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Morning Notes: Draft, RFAs, Galchenyuk

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Craig Button of TSN updated his rankings for the NHL Entry Draft, and there is big movement among the first round. After Timothy Liljegren has remained in the conversation for top-3 for so long, Button has now dropped him to eighth, as he struggles to find ice time in Sweden. Martin Necas slides into the spot following Nolan Patrick and Nico Hischier, as Button compares the Czech center to a young Claude Giroux.

Cale Makar from the AJHL has made his way into the top five, an impressive feat for someone playing in a “lesser league”. Button doesn’t consider this a problem, as he is focused on evaluating where they will be at the next level, not their current competition. Makar has 75 points in 54 games as a defenseman, and has received many comparisons to Erik Karlsson in the way that he handles the puck.

  • Columbus extended three restricted free agents yesterday when they inked Markus Hannikainen, Lukas Sedlak and Scott Harrington to two-year deals. The team still has three RFAs left for this summer, and according to Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch the Blue Jackets aren’t worried about signing them. Alexander Wennberg, Josh Anderson and Joonas Korpisalo all require new deals, and the Jackets are going to be tight on money once again. Depending on who is taken at the expansion draft, they may have to consider some sort of salary dump—like Scott Hartnell, who will be scratched tonight in favor of Sedlak—in order to keep their cap structure in tact.
  • The Montreal Canadiens experienced a heartbreaking loss last night to one of the worst teams in the conference when they fell 2-1 in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings. Again their expected top line of Max Pacioretty, Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Radulov was broken up in the third period, something that has become far too common. Eric Engels of Sportsnet writes about how Galchenyuk in particular had a rough night, and doesn’t seem to mesh well with Radulov in terms of play style. The young forward had a breakout 30-goal campaign last season, but has struggled all year with his consistency and defensive play. With just nine games remaining until the playoffs, most first-place teams don’t have the kind of doubt Montreal is feeling with their #1 centerman.

Sabres Notes: Kulikov, Expansion, Petersen

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The Buffalo Sabres haven’t had a good season. Struggling to get anything going through injury after injury, and seeing players fail to meet expectations on a regular basis has sent them to the bottom of the standings once again. GM Tim Murray took to the airwaves today to talk about the season so far and John Vogl of the Buffalo News and Joe Yerdon of NHL.com relayed the information on Twitter.

One name mentioned in particular was Dmitry Kulikov, who Murray said he expected to play like a top-3 defenseman this year. Admitting that it “didn’t work out” is putting it lightly, as Kulikov has just two points in 39 games and is a -17. Injury and inconsistency have both plagued the former Florida Panther this year, as he heads into unrestricted free agency this summer. After earning $4.3MM per year on his current three-year deal, Kulikov will be hard pressed to find a similar pay day on the open market.

  • At the expansion draft in June, Murray expects to go with the seven forward, three defense option. In fact, he has already reached out to Vegas GM George McPhee on who he doesn’t want to lose. At first glance, it appears as though Buffalo may be at risk of losing a player like Marcus Foligno or Zemgus Girgensons, though they could easily make a deal with the Golden Knights to take someone else instead.
  • The Sabres are hoping that Calvin Peterson will turn pro after Notre Dame finishes their college season. The NCAA goaltender has been one of the best in the country the last three seasons, recording .919, .927 and .928 save percentages. A fifth-round pick of the Sabres in 2013, Murray says there is opportunity in net in the Sabres organization and feels there is a solid relationship between the two sides.

Snapshots: Kunin, Vegas, Vermin

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Luke Kunin has done everything the Minnesota Wild had hoped for since drafting him fifteenth overall in 2016 except one—sign a pro contract. It might not be long until he finishes that goal too, as Michael Russo of the Star Tribune expects him to turn pro within the next few days. Kunin went back for his sophomore year this season as the Wisconsin Badgers’ captain and improved in every facet of his game. The offensive performance continued, with 38 points in 35 games but he improved in the defensive zone and on the powerplay as well.

Badgers coach Tony Granato told Todd Milewski of the Wisconsin State Journal that Kunin is “ready to play pro hockey,” despite wanting him back to help his team next year. He wishes him well with whatever he decides, and is just happy he got the opportunity to coach him for two seasons. If Kunin does turn pro he would likely head to the Iowa Wild for the remainder of the regular season on an amateur tryout, before starting his entry-level deal in 2017-18.

  • SinBin.com reported answers from George McPhee during a non-media Q&A for season ticket holders today, which led to some interesting revelations about the Vegas Golden Knights. While some have argued that the Golden Knights would take a pile of young, prospect-type players in the expansion draft to build for the future, it doesn’t sound like that will be the driving force behind the team. McPhee touched on experience and leadership as a need for the team, while also revealing that Bill Foley will be willing to spend to the cap in the first season. One of the things that is often overlooked in mock drafts is the need to get to the cap floor, which is something McPhee believes will be no problem. “Complying with the rules and spending the amount of money necessary has not been a problem,” he said, lending a little more credence to the idea that he might target some slightly overpaid, yet still valuable veterans that will be left exposed by their teams.
  • One important note from the Q&A is also that McPhee said they will announce an AHL affiliate at the end of the season. Though it’s not clear yet who that would be, SinBin.com notes that it is likely the Chicago Wolves and that the Golden Knights will supply the coaching staff and control hockey operations. The Wolves are currently affiliated with the St. Louis Blues, but remain one of only a dozen AHL teams not owned by an NHL club.
  • The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Joel Vermin for the second time in three days. The forward was brought up on Saturday, only to watch the game that night from the press box. With Vladislav Namestnikov returning to a full practice today, but Ondrej Palat leaving early, Vermin is likely only up as insurance once again for tomorrow night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. Should one of those two miss the contest, Vermin would get into his 12th game of the season in Tampa Bay. He has just three points in the NHL this year, with 28 in AHL action.

Dallas Stars Sign Gavin Bayreuther

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Late last night, the Dallas Stars announced that they had won out in their battle with the Buffalo Sabres for the right to sign Gavin Bayreuther. The St. Lawrence University defenseman was a free agent and was considering the two teams up until yesterday. The two sides have come to an agreement and will release details today.

Bayreuther was considered one of the top free agents available from the college ranks this year, and for good reason. The 22-year old defenseman has put up 29 points in two straight seasons and generally been a dominant presence on the St. Lawrence blue line for all four years. He’ll go down as the second highest scoring defenseman in school history, behind only Daniel Laperriere, a former St. Louis Blues draft pick and NHL player.

The 6’1″, 195-lbs Bayreuther has much of what any NHL team would be looking for in a defensive prospect; great first pass, solid decision making, hard shot from the point. It’s mostly his positioning and one-on-one battles that need work, and will be challenged at the next level. With some solid professional coaching, he could turn into a nice all-around defenseman.

For the Stars, adding another prospect to their defensive pool can’t hurt as they look to rebuild what has been a shattered blue line. The team has watched Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers, Kris Russell, Johnny Oduya, Jordie Benn, Jyrki Jokipakka and Trevor Daley all leave one way or another over the past couple of years, leaving them with a makeshift lineup behind the stalwart John Klingberg. Now with the youth of Bayreuther, Stephen Johns, Esa Lindell, Julius Honka, Patrik Nemeth and Dillon Heatherington they’ll be able to fill that pipeline once again.

While this signing doesn’t fix everything there is wrong with the Stars—as no one signing would—it does take another step in the right direction for a team that was in first place as recently as last year. We’ll now see how active they are heading into the expansion draft, where they will have several key decisions to make.

Stars Notes: Nichushkin, Expansion, Honka

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When Valeri Nichushkin left for the KHL last summer after having trouble with Dallas Stars head coach Lindy Ruff, the team lost one of its best young assets to a rival league. The former 10th-overall draft pick had put up 34 points in his rookie season, then missed most of the next year after hip surgery but came back with another solid 29 point season as a 20-year old last year. He looked like a star (pun intended) in the making in Dallas, ready to break out over the next few seasons.

Well, breakout he did, just on the wrong continent. With 24 points in 36 games, Nichushkin was outstanding for CSKA Moscow when he was healthy. He is under contract for one more season with the Russian team, but Jim Nill was on the radio today saying (via Mark Stepneski of NHL.com) that he would like to bring him back to North America eventually. The now 22-year old would be a nice addition if they could get him under contract, as they’re likely losing Ales Hemsky, Patrick Sharp and Jiri Hudler this year—not to mention Patrick Eaves and Lauri Korpikoski, who they dealt at the deadline.

  • According to Stepneski, Nill also said that he likely will protect Nichushkin in the upcoming expansion draft, something that would complicate things quite a bit. Protecting Nichushkin would leave one of Antoine Roussel, Brett Ritchie, Radek Faksa or Cody Eakin exposed, none of whom the Stars could afford losing for nothing. While leaving Nichushkin exposed isn’t perfect, it would be hard to see Vegas taking a swing at him not knowing for sure if he’d ever come back to the NHL. Perhaps the Stars will work out a deal with the Golden Knights on who to take, as they currently look like they’ll lose an effective player in the draft.
  • Julius Honka will be back up with the NHL team at some point, to play another 8-10 games with the big club before the end of the season. The top prospect played 10 games earlier in the season for the team, and has thrived at the AHL level for three straight years. There will be no playoff run for the Texas Stars of the AHL this season, as they currently sit in seventh place in their division with a 27-29-4 record.

Senators Notes: Karlsson, Ryan, Anderson

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Though it looked earlier this season like Brent Burns had locked up the Norris trophy by Christmas, Erik Karlsson has been pushing to make sure voters don’t forget about him. Mentioned by both Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet and Travis Yost of TSN today in their latest columns, people have noticed that Karlsson is now just eight points behind Burns and ready to burst into the NHL’s top-10 sooner or later. The defenseman is having another unbelievable season offensively but as Friedman notes, is also doing something else better.

Karlsson leads the NHL in blocked shots this season by a wide margin, easily outpacing his own career-high from last season. Though he may not be producing at quite the same rate offensively—though 62 points in 67 games shouldn’t be shrugged off—his defensive ability has seemingly improved once again. Blocked shots aren’t a very stable result, and shouldn’t simply be taken as evidence of an improved defensive game. But when combined with an increased +/- rating, decreased rate of minor penalties, and increased short-handed play, even the most “old-school” hockey fan should appreciate his defensive improvements.

  • Bobby Ryan and Kyle Turris will both return to the lineup tonight, giving Ottawa a nice boost to their top-six after several weeks with uncertainty at the top. Ryan has been out since February 18th with a broken finger, and is having the worst season of his career. With five more seasons on his contract at $7.25MM per year, the Senators need him to turn things around as quickly as possible. Ryan will turn 30 on Friday, and has just 12 goals this season. If he doesn’t produce down the stretch, the Senators might even decide to leave him exposed and hope Vegas takes him off their hands in the expansion draft.
  • After Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun reported that Craig Anderson wasn’t on the ice at this morning’s practice, thoughts immediately turned to his personal problems that have taken him away from the team several times this season. Turns out, it’s just a lower-body injury for Anderson who will be replaced by Chris Driedger tonight on the bench behind Mike Condon. There is no timetable on Anderson’s return as Garrioch reports, after head coach Guy Boucher said the team would be “checking it out further” later.

Thoughts On The NHL Expansion Draft List Controversy

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Earlier this week the NHL GMs met in Boca Raton for a series of meetings meant to improve the game. One tentative resolution, as first reported by ESPN’s Pierre Lebrun, is that the NHL will not release the list of exposed players prior to—or even after—the NHL Expansion Draft this summer. This revelation created quite the ruckus amongst fans and media alike, as almost no one expected the NHL to completely deny access to the hotly-anticipated list.

Hotly-anticipated is no misnomer. CapFriendly’s mock expansion draft tool just surpassed 30,000 user-created drafts since its November’s inception. Fan blogs across the web delved into extensive analysis on who teams should protect and expose. Commentary on every transaction so far this year always had the obligatory “how does this effect the expansion draft” question attached to it. Needless to say, the protected list of NHL players will be the hottest commodity come June.

And yet the NHL GMs have tentatively decided to permanently withhold that list, making it impossible for everyone outside the NHL GM community to stage their own mock drafts and analyze GMs’ decisions. The GMs surely have their reasons, but fans and the media have theirs in support of publishing the protected list. The following outlines both sides in an effort to understand the rationale behind both desires.

For releasing the list

The two main arguments for releasing the list are simple: to facilitate mock drafts and to provide context and analysis of both the draft itself and moves leading up to the draft. And more importantly to the NHL, both arguments produce increased exposure. Fans and media clamour for this information, and the NHL should enjoy the attention windfall that follows.

Moreover, it rewards those who follow the NHL closely enough to care about who teams protect and who they expose. The NFL and NBA all have an extensive mock entry draft culture that allows fans almost unlimited imagination as to which players go where. With an event as unique as the expansion draft, the NHL should not deny fans the opportunity to construct their own Vegas Golden Knights using an official list of players.

Against releasing the list

The two main arguments against releasing the list center on the GMs and the players themselves. One, the GMs do not want their decisions scrutinized more than necessary. Two, NHL players may not want the public to know who isn’t worthy of protection, or relatedly, the GMs do not want their players to know who gets exposed.

Protecting themselves against scrutiny may be the low-hanging fruit argument, but it merits attention. The NHL continues to announce NHL contracts without crucial details like amount, conditions, and whether there is a no-trade or no-movement clause. This is despite the popularity of sites like CapGeek, Capfriendly, and General Fanager. The argument is that fans do not need to know these details to enjoy the game, and that scrutiny begets negativity, and—more telling—criticism directed at GMs.

The second argument may have more heft. Players may not want to know that certain players in the locker room were protected while others were exposed. In a skill-based game where ego runs rampant, knowing that a team finds you dispensable may alter the relationship between teams and players. Moreover, players may not want others to know if a team finds them dispensable. In an environment with almost no privacy, players may want to cling to whatever confidentiality they can.

In the end, the pressure from fans and media alike shoud push the NHL to change its mind and release the list. The benefits outweigh the positives, and the increased exposure should be cultivated rather than ignored.

Dallas Stars Sign Curtis McKenzie To One-Year Extension

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The Stars have completed their expansion draft protection, signing Curtis McKenzie to a one-year, $700K extension. They also have announced a two-year entry-level deal for goaltending prospect Landon Bow. Both contracts will begin during the 2017-18 season. Curtis McKenzie

As we predicted when the Stars extended Adam Cracknell earlier this week, McKenzie was the obvious choice for the Stars to extend and fulfill their expansion draft requirements up front. While Brett Ritchie or Radek Faksa could have been exposed to cover the requirements, both will likely be protected by the team. They now have Cracknell, McKenzie and Dan Hamhuis as expansion draft fodder that fill the 70/40 requirement.

McKenzie has played 43 games for the team this season, recording 11 points and 67 penalty minutes. His fourth-line role has been expanded slightly of late after the Stars shipped Patrick Eaves and Lauri Korpikoski out of town at the deadline. Whether he continues in that role next season is still to be determined, but he’ll benefit from the expansion draft with some guaranteed money. The 26-year old actually has two game-winning goals this season, and does have a bit of offensive upside to his game.

In his first season of professional hockey in 2013-14, McKenzie broke out with 65 points in 75 AHL contests. He has followed it up with more solid minor league numbers, though his impact at the NHL level has been less noticeable.  For a Stars team that will need to reload this offseason and try again while Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are in their prime, McKenzie and his relatively low cap-hit could come in handy in their bottom-six.

Bow on the other hand is a 21-year old undrafted goaltender that has split time between the ECHL and AHL this season. His numbers while in the American league are poor, but has shown at least enough ability to be an intriguing lottery ticket. Goaltenders often mature much later into their game than other positions, and Bow was exceptional in his final season of junior hockey after already being passed over in the draft. Probably nothing more than organizational filler, he at least is worth an ELC to see what he can do. The Stars need all the goaltending help they can get, as the tandem of Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi continue to struggle at the NHL level.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

The All-Star Expansion Team That Never Was

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With the Vegas Golden Knights coming into existence just over a week ago and signing the first player in franchise history, prospective fans are combing through rosters to see who could be taken at the upcoming expansion draft. The roster will be released in a televised event on June 21st, and with it a generation of new fans will meet the first iteration of their new favorite team.

Expansion drafts are funny things, changing over the decades to include or exclude various player types—this time, the overpaid, underachieving veteran seems to be on the menu for the Golden Knights to pick from—but there have always been interesting names available. Back in 2000 when the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets came into the league, they were fighting each other to try and get the best mix of youth and experience to make their team’s viable right from the start.

If Vegas had been coming into the league then they could have gone for a different approach. With all the lights and excitement of the gambling town, why not assemble a group of the greatest careers available, regardless of where they were in them or how much they had left in the tank. Since the league did make the exposure lists public back then, we can take a look to see what they might have selected. If name recognition and all-star appearances were first and foremost, I present to you the 2000 expansion team.

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Morning Notes: Expansion, Enstrom, Butcher

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As the expansion draft gets closer and fans start to guess what the new Vegas Golden Knights will look like, anticipation for the upcoming season has started to grow in Las Vegas. In a conversation with Josh Cooper of Puck Daddy, the league disclosed that the announcement of the roster will be televised along with the NHL Awards show, which is always held in the city.

Because the team doesn’t go team-by-team for the draft, it wouldn’t be possible to televise the actual process. But be sure that the league will make a spectacle out of the announcement—it is Las Vegas after all. Teams have to submit their list of protected players on June 17th, with the Golden Knights selecting the players by June 20th and revealing them the next day.

  • Toby Enstrom is in the hospital following a brutal hit from behind by the Pittsburgh Penguins tough-guy Tom Sestito. The enforcer was called up for the game against Winnipeg because of the expected payback against Evgeni Malkin for a hit on Blake Wheeler—except Malkin took his punishment early in the first period when he dropped the gloves with Wheeler himself. Sestito would go on to fight Chris Thorburn before taking a run at Enstrom. The Winnipeg defender is being treated for possible facial fractures, according to Sportsnet.
  • As teams begin to lock up their prospects to entry-level contracts, Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reminds Avalanche fans of a deadline approaching for one of their own. Will Butcher, a former fifth-round pick of Colorado who went on to excel at the University of Denver, will become a free agent on August 15th much like Jimmy Vesey did last summer. Though the Avalanche will try everything they can to sign him, with a deadline so close many prospects are tempted to just wait and see where the could go on the open market. Butcher would likely have several teams after him should he become a free agent, after another outstanding campaign as the captain of his university team.

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