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Metropolitan Notes: Filmon, Hurricanes, Sotheran

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Devils prospect Josh Filmon won’t participate in rookie camp and is doubtful for main training camp after being listed as week-to-week with an upper-body injury, per the team’s Amanda Stein. The 20-year-old left-winger will report to the AHL’s Utica Comets for his first professional campaign when he’s cleared to play, and Comets bench boss Kevin Dineen said they haven’t yet ruled him out for the start of the regular season.

Filmon, a Winnipeg native, went 166th overall to New Jersey in the sixth round of the 2022 draft. The 6’3″, 170-lb forward has been a premier offensive threat for the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League in his first two post-draft seasons, totaling 67 points (27 G, 40 A) in 64 games with a +16 rating last season.

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the Metropolitan Division:

  • The Hurricanes’ home will have a new name this season after the club has reached a 10-year arena naming rights agreement with the multinational technology company Lenovo, the team announced. The arena, known as PNC Arena since 2012, will now be named the Lenovo Center through at least the 2033-34 season. The arena opened for the 1999-00 season, the Hurricanes’ third in Carolina after relocating from Hartford, and was initially named the Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena before becoming the RBC Center in 2002.
  • Flyers defense prospect Carter Sotheran is limited in rookie camp activities while dealing with a flare-up of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, he told Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports. According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition results in “an extra pathway for signals to travel between the heart’s upper and lower chambers,” which can cause a fast or irregular heartbeat. Sotheran, 19, said he’s been dealing with the condition for the past four years and hopes to play in some of the Flyers’ rookie tournament contests over the weekend or next week. The 2023 fifth-round pick has not yet signed his entry-level contract and will return to the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks for his third season of junior hockey shortly.

Luke Hughes Out Six To Eight Weeks With Shoulder Injury

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Devils defenseman Luke Hughes is expected to miss training camp, preseason, and the start of the regular season after injuring his left shoulder while training earlier this month.

According to an announcement from the team, he’ll miss between six and eight weeks. That puts his season debut for New Jersey sometime during late October or early November.

It’s a tough break for both the Devils and the 21-year-old, who’s a pending restricted free agent entering the final season of his entry-level contract. He’s eligible to sign an extension at any time, and it’ll likely be a costly one after he led New Jersey defenders in scoring last season with 47 points (9 G, 38 A) in 82 games and finished third in Calder Trophy voting, losing out on Rookie of the Year honors to Connor Bedard and finishing well short of Wild counterpart Brock Faber for second place.

The fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Hughes is well on his way to joining his brother Jack as a core piece in the Garden State for years to come. The New Hampshire native has some work to do defensively before he’s a proper top-pairing option, finishing third-worst on the team with a -25 rating, but his 55% shot attempt share and 52.3 expected goals share at even strength were decent in sheltered offensive usage. Before turning pro with the Devils to close the 2022-23 campaign, Hughes’ 48 points in 39 games from the University of Michigan blue line helped them to a second straight Big 10 championship.

The left-shot defender is slated for second-pairing duties when healthy, allowing a more stay-at-home partner to complement a healthy Dougie Hamilton on the team’s top pairing. That spot will be up for grabs in training camp now, though, at least for the first few weeks of the campaign. New head coach Sheldon Keefe has plenty of options, but the most likely is a shutdown duo of free agent additions, Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce, backing up Hamilton and his partner.

If Hughes doesn’t miss enough time to be eligible for long-term injured reserve, that could create complications for a Devils team that will likely be capped out after coming to an agreement with RFA forward Dawson Mercer. Putting Hughes on standard IR compared to LTIR could result in New Jersey not carrying an extra defenseman until he returns to health. His injury should provide plenty of opportunity early on for Johnathan Kovacevic, who was projected to start the year as the Devils’ No. 7 defender after being acquired from the Canadiens in June.

Poll: Which Non-Playoff Team From The East Will Return In 2024-25?

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The 2024 Stanley Cup playoff picture in the Eastern Conference was similar to 2023 aside from a few changes to the seeding of the eight teams. The only team switch was the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils with the former making it in as the final wild-card team in the Conference on the last day of the regular season. The 2024-25 season will bring similar hypotheticals as any new season in which teams will ultimately find themselves in the group of 16.

New Jersey may be the early favorite to return to the playoffs after an impressive summer. The team added a salary-retained Jacob Markstrom in an early-summer swap with the Calgary Flames while handing out big-ticket contracts to Brett Pesce and Brenden Dillon. That trio should help the team dramatically improve upon their 3.43 GA/G (28th) from last season with the offense still as staunch as ever. The only concern that may carry over from last season is the organization’s recurring injury concerns. Only four players are returning from last year that played in 75+ games and New Jersey will need to keep a much healthier lineup if they want another shot at the Stanley Cup.

There has been an informal race throughout the last several years as to which of the Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, or Ottawa Senators will return to the playoffs the quickest in the Atlantic Division. Detroit came close last year by tying in points with the Capitals on the final day of the regular season but ultimately losing on the tiebreaker of ’Regulation Wins’. The Sabres made a point to strengthen their bottom six this summer while the Red Wings largely added around the edges. Ottawa made the biggest splash by bringing in goaltender Linus Ullmark in a trade with the Boston Bruins and should have center Joshua Norris around for much of the season.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be another team to look out for as they’ve missed each of the last two postseasons by a combined four points. None of the other teams in the Eastern Conference have the benefit of deploying Sidney Crosby making Pittsburgh an immediate threat to qualify for the postseason. The Metropolitan Division is arguably the toughest in the NHL but the Penguins could capitalize should other divisional opponents get off to slow starts.

Other teams in the Eastern Conference could make a surprise run to the postseason but the abovementioned group serves as the favorite candidates at this point. Which one of these teams do you think has the best chance of returning in 2025?

Mobile users, click here to vote

Possible Comparables For Dawson Mercer’s Contract

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One of the more prominent remaining free agents is Devils forward Dawson Mercer.  While he’s coming off a down season, he has had enough success over his first three NHL seasons that New Jersey would likely want to work out a long-term deal with them.  Whether they can afford to, however, might be a different story.

The 22-year-old had the lowest output of his career last season but still managed 20 goals and 13 assists while playing all 82 games for the third straight year.  But with a 42-point effort in his rookie season and a 56-point showing in his sophomore campaign, there’s enough of a track record for a long-term deal to potentially make sense.

Looking at some potential comparables, one of their division rivals has a couple of them in Joel Farabee and Travis Konecny (his current deal, not the extension he just signed).  Both were post-entry-level pacts, checking in at $5MM and $5.5MM respectively.  Mercer’s numbers are better than Farabee’s so it’s likely to come in above that while Mercer’s best year was better than Konecny’s at that point.  If we use cap percentages (to reflect the increase in the salary cap at that time), the range of the two deals moves to between $5.333MM and $5.94MM.

Other possible comparable players in that range are Florida’s Anton Lundell ($5MM signed this year) and Nick Schmaltz ($5.875MM).  Notably, none of those contracts were for the maximum eight years either; three were six-year agreements while Schmaltz was the exception at seven seasons.  At this point, something in the high-$5MM area might be the right fit on a six-year deal for Mercer, one that would buy out two years of UFA eligibility.  Going longer (adding on more UFA years) would only push that price tag higher.

But even affording the six-year contract would appear to be a challenge at first glance.  At the moment, the team projects to have $4.976MM in cap space for the upcoming season, per PuckPedia, with a projected 22-player roster.  They could increase that wiggle room by not carrying a full-sized roster but that leaves them vulnerable to injuries.

It’s also worth mentioning that they have more than $5MM in potential performance bonuses for Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes so they may want to leave themselves some wiggle room to absorb some of those – if earned – on the 2024-25 cap instead of rolling them over to their 2025-26 cap.  Additionally, they will almost certainly want to leave themselves some room for in-season movement.

Put it all together and a long-term contract simply isn’t doable, not without moving someone of consequence off their current roster.  And while something like that isn’t impossible, a lot of teams are now tight to the cap ceiling so it’s not as easy as it was six weeks ago to move money; let’s face it, it wasn’t all that easy then either.

That squarely pushes the contract needle in the bridge direction for Mercer.  A two-year agreement would only cover one arbitration-eligible season but should check in around the $3.5MM per season mark, one that would leave GM Tom Fitzgerald at least $1MM in flexibility heading into the fall.  That’s not a lot – especially if there’s an early injury – but that would still have them in reasonable shape.  With him being four years away from UFA eligibility, something in the three-to-five-year range would be a bit riskier so it’s less likely to be one of those lengths.

While it might sound simple enough in theory, this is the type of contractual situation that can drag out.  If Mercer’s camp wants to hold out for the possibility of a long-term agreement, they’ll need to wait to see if something happens in terms of roster movement over the next six weeks or so.  And if both sides are resigned to a short-term agreement, Mercer could simply opt to wait until closer to camp to see if there’s an injury that gives him a bit more leverage and perhaps gives him a chance at a bit more money.  Neither of those scenarios are any reason for concern, that’s just sometimes how things play out with players coming off entry-level deals if they’re not signed at this point.

Despite the down year, Mercer is quite likely to be viewed as a key piece of New Jersey’s plans for the foreseeable future.  But with how their roster looks, it seems unlikely that they’ll be able to give him the type of contract commensurate with a core player.  Barring a change, that contract will have to come after they get through a bridge deal first.

East Notes: Kapanen, Kolosov, Mercer

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Canadiens center prospect Oliver Kapanen signed a two-year deal with Swedish Hockey League club Timrå IK back in May. He’s already made quite an impression on his new head coach, longtime NHLer Olli Jokinen, who showered the 21-year-old with praise in a recent interview with Marco D’Amico of Responsible Gambling.

In fact, Jokinen’s been so pleased with Kapanen’s play during the SHL preseason that he’s concerned about him spending more time than expected in Montreal next month when he heads to North America for training camp. “He’s been too good for our league so far this preseason, playing like a dominant force in every single game,” Jokinen said. “He’s been great offensively, scoring some goals, but also defensively and in the faceoff circle, which will be his biggest advantage going into Montreal.”

Kapanen may have inked a multi-year commitment with Timrå, but he also signed his entry-level contract with the Canadiens shortly thereafter. While technically eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Laval Rocket, there’s a European Assignment Clause in his ELC that will allow him to return to Timrå if cut from Montreal’s NHL roster, Jokinen said.

It would be a surprise to see Kapanen unseat another Canadiens youngster like Joshua Roy to win a roster spot, but the Finnish national is certainly trending in the right direction after recording 34 points in 51 games last season with Liiga’s KalPa. If he does play this season in Timrå, he’ll likely be their leader in ice time among forwards as “a first-line center with power play and penalty kill time,” said Jokinen.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • The Flyers are now operating under the assumption that goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov won’t be reporting to training camp, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reports. He also adds that general manager Daniel Brière remains unwilling to loan the 22-year-old back to Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, where he’s played for most of the past four seasons. Kolosov, a third-round pick of the Flyers in 2021, has two years left on his entry-level contract with Philadelphia. He’s been in dispute with the club about where to play this season since at least May, when reports emerged he had trouble adjusting to the North American environment after ending the 2023-24 campaign with a pair of appearances for Philly’s AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
  • Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast that he’s confident the Devils’ pending agreement with RFA forward Dawson Mercer will be a short-term one. With just under $5MM in projected cap space (PuckPedia), he doesn’t think the Devils would be able to fit a long-term deal with Mercer under the cap this season without a significant preseason corresponding transaction. Mercer remains unsigned with less than two weeks to go until training camp, but general manager Tom Fitzgerald said last month that a resolution wasn’t too far off.

Devils Sign Jakub Zboril, Michael Hutchinson To PTOs

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The Devils have officially signed defenseman Jakub Zboril and goaltender Michael Hutchinson to professional tryout agreements, the team announced today in a pair of press releases.

Zboril, the No. 13 overall pick by the Bruins in 2015, didn’t see any NHL action last season for the first time since 2019-20. He was waived following training camp and assigned to the AHL’s Providence Bruins, where he was limited to nine points and a -5 rating in 31 games before his nine-year tenure in the Boston organization ended in March.

After being shipped to the Blue Jackets in the trade deadline deal that saw Andrew Peeke head to the Bruins, Zboril posted four assists and a -2 rating in 15 games to end the season with Columbus’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters. He wasn’t brought back after reaching unrestricted free agency this summer following the conclusion of the two-year, $2.28MM extension he signed to stay in Boston in 2022.

Now 27, Zboril has topped out as a top-four AHL defender or a fringe No. 7 option on an NHL roster. He has one goal, 15 assists, 16 points, and an even rating in 76 career appearances in parts of four seasons with the Bruins, averaging 15:38 per game. The 6’0″, 194-lb defender does play an effective physical game, but he hasn’t been a notable offensive option in the pros, even at the AHL level.

Hutchinson, 34, will provide veteran insurance between the pipes during camp to complement a trio of young, NHL-contracted depth netminders who will be jockeying for AHL and ECHL starts. He hasn’t been a full-time NHL option since the mid-2010s, but he has still made at least one appearance per year in a depth role for various teams.

He spent last season with the Red Wings, mostly with their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. But he did make one NHL start, ironically against the Devils, posting a .917 SV% in a loss on Dec. 23, 2023. He’s struggled in AHL action over the past few years, posting sub-.900 save percentages for three seasons in a row.

Neither player will compete earnestly for a spot on the Devils’ opening night roster. Instead, they’ll look to convert strong camp performances into two-way deals and land with New Jersey’s AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, for 2024-25 after likely passing through waivers unclaimed.

East Notes: Demidov, Crosby, Mercer

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One of Ivan Demidov’s countrymen is optimistic the top-five pick will have a strong run of success in Montreal. Former Canadiens winger Alexander Radulov spoke to Sergey Demidov of Responsible Gambling about the 2024 fifth-overall pick and said Demidov will be “having a blast” when he likely begins his NHL career in the closing days of the 2024-25 season.

“Yes, he will be pressured, and he should understand that,” Radulov said. “But he should turn that pressure to his advantage. In Quebec, fans understand hockey. If you give it all, they see it and appreciate it. They even have hockey on their five-dollar bill.”

Radulov, who spent the 2016-17 season in Montreal, will be Demidov’s rival in the Kontinental Hockey League this season as the youngster takes on his first full season of professional hockey. Demidov, 19 in December, had one of the best seasons in Russian junior hockey history last year with SKA St. Petersburg’s U20 club, where he lit up the circuit for 60 points (27 G, 33 A) in just 30 games. He remains on SKA’s main roster two days ahead of their regular season opener, and all signs point to him starting his post-draft season with the main squad.

Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:

  • Each day that passes without a Sidney Crosby extension means more anxiety for Penguins fans. The face of the franchise is entering the last season of his 12-year, $104.4MM contract and has been eligible to sign an extension since July 1, but there hasn’t been any news despite the two sides being reportedly close for months. Trade speculation will keep heating up the closer we get to training camp, influencing TSN’s Travis Yost to at least break down the likelihood of Crosby being moved at the trade deadline. “Imagine for a moment that the Penguins struggle early,” Yost writes. “It is precisely Crosby’s loyalty to the franchise that would suggest a trade could be fruitful: the returns even for a rental of Crosby would be extraordinary, and under the same assumption that Crosby’s loyalty is unwavering, he would return back to Pittsburgh (with possibly more help rostered as soon as 2025-26) on his retirement deal.“
  • Could more teams follow in the Hurricanes’ footsteps and use deferred payments to help get long-term deals across the finish line? It’s at least something to look out for in the case of the Devils and RFA forward Dawson Mercer, posits James Nichols of New Jersey Hockey Now. New Jersey is down to $4.98MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia, a figure Mercer’s AAV on a longer-term deal would likely eclipse by a slim margin. Deferring a small percentage of the contract until the end of the agreement would help it get across the finish line, at least from the team’s perspective. Whether Mercer is willing to accept the structure remains to be seen.

Checking In On Notable Remaining Restricted Free Agents

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We are now three weeks away from training camp opening up in the NHL with preseason games coming quickly after. We recently checked in on several free-agent players looking for new homes shortly before preseason action and we’ll now pivot to notable restricted free agents still looking to re-up with their current clubs.

Goalies

One of the most oft-mentioned restricted free agents over the summer has been Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins. Recent reporting indicates that Swayman is not looking for the rumored $10MM a year salary but is looking more in the $8.5MM range. This would be a welcome sign for most teams but not for the Bruins as they are seeking a contract closer to $6MM a year and that gap is not close to getting bridged. They may come together soon and agree to a short-term pact that could lead Swayman to unrestricted free agency and give the Bruins more time to figure out their salary cap structure; this has all the makings of a contract negotiation that could leak into the regular season.

A reasonable price for Swayman may land between both asking prices with honest arguments. Swayman has earned a 79-33-15 record in 125 starts over his career in Boston with a .919 SV% and 2.34 GAA. There is a legitimate argument that Swayman has benefited greatly from the team playing in front of him and sharing the net for several years with now-Ottawa Senator, Linus Ullmark. Swayman’s side will likely argue that $8.5MM is a reasonable salary for an undisputed starter on a playoff-caliber team. He earned the majority of starts last season (43) and finished sixth in the league in goals saved above average with 16.4 with approximately 10 fewer games played than other goaltenders above him.

Defensemen

It’s been a quiet summer for the 2021-22 Calder Memorial Trophy winner Moritz Seider. He saw his entry-level contract expire on July 1st and very little has been reported on regarding current negotiations between himself and the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings currently own around $17.65MM in cap space so money won’t be an issue in retaining either Seider or his teammate Lucas Raymond (more on that later).

The young German defenseman has not missed a game since making his NHL debut on October 14th, 2021, and has been Detroit’s best defenseman since then. He’s been solid offensively with 21 goals and 134 points in 246 games over his entry-level deal but his defensive metrics are much more difficult to interpret. Seider is regularly put into bad situations when he hits the ice as the Red Wings’ most serviceable option on the back end. He’s finished towards the bottom of the roster in on-ice save percentage over his three-year career but he also finishes towards the top of the team in defensive zone starts.

The other notable restricted free-agent defenseman is nearly 1,200 miles away in Dallas, Texas. Thomas Harley is coming off an electric season with the Dallas Stars scoring 15 goals and 47 points in 79 games. He quickly became an offensive option behind Miro Heiskanen and gave the Stars more of a complete powerplay. The most recent reporting came on August 9th with general manager Jim Hill maintaining confidence that Harley will sign soon.

Forwards

Circling back to Detroit; Raymond joins Seider as another restricted free agent yet to re-sign with the Red Wings. He’s a more complicated situation to interpret as Raymond exploded offensively with 31 goals and 72 points last year. The young Swedish forward averaged 53 points a season before that so Detroit may have more desire for a short-term pact before they commit to Raymond as a first-line talent. Coupled with a shooting percentage 6.4% higher than his career average last year; the Red Wings may believe a certain amount of regression is in order next year.

Seth Jarvis of the Carolina Hurricanes arguably represents the most talented option left on the board. A report yesterday from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period indicates a long-term deal may be on the horizon. It’s no surprise why both sides are targeting a long-term contract as he already showed his importance last year for Carolina before the organization lost a few key forwards this summer. He finished second on the team in scoring last season with 33 goals and 67 points in 82 games while chipping in another five goals and nine points in 11 postseason contests. The contract should eat into much of Carolina’s remaining salary cap space of $6.44MM according to PuckPedia.

The last notable restricted free agent forward we’ll touch on is Dawson Mercer of the New Jersey Devils. The two sides have reportedly exchanged proposals which lends to the idea a deal will be done soon. He’s not as high-profile as some of the other forwards on New Jersey’s roster but Mercer has been a consistent and available scorer since entering the league three years ago. He hasn’t missed a game since the start of the 2021-22 season which has become invaluable to a Devils’ roster that has been rocked by injuries the last few years. Given his reliability and offensive abilities his AAV should land between Ondrej Palat ($6MM AAV) and Erik Haula ($3.15MM AAV) on the Devils’ salary cap table.

Simon Nemec Injured In Olympic Qualifier Game

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The New Jersey Devils will be waiting on bated breath over the next 48 hours to get a clearer picture of the injury sustained by defenseman Simon Nemec in the Olympic qualifier event earlier today between Slovakia and Hungary (Article Link). Beat reporter James Nichols quickly reported that the prognosis was good as Team Slovakia’s doctor does not believe anything is broken or dislocated but more tests will be run tomorrow.

It does not appear that Nemec will be out long-term without a break or dislocation so he should still be in line to start the year on time with New Jersey. The play in question took place in the back half of the second period with Nemec colliding into the corner boards with a player from Team Hungary which precluded him from participating in the rest of Friday’s action. Team Slovakia went on to win the game by a score of 7-3 and will take on Team Kazakhstan to advance.

The young Slovakian defenseman is on the eve of starting his sophomore campaign at the NHL on the heels of a solid rookie season. Nemec played in 60 games for the Devils last year and put up three goals and 19 points overall. He wasn’t a game-changer on the back end nor a liability which is more than many 19-year-olds can say about their first taste of NHL action. New Jersey will be hoping for more on both sides of the puck but it is already apparent they trust him as he finished fourth on the team in average ice time in 5-on-5 play.

The Devils may be able to gear down Nemec’s responsibilities for the 2024-25 season after a few key free-agent additions on the back end. The organization could slot Nemec into a more comfortable role on the bottom-pairing next to Brenden Dillon to give him more room to grow.

New Jersey can’t afford to lose as many defensemen as they did last year to injury; this news is a major avoidance of that. Luke Hughes was the only defenseman on the roster last season available to play in all 82 games and the man-games lost to injury had a major part in their 31-point drop in the standings year-on-year.

New Jersey, Dawson Mercer Working Toward Extension

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The New Jersey Devils kick-started a busy offseason by acquiring goaltender Jacob Markstrom earlier in the summer from the Calgary Flames. Once free agency opened on July 1st, the team brought Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, Stefan Noesen, and Tomas Tatar around an already talented roster. The Devils only have one item left on their plate before training camp opens up in September — the looming extension for forward Dawson Mercer.

In an interview yesterday with RG.org, the general manager of the Devils, Tom Fitzgerald said, “We are working towards an agreement after exchanging proposals“. This quote is a good indication that the two sides will get a deal done before training camp starts as it confirms the two sides are far enough down the line where they have exchanged offers. Although the Devils may have gotten an offer sheet scare last week with the deals made between Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg, and the St. Louis Blues, the relationship between New Jersey and Mercer may nix any idea of that happening.

Given the Devils’ current salary cap situation, the deal will likely be on the shorter term. New Jersey currently has just under $5MM in salary cap space according to PuckPedia. Unless Mercer is willing to take a sizeable discount to stay with the Devils organization, a long-term deal appears out of the question.

Fitzgerald may take a similar approach to Mercer’s teammate Jesper Bratt, who signed a pair of short-term deals before agreeing to an eight-year contract extension last summer. Mercer has scored 64 goals and 131 points in 246 regular season contests during his entry-level contract which makes for a similar point-per-game percentage as Bratt during his entry-level contract. Once Bratt’s first contract ended after the 2019-20 season, he and the Devils agreed to a two-year, $5.5MM deal.

If New Jersey hopes to sign Mercer to a similar contract, it will likely land in the $6MM range over a two-year deal. The salary cap has increased by $6.5MM since Bratt signed his deal and Mercer should look for a similar percentage of the available cap space. A $3MM AAV would give the Devils just under $2MM of cap space to work with during the regular season giving them plenty of flexibility to make in-season additions.

Mercer is a valuable asset to New Jersey as he slots in well on the team’s second line and second powerplay unit. He has also not missed a game since his rookie campaign in the 2021-22 season which is a bonus to a Devils’ team that has struggled with injuries in recent years.

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