NHL Makes Rulings On Three Trades With Conditional Picks
For fans of the Flames and Oilers that have been awaiting the final decision on the James Neal–Milan Lucic trade, the verdict is in. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that Edmonton will have to transfer a third-round pick in either 2020 or 2021 to Calgary to complete the trade. The Oilers will have until the start of the third round in October’s draft to choose whether they will transfer the selection this year or wait until the next draft.
The issue in this trade was in the wording of the rather unique conditions that were put on the deal. In the original swap, Neal had to have at least 21 goals and Lucic ten or fewer. Neal was at 19 when the season was shut down due to COVID-19 while Lucic was at eight so only the second element was met. However, by extrapolating Neal’s output over a full 82-game season, he scored at a 23-goal pace. It appears the league used a similar interpretation with the awarding of the draft pick.
It’s worth noting that Edmonton is currently without their second-round pick for the next two years from their acquisition of Andreas Athanasiou. They also are without their fourth-rounder in 2020 from the Mike Green pickup.
The NHL has also tweaked the terms of the Kings-Maple Leafs trade that saw Jack Campbell and Kyle Clifford go to Toronto. Johnston notes in a separate tweet that Toronto will owe a 2021 second-round pick if they win their Qualifying Round series against Columbus and Campbell gets two or more wins or if Clifford re-signs. The original terms of the deal had the pick transferring if the Maple Leafs made the playoffs and Campbell winning six games or Clifford re-signing. If those don’t happen, then a 2021 third-round pick will be transferred to Los Angeles.
A decision has also been made on the conditional pick involved in the Hurricanes’ acquisition of Sami Vatanen from the Devils at the trade deadline and as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in a Twitter thread, the details are a bit more complex.
If Carolina beats New York in the Qualifying Round series and Vatanen plays in 70% or more of their playoff games, the Hurricanes send New Jersey their 2020 third-round pick. If Vatanen doesn’t play in 70% or more of the playoff games but plays in two or more contests against the Rangers, then two more scenarios present themselves. In that situation, if Carolina wins the series, the Devils get Carolina’s 2020 fourth-rounder. If he plays at least twice but the Rangers win, then Carolina gets to pick between sending a 2020 or a 2021 fourth-round selection. If none of this plays out, then no pick transfers.
This closes the books on the remaining questions surrounding conditional trades with the league ruling back in May on ones that had picks contingent on making the playoffs. Teams will have to be in the final 16 teams in order to be classified as a playoff team for the purpose of those trades.
Maple Leafs’ Eddie Shack Dies At Age 83
He played 16 seasons with six different NHL teams, but Eddie Shack was considered to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. The team announced that the forward, who helped lead the Toronto franchise to four Stanley Cup Championships in the 1960s, passed away Saturday after a long fight with throat cancer. He was 83 years old.
Shack was a popular player in his time in the NHL, who held several nicknames throughout his career, including “The Entertainer,” “The Nose,” and even had a novelty song written about him called “Clear the Track, Here Comes Shack.” However, his on the ice play, especially in his years with the Maple Leafs was what stood out. Shack played nine seasons with Toronto, including a seven-year run from 1960 to 1967 where he played on four Stanley Cup title teams in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967. He also scored the game-winning goal in 1963 to capture the cup and was well known for his celebrations on the ice after scoring a goal.
He did get traded five different times throughout his career and spent time with a number of other teams, including the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, before finally wrapping up his career with two more years in Toronto before retiring after the 1974-75 season. He was even almost traded to the Detroit Red Wings in a package in 1960 for Red Kelly, but the trade was cancelled after Kelly opted to retire rather than be traded. Shack played in 1,047 games, scoring 239 goals and accumulating 1,439 penalty minutes over the course of his career. He was just a handful of players to score 20 or more goals for five different teams.
Everyone at PHR wishes the best for the family and friends of Shack at this time.
Offseason Keys: Los Angeles Kings
The offseason has arrived for at least seven teams that were not invited to take part in the Qualifying Round that’s slated to begin in early August. With that in mind, our Offseason Keys series is underway for the teams that are on the outside looking in. Next up is a look at Los Angeles.
Things didn’t go well for the Kings in 2018-19 so they made another coaching change before the start of this past season as they brought in veteran Todd McLellan to try to steer them in the right direction. It didn’t happen. While they managed to avoid finishing last (by a single point), they still had significant scoring problems and there are plenty of areas to try to improve on this offseason. Here is an overview of what GM Rob Blake should be looking to accomplish.
Add Scoring Help
Given that they finished 30th in the league in scoring for the second straight season, this seems like a good place to start. Los Angeles was hoping for their high-priced veterans to carry the load but it didn’t happen. Anze Kopitar barely broke 20 goals, Dustin Brown’s output dipped for the second straight season following his career year in 2017-18, and Jeff Carter has tailed off considerably in recent years. Ilya Kovalchuk was supposed to help in that regard but he didn’t even make it to midseason before his contract was terminated outright, leaving a $6.25MM dead cap charge on the books for next year. Tyler Toffoli had a bit of a rebound season before being traded to Vancouver near the trade deadline.
Of their full-timers, their lone pleasant surprise up front was Alex Iafallo who built off of his sophomore campaign to post career numbers. However, he also averaged nearly 19 minutes a night but in a perfect world, he’s more of a secondary option over a top liner. His playing time was a microcosm of their situation up from though – there just weren’t really any other options for that spot.
That’s something that needs to change. Yes, there are some promising prospects in the system and they’ll wind up with another one with the number two pick in October’s draft but none of their youngsters are ready for top six duty right away. By the time they are, Kopitar will need a lighter workload. Accordingly, they need to add a player or two that’s capable of helping out not only in the short term but a few years down the road as well. Whether that comes via free agency or trade, that’s something Blake should be looking to bring in, even if he feels they’re not quite ready to push for a playoff spot right away.
Rebuild The Back End
It was only the 2017-18 season when the Kings were the stingiest team in hockey. The goaltending was sharp and it had the benefit of playing in front of a deep defensive corps. Today, only one player from their top four that season remains and that’s Drew Doughty. Meanwhile, Jake Muzzin, Alec Martinez, and Derek Forbort have all been moved in trades for prospects and draft picks.
Not surprisingly, the defense corps that finished the season isn’t the most recognizable. Joakim Ryan, Sean Walker, Matt Roy, Ben Hutton, and Kurtis MacDermid were the other blueliners to play at least 10 games for Los Angeles this year and while they all have shown enough to warrant a spot on other back ends around the league, they’re all suited for roles that are lower on the depth chart, not one that sees one of them partnering with Doughty on the top pairing.
The good news is that there is some help in the system – Tobias Bjornfot, Kale Clague, and Michael Anderson have all shown some promise in their limited NHL action this season. Eventually, the Kings should get some help from that group. The bad news is that they’re still a little while away from being NHL-ready. There is a distinct need to add a capable veteran (if not more than one) to allow the youngsters to avoid being thrown to the wolves and to help stabilize the back end. The emphasis should be adding someone on the left side, in particular. Rebuilding or not, that’s still a need that should be filled.
Utilize Cap Room
Even with Kovalchuk’s dead money on the books, the Kings have a fair bit of money to work with as they sit nearly $21MM under next year’s cap with 16 players already under contracts. There are no major players in need of a new contract so Los Angeles has some cap space to use. Of course, they have several notable holes to fill with that money.
The cap space should have them in the mix for players like Taylor Hall, Alex Pietrangelo, or Torey Krug if they make it to the open market although with many teams likely looking to shed payroll over the coming months, Blake could opt to try to go that route as well. Adding more quality prospects and draft picks is never a bad thing for a rebuilding team while the veterans they bring in would likely still represent an upgrade. Better still, any player brought in via that route would basically be a bridge player to allow some of their prospects to stay in the minors and develop a little while longer (assuming there is hockey at the lower levels next season).
Cap space is going to be more valuable than ever this offseason (and likely for a year or two beyond as well). Los Angeles has plenty of it which puts them in a good spot to take advantage of the more restricted market. With several holes to fill on their roster, the timing couldn’t be much better.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nikolai Prokhorkin Returns To KHL
After just one season in the NHL, Nikolai Prokhorkin is going home. The Los Angeles Kings forward’s entry-level contract is set to expire, but he won’t be re-signing with the team. Instead, he has inked a two-year deal in the KHL with Magnitogorsk.
The 26-year old forward has had quite an interesting relationship with the Kings over the years, dating back to their selection of him in 2012. Prokhorkin quickly signed with the organization a few months after being drafted and actually came over to play eight games with the Manchester Monarchs at the start of the 2012-13 season. Unfortunately, his contract was then ruled invalid, sending him back to the KHL and starting a long breakup between the two sides.
Prokhorkin would spend the next seven years in the KHL, playing for three different organizations before coming back to the NHL this past season. He signed his new entry-level contract in May of last year and ended up playing 43 games for the Kings. With four goals and 14 points, he at least will get to say that he held his own at the highest level in North America. Whether he ever comes back is a different story.
Normally with restricted free agents that leave for other leagues, the NHL team is able to retain their rights with a qualifying offer and try to sign them again down the road. Unfortunately in this case given his age, those rights will expire before the Kings have a chance to re-sign Prokhorkin, meaning this is ultimately going to leave him an unrestricted free agent in 2022 able to sign with any NHL organization.
Snapshots: NHLPA Executive Board Approves CBA, DEL, LeBlanc, Stutzle
The NHL and NHLPA have crossed another hurdle to ratifying their CBA extension, the NHLPA announced. The NHL’s Executive Board has approved of the extended CBA and sent it to the NHLPA membership for a vote. The full body of NHL players still needs to cast their ballots, which is expected to take place sometime over the next 48 hours. Only a simple majority is needed to pass, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. As we await the final vote, let’s check-in elsewhere around the NHL…
- Former Chicago Blackhawks prospect Drew LeBlanc signed a two-year extension to stay with Augsburger Panther of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga, per NHL.com’s Brandon Cain. LeBlanc appeared in two games with the Blackhawks in 2012-2013 and last appeared stateside with the AHL’s Ice Hogs in 2014-2015. He’s carved out a role in Germany over the last five years, scoring exactly 11 goals in the last four. He posted a career-high 49 points last season for Augsburger.
- Speaking of the DEL, top draft prospect Tim Stutzle put up 34 points (7 goals, 27 assists) for Adler Mannheim last season, a strong enough showing to put him in the running to become the highest-drafted German prospect ever (Leon Draisaitl went number 3 overall to the Oilers in 2014). As a consensus top-5 prospect, Stutzle – who has drawn comparisons to Patrick Kane for his offensive creativity – could go as high as number two to the Los Angeles Kings, who may understand Stutzle’s path better than most, writes The Athletic’s Lisa Dillman.
- Kings’ assistant coach Marco Sturm took a similar path on his way to the San Jose Sharks in 1997-1998. Sturm ought to be able to help connect the Kings’ to whatever intel they need on Stutzle. Most pundits suggest the Kings’ choice will come down to Stutzle or Quinton Byfield, though Jamie Drysdale could be in the running as well, which Dillman wrote about in-depth here.
Kings UFA Kevin Poulin Signs In Sweden
Kevin Poulin’s return to North America wound up being short-lived. The pending Kings unrestricted free agent has opted to head back overseas as IF Bjorkloven of the Swedish Allsvenskan announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year contract with a one-year option if the team earns a promotion to the SHL.
The 30-year-old found himself without a team for a good chunk of the season before Detroit brought him in on an AHL tryout on Boxing Day to serve as injury insurance. The Kings lured him away in February with an AHL contract and then converted him to an NHL deal two weeks later to give them the option to recall him later in the season following the trade of Jack Campbell to Toronto. However, the pandemic shut down any possibility of that happening and so his season wrapped up with just seven AHL games where he posted a 2.62 GAA with a .914 SV%.
Poulin has parts of five years of NHL experience under his belt, all with the Islanders and his deal with the Kings at least provided a chance for him to get another chance. However, with the uncertainty surrounding next year in the AHL, heading to Sweden where there is a likelier chance of games being played is the safer move for him at this point. Los Angeles likely won’t need to sign a replacement for him either as prospect Jacob Ingham will be eligible to turn pro next season and should take Poulin’s place with AHL Ontario.
Prospect Notes: Cozens, Harvard, Beniers, Kings
The future is bright for the Wild, Flyers, Senators, and Kings, per The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. Each of those four clubs tied for the lead with four prospects making Wheeler’s top-50 list, headlined by Dylan Cozens of the Sabres in the top spot. The same can’t be said for the Lightning, Blue Jackets, Jets, Blackhawks, and Bruins, all of whom failed to register a single prospect on the list. Wheeler qualifies the case for the Jets and Blue Jackets as each had a pair of prospects close to making the list, and the Blackhawks, who have recently graduated players like Adam Boqvist and Kirby Dach, while blueliner Ian Mitchell garnered consideration.
- As if tracking NHL prospects isn’t artful enough, it’s going to get a whole lot more complicated as college athletics tries to find its way amid the coronavirus pandemic. Harvard released a statement today announcing all classes will be offered online and on-campus students will be capped at 40% of the student body. Athletics are going to be impacted, but it’s not yet clear what kind of season, if any, college hockey will have in 2020-2021. As ESPN’s Chris Peters points out, that’s going to affect the next couple of drafts, as Harvard alone had a number of potential draft prospects, including potential first-rounder Matt Beniers.
- The Los Angeles Kings have a big decision looming after winning the number two overall pick in next year’s draft. Of course, they have plenty of time to study their options, writes Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. With an uncertain picture of next season, the draft presents the Kings with their largest dose of certainty. The top pick is going to be Alexis Lafreniere, leaving VP and GM Rob Blake with his pick of the rest. Harris provides a quote from Blake, who said: “You can narrow it down to three or four players where you’re really starting to zero in, instead of a group. But you’re going to review all the prep you did leading up to this one more time to have it fresh on your mind.” In addition, the Kings have three second-round picks and a pair each in the third and fourth round. Of course, though the Kings know when in the draft they’ll pick, they still don’t know when the draft will take place.
Pacific Notes: Burns, Kings, Coyotes, Flames
There is plenty of time until the next expansion draft, which is expected to occur at some point after the 2020-21 season (whenever finishes), but teams are paying attention to it and how to avoid a major loss. The San Jose Sharks were well prepared three years ago when the team didn’t give Vegas many options with the Golden Knights eventually selecting defenseman David Schlemko, who them later flipped to Montreal for a 2019 fifth-round pick.
However, this time around, general manager Doug Wilson may have some much tougher decisions to make. The team only has two players that will have no-movement clauses before the expansion draft in Erik Karlsson and, unfortunately, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who at 33 years old, has six more years at $7MM per year. With cap room challenging in the future, Wilson may have to make a drastic move, and according to The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz (subscription required), the team may opt to expose veteran defenseman Brent Burns to the Seattle franchise.
While Burns’ numbers took a bit of a hit last season and he will be 36 years old when the expansion draft comes about, he still remains a solid top-four defenseman and is a candidate to age well considering his workout history. His salary still carries five more years at $8MM AAV, but he could be a valuable veteran piece for an expansion team and could help out the Sharks as well.
- After having drafted centers in the first round of the past three drafts, (Gabriel Vilardi, Rasmus Kupari and Alex Turcotte) the Los Angeles Kings are lined up to likely select a fourth center in four years with the No. 2 overall pick, which is expected to be either OHL’s Quinton Byfield or German center Tim Stutzle. Regardless, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in his most recent 31 Thoughts column, writes that won’t stop general manager Rob Blake from taking a fourth center. “No,” Blake said. “You mention those three, we’ll take four centres like that.”
- Former Coyotes’ reporter Craig Morgan reports that the Arizona Coyotes are expecting to have their entire roster in town by Monday. Several teams are already trying to get their entire rosters in town with plenty of time to get comfortable before training camp starts for the upcoming 24-team tournament and Arizona will be one of the first.
- The Calgary Flames are also working on getting their team together as quickly as possible. TSN reported that Flames’ general manager Brad Treliving said that the team already has 18 players in Calgary, although several are still undergoing quarantine. However, the GM also said that he expects the rest of the team to be in Calgary by early next week.
Draft Notes: Ottawa, Buffalo, New Jersey, Backup Plan
Last night’s NHL Draft Lottery did little for most of the seven teams that did not qualify for the postseason. A to-be-determined playoff team won the No. 1 pick, the Los Angeles Kings were the lone true beneficiary among the seven, moving up to No. 2, and the Ottawa Senators hold the No. 3 pick. This may seem like a win for Ottawa, but the team actually held the second and third picks prior to the lottery, giving them the best odds to win the first overall pick and a chance at having two top-three picks. Instead, they ended up with No. 3 and No. 5. The Senators will be just the fifth team in NHL history to hold two top-five picks, but it is still seen as a poor result by many fans. However, for those wondering if the team would react to their lottery results by moving one of their two picks, that is not in the plans. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch relays from Sens GM Pierre Dorion that he may listen to offers for the selections but is “99.9% sure” that he will keep the picks. Ottawa may not be able to land prize prospect Alexis Lafreniere, nor can they select both Quinton Byfield and Tim Stutzle, the two forwards competing to go No. 2, but they are guaranteed one of those two and will still land another elite player in a deep draft class.
- The Buffalo Sabres had the least lottery odds of the seven non-playoff teams and ended up sliding from No. 7 to No. 8 with a playoff team winning the first overall pick. In a deep draft class, the Sabres will still get a great player with the eighth pick and The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski details their potential options. The one that sticks out most is OHL star center Marco Rossi, who has an interesting tie to the team. While Buffalo recently moved on from a large number of their hockey operations staff and their minor league coaches, among others, head coach Ralph Kreuger is still at the helm and will likely have a say in draft decisions given that the hockey operations staff will largely be made up of new names by the time draft day occurs. If Kreuger does get to weigh in, Rossi could be his preferred target if available. Kreuger coached the Swiss national team for more than a decade until 2010, but Lysowski notes that he still maintains contact with the programs from which Rossi came. Additionally, Kreuger coached Rossi’s father, Michael Rossi, in Austria in the early 90’s. The slick, play-making forward may not make it to Buffalo at No. 8, but if he does he would very likely be the pick.
- The New Jersey Devils landed pick No. 7 last night, but also own the first-round picks of the Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks. Conditions limit either of those picks from belonging to New Jersey if they were to become No. 1 overall, so they will both be later on in the first round. As a result, they could become expendable if the right deal was on the table. Interim GM Tom Fitzgerald stated on a conference call following the lottery that he would consider trading one of the picks if the opportunity arose. New Jersey is already considered a wild card in this draft given their depth in talented forwards and a draft class defined by depth in this area, so the team might be targeting top defenseman Jamie Drysdale or top goalie Yaroslav Askarov at No. 7 and then one first-round forward might be enough if they can improve the NHL roster by moving the other pick.
- What happens to the Phase 2 Draft Lottery if the league does not resume play? TSN’s Bob McKenzie reports that it would be the same as if all of the lower seeds in the knockout round were to lose. The even-odds (12.5% apiece) lottery would still place among the teams that finished 8-15 in inverse points percentage this season: Montreal, Chicago, Arizona, Minnesota, Winnipeg, New York Rangers, Florida, and Columbus.
Nikolai Prokhorkin In Talks With KHL Metallurg
Nikolai Prokhorkin’s long-awaited debut in North America didn’t bring the results he or the Kings were hoping for. As a result, it appears that he may be heading back home. After SKA St. Petersburg announced that they’ve moved Prokhorkin’s KHL rights to Metallurg Magnitogorsk, John Hoven of Mayor’s Manor notes (Twitter link) that the winger is in talks on a two-year deal with his new KHL squad.
The 26-year-old played in 43 games with Los Angeles this season but was mired in a bottom-six role for most of the year. As a result, he wound up with just four goals and ten assists on the season while averaging 12:06 per night. That’s a significant dip offensively after being a point per game player with St. Petersburg the year before. He also picked up a pair of assists in four games with AHL Ontario, their minor league affiliate.
Prokhorkin is eligible for restricted free agency this offseason but will not have salary arbitration eligibility. A deal in Russia would take him past the NHL UFA age of 27 which means that the Kings would no longer hold his rights when that contract expires.
Today’s activity from SKA is notable as they picked up the rights to Avalanche winger Vladislav Kamenev and Predators center Yakov Trenin as part of that swap. Both players will likely be part of their teams’ expanded rosters for the postseason which could delay any talks about luring them back overseas but this will be something to keep an eye on in the weeks ahead.