Injury Notes: Patrick, Dallas, Colorado, Marchand
The Philadelphia Flyers had a welcome face join them for the first on-ice session of training camp today. Nolan Patrick, who hasn’t played an NHL game since April of 2019, was present and taking part in practice. In fact, he’s even cleared for contact and says he’s feeling better every day as he recovers from the migraine issues that kept him off the ice for so long.
Patrick, the second overall pick from 2017, is still just 22 and could be a big part of the Flyers lineup this season should his health hold. Without any leverage in negotiations, he accepted a one-year contract at his qualifying offer salary of $874,125. Even if he never becomes the top-line center they hoped for, Philadelphia can still certainly use a bargain in the middle-six.
- The Dallas Stars were without two postseason standouts as camp opened, announcing that Anton Khudobin is still dealing with some immigration issues and Joe Pavelski is listed as day-to-day pending further examination results on an undisclosed injury. Remember, with such a short training camp this year every day is even more important, meaning there may be some extra rust to shake off for Dallas early on.
- Speaking of missing important time, five Colorado Avalanche players were deemed “unfit to play” today and head coach Jared Bednar wasn’t sure when they would be back. Gabriel Landeskog, Brandon Saad, Erik Johnson, Philipp Grubauer, and Keaton Middelton (AHL contract) were all held out, though the exact reasoning was not given. The first four are obviously extremely important to the Colorado lineup, so hopefully they can get back on the ice before long.
- While David Pastrnak wasn’t on the ice and will still miss the first part of the regular season, the Boston Bruins had Brad Marchand out there in his familiar place next to Patrice Bergeron. Marchand is coming back from sports hernia surgery in September and explained today that he had been dealing with the injury for the last two and a half years. The veteran forward also spoke about Kevan Miller‘s return to the ice with the Bruins, calling him an “animal” and saying that he hasn’t missed a beat. Miller last played an NHL game in April of 2019 and has had multiple major surgeries in the interim. He signed a new one-year, bonus-laden deal with the Bruins in October.
Stephen Johns Will Not Play This Season
When the Dallas Stars released their training camp roster this afternoon, a few names were notably marked with asterisks. Ben Bishop and Tyler Seguin were both listed as “Injured Player Not Participating in Training Camp” after offseason surgeries, but with them was also Stephen Johns. Not only will the veteran defenseman miss camp, but according to Saad Yousuf of The Athletic, Johns will not play at all this season.
In one of the most disheartening moments of the playoff bubble, Johns was forced from the Stars’ first game against the Calgary Flames just a few months after making his triumphant return to the lineup. After missing nearly two full years with post-concussion symptoms, Johns had returned in January 2020 and played 17 games down the stretch for the Stars. He even made it through three round-robin games with Dallas in the bubble, but it appears as those may potentially be the final matches of his career. Yousuf writes that it is premature to consider Johns’ career definitely over, but notes that the 28-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent when his contract expires after this season.
His $2.35MM cap hit can be moved to long-term injured reserve when necessary to make some additional room for the Stars, but this is certainly not a celebratory announcement for fans of the defenseman. Johns, selected 60th overall in 2010 by the Chicago Blackhawks, made his NHL debut with the Stars in 2016, and looked oh-so-promising early on. He was big—standing 6’4″ 225-lbs—could skate well and had upside at both ends of the rink. He would go on to score a career-high eight goals in the 2017-18 season before a concussion threw his career off track in March. After working extremely hard on his rehab, he returned last season and looked like a solid NHL contributor once again.
If this is the end of his playing career, it would finish with 167 regular season games played in the NHL. Hopefully, somehow, Johns will be able to get back on the ice. It won’t be this season and it may not be for the Stars.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Dallas Stars
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 2020-21 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on 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: $81,242,031 (under the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
G Jake Oettinger (two years, $925K)
F Joel Kiviranta (one year, $925K)
D Miro Heiskanen (one year, $894K)
D Thomas Harley (three years, $894K)
F Jason Robertson (two years, $795K)
Potential Bonuses
Heiskanen: $2.5MM
Oettinger: $425K
Harley: $213K
Robertson: $83K
Total: $3.25MM
The Stars are loaded with top prospects coming through the system quickly now, but one name stands out in Heiskanen, who the team will likely want to lock up long-term. The 21-year-old has been an amazing addition to the team’s defense over the past two years and is a major reason for their appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals last season. The blueliner posted a solid 33 and 35 point over the first two seasons, but he took that up a notch in the playoffs, posting six goals and 26 points in 27 playoff games, suggesting he has the potential to become a high-scoring offensive defenseman to go with his shutdown skills.
Kiviranta also made his mark during the playoffs, scoring several key goals during the playoffs, while the team could quickly turn to youngsters Harley, Oettinger and Robertson to step in and contribute this coming season.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
F Andrew Cogliano ($3.25MM, UFA)
F Blake Comeau ($2.4MM, UFA)
D Stephen Johns ($2.35MM, UFA)
D Jamie Oleksiak ($2.14MM, UFA)
F Jason Dickinson ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Justin Dowling ($750K, UFA)
D Mark Pysyk ($750K, UFA)
D Taylor Fedun ($738K, UFA)
D Julius Honka ($700K, RFA)
While the team has quite a bit of youth and veteran talent, the team has quite a few contracts coming off the books in one year and players like Cogliano and Comeau will have to prove their value to receive new contracts at potentially smaller contracts. The same goes on defense where a number of veterans come off the books including Johns and Oleksiak, both who give the Stars significant physicality. The team must determine if either can come back, especially Johns who returned from a long-standing concussion last season, but then sat out the playoffs due to concern over the same injury.
Dickinson, who has been a solid contributor in the bottom-six is another player expected to return, while Dallas will take long looks at their significant defensive depth in Pysyk and Fedun. Honka is another interesting situation after he spent last season overseas. The 2014 first rounder has struggled to establish himself in Dallas over the years and now will have to prove himself, likely in the AHL.
Two Years Remaining
F Joe Pavelski ($7MM, UFA)
F Alexander Radulov ($6.25MM, UFA)
D John Klingberg ($4.25MM, UFA)
F Denis Gurianov ($2.55MM, RFA)
D Andrej Sekera ($1.5MM, UFA)
Quite a bit of their money comes off the books in two years as the contracts of Pavelski, Radulov and Klingberg are up. That’s $17.5MM. That likely will end the tenures of Pavelski, who will be 38 years old then, while Radulov will be 36. The hope is that both players will be big contributors over the next two years as Dallas will do everything it can to return to the Stanley Cup Finals once again. While Pavelski struggled during the regular season with just 15 goals, he did step up when it counted, posting 13 goals and 19 points in the playoffs. Radulov also struggled with just 15 goals during the season, but fared much better in the playoffs with eight goals and 18 points in 27 games.
Klingberg is a different story. The team’s top defenseman just a year ago, Klingberg saw his offensive numbers slide during the regular season and in many ways seems to be overshadowed by the Stars’ young blueline. With Heiskanen likely to be granted a big contract soon, the status of Klingberg could be an interesting story, whether the team will overpay to lock him up or let him hit unrestricted free agency.
Gurianov has two years to prove that his numbers from last year are real. After having some issues a year ago in the AHL, Gurianov returned to North America last year and showed off his talent, scoring 20 goals in 64 games. If he can prove that he can be a consistent 20-goal scorer over these next two years, he also should get some of that freed up money.
Three Years Remaining
G Ben Bishop ($4.92MM, UFA)
G Anton Khudobin ($3.33MM, UFA)
F Roope Hintz ($3.15MM, RFA)
The team hope that Oettinger will have established himself as the goalie of the future in three years. That’s how long the team has to find someone as it seems unlikely that Dallas will keep Bishop and Khudobin since both will be 37 years old when their contracts expire. Both have been critical to the success of the team last year and Khudobin was rewarded with a three-year deal this offseason, especially considering that Bishop is expected to miss significant time this season due to injury.
Hintz, on the other hand, had a breakout season in his second year. The 24-year-old scored 19 goals and 33 points and looks like a future star for Dallas in the coming seasons, which suggests that his $3.15MM deal over the next three years could look like a significant bargain.Read more
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Dallas Stars
We’ve now made it past Thanksgiving and the holiday season is right around the corner. Like the last few years, PHR will take a look at what teams are thankful for but this year comes with a bit of a change. Normally teams would have an idea of where their season was heading, coming up on the one-quarter mark with mountains of statistics to analyze. Instead, in this unprecedented year, the season hasn’t even begun. We’ll still take a look at what each group is excited about and what they could hope for once the calendar turns to 2021.
What are the Stars most thankful for?
Last season’s Western Conference title.
Yes, ultimately losing in the Stanley Cup Final typically isn’t something to be thankful about but it has changed the perspective of their program in its entirety. This was a team that had been viewed by many as potentially vulnerable, offensively deficient heading into the bubble with a veteran core that didn’t exactly have a good regular season. Were they on the way down?
Clearly, the answer was no. Instead, those players produced at better rates than they did during the regular season when a lot of times, the opposite occurred. Anton Khudobin stepped up in Ben Bishop’s absence, showing that they have one of the top tandems in the league (another thing they’re certainly thankful for). Now weeks away from the anticipated start of training camp, the Stars are viewed as a team that’s capable of winning now. Not many were saying that during the pandemic-induced layoff; their run to the Final shows that this core still has something left in the tank.
Who are the Stars most thankful for?
Naturally, after speaking positively about their veteran core, let’s now go in the exact opposite direction and look at their youngest player in Miro Heiskanen. There are young defensemen that teams hope can one day ascend to that number one role. The 21-year-old is two years into his career and is already at that level. He’s coming off of a stellar postseason where he led the team in scoring and the sky is seemingly the limit.
Dallas is also certainly thankful that he’s still on his entry-level contract that restricts him to a base salary of $925K (including his signing bonus). It’s rare to have a number one blueliner making less than a million dollars in base pay and it’s the type of high-value contract that has allowed them to keep the core of the team intact for another run in the postseason. That will soon change as that deal is up at the end of the season but for now, their best defenseman just happens to be their lowest-paid regular.
What would the Stars be even more thankful for?
Further delaying the start to next season. That may sound crazy but they are down their starting goaltender in Bishop and their top center in Tyler Seguin with both players expected to be out into March at a minimum. The fewer games they play without those two, the better off they should be in the standings, especially with Khudobin having relatively limited experience as an every-game starter.
What should be on the Stars’ holiday wish list?
More scoring depth.
One way of looking at things is that they scored enough to make their way through the Western Conference in the playoffs. The glass half-empty viewpoint mentions that they were 28th in the league in offense last season with their goaltending allowing the second-fewest goals that helped keep them in the top half of the conference. It’s true that they’ve been able to keep their core intact but at the same time, they didn’t really add to it. There’s room for optimism for some of their younger players to take steps forward and grab a bigger share of the offensive pie but they’d undoubtedly love to add another veteran with a track record of consistent production.
They’ll have LTIR space to play with early on due to the injuries of Bishop and Seguin while Stephen Johns’ availability is uncertain but their cap room when everyone is healthy is minimal so GM Jim Nill will have his work cut out for him to try to add to their attack. It’d go a long way if he could find a way to do so.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Minor Transactions: 12/05/20
With a mix of some leagues currently in action, others preparing to start, some postponing play, and others still trying to sort it all out, there has been a constant stream of minor moves with players jumping from league to league via signing, loan, reassignment, and more. Today has been no exception, as a number of players are on the move:
- With the ECHL planning to get underway next week, some NHL and AHL players have begun to be reassigned to the “AA” level to get a jumpstart on their seasons and many more moves are likely to come over the next few days. For now, the Boston Bruins have made the decision on a pair of young players, assigning goaltender Kyle Keyser and forward Matt Filipe to the Jacksonville Icemen, the Bruins’ temporary affiliate for this season. Keyser, 21, saw very limited action last year in his first pro season but the former OHL standout is looking to prove with his play this year that he too belongs in the “goalie of the future” conversation with top prospects Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman. Filipe, 22, is set to make his pro debut after signing with the Bruins out of nearby Northeastern University. The former Carolina Hurricanes prospect plays with size and a nose for the net, which served him well as a reliable producer in the NCAA.
- A pair of Oshawa Generals stars are getting their seasons started overseas. With the OHL not getting started until at least February, the Generals announced that NHL prospects Ty Tullio (EDM) and Allan McShane (MTL) have been loaned to Slovakia. The pair will join MHK Liptovsky Mikulas of the Slovakian Extraliga until the time that they are either recalled by their NHL clubs or by Oshawa for training camp. McShane and Tullio finished second and third respectively in scoring last season for the Generals, with 67 and 66 points apiece.
- Although Finland’s hockey seasons are currently on pause, the Dallas Stars do not plan to recall top prospect Ty Dellandrea right away, according to Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News. Dellandrea has been playing with the Liiga’s JYP this past month, recording three points in six games, and will continue practicing with the team for the time being. The Liiga is tentatively scheduled to return to action on December 20, but that start date is not guaranteed. With the NHL hoping to be up and running by mid-January with two weeks of training camp beforehand, Dellandrea may still be recalled before he can play with JYP again. The Stars hope that Dellandrea can compete for a roster spot this year and will want to make sure that he is in attendance for day one of training camp.
Outdoor Games Being Discussed By Several NHL Teams
It’s about that time in an NHL/NHLPA negotiation (or, not negotiation) where things start to get weird. With the league still trying to figure out a way through the upcoming season, with the financial climate so dire for many teams and with players refusing to budge on the agreement they made a few months ago, all kinds of revenue streams are being discussed.
One of those, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, is the possibility of holding games outdoors where fans could potentially attend. Friedman writes today that at least four teams are “investigating the possibility” of outdoor games, listing the Anaheim Ducks, Boston Bruins, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. The Kings were apparently the first to consider the idea, though it’s important to note that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told James Mirtle of The Athletic last month that holding more outdoor games was unlikely.
Still, following Friedman’s report came one from Pierre LeBrun, who writes that it’s not just those four teams considering the idea of holding multiple outdoor events. The Penguins, Bruins, and Kings are on his list of teams that would be open to hosting or taking part in outdoor games, but so too are the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, and Nashville Predators.
It’s important to remember that even if the NHL caves and doesn’t amend the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed a few months ago, the players still would have to eventually pay back any salary that brings them over 50% of the hockey-related revenue. With no fans and very little revenue to be made, it seems likely that both sides would be open to out-of-the-box ideas like outdoor contests if it brought in ticket sales.
Still, those outdoor games also have a substantially increased cost, which is what Daly pointed out to Mirtle last month. As LeBrun writes, commissioner Gary Bettman is also worried that holding so many outdoor games could hurt the Winter Classic brand, which has been a success for the league in previous years. Those negatives may eventually win out in the end, but there is nothing stopping teams from exploring the option at this point.
Snapshots: Sharks, Khudobin, Tverberg
Barring a change in local health policy, the San Jose Sharks may have to make other arrangements for training camp. In response to the continued surge of the Coronavirus in California, Santa Clara County officials have mandated a number of health policy changes, one of which would prohibit the Sharks from having players skate in large groups. As a result, team president Jonathan Becher tells The Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka that the team may need to hold training camp outside of the county. Becher calls moving training camp a “last resort” and states that the team has already sought permission to hold full training sessions and are waiting for the county’s approval. In the meantime, the Sharks have begun discussions with other facilities about the possibility of hosting training camp. San Jose is short on time compared to other NHL teams as well; as one of the seven non-playoff teams, the Sharks are expected to be permitted to have upwards of ten additional days of camp to make up for their lack of play time since the league paused the 2019-20 season in March. If the league is able to come through on their hopeful start date of January 1st, early training camp for the Sharks could open in just a few weeks.
- When training camp opens in Dallas, playoff hero Anton Khudobin will be in attendance and ready to play. The veteran goaltender, who re-signed with the Stars this off-season, underwent surgery last month to correct nerve damage in his right arm. However, NHL.com’s Tracey Myers relays word from Dallas GM Jim Nill that Khudobin is already “back to 100 percent.” With starter Ben Bishop still rehabbing from off-season surgery of his own after missing much of the postseason, a healthy Khudobin is hugely important for the Stars to get off to a strong start.
- The NCAA season is finally off and running (albeit not without some early issues), but one Toronto Maple Leafs prospect is already looking ahead to next year. 2020 seventh-round pick Ryan Tverberg has committed to the University of Connecticut, the Huskies have announced. Tverberg is set to join the program for the 2021-22 season and beyond after spending this year with the BCHL’s Alberni Valley Bulldogs. The Leafs selected Tverberg, a native of nearby Richmond Hill, out of the local OJHL but will watch him develop for several years south of the border.
Free Agent Profile: Anthony Duclair
It’s hard to believe that a player who was named to the all-star game just last year would still be sitting on the free-agent market at this point in the offseason, however, Anthony Duclair remains one of the top names in free agency who hasn’t found himself a home one month into it.
On the surface a 25-year-old all-star unrestricted free agent is a rarity as most big-named free agents are older when they hit UFA status the first time. Of course, much of that is due to the fact that the Senators did not qualify him, leaving him a free agent. Regardless, Duclair is coming off a great season in which he tallied 23 goals and 40 points in his first full season in Ottawa and looked prime to sign a long-term deal with the Senators this offseason. On top of that, he is also a fast skater, placing sixth in the fastest skater contest at the all-star game last year. However, Duclair struggles significantly in one area that could be keeping him from being signed — his defense. He is a goal scorer first, and there is a significant step back on his defensive efforts, one that former Columbus Blue Jackets’ coach John Tortorella mentioned before the team traded him to Ottawa back at the trade deadline in 2019.
Strangely enough, however, despite the belief that Duclair would dominate on the power play and not even play on the penalty kill, it’s the exact opposite. Duclair struggled on the man advantage at times during the season, while actually providing solid play on the Senators’ penalty kill, which makes things even more confusing.
However, another fact that stands out is that Duclair dominated the first half of the NHL season, scoring 21 goals and 33 points in 47 games. While the second half of the season was suspended, he only tallied two goals in 19 games following the all-star game, a significant drop off, making him one of the more unique players with little consistency.
Potential Suitors
While many people figured that Duclair had a good chance to sign a long-term deal with Ottawa this offseason, that never materialized. Duclair fired his agent and opted to represent himself. He was supposedly offered a two-year deal at $3MM AAV and turned that deal down, believing he could get more on the open market. However, no deal has materialized in this depressed market and now with Ottawa having brought in Evgenii Dadonov and Alex Galchenyuk, it’s extremely unlikely that the Senators will bring back Duclair even if he accepts a lesser contract.
Other teams still may be interested, although a deal is likely to come closer to when training camps begin. There are a number of playoff teams that might be interested in bringing in the 25-year-old as a second or third-line option on a short-term deal, but Duclair might have to accept less from those teams than the deal that Ottawa offered in the first place.
The Nashville Predators, who are looking for more firepower for their team, have been mentioned as one team that is looking at both Mike Hoffman and Duclair as options, although Hoffman could be the team’s first choice. However, Duclair might be a good fit, who could battle for a spot on the team’s second line there.
Other playoff teams like the Boston Bruins, the Dallas Stars or the Colorado Avalanche as options, but many of these teams might be more likely to look and see what they have in training camp before bringing in Duclair.
Projected Contract
Representing himself may have been a mistake as the forward now may be forced to accept less than the two years at $3MM AAV that he reportedly declined earlier in the offseason. He will almost assuredly will have to accept a deal with little term, either a one or two-year deal, but may have to take something significantly less than what he rejected in the first place.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Ty Dellandrea Loaned To JYP
Talk about culture shock. Ty Dellandrea has been loaned to JYP Jyväskylä of Finland’s top league until further notice, with the young forward expected to return to Dallas Stars training camp when it gets underway. Dellandrea, 20, has spent the last four seasons playing for the Flint Firebirds of the OHL, serving as captain since 2018.
The 13th overall pick in 2018, there’s a lot to like about the game Dellandrea brings to the ice. Not only is he talented enough to score in bunches, but his character, leadership, and work ethic are all exceptional. While those things can be said about many players and it’s hard to quantify exactly what they mean on the ice, Dellandrea has continually seen his stock rise directly because of the impact he makes off the ice as well.
At last year’s World Junior tournament he was named an alternate captain for Team Canada and held his own offensively, scoring three goals and five points in seven games. He also managed to get into 11 AHL games at the end of the 2018-19 season, where he scored his first few professional points.
Now old enough to head to the AHL full-time, Dellandrea will first get a taste of international hockey in Finland. At this point, success won’t be a surprise for the young forward, but development is still the goal.
Dallas Stars Re-Sign Roope Hintz
The Dallas Stars can cross the last name off of their restricted free agent list after reaching a new agreement with Roope Hintz. The Stars have re-signed Hintz to a three-year deal that carries an average annual value of $3.15MM and keeps him under contract through the 2022-23 season. PuckPedia reports that the deal breaks down as follows:
2020-21: $2MM
2021-22: $3MM
2022-23: $4.45MM
In most cases, the salary in the final year of the contract represents the qualifying offer. However, the most recent CBA put in a clause stating that the qualifying offer is the lower of the salary in the final year or 120% of the AAV of the deal. In this case, 120% of the AAV is $3.78MM which means that will be what Dallas must offer to retain his rights in 2023.
Hintz, 23, broke out in the 2019 playoffs for the Stars, showing off his blazing speed and offensive upside by scoring five goals and eight points in 13 games. That performance continued when the 2019-20 season began, with the young forward tying Jamie Benn for second in the team in goals with 19. That total came in just 60 games and Hintz was effective again in the playoffs, this time tallying 13 points in 25 games while the Stars went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Moving forward, the team will need even more from their young star, given Tyler Seguin‘s injury and lack of any real improvements in free agency. Seguin is expected to be out for the first few months of the season, meaning Hintz and fellow youngster Denis Gurianov will have to carry a huge amount of the offensive burden.
If he does get more powerplay opportunity and increased minutes, this three-year contract could quickly look like quite the bargain. A $3.15MM cap hit makes Hintz the seventh-highest paid forward on the roster, just behind Radek Faksa who signed a five-year extension last month. Though Faksa is one of the league’s top defensive forwards, Hintz holds quite a bit more offensive potential and could easily push toward the 30-goal mark next season. If he does, a three-year term may seem like a mistake from his camp.
That said, a deal like this is quite a bit of stability for a second-round pick that still has just 118 regular season games under his belt. It also leaves him a restricted free agent in 2023 with the possibility of an arbitration hearing that could walk him directly onto the open market a year later. If his development continues, he could be in line for an expensive long-term extension at that point.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images