Edmonton Oilers Update Smith Status; Sign Pickard
The Edmonton Oilers have their starting goaltender in Jack Campbell, and now they have a third-string option as well. The Oilers are bringing in Calvin Pickard to play behind Campbell and Stuart Skinner on a two-year, two-way contract. The deal carries an average annual value of $762.5K
That leaves Mike Smith on the outside, and general manager Ken Holland updated the veteran’s status today. “I’m not expecting Smitty to play this year,” Holland told reporters including Jason Gregor of TSN, explaining why they needed someone like Pickard to come into the organization.
Smith, 40, is expected to move to long-term injured reserve as he deals with “several” chronic injuries. That will give the Oilers some additional cap flexibility, and potentially end Smith’s career after 670 regular season appearances. His overall record with Edmonton during that time was 56-27-10 with a .913 save percentage, helping the club all the way to the Western Conference Finals this year.
If it is the end, he finishes 36th all-time in games played by a goaltender, 40th all-time in wins. Not a Hall of Fame candidate, but a good goaltender for a very long time in the league.
Pickard, meanwhile, spent most of this season in the minor leagues, posting a .918 with the Grand Rapids Griffins. The 30-year-old has bounced around the league for the last decade, appearing in 116 NHL contests.
While he represents a solid minor league option, if he’s playing regularly for the Oilers this season they will be in trouble.
Claude Giroux To Sign With Ottawa Senators
12:53 pm: The team has indeed signed Giroux to a three-year deal worth $19.5MM in total. Giroux will earn $7MM in the first two years of the deal and $5.5MM in year 3.
11:03 am: TSN’s Pierre LeBrun is reporting that the Ottawa Senators have signed veteran forward Claude Giroux to a three-year contract carrying a cap hit of $6.5MM.
Giroux, 34, had never played for an NHL team other than the Philadelphia Flyers before this season. A deadline deal, one that was highly influenced by his no-movement clause, took him to the Florida Panthers, where he managed to show he can still be a top-end offensive player. With the goal-happy Panthers, he scored 23 points in 18 games down the stretch and then was still effective in the playoffs, even if Florida’s offense dried up in other areas.
Now, as he enters free agency, it isn’t a return to Philadelphia but a homecoming of another sort. Though originally from Hearst, Giroux and his family moved to Ottawa when he was still just a teenager, giving him the chance to go to high school in the area and play high-level minor hockey. Originally passed over in the OHL draft, he would eventually find himself joining the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques, just across the river. In three seasons for Gatineau, he recorded 399 points, including a franchise-record 51 in 19 playoff games during the 2007-08 season.
His No. 28 is now retired by the Olympiques, and if the deal with Ottawa is completed, he’ll get a chance to wear it in front of the home crowd once again (if Connor Brown will give it up, at least).
Though he isn’t the MVP-caliber player of his youth, Giroux’s addition to the Senators lineup would be substantial. He and DeBrincat instantly legitimize a forward group that was previously considered young, talented, but unproven, and make them a force to be reckoned with. While there are still holes on the roster, Ottawa is making a case as a real contender in the Atlantic Division.
Darcy Kuemper Expected To Sign With Capitals
12:46 pm: The Capitals have officially signed Kuemper to a five-year deal worth $5.25MM per season.
6:57 am: While the goalie shuffle on the first day of free agency won’t be as big as it has been in recent years, a couple of notable goalies will be on the move. One of those is Darcy Kuemper who appears to have his next team in place as ESPN’s Emily Kaplan and TSN’s Bob McKenzie report (Twitter links) that the netminder will become the new starter for the Capitals once free agency officially opens up in a few hours. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli adds (via Twitter) that the deal could be in the range of five years at $5.5MM per season.
The 32-year-old is coming off a successful season with Colorado that saw him post a 2.54 GAA and a .921 SV% in 57 starts while battling through injuries during the playoffs to help lead the Avs to the Stanley Cup, helping make him the top-ranked goalie on our Top 50 Free Agents list. It worked out quite well for him that former Colorado goalie Philipp Grubauer decided to go last summer, prompting the Avalanche to flip Conor Timmins and a first-round pick to Arizona to get what turns out to be just one year of the netminder although having won the Cup, they certainly won’t mind.
Kuemper’s numbers are a considerable improvement on what Washington received from their netminders last season as the four goalies they used combined for a 2.81 GAA and a .901 SV%. Considering that the Caps were still decent in the goals allowed department (allowing the 12th-fewest in the NHL) in 2021-22, Kuemper’s addition should certainly make them a stingier team.
Washington will still be on the lookout for another goaltender as both of their regulars from last season are gone – Vitek Vanecek to New Jersey in a draft-day trade while Ilya Samsonov was non-tendered on Monday. Even veteran depth goalie Pheonix Copley is set to hit the open market later today. They enter the day with nearly $9MM in cap room per CapFriendly before factoring in LTIR possibilities and a good chunk of that money will be heading towards this new tandem.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Colorado Avalanche Sign Charles Hudon, Andreas Englund
The Colorado Eagles will be happy today, as their NHL affiliate has provided a top forward. Charles Hudon has signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Colorado Avalanche according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. The deal carries an NHL salary of $750K, an AHL salary of $400K, and a minor league guarantee of $450K. The team also announced a one-year deal for defenseman Andreas Englund.
Hudon, 28, is an accomplished AHL scorer and is getting a hefty $450K guarantee as proof of that. Hudon had 30 goals and 57 points in 66 games last season for the Syracuse Crunch and 35 points in 46 games in his last AHL season before that. In 2020-21, Hudon proved he could be productive at other levels of hockey outside of North America, scoring 32 points in 33 games for Lausanne in Switzerland. Hudon joins the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, a team that has lost a few key contributors already today, such as top defenseman Jordan Gross.
One AHL-er who won’t be leaving the Colorado Eagles is Englund. The 26-year-old Stockholm native has re-upped with Colorado on a one-year deal. Englund was a bottom-pairing defenseman for the Eagles playing a very specific style. He’s a big, bruising defenseman who spent 106 minutes in the penalty box last year. The 2014 second-round pick has 33 games of NHL experience and should occupy a similar AHL role in 2022-23 to the one he occupied last season.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Three Players
The Montreal Canadiens are getting some organizational defensive depth in the form of Madison Bowey, Mitchell Stephens, and Anthony Richard. The team lost their AHL affiliate’s number-one defenseman, Xavier Ouellet, to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and another important depth contributor in Laurent Dauphin to the Arizona Coyotes.
In Ouellet’s place comes Bowey, who spent most of last season on the AHL’s Abbotsford Canucks. Bowey, 27, brings speed and a solid transitional game but has never been able to put together his intriguing tools into a more complete game. He had 28 points in 53 games and should play a top-four role in Laval next season.
Stephens, 25, was the 33rd overall pick at the 2015 draft. He spent 2021-22 playing for the GM that drafted him, Steve Yzerman, in Detroit. Stephens struggled in Detroit, with zero goals and six assists in 27 games, and he went unqualified by the team. Stephens is signing in Montreal likely for an AHL role, and he’s proven himself to be a capable AHL center. The Peterborough, Ontario native had eight points in 4 four games in his last bit of AHL action and has shown enough talent to be penciled into Dauphin/Cedric Paquette‘s now-vacated top-of-the-lineup role in Laval.
Richard, also 25, signs with Montreal as another capable AHL-er. Richard had 26 points in 40 games for the Syracuse Crunch last season and had 12 points in 31 games for the Milwaukee Admirals. Richard is an undersized forward with a resume of decent goal-scoring ability at the AHL level and should be a useful middle-six contributor in Laval.
The Athletic’s Rick Dhaliwal was first on Bowey’s deal.
Nashville Predators Sign Three Players
Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg is reporting that former Calgary Flames defender Kevin Gravel is heading to the Nashville Predators organization on a two-year deal. The team will also add AHL Defenseman of the Year Jordan Gross on a two-year deal, according to his agency Bartlett Hockey. Lastly, a third minor-league defenseman joins Nashville in Roland McKeown, who Chris Johnston reports signed a two-year deal.
The first player signed, Gravel, is a big defender with a wealth of professional experience. He has 109 NHL games to his name and has occupied a priority call-up role for the past several seasons. This past season Gravel spent the year with the AHL’s Stockton Heat, registering 14 points in 59 games. Gravel ranked third on the Heat in average time-on-ice per game and saw heavy usage on the team’s penalty kill. That should be the sort of role Gravel plays in the Nashville organization, serving as an important AHL defensive defenseman as well as a safe call-up option in case they run into major injury issues.
The second player is undrafted Notre Dame product Gross, the AHL’s reigning defenseman of the year. Gross is an undersized defenseman who has excelled as an offensive blueliner at the AHL level. He had 65 points in 61 games and 10 points in nine playoff games. Gross operated as the Colorado Eagles’ number-one defenseman and saw significant time on both the power play and penalty kill. If he’s paired with Gravel, he should have even more freedom to act as an offensive generator and could have an even better AHL year than the brilliant one he just finished.
The final signing, Roland McKeown, also comes from the Colorado Eagles, where he played after spending 2020-21 in the SHL. McKeown was the Eagles’ number-four defenseman and featured heavily on their penalty kill. A similar role for him as an AHL top-four defenseman and penalty kill anchor is likely in store for him with the Milwaukee Admirals.
Brendan Lemieux Re-Signs With Los Angeles Kings
Despite not receiving a qualifying offer, Brendan Lemieux is staying in Los Angeles. The bottom-six forward has signed a one-year contract worth $1.35MM for the 2022-23 season, a slight discount over what his QO would have guaranteed.
Lemieux, 26, came to Los Angeles via a 2021 trade from the New York Rangers. Lemieux is a bit of a player, not for his on-ice talent but for his on-ice behavior. In terms of talent level, there isn’t much up for debate. Lemieux is your prototypical “pest” player. Physical, high-energy, and never quiet would all be ways to describe Lemieux’s game. His no-holds-barred game can endear himself to fans just as much as it can frustrate them.
A $1.3MM price tag certainly isn’t unreasonable for a player like Lemieux. There are NHL teams who value the sort of role he plays, and the Kings are one of them. This is an important season in Los Angeles, with the team making aggressive additions in order to secure a return to the playoffs.
Even with his disciplinary issues in mind, this signing illustrates that Lemieux’s hard game is valuable to the group Los Angeles is building and he should be fully capable of continuing his level of play for them for another year.
Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Dustin Tokarski
The Pittsburgh Penguins have effectively moved on from the legend of Louis Domingue, signing former Buffalo Sabre Dustin Tokarski to serve as their third-string netminder. The contract is a one-year, one-way deal worth $775,000.
Tokarski, 32, has spent most of his professional career as a quality third goalie and should be able to handle that role successfully in Pittsburgh. Tokarski is actually coming off of perhaps the most successful tenure of his career, as he’s played in more NHL games in Buffalo than on any other stop in his career. Tokarski, taking advantage of an unsettled situation in net in Buffalo, played 29 games in 2021-22, posting an .899 save percentage. That’s not an elite number, there were games where Tokarski certainly looked like an NHL goalie.
This will be Tokarski’s second tour of duty with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, the team he played with in 2019-20. He had a .924 save percentage in 18 games there, and that memory was likely fresh in the Wilkes-Barre Scranton management’s mind when they made this deal. In all likelihood, Tokarski will take the role of starting goalie for the Penguins’ AHL affiliate and be able to provide competent backup goaltending in case he’s needed in Pittsburgh.
Calgary Flames Sign Nicolas Meloche, Dennis Gilbert
TVA’s Renaud Lavoie reports the Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Nicolas Meloche to a one-year, $950,000 deal. He isn’t the only depth defenseman they’ll add though, as Dennis Gilbert is also on his way there with a two-year, one-way contract according to his agency.
Meloche, 24, spent most of last season with the San Jose Sharks, getting into 50 games as well as 10 for the AHL’s San Jose Barracuda. Meloche averaged 16:53 time-on-ice per game on a bad San Jose squad and even got some time on the team’s penalty kill unit.
The former QMJHL star defenseman came to the Sharks organization through a 2019 trade, and worked his way from reliable AHL defenseman to NHL priority call-up. It’s unlikely that the Flames rely on Meloche as heavily as the Sharks did, but he could fit in nicely as the team’s seventh defenseman, maybe even seeing bottom-pairing minutes in the roles vacated by Erik Gudbranson and Nikita Zadorov’s departures.
Gilbert, 25, was a third-round pick at the 2015 draft and spent 2021-22 manning the blueline for the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. Gilbert had 23 points in 52 games and has 25 games of NHL experience to his name. The big six-foot-two, 216-pound native of Buffalo, New York should help improve the Flames’ organizational depth and could maybe provide a few games at the NHL level on injury fill-in duty.
Sergachev, Cirelli, Cernak Sign Eight-Year Extensions In Tampa
Defenseman Mikhail Sergachev is staying in Tampa for nine more years. He’s signed an eight-year extension which will kick in for the 2023-24 season, per his agent Dan Milstein. TSN’s Chris Johnston reports the cap hit is $8.5MM.
That’s not it. Anthony Cirelli has also signed an eight-year extension with the team, this time worth $6.25MM per season according to Bob McKenzie of TSN. The semi-retired insider didn’t stop there. Erik Cernak has also inked an eight-year extension. His will be worth $5.2MM per season.
The team has now confirmed all three deals.
Sergachev was the first extension, and it’s a massive one. The Russian defender made an immediate impact after his trade from the Montreal Canadiens, authoring an impressive 40-point rookie year. Since then, Sergachev has been an important all-around defenseman for the Lightning during their Stanley Cup runs and is now being rewarded for it. Sergachev scored 7 goals and 38 points this season and has scored around that rate for most of his NHL career. Sergachev played 22:28 minutes per night last season and saw time on both the Lightning’s power play and penalty kill.
At max term and an $8.5MM AAV, the Lightning are banking on additional improvements from Sergachev. Sergachev is a great player right now, but $8.5MM is the sort of price tag typically assigned to lineup-anchoring number-one defensemen. Sergachev is now making more than his Norris Trophy-winning teammate, Victor Hedman, and only $500K less than the reigning Norris Trophy winner, Cale Makar. The Lightning are paying Sergachev like a number-one defenseman, and now it’s up to him to back up their faith with his play on the ice.
The second extension announced was one for Cirelli. Cirelli, who is just about to turn 25, is among the top defensive players in all of hockey. He has two top-five Selke Trophy finishes on his resume and helps the Lightning kill penalties. He’s also an important secondary scorer, with 17 goals and 43 points. Another top-of-the-line defensive center, Phillip Danault, was signed last season on a long-term deal with a $5.5MM AAV. Cirelli’s deal is in the same range as that contract.
Finally, we have the extension for Cernak. Cernak came to Tampa Bay as part of a heist of a trade, getting him from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Ben Bishop, who played only seven games in Los Angeles. Cernak has been a stay-at-home, physical top-four defenseman for the Lightning, a player who has admirably handled every challenge thrown to him by coach Jon Cooper. Cernak averaged 2:48 time on ice short-handed last season and was successful in that crease-clearing role. There’s not much offense to Cernak’s game, but the Lightning are very familiar with him and have ensured that so far highly successful marriage is extended.
On the back of all this positive news, BriseBois also announced some unfortunate as well. Joe Smith of The Athletic tweets that Cirelli and defenseman Zach Bogosian underwent shoulder surgery and will be out for the next four to six months, missing the start of the year.