Mark Hunter Making GM Choice Difficult For Maple Leafs
With most people under the belief that with former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello out of the picture now, the Maple Leafs are likely to go with their long-time plan of naming GM-in-waiting Kyle Dubas as their next general manager.
However, Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet suggests that may not be the case. During a segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Kypreos says that many executives around the league believe that assistant general manager Mark Hunter may be the better choice. Elliotte Friedman reported on the same broadcast that team president Brendan Shanahan and Hunter met Friday to discuss the opening.
“A lot of executives I’ve spoken with believe that when it comes to the next general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it goes in the favour of Mark Hunter, for no other reason than his resume,” said Kypreos.
The 55-year-old Hunter has quite a different resume than the 32-year-old prodigy Dubas. The 12-year NHL veteran has been a successful coach, owned, and ran the OHL’s London Knights and has been an executive with the Maple Leafs since 2014. Dubas, who also joined the organization in 2014, was the general manager of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
“A lot of executives still believe that Kyle Dubas pales in comparison to the years of experience and multiple Memorial Cups [of Hunter],” Kyreos said. “The issue for Brendan Shanahan going forward is that if he decides to go with Kyle Dubas, he runs the risk of losing Mark Hunter, who would have a tough time answering to Dubas.”
With two solid candidates for the highly-coveted position, however, it’s likely the team will lose one executive at some point if they don’t get the position.
Blackhawks Sign German Forward Dominik Kahun
As expected for some time, Dominik Kahun has turned his success in his native Germany and at the 2018 Winter Olympics into his first NHL contract. The Athletic’s Scott Powers reports that the Chicago Blackhawks have signed Kahun to an entry-level deal. Both Kahun and the Blackhawks have confirmed the contract and CapFriendly reports that it is a two-year deal worth the ELC-max $925 base salary, but nothing has been publicly announced. Chicago has long been considered the favorite to sign Kahun and could be willing to give the affordable talent an NHL look sooner rather than later.
The 22-year-old forward is coming off quite the season. His DEL team, EHC Munchen, were league champions, as Kahun finished third in scoring with 41 points in 42 games, and Team Germany made an unlikely run to a silver medal at the Winter Games in Pyeongchang behind Kahun’s five points in seven games. All around, this has been the best season of Kahun’s career and he has caught the eye of many around the hockey world.
Now, the next test will be to see if his talent translates to the NHL. This year’s NHL-less Olympics and certainly the DEL are not comparable to the best hockey league in the world. However, Kahun also had past success in the OHL and at the World Juniors, which are better predictors of NHL success. What Kahun lacks in exceptional size, speed, or strength, he makes up for with great vision and intelligence and next-level stick skills. If Kahun continues to work hard and strive for success, expect him to find immediate success in the AHL and perhaps in Chicago as well.
Los Angeles Kings Sign Matthew Villalta
The Los Angeles Kings have added another interesting goaltending prospect to the organization, signing Matthew Villalta to a three-year entry-level contract. Villalta is currently playing for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the OHL’s Western Conference Final.
Villalta, 18, was selected in the third round in last June’s draft and led the OHL in wins this season with 40. Though his other numbers took a slight step backwards, ending with a .908 save percentage and 2.58 GAA, he’s still expected to grow into a formidable goaltending prospect in the coming years. Originally listed at 165 lbs, the Kings now have Villalta all the way up to 181 in their press release and there could be even more size coming as the 6’2″ goaltender continues to mature physically.
The Kings have placed a huge emphasis on their goaltending pipeline in the recent years, acquiring Jack Campbell from the Dallas Stars organization, signing Cal Petersen after he failed to reach an agreement with the Buffalo Sabres, and inking Cole Kehler earlier this season out of the WHL. Though there is no doubt that Jonathan Quick is the starter for the foreseeable future, he’ll turn 33 next season and can’t be relied on forever.
Villalta will almost certainly return to the OHL next season where he and the Greyhounds should still be among the best teams in the league. If they aren’t able to secure a Memorial Cup berth this season, there’s no reason to believe they can’t next year.
Prospects In The OHL Playoffs: Vilardi, Pu, Brown
The NHL playoffs aren’t the only teams vying for postseason supremacy. The OHL playoffs are finishing up the second round, with two teams close to moving on. Here’s a look at some of the prospects who may be on the NHL ice sooner rather than later.
The Kingston Frontenacs were busy at the OHL trade deadline and added fire power in the way of Gabe Vilardi (Los Angeles), and Cliff Pu (Buffalo), who certainly delivered as expected through two rounds of the playoffs. Not only has Kingston secured a spot in the next round after dispatching Barrie in six games, Vilardi and Pu are first and fourth in points respectively, with teammate Linus Nyman tied at 16 points. Pu was impressive with London, so much so that Kingston went out and snagged him to guarantee scoring depth and a chance at its first Robertson Cup. Back in January, the Global News’ Doug Jeffries wrote about how Pu brought experience from the Knights’ Memorial Cup win in 2016. It surely has paid off for both the Frontenacs and Pu, who was a third round pick for the Sabres and whose value continues to rise.
Vilardi nursed an injury for the first half of the OHL season, but the former Windsor Spitfire played as strong as expected when on the ice, notching 58 points (22-36) in 32 games. Vilardi has been just as dominant in the playoffs, leading the league in points (20) and goals (11). After signing an entry level deal back in March, barring injury there might be a strong case to be made for Vilardi suiting up in Los Angeles next season. The 11th overall pick of the 2017 NHL draft also won a Memorial Cup that same year.
One non-Frontenac making some noise is Kitchener’s Logan Brown (Ottawa), who was the 11th overall pick for the Sens back in 2016. Like Vilardi, Brown was also traded by Windsor in January and picked up where he left off, averaging over a point-per-game with his new club. The playoffs have seen Brown notch 19 points in 11 games as the Rangers currently hold a 3-2 advantage in the second round. Though only two of those 19 points have been goals, the Senators have to be pleased that Brown continues to produce. The Sens skated him in four games this past fall before sending him back to the Spitfires. Add in an impressive performance during the the World Juniors as well, Brown may find himself with the big club for a longer stay, especially since the team will most likely be retooling with youth in the 2018-19 season.
Snapshots: Awards, Holland, Leiweke
The NHL will hold their annual awards ceremony on June 20th, a few days before the 2018 Entry Draft. The event will be held in Las Vegas once again, an exciting proposition for the Golden Knights who could be coming off a historic Stanley Cup victory in their first season.
Finalists will start to be announced in just a few days on April 17th, with the Vezina Trophy kicking things off. This awards season has been even more debated than usual, with almost a dozen legitimate candidates for the Hart Trophy and no consensus on other top awards like the Norris or Selke.
- Ken Holland is back in the Detroit Red Wings front office, but he is willing to bring in some more voices to help strengthen the club’s decision making. That’s what Craig Custance of The Athletic (subscription required) examines in his latest piece, digging into who could be potential additions. An interesting name that comes up is Kyle Raftis, GM of the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and successor to Toronto whiz-kid Kyle Dubas.
- Tod Leiweke has officially been announced as CEO and President of the prospective Seattle expansion team, joining his brother Tim Leiweke who is already part of the Oak View Group that placed the bid and will be minority owner. The pair have tons of experience running professional sports teams, including Tod’s stint as CEO of the Seattle Seahawks in the past.
Minor Transactions: 4/5/18
It’s been a slow day for player movement as the regular season winds down, but some intriguing late action serves as a reminder that teams are still tweaking their rosters even this late in the season. 13 teams have been eliminated from postseason contention, but seven out West and five in the East have clinched spots and the remaining six are still fighting. For those lucky enough to still have eyes on the playoffs, there are important transactions to be made:
- As has been commonplace through this season – and will finally come to an end soon – the San Jose Sharks have reassigned defenseman Tim Heed to their in-house AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda themselves announced. Heed will suit up for the Barracuda tonight, just his sixth game in the minors this season. However, Heed has only skated in 29 games with the Sharks as well, as the 27-year-old rearguard has been passed back and forth continually but under-utilized overall.
- The St. Louis Blues have recalled goalie Ville Husso, the recently-named AHL All-Rookie Team keeper, from the San Antonio Rampage. There has been no indication that this is an emergency call-up by the Blues, meaning Jake Allen and Carter Hutton are likely fine and the team will simply ride with three goalies to close out the season. St. Louis trails the Colorado Avalanche by one point with two games remaining, including a head-to-head match-up on Saturday.
- The flood of young talent in Boston isn’t ending any time soon and fans can get another glimpse into the future by watching the remainder of the AHL’s Providence Bruins’ season. Boston assigned junior players Jack Studnicka and Kyle Keyser to their minor league affiliate, per The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont, and the pair of Oshawa General teammates reported to the team today. Studnicka, the Bruins’ second-round pick last season, led the Generals in scoring this season with 72 points and did so on a team that featured two potential first-round forwards this June in Serron Noel and Allan McShane. Like fellow Boston prospects Trent Frederic and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Studnicka is an intelligent, two-way center who the Bruins hope could grow into a Patrice Bergeron clone. Perhaps more impressive though has been the play of Keyser, an undrafted free agent signing, who has been one of the best goalies in the OHL this season and was recently named the General’s Most Valuable Player. Both Studnicka and Keyser had previosuly signed ELC’s, but will more than likely still return to junior to begin next season; for now they will get a taste of the pro game in anticipation of NHL futures on the way.
Early Notes: Marchand, Upshall, Formenton
There will be no suspension for Brad Marchand in his latest on-ice incident, instead receiving a $5,000 fine from the Department of Player Safety. Marchand appeared to cross-check a prone Andrew MacDonald in the face during the Boston-Bruins-Philadelphia Flyers game this weekend, but he will escape without missing any time.
This is the third time this season that Marchand has been given some form of supplementary discipline, after receiving a five-game suspension for elbowing Marcus Johansson and a $2,000 fine for a pair of diving/embellishment instances. This is the fourth such season with multiple incidents for Marchand, who despite being one of the best offensive weapons in the league has built quite a reputation for himself as a over-the-line player.
- Scottie Upshall will not return for the St. Louis Blues this season, after suffering a lacerated kidney against the Arizona Coyotes. The injury occurred on a relatively innocuous-looking hit from Luke Schenn, but could mean some missed playoff time for the energy forward. Officially listed as out indefinitely, Upshall won’t be able to help the Blues attempt to catch Colorado or Los Angeles for one of the last few playoff spots.
- Alex Formenton has been assigned to the Belleville Senators, now that his London Knights have been eliminated from the OHL playoffs. The 18-year old Formenton played one game for the Ottawa Senators at the beginning of the year, but was sent back to junior where he could suit up for Team Canada and register 48 points in 49 games for the Knights. He’ll get a chance to show what he can do at the AHL level before battling for a spot with Ottawa in the fall. If he doesn’t make the NHL team, another trip back to junior is a possibility.
Ivan Lodnia Assigned To Iowa Wild
The Minnesota Wild have had a knack for finding interesting prospects in the middle and late rounds lately, and Ivan Lodnia is no different. The 18-year old forward has been cleared to play after missing the end of the OHL season with an injury, and the Wild have given him an opportunity by assigning him to the AHL. Having Lodnia join the Iowa Wild even for a short stint at such a young age shows how highly the Minnesota front office thinks of the third-round pick, and could indicate that he’s closer to making an impact for them than one might have originally thought.
Lodnia scored 59 points for the Erie Otters this season, which while a slight improvement over last year isn’t an amount that screams future NHL scorer. Still, his offensive ability is perhaps secondary to the solid defensive game he has developed over the last few years as he was stuck behind other more senior players on the Erie depth chart. Lodnia is built in the same way that other successful two-way players have been on the Wild, and could follow them to the NHL to make an impact.
While it’s very likely he’ll return to the OHL for another season in 2018-19, Lodnia is one to keep an eye on in a Minnesota system that has several intriguing names. With other late round selections like Kirill Kaprizov, Dmitry Sokolov and Brandon Duhaime all finding success in one way or another, the Wild have found quite a bit of talent outside the first round.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Hayden Verbeek To ELC
The Canadiens are adding another young player into the mix for a roster spot next season. Montreal announced a three-year entry-level deal with OHL forward Hayden Verbeek beginning in 2018-19. Verbeek, the nephew of Tampa Bay Lightning Assistant GM and 20-year NHLer Pat Verbeek, went undrafted and was a free agent.
Verbeek, 20, is at the end of a five-year junior career with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds and has enjoyed a breakout campaign in his final season. After four years of little to moderate production, the 5’10”, 183-lb. center was nearly a point-per-game player in the OHL regular season this year, recording 61 points in 67 games. Verbeek surely benefited from a supremely talented Soo squad that had the best record in the league by a wide margin and featured a laundry list of future NHLers. Yet, he still held his own, finishing fifth on the team in goals and points, ahead of top 2018 center prospect Barrett Hayton.
Verbeek is an experienced player from a respected hockey family, but his ability at the next level is still uncertain. Verbeek, like many players who sign future contracts, could see his first pro action on an amateur tryout basis with the AHL’s Laval Rocket later this season, which would be his first chance to showcase his talent against high-end competition. However, with the Greyhounds likely to make a deep playoff run, Verbeek may not experience the pros until development camp and preseason with the Candiens next season. Montreal would be remiss to not give any promising young players a shot next year, but Verbeek does seem like a more long-term project than immediate solution.
Prospect Notes: Draft Rankings, Stukel, Schneider
TSN’s Craig Button has released his updated 2018 draft rankings, and though Rasmus Dahlin remains at the top there are some other changes near the top of the board. Boston University’s Brady Tkachuk has climbed to number two in the ranking, while Evan Bouchard of the London Knights is all the way up to fifth. Tkachuk will try to keep BU alive in the National Championship race this weekend, while Bouchard will try to help London surprise the field in the OHL playoffs.
Some of the more interesting ranks on the list though fall at the bottom of the first round, where Ryan Merkley, Joe Veleno, Ryan McLeod and Benoit-Olivier Groulx all find themselves between 26-31. For four players all long ticketed for the first round, their falls have been somewhat surprising. Teams that are trying to compete for the Stanley Cup this year will hope Button is right, and snatch up talent like that with their late-round picks. In a draft that has vacillated between strong and week in the eyes of pundits, the first round should bring a lot of excitement.
- The Vancouver Canucks won’t be signing Will Lockwood this spring because he’s headed back to school, but that’s not the case for Jakob Stukel. He won’t be signed at all by the Canucks according to Rick Dhaliwal of News 1130, meaning he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on June 1st. Stukel was selected in the sixth round two years ago, but Vancouver has decided he’s not worth a pro contract at this point. The recently turned 21-year old led the Calgary Hitmen in scoring this season with 64 points but has a long road ahead of him if he’s to ever make the NHL. More likely he’ll sign some sort of minor league deal in an organization and try to prove that he’s worth an ELC down the road.
- Speaking of the Hitmen, goaltender Nick Schneider has been assigned to the Stockton Heat of the AHL now that his season is over. The Calgary Flames prospect signed his entry-level deal way back in 2015 after going undrafted, and actually has already played nine games for the Heat in the past. Now that his junior career is over, Schneider can join the impressive pipeline of talent that the Flames have amassed in goal, with players like Tyler Parsons, Mason McDonald and Jon Gillies already making their mark.