Edmonton Oilers Not Expected To Qualify Andreas Athanasiou
Wednesday: The Oilers have made it official, extending qualifying offers to only Ethan Bear and William Lagesson. That leaves Athanasiou, Benning, Logan Day, Cameron Hebig, Ryan Kuffner, Ryan Mantha, Angus Redmond and Nolan Vesey unqualified. All of them will become unrestricted free agents on Friday.
Tuesday: The deadline to submit qualifying offers to restricted free agents is tomorrow evening and the Edmonton Oilers have some interesting decisions to make. After making his first-round selection tonight, Oilers GM Ken Holland spoke to reporters including Ryan Rishaug of TSN and explained that he doesn’t think the team will qualify Andreas Athanasiou or Matt Benning.
This is a scenario we discussed in our recent Free Agent Focus piece and is a disaster for the Oilers. Edmonton used two second-round picks (and Sam Gagner) to land Athanasiou from the Detroit Red Wings at the deadline and will now let him walk into unrestricted free agency just a few months later. The speedy forward ended up playing just 13 total games for the organization, scoring a single goal and being held completely scoreless in the Oilers four postseason games.
After scoring 30 goals in 2018-19, Athanasiou was a risky player to qualify for the Oilers given the flat cap landscape in the NHL. He would have required a $3MM offer just to retain his rights, but then could have earned even more than that through arbitration. Edmonton has just under $8.8MM in cap space and need to both re-sign restricted free agents Ethan Bear and Jesse Puljujarvi while also upgrading their roster considerably in free agency. If Oscar Klefbom is out for the season his cap hit can be placed on long-term injured reserve for a little more flexibility, but unless they thought Athanasiou was going to routinely play in their top-six his arbitration award was going to be too expensive.
Still, losing those draft picks and only getting a handful of games out of him hurts. The Oilers have several strong prospects but could have used the picks for a different trade upgrade this offseason. Instead, Athanasiou will enter the free agent market as a young, talented forward that could be a difference-maker in the right situation.
Tyler Toffoli To Test Free Agency
The Vancouver Canucks have not been able to clear the cap space required to re-sign Tyler Toffoli, so the forward will reach free agency according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Canucks acquired Toffoli in a February trade that saw Tim Schaller, Tyler Madden and a 2020 second-round pick go to the Los Angeles Kings. If they were to re-sign him, they would have also sent a 2020 fourth-round selection.
Even with that draft pick compensation attached, Toffoli seemed like a real candidate to be re-signed after fitting in perfectly in Vancouver. The 28-year-old forward scored six goals and ten points in ten games for the Canucks down the stretch, then added four more points in seven playoff games. A former 30-goal scorer, he totaled 24 on the year in a nice bounceback season.
Perhaps that bounceback is exactly what priced Toffoli out of the Vancouver market, given how tight their salary cap situation is going to be in the next few years. Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes are both up for new deals after the upcoming season, while Brock Boeser only has two years left on his deal. Even Bo Horvat is only signed through the 2022-23 season, meaning any long-term commitment to Toffoli would complicate things even further.
As for the open market, the 2014 Stanley Cup champion should have plenty of interest. Toffoli is a player that can score goals even without a ton of time on the powerplay and has shown a knack for game-winners throughout his career. While he may slide in behind names like Taylor Hall and Mike Hoffman in terms of pure offense, he’ll still be on the radar of plenty of teams around the league.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Oliver Ekman-Larsson Places Deadline On Potential Trade
The Arizona Coyotes have been trying to trade captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson over the past few weeks, asking him to give them a list of teams that he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to go to. The star defenseman has given them an option of just the Vancouver Canucks or Boston Bruins and has now put a clock on the negotiations as well.
Ekman-Larsson’s agent Kevin Epp of Titan Sports Management has contacted several media members including Darren Dreger of TSN, explaining that his client wishes to be traded before free agency opens on Friday. If a deal cannot be completed before then, Ekman-Larsson will remain in Arizona.
The 29-year-old defenseman is heading into just the second season of an eight-year, $66MM contract extension he signed in 2018 to stay in Arizona. When Ekman-Larsson signed that contract and included a full no-movement clause throughout, he likely believed that he would spend his entire career with the Coyotes, the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2009.
Instead, new management approached him this offseason with the potential of a trade, likely due to the need to cut payroll drastically after the coronavirus shutdown. Ekman-Larsson is the Coyotes’ highest-paid player and will be entering the most expensive years of his contract after this season. In each of the three seasons following 2020-21, he is owed $10.5MM in total salary, before his contract starts to fall off. Getting out from under that now would save Arizona plenty of cash, plus hopefully recoup several valuable assets.
If they’re going to pull it off, it’s going to have to happen quickly. Notably, the Coyotes do not have a selection in the first three rounds of tonight’s entry draft.
Wayne Simmonds Drawing Interest
The free agent market is approaching rapidly and without an interview period, this season things may be complete chaos when the bell strikes on Friday. Then again, perhaps not for every free agent. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Buffalo Sabres have given Wayne Simmonds permission to speak with other teams ahead of free agency.
That news comes on the heels of a report from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens have shown interest in Simmonds. Both teams are looking for a little more physicality in their forward groups, something Simmonds can provide in spades when healthy and playing his best. He’s also an excellent net-front player on the powerplay, something both teams could use.
The question now is whether Simmonds can ever get back to that “healthy and playing his best” status. The 32-year-old scored just eight goals in 68 games this season playing for the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres, after an extremely disappointing finish to the 2018-19 season with the Nashville Predators.
Once one of the best power forwards in the entire league, Simmonds was a perennial 30-goal candidate with oodles of physicality and leadership. In 2015-16 he reached a career-high with 32 goals and 60 points, while also racking up 192 hits for the Philadelphia Flyers. That kind of player is difficult to find in today’s game, but even in the case of Simmonds himself, it may no longer exist.
For at least the Maple Leafs, Simmonds would need to take a drastic pay cut to fit into their financial structure, but perhaps he will be forced to do that anyway by a shrinking market. He earned $5MM on his one-year deal with the Devils, but will likely be looking at a much lower salary this offseason.
New York Islanders Re-Sign Sebastian Aho
The New York Islanders have reached an agreement on a new two-year contract with Sebastian Aho, according to Arthur Staple of The Athletic. No, the Carolina Hurricanes star forward has not somehow signed another offer sheet. The Islanders have signed their own Aho, a restricted free agent defenseman that has spent the last two seasons in the AHL.
Aho, 24, was a fifth-round pick of the Islanders back in 2017 and actually played in 22 NHL games during the 2017-18 season. Since then he has been manning the Bridgeport Sound Tigers blue line, racking up points as one of the minor league’s most effective offensive defensemen. This season, Aho scored 30 points in 49 games and was included on the Islanders 52-man travelling party for the return to play postseason.
Aho’s deal will be a two-way contract in 2020-21 and a one-way in 2021-22 according to Staple, avoiding restricted free agency. He will qualify for Group VI unrestricted free agency at the expiration of the contract if he fails to play in 58 NHL games over the next two seasons.
Justin Braun Signs With Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers will be without Matt Niskanen after the veteran defenseman decided to retire a year before his contract expired, but they are bringing back some more experience on the backend. Justin Braun has signed a new two-year contract with the Flyers that will carry an average annual value of $1.8MM. Braun was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on Friday.
Even though he can’t fill the same skates as Niskanen, this deal represents quite the bargain for the Flyers who will bring back Braun at a discount. The 33-year-old defenseman is coming off a five-year contract that carried a $3.8MM cap hit, meaning he’ll take quite the pay cut to remain in Philadelphia. The long-time San Jose Shark ended up playing in 62 games during his first year with the Flyers, recording 19 points and averaging just over 17 minutes a night.
That number could potentially increase in Niskanen’s absence, with Braun at least taking on a good amount of penalty killing work next season. He was actually statistically the team’s most effective option there, though Niskanen and Ivan Provorov logged much more short-handed time.
Regardless, Braun represents a fairly cheap option for a team looking to go on another deep playoff run next season. The Flyers were a game away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals and could be targeting some big names with their new cap space.
Nico Sturm Re-Signs With Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild have locked up one of their restricted free agents, signing Nico Sturm to a new two-year contract. The deal will carry a $725K cap hit at the NHL level and keeps Sturm from reaching restricted free agency.
Sturm, 25, was a highly sought after undrafted free agent in the spring of 2019 after he dominated for Clarkson University. The German-born forward ended up signing with the Minnesota organization and played his first two professional games down the stretch. This season he spent almost the entire year in the minor leagues, putting up 32 points in 55 games for the Iowa Wild. He did get into six more regular season matches for Minnesota and happened to score his first NHL goal in one of the two postseason appearances he made this summer.
The big-bodied forward was never expected to step into the lineup and be a star for the Wild, but when signed he did look like he would be a full-time NHL option for the team. Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case so far, though he’ll get a chance to secure a roster spot on the new-look team. Minnesota GM Bill Guerin has made sweeping changes to the forward group already and has been clear about his desire to get younger upfront.
The Wild still have two important RFA forwards to sign in Jordan Greenway and Luke Kunin, along with several minor league free agents including Kaapo Kahkonen.
Josh Brown Signs With Ottawa Senators
The Ottawa Senators have signed the newly acquired Josh Brown to a two-year contract, inking the defenseman to a deal that extends through the 2021-22 season. Brown will earn $1MM in 2020-21 and $1.4MM in 2021-22, meaning the contract carries an average annual value of $1.2MM. Brown was recently traded from the Florida Panthers and was scheduled for restricted free agency.
Brown, 26, is expected to basically be a replacement in Ottawa for the outgoing Mark Borowiecki, bringing the same physicality to a group of defensemen that already has plenty of skill. The former Panther has scored just ten points in 96 career games, but stands 6’5″ and is a strong shot-blocker. Ottawa already has players like Thomas Chabot and Erik Brannstrom to carry the offensive burden on defense, though Brown could very well be asked to play more than the 13 minutes he usually received in Florida.
He also will serve as a leader under head coach D.J. Smith, who was with Brown at the junior level when they won the Memorial Cup with the Oshawa Generals. Brown was the captain of that team, tasked with shutting down Connor McDavid in the OHL Championship. Though he may not get those kind of assignments in this case, there’s little doubt that the Senators feel he can play a regular role on the team.
Arizona Coyotes Shopping Taylor Hall’s Negotiating Rights
With just a few days remaining before Taylor Hall becomes an unrestricted free agent, the Arizona Coyotes are trying to recoup some of the value they spent to acquire the star forward. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Coyotes are shopping Hall’s negotiating rights, which would give a team the chance to try and sign him before he even reaches the open market.
Just recently, reports surfaced that Hall would consider signing a short-term deal with a contender instead of trying to land the biggest deal possible in free agency. After a frustrating season that resulted in another early playoff exit, Hall has now played in just 14 postseason games over his ten-year career.
Earlier this summer we saw the Montreal Canadiens trade a fifth-round pick for the negotiating rights of defenseman Joel Edmundson, before eventually signing him to a four-year, $14MM deal. Given Hall’s status as the 2018 Hart Trophy winner and a top offensive winger, one would imagine the trade cost would be higher than that of a depth defenseman.
Still, it’s hard to know if acquiring him early would even be beneficial for a team interested in his services. Sitting just a few days away from the free agent market opening, Hall could easily just wait to see what kind of offers come from around the league. Negotiating with just one team would limit his options unless of course, he has a destination in mind that has already expressed interest to the Coyotes.
Hall, 28, scored 52 points in 65 games this season split between the New Jersey Devils and Coyotes. After reaching the 93-mark in 2018 and carrying the Devils to the playoffs, it’s been another few disappointing seasons. The first-overall pick in 2010, Hall has scored 563 points in 627 games but has played playoff matches in only two seasons.
Sami Vatanen And Trevor Van Riemsdyk Expected To Test Free Agency
Hurricanes defensemen Sami Vatanen and Trevor van Riemsdyk are expected to test free agency when the market opens up on Friday, GM Don Waddell told reporters, including NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. Waddell did indicate that Carolina is interested in retaining them and the players could still potentially circle back once they’ve seen what other offers are out there:
We’ve made it real clear that we’d like both guys, but we also understand that we’re under a little bit more of a scrutiny with our salary cap. So if they go out to the market, whatever the market will bear, it might be something that if they do come back to us that we can talk about.
As things stand, the team has less than $8MM in cap space with only 17 players signed and while winger Warren Foegele and blueliner Haydn Fleury aren’t going to break the bank as restricted free agents, by the time they’re signed, there won’t be enough room to keep both UFAs by the time you factor in spending to fill out the rest of their roster.
Vatanen is the more intriguing of the two situations. The 29-year-old was brought in by Carolina at the trade deadline despite being injured at the time with the hopes that he’d help them down the stretch and in the playoffs. Of course, the pandemic shut things down and he was only able to play in seven playoff games.
While Vatanen’s offensive production has dipped in recent years compared to the 37 and 38-point seasons he put up in 2014-15 and 2015-16 respectively, he’s still an intriguing top-four option that can help run a power play. He does, however, carry considerable injury risk as he has yet to play more than 72 games in a single season. With a thin UFA market though, there still should be a large number of teams interested in him and a deal around the $4.875MM AAV that he had the past four seasons could still happen even with the salary cap flattened out.
As for van Riemsdyk, the 29-year-old was in a limited role for most of this season, playing in just 49 games during the regular season and only two of their postseason contests. It’s unlikely that he’ll be able to command the $2.3MM AAV he played under the last two years but if he’s willing to sign for less, it’s plausible that he could be brought back at a rate that’s more commensurate with a sixth or seventh role.
Waddell also has to be mindful of two big-ticket deals on the horizon for 2021-22 in winger Andrei Svechnikov and defenseman Dougie Hamilton. Svechnikov is a restricted free agent next offseason and Waddell indicated that extension talks are ongoing while allowing for the possibility of the 20-year-old’s next contract being a short-term bridge. As for Hamilton, who is eligible for unrestricted free agency after next season, no talks have been held yet but he’ll be in line for a significant raise on his current $5.75MM AAV. Knowing that those contracts will be coming sooner than later will certainly affect Waddell’s willingness to spend big on multi-year deals in the weeks ahead which could very well take Vatanen off the table for them.
Fortunately for Carolina, even if both of their UFA blueliners don’t return, they’ll still be well-positioned for next season with Hamilton anchoring a top-four that also features Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, and Brady Skjei. Veteran Jake Gardiner is also in the mix as well as Fleury so the Hurricanes will still have a strong back end without Vatanen and van Riemsdyk in the mix.