Buffalo Sabres Trade Marco Scandella, Acquire Michael Frolik
After trading away Mike Reilly, the Montreal Canadiens have gone out and found themselves a different defenseman. The Canadiens have acquired Marco Scandella from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for San Jose’s 2020 fourth-round pick. The Sabres then flipped that pick to acquire Michael Frolik from the Calgary Flames. No salary was retained in either transaction.
All season the Sabres had been looking to move one of their surplus defenseman to free up some cap space, and Scandella was essentially replaceable even if he was playing well of late. Buffalo has several other capable NHL defensemen, including some sitting in the minor leagues waiting for their opportunity. By moving the 29-year old Scandella and his $4MM cap hit out, they freed up enough room to bring in another forward that can help Jack Eichel create some offense.
Frolik, 31, comes to the Sabres after being the subject of many trade rumors over the last few years. There were times when it seemed he had completely run out of patience with the Flames organization, and times where they seemed to feel the same about him. Still, he continued playing for them and recorded 16 goals and 34 points in 65 games last season while providing solid penalty killing ability whenever asked. This season has brought ten points in 38 games, but given his average of fewer than 12 minutes a night it would have been difficult to provide much more offense.
In Buffalo, he’ll surely get a chance to be more of a contributor on that side of the puck. A Stanley Cup champion with the Chicago Blackhawks, Frolik has actually been a relatively consistent goal-scorer the last several years, recording double digit totals in each of the last six seasons. If the Sabres want to make the playoffs this season they absolutely needed to add more scoring punch up front.
For Montreal, a team that may now be overlooked in this busy night, swapping Reilly for Scandella provides an upgrade in experience and defensive capability. While the young defenseman may be more mobile and at one point provided a little more offensive upside, Scandella is nearing 600 games played at the NHL level and should help their group find a little more balance.
The Canadiens have been relying heavily on their top three names this year with Shea Weber, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot all logging more than 23 minutes a night, but will hope that Scandella can take some of that load off their shoulders. The Montreal native also has a ton of experience on the penalty kill, where the Canadiens currently rank 25th in the NHL.
Scandella is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, meaning their overall moves have also removed an NHL contract from the books for next season when they are expecting prospects like Alexander Romanov to compete for spots.
Calgary also changes tonight, opening up some room of their own by ridding themselves of Frolik’s $4.3MM cap hit. That gives the Flames some extra flexibility of their own as they try to claw their way back into the Pacific Division race. The Flames will be a team to watch moving forward as they try to right the ship.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Jake Guentzel Out Four To Six Months
The Pittsburgh Penguins will be without one of their top offensive weapons for the rest of the season. Jake Guentzel has undergone shoulder surgery after suffering an injury last night and is expected to be out for four to six months.
Guentzel, 25, had taken his game to another level this season, leading the Penguins in scoring through the first part of the season with 43 points in 39 games. His presence at the top of the lineup had been the only real constant this season as Pittsburgh dealt with injuries to almost every other impact player, including Sidney Crosby who remains out. Guentzel had been rewarded with his first All-Star appearance, though obviously he now will not be able to attend (or, at least play).
This is just the latest in a brutal string of injuries for Pittsburgh, and yet the team continues to stay near the top of the standings in the Metropolitan Division. Thanks to a successful makeshift lineup and strong goaltending, the group sits in second place with a 24-11-4 record and only seven points behind the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals. In fact, Pittsburgh is on an 8-2 run in their last ten and now have the second best goal differential in the entire NHL.
Losing Guentzel for the rest of the year though will hurt dearly, as the young forward was averaging nearly 21 minutes a night and had turned into a real star in this league. A recovery period of four months would potentially allow him to return for some playoff action, but the team may have to try and win the Stanley Cup without Guentzel this season.
Arizona Coyotes Acquire Taylor Hall
When the New Jersey Devils decided to remove Taylor Hall from the lineup for the last two games, it became clear that a trade was inevitable. That deal has finally happened, with Hall and Blake Speers heading to the Arizona Coyotes. The Devils will receive a 2020 first-round pick (top-three protected), a conditional 2021 third-round pick, Nate Schnarr, Nick Merkley and Kevin Bahl in exchange for the star forward. The third-round pick will be upgraded to a first should the Coyotes re-sign Hall and win a playoff round, or a second if only one of those two things happen. New Jersey will retain half of Hall’s $6MM cap hit this season.
John Chayka, general manager of the Coyotes, released a short statement on the deal:
Hall is one of the elite talents in the game today; a Hart Trophy winner, a high-end playmaker and one of the NHL’s most talented forwards. We are beyond thrilled to add Taylor to our team as we continue in our mission of bringing a Stanley Cup home to Arizona.
The Coyotes were able to bring Hall into the fold without trading away a single player from their active roster, one that already had them in first place in the Pacific Division. That’s an incredible feat given he is less than two years removed from winning a Hart Trophy as the league MVP after scoring 93 points in 76 games and carrying the Devils to a playoff berth. Hall immediately becomes the most dangerous offensive weapon on an Arizona team that has only scored 97 goals this season.
In fact, Hall’s 25 points in 30 games this season would make him the leading scorer on the Coyotes, who are currently topped by Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz with 23 each. Adding that kind of a talent this far before the trade deadline is impressive, and gives the Coyotes even more time to try and convince him to sign an extension before he hits free agency.
Even though the Devils aren’t getting anything off the Arizona roster, they do add a pile of assets to help them in their current rebuild. The draft picks are obviously valuable currency to either select young players or trade for others, but most will focus on the three prospects headed to New Jersey.
Merkley comes with the most name recognition after being selected 30th overall in 2015, but is also the oldest of the three. The 22-year old forward has played just a single NHL game so far in his young career, and has seen his development stagnate in the minor leagues. A talented offensive player, he has 16 points in 26 games for the powerhouse Tucson Roadrunners this year but will have to take significant steps to become a real impact player for the Devils. His entry-level contract expires after this season, making him a restricted free agent in the summer.
Schnarr too was playing for the Roadrunners this season, his first professional year after an excellent junior career. First used as a checking forward by the Guelph Storm, he broke out in a more offensive role in 2018-19 and scored 102 points in 65 games. Selected 75th overall in 2017 he too needs some more time before he can really contribute at the NHL level.
It’s Bahl who may end up being the most important prospect in the deal for New Jersey. The 6’7″ defenseman is currently overseas with the Canadian World Junior team where he is expected to take on a shutdown role, one he is used to filling in the OHL. The 19-year old can skate and move the puck but is an excellent defensive player that uses his long reach to routinely break up rushes before they even cross his blue line. Selected 55th overall in 2018 he would likely be taken higher if it were done again today.
Though the Devils aren’t really getting any elite prospects in the deal, it’s hard to criticize them for accepting a package as large and diverse as this. Hall has expressed his desire to test free agency in the past, and with the history of his agent Darren Ferris it would have been difficult to justify keeping him beyond the trade deadline without a deal in hand. Given that, and the fact that the team is bottom-dwelling again this year despite several headline-grabbing moves in the offseason, they’ll take the package and move on to a rebuild focused around Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Zach Bogosian Requests Trade
The Buffalo Sabres have had an overload of NHL-caliber defensemen for the entire season, and now one of their veterans wants out. Darren Dreger of TSN is reporting that Zach Bogosian—who is expected to be a healthy scratch tonight—has requested a trade.
Bogosian, 29, is in the final season of the seven-year, $36MM deal he signed with the Winnipeg Jets in 2013 and carries a cap hit of more than $5.14MM. That number makes him a very difficult asset to move, given how his career has gone the last several years.
Originally selected third overall by the Atlanta Thrashers in 2008, Bogosian seemed to be the whole package. A 6’3″ right-handed defenseman that could skate, move the puck and was willing to engage physically, he entered the league as a teenager and immediately made an impact. When the Thrashers closed their doors and went to Winnipeg, he already had 199 NHL games under his belt and was logging nearly 23 minutes a night.
After that however, health issues seemed to crop up every year. Bogosian hasn’t played more than 65 games in a single season since arriving in Winnipeg in 2011, only even breaking 60 on four occasions. This year he has suited up just ten times for the Sabres and even when he does get into the lineup, he’s averaged the fewest minutes since his rookie season.
For a player like Bogosian, requesting a trade is the only chance he has at securing a market for himself next summer. If the Sabres aren’t going to play him on a regular basis, he might as well try to go to another team that will. Buffalo isn’t going to get any real assets for him at this point though, and may even have to eat salary to accomplish it.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
San Jose Sharks Fire Peter Deboer
9:00pm CT: The Sharks have officially named Boughner as interim head coach and have confirmed the dismissals of Deboer, Barr, Spott, and Hedberg. Joining Boughner’s staff are former Sharks players and development coaches Mike Ricci and Evgeni Nabokov, as well as AHL head coach Roy Sommer. Sommer’s vacated newposition will shared by Jimmy Bonneau and Michael Chiasson, the Barracuda announced.
7:00pm CT: NHL head coaches continue to drop like flies. Refreshingly, this latest move is reportedly purely a hockey decision. Several sources, including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, report that the San Jose Sharks have fired head coach Peter Deboer. Deboer, who was in his fifth year with the Sharks, had one more year remaining on his current contract.
While the team has yet to confirm any personnel moves, many sources believe that assistant Bob Boughner, the former Florida Panthers head coach, will take over as the head coach in San Jose. However, The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta reports that the organization is set to clean house otherwise. Assistants Dave Barr, Steve Spott, and Johan Hedberg are also reported to have been fired.
In 361 games with the Sharks, Deboer coached the team to a 198-129-34 record. He took San Jose to the playoffs in each of his four full seasons, including a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2017 and Western Conference Final berth just this past year. However, the team has gotten off to a poor start with a 15-16-2 record through 33 games. The Sharks are just 12th in the conference standings and sport the worst goals against average in the West as well.
While management felt that the team’s struggles could be addressed by a coaching change, critics of this decision will point to the poor play of goalies Martin Jones and Aaron Dell for well over a year now – the pair have the NHL’s worst even strength goals against average this season – and the decision by the front office not to address the position as the core source of the problems in San Jose. However, the Sharks are dealing with more issues that just goaltending this year, as they are 24th in scoring and 23rd in power play efficiency as well.
Luckily for the Sharks, Boughner is not your typical interim head coach. The former NHL defenseman was replaced in Florida not because of his performance so much as the availability of Joel Quenneville. He was then a serious candidate for the Buffalo Sabres’ vacancy this summer before returning to San Jose. Boughner enjoyed a long career as a shutdown defender and has a strong grasp on those aspects of the game. Seeing as the Sharks have just two positive plus/minus players in their starting lineup in Logan Couture and Barclay Goodrow, the team can certainly stand to play a tighter defensive game. Barring a change in personnel in goal, Boughner could be the next-best option for the Sharks to stop allowing so many goals.
With Deboer’s dismissal, there have now been five head coaches fired in the NHL this season, all of which have come within the past 22 days. Beginning with Toronto relieving Mike Babcock on November 20, Calgary’s Bill Peters, New Jersey’s John Hynes and, just yesterday, Dallas’ Jim Montgomery have all lost their jobs as well. Sadly, the news today out of San Jose had to be qualified as “a hockey decision”, given the recent spotlight on coach abuse in hockey, which led to Peters’ firing, and the murky details on the behavioral issues that forced out Montgomery. All sources who have reported on the Sharks’ coaching decision have reiterated that there were no other factors in play other than the performance of the team.
Dallas Stars Fire Jim Montgomery
Wednesday: Sean Shapiro of The Athletic confirmed today that the radio appearance many have pointed to over the last 24 hours had nothing to do with Montgomery’s firing. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the rest of Montgomery’s contract, which continued through the 2021-22 season, has been terminated with cause.
Tuesday: The Dallas Stars have become the next team to fire their head coach this season, dismissing Jim Montgomery today. The Stars did not make this decision due to on-ice performance however. GM Jim Nill released a statement explaining the move:
The Dallas Stars expect all of our employees to act with integrity and exhibit professional behavior while working for and representing our organization. This decision was made due to unprofessional conduct inconsistent with the core values and beliefs of the Dallas Stars and the National Hockey League.
Assistant coach Rick Bowness has been named interim head coach, while Derek Laxdal will move up from the Texas Stars to serve as an assistant with the NHL club. Neil Graham will become the head coach of Texas.
This move comes just after NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that the league “will not tolerate abusive behavior of any kind” and instituted several levels of training for their coaches and executives, along with a hotline for players or employees to report any incidents of abuse. The league however was asked directly by Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet if there were any ongoing investigations, which they denied. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic also tweets that the Montgomery situation is not related to the program Bettman announced.
Nill at a press conference explained that there is no connection to any current or former players. He was made aware of “a material act of unprofessionalism” over the weekend, which did not involve any other Stars employees.
The Stars had turned around their season dramatically from a disastrous start and now sit 17-11-3 on the year. The team has lost in regulation just four times in their last 22 games and are one point out of a divisional playoff spot.
LeBrun reports that Montgomery had two years left on his contract, however it is unclear what kind of termination this is. The Stars used “dismissed” in the release instead of “relieved of coaching duties” as most do when they are honoring the contract.
Bowness meanwhile will take over with plenty of experience behind the bench. With nearly 500 games as an NHL head coach and plenty more as an assistant, he will certainly not be overwhelmed by the moment. The Stars will play the New Jersey Devils today.
New Jersey Devils Fire John Hynes
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
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
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
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