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Speculation Continues Regarding Jordan Eberle

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Though the Edmonton Oilers haven’t come out and said that Jordan Eberle is on the block, his name continues to pop up in trade speculation all around the league. Today, while releasing the first edition of “Trade Bait”, TSN’s Frank Seravalli wrote:

The Edmonton Oilers will look to move winger Jordan Eberle and his $6-million salary cap hit after a dismal playoff run that saw him fail to score a single goal over two rounds. Jordan Eberle

Eberle appears at #6 on the list, wedged between a pair of defensemen from teams that missed the playoffs. Despite his miserable playoff performance, Eberle remains a perennial 20-goal scorer and one of the most consistent offensive producers in the league. Though he hasn’t quite reached the sophomoric highs he reached in 2011-12, he can be counted on to score at least 50 points even in a reduced role like he saw this year. After turning 27 just a few weeks ago, he surely has some effective years left under his belt.

It’s that pesky $6MM that is getting in the way in Edmonton, as just this week GM Peter Chiarelli admitted that they’d have to move out a contract sooner or later to accommodate the big deals looming for Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. The team will also have to pay to retain Kris Russell this summer should they choose to bring him back. Eberle is the prime candidate because of his value—the fact that he still has some, unlike Benoit Pouliot—and position on the wing. He could be moved and replaced much easier than Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for instance, who is an important center for them as long as Draisaitl continues to skate alongside McDavid.

The fact that Seravalli has him so high on the board suggests that there is real fire behind the smoke, and that Edmonton is really considering a move for the former Team Canada hero. It may though have to wait, as if he’s moved for a defenseman like Taylor Hall last season, it could put the Oilers into protection trouble for the expansion draft. More likely, he’d be moved at the draft or sometime this summer after the insanity known as June is over. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Columbus Blue Jackets Trying To Deal David Clarkson Contract

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As the Vegas Golden Knights enter the league, another destination for bad contracts has appeared. Previously limited to places like Arizona and Toronto, the Golden Knights are likely to be involved in several transactions that help cap-troubled teams rid themselves of painful deals. Already it has been reported that Chicago may give up a young defenseman in order to move Marcus Kruger’s cap-hit, and Columbus may be in the same boat. On Sportsnet radio this morning, Elliotte Friedman mentioned that the Blue Jackets have been trying to get Vegas to take David Clarkson’s contract off their hands. David Clarkson

When he was acquired from the Maple Leafs in early 2015, Clarkson’s deal was already bad. He was in just the second year of a massive seven-year, $35.75MM deal and already looked a decade removed from the 30-goal performance (and subsequent 15-goal season in the lockout-shortened 2012-13) that had earned it. The reason Columbus was interested in all, is the fact that they could send Nathan Horton’s equally bad contract back, seeing as how he would never play hockey again. Horton had a degenerative back injury that would force him to retire, and his contract wasn’t insured. The prevailing thought at the time was “at least Clarkson is a healthy body that can play some games for us.”

Now, two years later, Clarkson is also retired due to injury but remains a dark stain on the Blue Jackets’ cap structure. Though he’ll sit on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) for the three remaining years and his contract is insured, giving the Blue Jackets some financial relief, it still impacts what the team can do in the offseason. Injured players can’t be placed on LTIR until the season begins, meaning they have $5.25MM less room each summer in which to work. Also, though LTIR allows you to go over the salary cap any performance bonuses by entry-level players would be pushed to the next season like they will in Toronto this year.

If the cap were to remain flat this summer, the Blue Jackets would have just under $3MM to spend even though Alexander Wennberg and Josh Anderson (among others) need new deals as restricted free agents. Though you can go up to 10% over the cap at any point, it needs to be in order by the last day of training camp. Moving out Clarkson’s contract would seem imperative, and as Friedman says the Blue Jackets have been trying to figure out what “sweetener” can they put in to make it palatable for Vegas. Again, Clarkson isn’t going to play this year or any other. He’s currently coaching high school hockey in Ohio. He’s not eligible for selection in the expansion draft, but that sweetener could come by Columbus exposing someone or something unexpected.

These are the ways Vegas will make their team competitive, not just selecting the aging-veterans or underperforming youngsters available in the draft. Their power comes in the idea of a blank ledger, one they can twist to their advantage over the coming months.

Expected Extensions Prior To Expansion

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Over the next few weeks, leading up to  June 17th, when each team must submit their list of protected players from the Expansion Draft, there is going to be a flurry of activity. The Vegas Golden Knights are expected to make several side deals regarding the selection process, while the other 30 teams will be working through trade proposals with one another as well. Many teams will also make smaller moves, such as extensions and buyouts, to make the expansion process easier on themselves. Examples could include potential extensions by Carolina or San Jose if they decide they would like to protect Lee Stempniak or Mikkel Boedker respectively. However, there remain several teams that must re-sign a current player, following logic anyway, prior to Saturday the 17th, or else risk having to expose and possibly losing a major piece instead. Each team must expose two forwards and one defenseman that played in at least 40 games this season or 70 games over the past two seasons and also have term remaining on their contract. While meeting these quotas is not a problem for some teams, others lack the roster depth in long-term contracts to do so. No team wants to be pressured into exposing a valued player just to fill that quota, so instead they will sign another current player with the caveat that he will be left unprotected in the Expansion Draft. Such situations played out all year long, with Blackhawks’ forward Jordin Tootoo, Hurricanes’ defenseman Klas Dahlbeck, and, the most publicized of all, Flames’ defenseman Matt Bartkowksi. Yet, unsolved situations still exist. Below are some of the most dire situations and who could benefit from an extension in the near future in order for their team to comply with Expansion Draft rules:

Team: New Jersey Devils

Situation: The re-building Devils nonetheless have a solid core of forwards that they would like to keep together: Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique, Travis Zajac, and Mike Cammalleri. New Jersey should be within their means to protect this group, expect that it leaves only Devante Smith-Pelly as a forward meeting the 40/70 qualification. Even for those who doubt the effectiveness going forward of the oft-injured 34-year-old Cammalleri, surely the Devils could find a better player to sacrifice than he or Smith-Pelly if they so choose.

Expected Extension: As a young team, the devils are chock full of impending restricted free agents. However, not all RFAs are created equal. Beau Bennett, Jacob Josefson, and Stefan Noesen are all candidates for extension and exposure, but Bennett played a bigger role for New Jersey than even Smith-Pelly in 2016-17 and Noesen played the best hockey of his young career after a mid-season trade from the Anaheim Ducks. Josefson has shown next to no progress in six years in New Jersey. Look for the Devils to try to work out an extension with the 25-year-old center to fill the hole in their expansion plan.

 

Team: New York Rangers

Situation: The Devils’ cross-town rivals are in a similar situation. The Rangers have put together a core of forwards that is the envy of most teams in the league, but it could soon be torn apart. Many feel that backup goalie Antti Raanta will be Vegas’ choice, but New York doesn’t want to give them any reason not to go that route and instead steal a good young forward. The team is already reserved to the fact that 2016-17 breakout star Michael Grabner has to be exposed, but they would rather protect all five of Derek Stepan, Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller and Kevin Hayes, in addition to Rick Nash, whose No-Movement Clause prevents exposure, and impending RFA Mika Zibanejad. The only problem is that this protection scheme leaves only Grabner as a 40/7o forward.

Expected Extension: The Rangers are not without options for a forward to extend and expose. RFA’s Jesper Fast, Oscar Lindberg, Brandon Pirri, and Matt Puempel would all meet the quota criteria if handed a new deal, as would UFA Tanner Glass. While New York may not be eager to lose any of the four, none significantly outshine Raanta or Grabner in terms of selection value anyway, giving the team every reason to get an extension done with one or more. Fast seems certain to get a new contract from the Rangers anyway, so don’t be surprised if such a deal lands in the next week or two.

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NHL Announces Transaction Freeze During Expansion Window

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The NHL has announced that they will put a hold on any waivers, trades or signings from June 17th at 2pm to June 22 at 7am (all times CDT). That would encompass the entire window that the Vegas Golden Knights have to select their expansion roster. Team’s protection lists must be submitted by 4pm on June 17th, while the team will be announced at the NHL Awards Ceremony on June 21st.

June 12th will be the final day for teams to ask players whether they will waive their no-movement clause for the draft, with decisions needing to come by 4pm on the 16th.

This window will put all eyes on the Vegas Golden Knights as they select the first expansion roster in nearly two decades. When the protection lists will be released to the public on the morning of the 18th, fans and media alike will begin to build their own team not knowing of any behind-the-scenes dealing that may already have happened.

The full release can be found below:

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Snapshots: Miller, Weal, Vegas

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According to Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Sun, the Canucks are expecting to re-sign Ryan Miller at some point before next season. GM Jim Benning hinted at such an extension recently when he explained that having solid goaltending is a big part of developing young players. Allowing them to know that they have a chance each night is beneficial even if the team doesn’t have intentions on competing for the Stanley Cup.

If Vancouver is so certain that they can re-sign Miller, they would likely wait until after the expansion draft and take their chances with any pitch Vegas may have for him. While the Golden Knights will have three days to try and convince any free agents to sign with them, inking Miller to an extension and then leaving him unprotected would be even more risky for the Canucks.

  • Pierre LeBrun has been sitting down with GMs all week at the Draft Combine, and the venerable insider has a few more notes to pass along. First, he reports that Jordan Weal’s agent met with Philadelphia GM Ron Hextall today. Despite being just 25, Weal will hit the open market on July 1st as a Group VI free agent if they don’t find common ground. The third-round pick has a ton of scoring ability and has dominated the AHL level since entering professional hockey. In 23 games with the Flyers this year, he registered 12 points and showed he may be ready for the next level.
  • In his chats, LeBrun also has heard that Vegas may be able to get a first-round pick in exchange for taking on a bad contract from a team in the league. Earlier today there was a report that the Golden Knights would be allowed to select Trevor van Riemsdyk from the Blackhawks in return for taking Marcus Kruger off their hands, and this is no different. The Golden Knights will likely have plenty of side deals for some bad contracts as they look to collect as many assets as possible in their first few years.

Expansion Primer: Carolina Hurricanes

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Over the next few weeks we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, and which will likely warrant protection or may be on the block. Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4pm CDT on June 17th. The full rules on eligibility can be found here, and CapFriendly has provided a handy expansion tool to make your own lists.

Going into the 2016-17 season, more people thought that the Carolina Hurricanes would be the worst team in the NHL than thought they would be a playoff team. Yet, the exciting, young ’Canes squad stayed in it until the end, only falling out of playoff contention in the final few games of the season. It was a completely unexpected performance from a team still lacking any major stars, but showed that their youthful nucleus can succeed without them.

Luckily for Carolina fans, perhaps no team in the NHL has a better chance of escaping the upcoming Expansion Draft unscathed than the Hurricanes. Not only does the teams youth protect many of their best players from being draft-eligible, but the team is in fact so young, that there are very few players total that can be exposed. With the league’s deepest young defense almost entirely intact with Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Noah Hanifin and pro prospects Haydn Fleury and Roland McKeown ineligible – each with two or fewer NHL seasons –  and star rookie Sebastian Aho also immune, the Hurricanes can use the rest of their protection slots to cover all their other important players and then some.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards
Jordan Staal (NMC), Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Elias Lindholm, Lee Stempniak, Joakim Nordstrom, Andrej Nestrasil, Teuvo Teravainen, Erik Karlsson, Phillip Di Giuseppe, Brock McGinn

Defense
Justin Faulk, Klas Dahlbeck, Ryan Murphy, Trevor Carrick

Goaltender
Scott Darling, Cam Ward, Eddie Lack, Daniel Altshuller

Notable Exemptions

Sebastian Aho, Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Noah Hanifin, Haydn Fleury, Roland McKeown, Derek Ryan

Key Decisions

The ’Canes have few decisions to make here. Up front, captain Jordan Staal must be protected due to his No-Movement Clause and his supporting cast of young scorers – Jeff Skinner, Victor Rask, Elias Lindholm, and Teuvo Teravainen – will surely join him. With 16 points in 57 games in 2016-17, 22-year-old Brock McGinn has also likely earned his spot on the team. This leaves one forward spot spot left, as Carolina will almost certainly use the 7/3 protection scheme. The odd men out will probably be consummate veteran Lee Stempniak and two-way forward Joakim Nordstrom, who took a step back this season anyway. Those two are the only remaining players that meet the two-forward exposure quota of players with 70 games played over the past two years or 40 games played this past season that also have term remaining on their contracts. Should the Hurricanes want to protect either one, they still have the option of extending restricted free agents Andrej Nestrasil or Phillip Di Giuseppe or impending UFA Jay McClement in the coming weeks, as the trio are only short on term to qualify for the quota. If they choose not to, the choice comes down to Nestrasil, Di Giuseppe, or minor league winger Erik Karlsson for the final spot, with little on the line.

On the blue line the choice is even easier. By re-signing Klas Dahlbeck recently, the Hurricanes secured their sacrificial lamb for Expansion. Dahlbeck qualifies to be exposed in accordance with the quota for one defenseman, taking All-Star Justin Faulk off the hook. Young defenseman Ryan Murphy and Trevor Carrick are literally the only other defenseman in need of protection with exactly two defensive spots open to do so.

In net, the decision has already been made. The Hurricanes secured their goalie of the future earlier this month, trading for former Chicago Blackhawks backup Scott Darling and giving him a four-year, $16.6MM deal. In doing so, Carolina also guaranteed that he would be their protected goalie in the draft, as they would not waste their time with such an investment just to let Darling be drafted away to Vegas. Instead, they’ll let the Golden Knights have their pick of long-time starter Cam Ward, high-end backup Eddie Lack, and prospect keeper Daniel Altshuller. With over $10MM tied up in Darling, Ward, and Lack next season, the Hurricanes hope the Knights take the bait, but even if they don’t, both Ward and Lack will be free agents next summer anyway.

Projected Protection List

Scheme: 7F/3D/1G

Forwards

Jordan Staal (NMC)
Jeff Skinner
Victor Rask
Elias Lindholm
Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn
Phillip Di Giuseppe

Defensemen

Justin Faulk
Ryan Murphy
Trevor Carrick

Goalie

Scott Darling

What is the worst case scenario for the Hurricanes? They could lose Stempniak and be left with over $10MM in goalies. That’s pretty much it. Yes, Stempniak scored 40 points last season, but he’s also 33 years old and has just one year left on his contract. The Hurricanes could replace him in free agency with ease. They also could simply re-sign another forward and protect him if they really want to. As for the goalie, Ward is a lifetime Hurricane and outplayed Lack by a slim margin last year. It really would not be all that bad to have him as a backup to first-time starter Darling next season. GM Ron Francis could surely sweeten a deal (if necessary) to have Vegas take Lack and, if not, should be able to find another suitor elsewhere.

If Stempniak does end up off the board though, is there really any other option for the Knights beyond goalie? At forward, Di Giuseppe gets the nod for the last protection slot over Nestrasil and Karlsson. Nestrasil is already on the outs in Carolina and Di Giuseppe has already passed him up on the depth chart. Karlsson has signed on to return to Sweden next season and will have no impact on the 2017-18 Hurricanes. Carolina is deep enough in prospects, such as Julien Gauthier, Nicolas Roy, Janne Kuokkanen, Warren Foegele, Aleksi Saarela and more that they can risk losing Karlsson without risking losing any sleep over it. On defense, Dahlbeck is the only contracted player that can be taken. While he did play in 43 games with Carolina last season, GM George McPhee will have plenty of quality defenseman to choose from in the Expansion Draft, and Dahlbeck simply doesn’t stand out as worth taking. The Hurricanes are so well protected from the wrath of the expansion process that even unrestricted free agent center Derek Ryan, who quietly put up 29 points in 2016-17 to the tune of $600K, is also exempt from selection, having come over from Europe just two years ago. Goalie seems to be the only real option and even if Altshuller is the pick, he is far from a promising prospect and not at the top of the Hurricanes’ prospect rankings in net. The Knights have few options when selecting a player from Carolina and none of them pose any threat to a team that is on the rise.

Expansion Primer: Los Angeles Kings

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Over the next few weeks we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, and which will likely warrant protection or may be on the block. Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4pm CDT on June 17th. The full rules on eligibility can be found here, and CapFriendly has provided a handy expansion tool to make your own lists.

It was a tough year for the Los Angeles Kings. After bouncing back in 2015-16 with an 102-point season, the squad collapsed this year after early goaltending injuries and a decisive lack of speed from the forward group. After a nice early season return from the old Dustin Brown, he scored just nine points in his final 26 games and again looks like a buyout candidate. Marian Gaborik scored just 21 points all year, and Anze Kopitar had just three goals through the first 35 games (and only 12 on the season).

Despite all that they added at the trade deadline, dealing for Jarome Iginla and Ben Bishop to try and sneak into the playoffs. They missed, and with it the coaching staff and front office were cleared out. New GM Rob Blake is in charge now, and the Kings will be looking for a fresh start. They will select 11th in the entry draft, but first have some decisions to make in the upcoming expansion draft.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards:

Anze Kopitar (NMC), Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik, Tanner Pearson, Trevor Lewis, Kyle Clifford, Jordan Nolan, Nic Dowd, Andrew Crescenzi, Andy Andreoff, Nick Shore, Justin Auger, Michael Mersch, Tyler Toffoli

Defensemen:

Drew Doughty, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin, Matt Greene, Brayden McNabb, Derek Forbort, Kurtis MacDermid

Goaltenders:

Jonathan Quick, Jeff Zatkoff, Jack Campbell

Notable Exemptions

Alex Iafallo, Adrian Kempe, Jonny Brodzinski, Kale Clague, Mike Amadio

Key Decisions

The first, and biggest decision the Los Angeles Kings must make is which protection scheme to use. Each team can protect either 7 forwards, 3 defenseman and 1 goaltender (7-3-1) or eight skaters and one goaltender (8-1). Even though the Kings didn’t have much success this season, doesn’t mean they don’t have a lot of players they’d like to protect. The trouble with being a team on the downside of such a run of success, is that most of your key contributors aren’t young enough to be exempt from the expansion draft. Nick Shore

Up front, the team will undoubtedly protect their veteran leadership in Kopitar and Carter, and their young talent in Toffoli and Pearson. If they decide to go with the 7-3-1 route, that leaves them with three spots left to hand out protection to some combination of the other forwards that include Lewis, Clifford, Shore, and Dowd. Even though Brown and Gaborik could be solid marketing options for Vegas as former stars, the contracts attached to both are basically built-in protection.

The problem with going the 7-3-1 route, and why it’s likely the toughest decision the Kings will have to make, is that it would result in the exposure of McNabb and Forbort. Though the previous Kings regime has never really allowed him to play a key role in their blueline, McNabb has elite possession numbers and could easily be a target for a more analytical-leaning Vegas squad. Forbort on the other hand played in all 82 games for the Kings this season, logging over 20 minutes a night attached to the hip of Doughty.

Brayden McNabbBoth McNabb and Forbort are young enough (26 and 25 respectively) to make an impact for several years in Vegas, and for a team like Los Angeles looking to rebuild losing them for nothing would be a mistake. That said, Doughty, Muzzin and Martinez would all easily be the pick if left unprotected and going with the 8-1 protection scheme would put several forwards at risk (and only give one additional protection slot on the back end).

In net, Quick is going to be protected and there isn’t much debate on that fact. The franchise goaltender missed almost the entire 2016-17 season, but is still an excellent starting option and locked in long-term. Campbell could be interesting to Vegas after a renaissance in the AHL this season but with so many other options from the team will likely be an afterthought.

Vegas will have a chance to sign any free agents during their selection window, and today George McPhee said they would be “very aggressive” in doing so. It’s hard to see it coming into effect for the Kings though, as the only real free agent of note is Iginla who isn’t worth forfeiting a selection over.

Projected Protection List

F Anze Kopitar (NMC)
F Jeff Carter
F Tanner Pearson
F Tyler Toffoli

D Drew Doughty
D Alec Martinez
D Jake Muzzin
D Derek Forbort

G Jonathan Quick Marian Gaborik

It’s not a perfect option for the Kings, as they will watch a valuable player walk out the door during the expansion draft if they don’t make a move to protect themselves. They seem like the perfect candidate to work out a pre-draft trade with Vegas in order to take one of their hefty contracts off their hands and allow them some freedom to rebuild over the next few years.

The same way the team was looking to move Gaborik at the deadline, they now may offer an asset up for Vegas to take him off their hands. The problem is that Vegas holds all the cards (sorry), as there isn’t a clear path for Los Angeles to get out of this that doesn’t involve dealing with George McPhee and the Golden Knights.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Vegas Golden Knights Expect To Acquire Additional Draft Picks

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Going into their very first entry draft, the Vegas Golden Knights currently have just seven selections. It doesn’t sound like they will make just seven picks though, as GM George McPhee told Pierre LeBrun in a recent interview. George McPhee

Yeah we’re expecting to have more [picks]. Just in the conversations we’ve had to date, it looks like we’ll be able to pick up some picks—and good ones.

McPhee went on to say that he hopes to be able to announce some deals next week, confirming that he does have some side-dealing already in place surrounding the expansion draft. Obviously the Golden Knights don’t have any players to trade, and moving draft picks out of the system isn’t likely. That means the deals are expected to be teams basically trading an asset in order to protect the players they want in the draft.

We want to be a real competitive club, we want to be as good as we can, but we also have to be mindful that we’d like to be in a surplus situation here in the next two or three drafts where we have extra picks. Our best players are going to have to come through the entry draft. I don’t think we’re going to get our best players through the expansion draft.

The Golden Knights’ GM seems to be thinking right along the lines of many in the media who have claimed that the available players will be extremely short on high-end skill. While there should be some talented two-way defenders and a couple of legitimate starting goaltenders, top line forwards are almost completely unavailable.

Especially because the Golden Knights fell out of the first few picks in the entry draft this year (though they’ll pick third in rounds 2-7), high-end talent will need to come from a bit lower in the draft this season. Getting more picks increases your chances to hit an explosive talent, though it is still not guaranteed.

McPhee also touched on the free agent window his team will be granted starting on June 18th,  saying that he would be “aggressive” to try and sign talent. The team could sign any unrestricted free agent or unprotected restricted free agent, though it would forfeit its expansion pick from that team in the process. Remember that teams will be holding off on re-signing their free agents until after the draft because they can’t afford to have to protect them, giving McPhee a chance to change their mind. It’s not clear who they would go after, but again the idea of skilled forwards comes up if the team wants to compete right away.

Snapshots: Bennett, Ryan, Housley

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One of the interesting nuggets from Elliotte Friedman’s latest “30 Thoughts” column for Sportsnet was that the Anaheim Ducks may have some interest in Calgary Flames’ underperforming Sam Bennett. While he didn’t go into detail on it in the column, he was asked about it today on Sportsnet 960 in Calgary.

I’ve heard that the Ducks like Sam Bennett. I’ve heard there’s people in that organization who like him. So I could see the possibility of something being there. But if you look at [Ducks GM] Bob Murray’s history, he’s done two deals with Vancouver. [Ryan] Kesler and [Kevin] Bieksa. He did one with Edmonton.  Patrick Maroon. The rest of his deals are all East: Bobby Ryan to Ottawa. Frederik Andersen to Toronto.  James Wisniewski to Carolina. Kyle Palmieri to New Jersey. He prefers to send guys out East.

Friedman does admit again that the Ducks would be interested in Bennett, but throws cold water on the whole idea saying that Murray wouldn’t want his defenseman “torturing him” for the next few seasons. It is interesting though that the Ducks would have interest in Bennett, who has had trouble at the center ice position and struggled to contribute offensively this year. Perhaps they would convert him to a winger, something that Calgary will need to consider once again going into next season.

  • As we wrote about earlier today, Ottawa Senators forward Bobby Ryan may have pushed himself back into the discussion about expansion protection with his standout playoffs. Jared Clinton of The Hockey News doesn’t think so though as he lists Ryan among his players that have built-in protection due to their cap hits. Ryan himself thinks he’s “pretty safe”, telling the media that he doesn’t think Vegas would want his $7.25MM cap-hit. Ryan currently has a no-movement clause of sorts, but it is not the same as say, Dion Phaneuf’s clause that will force him to be protected should he not waive it. Ryan is not on the list of automatic protection, as his clause only stops movement to the minors. He doesn’t need to waive it to be exposed.
  • Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinal reported yesterday that the Florida Panthers are indeed waiting for Phil Housley to finish his current run with the Nashville Predators before interviewing him for the vacant head coaching job. Panthers’ GM Dale Tallon would need to get permission from the Predators to talk to their assistant head coach, but most organizations don’t stand in the way as long as it is a promotion. Housley has been with the Predators for four years, and is considered a lock for a future head coaching job. The Hall of Fame defenseman put up 1232 points in 1495 games and is one of the greatest American-born players of all-time.

Craig Anderson Will Be Protected From Expansion Draft

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Though it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion confirmed today that Craig Anderson will be the goalie protected for the team in the upcoming expansion draft. With Mike Condon set to become an unrestricted free agent, that means the Golden Knights will get a chance to negotiate with him prior to the draft, and also puts into question whether the Senators will look to retain him on a longer-term contract after the season. Anderson has just a single year left on his contract, but at 36 was one of the biggest reasons the Senators reached game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.

While protecting Anderson seems like the obvious choice after his excellent season—the veteran goaltender put up a .926 save percentage despite his personal issues—Condon looks more like the future in Ottawa should they be able to sign him. Dorion mentioned during his press conference that if they can’t sign Condon (which would confirm that they’re trying to) that Andrew Hammond could be in as the backup to Anderson, and though Hammond had a Cinderella-like run when his career started, he had a terrible season fighting injury and is already 29-years old. Dorion admits talks with Condon haven’t gone well so far, but that he will speak to his agent next week.

In terms of other players being protected, Dorion was less forthcoming. He put it simply:

We’re going to lose a player. That’s part of the deal. Las Vegas payed a lot of money to get in this league, and that’s part of the deal. Are you mad about it? No. That’s part of the deal. We’ve got enough depth that I don’t see any radical changes to this team.

There has been much speculation about the possibility of Bobby Ryan being exposed, though when Ian Mendes of TSN asked if Dorion had changed his mind during the playoffs about certain players, the GM said that they have to take everything into account. Ryan exploded in the playoffs after a dreadful season, turning into one of the team’s best forwards. After scoring just 25 points in the regular season, Ryan put up 15 in the Senators’ 19 playoff games and may have done enough to warrant protection once again. Supremely talented, Ryan has the biggest cap-hit on the team and is signed through the 2021-22 season.

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