Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Jarret Stoll To PTO
After the Calgary Flames added Chris Higgins and the Carolina Hurricanes added Raffi Torres on professional try-outs earlier today, the Columbus Blue Jackets have decided to get in on the action. The team has invited veteran Jarret Stoll to training camp on a PTO, as Aaron Portzline reports.
Stoll, 34, spent last season between the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild contributing just nine points in 80 games. Once an effective scoring threat capable of putting up 40 points per season, Stoll hasn’t hit double digits in goals since 2010-11. Last season saw his minutes decreased to just over 12 a game, as he became a PK and faceoff specialist, hardly spending any time in the offensive zone.
Now, Stoll will try to hook on with a team in desperate need of cheap options to fill out their roster. The club is just $3.8MM under the cap, despite only having 18 players (twelve forwards and six defense) under NHL deals. While Zach Werenski, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Oliver Bjorkstrand all might make the team to provide some young inexpensive options, someone like Stoll could provide a cheap, veteran, bottom-six option for a team with so much tied up in terrible contracts.
Rookie Showcase Notes: Zacha, Demko, Werenski
Yesterday was the annual Rookie Showcase in Toronto at the Mattamy Athletic Centre (the old Maple Leaf Gardens) and invited were a number of the leagues top prospects, including Pierre-Luc Dubois, this year’s third overall pick. The showcase is mainly for press and memorabilia, but Mike G. Morreale of NHL.com wrote about various things that took place during the day in his latest column:
- New Jersey Devils’ prospect Pavel Zacha is completely recovered from his hip-pointer which caused him to miss rookie camp earlier this summer. The sixth-overall pick from the 2015 draft made his NHL debut last season after finishing in Sarnia, playing one game for the Devils and recording two assists. Zacha will fight to break camp with the NHL team this fall, but has tough competition on the left side after the team acquired Taylor Hall this offseason, pushing Mike Cammalleri down the depth chart.
- One of the best goaltenders in recent NCAA history (and owner of a fantastic name) Thatcher Demko feels ready to start his professional career after a sparkling final season at Boston College. The 20-year old went 27-8-4 with a 1.88 GAA and .935 save percentage last year, breaking the team record in shutouts with 10; the record was previously held by Cory Schneider, a former Canuck. “I feel like I’m ready to go. I feel ready for a pro season” said the second-round pick when asked about the upcoming year. He’ll head to the AHL to lead the Utica Comets this year.
- Zach Werenski will have every chance to prove himself this fall and break camp with the Columbus Blue Jackets at the tender age of 19 after an amazing Calder Cup run last season. The University of Michigan product followed up his sophomore season (11 goals and 25 assists) by scoring 14 points in the Lake Erie Monsters’ 17 playoff games. Former teammate Kyle Connor, a Winnipeg forward prospect and Michigan alum who was also at the showcase is very impressed by Werenski: “He’s very competitive in everything he does; he loves to win. I think he’ll definitely be an impact in the NHL. You can see it in the way he plays the game. He’s so dynamic and plays at a high level.”
Snapshots: Las Vegas Trademarks, Madden, Reirden
One way or another, it seems as though the “Knights” will suit up in Las Vegas for the 2017-18 season. The NHL reports that their newest expansion team filed for three trademarks last week: Golden Knights, Silver Knights, and Desert Knights. Team owner Bill Foley reportedly wanted the team to be named the Black Knights, after the Army Black Knights of the U.S. Military Academy, which he attended. Eventually, it sounded like he had settled on just “Knights”, but the team had trademark contention with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. Now it appears as though a color (or climate) will end up attached to Knights. While the double entendre of “Las Vegas Knights” won’t be as clean, the first team called the Knights in major North American pro sports will still be a nice addition to the National Hockey League.
In other news:
- Another team with recent name news, the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, announced the hiring of John Madden as their new head coach. Formerly known as the Lake Erie Monsters, the Columbus Blue Jackets affiliate is fresh off of a Calder Cup championship in 2015-16. As a result, head coach Jared Bednar was a top NHL head coaching candidate this off-season, and was officially named the new head coach of the Colorado Avalanche last week. In need of a new coach for their AHL team, the Blue Jackets brass targeted Madden as their first choice and it appears that there was mutual interest. The long-time New Jersey Devil was fired this off-season after three years as an assistant with the Florida Panthers, the team with which he finished his playing days, but now moves on to another stage of his hockey career. A veteran of nearly 900 NHL games and a strong two-way player, Madden has the knowledge and experience to teach the young Monsters skaters how to play a complete, responsible game.
- In another coaching move, the Washington Capitals announced that they have promoted Todd Reirden to associate coach. Reirden has served as an assistant coach to Barry Trotz for the past two seasons, and has been given long looks by both the New Jersey Devils and Calgary Flames as a potential head coach in that time span. As associate coach, Reirden will hold on to his previous responsibilities of working with defenseman and the power play unit, but will also be in charge of running training camp while Trotz is away at the World Cup.
Metro Notes: Tavares, Capuano, Bednar, Rangers
John Tavares is undoubtedly one of the top players in the game today, but even the best athletes work hard every day to improve their game. Arthur Staple of Newsday writes about what Tavares is doing this summer to try to avoid the lengthy slumps in production he experienced during parts of the 2015-16 campaign.
Tavares tied for 10th in the NHL in goals with 33 so it’s not as if his performance should be described as disappointing. But this summer he’s implemented a new workout schedule trying to find ways to stay fresher during the rigors of a long regular season. Tavares offered up this explanation for the change:
“I got sick really early in the season and I felt like I was overcoming some fatigue a little bit still after that. I just tried to manage this summer a little differently, making sure I got some really good recovery, some really good rest. I actually started training pretty early but I didn’t kick it into high gear for a little while. I tried to be on the ice a bit more, but just tried to make sure my quality was really high, that I didn’t try to do too much. So just to change up some things, stay fresh, stay healthy, work on some things you want to improve on in your game.”
Within the same post, Staple relays comments from head coach Jack Capuano, who wants his defensemen to generate more offense this season. Even though the team’s blue liners finished the 2015-16 season with nearly as many points as the previous season, Capuano felt the unit simply wasn’t as “dynamic” as they were the year before.
The Islanders did see a drop off in overall team goal scoring, falling from 252 goals in 2015-16 to 232 this past campaign. If Capuano can find a way to squeeze more production from his blue line corps, they should return to being one of the more prolific offenses in the league.
Elsewhere in the Metro……
- Despite suggestions that the New York Rangers would be among the busiest teams in the league this offseason, the club’s foray into free agency was minimal with Michael Grabner and Jimmy Vesey – who represented a unique case – being the only outside free agents to be given multiyear deals. On the trade front, the team did move top-line pivot center Derrick Brassard but acquired a suitable long-term replacement in Mika Zibanejad in exchange. For a team that has been in “go-for-it” mode for the last several years and consequently moved a ton of futures in deals to acquire veteran players – such as Martin St. Louis, Eric Staal and Keith Yandle – this summer has been strangely devoid of blockbuster acquisitions. But as Matt Larkin of The Hockey News writes, the team’s philosophy this summer was to inject youth and speed into the lineup and it appears general manager Jeff Gorton has been able to do so without making the kind of splashy moves expected.
- The Colorado Avalanche hired Jared Bednar this week to be the team’s new head coach, filling the void created when Patrick Roy abruptly resigned from his post. Bednar was formerly employed by the Blue Jackets organization and had been the head coach of the team’s AHL affiliate the last two seasons. But as Terry Frei of the Denver Post notes, Bednar was not the only candidate with Columbus ties that the Avalanche considered for their coaching vacancy. Frei points out that current Colorado assistant general manager, Chris MacFarland, formerly held the same position for Columbus. Part of his responsibility with the Blue Jackets was overseeing the team’s minor league organizations which would have put him in direct contact with Bednar. Additionally, the Avalanche interviewed Bob Boughner, who spent a single season as an assistant in Columbus while MacFarland was employed with the club. Scott Arniel, who was head coach in Columbus for a year-and-a-half, and current Blue Jackets assistant Brad Larsen were also both considered to some level for the job.
Snapshots: Bobrovsky, Lehner, Hudler, Pirri
Aaron Portzline has an in-depth look at Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who Portzline believes is the key to the Blue Jackets return to success. Bobrovsky has suffered a slew of injuries and Portzline writes that the Blue Jackets are investing heavily in seeing Bobrovsky return to the level that earned him $7.425MM as the Jackets’ number one goalie. To ensure that Bobrovsky has the proper training while remaining healthy, Columbus hired Nelson Ayotte away from St. Louis and sent him to Europe to guide Bobrovsky’s training regiments. It isn’t a lack of training that has hurt him in the past; Portzline writes that the 27-year-old netminder tends to overtrain. Portzline adds that in order for Columbus to finally see improvement, a healthy Bobrovsky needs to steal some games while Jackets bench boss John Tortorella has to trust his backup goalie to ease some of the workload off of his number one option.
In other NHL news:
- Buffalo Sabres goalie Robin Lehner will sit out the World Cup of Hockey writes the Ottawa Citizen’s Ken Warren. The former Senators goalie has been nursing an ankle injury since the beginning of the 2015-16 season. Sabres general manager Tim Murray was quoted as saying that both the team and Lehner felt it was in his best interest to continue his rehab for training camp.
- Warren also writes that the biggest winners in free agency may have been the teams who waited for some of talented players to come down in price. Warren cites Jiri Hudler as an example, who came in at $2MM for the already offensively talented Dallas Stars. Warren also mentions the Rangers as another winner as they locked up Brandon Pirri to a one year, $1.1MM deal.
Five Questions: Columbus Blue Jackets
The Columbus Blue Jackets were picked as a sleeper threat by many last season but instead struggled from start to finish, ending the year in dead last in the Metropolitan Division. They haven’t changed much with their roster over the summer but are hoping a healthier squad with a return to form from some key veterans will lead to better results in 2016-17.
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch was kind enough to chat with us about the key questions and storylines surrounding the team as we head towards the start of the season.
PHR: The decision to draft Pierre-Luc Dubois third overall over Jesse Puljujarvi back in June was a shocker to many. Why did GM Jarmo Kekalainen feel he was the better fit for the Blue Jackets?
AP: Many will point to the fact that Dubois played center for a half-season in major junior, and the need for a skilled center has been significant since the trade of Ryan Johansen to Nashville. But the answer is much simpler than that. They just like Dubois better as a prospect. They like his motor, his work ethic, his personality, the straightforward style of his play. This is going to be an easy one to track — Puljujarvi vs. Dubois — in the years that follow, but I give the Blue Jackets and Kekalainen credit for taking the guy they believed was the right pick, even though it subjected them to ridicule. If the Blue Jackets had done that in 2005 — they had Anze Kopitar No. 3 on their list before Doug MacLean chickened out — they would have drafted Kopitar, not Gilbert Brule.
PHR: Columbus is likely to have several players from their Calder Cup winning squad last year up with the big club in 2016-17. Who are some of the youngsters that are likely to push for a roster spot?
AP: Unless Zach Werenski has a poor training camp, he’s on the club. Josh Anderson and Oliver Bjorkstrand need good camps to make the club, but both could do it. I think Sonny Milano needs more seasoning, but he could blow people away in camp. If I’m the Blue Jackets, I want to see Milano playing like an offensive star in the AHL — that’s his profile, right? — before he’s called up to the NHL. One of the two young goaltenders, Joonas Korpisalo and Anton Forsberg, will likely make the club as Sergei Bobrovsky‘s backup, putting the other youngster and Curtis McElhinney back to AHL.
PHR: The core of this team didn’t change much this offseason. Why should fans be confident that the Jackets can rebound after finishing in the Metropolitan Division basement last year?
AP: Frankly, they shouldn’t be. I’m not saying they won’t climb out of the basement; in fact, I suspect they will. But this club has made a habit out of crushing the fans’ hopes right out of the gate. Last five years combined, in the first 20 games of the season, the Blue Jackets are 30-60-10. Season over. There are plenty of cynical, pessimistic fans in Columbus. They’re the ones who will be pleasantly surprised if this club actually plays up to its ability and becomes a consistently competitive NHL franchise. It’s long overdue.
PHR: There have been rumors dating back to last season that the team has been shopping Scott Hartnell. Do you expect him to continue to be on the trade block into 2016-17 and will they be able to move him at some point?
AP: I don’t think anything has changed that would take him off the trade market. It’s an awkward spot, to be sure, because now the whole world knows that his team has tried to trade him. Hartnell is an old-school guy. He’s a professional. He can block this stuff out and play. But I can’t imagine he’s as excited about being in Columbus as he expected to be two years ago when he waived his no-trade clause to facilitate the trade. Remember, he came here because he expected playoff runs, rivalries, big games. There’s been none of that. If the Blue Jackets are out of it at the trade deadline, and Hartnell has remained productive, I think they’ll be able to move him then.
PHR: What would you peg as the biggest strength and weakness for the Blue Jackets?
AP: Biggest strength? The entire organization should have a massive chip on their shoulder. They’ve had back to back unacceptable seasons, despite being a salary cap team in a small market. In 2014-15, they used injuries as an excuse, even though hockey players and coaches always say it’s never an excuse. Last season … no excuses. They should be motivated — if not by pride or competitive spirit — by embarrassment. The spirit of this group will be interesting to monitor. Weakness? The franchise goaltender has a chronic groin condition that has sidetracked three straight seasons now. Can Bobrovsky get past this? Huge question in Columbus. If the answer is ‘yes’, the Blue Jackets are competitive. If the answer is ‘no’, the Blue Jackets have big trouble.
Aaron Portzline has been with the Dispatch since 1988 and has covered the NHL since 1999. He is currently the Chair of the Columbus Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association and we thank him for taking the time to talk with us. Give him a follow on Twitter at @Aportzline.
Avalanche Choose Bednar As New Head Coach
Colorado has named veteran minor league head coach Jared Bednar to replace Patrick Roy in the same capacity with the Avalanche. The timing of Roy’s resignation put the Avalanche in a bind as most organizations had already filled their coaching staffs – both at the NHL and minor league levels – and would understandably have been hesitant to potentially lose a quality coach to Colorado this late in the summer. Still, the Avalanche had several good candidates to choose from and clearly decided Bednar would be the best fit.
Bednar spent the last two seasons as head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets AHL affiliates, winning the Calder Cup this year with the Lake Erie Monsters. He also served two years as head coach of the AHL’s Peoria Rivermen from 2010 – 2012. Overall, Bednar has 14 years of professional coaching experience.
This will be Bednar’s first NHL head coaching gig but he had already been identified as one of the top young up-and-comers in the industry. Columbus had rewarded Bednar for his work by giving the 44-year-old coach a two-year extension earlier this summer. Now they’ll have to replace the coach who so recently led their AHL team to a Calder Cup championship.
Other candidates linked to the opening and considered potential finalists along with Bednar were Washington assistant Lane Lambert and Blackhawks assistant Kevin Dineen.
Avalanche executive vice president and general manager, Joe Sakic, had this to say about the hiring of Bednar:
“After profiling the type of coach I wanted for our team and going through an interview process with several good candidates, I believe that Jared Bednar is the best person to lead this team behind the bench. Jared’s track record of success as a head coach in the American Hockey League speaks for itself and he is considered to be one of the top up-and-coming coaches in our business.”
Roy would spend three years as head coach of the Avalanche and won the league’s Jack Adams award for top coach following his first season with the club after leading the team to a 52 – 22 – 8 record. Colorado would make the playoffs that year, losing in the first round, but it would be the only postseason appearance with Roy at the helm. The Avalanche would post a 78 – 70 – 16 record over the last two seasons. Roy, who also served as a VP of hockey operations, evidently left the team due to philosophical differences with the front office.
Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that Bednar received a three year contract. Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Portzline’s Latest: Columbus Coaches, Dubois, PTOs
Among one of the best at hiding interesting nuggets of information in his columns, Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch has released his latest Truths & Tidbits piece. In it, he goes through a bunch of smaller stories on the Columbus Blue Jackets as the season creeps closer. It’s worth a closer read, but here are the highlights:
- With the Colorado coaching vacancy still unfilled, the Avalanche seem to be targeting current and former Jackets coaches. Kevin Dineen, Bob Boughner, Jared Bednar have all been linked to the opening and have ties to the Columbus organization. Portzline posits that Av’s AGM Chris McFarland might have something to do with it, as he formerly held the same position with Columbus.
- The bulk of the post is dedicated to looking back at former drafts, and seeing if the Blue Jackets’ decision to draft Pierre-Luc Dubois third overall instead of Jesse Puljujarvi, the expected pick, was justified. The most interesting tidbit out of this is that back in 2005 Columbus actually had Anze Kopitar ranked as their #3 prospect, ahead of their eventual selection Gilbert Brule (who they had ranked in the 6-8 range). The Jackets would go with Brule at #6 instead of Kopitar (who dropped to the Kings at #11) because of the view that the Slovenian was a less conventional pick. “I’m not drafting a kid who pushes rocks up a mountain and jumps over milk crates and calls it training” is a quote from Doug MacLean, then-GM of the Jackets on why he passed on Kopitar. Brule had just 95 points in his NHL career before heading to the KHL, while Kopitar has collected 684 across his 764 career games, while widely being thought of as one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL.
- Portzline also mentions that the Blue Jackets are not expected to extend any PTOs to camp this fall. “We’re pretty full already” says GM Jarmo Kekalainen. Keep up with who has been given tryouts around the league here, with our PTO tracker.
Tim Jackman Retires From NHL
According to Elite Prospects, long-time journeyman Tim Jackman has decided to hang up his skates and retire from professional hockey. Jackman played 483 games across parts of twelve seasons, suiting up for the Blue Jackets, Coyotes, Kings, Islanders, Flames and Ducks along the way.
Now 34-years old, Jackman was originally picked in the second round of the 2001 draft, and would contribute 75 points and over 800 penalty minutes across his career. The North Dakota native got into nine playoff games in 2014-15 with the Ducks, his first taste of NHL postseason.
Playing with the San Diego Gulls of the AHL last season, Jackman put up two points (1-1) and 33 penalty minutes in 22 games. Don’t be surprised to see Jackman’s name in a coaching staff in the future, as often tough guys and journeymen find success behind the bench after their playing days are over.
Latest On Avalanche Coaching Search
After the unexpected departure of Patrick Roy earlier this month, the Avalanche have been scrambling to try and find a head coach prior to the beginning of training camp. While Joe Sakic has previously said that the current assistants are not options, many have speculated on other names around the league. As Terry Frei of the Denver Post reports, the Avalanche are considering two more well known names in Bob Boughner and Kevin Dineen.
Boughner finished his 10-year NHL career in Colorado, playing 41 games for the club in 2005-2006. Immediately afterwards he was given the head coaching job with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, and quickly turned around a struggling franchise. The team won two championships under his leadership, in just his third and fourth years coaching. Boughner spent last season on the bench with the San Jose Sharks, and has always been considered a strong leader. During the 2004-05 lockout, Boughner was selected to serve as NHLPA vice-president by his peers and is seen as a natural fit on the bench.
A little more experience comes in the form of Dineen, who previously held the head coaching job with the Florida Panthers and Portland Pirates of the AHL. Dineen is currently an assistant for the Chicago Blackhawks, and is a “major candidate” according to Frei.
The other name that Frei mentions, is that of Jared Bednar. We already heard the name of the Cleveland Monsters’ head coach in relation to the opening. Bednar led the Monsters to the Calder Cup last season, and has yet to crack an NHL coaching staff.
Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch also chimes in on the search, telling us that Scott Arniel, a former Blue Jackets head coach and current assistant with the New York Rangers has not been granted an interview and thus is not a candidate for the opening. It’s going to be a tough process for the Avalanche, as most of the experienced candidates have already found positions with other clubs.