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Columbus Blue Jackets Extend Dean Kukan

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have decided to reward one of their emerging defensemen with a new contract. Dean Kukan has signed a two-year extension with the club. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports the deal will pay Kukan $1.3MM in 2020-21 and $2.0MM in 2021-22 (for an AAV of $1.65MM). Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen released a short statement:

Dean is a smart and quick, puck-moving defenseman that has improved steadily since joining our organization in 2015. We are very happy that he will continue to be an important part of our club’s deep and talented group of defensemen.

Kukan was scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the season and currently carries a $725K cap hit. The 26-year old undrafted defenseman came to the Blue Jackets organization as a free agent in 2015 after several years in the Swedish Hockey league, and has slowly worked his way up the depth chart. This season he has suited up 33 times in the NHL and has five points, though a recent injury has kept him out of the lineup.

The Blue Jackets, intent on proving they were always more than just Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky, have exceeded expectations this season with a core led by Seth Jones, Zach Werenski, Cam Atkinson and Pierre-Luc Dubois. The first three names of that group are signed at very reasonable prices for the next several years, while Dubois is coming off his entry-level deal. With savvy extensions for depth players like Kukan and a development system that is churning out NHL-level talent, Kekalainen’s organization is looking like one of the strongest in the Eastern Conference.

The question now will be how they work their way through a few drafts without much pick capital after spending it at the deadline last season, but acquiring players like Kukan has softened the blow.

Minor Transactions: 02/06/20

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After the Toronto Maple Leafs and Los Angeles Kings completes a late-night trade yesterday, eyes are now peeled for the next move around the NHL. With 12 games on the schedule for this evening there will be plenty of minor moves as teams prepare, and we’ll keep track of them right here.

  • The Kings have recalled Cal Petersen after moving Jack Campbell to Toronto, giving them a second goaltender for the remainder of the season. Petersen should get a look down the stretch to find out if they really have a potential starter, as Jonathan Quick has struggled mightily this season.
  • Similarly, the Maple Leafs have demoted Kasimir Kaskisuo after acquiring Campbell. The trade gave Toronto 24 men on the roster and reassigning the now third-string goalie was the obvious solution to get them back down to 23.
  • The Columbus Blue Jackets have recalled Matiss Kivlenieks, Andrew Peeke and Kevin Stenlund, the former two returning after just one day in the minor leagues. The Blue Jackets will take on the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow night and are still dealing with various injuries.
  • Sebastian Aho is headed back to the New York Islanders, recalled once again. The young defenseman has been up and down all season, but still hasn’t worked his way into the NHL lineup.
  • Andy Andreoff has been recalled by the Philadelphia Flyers, as they prepare for a divisional matchup against the New Jersey Devils tonight. Andreoff has played in 13 games for Philadelphia this season, but has just one assist.
  • The Minnesota Wild have recalled Matt Bartkowski to the NHL while Carson Soucy deals with an illness. The Wild are facing the Vancouver Canucks this evening.
  • Robbie Russo is up with the Arizona Coyotes as Jason Demers deals with another injury. Demers has been placed on injured reserve, meaning he’ll miss at least a little bit of time.

Minor Transactions: 02/05/20

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While the MLB dominates the newsstands with some blockbuster deals yesterday, hockey fans will soon turn back to their beloved NHL and the race to the trade deadline. Things are heating up around the league with rumors swirling around any team within a few points of the playoffs, and there is bound to be some movement in the coming weeks. As teams prepare for all that action they have games to play and minor moves to make in order to ice full rosters. We’ll keep track of all those smaller moves right here:

  • The Washington Capitals have returned Martin Fehervary and Vitek Vanecek to the minor leagues after just one game, which only the former took part in. Fehervary ended up playing nearly 20 minutes for the Capitals last night in their comeback win against the Los Angeles Kings, and will likely be back up at some point for the team. Vanecek meanwhile was just insurance after Ilya Samsonov left practice, but Braden Holtby got the start and stopped 29 of 31 shots.
  • Matiss Kivlenieks, Jakob Lilja and Andrew Peeke have all been sent to the AHL by the Columbus Blue Jackets, with some other names nearing a return. Josh Anderson and Ryan Murray are both close to jumping back into the lineup for the Blue Jackets, who outlasted the Florida Panthers last night for a 1-0 overtime win.
  • Taro Hirose and Gustav Lindstrom appear ready to get a chance at the NHL, after being recalled by the Detroit Red Wings. To make room on the roster both Frans Nielsen and Mike Green have been placed on injured reserve. Hirose has played 23 games for the Red Wings this season, but Lindstrom will be making his NHL debut whenever he gets in the lineup. The 21-year old defenseman was selected 38th overall in 2017 and is in his first year of North American professional hockey.
  • Speaking of making a debut, Andrei Chibisov has been recalled by the Winnipeg Jets for the first time this season. The 26-year old was signed out of the KHL last summer and has 24 points in 46 games for the Manitoba Moose. To make room, Cameron Schilling has been returned to the AHL.
  • The Buffalo Sabres have recalled Scott Wilson from the minor leagues, while sending Jean-Sebastien Dea back down. The Sabres are dealing with a long list of injuries at the NHL and AHL levels while also plummeting in the standings.
  • The Colorado Avalanche have assigned Mark Barberio to the AHL for a conditioning stint, while recalling Calle Rosen. Rosen, acquired last summer in the deal that brought Nazem Kadri to town, played eight games earlier in the season for the Avalanche and recorded two points.

Snapshots: Dubois, Jets, Sharks

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The Columbus Blue Jackets won’t be announcing a contract extension for Pierre-Luc Dubois anytime soon, according to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic. Portzline tweets that the two sides were willing to talk during the season, but will “probably” move those negotiations to the summer.

Dubois and the Blue Jackets have bigger fish to fry at the moment as they try to shock every preseason prognosticator by making the playoffs. The team has overcome a ton this season to remain in the Metropolitan Division race and Dubois’ development into a true star has been one of the biggest reasons why. Still just 21, the third-overall pick from 2016 has 17 goals and 42 points in 53 games this season and looks every part the franchise centerman that Jarmo Kekalainen saw in the draft. He will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, coming off his entry-level deal.

  • Though most of the talk coming out of the Winnipeg Jets’ dressing room today revolved around Dustin Byfuglien and his impending departure from the organization, the team also announced some pertinent injury news. Nathan Beaulieu has been activated from injured reserve, while Mathieu Perreault takes his place. Perreault is expected to be out for at least two weeks after being hit by Karson Kuhlman last week.
  • While Kevin Kurz of The Athletic writes today (subscription required) that San Jose Sharks defenseman Brendan Dillon “will almost certainly” be dealt before the trade deadline later this month, it is the more veteran subjects of his latest article that will raise some eyebrows. Kurz examines potential landing spots for franchise icons Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau, if either of the two decide they want to get another shot at the Stanley Cup this spring. That’s not going to happen in San Jose, with the Sharks compiling a 22-27-4 record through their first 53 games and sitting 13th in the Western Conference.

Alexander Wennberg Placed On Injured Reserve

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have kept pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race despite top free agents leaving town and the club being ravaged by injury after injury. That resilient nature will have to continue, as another one of their forwards is headed for injured reserve. Alexander Wennberg will be out three to four weeks with an upper-body injury. Ryan MacInnis has been recalled in his place.

Wennberg suffered the injury over the weekend against the Montreal Canadiens, putting on hold what has been another disappointing season to this point. The 25-year old has just five goals and 20 points in 52 games, a far cry from the career-high 59-point season in 2017 that earned him a six-year, $29.4MM deal with the Blue Jackets.

While always a pass-first player, Wennberg has frustratingly scored just 15 goals over his last 193 regular season games with the Blue Jackets, a total that is unacceptable for a forward earning nearly $5MM per season. At times made a healthy scratch by head coach John Tortorella last season, Wennberg has at least kept himself in the Blue Jackets’ lineup this year—though that may have to do with their ever-growing list of injured players.

MacInnis meanwhile will come in after playing seven games earlier this season for the Blue Jackets, the first handful of NHL contests for the young forward. Originally selected 43rd overall in 2014, the son of former NHL great Al MacInnis hasn’t been able to reach the level of offensive production that made him such a dynamic player in junior.

Columbus Blue Jackets Extend Nathan Gerbe

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Veteran forward Nathan Gerbe has been more than just a minor league depth piece this season and the Columbus Blue Jackets have decided to reward his effort. The team has announced a new two-year extension with Gerbe, who was set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer. It is a two-way deal, but just barely, reports Sportsnet’s  Elliotte Friedman. The deal carries a $750K AAV at the NHL level and a $500K salary at the AHL level, which Friedman notes will make Gerbe one of the highest paid players in the minors.

Gerbe, 32, is well-respected player in the NHL ranks for his many years of hard-work as an undersized, but effective two-way forward. At just 5’4″, Gerbe is one of the smallest players in the league, but that hasn’t stopped him from contributing in over 400 NHL games. That includes four seasons of 25+ points, two each with the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes earlier in his career. Gerbe left North America in 2016 to play in the Swiss NLA, but ended up returning midway through the 2017-18 season to sign with Columbus. However, until this season he had played in only two games with the Blue Jackets, instead holding a leadership role with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. After another hot start with the Monsters this season, Gerbe was recalled in December and has been a key contributor to the turnaround in Columbus’ season. He has eight points in 16 games, the best per-game pace of his NHL career, and has carved out a distinct role for himself on the team. The Blue Jackets clearly see a continuing need for that role and hope that this extension ensures that the serviceable veteran can continue to help them out.

There’s also the more cynical view of this extension, which is that the signing – at least the term – is largely fueled by the requirements of the impending 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Each team must expose two forwards who have played in either 40 games in 2020-21 or 70 games in 2019-20 and 2020-21 combined and who also are signed into the 2021-22 season. Gerbe looks as if he could fit the bill as an ideal sacrificial lamb. If the veteran plays out the rest of the season in Columbus, he could have upwards of 46 games under his belt and would only need to be used sparingly to hit 70 games total after next season, while his extension keeps him under contract through 2021-22. While it’s impossible to accurately project expansion protection schemes at this point in time, at first glance the Blue Jackets’ lack of numerous long-term contracts up front leaves a relatively ascertainable group of seven forwards they could protect, leaving very little in the way of regular NHLers to be exposed. Gerbe could help to solve that problem. It may not be the only reason he was signed, and to a multi-year deal at that, but it very likely played a role.

Blue Jackets Recall Andrew Peeke

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  • The Blue Jackets announced the recall of defenseman Andrew Peeke from AHL Cleveland. They had just six healthy blueliners on their roster so the 21-year-old will likely serve as injury insurance for the time being.  He has one assist in seven games with Columbus so far this season while averaging 12:27 per game.

Josh Anderson Potentially On The Move Before Next Season

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Despite the fact that the Columbus Blue Jackets have carried through an incredibly discouraging summer and are currently sitting in a playoff position in the Eastern Conference, they are still facing a decision on what to do with one of their core players. Josh Anderson, who scored 27 goals for the Blue Jackets last season and looked like he would be one of the faces of the franchise after Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovksy left in free agency, now be on the move himself. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription required) reports that the “feeling around the NHL” is that Anderson will be moved either by this season’s deadline or more likely in the summer as he becomes a restricted free agent for the final time.

Portzline examines the entire situation revolving around Anderson, including the potential ways his future could unfold. The 25-year old will be an RFA with arbitration rights in the offseason and could potentially take the Blue Jackets (or any acquiring team) to arbitration in order to walk right into unrestricted free agent status in 2021. Dealing with injuries all year, Anderson has just one goal and four points in 26 games with the Blue Jackets and hasn’t played since the middle of December.

Eric Robinson Signs Two-Year Extension

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The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed Eric Robinson to a two-year extension that keeps him under contract through the 2021-22 season. The forward was scheduled to become a restricted free agent at the end of the year. Blue Jackets’ GM Jarmo Kekalainen released a short statement:

Eric is an exciting young player that has gotten better and better over the past two seasons. He is a tremendous young man, has game-breaking speed and we believe will be a very good player for us as he continues to work hard and improve his game.

CapFriendly reports that the deal will carry an average annual value of $975K. Robinson will be an unrestricted free agent at its conclusion.

Though he was technically scheduled for RFA status, Robinson actually had a chance at becoming a Group VI UFA this summer had he not played in 35 of the team’s final games this season. That means he’s giving up a chance to pursue other opportunities, but after finding a home with the Blue Jackets it’s hard to blame him.

The blazing fast forward, affectionately called “Wheels” in the announcement on Twitter, has five goals and nine points through 31 games for Columbus this season. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of Princeton University in 2018, he has 45 career games in the NHL.

The Blue Jackets still have quite a few restricted free agents to sign before next season, including Pierre-Luc Dubois, Josh Anderson, Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins.

2020 NHL All-Star Skills Participants Announced

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Before Saturday’s All-Star Game three-on-three tournament, the NHL’s best will take the ice on Friday night in the annual All-Star Skills event. There has been considerable hype around this year’s competition, given both the new “Shooting Stars” event, in which players will fire the puck at targets on the ice from platforms in the stands, and the participation of stars from the women’s game, including their own three-on-three scrimmage. Now, the league has announced who specifically will be taking part in each event, both new and classic. Below is the lineup for each event:

Fastest Skater

Jack Eichel, Buffalo Sabres
Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
Connor McDavid, Edmonton Oilers
Mathew Barzal, New York Islanders
Chris Kreider, New York Rangers
Anthony Duclair, Ottawa Senators
Travis Konecny, Philadelphia Flyers
Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks

Save Streak

David Rittich, Calgary Flames
Tristan Jarry, Pittsburgh Penguins
Jordan Binnington, St. Louis Blues
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Frederik Andersen, Toronto Maple Leafs
Jacob Markstrom, Vancouver Canucks
Braden Holtby, Washington Capitals
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets

Accuracy Shooting

Jaccob Slavin, Carolina Hurricanes
Tyler Bertuzzi, Detroit Red Wings
Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
Jonathan Huberdeau, Florida Panthers
Nico Hischier, New Jersey Devils
Tomas Hertl, San Jose Sharks
Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
Mark Scheifele, Winnipeg Jets

Hardest Shot

Mark Giordano, Calgary Flames
Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets
Shea Weber, Montreal Canadiens
Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
Elias Pettersson, Vancouver Canucks
John Carlson, Washington Capitals

Shooting Stars

David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins
Matthew Tkachuk, Calgary Flames
Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks
Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars
Brady Tkachuk, Ottawa Senators
David Perron, St. Louis Blues
Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues
Mitch Marner, Toronto Maple Leafs
American Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)
Canadian Women’s Elite All-Star (TBD)

Women’s Three-On-Three

Team Canada: Meghan Agosta, Mélodie Daoust, Ann-Renée Desbiens, Renata Fast, Laura Fortino, Rebecca Johnston, Sarah Nurse, Marie-Philip Poulin, Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull

Team USA: Kacey Bellamy, Alex Carpenter, Kendall Coyne Schofield, Brianna Decker, Amanda Kessel, Hilary Knight, Jocelyn Lamoureux-Davidson, Annie Pankowski, Alex Rigsby Cavallini, Lee Stecklein

All the action kicks off at 7:00pm local time in St. Louis, with coverage from NBCSN in the U.S and CBC, SN, and TVAS in Canada.

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