Florida Panthers Invite Justin Fontaine On PTO
So much for Adam Pardy being the last player invited to camp in Florida. According to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet, Justin Fontaine will be attending Panthers camp on a professional tryout.
Fontaine has spent the past three seasons with the Minnesota Wild, scoring 68 points in 197 games. Originally signed after dominating at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Fontaine found immediate success in the AHL with the Houston Aeros, putting up 111 points over his first two seasons. As an NHL rookie in 2013-14 he scored 13 goals and looked to be on his way to a productive career with the Wild, but has seen his goal totals drop in each following season, bottoming out at five last season.
Still only 28, Fontaine is a perfect candidate for a PTO as he’s shown NHL ability before but is coming off the worst season of his career. If the Panthers find that he’ll still be able to contribute at the highest level, he could fit in nicely as a cheap bottom-six option, or jump into a top line role with their AHL affiliate.
Kevin Allen’s Latest: Early Predictions, Pivotal Players
Kevin Allen writes that the Detroit Red Wings are one of five teams in danger of missing the playoffs this season. Similar to his reports while speaking with PHR, Allen lists a questionable defensive corps, inconsistent goaltending and whether or not goal scorers like Tomas Tatar and Gustav Nyquist will find the net as they should as reasons why they may not make it back for a 26th straight season. Though he could see them sneaking in, the Wings are more vulnerable than ever before. It all depends on youth and everything coming together.
Allen also lists the Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders, and St. Louis Blues as candidates to possibly miss. With the Kings, Allen believes that the Calgary Flames and Arizona Coyotes, if better, could push the Kings who lost Milan Lucic to Edmonton. The Flyers, a surprise team in the playoffs last season, will have more competition in the Metropolitan Division while the Canadiens, who struggled after Carey Price‘s injury, will also be better in the Atlantic, making the Eastern Conference a lot tougher.
The Islanders, Allen writes, lost some key players in Frans Nielsen, and Kyle Okposo. Though he calls it “sinful” to bet against a John Tavares led team, he still wonders if they grabbed enough to compensate for their losses. Finally, with the Blues, Allen reports that they took a “half step” back while division foes Chicago, Minnesota, and Nashville all improved. Further, Arizona and Calgary are better, crowding the already tight Western Conference. Losing David Backes, Brian Elliott, and Troy Brouwer also doesn’t help for depth purposes.
- Earlier in the week, Allen also compiled a list of the ten most pivotal players heading into the season. Number one on that list is Kari Lehtonen, who will make an early push to be the primary option between the pipes for the Stars. Though he has struggled in the past, he has the opportunity to backstop a potential Stanley Cup contender. Should he not, the Stars have been an oft-reported team to land Ben Bishop should he be available. Other names Allen included were Brian Campbell, a player he believes could solidify the Blackhawks defense, and Elliott, who could finally give the Flames a strong goaltending option.
Ryan Carter Signs PTO With Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild have extended a training camp invitation to forward Ryan Carter. Carter has played on two consecutive one year deals with the Wild, and put up 7G and 5A in 60 games last year.
The undrafted free agent signed with the Anaheim Ducks out of the NCAA in 2006, and joined the team for its Stanley Cup run in 2007. He has since played for Carolina, Florida, and New Jersey. Two seasons ago the Devils brought Carter back on a PTO, but eventually declined to sign him. The Wild, however, swooped in with a one-year deal.
Carter will be fighting for a fourth-line spot in Minnesota this season and may prove to be a stop-gap until the team’s prospects are ready. The Wild have just over $2MM in cap space, but signing Carter will not break the bank—his past performance indicates he will get somewhere close to the league minimum.
Snapshots: PTO’s, Minnesota, Florida, Hall, Larsson
The closer we get to training camp, the less likely veteran players still without one are to receive a guaranteed contract for 2016-17. Indeed, a lot of quality NHL-caliber players will have to earn a job by way of a professional tryout (PTO). Several players have already gone that route as our PTO tracker shows, while some teams are still discussing their available options and determining who they may extend invites to.
On that front, Mike Russo writes that Minnesota’s brain trust is considering adding “one or two forwards to professional tryouts.” He points out that the Wild only have 10 forwards signed to one-way contracts giving the club room to add more competition to the group if they are so inclined. Russo adds that head coach Bruce Boudreau has already communicated to Chuck Fletcher, Minnesota’s GM, that he would like to “get bigger and tougher and stronger.”
Russo lists Paul Gaustad, Steve Downie, Lauri Korpikoski and R.J Umberger as possible PTO targets for the Wild. Although it appears we can dismiss the possibility of Gaustad joining Minnesota, or anyone else for that matter, as it has been said the veteran center is set to announce his retirement. Kyle Chipchura, David Legwand and Tuomo Ruutu could also fit Boudreau’s criteria but those options are purely speculative at this point.
- Count Florida among the teams giving serious consideration to adding more veteran talent via PTO to compete for jobs. According to Harvey Fialkov of the Sun Sentinel, Panthers GM Tom Rowe told him Florida’s management team is “discussing possible veterans to bring in to camp.” Fialkov later added that head coach Gerard Gallant would prefer to add a veteran depth defenseman prior to the preseason. Florida was one of the summer’s most active teams and is aiming to compete for the Stanley Cup this season. It makes sense they would continue to try to add depth to bolster their chances and further guard against injury. The Panthers of course invested heavily in their defense corps this summer and still have rookie Michael Matheson – who we profiled here – and veteran Steve Kampfer to complement the top-six. Yet adding additional competition does make sense, particularly on a no-risk PTO. One wonders whether Jakub Nakladal – PHR analyzed his free agent case here – would be an option given he is a favorite of the analytics community and considering Florida’s recent shift to a more analytically-inclined front office but again, that’s just conjecture.
- Edmonton GM Peter Chiarelli continues his campaign to justify the team’s acquisition of D Adam Larsson in exchange for high-scoring LW Taylor Hall. Writing for Today’s Slap Shot, Chris Nichols provides several quotes from a recent interview Chiarelli did with 630 CHED radio in Edmonton. Chiarelli reiterated that the deal was simply the “cost of doing business,” as part of the club’s efforts to address their defensive shortcomings. He added: “Our fans, once they see Adam, they’ll see what we see in him. Any time you trade a player like Taylor, it’s going to have reverberations throughout the local hockey community through our fan base, and it did.” Credit to Chiarelli for sticking with his convictions. It isn’t easy to make a decision you already know will be an unpopular one but his job is to make the Edmonton Oilers a better team and to do so, the organization had to upgrade the blue line. Evidently Chiarelli and Co. felt this was the best deal they could make to accomplish that objective.
Potential 2016-17 Impact Rookies: Schmaltz, Motte, Rantanen, Tuch
Young talent on ELC’s are often the life blood of successful organizations. With the cost for elite players approaching free agency rising to $8MM or more annually – think Sidney Crosby, Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Toews, etc. – teams need to constantly have young NHL-ready talent ready to plug in to replace veterans who are allowed to walk because they simply cost too much to fit under the salary cap.
On that note, we continue our series on rookies who both have a great chance to make their team at some point this year and the talent to make a significant impact. Today we move into the Western Conference’s Central Division.
Nick Schmaltz (Chicago) – Every year the Blackhawks find themselves precariously close to the salary cap ceiling and with significant holes on their roster. With roughly $49MM tied up in just eight players – four forwards, three defensemen and a goalie – Chicago has committed much of its salary cap space to their star players and have left precious little room with which to flesh out the rest of its roster. Every summer it seems the team is forced to move quality players due to cap reasons. Last year the team dealt Brandon Saad, who as a pending RFA was set to become quite expensive. This summer Chicago packaged talented young forward Teuvo Teravainen with Bryan Bickell to entice Carolina to take on the final season of the latter’s bloated contract. The downside of Chicago’s cap crunch is obvious; the upside though is that it gives young players like Schmaltz a great opportunity to make the Blackhawks and contribute right away.
Schmaltz was the Hawks first-round pick in the 2014 draft, 20th overall. He’s played the last two seasons at the University of North Dakota and was better than a point-per-game player in 2015-16. The loss of Teravainen along with the free agent departure of Andrew Ladd leaves two large vacancies on the Blackhawks roster and Schmaltz will be given every opportunity to fill one. With plenty of scoring talent around him, Schmaltz could produce solid offensive numbers right out of the gate.
Tyler Motte (Chicago) – If Schmaltz is likely to earn one open forward spot for the Hawks, Motte may well have the inside track on the second one. Like Schmaltz, Motte has gone the NCAA route, skating three seasons with the University of Michigan before turning pro. Motte, a 2013 fourth-rounder, had a terrific junior campaign in 2015-16, recording 32 goals and 56 points in 38 games for the Wolverines.
After turning pro, Motte saw action in a total of eight AHL contests with the Rockford IceHogs – five in the regular season and three more in the playoffs – scoring four goals and seven points. Motte, a C/LW by trade, has an excellent opportunity to earn a top-six role and could see plenty of ice time on a line with Toews or Patrick Kane. Currently, the Hawks list Artemi Panarin, last year’s Calder Trophy winner as the league’s top rookie, as a top-six LW. Joining him on the left side is Richard Panik – 25 goals in 181 career NHL games – and Andrew Desjardins – career high of eight goals in 2015-16. The shallow relatively depth on the port side should allow Motte a quality chance to make the team in a scoring line role.
Mikko Rantanen (Colorado) – The Avalanche used the 10th overall selection on the Finnish winger in the 2015 draft. Rantanen, just 19, offers a rare combination of NHL power forward size at 6-foot-3 and 212 pounds, along with top-shelf offensive skill. He made his MHL debut in 2015-16, going scoreless in nine games and recording a -7 plus-minus rating.
While plus-minus is generally considered a misleading stat, Rantanen’s -7 in just nine games does suggest the youngster could use more work in his own zone. That being said, many young players need to improve on the defensive end of the game and Rantanen is no different. Rantanen did have an excellent debut in the AHL, suiting up for 52 games with the San Antonio Rampage and contributing 60 points. It’s likely Rantanen sees significant action with the Avalanche this year as the talent is simply too hard to ignore.
Alex Tuch (Minnesota) – The Wild wouldn’t appear to have too many openings up front based on their team depth chart but if a talented player such as Tuch impresses at camp, he could force his way onto the roster sooner rather than later. Additionally, while Jordan Schroeder is currently listed as the team’s 4th line LW, the team did waive the four-year veteran this summer prior to re-signing him to a one-year, two-way deal. Waiving Schroeder was a curious move, and it’s been speculated it was done to reinforce the team’s position that the arbitration-eligible forward wasn’t worthy of a one-way deal. Given those circumstances, if Tuch proves to be the better player in camp, the Wild could easily find a spot for him.
Tuch has played the past two seasons in the NCAA with Boston College, appearing in 77 games with the Eagles and netting 32 goals along with 30 helpers. At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, he would certainly add an imposing figure to the Wild’s forward ranks. Tuch is known as a physical player, not afraid to stand up for his teammates. He’s also a willing and able fore-checker and a solid skater. PHR has previously mentioned Tuch as a potential breakout rookie who could suit up for the Wild as soon as this season.
(All depth charts provided by Roster Resource)
Snapshots: AHL Coaching Promotions, Price, Canadiens
The Toronto Sun’s Michael Traikos writes that the flow of coaches from the American Hockey League to the NHL continues steady. With the recent hire of Jared Bednar, Traikos reports that 23 coaches in the NHL have been a bench boss in the AHL at some point in their career. The wild success of Mike Sullivan, who was tapped by the Penguins mid-season from their own affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, seems to have once again made the AHL to NHL pipeline hot again. Traikos continues that teams are promoting coaches like they do players, investing heavily on both the ice and the bench. Jon Cooper, head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning, is an example of that, as his guidance at both the AHL and NHL has paid dividends for the Bolts. Could Bednar’s success with the Monsters follow the pattern of Sullivan and Cooper?
In other NHL news:
- NBC Sports writes on the Canadiens today and includes a piece on Carey Price and what could happen should injury befall him again. Drawing upon the signing of Al Montoya, NBC’s James O’Brien isn’t so sure Montoya could handle the scrutiny that comes with being a netminder in Montreal. While writing that Montoya is an upgrade over Mike Condon, but adds that the Habs “live and die” by Price. Despite being a high pick in the 2004 (6th overall), Montoya has never risen to the level of being “the guy” and as O’Brien astutely points out, Montoya is a great pickup so long as he’s not relied upon in heavy doses. One another interesting point: will Marc Bergevin get a “Price pass,” should he go down again this season?
- In another Habs article on NBC, Joey Alfieri wonders where the Canadiens will finish this season. Noting the importance of having Price, Alfieri writes that the veteran goaltender has taken great lengths to improve his conditioning and diet. Montreal also added Shea Weber and Andrew Shaw, two critical pieces that should help a team decimated by Price’s injury last season. A healthy squad, with Price backstopping them, should help Montreal back to its winning ways.
Minnesota Signs Gustav Bouramman To ELC
The Minnesota Wild have come to an agreement with their seventh round pick from last year’s entry draft, defenseman Gustav Bouramman, on a three-year entry-level deal.
Bouramman, 19, played the past two seasons for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the OHL, putting up 100 points in 135 games after coming over from Sweden. Playing in the shadow of Darnell Nurse in his first season, Bouramman excelled in his second season, providing quick puck movement and strong possession play, despite the team’s step backwards in the standings.
While the Wild certainly don’t see him as a top contributor right away, there is some hope that Bouramman will be a diamond mined out of the late rounds of the draft after his strong transition to the North American ice. Though recent reports had him considering a professional contract in Sweden, his signing today would seem show that he has his eyes set on the NHL at some point down the road. Whether he plays in Sweden this year, or returns to the Greyhounds for one more season, he will probably see time in the AHL next spring (he turns 20 on January 24th, 2017).
Koivu Named Captain For Finland At World Cup
As speculated this summer, reported by many this morning, and now confirmed by the NHL, the Minnesota Wild’s Mikko Koivu has been named captain of the Finnish team in next month’s World Cup of Hockey.
Koivu, who has also captained the Wild since 2009, is no stranger to a leadership role. He has captained Finland’s national team multiple times, including three IIHF World Championships. However, the stakes will be a bit higher as Koivu leads a young Finland team into the World Cup. Among his teammates up front are up-and-coming NHL stars like Aleksander Barkov, Teuvo Teravainen, Sebastian Aho, and 2016 second overall pick Patrick Laine. Although Koivu will be comforted by some veteran assistance in net between Tuukka Rask and Pekka Rinne, the majority of the weight falls on his shoulders to lead a team that is somewhat inexperienced in major international play to the podium.
The World Cup will help to prepare Koivu for the upcoming season, where again the Wild will face a tough path to playoff success. Koivu has 556 points in 763 NHL games, all with Minnesota. His best season was back when he was first named captain for the 2009-10 season, and he responded with 71 points. However, his numbers have begun to dip down into the 40’s and 50’s since he turned 30 in 2013. The Wild hope that he can return to form and help to lead their equally young squad deep into the postseason. As Finland’s captain, he may just get the boost he needs from the World Cup to start the NHL season off strong.
Retained Salary in 2016-17: Central Division
As a new season fast approaches, it’s always nice to look back and reminisce on years and players gone by. Unfortunately for most NHL teams, those feelings of nostalgia are usually cut short by the realization that some of those past players are still on the team’s payroll. Retained salary is a fact of life in the National Hockey League, as buyouts have become commonplace and retaining a portion of an outgoing player’s cap hit is often a deal-breaker in many trades. Retained salary can last long past the playing days of a former player or can simply be for just one year. One way or another nearly every NHL team has at least one guy who’s still being paid without having to perform. We’ve already examined the Metropolitan and the Pacific; below is a list of all the retained salary in the Central Division in 2016-17:
Minnesota Wild Notes: Boudreau, Staal, Tuch
Pro Hockey Talk continues their run through the NHL, each day covering a different team. Today the Minnesota Wild are in the cross-hairs as Joey Alfieri of NBC Sports reviews Minnesota’s summer and previews the upcoming campaign for the Wild.
Alfieri highlights the hiring of former Washington Capital and Anaheim Duck head coach Bruce Boudreau to replace John Torchetti behind the Minnesota bench. He cites Boudreau’s past regular season success and suggests establishing a “winning culture” is the first order of business for the new coach.
Despite his postseason failures, the primary reason he was relieved of his duties in Anaheim, Boudreau is still an excellent coach and is well respected throughout the league. His teams generally excel in the puck possession department and have always played a solid two-way style. The Ducks got off to a slow start last season and it was rumored the team was considering making a mid-season change behind the bench before Boudreau was able to right the ship. Ultimately the Ducks would come all the way back to win the Pacific Division regular season crown but were eliminated by Nashville in the first round of the playoffs. It marked the second, first-round playoff exit in Boudreu’s four full seasons at the helm in Anaheim.
Minnesota is an interesting team in that they have enough talent to be considered a solid contender to qualify for the postseason, yet maybe not enough to realistically challenge for a Cup. They are also not bad enough to miss the playoffs altogether. Consequently they don’t have the resources to dramatically improve the roster to compete today but are also not in a position to add high impact young talent through the draft to build for the future. Hiring Boudreau has an excellent chance of paying off in the short term as he should be able to guide the team to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive campaign. Once the postseason begins, though, all bets are off.
- The biggest offseason player acquisition for Minnesota came in the form of free agent signee Eric Staal. Alfieri calls the three-year, $10.5MM deal Staal received from Minnesota “team friendly,” and while it was expected he would receive more lucrative offers on the open market, it’s important to note the veteran pivot posted his worst season since his rookie campaign back in 2003-04. Staal scored just 13 goals and 39 points while playing 83 regular season games – 63 with Carolina and 20 for the New York Rangers. He is still expected to center a scoring line for Minnesota and even if $3.5MM annually is a relatively small sum for a top-six forward, the Wild will need more production out of Staal if they wish to compete in the Central Division.
- In a separate post for Pro Hockey Talk, Jason Brough identifies young RW Alex Tuch as one of the team’s few top prospects and a player who could compete for a roster spot this season. Tuch, 20, is listed at 6’4″ and 220 pounds and was the Wild’s first round selection (18th overall) in the 2014 draft. He played two seasons with Boston College and scored 32 goals in 77 NCAA games skating for the Eagles. Brough believes Tuch is most likely destined to open the season playing for Iowa in the AHL but he also notes the big winger could conceivably make the team with a strong camp. The club did sign a similar player in Chris Stewart, to a two-year contract which should make him a presumptive favorite to beat out Tuch for a roster spot should it come down to a competition between the two.