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Snapshots: Three Stars, Toffoli, Jaros

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, with Jonathan Huberdeau of the Florida Panthers taking home the top spot. Huberdeau put up nine points in three games and helped the Panthers to the top spot in the entire NHL. Sometimes overlooked when hockey fans consider the top offensive players in the league, Huberdeau is now working on his fourth consecutive season scoring at a better than point-per-game rate.

Second and third place went to Victor Hedman and Jake Guentzel respectively, after their own outstanding performances. The Tampa Bay Lightning star had eight points in four games, jumping him up to top spot among all defensemen in the league. His 26 points in 24 games puts him in the running for the Norris Trophy once again, an award he has been a finalist for (or won), five years in a row. Guentzel, another player who may not get his due credit when discussing the top offensive players in the league, had five goals and six points in three games last week. The Pittsburgh Penguins forward is tied for 21st in the league with 24 points, including 13 goals in 23 games.

  • The Montreal Canadiens will be without Tyler Toffoli for the next few weeks. The team announced Toffoli’s absence “could be quite long” as he deals with an upper-body injury. The Canadiens are dealing with several key injuries as they try to turn over the organization from the recently-fired Marc Bergevin to the newly-hired Jeff Gorton.
  • The New Jersey Devils have activated Christian Jaros from injured reserve, a month after he went on the shelf with a hand injury. Jaros has played just two games this season for the Devils and will likely go back to just a depth role for the team. The 25-year-old defenseman has 85 games of NHL experience and was acquired from the San Jose Sharks last summer.

Minor Transactions: 12/05/21

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Notable in-season roster moves are not limited only to NHL trades, claims, recalls, and reassignments. Transactions in the minors, European leagues, and junior and college ranks often include familiar names or impact current NHL prospects. Keep up with all of these moves here:

  • New Jersey Devils prospect Jaromir Pytlik is on his way to play with none other than Jaromir Jagr. The young Czech forward has had a disappointing season in Finland, loaned by the Liiga’s KalPa to the second-tier Metsis. Pytlik has opted to move on from that situation and return home, signing a contract for the remainder of the season with Rytiri Kladno. Kladno, of course, is most famous for player-owner Jagr and also features a number of other former NHLers. Pytlik, a big, well-rounded center selected by the Devils in the fourth round in 2020, will now have the opportunity to take a big step in his development by learning from one of the best to ever play the game.
  • Former Boston Bruins prospect Cedric Pare has signed his first AHL contract, as the Belleville Senators have announced a one-year deal with the young center. Pare had been with the team on loan from the ECHL, but earned an official promotion with four points in 13 games. Pare, 22, was an underwhelming prospect for the Bruins, who ultimately opted not to offer him an entry-level contract. However, Pare then rose to relevance as the center for eventual top overall pick Alexis Lafreniere for the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic in 2019-20. After the big, two-way center excelled in the ECHL last season as well, he looks to have the makings of a capable pro.
  • Another former QMJHL star is getting a shot at the AHL, though for now on a loan basis. The ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions have announced that leading scorer Peter Abbandonato has been recalled by the AHL’s Laval Rocket. Abbandonato recorded 111 points for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in his final junior season in 2018-19 and, though not immediately considered a future NHLer, at least looked to be an intriguing pro. He recorded 27 points in 55 games with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch over the past two years, but could not find an AHL deal this summer. Back home in Quebec though, he will get his shot in Laval after notching 11 goals and 23 points in 17 games with the Lions.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

No Supplemental Discipline For P.K. Subban, Marcus Foligno

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Despite considerable media attention paid to both situations, New Jersey Devils defenseman P.K. Subban and Minnesota Wild forward Marcus Foligno will not receive any discipline from recent altercations. The NHL Department of Player Safety has reviewed each scenario and determined that neither rises to the level of a suspension or fine.

In the case of Foligno, this appears to be a perfectly appropriate decision. The incident in question occurred on Saturday night as the Wild took on the Toronto Maple Leafs. Just as Foligno had jumped off for a change, a scrum ensued right in front of the Minnesota bench. Foligno got back on the ice to engage with the Leafs’ Wayne Simmonds. Typically, leaving the bench in this scenario would be a an automatic ten-game suspension, one of the NHL’s most harsh penalties. However, as The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports, the league did not consider this to be a case of Foligno leaving the bench, as no one had yet replaced him on the ice. Kirill Kaprizov was supposed to sub in for Foligno, but given the budding altercation in front of him smartly stayed put, which allowed Foligno, who was still straddling the boards, to legally get back on the ice. The Wild just narrowly avoided losing one of their veteran leaders for an extended period of time.

As for Subban, the lack of retribution from the league continues to be a strange phenomenon. Subban appeared to slew foot the Winnipeg Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers on Friday night, though it was not called on the ice. The general understanding in this scenario is that the incident does not meet the league’s textbook definition of “slew foot”. Call what you will, but this shockingly marks his fourth dangerous trip this season. Yet, the veteran defenseman had not received any punishment and Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that this will continue with this latest incident. It remains a mystery how Subban continues to get off scot-free with obvious slew foots, especially when the Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand recently received a three-game suspension for a slew foot that received no attention from the officials nor the visiting Vancouver Canucks. Seravalli states that extra attention is being paid by the league to both Subban and slew foots, yet it made no difference yet again.

Devils Activate Jesper Boqvist

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  • The Devils announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated center Jesper Boqvist from injured reserve. The 23-year-old has missed the last couple of weeks due to an upper-body injury and has split his season between New Jersey and their AHL affiliate in Utica.  With the Devils, he has one assist in five games but has eight points in seven minor league contests.  New Jersey had an open roster spot so no one needed to be sent down to make room for Boqvist on the active roster.

Minor Transactions: 12/03/21

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It’s been a hectic day in the world of North American minor hockey, with a flurry of roster moves at the NHL level leading to compensatory moves elsewhere. Here’s a list of today’s minor transactions.

  • The AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins recalled goalie Tommy Nappier from the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers after COVID cases on the Penguins postponed their next two games. Undrafted, Nappier was a standout at Ohio State for the past four years, posting a save percentage above .930 in every season except for his last. He hasn’t gotten off to a smooth start in his first professional season, however, posting just a .877 save percentage in four games with Wheeling. He’s fared better at the AHL level with a .900 save percentage and a 1-3-0 record with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
  • Cedric Pare has been signed by the AHL’s Belleville Senators for the rest of the season after spending the beginning of the season with the team on a try-out, per a team release. The 22-year-old Pare impressed in his first professional season last year, scoring 40 points in 67 games for the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies after going undrafted through his junior career. He has two goals and two assists through 13 games with Belleville in 2021-22.
  • Per the ECHL’s transactions page for Friday, the AHL’s Utica Comets recalled left wing Luke Stevens from the Adirondack Thunder. Stevens, the son of Kevin Stevens and former property of the Carolina Hurricanes, went unsigned after finishing his college career with Yale University. Now in the Devils organization on the AHL deal, he has no points through four games this season at the AHL level and is still looking for his first professional point.

Brodeur Not Expected To Pursue Montreal GM Job

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  • Martin Brodeur isn’t going to be leaving the New Jersey Devils for the Montreal Canadiens general manager job, at least that’s what he told Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. Brodeur is obviously more connected to the Devils than any other franchise in the league, and going to Montreal never did seem like a very good fit for the legendary goaltender.

New Jersey Devils Sign Shakir Mukhamadullin

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It’s not exactly the $64MM deal that Jack Hughes landed yesterday, but the New Jersey Devils have signed another contract. Shakir Mukhamadullin, one of the team’s 2020 first-round picks, has inked his entry-level contract. The team has immediately loaned him back to Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the KHL, where he will finish the season.

At the time of his draft, some questioned the Devils’ decision to take Mukhamadullin so high, selected 20th overall with the team’s third first-round pick. The young defenseman had been ranked 17th among international skaters by NHL Central Scouting and was expected by some to drop to the second round. The Devils obviously saw something that other scouts didn’t, as Mukhamadullin has not only shown an interesting mix of size, skating ability, and skill, but is also carrying himself quite well in the KHL playing against professionals.

Now 19, the 6’4″ defenseman already has 100 KHL contests under his belt and took part in the World Juniors last year for Russia. He’ll likely be there again this time around, though Ufa will be sorry to lose him. Unlike some teenagers that barely see the ice in the KHL, Mukhamadullin takes a regular shift and is also on the team’s powerplay unit. That’s where all three of his goals this year have come from, already matching his total from last season.

The timing of a contract like this is curious though, as KHL players do not often sign NHL contracts mid-season. It’s good news for the Devils, who will not have to fight to get Mukhamadullin over to North America when he’s ready, but it also means that his contract can slide since they got it done before the calendar flipped to 2022. Had they waited until the spring, when his KHL season ended, Mukhamadullin could have potentially negotiated a deal that burned the first year of his ELC in 2021-22 even without playing games.

Still, it will be interesting if he does come over when the KHL season ends and if so, where he’ll be assigned. He could get a handful of games in with the AHL club, or potentially even test himself at the NHL level down the stretch. Either way, Devils fans no longer have to worry about getting Mukhamadullin into the organization.

New Jersey Devils Extend Jack Hughes

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The New Jersey Devils have locked up the potential face of their franchise, signing Jack Hughes to an eight-year extension that will kick in next season. The deal comes just as Hughes is set to return to the lineup tonight after a long injury layoff. The $64MM contract will carry an average annual value of $8MM, making him the team’s highest-paid forward and locking him up through the 2029-30 season. Hughes was set to become a restricted free agent for the first time next summer.

PuckPedia reports that the deal will include a 10-team no-trade clause in the last four years of the deal. The full breakdown is as follows:

  • 2022-23: $7.0MM salary + $2.0MM signing bonus
  • 2023-24: $8.5MM salary
  • 2024-25: $8.5MM salary
  • 2025-26: $8.5MM salary
  • 2026-27: $8.0MM salary
  • 2027-28: $7.5MM salary
  • 2028-29: $7.0MM salary
  • 2029-30: $7.0MM salary

General manager Tom Fitzgerald released a statement explaining his excitement over the contract:

Today is a big day for the New Jersey Devils. This contract shows the commitment Jack and his family have made to us, and how the organization- myself, David Blitzer and Josh Harris- are in turn committed to them. We are building something unique and special here, with Jack being a core piece of that. This is just the start of where we believe we can go with this organization, as we work towards sustained success for years to come.

Selected first overall in 2019, Hughes has slowly developed through his first two years in the league, surrounded by a young, inexperienced roster and seeing his fair share of struggles. There was little doubt he entered this season as an improved player, however, and he showed it with his two-goal performance (including the overtime winner) in the Devils season opener. He had another assist in his second game before injuring his shoulder, which has kept him out since October 19 and limited him to just 26 minutes of ice time so far this season.

That all changes tonight when Hughes returns, now with not only the burden of draft expectations but now with those of a huge contract as well.

A member of one of an incredibly popular hockey family, which includes older brother Quinn Hughes, a star defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks, and younger brother Luke Hughes, who was selected fourth overall by the Devils this year and is currently playing at the University of Michigan, Jack Hughes has a skillset that could lead to huge results for the Devils in the long run. While he had just 21 points in his rookie season, he came back as a teenager last year to put up 31 points in 56 games, including 10 in his last 14.

While the projection of his ceiling is still sky-high, there’s obviously also a ton of risk in a contract like this for the Devils. Yes, Hughes could outperform an $8MM ticket as soon as next season, but he also could very well settle in below the true top-line options in the league and suddenly be a bit of an overpayment. The fact is that he hasn’t delivered that kind of production yet, even if his talent and upside are so obvious.

For a team like the Devils though, who only really have two other long-term commitments–captain Nico Hischier and free agent signing Dougie Hamilton–a deal like this isn’t going to cripple them even if he struggles moving forward. They’re paying for what should be Hughes’ entire prime and locking it in to avoid any distractions in the future. If the league’s revenue recovers to a point where the cap ceiling increases down the road, this deal could look like even more of a bargain, given it keeps Hughes in New Jersey for four unrestricted free agent years.

The pressure is on now for Hughes, who will start on the wing this evening but is still projected to be a center long-term for the Devils. That positional decision could be a huge factor in whether this is deal ends up a bargain or a blunder, as Hughes would hold so much more value if he can continue to line up in the middle of the ice.

This move also clears the deck for the Devils front office to focus on some of the other restricted free agents this summer, without having to wonder how much Hughes’ deal will come in at. Jesper Bratt, Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood, and several others are set to hit RFA status, meaning some more multi-year deals may be coming down the pipe. A team that’s just turning the corner on their rebuild, New Jersey is now 9-6-4 and focused on competing all season long in the Metropolitan Division.

Kevin Weekes of ESPN was first to report that a deal was close between Hughes and the Devils. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Devils Assign Fabian Zetterlund To Utica

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  • The Devils announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned winger Fabian Zetterlund back to AHL Utica. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut last week and has played in three games in New Jersey but logged just 4:49 on Wednesday.  With Nathan Bastian returning after being claimed on waivers, Zetterlund can return to the Comets where he was off to a nice start offensively with nine points in his first ten games.

New Jersey Devils Claim Nathan Bastian

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Welcome back, Nathan. The New Jersey Devils have claimed Nathan Bastian off waivers from the Seattle Kraken, bringing back the player they lost in the expansion draft.

Bastian, 23, never seemed like a player that would make it through waivers, given the mix of size, draft pedigree and relative youth that he brings. A second-round pick in 2016, he played 41 games for the Devils last season, scoring ten points and forming a nice line with longtime teammate Michael McLeod.

While he failed to provide much offense with the Kraken, scoring just one goal and two points in 12 games, Bastian does actually have some upside on that side of the puck. The 6’4″ forward has scored 44 goals in 188 AHL games and even his seven in 60 NHL games show a player who can chip in once in a while.

He’ll now avoid a return to the minor leagues, as the Devils will have to keep him on the active roster. To make room, Jesper Boqvist has been moved to injured reserve retroactive to November 18.

For Seattle, this appears to be another case of wasting an expansion pick. There wasn’t a ton of talent available on the Devils roster, but it seems likely that someone like Andreas Johnsson would have been more valuable, even despite his contract. Now they’ve lost Bastian for nothing (save the small fee a team must pay to claim a player), after just 12 games.

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