder Cup champion.

Montreal Canadiens Win 2022 NHL Draft Lottery

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Beginning this season, the full effect of the changes to the draft lottery rules announced last year are in place. Starting this year, teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots if they’re selected, meaning teams originally set at picks 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 cannot move up all the way to the first overall pick. A win for one of these teams in the first draft lottery secures the pick for the team that finished last.

The team with the best odds coming in will win the draft lottery for the second straight year, though. The Montreal Canadiens will pick first overall in their own building, the first time such an occurrence has happened since 1985 when the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Wendel Clark at Maple Leaf Gardens. The New Jersey Devils moved up from fifth overall to second overall, bumping down the Arizona Coyotes, Seattle Kraken, and Philadelphia Flyers down one spot each.

The order for the top 16 picks of the 2022 NHL Draft is as follows:

  1. Montreal Canadiens
  2. New Jersey Devils
  3. Arizona Coyotes
  4. Seattle Kraken
  5. Philadelphia Flyers
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets (via Chicago Blackhawks)
  7. Ottawa Senators
  8. Detroit Red Wings
  9. Buffalo Sabres
  10. Anaheim Ducks
  11. San Jose Sharks
  12. Columbus Blue Jackets
  13. New York Islanders
  14. Winnipeg Jets
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. Buffalo Sabres (via Vegas Golden Knights)

While Shane Wright is still the consensus no. 1 overall selection across public draft boards (and NHL Central Scouting), there’s been recent noise about players like Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley potentially challenging him for first overall. That’s an upset unlikely to happen, though, as Wright had a terrific second half of the 2021-22 campaign, finishing with 32 goals, 62 assists, and 94 points in 63 games with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He also has 10 points in eight playoff games at the time of writing. While teams will draft him for his elite playmaking ability, he’s got an underrated shot when he chooses to use it as well. Standout Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec, Czech defenseman David Jiricek, Canadian forward Matthew Savoie, and Finnish forward Joakim Kemell are also names to watch for near the top of the draft board.

Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Mikael Pyyhtia

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed another young forward, this time inking Mikael Pyyhtia to a three-year, entry-level contract. Pyyhtia is coming off his second full season with TPS in Finland’s Liiga.

Selected 114th overall in 2020, the 20-year-old winger exploded offensively this season, scoring 21 goals and 35 points in just 56 games. That production didn’t slow down in the postseason, where he added eight goals and 13 points in 18 games for TPS. It’s performances like his that should give Blue Jackets fans so much hope, as they try to continue to build a supporting cast for some of their top young players.

There was actually no rush to getting him under contract, given that the Blue Jackets held his rights until June, 2024, meaning that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen must have seen enough to suggest that Pyyhtia could help the organization much sooner. His entry-level deal will kick in next season regardless of where he plays, making him a restricted free agent in the summer of 2025.

Alexandre Texier To Play In World Championship

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After missing the last chunk of the season, Alexandre Texier is set to return to competition. The Columbus Blue Jackets announced that Texier will compete for France at the upcoming IIHF World Championship, set to start later this month in Finland. Blue Jackets’ general manager Jarmo Kekalainen released the following statement:

Alexandre Texier reached out to let us know that he was ready to get back on the ice and asked our permission to participate in the World Championships. We were very happy to hear that he is doing well physically and mentally and ready to take this next step in his journey. We are excited that he will be representing France at the World Championships and look forward to his return to the Blue Jackets next season.

Texier, 22, last played on January 26 before missing the rest of the season due to a set of unfortunate circumstances. He broke a finger which took him out of the lineup for more than a month before the team announced in March that he was taking a leave of absence. Stating that Texier had “experienced personal losses of people very close to him,” the Blue Jackets granted the leave to return to Europe and be with his family.

Hopefully, a return to the ice at the Worlds means that Texier will also be ready for training camp later this year and can resume his blossoming NHL career. This was the first season of a two-year contract he signed last summer, which carries a cap hit of $1.525MM. In 36 games before he was injured, Texier managed to tally 11 goals and 20 points, flashing that dazzling speed and skill combination that made him such an appealing prospect.

Of course, there was also some rumbling this season about his availability in trade, though that disappeared quickly when he took his leave. It doesn’t make a ton of sense for the Blue Jackets to move a promising young forward, though they certainly do have the replacements in the pipeline. With names like Cole Sillinger, Yegor Chinakhov, and Kent Johnson all in the fold now, there’s lots of young talent up front in Columbus looking to make an impact.

France will kick off their tournament on May 13 against Slovakia.

Kirill Marchenko Signs With Columbus Blue Jackets

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have landed a top prospect, inking Kirill Marchenko to a two-year entry-level contract. Marchenko has spent the last several seasons in the KHL while the Blue Jackets waited patiently for an opportunity to sign him.

Marchenko, 21, was selected 49th overall in 2018, falling to the second round despite an obvious size and skill combination that projected well in professional hockey. He had already made his KHL debut at that point, but was quickly snapped up by the powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg program in 2018 and has been there for the years since.

This season, he scored 12 goals and 20 points in 39 games, before going back down to the VHL for their minor league playoff run. He scored six goals in 12 postseason games with the lower level club, a demotion that suggested his days in Russia could be numbered. Marchenko’s ice time this season was severely reduced from the year prior, when he had scored 15 goals and 28 points in 41 games, often a tactic taken by KHL clubs when a player is heading to North America in the near future.

In Columbus, Marchenko will join a young up-and-coming roster that already has another 21-year-old Russian winger in Yegor Chinakhov. While he might not necessarily jump directly into the NHL, there is plenty of reason to believe that Marchenko will make it there quickly and add another option for the team moving forward. Nearly half the Columbus forward group were on entry-level contracts by the end of the year, suggesting that the team is only going to improve in the years to come. Where he shakes out in the depth chart will be determined by how quickly his game translates to North America, and the moves that general manager Jarmo Kekalainen makes this offseason.

NHL Announces 2022 Draft Lottery Odds

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With the conclusion of the 2022 regular season coming this afternoon after the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-3 in regulation, the entire league standings are finally settled, and so are the odds for the 2022 NHL Draft Lottery, which will take place on Tuesday, May 10th, at 6:30 pm ET. The odds, which increase in reverse order of the NHL standings, are as follows (link):

Montreal Canadiens – 18.5%
Arizona Coyotes – 13.5%
Seattle Kraken – 11.5%
Philadelphia Flyers – 9.5%
New Jersey Devils – 8.5%
Chicago Blackhawks* – 7.5%
Ottawa Senators – 6.5%
Detroit Red Wings – 6.0%
Buffalo Sabres – 5.0%
Anaheim Ducks – 3.5%
San Jose Sharks – 3.0%
Columbus Blue Jackets – 2.5%
New York Islanders – 2.0%
Winnipeg Jets – 1.5%
Vancouver Canucks – 0.5%
Vegas Golden Knights** – 0.5%

* As a result of the Seth Jones trade on July 23, 2021, Chicago will transfer their 2022 first-round pick to Columbus, unless it is a top-two pick, at which point they will transfer their 2023 first-round pick instead.

** As a result of the Jack Eichel trade on November 4, 2021, Vegas will transfer its 2022 first-round pick to Buffalo, unless it is a top-ten pick, at which point they will transfer their 2023 first-round pick instead.

As a reminder, the NHL announced changes to the rules for the operation of the draft lottery on March 23, 2021, which in effect limits the amount of spots certain teams may move up. Teams are not eligible to move up more than 10 spots in the lottery; so, only the eleven teams with the highest odds can receive the first-overall pick. For example, the San Jose Sharks have the potential to receive the first overall selection, however the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have the next-highest odds, cannot select any higher than second overall. In previous years, any team in the lottery was eligible to move up to the first, second, or third position.

Another change to the lottery this year will be that only two teams will be chosen in the lottery, unlike previous years when three were selected. Then, like previous years, the remaining teams will be awarded their selection in reverse order of the NHL standings. This change means that a team with the highest odds, this year Montreal, will be guaranteed a top-three selection, whereas they could drop to as low as fourth in previous lotteries.

Although the odds drop off steeply as the list goes on, the lottery is still worth paying attention to for fans of the lower teams. Sure, Montreal is much more likely to win one of the two lotteries than the Islanders or Jets, however previous teams with poor odds have prevailed, most notably including the 2017 Flyers and 2020 Rangers.

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