Sharks Hire Ryan Warsofsky As Head Coach
Sharks assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky is getting a big promotion. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, he’s filling their head coaching vacancy after being passed over for the title two years ago. San Jose promptly made the hiring official via a press release.
“We’re very excited to announce Ryan as the 11th head coach of the San Jose Sharks,” said general manager Mike Grier. “His track record of success at nearly every level of hockey as a head and assistant coach speaks for itself. Ryan knows our existing group well, has the respect of the players who he will be working with, and will be a great teacher for the young players who will be joining our organization.”
Grier made the call to fire former head coach David Quinn, who they tabbed for the role over Warsofsky during their last search in 2022, in April. Quinn compiled a 41-98-25 record (.326 points percentage) while overseeing some of the darkest days of a tough but needed rebuild in the Bay Area.
Warsofsky, a Massachusetts native who had a collegiate career with Sacred Heart University and Curry College, landed his first professional coaching job as an assistant with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays in 2013, one year after ending his playing career.
He was then promoted to head coach and director of hockey ops for the club in 2016, staying there for two more seasons before the Hurricanes tabbed him as an assistant coach for the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, their top minor-league affiliate at the time. Yet again, he was promoted in short order, taking over as head coach in 2019 and remaining with the Hurricanes organization when they switched their AHL affiliation to the Chicago Wolves for 2020-21.
In Carolina, Warsofsky was a part of two Calder Cup-winning clubs, first as an assistant with the Checkers in 2019 and then as a bench boss with the Wolves in 2022. That latter title, in which he led a veteran-laden team including Josh Leivo, Stefan Noesen and Alex Lyon to the pinnacle of minor league hockey, earned him consideration for multiple NHL coaching vacancies the following offseason, including the Sharks’.
He had to settle for an assistant role, but two years later, his time has come. At 36 years old, Warsofsky becomes the youngest bench boss in the league and the youngest since Jeremy Colliton was tabbed as head coach of the Blackhawks in 2018 at age 33.
Warsofsky beat out ex-Sharks winger Marco Sturm, another potential first-time NHL head coach, for the role. Sturm, who’s coached in the Kings organization for the past six seasons, was deep in the interview process as late as early this week.
With Warsofsky’s hiring, all head coaching vacancies this offseason have been filled.
Senators Listening To Offers For Seventh Overall Pick
The Senators fell short of expectations again this season by finishing 13 points out of a playoff spot. Naturally, entering their first offseason with Steve Staios as general manager, they’ll be looking to make a major roster shakeup to finally get back to postseason play in 2024-25.
According to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun, Ottawa is listening to offers for their seventh overall pick in this month’s draft in order to do so.
As Garrioch points out, the likeliest area for a big trade is between the pipes. He reported earlier in the week that the team is aggressively pursuing a goaltending upgrade. They’ve been in conversation with the Flames about Jacob Markström, made a push for the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark and contacted the Predators about Juuse Saros.
If the Sens parted with the seventh-overall pick in a trade, they wouldn’t be out of action on the first night of the draft entirely. They also own the 25th overall pick, originally sent from Boston to the Red Wings in last year’s Tyler Bertuzzi trade deadline deal and again from Detroit to Ottawa for Alex DeBrincat.
Still, parting with a top-10 selection in one of the deeper early first rounds in recent memory is a tough pill to swallow for a team that’s largely exhausted the prospect pool it has built up from years of rebuilding. Their three first-round picks in 2020, Tim Stützle, Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig, have all graduated to NHL roles and look to all be on their way to hitting their ceiling. That’s great, but they haven’t managed to draft any true impact prospects since then, and there’s little help on the way.
Garrioch said a trade involving seventh overall may not see them surrender the pick entirely – moving back in the first round to make an immediate roster upgrade is also an option. But that would still see them acquire a significantly lower-quality prospect than the top-six forwards and even top-pair defenders that will still be available at No. 7 unless it’s only a few spots.
“There are so many questions about this early group,” senior vice president of hockey operations Dave Poulin said. “It’s very hard to nail down. Very often, you know who is going to go No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. This group is all over the board. By all accounts, Macklin Celebrini will go No. 1, and after that, it’s wide open.”
Garrioch relays that Poulin also said at a season ticket-holder event last night that the club had offers on the table for short-term upgrades back at the trade deadline. But with the new-look front office coming into shape throughout the season (Poulin wasn’t hired until New Year’s, for example), they weren’t comfortable making any major transactions without more time to develop a long-term plan as a cohesive group.
One thing is clear – the spinning-tires days of the Pierre Dorion era are over, at least ideologically. Whether Staios, who’s months into his first GM job at the NHL level, can execute that remains to be seen.
Aside from seventh overall, they may end up with another high-value trade chip in defenseman Jakob Chychrun. Entering the final year of his contract, they’ll need to suss out quickly whether he’s willing to re-sign.
If not, expect the 2016 16th-overall pick to be on the move for the second time in the last two years. The 26-year-old’s value is high after staying healthy for all 82 games this season, smashing his previous career high of 68 while posting 41 points and averaging 22:23 per game. His possession metrics, while not elite, were far better than his -30 rating would suggest (51.2 CF%, 50.2 xGF% at even strength).
Columbus Blue Jackets Aiming To Trade Patrik Laine
On this week’s rendition of TSN’s Insider Trading, an interesting player has reportedly hit the trade block. Pierre LeBrun indicates that one of the major goals of the offseason for the Columbus Blue Jackets is to move on from struggling forward Patrik Laine.
Laine has been an interesting player, to say the least during his time in Columbus since being acquired by the organization in a trade during the 2020-21 NHL season. In 174 games for the Blue Jackets, Laine has scored 64 goals and 138 points as the team hoped he would be a solid compliment to Johnny Gaudreau on the first line.
This past season was far and away Laine’s worst in Ohio, as he only managed six goals and nine points in 18 games. To add insult to injury, head coach of the Blue Jackets, Pascal Vincent, healthy scratched Laine for the first time in his career in mid-November before Laine finally landed in the NHLPA Player Assistance Program for the rest of the season in late January. Seemingly disgruntled on both sides of the relationship, it appears Laine and Columbus will work on a mutual move at some point this summer.
As desperately as both sides may want a formal split, Laine’s contract has quickly become one of the hardest to move in the league. The acquiring team will be on the hook for $8.7MM (~10% of the salary cap) for the next two seasons unless Columbus is willing to retain money in the trade. Still, with the lack of production on his current deal and the stop in the Player Assistance Program, most teams may be hesitant to add Laine to the roster.
Being a high-salary reclamation project, it should be a relatively easy task ironing out a list of potential suitors for Laine. Given that he only brings offensive contributions to the lineup, there are several rebuilding clubs with plenty of cap flexibility and a need for more offense. The Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks, and San Jose Sharks all come to mind as clear choices to pursue a trade for Laine this summer.
All three options allow Laine a fresh start to his career two years before he hits unrestricted free agency. If Laine can rebuild is former label as a high-level goal-scoring threat throughout the league, the acquiring team may even be able to sell high on him at the trade deadline after next season.
Penguins Name David Quinn Assistant Coach
June 12: The Penguins officially added Quinn to Sullivan’s staff as an assistant Wednesday, the team announced. He’ll oversee the team’s defensemen, but the release did not say that he’d be running their power play. It’s still unclear whose responsibility that will be as the team tries to return to postseason play in 2024-25.
June 11: The Penguins are likely bringing in former Rangers and Sharks head coach David Quinn to join their staff, The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reports Tuesday.
Quinn, 57, will serve as an assistant or associate under head coach Mike Sullivan, who’s expected back next season for his 10th year with the club. He replaces outgoing associate coach Todd Reirden. The Penguins announced over a month ago that they were not renewing Reirden’s contract.
If Reirden’s duties are replaced directly, Quinn will work closely with Pittsburgh’s defense group and oversee their power play. That reunites him on both fronts with Erik Karlsson, who he coached to a Norris Trophy and 101-point season with the Sharks last year.
Overall, though, Quinn must get the power play back on track. The Pens’ man advantage finished third-worst in the league this season, clicking at just 15.3%. It’s an unacceptable number for any team, but even more so for a club with Karlsson, Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust still around.
The Sharks fired Quinn shortly after the end of the regular season with one year left on his contract. While the roster wasn’t built to give him much support, he guided San Jose to a 19-54-9 record and 47 points, putting them squarely in the conversation for one of the worst teams of the salary cap era.
He’d held the post for two seasons, his second NHL head coaching job after leading the Rangers from 2018 to 2021. It’s been a long time since Quinn took a secondary role on a coaching staff, last serving as an assistant coach for the Avalanche in 2012-13.
He then returned to Boston University, where he had a brief playing career and an earlier run as an associate coach, to take over their program. Over five seasons with Quinn at the helm, the Terriers won three Hockey East titles, and he was named the conference’s Coach of the Year in 2014-15.
The remainder of Sullivan’s staff this season – assistants Ty Hennes, Mike Vellucci and goaltending coach Andy Chiodo – is expected to return.
Senators Aggressively Pursuing Goaltending Upgrade
The Senators may add their name to the goalie carousel this summer. As the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch writes, general manager Steve Staios is becoming intent on upgrading the club’s situation between the pipes.
The Sens thought they had their man last summer when previous GM Pierre Dorion inked Joonas Korpisalo to a five-year, $20MM contract in free agency. The 30-year-old’s market value was at an all-time high after a strong stint to finish 2022-23 with the Kings, but he was unable to keep it going in Ottawa in his first full season as a true starter.
His 49 starts and 21 wins were career-highs, but there wasn’t much else to write home about his season. Korpisalo’s .890 SV% and 3.27 GAA both ranked near the bottom of the list of starters, and his -16.1 goals saved above expected was second-worst in the league to Chicago’s Arvid Söderblom, per MoneyPuck.
With new management in town and a clear directive to end the Sens’ seven-year playoff drought, one season of below-average play appears enough for a serious change to be considered. They’ve been “one of the most aggressive teams” in trade discussions for Flames netminder Jacob Markström, a league executive told Garrioch, and they’ve also contacted the Bruins about trading for 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.
Even with the salary cap’s upper limit increasing to a record $88MM, the Sens may find themselves in a little bit of a cap crunch this summer. They’ve got $12.5MM in projected space with anywhere from five to seven roster spots to fill, including a new deal for pending RFA Shane Pinto. Offloading Korpisalo with four years left on his deal may be unrealistic in a goalie trade, but repurposing backup Anton Forsberg‘s $2.75MM in a trade, along with many other parts for a starter, could help ease any financial considerations.
They’re not viewed as the favorites for either Markström or Ullmark, though. The Devils have positioned themselves as the frontrunner in Markström talks. While it’s not clear who’s put together the most competitive offer to the Bruins for Ullmark, he’s got a 16-team no-trade list. The stuck-in-low-gear Senators might very well be on it. Even if Markström wasn’t so closely tied to New Jersey, he boasts a full no-move clause and could block a trade.
Nonetheless, it would be smart to count the Sens in for nearly every netminder who finds himself on the block this summer.
NHL Announces Salary Cap For 2024-25 Season
The NHL and NHLPA have announced the Team Payroll Range for the 2024-25 season. The salary cap upper limit has been set at $88MM, with a midpoint of $76.5MM and a lower limit of $65.0MM. This marks a $4.5MM increase in the upper limit for the 2023-24 season – tied for the highest single-season increase of all time – and a $6.5MM increase from the cap in 2019 and 2020. The upper limit also exceeds CapFriendly’s projected upper limit of $87.7MM – a projection mentioned at October’s NHL Board of Governors meeting. CapFriendly continues to project a $92MM salary cap next season – a mark that continues through the 2020s. The minimum salary is expected to remain at $775K, after growing from $750K ahead of this season.
The NHL incurred $1.5B in escrow debt after pausing the 2019-20 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The league has been paying off that debt ever since, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sharing it was down to $50M at the start of the season. This big step forward in salary cap suggests the league has fully paid off that debt, something Bettman hinted towards in the pre-season Board of Governors meeting. Bettman added in that meeting, “The game is in great shape. Our franchises have never been better owned or stronger, and we’re excited to have the start of another season upon us.”
The NHL is showing that a healthy league leads to innovation, set to welcome a team in Utah for the first time next season. Utah will boast the most cap space in the league, with a hardy $43.5MM to spend. They’re succeeded by the San Jose Sharks ($37.5MM in cap space) and Chicago Blackhawks ($34.1MM in cap space), per CapFriendly.
Blackhawks Leaning Toward Artyom Levshunov At Second Overall
Much like last year’s draft, there’s a bit of a toss-up at second overall. The Sharks will take Hobey Baker Award winner Macklin Celebrini as the first-overall pick. However, with the second choice, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson has a choice to make.
That choice is between Ivan Demidov, a Russian winger whose 60 points in 30 junior games gave him one of the best seasons at that level of all time, and Belarusian defenseman Artyom Levshunov, who logged heavy minutes as a freshman for Michigan State University this season and is the top blue liner in the class based on consolidated public rankings. Speaking on Friday’s episode of “The Athletic Hockey Show,” Scott Powers reports the team is leaning toward Levshunov with less than a month to go until draft day.
Levshunov would immediately become the Hawks’ top defense prospect, surpassing 2022 seventh-overall pick Kevin Korchinski. And like Korchinski two years ago, it seems unlikely he’d jump to the NHL immediately. A sophomore campaign at Michigan State makes sense for Levshunov before potentially turning pro in 2025.
It shouldn’t be ruled out completely, though. Levshunov is coming off a banner season that saw him named the Big Ten Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. He was named to the year-end First All-Star Team as well.
Levshunov’s nine goals, 26 assists, 35 points and +27 rating in 38 games helped the Spartans win their first regular-season and conference tournament championships since the conference’s inception in 2013. A right-shot defender, the 18-year-old already stands at 6’2″ and 209 lbs.
Chicago taking Levshunov off the board would leave Demidov available for the Ducks at third overall, becoming the crown jewel of an already deep pool of young forwards that includes Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Mason McTavish and Trevor Zegras. Demidov is the second-ranked prospect behind Celebrini in public consolidated rankings and TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s most recent polling of NHL scouts.
Sabres Open To Trading First-Round Pick
The Sabres are open to trading their 11th overall selection in this month’s draft, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said on Friday’s “32 Thoughts” podcast.
If so, it would likely be in a swap for top-six forward help, per Friedman. They’re not the only team within the top 15 looking to move their selection, though. The Devils, slated to pick one spot before them at 10th overall, are also willing to trade their pick for immediate help, likely on the goaltending front.
To the surprise of many, the Sabres’ offense was their Achilles heel this season as their playoff drought extended to 13 years. After finishing third in the league in goals for in 2022-23 and missing the playoffs by one point, their snipers cratered. Buffalo scored 50 fewer goals this season than last, dropping their offense down to 22nd in the league.
The lack of scoring, influenced partly by their below-average 16.6% power play, wasted one of the best goaltending performances from a Sabres netminder in quite some time. 2017 second-round pick Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen took over as a bonafide starter, putting up a .910 SV% and five shutouts in 54 games with a 27-22-4 record.
Buffalo’s future is still bright as it stands. Luukkonen will be joined on a full-time basis by top goaltending prospect Devon Levi between the pipes next season after he posted a .927 SV% in 26 minor-league games. Their core on defense is set with Bowen Byram, Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power and Mattias Samuelsson.
But entering a 2024-25 campaign in which ending their playoff drought is a necessity, their high-ceiling offense does have a few question marks. Tage Thompson still managed to lead the team in goals with 29 while battling through injuries, but it’s a far cry from his totals of 38 and 47 the previous two years. A rebound should be expected if he stays healthy, but it can’t fall on him alone.
Alex Tuch is a true top-six producer but has had inconsistent results year-over-year. Is he more of a 60-point or 80-point player? Can the aging Jeff Skinner have a bounce-back year after being limited to 46 points?
Some of those concerns should be quelled by steps forward from a trio of under-25 forwards in Zach Benson, John-Jason Peterka and Jack Quinn – but the operative word there is “should.” They could also get a decent rookie season out of 2022 ninth-overall pick Matthew Savoie, but like the others, his best years are still a few seasons ahead of him.
While they do still have a deep prospect pool up front, there is still an obvious need for more established help. The top forward available on the trade market, Hurricanes pending RFA Martin Nečas, likely doesn’t fit the bill based on Carolina’s similar want for an established replacement rather than picks and prospects.
But could the Jets’ Nikolaj Ehlers, also likely on the move this summer without an extension past next season in the cards, be a match? The Danish winger has played a top-six role throughout his nine-year career and averages 27 goals and 62 points over an 82-game campaign. He’s entering the final season of a contract with a $6MM cap hit, more than affordable for the flush-with-space Sabres, and could potentially be had for the 11th overall pick alone without any other assets included.
Regardless, the shift into buyer mode for general manager Kevyn Adams appears clear with Lindy Ruff at the helm for his second stint as head coach.
Nikolaj Ehlers Not Interested In Extension With Jets
Nikolaj Ehlers has been a key part of Winnipeg’s top-six forward group for the last nine seasons and remains under contract for 2024-25. However, it doesn’t appear that he’s interested in extending that number any further as David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that the winger isn’t interested in signing a new deal with the Jets. He adds that while no formal trade request has been made, Ehlers would welcome a move.
Last month, it was reported that Winnipeg GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was likely to explore the trade market for the 28-year-old in the weeks leading up to the draft. With this report now out there, it stands to reason that his camp had notified the Jets earlier in the offseason that they weren’t interested in engaging in extension talks at this time.
Ehlers is coming off one of the most productive seasons in his career. He played in all 82 regular season games for the first time since 2017-18 and put 61 points, his second-best total. However, he was limited to just two assists in their first-round exit at the hands of Colorado.
Despite being one of Winnipeg’s more consistently productive players, it hasn’t resulted in him playing higher up the depth chart. Ehlers logged under 16 minutes a night in each of the last two years under now-former head coach Rick Bowness. With associate coach Scott Arniel taking over behind the bench, he might be inclined to keep the status quo in terms of Ehlers’ role so he’s likely hoping to have a more prominent role elsewhere.
Ehlers has one year left on his contract with a $6MM AAV with $6.75MM in salary. He also has some control on where he could be moved with a ten-team no-trade clause. That price tag is below what a 25-goal, 60-point scorer is likely to get on the open market next month so teams looking to make a more affordable addition will certainly be calling if they haven’t already.
Of course, Ehlers is a year away from cashing in on a more lucrative contract which has to be factored into the equation. Generally, players who are open to immediate extensions with an acquiring team will get more in return; Pagnotta adds that it’s unclear if Ehlers is willing to go that route at this time. Notably, he won’t be able to officially sign an extension in this scenario until July 1st.
The trade market is likely a few weeks away from fully opening up as teams often wait until after the Stanley Cup Final before reshaping their roster. It appears that Ehlers will be one of the more prominent names on that market when it gets going.
Hurricanes, Jaccob Slavin Begin Extension Talks
While the Hurricanes still have many pending UFAs to juggle this offseason, they’ve already turned their attention to 2025 and beyond. High on their list of priorities is getting number-one defenseman Jaccob Slavin signed to an extension shortly after becoming eligible on July 1, and The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports those talks have already started.
Slavin, 30, is entering the final season of a seven-year, $37.1MM extension signed by former general manager Ron Francis in July 2017. He costs only $5.3MM against the cap, a bargain price for a player who finished top 10 in Norris Trophy voting twice since 2020.
Unfathomably, Slavin saw the lowest usage of his NHL career in 2023-24. After Carolina stocked up their already elite blue line with the addition of Dmitry Orlov in free agency last summer, head coach Rod Brind’Amour utilized his three pairings roughly equally, leading to an ice time reduction of more than a minute per game. His 20:56 average checked in three seconds fewer than his previous career-low, set during his rookie season in 2015-16.
That didn’t stop him from remaining one of the best possession-control defenders in the league. His 37 points in 81 games this year were the second-most of his career, and he logged an expected rating north of +10 for the fifth time in the last six seasons. With Slavin on the ice at even strength this season, the Hurricanes controlled 56.2% of expected goals and 60.2% of shot attempts, the latter of which was a career-high.
The 6’3″, 207-lb defender would be one of the top defenders available in free agency in the summer of 2025, but the chances of him reaching the open market are infinitesimal. With the Hurricanes seemingly more aggressive about extending him than pending UFAs Jake Guentzel, Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei, it even seems unlikely he’ll remain without a new deal past next month.
There’s good news for Hurricanes interim GM Eric Tulsky as he navigates negotiations – comparables for Slavin don’t favor a premium price tag on a long-term deal. In fact, Evolving Hockey projects a $6.5MM cap hit on a seven-year extension for Slavin if signed next month, and while his market value will likely push the final number a bit higher, it’s a reasonable price to pay, especially considering the deal could very well present a negative value proposition as he enters his mid-to-late 30s.
All three of the Hurricanes’ defenders currently signed to one-way deals next season – Slavin, Orlov and Brent Burns – are all set for UFA status in the summer of 2025.