Seth Jones Wants To Be Blackhawks Next Captain
The Chicago Blackhawks don’t currently have a captain after long-time captain Jonathan Toews wasn’t re-signed this summer. Toews was Chicago’s captain from July of 2008 until April of this year when the season ended. During his time the Blackhawks had an unparalleled run of success on the ice winning three Stanley Cups.
Now with the captaincy vacant, defenseman Seth Jones has expressed an interest in the role telling Tracey Myers of NHL.com that he always wanted to be a captain after learning from great leaders such as Toews, Shea Weber, and Nick Foligno. Jones added that he understands his role in the room and will be a leader whether he has a letter on his jersey or not.
It’s an interesting statement from the 28-year-old rearguard as the Blackhawks are early in a big rebuild, but that process has certainly been accelerated with the team’s draft lottery win that allowed them to pick Connor Bedard first overall. It’s also unlikely to happen given that the Blackhawks will probably keep the captaincy vacant until Bedard is ready to take the reins in a few years.
Chicago’s captaincy may ultimately play out the same way it did with the Pittsburgh Penguins 18 years ago when Sidney Crosby began his career. At the time Mario Lemieux was the Penguins captain, but he didn’t make it through the 2005-06 season as he retired midseason. The Penguins then left the captaincy vacant until they gave it to Crosby in May 2007 after his second NHL season.
The other complications with Jones when it comes to the captaincy could be his contract status coupled with his play on the ice. Jones has long had the reputation as an elite, minute-eating defenseman, and while the latter is true, the former is much more complicated. Jones had a disastrous end to his time in Columbus and was dealt to Chicago. He quickly signed an eight-year $76MM contract with the Blackhawks that was panned by some and praised by others. There is no doubt that Jones provides a good amount of offensive punch, but his defensive play has been problematic as evidenced by his -75 the past two seasons.
Jones is entering the second year of his deal and it has already started to feel like he could become a buyout candidate before the end of the contract. It felt like an overpayment when it was signed and it really looks like one now. And with Jones pushing 30 his play is more likely to get worse before it gets better. Putting the captaincy on him now could become a PR nightmare in a few years if his play were to drop off and lead to a buyout.
Carey Price Confirms He Won’t Return To Play
Legendary Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price confirmed to reporters today his nagging knee injury will prevent him from returning to NHL play “barring a miracle,” expected news after missing the entire 2022-23 season and all but five games in 2021-22. Price had left the door open to a return at the beginning of last season but mentioned he was still having trouble with day-to-day activities and would have to wait and see how much he improved over the coming months.
Price said today he’s still not where he’d like to be in terms of his quality of life and, therefore, is all but closing the book on his 15-year NHL career. He is one of the best netminders in franchise history for a team stacked with legends such as Ken Dryden, Jacques Plante and Patrick Roy. While never winning a Stanley Cup, he got awfully close in 2021 as he guided the Canadiens on a miracle run to the Stanley Cup Final in what would be his final full season. He does have some significant hardware to his name, however, winning the Vezina and Hart Trophies in the 2014-15 season.
Selected fifth overall in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Price is the best of a quartet of elite netminders to come out of the class, which included Ben Bishop, Jonathan Quick and Tuukka Rask. While he wouldn’t make his NHL debut for another few years, he made his presence known immediately as a rookie in the 2007-08 season. While starting just 40 games, he still managed to finish fourth in Calder voting and ninth in Vezina voting after posting a 24-12-3 record and a .920 save percentage. He would eclipse the .920 mark five more times over the years, including a four-year stretch from 2013-14 to 2016-17, when he was arguably the most dominant netminder in the league when healthy. Despite all that, he would be woefully overlooked when it came to awards voting, only earning a Vezina Trophy nomination twice.
That aforementioned four-year run was enough to make Price the highest-paid goalie per season in NHL history, inking an eight-year, $10.5MM AAV extension with the Habs on July 2, 2017. That contract, with a full no-movement clause, will remain in effect through the 2025-26 season. Price said today he’s open to the Canadiens trading his contract to alleviate any potential salary cap issues.
His 712 NHL games are the second-most all-time among goalies who spent their entire NHL career with one franchise, trailing only Henrik Lundqvist. At career’s end, he boasts an all-time record of 361-261-79, 49 shutouts, a 2.51 goals-against average, and a .917 save percentage. He holds Canadiens franchise records for both games played and wins.
Unfortunately, nagging hip and knee problems which exacerbated over the course of the 2021 playoffs were simply too much to overcome in order to make a full-time NHL return. Price wasn’t expected to miss any time after the initial surgery, undergone after the Canadiens left him exposed in the 2021 Expansion Draft for the Seattle Kraken. In fact, the Canadiens said themselves he’d be ready for opening night in 2021-22. He entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program at the beginning of 2021-22, however, and sustained a setback while training for his return after exiting the program in January. He got healthy enough to play at the tail end of the season, but the appearances caused further swelling in his knee – making it clear his playing days were potentially coming to an end.
All of us at PHR wish Price the best as he puts his true focus on the post-playing aspect of his career.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NHL Remains Open To Atlanta Expansion
The NHL would seriously consider an expansion bid from the Atlanta area if the league did decide to add a 33rd franchise, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski Tuesday.
There’s been a quick one-two punch of recent expansion adds with the inception of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017 and the Seattle Kraken in 2021, the league’s first adds in nearly two decades since bringing in the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild in 2000. That’s led to more public chatter about further expansion, fuelled even further by the record-setting sale of the Ottawa Senators for nearly $1B. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman maintains that expansion isn’t top of mind for the NHL right now, however, and more pressing concerns for the league and the NHLPA revolve around returning to a consistent international tournament schedule. When the league does decide to add to its family, however, Daly told Wyshynski they’ll employ an “open-door policy” when considering potential markets.
Daly believes the past reasons why two Atlanta franchises (the Flames and Thrashers) failed can be “overcome” if the league did accept a bid for a third franchise in the area, the eighth largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States.
“Market demographics have changed pretty dramatically since the first time we went there and then again in 1999,” Daly told Wyshynski. He believes a more suburban arena site, such as the one currently under construction in Alpharetta, would yield better attendance returns, citing the MLB’s Atlanta Braves as a platform for success after their move in 2017.
Atlanta will face fierce competition should an opening for a 33rd NHL team arise, however. Salt Lake City and Hartford-based ownership groups have been hot on the trail of the Arizona Coyotes should relocation become necessary, while Houston and Quebec City remain obvious choices (with the latter receiving significant government support from the province).
Nick Holden Retires, Joins Golden Knights Front Office
Longtime NHL defenseman Nick Holden is retiring after a 12-season career and will immediately join the Vegas Golden Knights’ player development staff, according to a team release. His specialty will be working with the team’s group of young defensemen.
Initially eligible for the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Holden went undrafted and didn’t make it to an NHL organization until the Columbus Blue Jackets signed him to an entry-level contract in 2008 after completing his junior career with the WHL’s Chilliwack Bruins (who have since relocated to Victoria to become the Royals). He would remain in the Blue Jackets organization until 2013 but spent most of it in the AHL, playing just seven NHL contests without recording a point. An unrestricted free agent in 2013, he signed a two-year, $1.2MM contract with the Colorado Avalanche, which jumpstarted his career. Finally playing his rookie campaign as a 26-year-old in the 2013-14 season, Holden recorded 25 points in 54 games for the Avs while averaging nearly 19 minutes per game.
He would settle into a top-four role during his peak, averaging over 20 minutes per game from 2014 to 2019. His career-best season came as a member of the New York Rangers in 2016-17, posting 11 goals and 23 assists for 34 points in 80 games and a +13 rating. With the Rangers struggling the following season, however, they dealt him to the Boston Bruins at the 2018 trade deadline, where he played a depth role down the stretch. That led him to sign with the Golden Knights for their second season, and he gave them solid play over the course of three seasons from 2018-19 to 2020-21. After slipping down the depth chart and playing just 17 regular-season games in 2020-21, however, they dealt him to the Ottawa Senators in a swap for scoring winger Evgenii Dadonov.
Holden spent the final two seasons of his career in a Sens jersey, recording 35 points in 141 games while averaging 18:24 across the 2021-22 and 2022-23 campaigns. His final NHL appearance came in an overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on April 13 of this year, in which he recorded a +1 rating, four shots on goal, 23:13 of ice time, and one block.
After turning 36 in May, Holden steps away from the playing side of the game with 654 career appearances. During his time with the Avalanche, Golden Knights, Blue Jackets, Rangers, Senators, and Bruins, Holden amassed 52 goals, 126 assists, 178 points, and a +16 rating.
“Nick was widely respected by management, teammates, and coaches during his time with the Golden Knights as a player,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “He fills an important role with our player development and will work not only with our drafted prospects but also with our young pros with the Henderson Silver Knights.”
We at Pro Hockey Rumors congratulate Holden on a respectable career, and we wish him the best as he moves into the next chapter of his career in the sport.
Edmonton Oilers Sign Adam Erne To PTO
The Edmonton Oilers have signed forward Adam Erne to a professional tryout agreement, per a team release.
Erne spent the last four seasons in Detroit, scoring 27 goals and 35 assists for 62 points across 241 games in a Red Wings jersey. The gritty, 6-foot-1 winger is coming off a two-year, $4.2MM contract signed following an arbitration filing in 2021.
Last season was a disappointing one for the 28-year-old, who found himself on the waiver wire in early February for the first time in his career. He spent around a month with AHL Grand Rapids, recording five assists in nine games. The Red Wings recalled him before the trade deadline in March, and he spent the rest of the season in the big leagues.
Erne, the 33rd overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning, grew into a bottom-six role with the team that drafted him before they dealt his signing rights to the Red Wings in exchange for a fourth-round pick in August of 2019.
He joins Sam Gagner and Brandon Sutter as PTO adds during Edmonton’s camp, although given his lack of history playing center, Erne has a foggier path to earning a contract. He’ll have to demonstrate he can provide more than youngster Dylan Holloway or Mattias Janmark in order to get a contract, whereas Gagner and Sutter are only battling with strict depth center Lane Pederson for the fourth-line pivot job.
Unless Erne would be okay with an AHL assignment out of the gate, it’s unlikely this stint in camp will result in an NHL contract. Edmonton’s NHL roster availability is extremely limited – per CapFriendly’s projections, they only have room to carry one extra skater on their roster in order to be cap-compliant at the beginning of the season.
Joona Luoto Signs In Swiss League
Free agent forward Joona Luoto has signed a three-month try-out contract with NL club SC Bern, according to a team release. The deal contains a built-in option to extend through the end of the 2023-24.
Luoto, 25, spent last season in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization. While he did record a goal (his first in the NHL) in seven games with Columbus, he spent most of 2022-23 in the minors with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. There, he tied for fourth on the team in goals with 14 and added 11 assists for 25 points in 45 games.
That was Luoto’s second attempt to stick in North America. The Winnipeg Jets signed him as a free agent from Liiga club Tappara before the 2019-20 season, but he disappointed with no points in 16 NHL contests and just four assists in 18 AHL games with the Manitoba Moose. Things didn’t go much better for him in the second year of his entry-level deal, playing just 11 AHL games thanks to the COVID-shortened 2021 campaign, recording four points yet again.
The disappointing stint led to Luoto returning to Tappara for the 2021-22 campaign, where he appeared to figure things out by season’s end. His nine goals and 14 points in 27 regular-season games didn’t jump off the page, but he exploded to lead the team in postseason scoring (17 points in 14 games) and won the Jari Kurri Award for the best player in the Liiga playoffs en route to a championship with Tappara. He then landed a deal with Columbus last summer on the heels of that performance.
His production with Cleveland was arguably his most promising and consistent professional showing. However, now 25, it’s becoming clear there isn’t enough runway left for an NHL future for the 6-foot-3, 201-pound winger.
Luoto will now try and stick his landing in Europe once again, joining a Bern team looking to rebound after a handful of disappointing seasons. It’s a team chock full of recent NHLers such as Martin Frk, Julius Honka, Dominik Kahun, Corban Knight, Patrik Nemeth, and Colton Sceviour.
Shane Wright Officially Granted Exemption, Can Play In The AHL This Season
Seattle Kraken general manager Ron Francis has shared that, if Shane Wright doesn’t make the NHL roster, he will be eligible for an AHL assignment. This move was recently speculated by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
CHL players are typically ineligible to play in the AHL until they are 20 years old on or before December 31 of the given season. Shane Wright won’t turn 20 until January 5, missing that cutoff by just five days. Another way to get out of the CHL-NHL agreement is to play four full seasons in the CHL, something Wright would have achieved had the 2020-21 OHL season not been canceled.
Because of these reasons, the OHL has granted Wright an exemption, following conversations between the Kraken, the NHL, and the OHL that date back months ago. These talks focused on how returning to the CHL wouldn’t benefit the former exceptional status recipient, especially after the tangled 2022-23 season that Wright had. Wright started the year with Seattle, before suffering an injury and getting assigned to the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds for a conditioning stint. After eight games, Wright returned to the NHL for a single game, then left for the World Juniors, and when he came back, his OHL rights had been traded from the Kingston Frontenacs to the Windsor Spitfires – whom he spent the remainder of the season with. But after Windsor’s early postseason exit, Wright returned again to the AHL, playing in 24 playoff games with Coachella Valley.
It was a season filled with travel for Shane Wright – something Seattle will hope to avoid this year. Francis told the Seattle Times, “We’re going to come in and commit to giving Shane every chance to make our team. And if at some point we make a decision that he’s not going to make it, then we would look to assign him to Coachella Valley and I believe at that point we would be fine in doing that.”
Shane Wright recorded two points in eight NHL games last season. He’ll enter the 2023-24 campaign looking to build on those eight games and finally see through his rookie NHL season. But if that doesn’t work, this exemption gives Seattle a contingency plan.
Vegas Golden Knights Sign Max Comtois To PTO
09/12/23: The Vegas Golden Knights have made Comtois’ professional try-out official.
09/12/23: TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reported today that Comtois is currently in Las Vegas this week, and that “you have to expect” that Comtois’ PTO signing with the Golden Knights will be confirmed this week.
There still hasn’t been any official word from Vegas as to whether the former Ducks 16-goal scorer will join the Golden Knights for training camp and preseason. But at this point, there has been enough reporting and smoke around this signing to confidently believe that a PTO is indeed coming.
09/01/23: The Vegas Golden Knights are reportedly set to offer winger Max Comtois a professional tryout contract, as initially reported by BPM Sports’ Marc-Olivier Beaudoin. The former Anaheim Duck did not receive a qualifying offer from the team before the June deadline, making him an unrestricted free agent.
Before the Ducks cut their 2017 second-round pick loose, Comtois had posted 38 goals, 48 assists and 86 points in 210 games. The 24-year-old broke out to lead the Ducks in scoring during the shortened 2020-21 campaign, recording 16 goals and 33 points in 55 games. Things haven’t gone nearly as well in the two seasons since, however. In the 116 games following that breakout year, he’s recorded just 35 points despite more than twice the games played while posting an abysmal -37 rating. However, the latter is more the fault of the team around him than poor individual defensive effort.
The Quebec-born forward plays with an edge to his game and has a solid finishing touch with a career 12.8 shooting percentage. However, consistency and play-driving remain issues, and he’ll need to demonstrate that he’s made some strides in those areas during camp to earn a deal with Vegas.
Should he crack the Golden Knights roster, there would be some opportunity for him in their top nine. He’ll compete directly with Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofeyev and Brett Howden for a left-wing spot alongside William Karlsson or Chandler Stephenson on the team’s second or third line. There’s solid potential for his offensive totals to climb if he ends up on the same line with Stephenson and captain Mark Stone.
Theoretically, the Golden Knights could sign Comtois to a one-year deal up to around the $1.5MM mark and remain cap-compliant to start the season. CapFriendly projects Vegas with $851,653 in cap space entering the season with a full roster and Robin Lehner on long-term injured reserve, so they’d need to assign a player to the minors regardless of cap considerations to sign Comtois.
Colorado Avalanche Sign Tomáš Tatar
The Colorado Avalanche have taken one of the best remaining free agents off the market. They’ve signed veteran forward Tomáš Tatar to a one-year contract.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that Tatar’s one-year deal is worth $1.5MM. CapFriendly has added that the deal is $1.5MM exclusively in base salary, and does not include any form of trade protection.
Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland issued the following statement regarding Tatar’s signing:
Tomas has been a consistent, productive player throughout his NHL career. He is a veteran winger who brings scoring depth to our middle six and can contribute at both ends of the ice. We are excited to have him under contract for this season.
On one hand, it’s certainly surprising to see a player like Tatar wait so long to receive a contract, and receive a contract at a $1.5MM AAV. Tatar is, after all, one of the NHL’s more consistent regular-season goal scorers.
Tatar has crossed the 20-goal plateau seven times in his career, and at certain times has posted the numbers of a top-line scorer. In 2019-20, Tatar led the Montreal Canadiens in scoring with 61 points in 68 games, a 74-point pace.
He’s been a consistent first or second-line scorer throughout his NHL career, and isn’t even coming off of a poor season, as he scored 20 goals and 48 points in 2022-23.
But as NHL teams place more of a priority on players who can bring them playoff success, the biggest red flag on Tatar’s resume has to have been the single greatest reason he’s languished on the market so long.
At this point in Tatar’s career, there’s no mistaking what he is. He’s a high-quality, consistent scorer in the regular season who is all but certain to almost disappear come playoff time. Tatar has just 13 points in 52 career postseason games. Twice, Tatar’s team has left him a frequent healthy scratch en route to the Stanley Cup Final.
On a consistent basis, NHL teams have found Tatar’s playoff struggles so severe that they’re forced to simply sit him in the press box rather than hope that he can suddenly find a scoring touch. With that in mind, it becomes a little less surprising that Tatar has waited so long to receive a deal.
At a $1.5MM cap hit, though, those playoff concerns are far less important. Regardless of how he’ll fare in the postseason, the Avalanche are receiving a consistent 20-goal threat at a cap hit lower than what many teams pay their fourth-line centers.
Tatar stands a really strong chance at providing the Avalanche with a lot of surplus value on his cap hit, and the $1.5MM cap hit minimizes the downside risk of this investment should Tatar once again falter in the playoffs.
So while Tatar certainly has his critics due to his postseason play, his regular-season value is undeniable. At a $1.5MM investment, this is a no-brainer signing for the Avalanche.
They add Tatar to an already impressive mix set of scoring wingers, and should Tatar manage to win the left-wing job on the team’s first line (beating out three of his former teammates in Artturi Lehkonen, Miles Wood, and Jonathan Drouin for the job) he could even have a chance for a career year.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Adam Lowry Named Winnipeg Jets Captain
A second Canadian franchise has named a player captain in just as many days. After the Vancouver Canucks named star defenseman Quinn Hughes as their next captain, the Winnipeg Jets have followed up with their own choice, tapping center Adam Lowry to wear the “C.”
Lowry is the Jets’ third captain since the club relocated to Winnipeg from Atlanta. The previous captains were Andrew Ladd, who officially retired on Sunday, and Blake Wheeler, who was stripped of the captaincy before the 2022-23 season.
Lowry isn’t exactly a surprising choice for the role, as although the Jets have bigger-name star players on their roster, Lowry has long been recognized for exemplary leadership skills.
The 30-year-old veteran forward has been a captain before in his career, leading the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos during the 2012-13 season.
Before this past year, Lowry’s on-ice production may not have been exactly what one would expect for a player set to take on the prominent role of captaining a team in a high-pressure Canadian market. Bottom-six players typically don’t have a ton of staying power on their teams, and change clubs with more frequency than higher-scoring stars.
But this past season was the best of Lowry’s career, one that cemented his place in Winnipeg for years to come. He scored 13 goals and 36 points in the regular season and five points in five playoff games.
Lowry is under contract through the 2025-26 season, and seeing as he’s only played for the Jets so far, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him play his entire NHL career in Winnipeg. It’s also worth noting is also that Lowry is a second-generation NHL captain. Lowry’s father, Dave Lowry, captained the Calgary Flames from 2000 to 2002.
With significant uncertainty facing the Jets due to the looming expiration of contracts for franchise netminder Connor Hellebuyck and Mark Scheifele, this is an extremely important season for the club to make a strong competitive push.
Now, today’s announcement confirms that Lowry’s leadership will take a central role in any competitive push the team makes.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images