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Armstrong, Guerin Among Staff No Longer Involved In Olympic Selections

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Dec 27: As expected, Quinn will take over the head coaching duties of Team USA. John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant executive director of USA Hockey, will serve as general manager–a position he already holds for the National Junior Team that is currently competing in Alberta. Without NHL participation, several members of that junior group could find themselves on the Olympic team in a few months.

Dec 22: The NHL isn’t going to the Olympics, and that doesn’t mean just Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane. The active NHL executives and coaches that had previously been announced will also be pulled out, meaning, for instance, that Bill Guerin is no longer the general manager of Team USA and Doug Armstrong is no longer with Team Canada.

For the U.S. the announcement that the managers and coaches will no longer be involved was made this morning, though no direct replacements have been officially named. David Quinn, formerly of the New York Rangers, has been linked to the head coaching position by several reports, including Chris Peters of Daily Faceoff. The U.S. management group is expected to name the final roster–one that will now be made up of players from college, the minor leagues, and European leagues–by mid-January. Peters projected a potential “Plan B” roster earlier this month.

For Canada, Armstrong confirmed to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that he will step down as general manager. He’s handing the reins to Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmond who will now have to find a roster outside the NHL to compete at the Games, one that doesn’t have the luxury of the Spengler Cup later this month to prepare. In LeBrun’s interview with Armstrong, the St. Louis Blues manager confirms that Crosby would have been the team’s captain, something that was decided very early on. He also explained that they had already locked in “three full forward lines and two sets of D” with January 12 the date they would reveal the entire group.

The managers and coaches involved will all now have to focus on their own NHL schedules–ones that are currently on hold and seemingly changing by the hour.

Bill Guerin Named GM Of U.S. Olympic Team

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It had been quite some time since Stan Bowman was removed from the general manager position with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team, but there had been no official replacement named. Until now that is, as Bill Guerin has been introduced as the new GM, with Chris Drury named an assistant. The two will work with John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant director of hockey operations at USA Hockey, to build out the roster.

Guerin had been an assistant GM before Bowman’s scandal forced his removal from the program, and was the obvious choice to take over the reins. He spoke with the media today and called it the “dream of a lifetime” though his appointment does not guarantee that NHL players will decide to go to the tournament in Beijing next year. The Minnesota Wild GM told reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic that he has been in touch with Jack Eichel’s agent to discuss the Vegas Golden Knights forward’s status in regards to the Games.

Vanbiesbrouck meanwhile explained that if the NHL players decide not to go, the team will have to look at AHL, NCAA and international talent. His full focus currently is on the NHL and as Nick Cotsoniko of NHL.com tweets, it appears as though USA Hockey is proceeding as if the NHL will be participating.

Guerin of course has already been an Olympian, representing the U.S. on three occasions during his long playing career. He won a silver medal in 2002 at the Salt Lake City tournament. Drury too was a three-time Olympian during his playing days, and has been USA Hockey’s choice for GM of the World Championship team in both 2019 and 2021.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Fiala, Brooks

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, headlined by Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau who takes home the top spot. Gaudreau put up four goals and seven points in four games last week, including two game-winning tallies. After a strong bounce-back campaign in 2020-21, the diminutive forward has upped his game once again and now has 22 points in 19 contests this season.

Second and third go to Ilya Samsonov and Cale Makar respectively, with each young player putting up a pair of outstanding performances. Samsonov didn’t allow a single goal in his two starts for the Washington Capitals, posting a pair of shutouts and raising his save percentage to .924 on the season. Makar meanwhile had five points in two games for the Colorado Avalanche, something that has become relatively routine for the young defenseman. Through 113 career games, Makar now has 107 points.

  • When Kevin Fiala and the Minnesota Wild settled on a one-year contract just a day ahead of his arbitration hearing this offseason, it raised some questions about his long-term future with the team. Other key forwards like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek were being locked up well into the future, while the 25-year-old Fiala was now scheduled to be a free agent once again in 2022 after this $5.1MM contract expired. That’s when the Wild have some huge buyout penalties hitting the cap, making it challenging to go through the uncertainty of an arbitration process again with a player like Fiala. Yesterday, Michael Russo of The Athletic wrote about Fiala’s future with the team, suggesting it is “hard to see Fiala being long for this organization.” Today, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discuss it on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast, and note that though there is some smoke, Wild GM Bill Guerin has never been one into a decision.
  • It’s been several days since Adam Brooks was claimed off waivers by the Vegas Golden Knights, but he had not yet made his debut for the club due to some immigration issues that needed to be resolved. Resolved they’ve now been, and Brooks will be in the lineup for the Golden Knights this evening, head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters including David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Max Pacioretty, who is nearing a return, is on the trip but not yet quite ready to play tonight.

Snapshots: Team USA, Wild, Ghost Pirates

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When Stan Bowman stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday, he also removed himself from the position of Team USA general manager for the upcoming Olympics. According to Steven Ellis of The Hockey News, that position is expected to go to Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin, who had previously been serving as AGM for the team.

Guerin, who had previously been involved in an investigation hailing back to his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was cleared recently by the U.S. Center for SafeSport according to Ellis. (UPDATE: Katie Strang of The Athletic reports that it is not quite that simple, and Guerin has not been cleared of wrongdoing as the case has not even progressed to the level of complainant interviews yet.)

  • The Minnesota Wild may be facing a COVID protocol situation, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. The team is waiting for further testing and canceled practice today, as they prepare for their game tomorrow night. Russo believes at least two players are expected to be moved into the protocol, while the Wild are going to recall Kyle Rau, Connor Dewar and Jon Lizotte from the AHL.
  • The ECHL has announced their newest franchise, set to join the league in 2022-23. The Savannah Ghost Pirates will start play next season and sport green and black as their primary colors.

Latest On Kirill Kaprizov

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A few weeks ago, it seemed like things were progressing well in the contract talks between the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov. A general structure of a five-year, $45MM contract had been tabled, and it appeared as though the high-scoring winger would be signed well before camp opens later this month. Now, without a deal announced, Wild fans are beginning to get nervous. Speaking with The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Minnesota GM Bill Guerin explained that the two sides still aren’t very far apart but that things haven’t progressed recently:

I will say this, we are at a point where we feel we’re being extremely fair. How far apart are we? Not very, but sometimes those can be the things that take a while. I mean, that’s the way I see it. You could ask Paul [Theofanous] or Kirill and they might say something very different.

Guerin continues to caution fans that this is normal with high-profile RFAs, as you can see from the ongoing negotiations around the league. Elias Pettersson, Brady Tkachuk, Rasmus Dahlin, and Quinn Hughes are all still unsigned, along with several other mid-tier free agents as well. Kaprizov’s situation is not necessarily unique from that perspective, though his work visa and travel status make it so that he’ll have to face a longer wait to join camp whenever he does officially sign.

The Wild will start their preseason schedule in 11 days, taking on the St. Louis Blues on Sept 25. Whether Kaprizov will even be in camp by then is unclear, given the stalemate that Russo suggests.

A $9MM average annual value, the terms reported previously, would tie Kaprizov with Jeff Skinner of the Buffalo Sabres for the 18th highest-paid forward in the league next season. That’s a massive commitment for a player that has just 55 regular season NHL games under his belt, but Kaprizov is also a relatively unique case because of his success in the KHL and internationally.

Artemi Panarin, for instance, who is oft used as the closest comparable to Kaprizov because of their similar path to the NHL, signed a two-year contract extension just 117 games into his own career. That deal carried just a $6MM average annual value, but also took Panarin right to unrestricted free agency where he then signed a seven-year, $81.5MM deal that made him one of the highest-paid players in the league. At the time of his extension with the Chicago Blackhawks, Panarin had 45 goals and 114 points in 117 regular season games, a 0.97 points-per-game rate. Kaprizov sat at 0.93 through his first NHL season and, like Panarin, took home the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie.

Whether Guerin cautions against it or not, Minnesota fans are certainly biting their nails waiting for the eventual decision to come down as the hopes for this season certainly rest on Kaprizov’s shoulders. The 24-year-old forward is arguably the most exciting player the franchise has ever known and is a key to their entire offensive structure.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minnesota Wild Finally Have Salary Cap Certainty For 2021-22

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One of the offseason’s biggest stories has undoubtedly been the salary cap situation of the Minnesota Wild. General manager Bill Guerin was faced with an extremely tricky deck of cards this summer – the team’s three best forwards were all restricted free agents and needed new contracts. With a frozen salary cap and increasing market value, it was never going to be easy for the Wild to continue icing a contending team in 2021-22.

However, with Kevin Fiala inking a one-year $5.1MM contract today to stay in Minnesota, the team finally has some clarity in how they’ll be rolling their lineup in the near future. What’s for certain now is that the team will have enough financial flexibility to have Kirill Kaprizov on the roster, at least for next season. With Fiala signed and a full roster, the Wild have $13.1MM in cap space with only Kaprizov left to sign.

But, it seems with every passing day that Kaprizov’s eventual signing price will likely be astronomical, and on a short-term deal as well. The likely outcome here by most accounts is Kaprizov signing a deal equal to or shorter than four seasons, likely between $7-10MM. It’s certainly doable for 2021-22, but the main concerns have never been just about next year.

Moving forward, it’ll be even tougher for Minnesota to stay cap-compliant. The promise of a slightly increasing Upper Limit helps somewhat, but not by much. While 2022-23 sees the combined $9MM cap hits of Victor Rask and Alex Goligoski vanish, they’ll also need a new deal for Fiala, gritty winger Jordan Greenway, and promising netminder Kaapo Kahkonen. The total cap hit increase of those deals, plus an $8MM increase in cap penalties due to the Ryan Suter and Zach Parise buyouts, make a scenario in which all three players are retained nearly impossible, even with some team-friendly deals.

The deal Fiala signed is likely very similar to what he would have been awarded had the case gone to arbitration. It doesn’t exactly show long-term commitment to the relationship between player and team, so it wouldn’t be a shock to see another transaction involving Fiala within the next calendar year.

While cost certainty helps create a clearer picture for the upcoming 2021-22 season, the long-term landscape still remains treacherous for the up-and-coming squad.

All salary cap figures from CapFriendly.com

Poll: Was The Joel Eriksson Ek Contract Fair?

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The Minnesota Wild locked up the first of their three big restricted free agents yesterday, signing center Joel Eriksson Ek to an eight-year, $42MM extension Friday afternoon. With a $5.25MM cap hit, it provides Minnesota with both long- and short-term cost certainty. As both Kirill Kaprizov and Kevin Fiala undergo contract negotiations of their own, the Eriksson Ek deal was a nice one to get out of the way.

Some were quick to defend the deal. After all, Eriksson Ek is just 24 years old and finished fourth in Selke Trophy voting on the back of his best offensive and defensive season yet. While he may not be classified as a bonafide first-line center, Eriksson Ek has already won the hearts of Wild fans with his responsible play.

However, some were quick to criticize the deal, calling it an overpayment and an overcommitment. And while $5.25MM does seem like a lot for a player who’s had a career-high of just 30 points, he was on pace for 44 in a full season this year and over 20 goals. Considering he remains one of the best defensive forwards in the league at such a young age, it’s not unexpected to see differing opinions of such a long-term contract.

So, we ask you, PHR readers, what do you think of the deal? Is it a smart investment by Wild general manager Bill Guerin? Is it too much term and money for a young player who hasn’t proven himself offensively? Or do you think that Eriksson Ek is worth more than the price tag given to him? Vote below, and feel free to comment.

[Mobile users, click here to vote!]

All contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

West Notes: Kaprizov, Fiala, Pettersson, Harvey

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There’s been a fair amount of news breaking in the Western Conference lately. Whether it’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ and Joel Eriksson Ek’s eight-year extensions, the Viktor Arvidsson trade, or the Duncan Keith drama, this past week has given fans of Western teams more than enough to chew on. That hasn’t changed today, as there have been many tidbits of information floating around the hockey sphere. Following up on some extensive rumors from last month, NHL.com independent correspondent Jessi Pierce reports that the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov are set to resume contract negotiations next week. Minnesota and general manager Bill Guerin come into this set of negotiations with a much better idea of their salary cap situation after devoting $5.25MM per season to Eriksson Ek on Friday. With some more cost certainty in hand, Guerin can come forward with some more solid offers to Kaprizov and his agent to give him a more realistic idea of their options. Guerin, who is “confident [they’ll] get a deal done at some point,” now has just $16.8MM in space to offer to Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, and any other free agents he’ll sign to fill out the roster.

  • As a subset to that story, The Athletic’s Michael Russo is additionally reporting that contract talks with Fiala’s agent have now initiated. Guerin now finds himself in a unique position of negotiating the contracts of arguably his two best forwards simultaneously. With limited room to work with, it’s likely that one of Kaprizov or Fiala will have to take a bridge deal with a lower cap hit in order to give Guerin flexibility to add in free agency. Considering some previous Kaprizov rumors, it’s likely that the Russian forward will likely end up with that bridge deal. Guerin and Fiala’s camp are in a position to sign a contract similar to Eriksson Ek’s, exchanging some money up front in exchange for term and certainty for both sides.
  • Another young forward, Vancouver Canucks center Elias Pettersson, is also a pending restricted free agent in need of a new deal. Pettersson’s situation is slightly different, however, having played in just 26 games this past season due to injury. After reports from last month that the Canucks may want to sign Pettersson to a shorter-term deal, The Province’s Ben Kuzma reports today that Pettersson’s camp could opt for a short-term deal as well. Drawing on Brock Boeser’s three-year, $17.625MM ($5.875MM cap hit) contract signed prior to 2019-20 as a comparable, a short-term deal could open the door for general manager Jim Benning to offer a much longer-term deal to another RFA in defender Quinn Hughes.
  • The Canucks find themselves on here twice today after The Province’s Patrick Johnston reported that they’ve promoted Todd Harvey to be the team’s director of amateur scouting. Former director Judd Brackett departed the team prior to 2020-21 to accept the same role with the Wild, meaning that the Canucks have left the position vacant from then until now. Harvey, who’s served as an amateur scout for the team since the 2017-18 season, had effectively taken on Brackett’s role since his departure anyways. Harvey’s last NHL season was with the Stanley Cup Finalist 2005-06 Edmonton Oilers, and after a few seasons playing senior hockey, stepped away from the game until returning as an assistant coach for the OHL’s Guelph Storm in 2013. Harvey will be tasked with adding to a prospect pool that’s largely been drained in recent years with the graduation of players like Pettersson and Thatcher Demko.

All contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Latest On Jack Eichel’s Trade Market

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While Jack Eichel’s potential trade availability has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, there has actually been very little concrete information to come out about his market. The assumption is that every team will at least kick the tires on the superstar forward, but also that the Buffalo Sabres will have a hefty asking price that some may not want to pay and many others simply won’t be able to. The remaining group of possible landing spots could be small. To this point though, there has been little word on which teams fall into which categories – until now.

One team very much in the mix for Eichel is the Minnesota Wild. The Athletic’s Michael Russo has confirmed that Wild GM Bill Guerin has opened trade talks with the Sabres’ Kevyn Adams. Minnesota had a strong, resurgent season but still lacks star power at the center position, so it is no surprise that Guerin is interested. The Wild already have their plate full with extensions for Kirill Kaprizov, Kevin Fiala, and Joel Eriksson Ek, but it stands to reason that a potential Eichel trade would likely see one of the latter two heading to Buffalo. Russo points out that the salary cap would necessitate another roster player likely moving as well, while a top prospect such as Marco Rossi or Matthew Boldy would certainly be part of the package too. It’s a heavy price to pay – and that might not even be the full ask – but Buffalo knows that someone will pay up for Eichel. Russo warns that the Wild are an up-and-coming team and need to be completely sure of Eichel’s health status before making the expensive, long-term commitment and franchise-altering decision to acquire him.

Not everyone is willing to take that risk and the Columbus Blue Jackets are one of them. The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline writes that Columbus GM Jarmo Kekalainen has been busy working the phones and analyzing the trade market and Eichel has of course earned “due diligence.” However, he indicated that this was the extent of his trade talks with Adams. Portzline reports that a key piece of the Sabres’ asking price is a center with first-line potential and the Blue Jackets do not have anyone who fits that description. To make up for that deficit, Columbus’ would likely have to pay an exorbitant price to acquire Eichel. The likely package would include at least the No. 5 overall pick, if not multiple first-rounders, multiple young roster players, probably including goaltender Elvis Merzlikins, and a top prospect or two. That cost doesn’t make much sense for a team that, at best, is re-tooling but could be considered rebuilding. Portzline suggests that another Sabre, Sam Reinhart, has also been linked to the Blue Jackets and would be a better fit in many ways.

Other suitors are expected to include the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and New York Rangers, but so far those organization have not let any details of their pursuit slip out. There is of course also the chance that Buffalo simply retains Eichel, as a fair return could be very difficult to come by. Until then though, this is a storyline that will continue to dominate the off-season.

Latest On Kirill Kaprizov Negotiations

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It’s been a week since the hockey world all momentarily turned their eyes on the Minnesota Wild and Kirill Kaprizov. A bombshell rumor from NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes noted that Kaprizov was back home in Russia while CSKA Moscow was preparing a contract to bring the winger back home. While the danger of Kaprizov leaving North America is much lower than the initial rumor may have suggested, nothing is ever official until pen hits paper.

Today, a new article from The Athletic’s Michael Russo provided a tad more clarity into Kaprizov’s negotiations. One serious complicating factor for both Kaprizov and the Wild is that their second- and third-best forwards, Joel Eriksson Ek and Kevin Fiala, are similarly in need of new deals for next season. In a Tuesday radio interview with Russo referenced in the article, Wild general manager Bill Guerin had this to say:

Well, it’s definitely a busy summer. But it’s not like we haven’t been planning for it for a long time. This stuff has been going on in our office for months and months and months, and it’s not like the season ends and now it’s like ’ok, let’s figure it out.’ No – we’ve tried to figure this out long in advance so when we have the time, we can just kind of go into action. But yeah, we have to sign Eriksson Ek, we have to sign Fiala, there are a number of UFAs that we have… but we’re already working on it.

Throughout these negotiations, it’s become clear that leverage is what’s most important to Kaprizov and his agent. Russo concurs, pointing out that all signs lead to a bridge deal that takes Kaprizov to unrestricted free agency rather than a maximum eight-year deal.

One potential complicating factor that Guerin won’t have to worry about is the possibility of an offer sheet. Because Kaprizov signed a two-year entry-level deal during the 2019-20 campaign but didn’t play a game in the NHL, he becomes a 10.2(c) RFA, making him ineligible for an offer sheet. His two options are Minnesota or Russia, so it’s not like a different team could lure him away with more money than Guerin can stomach.

The situation doesn’t just end with Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and Fiala, though. As Russo points out in his article for The Athletic, Minnesota will need to upgrade at the center position to stay competitive into next season. Just how much of Minnesota’s $22 million in cap space will remain for that? It’s a giant question mark right now for Minnesota’s front office, as the combined cap hits of Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek, and Fiala could come within shouting distance of that number.

With the nature of Ryan Suter’s and Zach Parise’s contracts holding this team back at the moment, it may end up that everybody is signed to bridge deals so that Minnesota can reassess the cap when those deals expire. It’s a risky bet, however, with both deals still having four seasons left. A cap dump trade of one of them could work, and as Parise fell out of favor with the coaching staff this season, he could be dealt with a heavy sweetener from Minnesota’s end. What’s for certain is that the Wild front office is aware of the moment and will make their best attempts to bolster the team for the immediate future.

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