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Busy Offseason Now Looms For Winnipeg Jets

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The Winnipeg Jets have been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, knocked out by the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in just five games. That ends what was an outstanding season for the Jets, who not only climbed into the playoff picture but showed they could be a long-term contender. Their young core has all reached new heights, and should be able to put pressure on the best teams in the Western Conference for some time.

With those young pieces though come several big decisions. The offseason, not even 24 hours old for the Jets, already must seem too short for GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and the rest of the front office staff. Not only do they have to prepare for the draft in a month’s time, but the roster has just 14 players under contract for next season.

The biggest negotiations will come with Winnipeg’s pending restricted free agents. The list is a who’s who of talent on their club, and will chew up a big part of their salary structure if signed this summer. The Jets’ restricted free agents include:

Jacob Trouba
Josh Morrissey
Tucker Poolman
Joseph Morrow
Jan Kostalek

Brandon Tanev
Joel Armia
Marko Dano
Adam Lowry
Chase De Leo
Jimmy Lodge
Nic Petan
J.C. Lipon

Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Jamie Phillips

Especially on defense and in goal, these are key players who could demand long-term contracts with substantial cap hits. Trouba, who once wanted out of Winnipeg to play a bigger role somewhere else, has recently indicated that he would like to stay with the Jets long-term. The team would obviously want that too, but have to carefully manage their finances as they approach restricted free agency next summer with Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor. Success is eventually paid for.

With so many restricted free agents, it’s sometimes easy to forget that Paul Stastny, Toby Enstrom, Matt Hendricks, Shawn Matthias and Michael Hutchinson are also headed for the unrestricted waters this summer. Several of these players will generate extensive interest should they hit the open market, and it’s not clear if Winnipeg intends on re-signing any of them. If they do, July 1st is coming quicker than you may think, and work needs to be done to secure their future contracts.

Either way, Winnipeg has a busy few months ahead of them as they try to piece the roster back together and take another shot at the Stanley Cup in 2019. Though there needs to be a few days of decompression from their shocking defeat, there’s plenty of work to be done.

NHL Announces Jack Adams Award Finalists

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There won’t be much debate about the nominees for this award. The finalists for the Jack Adams Award, given each year to the NHL’s best head coach, have been released by the NHL Broadcasters’ Association. Reported first by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the 2018 finalists are the Boston Bruins’ Bruce Cassidy, the Colorado Avalanche’s Jared Bednar, and the Vegas Golden Knights’ Gerard Gallant. 

With all due respect to Cassidy and Bednar, the Jack Adams this season has been a foregone conclusion for some time, with only a race for second-place ongoing. The work that Gallant has done in the inaugural season for the expansion Golden Knights has been nothing short of miraculous. Gallant took a hotchpot of cast-off players from around the league who had never played together before and turned them into the most successful expansion team in North American sports history. Vegas’ roster is the definition of a sum greater than its parts, as no one could have predicted the success that this team would have based on the past performances of its players. That has a lot to do with Gallant, who has gotten his players to buy in to the system and it had rewarded them in turn.

Cassidy and Bednar rightfully deserve the recognition, though. Cassidy’s nomination feels like a continuation of his success to close out the 2016-17 season as well; the Bruins are 68-38-13 since Cassidy took over for Claude Julien last February. Under his guidance, rookies like Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk, and Danton Heinen have flourished and the Bruins have transformed into one of the best teams in the league. No one could have seen that coming this season. Even more unlikely was a return to the playoffs for the Avalanche, however. Bednar worked his magic on a young, inexperienced, and somewhat incomplete lineup, helping Nathan MacKinnon to an MVP-caliber season and leading the team to nearly double the success from a historically bad 2016-17 campaign, going from 48 points to 95 points.

While Gallant may be the overwhelming favorite for the award this season, this is a class of Jack Adams finalists that will be looked back on as one of the best and most deserving of all time, with three head coaches who truly “contributed to his team’s success”.

Snapshots: Awards, Holland, Leiweke

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The NHL will hold their annual awards ceremony on June 20th, a few days before the 2018 Entry Draft. The event will be held in Las Vegas once again, an exciting proposition for the Golden Knights who could be coming off a historic Stanley Cup victory in their first season.

Finalists will start to be announced in just a few days on April 17th, with the Vezina Trophy kicking things off. This awards season has been even more debated than usual, with almost a dozen legitimate candidates for the Hart Trophy and no consensus on other top awards like the Norris or Selke.

  • Ken Holland is back in the Detroit Red Wings front office, but he is willing to bring in some more voices to help strengthen the club’s decision making. That’s what Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) examines in his latest piece, digging into who could be potential additions. An interesting name that comes up is Kyle Raftis, GM of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and successor to Toronto whiz-kid Kyle Dubas.
  • Tod Leiweke has officially been announced as CEO and President of the prospective Seattle expansion team, joining his brother Tim Leiweke who is already part of the Oak View Group that placed the bid and will be minority owner. The pair have tons of experience running professional sports teams, including Tod’s stint as CEO of the Seattle Seahawks in the past.

Black Monday: The Day The Coaches (Could) Disappear

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The NHL looks like it will finish an entire season without seeing a single coach fired for the first time since expansion in 1967, but there could be a dark lining on that stat coming next week. “Black Monday” as it is being termed could be coming after the final game of the regular season this Sunday, with close to a dozen coaches finding themselves on the hot seat.

In last night’s Insider Trading segment on TSN, Bob McKenzie broke down a list of potential firings that looked like this:

Glen Gulutzan, Calgary Flames
Bill Peters, Carolina Hurricanes
Joel Quenneville, Chicago Blackhawks
Jeff Blashill, Detroit Red Wings
Todd McLellan, Edmonton Oilers
Doug Weight, New York Islanders
Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers
Guy Boucher, Ottawa Senators
Barry Trotz, Washington Capitals

Some of these names simply don’t have a contract for next season, including Trotz, who also happens to be the only coach on the list heading to the playoffs. The Capitals have won the Metropolitan Division for the third year in a row, but will be judged entirely on their postseason performance. Washington must find some success past the second round, or there could be a shake up in order starting with the man behind the bench.

The rest of the list is a who’s who of disappointing seasons, with Quenneville sticking out like a sore thumb. Arguably one of the best coaches of all-time, Quenneville’s firing could cause what McKenzie terms a ripple effect throughout the league. Though he doesn’t expand on that idea, many have wondered whether another team would fire their incumbent to have the opportunity to hire Quenneville should he become a free agent, much like the Montreal Canadiens did last season when Claude Julien was let go from Boston.

In New York, while both coaches might not be back it would be for very different reasons. Vigneault has had a lot of regular season success with the Rangers, but as they enter into an unfamiliar rebuild they could want to start with a fresh face behind the bench. For Weight and the Islanders, this season was an abject failure as they tried to woo John Tavares with a trip to the postseason. They won’t get there, and now have to worry about whether their captain and superstar will stick around.

There could be many other names you could suggest for the list, and it is extremely unlikely that all of these will get the boot before the start of 2018-19. You can be sure some changes are coming though, even if it does come after a remarkable season of patience by general managers around the league.

Poll: Who Is The More Valuable Vegas Free Agent Forward?

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The Vegas Golden Knights had a clear mantra in the expansion draft. They would select players that didn’t have much term left on their contracts, and use cap space and flexibility to build a strong organization over the next few years. Then the season began, and they suddenly went from an fun expansion team to an NHL powerhouse.

Among those that they selected, were a pair of free agent forwards that had bounced around the league but found success nearly everywhere they’d been. David Perron and James Neal both had six seasons with 40+ points heading into 2017-18, and were accepted as good (but not great) NHL scoring threats. Neal came with a bit more shine on him after his long playoff run with the Nashville Predators, but perhaps Perron should’ve been the top name all along.

This season, despite Neal being the team’s lone All-Star representative up front, Perron hasn’t stopped scoring. The 29-year old winger has 66 points in 70 games, including a team-leading 50 assists. An underrated player establishing a career high in points isn’t a rare occurrence for the Golden Knights, but NHL teams around the league are sure to be watching closely to Perron’s season.

As unrestricted free agents this summer, Neal and Perron both could fetch big money contracts from a team looking for an offensive upgrade. Both have playoff experience, and are about to get even more with Vegas in the coming weeks. We at PHR may have underestimated Perron, ranking him #11 in our Midseason UFA Power Rankings. Neal came in at #5, but it’s not as clear now who will be the better option on the open market.

So what do you think? Which Golden Knights forward will garner more interest in free agency? Will they both secure long-term deals? Will they even get there? Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Who is the more attractive free agent?
James Neal 67.24% (390 votes)
David Perron 32.76% (190 votes)
Total Votes: 580

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Snapshots: Price, Leiweke, Belpedio

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Carey Price is planning on returning to the Montreal Canadiens net this season, and will even travel with the team to Toronto this weekend. Though he won’t play, he told John Lu of TSN that he never even considered shutting down for the year.

Price also told Lu that his concussion symptoms were “different…more noticeable” than his previous experience with the injury in 2012, which shouldn’t instill much excitement in Montreal fans. Price is easily the most important piece for the Canadiens going forward, especially given that he is starting an eight-year, $84MM extension next season. Obviously no one can predict his health going forward, but the team needs him injury-free if they’re to turn around what has been a disaster year.

  • Tim Leiweke was already the President of the Oak View Group, the investing group that has applied for an expansion team in Seattle. Yesterday on the Fan 590 in Toronto, he admitted that he will also be a minority owner of that team should it be awarded. Leiweke has ties to Toronto as the former CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and other professional sports organizations. Before that, Leiweke was also CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owned the Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Galaxy. Needless to say he has quite a bit of experience in professional sports front offices, and now joined by his brother will be able to set up the business side of a Seattle franchise well for the long-term.
  • Louis Belpedio is expected to eventually sign his entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild, but for now will just settle for an amateur tryout with the Iowa Wild of the AHL. The third-round pick could wait until the middle of August and become an unrestricted free agent after completing his college career this month, but has already begun discussions with Minnesota.

Snapshots: Futa, Seattle, Ference

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As he did last year when interviewed by the Buffalo Sabres for their GM job, Mike Futa has reportedly pulled out of the running for the Carolina Hurricanes vacancy. That’s according to Elliotte Friedman and John Shannon of Sportsnet, who explain that Futa is focused on the Los Angeles Kings’ playoff run instead of getting caught up in a possible promotion.

Last year, Futa said that he was excited for his new role with the Kings as he’d just recently been promoted to assistant General Manager, and now it looks like they’re in no danger of losing him. The Kings are in third place in the Pacific Division and are still among the league leaders in fewest goals against.

  • Tod Leiweke, brother of Tim Leiweke who is heading the group applying for an expansion franchise in Seattle, has left his role in the NFL and will join the group bringing hockey to the Pacific Northwest. As Shannon reports, Tod Leiweke has been involved with several NHL teams in the past including Tampa Bay and Vancouver. The brothers are joined by David Bonderman, a billionaire investor, and several other high-profile names determined to bring hockey back to Seattle. The expansion application has already been filed, and the city’s season ticket drive was a huge success.
  • Andrew Ference was a respected leader during his playing career, and will now join the NHL as Director of Social Impact, Growth & Fan Development. Ference played parts of 16 years in the NHL, suiting up for 907 regular season games and raising the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011. He served as captain in Edmonton for two seasons, where he grew up and still resides.

Snapshots: Senators, Seattle, Last Place

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Even though the NHL trade deadline has passed, the insiders are still hard at work for TSN. During tonight’s Insider Trading segment, Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun discussed several topics including the potential dilemma the Ottawa Senators face at the upcoming deadline. LeBrun outlines the situation Pierre Dorion finds himself in, as the first-round pick Ottawa sent to Colorado for Matt Duchene is top-10 protected this season but not in 2019.

LeBrun believes the Senators may consider letting Colorado have this year’s pick if it is in the back half of the top-10, to avoid the risk of giving up the first-overall selection (and the right to draft someone like Jack Hughes) in 2019. Ottawa is currently 28th in the league, but could fall as many as three spots depending on how the draft lottery plays out.

  • Dreger also suggested a few names that could be in play to lead the expansion Seattle franchise, including Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland, Vegas Golden Knights AGM Kelly McCrimmon, and super agent Pat Brisson. While Seattle is still several years from icing a team, the front office will begin to take shape as soon as the team is officially accepted by the NHL. There will likely be several unexpected names put forward, and it will be interesting to see if the franchise goes with an established name (like Holland) or someone that has little experience running a hockey club but an obvious connection to the game (Brisson).
  • At one point this season it looked obvious that the Arizona Coyotes were destined to finish in last once again and have the best chance at Rasmus Dahlin in the draft lottery. Now, that’s not so clear. After Arizona has played well the last few weeks while Ottawa and Buffalo have continued their inconsistency, there is now just a five point gap between the bottom three teams. There is a race for the bottom coming over the last month of the season, and one with another impressive prize. The draft lottery is shaping up to be another heartbreaking even for some teams, even though Filip Zadina, Brady Tkachuk and others aren’t bad consolation prizes.

Red Wings Notes: Bertuzzi, Frk, Mrazek, Howard, Nielsen

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After the Detroit Red Wings traded away winger Tomas Tatar last week at the trade deadline, the team has split his minutes in two directions. Prospect Tyler Bertuzzi has replaced Tatar’s spot in the lineup alongside Andreas Athanasiou and Dylan Larkin, while veteran Martin Frk has taken the departed forward’s power play minutes in hopes of proving worthy of returning to a top line in the future. So far, Bertuzzi has fared well in the two games he’s played in Tatar’s even-strength role, picking up two assists, while averaging more that 14 minutes of ice time. However, don’t expect that to stay that way next year, writes the Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James.

While the team does want to get an extended look at Bertuzzi, what it’s really waiting for is next season. Then they will take long looks at winger Evgeny Svechnikov, the team’s first-rounder in 2015, and 2017 first-rounder Michael Rasmussen, who is expected to be the center of the future in Detroit. Rasmussen, is coming off a solid season in the WHL and might be ready to join the Red Wings next season. As for Svechnikov, the hope is that he is ready for a spot in Detroit next season, but has struggled at times in his first year in the AHL.

  • St. James also adds that don’t expect too many call-ups this year as the Grand Rapids Griffins are still fighting for a playoff spot in AHL, so players like Svechnikov, Filip Hronek and Matt Puempel might not see a lot of time in Detroit as they are needed in Grand Rapids.
  • In the same article, St. James writes that the team will have to also take a long look at backup goalie Jared Coreau, who was recalled from the Grand Rapids Griffins after the team traded away Petr Mrazek. She writes that the team has doubts he can be a quality NHL backup and with one year left on Jimmy Howard’s contract, the team will be hard-pressed to find their future starter in one year. One possibility could be signing Mrazek back again in the offseason. With Brian Elliott and Michal Neuvirth already signed for next season, it seems unlikely that the Philadelphia Flyers will retain Mrazek, especially when he has a $4MM qualifying offer. Could Detroit make him their future No. 1?
  • Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) writes that the team might consider extending Howard’s deal for one more year to give the team more time to find their goalie of the future. However, with the Red Wings looking to get as many picks as possible for their future, it would also make a lot of sense for the team to move him before the draft as team’s wouldn’t mind acquiring a veteran with just one year left on his deal.
  • In the same story, Custance also takes a look at the way-too early protected list if there is an expansion draft in 2020 for the Seattle franchise, which seems inevitable. Sadly, the top two players the Red Wings would be forced to protect will be veterans Henrik Zetterberg and Frans Nielsen. The hope is that Zetterberg, who will be 39 by then, will have retired, which would free up a spot, however, Nielsen has a no-movement clause and then, at age 35, should not be on that list. However, the veteran, who would still have two years left on his deal at $5.25MM AAV at that point, is likely going to cost Detroit a quality player down the road.

Expansion Notes: Seattle Ownership, Bettman, Vancouver

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The NHL-to-Seattle movement is in full swing, and ESPN’s Emily Kaplan recently caught up with hopeful owners Jerry Bruckheimer, David Bonderman, and Tim Leiweke and talked about everything from the remodeling of KeyArena, to branding, to even acquiring an NBA franchise down the road. For now, the trio are just invested in being the ownership group of the league’s 32nd team (literally, as they paid a $10MM down payment along with their application paperwork earlier in the month). The next step is a season ticket drive, about which Bruckheimer told Kaplan “there’s a lot of momentum working in our direction”. Should the ticket drive prove successful, the NHL is likely to accept the bid and begin planning the next stage of NHL expansion. That would of course include another Expansion Draft. The Seattle ownership group has to be hopeful after seeing the success of the Vegas Golden Knights this season, and Bonderman told Kaplan “The commissioner has been consistent in saying it’s the same kind of process and procedures that they used in Vegas, and we’re going to hold them to that”.

  • Well, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke about that exact topic today, telling TSN’s Farhan Lalji that the process would be exactly the same for Seattle as it was for Vegas. The expansion process was unlike any seen in professional sports before, allowing the existing NHL teams to only protect a maximum of 11 players from their roster. While first- and second-year players were exempt, Vegas GM George McPhee still had several valuable players to pick as well as several vulnerable teams to manipulate. The resulting roster did not blow anyone away, but proved to be the perfect fit for head coach Gerard Gallant’s system and the Knights are now contenders in their inaugural season. The Seattle ownership group is a ways away from naming a GM or coach, but they’ll have to make strong selections if they wish to maximize the entry draft process like Bill Foley and the Golden Knights did.
  • The other decision that may still be a ways away but will nonetheless draw major attention and speculation is the team name. The name, logo, and colors of any sports team is a huge factor and the reveal of the Golden Knights was a major, televised event. So when is the earliest we could find out the Seattle moniker and see some colors and logos? How about the 2019 NHL Draft? The league announced today that the Vancouver Canucks will host the draft in 2019. What better time to reveal the first details about Seattle than at a key league event hosted by the team that will eventually be their natural geographic rival to kick off the league year prior to their planned induction ahead of the 2020-21 season. It hardly seems like a coincidence that Vancouver was chosen to host this specific draft, the last in which they will be the only NHL team from the Pacific Northwest. Bettman and company are thinking ahead. Stay tuned.

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