Summer Synopsis: Florida Panthers
The Florida Panthers were a surprise Cinderella story this past spring as they reached the Stanley Cup Finals for just the second time in franchise history. It wasn’t a shocker to see them in the finals, but what was shocking was the path the team took to become the Eastern Conference’s representative in the final series. Florida knocked off the best regular season team of all time in seven games and then quickly dispatched the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round after the Leafs had won their first playoff series since 2004. Most pundits expected the Carolina Hurricanes to bring the Panthers back to reality, but Florida dispatched the Canes in a dominant sweep to reach the finals. Unfortunately for the Panthers the clock struck midnight on the fairy tale, and they ran into the buzzsaw that was the Vegas Golden Knights.
This offseason a lot of the storylines revolving around the team were the injuries they were going to need to navigate to start the 2023-24 season. Matthew Tkachuk is likely to miss the start of the season and Aaron Ekblad could as well. Head coach Paul Maurice has cautioned the teams fans that the club will be in a dog fight to make the playoffs and he likely isn’t wrong. Florida made the playoffs by a single point, and a lot of the teams that fell behind them are much improved heading into next season. 
This offseason the Panthers didn’t have the space to make any big splash and didn’t have any assets to make the big trade. But they tweaked around the edges and made some small moves that could pay off.
Draft
2-63: C Gracyn Sawchyn, Seattle (WHL)
4-127: D Albert Wikman, Farjestad Jr. (Sweden-JR.)
5-159: G Olof Glifford, HV 71 U18 (Sweden-JR. U18)
6–191: D Luke Coughlin, Rimouski (QMJHL)
7–198: LW Stepan Zvyagin, Dinamo-Shinnik Jr. (Russia-JR)
Florida didn’t have many draft picks left after making a litany of moves over the past two seasons. While it isn’t surprising to see teams empty the tank when they are in contention, the Panthers were criticized for mortgaging too much of their future at the 2022 trade deadline in moves they made for Claude Giroux and Ben Chiarot.
The club was still able to make some picks to add to their prospect cupboard. Second-round pick Sawchyn was a big-time player for the top team in the WHL this year as the speedster was a point-a-game player helping the Thunderbirds to a WHL championship. While Sawchyn can get around the ice, he has an awkward way of doing it as his powerful stride isn’t the most aesthetically pleasing. Sawchyn has a good set of hands but isn’t likely to be a top-end offensive player in the NHL, he has a very good chance to be an NHL regular as he does possess a wide-ranging skillset.
With their fourth-round pick the Panthers selected Wikman, a smooth skating player who can already get around the ice like a pro. Outside of his ability to move around, there isn’t much more to his game. He isn’t a great puck mover as he lacks a lot of the offensive instincts to get the puck up the ice with any pace. He could be an NHL player as he does have some of the tools needed, but at this point his future is unclear.
Trade Acquisitions
F Steven Lorentz (San Jose)
As mentioned earlier, Florida didn’t have many assets to move this summer in a trade and they made just one move. The Panthers somewhat surprisingly elected to sell low on former 30-goal scorer Anthony Duclair just a year after he posted 31 goals for Florida. In the salary dump, the Panthers acquired a fifth-round pick as well as forward Steven Lorentz from the San Jose Sharks. The 27-year-old Kitchener, Ontario native posted a career-high 10 goals and nine assists last season for the Sharks while averaging almost 12 minutes a night of ice time on a very bad Sharks team. Lorentz won’t fill the scoresheet, but he is a physical player who will make life difficult for opponents and in Florida, he should be able to play in a role that is much more suitable to his skillset.
UFA Signings
C Rasmus Asplund (One year, $775K)
D Oliver Ekman-Larsson (One year, $2.25MM)
D Dmitry Kulikov (One year, $1MM)
RW William Lockwood (Two years, $1.55MM)
D Niko Mikkola (Three years, $7.5MM)
D Mike Reilly (One year, $1MM)
F Evan Rodrigues (Four years, $12MM)
C Kevin Stenlund (One year, $1MM)
G Anthony Stolarz (One year, $1.1MM)
C Alex True (One year, $775K)
The Panthers targeted several defensemen from the buyout market when they bought low on Ekman-Larsson and Reilly. Ekman-Larsson had a forgettable two years in Vancouver and was bought out by the Canucks in a move that will saddle them with a $2.126MM cap hit until 2031. The 32-year-old rearguard is about four years removed from being a top-end defenseman and was in over his head with Vancouver. Now that he isn’t being paid like a number one defenseman, he should be able to slot into a role that is more suitable to his current skillset. Ekman-Larsson should still have some gas in the tank and be able to offer the Panthers decent two-way play at a reasonable cap hit. If he is forced into big minutes, Ekman-Larsson could find himself in a situation not unlike the one he faced with the Canucks.
Reilly was initially a good fit with the Bruins when he was dealt to Boston mid-season in April 2021. So much so, that he signed a three-year $9MM deal with the team that turned sour almost immediately after the ink dried on the paperwork. Last season, Reilly dressed in just ten games for Boston and had just a single assist as he found himself on the outside looking in. A healthy scratch for much of the season, Reilly also found himself playing in the AHL for a stretch as the Bruins tried to find creative ways to keep the 30-year-old in game shape. Reilly should be able to provide the Panthers with some depth minutes while not eating much in the way of cap space. With their depth on the left side, it is unlikely that Florida will need the Chicago, Illinois native to play anything close to the 17 minutes a night that Reilly has averaged during his NHL career, but injuries could complicate matters as they did at times last year for Florida.
Evan Rodrigues was supposed to cash in with a lucrative long-term contract last summer but misjudged the free agent market and had to settle for a one-year $2MM deal with the Colorado Avalanche. Rodrigues had another good year last year posting 16 goals and 23 assists in 69 games while playing in different roles for the Avalanche. Rodrigues has a terrific track record of being like a Swiss army knife for teams to utilize in many different roles. Rodrigues’ former team the Pittsburgh Penguins really missed his reliability and his ability to play almost anywhere in the lineup and it is something Florida should find useful when navigating injuries and other holes that get created in the lineup. Rodrigues might have signed the most lucrative contract of his career, but he is still a bargain at just $3MM per year.
Speaking of former Penguins players, Dmitry Kulikov had a cup of coffee with the Penguins last season after he was acquired in a trade deadline move from Anaheim. The 32-year-old had a largely forgettable campaign as he like everyone else, struggled with the Ducks and found himself getting caved in on most nights. After the trade to Pittsburgh, Kulikov fared much better, but an injury limited him to just six games and the Penguins faded down the stretch as they missed the playoffs for the first time since 2006. On the Panthers, he will likely take bottom pairing minutes on a regular basis and should be able to provide the Panthers with a good depth option, albeit one who won’t provide much offensively.
RFA Re-Signings
D Lucas Carlsson (One year, $775K)*
F Grigori Denisenko (Two years, $1.55MM)
D Casey Fitzgerald (One year, $775K)*
D John Ludvig (Two years $1.55MM)*
C Gerald Mayhew (One year, $775K)*
*-denotes two-way contract
The Panthers didn’t have much to worry about in the restricted free agent market as the team took care of most of their business on July 1st. Their highest profile RFA was forward Grigori Denisenko who signed with a slew of other Panthers on July 1st. The 23-year-old forward has dressed in 26 games over parts of three seasons and has yet to score an NHL goal but does have seven assists to his name. Last season the native of Novosibirsk, Russian Federation dressed in a career high 18 games and posted just three assists. At the AHL level, Denisenko posted 12 goals and 24 assists in 56 games with the Charlotte Checkers, however he was -18. At this point in his career, it doesn’t appear as though the former 15th overall pick will live up to his draft position, but the door isn’t shut on him becoming a productive NHL player.
Departures
D Anthony Bitetto (Unsigned)
C Connor Bunnaman (Kärpät, Finnish Liiga)
F Anthony Duclair (Traded to San Jose)
D Radko Gudas (Anaheim, Three Years, $12MM)
F Aleksi Heponiemi (EHC Biel-Switzerland)
F Patric Hornqvist (Retired)
G Alex Lyon (Detroit, Two Years, $1.8MM)
RW Givani Smith (San Jose, Two Years, $1.6MM)
D Marc Staal (Philadelphia, One Year, $1.1MM)
F Colin White (Unsigned)
Its commonplace for teams that go deep in the playoffs to lose an integral part of that team to free agency, and that happened to the Panthers, albeit not as heavy as some team’s experience. Radko Gudas was a force for the Panthers in the playoffs and was a big part of some key moments in their run to the finals. None bigger than his drive to the net on the series-clinching goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Gudas cashed in on his moment and moved to the West Coast to be a leader in the Anaheim Ducks rebuild. Gudas will be well compensated for what he brings to the table but should be able to help teach some of Anaheim’s younger players in much the same way he did with Florida. His loss will sting for Panthers fans as he was a noticeable part of the Panthers team identity, even if it didn’t show up on the scoresheet.
Speaking of leadership, the Panthers lost a few other key leaders in Hornqvist and Staal. Staal was effectively replaced on day with the dept signings of Kulikov and Reilly, while Hornqvist was largely a non-factor for the Panthers last year having dressed in just 22 games and was only able to muster up a goal and two assists. Hornqvist was forced to retire and while they will miss what he brings off the ice, he wasn’t able to offer the Panthers much last season on the ice.
The other key loss for Florida will be Anthony Duclair. He only dressed in 20 games last season but is just a year removed for posting 31 goals in the 2021-22 season. Duclair was a salary cap casualty and could flourish in San Jose if he is able to get healthy once again.
Salary Cap Outlook
The Panthers will have an interesting summer in 2024 as they have a few key free agents and not a ton of cap space to make moves. Now they are slated to have just over $26MM available, but they have just two defensemen signed past this year and will have to re-sign Brandon Montour and Sam Reinhart to new deals.
The Sergei Bobrovsky contract has loomed large for a few years now, but the Panthers have always been able to navigate it up until this point. Next summer could be the one in which it becomes prohibitive and problematic should his quality of play decrease.
Florida will be okay if the cap goes up, but if it remains relatively flat, they could see a lot of turnover next year.
Key Questions
Can They Get Back to The Playoffs: Paul Maurice said that Florida will be in tough to make the playoffs and given the improvement of the teams below them in the East (Pittsburgh, Detroit) it is easy to see why. The Penguins were uncharacteristically bad last season, but with Kyle Dubas at the helm they have made monumental changes and should be a playoff team. Detroit shuffled a lot of the furniture around as well and should be better. Can Florida get enough milage out of the remaining core to get back to the playoffs once again? Time will tell.
How Will Injuries Impact The Season? Matthew Tkachuk could barely put on his equipment in the Stanley Cup Finals and will miss the start of the year. Aaron Ekblad suffered multiple injuries in the playoffs and will miss training camp. How will these injuries impact the start of Florida’s season and will they create an overreaction?
Can Bobrovsky Match Last Year’s Success? Bobrovsky found his game in last year’s postseason for the first time in a long time. And while he showed that he can carry a team to the Stanley Cup final, he hasn’t been able to put together much in the way of regular season success having posted a save percentage above .910 only once since joining the Panthers. Will he continue to post elite numbers or will Bobrovsky revert to his previous regular season numbers?
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
2009 NHL Draft Take Two: Tenth Overall Pick
Hindsight is an amazing thing, and allows us to look back and wonder “what could have been.” Though perfection is attempted, scouting and draft selection is far from an exact science and sometimes, it doesn’t work out the way teams – or players – intended. For every Patrick Kane, there is a Patrik Stefan.
We’re looking back at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and asking how it would shake out knowing what we do now. Will the first round remain the same, or will some late-round picks jump up to the top of the board?
The results of our redraft so far are as follows, with their original draft position in parentheses:
1st Overall: Victor Hedman, New York Islanders (2)
2nd Overall: John Tavares, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
3rd Overall: Ryan O’Reilly, Colorado Avalanche (33)
4th Overall: Matt Duchene, Atlanta Thrashers (3)
5th Overall: Chris Kreider, Los Angeles Kings (19)
6th Overall: Nazem Kadri, Phoenix Coyotes (7)
7th Overall: Mattias Ekholm, Toronto Maple Leafs (102)
8th Overall: Evander Kane, Dallas Stars (4)
9th Overall: Brayden Schenn, Ottawa Senators (5)
The Senators get a marked upgrade over their original ninth-overall pick, defenseman Jared Cowen. Schenn won our polling by a narrow margin, beating out Oliver Ekman-Larsson for the honors by just a handful of percentage points.
Instead, Ottawa takes Schenn, who, had he stayed in Ottawa his whole career to date, would rank third in franchise all-time scoring behind Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza. While never quite growing into the elite echelon of players some expected him to be, thanks to his fifth-overall billing, Schenn has been a consistent contributor and is arguably getting better with age, putting up some of his best (and most consistent) point totals in recent seasons. His 589 career points in 858 games are certainly nothing to scoff at, and he ranks fifth in scoring among his draft class – making it a bit of a surprise he’s fallen this far in our reader polling.
A member of the Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in 2019, Schenn has now cracked the 60-point mark twice in a Blues uniform after recording 65 last season, something he never did earlier in his career with the Kings and Philadelphia Flyers.
Now, the Edmonton Oilers are on the clock at tenth overall. Their original pick continued a trend of three underwhelming selections: first Scott Glennie in Dallas, Cowen in Ottawa, and now Swedish winger Magnus Pääjärvi in Edmonton. He’s certainly the best out of those three players, getting into 467 NHL contests over the course of nine years, but he lasted just three seasons in Edmonton and fizzled out quickly after a strong rookie campaign in 2010-11 that saw him post 15 goals and 34 points in 80 games as a 19-year-old.
He looked like quite a solid pick at the time. He spent nearly all of the 2008-09 season playing Swedish pro-level hockey with Timrå IK in the Elitserien (the SHL’s predecessor) and had decent middle-tier production, recording seven goals and 17 points in 50 games. He took a step forward in his post-draft year, recording 29 points in 49 games in 2009-10, but he could just never regain his offensive confidence after posting just eight points in 41 games during his sophomore year with Edmonton. After later stints with the Blues and Senators, Pääjärvi is now back in Europe playing for Timrå.
While he did have a good stint in the NHL as a depth player, there are surely better options for Edmonton available with the tenth overall selection. Who would you pick, PHR readers? Make your voice heard below:
2009 Redraft: Tenth Overall
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Oliver Ekman-Larsson 29% (193)
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Dmitry Orlov 16% (108)
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Anders Lee 12% (78)
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Ryan Ellis 9% (60)
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Reilly Smith 6% (43)
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Tyson Barrie 6% (37)
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Darcy Kuemper 4% (25)
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Mike Hoffman 2% (14)
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Brian Dumoulin 2% (12)
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Marcus Foligno 2% (12)
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Nick Leddy 2% (12)
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Kyle Palmieri 2% (12)
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Tomas Tatar 2% (11)
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Robin Lehner 2% (10)
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Jakob Silfverberg 1% (7)
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Marcus Johansson 1% (5)
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Dmitry Kulikov 1% (5)
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Sami Vatanen 1% (5)
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Calvin de Haan 0% (3)
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Casey Cizikas 0% (2)
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Erik Haula 0% (2)
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Brayden McNabb 0% (2)
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David Savard 0% (2)
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Nick Jensen 0% (1)
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Mikko Koskinen 0% (1)
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Craig Smith 0% (1)
Total votes: 663
If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.
Poll: Where Will Patrick Kane Sign?
When Patrick Kane said he’d be undergoing a hip resurfacing procedure in June, it became clear he wouldn’t sign a new contract anywhere until deep into his recovery, closer to the start of the 2023-24 season. That’s exactly what happened – more than two months into free agency, the three-time Stanley Cup champion remains unsigned but, if you ask him, is ahead of schedule in his return to playing health.
Now, in the dog days of summer, rumors have been ramping up about where the longtime Blackhawks winger might end up. The Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars and New York Islanders were named as potential suitors by The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta last month, while the Chicago Daily Herald’s John Dietz reported yesterday a desire to reunite with former teammate Alex DeBrincat may influence Kane to sign with the emerging Detroit Red Wings – if they come calling, that is. There’s been no reporting to suggest Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has interest in acquiring Kane.
What remains a complete unknown is what Kane is willing to take in terms of payment on his next deal. He won’t receive anywhere close to his previous $10.5MM AAV, but how low is he willing to go on a one-year deal to join a potential contender? He’s also one year away from being eligible for a 35+ contract, meaning he cannot receive performance bonuses on a contract signed for this season.
The answer to that question could very well determine his options. If he wants something with more significant compensation, Colorado or Detroit will be his two options among the reported potential destinations. The Avs still have around $2MM in cap flexibility as captain Gabriel Landeskog is destined for LTIR, per CapFriendly, while the Red Wings have slightly over $5MM in space remaining. Dallas or New York wouldn’t be able to accommodate much above the league minimum $775K salary unless a corresponding trade is made.
The Buffalo Sabres, Kane’s hometown team, remains a wildcard option. There’s been nothing concrete connecting the two parties throughout the offseason, however – it remains just speculation.
Signing Kane would give Detroit a bonafide core of four top-six wingers with him, DeBrincat, David Perron, and Lucas Raymond, but is Kane still going to be able to handle first-line minutes on a playoff team without the star-studded help he had around him with the New York Rangers post-deadline last season? Given his pre-injury decline and recovery from such a severe procedure, it’s a fair worry to have.
All that said, we ask you, PHR readers: Where do you think Kane will end up when he signs for the 2023-24 season? Vote in our poll below:
Where will Patrick Kane sign?
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Detroit Red Wings 30% (698)
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Other 26% (602)
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Buffalo Sabres 18% (411)
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Colorado Avalanche 17% (392)
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Dallas Stars 4% (102)
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New York Islanders 4% (99)
Total votes: 2,304
If you can’t access the poll above, click here to vote.
Brad Maxwell Passes Away
Longtime Minnesota North Stars defenseman Brad Maxwell passed away Sunday after a battle with lung cancer, the Minnesota Wild said today. He was 66 years old.
Born in 1957 in Brandon, Manitoba, Maxwell played his junior hockey for the WCHL’s New Westminster Bruins before going seventh overall to the North Stars in the 1977 NHL Amateur Draft. As a rookie the following season, he was arguably the best player on a team that managed just 18 wins, recording 47 points in 75 games while hitting 100 penalty minutes, a mark the physical playmaker would hit six more times in his career. He would go on to become a premier defender for parts of nine seasons in Minnesota, spending some later career stops with the New York Rangers, Quebec Nordiques, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vancouver Canucks.
In his 613-game career spanning from 1977 to 1987, Maxwell spent years quarterbacking the North Stars’ power play and finished with 98 career goals, 270 assists and 368 points. He would add a -83 rating and 1,292 penalty minutes. His final entire season as a North Star, 1983-84, was his best. It was the only season of his career that earned him All-Star consideration, recording career-highs across the board with 19 goals, 54 assists and 73 points in 78 games.
Maxwell would become a mainstay in the Minnesota community after retiring, starting a business and making the state his post-hockey home. He would go on to become the Minnesota NHL Alumni Association president and was responsible for bringing the alumni contingent that represented the North Stars against the Chicago Blackhawks at the contest preceding the 2016 Stadium Series game in Minneapolis between the Wild and Chicago.
We at Pro Hockey Rumors extend our condolences to his family, friends and the Minnesota hockey community.
Talks Quiet Up To This Point Between Flames, Elias Lindholm
Calgary Flames center Elias Lindholm has been one of the most common names in the rumor mill this offseason as one of the top unrestricted free agents set to be available on the 2024 market. Speculation has run rampant about whether Lindholm would be willing to sign an extension in Alberta or if he’d follow the path of Tyler Toffoli and potentially Noah Hanifin and find his way out of Calgary before the 2024 trade deadline.
Lindholm cleared some of that up himself over the weekend, telling HockeySverige’s Ronnie Ronnkvist he’s open to staying in Calgary but said he would mostly leave it up to his agent and the team to work out a deal. Those talks haven’t started in earnest yet, however, says Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on today’s edition of 32 Thoughts.
From what I understand, the Flames and Lindholm have really been quiet this summer when it came to contract negotiations. I would expect that to pick up as he returns and things get closer to the season.
It’ll likely take a huge offer to convince the 28-year-old to avoid testing free agency next July. There will be no shortage of suitors with an obvious need down the middle looking to dole out money (and term) to one of the league’s more defensively responsible point-producing pivots.
If the Flames aim to remain competitive over the life of the long-term deals Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri signed last summer, then it’s likely worth paying to keep Lindholm. The team has some solid forward prospects coming, namely Matthew Coronato, Samuel Honzek and Jakob Pelletier, but none project as centers. There’s no feasible option in their pipeline to replace Lindholm anytime soon, meaning they’d be looking to commit money and terms to a different center in free agency anyway to fill his gap.
Lindholm’s defensive acumen is also necessary regarding long-term roster construction for GM Craig Conroy. Mikael Backlund has long been the team’s two-way heart and soul, and not only will he be 35 years old before the 2023-24 season ends, but he’s also only got one year left on his deal and could opt to find a new home next summer. Calgary won’t find anyone else that fits that mold, at least with the ability to produce offensively like Lindholm, on July 1 next year.
Of course, this depends on Lindholm maintaining his willingness to sign an extension in Calgary. A slow start out of the gate will likely be the nail in the coffin for any of Calgary’s big-name pending UFAs, who will look to spend their prime or twilight years on a team closer to Stanley Cup contention. Lindholm, who’s registered 325 points in 369 games as a Flame since 2018, will be a large part of that.
Five Key Stories: 8/28/23 – 9/3/23
The calendar has turned to September and training camps are now on the horizon. While many teams are enjoying the last bit of their summers, there was some news of note around the NHL which is recapped in our key stories.
PTO Season: At this point of the summer, there are generally more players landing tryout agreements compared to full contracts. With that in mind, several veterans found PTOs to give them a chance to take part in training camps. Sam Gagner will look to earn a third opportunity with Edmonton and extend his 16-year career. Other forwards of some significance catching on with teams are Joel Kiviranta (Colorado), Zack Kassian (Anaheim), and Max Comtois (Vegas). Meanwhile, on the back end, Jordie Benn is hoping to have a second stint with his brother in Dallas while Pittsburgh is bringing in a pair of blueliners in Libor Hajek and Mark Pysyk. Expect the number of PTO agreements to continue to go up in the coming days.
Fedotov Plays In Russia: The Ivan Fedotov saga has taken another turn. Last month, the IIHF ruled that the contract the Flyers have with the netminder is the valid one, a ruling that the KHL and CSKA Moscow clearly disagree with as in their season opener, Fedotov was between the pipes in direct violation of their ruling. The IIHF has now referred Fedotov to the disciplinary board and fined the Russian Hockey Federation but neither of those actions are likely going to change the situation. Clearly, there is more to come on this particular file.
Hanging Them Up: Veteran winger Carl Hagelin has called it a career at the age of 35 as he announced his retirement. His contract with Washington expired this summer and he wound up missing the entire 2022-23 campaign due to an eye injury along with a hip issue. Hagelin had hoped to come back this season but in his announcement, he indicated that the eye injury is too severe to keep playing. His career spanned 713 regular season games over 11 seasons where his speed and defensive ability made him an effective two-way winger that also chipped in with 296 points. Hagelin also took home a pair of Stanley Cup titles with Pittsburgh in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons, his first two years with them.
Extension For Keefe: While Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving didn’t hire head coach Sheldon Keefe, he decided that he likes what he’s seen from him as Toronto handed their bench boss a two-year extension. Keefe was set to enter the final year of his contract so this move takes any possibility of his contractual situation being a distraction. The Leafs have had plenty of regular season success with Keefe behind the bench, posting a 166-71-30 regular-season record in 267 games. However, they’ve only won one playoff series in that stretch, that coming this past postseason in a six-game victory over Tampa Bay.
Kessel Not Worried About Ironman Streak: When Keith Yandle was nearing the end of his career, there was some pressure from teammates to keep him in the lineup to continue his ironman streak, one that eventually came to an end. Phil Kessel is in a similar situation; while he played all 82 games last season to bring the streak to 1,064, he was a frequent scratch in the playoffs. At this point, his best spot might be as a part-timer. To that end, Kessel indicated that he’s not concerned about extending the streak in the hopes that doing so will increase his chances of landing a guaranteed deal for the upcoming season. The 35-year-old was still relatively productive last year, picking up 36 points despite logging less than 13 minutes a night and is one of the more notable veterans still unsigned.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Colorado Avalanche
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2023-24 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Colorado Avalanche
Current Cap Hit: $88,475,000 (over the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
None projected to make the opening roster
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
F Andrew Cogliano ($825K, UFA)
F Jonathan Drouin ($825K, UFA)
G Pavel Francouz ($2MM, UFA)
D/F Kurtis MacDermid ($987.5K, UFA)
F Ben Meyers ($775K, RFA)
F Fredrik Olofsson ($775K, UFA)
D Devon Toews ($4.1MM, UFA)
With cap space at a premium, the Avs had to shop for some bargains in free agency this summer. Drouin comes over from Montreal coming off a year that saw him score just twice although he added 27 assists. If he can lock down a role in the middle six, it won’t take much for them to get surplus value on this deal while he’d be positioned for a better contract a year from now. Cogliano returns after being one of the few consistently effective bottom-six forwards for Colorado last season. At 36, he’ll be going year-to-year from now on in all likelihood.
Meyers struggled in half a season with the Avalanche in 2022-23 but should get another look while Olofsson will push for a spot as well after being acquired from Dallas. Those spots on the depth chart will need to stay at or close to the league minimum moving forward. MacDermid can play both the wing and on the back end but while the versatility is nice, his playing time is limited in either role. That makes him more of an end of the roster candidate which will keep his next cap hit around this price point.
The same certainly can’t be said about Toews. Since being acquired from the Islanders as a salary cap casualty three years ago, he has blossomed into a legitimate top-pairing defender. In each of the last two seasons, he has recorded at least 50 points and logged more than 25 minutes a night. Only four other blueliners in the league are in that category: Roman Josi, Quinn Hughes, Rasmus Dahlin, and Cale Makar. Not a bad group to be in. Josi, Hughes, and Makar are already on pricey long-term deals and Dahlin is a year away from doing so. Meanwhile, Toews is on the books at second-pairing money for another ten months. He’ll be doubling it and then some soon enough.
Francouz, when healthy, has been quite an effective goalie for Colorado, posting a career save percentage of .919. However, over four seasons, he has only played in 73 games so it’s still a pretty small sample size. That is definitely limiting his earnings upside as he needs to show he can stay healthy for a full year and maintain that strong level of play. If he can do that, his AAV could push up toward the $4MM range if he looks to test the open market.
Signed Through 2024-25
D Bowen Byram ($3.85MM, RFA)
G Alexandar Georgiev ($3.2MM, UFA)
F Ryan Johansen ($4MM, UFA)*
F Logan O’Connor ($1.05MM, UFA)
F Mikko Rantanen ($9.25MM, UFA)
*-Nashville is retaining an additional $4MM on Johansen’s contract
Rantanen has flown under the radar to an extent but he’s undoubtedly a premier winger in his own right and is coming off a career year that saw him score 55 goals. If he’s able to stay near that rate over the next two years, he’ll have a strong chance of beating Artemi Panarin ($11.643MM) for the most expensive contract given to a winger in NHL history. Johansen hasn’t lived up to his contract but with the Preds eating half of it, Johansen should provide some value assuming he locks up the second center position. If he hovers around the 40-point mark, his next deal should check in around what Colorado will be paying him for the next two years. O’Connor has worked his way from being a depth piece to a reliable third liner at a below-market rate. Even if he stays in the mid-20-point range, he could add another million to his next deal.
Byram’s acceptance of a bridge contract this summer came as little surprise. When healthy, he has become an impactful blueliner but with Colorado’s cap situation and his concussion history, it would have been difficult to find a long-term agreement that worked for both sides. Notably, the deal is significantly backloaded, pushing the qualifying offer to $4.62MM. That said, if Byram can stay healthy these next two seasons, there’s a very good chance he’d be getting considerably more than that on a long-term pact at that time.
Georgiev was somewhat of a risky acquisition by then-GM Joe Sakic. He was coming off a down year and hadn’t yet played 35 games in an NHL season. Fast forward to one year later and he put up career-best numbers across the board in 62 appearances. Now, he is a legitimate starter for them making platoon money. Two more years like this would push his price tag into the range of the goalie he replaced (Darcy Kuemper who received five years at $5.25MM from Washington).
Signed Through 2025-26
D Josh Manson ($4.5MM, UFA)
Manson’s first full season with Colorado didn’t go well as he was limited to just 27 games due to multiple lower-body injuries. And when he was in the lineup, his deployment was that of a fifth defender most nights. This price tag for that role is on the high side and it has now been four straight years that Manson has missed significant time due to injury. At this point, it seems like it will be difficult for the Avs to get a good return on this contract.
West Notes: Killorn, Krutil, Kings
Ducks winger Alex Killorn was one of the top wingers available in free agency this summer on the heels of a career year that saw him put up 27 goals and 37 assists with Tampa Bay. That helped him earn a four-year, $25MM deal with Anaheim, the priciest deal given to a forward on the open market. Speaking on a recent episode of the Raw Knuckles podcast (video link), he indicated that while the Canadiens weren’t among the teams to show interest in him two months ago, he would like to spend a season with Montreal to end his career. Killorn played his minor hockey in Quebec before going the collegiate route. His new contract runs through the 2026-27 campaign and if he was to play beyond that, he’d be entering his age-38 season where he’d almost certainly be playing on a one-year deal at that time.
More from the Western Conference:
- Blackhawks prospect Michael Krutil has been loaned out for a month from Sparta Praha to Ceske Budejovice, per an announcement from Sparta. The move was made to give Krutil some extra playing time. The blueliner was a fourth-round pick by Chicago back in 2020 (110th overall) and split last season between the two top levels in Czechia, getting into 39 games combined. This is the final year that the Blackhawks will hold Krutil’s rights so he’ll need a big year if he wants a shot at earning an entry-level contract.
- Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider highlights the significant change in direction the Kings have taken between the pipes. After spending more than $12MM on the position on opening day last season, they have three netminders on one-way contracts totaling just $3.375MM – holdover Pheonix Copley plus newcomers Cam Talbot and David Rittich. As a result, they’re just one of two teams – Buffalo is the other – pegged to spend more than 60% of the cap on their forwards and over 30% on the back end.
List Of NHL-Affiliated Prospects Expected To Play In The WHL This Season
NHL preseason is just 20 days away, but the WHL season kicks off even sooner the day prior. One of the NHL’s largest feeder leagues is getting a new market this season – Central Washington’s Wenatchee Wild, who were relocated from Winnipeg earlier this summer. It has the largest United States presence of all three of the major Canadian junior leagues and churned out last year’s first overall pick – Connor Bedard of the Regina Pats (now of the Chicago Blackhawks). Nine teams do not have any drafted prospects projected to suit up in the WHL next year: the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues, and Tampa Bay Lightning. If you’re a fan of one of the other 23 NHL teams, keep reading to find out where your team’s future players are skating next season if you’re looking to catch some WHL action.
Anaheim Ducks
F Connor Hvidston (Swift Current Broncos) – 2022 fifth round, 139th overall
F Nico Myatovic (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2023 second round, 33rd overall
D Vojtech Port (Edmonton Oil Kings) – 2023 sixth round, 161st overall
F Yegor Sidorov (Saskatoon Blades) – 2023 third round, 85th overall
Arizona Coyotes
F Conor Geekie (Wenatchee Wild) – 2022 first round, 11th overall
D Terrell Goldsmith (Prince Albert Raiders) – 2023 fourth round, 102nd overall
D Justin Kipkie (Victoria Royals) – 2023 fifth round, 160th overall
Boston Bruins
G Reid Dyck (Swift Current Broncos) – 2022 sixth round, 183rd overall
Buffalo Sabres
F Zach Benson (Wenatchee Wild) – 2023 first round, 13th overall
D Mats Lindgren (Red Deer Rebels) – 2022 fourth round, 106th overall
G Scott Ratzlaff (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2023 fifth round, 141st overall
F Matthew Savoie (Wenatchee Wild) – 2022 first round, 9th overall
Calgary Flames
F Parker Bell (Tri-City Americans) – 2022 fifth round, 155th overall
F Samuel Honzek (Vancouver Giants) – 2023 first round, 16th overall
F Jaden Lipinski (Vancouver Giants) – 2023 fourth round, 112th overall
Chicago Blackhawks
D Kevin Korchinski (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2022 first round, 7th overall
Colorado Avalanche
D Jeremy Hanzel (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2023 sixth round, 187th overall
Columbus Blue Jackets
D Denton Mateychuk (Moose Jaw Warriors) – 2022 first round, 12th overall
F Martin Rysavy (Moose Jaw Warriors) – 2021 seventh round, 197th overall
Detroit Red Wings
F Nate Danielson (Brandon Wheat Kings) – 2023 first round, 9th overall
F Emmitt Finnie (Kamloops Blazers) – 2023 seventh round, 201st overall
Florida Panthers
D Marek Alscher (Portland Winterhawks) – 2022 third round, 93rd overall
F Josh Davies (Portland Winterhawks) – 2022 sixth round, 186th overall
F Gracyn Sawchyn (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2023 second round, 63rd overall
Los Angeles Kings
F Koehn Ziemmer (Prince George Cougars) – 2023 third round, 78th overall
Minnesota Wild
F Riley Heidt (Prince George Cougars) – 2023 second round, 64th overall
D Kalem Parker (Victoria Royals) – 2023 sixth round, 181st overall
Nashville Predators
F Kalan Lind (Red Deer Rebels) – 2023 second round, 46th overall
D Tanner Molendyk (Saskatoon Blades) – 2023 first round, 24th overall
F Austin Roest (Everett Silvertips) – 2023 sixth round, 175th overall
D Graham Sward (Wenatchee Wild) – 2022 fifth round, 146th overall
New Jersey Devils
F Josh Filmon (Swift Current Broncos) – 2022 sixth round, 166th overall
Philadelphia Flyers
G Carson Bjarnason (Brandon Wheat Kings) – 2023 second round, 51st overall
D Carter Sotheran (Portland Winterhawks) – 2023 fifth round, 135th overall
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Owen Pickering (Swift Current Broncos) – 2022 first round, 21st overall
F Brayden Yager (Moose Jaw Warriors) – 2023 first round, 14th overall
San Jose Sharks
G Mason Beaupit (Wenatchee Wild) – 2022 fourth round, 108th overall
D Luca Cagnoni (Portland Winterhawks) – 2023 fourth round, 123rd overall
Seattle Kraken
D Lukas Dragicevic (Tri-City Americans) – 2023 second round, 57th overall
F Jagger Firkus (Moose Jaw Warriors) – 2022 second round, 35th overall
D Kaden Hammell (Everett Silvertips) – 2023 fifth round, 148th overall
D Caden Price (Kelowna Rockets) – 2023 third round, 84th overall
Toronto Maple Leafs
D Noah Chadwick (Lethbridge Hurricanes) – 2023 sixth round, 185th overall
F Brandon Lisowsky (Saskatoon Blades) – 2022 seventh round, 218th overall
F Fraser Minten (Kamloops Blazers) – 2022 second round, 38th overall
Vancouver Canucks
D Sawyer Mynio (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2023 third round, 89th overall
G Ty Young (Prince George Cougars) – 2022 fifth round, 144th overall
Vegas Golden Knights
F Jordan Gustafson (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2022 third round, 79th overall
F Ben Hemmerling (Everett Silvertips) – 2022 sixth round, 177th overall
Washington Capitals
F Andrew Cristall (Kelowna Rockets) – 2023 second round, 40th overall
F Brett Hyland (Brandon Wheat Kings) – 2023 seventh round, 200th overall
F Alexander Suzdalev (Regina Pats) – 2022 third round, 70th overall
Winnipeg Jets
F Connor Levis (Kamloops Blazers) – 2023 seventh round, 210th overall
G Thomas Milic (Seattle Thunderbirds) – 2023 fifth round, 151st overall
Minor Transactions: 09/03/23
The season has started for many teams across Europe, but there are still a handful of transactions trickling in as squads make last-minute moves. There’s also still some activity on the AHL and ECHL wires as they fill out their rosters ahead of training camps. As always, we’re keeping track of today’s notable minor moves here.
- Once a QMJHL and Memorial Cup champion with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in 2018, forward Mitchell Balmas is heading overseas for the first time on a one-year deal with the Sheffield Steelers in the EIHL. The 25-year-old Nova Scotian had a tough first full season in pro hockey in 2022-23, recording just two goals and three points in 34 games with the AHL’s Iowa Wild. He’s shown the ability to be productive at lower levels, however, posting solid numbers with Saint Mary’s University in Canada and recording 16 points in 21 ECHL games across the last two seasons.
This page may be updated throughout the day.