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Islanders Sign Ruslan Iskhakov

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Islanders prospect Ruslan Iskhakov has had an interesting journey over the last few years but he has secured his first NHL deal as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that the 21-year-old has signed a two-year, entry-level contract.  The deal carries a cap hit of $855K and an AAV of $925K.

The forward spent his draft-eligible season playing in Russia but had committed to playing in college at UConn just days before the draft.  As a result, he became subject to the four-year rule which meant that New York had until only next Wednesday to get him under contract even though his college days had already ended.

Iskhakov spent just two years in college before deciding to turn pro, signing with TPS Turku in Finland in 2020.  He was quite productive in the Liiga, notching 38 points in 54 games but once again opted for a change of scenery for this season when he decided to play with Adler Mannheim in Germany.  Iskhakov was similarly productive, albeit in limited action due to injury, as he put up seven goals and 15 assists in just 25 games, a good enough performance to convince the Islanders to sign him after he was granted his release from his German league contract earlier this month.

While he has spent two seasons in the pros overseas, it would be surprising to see Iskhakov jump to the NHL right away.  Instead, it’s quite likely he’ll start next season with Bridgeport of the AHL, allowing himself to get reacclimated to playing in North America.  But as a player who has been able to produce in good leagues overseas, he should become an intriguing recall option on a New York team that only finished 24th in goals scored this season.

Mikko Koskinen Reportedly Heading Overseas For 2022-23

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Despite currently serving as the backup for the Edmonton Oilers and even seeing game action in Game 1 of the Second Round, there appears to already be some clarity on goalie Mikko Koskinen’s future for next season. Former NHL head coach Bob Hartley spoke today, saying that Koskinen has already accepted an offer to play for HC Lugano in the Swiss National League next season.

If true, it will likely mark the end of Koskinen’s second and final stint in North America. The Finnish netminder, drafted 31st overall by the New York Islanders in 2009, had one stint in North America from 2009-2012 in the Islanders organization, playing in four NHL games. He returned to the NHL as a free agent with Edmonton in 2018, serving as a solid tandem netminder for them for the past four seasons. As uncertainty mounts in the Oilers crease moving forward, though, it looks like Koskinen has opted to take himself out of the picture for their second goalie next season.

40-year-old Mike Smith is (somehow) still under contract with the team for next season, and they do have a solid internal option in Stuart Skinner as the backup. However, with such a gigantic question mark with Smith as a 41-year-old starter, Edmonton will surely attempt to make a significant acquisition in free agency to shore up the crease.

 

2022 Masterton Trophy Finalists Announced

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The NHL continues to release finalists this week for their major awards. Today, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli revealed the three finalists for the 2022 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, as voted on by the PHWA. New York Islanders defenseman Zdeno Chara, Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price, and Philadelphia Flyers forward Kevin Hayes were named for the award.

The Masterton Trophy is awarded “to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.” Each NHL team is able to put forth a nominee for the award, and voting members then select nominees from that list.

Chara earned his nomination after returning to the league for his 24th (and likely final) NHL season. The 45-year-old defenseman suited up for 72 games with the New York Islanders this season, his most games in a season since he played 73 in 2017-18. Finishing with two goals, 12 assists, and 14 points, Chara gave his best to the Islanders team that originally drafted him back in 1996. Those 14 points were actually the most he registered in a season as an Islander — he spent four seasons with the team from 1997-2001, recording a previous high of 11 points in 1999-00.

Price, the future Hall-of-Fame goaltender, battled back to play five games at the end of this season after being sidelined for the majority of the season with a knee injury and spending time in the NHLPA Player Assistance program. With the injury severe enough to cause uncertainty surrounding the future of his playing career, Price obviously did all he could in order to try and return to the crease after carrying his team to the 2021 Stanley Cup Final.

Hayes would be the second Flyer to win the trophy in as many years if victorious. Oskar Lindblom won the trophy last year after battling back from cancer diagnosis and treatment. Hayes played not only through injuries that limited him to just 48 games, but also dealt with the sudden news of his brother and former NHLer, Jimmy Hayes, passing away just prior to the season. Kevin still managed 31 points this season on a weak Flyers team despite the adversity.

New York Islanders Name Lane Lambert Head Coach

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The New York Islanders announced today that the team named Lane Lambert as their head coach, succeeding the previously fired Barry Trotz.

Lambert is an internal promotion, having served as an associate coach with the team since the 2018-19 season. Lambert’s led a long career as both a player and coach, also serving as an assistant coach under Trotz for both the Nashville Predators (2011-2014) and Washington Capitals (2014-2018). Lambert’s last experience as a head coach came with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals from 2007-2011.

Lambert actually took over as the team’s head coach for a few games midseason while Trotz was away from the team on a personal leave of absence. He’s the uncle of top 2022 draft prospect Brad Lambert. He becomes the 18th person to coach the Islanders and the fourth in the past 10 years.

Under Lambert, the Islanders look to return to their winning ways after missing the playoffs by 16 points this season. The team had advanced to the Eastern Conference Final in the previous two seasons. Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello said the following today regarding his hiring:

I had the opportunity to work with Lane over the past four years, which includes spending time with him on a one-on-one basis when he served as the interim Head Coach this past season. In my opinion, he is the right person to coach this team.

Lambert was a candidate of interest for many teams around the league for head coaching roles. PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan reported today that Lambert was a candidate for the Arizona Coyotes’ coaching vacancy last season before the team decided to opt for Andre Tourigny.

It’s a large cloud moved off the Islanders’ offseason, as they’re able to move forward into the draft and free agency with their situation settled behind the bench.

Snapshots: Wild, Babcock, Trouba

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Questions are sure to arise this offseason in the State of Hockey. The Minnesota Wild, although they forced the series to six games, were dealt with pretty handily in the final days of their season by the St. Louis Blues, capped off by a 5-1 rout in Game 6.

Now, with the full effect of the controversial Zach Parise/Ryan Suter buyouts kicking in next season, many wonder how the Wild will be able to manage their cap space moving forward. NBC Sports’ James O’Brien looks at a few routes the Wild could go down to manage their salary cap situation next season. The buyouts take up a combined $12.74MM next season, and although the team’s cap situation is fuzzy due to the amount of playoff Black Aces still on the active roster, they’ll surely have less than $10MM to work with this offseason. That includes signing Kevin Fiala, who’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights (again), to a new deal, and finding a goalie to replace (or to-resign) Marc-Andre Fleury. While Fiala could be dealt, especially after an underwhelming playoff performance, they could also look to clear out some depth names. O’Brien names Dmitry Kulikov, who carries a $2.25MM cap hit next season, as another trade piece, although he does have an eight-team no-trade list (somehow).

  • While there hasn’t been any official link, and there likely won’t be knowing the tight-lipped Lou Lamoriello, The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz names former NHL bench boss Mike Babcock as a potential fit for the New York Islanders’ coaching vacancy. Kurz references Lamoriello’s history with Babcock in Toronto, and Lamoriello’s history of opting for tougher, more aggressive voices in the room as a solution to unsatisfactory team performance. Since then, he’s served as a senior adviser at the University of Vermont and the head coach of the University of Saskatchewan.
  • After Jacob Trouba’s controversial hit that gave Sidney Crosby a reported concussion, The Athletic’s Eric Duhatscheck looked at whether the NHL could examine a potential rule change to penalize similar hits in the future. Duhatschek notes that penalizing all hits to the head is extremely unlikely, as evidenced by current NHL leadership’s hesitation against cracking down on body contact. While illegal head contact exists in the NHL, by its definition, the league viewed Trouba’s hit as legal.

Montreal Canadiens Win 2022 NHL Draft Lottery

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Beginning this season, the full effect of the changes to the draft lottery rules announced last year are in place. Starting this year, teams can only move up a maximum of 10 spots if they’re selected, meaning teams originally set at picks 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 cannot move up all the way to the first overall pick. A win for one of these teams in the first draft lottery secures the pick for the team that finished last.

The team with the best odds coming in will win the draft lottery for the second straight year, though. The Montreal Canadiens will pick first overall in their own building, the first time such an occurrence has happened since 1985 when the Toronto Maple Leafs drafted Wendel Clark at Maple Leaf Gardens. The New Jersey Devils moved up from fifth overall to second overall, bumping down the Arizona Coyotes, Seattle Kraken, and Philadelphia Flyers down one spot each.

The order for the top 16 picks of the 2022 NHL Draft is as follows:

  1. Montreal Canadiens
  2. New Jersey Devils
  3. Arizona Coyotes
  4. Seattle Kraken
  5. Philadelphia Flyers
  6. Columbus Blue Jackets (via Chicago Blackhawks)
  7. Ottawa Senators
  8. Detroit Red Wings
  9. Buffalo Sabres
  10. Anaheim Ducks
  11. San Jose Sharks
  12. Columbus Blue Jackets
  13. New York Islanders
  14. Winnipeg Jets
  15. Vancouver Canucks
  16. Buffalo Sabres (via Vegas Golden Knights)

While Shane Wright is still the consensus no. 1 overall selection across public draft boards (and NHL Central Scouting), there’s been recent noise about players like Juraj Slafkovsky and Logan Cooley potentially challenging him for first overall. That’s an upset unlikely to happen, though, as Wright had a terrific second half of the 2021-22 campaign, finishing with 32 goals, 62 assists, and 94 points in 63 games with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs. He also has 10 points in eight playoff games at the time of writing. While teams will draft him for his elite playmaking ability, he’s got an underrated shot when he chooses to use it as well. Standout Slovak defenseman Simon Nemec, Czech defenseman David Jiricek, Canadian forward Matthew Savoie, and Finnish forward Joakim Kemell are also names to watch for near the top of the draft board.

Frans Nielsen To Retire After World Championships

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Via a news release from his DEL team, Eisbaren Berlin, long-time NHL center Frans Nielsen will retire from professional hockey after representing his native Denmark at the upcoming 2022 IIHF World Championships. Nielsen played the 2021-22 campaign overseas in Germany after the Detroit Red Wings bought out the final year of his contract, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Nielsen retires as the all-time leader among Danish NHLers in games played (925), goals (167), assists (306), and points (473). However, Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers is poised to break the goals mark next season, as he sits three back with 164. Nielsen’s, Lars Eller’s, Jannik Hansen’s, and Mikkel Boedker’s emergence in the late 2000s and early 2010s ushered in the most successful era in Danish hockey history, at least as it relates to the NHL. They paved the way for players such as Ehlers and Oliver Bjorkstrand to take the leap and become the next faces of Denmark hockey.

Earlier this year, Nielsen was a flag bearer and alternate captain for Denmark as the men’s hockey team made its first Olympic appearance in history. Nielsen registered two goals and an assist in five games.

Drafted 87th overall in 2002 by the New York Islanders out of a stellar season in the Swedish top junior league, he developed into a skilled two-way forward and playmaker at his peak with the Islanders. One of the most underrated all-around players in the game during his prime, Nielsen broke into the NHL full-time in 2008-09 as a 24-year-old. He would spend 10 seasons total and 606 games in an Islanders uniform before departing for the Red Wings in free agency during the 2016 offseason.

Nielsen wouldn’t repeat his 20-goal, 50-point per year success in Detroit, but still managed 124 points across 319 games in Detroit.

Looking At The New York Islanders Decision To Fire Barry Trotz

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After the surprising news this morning that the New York Islanders had decided to part ways with legendary Head Coach Barry Trotz, speculation began circulating of why the Islanders and GM Lou Lamoriello arrived at such a decision, and what could be next for both the team and the coach. The Athletic’s Kevin Kurz had an opportunity to listen in on a conference call with Lamoriello to gain some clarity on the situation, providing insight on what Lamoriello had to say.

In sum, Lamoriello, who famously has held his cards close, noted that this decision was his alone, it did not have anything to do with the fact that Trotz has just one year at $4MM left on his contract with the Islanders, and that the team’s performance this year was not the only factor in his decision. It’s no secret that the Islanders disappointed this season, finishing at 37-35-10, good enough for fifth place in the Metropolitan Division after three straight playoff appearances, including two consecutive trips to the conference finals in each of the last two seasons.

When asked for a reason why he made this decision, Lamoriello did not offer much, simply sharing that the team needed a new voice. Speculation did grow as to what he could have meant with that statement. On the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman opined that perhaps during his exit interviews, Lamoriello had heard enough of the players say that they needed a new voice, which ultimately could have convinced the veteran executive that a change needed to be made. Trotz has long been known to employ a strict system for his teams, one which could have worn on the team both mentally and physically. As Trotz himself wondered after this season, perhaps there were things he could have done better, such as utilizing a January stretch of 13 days where the team played just one game for rest, not practice, and considering that this style maybe held up better in shorter spurts, like the playoffs or the COVID-shortened 56-game season.

Naturally, speculation about who could replace Trotz behind the bench on Long Island has persisted throughout the day. One seemingly obvious candidate would be current Associate Coach Lane Lambert, who is still under contract with the Islanders. Lambert has been rumored to be a candidate for a head coaching job for some years, but has remained with Trotz on the bench as far back as their time with the Nashville Predators. As Kurz mentions in another piece, if the organization does truly want a new voice, then promoting the long-time Trotz assistant might not be the move to make.

As for Trotz, who ranks third all-time in wins among NHL coaches, Friedman believes he will have no shortage of suitors for his services, including teams currently without a head coach, and perhaps even some who do have one, at least for the time being. One team without a coach, who Friedman speculates as a fit, is the Winnipeg Jets. Friedman cites Trotz’s Manitoba roots as a reason he could be convinced to take the job with Winnipeg, though interest on either end of course is unknown.

With the news not even a day old yet, how the situation plays out for both the Islanders and Trotz is yet to be decided, and though Lamoriello did not share much, there was enough to speculate on one of the game’s great coaches and one of the league’s more intriguing head coaching positions. As Lamoriello told the media, including Kurz, he does not have a timetable for finding a new head coach, and at least for now, the rest of the Islanders coaching staff does remain intact.

New York Islanders Fire Barry Trotz

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In a shocking move, the New York Islanders have relieved head coach Barry Trotz of his duties this morning, opening another vacancy behind the bench. Trotz had one year remaining on his contract and is owed $4MM next season.

It’s a surprising decision, given Trotz’ nearly universal praise as one of the league’s top head coaches, and the fact that the Islanders had made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in two of his four years behind the bench in New York. When speaking with the assembled media, general manager Lou Lamoriello indicated that he believes the group needed a new voice, and that it was his responsibility to make that change.

Trotz meanwhile will likely be receiving calls from basically every team in the league that has a coaching vacancy, though there perhaps are bigger goals on his agenda. Darren Dreger of TSN tweets that some in the industry believe the veteran coach has an interest in taking on a management role at this point in his career.

What a career it has been for the 59-year-old bench boss. The first head coach in Nashville Predators history, he spent 15 years with the expansion club, taking them to the playoffs on seven different occasions and finishing with a 557-479-60-100 record. It was when he moved to the Washington Capitals in 2014 that things really heated up though, with Trotz winning at least a round in each of his four seasons with the team, and the Stanley Cup in 2018.

The summer following his championship, however, the Capitals and Trotz parted ways, leading him to their Metropolitan Division rivals in New York. Over four seasons with the Islanders, he posted a 152-102-34 record in the regular season and a 28-21 mark in the postseason.

Unfortunately, that success didn’t continue this year. The Islanders finished slightly above .500 but missed the playoffs by 16 points, after dealing with countless on and off-ice issues throughout the season. The team started on a long trip because their arena wasn’t ready, had a long COVID-19 shutdown because of a player outbreak, and dealt with injuries and inconsistency from many of their top players.

Now, as they move forward, it will be with a different voice behind the bench, despite bringing back many of the same voices on it. There’s an offseason for change, but the Islanders already signed names like Cal Clutterbuck, Ross Johnston, and Zach Parise to extensions during the season, and have basically their entire team locked up long-term. Whoever does take over will have the daunting task of getting better results from a similar group, unless Lamoriello makes some significant roster changes in the offseason.

If a team wanted to hire Trotz, they would have to cover part or all of his salary for next season, and likely sign him to another lengthy, expensive deal. That could rule out some markets, though the speculation over places like Winnipeg (his hometown), Detroit, or Chicago has already begun.

14 Teams Face Bonus Overages For 2022-23

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In the flat cap world, nearly every team in the league is dealing with situations that require every last dollar under the ceiling. More than half the league was using long-term injured reserve relief at some point this season, a decision that sometimes comes with some attached risk. One of those risks is the performance bonuses from entry-level contracts, which can cause overage penalties if achieved by the end of the season, should the team not have the cap space to fit them in. Those penalties are then applied to the following season’s cap, meaning they have less room to work with moving forward.

CapFriendly has calculated the overage penalties for the entire league, finding 14 of 32 teams that will face them next year. Notably, these penalties lower the cap ceiling for a team and therefore cannot be covered up by going into long-term injured relief again. The penalties are as follows:

Carolina Hurricanes: $112,500
Chicago Blackhawks: $237,500
Colorado Avalanche: $25,000
Dallas Stars: $675,000
Edmonton Oilers: $896,000
Florida Panthers: $637,500
Los Angeles Kings: $637,500
Montreal Canadiens: $1,132,500
New York Islanders $245,796
Philadelphia Flyers: $295,000
St. Louis Blues: $1,000,000*
Toronto Maple Leafs: $212,500
Vancouver Canucks: $1,250,000
Washington Capitals: $100,000

*Can still increase

Details on how each number was reached can be found on CapFriendly’s Twitter thread but the vast majority are from Schedule A performance bonuses for time on ice and games played. While some would argue that it is worth the penalty, as it means a young player has been a strong contributor, it can also be quite impactful moving forward. The Oilers, for instance, are facing a cap charge of nearly $900K, significantly more than the league minimum salary. It could very well mean they aren’t able to carry the maximum of 23 skaters for at least parts of next season while they are still trying to compete, thanks to the bonuses owed to Evan Bouchard this year.

It’s the Islanders that are perhaps the most interesting case since they did not finish in LTIR relief and in fact, were more than $2MM under the $81.5MM ceiling at the end of the year. While most of the other bonuses were on entry-level contracts, theirs included games played bonuses for Zach Parise, Zdeno Chara, and Andy Greene. That means despite being well out of the race, the Islanders will have a little less room to work with next season.

The Blues meanwhile could still face an additional overage, as their penalty is based on the bonuses given to Tyler Bozak. He can still earn $100K if the Blues win the first round and another $150K if they win the second round, which each would also be applied to next year’s cap.

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