Montreal Canadiens Hire Martin St. Louis As Interim Head Coach
The Montreal Canadiens have gone a bit off the board to replace Dominique Ducharme, who was fired earlier today. Instead of going with someone that already has coaching experience at the NHL level, the team has instead hired Hockey Hall of Fame player Martin St. Louis as interim head coach. General manager Kent Hughes has released the following statement:
We are very happy to welcome Martin to the Canadiens organization. Not only are we adding an excellent hockey man, but with Martin we are bringing in a proven winner and a man whose competitive qualities are recognized by all who have crossed his path.
St. Louis, 46, has no formal experience as a coach in the NHL, though he did serve as a powerplay consultant for the Columbus Blue Jackets for part of the 2018-19 season.
Still, there’s no one doubting his hockey knowledge. St. Louis played 1,134 regular season games over a long NHL career, scoring 1,033 points. He added another 107 playoff contests, winning the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004. Olympic gold. World Cup gold. Art Ross and Hart trophies. There’s very little that St. Louis failed to accomplish as a player, despite going undrafted as an undersized forward in a league that was still focused on size.
There are also many obvious connections with the new Montreal front office. Not only did St. Louis play for Jeff Gorton when he was still in the front office of the New York Rangers, but their kids also played youth hockey together. St. Louis’ son Ryan now plays at Northeastern with Jack and Riley Hughes, sons of the Montreal GM. Hughes was also the agent for Vincent Lecavalier, a longtime teammate of St. Louis in Tampa Bay. Lecavalier has also been linked to the Canadiens organization in recent days, though the role he would take on is not clear.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that St. Louis is only signed through the end of this season and the two sides will talk about the future at the end of that short tenure. With the Canadiens completely floundering and at the bottom of the standings, it’s hard to expect St. Louis to really turn around the program. If he can get at least some sort of change out of the group, however, perhaps he’ll make the jump right from peewee head coach to NHL head coach on a full-time basis.
Montreal Canadiens Fire Dominique Ducharme
The new front office leadership of the Montreal Canadiens has made their first big move. Dominique Ducharme has been relieved of his duties as head coach, effective immediately. His replacement will be named later today according to the team and the status of the assistant coaches has not been changed. Kent Hughes, Montreal’s new GM, released a statement:
We would like to sincerely thank Dominique for his work and contributions to the Montreal Canadiens organization. At this point in the season, we felt it was in the best interest of the club to make a change.
Ducharme, 48, took over as head coach of the Canadiens in February of last year when Claude Julien was let go and ended up leading the team all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Even during that run there were questions about whether he was the right person to continue leading the Canadiens, but the interim tag was eventually removed and Ducharme signed a three-year contract extension in July. That deal keeps him under contract through the 2023-24 season but he will no longer be behind the Canadiens bench as Hughes and Jeff Gorton start to put their stamp on the team.
It’s been a disastrous year for Montreal, with the leadership group in tatters after Shea Weber and Carey Price were sidelined by injury and players like Phillip Danault were lost to free agency. The team has cratered in the standings and on the ice, with some players even showing a lack of effort at times. The Canadiens are 8-30-7 on the season and were embarrassed by the New Jersey Devils last night, losing 7-1 on home ice. The final goal last night was scored by Tomas Tatar, notably a player that was scratched in the playoffs by Ducharme last year.
If the Canadiens hire someone else to take over as head coach right away, they would actually be paying three people for that job. Julien’s contract, which carried a $5MM salary, is still on the books for this season. That, plus the $1.7MM that Ducharme is believed to earn, is certainly not an insignificant amount to a team that has also dealt with attendance restrictions this season and will continue to do so for the next few weeks.
Interestingly enough, Gorton–who was given the role of executive vice president of hockey operations after Marc Bergevin was let go–actually told reporters earlier this season that he would not be making a coaching change until the summer. That plan has obviously changed with Hughes’ addition and the continued losses piling up in Montreal.
The Canadiens have a big offseason ahead of them that includes hosting the draft where they currently hold 11 selections. That number could grow as the trade deadline approaches, though there aren’t a ton of expiring contracts on the books. Whoever does take over as head coach will certainly not be able to bring the team back from the hole they’ve dug themselves, meaning it could very well be an interim position for the rest of this season.
Jean-Charles Lajoie of TVA Sports was to report that Ducharme had been fired.
Anaheim Ducks Hire Pat Verbeek
Official now, the Anaheim Ducks have hired Pat Verbeek as their next general manager. Verbeek leaves the Detroit Red Wings where he has spent the last three years as assistant GM. Ducks’ owners Henry and Susan Samueli released a statement on the hire:
Susan and I are delighted to welcome Pat Verbeek to our community to guide our hockey club as the next General Manager of the Anaheim Ducks. Pat’s outstanding work ethic and vast knowledge of the game as a successful executive and player throughout his 35-plus years in the NHL make him an outstanding fit to lead us forward. He brings a unique pedigree, having vast experience and serving in integral leadership roles for championship teams as both a player and executive at the NHL level.
Verbeek, 57, has a long history of success as a player, scout, and executive, being part of Stanley Cup-winning teams at all three levels. He has been moving through front offices right alongside Steve Yzerman for the last decade-plus but will now get a chance to run an organization of his own.
Replacing Bob Murray, who resigned earlier this year, Verbeek has an interesting challenge ahead of him with the exciting young Ducks’ group. There are core pieces reaching the end of their contracts this season–Rickard Rakell, Hampus Lindholm, and Josh Manson are all scheduled to become unrestricted free agents–but the youth of Troy Terry, Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale and others have helped the team stay competitive in the Pacific Division. Selling off rentals isn’t something that playoff contenders do very often, but it would also be difficult to watch a player like Lindholm walk without getting anything in return.
With more than six weeks until the deadline, there is plenty of time to make those decisions and Verbeek comes right at the start of the All-Star break, meaning he’ll have a few days to get familiarized with his new staff and organization.
It’s an organization that does have a history of success, despite its relatively short lifetime. Since entering the NHL in 1993, Anaheim has reached the Stanley Cup Final twice, won it once, and gone to three other Conference Finals. The most recently long playoff run came in 2017, when a Randy Carlyle-led group fell in six games to the Nashville Predators in the third round. Currently, the Ducks sit seventh in the Western Conference with a 23-16-9 record, but they have played six more games than a couple of the teams chasing them and could quickly slip out of a Pacific Division playoff spot. Sorting by points percentage would drop them to ninth, making Verbeek’s job even more difficult in the coming weeks.
Of course, unlike some of the other managers that have taken over this season, Verbeek also isn’t really dealing with a cap table bloated with long-term deals. Only Adam Henrique, Jakob Silfverberg, John Gibson, and Cam Fowler are signed through the 2023-24 season, with just the latter two under contract past that. That sort of flexibility will allow Verbeek to put his stamp on the Ducks in short order, even if this case doesn’t require a tear-down.
Minnesota Wild Extend Jordan Greenway
1:10pm: Greenway’s extension is now official, and it’s a three-year deal at an even $9MM total. The deal keeps him under contract through the 2024-25 season, buying out one year of unrestricted free agency. PuckPedia adds that it includes an eight-team no-trade clause in the final year.
11:15am: The Minnesota Wild are on fire, winning eight of their last nine games including a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders last night. Those good vibes are set to continue for one pending RFA, as Michael Russo of The Athletic has heard rumblings that the team is closing in on an extension with Jordan Greenway. The scribe posits that it would come in around the same $3.1MM cap hit that Marcus Foligno earned last January.
Greenway, 24, has just four goals and 13 points in 33 games this season but–as Russo points out–is a part of one of the best defensive lines in the NHL, when deployed alongside Joel Eriksson Ek and Foligno. That line has yet to allow a goal against at 5-on-5, certainly providing good value to the Wild despite Greenway’s relatively pedestrian offensive numbers.
In fact, after posting 32 points in 56 games last season, it seemed like his offensive game was set to really take off in 2021-22. It hasn’t, but the 6’6″ forward has increased his physicality even more and is contributing to the penalty kill. An extension, if it does come down the pipe, could potentially buy out both of Greenway’s remaining arbitration years, as he could become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason. If it buys out some of those UFA years as well, a $3MM cap hit would certainly be a bargain for a capable middle-six player that can provide value in several different ways.
The interesting part of Greenway’s development, of course, is that he’s no longer really needed to be a top-six player. The Wild have even younger players like Marco Rossi and Matt Boldy that are going to take up those spots, the latter already playing a big role in his short NHL career. According to Russo, Boldy has been told he’s going to stay with the Wild for the foreseeable future after recording nine points in nine games so far.
That ten-game entry-level contract threshold that many prospects deal with is not applicable to the 20-year-old Boldy, who is already in the second year of his ELC after signing last spring.
Evander Kane Signs With Edmonton Oilers
8:16 pm: The team has now made the deal official — Evander Kane is an Edmonton Oiler. The team has yet to confirm the official details of the contract.
4:25 pm: The Edmonton Oilers are expected to sign Evander Kane to a one-year contract, following the conclusion of the NHL’s latest investigation. According to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, the free agent forward will now earn a prorated league minimum salary of $750K, plus a signing bonus of $625K. It will also include a full no-movement clause. Because the deal is being signed partway through the season, Kane’s cap hit will be just over $2.1MM and he will earn a total of $970K.
Kane, 30, was issued a 21-game suspension at the start of the season for a breach of COVID protocols and providing a false vaccination card. When that suspension ended, he was not welcomed back to the Sharks roster, but placed on waivers in order to send him to the minor leagues. Kane played in five games for the San Jose Barracuda, recording eight points, until another COVID-related transgression resulted in his contract being terminated.
The league conducted an additional investigation into his actions in the minor leagues. They released the following:
The report prepared in connection with the investigation, which was conducted by Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, concluded that there was insufficient evidence to “conclusively find that Mr. Kane knowingly made misrepresentations regarding his COVID-19 status or test results in connection with his international travel.”
As a result, the League has determined not to pursue any additional League-imposed discipline against Kane at the current time.
That means he was free to join any team in the NHL and play immediately, a condition the Oilers needed in order to sign him today. Edmonton was immediately linked to Kane when he became a free agent, with general manager Ken Holland quickly confirming that he had been in touch with agent Dan Milstein. While the Washington Capitals were linked to Kane in recent days, the Oilers always seemed like the frontrunner to land his services–services which are desperately required as the team tries to get back into the Pacific Division playoff picture.
There’s no doubt that Kane is a force on the ice. Over his 769 career regular season games, the 6’2″ forward has racked up 264 goals and 506 points, including an outstanding 22-goal, 49-point campaign in last year’s shortened season. He’s also twice led the league in penalty minutes, delivered more than 1,700 hits and averaged close to 19 minutes a game throughout his long career.
That is a heck of a player to plug in beside Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl (or both) for the stretch run, especially at such a low cost. But there is risk, obviously, given his history of off-ice issues. Just last offseason, Kane was involved in three different investigations, as allegations of gambling on NHL games, domestic abuse, and COVID-related infractions all surfaced. Though he was cleared of the first two, the NHL came down hard for the third, handing out the 21-game ban that effectively ended his time with the Sharks. When the suspension was announced, Kane released a statement through the NHLPA:
I would like to apologize to my teammates, the San Jose Sharks organization and all Sharks fans for violating the NHL COVID protocols. I made a mistake, one I sincerely regret and take responsibility for. During my suspension, I will continue to participate in counseling to help me make better decisions in the future. When my suspension is over, I plan to return to the ice with great effort, determination and love for the game of hockey.
Just two months later though, he allegedly broke protocols again by traveling to Vancouver during a period of mandatory isolation following a positive COVID result. The NHLPA has filed a grievance on Kane’s behalf after the Sharks used this latest breach to terminate his contract, one which now seems to have merit based on the findings of the NHL’s latest investigation.
For now, Kane joins the Oilers on a short-term deal once again looking to prove he can be a reliable, valuable member of an NHL organization. He will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Pittsburgh Penguins Extend Jeff Carter
The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed Jeff Carter to a two-year contract extension, avoiding unrestricted free agency this summer. The deal will carry an average annual value of $3.125MM and includes a full no-movement clause. Carter is in the final season of an 11-year, $58MM deal that was signed back with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2010 and currently carries a cap hit of just over $5.27MM, half of which is retained by the Los Angeles Kings.
That means this new deal actually increases the cap hit for the Penguins, but with Carter’s performance since he arrived in Pittsburgh, it is deserved. The 37-year-old has been excellent in his short time there, scoring 21 goals and 37 points in 50 games. He’s also continued to be the versatile forward he has been since 2005, able to line up at center or the wing, engage physically or play a skilled role on the powerplay. Carter has now played 1,130 games during his long, successful career, and broke the 400-goal mark earlier this season.
Ron Hextall, who has been linked to Carter in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia over the years, released a statement on the extension:
Jeff’s experience and versatility have made him a valuable addition to our team. In addition to his on-ice contributions, his team-first attitude has made him a leader inside our locker room and we are happy to have him under contract for two more years.
Just this month Carter told reporters that he hoped to play a few more years, not ready to hang up his skates just yet. He’ll now be in Pittsburgh for the next few years at least, helping Sidney Crosby and company try to take home another Stanley Cup.
It’s an interesting move for the Penguins and one that seems to signal that any thought of a rebuild will have to wait. The team is still in win-now mode after a brilliant recent stretch and is ready to commit to this core group. Signing a 37-year-old to an extension partway through the season isn’t a very common occurrence, but for the Penguins, they obviously wanted to avoid any chance of losing Carter in the offseason.
Still, the faith they are showing in him comes with some risk. Carter is in his 17th season in the NHL and though he is currently still an effective option, that doesn’t necessarily mean he will be in 2024. The management group in Pittsburgh must know that Crosby and Evgeni Malkin–a free agent himself this summer–only really have a few years left of being among the best players in the world though, meaning they have a limited chance to surround them with talent. By 2024, the window may already be closed, meaning a slight overpayment for a declining forward won’t be the end of the world.
Malkin’s future stands out as the next item on the docket for Hextall and the rest of the Penguins front office, but he’s certainly not alone. Kris Letang and Bryan Rust are also pending unrestricted free agents, along with several other depth players. With Carter locked up the team knows it has a middle-six center option to slot in behind Crosby, but there are a lot of other uncertain pieces in Pittsburgh right now.
Bob McKenzie of TSN was first to break the news.
Patrik Allvin Named GM Of Vancouver Canucks
The decision has been made and Patrik Allvin is the 12th general manager in Vancouver Canucks history. Canucks’ president Jim Rutherford announced the hiring today, explaining exactly why he chose his former Pittsburgh protege:
I am pleased to welcome Patrik and his family to Vancouver. Patrik and I worked together for seven years, and I believe he will be an excellent General Manager. He has won three Stanley Cups and has experience at all levels of hockey operations. He is intelligent, works hard, makes strong decisions and I believe he will help us build a winning team in Vancouver.
Allvin, 47, was actually the man who took over as interim GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins when Rutherford resigned suddenly last year, but eventually ceded the position when Ron Hextall was hired. His name was linked to the Vancouver job from the moment Rutherford was hired by the Canucks, as the senior executive was clear that the team would bring in someone who had little or no experience in the top job.
That’s Allvin, who was interim GM of the Penguins for less than a month but has plenty of experience in NHL front offices. He first joined the Montreal Canadiens in 2002 as a European scout and eventually worked his way to the Penguins as director of European scouting in 2012.
Born in Sweden, Allvin joins Jarmo Kekalainen as the only general managers in the league from outside of North America. He joins a front office that has recently made several other hires, including Emilie Castonguey and Rachel Doerrie. It’s also one that is expected to lean much more heavily into analytics, and one that will have the help of Daniel Sedin and Henrik Sedin after they took positions as special assistants.
It’s a big job ahead of this group, as the Canucks have cap issues without being considered a real contender. With Allvin now in place, a trade deadline strategy can now be put together, with J.T. Miller leading the way as one of the most talked-about players in recent weeks.
Montreal Canadiens Hire Kent Hughes
The Montreal Canadiens have made a decision, hiring Kent Hughes as their next general manager. Hughes joins vice president of hockey operations Jeff Gorton in a new-look front office and will receive a five-year contract. Gorton released the following statement:
The process of hiring our new general manager allowed us to meet several highly qualified candidates. Kent is the one who stood out the most, and who we believe is the perfect person to fill the position of general manager of the Canadiens. We believe that his extensive experience as an agent will be an important asset to our organization.
Hughes, 51, has no front office experience but that does not mean he’s a newcomer to the hockey world. One of the most decorated player agents in the game, he represented players like Patrice Bergeron, Kris Letang, and Darnell Nurse from his agency Quartexx Management. He’ll now leave that role to take on the weight of Montreal, working as the francophone counterpart to Gorton’s leadership.
First connected to the Canadiens by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, Hughes has been a longtime friend and associate of Gorton, and fits the profile of an inexperienced, French-speaking general manager that could grow into the role. He was not, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, part of the initial wave of interviews along with names like Daniel Briere and Mathieu Darche, but he landed the job anyway as a sort of unconventional option. He leaves behind more than $290MM in active contracts according to PuckPedia, as his players will have to find new representation.
The speculation of course that Letang, Bergeron, or others could sign in Montreal will certainly ramp up as they head toward free agency, but there is also another young hockey player that will now be linked to the Canadiens. Jack Hughes–not that Jack Hughes or that Jack Hughes–is a top prospect for the 2022 draft, currently ranked seventh among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. He is a freshman center for Northeastern University who was developed by the U.S. National Team Development Program. He also happens to be the son of the new Canadiens general manager.
With the draft scheduled for Montreal this summer, you can bet that the new front office will be hoping to make a splash. The team has been absolutely dreadful this season, finding the bottom of the barrel after a Cinderella-like run to the Stanley Cup Finals last year. A 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Monday showed just how far things had fallen, as the Canadiens dropped to 7-25-5 on the year, dead last in the league.
Orchestrating a rebuild is not new for Gorton, who was part of the New York Rangers management group that issued a letter to fans before a scorched-earth tear-down. It will be a new experience for Hughes, as will everything about being a GM. Gorton and Hughes are set to meet with the media on Wednesday morning.
Boston Bruins Sign Tuukka Rask
The Boston Bruins are officially bringing back one of the most successful goaltenders in franchise history, agreeing with Tuukka Rask on a new one-year contract for the rest of this season. According to PuckPedia and Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press the deal carries a cap hit of $1MM, but Rask will actually only earn $545K due to it coming this far through the season. CapFriendly adds that the contract also contains a no-move clause.
Now 34, Rask is coming off major hip surgery to repair a torn labrum and has been practicing with the Bruins for weeks. He also had recently signed a professional tryout contract with the Providence Bruins to try and get into game shape, but after the AHL squad saw several games postponed due to COVID, the agreement was terminated before Rask played. Instead, his return will come at the NHL level, potentially as soon as this week. The Bruins face the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night and the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
With 560 games of NHL experience, Rask brings a history with the Bruins that can’t be overlooked, even if the team was already getting solid goaltending from its current options. Offseason signing Linus Ullmark and young netminder Jeremy Swayman have combined for a .917 save percentage through 32 games this season. Swayman, who is still waiver-exempt, will likely spend some time in the minor leagues now that Rask is signed, though the team could also rotate three goaltenders over the second half of the season.
It’s completely unclear what kind of load Rask can handle at this point, but his promise of being a “cheap goalie” for the Bruins has come true. He’ll cost barely more than Swayman’s $925K and should not materially change Boston’s deadline cap space.
The 2020 Jennings winner and Vezina runner-up, Rask played in just 24 games last season and posted a .913 save percentage. He currently sits 33rd all-time in wins with 306, and fifth all-time in save percentage among goaltenders with at least 100 starts.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
San Jose Sharks Terminate Evander Kane’s Contract
Jan 9: Kane has cleared waivers according to Chris Johnston of TSN. His contract will be terminated, though the NHLPA intends on filing a grievance on his behalf.
Jan 8: The Sharks are parting ways with Evander Kane as the winger is on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. The team has released the following statement:
The San Jose Sharks have informed Evander Kane that he has been placed on unconditional waivers with intent to terminate his contract for breach of his NHL Standard Player Contract and for violation of the AHL COVID-19 protocols.
By taking this approach, the Sharks believe that they can get out of the rest of Kane’s contract without any further money owed or cap hit charged. But with $19MM in salary and signing bonuses owed over the next three seasons plus the remainder of a pro-rated $7MM salary this season, Kane will almost certainly be grieving this in the coming days once he goes unclaimed on Sunday. In fact, the NHLPA has already officially responded to the situation:
We are aware of the San Jose Sharks’ stated intent to terminate Evander Kane’s contract. The NHLPA intends to challenge any such action by filing a grievance.
The 30-year-old had been the subject of multiple investigations in recent months, stemming from gambling and abuse allegations which were ruled to be unsubstantiated. However, he received a 21-game suspension at the start of the season for using a fake vaccination card and after being cleared to return, was immediately waived and sent to AHL San Jose. Kane was actually quite productive with the Barracuda, notching eight points in five games before testing positive for COVID in late December. As Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports, the reason for the release stems from a flight that Kane took during his isolation period as well as his return date to the team.
Players being on unconditional waivers during the season isn’t anything new – it happens fairly routinely with players in the minors and teams agreeing to go their separate ways. It’s also used in the summer during buyout windows; there is no buyout window during the regular season. But for a team to unilaterally use it to try to get out of a deal is much less common. Tampa Bay did it with Jake Dotchin back in 2018 but he caught on elsewhere soon after and his grievance was settled ten months later.
The most notable time it was used was when the Kings did it with Mike Richards back in 2015 with the team saying he had committed a material breach of his contract, similar language to what San Jose used in their statement. That one was also grieved and the two sides eventually settled on a payout of $11MM between 2015 and 2032 with Richards remaining on the Kings’ books through that time at varying rates but well below the original $5.75MM AAV. On the surface, it would appear that the Sharks could be trying to go a similar route here with any possible settlement being amortized over a long enough period of time to make the cap situation much more desirable than it had would have been if they continued to keep him on the books. Worth noting, back in 2015, Friedman noted that the NHLPA received assurances that Richards’ situation wouldn’t be considered as a precedent which is something Kane and his camp will certainly be pointing out.
While they will proceed with the termination on Sunday, this situation is almost certainly far from fully being settled. In the meantime, Kane will technically become an unrestricted free agent upon his release. If he signs before the March 21st trade deadline, he will be eligible to play in the playoffs while if he doesn’t find a new team right away, he would be eligible to play in the Olympics next month.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report Kane was on unconditional waivers.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.