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New Jersey Devils Fire John Hynes

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The New Jersey Devils have relieved John Hynes of his coaching duties effective immediately, announcing that assistant coach Alain Nasreddine will serve as interim head coach. Peter Horachek, who had been scouting for the team, will move behind the bench as an assistant. GM Ray Shero released a statement:

John played an integral role in the development of this team in establishing a foundation for our future and we are grateful for his commitment, passion and unmatched work ethic. John is a respected leader, developer of talent and friend which makes this decision difficult. We are a team that values and takes pride in accountability to the results we produce. We are collectively disappointed in our performance on the ice and believe changes were needed, starting with our head coach. I have been consistent in my desire to build something here in New Jersey that earns the respect of teams throughout the league and pride in our fans. That is not where we were heading and for me to tolerate anything less was not acceptable.

Hynes was hired by the Devils in 2015 after several years as the head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the AHL. He took the team to the playoffs unexpectedly in 2018, but has finished in seventh or eighth in the Metropolitan Division three times and has the team there once again. After a summer that saw the team acquire big names in P.K. Subban, Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev and Wayne Simmonds, the Devils are actually playing at a worse pace than last year’s debacle that landed them the first-overall selection.

Moving on from Hynes won’t surprise many. With a 150-159-45 record over parts of five seasons, the team has not performed well enough for the front office to stay the course with this group. He becomes the third fired head coach of the season after the dismissals to Mike Babcock in Toronto and Bill Peters in Calgary.

Nasraddine meanwhile has never been a head coach at any level and actually got his start behind the bench as an assistant for Hynes in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The long-time defenseman did play 74 games in the NHL and more than 800 in the AHL however, making him no stranger to professional hockey.

Devils Listening To Trade Offers For Taylor Hall

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3:07 PM — The Athletic’s Corey Masisak reports (Twitter link) that Hall refused to talk about potential trade talk, saying that he wants Shero and Ferris to handle questions about that. Hall, however, denied that he has asked to be traded.

12:02 PM — Devils winger Taylor Hall is the top player in the 2020 class of unrestricted free agents and with contract extension talks not yielding much progress, there had been plenty of speculation as to whether or not GM Ray Shero would be open to trading him at some point this season.  It appears that he’s open to the idea at the very least as Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that New Jersey is now listening to offers for the 2018 Hart Trophy winner.

Things have not gone according to plan for New Jersey or Hall this season.  The Devils are floundering in the standings as they sit at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division and only Detroit has fewer points than them in the league.  That makes a potential postseason push (where it could be justifiable to consider keeping him even without an extension in place) quite unlikely.  As for Hall, while he leads the team in points with 21, he currently has just four goals on the season so a change of scenery could certainly help his market value if he can get back on track offensively.

There’s no denying that Hall could help any number of contenders but the fact that New Jersey is open to the idea of moving him now could also open up some interest from some teams that are on the playoff bubble currently.  An addition like that could certainly push one of those squads into a postseason position.

If a trade was to get done in the near future, it wouldn’t automatically mean that an extension would be forthcoming as has been the case with other star rentals that have moved in recent years.  The acquiring team could get an opportunity to see how Hall adapts and whether or not he’s someone that can fit in with their long-term planning.  If not, then he’d become a rental candidate closer to the February 24th trade deadline.

It’s also worth noting that Hall is represented by Darren Ferris who has a reputation of encouraging his players to wait things out and get to the open market.  To that end, LeBrun speculates that any sort of trade package would likely have to have some conditional assets attached to it that would be transferred if and when a new deal with the acquiring team was struck.

Hall is currently carrying a $6MM salary and cap hit but that amount will certainly be going up by a significant margin on his next deal.  Heading into the year, it was thought by some that he could come close to Artemi Panarin’s $11.643MM AAV, a record price tag for a winger.  His early-season showing lessens the odds of that but it’s certainly quite possible that his next deal is in the $10MM range which would still make him one of the top-priced forwards in the league.  That thought could ultimately take some cap-strapped teams out of the equation as they may not want to part with some top assets for what likely would only wind up being a rental player, as talented as Hall may be.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Bill Peters No Longer Head Coach Of Calgary Flames

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The Calgary Flames have accepted the resignation of Bill Peters. Effective immediately, he is no longer the head coach of the hockey club. The team has concluded their investigation of the events brought to light this week by former NHL player Akim Aliu. Geoff Ward will serve as interim head coach.

Peters, who was hired in 2018 after resigning from his position with the Carolina Hurricanes, is alleged to have uttered several racial epithets during his time with the Rockford IceHogs in the 2009-10 season. He admitted as much in a letter to Flames GM Brad Treliving, but called it an isolated incident. Aliu disagreed with that letter, calling it “misleading, insincere and concerning.”

There were other claims of abuse from former players too. Michal Jordan, who played for the Hurricanes under Peters between 2014-16, alleged that the coach physically abused him and other players on the bench. New Carolina head coach Rod Brind’Amour, who served as an assistant at the time, confirmed the incident took place but told reporters it had been dealt with internally. Peter Karmanos, who was the owner of the Hurricanes at the time, told Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that had he been made aware of the incident he would have fired Peters immediately.

The Flames won on Wednesday without Peters behind the bench. The team is sitting fifth in the Pacific Division with a 12-12-4 record.

The NHL released a statement explaining that their investigation into the incident is not over. Aliu and other relevant individuals will still meet with the league in the coming days.

Boston Bruins Extend Charlie Coyle, Chris Wagner

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The Boston Bruins have reached extensions with two of their veteran forwards, signing Charlie Coyle for an additional six years and Chris Wagner for three. Coyle’s new contract will carry an average annual value of $5.25MM while Wagner’s carries an AAV of $1.35MM. Both players were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents after this season.

Coyle, 27, will now be under contract through the 2025-26 season and locked in as a core piece for the Bruins to build around. The versatile forward can play wing or center and adds a well-rounded game to the group, even if he did struggle offensively early this season. Lately, including last night at Montreal, Coyle has been able to support the team’s top unit by creating secondary scoring further down the lineup and adding another weapon on the powerplay.

Acquired from the Minnesota Wild last season in exchange for Ryan Donato, Coyle was a huge part of the Bruins’ Stanley Cup run, scoring 16 points in 24 games and tying for the team lead with nine goals. Add that postseason success to the fact that Coyle is from Massachusetts and bleeds the black-and-gold and there was always a match to be made.

Wagner meanwhile has finally found a home with the Bruins after bouncing around the NHL through the early part of his career. The 28-year old played 76 games for Boston last season and recorded 12 goals and 19 points, but was an effective bottom-six option for the team. Another Massachusetts boy, his new deal keeps him under team control through the 2022-23 season for a more than reasonable price.

There’s risk in any signing the length of Coyle’s, but the Bruins have bought themselves wiggle room with other excellent deals in the past. Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are legitimate contenders for the Hart Trophy this season and cost a combined $12.79MM against the cap, an incredible bargain in today’s NHL. Though they have other players needing new deals—namely star defenseman Torey Krug, who is scheduled for unrestricted free agency—these two new cap hits shouldn’t hinder their ability to sign whoever they want.

Ryan Whitney of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast was first to report that the deals were close. 

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Toronto Maple Leafs Fire Mike Babcock

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Mike Babcock and replaced him with Sheldon Keefe. Keefe had been coaching the AHL’s Toronto Marlies. Team president Brendan Shanahan released a statement on the move:

Today, we made the decision to relieve Mike Babcock of his coaching duties and named Sheldon Keefe our new head coach. Over parts of the last five seasons, Mike has played an integral role in changing the direction of our franchise.

Mike’s commitment and tireless work ethic has put our organization in a better place and we are extremely grateful and appreciative of the foundation he has helped us build here. 

At this time, we collectively felt that it was best to make a change to Sheldon Keefe. Sheldon’s record with the Marlies in terms of development and on-ice success during his time in our organization has compelled us all to feel that he is the right person to take us to the next stage in our evolution.

Technically, Babcock has only been relieved of his duties as coach and is still under contract with the Maple Leafs. That eight-year, $50MM contract was the biggest deal ever given to an NHL coach and still has three more seasons on it. Babcock will likely be allowed to pursue other opportunities, but compensation for coaches (or executives) is no longer a part of the CBA.

Originally hired in May, 2015, Babcock was tasked with turning around a franchise that hadn’t shown much promise for years. In his first season the team tore apart the roster and sunk to the very bottom of the league, securing the first-overall pick, Auston Matthews, in the process. After that things trended upwards very quickly, with Matthews and the rest of their rookie class—including Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Zach Hyman and Connor Brown—sneaking the team into the playoffs where they valiantly battled the top seeded Washington Capitals.

Two consecutive years of first-round disappointment followed against the Boston Bruins however, with Babcock struggling to find an answer for Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. After sweeping changes to the defense corps this summer, things were going even worse.

Toronto has lost six consecutive games and enter tomorrow’s game against the Arizona Coyotes with a 9-10-4 record, something unacceptable for a group that includes three of the highest-paid forwards in the league. New captain John Tavares and Mitch Marner have both been out of the lineup due to injury, but the defense has been even worse than before even with the addition of Tyson Barrie.

Keefe will take over that underperforming roster in his first stint behind an NHL bench, but comes as perhaps the most decorated coaching prospect in hockey. Once a second-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning and veteran of 125 NHL games as a player, Keefe took to coaching after an early retirement and has found success at every level.

A four-time CJHL champion as head coach, GM and owner of the Pembrooke Lumber Kings of the CJHL, Keefe was actually given his first job in the CHL when now-Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas was running the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. He was named CHL coach of the year in 2015, before joining the Marlies and leading them to a Calder Cup championship in 2018.

Now, with all the pressure that comes as head coach of the Maple Leafs, Keefe will get a chance to show he is ready for the NHL. The organization better hope he is, as they need wins now if the playoffs are still a realistic goal.

Predators Sign Austin Watson To A Three-Year Extension

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Austin Watson will be sticking around with Nashville for a few more years.  In a rare mid-game announcement, the Predators announced that they’ve signed the winger to a three-year, $4.5MM contract extension.  PuckPedia reports (Twitter link) that the deal pays a straight $1.5MM each season with no signing bonuses or trade protection.  GM David Poile released the following statement regarding the deal:

Austin is the ultimate team player and we look forward to continuing to see him thrive and be an impactful member of our team.  The Predators organization continues to support Austin and his family and are pleased to take this next step forward with them. His hard work, coupled with a caring environment has him in a good place to be successful on and off the ice. Austin sticks up for his teammates and does whatever is necessary to help this team win hockey games.

After being more of an energy player at the beginning of his career, Watson has started to show that he can be more of an offensive producer in recent years, posting a career high in goals (14) and points (19) in 2017-18 and points per game (0.43) last season.  He’s off to a bit of a quieter start this year with a goal and an assist in two games but his ice time has also dipped under the 13 minute per game mark.  Nonetheless, while he isn’t hitting the scoresheet too often yet, he does lead the team in hits and is among the league leaders in blocks per game by a forward.

Watson, a 2010 first-round pick (18th overall), has spent his entire career with the Nashville organization.  Over his NHL career which spans parts of six seasons, he has 31 goals and 34 assists in 206 games while chipping in with 536 hits.  $1.5MM is certainly a reasonable rate for a winger that’s capable of playing a regular role on the third line and represents a $400K raise on his current $1.1MM AAV.

Poile and the Predators still have a lot of work to do with their pending free agents, even after extending Roman Josi back on Tuesday.  Wingers Mikael Granlund and Craig Smith highlight a group of seven players that are slated to become unrestricted free agents in July.  With Watson’s deal, Nashville has nearly $70MM committed to 15 players for next season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Nashville Predators Extend Roman Josi

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The Nashville Predators have once again found common ground on an extension with one of their franchise icons. Captain Roman Josi has agreed to an eight-year extension that will keep him under contract through the 2027-28 season. The deal, which will carry an average annual value of $9.059, is set to make Josi the third highest paid defenseman in the NHL, just ahead of former teammate P.K. Subban. It also represents another long-term commitment from Predators GM David Poile, and sets up Josi to potentially play his entire career with the Nashville organization. Poile released a statement explaining the deal:

Roman Josi is one of the top defensemen in the National Hockey League and our team leader as captain. As he enters his prime, we look forward to Roman continuing to showcase his elite skills in Smashville and guiding our team in pursuit of the ultimate goal, the Stanley Cup.

Notably, the team has also given Josi a full no-movement clause, something that Poile is almost always against. In fact, the only player on Nashville currently with a no-trade clause of any kind is goaltender Pekka Rinne.

Obviously there is good reason for Josi to become the second player on that list. The 29-year old defenseman has been one of the league’s consistent two-way players over the last several years, recording at least 49 points in each of the last five seasons while more than holding his own in the defensive end. During that five-year span, Josi has finished in the top-11 in Norris Trophy voting every season, including two fifth-place finishes.

It is not just his on-ice play that has garnered so much attention however. Josi was the easy choice as team captain after Mike Fisher announced his retirement and is a valued leader in the Nashville dressing room. With a new extension in hand he’ll be able to continue in that role for the foreseeable future, perhaps even until he retires down the line.

Still, any time you sign a player to an eight-year contract of this magnitude there is substantial risk. Though Josi has shown absolutely no signs of slowing down at this point, he will be 30 before the first year of the contract kicks in, meaning it takes him into and through what is normally a steep decline phase for NHL players. While he may be one of the select few to avoid that precipitous fall, there is also already a lot of miles on the Swiss defender—he’s averaged close to 25 minutes a night over his entire career.

The Predators though are obviously willing to make the investment to keep Josi in the fold right now. The team believes they are Stanley Cup contenders and now have their core locked up for the next several years. Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene, Kyle Turris, Viktor Arvidsson, Colton Sissons and Ryan Ellis are all under contract for at least five seasons, while Filip Forsberg, Calle Jarnkrok and Mattias Ekholm don’t become unrestricted free agents until 2022.

Not only will this deal make Josi a very wealthy man, but it will set a market for many other top defensemen looking at free agency in 2020. Alex Pietrangelo, Tyson Barrie, Torey Krug and others are all going to get huge raises before the end of next summer, with Josi’s deal now either being a comparable or perhaps a ceiling to shoot for, depending on the player. Pietrangelo in particular may try to eclipse the deal to become one of the top earners, though it’s not clear exactly if or when an extension will come with St. Louis.

For now though, Josi the Predators can start to focus on the task at hand—getting back to the Stanley Cup Final. With 13 points in his first 11 games, he’s doing his part already.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Detroit Red Wings Acquire Brendan Perlini

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The Chicago Blackhawks told Brendan Perlini that they would try to find him a new home after he asked for a trade, and they’ve made good on their promise. Perlini has been traded to the Detroit Red Wings. The Blackhawks will receive Alec Regula in return, and do not have to retain any of Perlini’s salary.

The 23-year old forward had played just one game for the Blackhawks this season after failing to earn a job in training camp, and has now been traded twice in his young career. That’s a disappointing outcome for a player that had such high expectations back in 2014 when he was selected 12th overall by the Arizona Coyotes.

Perlini actually did get off to a solid start to his career, scoring 14 and 17 goals in his first two seasons in the NHL. Even last season after he was traded to the Blackhawks as part of the return for Nick Schmaltz he found success, potting 12 goals in just 46 games. His lack of assists were troubling though and too often Perlini disappeared almost entirely from games, failing to contribute in any meaningful way.

Still, there’s no reason to believe Perlini still can’t make enough improvements to become an impact player at the NHL level. The Red Wings can take that chance given they aren’t expected to compete for the Stanley Cup right away, providing ample opportunity for him to find his game. The Blackhawks obviously weren’t willing to do that, and found an acceptable return.

Regula, 19, was selected 67th overall in 2018 but has already started to show why he may be an NHL option down the road. The 6’4″ defenseman put up 39 points for the London Knights of the OHL last season and is off to an even better start this year. The fact that he played last season with Blackhawks prospect Adam Boqvist should make them very familiar with him. The team does need to sign Regula still, though that is not usually a problem for CHL players. His exclusive draft rights would expire in June, 2020.

Vladimir Tarasenko To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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The St. Louis Blues have announced that star forward Vladimir Tarasenko needs shoulder surgery and will be out for at least five months. He will be re-evaluated at that time, though it means he will miss the vast majority of the remainder of the regular season. Tarasenko will be placed on long-term injured reserve.

This news is absolutely disastrous for the Blues, who are trying to defend their Stanley Cup championship but have already struggled with some inconsistency early on. The team is off to a 6-3-3 start, but will now have to continue without one of their best offensive weapons for much of the season.

Tarasenko, 27, was off to a great start with ten points in nine games before he was forced out of his tenth early on. The sniper had potted at least 33 goals in each of the last five seasons and was a huge part of the Blues’ powerplay. All of that production will now have to be replaced somehow, though if anyone has the depth to accomplish that it might be the Blues.

Not only does the team already have names like Alex Steen and Tyler Bozak playing smaller roles than they have in the past, but young forwards like Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Klim Kostin could be ready to make bigger impacts. Though Kyrou has dealt with his own injury troubles, he was recently loaned back to the AHL’s Chicago Wolves and should be approaching a return at some point soon.

There’s obviously no one player that can replace Tarasenko immediately, but given that he’ll be out for almost the entire season the Blues will actually gain the ability to acquire someone if they decide to go down that route. Placing his $7.5MM cap hit on long-term injured reserve will open up some financial flexibility that could lead to them being trade deadline shoppers. That is of course if they decide to try and add instead of sell, given that captain Alex Pietrangelo is still scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year.

Hopefully the team will be able to stay afloat during Tarasenko’s absence and still look like Stanley Cup contenders when he is able to return, which could be just in time for the playoffs given this early timeline.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Anaheim Ducks Acquire Erik Gudbranson

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The Anaheim Ducks have acquired Erik Gudbranson from the Pittsburgh Penguins, sending back Andreas Martinsen and a 2021 seventh-round pick in exchange. That return shows just how little value Gudbranson represented at this point, after struggling early in the season but still carrying a cap hit of $4MM through the 2020-21 season. The Penguins, in cap trouble with players returning from injury, needed to move out at least one defenseman.

It is incredible just how far Gudbranson’s value has fallen in a few short years. In 2010 he was selected third overall by the Florida Panthers—just ahead of Ryan Johansen, Nino Niederreiter, Brett Connolly and Jeff Skinner—as a potential franchise-changing shutdown defenseman. The 6’5″ behemoth could basically do anything he wanted in his own end at the junior level, pushing smaller competition off the puck with ease.

Unfortunately in the NHL, that defensive ability was tested right away. With no offensive game to speak of to help him move the puck quickly out of his own end, Gudbranson put up poor possession numbers right from the start of his career with the Panthers, and never did become that minute-munching defensive stalwart. Through his first five seasons—309 games—he averaged fewer than 18 minutes a night and racked up just 43 points.

Then came trades to Vancouver and finally Pittsburgh, where he actually showed well in short spurts. Paired with Marcus Pettersson for a time last season, Gudbranson played perhaps the best hockey of his career for the Penguins.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t good enough to save him from this new fate.

Pittsburgh not only had too many bodies on defense, but they have also been pushed right up against the cap all season. Moving Gudbranson’s entire $4MM cap hit was obviously worth it, and the fact that they didn’t need to include any “kicker” is even better. Martinsen represents a minor league addition and will likely not play many games for Pittsburgh, though he will give the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins another experienced body.

In Anaheim, the team will hope they can bring out the good parts of Gudbranson’s game and make him into the player he was once projected to be. The team has been looking for right-handed defense help for some time, and will at least get plenty of experience in the 27-year old.

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