More On Johnny Gaudreau’s Free Agent Decision
The hockey world was shocked last week when top free agent Johnny Gaudreau decided to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets, though he maintains it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise. In a lengthy interview on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast, Gaudreau confirms that he was talking with the New Jersey Devils before eventually deciding to sign with Columbus:
I was only talking to like two or three teams. I was super thankful that Columbus called during that late hour in the afternoon, because I was pretty much going to–I think I was trying to get a deal done with the Devils, and then Columbus called. I was like ‘I want to go here” and my agent got it done.
Gaudreau directly answered a question about the Philadelphia Flyers, explaining that though he still maintains it would be nice to play for his hometown team, he knew for quite a while that they wouldn’t be involved because of their cap situation.
Now excited about starting the next chapter of his career in Columbus, Gaudreau related how many players he already knew on the roster and how welcome the organization made him feel right away–including rookie Kent Johnson texting general manager Jarmo Kekalainen to offer up No. 13 before a deal was even signed.
With Patrik Laine next to sign, Johnson and other young players in the mix, and Gaudreau penciled in as a potential MVP-level player for the next few years, the Blue Jackets’ offensive group suddenly looks quite imposing. There is some work for Kekalainen yet to do, with just a bit of cap space available and Laine owed at a minimum a $7.5MM qualifying offer, but fans will be happy to hear just how excited Gaudreau is about the idea of playing in Columbus.
The Devils, who missed out on the star winger, ended up signing Ondrej Palat a few hours later, handing out a smaller contract but still landing one of the top free agent options. They then acquired John Marino from the Pittsburgh Penguins to shore up the defensive end, eating up more of the cap space that could have gone to Gaudreau.
New Jersey Devils Sign Vitek Vanecek
After acquiring his rights from the Washington Capitals earlier this summer, the New Jersey Devils have agreed to a multi-year deal with Vitek Vanecek. The three-year contract will be worth an average annual value of $3.4MM, and pay salary as follows:
- 2022-23: $3.55MM
- 2023-24: $3.75MM
- 2024-25: $2.9MM
Vanecek had recently filed for salary arbitration, though that process will no longer be needed. Instead, the Devils will buy out two years of unrestricted free agency with the new deal.
A contract like this would be a pretty big gamble for many teams, given how Vanecek has performed so far in his short career, but with plenty of cap room to spare it shouldn’t pose much of a problem for the Devils. The 26-year-old netminder has just 79 regular season appearances to this point and holds a career .908 save percentage, not exactly a sure thing to provide starter-level performance for the Devils moving forward.
In fact, the Capitals chose to go with Ilya Samsonov in this year’s playoffs, before eventually non-tendering him in the offseason. Samsonov signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs for one year and $1.8MM, almost half of what Vanecek will make.
That’s not to say there isn’t some potential upside here, as the Czech netminder could still take a step forward and become a true answer in net for New Jersey. The team also has Mackenzie Blackwood under contract at the moment, though it is unclear where his future lies after injuries have derailed his career, and Jonathan Bernier‘s playing status up in the air after hip surgery earlier this year.
For a team looking to contend, better goaltending is paramount. Only the Seattle Kraken had a worse team save percentage than the Devils’ .881 last season, as they used seven different netminders to try and stop the puck. Top prospect Nico Daws actually led the way with 25 appearances, and while he does not appear ready for a full-time role just yet, it does seem like his spot will soon be the tandem role with Vanecek.
Where does that leave Blackwood, many will wonder. The young goaltender has been listed in trade speculation for months, but moving him right now would be at an all-time low, after registering an .892 save percentage in this forgettable season. The team couldn’t rely on him as the only option but getting him back on track through the first part of the year and building up some value might be the best course of action in New Jersey.
Jesper Bratt, Tyce Thompson, Vitek Vanecek File For Salary Arbitration
The National Hockey League Players Association (NHLPA) announced that 24 players have filed for player-elected salary arbitration, the deadline for which came this afternoon. This list is not necessarily the final and complete list of players headed for arbitration, with clubs now eligible to elect salary arbitration until tomorrow, July 18th at 5:00 pm ET.
Mason Appleton (WPG)
Ethan Bear (CAR)
Jesper Bratt (NJD)
Lawson Crouse (ARI)
Morgan Geekie (SEA)
Mathieu Joseph (OTT)
Kaapo Kahkonen (SJS)
Kasperi Kapanen (PIT)
Keegan Kolesar (VGK)
Oliver Kylington (CGY)
Maxime Lajoie (CAR)
Steven Lorentz (SJS)
Isac Lundestrom (ANA)
Zack MacEwen (PHI)
Niko Mikkola (STL)
Andrew Mangiapane (CGY)
Matthew Phillips (CGY)
Jesse Puljujarvi (EDM)
Tyce Thompson (NJD)
Yakov Trenin (NSH)
Vitek Vanecek (NJD)
Jake Walman (DET)
Kailer Yamamoto (EDM)
Pavel Zacha (BOS)
Notably out of this list, Mikkola had previously filed for arbitration, but the two sides were able to settle on a one-year, $1.9MM contract that will leave the defenseman an UFA after next season.
A key distinction to add is that any player who has filed for arbitration is no longer eligible to sign an offer sheet, effectively taking the players on this list off the market. Three notable names that did not file for arbitration are Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois, Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk and Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine. Though contract talks have been quiet on Dubois and Tkachuck, word of amicable discussions between Laine’s camp and Columbus has been made known. Once tomorrow’s club-elected salary arbitration deadline passes, teams and players will have time to prepare their cases before hearings begin, running from July 27th through August 11th.
Devils Acquire John Marino
The Devils and Penguins have swapped defensemen as New Jersey has acquired defenseman John Marino from Pittsburgh in exchange for blueliner Ty Smith and a 2023 third-round pick. Both teams have announced the swap. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald released the following statement:
John is a competitive, highly mobile defenseman who strengthens our back end. He takes pride in his game away from the puck and his puck management and ability to transition play will fit in nicely with our style and the strengths of our forward group. This is another move focused on improving our club today, while also providing certainty and stability for roster flexibility as we continue to build.
The 25-year-old Marino made an immediate impact in his rookie season back in 2019-20, recording 26 points in 56 games. Pittsburgh had acquired his rights from Edmonton in the 2019 offseason for a sixth-round pick and that type of immediate return was quite impressive. So much so, in fact, that then-GM Jim Rutherford handed Marino a six-year, $26.4MM contract back in January of 2021, a deal that still has five years remaining.
However, things didn’t go as well for Marino and the Penguins since then. He struggled in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 campaign before rebounding a little bit last season, recording a goal and 24 assists in 81 games while still logging over 20 minutes a night, a number that jumped to over 23 minutes per contest in their first-round playoff loss to the Rangers.
In Marino, New Jersey gets a defender that is capable of playing top-four minutes now as evidenced by the fact that he has averaged over 20 minutes per contest over each of his three NHL seasons. A right-shot rearguard, Marino also gives them some insurance on the right side with Damon Severson a year away from unrestricted free agency. If he departs next summer, Marino could simply take Severson’s spot behind Dougie Hamilton on their depth chart which is likely the stability for roster flexibility that Fitzgerald spoke of in his statement.
As for Smith, the 22-year-old was a first-round pick of the Devils back in 2018 (17th overall) and made a very strong first impression in his rookie year in 2020-21 when he picked up 23 points in 48 games while averaging over 20 minutes a game himself. However, things certainly did not go well last season as his production dropped to 20 points in 66 contests while his defensive metrics took a tumble. Nevertheless, he’s certainly young enough to rebound not unlike Marino did last season.
While Smith is an intriguing addition, the key to the trade for Pittsburgh might very well be the financial flexibility gained. Smith still has a year to go on his entry-level deal, one that carries a cap hit of just $863K plus an additional $400K in performance bonuses. Compared to Marino’s $4.4MM cap charge, Pittsburgh has freed up over $3.5MM in cap space for next season (not including the bonuses). That money is basically all of the cap space they have left which they will need in order to re-sign RFA winger Kasperi Kapanen this summer.
It’s also worth noting that Pittsburgh now has a bit of a logjam on the left side of their back end with Smith joining lefties Brian Dumoulin, Michael Matheson, and Marcus Pettersson. The Penguins have been known to be shopping Pettersson in the past and this type of move could very well intensify the desire to get a trade done, especially if they can free up a little more cap flexibility in the process.
As for New Jersey’s offseason, there is still a lot of work to be done. Per CapFriendly, the Devils have just under $13MM in cap space left following this trade with a big chunk of that set to go to RFA winger Jesper Bratt. Forwards Miles Wood and Jesper Boqvist also need new deals as does recent acquisition Vitek Vanecek; the netminder is in his final year of RFA eligibility and will be looking at a significant raise after making the league minimum the last three years. As a result, their heavy lifting in terms of adding to their roster may be finished with the focus now turning to re-signing their RFAs.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Andrew Brunette Joins Devils As Associate Coach
July 15: The Devils have officially announced Brunette as the team’s new associate coach, mentioning how he was a teammate of general manager Tom Fitzgerald with the Nashville Predators in 1998-99.
July 13: It’s not just players making news today. ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports the New Jersey Devils have reached a three-year agreement with Andrew Brunette on an associate coaching role. TSN’s Darren Dreger was first to report that things were tracking toward an agreement between Brunette and the New Jersey Devils, but also listed the Winnipeg Jets, Philadelphia Flyers, and Vancouver Canucks as teams with interest in the 2022 Jack Adams Award finalist.
Not often do you see a coach of the year contender immediately hit the open market, let alone do you see them settle for an associate coaching role. But with just five years of coaching experience in the NHL in total, and the Panthers opting to hire the more experienced Paul Maurice, Brunette hits the open market as a high-end support man for teams’ benches. In New Jersey, he’d serve behind an extremely experienced bench boss in Lindy Ruff, allowing him to gain just a little more time in the league before undoubtedly returning to a head coaching role down the road.
And after those three seasons, that’s undoubtedly what he’ll do. It wouldn’t surprise anyone to see him take over for Ruff in three years’ time, or even sooner if New Jersey decides to part with Ruff before that. It’s a good backup plan in case things go wrong with Ruff at the helm.
New Jersey Devils Sign Ondrej Palat
3:43 pm: Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald has made the contract official, locking Palat in for five seasons at a cap hit of $6MM.
6:22 am: Late last night, once most of the league had gone to sleep, the New Jersey Devils were busy adding some Stanley Cup pedigree. Kevin Weekes of ESPN was first to report that Ondrej Palat would be signing a five-year deal with the Devils, and Chris Johnston of TSN added that it is expected to carry a cap hit of $6MM.
Palat, 31, has long been a swiss army knife for the Tampa Bay Lightning, able to move into any situation and excel. In 628 regular season games, all with the Lightning, he has 423 points. It has been the postseason where he shines the brightest, showing up at the biggest moments to score a game-winning goal, or deliver a game-saving shot block. This season, he had 21 points in 23 games as the Lightning tried to win their third consecutive championship.
In New Jersey, while he will still be asked to contribute at a high level, his addition will also give young players like Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier someone to lean on to find out “what it takes” to win in the NHL. As the Devils try to transition away from a rebuild and into a contention window, Palat should be able to help shepherd them along, filling in the gaps wherever necessary.
At a $6MM cap hit, a team like Tampa Bay would have had too much risk exposure, given their tight financial structure. In New Jersey, the team has plenty of space and should feel that same squeeze, though there will still likely be years at the end of the deal where he is not performing anywhere near a $6MM value. The focus is on his contributions in the short-term, and whether he can help the young Devils team reach the next level.
Metro Notes: Penguins, Thompson, Mukhamadullin
The Pittsburgh Penguins went into yesterday’s free agency frenzy with eight defensemen already under one-way contracts for the upcoming season. Then they made their biggest signing of the day a three-year deal for Jan Rutta. Now, with too many defensemen and not enough spots, it appears a trade is coming.
General manager Ron Hextall admitted as much at a press conference yesterday, explaining there were a “couple too many” defensemen with the team now. It should come as no surprise then when David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that John Marino and Marcus Pettersson are both “out there” in trade talks today. The two defensemen are both signed for at least three years and at least $4MM per season, meaning these won’t be scrap heap buys for anyone who is interested.
- The Philadelphia Flyers are expected to hire Rocky Thompson, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The former minor league enforcer parted ways with the San Jose Sharks last September, explaining that due to a medical exemption that prevented him from taking a COVID-19 vaccine, he was not permitted to continue as the team’s associate coach. Thompson has a strong coaching resume that includes stints as the head coach of the Windsor Spitfires and Chicago Wolves, though as Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic notes, it is unclear what kind of restrictions his vaccination status will lead to next season.
- It appears as though Shakir Mukhamadullin could be spending another year in the KHL, as he is listed in the league transfers as signing a new contract with Ufa Salavat Yulaev, the club he has spent the last several seasons with. The New Jersey Devils prospect did sign his entry-level contract in the NHL but it includes a European Assignment Clause. It is likely that this new KHL agreement is in case he fails to make the Devils roster out of camp, and will lead to his return overseas instead of assignment to the AHL. There’s no rush for the 20-year-old, though he will burn the first year of his ELC no matter where he plays this season.
New Jersey Devils Sign Four Players
The New Jersey Devils are bringing back tough guy Mason Geertsen, according to Chris Johnston of TSN. PuckPedia reports that the one-year deal is worth $750K at the NHL level, $300K in the AHL, and includes a minor league guarantee of $350K.
Geertsen, 27, made his NHL debut this season and suited up 25 times for the Devils. In those games, he averaged nearly as many minutes in the penalty box as on the ice, being used almost entirely for his fighting ability and intimidation factor. The 6’4″ forward logged 58 hits and 77 penalty minutes on the year, while averaging fewer than seven minutes of ice time and failing to score a single point.
It’s not really different in the minor leagues, where Geertsen has only ever scored nine goals, despite more than 300 AHL appearances. One of the last remaining enforcers, he does have over 500 penalty minutes and a lengthy fight card.
New Jersey added more depth this evening, signing forward Brian Pinho to a one-year, two-way contract, says CapFriendly (link). The contract will pay Pinho $750K at the NHL level and $325K at the minor league level.
After an impressive four-year tenure at Providence College, Pinho, a sixth-round selection by the Washington Capitals in 2013, turned pro, spending parts of the previous four seasons as a member of the AHL’s Hershey Bears, putting up 17 points in 27 games this past season. Though primarily an AHLer for his career, Pinho did appear in two games for the Capitals in 2020-21.
Forward Jack Dugan will also head to New Jersey, signing a one-year, two-way contract according to CapFriendly (link). Dugan’s contract will pay him $750K at the NHL level and $125K at the minor league level and leaves him an RFA at its expiration. A fifth-round pick in the Vegas Golden Knights’ inaugural draft class, Dugan spent a year with the Chicago Steel fo rhte USHL before heading to Providence, like Pinho, then eventually turning pro, spending the previous two seasons with the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL.
The Devils also brought back defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon on a two-year, two-way contract, per CapFriendly (link). Wotherspoon’s deal is worth $750K at the NHL level in year one and bumps up to $775K in year two. At the minor league level, the deal is wroth $300K in the first year and $325K in the second.
A veteran of 30 NHL games spread over four seasons in the Calgary Flames organization, Wotherspoon represents solid depth for a Devils organization that has had its share of injuries that have forced them to dig deep to find replacements. The defenseman has carved out a career for himself in the AHL as a reliable defenseman, blending in and producing for whatever team he has been on, the 2021-22 Utica Comets representing his fifth team, all in the AHL, in the previous five seasons.
Speaking of the Comets, Wotherspoon, as well as Pinho and Dugan, will have a chance to help Utica run it back once again after an absolutely dominant 2021-22 campaign that saw them go 43-20-8-1, clinching first place in the AHL’s North Division.
New Jersey Devils Expected To Sign Brendan Smith
Per Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the New Jersey Devils have agreed to terms with defenseman Brendan Smith on a two-year deal carrying a $1.1MM cap hit. This signing represents Smith’s return to the tri-state area, having spent parts of five seasons on the New York Rangers. Smith, 33, is an inexpensive signing for the Devils and one that will help them shore up their bottom pairing.
At this point in his career, Smith isn’t an earth-shattering addition. He’s a bottom-pairing defenseman who averaged just under 14 minutes of ice time last season. He brings a stay-at-home, physical style that got him on the Hurricanes’ penalty kill, where he averaged 1:04 of short-handed ice time per game. A well-respected locker room voice, Smith has shown versatility and a team-first mentality in the past, having even played sporadically as a forward late in his tenure with the Rangers because he lost his spot on their blueline.
This signing won’t be the major win of GM Tom Fitzgerald’s offseason. But for one of the NHL’s youngest teams, adding a safe, veteran defenseman at an affordable price is the sort of under-the-radar move that can make a big impact. Smith won’t be the reason the Devils get back to the playoffs, but if they do end up competing in a cutthroat Metropolitan division, Smith will help steady the ship.
Boston Bruins Acquire Pavel Zacha
The Boston Bruins have made a move but it isn’t an unrestricted free agent coming to town. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Bruins have acquired Pavel Zacha from the New Jersey Devils. Zacha is a pending restricted free agent, and eligible for salary arbitration after his current three-year, $6.75MM (total) contract expires. Erik Haula is headed back the other way.
With another double-digit goal season under his belt–Zacha scored 15 goals this season after 17 in 2020-21–that potential arbitration award would have been rather pricey, and any multi-year deal would have been buying out UFA years.
Haula, on the other hand, has just one year remaining on his contract and carries a cap hit of $2.375MM. The Devils, who are in the mix for one (or more) of the biggest free agents available, will now have more money and more roster flexibility to use.
Boston, meanwhile, has now found another young(ish) forward to slot into the middle-six that can provide some secondary scoring and a strong defensive presence. Zacha does have plenty of experience at center, though he was deployed as a winger for much of this season.
It certainly doesn’t hurt that he hails from Czechia, just like David Pastrnak and the returning David Krejci. While that doesn’t mean he’ll find a new level, it will at least present some familiarity as he makes the transition to a new team.
Now the question is how much Zacha will cost for the Bruins, and where they find the cap space for all of the pending contracts. Patrice Bergeron and Krejci are both expected to finalize deals in the coming days, meaning this will only further limit the cap space available for general manager Don Sweeney today.