DeBoer, Donskov Named Assistant Coaches For Team Canada
Team Canada is already making significant preparations for the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament that is set to take place in mid-February next year. The organization announced four assistant coaches who will be on the bench with the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Jon Cooper. Bruce Cassidy of the Vegas Golden Knights, Peter DeBoer of the Dallas Stars, Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks, and Misha Donskov of the Stars will all represent their native Canada in next season’s tournament.
Central Notes: Faber, Wood, Hemming, Buchinger
The Wild’s franchise-record extension for rising sophomore defenseman Brock Faber turned some heads yesterday, but general manager Bill Guerin believes the deal is “worth the risk,” he told Joe Smith of The Athletic (subscriber link).
Smith adds that Guerin has acknowledged the league-wide trend of banking on potential core pieces early in their careers, getting the cost certainty that comes with rich, long-term deals compared to bridging players through their prime and then overpaying for their twilight seasons.
“This is a different game now, a different generation, a different way of doing business,” Guerin said. “It’s really important you have to do a lot of work to make sure who you’re identifying as your foundation guys… I’d much rather have a guy Brock’s age on an eight-year deal than a 31-year-old guy. It makes sense. [Faber’s] shown he’s mature enough to handle it.”
More out of the Central Division:
- As the Predators’ No. 1 forward prospect, winger Matthew Wood is looking to be more efficient at filling out his 6’4″ frame, he tells Robby Stanley of NHL.com. “I feel a lot stronger on my feet. I think I’m starting to use my body a bit better and starting to learn about that. Strength is definitely something I’m working on, and that’s going to take my game to the next level,” Wood said. The 19-year-old is transferring from UConn, where he had 27 goals and 62 points in 70 games over the first two seasons of his collegiate career, to Minnesota for his junior season in 2024-25.
- The new-look Stars have been built on the back of expert player development, a pattern they’re hoping to repeat with 2024 first-round pick Emil Hemming. Dallas already has the Finnish winger signed to his entry-level contract, and he’ll be closer to the Stars this season by moving from his home country to the Barrie Colts of the Ontario Hockey League. It’s part of an attempt to strike gold yet again and work more directly with the 6’1″, 205-lb forward on developing his all-around game, writes Sean Shapiro of EP Rinkside on his personal blog (subscriber link).
- In an interview with Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (subscriber link), Blues defense prospect Michael Buchinger says he’s ready to make the jump to the pros this fall after wrapping up his junior career with the Ontario Hockey League’s Guelph Storm. “I just think making the first decision, not trying to overthink, not trying to make a fancy pass,” Buchinger said. “Obviously at the pro level, everyone’s in that right position. Just understanding the systems and where guys are going to be and making a really quick, smart decision. I think the rest will take care of itself.” The No. 88 pick in 2022 will have his entry-level contract go into effect this year, and he’s expected to start the campaign on assignment to AHL Springfield, where DeFranks notes he should have ample power-play opportunity thanks to roster turnover.
Prospect Notes: Hemming, Berggren, Willander, Dragicevic
Dallas Stars 2024 first-round pick Emil Hemming has signed with the OHL’s Barrie Colts for the 2024-25 season. Hemming will forgo the final year of his three-year contract with Liiga’s TPS, where he’s played the past two seasons. Much of his 2022-23 campaign was spent on the TPS U20 roster – with Hemming potting 16 points in 22 games. He returned to the U20 lineup at the start of last season, though quickly earned a promotion to the Liiga after scoring 11 goals and 18 points in the first 13 games of the U20 season.
Hemming took the move to Finland’s top flight in stride, showing off just how physically mature his heavy, shoot-first style was. He only managed 11 points in 40 league games but showed plenty of growth as the year progressed, becoming much more confident in the defensive zone and more aggressive on offense. He curbed a meager two-point performance at the World Juniors with six points in five games at the World U18 Championships, continuing to show his strides as the season went along. All of that was enough to earn Hemming the 29th overall selection in the 2024 NHL Draft, coupling him with a Stars team that’s quickly become known for finding draft-day steals. Hemming has shown he’s sturdy enough to play at a pro level and will now join Utah prospect Cole Beaudoin and Edmonton prospect Beau Akey as some of the many heavy and physical options in Barrie.
Other notes from around the league:
- Jonatan Berggren is a bit buried down the Detroit Red Wings depth charts, but Max Bultman of The Athletic says he isn’t expecting Berggren to be traded. Instead, Bultman posits the benefits of a role reminiscent of Daniel Sprong’s role: operating on the team’s third line but still managing consistent power-play minutes. Berggren led the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins in scoring last season, netting 24 goals and 56 points. He’s also scored a commendable 17 goals and 34 points in 79 NHL games over the last two years. He’ll now have a golden chance to secure a consistent NHL role, with Sprong headed to the Vancouver Canucks on a one-year contract.
- Vancouver Canucks defense prospect Tom Willander has suffered a minor lower-body injury and won’t play at the World Junior Summer Showcase, shares Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK Sports. Willander was a surprising choice at 11th overall in the 2023 NHL Draft, though he showed top-prospect upside during his freshman year at Boston University. Willander scored 25 points in 38 games, ranking second among Terrier defensemen. With injury now holding him out of Team Sweden’s summer games, Willander will shift his focus towards a breakout sophomore season at BU, where he’ll get a full run towards the top-defender role after Lane Hutson signed his entry-level contract.
- Seattle Kraken defense prospect Lukas Dragicevic has seen his WHL rights traded from the Tri-City Americans to the Price Albert Raiders as part of a massive, seven-asset trade. Dragicevic signed his entry-level contract with Seattle in March after Tri-City missed out on the WHL playoffs. He finished the year with the Coachella Valley Firebirds, recording one assist through his first three AHL games. Prince Albert paid a hefty price for Dragicevic, suggesting that he could be set for a return to the CHL after getting a quick taste of the pros. If that is the case, he’ll return looking to rediscover his strong scoring touch after recording 25 fewer points this season (50) than he did in 2022-23 (75).
Joe Pavelski Confirms Retirement
Forward Joe Pavelski will indeed be retiring, he told Sirius XM’s Scott Laughlin today. He told reporters after the Stars were eliminated from the playoffs in early June that he expected 2023-24 to be his final season. The league has confirmed Pavelski’s retirement.
Pavelski, who turned 40 last week, has spent nearly a decade as one of the league’s most consistent two-way forwards and best net-front tippers while producing well above expected in his later years. After departing his longtime home with the Sharks for the Stars in free agency in 2019, many expected him to enter a decline, but he instead played a top-line role on a club that’s reached three Western Conference Finals in the last five years.
He finally showed signs of slowing down last year, though. His 67 points in 82 games, while still top-six-caliber, was his worst per-game production since his first season in Dallas. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he’d been bumped down to second-line duties alongside Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment, and the normally clutch postseason performer struggled to produce with only a goal and three assists in 19 games. Still, he ended his career on a rather high note, checking in as one of the better UFAs available on this summer’s market. Instead, he’s hanging up his skates.
Pavelski’s rise to stardom was quite unexpected after waiting until the seventh round to hear his name called by San Jose in the now-fabled 2003 draft. After a two-year run at the University of Wisconsin that resulted in him producing well over a point per game and winning a national championship, Pavelski signed his entry-level contract and turned pro during the 2006 offseason.
He started the season in the minors, but after racking up 26 points in 16 games with AHL Worcester, he was off to the big leagues without ever looking back. He hit the ground running with 14 goals and 28 points in 46 games with the Sharks to close the campaign, and he soon was firmly entrenched in a middle-six role on one of the best forward groups of the time. He was a crucial secondary scoring presence through most of his 20s, racking up 150 goals and 336 points in 479 games over his first seven campaigns while receiving outside Selke Trophy consideration annually.
Entering the final season of his contract, the Sharks inked him to a five-year, $30MM extension to keep him from reaching UFA status the following summer. He responded with a career-high 41 goals, totaling 79 points and placing top 10 in both Hart and Selke Trophy voting. Hockey Reference attributed 11.5 standings points to Pavelski’s play that season, finishing fourth among skaters behind Sidney Crosby and future teammates Corey Perry and Tyler Seguin.
Pavelski produced similarly the following two seasons, putting together a multi-year iron-man streak while routinely tossing up over 70 points. His 11 game-winning goals in 2015-16 led the league before embarking on a spectacular playoff run, posting a league-leading 14 goals in 24 playoff games – four of which were GWGs – as San Jose advanced to its first Stanley Cup Final in franchise history. Pavelski and the Sharks were usurped by the Penguins in six games, however, the closest he would come to winning it all.
That was also his first season as Sharks captain, a title he’d hold until departing for Texas. He remained an effective top-six presence in his final years in the Bay, although not quite as dominant as his early-2010s play. He gave the Sharks 89 goals, 109 assists and 198 points in 238 games over his final three seasons before a cap crunch helped usher him out the door in the summer of 2019 when his extension expired, inking a three-year, $21MM deal with Dallas.
In his first season with the Stars, it looked like an ill-advised deal. He looked like he’d lost a step, averaging around two minutes per game fewer than his last year in San Jose, and his 31 points in 67 games was the worst production of his career on a per-game basis. But after the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season early, Pavelski returned with a vengeance in the bubble playoffs, rediscovering his form with 13 goals (a league-leading 10 at even strength) in 27 contests as the Stars upset their way to the Stanley Cup Final. Just like he had with San Jose in 2016, though, Dallas fell to the Lightning in a six-game Final.
It was a precursor of things to come for Pavelski in Dallas. Upgraded to a new-look first line with rookie Jason Robertson and third-year center Roope Hintz for the 2020-21 season, he racked up 25 goals and 51 points in the shortened 56-game campaign. The Stars missed the playoffs, but they’d be back the following year on the heels of a career-best 81 points (27 goals, 54 assists) from “Captain America” as he continued to gel seamlessly with Hintz and Robertson, playing a pivotal role in their development. He continued to hover north of 0.8 points per game, tossing up 77 and 67 points in his final two campaigns as he helped pass the torch to Dallas’ young talent, losing to the Golden Knights and Oilers in back-to-back Conference Finals.
He now retires having played 1,332 regular-season and another 201 playoff games over 18 seasons. Playing on some of the best two-way lines in the league throughout his career, he logged a career +201 rating that’s tied for 42nd all-time among forwards. He tallied 1,068 points (476 goals, 592 assists) while compiling 458 PIMs, 75 game-winning goals, and a remarkable 54.5 CF% while averaging 18:34 per game. His estimated career earnings neared $81MM, per PuckPedia. All of us at PHR salute Pavelski for an exceptional career that’s sure to earn him Hall of Fame consideration.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Dallas Stars Sign Emil Hemming To Entry-Level Contract
The Dallas Stars have inked their first-round selection of the 2024 NHL Draft as the team announced they have signed winger Emil Hemming to a three-year entry-level contract. The contract is scheduled to start during the 2024-25 NHL season but the Stars organization has not indicated where Hemming will suit up next season.
Hemming is coming off his first professional season with TPS of the Finnish Liiga where he suited up in 40 games and scored seven goals and 11 points. The young forward also spent 13 games with TPS U20 in the U20 SM-sarja where he scored 11 goals and 18 points. Including all the offensive prospects available in the 2024 NHL Draft, Hemming arguably featured the best possible shot from the forward group.
The Vaasa, Finland native was electric on the international stage for Team Finland last year as he scored seven goals and 11 points in nine total contests for Team Finland’s U18 club and posted two goals and eight points in eight games for Team Finland’s U20 roster. Hemming should return to TPS for the 2024-25 season but may feature with the organization’s AHL club in Texas towards the end of next season.
The Stars still have a deep forward group up front for the next couple of years but it is aging. Forwards Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, Matt Duchene, and Evgenii Dadonov are well into their 30s and Dallas may have decent timing with Hemming’s eventual debut.
Dallas Stars To Stream Games For Free To Fans
- In a ‘first-of-its-kind’ move from the Dallas Stars organization; the team announced it had severed its ties with Diamond Sports Group for broadcasting the team’s games on television and will enter a seven-year agreement with A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC). In conjunction with the new broadcasting agreement, APMC and the Stars organization have set up a new streaming service named VICTORY+ which will allow in-market fans of the team to stream the games for free. In regards to the new methods of distributing game content, President of the Dallas Stars and CEO Brad Alberts said, “After years of researching the right solution and careful planning with our partners at APMC, we’re proud to announce this pioneering streaming platform that will literally change the game for sports distribution on VICTORY+“.
[SOURCE LINK]
Stars To Sign Colin Blackwell
The Stars have added forward depth in the form of UFA Colin Blackwell, who’s inked a one-year, $775K deal, per PuckPedia.
Blackwell moves across the Central Division with this move, after spending the last two seasons in a bottom-six role with the Chicago Blackhawks. Both seasons were limited by injury. He appeared in 53 games during the 2022-23 season, tallying two goals, 10 points, and a -16, before hernia surgery ended his season in March. The same injury held Blackwell out through December of this season, while an upper-body injury cut his March in half, holding him to 44 games and 12 points this season.
Despite an in-and-out role with Chicago, Blackwell still showed a lot of utility on the Blackhawks fourth-line and penalty kill. Blackwell will now bring those traits to Dallas, where he should be able to earn a consistent role on the fourth line, among players like Sam Steel and Evgeni Dadonov.
Blackwell will be playing with his sixth NHL club in Dallas, not including the San Jose Sharks – who originally drafted him in 2011. Blackwell has filled roles across the league, with his career-year coming in 2020-21 with the New York Rangers, when he managed 12 goals and 22 points in 47 games. He’ll look to chase that kind of scoring as he moves to one of the league’s best offenses in Dallas.
Blues Acquire Radek Faksa, Mathieu Joseph
The Blues have acquired center Radek Faksa from the Stars for future considerations, the team announced. In a separate trade with the Senators, they’ve also picked up winger Mathieu Joseph and a 2025 third-round pick with future considerations heading to Ottawa in return.
With the deals, St. Louis essentially makes a pair of slightly overpriced free-agent signings and receives a third-round pick for their trouble. Faksa is signed for next season at a $3.25MM cap hit, while Joseph is signed for two more years at a $2.95MM cap hit. No salary was retained in the deals.
Both should slot into everyday bottom-six roles with the Blues, while Joseph could have some mobility up to the second line. He’s coming off a strong season in a depth role for Ottawa, recording 11 goals and 35 points in 72 games. He was more than serviceable for what he cost, but the Sens desperately needed to open up cap space with Shane Pinto in need of a new contract (although he does remain a trade candidate, per The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco) and a handful of other forward spots still to fill.
The problem for Ottawa is that they’ll now need to replace Joseph’s production, not something they can confidently do for less than what he costs. After parting ways with him and picking up Michael Amadio and David Perron in free agency yesterday, they likely still need a top-nine forward in order to boast a playoff-caliber offense next season, something they may not be able to afford based on how much a new deal for Pinto costs them. They have $7.35MM in projected cap space remaining after the Joseph trade, per CapFriendly.
Dallas, too, needed to open up some cap space for an RFA in need of a new deal – defenseman Thomas Harley. The Stars rebuilt their blue line on the fly yesterday after losing Jani Hakanpää and Chris Tanev and buying out Ryan Suter, bringing in Mathew Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin and Brendan Smith while also giving a new deal to Nils Lundkvist, who was briefly a UFA after not receiving a qualifying offer. They now have almost $8MM in space after the move, opening enough space to re-sign Harley and land a more economical replacement for Faksa on the open market among the few names that are left.
Faksa’s cap hit wasn’t an outright albatross for Dallas, and he remains a premier fourth-line center with a good defensive game, receiving Selke votes four times in his career. But over $3MM annually was a tad tough to swallow for a player who’s only had double-digit goals once in the past four years and is coming off a 19-point campaign in 74 games last season. His usage had slipped, averaging 12:31 per game last season – his lowest since his rookie year.
He’s a similarly-priced and more defensively-oriented replacement in St. Louis for Kevin Hayes, who they traded to the Penguins over the weekend. Over his first 638 NHL games, all in Dallas, Faksa had 89 goals and 200 points with a -11 rating.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli was first to report that Faksa was headed to the Blues.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was first to report the Blues were acquiring Joseph.
TSN’s Chris Johnston was first to report the Senators were sending a draft pick to the Blues in exchange for future considerations.
Minor Free Agent Signings: Central Division
With over 180 deals signed during the first day of free agency yesterday, some smaller names may have gotten lost in the shuffle. Here’s a list of names that have inked two-way deals with Central Division clubs since the market opened yesterday, per CapFriendly. Some of these may have been included in our main coverage yesterday, while others went under the radar. All contracts carry the league-minimum $775K cap hit unless stated otherwise). Those listed here are likely to begin 2024-25 with each team’s AHL affiliate.
Chicago Blackhawks
none
Colorado Avalanche
F Joel Kiviranta (one year)
Dallas Stars
D Kyle Capobianco (two years)
F Cameron Hughes (one year)
F Kole Lind (one year)
Minnesota Wild
F Travis Boyd (one year)
D Joseph Cecconi (one year)
D Cameron Crotty (one year)
F Brendan Gaunce (two years)
G Troy Grosenick (one year)
F Ben Jones (two years)
F Devin Shore (one year)
F Reese Johnson (one year)
Nashville Predators
D Nick Blankenburg (two years)
F Vinnie Hinostroza (two years)
F Jake Lucchini (two years)
G Matt Murray (one year)
St. Louis Blues
none
Utah Hockey Club
D Kevin Connauton (two years)
F Miko Matikka (three years, $870K entry-level cap hit)
Winnipeg Jets
none
Stars Sign Matt Dumba, Ilya Lyubushkin, Two Others
The Stars are landing free-agent defenseman Matt Dumba, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports. He adds it’s a two-year deal worth $3.75MM per season. Dallas also announced they’ve inked enforcer Brendan Smith, who can play both defense and wing, to a one-year, $1MM deal. Additionally, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports they’ve signed defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin to a two-year deal with a $3.25MM cap hit. They’re also bringing back non-tendered RFA Nils Lundkvist on a one-year, $1.25MM deal, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Dumba was a free agent for the second straight season after having to settle for a one-year deal last summer when multi-year offers weren’t to his liking. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go as planned in Arizona as instead of showing that he could return to his earlier offensive success, the 29-year-old was limited to just 10 points and 150 hits in 58 games before being moved to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. He had a more limited role with the Lightning, notching just two assists down the stretch before logging less than 16 minutes a night in their opening-round loss to Florida.
With that in mind, it’s interesting to see that Dumba had a strong enough market to land a similar price tag to last year with an extra year. While his stock is seemingly down, Dumba has long been a capable top-four blueliner who can log some hard minutes. He’ll be asked to do so with Dallas following the departure of Chris Tanev to Toronto.
As for Smith, the 35-year-old comes over after spending the last two years in New Jersey, playing more of a regular role after being a depth player in previous seasons. He collected 15 points in 63 games last season while setting new career highs in blocks (101) and hits (117). His versatility should come in handy although at first glance, it seems as if most of his playing time should come on the back end.
Lyubushkin will also be counted on to shore up the right side of the Stars’ back end. The 30-year-old is a bit more limited in what he can provide compared to Dumba but he can kill penalties and play on the third pairing. Last season, Lyubushkin had eight assists, 168 blocks, and 176 hits in 74 games between Anaheim and Toronto and will likely fill a similar role to the one Jani Hakanpaa held in recent years; Hakanpaa coincidentally landed with Toronto later in the day.
Lundqvist, meanwhile, was non-tendered by the Stars on Sunday, making his return a bit more of a surprise. Things haven’t gone quite according to plan after Dallas parted with a first-round pick to get him from the Rangers. The 23-year-old had 19 points in 59 games last season but barely averaged 14 minutes a game. In the playoffs, he was a frequent scratch and logged less than five minutes a night when he was in the lineup. However, he’ll get one more chance to prove his worth with this deal although he is still controllable for three more years through restricted free agency if they want to qualify him with arbitration rights next summer.