NHL Announces Finalists For GM Of The Year
The NHL continues to unveil award finalists ahead of this June’s NHL Awards in Vegas. Today: the General Manager of the Year.
Edmonton’s Peter Chiarelli, Nashville’s David Poile, and Ottawa’s Pierre Dorion are the three finalists. All three men lead their team’s to great seasons, and solid playoff runs, with Nashville and Ottawa currently in their respective Conference Finals.
Chiarelli made a blockbuster trade last June, trading Taylor Hall for Adam Larsson. He also signed Kris Russell and Matt Benning to finally stabilize the Oilers’ defense. Previous Chiarelli acquisition Cam Talbot started 73 games and was likely the best Oiler not named Connor McDavid. The Oilers improved to 103 points, and finished second in the Pacific Division. However, not all of Chiarelli’s decisions worked out: backup Jonas Gustavsson allowed 17 goals in seven appearances before hitting the waiver wire, and trade deadline acquisition David Desharnais scored just three goals and eight points in 31 games between the stretch drive and playoffs.
Poile has been involved in some major trades over the last few seasons, and perhaps none were bigger than the P.K. Subban for Shea Weber blockbuster last June. Our Seth Lawrence recently took a look at the win-win trades that Poile has made while building his Conference finalist. Besides Subban-for-Weber, Poile also traded Seth Jones for number one center Ryan Johansen and acquired sniper James Neal for Patric Hornqvist. Poile is the only GM in Predator’s history; he took the helm of the team in 1998. He has been nominated four times for the GM of the Year Award.
While Poile has been GM for 19 years, Dorion has only been at the helm of the Senators for 13 months. His biggest move was the Mika Zibanejad-for-Derick Brassard trade last summer. He’s also brought in Mike Condon, Alexandre Burrows, Viktor Stalberg, and Tommy Wingels as his team posted 98 points and their first Conference Finals berth since 2007.
Pittsburgh’s Jim Rutherford is the current holder of the award.
Takeaways From Peter Chiarelli’s Year-End Press Conference
The fact that the Oilers will be without top-four defenseman Andrej Sekera for a decent chunk of next season wasn’t the only notable bit of news that came from GM Peter Chiarelli‘s year-end press conference on Tuesday.
He also discussed his summer plans for the team, and no, he doesn’t see another Taylor Hall-for-Adam Larsson type blockbuster. Chiarelli did say that he was open to the idea of trading down in the upcoming Entry Draft; the team has the 22nd overall pick, no second, and two third-round picks in the first 93 picks. Because this draft is seen as weaker than previous years, Chiarelli said acquiring a second-round pick isn’t a necessity but that if a trade came up, he’d consider moving down from #22 to acquire more picks.
Also on the trade front, Chiarelli called the widespread criticism of Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins‘s playoffs unfair. Trade speculation has run wild around those two, especially Eberle, but Chiarelli pumped the breaks on the suggestion that they need to be dumped at any cost. He praised Eberle’s improvement along the boards, and talked about the lack of confidence that the sniper suffered from. Eberle took 208 shots, which is the most he’s taken so far in his seven-year career, but shot at just a nine per cent rate, considerably down from his previous career-average of 14 per cent. Had he shot at that rate, he’d have scored 29 goals instead of 20. Chiarelli stressed that the team will be “careful about how [they] evaluate him.”
As far as Nugent-Hopkins, the general manager stressed the team-wide need of improving in the face-off circle. Chiarelli said that he gave Nugent-Hopkins “homework” for the summer. While Chiarelli kept a positive tone publicly, with both men on the trading block it would have been a poor decision to criticize them. With questions remaining about what position Leon Draisaitl will ultimately play and the acquisition of David Desharnais not being overly successful, Chiarelli will likely be looking to give Todd McLellan some more options in the face-off circle.
The main priority for Edmonton is signing their two best forwards to new contracts. Draisaitl is an RFA this summer, and Connor McDavid will be eligible to extend his deal on July 1. Chiarelli called McDavid priority one and Draisaitl priority two of this summer. All other free agents, like rugged winger and playoff cult hero Zack Kassian and controversial defenseman Kris Russell will have to wait until Chiarelli knows what sort of numbers he’s dealing with. The two men combined for about $6.4MM in cap space this past season (entry-level contracts plus bonuses), but will account for as much as $20MM by next season.
As far as the potential of a rival team offer sheeting Draisaitl, Chiarelli isn’t worried about that. Last week, I wrote about why offer sheets are so rare, and Chiarelli mentioned one of the stated reasons. The Oilers have the cap space to match any offer sheet to Draisaitl, so the only reason another team would submit an offer is to jack up the price. It’s highly unlikely that a team would go out of their way to try hurt another team’s cap situation because of the negative affect it would have on that GM’s reputation.
Had Sekera not been injured, the Oilers defense might not have had any changes on opening night. Oscar Klefbom is developing into a good top-pairing defenseman, Larsson had a strong first season, Darnell Nurse and Matt Benning have made strides together, and Chiarelli expressed interest in re-signing Russell and Eric Gryba. Chiarelli admitted the team doesn’t have a championship defense (yet). He pointed to Nashville and Anaheim, saying that “it would be nice to have a D at that level.”
Russell is loved by old-school hockey people, and considered highly overrated by people with a mind for advanced stats. While Russell blocks a ton of shots (213 in 68 games), he bleeds possession and hasn’t had a positive CF% Rel. (scoring chances when he’s on the ice compared to off the ice) since 2012 when he was in Columbus. He also scored just one goal this season despite playing the third-most minutes of all skaters. However, the injury to Sekera could motivate the Oilers to sign Russell to help fill the void. As mentioned above, Chiarelli will wait until he knows what McDavid and Draisaitl will cost before making any considerable signing, even if it means waiting until after July 1.
Chiarelli said the team blew his expectations out of the water, finishing with 103 points and getting to Game 7 of the second round. This summer will be about locking up key pieces and letting the young roster develop next season.
Andrej Sekera Out 6-9 Months With Torn ACL
In a huge turn of events for the Edmonton Oilers, the team announced that Andrej Sekera will undergo knee surgery to repair a torn ACL and is looking at a 6-9 month recovery. The defenseman injured the knee against Anaheim, presumably when he left game 5 in the first period.
While the Oilers had several defensemen take solid steps forward in their development, the team still relied heavily on Sekera this season in all situations. The 30-year old defender played over 21 minutes a night and skated on both the powerplay and penalty kill. Sekera is also the team’s highest-paid defender, and has four years left on a deal that pays him $5.5MM per season.
Six months would put Sekera coming back in mid-November, but nine would take the majority of the season away from the defenseman. The Oilers will need to rely even more on Oscar Klefbom and need another step forward for Darnell Nurse and perhaps even Griffin Reinhart. It will also be interesting to see if this increases the chance that Kris Russell is back with the team, after recently stating his hope to stay in Edmonton next season.
Russell had to settle for just a one-year deal last summer after teams pulled away from his weak analytical numbers. After another season where he posted modest point totals, huge blocked shot numbers and bad possession statistics, Russell will likely be in a similar situation with a limited market. Edmonton may have just become his biggest suitor, as they’ll have minutes to go around at least to start the year.
Oilers Might Look For Rookies To Move Up
The Edmonton Oilers may not have gotten as far as they had hoped after falling in Game 7 of the Conference semifinals, but unlike many other clubs, the Oilers have even more hope for the future after several key youngsters took another step forward during their playoff run. Three of their young pieces had key roles in their playoff run, including wingers Drake Caggiula and Anton Slepyshev and blueliner Matt Benning. The question is, as Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson, puts it, can these kids be counted on consistently?
Caggiula and Slepyshev each tallied three goals in the playoffs and Matheson suggests they might be ready to move into the Oilers’ “top-six” if they can play at that level consistently. In fact, the thought is that Edmonton may be ready to break up Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to create two powerful lines rather than just the one. The idea would be to move Draisaitl to centering the second line and allowing Caggiula to join McDavid on the first line, while Slepyshev would take over as the second line’s right wing.
Caggiula is coming off his first NHL season after four years at the University of North Dakota. The 22-year-old played 60 games and finished with seven goals and 11 assists, but his three playoff goals in 13 games showed he might be ready to take the next step. Slepyshev, a former third-round pick in the 2013 draft, got into 41 games this year, finishing with four goals and six assists, but the 23-year-old also tallied three playoff goals and showed flashes of brilliance.
Benning’s play in the playoffs, which included his improved play after Andrej Sekera went down in Game 5 of the playoffs against the Anaheim Ducks, suggest he might be ready to become that top-four defenseman the Oilers are looking for. Benning, 22, also played in his first NHL season after three years at Northeastern University, and played in 60 games, finishing with three goals and 12 assists as a third-line defender. If Benning is ready, he could supplant Kris Russell on the second line, who is an unrestricted free agent, and the team could use that money towards other needs.
Offseason Keys: Detroit Red Wings
While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Detroit Red Wings.
As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and that’s what happened to Detroit this season as their quarter-century playoff streak came to a halt. GM Ken Holland doesn’t appear to be willing to kick off more of a full-scale rebuild just yet but even with that in mind, there are a few key things he should be looking to accomplish this offseason.
Fix The Goalie Logjam
The Wings had one of the priciest goalie tandems in the NHL last season with Jimmy Howard ($5.29MM) and Petr Mrazek ($4MM). Both have shown themselves to be capable of being starters but were basically pushed into a platoon situation when both were healthy last season.
There is likely going to be a large amount of goalie turnover across the league this summer and Holland would be wise to try to capitalize on that. At just 25, Mrazek is the likely keeper which makes Howard and the two years remaining on his contract expendable. The 33 year old saw his value get rebuilt somewhat this season with a strong 2.10 GAA and a .927 SV% in 26 games.
In theory, Detroit could try to incentivize Vegas to select Howard as their expansion choice but if that’s a no-go, there are other teams that will be on the lookout for goalie help. With youngster Jared Coreau waiver eligible beginning next season and seemingly ready for a longer NHL look, Holland may want to try to avoid taking on another goalie in a return but that may not be possible.
Shore Up The Back End
Detroit has over $21MM tied up in their defense corps for next season (with Xavier Ouellet to re-sign as a restricted free agent) but their returns on that money have been diminishing. Niklas Kronwall has lost a couple of steps while Jonathan Ericsson also is starting to break down. That placed a lot more pressure on Mike Green (who only has one year left on his deal) and Danny DeKeyser who isn’t a prototypical number one defender.
With the likes of Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, and Nick Jensen, their depth is decent but Holland needs to find a way to bring in another impact defender to allow the youngsters to develop at more of a steady pace. There aren’t many higher-end blueliners available in free agency which could force them to the trade market in a swap of bigger contracts.
Free Up Cap Space
Another reason why the free agent market isn’t a likely looking spot for the Wings is their salary cap situation. To put it nicely, it’s not particularly pretty. As things stand, they have a little over $67MM committed to just 16 players for next season, per CapFriendly. Restricted free agents Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou (as well as Ouellet) will take up a decent-sized chunk of the remaining room. They will get a bit of relief through long-term injury once Johan Franzen returns there next season but that’s still not much room to work with if Holland is trying to add parts to win in the short-term.
There are some bloated contracts for the team to try to navigate through including forwards Justin Abdelkader (six years remaining at $4.25MM) and Darren Helm (four years left at $3.85MM) as well as Kronwall (two years at $4.75MM per season) and Ericsson (three years, $4.25MM per year remaining), not to mention Howard’s deal. In a perfect world, they could find a taker for one of these contracts without taking much salary back but with a lot of the higher spending teams projected to be tight to the cap once against next year, that doesn’t seem likely to happen.
Instead, the more likely outcome may wind up being simply swapping one not-so-good contract for another while trying to save a few bucks in the process while hoping the new player winds up being a better fit. It’s not an ideal situation long-term (especially with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha among those to need new deals after 2017-18) but that may be the only realistic possibility of player movement in what is looking like will be a fairly quiet offseason for the Red Wings as things currently stand.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Oilers Notes: Free Agents, Draisaitl, Eberle, Pouliot
The Edmonton Oilers were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 on Wednesday night; now comes the post-season autopsies and plans for the coming summer.
The face of the franchise and perhaps the league, Connor McDavid is eligible to sign an extension on July 1. Pending-RFA Leon Draisaitl lead the Oilers in playoff scoring after finishing eighth in the NHL during the regular season. Those two players will go from entry-level contracts to somewhere between $16-20MM by next summer.
The upcoming McDavid contract has already been the subject of much digital ink. Now, Draisaitl’s breakout season has lead to questions about what he’s worth. At the beginning of the year, the debate was bridge-deal or long-term. After a 77-point campaign, it’s clear that the Oilers will be looking long-term with their young star. Over at Sportsnet, Jonathan Willis explored previous contracts for comparable stars. Based on contracts signed by players like Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Anze Kopitar, and Johnny Gaudreau, Willis writes that Draisaitl’s new contract ought to be in the $6 to $6.5MM range. However, because of Draisaitl’s 37-game rookie season and the influence of McDavid, Willis notes that both sides have leverage.
Other free agents include Kris Russell, Zack Kassian, and Matt Hendricks. Hendricks will certainly be off the books, clearing close to $2MM. Russell will be interesting, as he’s the only member of the regular top-six who’s not under contract next season. If the Oilers want to improve their blue line, then Russell’s spot is the clear choice to upgrade.
- On Thursday morning, the Oilers announced that Draisaitl will join Germany at the IIHF World Championships in Paris, France, and Cologne, Germany. The native of Cologne ought to help Germany’s chances, as the team has just one regulation win in four games so far. It’s been a busy season for Draisaitl, who has played 104 games since mid-August beginning with the Olympic Qualifiers, the World Cup of Hockey, all 82 NHL regular season games, and then 13 NHL playoff games.
- Eberle’s poor regular season and playoffs may mean he’s on the way out. He didn’t score a single goal during the playoffs, and was even outscored by Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne by a score of three assists to two. As Sportsnet’s Luke Fox puts it, “You’re selling low on Jordan Eberle, but you’re still selling, right?” Provided the Oilers can find more scoring depth on the right wing, then expect Eberle to be on his way out. Fox suggests Carolina, New Jersey, and Vegas as possible trade partners.
- Left-winger Benoit Pouliot also struggled mightily this season, with just 14 points in the regular season and none in the playoffs. He also comes at a $4MM price tag, which makes any trade unlikely. He’ll be exposed to Vegas, with perhaps a prospect or pick offered as a sweetner. Failing that, a buyout could be the next option. It was a bad year, but Pouliot has previously scored a solid rate while being an aggressive forechecker and good penalty-killer. His penchant for bad penalties got him in coach Todd McLellan‘s doghouse and he couldn’t play his way out.
Conditional Improvements: Dallas Watches Game 7
When the Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks do battle tomorrow night, they’ll decide whether a team that has struggled for a decade will be lifted to the promised land by a baby-faced savior, or another will overcome a game seven tradition on the back of a grizzled veteran center. While Connor McDavid and Ryan Getzlaf do battle in southern California there will be a whole group of fans a few states over cheering “Go Ducks Go!” for perhaps the first time in their lives. 
That would be the Dallas Stars, who with an Anaheim victory would see the second-round selection acquired for fan-favorite Patrick Eaves at the deadline morph into a first-rounder, albeit near the end of the round. Moving up 30 spots on the back of one game makes this match the most important one of the year for Dallas—even if they’re not playing in it. Even though Eaves himself hasn’t played since game three of this series, his seven matches in the first two rounds already qualify the Stars for the upgrade (he needed to play in just 50% of the games throughout the first two series).
For Dallas, who watched everything go wrong this season after leading the Western Conference in 2015-16, moving up would be a nice end to a disappointing year. Already having fired their coach, the team is reeling this summer wondering which direction to take a team that looked so dangerous just a year prior. The expansion draft, free agency and the trade market are all huge question marks for Dallas, as they try to rebuild a blueline and find someone, anyone, to stop a puck.
When they sold off Eaves—and Jordie Benn—at the deadline, many fans shouted with frustration at watching some of their heart-and-soul players (beards) walk out the door in a season where they should be buying instead of selling. Now, the idea of getting a first-round pick and the chance to bring Eaves back in free agency should be an exciting prospect. After 32 goals this season there will be plenty of suitors for Eaves, but perhaps the team that has kept him in the NHL when many others would have pushed him out has an inside track.
So while the Ducks try to exorcise their game seven demons, they’ll have the support of a whole swath of Dallas Stars behind them. Whether that’s enough to overcome the suddenly unstoppable Leon Draisaitl, and contain a resurgent Mark Letestu—not to mention that McDavid guy again—is still to be seen.
Injury Updates: Shaw, Steen, Cogliano
Injury notes from around the NHL this evening:
- Helene Elliott of the LA Times reports that the Anaheim Ducks will be without forward Logan Shaw tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. The Ducks say that Shaw is out with a lower-body injury. Shaw is without a point in his nine playoff games so far, averaging 9:30min a game. The undrafted forward misses this morning’s morning skate, as reported by CBS Sports, but his absence was not confirmed until just before puck drop.
- St. Louis Post-Dispatch beat writer Jeremy Rutherford reported that forward Alexander Steen broke his foot in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs, yet continued to play through the injury. The injury became too much for Steen, however, and he had to sit out Games 5 and 6. Despite the injury, Steen scored 3G and 4A to place second in Blues playoff scoring this season. The Blues may still be playing had Steen not suffered the injury, but the playoffs are a war of attrition, and most teams end up losing a key player for stretches at a time.
- Anaheim Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano took a hard elbow from Edmonton Oilers defenseman Eric Gryba early in the first period tonight. Cogliano received some brief medical attention after bleeding all over the ice, raising concerns that he may have suffered a serious injury. Despite the blood, however, Cogliano returned mere minutes later, and his iron man streak—currently at 786 games—remains intact. Not only did Cogliano return, but he managed to get into a fight with Edmonton’s Drake Caggiula.
Klefbom Out For Oilers
In a potentially devastating blow to their defense, Edmonton’s Oscar Klefbom will not participate in Game 6 in what is a must-win against Anaheim. He left warmups prior to puck-drop and did not return. Fellow defenseman Andrej Sekera was already ruled out earlier in the day. The defenseman has taken heavy assignments on the top pairing with Adam Larsson. Klefbom’s aggressive defending helps clear the slot and move the puck up ice. The swede’s offensive game had truly blossomed this year – he posted 12 goals and 26 assists during the regular season to lead the team from the blueline. Klefbom has been a workhorse for the young Oilers, and his loss will definitely alter matchups for coach Todd McLellan. For tonight however, McLellan has the benefit of last change at home.
Without Klefbom, Mark Fayne was initially slotted to take third pairing duties. Instead, Griffin Reinhart found his way back to the take the ice, after a late season call up. The once promising prospect has had his fair share of struggles in Alberta. His entry was a surprise to most, but Fayne’s rust likely became a factor. Fayne had not played an NHL contest since December and did not overly impress for the AHL Bakersfield Condors. Reinhart certainly has more upside, but also the potential to commit more egregious defensive errors. Edmonton will need to rely even more heavily upon Larsson, as well as ask Kris Russell and Darnell Nurse to substantially up their minutes and quality of play.
Eric Gryba will replace the injured Sekera and play alongside Reinhart.
Snapshots: Ducks, Blues, Goalie Interference
Anaheim could possibly see the return of two players this evening in their potentially series-deciding Game 6 against Edmonton. Forward Ondrej Kase has only played in two post-season games, but was a spark-plug for the Ducks when inserted. The 21 year-old had played parts of two seasons with the AHL affiliate San Diego Gulls before his call up and 53 games this season for Anaheim, tallying 5 goals and 10 assists. His quick ascension as a 205th overall pick has been impressive, if largely unheralded and under-the-radar. For a rookie, he has shown poise in his own end and adjusted well to the tempo of the playoffs. Although pointless, his possession metrics have been strong and he has skated well in his very sheltered ice time. It will be interesting to see if he will slot back in or if coach Randy Carlyle will opt for a more veteran presence.
Defenseman Kevin Bieksa is also an option on the backend, but with the emergence of Shea Theodore, it is difficult to justify his re-entry into the lineup. Although Bieksa boasts a wealth of playoff experience, his team is 3-0 in his absence this series. His skating has slowed to a crawl and he has been exploited repeatedly by the Oilers forward corps. Carlyle is known to like his veterans however, and it is possible he finds the ice tonight. Sami Vatanen could find himself in the pressbox if that were the case.
- TSN’s Frank Seravelli is predicting a huge discussion this offseason among general managers regarding the league’s goalie interference and coach’s challenge rules. Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli was obviously irritated in his post-game interview following yet another controversy in Game 5, as were numerous Edmonton players. Late in the third against Anaheim, Ryan Kesler appeared to hold goaltender Cam Talbot‘s right pad as the tying goal was shot through his five hole. Although a review was instituted, it quickly upheld the call of a “good goal”, to much befuddlement among experts and players. Anaheim went on to win the game. This issue has come up consistently throughout the season and its application does seem very obscure. Some slight bumps have overturned goals and completely hindering a goaltender from making a save has been allowed. Clarity on the league’s part as to what constitutes goalie interference would go a long way in alleviating these sorts of issues going forward, but some GMs may opt to abandon the challenge altogether and revert to the former system. For all its faults, the challenge has been particularly useful in attempting to relieve pressure from on-ice officials during fast-paced gameplay. In the case of offsides, for instance, there has been little disagreement on the positive impact reviews have had. Some argue that the interruptions to play are too extensive, but it seems unlikely the challenge will be entirely scrapped, but rather, modified.
- Folowing the St. Louis Blues’ playoff exit, attention will turn to off-season business. The team only has one UFA in forward Scottie Upshall, and three RFAs in forwards Nail Yakupov, Magnus Paajarvi, and defenseman Colton Parayko. Upshall is a good bet to head elsewhere, as his solid (if unremarkable) season will likely get him a spot on a team in more desperate need of role players. Yakupov could easily turn his sights to Russia if a larger contract offer comes his way and negotiations stall. There is no transfer agreement with the KHL however, so this will be an interesting case to watch. Parayko is absolutely deserving of a raise, as he has consistently contributed on the backend. In only his second NHL season, the 6’6″ tower has averaged over 23 minutes of ice per night and blocked shots with the best of them. He definitely has a bright future and it would be wise for St. Louis to lock him up long-term. It might be difficult to squeeze him under the cap at a higher, extended rate, however. Paajarvi will likely get a very marginal raise on a short-term contract extension. He only participated in 32 contests this season after being plagued by injury and splitting time with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL.