- The Senators appear to be leaning towards protecting Filip Gustavsson over Joey Daccord for their protected goaltender from Seattle in expansion, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. While the 23-year-old doesn’t have great AHL numbers (a 3.20 GAA with a .894 SV% in 75 games), the pending restricted free agent certainly impressed in a late-season run with Ottawa with a 2.16 GAA and a .933 SV% in nine appearances. Daccord, meanwhile, has better career numbers in the minors but hasn’t had much NHL success and posted a 3.27 GAA and a .897 SV% in eight games this season. He has one year left on his deal at the league-minimum $750K.
Senators Rumors
Marcus Hogberg Officially Signs In SHL
- As expected, Marcus Hogberg will return to Sweden next season, signing a four-year deal with Linkoping HC in the SHL. The deal has been rumored for several weeks, really ever since Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion announced that the team would not be issuing Hogberg a qualifying offer. Though he did play in 14 games for Ottawa this season, the Senators have a huge number of goaltenders in the system that can more than replicate his .876 save percentage.
Snapshots: Capuano, Tardif, Asselin
With the divisional playoffs now over, the days of the North, East, West, and Central (sort of) are over. Teams are already shifting their mindsets back to the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Pacific, and the true Central, working out how best to beat out their division rivals and make the postseason next year. After taking a step forward this season, albeit against lesser competition, the Ottawa Senators are no exception. The long-time bottom-dwellers are just as cutthroat in their pursuit of success, even if that means handicapping one of their own. Joe MacDonald of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that the Senators have blocked associate head coach Jack Capuano from interviewing for the Buffalo Sabres’ head coach vacancy. Buffalo will be Ottawa’s divisional rival once again next season and beyond and the team will not lose a valued member of their staff with inside knowledge of the organization to one of their most frequent competitors. After leading Team USA to a bronze medal and the best record in group play at the recent IIHF World Championships, Capuano’s name is back in the mix as a head coach candidate. The long-time New York Islander bench boss is still held in high regard around the league and the Sabres may not be the only team kicking his tires. Perhaps the Senators will let him go elsewhere, just not within the Atlantic Division.
- After wrapping a strong junior career in the QMJHL, capped off by a stellar run with the Victoriaville Tigres that ended with a league title, Ben Tardif was expected to have some NHL interest. The 21-year-old forward had scored at better than a point-per-game clip in each of the past two seasons, culminating in 11 goals and 22 points in 19 games for Victoriaville en route to the President’s Cup. However, Tardif seemingly did not receive the attention he might have expected and has settled for an AHL contract. The Colorado Eagles announced that they have signed Tardif to a two-year contract. The Colorado Avalanche obviously have some stock in the move as well, hoping that Tardif can use the time to round out his game and show that his offense can translate to the pro level. If he succeeds, Tardif will find himself in a great spot as part of an Avs club that looks like it will contend for many years to come.
- One player whose career Tardif will likely be following is Samuel Asselin. A QMJHL star himself – a Memorial Cup champion and league-leading goal-scorer – Asselin too was surprisingly unable to land an NHL contract after his junior career ended. Like Tardif, he signed a two-year deal with the AHL’s Providence Bruins instead. Following a point-per-game, All-Star season in the ECHL last year, Asselin was a full-time member of the P-Bruins this season and showed that there is more to his game than scoring ability with a gritty, high-energy style. And other teams took notice. Mark Divver of The New England Hockey Journal writes that NHL competitors are sniffing around Asselin and time is running out for the Bruins to lock him in to an entry-level contract. The club holds the right of first refusal to match any competing offer, but only while Asselin remains under contract. Once the off-season arrives, Asselin could depart with Boston having nothing to show for two years of development.
Ottawa Senators Sign Leevi Merilainen
The Ottawa Senators have inked another one of their impressive 2020 draft class, signing Leevi Merilainen to a three-year entry-level contract. Merilainen is coming off another season at the junior level in Finland and will likely spend 2021-22 in Europe again. Senators GM Pierre Dorion released a short statement on his newest prospect:
Leevi made significant strides in his development while playing with a strong program at Karpat last season. He plays big in the net, maintains a controlled style and is on the right path to continuously improve as he builds additional strength and gains more experience. It’s our hope to see him play for Finland at the next world junior championship.
Merilainen, 18, was the 71st overall pick in 2020 and one of the youngest players available in the draft class. Amazingly, despite going in the third round, he was the Senators seventh selection. Should he spend next season in Finland as expected, his entry-level deal will not burn the first year and instead slide forward.
Already 6’2″, Merilainen still hasn’t really matured physically and will likely put on even more size to his thin frame in the coming years. That hasn’t held him back at all so far though, as the young netminder posted a .934 save percentage in 22 appearances this season for Karpat’s junior club. As Dorion notes, he will be an interesting candidate for the Finnish World Junior team, where he would be tested against the best similarly-aged players in the world.
With the Senators goaltending depth chart quite full at the moment, there’s no rush to Merilainen’s development. The team already has Matt Murray signed for the next three seasons, Anton Forsberg is coming back next year, and Joey Daccord is already under contract through 2022-23. Filip Gustavsson, who looks like the team’s next starting goaltender, is a restricted free agent, while 20-year-old Kevin Mandolese and Mads Sogaard are also in the system. At a position where it is so difficult to accurately predict future NHL success, the Senators have decided to gather quite a few prospects and see who pans out.
Offseason Checklist: Ottawa Senators
The offseason has arrived with roughly half of the league finished up after missing the playoffs. It’s time to examine what those teams need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Ottawa.
Expectations were low for the Senators heading into this season. They were still not quite ready to come out of their rebuild and not many had them as a playoff contender. That’s how it played out in the first half as they struggled mightily at times but as the year progressed, they became a lot harder to beat as they won 10 games over their final month. Even so, they’re unlikely to deviate much from their current course of letting their top prospects play their way into bigger roles so the to-do list isn’t overly long for GM Pierre Dorion this summer; the heavy lifting to put the final pieces in place will come a little later.
Add New Bridge Veterans
The acquisition of Derek Stepan right before training camp raised some eyebrows, especially with Ottawa paying a second-round pick to get him. The logic felt like they’d be able to recover that pick (with retention) at the trade deadline and the team would benefit from having someone like that to work with their young forwards. It was the same type of idea for Erik Gudbranson, only that the acquisition cost was a lot lower. It didn’t work out quite as planned with Stepan’s torn labrum that ended his season prematurely while Gudbranson (and Braydon Coburn) fetched next to nothing at the trade deadline.
Stepan, along with Artem Anisimov and Ryan Dzingel, are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer which means their elder statesmen are Evgenii Dadonov who, at 32, has more KHL seasons than NHL seasons under his belt and Nikita Zaitsev. These are capable veterans but when young teams talk about ‘veteran presence’ to work with the youngsters, these two aren’t the types of players that come to mind. Both have multiple years left as well (Dadonov two years, Zaitsev three) so they would appear unlikely to be flipped at the deadline if 2021-22 is similar to this season.
With that in mind, Dorion will likely want to add this year’s versions of Stepan and Gudbranson, veterans on expiring contracts that can play a certain limited role, work with Ottawa’s young players, and then be pushed out once some of their players with AHL Belleville are ready to jump up. The good news for the Sens is that with so many teams looking to shed money this summer, they should be able to add some useful bridge pieces for a low cost and then flip them with retention at the deadline for more than they paid to get them.
Re-Sign Tkachuk
This is the big one for them as Brady Tkachuk is set to become a restricted free agent this summer. It’s not as if he’s a dominant offensive player – his point-per-game averages per season range from 0.62 on the low end to 0.64 on the high end which is a roughly 50-point pace over an 82-game campaign. That alone doesn’t make him a core piece. It’s the physicality that he brings as well. Tkachuk has become one of the top power forwards in the game quite quickly (he’s only 21) and those are incredibly difficult to come by. It certainly stands to reason that Dorion will want to start discussions on a max-term deal with the winger soon if he hasn’t already done so.
However, the flat-cap environment doesn’t necessarily make an eight-year contract particularly appealing to Tkachuk. If he believes that he can take a step forward offensively over the next couple of seasons, a bridge contract looks more desirable. Look no further than his brother Matthew Tkachuk in Calgary who is playing on a three-year, $21MM pact but remains RFA-eligible at the end of it. For the first two years, their offensive numbers were similar and while Matthew had a much better platform campaign offensively, that can be offset somewhat by Brady’s physicality and how unique of a player he is. If that’s the rough ballpark for a short-term deal, that would seem more desirable on the surface than committing to a long-term pact. It’s still a significant raise but gets him arbitration eligibility at the end of it and potentially a more favorable cap environment as league revenues start to stabilize.
Cap space isn’t an issue for the Senators as they’re well below the $81.5MM Upper Limit for next season so that won’t impact these talks. Even so, with Ottawa’s likely preference being a max-term contract and it appearing to make more sense for Tkachuk to go with a bridge, it’s going to make for a very interesting negotiation in the weeks and months to come.
Bring In Defensive Upgrades
While there is help on the back end on the horizon (Jacob Bernard-Docker, Jake Sanderson, and Lassi Thomson), none of them are ready to step into Ottawa’s lineup next season. Bernard-Docker will need some time with Belleville, Sanderson will remain in college, and Thomson’s first AHL season wasn’t particularly strong so more time there will be needed.
That means the defense corps that was in place for most of the season remains intact and while there is one strong piece (Thomas Chabot is definitely a legitimate top-pairing player), it’s a group that’s light on high-end options and even depth. Erik Brannstrom hasn’t progressed as they hoped when he was the centerpiece of the Mark Stone trade with Vegas and Victor Mete (a pending RFA himself) was a late-season waiver claim. Both are young enough to still have some upside but as far as in-house improvements go, that’s about all they can count on.
Again, a serviceable veteran or two that could be flipped at the deadline when Bernard-Docker and maybe Thomson are more ready to play would work. But even with that, a controllable top-four pickup should also be high on Dorion’s wish list. Not all prospects pan out so one more quality addition to go along with Chabot, Zaitsev, and Artem Zub would at least bolster their core group and allow ample development time for their prospects. The flat cap could force some quality players to be on the move and Ottawa should be willing to deal some of their future capital to make sure they get a more significant addition and if they wind up with a surplus of quality defenders down the road, that’s quite a nice ‘problem’ to have.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Cap information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Buffalo Sabres Win 2021 NHL Draft Lottery
For the final time for the foreseeable future, all non-playoff teams were eligible to win the first overall pick in the NHL Draft Lottery. Beginning in 2022, a team can only move up a maximum of ten spots, meaning the teams who finish No. 12 through No. 16 in the final league standings cannot move high enough to take over the top pick. The stage was set for a climactic send-off for the old format.
Well, the lottery balls decided not to take a crazy bounce in their last opportunity to move a team from the middle of the first round all the way to the top. Instead, the draft order stayed virtually the same. The Buffalo Sabres, who held the worst record in the NHL this season and thus the top odds in the lottery, retained the No. 1 pick. The expansion Seattle Kraken, awarded the same odds as the third-worst record in the league, moved up one spot, switching places with the Anaheim Ducks. New this year, there were only two lottery draws as opposed to the former three. Here is the official first-round draft order for the top 15 picks:
- Buffalo Sabres
- Seattle Kraken
- Anaheim Ducks
- New Jersey Devils
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Detroit Red Wings
- San Jose Sharks
- Los Angeles Kings
- Vancouver Canucks
- Ottawa Senators
- Chicago Blackhawks
- Calgary Flames
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Dallas Stars
- New York Rangers
(As a reminder, the Arizona Coyotes forfeited their first-round pick this years as discipline for scouting violations)
This will be the second time in four years that the Buffalo Sabres will pick first overall after selecting Rasmus Dahlin at the top spot in 2018. It also means that two teams, the Sabres and New Jersey Devils, will have owned the first pick in four of the past five drafts. The two clubs are happy that the NHL’s new rule limiting teams to two lottery wins in a five-year span kicks in next year with a clean slate. Incredibly, the Sabres lottery win also further advances the mythology of Taylor Hall. Although Hall is now with the Boston Bruins, this is the fifth time in Hall’s career that his most recent team eligible for the draft lottery has won. A No. 1 overall pick himself, Hall has brought luck to the Edmonton Oilers, Devils, and now Sabres.
Perhaps bigger news than Buffalo at No. 1 is Seattle at No. 2, a major opportunity for the Kraken to draft a player who is ready to join the team in their inaugural season. The Vegas Golden Knights, with the same odds in the 2017 NHL Draft Lottery, fell to No. 6 overall and drafted Cody Glass, who has still yet to establish himself as a regular in the Vegas lineup. With the second pick, Seattle will have better odds of adding an instant difference-maker.
The 2021 NHL Draft is unique compared to recent years in that there is no consensus top prospect. In fact, it is difficult to remember a draft class in recent memory that is so undecided at the top. One major factor has been the lack of complete scouting due to canceled and shortened seasons and limited live viewings. However, even with complete information, there is still seemingly no prospect that stands heads above the rest. University of Michigan defenseman Owen Power and forward Matthew Beniers are largely considered the top players at each position and the two most likely candidates for the top pick, with Power having a slight lead according to draft pundits. However, current teammate Kent Johnson and Wolverines commit Luke Hughes, a forward and defenseman respectively, are also in the mix. Canadian junior standouts Mason McTavish, Dylan Guenther, and Brandt Clarke and European pros William Eklund and Simon Edvinsson may also be in play.
Ottawa Senators Sign Viktor Lodin
The Ottawa Senators have inked a prospect just ahead of the deadline today, signing Viktor Lodin to a two-year entry-level contract. Lodin would have become an unrestricted free agent later this afternoon had he not signed, but the Senators obviously convinced him to join the organization. Ottawa GM Pierre Dorion released a statement:
Viktor gained significant professional experience by playing an integral role in Timra’s championship win last season. A bit of a late bloomer in that he was drafted as a 19-year-old, he’s a big forward who can play either centre or wing and possesses high-end skill with a raw ability to score.
Lodin, 21, was the 94th overall selection in 2019, picked out of the SHL. There were high hopes given his place at the highest level in Sweden as a teenager, but things didn’t go quite as smoothly in his post-draft season and he ended up spending half the year in the Allsvenskan (second tier). This year he was back there with Timra, but his offense exploded with 40 points in 47 games, helping the club secure promotion once again. If that kind of breakout can be maintained, the Senators have added another forward prospect to a system that is overflowing at this point.
In fact, the team already has 34 contracts signed for next season with 14 pending restricted free agents on the books. If all of them are retained, the team is coming awfully close to the 50-contract limit already. With that in mind, Ottawa will become an interesting team to watch navigate the offseason as they try to improve the young core they’ve built and start to compete for the playoffs.
Arizona Coyotes Executive Brian Daccord Resigns
The Arizona Coyotes and GM Bill Armstrong sure have their work cut out for them this summer. With just a dozen 2020-21 regulars under contract beyond this season – eight forwards, three defenseman, and a goalie, no first-round pick due to forfeiture, and the impending NHL Expansion Draft, there was already more than enough for the team to handle as they look to improve ahead of next season. Now, there will be one less mind to help out. As confirmed by Coyotes beat writer Craig Morgan, Special Assistant to the GM and Director of Goaltending Personnel Brian Daccord has resigned from his position. He follows Assistant GM’s Lindsay Hofford and Steve Sullivan out the door, all in the past nine months, leaving behind a desolate front office.
Daccord was in fact Armstrong’s first hire after he landed the Arizona GM job in September. Morgan describes Daccord as Armstrong’s “right-hand man” and someone who held many different responsibilities. Many of those duties involved goaltending, which was a bright spot this season in the desert with Darcy Kuemper’s continued strong play and Adin Hill taking a step forward. However, it could quickly become an area of concern with Kuemper a fixture in the trade rumor mill, Hill potentially exposed to expansion, and veteran Antti Raanta heading for free agency, without much in the way of high-end talent in the pipeline. Perhaps even more important though is that Morgan notes that Daccord was also heavily involved in recommending front office hires to Armstrong. Not only must the GM replace his two departed assistants, but he now must replace the man who was supposed to help him with the selection process. Entering his first full off-season, this could already be a do-or-die summer for Armstrong with so many major decisions on his plate and not much support.
As for Daccord, the respected hockey mind is sure to find work elsewhere, if he hasn’t already. A professional goalie in Switzerland during his playing career, Daccord has worked his way up the coaching ranks from assistant coach at his alma mater, Merrimack College, to goalie coach positions with the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, and in Germany, and finally to a front office position overseeing goaltending personnel, among other things. One possible landing spot could be with the Ottawa Senators, where son Joey Daccord is himself a goaltender.
AHL Announces 2020-21 All-Star Teams
After revealing their All-Rookie Team yesterday, the AHL has handed out another set of accolades for the best players in the league. The 2020-21 All-Star teams have been released, honors that are voted on by coaches players, and media. Unlike most years, when a first and second team would be announced, the league decided to name All-Division teams in this unique season.
While these teams do not predict future NHL success as well as the All-Rookie group, there are still plenty of NHL stars that have been awarded AHL All-Star honors in the past. This year’s group many young players that will soon be on an NHL bench, including several members of the All-Rookie team.
Atlantic Division
G Jeremy Swayman, Providence Bruins
D Samuel Bolduc, Bridgeport Sound Tigers
D Tarmo Reunanen, Hartford Wolf Pack
F Morgan Barron, Hartford Wolf Pack
F Cameron Hughes, Providence Bruins
F Jakub Lauko, Providence Bruins
North Division
G Zane McIntyre, Lehigh Valley Phantoms
D Oskari Laaksonen, Rochester Americans
D Cameron Schilling, Hershey Bears
F Boris Katchouk, Syracuse Crunch
F Connor McMichael, Hershey Bears
F Taylor Raddysh, Syracuse Crunch
Canadian Division
G Cayden Primeau, Laval Rocket
D Otto Leskinen, Laval Rocket
D Connor Mackey, Stockton Heat
F Kalle Kossila, Toronto Marlies
F Egor Sokolov, Belleville Senators
F Nathan Todd, Manitoba Moose
Central Division
G Beck Warm, Chicago Wolves
D Calen Addison, Iowa Wild
D Cody Franson, Rockford IceHogs
F Riley Barber, Grand Rapids Griffins
F Riley Damiani, Texas Stars
F Adam Mascherin, Texas Stars
Pacific Division
G Logan Thompson, Henderson Silver Knights
D Josh Mahura, San Diego Gulls
D Ryan Murphy, Henderson Silver Knights
F Cooper Marody, Bakersfield Condors
F Andrew Poturalski, San Diego Gulls
F T.J. Tynan, Colorado Eagles
Vitaly Abramov Signs In KHL
The Ottawa Senators depth chart is getting awfully crowded at the forward position, with young players emerging almost daily. Perhaps that’s part of the reason why Vitaly Abramov has signed a two-year contract in the KHL with Traktor Chelyabinsk. Abramov was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer. The Senators will be able to retain his restricted free agent rights by issuing him a qualifying offer, keeping him attached to the organization.
Originally selected in the third round of the 2016 draft by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Abramov was in the NHL making his debut by the 2018-19 season after being part of the Matt Duchene trade. Now 23, he has just five games at that level with the Senators, spending much of his time in the AHL instead. This season for Belleville, he had 19 points in 23 games, a strong showing for the talented winger.
Unfortunately, with the pipeline so packed from high picks over the last few years, it was hard to see Abramov getting a top-six opportunity in Ottawa anytime soon. A return to the KHL will give him a chance to play more important offensive minutes and could help him secure an NHL role down the line. For now, the Senators will have to wait and watch, but his rights won’t expire for several years.