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Training Camp Cuts: 9/25/21

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While the bulk of training camp cuts will come later in camp – regular waivers don’t even open up until Thursday – some teams will make roster moves early on.  We’ll keep tabs on those here.

Calgary Flames (via team release)

F Lucas Ciona (to Seattle, WHL),
F Cole Huckins (to Acadie-Bathurst, QMJHL)
D Cole Jordan (to Moose Jaw, WHL)
F Rory Kerins (to Soo, OHL)
D Greg Moro (to Stockton, AHL)
F Ilya Nikolaev (Tri-City, USHL)
F Reid Perepeluk (to Stockton, AHL)
G Carter Serhyenko (released to Prince Albert, WHL)
G Connor Ungar (released from ATO to Red Deer, WHL)
D Cameron Whynot (to Halifax, QMJHL)
D Koletrane Wilson (to Stockton, AHL)
F Ben King (released from ATO to Red Deer, WHL)

Carolina Hurricanes (via team release)

G Patrik Hamrla (to Rimouski, QMJHL)
D Bryce Montgomery (to London, OHL)
F Bobby Orr (to Halifax, QMJHL)
F Justin Robidas (to Val-d’Or, QMJHL)
D Ronan Seeley (to Everett, WHL)

Detroit Red Wings (via team release)

G Jan Bednar (to Acadie-Bathurst, QMJHL)
G Sebastian Cossa (to Edmonton, WHL)
F Cross Hanas (to Portland, WHL)
D Oscar Plandowski (to Charlottetown, QMJHL)
F Pasquale Zito (to Windsor, OHL)
F Cameron Butler (released from ATO to Niagara, OHL)
F Luke Toporowoski (released from ATO to Spokane, WHL)
F Cooper Walker (released from ATO to Guelph, OHL)

Edmonton Oilers (via team release)

F Jake Chiasson (to Brandon, WHL)
F Matvey Petrov (to North Bay, OHL)
F Tyler Tullio (to Oshawa, OHL)
F Brady Burns (released from ATO to Saint John, QMJHL)
F Drew Englot (released from ATO to Regina, WHL)
G Ethan Kruger (released from ATO to Brandon, WHL)
F Henry Rybinski (released from ATO to Seattle, WHL)

New York Rangers (via team Twitter)

F Jayden Grubbe (to Red Deer, WHL)

Ottawa Senators (via team Twitter)

F Carson Latimer (to Edmonton, WHL)
D Ben Roger (to London, OHL)
D Chandler Romeo (to Hamilton, OHL)

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Remaining RFAs Training Together As Season Approaches

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If you navigate to the restricted free agent page on CapFriendly, only five names remain unsigned for the upcoming season. Two of them are New York Islanders players–Anatoly Golyshev and Kieffer Bellows–who are both already in training camp even though the team has not officially announced new contracts. The other three, Elias Pettersson, Brady Tkachuk and Quinn Hughes, are having their own kind of training camp in Michigan. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that the three are now skating together as they continue to wait out their contract negotiations.

Pettersson joined Hughes there as the Vancouver Canucks deal directly with representative Pat Brisson on new deals for the young stars. As recently as Tuesday, the super-agent told Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV that he and the club were speaking every other day, working to get deals done as soon as possible. But it’s now a couple of days into camp and the two most important players on the Vancouver roster are not even in the country.

In Ottawa, things are moving forward without Tkachuk, the team’s best forward and likely their next captain. GM Pierre Dorion once again told reporters including Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet that the negotiations were “productive and positive,” but the 22-year-old is now missing from camp in an all-important year for the Senators. The team is looking to turn the corner on their rebuild and Tkachuk is the player that needs to lead them there.

A week ago, Justin Bourne of Sportsnet wrote a column detailing his viewpoint on missing the start of training camp. He makes the case that the early part of the season is the most crucial, because of the trust it builds between the coaching staff and roster. While neither Vancouver nor Ottawa have rookie head coaches trying to get the respect of the room, they are both teams that are by no means guaranteed a playoff spot or even a competitive season. Any disruption to the start of the year could cascade throughout the entire schedule.

For now though, all the players can do is train on their own and wait for a resolution. Thomas Drance of The Athletic writes that it will have to be Pettersson that signs before Hughes, because of the latter’s status as a 10.2(c) RFA that cannot be signed to an offer sheet. If they signed them in the reverse, it would open a window for another team to swoop in and offer something to Pettersson that would be difficult to match under the Canucks’ current cap situation.

At this point, there are no more comparables to be signed, as these are the three pillars left standing. The only real pressure point coming now is the start of the regular season, certainly not something either side wants to wait for.

Training Camp Notes: Kane, Toews, Senators

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Today marked the first day of training camp for the majority of teams across the league. With the first preseason tilt just two days away now, teams are getting fired up and ready to go see at what level players in their organization are able to perform. One team whose offseason led to much fanfare was the Chicago Blackhawks, and the health status of both of their stars were hot topics of discussion today. NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis reports that a nagging injury to star winger Patrick Kane, an undisclosed matter that had appeared before the start of the Edmonton bubble in 2020, hasn’t healed completely. However, neither Kane nor others in the organization are concerned about his ability to play through the matter, as Kane himself remarked today that he’s “optimistic with where [he’s] going.” A great sense of mysteriousness still veils whatever the nagging issue is, as the nature of the injury has yet to be reported.

More notes from today’s opening of training camps:

  • After missing the entirety of 2020-21 due to Chronic Immune Response Syndrome, it was reported earlier in the offseason that Chicago Blackhawks Jonathan Toews was expected to return to play this year. Roumeliotis reports that after summer workouts, Toews rejoined the team today for his first formal practice since 2020. It would be a huge add for Chicago to get their captain back into the fold after an offseason that saw them forge a deeper team throughout. While Toews’ practice today went well, he hopes for but won’t guarantee an opening night appearance when their season opens in Colorado on Wednesday, October 13.
  • The contract negotiation saga of Brady Tkachuk has largely been an arduous, open-to-the-public process that continues to plant nervousness in Senators fans. It’s come to a head in recent days, as training camp has now begun without Ottawa’s best forward in the fold. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that in his absence, they’ve kept the other two-thirds of his line together in Josh Norris and Drake Batherson. While it’s anybody’s guess on who could fill that role during play if Tkachuk misses the start of the season, head coach D.J. Smith used forward Nick Paul in that first-line left-wing role today. Potentially a sign of things to come, it’s still anything but a guarantee.

Could Structure Be The Main Holdup In Brady Tkachuk's Contract Talks?

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  • In his latest 32 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman wonders if the delay in discussions for Senators restricted free agent Brady Tkachuk is more about structure than actual dollars. Year-to-year distribution has become more important with a high escrow rate now while it declines in future years while signing bonuses and trade protection are always important elements in talks for core players.  Tkachuk is only eligible for trade protection in the UFA-eligible seasons of a long-term agreement and he’s four years away from getting to that point.

Angus Crookshank To Undergo Knee Surgery

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  • Angus Crookshank suffered a major knee injury at the Ottawa Senators prospect camp and will require surgery. The young forward will miss the next four to six months according to GM Pierre Dorion, ending any bid he had of making the club. The 21-year-old Crookshank was a fifth-round pick in 2018, partly because of the competition he faced in the BCHL, but started climbing prospect charts with a strong three-year career at the University of New Hampshire. By the time he was joining the Belleville Senators earlier this year he was on a roll and instantly became a top offensive option for the team. In 19 AHL games, Crookshank registered 16 points, a level of production he’ll have to try to get back to after this long rehab.

Ottawa Senators Sign Tyler Ennis To PTO

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Sep 21: Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic report that the Vancouver Canucks also offered Ennis a PTO and will “continue to monitor” his situation with the Senators. It is important to note that a tryout with one team does not stop a player from signing an NHL contract with another, meaning at any point Ennis could decide to join the Canucks if an offer is put on the table.

Sep 19: The Ottawa Senators are bringing back a familiar face. The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the team will bring veteran forward Tyler Ennis to training camp on a PTO after he spent time with the team in 2019-20.

Last season with the Edmonton Oilers, Ennis struggled to stay in the lineup consistently and was limited to just nine points in 30 games. But while Ennis isn’t the 20-goal scorer of yore, he’s still shown the ability to be a valuable depth contributor at the NHL level. He maybe demonstrated that most during his time in Ottawa, scoring 14 goals and 33 points in 61 games. He was dealt to the Oilers at that year’s trade deadline, but now the Edmonton native will have another chance to show he can make an impact in Ottawa.

It’s hard to imagine Ennis receives anything more than league minimum based on his production last season. Still, Ennis remains a reliable play-driving forward who’s good at helping chance generation in the bottom six. Ottawa’s forward depth may have gotten a slight boost with the signing of Logan Brown yesterday, but the team still needs more bodies to fill out depth roles. Ennis could very well help alleviate this weakness for Ottawa at a bargain-bin price. It’s hard to argue with most any professional tryout contract, but Ottawa could see some serious dividends here if Ennis performs similarly to his 2019-20 numbers.

Latest On Brady Tkachuk

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September 18: The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch relays a quote from Ottawa’s Pierre McGuire, who states that the team’s had five discussions with Tkachuk up until this point. McGuire notes that more talks are scheduled in the near future, and that previous discussions between player and team have been on good terms.

September 17: With training camps starting next week, many Ottawa Senators fans remain anxious about the status of restricted free agent winger Brady Tkachuk. The fourth-overall pick in 2018 has become the centerpiece of a young, developing offense that’s looking to potentially make noise in the playoff conversation next year.

There was some hope last week after a report from the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch had reported that talks were “positive” and progress was being made. It was also reported in the piece that Ottawa had tabled an eight-year, $64MM offer to Tkachuk, matching Thomas Chabot’s extension from two seasons ago.

But more fuel was added to the rumor mill tonight, as evidenced by a preview of brother Matthew Tkachuk’s interview on an upcoming episode of Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast. While Tkachuk doesn’t comment on the tonal nature of the talks, he does go so far to say that Brady and the team, to his knowledge, aren’t close on an extension. He also talks about himself and his family’s participation in the negotiations:

I’m in the mix. I’m always there. It’s a family business, nobody wants to deal with the Tkachuks in this. We do it by committee, yeah… Brady might be pulling a classic Tkachuk right now. I mean, [Keith Tkachuk] held out, Matthew held out, and Brady looks like he’s on his way right now.

For any Senators fan, it’s troubling to hear about the increasing possibility that Brady Tkachuk won’t be participating at the start of training camp considering the possibility for an increased absence that it brings. Aside from his standout play-driving ability, Tkachuk’s energizing grit is highly valued on and off the ice for a Senators team that looked to really gel together at the end of last season.

Ottawa’s shown this offseason, in a departure from recent procedure, that they’re willing to give out term and commitment to this young core. They made Drake Batherson the longest-signed forward on their roster, inking him to a six-year $29.9MM deal earlier this month. It signaled to many that a Tkachuk extension could be imminent as well, but that point of view is changing. It’s important to note that, per CapFriendly, the Senators still have $24.5MM in projected cap space for the upcoming season.

Senators Re-Sign Logan Brown

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The Senators have taken care of one of their remaining restricted free agents, announcing the signing of center Logan Brown to a one-year, two-way deal.  The contract pays the league minimum of $750K in the NHL and $100K in the AHL.  GM Pierre Dorion released the following statement about the move:

Logan is among the most talented prospects in our organization. He possesses many of the tools that could ultimately help him find success in the NHL. We’re hopeful that a productive summer translates into a good training camp for him here beginning next week.

The 23-year-old has shown flashes of upside since being the 11th-overall pick in 2016 but it hasn’t translated to any consistent success in the NHL.  While he has been productive in the minors (including nine points in 13 games in 2020-21), he has just a goal and eight assists in 30 career NHL contests; just one of those NHL appearances came last season.  Brown’s camp hasn’t hidden a desire for a trade and Ottawa has made him available but clearly, the right return hasn’t come around yet which has led to this deal.

Brown is eligible for waivers this season which makes the fact that he took less than his $874K qualifying offer a bit interesting.  While it guaranteed him a bit more money if he cleared and was sent to the minors but at the league minimum price tag, he will be easier for other teams to fit in should a trade or waiver placement materialize.  In the meantime, Brown should get a long look at camp where he’ll battle for a spot at the end of the roster.  Knowing the waiver eligibility is there now, he’ll be one to keep an eye on in the preseason.

Logan Brown Expected To Sign Before Training Camp Starts

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  • Senators Logan Brown is one of 11 remaining restricted free agents in the NHL but that shouldn’t be the case much longer. While both sides wouldn’t mind a change of scenery, Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports that the expectation is that Brown will soon accept his qualifying offer and be at the start of training camp.  The offer, which technically has expired although players can still sign for that amount, is a two-way deal worth just over $874K.  Brown will require waivers to be sent back to the AHL this season and if he doesn’t make Ottawa’s roster in training camp, a waiver claim could wind up being how he goes elsewhere.

Senators Believed To Have Offered Eight-Year, $64MM Contract To Tkachuk

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  • Talk continues between the Ottawa Senators and restricted free agent Brady Tkachuk and the team is believed to have tabled an eight-year, $64MM deal according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. That would match Thomas Chabot for the most expensive player on the Senators and the biggest contract handed out by GM Pierre Dorion. With less than two weeks before training camp opens, there are some pressure points approaching that could speed the negotiations along for all of the remaining restricted free agents.

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