Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Hurricanes, Rogers
In the latest 32 Thoughts podcast (audio link), Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman notes that Lightning assistant GM Mathieu Darche remains in the mix for the vacant Penguins GM position. Darche received consideration for the opening in Montreal last season that later went to Kent Hughes. He has been with Tampa Bay for the last four seasons but this is only his first one with the AGM title. Friedman adds that former Toronto GM Kyle Dubas is their desired candidate and they’re prepared to wait a little bit to give him some time to decide if he wants the job but if he doesn’t, it could be Darche getting his first opportunity at running a team.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer examines a trio of Hurricanes forwards that he thinks could be on the move this summer. Teuvo Teravainen has one year left on his contract at a $5.4MM AAV but will be seeking more for 2024-25. If Carolina doesn’t think they can extend him or they don’t want to pay his asking price, it’s possible he could move. DeCock also wonders if the team might opt to sell high on RFA center Martin Necas who’s coming off a career year or Jack Drury who has done well in the minors but hasn’t put it together yet in the NHL; at 23, he’s still young enough that a rebuilding team might have some interest.
- The Capitals have invited forward Jack Rogers to their development camp this summer, reports Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal (Twitter link). The 20-year-old played his freshman year at St. Cloud State this season, picking up three goals and five assists in 34 games. Rogers is a year removed from a 30-goal campaign with Steinbach of the MJHL. Washington almost certainly won’t be signing Rogers but they’ll get some information on him should they decide to pursue him later in his college career.
Offseason Checklist: Calgary Flames
The offseason has arrived for all but the three teams that still have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. It’s time to examine what those eliminated squads will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Calgary.
2022-23 was not the season that the Flames were hoping for. A roster that underwent some significant changes this summer still bolstered a strong lineup on paper but too many players struggled, resulting in them just missing out on the postseason. There have already been changes as Brad Treliving opted not to return as GM while Don Maloney, while acting as interim GM, dismissed head coach Darryl Sutter. Now, they’re on their third GM in six weeks with Craig Conroy taking over this week and he’ll have plenty of work to do this offseason.
Hire A Head Coach
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way first. With Sutter gone, the Flames are once again in need of a new bench boss. It’s a common theme for Calgary as the last coach to be behind the bench for 200 straight games was Bob Hartley and he was let go back in 2016. (If you’re curious who the last Calgary coach to coach for 300 straight games in a single stint, you have to go all the way back to the late Bob Johnson in the 1980s.)
Conroy, who has been with the Flames’ front office for 13 years, is familiar with the internal options, of which there are a few. Associate coach Kirk Muller has experience running an NHL bench back with Carolina while Ryan Huska has been an assistant for the past five seasons and was believed to be a finalist for the job in Detroit last season. Meanwhile, Mitch Love, their coach at AHL Calgary, has won the Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award as Coach of the Year for the past two seasons, his only two seasons behind the bench.
Externally, the usual candidates are fairly well-known at this point, ranging from veterans like Gerard Gallant and Peter Laviolette to coaches looking for a second opportunity such as Andrew Brunette and Travis Green, plus first-time hopefuls like Spencer Carbery, Alex Tanguay, and Jay Leach. Getting back to their offensive underperformance this season, it stands to reason that they’ll be looking for a head coach that’s offensive-minded to help get the most out of their core group and turn that weakness around.
Extension Discussions
During his introductory press conference, Conroy indicated that it “doesn’t make sense” to enter next season with as many potential unrestricted free agents as there currently are. It’s not as if there are one or two to deal with either; there are seven of some significance.
The most prominent one that Conroy will have to deal with is Elias Lindholm. The 28-year-old is only one season removed from a 42-goal campaign, plays big minutes on both the power play and penalty kill, and consistently wins faceoffs at an above-average rate. Lindholm isn’t thought of by all as a number one center but he’d fit that role on quite a few teams. He has been on a team-friendly $4.85MM for the last five years with one more season to go. It’s safe to say he’ll be getting several million more on this next contract, one that has a good chance to be a max-term agreement as well. There are plenty of teams that would love to add Lindholm this summer in a weak UFA market so if Lindholm expresses a desire either to test free agency in 2024 or indicates that he’s likely to move on, Conroy might opt to move him quickly.
Two other forwards that need to be looked at are long-time center Mikael Backlund and winger Tyler Toffoli. Both players are coming off career years offensively which will certainly complicate things. Backlund will hit the market next year at the age of 35 and there will be questions as to how much longer he can play a top-six role which will go a long way toward determining his next salary. He’s currently on a $5.35MM deal and if Backlund thinks he has another strong year or two offensively in him, he could be looking for a small raise. As for Toffoli, he has fit in quite well since being acquired last season and has reached 20 goals seven times in the last nine years, averaging 27 over the last three. His AAV is $4.25MM on a deal that looked to be a bargain from the day he signed it and he could push to land closer to $6MM on a new multi-year agreement.
On the back end, no fewer than four regulars can test the market in 2024, headlined by Noah Hanifin. Aside from 2021-22, his offense has never really stood out but even so, he can log heavy minutes and will be in the prime of his career that year at 27. He’s at $4.85MM now and a long-term extension should see him net more than teammate Mackenzie Weegar ($6.5MM) to once again become their top-paid defender. If he’s not willing to re-sign and he’s put on the trade block, Conroy will have no shortage of interest.
The other three rearguards aren’t as significant of a concern. Chris Tanev is an effective shutdown defender but his market might not be as strong next year with teams starting to shy away from those stay-at-home players which could move his cost below his current $4.5MM price tag. Nikita Zadorov has been year-to-year for the most part for several seasons (2023-24 being the lone exception) so there isn’t a ton of risk having him in a walk year while Oliver Kylington will be returning after a year off; he’ll need time to show if his 2021-22 performance was an outlier or a sign of things to come.
Suffice it to say, with this many notable players eligible for extensions as of July 1st, expect Conroy to be reaching out to the agents of those players soon if he hasn’t already done so.
Add Top-Six Forward
This was a stated goal by Conroy in his press conference and with the team finishing in the bottom half of the league in goals scored, it makes sense. While there is legitimate room for optimism that there should be some bounce-back performances under a new head coach (I don’t think anyone expects another 55-point effort from Jonathan Huberdeau after being over a point per game for four seasons in a row), simply running it back with this exact core would also be risky.
To that end, Conroy also indicated that he was likely to move a core piece out. This also makes some sense considering his comments about the 2024 UFA class as there’s a good chance that not all of those players will want to re-sign this summer; if Conroy wants to avoid the risk of another Johnny Gaudreau situation, it could be those unwilling to extend now that move. Speculatively, Andrew Mangiapane – signed for two more years at a $5.8MM cap charge – could be someone they look to move in a player-for-player swap.
Create Cap Space
It’s one thing for Conroy to want to add a top-six piece but it’s another to be able to afford to do it. Frankly, they can’t afford one with over $82MM on the books already, per CapFriendly, with a few roster spots to fill. With the Upper Limit projected to be at or close to $83.5MM next season, that’s not exactly a workable scenario. That’s why it makes sense for their top-six addition up front to come at the expense of one of their 2024 UFA class as frankly, they can’t afford one otherwise.
That possible move notwithstanding, Conroy will need to free up a few million more in cap space. One way to chip away at that would be to move backup goaltender Daniel Vladar who will begin his new two-year deal next season at a $2.2MM price tag. Going to a cheaper second-stringer or promoting prospect Dustin Wolf would free up a little over $1MM, enough to fill at least one of those remaining roster spots.
Another spot could be to chip away at the back end which, with Kylington’s return, will cost them over $27.25MM, putting them near the top of the league in spending at that position. Trying to move out someone like Zadorov for a cheaper option or for a future asset would certainly help free up some wiggle room. Accordingly, as much as Conroy will be looking to add this summer, he almost certainly is going to need to subtract from it as well.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Atlantic Notes: Schenn, Red Wings, Senators Sale
Maple Leafs defenseman Luke Schenn noted in an appearance on TSN 1050 (audio link) that there had been some discussions about a possible contract extension but that those are now on hold with their search for a new GM. The 33-year-old was brought in from Vancouver prior to the trade deadline and he fit in well in his second stint with Toronto, averaging four hits per game in 15 regular season contests, a number that jumped to nearly five per night in the playoffs. At this point in his career, Schenn is a third-pairing option that can kill penalties but he should still be positioned to earn a nice bump on his $850K AAV from the past two years. However, if he wants to remain with the cap-strapped Maple Leafs, he’ll almost certainly have to leave at least a bit of money on the table to do so.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic:
- Red Wings assistant GM Shawn Horcoff acknowledged to Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News (subscription link) that he will be looking to add some more veterans to their AHL team for next season. Grand Rapids is likely to feature several of Detroit’s top prospects in 2023-24 but rather than put all of them in top roles right away, they’re going to hedge their bets with some older players that can play an impact role at the beginning. It’s already going to be a busy summer for the Griffins who will have a new coaching staff next season and if Horcoff has his way, they’ll now be picking up some key veterans as well.
- Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch suggests that the winner of the sale process for the Senators is now likely to be revealed next week since it wasn’t determined prior to the start of the Memorial Day long weekend. At the moment, none of the four groups have been told that they’re out although the Neko Sparks-led group is still trying to secure financing, a sign that their bid is on the lower end. When the bids were submitted earlier this month, Steve Apostolopoulos is believed to have offered the most money at $1BB.
Sabres Sign Ryan Johnson To Entry-Level Deal
There had been some question as to whether Ryan Johnson would sign with Buffalo or test free agency later this summer. In the end, he opted to stay with the team that drafted him as the team announced that they’ve signed the defenseman to a two-year, entry-level contract that begins next season. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 21-year-old was a first-round pick by Buffalo back in 2019 (31st overall) out of Sioux Falls of the USHL. Johnson then went to college at the University of Minnesota but didn’t exactly light it up, scoring just twice in his first two seasons. However, he showed considerable improvement in his junior year and carried that over to 2022-23 where he picked up 18 points in 40 games for the Golden Gophers.
Had Buffalo not signed Johnson or if he decided that he wanted to test free agency, the Sabres would have received a compensatory second-round selection. Instead, they’ll get an opportunity to add another young defender to their system, joining Nikita Novikov and Vsevolod Komarov who both signed recently as well.
While Johnson hasn’t played since the end of his college campaign, he has been assigned to AHL Rochester with the Americans still playing in the playoffs. Given how long he has been out, it would be surprising to see him suit up right away but if the Amerks move on to the Calder Cup Final, Johnson might get a chance to make his pro debut this season.
Evgenii Dadonov To Miss Game 5
Tracey Myers of NHL.com tweeted this afternoon that Dallas Stars head coach Pete DeBoer told the media this afternoon that forward Evgenii Dadonov will miss Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights with a lower-body injury. DeBoer didn’t rule the 34-year-old out of the playoffs entirely but did go on to say that his injury is more than a day-to-day injury.
Dadonov, who missed Game 4 with the injury, saw a resurgence with the Stars after coming over just before the trade deadline from the Montreal Canadiens. He’s been playing at a level not seen since 2017-2020 with the Florida Panthers, putting up four goals and six assists in 16 playoff games with Dallas.
The injury must be frustrating for Dadonov on a number of fronts. The winger was finally finding his footing after struggling to find a home for the past three seasons. Dadonov also likely has an axe to grind with Vegas after he was traded without his permission at last year’s trade deadline, only to have the trade reversed when it was discovered that the Anaheim Ducks were on his no-trade list. He was then dealt by Vegas to the Montreal Canadiens for Shea Weber in June 2022. Dadonov struggled to start the season in Montreal, putting up just 18 points in 50 games before finding his current home in Dallas.
The Stars staved off elimination last night on an overtime goal from Joe Pavelski, they will need a lot more of that magic if they are going to have any chance of coming back against the Golden Knights, as they still trail in the series by a score of 3-1. They will have to do so in the absence of Dadonov, who has been one of their more consistent scorers in the playoffs.
Free Agent Focus: Buffalo Sabres
Free agency is now a little more than a month away and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Buffalo Sabres.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Tyson Jost – Jost looked like a good bottom-six option for the Colorado Avalanche when he broke into the league in 2017-18. He produced 22 points in 65 games in his rookie season and followed it up with 11 goals and 15 assists in 70 games in his second season. Unfortunately, Jost then struggled through the pandemic shortened seasons and was dealt to the Minnesota Wild in March of 2022. Jost’s struggles followed him to the Wild and he was claimed off waivers by the Sabres on November 19th, 2022. Jost was able to find a role and Buffalo and got back to the numbers he initially posted when he first came into the league. He put up 22 points in 59 games after coming over to Buffalo and will look to build on that next season should he be tendered a contract.
Jost made $2.25MM last season in the second year of a backloaded contract and isn’t a guarantee to be offered a renewal. The Sabres will likely tender the qualifying offer and take another long look at Jost before deciding if he is a long-term fixture in their core. Jost has yet to show the top-6 promise he demonstrated prior to being drafted tenth overall but given his age and pedigree he would be worth a look on a one-year deal for a cap number around his qualifying offer.
D Kale Clague – Thus far Clague has shown himself to be a capable offensive defenseman at the AHL level, but he has yet to establish himself as an everyday NHLer. This past season the 24-year-old rearguard dressed in 33 games for the Sabres putting up just four assists while playing over 15 minutes a night. He fared much better with Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester where he put up a goal and five assists in just 14 games. Clague will likely get another contract from Buffalo but given that the Sabres have seven defensemen already signed, he may be destined for another season split between the NHL and AHL.
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Zemgus Girgensons – Girgensons has been a good soldier for the Sabres through a lot of very lean years in Buffalo. He looked like a good middle-6 option for the Sabres back in his season as he had 15 goals and 15 assists in 61 games. But since that time seven seasons have passed and Girgensons has never topped 12 goals or 20 points again. The Latvian has been a strong defensive forward for the Sabres throughout his career, albeit an expensive one in their bottom six. The Sabres have always valued his ability to be trusted with defensive zone starts and have never really had a replacement for that when Girgensons has missed time due to injury.
Now with an opportunity to test free agency it will be interesting to see what value other teams place on what he brings to the table should he reach the market. Girgensons has a chance to cash in on what could be his last sizable contract, and although he won’t light up the stats sheet, his defensive metrics will be attractive to any team that values defensive analytics. Girgensons should receive a multi-year offer, at a salary that is likely less than the $2.4MM he made last season with Buffalo.
F Vinnie Hinostroza – Hinostroza is just a few years removed from putting up 16 goals and 23 assists in 72 games with the Arizona Coyotes, but this past season found himself healthy scratched before being put on waivers and sent down to the AHL. The 29-year-old responded by putting up nine points in 11 games with Rochester, but it was not a position he wanted to be in as he headed towards unrestricted free agency. Hinostroza will likely have to take a one-year contract at league minimum to try to rebuild his value and take another kick at free agency next summer.
Projected Cap Space
Cap space shouldn’t be an issue for Buffalo this summer. However, they will need to be careful how they allot their space because they will have a few large extensions to young players that they will need to leave room for in the future. Nearly all the Sabres defense core will require new contracts after this season including Owen Power and Rasmus Dahlin. Up front forwards Casey Mittelstadt, and Peyton Krebs will also need new deals next summer. All four players will likely require large raises and for Power and Dahlin those two contracts could top $15MM annually when combined. Overall, Buffalo is in good shape for this upcoming season with almost $17MM in cap space and 21 players signed. But their core is about to get very expensive starting in 2024-25.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Hurricanes Notes: UFAs, Noesen, Svechnikov
The Carolina Hurricanes had one of the most shocking playoff exits in recent memory, swept out of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers after dropping just three games in the first two rounds combined. The combination of key injuries and some outstanding performances from star Panthers left them searching for answers again.
Now, with free agency right around the corner, news poured out of the Hurricanes’ locker cleanout day:
- It started with captain Jordan Staal, who explained that he doesn’t plan to play anywhere but Carolina next season. The pending UFA will be 35 before the 2023-24 campaign kicks off, but loves being a Hurricane and wants to come back. He even went so far as to say that he wants to finish his career in Carolina.
- Frederik Andersen, a pending free agent, also wants to return. That’s his “priority” as the two-year deal he signed in 2021 comes to an end. Both Andersen and fellow veteran goaltender Antti Raanta are set to hit the open market, while Pyotr Kochetkov‘s new four-year deal kicks in.
- There was also some injury news, though, with Stefan Noesen explaining that he suffered a grade three shoulder separation. Fortunately, it isn’t expected to require surgery, meaning he’ll be ready for the start of next year. Noesen, 30, finally found a home in Carolina, scoring 13 goals and 36 points in 78 games.
- Andrei Svechnikov, who had to watch the entire playoff run after suffering a serious knee injury, was optimistic about his recovery timeline and told reporters he’d be on the ice in a month. His absence was certainly felt in the Florida series, after scoring 23 goals and 55 points in 64 games this season.
More On Toronto’s GM Search
The Toronto Maple Leafs have a critical offseason ahead of them, with decisions on the future of several core players, potential extension talks with Auston Matthews, and a roster with ten pending unrestricted free agents. All of this to do, and no general manager to do it.
Toronto continues to search for a new front office leader after firing Kyle Dubas following another disappointing playoff exit. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff reports four names—Brad Treliving, Jason Botterill, Peter Chiarelli, and Marc Bergevin—that he expects to have interviews with the Maple Leafs.
Treliving, in particular, seems to have plenty of momentum as a top candidate after exiting the Calgary Flames earlier this spring. The veteran executive had been GM of the Flames since 2014, previously serving as an assistant with the Phoenix Coyotes.
Chiarelli, Bergevin, and Botterill should all be very familiar to Maple Leafs fans, given their respective terms as general managers of the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, and Buffalo Sabres. They are also likely not very exciting choices, at least from the fans’ perspective, given their questionable roster management in the past.
Still, it seems likely that Toronto will go with an experienced NHL name this time around as they try to figure out what’s holding them back from playoff success. Since Matthews and the rest of the young core debuted in 2016, the team has had just one playoff victory past the first round.
Colton Sceviour Re-Signs In Switzerland
It was quite the European debut for long-time NHL forward Colton Sceviour in 2022-23. Joining SC Bern of the Swiss NL, the gritty forward put up 19 goals and 19 assists for 38 points, only trailing other foreign-born skaters Chris DiDomenico and Oscar Lindberg.
The club was clearly impressed, as they have inked Sceviour to another one-year contract for 2023-24. Team director Andrew Ebbett called him one of their most “consistent” players, a work ethic that he was well known for in North America as well.
Now 34, Sceviour played over 500 games in the NHL, never scoring more than 11 goals or 26 points in a single season. But he maintained his spot in the lineup—playing for the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Edmonton Oilers—through attention to detail, a willingness to engage physically, and never-ending energy on the penalty kill.
It appears, with this new contract, that we can close the book on his NHL career. Sceviour scored 66 goals and 156 points over his 535 regular season games.
Minor Transactions: 05/26/23
The Stanley Cup Final is just days away, meaning the NHL news cycle is likely to take a brief pause until a champion is awarded and the focus turns solely to the upcoming draft and free agency. This morning has been a busy one for overseas moves, however, as teams try to get some last bit of business wrapped up before the weekend.
- American defender Ben Blood continues his wide-ranging European career, signing a one-year contract with the DEL’s Löwen Frankfurt. In the past five years, the former Ottawa Senators prospect has played for four different teams across Great Britain, Finland, and Austria. Now 34 years old, the hulking 6-foot-4 defender takes his services to Germany for the first time after recording five points and 39 penalty minutes in 32 games with the Liiga’s Pelicans last season.
- Austrian World Juniors cult hero netminder Sebastian Wraneschitz is returning to his home country, signing a one-year deal with his hometown Vienna Capitals of the ICEHL. Wraneschitz, 21, played for Vienna in the 2020-21 season but opted to head to North America to play juniors in 2021-22. He settled in, playing 18 games with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm, but injuries limited him to just three appearances there in 2022-23.
- The Liiga’s Luuko has signed a pair of formerly NHL-contracted players to one-year deals: defenseman Josh Brook and forward Brayden Burke. Brook, a former second-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, spent the 2022-23 season on an AHL contract with the Calgary Wranglers but played just 13 games. The 23-year-old will now look to revive his career overseas. Burke, 26, amassed 202 games of AHL experience across six seasons between the Tuscon Roadrunners, Ontario Reign, Milwaukee Admirals, and Manitoba Moose.
- Heading back to the DEL, the Nürnberg Ice Tigers have inked 27-year-old forward Charlie Gerard to a one-year deal. Playing with the ECHL’s Reading Royals, Gerard finished top 10 in league scoring in 2022-23 after spending most of 2021-22 up in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. This will be Gerard’s first experience overseas.
- Former New York Rangers forward prospect Jake Elmer is heading to Denmark, signing a one-year contract with the Odense Bulldogs of the Metal Ligaen. Elmer failed to stick in the AHL after a strong overage showing in juniors, which led to an NHL contract from the Rangers after going undrafted. The 24-year-old played six ECHL games this season before heading overseas, finishing out the year with HK Nitra in the Slovak Extraliga.
More to come…