East Notes: DeBrincat, Severson, Flyers Injuries
When the Ottawa Senators traded the seventh-overall pick at the 2021 draft along with two other picks to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Alex DeBrincat, many assumed that the Senators were making the trade with the idea of signing DeBrincat to a long-term extension. While that’s definitely Ottawa’s preferred option with their new winger, it seems DeBrincat hasn’t made a firm choice on whether to commit to the Senators long-term just yet.
As reported by Ian Mendes of The Athletic, DeBrincat “isn’t ready” to sign a long-term deal in Ottawa at this point, although he did say that he’s “open” to the possibility of it. (subscription link) DeBrincat will be eligible to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024, and without a long-term deal in place DeBrincat could accept a $9MM minimum qualifying offer this summer, which would take him right to free agency. DeBrincat, who scored 78 points this season, is an extremely talented offensive player and someone who the Senators undoubtedly want to be a cornerstone member of their club. With this development in mind, it will be important to monitor how well DeBrincat fits in his new surroundings in Ottawa because that fit could determine if the Senators get their wish, which is DeBrincat’s signature on a long-term deal.
Now, for some other notes from across the NHL’s Eastern Conference:
- New Jersey Devils defenseman Damon Severson has spent the entirety of his eight-year professional career in New Jersey, but with his contract set to expire at the end of this season, his time in red and black could be coming to an end. Severson told the media today, as relayed by James Nichols of The Fourth Period, that contract talks between him and the Devils have not yet begun. That doesn’t mean that a deal won’t get done between now and next summer, of course, but with the signing of Dougie Hamilton, the recent Jonas Siegenthaler extension, the acquisition of John Marino, and the eventual arrivals of Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, it’s definitely possible that the Devils don’t see room for Severson long-term in their top-four.
- The Philadelphia Flyers issued a few injury updates today, as reported by NHL.com’s Bill Meltzer. Per the update, both Artem Anisimov and Carter Hart are dealing with lower-body injuries, and Cam Atkinson is dealing with an upper-body ailment. All are officially day-to-day. While these injuries don’t seem likely to have any major impact on Hart or Atkinson, an injury could pose an issue for Anisimov, who is in Flyers camp on a PTO and is battling for a roster spot.
Training Camp Cuts: 09/25/22
Preseason hockey is now in full swing, and as a result more teams have begun to trim their training camp rosters as we inch closer to the regular season. Since many European leagues and junior leagues’ seasons are already underway, cuts at this point in the preseason process are largely made up of younger prospects who entered camp with virtually no chance of making the opening night lineup.
Carolina Hurricanes (via team release)
F Robert Orr (to Gatineau, QMJHL)
D Bryce Montgomery (to London, OHL)
G Jakub Vondras (to HC Plzen U20, Czech Juniors)
Los Angeles Kings (via team release)
F Eric Alarie (Moose Jaw, WHL)
F Riley Fiddler-Schultz (Calgary, WHL)
F Kaleb Lawrence (Owen Sound, WHL)
F James Stefan (Portland, WHL)
D Landon Kosior (Prince Albert, WHL)
D Marc Lajoie (Tri-City, WHL)
Ottawa Senators (via team release)
F Carson Latimer (Prince Albert, WHL)
D Tomas Hamara (Kitchener, OHL)
This page will be updated throughout the day
Michael Chaput Signs In KHL
Since making his professional debut in the 2012-13 season, forward Michael Chaput has been a quality depth contributor for five NHL franchises. In 445 career AHL games, Chaput has 292 points, and he also has nearly 200 NHL games on his resume.
Now, Chaput will continue his professional career overseas. Kazakhstan’s KHL club, Barys Astana, announced today that they’ve signed Chaput to a one-year contract.
Chaput signs this deal after a moderately successful 2021-22 campaign. While he was a solid contributor for the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, scoring 33 points in 57 games, Chaput didn’t find his way into any NHL games. That marked 2021-22 as Chaput’s first season since his rookie pro season in 2012-13 where he couldn’t crack an NHL lineup at least once.
Now 30 years old, Chaput will head to Kazakhstan likely with the goal of playing well and earning a shot in an NHL training camp next fall. Chaput will join Linden Vey, Jeremy Bracco, Nelson Nogier, and Chris Bigras as former members of NHL organizations now looking to help Barys Astana (four wins, six losses through ten games) make the KHL’s playoffs.
Vegas Golden Knights Need For Health Exacerbated By Salary Cap Crunch
Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said today that defenseman Alec Martinez missed today’s training camp sessions with an “upper-body tweak”, but he’s expected to return to practice tomorrow.
And while things like maintenance days usually aren’t big news, they are now for the Golden Knights, who will rely heavily on full health in 2022-23 after an injury-plagued 2021-22 season. Martinez himself missed a solid chunk of time last year, playing just 26 games and registering only eight points. A crucial part of their top four on defense, they’ll need Martinez at his best, especially if Nicolas Hague goes unsigned into the season.
With Vegas pressed tightly against the salary cap, even with Robin Lehner placed on long-term injured reserve, short-term injuries could become a cap management nuisance quite quickly. As they did last season, they’ll need to play a day-to-day game financially and have their players in AHL Henderson on speed dial.
As Hague remains unsigned, the team is especially thin on left defense. If Martinez gets hurt, the team’s next option to slot into the lineup is 23-year-old Zack Hayes, an undrafted free agent with only three games of NHL experience.
Golden Knights fans will be watching injury news like hawks as the preseason progresses. The team will begin their preseason schedule tomorrow against the Colorado Avalanche.
Sean Monahan Could Be Ready For Start Of Season
Freshly acquired Montreal Canadiens center Sean Monahan was a bit of a question mark for the upcoming year after missing the last month of the 2021-22 season and the entire playoffs. Labelled as questionable for the start of the season a few weeks ago, things are looking up for Monahan as his recovery from hip surgery continues. Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said today that they are being cautious with Monahan, holding him out of scrimmages, but that he will play in preseason games at some point, boding well for his opening-night availability.
The Canadiens received a conditional 2025 first-round pick from the Calgary Flames for taking on the final season of his $6.375MM AAV contract, which was much too rich a price for a cap-strapped Calgary to pay given Monahan’s declining health and production. After Monahan had just eight goals and 23 points in 65 games last season, Montreal is hoping a return to consistent top-nine minutes will help them recoup serious offensive value in the final season of Monahan’s deal, and maybe even flip him at this year’s trade deadline with some salary retained.
Monahan told the media last month that “he’s ready to play hockey again at a high level.” It will take a lot of patience and conditioning for Monahan to sniff his previous 30-goal, 60-point-calibre play, but St. Louis seems to understand that. Monahan will be competing for time down the middle with Nick Suzuki, Christian Dvorak, Jake Evans, and Kirby Dach, who could likely shift to the wing.
Montreal opens their preseason on Monday at home against the New Jersey Devils.
Training Camp Cuts: 09/24/22
As the preseason begins today, some teams are beginning to immediately trim their rosters as we inch closer to the start of the regular season next month. At this point in time, most cuts will be teams returning players to their junior or European teams as those leagues get their seasons underway. While some players’ training camp stays may just be a day or two, it’s still an invaluable experience for both the player and team to be active in their development.
Calgary Flames (via team release)
F Jack Beck (to Ottawa, OHL)
F Cole Huckins (to Sherbrooke, QMJHL)
D Cole Jordan (to Moose Jaw, WHL)
D Cameron Whynot (to Halifax, QMJHL)
F Evan Boucher (released from ATO, to Halifax, QMJHL)
D Jake Lee (released from ATO, free agent)
D Christoffer Sedoff (released from ATO, to Red Deer, WHL)
F Cooper Walker (released from ATO, to Guelph, OHL)
New York Rangers (via team Tweet)
F Sam Alfano (to Erie, OHL)
F Maxim Barbashev (to Moncton, QMJHL)
F Jayden Grubbe (to Red Deer, QHL)
F Bryce McConnell-Barker (to Soo, OHL)
This page will be updated throughout the day
Metropolitan Notes: Rangers Cuts, Goodrow, Carter
The Rangers have made their first training camp cuts, announcing (Twitter link) that the following players were sent back to their respective junior teams:
F Sam Alfano (Erie, OHL)
F Maxim Barbashev (Moncton, QMJHL)
F Jayden Grubbe (Red Deer, QHL)
F Bryce McConnell-Barker (Soo, OHL)
Barbashev, Grubbe, and McConnell-Barker are all unsigned prospects and will look to have big seasons at the junior level to help them try to earn an entry-level deal; Grubbe has until June 1st to sign if the Rangers want to retain his rights. Alfano, meanwhile, was in camp on an ATO and has been released. With two of the three CHL leagues already starting their regular seasons, other teams may soon be following suit with some of their junior players.
More from the Metropolitan:
- Still with the Rangers, forward Barclay Goodrow is expected to join the team at practice tomorrow, relays Arthur Staple of The Athletic (Twitter link). The veteran is working his way back from an ankle injury and has been skating away from the team, including today, in an effort to make sure the injury has fully healed before participating in team exercises. Goodrow is coming off a career year that saw him put up 33 points in 79 games last season, his first with New York.
- The Penguins announced (Twitter link) that center Jeff Carter left today’s scrimmage early and is being evaluated for an upper-body injury. The 37-year-old had a strong performance last season with 45 points in 76 games while posting his best point-per-game rate since 2017-18 and losing him for any extended period would certainly be an early blow for Pittsburgh.
PHR Mailbag: Blues, Avalanche, CBA, Smaller Signings, Stand-Pat Teams, Virtanen
Topics in this edition of the PHR Mailbag include Colorado’s recent additions, some CBA questions, going over some under-the-radar signings, and more. If your question doesn’t appear here, check in next weekend’s mailbag.
haubrick4: With Scandella being gone most if not all of the season, do the Blues go and trade for, go and sign, or promote from within a defenseman?
In the short term, I don’t think they look outside the organization. Marco Scandella’s injury (which I think will keep him out for the whole regular season by the time you work in a possible conditioning stint in early April) opens up a full-time roster spot for Scott Perunovich. In a perfect world, he’s able to log the 18 minutes per game that Scandella did and give them a bit of a lift on the offensive side of things. If that happens, they don’t need to go get a defenseman.
The other thing that’s worth noting is that Scandella will be on LTIR and when a team is in LTIR, they’re not banking cap space. For the sake of simplicity, let’s say St. Louis gets the full cap relief for Scandella’s contract at $3.275MM. It’s worth $3.275MM today, next week, next month, or in March at the trade deadline. If you’re GM Doug Armstrong, you get one shot at utilizing that cap space. Is it better to do it now to fix a perceived problem or is it better to wait until midseason or the trade deadline when you have a better understanding of the weaknesses of your roster? If it were me in charge, I’d be waiting to make that move.
vincent. k. mcmahon: Who is more likely to remain in St. Louis past this upcoming season between O’Reilly and Tarasenko?
I touched on Ryan O’Reilly’s situation in more detail in the last mailbag so I won’t rehash it too much here. At this point, they can’t afford either him or Vladimir Tarasenko beyond this season. Armstrong would need to clear some salary out for 2023-24 and beyond for signing one of these two to be viable.
Of those two, if one stays, I think it’s O’Reilly. I don’t get the sense that Tarasenko’s trade request has really gone away but both sides know one isn’t feasible at this point. If that is indeed the case and the request hasn’t been rescinded, he probably isn’t going to be overly amenable to re-signing. At least, not without testing the market first.
O’Reilly, meanwhile, has indicated that he’d like to stick around and discussions on a new deal have already started although there is no perceived urgency to get something done. I think he’ll have to accept a pay cut from the $7.5MM on his current deal to stay but as long as he’s willing to do, there’s a much better chance that it will be him in a St. Louis uniform in 2023-24 and not Tarasenko.
@iwtfwc: What are your thoughts on Evan Rodrigues joining the Avalanche? Where will he fit in? Do you think he can play 2nd line center over J.T. Compher? And what chances do you give Alex Galchenyuk to make the team?
I’m not sold on Rodrigues being a legitimate top-six player for any extended stretch. Yes, he had a good few months last season with Pittsburgh but beyond that, he has been more of a depth player. Waiting out the market for a stronger deal that never came didn’t turn out to be a wise move.
However, I do like the fit in Colorado. He’ll probably split time in that second center spot with Compher but he’ll see more time on the wing. He’ll bounce around in the middle six and put up 25-30 points which, for $2MM, isn’t a bad deal. I thought they’d get someone a little more proven to fill that spot but with this signing, Colorado still has enough cap space that they can bank some in-season money and perhaps go for that more impactful second option closer to the trade deadline. As far as ‘bridge’ players go, adding Rodrigues is a good move for the Avs.
As for Galchenyuk, it has been a long time since he was a legitimate top-six player for an extended stretch and even longer since he was a legitimate top-six center. He’s not the type of player that fits well lower in the lineup. Perhaps with Gabriel Landeskog’s injury, there’s a chance for him to earn a two-way deal at the NHL minimum and break camp with the team. I’ll put it at 40% and while you might think that seems low, I think most PTO players have a lot lower of a chance than that of making their respective teams.
Gmm8811: When a player signs a PTO, what exactly is the club liable for? Lodging? Travel? Per diem? Medical? Are all PTOs standard across the NHL in regard to the language in the contract?
Technically speaking, the only truly defined PTO in the CBA is for a one-game emergency goaltender. These are the players that get a one-day contract to dress as the backup but aren’t actually part of the team. In other words, the ‘EBUG’ such as David Ayres, Thomas Hodges, and Jorge Alves (and many others). Their contracts are form deals and are in the CBA as Exhibit 17-A. The highlights are that they get $500 and get to keep their game-worn jersey.
I suspect you’re asking about the long list of NHL skaters that have signed PTO agreements to go to training camp with a team. There’s no formal contract in place and it can be terminated at any time by the team or the player (if he gets an offer from elsewhere). Article 15 of the CBA does, however, provide some guidelines for this question. Teams are required to pay for travel to camp, and provide lodging and per diem money (which can be reduced if the team offers breakfast and/or lunch at the training camp facility). I can’t say for certain on the medical but considering there is no contract in place, the team probably isn’t under any obligation to cover any costs associated with injuries.
wreckage: Differences between a 1-way and 2-way contract?
The only difference is salary. A one-way contract means that the player receives the same salary no matter what level they’re playing at. A two-way contract means that the player receives a specified lesser sum at the minor league level. Worth noting, more and more two-way deals now have a third dollar amount, a guaranteed salary above the level of the two-way provision. No matter what, they get that guaranteed figure with the team being responsible for topping up the AHL pay if they’re not brought up to the NHL for enough days during the regular season. There used to be three-way contracts a few CBAs ago (with fixed amounts for NHL/AHL/ECHL salaries) as well but those aren’t permitted anymore.
I’ll also note that a common mistake is that some interpret one-way and two-way deals with waivers. This is not the case. Waiver eligibility is solely defined by age, NHL games played, and the number of years that the player has been on an NHL contract. Salaries, whether they’re one-way or two-way, do not figure into the mix.
aka.nda: There have been several “big” stories this offseason that garnered a lot of attention. Do you have any hunches about any of the lower-key moves yielding more (or less) than the market value suggested?
One of the lower-key moves that I particularly liked was Washington’s signing of Dylan Strome. He has a clear and defined role as their second center behind Evgeny Kuznetsov and while Nicklas Backstrom hopes to play this season at some point, I’ll believe it when I see it. This is a prime opportunity for him to show that he’s a legitimate top-six option for a full season and if he does, the Capitals still have club control on him through arbitration for another year. That’s a tidy piece of business as far as I’m concerned that will yield a pretty good outcome for the Capitals.
A little lower on the radar was Edmonton’s signing of winger Mattias Janmark. He’s a versatile player that can play anywhere in the lineup, kill penalties, and is a safe bet to land somewhere between 20 and 30 points. On a team that is going to have some cap challenges when it comes to being able to afford some of their better prospects on recall, Janmark is going to become a very valuable role player for them. A shrewd addition a few days into free agency.
On the flip side, Columbus isn’t going to get a good return on the four-year, $16MM deal that they gave to Erik Gudbranson. He’s a capable fifth defender but giving him top-four money for that long was puzzling. Justin Schultz’s contract with Seattle (two years, $3MM AAV) also flew under the radar as one of many first-day signings in free agency but I don’t think it will work out as intended. He struggled last season and is more of a depth player than an impact one but they’re paying him to be a secondary producer and he has scored just 16 goals over the last five seasons combined.
Minor Transactions: 09/24/22
The preseason gets underway today but most of the roster shuffling won’t start for a few more days at least. In the meantime, we’ll look at some of the smaller moves around the hockey world.
- Hurricanes prospect Alexander Perevalov is listed on Kunlun Red Star’s roster which means that the 18-year-old has been loaned to the KHL. Perevalov was a third-round pick by Carolina (71st overall) back in July after spending most of last year with Yaroslavl in the MHL which is also where he started this season. Now, he’ll get a taste of playing in Russia’s top division for the time being.
- Veteran winger Bobby Butler isn’t ready to hang up his skates just yet. Worcester of the ECHL announced that they’ve inked the 35-year-old to a one-year deal. Butler played in 130 career NHL games over parts of five seasons and actually went more than two years without playing before signing with the Raiders back in January. Worcester is an affiliate team of the Islanders.
This post will be updated throughout the day.
Flyers Open Extension Talks With Travis Sanheim
Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim is entering the final year of his contract and will be eligible for unrestricted free agency next summer. However, GM Chuck Fletcher told reporters including Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the goal is to re-sign the 26-year-old and discussions with his agent have already started.
Back in the 2021 offseason, Philadelphia somewhat surprisingly opted to file for club-elected arbitration with Sanheim. That allowed the defender to choose the term had it gone to a hearing and he likely would have picked two years, permitting him to get to unrestricted free agency at 27. It didn’t get that far as the two sides settled three days before the scheduled hearing but again, somewhat surprisingly, the Flyers agreed to give him a two-year deal with a $4.675MM AAV, putting them in the situation they are now where they’re really going to have to pay up to keep him beyond the upcoming campaign.
Sanheim is coming off arguably the best season of his five-year NHL career as he collected 31 points in 80 games last season while logging nearly 23 minutes a night. That wasn’t his best single-season point total (that was 35 back in 2018-19) but he clearly established himself as one of their top defenders.
With Ivan Provorov ahead of him on the depth chart, Sanheim slots in as their second-pairing left defender although, with special teams time, he was still their second-most-used defender last season. That’s an important distinction to note as while the team might want to argue that he’s not a top-pairing player based on their depth chart, Sanheim’s camp can easily claim otherwise.
Philadelphia already is one of the highest-spending teams in the league when it comes to their blueline at over $31MM this season. While Ryan Ellis’ playing future is in doubt, things aren’t at the point where they can conclusively rule that he won’t play in 2023-24 so they can’t automatically assume he’ll be on LTIR at that time. They already have $23.875MM in commitments to just five blueliners for that year and a new deal for Sanheim alone would push that amount over $30MM before they round out the rest of their back end.
Can they justify spending that much on their back end? Spending upwards of 40% of the salary cap on the blueline isn’t something many teams want to do. But at the same time, can they afford not to? Letting Sanheim go would deal a big blow to their defense corps and considering their stated intention is to get back to being a playoff contender, losing him would make that task much more difficult. There’s still plenty of time to work on a new deal but with most of the heavy lifting for the 2022-23 roster now done, reaching a new agreement with Sanheim should now be at the top of Fletcher’s priority list.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.