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Snapshots: Barrie, Spurgeon, Senators

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The Colorado Avalanche are in the enviable position of having two first-round picks this year despite making the playoffs, and one of those selections is fourth overall. The team very well could be adding top defensive prospect Bowen Byram with that spot, giving them quite the young core on the blue line along with Samuel Girard and Cale Makar. That inevitably would lead to some speculating that the Avalanche will be looking to trade another defenseman, and A.J. Haefele of BSN Denver today tweeted that he believes Tyson Barrie is “in play.”

Haefele doesn’t mention the Byram connection, and perhaps that has nothing to do with it given Barrie plays the right side. With Erik Johnson already entrenched as a leader on the team and signed long-term, Barrie might be the one to go in order to give Makar more minutes on that side and the powerplay. The 27-year old Barrie had another excellent offensive season, recording 14 goals and 59 points in 78 games.

  • The Minnesota Wild have made sweeping changes to the core of their team since GM Paul Fenton took over, but one name they’re looking to keep is Jared Spurgeon. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Fenton and agent Eustace King met yesterday to begin talks on an extension, given the defenseman has just a single year remaining on his contract. Spurgeon is one of the game’s premiere two-way defensemen, recording solid offensive numbers while being a reliable shutdown option in his own end. Coming off a career-high 43 points any extension will be an expensive one, and likely include a substantial raise over the $5.19MM cap hit he currently carries.
  • Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports that the Ottawa Senators have issued qualifying offers to Cody Ceci, Christian Wolanin, Nick Paul, Colin White and Jack Rodewald, though all were expected. Ceci is still just 25 years old despite having played six seasons in the league, and is one of the more interesting players to watch on the Senators roster. He is a restricted free agent but could potentially settle for a one-year contract through arbitration and walk right into unrestricted free agency next season. His qualifying offer is $4.3MM, already a hefty contract for the Senators to swallow.

Senators Hoping To Trade Mikkel Boedker, Manny Viveiros A Candidate For Ottawa's Coaching Staff

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  • The Senators are hoping to trade winger Mikkel Boedker, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, who notes that there is mild interest from some teams. The 29-year-old picked up 35 points in 71 games in his first season with Ottawa but as a team that’s clearly in the middle of a rebuild, he’s someone that’s not going to be in their long-term plans so if the opportunity arises to move him for younger assets, it’s one that GM Pierre Dorion will likely look to make.  Boedker carries a $4MM cap hit through 2019-20 but his salary checks in lower at $3MM.  Garrioch adds that defenseman Ben Harpur could be a trade candidate in the coming days with his spot on the roster potentially looking tenuous for next season.
  • Still with the Senators, former Oilers assistant coach Manny Viveiros is in the running for a spot on Ottawa’s coaching staff, notes Postmedia’s Jim Matheson. 2018-19 was his first season in the NHL after previous stints with Swift Current (WHL), Germany, and Austria.

Ottawa Senators Extend Marcus Hogberg

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The Ottawa Senators have signed Marcus Hogberg to a two-year contract extension, carrying him through the 2020-21 season. The deal carries a $700K annual average value at the NHL level, but will be a two-way contract in the first year. Hogberg was scheduled to become a restricted free agent this summer.

Now 24, Hogberg was originally selected in the third round of the 2013 draft but spent several years continuing his development in Sweden. Upcoming coming over to the Senators organization in 2017, he struggled at the AHL level and eventually found himself playing in the ECHL. In the most recent season however, Hogberg was excellent for the Belleville Senators and recorded a .917 save percentage in his 39 appearances. Add in a 21-17-4 record and 2.32 goals against average and it is no surprise that the team brought him back.

Hogberg was actually eligible for arbitration, though with only four NHL appearances under his belt he likely couldn’t have argued for a much better deal. This way he’ll know that he has some financial stability coming down the line, and he can keep working towards the goal of earning a full-time role with Ottawa in the future. That opportunity is certainly possible, as the Senators don’t have any long-term contracts for their NHL goaltenders currently.

Ottawa “Seriously Exploring” Trade Market For Cody Ceci

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Despite being the butt of many jokes for the past couple of seasons, the Ottawa Senators head into this offseason with some real opportunity. The team has just a single player—Bobby Ryan—under contract for more than two years and a huge number of draft picks to work with over the next several seasons. Putting the Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone and Matt Duchene situations behind him, GM Pierre Dorion can now go to work on rebuilding the franchise back up. Still, there are a few veteran names on the roster that come with some question marks. One of those is Cody Ceci, who is a restricted free agent once again after seeing his one-year $4.3MM deal expire.

Ceci, 25, is the experienced one on the Ottawa blue line, with six NHL seasons under his belt already. He’s coming off a 26-point performance while being used heavily in the defensive zone. A relatively young, experienced defenseman that is logging more than 22 minutes a night in all situations is usually one a team wants to lock up long term, but Ceci may not be in that situation. There has been criticism launched towards the defenseman for years, partly because his skills make him neither an offensive or defensive talent, but somewhere in the middle. He probably shouldn’t be used as much as he has been in Ottawa, but they haven’t had many other reliable options over the years.

Now, as free agency looms once again and the Senators prepare for an offseason of change, Ceci is in talks on a new contract. Both Wayne Scanlan of Sportsnet and Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen note that discussions are ongoing, but Warren also reports that Dorion is “seriously exploring the trade market.” The league has watched several defensemen change teams in recent days, with Olli Maatta, Jacob Trouba, Matt Niskanen, Radko Gudas and Justin Braun all traded. Nikita Zaitsev and Rasmus Ristolainen have also been discussed and could be moved by the end of the summer. Will Ceci be another name to add to that list?

Scanlan writes that other teams have been calling Dorion because of their cap space and draft assets, and the Senators GM admits that they’ve spoken about moving up in the draft. The Senators currently have picks 19, 32 and 44, but with so much other draft capital available could potentially move up significantly. A Ceci deal would obviously not have to be involved in that, but it is still something to monitor over the coming days.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minor Notes: O’Brien, Sholl, Lacouvee

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Minor league forward Jim O’Brien will be taking his talents overseas, as the 30-year old has signed with the Nuremberg Ice Tigers of Germany’s DEL. It’s been a tough road back for the veteran forward, after severing a tendon in his right leg during a game in late September last year. O’Brien finished with just three points in 11 games for the Belleville Senators and will see his contract with Ottawa expire in a few weeks.

Originally selected in the first round by the Senators back in 2007, it never has quite worked out at the NHL level for O’Brien. The two-way center was a star in the WHL but got off to a rocky start in his professional career, and rarely got an opportunity at the highest level. In 77 NHL games he has just 13 points, a number he’ll obviously try to eclipse this season with Nuremberg.

  • The Texas Stars have signed Tomas Sholl to an AHL contract for 2019-20, keeping the former Bowling Green State goaltender in the organization for another year. Sholl has played the majority of the last two seasons in the ECHL where he has been one of the league’s best goaltenders, posting a .928 save percentage in 2018-19. He very well could return to that league this season, unless the Stars believe he’s ready for more advanced competition in the AHL.
  • Speaking of minor league goaltenders, the Laval Rocket have re-signed Connor Lacouvee for another season. The 25-year old will be on an AHL contract and hope to get a bigger opportunity this season. Bouncing around between the ECHL and AHL, Lacouvee ended up playing 37 games in total but was a surprisingly effective option for the Rocket. With the Montreal Canadiens likely graduating Charlie Lindgren to the NHL they have just two other goaltenders in the organization. Lacouvee, while technically not under contract with Montreal, will be able to help out their minor league system while trying to show he’s ready for even more responsibility.

Ottawa Senators Re-Sign Andreas Englund

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Tuesday: The Senators have officially announced the contract.

Monday: After re-signing winger Anthony Duclair earlier today, the Senators aren’t done for the day just yet.  CapFriendly reports that Ottawa has inked defenseman Andreas Englund to a one-year, two-way contract.  The deal will pay him the league minimum $700K in the NHL and $80K at the minor league level.

The 23-year-old has spent the majority of his professional career at the minor league level but has seen NHL action in each of the last three seasons.  In 2018-19, he played in 68 games with AHL Belleville, recording 14 points.  He also got into three games with Ottawa and was held off the scoresheet.

Intriguingly, Englund actually accepted an amount below his qualifying offer of $735K.  While doing so allowed him to get a small increase in his AHL pay, it also might help his chances of sticking around in the NHL.  He’s eligible for waivers in 2018-19 so if he can’t crack Ottawa’s roster on a full-time basis, the low price tag could help his odds of getting claimed off the waiver wire.

Senators Notes: No. 19 Pick, Paajarvi, Hogberg

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Perhaps excited by the extension of Anthony Duclair and the additional second-round pick added by the Erik Karlsson contract, both occurring earlier today, Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion was very positive and open when speaking with the media today. Per The Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch, Dorion began by discussing the team’s plans for the upcoming NHL Draft. The Senators will travel to Vancouver tomorrow to begin meetings ahead of the round one of the draft on Friday night, but Dorion has already had many conversations with rival GM’s. Dorion states that he has already spoken with multiple teams about possibly moving up in the first round from No. 19. The Senators are without their own first-rounder, owed to the Colorado Avalanche from last year’s Matt Duchene trade, but the team was fortunately able to recoup a top pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets in their own sale of Duchene. With that said, No. 19 is not exactly where a rebuilding team would like their first pick to be, even though Ottawa already has a deep, talented pipeline. Following the Karlsson news, CapFriendly reports that the Senators now have 28 picks in the next three drafts, including 16 in the top three rounds. That is plenty of ammunition if Dorion decides that he wants to move up the board on Friday. Teams like the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks have hinted at their willingness to move back, while the Colorado Avalanche may also be open to moving their second pick in the round, No. 16. If Dorion is intent on moving up, he should be able to find a taker.

  • Dorion also made the somewhat surprising reveal that the Senators are not pursuing a contract extension with free agent forward Magnus Paajarvi. Paajarvi, 28, has spent the past season and half with Ottawa after coming over from the St. Louis Blues on waivers in 2017-18. Although the 2009 tenth overall pick has never been able to live up to his draft stock nor his rookie year production, Paajarvi has grown into a solid two-way player and enjoyed the best season since his first in Ottawa this past year. Paajarvi seemed like a safe bet to stay with the Senators, especially given his key role on the penalty kill, but Dorion has other plans. He did say that talks continue with fellow UFA’s Oscar Lindberg and Brian Gibbons, both of whom performed well after deadline trades, as well as RFA defenseman Cody Ceci. As for Paajarvi, he’ll likely land on his feet elsewhere in the league once free agency opens.
  • Finally, Dorion announced that a contract resolution with RFA goaltender Marcus Hogberg is imminent. Hogberg is expected to sign with the team this week after rumors emerged early this off-season that he was considering a move to Europe. It remains possible that Hogberg could still be loaned elsewhere, as his signing only adds to a logjam of keepers in both Ottawa and AHL Belleville. The Senators expect to enter next season with a tandem of veteran Craig Anderson and returnee Anders Nilsson. As of now, Mike Condon will also be in the mix. In the minors, the team hopes to give top goalie prospect Filip Gustavsson, college standout Joey Daccord, and now Hogberg the time in net they need to develop properly. If that is going to be impossible, even with a likely Condon departure, Hogberg is the top candidate to be loaned away, despite his advantage in pro experience.

Erik Karlsson Re-Signs With San Jose Sharks

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UPDATE: The Sharks have now officially announced the Karlsson extension and it is worth even more than previously believed. Karlsson is set to make $11.5MM on average over an eight-year term for a total of $92MM, according to CapFriendly. That includes $53MM in signing bonuses, largely front loaded in the early years for potential lockout protection, as well as in the final two years to dissuade a buyout. The contract also includes a full No-Movement Clause. There is little doubt remaining that San Jose is all in on Karlsson given these terms, which make Karlsson the highest paid defenseman in NHL history and behind only Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews overall. The Sharks simply have to hope that he can get back to full health and remain that way as long as possible, while those teams that missed out on a chance to court him this summer have to hope that the somewhat underwhelming replacement options don’t drastically increase their asking price.

 

It’s been an ongoing narrative early this off-season that the San Jose Sharks were willing to do whatever it takes to re-sign Erik Karlsson, after the all-world defenseman played well – when healthy – in his first season with the team. Karlsson is considered not just the top defenseman on the free agent market, but arguably the biggest name overall, and that’s taking into account his injury concerns. Few defensemen in the NHL can do what a healthy Karlsson can offensively and the 29-year-old was set to cash in on the open market. Yet, it seems that GM Doug Wilson and the Sharks have convinced Karlsson that he doesn’t need to test the waters to find a considerable contract and a winning team. TSN insider Bob McKenzie reports that “all signs are pointing” to Karlsson returning to San Jose and colleague Pierre LeBrun follows it up by stating that “a deal is indeed done.”

McKenzie is hardly the first to report that extension talks were getting close between the two sides, but when the respected hockey mind makes a pronouncement like this, it generally carries significant weight. LeBrun thus checked in himself and found previous reports that the two sides were talking about a contract in the neighborhood of Drew Doughty’s eight-year, $88MM contract to be true. LeBrun believes that is will be an eight-year deal worth more than Doughty’s $11MM AAV. This would make Karlsson’s cap hit the third-largest in NHL history.

Unless his negotiating rights were to be traded prior to July 1st, the Sharks were always going to be the only team that could offer Karlsson that valuable eight year. However, it is likely their willingness to move into the double-digit AAV realm that pushed negotiations closer to a resolution. Especially in a season in which Karlsson missed 29 games due to injury, there was plenty of speculation that his value would take a hit on the free agent market, resulting in lesser term or at least a lower dollar value over a long-term deal. Instead, the Sharks seemingly plan to keep Karlsson in town by offering him the same contract he likely would have landed prior to this past season and hope that recent groin surgery solves the nagging soft tissue damage that cost the superstar blue liner so much time this season.

Assuming this extension becomes official shortly, it will have wide-ranging effects. San Jose cannot afford to re-sign Karlsson to this contract and also re-up restricted free agents Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc without making some sacrifices. Priority unrestricted free agents like Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Gustav Nyquist, and Joonas Donskoi cannot all return if any can. Signing even one of those players may force the Sharks to move out other salary from the roster. Additionally, per the terms of the original Karlsson trade, San Jose will also surrender a 2021 second-round pick to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for extending their acquisition. As for the rest of the free agent market, one of the top names is now off the board. The demand and thus the price for the next tier of defensemen – Jake Gardiner and Tyler Myers – just went up, as did the cost of bringing in a big name like Artemi Panarin or Matt Duchene after both Karlsson and Jeff Skinner received larger contracts than expected.

The greater story here though is that the Sharks’ Stanley Cup window, which some saw as closing if Karlsson, Pavelski, and Thornton were all to leave, has now been extended with the re-signing of one of the game’s best defensemen, so long as he can stay healthy. With Karlsson, Brent Burns, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic together on the blue line for at least six more years and core forwards like Logan Couture, Evander Kane, Tomas Hertl, and soon Meier locked up, the team has strength at both ends and will continue to be a top competitor year in and year out.

 

Ottawa Senators, Anthony Duclair Agree To Extension

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The Ottawa Senators landed an additional second-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft when former star Erik Karlsson reportedly agreed to an extension with the San Jose Sharks earlier today. They have now made the most of another one of their big trades from this past season. Anthony Duclair, acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the Ryan Dzingel trade, has agreed to a one-year contract extension, the team announced. The deal will pay Duclair $1.65MM next season, which could prove to be a bargain for the Senators. Duclair had been set for restricted free agency and held arbitration rights, but has opted to take Ottawa’s offer in hopes that he can re-establish his value next season.

Duclair, 23, has had an up-and-down career and has already made many stops since breaking into the NHL at 19. The New York Rangers draft pick failed to impress as a rookie and was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in 2015. He broke out that same year, recording 20 goals and 44 points. However, when his output dropped to just 15 points in 2016-17, the Coyotes did not hesitate to trade him the following season to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Blackhawks opted not to qualify Duclair, who signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Columbus Blue Jackets last summer. Although Duclair was on pace for a bounce back season with Columbus, the team decided to move him at the deadline as part of their “all in” approach. Fortunately, he caught on quickly in Ottawa, registering 14 points in just 21 games.

The Senators hope that Duclair will again take advantage of the opportunity afforded to him on the young, inexperienced Ottawa roster. If he can keep up his scoring pace from late last season over the course of this next year, he could reach or even surpass his previous career high of 44 points. At just $1.65MM, that would be a tremendous value for the Sens. GM Pierre Dorion certainly likes what he sees, as the team’s press release states:

We were pleased with what Anthony was able to add to our lineup after his acquisition. This signing improves our team speed and scoring depth up front. Anthony’s speed and skill can be dynamic and at only 23 years old, we feel he has the chance to grow into a really consistent contributor.

Atlantic Notes: Zaitsev, Johansson, Condon, Luongo

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The Toronto Maple Leafs don’t have to, but if the team wants to move on from defenseman Nikita Zaitsev, it might be beneficial to trade him before July 1 when his 10-team no-trade clause kicks in. While Zaitsev has requested a trade as well, making it easier for Toronto to unload the five years remaining on his contract at $4.5MM, there are likely to be several teams interested in acquiring the 27-year-old.

In fact, The Athletic’s James Mirtle (subscription required) looks into what teams would be the most likely to acquire the blueliner and the Edmonton Oilers find themselves at the top of the list. Zaitsev could be paired with one of Toronto’s forwards, either Connor Brown, Kasperi Kapanen or Andreas Johnsson to acquire either Matt Benning or even Adam Larsson in the right deal.

The Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks round out the top three teams who would make the best bets, but there are quiet a few other candidates as well.

  • Boston Globe’s Nick Kelly writes that Boston Bruins forward Marcus Johansson was non-committal Friday when asked about whether he wanted to return to Boston next season. An unrestricted free agent and a key contributor throughout the playoffs (four goals and 11 points in 22 games), the 28-year-old may have priced his way out of Boston. However, Johansson said he did enjoy his time with the Bruins and will speak to them first before looking at his other options.
  • Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun writes that even though the Ottawa Sentators locked up backup goaltender Anders Nilsson to a tw0-year, $5.2MM extension which many thought would be the end for Mike Condon. The 29-year-old, who lost the backup job early last season, still has one year remaining on his contract at $2.4MM and seemed like a prime buyout candidate. However, general manager Pierre Dorion said the team will not buy him out and intend to bring him in to camp in the fall before determining what to do with him. Condon made just two appearances, allowing eight goals and had a .800 save percentage. He was sent to Belleville of the AHL for one game before he opted to sit out the rest of the year with hip inflammation. He hopes to be healthy for training camp.
  • Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that he spoke recently to Florida Panthers general manager Dale Tallon, who told him that he expects goaltender Roberto Luongo to make a decision about his future soon, in fact, before the draft next Friday. The team needs an idea on whether Luongo intends to come back next year. Florida is expected to sign one of the top goaltenders on the market with Sergei Bobrovsky on the top of their list. However, if Luongo opt to return (he still has three years remaining at $4.53MM AAV), the team will have to find a way to move out James Reimer.

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