Salary Cap Deep Dive: Seattle Kraken
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 2022-23 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.
Seattle Kraken
Current Cap Hit: $81,489,166 (under the $82.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Matthew Beniers (two years, $897.5K)
F Shane Wright (three years, $950K)
Potential Bonuses
Beniers: $925K
Wright: $3.0625MM
Total: $3.9875MM
Beniers was the second-overall selection last year and had a dominant year at Michigan before making the jump to the pros where he averaged just shy of a point per game down the stretch. He should become their top center within the next couple of seasons and with it, a long-term deal in the $8MM range could be on the table based on recent comparable signings. With his expected role, he should reach his bonuses this season which will need to be factored into their cap plans. Wright slipped to fourth overall last month after being the consensus number one for a lot of the last two seasons but has been billed as being NHL-ready. They’ll be able to ease him in which could result in some lower production at the beginning although it shouldn’t affect his second contract that much unless he’s in a limited role longer than expected.
Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level
D William Borgen ($900K, RFA)
F Ryan Donato ($1.2MM, UFA)
F Joonas Donskoi ($3.9MM, UFA)
D Vince Dunn ($4MM, RFA)
F Morgan Geekie ($1.4MM, RFA)
F John Hayden ($750K, UFA)
F Karson Kuhlman ($825K, UFA)
G Martin Jones ($2MM, UFA)
F Kole Lind ($825K, RFA)
D Carson Soucy ($2.75MM, UFA)
Donskoi was one of Seattle’s higher-profile pickups in expansion but struggled considerably last season, scoring just twice in 75 games. While it’s likely that he’ll rebound to an extent, he’ll be hard-pressed to get more than about two-thirds of his current cost unless he has a career year. Geekie’s first full NHL season was a decent one as he acquitted himself in somewhat of a limited role while being their best player at the faceoff dot. Even in a bottom-six role, there’s some room for him to pass the $2MM mark next summer. Donato returned after being non-tendered to avoid salary arbitration and while he is coming off a career year, the fact he wasn’t able to do better than this on the open market doesn’t bode well for his odds next summer. Lind, Kuhlman, and Hayden will be battling for the final forward spot or two on the roster but are unlikely to command much more than their current rates unless one of them can step into a legitimate full-time role.
GM Ron Francis felt that Dunn would be able to stand out more with a bigger role and he did just that, tying his career-high in points while setting a new benchmark in assists. Another showing like that could push him past the $5MM mark next summer in his final season of RFA eligibility. Soucy wasn’t able to land in Seattle’s top four very often last year but that didn’t stop him from showing off an improved offensive element to his game as he scored ten goals which is two more than the previous two years combined. With the size he also brings, a repeat performance could allow him to generate a strong market that could push his AAV into the $3MM range despite being a third-pairing piece which is an area teams often try to save money in. For Soucy, they might make an exception. Borgen was a frequent healthy scratch last season which certainly wasn’t the Kraken debut he was hoping for. A similar role could have him in non-tender territory next summer while if he does lock down a spot on the third pairing, a one-year deal at a small raise might be the route Seattle opts to take.
Jones is coming off another quiet year with the Flyers and has failed to post a save percentage above .900 over the last four seasons. Despite that, Seattle opted for him as their backup goaltender for the upcoming campaign but at some point, it stands to reason that another below-average performance will push him down closer to the $1MM mark next summer.
Signed Through 2023-24
G Chris Driedger ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Jordan Eberle ($5.5MM, UFA)
D Justin Schultz ($3MM, UFA)
F Alexander Wennberg ($4.5MM, UFA)
Eberle’s first season with Seattle saw him play a similar role to the one that he had with the Islanders so it’s not surprising that his production was largely in line with his performance with New York. It’s an output that isn’t quite worth $5.5MM but if he can stay around the 20-goal mark for the next couple of seasons, he should be able to land somewhat close to this on his next deal. Wennberg wasn’t quite able to replicate the production he had with the Panthers but his output at the center position is worth close to his current rate compared to the open market. However, with Beniers and Wright around, can he get those numbers again? That will dictate a lot when it comes to his next contract as to whether a small raise could be had or a sizable drop.
Schultz comes over from Washington where he’s coming off a quiet year offensively by his standards which made this commitment a bit surprising. He should have an opportunity to play a bigger role offensively which could help but even so, he’ll be 34 when his next contract starts so it’d be hard to foresee a big raise on the horizon.
Driedger had a tough first season with the Kraken although he still managed a save percentage of .899, the best on the team. His second year will be even tougher as an ACL tear suffered at the Worlds will cost him the majority of next season. Suffice it to say, there will be a lot at stake in 2023-24 when it comes to determining his next contract.
Signed Through 2024-25
F Yanni Gourde ($5.167MM, UFA)
D Adam Larsson ($4MM, UFA)
F Brandon Tanev ($3.5MM, UFA)
After a couple of quieter seasons with Tampa Bay, Gourde had a golden opportunity with Seattle last season as he was their all-situations top center. While his best success came in a lower role with the Lightning, Gourde adapted quite well to being a go-to player and finished second on the team in scoring. Again, Beniers and eventually Wright will cut into his playing time but for now, this contract is one of Seattle’s better ones. Tanev was limited to just 32 games last season due to a knee injury but was quite effective over the first couple of months of the season. His contract has long been viewed as above-market after Pittsburgh signed him for six years at his current price but if he stays near that half a point per game mark while playing his usual strong defensive and physical game, the Kraken will do well with this contract.
Larsson was one of two veteran defensemen to eschew a chance at testing the open market last summer to instead sign a long-term deal with Seattle. In his case, he received a much bigger role than he was accustomed to with Edmonton which helped him set a new career-best in points. In the process, he established himself as still being capable of being a second or third defender. That’s not the most optimal role for him and he wouldn’t be in that role on a top team but any time a team can get a second or third blueliner for this much money, it’s one that they’re going to be quite happy with. That said, even if he stays in that role for three more years, it’s unlikely the open market will view him at that level.
Vancouver Canucks Extend J.T. Miller
After a summer of trade rumors, it seems the J.T. Miller saga has reached its conclusion. The Vancouver Canucks announced today that their star center has signed a seven-year, $56MM contract carrying an $8MM AAV.
As mentioned, this deal comes after an offseason where Miller, who was set to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, was a frequent target of all sorts of trade rumors and speculation. Last month, we covered how Miller’s representation had made it clear that they would be cutting off all contract talks once the 2022-23 season began. So, that upcoming deadline might have moved the pace of contract talks forward. The Canucks might have paid attention to what happened to the Calgary Flames with their own star forward, Johnny Gaudreau after Gaudreau took a similar stance last season and cut off extension talks once the 2021-22 season began. Gaudreau left for Columbus in the summer, and the Flames had to scramble to find a replacement as a result.
With this extension signed, the Canucks have avoided a similar fate. This deal is one of extreme significance for the Canucks. First and foremost, they have locked in their star centerman for what could end up being the rest of his playing days. Miller will be 30 when the contract begins, and by the time it finishes he could be at or near the end of his NHL career.
With that in mind, the seven-year term might concern fans of the Canucks. It’s unlikely that Miller will be worth the $8MM cap hit he’ll command when he’s past the age of 35. That being said, though, it’s not a certainty that he’ll be an ineffective player, and the expected rise of the cap could limit the damage of this deal in its later years. If Miller can age as gracefully as Claude Giroux, for example, who received a three-year deal at a $6.5MM cap hit despite turning 35 in January, then the term will be less of an issue. But he’ll need to stay in top shape in order to do so.
The benefit of this seven-year term, though, is that the cap hit of the deal is lower than some might have expected for a player of Miller’s caliber. Miller was extremely productive last season, scoring 32 goals and 99 points in 80 games. He was an elite offensive force, showcasing the ability to take over shifts and elevate the play of his linemates.
If Miller can continue to produce at around a point-per-game rate, Miller will be underpaid at an $8MM cap hit. Miller’s cap hit is lower than that of Sharks center Tomas Hertl, who has a career-high of 74 points, and identical to that of Ryan Johansen, who has crossed the 70-point plateau just once in his career. To put it simply, Miller’s market value is higher than the $8MM he’s being paid, which, at least in the short-to-medium term, is a win for the Canucks. It’s just the final few years of this deal that pose the most downside risk.
Looking at this more broadly, the contract has major implications for the Canucks franchise as a whole. This is not an extension a team signs if they are looking to re-tool or rebuild. This is an extension that a team signs when they want to capitalize on the next few years. With this extension, the Canucks have seemingly given themselves a green light to operate in a win-at-all-costs manner in the short term. For a franchise still waiting on its first Stanley Cup victory, that’s a sensible choice to make.
The challenge for the Canucks with this contract comes in terms of how it impacts the rest of GM Patrik Allvin’s roster construction. The team’s captain and second-line center, Bo Horvat, is set to hit free agency next summer. With Miller now extended, Elias Pettersson capable of playing center, and other long-term contracts already on their books for Quinn Hughes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland, and Ilya Mikheyev, will the Canucks be able to finalize a Horvat extension? Should they?
That’s an issue for the team to solve after next season, and perhaps the answer can come in the form of shedding their relatively highly-priced middle-of-the-lineup players such as Tanner Pearson and Jason Dickinson. For this season, the mandate for coach Bruce Boudreau is clear: win as many games as possible and try to go on a playoff run. There are those who believed the Canucks would be best served to enter into a rebuild, and with this contract, it’s clear that’s not the direction the organization will pursue.
Will it work out for them? At this point, we don’t know. But what we do know is that the Canucks have found a way to retain one of their most talented players for what could end up being the rest of his playing days.
There will be those who don’t like the cost of this contract or the term that’s attached, and that’s understandable. Retaining J.T. Miller‘s services will cost the Canucks a lot of money over the next few years, and the team’s front office has chosen to accept the immense risks of that come along with that commitment. But if Allvin and team president Jim Rutherford want to give the Canucks the best possible chance of winning a Stanley Cup in the next couple of seasons, there really was no other choice they could make.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Snapshots: Senators Defense, Couture, Stralman
The Ottawa Senators are intent on competing for a playoff spot next season, and their offseason moves have reflected that intention. The team spent major resources in both cap space and draft picks to add some star talent, and the result of those expenditures is that Claude Giroux and Alex DeBrincat will be wearing red and black this upcoming season. But while the team’s offensive attack is significantly improved from last season, less attention has been paid to their defense.
In an interview with Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, Senators coach D.J. Smith revealed what his plans are for the team’s defense corps. Smith stated that he intends to pair top prospect and rookie defenseman Jake Sanderson with veteran blueliner Travis Hamonic to start camp. That pairing would go along with a more established pairing of Thomas Chabot and Artem Zub, one that will presumably handle the team’s toughest minutes. This news is not a major surprise, although it could be to those who are low on the current makeup of the Senators’ blueline. Much had been made about the Senators’ pursuit of an additional top-four defenseman this summer, but it seems that those pursuits have concluded, at least for the time being.
Now, for some other notes from across the NHL:
- While the San Jose Sharks’ new era under GM Mike Grier began with a trade of veteran defenseman Brent Burns, don’t expect a similar departure for other Sharks star veterans, namely Logan Couture. In speaking to Corey Masisiak of The Athletic, Couture said that when asked, as Burns was, about potentially being traded, Couture “didn’t think twice about it.” (subscription link) Couture is seemingly all-in on the Sharks returning to contention next season, and for the team to have any chance of success next season they’ll need their veteran centerman to continue to play like a quality top-six center.
- The Montreal Canadiens made some moves to shake up their team this summer, and their most significant move on defense came with the trade of Jeff Petry to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In addition to losing Petry, the Canadiens also dealt Alexander Romanov to the New York Islanders. The team added Mike Matheson in the Petry deal, but is still short one NHL defenseman from where they were last year. That has led some, including The Athletic’s Marc Antoine Godin, to suggest that the Canadiens add a veteran defenseman before this upcoming year. (subscription link) Godin specifically names veteran defenseman Anton Stralman as someone the Canadiens should target, given his experience and track record of reliability. Stralman skated in the third-most minutes per game of any Arizona Coyotes player last season and would compete for a role on Montreal’s right side with Chris Wideman, David Savard, and Justin Barron.
2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Sixth 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 2008 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: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning (1)
2nd Overall: Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings (2)
3rd Overall: Roman Josi, Atlanta Thrashers (38)
4th Overall: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues (4)
5th Overall: Erik Karlsson, Toronto Maple Leafs (15)
If this poll was done a few years ago, Karlsson may have challenged for the top spot given how incredible his early career was. The high-flying defenseman won the Norris Trophy in his third season, another in his sixth, and was the runner-up in years seven and eight. There have been few defensemen in the modern era with such a dominant stretch, and it culminated in the 2017 playoffs when Karlsson nearly carried the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup Final (seemingly by himself at times), leading the team in scoring while playing more than 28 minutes a night.
After some injury-plagued seasons and a massive contract that has made him a financial anchor in San Jose, Karlsson’s career has certainly plateaued and made him the fifth pick in our hindsight draft.
We now move on to the sixth pick and the first real “bust” of the 2008 draft.
The early history of the Columbus Blue Jackets was filled with draft-day mistakes. Rostislav Klesla, Pascal Leclaire, Nikolai Zherdev, Alexandre Picard, Gilbert Brule. Not exactly the definition of a Hall of Fame lineup. By 2008 though, things were starting to look up. The team had obviously hit with Rick Nash, who had become a superstar by that point, and the previous two drafts had produced Derick Brassard and Jakub Voracek in the first round (not to mention Steve Mason in the third).
Unfortunately, 2008 wouldn’t be so kind, at least at the top of the board.
After seeing four straight defensemen come off the board with Doughty, Zach Bogosian, Pietrangelo, and Luke Schenn, the Blue Jackets took the podium and went with an incredibly skilled Russian sniper by the name of Nikita Filatov, who had made it to the top domestic league even as a teenager. At the time, some claimed that there was no player in the draft with a higher offensive ceiling than the young winger, who had put up ridiculous numbers in the lower levels in Russia, and dominated at international tournaments against his own age group.
Unlike most Russian players, Filatov wasn’t signed to a contract back home and could come to North America right away, which he did, joining the Syracuse Crunch of the AHL after an early-season stint with the Blue Jackets. The talent was there and during a January recall, he showed it off, recording a hat trick in his sixth NHL game, despite seeing just 16 shifts that night.
If you are wondering why his career page includes just 47 more NHL games, a total of 53 before he went back to the KHL (and also never really developed there), part of Aaron Portzline’s retrospective for The Athletic earlier this summer may have an answer:
Filatov was undeniably skilled and a world-class sniper, but coaches were trying to show him the reward that could be his if he simply followed the puck to the net and showed even a half-hearted willingness to play in traffic.
After four or five clips, Filatov stepped back from the screen as if he was slightly startled. He looked at coach Rob Riley and the video assistant and said, flatly: “Filly don’t do rebounds.”
Filatov would finish his NHL career with just six goals and 14 points, while seven other players in the 2008 top 10 are still active in the league today. It was a devastating miss for an organization that made it to the playoffs for the first time in 2009 and desperately could have used a top-end defenseman to help Nash take the team to the next level–especially because they landed plenty of offensive help in Cam Atkinson way down in the sixth round that year.
So there is no doubt that the Blue Jackets made a mistake in selecting Filatov but who should they have gone with instead? With the sixth overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, who will the Columbus Blue Jackets select? Cast your vote below.
2008 Redraft: Sixth Overall
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John Carlson 56% (594)
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Jacob Markstrom 10% (102)
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Braden Holtby 7% (71)
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Jordan Eberle 6% (66)
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Cam Atkinson 4% (42)
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Jared Spurgeon 4% (38)
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T.J. Brodie 2% (24)
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Adam Henrique 2% (19)
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Tyler Myers 1% (15)
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Matt Martin 1% (11)
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Josh Bailey 1% (10)
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Gustav Nyquist 1% (10)
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Travis Hamonic 1% (9)
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Zach Bogosian 1% (8)
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Luke Schenn 1% (8)
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Michael Del Zotto 1% (7)
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Jake Gardiner 1% (6)
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Derek Stepan 0% (5)
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Jake Allen 0% (4)
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Justin Schultz 0% (4)
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Colin Wilson 0% (4)
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Tyler Ennis 0% (3)
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Mikkel Boedker 0% (3)
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Marco Scandella 0% (2)
Total votes: 1,065
[Mobile users click here to vote!]
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Edmonton Oilers Sign Ryan Murray
The Edmonton Oilers have signed defenseman Ryan Murray to a one-year, $750K contract, adding some depth to their group.
Murray, 28, is coming off a year spent with the Colorado Avalanche, one which resulted in a Stanley Cup championship–though he had little to do with it. The veteran defenseman didn’t play a single game in the playoffs for Colorado and suited up just 37 times during the regular season, recording four assists.
Interestingly enough, Edmonton fans will certainly be plenty familiar with the player, given his connection to one of the most infamous draft misses in team history. In 2012, the Oilers decided to pass on Murray, one of a huge number of defensemen that were ranked highly, and select Nail Yakupov first overall. The Columbus Blue Jackets would nab Murray next–a move that still might be considered a mistake, after so many others from the first round went on to star in the NHL.
It’s never been quite that level for Murray, who simply couldn’t stay healthy through the early part of his career and lost important development time because of it. Even in his post-draft year of 2012-13, he played only 23 games for the Everett Silvertips, a trend that would continue as he transitioned into the NHL.
Now a decade after being drafted, Murray has played in only 432 regular season games at the highest level, despite seeing just a single AHL contest in his entire career. At times it has seemed like he is on the injured list more than he’s on the ice, something that he’ll try to change as he heads back to Canada for the first time in his career.
The Regina, Saskatchewan native is an interesting addition for the Oilers, who already project to have a pretty full blue line for the upcoming season. There’s absolutely no risk with a league minimum deal like this one, though it will put a little more pressure on a young player like Philip Broberg to perform, given he is still waiver exempt.
Winnipeg Jets Sign Sam Gagner
The Winnipeg Jets have signed Sam Gagner to a one-year, $750K contract, giving the veteran forward a new home for the upcoming season.
Gagner, 33, will be joining the seventh team in his long, successful career that has resulted in more than 500 points and nearly 1,000 games. Perhaps best known for the incredible eight-point game that he had in 2012, the versatile center has been an effective middle-six player for some time.
Last season was actually something of a renaissance for Gagner after his career appeared to be winding down. In 81 games with the Detroit Red Wings, he scored 13 goals and 31 points while logging more short-handed ice time than any other player on the team.
It’s that penalty-killing prowess that the Jets may be interested in, given they finished 28th last season in that category, allowing a goal 25% of the time. Since they lost Andrew Copp and Paul Stastny, two of their PK centers, there should be plenty of opportunities for Gagner to take over that role.
With Mark Scheifele, Pierre-Luc Dubois, and Adam Lowry in place down the middle, Gagner may end up playing some wing at even-strength as well, depending on how things shake out. While he has played center a ton in his career, the last few years have seen him line up on the wall quite a bit as well.
It isn’t a real difference-making signing for the Jets but Gagner does represent a nice veteran add on a minimum contract, with the potential for a bit of surplus value if he can fill a need on the everyday roster.
Minor Transactions: 09/02/22
Just a few weeks from now, NHL teams will be taking the ice to do battle in the preseason. Meanwhile, minor league and European clubs continue to make additions to their own rosters in preparation for the regular season. As always, we’ll keep track of today’s notable minor moves right here.
- Max Martin, who played 13 games for the Texas Stars last season, has signed a new one-year deal with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits for 2022-23. The WHL champion went undrafted out of junior but had inked a deal with Texas to make the jump to the AHL. After just 22 games, he’ll now compete in the ECHL for the upcoming season.
- CapFriendly completed a bit of housekeeping today, moving Bogdan Trineyev, Adam Sykora, Adam Edstrom, Shakir Mukhamadullin, Dmitri Ovchinnikov, Marco Kasper, Noah Ostlund, and Mikael Pyyhtia to the “loaned” designation, indicating they will be playing overseas this season. There are no real surprises among the group, though it does include some top prospects that should be in North America in the coming years.
- Alex D’Orio, who had been on an entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins until this summer, has signed with IF Bjorkloven of the Swedish second tier. D’Orio became an unrestricted free agent when the Penguins decided to not issue him a qualifying offer.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Kodie Curran Signs In KHL
When the Anaheim Ducks signed Kodie Curran in 2020, he came with a considerable amount of hype. Though the offensive defenseman had never before played in the NHL, he had dominated several European leagues, including winning the SHL Most Valuable Player award after putting up 49 points in 48 games. Because of his age, he wasn’t limited to an entry-level contract, so the Ducks gave him a two-year, one-way deal that paid him $1MM in each season.
Unfortunately, that hype quickly evaporated as his high-risk style limited him to the AHL. Curran played in 24 games for the San Diego Gulls in 2020-21, scoring 13 points, and then was waived at the beginning of the 2021-22 season. He would clear, spend most of the year with the Gulls, and then be included in the Hampus Lindholm deal at the deadline, going to the Providence Bruins in the process.
Now, after making $2MM and never seeing the NHL, Curran is headed back overseas. He has signed a one-year deal with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, where he will once again try to dominate a league outside of North America. Given that he will turn 33 in December, it seems unlikely that he’ll ever get a better chance at the NHL, and with so much success overseas it wouldn’t be surprising to see him finish his career somewhere other than the AHL.
In all, his contract with the Ducks resulted in 29 points in 62 minor league contests.
Jimmy Vesey Signs Professional Tryout
After being linked to the New York Rangers last month, Jimmy Vesey has agreed to attend camp on a professional tryout, according to CapFriendly. The veteran forward is an unrestricted free agent after his one-year, $800K contract with the New Jersey Devils expired this summer.
It’s been quite a career so far for the 29-year-old Vesey, who was once considered the “next big thing” out of college hockey. Selected in the third round of the 2012 draft, he became such a dominant force at Harvard that there were sweepstakes when he decided not to sign with the Nashville Predators–the team that had picked him.
First, the Buffalo Sabres sent a third-round pick to the Predators for a chance to sign him before he hit free agency, and then when he turned them down, several clubs put on the full-court press. He decided then to sign with the Rangers, and he would be relatively effective for them in his first three seasons, scoring 16, 17, and 17 goals. A trade then took him back to Buffalo, before stops in Toronto, Vancouver, and New Jersey have led him to today.
Given the fact that he has just 22 goals in 155 games since leaving the Rangers, it makes sense why he might want to go back. One might have expected him to be able to land more than just a PTO but rosters are tight at this point in the summer. He’ll now have to try and showcase his skills and land himself a contract in New York or elsewhere, even if it ends up being a two-way deal.
Vesey has never played a single game in the AHL and would need to clear waivers to be sent there, but at this point in his career, it is unclear whether he will be able to secure a full-time NHL gig.
Anaheim Ducks Sign Three To PTOs
The time of the tryout is upon us. Now that teams have pretty much filled out their rosters, players left without contracts will begin to accept professional tryouts with invitations to training camps. Just yesterday, Tyler Pitlick and James Neal were both added this way. CapFriendly has added a few more to that list, reporting that Brent Gates, Nikolas Brouillard, and Josh Healey have all signed PTOs with the Anaheim Ducks.
These are not players expected to challenge for NHL roster spots; instead, they will compete to try and secure two-way NHL deals, which would at least give them the chance of a call-up. None of the three have appeared at the highest level to this point, though all have varying degrees of success in the AHL.
Gates, 25, was a third-round pick of the Ducks in 2015 and has bounced back and forth between the AHL and ECHL ever since. This season, he saw 45 games with the San Diego Gulls and set a career-high with 12 goals and 23 points. Gates never did sign his entry-level contract, meaning his exclusive draft rights expired a number of years ago, but he has remained with the organization ever since.
Brouillard, 27, went undrafted out of the QMJHL and played one season in the ECHL before going to school, attending McGill University for three seasons. He has been with the Gulls since, and scored 39 points in 66 games last season–to go along with his 131 penalty minutes.
Healey, 28, was actually a pretty highly sought-after talent out of college a few years ago, and eventually signed with the Calgary Flames. His uber-physical game didn’t translate all that well to the professional ranks, however, and he never did make it to the NHL. The Flames left him unqualified, and after a one-year deal with the Nashville Predators, he played last season on an AHL deal. In 57 games for the Milwaukee Admirals, he scored eight points and racked up 89 penalty minutes.