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Dallas Stars Sign Gavin Bayreuther

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Late last night, the Dallas Stars announced that they had won out in their battle with the Buffalo Sabres for the right to sign Gavin Bayreuther. The St. Lawrence University defenseman was a free agent and was considering the two teams up until yesterday. The two sides have come to an agreement and will release details today.

Bayreuther was considered one of the top free agents available from the college ranks this year, and for good reason. The 22-year old defenseman has put up 29 points in two straight seasons and generally been a dominant presence on the St. Lawrence blue line for all four years. He’ll go down as the second highest scoring defenseman in school history, behind only Daniel Laperriere, a former St. Louis Blues draft pick and NHL player.

The 6’1″, 195-lbs Bayreuther has much of what any NHL team would be looking for in a defensive prospect; great first pass, solid decision making, hard shot from the point. It’s mostly his positioning and one-on-one battles that need work, and will be challenged at the next level. With some solid professional coaching, he could turn into a nice all-around defenseman.

For the Stars, adding another prospect to their defensive pool can’t hurt as they look to rebuild what has been a shattered blue line. The team has watched Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, Kris Russell, Johnny Oduya, Jordie Benn, Jyrki Jokipakka and Trevor Daley all leave one way or another over the past couple of years, leaving them with a makeshift lineup behind the stalwart John Klingberg. Now with the youth of Bayreuther, Stephen Johns, Esa Lindell, Julius Honka, Patrik Nemeth and Dillon Heatherington they’ll be able to fill that pipeline once again.

While this signing doesn’t fix everything there is wrong with the Stars—as no one signing would—it does take another step in the right direction for a team that was in first place as recently as last year. We’ll now see how active they are heading into the expansion draft, where they will have several key decisions to make.

Stars Notes: Nichushkin, Expansion, Honka

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When Valeri Nichushkin left for the KHL last summer after having trouble with Dallas Stars head coach Lindy Ruff, the team lost one of its best young assets to a rival league. The former 10th-overall draft pick had put up 34 points in his rookie season, then missed most of the next year after hip surgery but came back with another solid 29 point season as a 20-year old last year. He looked like a star (pun intended) in the making in Dallas, ready to break out over the next few seasons.

Well, breakout he did, just on the wrong continent. With 24 points in 36 games, Nichushkin was outstanding for CSKA Moscow when he was healthy. He is under contract for one more season with the Russian team, but Jim Nill was on the radio today saying (via Mark Stepneski of NHL.com) that he would like to bring him back to North America eventually. The now 22-year old would be a nice addition if they could get him under contract, as they’re likely losing Ales Hemsky, Patrick Sharp and Jiri Hudler this year—not to mention Patrick Eaves and Lauri Korpikoski, who they dealt at the deadline.

  • According to Stepneski, Nill also said that he likely will protect Nichushkin in the upcoming expansion draft, something that would complicate things quite a bit. Protecting Nichushkin would leave one of Antoine Roussel, Brett Ritchie, Radek Faksa or Cody Eakin exposed, none of whom the Stars could afford losing for nothing. While leaving Nichushkin exposed isn’t perfect, it would be hard to see Vegas taking a swing at him not knowing for sure if he’d ever come back to the NHL. Perhaps the Stars will work out a deal with the Golden Knights on who to take, as they currently look like they’ll lose an effective player in the draft.
  • Julius Honka will be back up with the NHL team at some point, to play another 8-10 games with the big club before the end of the season. The top prospect played 10 games earlier in the season for the team, and has thrived at the AHL level for three straight years. There will be no playoff run for the Texas Stars of the AHL this season, as they currently sit in seventh place in their division with a 27-29-4 record.

The Best Deal Of The Offseason: Brad Marchand

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When you think back on any signing season, your mind immediately goes to the big deals handed out to free agents. This season saw over $600MM dollars handed out on the first day of free agency, and was followed by a lucrative summer for tons of players. Because of the lack of a superstar name—thanks Steven, you couldn’t just wait another couple of days?—second-tier all-stars were given incredibly lucrative contracts. Recently, our Zach Leach took a look back at July 1st and the mistakes teams made, handing out term and money to players who were perhaps already over the hill.

Brad MarchandBut this offseason’s best deal may not have come until much later in the summer. In fact it didn’t happen in the summer at all, but on September 26th just a few weeks before the Boston Bruins would start their season. The Bruins were getting ready for their preseason debut against the Columbus Blue Jackets—a game they would lose in a shootout—while two thirds of their top line was prepping for the World Cup of Hockey final in Toronto.

It was that morning of the 26th that Bob McKenzie of TSN would report that the Bruins had completed a contract extension with Brad Marchand that would see him stay in Boston for another eight years. He would be paid $6.125MM each season with several different clauses attached. Even though he was starring at the World Cup alongside Sidney Crosby—and would score the tournament winning goal just a few days later, shorthanded with 44 seconds left—many people thought the deal was a huge overpay. In fact, the replies to McKenzie’s tweet are mixed at best, with it being hard to understand the value Marchand brought to the Bruins.

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Central Division Notes: McKenzie, Hanzal, Blues

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The Dallas Stars decision to ink Curtis McKenzie to a one-year contract extension has obvious expansion draft implications in that it gives the team another forward that meets the minimum requirements making him eligible for exposure in the draft and allowing Dallas to protect someone else instead. However, as Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News writes, the Stars would prefer to hang onto the 26-year-old left wing rather than lose him to the Golden Knights.

Several players the Stars believed would play key roles up front (Ales Hemsky, Patrick Sharp, Mattias Janmark and Jiri Hudler among them) have missed significant portions of the season and McKenzie has proven invaluable by filling a number of roles for the team. He adds grit and penalty killing while sliding up and down the lineup as needed. McKenzie has tallied only four goals and 11 points in 43 games this season but that production is solid for a versatile, defensively responsible bottom-six forward. At a salary of just $700K for 2017-18, McKenzie represents a relative bargain, whether for Dallas or Vegas next season.

  • As is often the case with players joining a new team at the trade deadline, Martin Hanzal has struggled to find his way since being acquired by Minnesota from Arizona for a package of draft choices. But as Michael Russo of the Star Tribune notes, if anyone understands the difficulties of adjusting to a new team and new systems, it’s Wild bench boss Bruce Boudreau, who played for 17 different pro hockey clubs over the course of a 20-year career. Since joining Minnesota, Hanzal has had a rotating cast of linemates, a situation that complicates his adjustment but also one that allows Boudreau to figure out how best to ultimately deploy the veteran pivot. The coach’s patient handling of Hanzal may be starting to pay off. The 30-year-old had his best game as a member of the Wild in Minnesota’s 7 – 4 win over Florida Friday night. Hanzal recorded an assist, finished with three shots on goal and adding five hits. It’s that type of performance that made the 6-foot-6 pivot an attractive trade option at the deadline and if he can continue that level of play throughout the postseason the Wild will be pleased.
  • Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch hosted his regular chat yesterday and covered a variety of Blues related topics. As usual, the entire piece is well worth the read but one item of particular interest was a look back at a March 2, 2015 trade which saw defenseman Ian Cole shipped by St. Louis to Pittsburgh in exchange for fellow blue liner Robert Bortuzzo and a 2016 seventh-round draft pick. Since joining the Penguins, the 28-year-old Cole has developed into a quality regular on the team’s back end. The seven year veteran is enjoying the best season of his career in 2016-17, registering four goals and 21 points in 63 contests while posting a +23 plus-minus rating. Meanwhile, Bortuzzo has failed to make much of an impact with his new club and has been a healthy scratch often. While the scribe understands the criticism of the deal in hindsight, he also believes that Cole wouldn’t have evolved into a legitimate top-four blue liner had he remained with the Blues. Rutherford believes that Cole simply didn’t mesh well with the Blues at the time. He goes on to write that the team needed more physicality and got that in the form of Bortuzzo. Ultimately, if they had it to do all over again, Rutherford isn’t sure St. Louis would pull the trigger on that deal.

Dallas Stars Sign Curtis McKenzie To One-Year Extension

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The Stars have completed their expansion draft protection, signing Curtis McKenzie to a one-year, $700K extension. They also have announced a two-year entry-level deal for goaltending prospect Landon Bow. Both contracts will begin during the 2017-18 season. Curtis McKenzie

As we predicted when the Stars extended Adam Cracknell earlier this week, McKenzie was the obvious choice for the Stars to extend and fulfill their expansion draft requirements up front. While Brett Ritchie or Radek Faksa could have been exposed to cover the requirements, both will likely be protected by the team. They now have Cracknell, McKenzie and Dan Hamhuis as expansion draft fodder that fill the 70/40 requirement.

McKenzie has played 43 games for the team this season, recording 11 points and 67 penalty minutes. His fourth-line role has been expanded slightly of late after the Stars shipped Patrick Eaves and Lauri Korpikoski out of town at the deadline. Whether he continues in that role next season is still to be determined, but he’ll benefit from the expansion draft with some guaranteed money. The 26-year old actually has two game-winning goals this season, and does have a bit of offensive upside to his game.

In his first season of professional hockey in 2013-14, McKenzie broke out with 65 points in 75 AHL contests. He has followed it up with more solid minor league numbers, though his impact at the NHL level has been less noticeable.  For a Stars team that will need to reload this offseason and try again while Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are in their prime, McKenzie and his relatively low cap-hit could come in handy in their bottom-six.

Bow on the other hand is a 21-year old undrafted goaltender that has split time between the ECHL and AHL this season. His numbers while in the American league are poor, but has shown at least enough ability to be an intriguing lottery ticket. Goaltenders often mature much later into their game than other positions, and Bow was exceptional in his final season of junior hockey after already being passed over in the draft. Probably nothing more than organizational filler, he at least is worth an ELC to see what he can do. The Stars need all the goaltending help they can get, as the tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi continue to struggle at the NHL level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Central Notes: Lehtonen, Blackhawks, MacKinnon

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With the Stars struggling and the fact they have the highest paid goaltending tandem in the league, it’s quite possible that netminder Kari Lehtonen could be on another team next season either from a trade or even a potential buyout.  He admitted to Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News that the thought of where he may wind up next season has crossed his mind:

“It’s hard sometimes not to think about it, but you have a job to do. It’s part of this sport, and you do best when you concentrate on controlling what you can control.”

Although Lehtonen has the better numbers between himself and Antti Niemi this season, he also has the more expensive cap hit at $5.9MM which could make him the more likely candidate to not return.  If the Stars were to buy him out, he’d cost them a cap hit of $2.57MM in 2017-18 and $1.67MM in 2018-19; the higher amount next year coming from the fact his deal is slightly front loaded.  (For comparison, a buyout of Niemi’s $4.5MM cap hit would be an even $1.5MM for the next two years.)

More from the Central:

  • The back end for the Blackhawks will get a boost tomorrow night against Anaheim. Chris Hine of the Chicago Tribune reports that Niklas Hjalmarsson will return to the lineup after missing the last four games with an upper body injury.  The recently re-acquired Johnny Oduya will also suit up for Chicago in what will be his first game in his second stint with the team.  There’s a good chance that Michal Kempny and Michal Rozsival will cede their spots on the blueline and be healthy scratches.
  • Terry Frei of the Denver Post suggests that GM Joe Sakic would be wise to at least listen to any overtures other teams might have regarding center Nathan MacKinnon this offseason even though just last month he declared the 21 year old as one of only a handful of untouchable players on the team. The former number one overall pick back in 2013 has just 13 goals through 65 games despite averaging over 20 minutes per game for the first time in his career.  That’s likely not encouraging for a team that will likely be counting on him even more next season with Matt Duchene and/or Gabriel Landeskog potentially on the move with the team reportedly prioritizing defensive help in a return.

Dallas Stars Sign Adam Cracknell To One-Year Extension

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Adam Cracknell will be in Texas for at least one more year, as the Dallas Stars have inked him to a one-year extension worth $675K. The 31-year old forward was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer.  Adam Cracknell

Cracknell made his return to the Stars lineup on Monday after missing three weeks with a leg injury. This season has already seen him suit up for more games than he ever has in a single year, playing in 53 contests for Dallas and contributing 10 points. Playing just over 10 minutes a night he’s provided a physical presence to the Stars’ fourth-line without taking many penalties.

While this is a well deserved deal for a player who has performed well enough this season, it also provides Dallas with a little bit of expansion draft certainty. Cracknell fills one of the required two forwards that are signed through next year and have played at least 40 games this season (or 70 the past two combined). With the Stars likely wanting to protect Tyler Seguin, Antoine Roussel and Cody Eakin, they’ll need to extend another one of their upcoming free agents to fill the exposure requirements. Curtis McKenzie seems like the obvious choice, as though Brett Ritchie and Radek Faksa both would qualify, the pair will likely deserve protection.

Deals like this will be common over the next few months, as teams make sure their rosters are as expansion-proof as possible. With the Stars, they may end up losing a prospect either way as they currently have too many players—likely at forward and defense—to protect. They would be a likely candidate for a deal with Las Vegas to select a certain player from their roster.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

AHL Trade Deadline Transactions

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As the AHL trade deadline passes today, we’ll keep you updated on all the moves that have been made.

  • Emerson Clark has been traded from the Chicago Wolves to the Utica Comets. The 24-year old winger has spent much of this season in the ECHL, but has four points since coming up to the Wolves. Utica finds themselves in a dogfight for the final playoff spot in the North Division, and have had troubles scoring all season long.
  • The Hershey Bears have acquired Mattias Backman from the Texas Stars in exchange for Darren Dietz. While Backman has yet to make it to the NHL since being selected in the fifth round of the 2011 draft, Dietz debuted last year for Montreal playing 13 games for the Canadiens. Both defenseman, this is a swap of styles and handedness for the two squads.
  • The Charlotte Checkers have a new netminder, as Thomas McCollum has been loaned to them from the Stockton Heat. McCollum is a former first-round pick who has barely had a sniff of the NHL during his eight years of professional hockey, suiting up just three times for the Detroit Red Wings. He’s played just one game in the AHL this season but generally has success at that level. The Checkers needed a goalie since Michael Leighton is out indefinitely.
  • Cal O’Reilly won’t have a chance to play with his brother again this season, as the forward is off to Toronto. The Rochester Americans have loaned him to the Toronto Marlies. O’Reilly was serving as the captain of the Americans and has 42 points in 47 AHL games this season. With 11 games in the NHL this year, the older brother of Sabres’ center Ryan O’Reilly now has 49 points in 144 career games.

Central Notes: Elie, Blackhawks’ Success, Jurco

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The Dallas Morning News’ Mike Heika lists a number of quotes from Stars bench boss Lindy Ruff regarding rookie Remi Elie. Out of all the quotes, the one regarding Elie’s staying power with the big club was probably the most telling. Ruff via Heika:

“Well, I look at what we need on the road to be a better team, a harder team to play against. I think that he fits what I think can help us. I thought the line of Eakin, him and Hemsky did a real good job. You look at the number of chances he created, the duress he put their defense under and the fact that he’s a physical player. I think there’s been some situations where we haven’t been hard enough to play against. You take Roussel of our lineup and I think that’s a good replacement to continue down that path where we’re hard to play against.”

The Stars’ second round pick in 2013, Elie has appeared in only two games for the Stars, but from the sound of it, may be lacing up for more. Ruff said more about the rookie, saying that his speed is something Dallas has “missed” in its lineup and that with “more polish” in his game, Elie is the perfect fit for the Stars’ style of play.

  • CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin details how the Chicago Blackhawks have hit their stride later in the season. Calling it “no surprise” that the Hawks are surging in early March, Benjamin points to a couple stalwarts upping their game, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Kane. Kane has tallied 21 points (14-7) while Toews has added 20 points of his own during Chicago’s 12-1 run. Corey Crawford, according to Benjamin, has been stellar in net while the Hawks have been “resilient” during a season that’s tested them with injuries to key players, and a defense that hasn’t included the dominant pairings of years past. Regardless, Chicago has been one of the better teams in the West this season and is certainly working itself into a good position for the playoffs.
  • In other Blackhawks news, newly acquired forward Tomas Jurco is starting to acclimate himself with his new surroundings. Though head coach Joel Quenneville calls him a “work in progress,” CSN Chicago’s Tracey Myers reports that Jurco is “thankful” to have a chance with the Blackhawks and that Jurco isn’t putting a time table on getting comfortable with his new team. Instead, the young forward has the backing of his coach and the front office, who are more than willing to give the promising 24-year-old more than enough time to catch on in Chicago.

Expansion Draft Issues: Post-Trade Deadline

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Last month, we looked at several teams facing some tough situations in regards to the upcoming NHL Expansion Draft and offered potential solutions to how they could address their needs for forwards, defensemen and goalies at the NHL Trade Deadline. With March 1st over and done with, many of those squads have solved their problems with signings or acquisitions.

Calgary Flames

Problem: Defense

Status: Solved

The Flames solved their problem of otherwise having to expose Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie, or Dougie Hamilton with the ingenious signing of Matt Bartkowski, the only defenseman on the planet who was both free to acquire and automatically eligible for exposure in the draft. It’s a good thing they signed him too, since they ended up trading away their best fall-back option, young defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka.

Carolina Hurricanes

Problem: Defense

Status: Unsolved

It was a pretty quiet deadline in Raleigh, as the ’Canes shipped out Ron Hainsey and Viktor Stalberg and then called it a day. What they didn’t do was acquire another body on the blue line to help solve their lack of a defenseman to expose. Carolina is still facing the problem of All-Star Justin Faulk being the only defenseman on the roster currently meeting the criteria for mandated exposure, due to the majority of their defensemen being too young to be eligible altogether. There is no way that Faulk is there for the taking by Vegas, but GM Ron Francis is left with only two choices: extend impending RFA Klas Dahlbeck or extend impending UFA Matt Tennyson and make sure he plays in seven more games this season, as he’s currently short of the 40-game mark.

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