Snapshots: Coyotes’ Coach Search, Nylander, Ak Bars
With head coaches flying off the market and one of the top available names being the guy they just let go, the Arizona Coyotes’ hunt for a head coach is in an interesting spot. From the get-go, the word was that the ‘Yotes and GM Bill Armstrong could be looking for a fresh voice, perhaps even a first-time NHL coach, so they may be unfazed by the recent run on big names. Yet, insider Craig Morgan reports that one of their top candidates is in fact a seasoned veteran. Morgan writes that Dallas Stars assistant Todd Nelson is scheduled to have his third interview for the vacancy, by all accounts the most of any candidate. Nelson has been in the NHL (or AHL) since 2006, including a brief stint as the head coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He has found great success in the minors, winning two Calder Cups, and never really got a fair shake as the bench boss in Edmonton, so in a way he would be somewhat of a first-time NHL head coach. He has picked up experience in Dallas over the past three years under Jim Montgomery and Rick Bowness and could be ready for another shot at the top job.
Morgan considers Nelson’s greatest competition to be Andre Tourigny, the head coach of the OHL’s Ottawa 67’s and most recently an assistant for Canada’s gold medal World Championship entry. Tourigny briefly coached in the NHL as an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators over three years, but has mostly coached at the major junior level and has been the bench boss of Canada’s World Junior team the past two years. Tourigny has found immense success working with young players; he has been named OHL Coach of the Year (twice), QMJHL Coach of the Year, and the overall CHL Coach of the Year, not to mention medals at four World Juniors. Can he translate that ability to the pros and lead a Coyotes team that needs to take a step forward rather than continuing to tread water? That is the question that Armstrong must answer. According to Morgan, he has already decided that St. Louis Blues assistant Mike Van Ryn and AHL Providence head coach Jay Leach are not the men for the job.
- The Chicago Blackhawks just gained some Expansion Draft flexibility. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that Alexander Nylander has been declared exempt from the impending selection process. In order to be eligible for the draft, a player must have three pro service years. Nylander, who has been playing professionally in North America for five seasons, may seem like an impossibility to avoid that label, but somehow he does. Despite playing in 116 AHL games between 2016-17 and 2017-18, he played in only seven combined NHL games and his rookie contract underwent the entry-level slide each season, meaning service time did not accrue. He then played countable NHL season in each of the past two years. However, this season – in what was meant to be his third year of service – Nylander missed the entire campaign due to injury. This means that, again, his service time will not clock. After five years in and out of the NHL, Nylander will be considered a second-year pro and untouchable for the Seattle Kraken. As Powers notes, Nylander was expected to be protected by the Blackhawks next month. Now off the board, it will allow the team to protected another forward that they may not have expected. He suggests deadline addition Adam Gaudette or reliable fourth-liner David Kampf could be the pick, while young, high-upside assets Brandon Hagel and Henrik Borgstrom should now be locks.
- The KHL’s Ak Bars Kazan has succeeded in keeping a pair of drafted prospects away from their NHL teams for a while longer. The team announced that they have re-signed Columbus’ Dmitri Voronkov and Anaheim’s Artyom Galimov to multi-year extensions. At their age, this is not an NHL career death sentence for either player, but it is likely disheartening to their teams who would like to get them on North American ice as soon as possible. 20-year-old Voronkov, a 2019 fourth-round pick of the Blue Jackets, has signed a two-year deal with Ak Bars after setting career highs across the board in the KHL this season. The impressive youngster has already played two full seasons in the KHL and has been dominant for Russia on the World Junior stage as well. Voronkov’s name carries weight as a prospect and the Jackets undoubtedly hope that he will follow WJC teammate Yegor Chinakhov to Columbus as soon as his new contract expires. There is a bit more cause for pause when it comes to Galimov. The 21-year-old was an overage pick by the Ducks just last year and despite his age has signed a three-year extension with Ak Bars. Galimov is a grassroots product of Kazan and has loyalty to the club, as they do to him after two successful seasons to begin his KHL career. Galimov has actually outpaced Voronkov to this point, showing that he too is a serious NHL prospect. However, Galimov will be 25 years old before he could ever step onto Anaheim ice and will have that much more attachment to Ak Bars. His ability should keep him interested in the NHL and the Ducks in him, but it is not a guarantee.
Snapshots: Eichel, Schmidt, Warsofsky
Things haven’t really changed in the Jack Eichel sweepstakes, other than to say that talks are progressing with teams around the league. Darren Dreger of TSN was on WGR 550 in Buffalo today, explaining the current situation:
What we know is that the discussions on Jack Eichel have increased over the last week. To a point where I’m pretty comfortable in saying that Jack will be traded. What we don’t know is where. There are a number of suitors, a number of teams that would love to have a healthy Jack Eichel–put an asterisk beside that because we don’t know yet what direction that part of the scenario is headed. But any team that needs a center, I think of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Anaheim to some degree.
Dreger reiterates that the Sabres aren’t just dumping Eichel and will still demand a high price in return. He’s not the first NHL insider to imply that a deal is inevitable in Buffalo, with Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet recently saying that the Sabres want to move on and Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic writing that talks were getting “more intense and serious.” It looks like a resolution to the saga is coming and coming fast.
- It wasn’t great news for Boston University today as 2021 draft prospect Roman Schmidt decided to sign with the Kitchener Rangers of the OHL. That ends his NCAA eligibility and means the 6’6″ defenseman will not be attending BU as expected in 2021-22. Schmidt, who played minor hockey in the Toronto area before joining the U.S. National Team Development Program, was ranked 58th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting.
- David Warsofsky, who spent the 2020-21 season with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL, has signed with ERC Ingolstadt of the DEL. The 31-year-old has 55 career NHL games but is a strong minor league defenseman, recording 19 points in 22 games for the Wolves this year.
Evening Notes: Carlo, Olympics, OHL Draft
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are down to just four series and the start of the off-season is still a ways away, but that doesn’t mean the hockey news cycle slows down. There have been quite a few notable announcements today, including one that involves one of those few remaining active teams. After taking a hard, but clean check from New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck, Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo was forced out of Game Three on Thursday with an apparent head injury. Carlo has a history of concussions, including missing time earlier this season, and after his head made contact with the boards, the big defender struggled to get back up and had to be helped off the ice. The expectation of course was that Carlo could miss considerable time as a result of the check; however, the initial reports suggested that Carlo was feeling good after the game. Well, the Bruins will sit Carlo for at least Game Four, the team has announced, perhaps just out of an abundance of caution. The hope is that Carlo can return sooner rather than later, especially with fellow blue liners Kevan Miller and Jakub Zboril also injured and Steven Kampfer out for the year. In the meantime, Jeremy Lauzon will be elevated to Carlo’s spot on the second pair and Jarred Tinordi will sub into the lineup.
- It appears that the NHL is using the ongoing IIHF World Championships to work with the international governing body on an agreement for the upcoming Olympics. TSN’s Gord Miller relays word from IIHF officials that “significant progress” has been made on terms of NHL participation in the 2022 Winter Games. The two sides have been discussing the topic in-person for the first time while in Riga, Latvia this week and appear to be on the right track. Olympic participation in Beijing, China in 2022 and Milan, Italy in 2026 was negotiated as part of last year’s Collective Bargaining Agreement extension, but was pending an agreement between the NHL and IIHF as well. It seems that such an agreement is now getting close.
- The OHL wrapped up their two-day Priority Selection Draft on Saturday. The opening of the draft made headlines on Friday, with American Quentin Musty being selected first overall and Oakville Rangers U16 program contributing five of the next ten picks. However, it was pick No. 267 today that stole the show. The Sarnia Sting selected goaltender Taya Currie with the pick, making her the first female player to ever be drafted into the OHL. It is quite the honor for Currie, but she now faces the difficult decision of committing to the men’s junior game or instead reserving her NCAA eligibility to play the women’s game at the next level.
Minor Transactions: 05/27/21
The Stanley Cup Playoffs are front and center right now, especially with Round Two now on the schedule, but there still continue to be some meaningful moves made elsewhere around the hockey world. Here are some of those recent notable minor transactions:
- After a mutual termination of his contract was completed earlier this month, former Boston Bruins prospect Pavel Shen has found his new team; well, a new, old team. After playing with the KHL’s HK Sochi on loan to begin the 2020-21 season, Shen has opted to return to the club on a more permanent basis. Sochi has signed Shen to a one-year deal for next season. Where his career takes him after that remains unknown. Shen flashed good two-way ability in his pair of seasons with AHL Providence and seemed like he was on his way to becoming a solid depth option – a good value for a 2018 seventh-round pick. However, if Boston felt he had long-term NHL upside they would not have terminated his contract so easily. Shen seems destined to spend his career at home in Russia, but continued development could put him back on NHL radars.
- After a 15-year pro career, including eight seasons in the NHL with six different teams, Andrew Ebbett has decided to hang up his skates. However, he won’t be leaving the game behind just yet. Swiss club SC Bern, where Ebbett spent five seasons following his NHL career, has announced that they have hired the veteran as their “sports director” i.e. general manager. Ebbett brings plenty of experience, including a number of years in the NLA, to the position. He also expanded his knowledge of the European game while playing his final season this year with EHC Munich of the German DEL. A versatile, two-way player and locker room presence throughout his career, Ebbett is well suited to lead the club.
- In an uncommon move for today’s day and age, U.S. National Team Development Program forward Liam Gilmartin has decided to switch development paths and join the OHL’s London Knights next season. Gilmartin, a 2021 NHL Draft product, was expected to follow the collegiate path like nearly all USNTDP products, having committed to Providence College. Instead, he will forego his NCAA eligibility and join the major junior ranks. A big winger with high-end stick skills, Gilmartin is expected to be drafted as early as the late second round in July after finishing among the top-six scoring forwards for the U-18 team this year. How this development decision impacts his draft stock remains to be seen.
- The USHL held their Phase I Draft for all 2005 players on Wednesday and the more intriguing Phase II Draft for all other uncommitted prospects on Thursday. While there were many players selected in both drafts with familiar names to past NHL players and executives alike, some of the most interesting picks were those that seem hardly likely to pan out. Presumptive 2022 and 2023 NHL Draft first overall picks, Shane Wright and Connor Bedard respectively, were each selected in the later rounds of the Phase II draft. While neither seems like to abandon their current teams – Wright with the OHL’s Kingston Frontenacs and Bedard with the WHL’s Regina Pats – this year saw a number of Canadian major junior players jump to the USHL with their own leagues on hold. The Chicago Steel (Wright) and Dubuque Fighting Saints (Bedard) would certainly be excited if their late-round waivers panned out somehow. For a full list of USHL Draft selections, follow this link.
Colorado Avalanche Sign Jean-Luc Foudy
The Colorado Avalanche have a few days off between playoff series, so why not do a little planning for the future. The Avalanche announced today that they have signed prospect Jean-Luc Foudy to a three-year entry-level contract.
Foudy, 19, split this season between Sweden’s Hockey Ettan (third tier) and with the Colorado Eagles of the AHL, eligible for minor league hockey only because the OHL never returned to play. The third-round pick from 2020 scored three goals and registered 14 points in 34 games for the Eagles, playing almost every game as an 18-year-old before his birthday earlier this month. Though he was a team-worst -17, even playing at the AHL was an impressive development step for the young forward.
He is now stuck in that unique spot with several other OHL prospects who are too young to be eligible for the AHL again next season. If Foudy fails to make the Avalanche out of camp, he would be forced to return to his junior team the Windsor Spitfires. That is the most likely scenario, but still an odd one after playing an entire (albeit shortened) professional season.
Consider him a strong candidate for Canada’s World Junior team next winter after winning a Hlinka-Gretzky silver medal. His older brother Liam Foudy is currently suiting up for his country at the IIHF World Championship.
Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Jack Thompson
The Tampa Bay Lightning have put pen to paper with one of the top prospects in their system. Defenseman Jack Thompson has signed his three-year, entry-level contract, the team announced. No financial details have been disclosed, but the team did state that the deal does not begin until next season. Thompson got into one game with Tampa’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, playing on an amateur tryout to end his season.
Thompson, 19, is not your typical “top prospect”. A 2020 third-round pick, he probably wouldn’t be considered as such with any other team in the league. However, in Tampa’s pipeline, thin and aging, Thompson was a much-needed addition last year. A high-upside project, Thompson is a bit one-dimensional as a possession defenseman with a good shot but not much in the way of play-making or defensive ability. However, the Bolts can work with his natural ability and good size over the course of this first contract. He’s one of very few young prospects in the system with the capacity and time to grow into much more than what he is now.
Thompson was a point-per-game player in an 18-game stint in the Swedish minors this year, recording 9 goals, 9 assists, and an +9 rating for Surahammars IF. In that short time, he actually ended up finishing first among defenseman in goals and plus/minus. Last season, Thompson played for the Sudbury Wolves of the OHL, recording 32 points in 63 games; he could wind up back in Sudbury next season as well. Although he got a taste of the pros this yeat, another year of junior would not hurt for the raw prospect.
Thompson was a polarizing prospect in the 2020 NHL Draft, likely due to the fact that he has a narrow skill set but has mastered those skills. Some saw righty blue-liner as a potential early third-round pick while others saw him falling into the later rounds. The Lightning are clearly happy to have snagged him at No. 93 overall and with a constant need to affordable talent at the NHL level for the cap-strapped club, they will be happy to see Thompson continue to take steps forward and broaden his ability into a pro-ready game.
Thatcher Demko Injured, Canucks Recall Arturs Silovs
As if the Vancouver Canucks hadn’t been hit with hard enough luck this season, a case of bad timing has now struck the team. According to multiple sources, including The Province’s Ben Kuzma, starting goaltender Thatcher Demko was injured at morning skate on Monday. The Canucks had been well-prepared all season for the absence of one of their NHL goalies, with top prospect Michael DiPietro waiting in the wings on the practice squad. However, with DiPietro having not played in a game all season, the team finally decided to assign him to the AHL’s Utica Coments – on Sunday, less than 24 hours before Demko’s injury. Now, with no timetable for Demko’s return and DiPietro over the border and at least seven days from being eligible to re-join the roster, the Canucks enter a stretch of four games in six nights (repeated in each of the next three weeks) with backup Braden Holtby and untested recall Arturs Silovs in net. Eight points back of the Montreal Canadiens for a playoff spot in the North Division, but with five games in hand, can the Canucks’ new tandem keep them in the race?
Fortunately, Holtby appears to shaken off a difficult start to his Vancouver career and has been terrific of late. In three starts since the Canucks returned from their COVID layoff, Holtby is 3-0-0 with seven goals allowed on 107 shots for a save percentage of .935. The veteran netminder knows how to handle pressure and the hope is that he can shoulder the load with Demko sidelined and help lead the Canucks to some much-needed points as they make up their missed games.
However, with four back-to-backs scheduled before the end of the season, including Wednesday and Thursday of this week, Silovs will likely have to play at some point before Demko can return or DiPietro can be recalled. A 2019 sixth-round pick, Silovs has played just one pro game in North America, suiting up for the AHL’s Manitoba Moose for one game in February. The Latvian keeper has played pro back home, including on loan earlier this season, and spent last season in the OHL. At no point in his career has Silovs produced eye-popping numbers, but with good size and a variety of experience he is still considered a good prospect. Vancouver may need him to be more than that though and adjusting to the NHL could prove difficult for the 20-year-old.
With that said, Kuzma writes that the team is still unsure of the extent of Demko’s injury and there is still a chance that he may only be out day-to-day. If that isn’t the case, and Demko is out longer than a week, they could also decide that it is worth it to recall DiPietro from Utica. Either way, assistance should be on the way at some point. In the meantime though, every point is crucial and Holtby and Silovs will have a lot of pressure facing them during this busy stretch.
OHL Will Not Play This Season
Though it had been clear for the last few weeks, today brought the death knell for the 2020-21 OHL season. The junior league announced the end of its return to play plans, stating that the recent extended stay at home order in Ontario along with the increasing cases of COVID-19 has made it impossible to hold a season. OHL commissioner David Branch released a statement:
We have worked tirelessly with the Province and the Chief Medical Officer of Health for the past year on different scenarios and different windows of opportunity but the reality is the conditions in Ontario have never been right to start and complete an uninterrupted, safe opportunity for players to showcase their skills. We owe it to our players and their families to be definitive. We were committed to return and play this season, but our hopes and desires have been dashed by the cruel realities of COVID-19.
A few weeks ago things looked much different, as the OHL and Ontario government had reached an agreement on return to play. Unfortunately just as those plans were supposed to be announced, the province’s COVID numbers took a turn for the worse and the hub city plan was scrapped.
It’s brutal news for the players who have now been stranded for a full season, unable to play and showcase their talents for prospective NHL organizations. Even worse perhaps for those who will not play hockey professionally and only have a very small window to compete at the major junior level.
Importantly, players like Buffalo’s Jack Quinn, who normally wouldn’t be eligible to play in the AHL because of his age, will now be able to remain there for the rest of the season.
Will Cuylle Agrees To Terms With New York Rangers
All the focus at the 2020 draft for the New York Rangers was on Alexis Lafreniere, the first-overall pick. But 59 selections later, the team took another standout CHL forward, selecting Will Cuylle from the Windsor Spitfires 60th overall. After spending this year in the minor leagues with the Hartford Wolf Pack, Cuylle has agreed to terms on his three-year, entry-level contract with the Rangers.
The 6’3″ Cuylle only turned 19 in February, but he’s already off to quite the start for Hartford. He has five points in 13 games but is third on the team in penalty minutes with 26 and got his first AHL fight under his belt last month. It’s not that Cuylle is an enforcer (far from it), but the big winger is more than willing to engage physically, using his size and strength to lean on defenders. That has even been evident while playing against opponents sometimes a decade his senior in the AHL, a league he wouldn’t even be eligible to play in if this were a normal year.
With the OHL still suspended, Cuylle can continue to play with the Wolf Pack and test himself at the professional level. Unfortunately, given he doesn’t turn 20 until February 2022, he actually would need to go back to the OHL for next season if he fails to make the Rangers roster. That’s quite an odd development path, but perhaps Cuylle can take some of the lessons he has learned this season to dominate for Windsor and play an even more offensive role.
Prospect Notes: Wild, Popugaev, Thompson
Two of the Minnesota Wild’s top prospects have enjoyed stellar college careers, culminating in a meeting in the NCAA Championship Game last weekend. For many college prospects, just one strong season and an NCAA title (or even an appearance) is enough to push them to the pros. However, the Wild may have to wait for these two. The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports that St. Cloud State forward Sam Hentges is expected to return to school for his senior season, while Massachusetts goaltender Filip Lindberg is still considering doing the same. Hentges, a 2018 seventh-round pick, has already played beyond his draft billing. The Huskies center has been a solid, two-way forward through each of his three college seasons, recording 61 points in 94 games along the way. However, he seemingly believes that he has more growing to do at St. Cloud. As for Lindberg, it is hard to imagine that there is any more left for him to prove at UMass. The title-winning goaltender was among the NCAA’s best this season, and last season, and the season before. He has a stunning .937 save percentage, 1.58 GAA, and 29 wins in 50 college appearances. If that wasn’t enough, Lindberg was also part of Finland’s 2019 World Junior gold medal-winning club, pitching a shutout in his lone appearance. Lindberg seems pro-ready, but perhaps the possibility of finally playing a workhorse role for the Minutemen could be enough to keep him around for his senior year. If not, the 2019 seventh-rounder would be the favorite to win the starting job for the AHL’s Iowa Wild next season anyway.
- The New Jersey Devils won’t be getting a second look at prospect forward Nikita Popugaev in North America any time soon. The big Russian forward has signed a one-year extension with the KHL’s Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, the team announced. The Devils hold indefinite possession of Popugaev’s NHL rights, but there are certainly concerns that he may never be an NHL option. The polarizing prospect was considered a first-round talent at one point in the 2017 NHL Draft cycle, especially after back-to-back seasons of top-notch production in the WHL. However, work ethic concerns caused him to slip to the fourth round. He then confirmed some other suspicions by leaving the WHL for Russia, back-tracking on his perceived commitment to the North American game. Popugaev did return late in the 2018-19 season and signed an AHL contract with the Devils, staying through the following year but playing almost exclusively in the ECHL. This caused him to return to Russia again this year and he finally found some success after a mid-season trade to Nizhnekamsk. With a new deal, he hopes to build on that success again next season. Yet, in the big picture Popugaev’s struggles at the pro level in North America and Russia combined with a seemingly mutual resistance between he and the Devils to sign an entry-level contract just yet provides ample doubt that he will ever play in the NHL.
- Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Jack Thompson, arguably the best defenseman in their pipeline, is getting his first pro experience. With the OHL out of commission, Thompson has played at the junior level in Sweden this year, scoring at a point-per-game pace. However, he has returned home with his Swedish season over, but the OHL still has not returned to action. As a result, the Lightning’s AHL affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, have brought Thompson in on an amateur tryout basis. The 19-year-old defenseman, a 2020 third-round pick, will likely return to the OHL if the league re-starts, but in the meantime will get invaluable experience in the AHL.