NHL

The beginning of the NHL season was full of big signings.  This past week didn’t have any of that as instead, it was headlined by plenty of injuries.

Out For The Year: After having a breakout season that was still limited by injuries, hopes were high for Canadiens center Kirby Dach this year.  However, his campaign came to an early end as he suffered a season-ending torn ACL and MCL last weekend against Chicago.  He will undergo surgery once the swelling subsides.  The 22-year-old had a career-best 38 points last season despite only playing in 58 games, a decent first impression after being acquired from the Blackhawks at the draft.  He’ll have to wait a while to make his second impression now.

Extension Progress: Noah Hanifin’s willingness to sign an extension in Calgary (or perceived lack thereof) has been a key discussion point for several months now.  At one point, it looked like he wasn’t interested, then he was, then he wasn’t again.  Now, a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that Hanifin is indeed willing to work on a new deal and that some progress has been made on that front.  The 26-year-old has been a reliable part of the back end for the Flames for the past five seasons (plus the first couple of weeks of this year) and is set to earn a considerable raise on his current $4.95MM AAV.

Four For Andersson: Still with Calgary, the first notable suspension of the 2023-24 campaign is in the books as Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson received a four-game ban for his elbow on Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine.  The hit occurred in the dying seconds of Friday’s game while Laine is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury.  Andersson and the NHLPA have decided to appeal the ruling.  Unlike in some other leagues, players can’t play while they’re appealing so Andersson sat out the first game on Sunday against Detroit.  The appeal will be heard by Commissioner Gary Bettman and given how long it typically takes for a hearing with him, it’s possible the appeal might wind up primarily being to try to mitigate some of the forfeited salary of nearly $95K.  If the suspension stands, the last game he’ll have to sit out is the Heritage Classic (an outdoor game against Edmonton) next weekend.

More Injuries: Another player who will likely miss the Heritage Classic is Oilers center Connor McDavid.  He left Saturday’s game against Winnipeg late in the third period with an upper-body injury.  The good news for Edmonton is that he won’t be out for long (just one to two weeks) but with the Oilers struggling out of the gate this season with just a single win in their first five games, McDavid’s absence won’t help matters.  Meanwhile, Jets forward Gabriel Vilardi will miss the next four to six weeks with a sprained MCL.  The 24-year-old was a key part of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade this summer but was injured in just his third game of the season.

Seattle Injuries: It has been a tough start to the season for the Kraken as they have just one win in their first six games.  Things are going to get harder for them with a pair of longer-term injuries on the wings.  First, Brandon Tanev will miss four to six weeks with a lower-body injury.  The 31-year-old was coming off a career year with 35 points while chipping in with 190 hits and will be missed on their third line.  Meanwhile, Andre Burakovsky will miss six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury.  The 28-year-old was productive in limited action last season with 39 points in 49 games and was being counted on to be a big part of Seattle’s attack this year.  Those plans will be on hold for now.  Tanev has been placed on IR while Burakovsky will be heading there soon enough as well.

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The first week of the NHL season is in the books and as is often the case, it was a busy week on the transactions front with extensions highlighting the majority of the key stories.

Seven For Toews: Term was believed to be a sticking point in extension talks between the Avalanche and defenseman Devon Toews but the two sides were able to bridge that, agreeing to a seven-year, $50.75MM extension.  The 29-year-old has become a key cog on Colorado’s back end after being acquired from the Islanders for a pair of second-round picks, very quietly putting up back-to-back years of at least 50 points while logging at least 25 minutes a night in both of them.  While this deal starts at age 30 meaning that it could carry a bit of risk at the end, it’s fair to suggest that Toews took a bit less than he could have received on the open market to make sure he stays with the Avs for the long haul.

Ruff’s Sticking Around: A year ago in the early going, there were chants of “fire Lindy” from some of the crowd in New Jersey after the Devils got off to a slow start.  Of course, they rebounded, putting up their highest point total in franchise history while getting to the second round.  Not surprisingly, New Jersey has rewarded head coach Lindy Ruff for his efforts, inking him to a multi-year contract extension.  His original deal had expired but Ruff had exercised his option for this season, creating a ‘lame duck’ situation that teams often try to avoid with their bench bosses.  Ruff is now set to lead the Devils for the foreseeable future.

Sticking Around: Well, we can forget about the idea of Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele testing the market next summer.  Widely speculated to be unwilling to extend with Winnipeg to the point where trade options were explored, the two decided to stay with the Jets after all as both players signed identical seven-year, $59.5MM contract extensions.  Hellebuyck has been a workhorse between the pipes for most of his now nine-year career, leading the league in shots faced four times and games played four times.  This contract makes him fourth in AAV among all netminders.  As for Scheifele, the franchise’s first pick after they moved back to Winnipeg has been a dependable scorer for a long time now, having picked up at least 60 points in eight straight years.  Both players now have chances to play out their entire careers with the Jets, a scenario that didn’t seem plausible just a few weeks ago.

Sabres Lock Up Blueliners: There was an expectation that contract extensions would get done for Rasmus Dahlin and Owen Power during the offseason.  They might have come later than expected but they did get done.  First, they made Rasmus Dahlin one of the highest-paid players in the league, giving him an eight-year, $88MM extension.  The 2018 top pick has blossomed under head coach Don Granato, becoming one of the top offensive rearguards in the league while being an all-situations player.  He will be the third-highest-paid defenseman in the league.

Meanwhile, Owen Power’s extension was completed a little later in the week as well; he received a seven-year, $58.45MM pact.  The 2021 top selection has less than 90 games of NHL experience under his belt so this comes with some risk but if he becomes a true number one option as well, Buffalo’s back end will be a strong spot for years to come.  Notably, the agreement only buys the Sabres two extra years of club control.

Garland On The Block: The Canucks freed up some payroll last month when they moved Tanner Pearson to Montreal but they have more work to do on that front.  To help accomplish that, they’ve given Conor Garland and his agent permission to try to work on a trade.  The 27-year-old is coming off a 46-point season which isn’t bad but with three years left at a $4.95MM cap charge, they haven’t gotten the best bang for their buck.  A handful of teams are believed to have shown interest so far while Vancouver is thought to be hoping to open up $1MM to $2MM in room in a trade while adding some help on the back end.

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With the start of the regular season now just days away, activity across the NHL picked up over the past few days.  Here’s a rundown of the biggest news of the past week.

Ducks Sign Two: There won’t be any in-season holdouts in Anaheim this year as the Ducks agreed to bridge deals with their two remaining restricted free agents.  First, they inked center Trevor Zegras to a three-year pact which carries a cap hit of $5.75MM.  He’s coming off a career-best year offensively with 65 points and is one of the young pillars up front for the Ducks.  Both sides get more time to evaluate with this deal to see if Zegras can become a top-end producer.  They took a similar approach with defenseman Jamie Drysdale, giving him a three-year deal with a $2.3MM AAV.  Drysdale missed most of last season after suffering a torn labrum but showed plenty of promise before that, making a part of their very strong young blueline corps.  Notably, the salary structure for both contracts is uniform, making it that their qualifying offers in 2026 will be the same as their cap hits.

Stepan Hangs Them Up: Veteran middleman Derek Stepan has decided to call it a career, announcing his retirement at the age of 33.  In his prime, he was a capable second center who also brought some defensive value to the table.  He had at least 44 points in each of his first eight NHL seasons, surpassing the 50-point mark in six of those.  That helped Stepan play in over NHL games between the regular season and the playoffs, the bulk of which came with the Rangers who drafted him in the second round back in 2008.

Three For Hartman: After inking Mats Zuccarello and Marcus Foligno to extensions last week, the Wild took care of their other prominent pending unrestricted free agent, signing forward Ryan Hartman to a three-year, $12MM extension.  The 29-year-old is entering his fifth season with Minnesota and has gone from more of a depth piece to a core part of their top six after putting up 65 points in 2021-22 and 37 more last year despite missing 23 games due to injuries.  Along the way, he has shown himself to be capable of playing down the middle, helping to fill a big need on the depth chart.  As long as he can produce at a second-line rate, this is a deal that should work out well for both sides.

Four For Kaliyev: Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev received a four-game suspension from the Department of Player Safety for his kneeing incident on Ducks forward Chase De Leo.  The ban covered the final two games of the preseason and the first two games of the regular season, meaning that the 22-year-old won’t be eligible to suit up for Los Angeles until October 17th.  Kaliyev was an effective secondary scorer last season, notching 28 points in 56 games.  Meanwhile, De Leo will miss roughly the next eight weeks with a knee injury and will begin the year on season-opening injured reserve.

One More Year: Still with Los Angeles, Kings head coach Todd McLellan was heading into the final year of his contract.  Teams don’t typically like to have their bench bosses in their ‘lame duck’ season so they worked out a one-year extension that keeps him under contract through 2024-25.  The veteran has been behind the bench for 290 games with Los Angeles with his team posting a 141-115-34 record.  However, the team hasn’t won a playoff series with him at the helm.  This extension allows for any possible distraction to go away but it stands to reason that with the summer they had, simply making the postseason is no longer the bare minimum so even with a new deal in hand, the pressure will be on McLellan this year.

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The preseason is underway so activity across the NHL should start to pick up in the near future.  There was some news of note before the puck dropped which is recapped in our key stories.

New Captains: Two of the eight teams that had been without a captain filled that vacancy over the past few days.  The Bruins promoted Brad Marchand to the role as expected, becoming the 27th captain in team history.  He’s set to enter his 15th season with the team and is the longest-tenured player in the organization following the retirement of Patrice Bergeron.  Meanwhile, Brayden Schenn was named the new captain in St. Louis, taking the place of Ryan O’Reilly who was traded before the deadline last season.  Schenn is heading into his seventh season with the Blues and is the 24th captain in club history.

Stamkos Not Happy: Speaking of captains, Lightning captain Steven Stamkos is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible for an extension.  However, he noted that there have yet to be discussions on that front and that he’s not particularly happy about being in this situation knowing how often Tampa Bay has extended its players early.  GM Julien BriseBois indicated he wants to see how this season plays out before deciding on Stamkos’ future with the club.  The 33-year-old has spent his entire 15-year career with the Lightning after being the first-overall pick in 2008 and he has fared quite well, notching over 500 goals in 1,003 games and has surpassed the point-per-game mark in six of the last seven seasons.

Canucks/Canadiens Swap: With Tanner Pearson being cleared to come off LTIR, Vancouver needed to trim some payroll.  They did just that, sending Pearson and a 2025 third-round pick to Montreal in exchange for goaltender Casey DeSmith.  The deal saves Vancouver $1.45MM in cap space for the upcoming season (more if you factor in the savings from their original projected backup going to the minors) while upgrading Thatcher Demko’s backup option.  Meanwhile, Montreal continues to stockpile draft picks and now has an extra selection in each of the first four rounds in 2025.  They will likely look to try to build up Pearson’s value during the season if he can stay healthy in the hope of flipping him closer to the trade deadline.

Fleury Undecided About Playing Future: Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is set to play his 20th NHL season in 2023-24.  Will it be his last year?  He hasn’t decided just yet, stating that he will play out the year and then assess his future.  The 38-year-old made 45 starts last season but is likely heading for a lighter workload with Filip Gustavsson emerging as a strong performer last year.  Fleury enters this season just 15 games shy of 1,000 for his career, a mark that only three other netminders have hit.  He’s also seven wins shy of passing Patrick Roy for second all-time in victories.  Both of those marks are definitely achievable this season and if it winds up being his final campaign, it’d be a nice way to cap his career.

Talks Not Going Well: This is the time when unsigned restricted free agents start to become more notable as most have signed by training camps.  There are four remaining league-wide, two of them in Anaheim – center Trevor Zegras and defenseman Jamie Drysdale.  It appears as if the sides are not close on new deals although it’s believed Zegras and Anaheim have settled on a three-year term, leaving just the money to haggle over.  Considering that Drysdale missed most of last season due to injury, he’s almost certainly heading for a bridge deal as well.  Cap space isn’t an issue for the Ducks as no team has more of it at the moment so that certainly isn’t a factor in talks.  There’s still time for both players to sign and be ready for the regular season which will be the next pressure point of discussions.

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