Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Stars Rumors

Corey Elkins Among Several Dallas Camp Invites

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Scottie Upshall and Stefan Noesen won’t be the only one fighting for a contract when training camp opens for the Dallas Stars. While the the duo had previously been announced as joining Dallas on PTO’s, the team released their camp roster today, which features several other tryout candidates beyond the Texas-native Noesen long-time veteran Upshall. Of that list, the most recognizable name was forward Corey Elkins, who returns to North America for another try at the NHL.

Elkins, though never drafted, was a standout at Ohio State University in the mid-2000’s and was once considered a legitimate NHL prospect. Signed by the Los Angeles Kings out of school, Elkins began his pro career with back-to-back 40+ point campaigns and strong playoff showing for the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs. The power forward even played in three games with the Kings and netted his first (and only) NHL goal. However, Elkins’ efforts were not enough to earn another contract from L.A. nor garner an NHL deal elsewhere. He took his talents to the Czech Republic for a year before returning to the AHL in 2012-13. Yet, midway through the season he left for Europe again, signing with HIFK of the Finnish Liiga. Elkins would become a core member of HIFK, playing in parts of five seasons with the club and producing consistent offense. The draw of the NHL brought him back though, as he earned a PTO with his hometown Detroit Red Wings prior to the 2017-18 season. While Elkins failed to make the team, he played yet again in the AHL, this time for the Grand Rapids Griffins.  It was a nice season for the aging forward, but not enough to draw interest at the top level. Elkins signed with Germany’s Grizzlys Wolfsburg last year, but suffered a season-ending injury before ever suiting up. He now enters camp with the Stars likely looking at his last chance to make it back to the NHL, or at least to secure AHL employment and extend his career.

Among other tryout names on Dallas’ roster is forward Brad McClure, who split last season between their affiliates, the AHL’s Texas Stars and ECHL’s Idaho Steelheads. McClure signed on for another year with Texas after recording  11 points in 30 AHL games, as well as near point-per-game production in the ECHL, in his first pro season out of Minnesota State. He’ll be looking to show that he’s worthy of an upgrade to an NHL contract. Idaho teammate Tomas Scholl will also be in camp as an extra goalie. Forward Diego Cuglietta, who finished his year with AHL Texas after wrapping up an impressive senior season at Lake Superior State University, will be in camp on an amateur tryout. College teammate Anthony Nellis, who began his pro career last year with the ECHL’s Fort Wayne Komets, will also be in attendance. Parker MacKay, the captain of the National Champion University of Minnesota-Duluth, will also participate after signing with AHL Texas this off-season.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Dallas Stars

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2019-20 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Dallas Stars

Current Cap Hit: $80,529,999 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

D Miro Heiskanen (two years, $894K)
F Roope Hintz (one year, $812K)

Potential Bonuses

Heiskanen: $2.5MM

Hintz was a regular for Dallas in the second half of last season before really turning it on in the playoffs.  He tied for the team lead in goals in the postseason and in doing so, he should be a safe bet to be a regular this season.  However, with the limited track record, he shouldn’t be a candidate for a long-term contract just yet.

Heiskanen had a tremendous rookie season and quickly established himself as a fixture on the top pairing.  At 20, there’s still plenty of room for improvement as well.  Keep a close eye at what the top of the post-ELC RFA market winds up being for the defensemen that are still unsigned.  That figure will probably wind up as a starting point for extension talks in July.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Radek Faksa ($2.2MM, RFA)
F Martin Hanzal ($4.75MM, UFA)
F Mattias Janmark ($2.3MM, UFA)
G Anton Khudobin ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Corey Perry ($1.5MM, UFA)
D Roman Polak ($1.75MM, UFA)
D Andrej Sekera ($1.75MM, UFA)

Potential Bonuses

Perry: $1.75MM
Sekera: $500K

Hanzal was supposed to come in and stabilize their center situation.  Instead, he has been injured – a lot.  He’s not expected to play this coming season which makes him an LTIR candidate and gives Dallas the potential for some in-season cap flexibility.  That’s not a good return value-wise on a player that was supposed to be a core piece but it’s something at least.  Janmark had a year to forget as his goal total dropped from 19 to just six.  As a result, he got his qualifying offer and nothing more but a repeat performance could see his AAV cut in half a year from now.  Faksa was the one player outside of their big three up front that put up a double-digit goal total (even if his output also dipped).  This is the final year of his bridge contract but it’s hard to imagine that the Stars will want to commit to a long-term deal.  Instead, something that buys out a year or two of UFA eligibility with AAV a little over $3MM may be the likelier outcome.  Perry had a tough injury-plagued season with Anaheim and was bought out in June.  Expectations will be a lot lower with the Stars but the pressure will still be high as a rebound year would go a long way towards getting him a raise and a multi-year contract.

Polak brought some experience to the back end last season and impressed enough to sign before free agency got underway with a nice raise.  At this stage of his career though, he’s probably going year-to-year and with a very limited offensive game, he’s going to stay in this price range for any future deals.  Sekera has dealt with knee trouble the last couple of seasons which eventually got him bought out by Edmonton to free up some cap space.  If he can show that he has recovered and can lock down a top-four role, he could garner a lot of interest and a good raise next summer.

Khudobin is coming off a very strong season that saw him post a new career best in games played to go along with a .923 SV%, a mark that was well above average for all goaltenders let alone backups.  A similar performance could elevate him to a status where a team might be willing to make him the 1A part of a platoon which would carry an extra million or so on his contract.

Two Years Remaining

F Andrew Cogliano ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Blake Comeau ($2.4MM, UFA)
F Jason Dickinson ($1.5MM, RFA)
D Taylor Fedun ($738K, UFA)
D Stephen Johns ($2.35MM, UFA)
D Jamie Oleksiak ($2.138MM, UFA)

Cogliano was brought in to shake up their forward group in a midseason trade but he wound up producing at lesser rate than he did with Anaheim.  He’s coming off a career-low in points (17) and ATOI (12:35).  At this point, he looks like a potential buyout candidate next summer if he doesn’t turn things around.  Comeau saw as much ice time last season as he did the year before with Colorado but barely wound up with half the production.  Their additions are likely to push him down the depth chart which may not help either.  It’s hard to see him getting a raise two years from now.  Dickinson is coming off his first season that saw him play somewhat regularly plus a good showing in the playoffs.  That earned him a bridge contract but he’ll need to progress off of the fourth line over the next couple of years or risk being surpassed by a cheaper fit for that unit.

Johns missed all of last season with a concussion and while the team is optimistic he’ll be able to return this year, it’s still far too early to assess what his next contract could look like.  Oleksiak has had a weird journey the last couple of years.  He was deemed expendable by Dallas and was traded to Pittsburgh only to be traded back last season for the same price the Penguins originally paid.  However, despite the reacquisition, his role with the Stars was even more limited than it was the first time around.  He’s someone that they will likely look to trade again and could also be a buyout candidate next summer.  Fedun was acquired last year to serve as AHL depth but when injuries arose, he made the most of it and basically became a regular in the second half.  That earned him a bit of job security with a two-year deal and if Dallas tries to push him through waivers, his performance last year could get him a look elsewhere.

Three Years Remaining

D John Klingberg ($4.25MM, UFA)
F Joe Pavelski ($7MM, UFA)
F Alexander Radulov ($6.25MM, UFA)

Pavelski’s departure from San Jose comes as a bit of a surprise but the fact he was able to get a three-year at the age of 35 isn’t.  He’ll provide the Stars with another legitimate scoring threat beyond their top line while playing a strong all-around game.  The final season could be a bit iffy in terms of value but it was still a worthwhile move for them.  Radulov has fit in quite well in his first two seasons with the Stars and has been an important part of that top trio.  Like Pavelski, the final year could be a little worrisome but he has already given them a strong return with two straight 72-point seasons.  Neither player will likely come close to this amount on their next contract if there is one.

The decision to bypass a bridge deal for Klingberg back in 2015 looks like a brilliant decision now.  He’s on one of the best bargain contracts in the league as a legitimate number one defenseman making the rate of a number four option.  At an absolute minimum, he should be able to double his current AAV on his next deal.  Chances are that he’ll be able to do even better, especially with the rates for top blueliners going up now.  An AAV around the $10MM range is certainly obtainable and with the two forwards having expiring deals, the Stars should be able to afford to keep him around at that rate if they so desire.

Four Or More Years Remaining

F Jamie Benn ($9.5MM through 2024-25)
G Ben Bishop ($4.917MM through 2022-23)
D Esa Lindell ($5.8MM through 2024-25)
F Tyler Seguin ($9.85MM through 2026-27)

Seguin voiced his frustration with his contract situation last summer but they were able to agree on this deal just before training camp.  The performance that followed was rather underwhelming in the first half although he turned it on down the stretch.  This is a bit of a high price tag but he’s in the prime of his career and a safe bet to be around a point per game so it’s not a massive overpayment.  Benn is coming off a tough season that saw his output drop from 79 to 53 points which isn’t the type of return they need from one of the top-paid wingers in the league.

Lindell has largely flown under the radar but has emerged as a quality top pairing defender.  His offensive game will limit his overall earning upside but this should still prove to be a good contract for Dallas for a long time.

Bishop is coming off his best season at the age of 32 and is signed at a well below market rate as far as starters go.  However, injuries have limited him to less playing time than most starters in the last few years.  As he gets older, the deal will carry a bit more risk but right now, it’s a strong value contract.

Buyouts

F Valeri Nichushkin ($700K in 2019-20, $450K in 2020-21)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Still To Sign

D Julius Honka

Honka’s stock has plummeted over the past year and a bit.  He has gone from a young defender with some upside to one that can’t crack the lineup and needs a change of scenery.  They’ve been open to moving Honka for a little while now and it’s possible that some other team will be the one signing him to his next deal.

Best Value: Klingberg
Worst Value: Benn

Looking Ahead

As a result of their offseason spending, the Stars would have been tight to the Upper Limit for this season had it not been for Hanzal’s injury.  Now, their ability to place him on LTIR will give them some in-season flexibility which will certainly come in handy.

There aren’t any big expiring deals to worry about for next season so the Heiskanen extension will be the next big task for GM Jim Nill.  While they have some big tickets on the books, they have enough bargain deals that they should be in reasonable shape cap wise for the next few years.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Stefan Noesen To Sign PTO With Dallas Stars

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Tuesday: Shapiro has new information today it seems, as the Athletic reporter now tweets that Noesen will be joining the Stars on a PTO after all.

Monday: It has been a quiet summer thus far for forward Stefan Noesen, who became an unrestricted free agent earlier this off-season when the New Jersey Devils opted not to extend a qualifying offer. Noesen’s name has hardly been whispered on the rumor mill with so many teams still needing to sign their RFA’s and other talented UFA’s waiting for the dominoes to fall. However, Noesen has finally resurfaced in the most likely of places. The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that the Texas native skated with the Dallas Stars today.

Now, Shapiro stops short of claiming this is an indication of even a PTO, nevertheless a contract. However, he does note that Noesen was the only non-Star in attendance and was wearing Dallas gear. That in itself is not conclusive, but surely lends itself to the idea that Noesen may be officially linked to the team in some way. Yet, Dallas’ roster construction may suggest the opposite. The Stars were active in free agency this summer, adding Joe Pavelski and Corey Perry to a forward corps that was already relatively deep. It has left the team with less than $1MM in cap space with only 22 players on the projected roster. On a minimum contract, Noesen could fit as the final member of the roster, but it would leave the Stars with less roster flexibility than would a waiver-exempt prospect. The team could use a young, established bottom-six player, but likely not at the cost of cap and roster confusion.

Noesen, 26, would have to first prove he is worthy of a contract anyway. It is unlikely that the Stars, or any NHL team for that matter, are willing to give the two-way forward a guaranteed deal after such a down season. Noesen entered 2017-18 with high expectations after a career-high 27 points the year prior, but took a major step backwards. Noesen recorded just eight points in 41 games and watched the other 41 from the press box. The Devils themselves regressed as well, but Noesen’s struggles were mostly a product of his own poor play. The 2011 first-round pick still has the tools and experience to be an effective player, but he first needs to show that he is ready for NHL action. The Stars have already shown a willingness to add PTO’s, formally inviting Scottie Upshall to camp, so Noesen could very well be getting that shot. If not in Dallas, he still seems like a solid candidate to get a look somewhere. However the invitation is just the beginning and the once highly-regarded prospect will need to work hard to show he still belongs at the top level.

Evening Notes: Hanzal, Pominville, Pilut

at CDT | by 1 Comment

Last season, the Dallas Stars freed up some cap space at the trade deadline by placing both Martin Hanzal and Marc Methot on LTIR, which allowed the team to go out and acquire New York Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello and Pittsburgh’s Jamie Oleksiak. While Methot’s contract has expired, the team still has Hanzal under contract for one more season and while his on-ice contributions are in question with recurring back issues, his contract could help the team once again.

According to Dallasnews.com’s Matthew DeFranks, the team may be able to do something similar. Hanzal hasn’t played any hockey since before last Christmas and has appeared in only 45 games since signing a three-year, $14.25MM deal back in 2017. However, while there are quite a few variables when dealing with LTIR, the Stars could conceivably open up between $4-5MM in cap space during the season and use that to acquire a player.

DeFranks lists a number of potential targets, including T.J. Brodie, Chris Kreider, Tyler Toffoli, Craig Smith, Evgenii Dadonov, Vladislav Namestnikov and Jake Muzzin.

  • In his most recent mailbag column, the Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski writes that it’s highly unlikely the Buffalo Sabres will be bringing back veteran forward and current unsigned unrestricted free agent Jason Pominville, even if it’s on a tryout basis. At 36 years old, Pominville still seems to have something to give after posting 16 goals and 31 points last season, but after adding Jimmy Vesey and Marcus Johansson to their roster and with a number of young forwards looking to step up, including Tage Thompson, Victor Olofsson and C.J. Smith, there really isn’t space for Pominville. The team did opt to keep Johan Larsson and Zemgus Girgensons as fourth-line options, where they could have retained Pominville, but both Larsson and Girgensons have penalty kill experience, while Pominville doesn’t.
  • Sticking with the Sabres, The Athletic’s Joe Yerdon (subscription required) wonders whether Buffalo Sabres defenseman Lawrence Pilut could be ready to immediately jump in as the team’s No. 2 defenseman on the left side. Pilut, despite recovering from offseason shoulder injury and might miss some time early in the season, played just 33 games for Buffalo, posting a goal and six points, and impressed with his corsi-for with a 53.2 percent, only behind Brandon Montour. The 23-year-old proved in Rochester that he can be a dependable blueliner in his own end. The question is whether he’s ready for the same role in Buffalo.

Central Notes: Ehlers, Josi, Johns

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Winnipeg Jets know what they have in Nikolaj Ehlers. The 23-year-old forward is a speedster, who is known to score goals in bunches and is considered to be a key piece to the Jets’ top-six. Yet, at the same time, there are equally just as many questions as in 21 career playoff games, he has zero goals and has also proven to be wildly inconsistent. There has been plenty of talk that the Jets, struggling with salary cap issues as many of their young players have received or are soon expected to receive big contracts, might be willing to move their young Danish forward.

However, the Winnipeg Sun’s Scott Billeck writes that moving the forward would likely be a major mistake for a franchise who still needs as many scoring forwards as the can get. The scribe looks at Ehlers’ A3Z statistics, which refers to his play in all three zones and compares him to Edmonton’s Connor McDavid. While pointing out that you can’t compare the two as overall players, Ehlers’s A3Z statistics suggest that he is a dominant player in comparison to McDavid in certain situations. McDavid is in the 99 percentile in shots contributed over 60 minutes, while Ehlers finds himself in the 97th percentile. Ehlers shot-assist ratio over 60 minutes suggest he’s in the 91st percentile in the league, suggesting he could take his game up a notch soon.

Therefore trading Ehlers to ease some of the team’s cap concerns or replace him with a defender, could quickly become a mistake.

  • Greg Hardwig of the Naples Daily News reports that Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi, who is entering the final year of his contract and will be a highly sought after unrestricted free agent next summer, reiterated Friday that he wants to remain with the Predators. “I never made it secret that I’d like to stay in Nashville,” said Josi. “I think we’re talking a little bit over the summer, and I’ll let my agent deal with that and just focus on getting ready for the season.” Josi could see an even bigger role this season after the team traded P.K. Subban to New Jersey, giving more responsibility to the team’s top three blueliners, Ryan Ellis, Mattias Ekholm and Josi.
  • The Dallas Stars have made a number of big additions this summer with many suggesting the Stars could be Stanley Cup contenders this season. However, the team has one unknown that could have a significant effect on the team’s future in Stephen Johns. The 27-year-old looked like he was developing into a solid blueliner after the 2017-18 season, but instead missed the entire season last year due to post-traumatic headaches. Now cleared, Dallas Morning News’ Matthew DeFranks wonders whether he can step in immediately as the team’s No. 4 defenseman this season. If Johns can prove he’s ready to go, the 6-foot-4, 225 pound blueliner might be the perfect complement to 20-year-old Miro Heiskanen.

 

Scottie Upshall To Sign PTO With Dallas Stars

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The team at the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast have now moved on to breaking news, as they reported this weekend that veteran forward Scottie Upshall would be attending Dallas Stars camp on a professional tryout. Today, Sean Shapiro of The Athletic confirmed the report.

Upshall, 35, didn’t play last season thanks to a knee injury that caused him to fail his physical with the Edmonton Oilers in training camp. He had been signed to a PTO by the Oilers as well, something that he’s used to at this point after going through it several times in the last few years. There’s good reason for interest in Upshall even without any games played last season as he was previously a pretty effective bottom-six player for more than a decade.

Originally drafted sixth overall in 2002, Upshall never did quite live up to the high expectations put on him after an excellent junior career with the WHL. Even without his offensive game really blooming at the NHL level however, the feisty forward carved out a long career and played 759 regular season games for six different teams. Most recently he suited up 63 times in 2017-18 with the St. Louis Blues and recorded 19 points.

A PTO certainly does not guarantee Upshall a spot on the Dallas roster, but it does provide a place for him to show he can still hack it at the NHL level and perhaps secure a contract somewhere around the league. If the Stars believe he could be a valuable depth option perhaps it will be them who would offer that deal, but you can bet several teams will be keeping an eye on him.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Free Agent Profile: Marc Methot

at CDT | by 1 Comment

It doesn’t seem that long ago that Marc Methot was considered to be a high-end shutdown defenseman. Actually, it was just two years ago when the veteran was with the Ottawa Senators, that he averaged just short of 19 minutes per game for eight straight seasons. However, after signing a four-year, $19.6MM extension to remain in Ottawa in 2015, the Senators choose to expose his contract in the Vegas expansion draft and the defense-greedy Golden Knights opted to grab him, immediately flipping him to Dallas for a prospect and a 2020 second-round pick.

Unfortunately, the Stars didn’t capitalize on Methot’s impressive defensive play as he struggled with injuries in his two years in Dallas. In those two years, he has appeared in just 45 games and only nine of them came in the 2018-19 season. In fact, the knee injury that sidelined Methot for most of the season last year, could keep him out even longer than people had expected.

Having hit free agency this year at age 34, TSN reported in July that Methot might not be ready for the 2019-20 season at all due to the knee surgery that he underwent in January. However, despite the injuries, he still was a valuable commodity when he was on the ice with his defensive play and ability to play physically and provide key hits during the game.

Potential Suitors

The most obvious suitor could be retirement depending on how Methot’s knee responds from his surgery. TSN’s Shawn Simpson reported last month that Methot has started skating, which could increase his suitors if he can prove he is ready to return to the ice. If his knee can hold up, he could provide key depth on any team’s defense as a shutdown third-pairing defenseman, which plenty of teams would need.

A reunion in either Ottawa or Columbus might make sense, but Ottawa has already added a number of veterans to its defensive core, including Ron Hainsey and with a number of young blueliners waiting to get playing time, he might not be a good fit with his hometown. However, Methot could find a way there. In Columbus, the team is likely set on defense, but one injury could change that and a coach like John Tortorella would appreciate a defensive-minded veteran.

The New Jersey Devils are a team that could be interested in Methot as he might provide a good fit at the bottom of their lineup. There are plenty of other teams that might still need some depth on their defense such as the Anaheim Ducks, Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals. However, much of who might be interested in Methot, may be determined by team injuries and their needs.

Projected Contract

Methot’s situation might require him to wait to sign a contract until he can prove that he’s healthy and can really contribute to an NHL team, meaning he might have to wait until well into the 2019-20 season before signing a deal. Once he can prove he’s healthy, assuming he can and doesn’t opt to retire instead, Methot will likely have to settle for a minimum-salaried deal and prove his value to the team.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Prospect Notes: 2020 Draft, Reinhart, WHL

at CDT | by 5 Comments

It may only be August, but The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler is already hard at work evaluating next June’s draft class. The 2020 Draft promises to be chock full of talent, with Wheeler calling it more impressive than the most recent draft class and deeper at the top. In fact, he believes it could be the strongest class since 2015, which produced superstars like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner, Zach Werenski, Mikko Rantanen, Jake Debrusk, Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, and Thomas Chabot in the top 20 picks alone. Also unlike recent drafts, Wheeler feels the 2020 class will be deeper at forward than defense and will be lacking impact American prospects, with the scout failing to see a U.S. product even enter the conversation as a top-ten pick. So who might be in contention for one of those elite slots? Canadian forward Alexis Lafreniere has long been considered the presumptive top pick and finds himself at No. 1 on Wheeler’s initial draft board as well. However, Swedish forwards Lucas Raymond and Alexander Holtz could push him for that top spot. College-bound Dylan Holloway is an interesting name to watch as a top-ten candidate, as is Wheeler’s highest-ranked defenseman, Jamie Drysdale. Goaltender Yaroslav Askarov also intrigues Wheeler; he feels the Russian keeper could be the best goalie prospect of this decade. Plenty could change in the ten months still to come before the 2020 Draft, but it never hurts to get a head start on researching who your team could be eyeing next year.

  • Unsurprisingly lost in the shuffle of an off-season that has left many major names unsigned is a former top NHL prospect in Griffin Reinhart. NHL teams have been tantalized by Reinhart’s upside seemingly forever without any real results to show for it, but it seems that luck has finally run out. The fourth overall pick in 2012 by the New York Islanders, Reinhart recorded one lone point in eight NHL games in his first pro season before the Edmonton Oilers traded a first- and second-round pick for him. He proceeded to score just one more point in 29 games over two seasons in Edmonton before being selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Expansion Draft. In two years in Vegas, he did not see any NHL action and became a Group 6 unrestricted free agent. Reinhart received the benefit of the doubt for many years, but it seems no longer, as there has been practically no talk of the young defenseman this summer.
  • The WHL is headed outdoors for just the third time in league history. Sportsnet reports that the Regina Pats will host the Calgary Hitmen in an outdoor game this season on October 27th. The game will take place at Mosaic Stadium in Saskatchewan just one day after the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames square off there for the NHL’s Heritage Classic. The last WHL outdoor game took place back in 2011 and was another Pats-Hitmen contest, again coinciding with the Heritage Classic.

RFA Notes: Honka, Perlini, Boeser

at CDT | by 9 Comments

The Dallas Stars are still expected to move on from young defenseman Julius Honka at some point, it’s just not clear when that will be. The 23-year old spoke to Sean Shapiro of The Athletic (subscription required) and explained that he is trying to stay positive about the next chapter of his hockey career, despite not knowing exactly where that will be.

Honka is unsigned, one of the large group of restricted free agents still without a contract for the upcoming season. The Stars meanwhile have their defensive group filled out for 2019-20 thanks to the emergence of Miro Heiskanen and solid contributions from depth options like Roman Polak, Jamie Oleksiak and newcomer Andrej Sekera. With a lack of opportunity there have been trade rumors floating around Honka for quite some time, though it’s not clear when a move will actually be made.

  • One other young RFA that is expected to sign soon is Brendan Perlini of the Chicago Blackhawks, who continue to discuss a new contract according to Scott Powers of The Athletic. Powers relays news from a source that says a deal will get done “over the next week or so.” Perlini is the final restricted free agent left to sign for GM Stan Bowman, who has rebuilt the Blackhawks roster over the last several months by bringing in names like Andrew Shaw, Zack Smith, Olli Maatta and Calvin de Haan.
  • Though a deal for Perlini is imminent, that doesn’t sound like the case for Vancouver Canucks forward Brock Boeser. Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet tweets that Canucks GM Jim Benning won’t have anything new to say about Boeser when he speaks to the media today about his own extension. Boeser is one a dozen high profile restricted free agents waiting for the market to be set by someone else—with most pointing to Mitch Marner or Brayden Point as the flag bearers for the class.

Free Agent Profile: Valeri Nichushkin

at CDT | by 3 Comments

Just a year ago, the Dallas Stars were praising the signing of Valeri Nichushkin, their first-round pick back in 2013. The young, promising power forward showed quite a bit of promise before opting to return to the KHL. However, the team pressed and pressed before finally getting Nichushkin to agree to come back last year on a two-year, $5.9MM deal. The team hoped the then 23-year-old would immediately jump into their top-six and make an instant impact.

Instead it all backfired. Nichushkin struggled immensely, never scoring a goal all season and saw his playing time drop significantly. He missed time early in the year due to a groin injury and never found his place in the team’s lineup. He was scratched 16 times during the regular season and appeared in just one out of 12 playoff games for the Stars where he only played 7:57 of TOI. After just that one year, the team decided to cut him loose, buying out the team’s final season and letting a talented 24-year-old go.

The question is can Nichushkin bounce back. The 24-year-old is still young and has both the size and talent to put it all together. You would think there would be teams who might be willing to take a chance on him. The positives were that his defense last year was much improved from his first stint in Dallas as a teenager. Nichushkin killed penalties and even got some time on the team’s shutdown line with Radek Faksa. Unfortunately, his inability to put the puck in the net hurt his value.

Potential Suitors

Teams looking for young talent and might have a need for depth could find themselves interested. A team like Edmonton, who is in need of talented wingers, who might be able to have a breakout season, might be an interesting match. However, after trying that a season ago with Tobias Rieder, who also tallied no goals last season, the team may not want to deal with the same type of issue.

The New York Islanders might be another team that could use some depth on the bottom-six and with his defense, could be a good fit after the team lost Valtteri Filpula to Detroit this offseason. Especially with the Islanders having so much youth close, but perhaps not completely ready for the NHL squad, Nichushkin might be the perfect fill-in for one season.

There is also a legitimate chance that he could head overseas, but so far he has not chosen to sign a deal over there and with many leagues already getting started, he may want to find a chance in North America first. However, in the end, it will all come down to what team is willing to take a chance on the young forward.

Projected Contract

Unfortunately for the young Russian, Nichushkin will likely have to look for a PTO and try to prove that his inability to score was an aberration. There were many that thought that he might be able to bounce back, but considering how much Dallas was paying him and the fact they had to free up cap space to bring in Joe Pavelski, the team wasn’t going to put up with that salary. However, at a minimum-salaried deal, many teams might be ready to take a flier on him.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top