Philadelphia Flyers Acquire Tony DeAngelo
July 11: The Flyers have officially announced the two-year extension, which will carry an average annual value of $5MM exactly. DeAngelo will be scheduled for unrestricted free agency following the 2023-24 season.
July 8: The Philadelphia Flyers have added some offense to their blue line, acquiring Tony DeAngelo from the Carolina Hurricanes for pick No. 101 today, a third-round pick in 2023 (the lowest of the three they own), and a second-round pick in 2024. The Flyers will also receive pick No. 220 today.
Philadelphia general manager Chuck Fletcher released the following:
We’re very happy to add Tony to our team and I know he is very excited to join the Flyers. We did our due diligence and we strongly believe in Tony and his ability to help our team. He is a right-handed shot who moves the puck extremely well and will drive offense from the back end for us.
Because DeAngelo is a restricted free agent, the Flyers also needed to work out an extension with him. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the deal will be for two years, while Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic adds that it will carry an average annual value of about $5MM.
After being exiled from the New York Rangers locker room and bought out at the end of the 2020-21 season, DeAngelo arrived in Carolina to try and re-establish himself as a premier offensive defenseman in the league. He did just that, scoring 51 points in 64 games, while generally staying out of the spotlight.
Still, the Hurricanes decided to move on before they had to, as the 26-year-old defenseman could have been kept through the arbitration process. Instead, he was given permission to speak with other teams about a potential trade and extension.
They found a taker in Philadelphia, who give up a good amount of draft capital for the right to sign DeAngelo to a relatively expensive contract. The Flyers have made it very clear that they have no interest in a rebuild, and this shows they are committed to trying to compete in 2022-23.
It also might point to the uncertainty surrounding the health of Ryan Ellis, who may not be ready for the start of the season. DeAngelo can run the powerplay and log minutes on the right side, though he doesn’t exactly have the same defensive chops.
For Carolina, who is also expected to move Ethan Bear at some point this offseason, there are some holes to fill on the back end. Jaccob Slavin and Brett Pesce can cover up a lack of depth to a point but it will be interesting to see how aggressive they are in free agency next week.
Colorado Avalanche Promote Joe Sakic, Chris MacFarland
The Colorado Avalanche are making some front office changes after winning the Stanley Cup. Joe Sakic, who was recently given the Jim Gregory award as GM of the year, will be promoted to president of hockey operations, while Chris MacFarland will become the team’s new general manager.
A move like this was necessary if the team was going to keep MacFarland in the picture, as he had drawn plenty of interest from around the league. The long-time executive has been with the Avalanche since 2015, coming over that year from the Columbus Blue Jackets where he had served for more than a decade. There was always going to be a time when he was given the keys to a team of his own, and when he wasn’t included in some of the other recent general manager searches, it appeared as though a promotion in Colorado was imminent.
In this case, he’ll get the opportunity to run a team with the support of a manager that is not only a franchise icon but an extremely successful executive in his own right. Sakic will be able to take a lot of the pressure off of MacFarland with the press and help him to continue the excellent work that the front office has done over the last several years.
It is interesting to see this move happen just ahead of free agency, and it only strengthens the idea that MacFarland was already doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the organization. He’ll now have control of the ship, even if Sakic is still standing over his shoulder guiding him across uncharted waters.
Predators Agree To Eight-Year Contract With Filip Forsberg
July 11: The Predators have now officially announced the contract, with Poile releasing the following statement:
We are very pleased to announce Filip’s signing today. As one of the best offensive players in our history, we are thrilled to have Filip as a part of our team for the next eight seasons. His talent, competitiveness and leadership are critical to our future as we continue to strive for our goal of winning a Stanley Cup. We believe that Filip, like Pekka Rinne before him and like our captain, Roman Josi, is doing now, will write a legacy with the Predators that fans will remember forever. Additionally, we’d like to wish Filip and his fiancée Erin all the best as they get married later this month. We appreciate having them both in our SMASHVILLE family for the next eight years.
July 9: Filip Forsberg isn’t leaving Nashville anytime soon as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve agreed to an eight-year contract with the winger. While financial terms weren’t officially disclosed, 104.5 The Zone’s Dawn Davenport was the first to report (Twitter link) that the deal is worth around $70MM; Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli confirms (via Twitter) that the deal carries an $8.5MM AAV which is worth a total of $68MM.
TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported Sunday morning on the financial structure of the Forsberg deal. It is as follows:
- 2022-23: $10MM
- 2023-24: $10MM
- 2024-25: $10MM
- 2025-26: $10MM
- 2026-27: $4.5MM base salary, $3MM signing bonus
- 2027-28: $4MM base salary, $3MM signing bonus
- 2028-29: $4MM base salary, $3MM signing bonus
- 2029-30: $3.5MM base salary, $3MM signing bonus
Interestingly, the deal does, in fact, come with some protection against movement. Per LeBrun, the deal has a full no-movement clause throughout, and a modified no-trade clause for the final two seasons of the contract.
The 27-year-old has spent parts of the last ten seasons with the Predators after they acquired him at the trade deadline from Washington in 2013 in exchange for Martin Erat and Michael Latta in a trade that worked out a whole lot better for Nashville than it did for the Capitals. Since then, Forsberg has become a consistent scorer for the Preds and has been a key cog on their top line for several years.
While Forsberg has been pretty steady in the goal-scoring department having notched at least 20 goals in each of his first six seasons (and produced at a 20-plus-goal pace in 2020-21), he found a new gear this past season, scoring 42 goals while chipping in with 42 assists, both career highs by a considerable margin. That was good enough to finish third on the Predators in points behind Roman Josi and Matt Duchene with their goal output – which ranked 12th in the league – helping to propel them to the postseason with the team only being in the middle of the pack in goals allowed.
The timing for that jump in production couldn’t have been better for Forsberg as it placed him as one of the top free agents of this year’s class, giving him plenty of leverage in contract talks. That has allowed him to earn a $2.5MM raise from his previous contract and plenty of job security since he’ll be signed through the 2029-30 season. It will be interesting to see if he was able to get any form of trade protection in the contract as that’s something that GM David Poile has historically been extremely hesitant to hand out over the years.
Nashville is clearly looking to remain in the playoff picture after adding Ryan McDonagh earlier this offseason and keeping Forsberg in the fold will certainly help their chances of reaching the postseason again. They have a little over $9MM left in cap space per CapFriendly with RFA winger Yakov Trenin the most notable still to be signed so it’s possible that the Predators could look to add another impact player this summer if they intend to spend close to the $82.5MM salary cap.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Montreal Canadiens Sign Corey Schueneman
The Montreal Canadiens don’t need a qualifying offer for Corey Schueneman, as the minor league veteran has agreed to a one-year, two-way contract extension for 2022-23. The deal will pay him $750K at the NHL level and offers a hefty minor league guarantee of $350K.
Schueneman, 26, surprised many by climbing all the way to the NHL this season for Montreal, registering six points in 24 games at the highest level. The undrafted defenseman out of Western Michigan University had been playing exclusively in the minor leagues for the past few seasons, including time in the ECHL with the Kansas City Mavericks.
After showing he could handle himself–at least as an injury replacement–this new deal offers a nice raise even if he’s limited to time with the Laval Rocket once again. Schueneman only earned $175K in the AHL last season, but will now enjoy a $275K salary and an even bigger guarantee.
It also seems likely that he’ll get a handful of games with the big club once again, even if he isn’t expected to be a regular right away. Montreal moved out Alexander Romanov at the draft and could be shipping Jeff Petry somewhere this offseason. Depending on what they do in free agency and how their young players respond in training camp, there could be minutes available for players like Schueneman.
Chicago Blackhawks Hire Derek King, Kevin Dean
The Chicago Blackhawks won’t be going into next season with an entirely new coaching staff after all. Derek King, who served as the team’s interim head coach last season, will be back as an assistant under Luke Richardson for 2022-23. Kevin Dean has also been hired as an assistant, providing plenty of experience for Richardson to lean on as he takes over a bench for the first time.
Goaltending coach Jimmy Waite and video coach Matt Meacham have been retained in their previous roles.
King, who had been the head coach of the Rockford IceHogs when he took over from the fired Jeremy Colliton, will still receive something of a promotion by joining the NHL bench. In 70 games as head coach, he stabilized the reeling Blackhawks and led them to a respectable 27-33-10 record. While that isn’t nearly good enough to put them in playoff contention, it’s a much better finish than many expected after the team’s 1-9-2 start, earning King some respect and an interview for the full-time job this summer.
Dean, meanwhile, comes over from the Boston Bruins, where he had served on Bruce Cassidy’s staff since 2017. With experience as a head coach at both the AHL and ECHL levels and a knack for helping young defensemen, he’ll add another quality coach to Richardson’s staff.
With the Blackhawks going through a complete rebuild, the coaching staff they have put together seems geared toward development more than anything else. That’s going to be important moving forward, though they may need to suffer through at least a few years of poor on-ice results.
Latest On Evander Kane
The Edmonton Oilers and Evander Kane remain split in contract negotiations, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, who notes that the two sides met yesterday and made little progress. The separation appears to be in the length of the deal, with the Oilers looking to go short-term with the pending free agent forward. In fact, following the meeting, Kane has been granted permission to start speaking with other teams, according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, though agent Dan Milstein notes that there is still hope a deal can be worked out in Edmonton.
Of course, there is also the fact that Kane is currently involved in a grievance over what he claims was a wrongful termination by the San Jose Sharks, a process that does not appear to be headed toward a resolution before free agency opens on Wednesday. That certainly clouds things for the Oilers and any other team that wants to sign Kane, as there is the potential–however remote–that a new deal could be voided if the arbitrator re-instates his contract with the Sharks. By then, a team would be left out in the cold, with cap space in hand and no premier free agents left to sign. While a settlement between the Sharks and Kane would appear to be the most likely outcome, it is not decided yet.
There is also an apparent belief from Kane’s camp that he will be able to land a deal worth somewhere between $40MM and $50MM on the open market, after showing just how dominant he can be down the stretch. After joining the Oilers in January, Kane scored 22 goals in 43 regular season games and another 13 in 15 playoff contests. That is a 49-goal pace over a full 82-game season, obviously making him one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the league.
While some of that was obviously driven by the opportunity to play with Connor McDavid, it’s exactly that chemistry that makes Kane such an appealing asset for the Oilers. Not every player can keep up with a superstar but the Oilers finally found a perfect match for McDavid in Kane, potentially making him even more valuable to them than any other team.
The fact that he appeared to stay out of trouble off the ice during his time in Edmonton will only help his case, and the Oilers’ newfound cap space should only make it easier to work out a deal. Still, if the two sides remain far apart just days before free agency, it might seem prudent for the Kane camp to at least wait to see what else is out there before circling back.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Maxime Lagace Re-Signs With Tampa Bay
July 11: The Lightning have officially announced the contract, confirming that it is a one-year, two-way deal.
July 10: Goaltender Maxime Lagace has decided not to test free agency next week. Instead, CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that he has agreed to a one-year, two-way deal to remain with the Lightning. The deal pays $750K in the NHL, $250K in the minors, and has a total guarantee of $350K.
The 29-year-old joined Tampa Bay last summer after spending 2020-21 in Pittsburgh’s organization. He spent the bulk of the year as the starter with AHL Syracuse, posting a 2.31 GAA and a .910 SV% in 36 games. Lagace also got into a pair of games with the Lightning, making it the fourth time in the past five years that he has seen NHL action.
Lagace will be expected to reprise his role as the starter with the Crunch with Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott holding down the top two spots with the big club. With the team parting ways with Amir Miftakhov earlier this summer, Lagace only has Hugo Alnefelt to split time with in the minors as things stand; Alexei Melnichuk is a restricted free agent that Tampa Bay will need to decide by 4 PM CT tomorrow whether or not to qualify him.
Ottawa Senators Hire Wade Redden
The Ottawa Senators have brought back a familiar face to help the organization, adding Wade Redden as a development coach. The long-time Senators defenseman will join the team at development camp, which begins today. General manager Pierre Dorion released a statement:
Wade’s addition is a significant one for our development staff. He’ll be especially integral in helping mold our prospects on defense. A leader throughout his playing career, we know the same qualities will translate very well in this new role.
Having played more than 900 games in a Senators uniform, including 94 playoff contests, Redden is uniquely qualified to help the young prospects trying to start their careers. Only Chris Phillips has played more for the franchise among defensemen, despite Redden actually not being drafted by Ottawa. He was picked second overall by the New York Islanders in 1995 but traded less than a year later in a massive three-team deal that included players like Bryan Berard, Martin Straka, and Kirk Muller.
Redden served as the assistant director of player development with the Nashville Predators for a few years between 2016-19 but has no coaching experience at a high level. Perhaps this is the start of that journey, or just an old friend helping out the organization he spent so much time playing for.
Five Key Stories: 7/4/22 – 7/10/22
While the big roster shuffle will come next week as free agency opens up, it was still a very busy week around the NHL with the draft and some big trades among the key stories.
Draft Day Splashes: The Canadiens were hosting the draft, the first held in-person since 2019. GM Kent Hughes make a pair of notable decisions on the opening day of the festivities. First, he opted to take winger Juraj Slafkovsky with the first-overall pick, staying away from Shane Wright, long viewed as the consensus top pick who instead went fourth to Seattle.
Before Wright’s pick was announced, however, Montreal swung a pair of trades to find a new center. First, they traded defenseman Alexander Romanov along with a fourth-round pick to the Islanders for the 13th selection and then flipped that with a third-rounder to acquire Kirby Dach. Dach, the number three pick in 2019, has struggled so far in his career which led to Chicago dealing him away and taking Frank Nazar with the first-rounder but Montreal believes the 21-year-old still has top-six upside. Romanov, meanwhile, is a nice addition to New York’s back end and will certainly give them a boost in terms of physicality. Both Dach and Romanov are restricted free agents this summer.
Day Two Also Busy: Sometimes, the second day of the draft can come and go without much fanfare. This wasn’t one of them as Detroit swung a move to get a head start on their free agent shopping, acquiring the rights to Ville Husso from St. Louis for a third-round pick and then quickly signed him to a three-year, $14.25MM extension. It’s a nice raise for the 27-year-old who was on a league minimum contract the last two seasons but a well-earned one as he impressed in 40 games this past season. The Flyers then added to their back end, picking up Anthony DeAngelo from Carolina for a trio of draft picks, quickly agreeing to a two-year, $10MM contract after. The 26-year-old impressed in his only season with the Hurricanes, notching 51 points in 64 games, effectively pricing himself too high for what they can afford with several other notable free agents. Meanwhile, the Oilers could soon be adding some cap space as reports surfaced that veteran defenseman Duncan Keith is expected to retire this week after a 17-year career that featured two Norris Trophies and three Stanley Cups. The move will give Edmonton more than $5.5MM in cap space for next season while removing that amount from Chicago’s cap due to salary cap recapture penalties.
DeBrincat To Ottawa: Prior to the start of the draft, the Senators made a big splash on the trade front, acquiring winger Alex DeBrincat from Chicago in exchange for the seventh and 39th picks. The 24-year-old is coming off his second career 41-goal season and has one year left on his deal with a $6.4MM AAV. However, it’s worth noting that he’ll be owed a $9MM qualifying offer in 2023; GM Pierre Dorion indicated an intention to try to work on a long-term extension with DeBrincat in the coming weeks and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to push for a number that comes in a little below that amount. Meanwhile, Chicago used the picks on defenseman Kevin Korchinski and center Paul Ludwinski as they continue to sell off pieces as they embark on a full-scale rebuild.
Sharks Hire Grier: It took until just before the draft but the Sharks found their next general manager, appointing long-time NHL winger Mike Grier to the position. That makes him the first Black general manager in NHL history but not the first GM in his family as his brother Chris is currently the GM of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Grier spent three of his 14 NHL seasons in San Jose and will now be tasked with trying to shed some onerous contracts and bring in some extra young depth to the organization. His first move was to trade down from the 11th selection, swapping with Arizona for picks 27, 34, and 45.
Forsberg Sticks Around: While it took a lot longer than many expected, the Predators and winger Filip Forsberg were eventually able to work out a new eight-year, $68MM contract that carries a full no-move clause for the first six seasons. The 27-year-old has spent his entire ten-year NHL career with Nashville and has been a fixture on their front line for many of those. Forsberg is coming off a season that saw him hit new benchmarks in goals (42) and assists (42) despite missing 13 games which gave him plenty of leverage heading into discussions. He used it well as he gets a $2.5MM increase compared to the AAV of his previous deal and the maximum term of an agreement, ensuring he’ll remain the Predators for a long time to come.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Blackhawks To Non-Tender Dylan Strome
A fairly thin free agent center market is about to get a notable addition as Mark Lazerus of The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the Blackhawks will not be tendering Dylan Strome a qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline. That means he will become an unrestricted free agent on Monday.
The move shouldn’t come as much surprise as Chicago has had the 25-year-old available for quite some time now with no takers. That’s more due to his cost than his performance, however. Strome’s qualifying offer of $3.6MM was more than what the Blackhawks were willing to pay and even if they were willing to go that high, the fact he had salary arbitration eligibility would almost certainly have pushed the price tag even higher which other teams around the league were certainly aware of.
Strome is coming off a bit of an up-and-down season. He got off to a tough start but over the final two months of the season, he averaged nearly a point per game in 28 contests while logging more than 20 minutes a night on the top line. Overall, he had 22 goals and 26 assists in 69 games, setting a new career-high in goals in the process.
For the criticism he has received over the past few years, the 2015 third-overall pick had a decent run overall in parts of four seasons with the Blackhawks, recording 60 goals and 94 assists in 225 games. While that type of production doesn’t quite live up to the draft billing, that’s still a solid performance for a secondary scorer. Between that and the fact it’s a thin center market, Strome should be able to generate considerable interest when the market opens up on Wednesday.
In the meantime, this will be the second center selected third overall to leave Chicago in less than a week after the Blackhawks moved Kirby Dach to Montreal back at the draft. GM Kyle Davidson is embarking on a full-scale rebuild and in a short stretch, the team is parting with a pair of young players that were viewed as potential long-term cogs just a couple of years ago.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.