Montreal Canadiens To Buy Out Karl Alzner
Another buyout is on the docket for today, as the Montreal Canadiens have placed Karl Alzner on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. With two years left on his deal, Montreal will incur cap penalties for the next four seasons. Those charges will look like this:
- 2020-21: $3,958,333
- 2021-22: $1,958,333
- 2022-23: $833,333
- 2023-24: $833,333
Alzner, 32, was actually signed to the longest contract on day one of free agency just three years ago, inking a five-year deal with the Canadiens that carried a cap hit of $4.625MM. That deal, which was considered extremely risky right from the start, resulted in just 95 games played for Montreal.
In 2017-18 Alzner spent the entire season in the NHL, suiting up for all 82 games and averaging more than 20 minutes a night. Unfortunately, those minutes weren’t all that effective, with the defensive defenseman recording just 12 points and poor possession statistics. By the next season, he was buried in the minor leagues where he has spent the majority of the last two years.
That risky deal turned into an albatross for the Canadiens, though the team was never really in cap trouble as they slowly rebuilt their team around a younger core. Now that they are ready to start competing again, getting at least some of the Alzner money off the books was an obvious choice.
Still, because of the front-loaded nature of the deal, the Canadiens will not receive much relief this season. They do however save quite a bit of actual money, paying Alzner just $833K in each of the next four seasons.
It’s hard to see an NHL future for the veteran defenseman, though perhaps at a much lower cost another team would take a chance on him as a depth option.
Wayne Simmonds Drawing Interest
The free agent market is approaching rapidly and without an interview period, this season things may be complete chaos when the bell strikes on Friday. Then again, perhaps not for every free agent. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the Buffalo Sabres have given Wayne Simmonds permission to speak with other teams ahead of free agency.
That news comes on the heels of a report from Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens have shown interest in Simmonds. Both teams are looking for a little more physicality in their forward groups, something Simmonds can provide in spades when healthy and playing his best. He’s also an excellent net-front player on the powerplay, something both teams could use.
The question now is whether Simmonds can ever get back to that “healthy and playing his best” status. The 32-year-old scored just eight goals in 68 games this season playing for the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres, after an extremely disappointing finish to the 2018-19 season with the Nashville Predators.
Once one of the best power forwards in the entire league, Simmonds was a perennial 30-goal candidate with oodles of physicality and leadership. In 2015-16 he reached a career-high with 32 goals and 60 points, while also racking up 192 hits for the Philadelphia Flyers. That kind of player is difficult to find in today’s game, but even in the case of Simmonds himself, it may no longer exist.
For at least the Maple Leafs, Simmonds would need to take a drastic pay cut to fit into their financial structure, but perhaps he will be forced to do that anyway by a shrinking market. He earned $5MM on his one-year deal with the Devils, but will likely be looking at a much lower salary this offseason.
Canadiens Tender Qualifying Offers To Five Players
While the deadline for qualifying offers isn’t until Wednesday shortly after the draft ends, the Canadiens opted to take care of them early, announcing that five players have received offers. Players receiving offers are center Max Domi, winger Charles Hudon, and defensemen Victor Mete, Noah Juulsen, and Xavier Ouellet.
Of the group, Domi is the most notable. The 25-year-old is coming off of a quieter second year with the team as he posted 17 goals and 27 assists in 44 games, numbers that were well below his output in 2018-19 when he set career highs with 28 tallies and 44 helpers. Shortly after their elimination at the hands of Philadelphia, he changed agents to Darren Ferris of Quartexx which led to some speculation of him being unhappy with his situation although Ferris made it known last month that Domi hopes to remain with Montreal. A position change may be in order for that to happen, however, as Nick Suzuki, Phillip Danault, and Jesperi Kotkaniemi figure to be Montreal’s top-three centers next season. Domi’s qualifier was set at $2.9MM.
Mete’s entry-level contract has come to an end but his role with the Canadiens has decreased as it has progressed. He spent a lot of this season on the third pairing and in the playoffs, his ATOI dropped to just 12:30 per game from 16:00 during the year. With Joel Edmundson being acquired and signed already this summer, his spot in their top six may be in some jeopardy. He isn’t eligible for salary arbitration.
Hudon and Ouellet spent the majority of the season with AHL Laval but were up for the stretch run and playoffs with Ouellet being a regular in the postseason. Both players are eligible for salary arbitration in their final year before UFA eligibility. As for Juulsen, the 2015 first-rounder has missed most of the last two seasons with recurring migraine issues stemming from taking two pucks to the face in the same game back in 2018-19. He was able to play in Laval late in the year and was on Montreal’s playoff roster although he didn’t get into any game action.
The team confirmed that three players – center Aaron Luchuk plus wingers Andrew Sturtz and Antoine Waked – did not receive offers. The three spent all of last season in the minors and will become unrestricted free agents on Friday.
Canadiens Working On Extension For Brendan Gallagher
After getting defenseman Jeff Petry signed to an extension last week, it appears that the Canadiens have set their sights on getting a deal done with Brendan Gallagher next. Speaking with RDS’ Francois Gagnon, GM Marc Bergevin indicated that they want to keep the winger in Montreal for the rest of his career and that they’re willing to make him the highest-paid forward on the team. For reference, Jonathan Drouin is the forward with the highest AAV, checking in at $5.5MM. Bergevin also candidly stated that he knows a four-year or five-year term wouldn’t be enough to dissuade Gallagher from heading to the open market so it would stand to reason that any extension would be longer than that.
While Bergevin only indicated that talks have been preliminary to this point, Gallagher’s agent Gerry Johansson told RDS’ Eric Leblanc that both sides are working hard to get a deal done and are optimistic that they’ll be able to get one accomplished.
The 28-year-old had scored at least 31 goals in each of the last two seasons and played at a 31-goal pace this year as well but injuries and the pandemic made that out of the question. Even so, he picked up 22 goals and 21 assists in 59 games this season. One element that Gallagher will have in his favor is his ability to score at even strength as only five of his 55 goals over the past two years have come with the man advantage, a skill that is always highly coveted.
Gallagher has spent the last five years playing on a considerable bargain contract given his production with an AAV of $3.75MM which will remain intact for 2020-21 as he plays out the final year of that deal. Given Bergevin’s comments, it would seem like Gallagher’s next price tag should come in the $6MM to $7MM range with a term of at least six years. Even with the flattened cap in place, there’s always a high price tag on goal scoring so even with the potential for a deflated free agent market in 2021, the veteran is well-positioned for his next deal.
Montreal also has two other unrestricted free agents of note for the 2021 offseason in center Phillip Danault and winger Tomas Tatar. Gagnon notes that preliminary discussions on a new deal for Danault occurred around the time that Petry’s negotiations were ongoing (both are represented by Newport) while no such talks have occurred with Tatar’s camp as of yet.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Montreal Canadiens Re-Sign Michael McNiven
The Montreal Canadiens have secured even more of their goaltending depth, this time re-signing Michael McNiven to a one-year two-way contract worth $700K at the NHL level. McNiven is coming off his entry-level contract and was scheduled to become a restricted free agent next month.
McNiven, 23, was an undrafted free agent signing back in 2015 and has been in the Canadiens organization ever since. In 2017-18 he started his professional career, splitting time between the AHL and ECHL. That’s been the story ever since and could very well be the case in 2020-21 as well.
Regardless, the young goaltender will serve as organizational depth for a team that has put a premium on it heading into next season. Carey Price and Jake Allen form the most expensive NHL tandem in the league, while McNiven joins three other goaltenders under NHL contracts in the system.
Montreal Canadiens Agree To Terms With Jake Lucchini
New contracts for minor league players continue to pour in, with the Montreal Canadiens the latest to sign one of their pending free agents. Jake Lucchini has inked a new one-year, two-way contract with the team that will carry a $700K NHL salary ($85K in the AHL).
Lucchini, 25, arrived in the Montreal organization along with the recently re-signed Joseph Blandisi through a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The late-February deal sent Phil Varone and Riley Barber the other way. While Blandisi has quite a bit of NHL experience, Lucchini has never played a game at that level and instead spent the entire 2019-20 season in the AHL.
That’s not to say he won’t ever get a chance with the Canadiens though, as Lucchini did have a ton of success at the NCAA level. An undrafted free agent signing in 2019, his college career resulted in 104 points in 164 games. That kind of production wasn’t evident with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins through most of this season, but Lucchini did score four goals in just eight games after the move to the Laval Rocket.
Perhaps in that situation again next season he will be able to show his worth and become a useful depth piece for the Canadiens down the road.
Dale Weise Will Test Free Agency
- Canadiens winger Dale Weise will not be re-signing with Montreal and will instead hit the open market, notes Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports (Twitter link). The 32-year-old spent most of the season in the minors but was recalled down the stretch while also seeing action in five playoff games while being held off the scoresheet. Lavoie adds that Weise’s intentions are to try to land an NHL deal and that he isn’t pursuing opportunities overseas.
Montreal Canadiens Extend Jeff Petry
The Montreal Canadiens have made a huge move just a few weeks before free agency opens, extending Jeff Petry for another four years. Petry was still under contract for the 2020-21 season but will now be locked up through 2024-25. The new deal is worth a total of $25MM, giving him a $6.25MM cap hit starting in 2021-22. It also includes a 15-team no-trade clause and a no-movement clause, meaning he will require automatic protection in the upcoming expansion draft. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet tweets the full breakdown:
- 2021-22: $5.0MM salary
- 2022-23: $3.0MM signing bonus + $4.5MM salary
- 2023-24: $3.0MM signing bonus + $4.5MM salary
- 2024-25: $2.0MM signing bonus + $3.0MM salary
Though he still doesn’t get quite the recognition of one, Petry has developed into one of the best two-way defensemen in the league over the last few years. In fact, his 128 points over the last three seasons put him 17th among all NHL defenders, while his 36 goals sit 11th over the same time period. Though he’ll never get the same type of press that teammate Shea Weber receives, Petry is almost equally important to the Canadiens and showed it this postseason.
The 32-year-old defenseman averaged more than 25 minutes a night as Montreal shocked the hockey world by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the qualification round and took the Philadelphia Flyers to six games. For a team that wasn’t even expecting to be included in the playoffs, their performance was admirable and as Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets, could have had a real impact on the uber-competitive Petry’s decision to remain.
There’s no doubt that Petry earned an extension with his play, but it’s not like this deal comes without a fair bit of risk for the team. Petry will turn 33 in December (likely before the 2020-21 campaign even begins), meaning this deal takes him deep into his thirties at an expensive cap hit. While his current play is deserving of a raise on the $5.5MM cap hit he currently carries, it’s hard to expect him to continue at that level for the duration of his new contract.
Combine that with the fact that Weber still has six years left on his current contract, which keeps him at a $7.86MM cap hit through 2025-26 and the Canadiens will have quite a bit of space eaten up by two aging defensemen. Of course, there are ways around that, including a revamped cap recapture system should Weber decide to retire before his contract expires. But with a Montreal team that is still looking for an identity upfront, committing so much money to aging defensemen could end up backfiring.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Montreal Canadiens Agree To Terms With Joseph Blandisi
The Montreal Canadiens have come to an agreement with Joseph Blandisi on a new contract, a one-year two-way pact that will carry a $700K salary at the NHL level and a $325K salary in the AHL. Blandisi was scheduled to become a restricted free agent next month.
Blandisi, 26, was actually a sixth-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche back in 2012, but never did sign a contract with them. Instead, he re-entered the 2014 draft and was completely passed over, becoming an undrafted free agent that had to return to junior. Perhaps motivated by the snub, Blandisi scored 52 goals and 112 points in the 2014-15 season, earning himself an entry-level contract with the New Jersey Devils in the process.
Beating the odds once again, Blandisi was up with the NHL squad the following season, playing in 41 games for the Devils and scoring 17 points as a rookie. Unfortunately, those would be his career-highs to this point. Blandisi has just 101 games played and 31 points in the NHL, but can serve as a depth option for the Canadiens next season.
Trade Rumors: Laine, Dumba, Rust
While it is Frank Seravalli who produces TSN’s Trade Bait board, colleagues Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun backed up the trade statuses of a pair of players at the top of his board on this evening’s edition of Insider Trading. While he may be only 22 years old with four 50+ point seasons under his belt, don’t dismiss the rumors surrounding Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine as wild speculation, warns Dreger. He states that the Jets are “serious” and absolutely listening on the young scorer. In fact, the Laine noise has not been louder merely because the interest has been limited so far, either due to the asking price or other teams not truly believing that Laine is for sale. LeBrun notes that the Columbus Blue Jackets are one team that is definitely interested in Laine. The team sorely needs high-end talent up front as may have the top-four defenseman and young center that Winnipeg desires. Another team that also kicked the tires on Laine was the Carolina Hurricanes, but LeBrun believes that they balked at the asking price for the Finnish sniper and talks fell off after that. One team that hasn’t checked in on Laine yet? The Montreal Canadiens. While LeBrun acknowledges that the Canadiens could desperately use a player of Laine’s ability, they thus far have been hesitant to enter negotiations.
- The trade availability of Minnesota Wild defenseman Matt Dumba, No. 2 on the trade bait board, has been far more concrete, as teams and the media alike can look ahead to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft and see the conundrum coming down the line for the Wild. Yet, Dreger states that Dumba is on the block, but Minnesota is not in a rush to move him. He believes that the Wild will hold on to Dumba, perhaps even through the season, until the asking price is met. Right now, that price is believed to be a legitimate top-six center, which Dreger feels might be asking too much. The other option could be a high first-round pick and a young roster forward, which is a more likely return. The team will hold out for one of those two returns, as there is no urgency to move on from Dumba at a lower price.
- One name that rival GM’s are asking about who isn’t necessarily on the block is Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust. Rust is coming off of a career year, but it seems like no one on the Penguins roster is safe, leading other teams to ask the question. GM Jim Rutherford tells The Athletic’s Rob Rossi and Josh Yohe that he will listen to any offer, but isn’t keen to trade Rust. However, another sources tells The Athletic that Rutherford would part with Rust for an NHL-ready prospect and another top prospect. That might be a heavy price to pay, but don’t rule out the possibility in an unpredictable off-season.