Expansion Primer: Tampa Bay Lightning
We’re continuing to break down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, coming up next week: 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.
Steve Yzerman fired the first shot in the pre-expansion draft trade market by acquiring Mikhail Sergachev from Montreal for Jonathan Drouin, a move that gave the Lightning flexibility both with the cap and their expansion protection list. It also filled a need with the Bolts on defense. With that in mind, it makes Yzerman and the Lightning’s decisions slightly easier as to who to protect and who to expose. But there are still some tough choices to make.
Eligible Players (Non-UFA)
Forwards: Steven Stamkos (NMC), Ryan Callahan (NMC), Nikita Kucherov, Alex Killorn, Vladislav Namestnikov, J.T. Brown, Erik Condra, Cedric Paquette, Ondrej Palat (RFA), Tyler Johnson
Defensemen: Victor Hedman (NMC), Jason Garrison, Anton Stralman, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Sustr (RFA), Slater Koekkoek, Jake Dotchin
Goaltender: Andrei Vasilevskiy, Kristers Gudlevskis (RFA)
Notable Exemptions
Mikhail Sergachev, Brett Howden
Key Decisions
Unloading Drouin certainly helped from a financial and expansion list aspect. This makes it somewhat easier for forwards to put on the protected list.
Ondrej Palat and Alex Killorn are both choices that benefitted from Drouin being moved. Killorn netted 19 goals while Palat will continue to get better. Stamkos and Callahan both have NMCs. Despite fighting injury and not matching his production from 2014-15, Johnson is too good of a talent to leave exposed.
It’s on defense where tougher decisions need to be made, and it will come down to three players. Hedman and Stralman will both be protected, Hedman because he has a no-movement clause and Stralman is key to the Lightning blueline. Jason Garrison and Braydon Coburn are both carrying heavier hits for the cap and will most likely be left alone when they’re exposed. Garrison could hypothetically be taken with his deal ending at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season, but the $4.6MM hit would probably scare Vegas away.
That leaves three choices to protect: Andrej Sustr, Jake Dotchin, and Slater Koekkoek. Sustr is a restricted free agent and won’t be able to command much in the way of money after having a down year. That doesn’t make him exempt from being exposed. If anything, seeing his numbers drop with a number of other options pounding on the door for the big club could make him the odd man out. However, he’s still an economical option and any leverage he had took a hit with the acquisition of Sergachev, who if scouting is correct, should find time on the Tampa blueline next season. But the problem with protecting Sustr is that Tampa would risk losing two young, and talented defensemen for nothing. In the same breath, would the Bolts want to possibly lose a steady defenseman who is only 26?
That leads to Dotchin and Koekkoek. Dotchin just turned 23, and registered 11 points in 35 games this season. The problem is, as Lightning blog Raw Charge pointed out, his sample size was limited compared to Koekkoek while being paired with Hedman. The 23-year-old Koekkoek logged 41 games over the past two seasons, but played strong for AHL affiliate Syracuse during the Calder Cup playoffs. Picking between them is essentially splitting hairs. Koekkoek appears to have the higher ceiling, and plays a cleaner game than Dotchin. Though they play different games, Yzerman might prefer a more disciplined, puck moving defenseman when choosing who to protect. At the same time, Dotchin plays a physical game, and can move the puck as well. He’s not afraid to muck it up, and provides a presence that protects his teammates on the ice–while still contributing on the score sheet. As Tampa Bay Times beat writer Joe Smith wrote, Dotchin has stood out to management, especially in the NHL and AHL during Syracuse’s Calder Cup Final run.
With two younger defensive prospects and after having a less than stellar season, predict Sustr to be exposed and Koekkoek protected. Don’t be surprised, as many others have written, if Yzerman pulls something off to keep all of his young defensemen so Dotchin remains in the fold.
Projected Protection List
F – Steven Stamkos (NMC)
F – Ryan Callahan (NMC)
F – Tyler Johnson (RFA)
F – Nikita Kucherov
F – Vladislav Namestnikov
F – Alex Killorn
F – Ondrej Palat (RFA)
D – Victor Hedman (NMC)
D – Anton Stralman
D –Slater Koekkoek (RFA)
Vasilevskiy is truly the only option to protect as 24-year-old netminder Kristers Gudlevskis is unlikely to be taken with other options presumably available from other teams. Of the decisions, it seems to be the least of Tampa’s worries.
The Lightning, despite missing the playoffs and sustaining injuries to one key player after another, still have a strong lineup that will absolutely compete next season. Peddling Drouin off certainly helped matters, but the third player to protect defensively is a tough decision to make. At the end of the day, though, Yzerman has shown skills deft enough to take a challenging situation and somehow make it work out. Don’t be surprised if he finds a way to do it again.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Expansion Notes: Phaneuf, McPhee, Final Decisions
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweets that nothing changed on Ottawa defenseman Dion Phaneuf‘s decision to waive his no-movement clause prior to the 5pm deadline today. This doesn’t mean, however, that he won’t be traded. Phaneuf is definitely in the mix to be dealt as Ottawa agonizes over who to protect and who to leave exposed as lists are due tomorrow at 5pm. Phaneuf has been the subject of trade rumors, and it was confirmed by general manager Pierre Dorion that he’s received calls about the 32-year-old defenseman. Some pundits thought Phaneuf might waive his NMC before the 5pm deadline, but with that now passed, it will be interesting to see if he’s one of many players shuttled to another team to ease the restrictions on the list.
- The USA Today’s Kevin Allen writes that Vegas general manager George McPhee has encouraged his staff to catch up on their sleep prior to the weekend as all NHL teams will have their protected lists submitted tomorrow. Noting that he only has 72 hours to put a team together, McPhee told Allen that teams have been straightforward with McPhee as to what they’re thinking and that it’s been in line with what McPhee and his staff expected. Allen reports that McPhee plans on informing each team who they plan on taking, so they can circle back to see if another deal can be worked out. Further, McPhee indicates that they are trying to build a balanced squad that can compete right away. He adds that they also want to acquire as many draft picks as possible to “expedite their building process.” McPhee also told Allen that even though he’s in his office at 6am Vegas time, his phone has been ringing non-stop with colleagues looking to make deals.
- On the other side of McPhee’s phone line are 30 general managers wrangling with what they’re going to do in anticipation of the draft. The AP’s Stephen Whyno spoke with general managers who are also losing sleep over the draft, albeit for different reasons. Minnesota’s Chuck Fletcher told Whyno that he often reminds himself at 3am that he can “only lose one player–go back to sleep.” Florida’s Dale Tallon remarked that “everyone’s a little nervous, a little reluctant” in anticipation of what will happen. Tampa general manager Steve Yzerman already responded by trading Jonathan Drouin to Montreal while New York and Colorado bought out the contracts of Dan Girardi and Francois Beauchemin respectively. Meanwhile, LeBrun tweets that deals could go down to the wire after speaking with Fletcher while Tampa Bay Times beat writer Joe Smith tweets that he sees Tampa Bay in potential talks with Fletcher since the Wild have a logjam at defense.
Florida Promotes Bryan McCabe To Director Of Player Personnel
- The Florida Panthers and New York Rangers have both given promotions to their player development staff. Florida has upgraded former captain Bryan McCabe from Director of Player Development to Director of Player Personnel, while New York has installed Jed Ortmeyer as Director of Player Development. The Rangers have also hired Steve Eminger as a Pro Scout after last playing in the AHL in 2015-16. Eminger spent three seasons for the Rangers during his playing career.
Panthers Hire Bob Boughner As Head Coach
Monday: As McKenzie expected, the hiring was made official on Monday morning. Boughner will join the team on a four-year contract.
Saturday: The Florida Panthers are closing in on a deal to name Bob Boughner as their new head coach, reports TSN’s Bob McKenzie (Twitter link). In a separate tweet, McKenzie adds that the hiring should be made official on Monday. The team had requested permission to interview him back in early May.
The 46 year old Boughner has spent the last two seasons as an assistant in San Jose. His only other previous NHL coaching experience came as an assistant with Columbus back in 2010-11. He does, however, have experience as a head coach at the junior level as the bench boss for Windsor of the OHL for eight seasons (2006-07 to 2009-10 and 2011-12 to 2014-15).
Boughner was a long-time stay-at-home defenseman over parts of 12 NHL seasons, recording 15 goals and 57 assists along with 1,382 penalty minutes in 630 games with Buffalo, Calgary, Carolina, Colorado, Nashville, and Pittsburgh.
The coaching situation in Florida has been in flux since early this past season when Gerard Gallant was let go by then-GM Tom Rowe who put himself behind the bench. That didn’t work out as intended as the team posted a .475 points percentage under Rowe which was actually worse than the .548 they had under Gallant while they wound up sixth in the Atlantic Division. Accordingly, Rowe was reassigned following the season with team president Dale Tallon re-assuming managerial duties. Now it will fall on Boughner’s shoulders to get this team back to where they were two seasons ago when they surprised many with a first place finish in the Atlantic..
McKenzie adds (via Twitter) that the Panthers also had interest in Nashville assistant Phil Housley but that clearly isn’t the case now. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweets that Buffalo, who also is on the market for a head coach, had interviewed Boughner as well.
Keith Yandle, Dion Phaneuf Asked To Waive No-Movement Clauses
With the Expansion Draft fast approaching, many players are expected to be approached themselves about waiving the No-Movement clauses attached to their contracts as their teams look to strategically navigate the strict expansion process. In his weekly “30 Thoughts” article posted this afternoon, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman states that he has heard that two big-name defenseman, Dion Phaneuf and Keith Yandle, have already been asked for such a waiver by their respective teams.
The news on Phaneuf is not unexepected; in fact many people have suspected all season long that the Ottawa Senators may ask the veteran to waive his No-Movement clause. The Senators have too much forward depth to apply the eight-skater protection scheme for the Expansion Draft and must instead use the 7-3 scheme. Thus, only three Ottawa defenseman can be protected. All-world blue liner Erik Karlsson is an obvious lock and presumably the other two spots would go to shutdown two-way man Marc Methot and young Cody Ceci if Phaneuf does choose to waive. If he doesn’t, the Sens would face a difficult choice between the two or would be forced into striking a trade over the next week. Phaneuf’s situation is interesting in that he actually outscored Ceci and Methot combined in 2016-17 and he has was more or less a complete success in his first full season in Ottawa, capped off by a strong playoff. The ideal scenario for Ottawa is to retain all three defenseman, but after the season that Phaneuf had, as well as his status as a well-known player, it could entice the Golden Knights and a waiver could mean the Senators end up losing their second-best defenseman. On the other hand, exposing Ceci, and to some extent Methot, would almost ensure losing either of them as well.
The situation with Yandle is a much bigger story. The Florida Panthers acquired Yandle’s negotiating rights from the New York Rangers around this time last year and inked him to a massive seven-year, $44.45MM contract. Yandle bypassed free agency and potentially more money to become the long-term partner of Calder-winner Aaron Ekblad and, at age 30, seemed poised to be a Panther for the rest of his career. Now it seems that might not be true. After just one year, Florida appears open to moving on from Yandle. The Panthers face a difficult expansion scenario on defense with, like the Senators, too many promising forwards to protect four defenseman. Even if they could, Florida would really like to protect five: Ekblad, Yandle, Jason Demers, another 2016 free agency splurge, and young play-makers Alex Petrovic and Mark Pysyk. All five defenseman meet the number of games needed (40 this past season or 70 over the past two seasons) to qualify for the one-defenseman exposure quota, but Petrovic and Pysyk are impending restricted free agents and the other half of the exposure criteria is term remaining on a contract. Thus, only Ekblad, Yandle, or Demers could fill the quota, unless Petrovic, Pysyk, or Jakub Kindl were re-signed just to be exposed. With Ekblad untouchable and Yandle having a No-Movement clause, at this time Demers is the only choice to be the sacrificial lamb. Vegas will surely have some interest in the 28-year-old righty, whether it be to lead their own defense or to flip to another suitor. However, by asking Yandle to waive his clause, it appears that Florida is instead leaning toward keeping Demers to themselves. Why? In his first season with Florida, Yandle did play in all 82 games and recorded 41 points, a good season by any measure, but it was in fact the worst production of any full season to date for the 11-year veteran. The Panthers may be worried that, at 30-years-old, Yandle is already on the decline, while Demers and his cap hit of nearly $2MM less for four more years may be a better investment. It will be interesting to see whether Yandle indeed waives his clause or not, but make no mistake: like Demers, if Yandle is exposed he will be an easy choice for Vegas to select to either highlight their blue line or trade to a contender.
Snapshots: Foo, Gavrikov, Panthers
Spencer Foo joined Bob Stauffer on 630 CHED today and the college free agent confirmed that he has whittled down the interest from “over 20” to “under five” teams on where to sign his first NHL contract. The Oilers remain in that group, the childhood team of Foo growing up in Edmonton. Foo also revealed that he would have been named captain of the Union College team, and his younger brother would be have been joining him this season had he stayed.
The Hobey Baker finalist scored 62 points in 38 games during his junior team before deciding to turn pro this summer, and was one of the most dynamic players in the country. He has delayed his decision so far to finish his school year, instead of signing and playing this season like other NCAA players. At 23, he should compete for a spot in the NHL right away wherever he signs.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have been trying to convince Vladislav Gavrikov to come over to the NHL for some time, and according to Igor Eronko of Sport-Express the young defenseman is trying to get a visa in order to come over for a medical. According to Eronko Columbus has offered him a deal with an AHL “out clause” meaning that he would be allowed to return to the KHL should they try to send him down. The report also indicates that the contract would include “full bonuses”, though it’s unclear if that means signing, performance or both. Gavrikov played quite well this season for Yaroslavl, suiting up for 54 games. He also played for Team Russia at the World Championships, logging time against top competition.
- The Florida Panthers have signed six players to AHL contracts, inking Francois Beauchemin (not the one who plays for Colorado), Matt Buckles, Ryan Horvat, Anthony Greco, Matt MacKenzie and Evan Cowley. All six will report to the Springfield Thunderbirds next season. The biggest name may be Cowley, who finished his NCAA career with an incredible .955 save percentage as the backup at DU. The former fourth-round pick is an interesting goaltending prospect for the Panthers down the line, perhaps capable of developing into at least an NHL backup.
New York Islanders Sign Steve Bernier To Two-Way Contract
Former top-prospect Steve Bernier has re-upped with the New York Islanders, signing a two-year two-way deal with the team. The financials have not been released yet, but it’s unlikely that the deal would be worth much more than the minimum of $650K at the NHL level. Bernier would have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st. 
Bernier, now 32, scored 26 points in 33 games for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL last season and ranked third on their team in goals despite playing less than half the year. The incredible talent that made him a 16th-overall pick in 2003 is still there, but at this point the chance of an NHL comeback is slim. Bernier once was one of the top prospects in all of hockey, and made an immediate impact with the San Jose Sharks in his rookie season after the team had traded up to get him at the draft. Scoring 27 points in 39 games for the Sharks, he was deemed the next star power forward but conditioning issues that had followed him since junior crept up again and he could never duplicate that 2005-06 run.
After 633 NHL games spread between the Sharks, Sabres, Canucks, Panthers, Devils and Islanders, the 6’3″ 220-lbs Bernier has collected just 230 points. He does though provide some depth for the Islanders should they get into injury trouble, but more likely will play out the year at the AHL level and try to help Bridgeport win a Calder Cup.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Florida Panthers Remain In Talks With Jaromir Jagr
Though there wasn’t much doubt, Pierre LeBrun of TSN reports that the Florida Panthers are still talking to Jaromir Jagr about a potential return. The 45-year old remains interested in playing, and the team has been a good fit for him as he closes out his historic career. Jagr is coming off a contract which paid him $4MM in base salary, with up to $1.52MM in performance bonuses.
Jagr has previously stated that he wants to play to 50 (even joking about 60 at one point), and after another effective season in which he put up 46 points he has a chance to do it. Amazingly, his puck-protection style has been able to transcend eras and lockouts and still makes him an excellent possession player, even if his foot speed and straight power game have started to diminish.
The Panthers, looking to bounce back from a disappointing season, will hopefully welcome Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau back for full seasons and with it Jagr’s re-signing could make sense. The Cats don’t have a ton of cap-space to work with, but should be able to fit in a performance-laden contract once again. Since Jagr is (well) over 35, he’s eligible for performance bonuses and should expect them to be a big part of any deal he signs around the league.
As LeBrun points out, any deal with Jagr will have to wait until after the expansion draft as they wouldn’t want to waste a protection slot on the NHL’s second-all-time point leader. At 1,914 points, he doesn’t have anyone left to catch—unless he does play until 60, in which case he’d have an outside shot at catching Wayne Gretzky and his 2,857—but could continue to put himself out of reach of other players in the future. With another full season, he would become the all-time leader in games played; he currently sits at 1,711 just 56 behind Gordie Howe for the record.
Jim Montgomery Staying At University Of Denver
After being courted by the Florida Panthers recently, Jim Montgomery has decided to stay in the NCAA coaching ranks according to Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. The former NHL forward has coached at the University of Denver for the past four seasons, winning a National Championship last season by beating the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs 3-2 in the final game of the Frozen Four. As referenced in our live chat yesterday, Florida had moved on to other candidates and will continue to wait on Phil Housley to finish his Stanley Cup run with the Nashville Predators.
Montgomery is considered one of the top coaching prospects outside of professional hockey, and according to Chambers received two interviews with Florida and was also in contact with the Los Angeles Kings before they decided to go with John Stevens. Fans of the DU program will now be able to rest easy, expecting players like Henrik Borgstrom—Florida’s first-overall pick in 2016—to honor their commitments to the school and return for the 2017-18 season.
Florida meanwhile will move on to other candidates including Housley. They’ve also been linked in the past to Bob Boughner, Michel Therrien and Todd Reirden, and could branch out the coaching search even further. For several of their candidates they’ll have to fight off the Buffalo Sabres who are also in the midst of a coaching search.
Florida Panthers Eyeing Chris Pronger For Front Office Position
According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Hall of Fame defenseman and current member of the Department of Player Safety Chris Pronger is in discussions with the Florida Panthers to join their front office in a role under GM Dale Tallon. Pronger’s NHL contract is just expiring with the Arizona Coyotes, though he hasn’t played in the league since 2012.
Regarded by many as one of the smartest players in the game during his prime, Pronger has been looking for the right fit in a front office since he left the game. Earlier this spring he reached out to former rival Steve Yzerman on how he should go about getting into management, and working under Tallon would be a similar path to the earlier executive career of Yzerman under Ken Holland in Detroit. With Tallon re-instated as GM, the Panthers have just two Assistant General Managers currently, Eric Joyce and Steve Werier. Fellow defenseman Bryan McCabe is currently the team’s Director of Player Development.
Whether Pronger takes a role with the Panthers or not, he’s clearly on a path towards a front office somewhere. His 1167 games will help him in that pursuit, as he has seen almost everything there is to see in hockey, including winning a Stanley Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks.