Vegas Golden Knights Sign Matyas Sapovaliv
The Vegas Golden Knights have signed 2022 draft selection Matyas Sapovaliv to a three-year, entry-level contract, according to Sapovaliv’s agent, Dan Milstein. PuckPedia reports Sapovaliv’s contract carries a $860,000 cap hit in all three seasons, with $775,000 paid in NHL salary, $85,000 paid in signing bonuses, and $82,500 paid in minors salary.
Vegas selected Sapovaliv, a natural center, with the 48th overall selection out of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit. The product of Kladno, Czechia, has 11 goals and 30 points in 30 games with Saginaw in 2022-23 and is on Czechia’s roster for the ongoing World Junior Championships.
Sapovaliv’s style leans heavily on the playmaking side, investing nearly all his offensive IQ into making picture-perfect passes. While he can certainly put the puck in the net, too, he has high point-producing upside if utilized correctly alongside snipers at the NHL level.
He is still just 18 years old, with his birthday coming in February. He’s the second-highest drafted forward in the Vegas system behind 2020 first-round choice Brendan Brisson.
Snapshots: Cossa, Stranges, Clifford
The Detroit Red Wings have returned their top goaltending prospect to the ECHL. Sebastian Cossa is headed back to the Toledo Walleye, per today’s ECHL transactions log.
After turning 20 just last month, Cossa’s been thrown into the fire in his first professional season. His .783 save percentage and 5.57 goals-against average in the AHL may raise some eyebrows, but he’s only gotten three appearances there. His ECHL record of 8-8-1, along with a 2.81 goals-against average and .897 save percentage, is much more respectable for a goalie his age (and of his ceiling). The 15th overall selection in 2021 will likely remain in Toledo full-time this season, barring injuries.
- Conversely, an intriguing prospect is heading up to the AHL from the ECHL. The Texas Stars added Antonio Stranges to their roster over the weekend, according to the ECHL’s transactions log for Christmas Eve. Dallas’ 123rd overall pick in 2020 has seen limited action due to injury but has six points in five games with the Idaho Steelheads in the ECHL and two assists in five games with Texas.
- Toronto Maple Leafs veteran enforcer Kyle Clifford, currently on AHL assignment with the Toronto Marlies, sustained a potential injury in today’s win over the Belleville Senators. The Toronto Sun’s Lance Hornby notes Clifford left the rink with his hand in a wrap, saying he likely suffered a dislocation in a fight during the game. Clifford has made two appearances with the Maple Leafs this season.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Vegas Golden Knights
As we approach the end of the year, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Who are the Golden Knights thankful for?
Their goaltenders
Chandler Stephenson, Jack Eichel, and Alex Pietrangelo are all averaging a point-per-game, Mark Stone isn’t far behind their pace while playing Selke level hockey, Reilly Smith leads the team with 17 goals, and despite some injury issues, the team is comfortably pacing the NHL’s Pacific Division. There’s plenty to be thankful for in Vegas, but perhaps none more than the goaltending duo of Logan Thompson and Adin Hill.
Neither netminder is finding himself in the Vezina conversation this year, at least not at the moment, but considering where the team stood coming into this season, both have been a revelation. At the outset, the Golden Knights expected to be without Robin Lehner for the entire season, and though they weren’t sure exactly when Laurent Brossoit would return, it wasn’t going to be for opening night. The team opted to roll with Thompson, the rookie and incumbent from last season who had an impressive finish to his 2021-22, carrying Vegas as far as he could go in pivotal games, just missing out on a playoff berth. Knowing he couldn’t go it alone, Vegas also acquired Hill from the San Jose Sharks in late August.
A career backup, Hill has continued in that role, filling it just as Vegas hoped, recording a .903 save-percentage and 2.66 goals-against average over 12 starts. That performance, along with the effort of those in front of him, has lead Hill to an 8-3-1 record in those games, fantastic for the team’s backup.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the undrafted Thompson has become one of the league’s best young netminders and has taken the reins for Vegas. As much as they’d like to have Lehner too, Thompson has made the case for his absence being a non-issue as of right now. Through 24 games, Thompson has compiled a .914 save-percentage and 2.66 goals-against average and his 16 wins are good enough for third in the entire NHL.
What are the Golden Knights thankful for?
An expected bump to the salary cap
When you think of the NHL’s cap crunch and the issues it presents, chances are you think of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights off the bat. The organization has had to make several interesting moves in order to ice the team they wish and remain cap compliant, and just barely so. In recent years, those have consisted of trading away the then-Vezina Trophy winner Marc-Andre Fleury for virtually nothing and this offseason, trading Max Pacioretty and Dylan Coghlan away for quite literally nothing, while acquiring Shea Weber‘s contract for LTIR purposes, sending Evgenii Dadonov the other way.
These moves have allowed Vegas to do what it needs to do in order to remain competitive, and though the Fleury and Pacioretty trades netted little in return, Vegas may argue that the cap space they received was the valuable return. Still, one may also argue that a team is at its best when it can keep all of its players, and that’s what the expected salary cap increase should do for Vegas. It may not let them acquire another Eichel or sign another Pietrangelo, and it can’t bring back Pacioretty or prime Fleury, but it can allow Eichel, Pietrangelo, Mark Stone, Shea Theodore, William Karlsson, and others to stay while eventually giving long-term extensions to others such as Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault, who are both due after next season.
It’s still unclear when, how, and how much the cap will increase, but any little bit counts for Vegas and at present, they’ve been able to structure their roster so that issues likely won’t arise until they’re given a significant amount of additional space.
What would the Golden Knights be even more thankful for?
Health
To confuse the Golden Knights’ injury issues this season with the ones faced by the Columbus Blue Jackets or the Philadelphia Flyers, or their own issues from a year ago wouldn’t be fair. In fact, knock on wood, this season has been a vast improvement, and likely a big reason behind the team’s success. Still, Vegas has another 46 games to go plus playoffs, to stay healthy, with a number of somewhat concerning injuries.
For one, the team now has forward Brett Howden and defenseman Zach Whitecloud on LTIR with no clear return set for either of them. While not the team’s foremost stars, both players occupy important roles which are now filled by replacement players. The other primary injury concern is Eichel, who is on IR with a lower-body injury. There is some relief on that front as the injury appears unrelated to the issues that kept himl out for portions of the last two seasons, but every game missed by the superstar does put strain on the team’s offense. No timetable is clear on Eichel either, but remaining on IR as opposed to a transfer to LTIR, is encouraging.
What should be on the Golden Knights’ holiday wishlist?
A couple of depth pieces
Looking up and down the Vegas roster, it’s hard to find many holes. The goaltending is strong, the defense core is incredibly deep and contains players with offensive minds, defensive minds, and some who do both. Up front the team is deep as well and features a two-way star in Stone, a superstar scorer in Eichel, a few puck movers and snipers with names like Stephenson, Smith, and Marchessault, and a number of other secondary scoring options as well as a solid bottom-six.
Where Vegas is lacking in these groups, however, is depth beyond their main group. The team has dealt with injuries, discussed above, however the replacement players they’ve brought up, while talented in their own right, are not perhaps the most experienced and ready to join a group with eyes set on the Cup. Vegas doesn’t need depth as far as another third-line option goes, but instead an affordable player or two with semi-significant NHL experience to step in when players go down. This depth could be found on the trade market, and that may help with budgeting the new player in, but could also simply be a waiver-wire find.
Minnesota Wild To Recall Sammy Walker, Adam Beckman
5:39 pm: The Wild made the recall official on Monday night. Walker and Beckman join the team ahead of their game against Winnipeg tomorrow.
3:56 pm: According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, the Minnesota Wild are expected to recall a pair of forwards in that of Sammy Walker and Adam Beckman from the Iowa Wild, their AHL affiliate. Russo adds that forward Marcus Foligno, who is suffering from a lower-body injury, is not expected to travel with the team tomorrow morning to take on the Winnipeg Jets later that night. In addition to Foligno, the Wild are also going to be without forward Mason Shaw, who is serving a two-game suspension.
Foligno, who was injured in Wednesday’s game in Anaheim against the Ducks, missed Thursday’s game against the San Jose Sharks with the injury and now it appears he’ll be missing tomorrow’s game too. There doesn’t appear to be a timetable for Foligno, however after Thursday’s game, Wild head coach Dean Evason told Russo he expected the forward to be okay after the four-day holiday break. Though the veteran clearly isn’t good-to-go just yet, Evason’s comments show this injury likely isn’t to be anything long-term.
Walker, 23, made his professional debut this season after a four-year stint at the University of Minnesota. The former Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick has been a standout thus far with Iowa, registering 24 points in 23 games, and made his NHL debut back on December 10th, skating in four NHL contests to date.
The 21-year-old Beckman has also skated in just four NHL games this season after making his debut last season. The forward turned pro back in 2020-21 after a stellar WHL career with the Spokane Chiefs. A 2019 third-round selection of the Wild, Beckman is off to a solid start with Iowa this season tallying 15 points in his first 25 AHL games.
NHL Postpones Tuesday’s Game Between The Buffalo Sabres And Columbus Blue Jackets
4:15 pm: The NHL, as well as Columbus and Buffalo, have since confirmed the postponement, adding that a makeup date will be set at some point, though they don’t have one right now.
3:08 pm: It appears yet another game will be postponed due to this past week’s winter weather in the upstate New York and Ontario area. According to the Columbus Dispatch’s Brian Hedger, tomorrow’s game featuring the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets is expected to be postponed. Neither team nor the NHL has confirmed the postponement yet and no makeup date is known.
This postponement comes on the heels of two additional games that were rescheduled from Friday. Both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators, in Ottawa, and the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres, in Buffalo, had to be postponed. Buffalo, who hasn’t played since last Monday, December 18th, will now have to make-up two games.
Although tomorrow’s game was supposed to be in Columbus, the reason for the postponement appears to be the Sabres’ inability to get to Columbus. At this point in time, many roads in the Buffalo area are closed to traffic, and the airport itself will remain closed through tomorrow. The Sabres had been due to fly out of Buffalo tomorrow morning for that evening’s game. Interestingly, the same-day travel had nothing to do with the weather in Buffalo, but instead the league’s restriction on practice and travel today.
Looking ahead, the Sabres are scheduled to host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday before hitting the road and heading to Boston on Saturday. Thus far, there’s been no word on the status of either of those games.
What Your Team Is Thankful For: Vancouver Canucks
As we approach the end of the year, PHR continues its look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Vancouver Canucks.
Who are the Canucks thankful for?
Amid turbulent times in Vancouver, the Canucks do find themselves with one of the brightest pieces in the entire league: Elias Petterssoon. Already a clear star in the NHL, the 24-year-old took the next step this season with a massive breakout, featuring 15 goals and 26 assists for 41 points through just 31 games.
The young Swede is signed through next season at a $7.5MM cap hit, expiring as a RFA, and was recently listed as the one untouchable player in the Canucks organization. Pettersson being “untouchable” might seem obvious, but on a team with a few superstars. but no certain direction in the short or long-term future, that denomination is significant.
Once this summer begins, regardless of the direction the team chooses to go in, the organization will surely need to focus on negotiations with their superstar center to keep him from hitting the UFA market in a couple of years. Extensions with J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, and Thatcher Demko are an encouraging sign of things to come, but the issues with captain and pending UFA Bo Horvat do raise concerns.
Regardless of contract concerns or the success of the current build, Pettersson has taken himself from a solid top-six forward and propelled himself into superstar status with this season. Having him, whether that’s to carry the team on his back, to build around, to ultimately deal for assets, or something else, is a blessing for the organization, especially as it goes through these difficult times.
What are the Canucks thankful for?
Assets
Regardless of who is untouchable or not in Vancouver, and independent of how the team chooses to navigate its future, the organization is lucky to have a bevy of assets that hold substantial weight on the trade market for different reasons. The most clear-cut of these is Horvat.
After negotiations appeared to break down between the Canucks and Horvat’s camp, it seemed as though the struggling Canucks would likely deal their captain before this winter’s trade deadline. Normally, a rental of a responsible two-way forward who was also good for 60 points would fetch a massive haul on the market, but that’s not necessarily the story here. This year, Horvat has been much the same player with one significant change: he’s on pace for 60 goals. If Horvat keeps that level of production up, or even remains close, Vancouver could be looking at a package of picks and prospects not seen at the deadline in some time.
Another interesting pending UFA could be first-year winger Andrei Kuzmenko. The former KHL star chose to come to North America this offseason, pursued by a number of NHL teams, ultimately signing a one-year ELC with Vancouver. Expectations were high for the winger, though he’s arguably eclipsed them, registering 29 points, 14 of them goals, through 32 games.
Outside of the “untouchable” Pettersson, perhaps Vancouver’s biggest asset could be Hughes, who Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman estimated would require a “mammoth” haul to get Vancouver to trade him. The 23-year-old, signed through 2026-27 at a $7.85MM cap hit, has blossomed into an elite playmaking defenseman for Vancouver. There’s no shortage of teams who might find themselves interested in the defenseman, though presumably the Canucks’ asking price could drive them away. While there’s been no connection between the two teams, it is interesting to consider the team best-equipped to make this kind of trade, the New Jersey Devils, already have both of Quinn’s brothers in the organization.
What would the Canucks be even more thankful for?
A clear direction
After a poor start, losing their first seven games to start the season, the Canucks were able to bounce back, even finding themselves just a couple of points out of a playoff spot at times. The team’s play hasn’t simply been mediocre since the rough start, but instead has been up and down, that start merely representing the first down.
Comments and action from management have lead some to believe the team could be headed for a rebuild, some to believe they need a short-term reset, and some believing the team is still trying to compete. Complicating the situation is the team’s 2021-22 season and the offseason that followed. Last season was rather similar to this one, a rough start, followed by a rebound, just missing the playoffs. The team appeared to need a clear direction last year too, and re-signing new head coach Bruce Boudreau, extending J.T. Miller, and signing Kuzmenko and Ilya Mikheyev seemed to indicate the team was all-in. But, this confusing start, the lack of a Horvat extension, and the previously discussed comments from management still make that unclear.
It would seem what Vancouver needs most in order to ice a team competitive enough to compete for a Stanley Cup, is simply direction. A full-scale rebuild might extend the process, but the assets they have now should bring back plenty of quality pieces. A temporary re-tool would make sense given the players they have signed long-term and what they could get back for players like Horvat and Kuzmenko. Continuing to compete as is wouldn’t be surprising either, given the team’s ability to bounce back and the players they have now, but that could be risky given Horvat’s contract status.
What should be on the Canucks holiday wishlist?
A Horvat extension, or a massive trade package
Already discussed in detail, the Canucks have had issues extending Horvat and at this point, a trade seems more likely than ever. Even with broken negotiations and a struggling team, it’s easy to understand why the Canucks would still prefer to work out a deal with Horvat.
It’s hard to imagine, so long as they get a respectable deal, that anyone would blame the organization either way. The issue comes with Horvat’s ability to simply leave on July 1st. Obvious as it sounds, the Canucks cannot allow Horvat to simply walk like Johnny Gaudreau did with the Calgary Flames last offseason, how Artemi Panarin did with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2019, or how John Tavares left the New York Islanders in 2018.
None of those departures were a “good” thing for those teams by any stretch, however Calgary and Columbus had been in a position to win a Stanley Cup those years and needed their star wingers to compete for it. Add onto that, Calgary had expected they could re-sign Gaudreau for most of the spring, and Columbus knew what might be happening as Matt Duchene and Sergei Bobrovsky also hit the UFA market. As for the Islanders, they also expected to be able to re-sign Tavares the entire spring, but at the very least, though Tavares was going out, a pair of legends in that of GM Lou Lamoriello and head coach Barry Trotz were coming in, breathing new life.
What was the case for Calgary, Columbus, and New York isn’t necessarily the same for Vancouver. They have plenty of talented players, many of them signed long-term, a legendary executive in Jim Rutherford, and a star coach in Boudreau, but the team has been lacking direction for a few years now with no clear sign of a new one coming. Losing Horvat for nothing wouldn’t necessarily make a decision for them on their direction, but would make whatever option they eventually chose just that much more difficult to be successful with.
Matias Maccelli Expected To Miss Six Weeks
As everyone was enjoying their holiday weekend, the Arizona Coyotes received a bit of bad news on one of their young forwards. According to PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan, rookie Matias Maccelli is expected to miss six weeks with a lower-body injury. Maccelli suffered the injury during Friday’s win over the Los Angeles Kings and was forced to leave the game prematurely. At this time, it’s unclear what exactly the nature of the injury is.
Amid another season of uncertainty with an odd arena situation, near the bottom of the league standings, the Coyotes have been able to find a few bright spots and hope for the future. One of those bright spots has been Maccelli, who is currently second in the rookie scoring race with 22 points. An adept playmaker, Maccelli’s 22 points come from just three goals, but 19 assists over 30 games, a large split but not necessarily of concern, given his 13.0% shooting percentage.
A native of Finland, Maccelli was a fourth-round pick of the Coyotes in 2019 and rose relatively quickly to becoming the impact player he is today. After spending two years with Ilves Tampere back home, where he was much of the same player he is today, Maccelli came to North America for 2021-22. The winger dominated the AHL with 57 points in just 47 games and earned himself a March call-up and a long 23-game look in the NHL.
Already 29th in the league in goals-for, losing Maccelli won’t help the cause. There isn’t necessarily a race for the Coyotes to stay in, however the team does have a mix of young players who need to develop and build confidence as well as veteran trade assets whose performance rather directly impacts what they’ll fetch in a trade. Still, a silver lining could be an opportunity for another young player, perhaps their next Maccelli, to get a chance to show he can have a similar impact, which for the team can only help accelerate the rebuild process.
Five Key Stories: 12/19/22 – 12/25/22
While it was a fairly light week on the NHL calendar thanks to the holiday break, we saw Alex Ovechkin move into second all-time in goals. We also saw some notable news off the ice which is recapped in our key stories.
Skinner Signs: Things haven’t gone quite as planned for the Oilers this season in goal with Jack Campbell struggling considerably in his first year with the team. However, Stuart Skinner has impressed and is starting to on a bigger share of the workload. Edmonton rewarded the youngster for his efforts thus far with a three-year extension that carries a cap hit of $2.6MM AAV and begins next season. Skinner has just 35 career NHL appearances under his belt (21 of which have come this year) so the deal carries some risk but if he winds up playing even a platoon role moving forward, the Oilers should do well with this contract. Notably, this deal will take the 24-year-old to UFA eligibility in 2026.
Gurianov Steps Away: The Stars will be without winger Denis Gurianov for at least a little while as he has been granted an indefinite leave of absence from the team for family reasons. No further information from the team was provided. The 25-year-old has had a bit of a tough start to his season with just two goals and three assists in 25 games so far. He’s currently on a one-year, $2.9MM contract and will be owed that as a qualifying offer by the team next summer to retain his RFA rights.
Four For Zub: The Senators have locked up another core player for the next little while as they reached a four-year, $18.4MM deal with defenseman Artem Zub. It’s a nice increase for the 27-year-old who will go from a $2.5MM AAV this season to a $4.6MM cap charge in 2023-24. He also receives a ten-team no-trade clause with the contract. Zub, who’s currently out with a facial injury, is logging over 22 minutes a night on the back end for Ottawa this season while averaging just shy of four hits per contest. While his offensive numbers don’t jump out, he’s second in minutes behind Thomas Chabot and has quickly become a key part of their defense corps as he’s just in his third NHL season.
Deadline Deals: While it’s still quite a while before the trade deadline, there was a soft deadline with the holiday roster freeze. The end result was a pair of small trades being made. Toronto and Colorado changed up their forward depth as the Maple Leafs sent winger Denis Malgin to the Avs for winger Dryden Hunt. The other move was also a depth swap in a rare three-team deal with Anaheim adding defenseman Michael Del Zotto, Detroit receiving forward Danny O’Regan, and Florida receiving forward Givani Smith; Smith was recalled following the swap and got into one game before the break.
Injury News: Cam Atkinson’s day-to-day injury at the beginning of training camp never healed as expected and now the Flyers will be without the winger for the rest of the season after he underwent neck surgery. He joins Ryan Ellis as key veterans that won’t wind up suiting up for Philadelphia this season. Meanwhile, Luke Kunin’s year has also come to an end after the Sharks winger underwent ACL surgery. The expected recovery timetable is six to eight months so the 25-year-old, who had 13 points in 31 games prior to the injury, should be ready for training camp in the fall. Lastly, the Blue Jackets, who have been hit hard by injuries all season long, will be without center Boone Jenner for a month after he had surgery to repair a fractured thumb. Jenner leads Columbus in goals so far this season and is their top player at the faceoff dot, winning nearly 56% of his draws.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
PHR Mailbag: Predators, Predictions, Toews, Worst Contracts, Coyotes, Wild
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include what it might cost Boston to add a key rental center, the worst contracts in the NHL by position, Arizona’s trade deadline situation, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check back in next weekend’s mailbag.
Gbear: Easy one here: The Preds offense from their forward group is dreadful. Do you see Poile making any moves to add scoring help or is it the same old story in Nashville?
I think it’s the same old story for the Predators. They have a veteran-laden team that isn’t good enough to truly be a contender nor are they bad enough to have justification for blowing it all up. Quite frankly, even if they wanted to blow it up, I don’t think they could as moving money in this cap environment is very tough. There are some bloated contracts that don’t have a lot of trade value at the moment.
There was some risk in Nashville’s offseason moves in that it suggested they felt last year’s offensive production was repeatable. I doubt many others saw it the same way. I won’t criticize GM David Poile for the moves he did make (getting Ryan McDonagh for next to nothing and signing Nino Niederreiter) because it didn’t really cost them anything in assets. All in all, they were relatively low-risk even with McDonagh’s contract.
But those moves cemented that their goal seemed to be squeaking into the playoffs and see what happens from there. And, let’s face it, you don’t have to look very far to find a team that squeaked into the postseason and made it all the way to the Cup Final. It’s not necessarily a viable strategy but it works enough that some teams want to try it with the odd one going on a run.
So, with that in mind, I don’t see many big changes coming one way or the other. They’re six points out but have games in hand on almost everyone ahead of them. Knowing where they are, any improvements are likely to be low-risk, low-cost incremental ones; if they didn’t commit to big upgrades last summer, they’re not doing it now. On the seller side, they’re not exactly loaded with expiring deals that other teams are going to want in early March. I suspect they’ll wait things out for a while and then take a tiny step whether it’s as a buyer or seller. Nothing too exciting, I know, but I don’t see any big splash on the horizon for them.
The Duke: All-knowing, -seeing and -prognosticating Snow Globe (hey, it’s Christmastime), please soothsay the following: 1. Long-term, UPL, Portillo, or Levi? 2. Where does Tarasenko land – and in this season or next? 3. Brighter scoring future: Ruzicka, Holtz, or Kent Johnson? BONUS Q: What season does Askarov arrive in Smashville? Merry Christmas – and Happy New Year!
I don’t know why but I feel a bit more shaken up than usual following this question…
1) Assuming you mean who the long-term starter in Buffalo is going to be, let’s go with Devon Levi if I have to pick one of those three. I think Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen can be a capable NHL goalie but he might be more of a platoon option than a true starter. Erik Portillo is no guarantee to sign with the Sabres so it’s hard to pick him for this question either. Levi might be more of a platoon option himself (if he and Luukkonen form a serviceable tandem, that could work out great for Buffalo) but at this point, I’d say he has the best long-term upside for the Sabres so he gets the nod by default.
2) The unstated question here is will the Blues want to sell? If they don’t, I don’t think Tarasenko moves this season. That call won’t be made for at least six more weeks but if they keep playing at this level, I’ll say they will sell and thus, he will move this season. I know the Rangers seem to be the expected landing spot for Patrick Kane but if they want to do a move that doesn’t necessarily require double retention, this might be the one. Plus, for some reason, I can hear Sam Rosen calling “Vladimir Tarasenko – It’s a Power Play Goal!” in my head and it sounds fitting. Let’s go with Tarasenko to the Rangers at the deadline.
3) I’ll take Alexander Holtz. This year has been a complete write-off and I’m not at all a fan of how the Devils have handled him. Scorers need to score and sitting a top prospect for numerous games in between playing him on the fourth line isn’t helping anyone. However, he’s the one player on this list who still has top-line upside in my books (Johnson is more of a second liner and Ruzicka is still trying to become a full-fledged regular) so that gives him the nod.
Bonus) 2024-25. That’s Juuse Saros’ final year under contract and the Predators will want to know if Yaroslav Askarov is ready to be a starter so quickly, whether he’s more of a backup at that point, or if he’s an NHL goalie altogether. Right now, he needs as many games as possible so I don’t think they’ll want him up (barring injuries) this season or next.
@dajc: What do you think it’s going to take to get Jonathan Toews into a Bruin jersey?
When I first saw this question, I questioned if strengthening a fairly strong spot would be Boston’s best course of action. However, if Toews was anchoring a two-way checking line in the playoffs, that would give them a huge boost. Making it work, however, will be a bit tricky.
Let’s get the easy part out of the way first. They will need a third team to retain so that they’re only taking on 25% of Toews’ $10.5MM AAV. If we look back at the few examples of those types of deals, you’re probably looking at a third-rounder, maybe a second if there were a few teams with similar offers on the table. What works in Boston’s favor here is that Toews only has a base salary of $2.9MM so the actual cash outlay for the third team that they’re trying to incentivize to retain would be fairly minimal but they will have to part with a decent draft pick to get their cap charge down to $2.625MM.
As for what they’d need to send to Chicago, it’s likely to involve a first-round pick. Toews isn’t the top center he once was but he still has 11 goals this season, is simply elite at the faceoff dot (65.6%), and can play in all situations. Moving someone like Craig Smith solves the cap issue; they’d actually free up some cap space even by throwing him in. I think there’s a secondary element that needs to go in there as well, a decent prospect. Marc McLaughlin comes to mind as a near NHL-ready center that they might want to target. Boston might not want to move him but they’ll need to incentivize Chicago to take Smith’s contract.
The good news for the Bruins here is that the rental center market is deeper than usual so Toews shouldn’t command the top return. That should be Bo Horvat as things stand barring a late change of heart in Vancouver (which could very well happen). But Boston won’t get Toews for cheap either but a package of a first-rounder, Smith, McLaughlin, and a third-rounder (to a third team) might be enough, particularly if that’s where Toews indicates he wants to go. Like Claude Giroux last season with the Flyers, his preferred destination(s) will largely dictate which Chicago can or can’t get for him.
Nha Trang: Okay, I actually do have a question, I fibbed: who would you tab as the worst regular players in the league in terms of value to salary at forward, defense and goal? (Not counting LTIR types — obviously Montreal’s got the short end of the stick with Price there.)
First, thanks for the kind words that preceded your question from the callout for questions.
Forward: Tyler Seguin – Dallas committed franchise player money to Seguin, a player who hasn’t averaged over a point per game since 2015-16. He’s still a capable player but he is more of a second liner at this point of his career and by the time this contract ends, he’ll probably be lower on the depth chart. He has four years left after this one at $9.85MM and as Dallas looks to try to retain and enhance its core, this is the type of contract that will make doing that considerably more difficult.
Defense: Marc-Edouard Vlasic – His deal certainly isn’t the priciest (he’s tied for 24th among AAVs for blueliners) but it has been a few years since he has been the true shutdown defender he was in his prime. Frankly, it has been a few years since he has been much more than a replacement-level rearguard. He turns 36 in March and still has three years left at $7MM per season. That’s not good when his play has gone downhill in a hurry. There are other more expensive veterans on bad deals, sure, but those players are least still providing some on-ice value. I don’t think Vlasic will be anytime soon.
Goalie: Sergei Bobrovsky – He’s the second-highest-paid goalie in NHL history behind Carey Price. For that, the Panthers were expecting to get high-end goaltending, the type that you can rely on to carry you to big things. Well, this season, Bobrovsky is below-average in GAA and SV%. If he was making $2MM, that would be one thing. But he’s not making $2MM. He’s making $10MM this season and for three years after that. Spencer Knight is close to taking away the number one job and when that happens, Florida will have an untradeable backup that makes more money than what the majority of the league is spending on their goalie tandems.
Weekend AHL Shuffle
While the roster freeze has technically been in effect for close to a week now, there are some exceptions that allow teams to send players down. If they were recalled after December 11th or later and don’t require being placed on waivers to be returned to the NHL, they were eligible for assignment. Per CapFriendly, quite a few teams have taken advantage of that this weekend. Here’s a rundown of those AHL assignments:
Anaheim Ducks
G Olle Eriksson Ek
F Justin Kirkland
Boston Bruins
F Craig Smith
Carolina Hurricanes
F Jack Drury
Columbus Blue Jackets
F Josh Dunne (link)
Calgary Flames
F Nick DeSimone
F Matthew Phillips
Dallas Stars
F Riley Tufte (link)
Florida Panthers
F Grigori Denisenko
D Matt Kiersted
F Givani Smith
Los Angeles Kings
F Rasmus Kupari
D Jordan Spence
Nashville Predators
F Tommy Novak (link)
New York Islanders
F Hudson Fasching
F Aatu Raty
D Parker Wotherspoon
Vegas Golden Knights
F Pavel Dorofeyev
D Brayden Pachal
F Jonas Rondbjerg
The purpose for most of these moves is cap and salary savings. For each player making the minimum, teams save a little over $4K per player per day while for someone like Smith, the savings are closer to $6K per day. For players that have recently cleared waivers, the assignment also temporarily stops the 30-day clock before they need to pass through again to be returned to the minors. In most cases, these transactions will be reversed on Tuesday when the NHL schedule resumes.