Devils Rumors

Evening Notes: PWHPA, Hischier, Hodgson

September 26, 2022 at 8:08 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 4 Comments

There’s some exciting news coming on the women’s hockey front. In an interview with The Hockey News’ Ian Kennedy, Canadian National Team captain Marie Philip-Poulin confirmed that the current touring structure for PWHPA games will turn into a league for the 2023-24 season, bringing two professional women’s leagues back into the fold for the first time since the CWHL and NWHL were both active.

The PWHPA Dream Gap Tour is the main pool of talent that Canada and the United States select for their national teams. They’ve effectively been limited to playing exhibition games without a league structure governing competition, although that shouldn’t diminish the level of talent and competition on display. A league structure should bring more financial stability and a better plan for growing the women’s game in North America.

New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier left the team’s in-progress preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens at the first intermission. The team reports that Hischier’s absence is simply due to cramping and that he won’t return to the game for precautionary reasons. Hischier registered a shot on goal and played 6:24 in the first period, his preseason debut.
Philadelphia Hockey Now’s Sam Carchidi tabs winger Hayden Hodgson as a candidate to crack the Flyers’ roster out of camp this year. Hodgson made waves in the Flyers organization this season after a breakout year in AHL Lehigh Valley, earning an NHL contract near the end of the season and a six-game call-up, where he registered three points. Hodgson hadn’t even played in the AHL since 2017-18, spending every season since then entirely in the ECHL (and partly in Slovakia).

Latest On Damon Severson

September 25, 2022 at 1:00 pm CDT | by Ethan Hetu 12 Comments

New Jersey Devils defenseman Damon Severson has spent the entirety of his eight-year professional career in New Jersey, but with his contract set to expire at the end of this season, his time in red and black could be coming to an end. Severson told the media today, as relayed by James Nichols of The Fourth Period, that contract talks between him and the Devils have not yet begun. That doesn’t mean that a deal won’t get done between now and next summer, of course, but with the signing of Dougie Hamilton, the recent Jonas Siegenthaler extension, the acquisition of John Marino, and the eventual arrivals of Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, it’s definitely possible that the Devils don’t see room for Severson long-term in their top-four.

Salary Cap Deep Dive: New Jersey Devils

September 20, 2022 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2022-23 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

New Jersey Devils

Current Cap Hit: $82,426,625 (under the $82.5MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Alexander Holtz (three years, $894K)
F Dawson Mercer (two years, $894K)
D Simon Nemec (three years, $950K)

Potential Bonuses
Holtz: $850K
Mercer: $400K
Nemec: $3.25MM
Total: $4.475MM

Mercer’s rookie season was a strong one as he finished fourth in freshman scoring with 42 points while grabbing hold of a spot in their top six. Assuming he stays there and boosts his production, he could be a candidate to skip a bridge deal and do a long-term pact as they’ve done with some of their other core pieces. Holtz may be up and down at times this season for cap purposes but when he’s in the NHL, he should be in the top six, allowing for some point production. If he winds up being up for the bulk of the season, he could hit several of his ‘A’ bonuses which is noteworthy with how tight the Devils are to the cap ceiling.

Nemec is another player that could be up and down at times this season. The second-overall pick from July is eligible to go to the AHL since he wasn’t drafted out of the CHL and shuffling him back and forth would allow them to manage his minutes in New Jersey and then get him to play bigger roles in the minors. If he surprises in training camp and lands a top-four spot, however, then he’ll have a good chance at reaching some of his ‘A’ bonuses as well.

Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level

F Nathan Bastian ($825K, RFA)
G Jonathan Bernier ($4.125MM, UFA)
G Mackenzie Blackwood ($2.8MM, RFA)
F Jesper Boqvist ($874K, RFA)
F Jesper Bratt ($5.45MM, RFA)
D Ryan Graves ($3.167MM, UFA)
F Erik Haula ($2.375MM, UFA)
F Andreas Johnsson ($3.4MM, UFA)
F Michael McLeod ($950K, RFA)
D Damon Severson ($4.167MM, UFA)
F Yegor Sharangovich ($2MM, RFA)
F Tomas Tatar ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Miles Wood ($3.2MM, UFA)

Let’s start with the pending UFA forwards. Tatar continues to be a strong possession player but his production has dropped the last couple of seasons. He’s a placeholder for someone like Holtz and while waiting out the market worked relatively well for him last summer, he’ll be hard-pressed to get this on his next contract. Johnsson had a much better showing last season compared to his first year in New Jersey and considering he’ll be 28 in free agency, he could get a contract that’s somewhat close to this rate assuming he produces at a similar rate next season.

Wood played just three games last season as he worked his way back from hip surgery so this deal was largely based on his past production. If healthy, he’s an effective middle-six winger that can contribute in a few different ways. But if the injury woes persist or he struggles, he’s a candidate for a one-year deal closer to the $2MM range. Haula came over in a trade from Boston for Pavel Zacha and is coming off one of the best seasons of his career. He won’t get as much top-six time with the Devils but even if his production goes closer to the 30-point mark (compared to 44 in 2021-22), he should be able to get at least a small raise on this contract.

Bratt has been through a couple of long negotiations already and the one-year settlement they reached last month only kicked the can down the road. This is clearly a prove-it contract after leading the team in scoring last season. A repeat performance could push him towards the $7.5MM range on a long-term agreement when he’ll have the hammer next summer in his final season of RFA eligibility. Sharangovich didn’t improve much on his per-game rates as a rookie but he has certainly shown that he’s a top-six winger for the Devils. His qualifying offer is $2.2MM and right now, his next deal could be in the $3.5MM range if he plays at a similar level next season.

McLeod’s offensive production hasn’t come around compared to his days in junior but he has been a strong middleman on the fourth line the last couple of seasons. With Zacha gone, he could get more of an offensive chance although Haula will cut into those chances as well. He should land a bit more than his $1MM qualifying offer next summer and a one-year deal might be an option if he has a similar offensive showing this season. Boqvist is now waiver-eligible so he shouldn’t see any time with Utica this season. He took his qualifying offer this summer and will have arbitration eligibility next offseason where, if he can produce at a similar rate as he did in 2021-22, he could push for something in the $1.75MM range. Bastian returned after being claimed back on waivers from Seattle and provided decent production from the fourth line. His qualifier is just under $920K but with teams trying to stay cheap on their depth players, he might have a hard time getting much more than that unless he can crack the double-digit mark in goals again.

Onto the defensemen. Severson has been on a team-friendly deal for a while now and with his jump in production last season, his contract looks even better for the Devils now. He’ll be 29 when his next contract kicks in and has logged top-pairing minutes for the last few seasons. He could find himself with a long-term deal worth more than $6MM per year at this time in 2023. Graves has become a quality option on the second pairing over the past four seasons and he’ll only be 28 next summer. He won’t produce enough to command the type of money that Severson will but he could push his way into the $4.5MM range a year from now.

Bernier was signed to platoon with Blackwood but hip troubles ended his season early and will delay the start of this one. Between that and the fact he’ll be 35 next summer, he’ll be looking at a one-year deal if he’s able to play at all and it should be considerably cheaper than this one. Blackwood is coming off a tough year and his numbers have dipped in each of the last three seasons. His qualifying offer is $3.36MM next summer and if he’s once again on the weak side of the platoon, he could be a non-tender candidate. On the flip side, he’s still young enough to potentially establish himself as at least a medium-term solution beyond 2022-23.

Signed Through 2023-24

D Brendan Smith ($1.1MM, UFA)

Smith has been a serviceable and versatile veteran at the end of the roster for the last few seasons with an ability to play up front when needed as well. He’s likely to have a depth role with New Jersey which will likely have him in line for a similar contract a couple of years from now.

Signed Through 2024-25

G Vitek Vanecek ($3.4MM, UFA)

With Blackwood’s struggles and Bernier’s injury concerns, GM Tom Fitzgerald elected to bring in another goaltender and quickly inked Vanecek to this three-year deal. He has been part of the platoon in Washington for the past two seasons, posting a .908 SV% each time. He’s probably still going to be a platoon option with Blackwood but he gives New Jersey some medium-term depth with the other two on expiring contracts with prospects like Nico Daws and Akira Schmid needing more AHL time.

Signed Through 2025-26 Or Longer

D Dougie Hamilton ($9MM through 2027-28)
F Nico Hischier ($7.25MM through 2026-27)
F Jack Hughes ($8MM through 2029-30)
D John Marino ($4.4MM through 2026-27)
F Ondrej Palat ($6MM through 2026-27)
D Jonas Siegenthaler ($1.125MM in 2022-23, $3.4MM from 2023-24 through 2027-28)

Despite a couple of quiet seasons to start his career, the Devils didn’t hesitate to extend Hughes to a max-term deal. That decision looks pretty good already after he put up 56 points in 49 games last season, establishing himself as a true number one center. Assuming he can continue at that level, this could become a team-friendly deal fairly quickly. Hischier, a number one pick himself, also went that route a few years ago with the contract he’s on now, one that could have served as a cautionary tale for Hughes. Hischier hasn’t been able to produce at a top-line rate so far although he is coming off a career-best 60 points last season. He’s at least a higher-end second liner so they’re doing okay with this deal so far but it has not proven to be the bargain they hoped he’d be at this point. Palat comes over from Tampa Bay with one of the pricier contracts given to a winger in free agency. He’ll add some experience to their top six and while this deal might not age too well, he should give them a good return for a couple of years at least.

Hamilton was the biggest free agent splash from the 2021 draft class following a career year with Carolina, one that saw him finish fourth in Norris Trophy voting. New Jersey felt he’d be able to come in, anchor their top pairing, and add some much-needed production from the back end. He didn’t play poorly but with 30 points in 62 games, that’s not the type of output they were counting on from him. His role isn’t likely to change for the upcoming season and perhaps with some more familiarity with the system while being on a team that should be a little better, he’ll be able to make a bigger impact. But for now, this is a deal that doesn’t look great so far.

Marino was added in a trade with Pittsburgh to give them another blueliner that should be part of their long-term plans while also hedging against the possibility of Severson leaving next summer. His deal looks like a bit of an above-market one at the moment but he’s still relatively inexperienced and could easily turn his fortunes around in the next couple of seasons. Siegenthaler just completed his first season of being a regular which made his extension a bit of an intriguing decision. The contract signals that they believe he’ll be able to play himself into a spot in the top four down the road which will ultimately show whether or not it was the right move to make.

Buyouts

F Janne Kuokkanen ($200K in 2022-23, $325K in 2023-24)
G Cory Schneider ($2MM through 2023-24)

Retained Salary Transactions

None

Salary Cap Recapture

F Ilya Kovalchuk ($250K through 2024-25)

Still To Sign

None

Best Value: Severson
Worst Value: Hamilton

Looking Ahead

The days of the Devils being well under the salary cap appear to be over. The big spending has been made and now it’s time for this roster to start taking some steps forward between their veteran additions and improvements from their younger players. They’re right against the Upper Limit right now but with Bernier appearing to be LTIR-bound at least to start the season, there’s some short-term wiggle room coming.

You might have noticed that more than half of their roster is on an expiring contract this season. That’s clearly by design. Some of the transitional veterans will be on their way out and while some of their RFAs will be in line for raises, there could be enough room to squeeze in one more addition of note. If that happens, they’ll be operating at the cap ceiling for the foreseeable future.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Kurtis Gabriel Retires From Pro Hockey

September 19, 2022 at 5:38 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment

In a Twitter post Monday, forward Kurtis Gabriel announced his retirement from professional hockey after a nine-year career.

Gabriel, 29, spent last season with the Toronto Marlies and Rockford IceHogs in the AHL, also getting two NHL games with the Chicago Blackhawks. He also spent time in the Minnesota Wild, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, and San Jose Sharks organizations.

He retires with 371 AHL games under his belt, including 72 points and a whopping 639 penalty minutes. He had five points in 51 NHL games, totalling 153 penalty minutes as well.

With his 6’4″, 212-pound frame, Gabriel was one of the few prototypical enforcers left in pro hockey. Off the ice, he’s a strong advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Well-loved wherever he played, Gabriel promises to have many post-career options if he wants to stay in the game.

The Newmarket, Ontario native was originally a third-round draft pick of the Wild in 2013.

New Jersey Devils Tried To Acquire Matthew Tkachuk

September 16, 2022 at 9:47 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 4 Comments

The New Jersey Devils have been an interesting team to watch for the last few offseasons. With Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier in place as franchise cornerstones up the middle, it has been obvious that the front office wants to put a rebuild behind them and start competing in the Metropolitan Division.

In 2021, the team went hard after one of the top free agents available and signed Dougie Hamilton to a seven-year, $63MM contract to be patrolling their blueline, potentially for the rest of his career. That deal hasn’t worked out exactly as planned, with Hamilton playing just 62 games in his first season, but it hasn’t deterred them from chasing more big fish.

The team was in the running for Johnny Gaudreau when free agency rolled around this year, and now Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that New Jersey general manager Tom Fitzgerald also tried to acquire Matthew Tkachuk from the Calgary Flames, before he was ultimately traded to the Florida Panthers.

Tkachuk, who was unwilling to sign a long-term deal in Calgary, had given the team a short list of places where an extension was possible, thus giving them the best return. Florida was on that list, along with Colorado, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Vegas, and St. Louis, but New Jersey was not.

Still, the fact that they were going after big-ticket free agents and top trade names shows exactly how serious the Devils are about competing in the short term. The team is entering this season with just a tiny bit of cap space (they ended up pivoting from Gaudreau to Ondrej Palat, while acquiring other names like John Marino and Vitek Vanecek), but that could be drastically different next year.

Jonathan Bernier, Damon Severson, Ryan Graves, Tomas Tatar, Andreas Johnsson, Miles Wood, and Erik Haula are all unrestricted free agents after this season, opening up a huge amount of cap space for the Devils to work with. They went after Hamilton last offseason, Gaudreau and Tkachuk this year, and will have plenty of flexibility to land a big fish a year from now.

While a player like Nathan MacKinnon likely isn’t going to get anywhere close to the open market, there are a number of outstanding players still unsigned for 2023-24. Free agency looks a lot different now than it will in June, but you have to believe that the Devils are already putting together a list of potential targets. Patrick Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, David Pastrnak, Dylan Larkin, Matt Dumba, Bo Horvat, Joe Pavelski, and plenty of others are currently scheduled for unrestricted free agency, though some are more likely than others to go unsigned throughout the year.

It will be interesting to see how this year’s performance impacts how the Devils operate next summer. With second-overall pick Simon Nemec waiting in the wings, youngsters like Dawson Mercer already showing huge upside, and a goaltender in Vanecek brought in to stabilize the crease, the Devils might already be substantially better. If the past is any indication, they’re going to try hard to land another marquee player to join that group at some point.

New Jersey Devils Sign Zach Senyshyn To PTO

September 14, 2022 at 3:15 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 8 Comments

The 2015 NHL Draft is one Boston Bruins fans would very much like to forget. Now, one of their three infamous first-round picks is joining his potential third NHL organization in a matter of months. Forward Zach Senyshyn today signed a PTO with the New Jersey Devils, the team announced.

Boston’s 15th overall pick in 2015, Senyshyn was a member of the Bruins organization up until the trade deadline this past season. He’s played just 16 NHL games, all spread out over the past four seasons, and has only one NHL goal and two assists. He hasn’t been consistently producing in the AHL, either, averaging under 0.50 points per game throughout his 250-plus game career in the minors, mostly with the Providence Bruins. Although he had finally broken out offensively in the minors over the past two seasons, he had just three points in 16 AHL games with the Belleville Senators after he was traded to the Ottawa organization in exchange for Josh Brown.

Needless to say, Senyshyn is attending Devils camp just for a shot at a contract within the organization, less so the NHL roster. Now 25, Senyshyn will need to have a strong enough camp to prove he can be a dependable top-nine contributor for their AHL affiliate in Utica.

Senyshyn joins veteran defenseman Thomas Hickey as players attending Devils camp on PTOs.

New Jersey Devils Sign Thomas Hickey To PTO

September 13, 2022 at 10:09 am CDT | by Gavin Lee Leave a Comment

There was a time a few years ago when Thomas Hickey was an extremely consistent two-way defenseman, capable of filling out any defense corps. That led to him signing a four-year, $10MM contract with the New York Islanders in 2018. Unfortunately, as he dealt with injury and his play declined, Hickey has been mostly limited to minor league duty the last several seasons.

Now a free agent, he has signed a professional tryout contract with the New Jersey Devils and will report to training camp later this month. The 33-year-old played two games for the Islanders last season, splitting the rest of his time between the Bridgeport Islanders and Ontario Reign. He hasn’t played more than five NHL games in a single season since 2018-19.

Given where the New Jersey defense sits right now, there is certainly no guarantee that Hickey will land an NHL contract with the Devils. Dougie Hamilton, John Marino, Damon Severson, Ryan Graves, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Brendan Smith are all signed to one-way contracts of at least $1.1MM, while prospects Simon Nemec, Reilly Walsh, and Kevin Bahl will all be pressing for NHL playing time at camp. That doesn’t leave a lot of room on the roster for Hickey, though he could land a two-way deal and be valuable veteran depth in the minor leagues in case of a call-up.

The fourth overall pick from 2007, Hickey has 456 regular season games under his belt, all with the Islanders.

Jonathan Bernier Not Expected To Be Ready For Start Of Season

September 8, 2022 at 2:07 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

The New Jersey Devils went out and got a goaltender this offseason, trading for and then signing Vitek Vanecek to a three-year, $10.2MM contract. Given that we’re now a few weeks from the start of the regular season with both Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier still on the roster, it was unclear exactly how the position would shake out.

In his latest for NJ.com, Ryan Novozinsky relays that a source close to the situation told him Bernier “definitely won’t be ready for the start of the season.” The veteran netminder had hip surgery in January and appears poised to start the season on the sidelines. It is not clear when he will be back, which will certainly raise some alarms over whether his career is nearing an end.

Bernier, 34, has played more than 400 games in the NHL but just 34 since the start of the 2020-21 season. Incredibly, during that long career, he has never posted a save percentage under .902 in a season in which he appeared at least five times. His .912 career number is impressive, especially when you consider some of the brutal teams he has played behind.

The 2015-16 Toronto Maple Leafs won just 29 games and finished dead last in the league, leading to the selection of Auston Matthews that summer. The team’s leading scorer (Nazem Kadri) had just 45 points. Despite that, Bernier posted a .908 save percentage in 38 appearances. In 2019-20, the Detroit Red Wings won just 17 games, finishing dead last in almost every category during a historically-bad season. Bernier, ever the stable presence, posted a .907 in 46 games.

While he has never been the best goaltender in the league, it’s been a long productive career for the 2006 11th overall pick. Hopefully, this latest injury can be resolved at some point and he can return to the ice.

For the time being, it’s Vanecek and Blackwood in the crease for the Devils, though they do have some additional depth at the position. Both Akira Schmid and Nico Daws played NHL games last season and will be needed if the team suffers another injury.

This Day In Transactions History: Ilya Kovalchuk Signs Revised Fifteen-Year Contract With New Jersey Devils

September 3, 2022 at 6:15 pm CDT | by John Gilroy 2 Comments

What if there had been an Ilya Kovalchuk, Jack Hughes, and Jesper Bratt line going into next season? At age 39, perhaps Kovalchuk would have been destined for the third line with some combination of Erik Haula, Tomas Tatar, Andreas Johnsson, and Dawson Mercer. It’s likely this isn’t exactly what the Devils and their fans were thinking when the team signed Kovalchuk to a 17-year, $102MM contract back in July 2010. After all, Hughes was just nine-years-old, current team captain Nico Hischier was 11, and All Star defenseman Dougie Hamilton was looking to boost his stock in the 2011 draft with a big year for the Niagra IceDogs.

In reality, nothing went to plan when the Devils and then-GM Lou Lamoriello signed the 17-year pact with Kovalchuk, the NHL taking issue with it as a form of salary cap circumvention, an arbitrator agreeing with them. This would force a negotiation between the league and the NHLPA on how to handle the structure of long-term contracts. On top of Kovalchuk, the NHL had been looking into the contracts of Chris Pronger, Roberto Luongo, Marc Savard, and Marian Hossa, all of whom had received long-term, front-loaded contracts that carried salaries at or near the league minimum in the final few years, which served to bring down the overall cap hit of the deal.

In sum, the league and the players agreed to rules affecting new contracts (as of September, 2010) for five years or longer that lasted at least to a player’s 41st birthday which would give a more accurate reflection of the salary the player was earning. The agreement also made sure the issue wouldn’t automatically carry over into the next CBA, and of course, rules on contracts have changed dramatically since the 2012-13 lockout. Now, seven or eight-year maximums, consistent cap hits, 35+ contracts, and the like regulate at least that form of salary cap circumvention.

After the dispute, New Jersey and Kovalchuk agreed on a revised 15-year, $100MM contract on September 3, 2010 that would run through the 2024-25 season, carrying a cap hit of $6.67MM. The matter now settled, the Devils were looking ahead to their fourth Stanley Cup with their superstar in hand. Of course, as we know, the drama was far from over. During the first three years, Kovalchuk would be solid, but New Jersey would miss the playoffs in two of the three years. However, Kovalchuk and the Devils would take the Los Angeles Kings to Game Six of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, the winger playing a big part of that run.

Unfortunately for New Jersey, during the 2012-13 lockout, Kovalchuk would return home to Russia, playing with SKA St. Petersburg, who he had considered signing with during his 2010 free agency. The experience playing close to home and having his family nearby had an impact on Kovalchuk, who informed Lamoriello of his intention to return home to Russia after the shortened 2012-13 campaign. At just 30-years-old, Kovalchuk voluntarily retired from the NHL following the 2012-13 season, leaving 12 years and $77MM on the table. The Devils, who had already lost Zach Parise to free agency the year prior, were given a yearly $250K cap-recapture penalty, which is in effect through 2024-25, but were handed the forward’s cap hit back.

The 2013 offseason saw New Jersey bring in Jaromir Jagr to replace Kovalchuk’s production, the 41-year-old turning in an impressive 67-point campaign, but the Devils would miss out on the playoffs, finishing with 88 points. The team struggled to start the 2014-15 season, firing Head Coach Peter DeBoer and Lamoriello leaving that spring for an opportunity with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The organization would head into a full-scale rebuild, one which has, outside of a 2017-18 playoff appearance lead by Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall, lasted through this offseason. Things look to have finally turned a corner in New Jersey, lead by Hughes, Hischier, Mercer, Hamilton, and a world class group of prospects including Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Alexander Holtz, but the aftermath of trying to re-sign and then losing Kovalchuk is apparent.

The Devils and their fans may, and rightfully so, attribute this long, painful rebuild at least in part to Kovalchuk’s abrupt departure, however they may have been best-served by it. At the time of signing, New Jersey was expecting Kovalchuk to lead a team backstopped by an aging Martin Brodeur and lead up front by an older Patrik Elias. Though Cory Schneider was able to step-up as one of the league’s better goaltenders during their rebuild, the team didn’t really have the younger, supporting cast to put around Kovalchuk as he entered his 30’s. And, having his relatively large cap hit on the books would have made doing so, and likely rebuilding on-the-fly, rather difficult. That would have in turn likely delayed the inevitable: a lengthy, painful rebuild.

As for Kovalchuk, the winger got his wish to head home to play in his native Russia and have his family nearby, something he accounted for when he left the $77MM on the table back in New Jersey. He would spend five more seasons with St. Petersburg, serving as one of the league’s best players on a premier team. Following the 2017-18 season, the Devils’ NHL rights over the forward expired and a 35-year-old Kovalchuk sought a return to the NHL. He’d sign a three-year, $18.75MM contract with the Los Angeles Kings, but had his contract terminated part-way through the 2019-20 season.

The Kovalchuk mega-deal, whether it be the original or the revised, wasn’t the first or the last handed out by an NHL organization, but holds significant weight in NHL history. First, one of the league’s very best players leaving in his prime, with more money than most players will ever earn left on the table was one of the biggest and strangest transactions in hockey’s history, perhaps in sports history period. Further, the original deal and the revised, provided a roadmap that would change the framework of the NHL’s contract and salary cap systems for the long-haul. The changes brought about by the first contract sparked the league’s desire for change, which became a focal point for the 2012-13 lockout.

Brandon Davidson Signs In KHL

August 30, 2022 at 3:53 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

After seven NHL seasons and 180 games played, defenseman Brandon Davidson has signed a two-year contract with Kunlun Red Star in the KHL, per the league.

The writing was on the wall for Davidson who, at age 31, spent the entirety of the 2021-22 season in the AHL for the first time since 2013-14. A member of the Buffalo Sabres organization for the past two seasons, Davidson was an alternate captain for the AHL’s Rochester Americans last year and had six points in 23 games. Davidson last played in the NHL on March 16, 2021, in a game against the New Jersey Devils.

A 2010 sixth-round pick of the Edmonton Oilers, Davidson had made a home for himself in the mid-2010s as a stable seventh defenseman for the Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, and New York Islanders. He remained entirely in the NHL from 2015-16 until the 2018-19 season, where he was sent to the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs for a brief stint as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks organization. He’s yet to play a full NHL season since.

Davidson is still decent minor-league depth and could very well get two-way offers or AHL deals when his KHL contract expires in 2024.

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