Ten Notable Non-Tenders
Lost in the shuffle on the marathon second day of the draft is that Wednesday also represented the deadline for qualifying offers to be tendered. The flattening of the salary cap increased the concerns about salary arbitration which has certainly affected the quality of players that are now set to hit the open market on Friday. As these players will not be a part of our annual Top-50 UFA Rankings, here’s a rundown of ten notables to keep tabs on over the coming days, listed in alphabetical order.
Andreas Athanasiou (Edmonton)
Back at the trade deadline, the Oilers dealt a pair of second-round picks and Sam Gagner to secure the speedster, one that GM Ken Holland had plenty of familiarity with from his own days with Detroit. While the winger was having a tough season, he’s only a year removed from a 30-goal campaign. In a normal salary cap world, his $3MM qualifier would have been tough to swallow but still would have happened. Instead, he hits the open market with Edmonton not getting much return for those two fairly high picks while becoming an intriguing bounce-back target for some teams. He won’t get paid like a 30-goal scorer but as a third-liner with upside, he’ll land one of the bigger contracts out of this group of players if not the biggest.
Matt Benning (Edmonton)
There was a time that the Oilers hoped that Benning could step into a role on their second pairing but it didn’t come to fruition. However, he has been a serviceable third-pairing player over the past few years but a cap-strapped Oilers team couldn’t justify qualifying him at $1.95MM. Given that he’s a right-handed shot in a market that doesn’t have a lot of them, he should have interest from a few teams.
Nick Cousins (Vegas)
On the surface, a $1MM qualifying offer to a player who had 25 points in 65 games and got into 17 postseason contests doesn’t seem too pricey. But this is a case where the potential for a higher award through arbitration is a risk that Vegas didn’t want to take with Cousins. It’s the second-straight year that the 27-year-old was non-tendered for this reason after Arizona did the same thing a year ago. A versatile depth player, he should be able to land somewhere for around the same contract as he played on this past season.
Anthony Duclair (Ottawa)
Despite finding an opportunity to play a bigger role than he had at any other point in his career, it seems as if Duclair may have overplayed his hand in contract talks. After scoring 23 goals this season, he opted to represent himself in contract negotiations against the recommendation of GM Pierre Dorion who indicated that a sizable raise was offered before getting to this point. Still just 25, Duclair becomes a very interesting addition to the open market but having bounced around the league already (he has played for five different teams in six NHL seasons), it’s hard to tell how strong his market may be.
Vinnie Hinostroza (Arizona)
A year ago, it looked like the 26-year-old was set to be a useful part of Arizona’s long-term plans. He was coming off of a career-best 16-23-39 stat line and was pushing for a spot in their top six. Things went sideways this year though as he potted just five goals in 68 games which made a $1.5MM qualifier untenable. Hinostroza could fit on a third line for some teams and should have a fair bit of interest.
Dominik Kahun (Buffalo)
This was one of the more surprising non-tenders of the group. Although Kahun has just two years of NHL experience, he’s arbitration-eligible since he’s 25. He followed up a 37-point rookie campaign with 31 points this pandemic-shortened season (including four in six games with Buffalo after being acquired in a deadline day deal from Pittsburgh) while he also missed time with a concussion and a knee injury. With his point per game average, he played at a 45-point full-season pace. Buffalo GM Kevyn Adams has indicated they are interested in retaining the winger but if he makes it to the open market, he should be one of the most sought-after players from this list.
Mark Jankowski (Calgary)
While he had shown progress in his development over his first two full NHL seasons, things went off the rails in 2019-20. Jankowski scored just five times in 56 games and while he wouldn’t have been able to get much more than his $1.75MM qualifier in arbitration, that was still too high of a price tag for Calgary’s liking. Still just 26, Jankowski now heads to an open market that isn’t exactly loaded in available centers so while a pay cut is likely, he should have no issues finding a new team.
Dominik Simon (Pittsburgh)
A natural center, Simon has spent the majority of his time with Pittsburgh on the wing, playing on all four lines along the way. While not a gifted point producer, he has surpassed 20 points in each of the last two seasons while posting above-average possession numbers. Owed a qualifier of less than $800K, the fear of arbitration sealed Simon’s fate on a cap-strapped Penguins squad.
Troy Stecher (Vancouver)
In 2018-19, Stecher looked to be on the verge of securing a spot in Vancouver’s top four after averaging nearly 20 minutes a night and chipping in with 23 points. But the return of a healthy Chris Tanev and the addition of Tyler Myers helped push the 26-year-old onto the third pairing and a much lower ATOI than usual. A $2.325MM qualifier is a bit high for someone in that role but there should be a few teams that see him as a potential fourth or fifth option which makes him a notable addition to the UFA market.
Lucas Wallmark (Florida)
One of the notable parts of the Vincent Trocheck deal, Wallmark was coming off of a league-minimum salary which means this non-tender was solely arbitration related. The 25-year-old only has two full NHL seasons under his belt, putting up 25 and 23 points in each while posting a faceoff percentage that’s a bit above the 50% mark each time. There is still some upside with Wallmark and with a weak market down the middle, he’ll have no trouble generating interest.
While these players (among the others that were non-tendered) can become unrestricted free agents on Friday, some teams will still be negotiating with their players to try to get them at a lower salary than either their qualifying offer or their expected arbitration salary. Usually, a handful wind up re-signing so at least for some of these players, their fates may not be completely sealed yet.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
List Of Players Not Receiving A 2020 Qualifying Offer
The deadline to issue a qualifying offer to pending restricted free agents has come and gone, making any player who has not received one eligible to become an unrestricted free agent. It does not stop them from re-signing with the team for a different amount. Below are the players who will not be issued a qualifying offer:
(this list will be updated as reports continue to come in)
Anaheim Ducks
Arizona Coyotes
Vinnie Hinostroza, Dane Birks, Jalen Smereck
Boston Bruins
Brendan Gaunce, Brett Ritchie, Wiley Sherman
Buffalo Sabres
Dominik Kahun, Remi Elie, Matthew Spencer, Brandon Hickey
Calgary Flames
Mark Jankowski, Andrew Nielsen, Nick Schneider
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.