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Snapshots: Tanev, Miele, Barbashev

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Chris Tanev expected that by this point in the summer, his free agent fate would have already been decided. However, with the league on pause and his Vancouver Canucks still set to take on an expanded playoff field before he becomes a UFA in November, Tanev is using the time to continue expressing just how much he would like to remain with the team. Speaking to NHL.com, Tanev stated that he would “love” to re-sign with Vancouver, the only team he has ever known. An unlikely NHLer who signed with the Canucks after his freshman year at RIT in 2009-10, the 30-year-old has grown into a solid pro defenseman who has been a pivotal presence for Vancouver when healthy and a locker room leader as well. This season, he took on the role of mentor as well and found instant chemistry with star rookie Quinn Hughes. Tanev states that part of his excitement to stay with the Canucks is to keep playing alongside Hughes, who has also expressed a similar sentiment about Tanev. While Tanev is not the only key free agent in need of a new contract from the cap-strapped Canucks, with Jacob Markstrom and Tyler Toffoli in line as well, his tie to the franchise’s new cornerstone defenseman certainly helps his case. Tanev also stands a chance of boosting his stock in the upcoming postseason. He and Alexander Edler are the only holdovers from Vancouver’s 2011 Stanley Cup Final run and could provide valuable experience that fuels another run for the team. Regardless of what happens, Tanev has made it clear that he does not want this to be his last season with the Canucks and it is up to the team to decide what happens next.

  • A Pacific Division peer who does not seem to be sticking around is Arizona Coyotes forward Andy Miele. The veteran returned from the KHL this season, signing a two-year deal with Arizona, but played exclusively with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners. It appears that he plans to have the second year of his contract terminated, as Russian source Championat reports that he has signed a one-year deal to return to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod. Miele was one of the most productive players for Torpedo in 2018-19 and found the same success with Tucson this year, but it did not turn into any NHL opportunities and has prompted a return to the KHL.
  • Heading the other direction from Russia to North America is talented young forward Maxim Barbashev. The 16-year-old younger brother of the St. Louis Blues’ Ivan Barbashev, Barbashev has been highly touted out of Russia’s youth ranks, scoring at better than a point-per-game rate this year at the U-17 and U-18 levels combined. Now he will take his talents to Canadian juniors, joining the QMJHL’s Moncton Wildcats. Agent Dan Milstein announced that a deal was done between the Wildcats and their first-round pick in 2020 CHL Import Draft. Barbashev will follow in his brother’s footsteps, as Ivan starred for Moncton for three years himself, and hopes that he might even surpass his No. 33 overall NHL Draft slot in a couple of years.

Kaprizov, Others Will Not Be Eligible For 2020 Playoffs

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As the NHL and NHLPA move towards the ratification of an extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, fans of several playoff teams are still wondering whether or not they’ll be able to include some overseas reinforcements. Players like Minnesota Wild draft pick Kirill Kaprizov have been waiting to see if the league would change their stance on eligibility this summer, allowing them to sign an entry-level contract and burn the first year of it while suiting up for the 24-team tournament. Previously, the league was firm that they would not allow new contracts to be signed, but several reports have simultaneously emerged suggesting that has changed–at least in part.

Still, Kaprisov won’t be hitting the ice for Minnesota in their qualification round against the Vancouver Canucks. Michael Russo of The Athletic, Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports, and Andrew Gross of Newsday all report that once the CBA extension has been ratified, players will be allowed to sign their entry-level contracts this summer to burn the first year, but will not be eligible to play. Russo predicted this very outcome just last week, and outlined the challenges this presents teams who want to get these talented draft picks under contract.

Kaprizov, widely considered the best hockey player not currently in the NHL, is joined by top prospects like Ilya Sorokin and Alexander Romanov in this situation. Signing a deal now would guarantee that they are able to play for their respective team next season, but would also get them a year closer to restricted free agency.

As Russo points out with regards to Kaprisov in particular, burning a year of entry-level without anything to show for it comes with both pros and cons. The 23-year old Russian is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the 2023-24 season regardless of whether he signs for 2019-20 or starts his two-year entry-level deal in 2020-21, meaning the Wild will likely have to try and sign him to a long-term extension after this first deal expires. The young forward could also decide to return to the KHL for another season instead, given that the 2020-21 NHL campaign is not expected to begin until the middle of winter, while the Russian league is still aiming for a September start.

Pair Of New Jersey Devils Prospects Depart For Europe

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New Jersey Devils forward prospects Nikita Popugaev and Ludvig Larsson will be playing outside of the organization next season. Each has signed a contract in Europe and are unlikely to have a role with the Devils in 2020-21. The immediate impact of their departures will be minimal, as the duo were known more by name than for their accomplishments in the minors this year.

Popugaev, 21, was a fourth-round pick of the Devils in 2017. However, he was considered a potential first-round pick early in the draft process due to his 6’6” stature and physical and technical gifts. His stock dropped once questions of his hockey IQ and work ethic began to overshadow is ability. Unfortunately, those questions have materialized into real problems for Popugaev early in his pro career. Following his junior career in the WHL, Popugaev returned home to Russia but failed to produce in the KHL. He finished the 2018-19 season with the AHL’s Binghamton Devils and his five points in 17 games were not enough to convince New Jersey that he was worthy of an entry-level contract. Instead, they signed him to an AHL contract, an unusual move for a drafted player. Rather than take this as a sign that he needed to work harder and improve, Popugaev instead spent this entire season in the ECHL and still only produced moderate numbers. With concerns from both team and player on what is in store for his future with the Devils, Popugaev has opted to return to the KHL, as his agent announced that he has signed a try-out deal with Dynamo Moscow. Popugaev is expected to either land an actual contract with Moscow or another KHL club once his try-out has been completed. This does not rule out the potential for a continued relationship between Popugaev and the Devils, but the team has until June 1, 2021 to sign him to an entry-level deal or else surrender his rights.

As for Larsson, his time with New Jersey and quite possibly North America is over. A former college standout who recorded back-to-back 20-point seasons with Merrimack College and Penn State University in his final two years in the NCAA, Larsson looked like he had the chops for the pro game. A versatile player who played forward and defense in college and was an excellent skater, Larsson certainly needed some seasoning in the minors but an NHL future was not impossible. However, perception was not reality for the 24-year-old. Larsson recorded two points in seven games for AHL Binghamton to close out the 2018-19 season on an amateur tryout, but after signing a one-year minor league deal he contributed only two more points this season in 19 games with Binghamton and spent just as much time in the ECHL as the AHL. Larsson has decided to return home to Sweden, as Allsvenskan club Mora IK per a team announcement. Barring an incredible turnaround in which Larsson’s play in the Allsvenskan lands him a contract in the SHL or another elite European league after next season and he continues to produce at a high level there as well, his time in North America is likely over.

International Notes: Imports, Masin, Gronborg

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Typically, the CHL Import Draft is held after the NHL Entry Draft with several NHL teams making attempts to get some of their international draft picks into major junior.  However, while the NHL draft has been delayed, the CHL festivities went ahead as scheduled on Tuesday with the full results here.  A pair of NHL picks from 2019 were taken in Red Wings winger Albin Grewe (Saginaw, OHL) and Jets center Henri Nikkanen (Winnipeg, WHL).

The top pick in the draft was Russian winger Matvei Petrov, who went to OHL North Bay.  The 17-year-old isn’t eligible for the upcoming NHL draft but will use next season to boost his case as his agent Dan Milstein confirmed to Ryan Kennedy of The Hockey News that Petrov will report.  German winger John-Jason Peterka is expected to be a late first-round pick or go early in the second round and he went late in the first round to OHL London.  However, he declined to come over a year ago when Barrie held his rights but whoever drafts Peterka in October will try to convince him to come over this time around.

More international news and notes:

  • Lightning defense prospect Dominik Masin is in discussions with Amur Khabarovsk of the KHL, reports Russian site AllHockey.ru. The pending restricted free agent has spent the last four seasons exclusively with AHL Syracuse, posting 16 goals and 42 assists in 269 games.  Masin was a second-round pick back in 2014 and with the fate of the 2020-21 AHL season in question at this time, opting to go overseas would guarantee him a full season worth of development.
  • Swedish coach Rikard Gronborg has indicated a desire to coach in the NHL at some point and even had some interest from New Jersey early in their coaching search. However, it will be a few more years before he gets that chance now as Zurich of the Swiss NLA announced that they’ve signed Gronborg to an early two-year contract extension that runs through the 2022-23 season.  The deal only contains an NHL out clause for that final year so his next opportunity to try to secure an NHL position won’t come until 2022 at the earliest.

Mikhail Vorobyev Expected To Sign In The KHL

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6/30: The deal between Vorobyev and Salavat Yulaev is now complete. The team has announced a three-year deal that will bring the young forward back to Ufa through the 2022-23 season. GM Vasily Chizov stated in the team’s release that negotiations on this contract with Vorobyev began last year, so this reunion between the club and local product has been a long time coming.

6/26: Flyers forward Mikhail Vorobyev appears to be heading back overseas.  As first reported by Gorozbor in Russia and since confirmed by Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer, the center is expected to sign a three-year contract with Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the KHL.

The 23-year-old has split the last two seasons between Philadelphia and their AHL affiliate in Lehigh Valley but while he has had some offensive success with the Phantoms, that hasn’t materialized in the NHL.  He had 12 goals and 16 assists in 45 minor league contests this season but just a goal and two helpers in 20 NHL games while logging a little more than 10 minutes a night.  In 2018-19, his NHL numbers were similar just a goal and an assist in 15 games.

Vorobyev is slated to be a restricted free agent this off-season and Carchidi notes that the team intends to retain his rights which means they will tender him a qualifying offer.  He’ll be 26 at the end of this new deal which means he won’t be old enough to become an NHL free agent.  As a result, there’s a chance that his time with the Flyers may not be done just yet.

Prospect Notes: Stars, Khovanov, Loponen

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Stars GM Jim Nill told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that he hasn’t fully decided on which players will be recalled to fill out their postseason roster due to not being sure about the availability of top prospects Thomas Harley and Ty Dellandrea.  Harley, the 18th pick in 2019, averaged nearly a point per game this season as a defenseman with OHL Mississauga while Dellandrea, the 13th selection the year before, had an impressive 70 points in 47 games with OHL Flint.  Both players are on their entry-level deals and under normal circumstances, they’d be eligible for recall since the OHL season is over.  However, these aren’t normal circumstances and the NHL has already said they’d like to reduce the number of ‘ringers’ joining a team at this point; they’re still trying to block teams from signing their own prospects to make them playoff-eligible even though that is legal in other years.  Until that’s resolved, don’t expect any official word on who Dallas will recall as a result.

Other prospect news and notes:

  • Although there is a report from Sport-Express in Russia suggesting that Wild prospect Alexander Khovanov could sign a one-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL for next season, Michael Russo of The Athletic notes (subscription required) that the team is still discussing what the best route for him for 2020-21 will be. Now finished with his junior career in QMJHL Moncton where he had 99 points in just 51 games this season, the 2018 third-round pick can turn pro.  However, with the start of the AHL season in question, the safer play may be to have him play in Russia and get a full year of development in.  Khovanov has already signed his entry-level deal so he would be loaned to the KHL in this scenario without the risk of him trying to sign a long-term pact there.
  • Maple Leafs prospect Kalle Loponen won’t be returning to Sudbury of the OHL next season.  Ben Leeson of the Sudbury Star reports (Twitter link) that the Wolves have dropped his rights in advance of next week’s CHL Import Draft and instead will protect Sabres prospect Matej Pekar and Canadiens prospect Frederik Dichow.  Loponen was a seventh-round pick of Toronto back in 2019 and posted six goals and 18 assists in Sudbury this season, a respectable showing for a defenseman in his first year of major junior.  The 19-year-old is expected to return to Karpat’s system in Finland.

Blue Jackets Winger Jakob Lilja Signs In KHL

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Blue Jackets winger Jakob Lilja’s stay in North America was a short one.  After one season in their system, he is heading back overseas as Barys Nur-Sultan of the KHL announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year contract.

The 26-year-old signed with Columbus last June after a strong season with Djurgarden of the SHL.  He actually made the NHL roster out of training camp and while he spent some time in the minors in November and December, he was basically up with the big club the rest of the way after they were hit with a rash of injuries.

Lilja wound up playing in 37 games with the Blue Jackets, picking up two goals and three assists while averaging 9:54 per night in ice time.  He was much more productive with AHL Cleveland, however, notching five goals and eight helpers in 22 games.

While he is eligible to be part of their extended roster for their upcoming play-in series against Toronto, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Lilja will not be on it.  Instead, he noted that the team gave him permission to seek a new deal overseas which suggests that it’s unlikely that he’ll be tendered a qualifying offer this offseason since he is only a year away from UFA eligibility anyway.

Snapshots: Training Camp, Kravtsov, KHL, AHL Signings

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The return of hockey will soon seem like much more of a reality. The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports that NHL playoff teams can anticipate having their full rosters in town possibly by the end of the week. Russo writes that the European players for the Minnesota Wild are all expected to be back by Friday in order to meet the league’s mandated two-week quarantine period before Phase 3 training camps open on July 10. He adds that most European players are expected to do the same. While commercial flights from some European countries continue to be a struggle, players are also going the group charter route in order to get back to North America.

Among those making the trek from Europe is New York Rangers prospect Vitali Kravtsov, the team announced. The 20-year-old Kravtsov, a first-round pick in 2018, made the jump to North America for the first time to begin this season but was limited to the AHL and eventually returned to the KHL mid-season. In the team’s release, President John Davidson discusses Kravtsov’s early struggles and disappointment with not being used by the Rangers at the top level, but also raves about his ability and notes that the team could use talented depth for an uphill playoff run. The big, skilled Kravtsov will be given a chance to crack the postseason roster in training camp and just maybe will get the chance to play in the NHL that he had been seeking earlier this year.

  • Over in the KHL, COVID-19 continues to complicate plans for 2020-21. League president Alexei Morozov announced that Admiral Vladivostok will not compete next season due to budget restraints and the possibility of limited income due to restricted attendance. Admiral struggled through a grim 2019-20 campaign that ended when they missed the playoffs for the third straight year. They may find it even harder to put together a winning team if and when they return to action after all of their players depart this off-season. Meanwhile, the other 23 teams have submitted their financial records to the league for approval and plan to play next season. However, Kunlun Red Star, the KHL’s lone Chinese team, may need to look elsewhere to open up the season. The Beijing-based club faces strict travel and public event restrictions as of right now that would prove problematic if still in place when the season begins this fall. One of the proposed locations for the team to host home games early on? None other than Vladivostok.
  • There was some rare transaction movement in the AHL today, as the Manitoba Moose extended a pair of players. The Winnipeg Jets’ affiliate has re-signed forwards Brent Pederson and Cole Maier to one-year contracts for next season. Maier recorded 15 points in 59 games with the Moose, while Pederson – a former Carolina Hurricanes prospect – recorded nine points in 36 AHL games and spent some time in the ECHL as well. The San Jose Barracuda also made a move, as Steenn Pasichnuk follows his brother from Arizona State to the organization. The Sharks signed standout defenseman and Sun Devils captain Brinson Pasichnuk earlier this spring and have sweetened the pot by bringing his older brother along, a checking forward who will fight for bottom-six minutes with the Barracuda.

Canucks RFA Reid Boucher Signs In The KHL

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June 23: Boucher has officially signed with Avangard Omsk, the KHL team announced.  Dhaliwal reports (via Twitter) that the deal is worth $719K which is a little higher than the $700K minimum salary in the NHL if he was to stay in North America on a one-way contract.  The deal also contains $143K in bonuses if he finishes in the top three in league scoring.

June 18: Canucks winger Reid Boucher has been a prominent scorer in the AHL over the past few years but it hasn’t materialized into much time with Vancouver.  As a result, it appears he will be trying something different for next season as Rick Dhaliwal of TSN 1040 and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that Boucher is nearing a one-year deal with Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

This season, the 26-year-old was second in the AHL in goals (33) and points (67) in just 53 games; his 1.26 points per game average was tops among qualified players.  Despite that, he didn’t get a sniff of NHL action for the first time in his seven-year professional career so Boucher looking for a change of scenery is understandable.

GM Jim Benning confirmed to Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma (Twitter link) that Vancouver is willing to let Boucher out of his deal now.  That’s particularly notable as it suggests that it’s unlikely that he will be available to the Canucks for their play-in series against Minnesota and any potential postseason action after that.  The KHL is hoping to open up in September and if Boucher was to stay with Vancouver for the playoffs, he could potentially be arriving late.

Vancouver can tender Boucher a qualifying offer this offseason to retain his rights but considering he’s only a year away from being eligible for NHL unrestricted free agency anyway, they could simply opt to non-tender him instead.  With 133 NHL games and 323 AHL contests under his belt, it’s possible that Boucher could make a run at trying to catch on with another NHL team in the 2021 offseason as a free agent.

International Notes: Erat, KHL Rights Swap, Berglund, DEL

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Veteran winger Martin Erat has spent the past five seasons playing overseas after a 13-year NHL stint but he told Zdenek Janda of iSport that he has decided to call it a career.  Injuries limited the 38-year-old to just 16 games with HC Kometa Brno this season but he had been close to a point per game player in the previous three years in the Czech Extraliga.

Erat’s NHL time ended on a relatively quiet note (aside from being part of a trade that Washington would like to forget) but in his prime, he was a reliable and consistent top-six winger, collecting at least 49 points in a stretch of eight consecutive seasons, all with Nashville.  Overall, his career winds up with a total of 163 goals and 318 assists in 723 games between the Predators, Capitals, and Coyotes.

Elsewhere around the international hockey world:

  • A pair of NHL prospect goaltenders have seen their rights traded in the KHL. HK Sochi announced that they’ve acquired the rights to Jets youngster Mikhail Berdin from CSKA Moscow in exchange for Coyotes prospect Ivan Prosvetov.  Both netminders are already under contract to their respective NHL teams for next season but with the start of the 2020-21 AHL campaign certainly in question as long as there are restrictions in terms of allowable attendance, it’s a real possibility that players that are a little lower down the depth chart (Berdin and Prosetov played exclusively in the minors this year) are loaned to the KHL to ensure a full season of development.
  • Although he signed his entry-level contract back on Monday, don’t expect Bruins prospect Victor Berglund to play in North America next season. Reporter Mark Divver notes (Twitter link) that Berglund is expected to fulfill his previous commitment to play in Lulea of the SHL for the 2020-21 campaign and then come to North America after.  It will be his first taste of action at the top level in Sweden after previously playing in their second-tier Allsvenskan.
  • Earlier this week, Germany extended its ban on public events through the end of October due to the ongoing pandemic. Accordingly, as Szymon Szemberg of the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs notes (Twitter link), that places the start of the DEL in jeopardy and will also have an impact on other international events such as the Champions Hockey League which is set to begin its 2020-21 schedule in early October.  A handful of NHL free agents (often those who have been in the minors for most of the year) sign in the DEL each year but that now may be one opportunity that they opt not to pursue this offseason.

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