Detroit Red Wings Acquire Ville Husso
The Detroit Red Wings have decided to bring in another goalie, acquiring Ville Husso from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for a third-round pick in today’s draft. The team then quickly signed Husso to a three-year extension, keeping him from unrestricted free agency next week. The deal will carry an average annual value of $4.75MM.
The Red Wings, who have Alex Nedeljkovic coming off an inconsistent season and signed for just one more year, needed another goaltender if they want to be competitive in the Atlantic Division this season. By acquiring Husso, they’ve grabbed one of the top options on the market.
Already an extremely shallow pool, the group of free agent goaltenders is getting smaller by the minute. Husso and Marc-Andre Fleury are now off the market, while Alexandar Georgiev is no longer expected to join them after being traded to the Colorado Avalanche. It leaves Darcy Kuemper and Jack Campbell in line for a big payday, as the two remaining options that could be considered starting goaltenders.
Husso, 27, had been considered a top goaltending prospect for years but it took until the 2021-22 season for him to get a real opportunity in the NHL. He ran with it, posting a .919 save percentage in 40 games and essentially stealing the starter’s role from Jordan Binnington. In his first taste of playoff action, he faltered and gave that job right back but the Finnish netminder has still shown he can be a strong option at the NHL level.
With Nedeljkovic, who has also shown flashes of brilliance over his relatively short NHL career, the Red Wings have a young, competitive tandem that should push each other for playing time this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Montreal Canadiens Acquire Kirby Dach
Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes has made his splash. The Canadiens have dealt defenseman Alexander Romanov and pick 98 to the New York Islanders for the 13th pick. They then sent pick 13 and 66 to Chicago for center Kirby Dach. The teams have all announced the trades.
This is an absolute whopper of a three-team deal. The Blackhawks, who already acquired a first-rounder earlier today, add a second top-fifteen pick in exchange for Dach, the third-overall pick in 2019. They also add the 66th pick as part of the deal as well. For Chicago, this is another move for Kyle Davidson in his quest to add more long-term future assets. Dach was a promising prospect but a mix of injuries and underperformance is what has led to this trade. The Blackhawks, who entered today with no first round picks, have now amassed a small stockpile of picks in very short order.
For the Islanders, GM Lou Lamoriello adds a young defenseman who plays the sort of highly physical, rugged game that the Islanders covet. Romanov, 22, was a second-rounder at the 2018 draft and already has 133 NHL games to his name. His offensive upside is still up for debate, but he has played an increasingly important role in Montreal and should step into the Islanders defense and play immediately. There were defensemen set to be available at thirteenth overall, but Lamoriello and the Islanders seemingly preferred a more NHL-ready option with that pick.
In Dach, the Canadiens add a player who only a few years ago was the third-overall pick. Dach is a big center who starred for the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL, scoring 72 points in 62 games in his final season there. Dach has struggled in the NHL, perhaps a signal that he should have spent more time developing in Saskatoon before making the transition to the professional game. Dach has 59 points in 152 games and it could be that a change of scenery is exactly what he needs to get his career back on track. It’s a major risk for the Canadiens, as they’re spending a top-fifteen pick on a player who has thus far struggled to be a difference-maker at the NHL level. That being said, if the Canadiens’ evaluation of Dach is correct, they could be adding the type of big, top-six center that is coveted by most GMs and unlikely to be available to them at pick 13.
Montreal Canadiens Select Juraj Slafkovsky First Overall
After refusing to reveal their selection all week, the Montreal Canadiens have decided to pick a player that only recently climbed into the top spot on most prospect lists. Juraj Slafkovsky is joining the historic franchise, beating out Shane Wright and Logan Cooley for the top spot after months of speculation.
In January, Bob McKenzie’s scout poll for TSN had Slafkovsky ranked fifth–a very good player but still far from the very top. At the Olympics in February, however, things started to change. Dragging his country to its first-ever medal in hockey, Slafkovsky was a force, scoring seven goals in seven games to lead the tournament. He would be named MVP, and suddenly it was easy to imagine how he could perform at the NHL level.
A few months later, he did it again at the World Championship, this time scoring nine points in eight games just two months after his 18th birthday, at a tournament that included even more NHL talent. His performance at these events, plus strong play in the Liiga playoffs for TPS, have pushed Slafkovsky right to the top of the wishlist for many teams.
The impressive part of his game is how it already appears he has full control of his 6’4″ frame, using it to shield the puck from defenders or drive the net to finish plays. So often, young players his size appear out of control, needing time to grow into their abilities and might take longer to develop than some of their peers. That’s not the case for Slafkovsky, who will likely step directly into an NHL lineup and be difficult to handle.
In Montreal, he’ll join an exciting young core centered around Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, who could very well be his linemates for years to come. With another pick later in the first round and 12 more picks tomorrow, the Canadiens will have a huge influx of talent this year, led by the big Slovakian winger.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Ottawa Senators Acquire Alex DeBrincat
Just a few hours before the draft, we have a massive trade. The Ottawa Senators have announced that they are acquiring superstar winger Alex DeBrincat from the Chicago Blackhawks for the seventh-overall pick, the 39th overall pick, and a 2024 third-round pick.
As relayed by Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said the following regarding the deal:
It was an incredibly difficult decision to trade a player of Alex’s caliber. We feel as if this move sets the Blackhawks up for future success by giving us additional flexibility and future talent.
DeBrincat, 24, has one year remaining on his contract before he becomes a restricted free agent entitled to a $9MM qualifying offer. After that point, barring an extension, DeBrincat will become an unrestricted free agent. There is currently no word on any possible extension for DeBrincat, but one has to assume that the Senators will make every attempt to keep him in Ottawa beyond the two years of team control they have just acquired.
For the Senators, acquiring DeBrincat is a major coup as the team looks to escape their rebuild and finally return to contention. DeBrincat is a superstar forward in a relatively similar age range to the Senators’ other core pieces. He is close to the same age as Thomas Chabot and only a few years older than players such as Josh Norris and Brady Tkachuk. DeBrincat is an elite offensive player, having scored over 40 goals twice in his career, including this past season. His 78 points would have led the Senators in 2021-22, and the Senators have to be extremely excited about the possibility of DeBrincat playing with Tkachuk and Norris.
The contract situation is definitely something for Ottawa to monitor, as the Senators have had issues in the past with players not wanting to sign there long-term. But at the cost of their first-rounder, second-rounder, and a 2024 third, the chance to add a player of DeBrincat’s caliber for at least the next two years (and potentially longer) is definitely a risk worth taking.
For the Blackhawks, this trade is on one hand shocking and on the other wholly unsurprising. Davidson has made it no secret that he’d be stripping the roster bare in order to pursue a rebuild, and DeBrincat’s name had been floating in trade rumors for weeks. So the fact that he was ultimately dealt is not a surprise, especially when one considers the fact that the Blackhawks did not have a 2022 first-round pick until this trade. And having that seventh-overall pick is definitely a boon for a team looking to add more prospects to a depleted prospect pool.
That being said, there is a general sentiment that the return the Blackhawks received was a bit light when one takes into account DeBrincat’s age and talent level. A top-ten pick and a high second-rounder are two valuable assets, but only six players have scored more goals than DeBrincat over the last four years. He’s a superstar player who hasn’t even turned 25 years old. The last superstar-level player to be traded, Jack Eichel, net the Sabres a package that included NHL-ready talent such as Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch as well as draft picks. While Eichel did have more years left on his contract, he also had some medical uncertainty, the kind of uncertainty the rarely-injured DeBrincat does not carry.
This trade is certainly going to be widely celebrated among Senators fans, but whether this trade is ultimately successful for Ottawa could depend on if they manage to sign DeBrincat to a long-term extension. For the Blackhawks, this trade is a major one, setting the tone for what could be a difficult few years as Davidson attempts to find the next set of core Blackhawks players. Finding one of those core players tonight, with the seventh-overall selection they just acquired, will be essential.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was first on the deal. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Pittsburgh Penguins Extend Kris Letang
The Pittsburgh Penguins will almost certainly be the only team Kris Letang ever plays for. The team announced a six-year, $36.6MM contract extension for the star defenseman, keeping him away from unrestricted free agency and likely taking him through retirement. General manager Ron Hextall released the following statement:
Kris epitomizes what it means to be a Pittsburgh Penguin. The role he plays on our team is irreplaceable, he is a leader in our locker room, and has made countless contributions to the organization over the last 15-plus years, which includes three Stanley Cup Championships. We are thrilled to make him a Penguin for life.
Letang, 35, will now carry a $6.1MM cap hit through the 2027-28 season, keeping him the Penguins’ highest-paid defenseman. Still, that number is much lower on a per-year basis than what he could have landed on the open market, or even than the $7.25MM he has carried for each of the last eight years.
The risk is obviously that Letang is already in his mid-thirties and could at any point, see a drastic decline in his performance. That hasn’t happened yet, as he actually set a career-high with 68 points this season, finishing seventh in Norris Trophy voting. For his career, Letang now has 650 points in 941 games, meaning he’ll reach the 1,000-game mark (and potentially the 700-point mark) if he stays healthy for the upcoming campaign.
Perhaps more importantly, this deal will not qualify for the lessened 35+ contract restrictions that were added in the 2020 CBA update. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports the salary breakdown will be as follows:
- 2022-23: $8.0MM
- 2023-24: $8.0MM
- 2024-25: $6.2MM
- 2025-26: $4.8MM
- 2026-27: $4.8MM
- 2027-28: $4.8MM
That front-loaded nature means that the full cap hit will be applied to the Penguins even if Letang retires before finishing the deal. While it gives the team some added flexibility in the coming years, it could very well be an anchor down the road.
The argument of course for the Penguins is that by then, Sidney Crosby will not be as effective (if he’s even still playing) and the team will no longer be trying to compete for the Stanley Cup. At that point, it doesn’t really matter if there is a large cap charge for a declining Letang, while the team goes through the inevitable stage of rebuilding. For now, this gives them the best chance at contending in 2022-23, the focus for Hextall and the new ownership group.
Winnipeg Jets Hire Rick Bowness
July 3: The Winnipeg Jets have made it official via a release and Twitter announcement, naming Rick Bowness the eighth coach in Winnipeg Jets history and third since the team relocated from Atlanta. According to The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, the contract is for two seasons at $2.5MM per season (link).
July 1: While one coaching vacancy was suddenly created today when San Jose parted ways with Bob Boughner, it appears another is about to close. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the Jets are in the process of finalizing an agreement with Rick Bowness to become their next head coach.
It will be a return to where it all began for the 67-year-old as his first NHL coaching job actually came with the original Jets franchise (now the Coyotes) all the way back in 1988-89 when he took over midseason. Since then, Bowness has a long track record of coaching, both as a head coach and an assistant and Dreger notes that his experience was a big factor in Winnipeg’s choice. Of course, they were previously linked to Barry Trotz, an experienced bench boss who ultimately declined their offer to take over so GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was clearly looking for someone that has run an NHL bench in the past.
Bowness most recently was head coach of Dallas where he spent parts of three seasons at the helm. This past season, the Stars posted a 46-30-6 record, good for a points percentage of .598, their best since the 2015-16 campaign. That was enough to get them into the playoffs as the top Wild Card seed in the Western Conference where they made it to the seventh game against Calgary in the opening round. Despite that, the team saw fit to make a change behind the bench, ultimately installing Peter DeBoer as their new head coach after Bowness and the team mutually agreed to part ways.
Over his career, Bowness has a 212-351-76 record as an NHL head coach with stints with the Jets, Bruins, Senators, Islanders, Coyotes, and Stars. It’s worth noting that his four seasons with the then-expansion Sens played a considerable role in making that mark as poor as it looks as Ottawa only won 39 of 235 games under his tutelage.
Assuming the contract does get finalized, Bowness will be taking over a Winnipeg team that was among the biggest underachievers in the league last season. There is a strong forward core in place but Blake Wheeler, Mark Scheifele, and Pierre-Luc Dubois have all been in trade speculation in recent weeks with the expectation that Cheveldayoff is looking to shake up his core. Meanwhile, Connor Hellebuyck is coming off a tough year but is still only two years removed from winning the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie. By going for an experienced head coach, it’s clear that there will be win-now expectations for Bowness and the Jets, no matter what winds up happening with their roster over the coming months.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nashville Predators Acquire Ryan McDonagh
Per their Twitter, the Tampa Bay Lightning confirmed that they have traded defenseman Ryan McDonagh to the Nashville Predators. In exchange, the Lightning receive defenseman Philippe Myers and forward Grant Mismash from Nashville. It doesn’t appear that any salary has been retained in the trade. With the Lightning needing to make some tough salary cap decisions if they wanted to keep a majority of their core together, one name that was rumored to be on the move was McDonagh, and GM Julien BriseBois was able to make it happen. McDonagh carries a cap hit of $6.75MM for each of the next four seasons.
In McDonagh the Predators acquire a sturdy shutdown defenseman and veteran of 783 career regular season NHL games, in addition to 185 playoff games, including Stanley Cup Championships with the Lightning in 2020 and 2021. Originally the twelfth-overall pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft by the Montreal Canadiens, McDonagh was traded to the New York Rangers two years later in the Scott Gomez deal. The defenseman went on to play in 516 regular season games for the Rangers, captaining the team from 2014-15 until his trade to the Lightning during the 2017-18 season. After the trade, the Predators still project to have just over $18.1MM in available salary cap space this offseason, which should be more than enough to make necessary moves and extend franchise-icon Filip Forsberg.
According to TSN’s Chris Johnston, it doesn’t appear the Lightning plan to buyout Myers’ contract (link). By keeping Myers in the fold, the Lightning still free up $4.2MM. With the departure of fellow right-shot defenseman Jan Rutta possible, Myers could serve as a replacement, having just one year left on his contract as opposed to unpredictable term and salary for Rutta. In speaking to the media, including The Athletic’s Joe Smith, BriseBois said that if the league wasn’t in a flat-cap situation, he would have never even thought of making the deal and asking McDonagh to wave his no-trade clause. Speaking of that clause, McDonagh currently carries a full no-trade clause, meaning the Lightning had to specifically seek his permission in order to make this trade, an experience BriseBois told Smith was not a pleasant one. As to replacing McDonagh, BriseBois told Eduardo Encina of the Tampa Bay Times that the plan is to elevate the role of defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and continue to fill out the defense corps. Though a different handedness, that would seem to be in line with the choice to keep Myers rather than buy him out.
With the trade, Tampa Bay ships out a left-handed defenseman for a right-handed one in Myers, however he may not be with the team for long, as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman points out, the team can buyout Myers’ contract and actually receive a cap credit of $617K this season, then owe just $633K in 2023-24. Right now, Myers is under contract through the 2022-23 season at $2.5MM. Though Myers’ cap hit is certainly not bad, it is somewhat high for a team fighting for every dollar to stay under the cap ceiling. Another option for the Lightning could be to trade Myers, avoiding his cap hit this year, but if they see value in having the cap credit this year with the cap hit next year, they may be inclined to simply buy him out now. With the credit, the Lightning would in effect pick up $7.13MM in cap space they did not have at this time yesterday (link).
Last, but certainly not least, is Mismash, who was a second-round pick, 61st overall, by Nashville in 2017. The forward played four seasons at the University of North Dakota, where he had 71 points in 117 college games before turning pro last season. In 57 games with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL last season, Mismash had six goals and six assists.
Vancouver Canucks Extend Brock Boeser
The Vancouver Canucks announced Friday that the team has agreed to terms on a three-year extension with winger Brock Boeser, worth $6.65MM per season. The contract carries a total value of $19.95MM and will take him to unrestricted free agency in 2025. Per CapFriendly, Boeser will have a limited no-trade clause in 2024-25, allowing him to name a 10-team no-trade list.
General manager Patrik Allvin gave the following statement on Boeser’s signing:
We’re very happy to have worked out a new deal for Brock. He is a very talented player and has been an effective goal scorer throughout his entire career. We look forward to seeing his game progress in the years to come. Now that his contract is in place for three seasons, Brock can shift his entire focus to on-ice performance.
The 25-year-old first-round pick has solidified a spot in Vancouver’s top six, looking to become an important scoring option for them for years to come. However, Boeser’s production took a step back in 2021-22, registering 23 goals and 23 goals for just 46 points in 71 games. He’s still yet to hit his career-high of 29 goals again, set in his rookie season in 2017-18. It’s that lack of scoring development that’s led the Canucks to explore trading him, mainly because Boeser was due a qualifying offer worth $7.5MM. With the Boeser able to settle on a cheaper cap hit, though, a reunion between the two parties became a possibility.
Boeser’s production did increase drastically once Bruce Boudreau took over behind the bench, though, a good sign for optimist Canucks fans. If Boudreau’s system can help him regain the play-driving ability that had previously made him an effective scorer, he can suddenly become a solid primary scoring option in Vancouver. If not, the team will likely have to settle on him as a secondary scoring option in order to be a contender in the Western Conference. With the team willing to commit over $6.5MM per season in an already tricky salary cap situation, though, they’re obviously banking on Boeser reaching his ceiling.
Boston Bruins Hire Jim Montgomery
The Bruins have found their next head coach as they officially announced on Friday that they have hired Jim Montgomery as their new head coach. He takes over for Bruce Cassidy who was fired earlier this offseason. GM Don Sweeney released the following statement about the hire:
Jim has a winning history, and throughout the interview process he conveyed his ability to connect with all types of players while also demanding that his teams play with structure. We are excited for Jim to begin to make his imprint on our team.
This hire is a bit of a surprising one, as the Bruins had been interviewing candidates such as David Quinn and Jay Leach, coaches with deep ties to either Boston hockey or the Bruins organization. Montgomery does not have such deep ties to the Bruins, and the Montreal native did not play in the Boston area during his 122-game NHL career. He did have an extremely successful career at the University of Maine, which is technically within New England, but still, his ties to the area are dwarfed by the other reported finalists.
Montgomery is an intriguing candidate in part because of why he’s in this position in the first place. After an extremely successful tenure at the helm of the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints, winning two championships in three years, he left to coach the NCAA’s University of Denver. There, Montgomery won the 2017 NCAA National Championship.
That success at Denver led Montgomery to his first NHL head coaching job, taking the reins of a Dallas Stars franchise that had missed the playoffs the year before. Montgomery’s player-focused, upbeat coaching style immediately connected with the Stars players, and he went 43-32-7 and won a playoff series. The next year, though, Montgomery was fired early in the season for what the team called “unprofessional conduct.” After his firing, Montgomery made his struggles with alcohol abuse public, and began the process of rehabilitation.
His recovery was successful enough for him to earn another chance to coach in the NHL, this time as an assistant on Craig Berube’s St. Louis Blues staff. There, Montgomery coached a powerplay that rocketed to among the league’s best, and it’s on the back of that success that he gets his second chance at being an NHL head coach, now in Boston, where ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports that he has received a three-year deal worth around $2MM annually.
For the Bruins, the hire of Montgomery represents a significant departure from Cassidy’s style of management. Cassidy’s more demanding style reportedly wore on the Bruins’ players and played a role in his firing despite all the success he had. Montgomery’s style is a departure from Cassidy’s, as he is by all reports a highly approachable, player-first bench boss. It remains to be seen if the team’s swap of Cassidy for Montgomery, and the stylistic changes that result from that swap, is ultimately successful. But what we do know now is that this move, at the very least, gives a coach who was once viewed as a rising star the second chance at coaching that he’s worked so hard to earn.
Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to report that Montgomery was set to become Boston’s head coach.
Sharks Fire Bob Boughner
There is a late entrant to the coaching shuffle around the NHL as the Sharks have announced that head coach Bob Boughner along with assistant coaches John Madden and John MacLean plus video coach Dan Darrow have all been relieved of their duties. Interim GM Joe Will released the following statement:
As we progress through our search for the next general manager of the Sharks following 19 seasons under Doug Wilson’s leadership, it has become apparent that the organization is in the process of an evolution. The bottom line is we have missed the playoffs for the past three seasons, which isn’t acceptable to our owner, our organization, or to our fans. As part of this evolution and evaluation, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to allow the next Sharks general manager to have full autonomy related to the make-up of the on-ice coaching staff moving ahead.
Boughner took over as San Jose’s head coach back in December of 2019 on an interim basis when he took over for Peter DeBoer with the team removing the interim tag at the end of the season, handing him a three-year deal in the process. That contract, worth $1.5MM per season, had one year remaining, and with so few head coaching openings out there, it’s unlikely he’ll be running an NHL bench when training camp comes around.
As Will noted in his statement, the Sharks missed the playoffs in each of the three seasons that Boughner was behind the bench with the team ultimately compiling a 67-85-23 record during his tenure. Their points percentage improved in each of the last two seasons but San Jose finished sixth in the Pacific Division this past season with a points percentage of just .470. For his head coaching career which included a two-year stint in Florida, Boughner’s record is 147-147-35.
What’s particularly noteworthy here is that the Sharks haven’t completed their search for a new general manager yet, at least officially. Will is the one that wound up making the change but there is an expectation that a new GM will be in place soon. TSN’s Darren Dreger notes (Twitter link) that former Canadiens assistant GM Scott Mellanby is a name that has surfaced this week as one to watch on that front while ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski suggests Mike Grier and Ray Whitney are in the mix as well. With the draft now less than a week away and free agency beginning less than a week later, their new GM was already going to have plenty on his plate in terms of roster building to try to get this team back into the postseason and draft planning. Now, there will be a coaching search to complete as well.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report that Boughner had been let go. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to add that Madden, MacLean, and Darrow were also out.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.