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Los Angeles Kings Sign Oscar Fantenberg To One-Year Extension

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The Los Angeles Kings have decided that Oscar Fantenberg has done enough to remain with the organization for another year, announcing a one-year extension today. The deal carries a $650K cap hit at the NHL level, though it’s not clear yet if it is a two-way contract. Fantenberg was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer after his one-year entry-level contract expired.

Fantenberg surprised many by making the Kings out of camp last season, and though he played just 27 games in the NHL during the regular season, was called upon in the postseason for the club. The 26-year old two-way defenseman looks like he’ll be an able contributor for the Kings next season, and comes in at an just the league minimum in salary. Though Los Angeles has several options on defense, adding Fantenberg on such a reasonable contract only strengthens their depth.

The fact that the deal is only for one year will make Fantenberg an unrestricted free agent in 2019, at which point he could go after a multi-year contract that comes with a full-time role. That would need some playing time this season, which he’ll hope for behind other left-handed options like Dion Phaneuf, Derek Forbort and Jake Muzzin. Los Angeles has long been rumored to be considering moving one of their more expensive defensemen, and after acquiring Phaneuf from the Ottawa Senators last season there might not be room for everyone.

Will Jeff Skinner Be The First Big Move Of The New Hurricanes Administration?

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After a league-worst ninth straight season without making the playoffs, changes were always going to be coming to the Carolina Hurricanes this off-season. Already, big moves have been made by new owner Tom Dundon, as he replaced Ron Francis as GM with Don Waddell and Bill Peters as head coach with Rod Brind’Amour. The team also brought in Rick Dudley as Sr. VP of Hockey Operations. Now, this realigned front office must decide how to proceed with structuring the roster in a way that can end their postseason drought.

Early on, the one name that has been floated around is homegrown winger Jeff Skinner. Skinner, 25, is one of the longest tenured and most consistently productive players on the Hurricanes. A supremely skilled forward, the former Calder Trophy winner has a knack for finding the back of the net and is a lethal weapon on the power play. Skinner has cracked 50 points four times in his career and has been improving in his defensive play and possession ability as his career has progressed. The fact that Skinner has been so successful on a team that has not once made the playoffs in his eight-year career tends to show that he could be even better surrounded by superior talent as well. The Los Angeles Kings were rumored to be looking into Skinner earlier this month, but now it appears that he has quite a few more suitors. In his latest “31 Thoughts” column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman says that the number of teams making calls on Skinner is growing. There seems to be ample interest in the skilled scorer and the Hurricanes will certainly entertain offers for the impending 2019 free agent.

However, is this really the right move for the new Carolina administration to make to begin their reconstruction? Skinner undoubtedly is one of their most valuable players, but one has to question the purpose of trading him at this point in time. The Hurricanes have one of the best young defensive corps in all of hockey are are almost overflowing with talented blue liners. Meanwhile, their offense is composed of mostly complementary players, many of whom are playing higher up in the lineup than they would on most other NHL teams. What the ’Canes need more than anything is a star forward, preferably a center, to lead the offense and bring the forward group together in a cohesive unit. A top center like this is almost certainly not going to be the return on a deal for Skinner’s expiring contract. Where they may land such a player is in dealing away one of their top defenseman. Skinner may be more valuable to the Hurricanes this season, and may even consider an extension, if the Hurricanes are able to add that top player that the team is greatly in need of. They could always trade Skinner in-season if they are unable to make a deal this off-season. If instead they choose to move Skinner right now for what would most likely be picks and prospects, it could only further impair their offense and would likely lead to a tenth-straight season without playoff hockey. For the Hurricanes’ sake, let’s hope Waddell and company carefully consider any deal related to Skinner this summer.

William Carrier’s Return For Vegas Is Uncertain

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When William Carrier was first ruled out of the final game of the second round for the Golden Knights, a Game Six win over the San Jose Sharks, head coach Gerard Gallant simply said that he was “day-to-day” and did not disclose the nature of the injury. Carrier had left Game Five with just four minutes of ice time to show for his participation, but there was no specific incident in the game to cite for his exit. Instead, it seemed that perhaps this was just a minor nagging injury. Carrier then traveled with Vegas to Winnipeg for the start of the Western Conference Finals only to be ruled out of Game One. Now, beat writer Steve Carp reports that Carrier did not skate today at Knights practice and feels that the energy forward is unlikely to suit up in the series at all. If the Jets’ Game One domination continues, Carrier’s season may already be over.

Although no details have emerged about Carrier’s condition this time around, the physical winger has dealt with upper-body issues all year long. Carrier spent two separate stints on the injured reserve this season and was sidelined for 43 regular season games total. Yet, prior to each stint his injuries were downplayed and never considered serious, much like his latest problem. It could be that this is one injury that has been nagging Carrier all year or it could be bad luck and Carrier has suffered multiple injuries, but is too tough of a player for Gallant and company to realized just how serious his condition is initially.

When healthy this year, Carrier has been a physical force on the Knights’ fourth line. While his offense has been meager at best – three points in 37 regular games and scoreless so far in nine playoff games – look no further than Vegas’ first round series against the Los Angeles Kings to see Carrier’s true impact. The young forward racked up 25 hits in a four-game sweep during which time he saw just over 36 minutes of total ice time. That is checking efficiency at it’s finest, as Carrier was noticeably bothersome against the frustrated Kings, especially early in the series. In a match-up against the Jets where the Knights are clearly outmatched defensively, Carrier is much more of a loss than it may seem on paper. His hard-nosed style will be missed if Carp is right and he really cannot return during the Western Conference Final.

Kings Interested In Jeff Skinner

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The Kings were a team on the lookout for scoring help throughout the season, something that isn’t likely to change this summer.  With that in mind, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman noted in his latest podcast (audio link) that he has heard that Carolina winger Jeff Skinner is someone that Los Angeles has interest in.

Skinner has spent his entire career with the Hurricanes after they drafted him seventh overall back in 2010.  He has been one of their more consistent scorers since then, reaching the 20-goal mark in six out of eight seasons; one of the years he didn’t was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.  This past season, he tallied 24 times while adding 25 assists in 82 games which ranked him fourth in team scoring.

While he is still a key player for the Hurricanes, it will be interesting to see if this is the offseason where they shake things up.  Former GM Ron Francis was let go in part because he was content to go with a slow, consistent approach whereas new owner Thomas Dundon is believed to be wanting someone a bit more aggressive in terms of making moves.  With Carolina having missed the playoffs for nine straight seasons, Skinner could very well be part of any changes being made, especially with his contractual situation.

The 25-year-old will be entering the final year of his contract next season, one that carries a cap hit of $5.725MM (with a $6MM salary) so this may be the right time to move him so that the acquiring team gets him for a full year instead of being a midseason rental.

Meanwhile, the Kings have over $70MM committed for next season per CapFriendly but have very few players to re-sign; with the expected increase to the salary cap, they should be able to fit him in under their existing salary structure.  The fact Skinner has one year left may also be of interest to Los Angeles as they have quite a few long-term deals on the books already and may not want to add another at the price that Skinner is likely to command next summer on the open market.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Brad Morrison To Entry-Level Contract

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The Los Angeles Kings have signed free agent forward Brad Morrison to a three-year entry-level contract. Morrison was originally a draft pick of the New York Rangers, but became an unrestricted free agent last June when he failed to sign with the club.

Back in 2015 when he was taken in the fourth round, Morrison was just an average offensive player in the junior ranks with a lot of speed and questionable upside for the NHL. Now, after an incredible playoffs with the Lethbridge Hurricanes that saw him register 37 points in 16 games the Kings may believe he’s something more.

It’s not the first time that Morrison has generated interest around the NHL. He attended Calgary Flames development camp last summer but didn’t earn a contract, instead going back to dominate in the WHL. The scouting report on the relatively small Morrison was never that he was unwilling or afraid to go to the tougher areas of the ice, or work hard to retrieve pucks and create opportunities, just that some had doubts he would be able to do it at the next level on a regular basis.

Now he’ll get that chance as he starts his professional career with the Kings next season. He’ll likely head to the Ontario Reign and try to prove that his doubters were wrong about his NHL upside. The Kings have been very clearly trying to add more skill into their organization, and Morrison is just the latest signing to bring that in spades.

Morning Notes: Denisenko, Pedan, Ferreira

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One of the more interesting names to watch in the upcoming draft is Grigori Denisenko, an extremely talented young player from Russia. The 17-year old winger was ranked seventh among international skaters by the NHL’s Central Scouting, but carries the same risk many young Russians do. Namely, there is a chance he could decide not to come over to North America and instead play in the KHL for a large portion of his career.

Igor Eronko of Sport-Express reports that Denisenko will come to the NHL draft combine however, which could assuage some of those fears. The young winger told Eronko that “almost every” team has contacted him already, a good indication of just how highly he is thought of by the front offices around the league. He has two years left on his current contract in the KHL, but has a high offensive ceiling and should go in the first round.

  • Eronko also reports that Andrey Pedan has signed with Ak Bars of the KHL, meaning he won’t be back with the Penguins next season. Pedan was part of the return for Derrick Pouliot earlier this season, and recorded 26 points in 52 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins down the stretch. The big Lithuanian defenseman hasn’t been able to break into the NHL full-time, and will now take his talents to Russia. Scheduled to become a restricted free agent in the NHL, if the Penguins issue a qualifying offer this summer they will retain his exclusive rights.
  • The Minnesota Wild have interviewed Paul Fenton extensively for their vacant GM position, and Jeff Marek of Sportsnet is hearing that if he does get the job he’ll be bringing Jack Ferreira from the Los Angeles Kings up north with him. Ferreira was famously the first GM of both the San Jose Sharks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and would bring plenty of experience to the table for the Wild.
  • Martin Necas has been added to the Czech roster for the World Championship, giving the team another young talent to try and keep up with the other nations. Necas was an absolute force at the World Juniors earlier this year, scoring 11 points in 7 games. The Carolina Hurricanes prospect will likely play in the NHL next season, meaning this tournament is a good warm up for what he’ll see on a regular basis.

Poll: Who Was The NHL’s Most “Outstanding” Player In 2017-18?

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The release of the Hart Trophy finalists each year is always guaranteed to result in discontent. Three fan bases – and the majority of unbiased observers – are happy with the decision, while those who support the players that narrowly missed out on a nomination feel the need to criticize the process and establish why their favorite player should have been picked. This phenomenon can be attributed to just the sheer number of elite players worthy of recognition in the NHL, but more than anything it is due to the continued confusion over what the award actually represents.

The Hart Trophy is awarded to the “player judged most valuable to his team”, or in even simpler terms, it is the NHL’s MVP award. In 2017-18, it is hard to argue that any player was more “valuable” to his team than one of Nathan MacKinnon, Taylor Hall, and Anze Kopitar. Without those three, the Colorado Avalanche, New Jersey Devils, and Los Angeles Kings, respectively, would not only have missed the playoffs, but may have been among some of the worst teams in the league. Yet, the Connor McDavid supporters like to point out that he not only led the league in scoring with 108 points, but was far-and-away the best player on the Edmonton Oilers. This is undeniably true, but the Oilers also finished with just 78 points, a whole 17 points back of MacKinnon’s Avs for a playoff spot and closer to the worst record in hockey than the postseason. Was McDavid valuable to the team? Yes, but at the end of the day, his contributions really only cost his team in NHL Draft Lottery odds.

Yet, even experienced journalists like the Edmonton Journal’s David Staples continue to misinterpret the award. He specifically refers to McDavid as the league’s “overlooked most outstanding player” and breaks down the league’s scoring leaders without regard for the context, or value, of that scoring to each team. Staples’ sentiment is shared by many teams and the criteria he uses in his article to determine his Hart finalists is valid, except for the fact that it is not a “most outstanding player award”; that’s the Ted Lindsay Award, and yes McDavid is a finalist for that.

So here is a forum for all the frustrated fans who want to argue about who the best player in the NHL is. It’s hard to make a case that the PHWA got the Hart nominees for this season wrong, but there are many cases to be made for who the best player in the NHL was this season. Have at it.

NHL Announces Hart Trophy Candidates

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Who is the most valuable player in the NHL? In 2018, it will be one three forwards who finished in the top seven in scoring. However, it won’t be any of the names at #1-#4. Instead, the league announced that the finalists for the Hart Trophy are the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, the New Jersey Devils’ Taylor Hall, and the Los Angeles Kings’ Anze Kopitar, who finished fifth through seventh in points this season, respectively.

The three nominees, as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, will come as no surprise. All three were considered top candidates for the award this season after outstanding campaigns. MacKinnon and Hall each notched 39 goals en route to leading their teams back from the basement of the league last season to unlikely playoff berths. MacKinnon’s 97 points in 74 games was second only to Connor McDavid in per-game production among full-season players, while Hall’s 93 points – 41 more than the next-best player in New Jersey – was the largest proportion of team points in the league. Meanwhile in L.A., Kopitar bounced back from a down 2016-17 season personally with 92 points, while also playing Selke-caliber defense.

As always, there were deserving candidates who did not get the nod as a Hart finalist. McDavid obviously stands out as the reigning MVP and the league’s top scorer at 108 points. However, the struggles of McDavid’s Edmonton Oilers made it unlikely he would get a second consecutive shot at the award. The other top-four scorers – the Philadelphia Flyers’ Claude Giroux, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, and the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin – did not share those same struggles, but their Hart resumes weren’t helped by the other talented players on their teams, such as top-15 scorers Jakub Voracek, Steven Stamkos, Phil Kessel, and Sidney Crosby. Other snubs include Rocket Richard winner Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, NHL assists leader and the captain of the upstart Winnipeg Jets, Blake Wheeler, and a player who may have pushed McDavid for the scoring title if not for injuries and suspensions, the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand. However, it is hard to argue that the three finalists picked by the PHWA are not the three most deserving players to be up for the Hart this season. The winner of hockey’s MVP award will be revealed at the NHL Awards on June 20th.

Los Angeles Kings Sign Matthew Villalta

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The Los Angeles Kings have added another interesting goaltending prospect to the organization, signing Matthew Villalta to a three-year entry-level contract. Villalta is currently playing for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL’s Western Conference Final.

Villalta, 18, was selected in the third round in last June’s draft and led the OHL in wins this season with 40. Though his other numbers took a slight step backwards, ending with a .908 save percentage and 2.58 GAA, he’s still expected to grow into a formidable goaltending prospect in the coming years. Originally listed at 165 lbs, the Kings now have Villalta all the way up to 181 in their press release and there could be even more size coming as the 6’2″ goaltender continues to mature physically.

The Kings have placed a huge emphasis on their goaltending pipeline in the recent years, acquiring Jack Campbell from the Dallas Stars organization, signing Cal Petersen after he failed to reach an agreement with the Buffalo Sabres, and inking Cole Kehler earlier this season out of the WHL. Though there is no doubt that Jonathan Quick is the starter for the foreseeable future, he’ll turn 33 next season and can’t be relied on forever.

Villalta will almost certainly return to the OHL next season where he and the Greyhounds should still be among the best teams in the league. If they aren’t able to secure a Memorial Cup berth this season, there’s no reason to believe they can’t next year.

Snapshots: Lottery, Hischier, Brown, Bruins

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The NHL Draft Lottery is scheduled for this Saturday, but it won’t happen all at once. According to Bob McKenzie of TSN, picks 4-15 are set to be revealed between 6:30-7:00pm CT, while the last three will be unveiled during the first intermission of the Vegas Golden Knights-San Jose Sharks game.

Remember that three teams are picked in the draft lottery, and can potentially move up all the way from 15th to 1st. The full odds have the Buffalo Sabres as the most likely to select first overall, and the Florida Panthers the least likely. Though the first pick will get the right to draft Rasmus Dahlin, there are still exceptional players available in the next few slots.

  • Nico Hischier played all season with a left wrist/hand injury according to the New Jersey Devils, who announced that he would not need surgery but won’t be heading to Denmark to take part in the World Championships. Both Hischier and Pavel Zacha were invited, but will be nursing injuries for the next two to four weeks. The pair of young forwards are integral to the Devils progression from playoff surprise to Stanley Cup hopeful, and will be expected to take on an even heavier load in 2018-19.
  • Speaking of injuries, Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings had shoulder surgery today but is expected to be ready for the regular season according to Jonathan Davis of NHL Network. Brown was one of the many Kings players shut out in the postseason, assisting on just one of the team’s three goals in their first round series. The 33-year old nevertheless had an outstanding bounce back campaign that saw him record 28 goals and 61 points (a career-high) in 81 games. The physical forward is under contract for another four seasons, but has turned himself from a buyout candidate to an important piece for the Kings once again.
  • When the Boston Bruins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, it meant that the conditional fifth-round pick that they sent to Chicago for Tommy Wingels was converted into a fourth-round selection in 2019. That’s a small price to pay for success in the postseason, but will help Chicago (if only slightly) restock their cupboards even more.

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