Tampa Bay Lightning Sign Felix Robert
The Tampa Bay Lightning continue to go after undrafted QMJHL stars, this time signing Felix Robert to a two-year entry-level contract. Robert, unlike some of the other players that sign these deals with Tampa Bay, has been playing in the AHL for two seasons with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
More to come…
Buffalo Sabres Sign Ilya Lyubushkin, Eric Comrie
The Buffalo Sabres have brought a defenseman down from Toronto, signing free agent Ilya Lyubushkin to a two-year deal according to Bob McKenzie of TSN. The deal will carry an average annual value of $2.75MM.
The Sabres aren’t finished there, as they have also signed goaltender Eric Comrie to a two-year deal worth $1.8MM per season according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.
The first signing, Lyubushkin, is relatively straightforward. The Sabres had an extremely encouraging finish to their 2021-22 season, and the team is in a more positive place than it has been in years. GM Kevyn Adams and coach Don Granato have done a brilliant job so far in turning the downtrodden Sabres around, and they look towards next season with the hope of at least being in the conversation for a playoff spot next spring.
Lyubushkin will help them get there, as he’s the sort of proven, NHL-caliber defenseman that any team could see themselves adding. Lyubushkin, who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs last season, is a big, physical, crease-clearing defenseman. He featured sporadically on the Maple Leafs’ penalty kill, averaging 55 seconds per game there, and should see time on the Sabres’ penalty kill next season. This deal will take Lyubushkin until he’s thirty, meaning there’s no significant regression risk, and the cap hit, while a bit pricey at $2.75MM, isn’t really an issue given the wealth of cap space the Sabres have had.
While some might not like the cost, this is a sensible, entirely reasonable addition for the Sabres to make as they attempt to end the NHL’s longest playoff drought.
In Comrie, the Sabres add a 27-year-old goalie who had an extremely successful limited run of NHL action last year. In 19 games Comrie posted a .920 save percentage, going 10-5-1 on a largely dysfunctional Sabres team. Prior to this year, Comrie had proven himself as a capable AHL starter, and should now see the first regular NHL gig in his career.
The Sabres have an uncertain future in the net, with 41-year-old Craig Anderson currently slated to be their starter. With Comrie in the mix, the Sabres have added a goalie who has a shot to make their $1.8MM per year investment look really, really good.
Arizona Coyotes Set To Sign Three Players
The Arizona Coyotes have signed Troy Stecher to a one-year, $1.2MM contract, according to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV. Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports actually notes that it is worth $1.25MM, but the team has not announced the deal yet. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta also reports that the team is signing defenseman Josh Brown to a two-year contract. Morgan also notes the team is working on a contract with Nick Bjugstad. Bjugstad’s deal is one-year, $900K.
More to come…
Detroit Red Wings Set To Sign Olli Maatta
According to The Athletic’s Max Bultman, the Detroit Red Wings are close to signing defensive defenseman Olli Maatta. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports the team is finalizing a one-year, $2.25MM contract. Maatta arrives in Detroit after two seasons on the Los Angeles Kings.
Although Maatta, 27, isn’t quite what some assumed he’d be after being selected 22nd overall at the 2012 NHL draft, he’s still carved himself out a nice career. At just 27 years old Maatta is a veteran of over 500 NHL games and has two Stanley Cup rings from his time on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Maatta’s foot speed is what’s held him back from a greater NHL role, as his skating deficiencies have become even more pronounced in a speed-first modern NHL. But despite that weak spot, Maatta has become a relied-upon NHL defenseman who has stuck around in a third-pairing role.
In Los Angeles, Maatta averaged 18:17 time-on-ice per game and has averaged 18:35 per game for his career. Maatta is not an offensive producer, with only eight points in 66 games, although his 29-point season in 2017-2018 does suggest there is maybe some more production to his game than it might seem. Even so, the Red Wings aren’t signing Maatta to be an offensive threat. They’re signing him to be an affordable, safe, reliable NHL option to occupy their blueline while their talented prospects develop. Maatta, who averaged 1:46 per game on the penalty kill last season, is a solid signing for that purpose and should help new goalie Ville Husso face a less difficult nightly task than Alex Nedeljkovic frequently faced last season.
Chicago Blackhawks Sign Andreas Athanasiou, Max Domi
One of the biggest strategies for rebuilding clubs is signing buy-low candidates and then flipping them at the deadline, and the Chicago Blackhawks look like they’ll follow that path. Scott Powers of The Athletic reports that the Blackhawks have signed both Andreas Athanasiou and Max Domi today. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic notes that it will be one-year deals for both, worth $3MM each.
With these two signings, the Blackhawks’ plan is starting to become more clear. GM Kyle Davidson’s intentions with signing Domi and Athanasiou are relatively transparent. These are two offense-first players who have in the past shown the ability to score at a valuable level. Max Domi has a 72-point season on his resume, as well as other years where he scored around a 50-point pace. Athanasiou, known best for his blazing speed, has scored 30 goals in the past and offers a tantalizing offensive toolbox that he’s never quite put together.
On a Chicago team that figures to be quite bad, both Domi and Athanasiou will likely get greater offensive roles than they’d receive on contending teams. So, Davidson is likely making these signings with the hope that the increased role can help them author a productive first half to their seasons, making them valuable trade assets at the 2023 trade deadline. Both Domi and Athanasiou could be had by contenders at just a 50% cap hit (if Chicago retains) meaning if either is able to reach similar production to what they’ve been able to do in the past, they could return the Blackhawks a decent prospect or draft pick.
Neither Athanasiou or Domi figures to be a long-term fixture in Chicago. But with the direction the Blackhawks are going, these signings could be beneficial for both the team and players. For Chicago, they have the potential to net them some more long-term assets, the kinds of prospects and draft picks Davidson has been stockpiling so far in his tenure. For the players, they get a chance at a greater role than what they’d receive anywhere else and their best opportunity to re-enter the market on stronger footing next summer.
Florida Panthers Sign Nathan Staios
The Florida Panthers have made a splash in the undrafted free agent market today, signing 21-year-old defenseman Nathan Staios to a three-year entry-level contract.
General manager Bill Zito gave the following statement on Staios’ acquisition:
Nathan is a highly skilled defenseman who possesses an excellent playmaking ability. This past season, he established himself as one of the best defenders in junior hockey and we are excited that he will continue his career within our organization.
Staios, 21, was being pursued by several clubs after his excellent overage season with the Hamilton Bulldogs, where he scored 66 points in 59 games and helped them to the Memorial Cup.
The son of long-time NHLer Steve Staios, this defenseman holds a bit more offensive upside than his dad. He’ll join a Panthers program that will need cheap options in the coming years as their high-end offensive talent continues to increase in cost.
Arizona Coyotes Sign Laurent Dauphin
After he received the most NHL playing time of his career this season, minor league veteran Laurent Dauphin is headed back to the desert. Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports reports that Dauphin is in agreement with the Arizona Coyotes on a one-year, two-way contract worth $750K at the NHL level. It also includes a $400K minor league guarantee.
Dauphin’s signing returns him to Arizona for the third time. Dauphin was drafted 39th overall by the Coyotes at the 2013 draft and was re-acquired by them in 2018, a year after being shipped to Chicago in the Niklas Hjalmarsson deal. Dauphin has spent the last three seasons playing closer to home in the Montreal Canadiens organization, mostly with the Laval Rocket. In Laval, Dauphin was an important top-six center, scoring relatively close to a point-per-game rate and being among their most heavily utilized forwards.
This season, as the Canadiens endured a nightmarish season, Dauphin earned a call-up and an increased role after the Canadiens shipped away numerous veteran players at the trade deadline. Under Martin St. Louis, Dauphin played a larger NHL role than he’d ever played before and was utilized as a middle-six centerman. Obviously, that was more due to necessity than Dauphin’s true talent level, but it would be misleading to say anything other than Dauphin performed better than expected at the NHL level. He had 12 points in 38 games and provided an up-tempo, high-energy game.
He’ll bring that to either the Coyotes or the Tucson Roadrunners, and be someone coaches can rely on. He may not get the same NHL opportunity he got with Montreal, but at the very least he’ll be an impactful AHL player for a Roadrunners club that could be stocked with prospects next season.
Pittsburgh Penguins Sign Xavier Ouellet
The Pittsburgh Penguins have added a bit of depth, signing Xavier Ouellet to a two-year contract according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA Sports. The deal will be a two-way contract with an NHL cap hit of $750K and AHL salary of $450K.
The thing that sticks out about this signing is Ouellet’s $450K AHL salary. That’s a premium number for an AHL-er, and likely a representation of the Penguins’ desire to improve things in Wilkes-Barre Scranton. Ouellet can help them do that, there’s no question about that. Ouellet, the Captain of the Laval Rocket, led the Rocket on a run to the AHL’s Eastern Conference Final and led them there as the team’s number-one defenseman. Ouellet, 178 career NHL games, led the Rocket in average ice time, eating over 22 minutes per night. He also was a major player on both the Rocket’s special teams units and finished with 41 points in 61 games.
Make no mistake, this deal is a major win for Wilkes-Barre Scranton and unlikely to have any major impact in Pittsburgh. Ouellet’s last NHL action came during the Canadiens’ two-round run in the bubble, and over the course of his NHL career, Ouellet has been simply a fine injury replacement/depth defensive defenseman. That’s the role he’ll occupy in Pittsburgh, and he may get games if the team suffers poor injury luck, as they often do.
But in Wilkes-Barre Scranton, his impact will be far greater, as the Penguins have just gotten an AHL number-one defenseman for their affiliate, at a price that affirms the Penguins’ new ownership’s commitment to building a winner at the AHL level as well as the NHL level.
Toronto Maple Leafs Sign Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Adam Gaudette
The Toronto Maple Leafs have added some Cup-winning depth at forward. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Leafs have signed Nicolas Aube-Kubel to a one-year contract worth $1MM. They’ve also signed forward Adam Gaudette to a one-year deal worth $750,000.
Aube-Kubel, 26, is fresh off of a Stanley Cup victory with the Colorado Avalanche. Aube-Kubel arrived in Colorado as a waiver claim and proved to be a nice bottom-six find for GM Joe Sakic. Kubel had 11 goals and 22 points in 67 games, healthy offensive production for someone who only got 9:45 average time-on-ice per game. Aube-Kubel didn’t feature on any of the Avalanche’s special teams, although that could say more about the quality of the Avalanche’s roster than it does about Aube-Kubel’s talent level. At a $1MM cost with no term attached, Aube-Kubel is a nice bottom-six addition for a Maple Leaf team that needs to squeeze maximum value out of every cap dollar.
Gaudette is a different add than Aube-Kubel. While the Maple Leafs can be reasonably sure that Aube-Kubel will be a positive contributor at the bottom of their lineup, Gaudette offers no such guarantees. Gaudette’s signing is similar to the Maple Leafs’ acquisition of Alex Galchenyuk last season. Gaudette, like Galchenyuk, is a former top prospect who offers an all-offense, no-defense game.
At his most productive, the 25-year-old Gaudette had 33 points in 59 games for the Canucks, although they often had to shelter him thanks to his defensive deficiencies. Gaudette bounced from Vancouver to Chicago to Ottawa via trade and a waiver claim and now heads to Toronto as GM Kyle Dubas’ latest attempt at reviving a skilled players’ career on a reclamation project signing.
New York Rangers Close To Signing Vincent Trocheck
The New York Rangers are close to signing high-end center Vincent Trocheck to a seven-year contract, according to Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli. The Athletic’s Arthur Staple reports the contract has a cap hit of $5.625MM. Trocheck’s extension is similar to the extension Ryan Nugent-Hopkins deal from last summer, meaning it’s a contract that likely has an extended term in order to keep the cap hit as low as possible.
The Rangers’ offseason was always going to revolve around their decision-making in the second-line center spot. The team has operated with Ryan Strome there for the past four seasons, and now Artemi Panarin gets a different running mate for the foreseeable future. There were some who speculated that the cap-strapped Rangers would prioritize cap flexibility and run with playoff hero Filip Chytil in the 2C spot, but GM Chris Drury went in a different direction.
In Trocheck, the Rangers are getting the prototypical second-line center. He can be relied upon for about 50 points of offense, with the upside for considerably more in the right circumstances. Next to Panarin, though, those numbers are likely to rise. Trocheck can also bring a sound defensive game and help the Rangers fill the hole left by Kevin Rooney, who operated as a defensive specialist for the team for the past several years.
This signing, given its cap hit, is a major risk for New York. Trocheck as a player isn’t really risky at all, he’s proven himself as a capable top-six center and should continue to be that in Manhattan. But the risk here is in New York locking up another veteran player to a long-term, pricey contract. Chytil and Kaapo Kakko need new contracts this summer. Alexis Lafreniere and budding star K’Andre Miller will need new deals next summer. Something will have to give, and it will be extremely interesting to see what Drury and his front office do in order to keep their young players on Broadway.