Pittsburgh Penguins Extend Mike Sullivan
Mike Sullivan is locked in long-term as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Today, the team announced a three-year extension for the esteemed coach, beginning after the 2023-24 season and lasting through 2026-27.
Sullivan gave a statement today on his extension:
My family and I are excited to continue the journey in Pittsburgh. Words can’t express the respect and gratitude I have for what we have accomplished during my tenure with the Penguins. It is a testament to the character of the people and players in this organization, and the standard of excellence that we have established collectively. I’m grateful to Fenway Sports Group and the Penguins management group for their trust and confidence in me.
Sullivan is quickly transforming into one of the most important figures in Penguins’ history. His tenure as head coach has been nothing short of elite from a management perspective, guiding the team to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017 while also consistently keeping a standard of excellence throughout regular season play. The significance and amount of injuries that the Penguins have faced, especially in recent years, have been overcome largely in part due to Sullivan’s coaching.
In 507 games behind the Penguins bench, Sullivan has a record of 297-156-54 or a points percentage of .639%. He has a playoff record of 44-38.
If he remains Pittsburgh’s coach for the duration of his new extension, it’ll be at least a 12-year tenure for Sullivan as the team’s head coach. With seven seasons under his belt already, he’s been the longest continuously-serving coach in Penguins history, and he’s tied with Eddie Johnston for total seasons served behind the bench as head coach for the organization.
In the coming years, Sullivan could be given the tall task of leading the Penguins out of the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin era. Both of their contracts expire prior to 2027, and while they surely may re-sign, it’s unlikely that they’ll be at the same dominant level of play. Without a slam-dunk prospect in the system to solidify the future, the team will rely heavily on Sullivan’s coaching performance to keep them competitive.
But that’s all Sullivan’s done so far in Pittsburgh — keeping them competitive. The team has the longest active playoff streak in the NHL, dating back to 2007, and it was one he singlehandedly saved in 2016 after taking over for Mike Johnston midseason after just a 15-10-3 start. Going 33-16-5 the rest of the way, Sullivan and the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in the first two seasons he served behind the bench, and while their playoff success has been limited since that point, Sullivan’s managed to keep the ship turned in the right direction.
Keltie Jeri-Leon Signs PTO With Boston Bruins
Per CapFriendly, forward Keltie Jeri-Leon has signed a professional tryout contract with the Boston Bruins.
In 2021-22, the 22-year-old forward played his first professional season, notching 19 goals and 35 points in 57 games with the ECHL’s Maine Mariners, Boston’s ECHL affiliate. He also appeared in two games on loan to AHL Providence, scoring his first AHL goal in the process.
The undrafted forward has little to no NHL upside, but a strong rookie ECHL season could parlay into a more significant AHL role next year. Unsigned for 2022-23, Jeri-Leon has an opportunity to receive an AHL contract from Providence and continue his development within the Bruins organization.
The product of Kelowna, BC spent five seasons in the WHL with four different teams before turning pro, last serving as an alternate captain for the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2020-21.
Columbus Blue Jackets Sign Liam Hawel To PTO
The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed center Liam Hawel to a professional tryout contract, per CapFriendly.
23 years old now, Hawel was originally a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Stars in 2017. After not receiving an entry-level deal from Dallas, Hawel signed an AHL contract with the Montreal Canadiens for 2020-21 after wrapping up his junior career with the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
The COVID-related chaos of the 2020-21 campaign limited Hawel to just seven games in AHL Laval, though, where he tallied just two assists in seven games. Hawel then took the extremely rare step of going to university after starting his professional career, tallying 37 points in 24 games last season for St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
Not signed to any sort of contract for 2022-23, Hawel needs a strong training camp performance just to earn an AHL contract in Cleveland. He could earn an NHL contract too if he really impresses, especially given the organization’s weak minor-league depth at forward, at least in terms of those signed to NHL deals.
Vegas Golden Knights Acquire Adin Hill
The Vegas Golden Knights announced that they have acquired goalie Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2024 fourth-round pick. The deal seemingly solves the issue of San Jose’s goalie trio while giving Vegas another legitimate NHL goaltender in the absence of Robin Lehner this season.
As Vegas tries to shake off missing the playoffs for the first time in team history, there was a clear need for some change and to re-allocate their salary. Most notably, the team re-signed forward Reilly Smith, acquired the contract of defenseman Shea Weber, who they’ll place on LTIR, signed forward Phil Kessel, and dealt forward Max Pacioretty to the Carolina Hurricanes. However, the plan became problematic when it was revealed that star goalie Robin Lehner would have surgery and miss the entire 2022-23 season.
After losing Lehner, and before making the trade, Vegas did have two goalies with NHL experience in that of Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson, however neither had been a regular starter in the NHL. Brossoit had played parts of eight NHL seasons, but had never played more than 24 games in a season, those 24 coming in 2021-22. Certainly not a bad goalie by any stretch, Brossoit’s career .905 save-percentage and 2.84 goals-against average realistically may not have been numbers the Golden Knights trusted the bulk of their season in net with. Thompson brings with him just 20 games of NHL experience, but was a key piece in helping Vegas make a push for the playoffs with a remarkable final few weeks in net. His .914 save-percentage and 2.66 goals-against average could be sustainable as a full-time goalie for Vegas, but given his limited experience, might not be the solution to their immediate need for a starter. A fairly interesting consideration, knowing what we do now, was that only a few days ago, Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon stated that the team would be running with a tandem of Brossoit and Thompson in net, if possible. Between all three goalies, only Thompson is waivers exempt.
Hill, similarly to Brossoit, has never been a starting goaltender in the NHL, however he does have more intriguing numbers. For his career, Hill carries a .908 save-percentage and 2.74 goals-against average, with a similar .906 and 2.68 in 2021-22, where he played 25 games, a career-high. Also of note, Hill spent his career with the Arizona Coyotes prior to being dealt to the Sharks last offseason, two teams that have struggled to an extent. With Vegas, who is generally a competitive, defensively sound team, Hill could very well see his numbers improve.
The trade seems to be good value for Vegas, giving up a fourth round pick for Hill, who was dealt just a year ago with a seventh-round selection in exchange for young goalie Josef Korenar and a second-round pick. The two packages for Hill, book-ending what was arguably the best year of his career, may not be a great look for San Jose, however the team’s tricky situation with three goaltenders meant that they would likely be forced to trade one for less than what they would want, lose one to waivers eventually, or run the always unpopular three-goalie system. Now for 2022-23, it appears San Jose will run a tandem of James Reimer and Kaapo Kahkonen in net, at least to start. Also worth considering, after trading promising defenseman Jacob Middleton to get Kahkonen and believing they could get a semi-substantial return for Reimer, neither seemed like a candidate to be traded for any less than San Jose believed they were worth.
On the salary cap front, the deal puts Vegas $10.24MM over the cap ceiling, but with the ability to put Weber ($7.86MM) and Lehner ($5MM) on LTIR, they will effectively have $2.62MM with which to work now. If they do wind up with Nolan Patrick ($1.2MM) on LTIR, that would increase to $3.82MM. Either number would seem comfortable, however the team does still need to re-sign current RFA defenseman Nicolas Hague, who could eat up most, if not all, of the lower number.
Charlotte Checkers, Hartford Wolf Pack Make Coaching Hires
A pair of AHL teams have announced coaching hires, including a trio of former NHLers going behind the bench. The Charlotte Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers, announced the hirings of Jared Staal and Bobby Sanguinetti as assistant coaches on the staff of Head Coach Geordie Kinnear. The two newest hires also join former teammate Zac Dalpe on Kinnear’s staff. Heading up north, the Hartford Wolf Pack have hired Jamie Tardif as an assistant coach and named Casey Torres as Player Development Assistant. Hartford currently serves as the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers.
Tardif, 37, comes to the Wolfpack via the Soo Greyhounds of the OHL, where he served as an assistant coach since 2018-19. A former player himself, Tardif’s first coaching experience interestingly enough came as a Player/Assistant Coach with the ECHL’s Quad City Mallards in 2017-18, his last season as a player. Though he played just two games, Tardif was an NHLer nonetheless as a member of the 2012-13 Boston Bruins. Torres, a former scout with the Peterborough Petes of the OHL and the Pittsburgh Penguins, joined the Wolf Pack last season as an assistant coach. Now in a different role, Torres’ diverse experience in hockey should serve well in this position.
Staal, 32, and Sanguinetti, 34, represent interesting hires, joining the coaching staff of a team they each spent a large portion of their playing career with. The two former teammates now join forces again to work under one of their former bosses: Kinnear an assistant coach with the Checkers during the pair’s time on the Checkers. Sanguinetti joins the coaching ranks for the first time, finishing his playing career after the 2019-20 season, which he spent in Germany.
This won’t be Staal’s first coaching gig, however, as he spent the previous three years with the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL, the first two as an assistant coach and the most recent as an associate coach. Though neither player has any coaching or executive experience with Charlotte, their history playing for the team and under the current head coach should serve them well and bring a sense of familiarity that could ease the transition and help them and the team hit the ground running.
Minor Transactions: 08/29/22
The calendar is about to turn to September and training camp is right around the corner. Still, there are several NHL free agents still available and AHL rosters to fill out. As always, we’ll keep track of any notable minor transactions that take place, even in the dog days of summer.
- The Cleveland Monsters have signed Justin Richards to a one-year, AHL contract. The undrafted forward played one game for the New York Rangers in 2020-21 but has been stuck in the minor leagues ever since. In 67 appearances last year with the Hartford Wolf Pack, he scored 14 points.
- Nikolai Chebykin, who still appears on the Toronto Maple Leafs’ reserve list, was traded in the KHL and will play for Vladivostok this season. The 25-year-old was a seventh-round pick in 2016 who never came to North America, meaning his NHL rights will be held indefinitely.
- The Calgary Wranglers have signed three forwards to two-way, AHL/ECHL deals, getting Matt Marcinew, Lucas Feuk, and Calder Brooks inked. Marcinew spent last season overseas playing in Finland and Sweden, while Brooks was mostly with the Rapid City Rush. Feuk, by far the youngest of the three, was a fourth-round pick of the Flames in 2019 and will be entering his first professional season in North America.
San Jose Sharks Sign Jonah Gadjovich
After reporters last week indicated that talks were getting close between the San Jose Sharks and Jonah Gadjovich, the restricted free agent has apparently come to terms with the club. The two sides have agreed to a one-year, two-way contract; CapFriendly reports it will pay the young forward $750K in the NHL, $120K in the AHL, and includes a $150K minor league guarantee.
Gadjovich, 23, was claimed off waivers at the start of last season by the Sharks, after failing to make the Vancouver Canucks roster out of camp. The 2017 second-round pick provided basically no offense, scoring just one goal and three points in 43 games but still managed to become something of a fan favorite due to his incredibly physical game.
The 6’2″ winger racked up 104 hits and 74 penalty minutes despite averaging fewer than nine minutes of ice time a night, racking up ten fighting majors in the process.
It’s that physicality, combined with some sneaky-good goal-scoring ability that made Gadjovich such a high pick, though he hasn’t shown any of the latter so far at the NHL level. In his last AHL season, however, the big winger did have 15 goals in 19 games, continuing to put the puck in the net at a high rate.
If the Sharks can coax any of that ability out of him in the coming years, they could have a valuable contributor for their bottom six. Otherwise, they’ll have to decide if a dressing pseudo-enforcer is possible in today’s NHL.
It is worth noting that despite his limited minutes, Gadjovich did actually still attempt 69 shots but only hit the net on 36 of those and then had an incredibly low shooting percentage of just 2.8%. If that happens to be more unlucky than skill-based, there may be some upside if given a bigger opportunity in the lineup this season.
2008 NHL Draft Take Two: Fourth 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)
The 2020 Norris Trophy winner was able to edge out a couple of other elite defensemen, as more than 46% of our readers felt Josi was the right choice at third overall. Comparing him to the Zach Bogosian pick that the Thrashers actually went with will certainly drive Winnipeg Jets fans crazy, as Josi has spent his entire career to this point with the team that picked him and is coming off a 96-point campaign that puts him at the very top of the list for offensive seasons by defensemen in the salary cap era.
After Stamkos, Doughty, and Josi come off the board, we move to fourth overall which was held by the St. Louis Blues.
Despite his name not coming up in the first three picks of our redraft, the Blues have never regretted their selection of Alex Pietrangelo. After watching Doughty and Bogosian go off the board, the Blues decided to go another defenseman and selected the King City, Ontario native who had just put up 13 goals and 53 points with the Niagara IceDogs.
Pietrangelo, who actually played with Stamkos on the same summer league minor hockey team, had been a top prospect in the Toronto area for a long time and was seen as a much more well-rounded option than some of the other defensemen available at that point. He had been ranked fifth among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and seemed like a potential franchise defenseman that would have been in the running for an even higher pick in some weaker years.
That’s exactly what the Blues got, though it did take a little bit of time for Pietrangelo to actually get there. Unlike Doughty and Bogosian, who both went to the NHL as teenage defensemen, Pietrangelo would only play a handful of games before being sent back to the OHL in both 2008-09 and 2009-10. By the time he arrived full-time in 2010-11, he was pretty much a finished product and scored 11 goals and 43 points while logging 22 minutes a night.
He would have an “A” on his sweater by his fourth season (the same year he won an Olympic gold medal) and would eventually take over as captain of the Blues in 2016.
One of the most consistent two-way defenders in the league, Pietrangelo has 517 points in 879 career regular season games and has averaged nearly 25 minutes. He led the Blues to the Stanley Cup in 2019, even scoring the championship-clinching goal.
Because of that Cup, St. Louis likely wouldn’t trade that pick for anything. But would they have been better off with someone else? Would that Blues team have been even more dangerous with another player?
With the fourth pick in the 2008 NHL Draft, who should the St. Louis Blues select? Cast your vote below.
2008 Redraft: Fourth Overall
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Alex Pietrangelo 47% (657)
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Erik Karlsson 33% (460)
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John Carlson 11% (149)
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Jacob Markstrom 3% (41)
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Braden Holtby 2% (22)
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Jared Spurgeon 1% (13)
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Jordan Eberle 1% (11)
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Cam Atkinson 1% (9)
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T.J. Brodie 0% (7)
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Derek Stepan 0% (7)
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Zach Bogosian 0% (5)
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Matt Martin 0% (5)
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Adam Henrique 0% (4)
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Tyler Ennis 0% (4)
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Josh Bailey 0% (3)
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Justin Schultz 0% (2)
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Michael Del Zotto 0% (2)
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Jake Gardiner 0% (2)
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Jake Allen 0% (1)
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Colin Wilson 0% (1)
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Marco Scandella 0% (1)
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Tyler Myers 0% (1)
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Mikkel Boedker 0% (1)
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Gustav Nyquist 0% (1)
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Travis Hamonic 0% (0)
Total votes: 1,409
Philadelphia Flyers Sign Hayden Hodgson
After working his way up from the low minors to earn an NHL contract last season, Hayden Hodgson has cashed in again. The Philadelphia Flyers have signed Hodgson to a two-year contract that will carry an average annual value of $800K in the NHL. The deal is two-way in 2022-23, meaning he will earn a lower number when playing in the AHL, and one-way in 2023-24.
If you want a story of perseverance, look no further than the 26-year-old Hodgson, who was a third-round pick in his OHL draft, went undrafted by NHL teams, and spent parts of four seasons in the ECHL before becoming an AHL regular in 2021-22.
Because of his outstanding play for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, he earned an NHL contract in March and played six games with the Flyers down the stretch, scoring three points and racking up 11 penalty minutes.
The 6’2″ winger blends skill, work ethic, and physicality to provide a pretty interesting late-blooming package, one that has a chance to play more regular minutes with the Flyers this season.
Landing a one-way contract is no joke for a player who had bounced around the ECHL up until a year ago, playing for the Florida Everblades, Manchester Monarchs, Wichita Thunder, Reading Royals, Wheeling Nailers, and Utah Grizzlies (not to mention Detva HC of the Slovak league) between stints in the AHL.
It also takes care of the last remaining RFA for the Flyers, who signed Wade Allison and Linus Hogberg yesterday.
Pacific Notes: Weegar, Flames, Stone
The Calgary Flames quickly signed newcomer Jonathan Huberdeau to an extension after acquiring him from the Florida Panthers, and will now try to do the same with MacKenzie Weegar, according to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
Weegar met with Flames general manager Brad Treliving last week and both sides apparently have had good discussions about a long-term extension. Calgary, says Pagnotta, hopes to have something done by training camp or at the very latest, the start of the regular season.
- On the same NHL Network appearance, Pagnotta also noted that the Flames are still looking to add another free agent forward, mentioning Evan Rodrigues and Sonny Milano in particular. Rodrigues had 19 goals and 43 points in 82 games last season, while Milano racked up 14 goals and 34 points in 66 games.
- When Jackie Spiegel’s latest piece came out for NHL.com, examining the health of Vegas Golden Knights star Jack Eichel, one line caught the attention of many fans. It read that Mark Stone would miss training camp as he continues to recover from back surgery in May. Golden Knights insider Gary Lawless tried to clarify, noting that just because the team has indicated that Stone would be ready for the start of the regular season, it doesn’t necessarily mean he will be missing training camp. A return to full health for Stone would be a huge boost for Vegas, after he was limited to just 37 games last season.