Montreal Canadiens Acquire Tanner Pearson
After being hinted at for most of the morning, in order to become salary cap compliant for the upcoming season, the Vancouver Canucks have traded Tanner Pearson and a 2025 third-round draft pick to the Montreal Canadiens for goaltender Casey DeSmith.
After the trade, the Canucks will have freed up $1.45MM in cap space if no salary is retained, making compliance with the salary cap a much more manageable endeavor. Also, by acquiring DeSmith in the deal, as well, Vancouver has a much more capable backup netminder to put behind Thatcher Demko, something the team did not have last season.
From the standpoint of Montreal, they also worked out their own dilemma, no longer having three playable goalies on the roster to start the season. After acquiring DeSmith from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the same deal that would land Erik Karlsson in Pittsburgh, it had been rumored for weeks that the Canadiens would eventually look to move out DeSmith as well.
All-in-all, simply for their involvement in the Karlsson trade, Montreal has acquired Pearson, Gustav Lindstrom, Nathan Legare, a 2025 second-round pick, a 2025 third-round pick, and a conditional 2025-fourth round pick in exchange for Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick.
This is a solid trade haul for Kent Hughes and the Canadiens, but after finding a solution to one problem, another has been created entirely. Now with Pearson in the mix, the team already has a projected 12 forwards on the roster according to CapFriendly, with Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Sean Monahan, still to return from injury. Even aside from those players, players such as Sean Farrell and Owen Beck also appear close to being NHL-ready.
At any rate, both teams solved issues for the time being with this particular trade and should alleviate some concerns heading into training camp.
Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report Pearson was heading to Montreal.
Chris Johnston of TSN was the first to report no salary had been retained by the Canucks.
Dreger was the first to announce the trade details.
Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff was the first to report the full trade details.
Training Camp Notes: Pearson, Berni, Blue Jackets
Officially being activated from the injury reserve earlier today, Vancouver Canucks forward, Tanner Pearson, may not end up spending very long with the team, anyway. Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic passes along a note from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet that the Canucks are looking to move Pearson to a different team.
Now with Pearson activated, the Canucks are approximately $1.7MM above the cap, even factoring in Tucker Poolman on the LTIR to open up the year. With a glut of players at the forward position, several surgeries, and noted dissatisfaction with the organization, Pearson does project as the likeliest player to be moved in order for Vancouver to become salary cap compliant.
As of right now, there are only about eight teams that could comfortably fit Pearson’s $3.25MM salary into their current roster, with teams such as the Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, and Anaheim Ducks in a position to acquire a boost to their secondary scoring. However, with limited availability due to his injuries, and the Canucks bargaining from a weakened position as a seller in this scenario, it is tough to project a hypothetical return for Pearson’s services, if any at all.
Other training camp notes:
- Much like Egor Sokolov‘s situation with the Ottawa Senators, Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reports that even without a contract, defenseman Tim Berni will still be at training camp for the Columbus Blue Jackets. In his first year in the NHL during the 2022-23 season, Berni suited up in 59 games for Columbus, scoring one goal and two assists, finishing with a dismal -26 rating. After adding both Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov this offseason, Berni may not see much playing time for the Blue Jackets this year, even with a guaranteed contract.
- Sticking with Columbus, in a separate report, Portizline notes that after announcing the resignation of Mike Babcock, the General Manager of the Blue Jackets, Jarmo Kekalainen, is still looking at changes to the coaching staff, even in the wake of announcing Pascal Vincent as the new head coach. It remains to be seen whether or not Kekalainen is still considered higher-profile coaching changes, or a few developmental coaches around the edges.
Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Calen Addison
In a press release, the Minnesota Wild announced that the team has agreed to a one-year, $825K contract with defenseman Calen Addison. Being the last restricted free agent on the roster, the Wild and Addison were able to get a deal done only one day before training camp started.
Coming over to Minnesota in the trade that sent Jason Zucker to the Pittsburgh Penguins back in 2020, it would take Addison two full years migrating back and forth from Minnesota and their AHL affiliate, the Iowa Wild, before finally receiving the full-time call-up for the 2022-23 NHL season. Missing three weeks of action in October due to a foot injury, Addison still had a solid rookie season, scoring three goals and 26 points in 62 games for the Wild.
For Minnesota specifically, Addison would break the team’s rookie record for points by a defenseman, and also finish second in all-time points by a rookie defenseman, finishing one point back of Filip Kuba‘s 2000-01 rookie season. In the entirety of the NHL last year, Addison would finish first among rookies in powerplay points, and tying for fifth in assists, and third in points for all rookie defensemen, respectively.
Even after his impressive rookie campaign, all signs indicate that Addison will be locked in a battle for a top-four role on the right side of the defensive unit for training camp. Another prospect, Brock Faber, who was acquired by the organization from the Los Angeles Kings in the trade that sent Kevin Fiala to the West Coast, is being given the opportunity to earn that role, after his excellent season at the University of Minnesota last year.
In fact, during the Wild’s opening-round matchup against the Dallas Stars in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs, Faber played in all six games, averaging over 14 minutes a night, while Addison only suited up for three games, playing a touch over 12 minutes a night.
Although Faber is already seen as a more defensively sound player than Addison on the blue line, as Addison would finish last season with a -17 rating to end the season, Addison’s possession metrics, highlighted by his CF% of 60.8%, and his ability to transition out of the zone and move the puck effectively make him just as solid as an option.
All-in-all, although the winner of the competition remains to be seen, it may come down to Minnesota riding the hot hand for much of the season. Addison will likely still receive an abundance of powerplay time throughout the year, while Faber should garner more defensively-minded roles and situations.
Sarah McClellan of Star Tribune Sports was the first to report that Minnesota had signed Addison
Latest On Lukas Reichel
Leading up to training camp opening up, the General Manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, Kyle Davidson, spoke about his vision for the future of forward prospect Lukas Reichel. Charlie Roumeliotos of NBC Sports Chicago reports that Davidson believes Reichel is NHL-ready for the upcoming season and envisions him to play down the middle of the ice.
Reichel was originally drafted by Chicago as the 17th overall selection of the 2020 NHL Draft, a few years after the rebuild started for the Blackhawks organization. He spent the next season with the Eisbaren Berlin of the DEL, before finally making the transition to North American hockey for the 2021-22 NHL season. Being a part of the taxi squad at the beginning of the season for Chicago, Reichel received two separate call-ups in February and April of that year.
Primarily playing in the AHL, Reichel showed an impressive rookie effort for the Rockford Ice Hogs, scoring 21 goals and 36 assists in 56 games, finishing first on the team in scoring as a 20-year-old. Playing in 11 games for the Blackhawks that year, Reichel only recorded one assist, receiving a tad over 13 minutes of ice time per night. Aside from his play on the ice, Reichel did suffer from an undisclosed injury that would keep him out of the lineup for a little over two weeks but has sustained a clean bill of health since that point.
Much like his first year playing in North America, Reichel spent much of last season in Rockford but did play with the Blackhawks in a full-time role for the last month of the season. In a similar effort to his previous season, Reichel was once again effectively a point-per-game player in the AHL, scoring 20 goals and 31 points in 55 games.
Receiving the full-time callup one day before the 2022-23 trade deadline, Reichel became a focal point of the Blackhawks offense down the stretch. Well, outside of the playoff picture at that point, the organization was able to give Reichel just under 17 minutes a night, and he rewarded the team with six goals and six assists in only 19 games.
With his play to wind down the 2022-23 regular season for the Blackhawks, there shouldn’t be any question as to whether or not Reichel is ready for NHL minutes, but more so around Davidson’s belief he will be an effective option at center moving forward. Chicago did give Reichel 13 opportunities in the dot last year, as he would finish with a FO% of only 38.5%.
Although he has limited NHL experience up to this point, Reichel’s defensive metrics and possession metrics have not struck much confidence in his play on both sides of the puck. Without a doubt, the Blackhawks will start Connor Bedard as their number one center option this season, and one would also assume that their 2022 13th overall selection, Frank Nazar, will get the nod in the future holding down the second line.
Nevertheless, although it is never a given that a team will not make the playoffs, the Blackhawks still do not project as a playoff team for the upcoming season. Given where they are at in their organizational timeline, they don’t have much to lose trying Reichel out at the center position for this year.
Senators Notes: Sokolov, Pinto, Andlauer
The biggest-name Ottawa Senator who remains an unsigned restricted free agent is undoubtedly center Shane Pinto, though he’s not alone in that status. Forward Egor Sokolov is also without a contract for next season, although that isn’t anticipated to impact his ability to participate in the team’s training camp.
Sokolov was officially named to the club’s training camp roster today, while Pinto was not. And according to Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, the expectation is that even if Sokolov doesn’t have a deal in place, he’ll still report to training camp tomorrow. Garrioch adds that Sokolov’s camp and the Senator have “continued to talk” on finalizing a new contract. It’s an extremely important preseason for Sokolov, who will be in a battle for an NHL job in Ottawa. He’s waivers-eligible for the first time in his career, and after scoring 109 points across the last two AHL campaigns it’s clear this is a make-or-break training camp for Sokolov’s NHL dreams in Ottawa.
Some other notes regarding the Senators:
- Garrioch relayed an update from a radio appearance by Senators GM Pierre Dorion today, regarding the status of Pinto. Dorion said he has gone “back and forth with Pinto’s camp this morning ” negotiating an extension, but although he “wants to get a deal done as quickly as possible” he can’t actually put a timeline on when that would happen. It’s possible that the Senators are staring down the prospect of an extended absence for Pinto, something that would be a significant loss for the club. The Senators are desperate to finally escape their rebuild and make the playoffs, but have been prone to slow starts to seasons under head coach D.J. Smith. Being without a strong two-way center who scored 20 goals last season would certainly not help matters.
- Incoming Senators owner Michael Andlauer told the media today at the Senators Foundation golf tournament that he hopes his purchase of the Senators will officially close by the end of the week. The Senators’ sale process has been a long process, but now it appears that the sale is finally reaching a conclusion, assuming Andlauer’s hopes become reality.
Brayden Schenn Named St. Louis Blues Captain
The St. Louis Blues have named center Brayden Schenn the 24th captain in franchise history.
He succeeds center Ryan O’Reilly in the position, months after the Blues traded O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
As one of the Blues’ more senior players, Schenn is a natural choice for the role.
Schenn has served as an alternate captain in St. Louis for the last three seasons, and in that span, he has been a consistent, productive second-line center for the club.
He helped the Blues lift their first-ever Stanley Cup in 2019, and is coming off two of the best seasons in his career. He scored at a 77-point 82-game pace in 2021-22 and scored 65 points in 2022-23.
Alongside Schenn, Robert Thomas, Justin Faulk, and Colton Parayko have been named assistant captains as part of the Blues’ leadership core. Thomas and Parayko wore the “A” last season as well, while Faulk earns a letter in St. Louis for the first time. He has previously served in a leadership role, both as an alternate captain and the captain of the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Blues can expect to have Schenn, 32, as their captain for quite a while despite his age. That’s because Schenn is under contract through the 2027-28 season at a $6.5MM cap hit.
As the Blues transition to a roster more focused on young talent after missing the playoffs last season, the club has confirmed that Schenn will be the team’s official leader for its next competitive phase.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Colorado Avalanche Eyeing Goalie Market
09/19/23: Yesterday, Adrian Dater wrote on X confirming that the Avalanche are indeed “looking for new backup goalie.” He named Halak and DeSmith as options, as well as Calgary Flames netminder Daniel Vladar.
Vladar is an interesting case as the motivation from the Flames to deal him would in all likelihood be in order to clear an NHL spot for top goalie prospect Dustin Wolf. Wolf has accomplished just about everything a goalie could hope to accomplish in the AHL save for a Calder Cup title, posting a 77-20-7 record and .927 save percentage there. He’s a two-time AHL goalie of the year and the reigning AHL MVP, so it’s understandable that the Flames would want to give him a clear path in the NHL next to starter Jacob Markstrom.
What could complicate a Vladar trade is the fact that Vladar is making $2.2mM for the next two seasons, and struggled to the tune of a .895 save percentage last season.
09/14/23: Earlier this afternoon, Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff reported that the Colorado Avalanche will likely be without regular backup goaltender Pavel Francouz to start the year, as the goaltender has not yet fully recovered from an offseason adductor surgery. In one minor comparable to the Gabriel Landeskog situation, the timeline of Francouz’s recovery is seemingly unclear.
As an internal candidate to take over the backup role in Colorado, young netminder Justus Annunen would be the likeliest candidate. Of all the goaltenders in the Avalanche organization, he is one of only three with NHL playing experience, having played in four games over the last two seasons, posting a 2-1-1 record, carrying a .859 SV% and a 3.92 GAA. His numbers in the AHL have been markedly better but he has not struck much confidence at the top level, even with limited playing time, making it unlikely that Colorado will pick him as their second goalie.
In late June, veteran netminder, Jaroslav Halak, indicated that he is committed to playing for the 2023-24 NHL season, despite still finding himself on the free agent market. With little interest in his services up to this point, this may be the situation that Halak had been waiting for. With approximately $500K in cap space after putting Landeskog on LTIR to start the season, if Francouz also finds himself on LTIR to start the year, the Avalanche would have ample space to bring in Halak as a stopgap.
Lastly, in the trade market, the most obvious trade connection for Colorado comes from the Canadian Northeast. Only a few weeks ago, it became public knowledge that after acquiring goaltender Casey DeSmith from the Pittsburgh Penguins due to their involvement in the Erik Karlsson trade, the Montreal Canadiens have committed to finding a different landing spot for him. Last year, as a backup to Tristan Jarry in Pittsburgh, DeSmith posted a 15-16-4 record in 38 games, with a .905 SV% and a 3.17 GAA. Although the backup goaltender position does not typically carry the highest of expectations, DeSmith would likely improve upon those numbers behind a much more capable Colorado defense.
Nevertheless, even in the case of Francouz’s potential placement on LTIR, the Avalanche are going to be a bit close to the cap to start the year and will have to get creative in this situation. Relying heavily on goaltender Alexandar Georgiev last season, if the backup goaltending situation stagnates in Colorado, Georgiev could potentially see even more than 62 starts as he did last season.
Injury Notes: Pearson, Savoie, Rasmussen
CapFriendly has reported that the Vancouver Canucks have officially activated veteran forward Tanner Pearson off of long-term injured reserve. In their post on X, CapFriendly writes: “This is significant because it means that he is no longer considered an LTI candidate, and tentatively leaves the club $1,709,167 over the cap” even if they place defenseman Tucker Poolman on LTIR.
The team could still be cap compliant to start the season, but to do so they would need to carry fewer than the maximum of 23 players on their active roster. Pearson, 31, is making $3.25MM against the cap and played just 14 games last season, scoring five points.
Some more injury notes from across the NHL:
- The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski is reporting that Buffalo Sabres prospect Matthew Savoie left the prospects game against the Pittsburgh Penguins with an apparent injury. The 2022 ninth-overall pick left the ice in pain and did not return to the game. The Sabres have said that Savoie may miss time at the start of camp with what is being described as an upper body injury.
- CapFriendly has also reported that the Detroit Red Wings have now officially activated forward Michael Rasmussen off of injured reserve. Rasmussen had been on injured reserve since March 2nd, meaning he finished his 2022-23 season with just 56 games played. The hulking six-foot-six forward had something of a breakout year, though, scoring at a 15-goal, 42-point 82-game pace.
Summer Synopsis: San Jose Sharks
The San Jose Sharks limped into the offseason of what was sure to be a franchise altering offseason. There was some excitement that the club was finally going to be able to get out from under Erik Karlsson’s gigantic cap hit and begin a full on rebuild that was a few years in the making. Ultimately the rebuild did start, but the return for their franchise defenseman was extremely underwhelming. Although people in some circles see the move as purely a cap dump, it was unlikely that the team was going to be a cap team in the next few seasons anyway which puts a damper on some of that talk.
San Jose is going to be bad this upcoming season, but based on the moves of General Manager Mike Grier, that is the plan as they embark on the first rebuild in San Jose since the mid-1990s.
Draft
1-4: C Will Smith, USA U-18 (USNDP)
1-26: F Quentin Musty, Sudbury Wolves (OHL)
2-36: F Kasper Halttunen, HIFK (Liiga)
3-71: C Brandon Svoboda, Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)
4-123: D Luca Cagnoni, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)
5-130: D Axel Landen, HV 71 Jr. (J20 Nationell)
5-132:D Eric Pohlkamp, Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (USHL)
7-196: C David Klee, Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL)
7-203: F Yegor Rimashevsky, Dynamo Moscow Jr. (MHL)
Smith has a strong hockey sense and a terrific skill set that should help him have an excellent NHL career. This past season he dressed in 60 games for the United States National Team Development Program’s Under-18 team and finished second on the NTDP’s all-time single-season points list potting 51 goals to go along with 76 assists. He helped lead the group to a Gold Medal at the Under-18 Men’s World Championship while leading the tournament in scoring with nine goals and 11 assists. It might be a few seasons before Smith dons a Sharks jersey as he is currently committed to play at Boston College next season close to his hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts.
With the Sharks second first-round pick they drafted Musty out of the OHL. The former first overall pick in the 2021 OHL draft had a strong second half of last year and a good season overall posting 26 goals and 52 assists in 53 games. The Hamburg, New York native has good size at 6’2” and 200 pounds and should be able to use it along with his reach and skillset to score goals in the NHL. He hasn’t quite dominated the OHL yet, but given where he is at, he could be poised for a big year in Sudbury this upcoming season.
Trade Acquisitions
G – Mackenzie Blackwood (from New Jersey)
F – Anthony Duclair (from Florida)
D – Leon Gawanke (from Winnipeg)
F – Mikael Granlund (from Pittsburgh)
F – Mike Hoffman (from Montreal via Pittsburgh)
D – Jan Rutta (from Pittsburgh)
The Sharks made some interesting trades this offseason that if viewed in a vacuum seem to show a lack of direction. But if you look at the body of work over the course of the entire summer it becomes a little bit clearer that Mike Grier has a plan. Whether or not it will work remains to be seen, but the rebuild is in full force and Grier has taken to many different avenues to try and extract future value from players.
Duclair is the type of player that can provide efficient depth scoring at a very affordable price point. He is making just $3MM this season and is only a year removed from scoring over 30 goals for the Florida Panthers. While his acquisition doesn’t make sense for a team that is building for the future, the cost to acquire him was so low. If Duclair can bounce back and have a good season, San Jose should be able to move him at the trade deadline and acquire much better pieces than the ones they gave up getting him, which was a fifth-round pick and Steven Lorentz.
The story is the same for Blackwood, San Jose signed him to a two-year $4.7MM extension after acquiring him and are hoping he can provide league-average goaltending for the time being. Should he bounce back he could be another piece that San Jose flips out to grab some future draft picks or prospects.
The likes of Granlund, Hoffman and Rutta are all still NHL players, however, they each had become expendable with their former clubs. Granlund and Rutta were ill-advised moves that Ron Hextall had made in Pittsburgh that backfired almost immediately after they were made. Both players could find bounce-back seasons in San Jose which would make it possible to move them in the future for other assets. Rutta might be in tough though as he is slated to play in the Sharks top 4, a role he struggled in badly last season with the Penguins.
UFA Signings
D Kyle Burroughs (three years, $3.3MM)
C Ryan Carpenter (one year, $775K)*
F Scott Sabourin (two years, $1.55MM)*
RW Givani Smith (two years, $1.6MM)
C Nathan Todd (two years, $1.55MM)*
RW Filip Zadina (one year, $1.1MM)
The Sharks went into the offseason knowing that they were not going to be players for any of the bigger-name free agents as they were already trying to shed cap space and get younger. They weren’t completely inactive though as they made a few moves to add depth and toughness while bringing in a couple of projects who could be bounce-back candidates.
Mike Grier continued his trend of buying low on players as he opted to sign former Detroit Red Wings forward Zadina to a one-year deal. The 23-year-old hasn’t shown much in his short NHL career, but with more minutes and a bigger role, he could start to find the scoresheet with more frequency. The downside to the deal was almost non-existent for San Jose since they can just cut ties after the season if Zadina doesn’t work out. He will surely be motivated to prove the doubters wrong as every team in the league passed on picking him up under his previous contract leading to a mutual termination with Detroit.
RFA Re-Signings
G Eetu Makiniemi (one year, $775K)*
F Jacob Peterson (one year, $775K)
F Fabian Zetterlund (two years, $2.9MM)
*-denotes two-way contract
The Sharks didn’t have much in-house business to take care of this summer when it came to the restricted free-agent front. Zetterlund was the biggest piece of business to lock up as he and San Jose opted to sign a two-year bridge contract. Zetterlund was having a decent season with the New Jersey Devils posting six goals and 14 assists in 45 games before he was dealt mid-season in the Timo Meier swap. In 22 games with the Sharks, the 24-year-old failed to gain much traction as he posted just three assists and struggled to drive play in any meaningful way. His advanced analytics also took a sizable drop, which isn’t surprising given his move from a contending team to a rebuilding one. Zetterlund should be given a big role this upcoming season as the Sharks have fully entered a rebuild and will be looking to see whether he is part of the future or a piece they can move on from for future assets.
Departures
C Kyle Criscuolo (New Jersey, one year, $775K)*
G Aaron Dell (Columbus – PTO)
F Jonah Gadjovich (Charlotte Checkers – AHL)
C Noah Gregor (Toronto – PTO)
C Luke Johnson (Metallurg Magnitogorsk-KHL)
LW Andreas Johnsson (Pittsburgh, one year, $800K)
D Erik Karlsson (traded to Pittsburgh)
RW Martin Kaut (signed with HC Dynamo Pardubice-Czechia)
F Steven Lorentz (traded to Florida)
D Markus Nutivaara (retired)
D Derrick Pouliot (Dallas, one year, $775K)*
G James Reimer (Detroit, one year, $1.5MM)
F C.J. Suess (Manitoba – AHL)
D Andrej Sustr (signed Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL)
LW Yevgeni Svechnikov (signed Ak Bars Kazan-KHL)
RW Max Veronneau (signed with Leksands IF-SHL)
The biggest and probably the only notable loss for the Sharks was reigning Norris Trophy winner Karlsson. The now Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman had a season for the ages and became the first defenseman to top 100 points in a season in three decades. Karlsson’s run in San Jose was mired with injuries and inconsistent play, despite his historical season last year. He could never push the Sharks over the hump and eventually, the team fell out of their window of contention leading to the trade with the Penguins.
Karlsson didn’t fit with the Sharks’ future and a move was the best thing for both sides long term. San Jose did get some pieces for Karlsson, just likely not what they would have hoped to get for an elite asset.
Outside of Karlsson, most of the departing Sharks players were replacement-level players at best and leave San Jose in a spot where they should have a ton of flexibility going forward, particularly if the salary cap does increase as it is expected to over the next few seasons.
Salary Cap Outlook
San Jose has cap space heading into this season and could have a ton of it next summer. With $4MM this year, and possibly around $40MM next summer, the options are almost endless. Now, barring a lot of major growth in their prospects it seems unlikely that Grier will be a major player for free agents next summer. But perhaps he could make moves to use some of his draft capital to acquire restricted free agents that better fit the Sharks’ timeline to being a contender. Grier has wiped out a lot of the team’s long-term financial commitments and could make some serious moves at a time when the cap will start to grow.
Key Questions
How Bad Will They Be? A lot of pundits have predicted that the Sharks will have the best odds to win the draft lottery at the end of the 2023-24 season, and while that would certainly jumpstart their rebuild, they must play the season first. The Sharks have some players who can put the puck in the net and even if management has their sights set on a future lottery pick, the players want to win hockey games and will do everything in their power to do so. But no matter how hard those players try, they will still likely be a bad team. How bad? Well, that remains to be seen. 30 wins seems steep for this group, but maybe they’ll surprise some people in a weak Western Conference.
Who Else Will Be Dealt? The Sharks still have several veterans under big contracts, and while Mike Grier has obviously made flexibility a priority, he still must reach the salary cap floor which means he can’t trade all of them. Marc-Édouard Vlasic is a player who has fallen off a cliff in recent years and owns perhaps the worst contract in the NHL, but he still provides a veteran presence and is almost untradeable. But could the Sharks look to take back other bad contracts to give the veteran defenseman a change of scenery? We’ll see.
Will Grier Weaponize His Cap Space? Mike Grier has almost $4MM in cap space for this season and could have close to $40MM next summer. Will he use his space to take on bad contracts while acquiring more picks and prospects for the future? It’s a tactic that many rebuilding teams have used to essentially purchase draft picks using short-term cap space, and it is something that Grier could utilize to add a lot of depth to the organization.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blues Notes: Captaincy, Welinski, Bitten
Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic is reporting that the St. Louis Blues have released a notice that they will be having a press conference tomorrow morning to announce a new captain. The Blues have been without a captain since trading Ryan O’Reilly to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the trade deadline. Rutherford speculates that the frontrunners to be the new captain would likely be Brayden Schenn or Robbie Thomas given their status with the club and the leadership they provide.
While Rutherford does consider Schenn and Thomas to be favorites to land the captaincy, he also concedes that he doesn’t know definitively as to who it will be. The Blues could name anyone from their current roster to be their next captain and certainly have lots of options as they could also select from veterans Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk, or even a younger veteran such as Pavel Buchnevich. Whoever the club ultimately selects will have the opportunity to lead a Blues team that will be looking to improve after a disappointing season last year in which they missed the playoffs. While they were sellers at the deadline, they did make a few low cost adds at the same time in Kasperi Kapanen and Jakub Vrana. The club also made additions this offseason trading for Kevin Hayes and bringing back Oskar Sundqvist in free agency.
In other Blues Notes:
- The Blues announced today that former Anaheim Ducks defenseman Andy Welinski will attend training camp with St. Louis on a PTO after spending last season in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack and Rockford IceHogs. The 30-year-old put up four goals and 15 assists in 54 AHL games while tallying just 14 penalty minutes. In his short NHL career, the native of Duluth, Minnesota has posted just a single goal and five assists. St. Louis already has seven defensemen signed to NHL deals for next season meaning Welinski will be fighting an uphill battle to make the NHL squad.
- The Blues also announced today that forward Sam Bitten will also be joining the team for training camp on a PTO after playing for Plzen HC of the Czech league last season. The 23-year-old native of Ottawa, Ontario dressed in 48 games last year posting a single goal. Sam’s older brother Will Bitten is a member of the Blues and dressed in four games last year for the Blues posting a single assist. Bitten is unlikely to make the Blues but could battle for a spot in the minor leagues within the Blues system giving him a chance to play in North America for the first time in his professional career.