Canucks Notes: Hunt, Petan, Lammikko
After playing in 50 games for the Vancouver Canucks this season, Brad Hunt is set to hit the open market and check out his options around the league according to Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV. The 33-year-old undrafted defenseman had 17 points and averaged more than 15 minutes a night, filling in on the powerplay at times.
While he may not be a household name, Hunt’s NHL experience–208 games over the last five seasons alone–should draw some interest as a depth option around the league. The presence of Jack Rathbone as the next young puck-mover for the Canucks and Travis Dermott‘s midseason acquisition essentially makes Hunt disposable, as they have more than enough options on the left side.
Here’s more on the Canucks from Dhaliwal:
- The Canucks will not be re-signing Nic Petan. The 27-year-old forward is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent later this month, after playing in 18 games this season for the Canucks. It’s been a long, unsuccessful grind for Petan at the NHL level, playing 154 total games over parts of seven seasons, and not more than 18 in a single year since 2016-17.
- Contract talks are ongoing between Vancouver and Juho Lammikko, one of the team’s few remaining restricted free agents. Lammikko, 26, had seven goals and 15 points in 75 games for the Canucks this season, after the team acquired him from the Florida Panthers in the Olli Juolevi deal. Coming off a one-year, $750K contract, Lammikko is eligible for arbitration and is one year away from UFA status.
Latest On Claude Giroux
It’s hard to make a bigger impact as a trade deadline addition than Claude Giroux did for the Florida Panthers, registering 23 points in 18 games down the stretch and adding another eight in ten playoff matches. The veteran forward has proven he can still hang with elite offensive players even as he enters his mid-thirties, and should he reach free agency, there might be a few new ones trying to convince him to come north.
The Edmonton Oilers, reports Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, are “lurking” and hope to have a chance to sign the veteran forward if he fails to reach an extension with Florida. It also likely would only be possible if the Oilers can’t re-sign Evander Kane, though, with his uncertain future tied to a grievance hearing that is still unscheduled, Edmonton may be forced to make a tough decision on that front.
Giroux, 34, recorded 900 points over a 1,000-game career with the Philadelphia Flyers before heading to Sunrise this year and has long been an elite play-driving forward. With the versatility to play both center and wing, the idea of pairing him with Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl (or both) will certainly be exciting for Oilers fans.
Still, a multi-year contract for a player of his age comes with plenty of risks, even if he did play well this season. The Oilers can’t afford to hand out deals that end up backfiring, as they look to capitalize on the elite play of McDavid and Draisaitl over the next few years. A player like Giroux might help them get closer to contention but if his game takes a step back, it could prove costly.
Xavier Simoneau Signs AHL Contract
Overage draft pick Xavier Simoneau will start his professional career with the Laval Rocket in 2022-23 after signing a one-year AHL contract today. The 21-year-old forward recently finished his fifth season in the QMJHL.
Selected 191st overall in 2021 by the Montreal Canadiens, Simoneau is a dynamic offensive player that racked up 86 points in 48 regular season games for the Charlottetown Islanders this season. Overall for his CHL career he had more than 300 points, while also winning the Humanitarian of the Year award in 2020.
The biggest obstacle at the next level will be his size, as Simoneau stands just 5’7″ but plays a relatively physical game. It can be difficult for those types of players to find the same success at the professional level, which is likely the reason that he’ll start on a minor league deal instead of an NHL entry-level contract.
Montreal has until June 1, 2023, to decide whether he’s worth that ELC, at which point he would become an unrestricted free agent.
Winnipeg Jets To Hire Scott Arniel
July 4: More than a month later and Ates’ intel has proved correct, even if Trotz didn’t end up taking the job. Arniel will join the Winnipeg staff as an associate coach, according to Darren Dreger of TSN.
May 31: While the Winnipeg Jets remain “all-in” on Barry Trotz as they try to find their next head coach, another position has a leading candidate according to Murat Ates of The Athletic. Ates writes that Scott Arniel is a “near-lock” to be part of the staff, likely as an associate coach.
The 59-year-old Arniel suited up for the original Winnipeg Jets franchise during his playing days, and finished his career with the Manitoba Moose when the club was still in the IHL. As he transitioned into coaching, he took a role with the Moose as an assistant and then a few years later (after a stint in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres) was brought back as head coach. Arniel’s four seasons behind the bench of the Moose were relatively successful, with an appearance in the Calder Cup Finals in 2009.
As a head coach with the Columbus Blue Jackets, things didn’t go quite as well. In parts of two seasons, the club posted a 45-60-18 record and Arniel was replaced by Todd Richards halfway through 2011-12. He’s been an associate or assistant for the better part of the last decade, serving with the New York Rangers and coincidentally, the Washington Capitals as soon as Trotz left in 2018.
The Jets are one of several teams chasing Trotz, though there are several other high-profile candidates on the market. It is interesting to consider that they would have already decided to bring Arniel in without knowing who would be leading the group. To that end, Ates notes that an announcement on Arniel isn’t expected until a head coach is named.
Mikhail Sergachev Changes Agents
The Tampa Bay Lightning cleared out cap space moving forward by selling off Ryan McDonagh, and now one of the biggest options on their to-do list is signing Mikhail Sergachev to a long-term extension. Heading into the final year of his current deal, the 24-year-old will be eligible to sign an extension this summer and will now be doing it with new representation.
Sergachev has joined Dan Milstein of Gold Star Hockey, according to Darren Dreger of TSN. Colleague Chris Johnston notes that the young defenseman is likely to sign an extension in the coming weeks.
While an agent change can sometimes bring a worry to a front office, the Lightning group is quite familiar with Milstein. He also represents Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy, two players that Tampa Bay had no trouble locking up. In fact, some might say that both Russian superstars gave the Lightning a discount of sorts–something that is a bit offset by the lack of state income tax–when they signed their current contracts, both for $9.5MM per season.
Kucherov signed an eight-year, $76MM contract just a few days after he became eligible in 2018, and Vasilevskiy took just a few weeks before signing an identical one (at least in years and total dollars) the following summer.
With McDonagh now in Nashville, there will be even more responsibility heaped on Sergachev (and fellow extension candidate Erik Cernak) in the coming years. Coming off a three-year bridge deal that carried a cap hit of $4.8MM, the young defenseman has a huge amount of leverage in any negotiation, and should see a monster number on his next deal. Not only does he sit 27th in scoring among all defensemen since he entered the league–ahead of names like Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Darnell Nurse–but his current contract is set to pay out $7.2MM this season. That means a matching qualifying offer would be necessary just to keep him in 2023-24, a season which would also be his last before unrestricted free agency.
It would be difficult to create better conditions for a massive long-term extension, another reason why the team needed to clear money off the back end this summer.
Latest On Ilya Mikheyev
The Toronto Maple Leafs made it clear to teams last week that they would be willing to trade Ilya Mikheyev‘s rights before the start of free agency, as it seemed unlikely that he would be re-signing with the team. That is because of the contract demands of the pending free agent winger. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that Mikheyev and agent Dan Milstein will be looking for a multi-year contract with a cap hit somewhere between $4.75MM and $5.5MM, a hefty price and one that the Maple Leafs likely cannot pay.
Mikheyev, 27, did have a strong season, scoring 21 goals in 53 games including four short-handed tallies. That’s an 82-game pace of 32 goals and it was done without a ton of powerplay time or extended play in the top-six. Often used as a more defensive weapon, Mikheyev started a higher percentage of his shifts in his own end than almost any other Maple Leafs forward. His penalty-killing stats jump off the page, and his speed is something that can change a game at any moment.
Still, this is a player that has just 146 NHL games under his belt and has scored just 36 goals so far. A strong 82-game pace is one thing but at this point, the 2021-22 season could just as easily be an outlier, and Mikheyev’s production is closer to the 15 goals he scored across years one and two. A severe wrist injury during that time did affect his ability to shoot the puck but given how much of his offense has come from counter-attacking with speed and not controlling the play–he had just 11 assists this season–there is some risk that in a new system, those chances disappear.
At this point, with so much money tied up in their other big-name forwards, spending $5MM on Mikheyev doesn’t make much sense for the Maple Leafs. The team will have to look for cheaper options to replace his production or promote an internal option.
Morning Notes: DeBrincat, Staios, Bowness
As the 2022 NHL Draft approaches, many eyes are on the Chicago Blackhawks with speculation running rampant over the future of young sniper Alex DeBrincat. It’s not often that a player has two 40-goal seasons under his belt by the time he’s 24, even rarer for that player to be available in trade. With the Blackhawks starting a scorched earth rebuild in Chicago though, DeBrincat could find his way out the door.
Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus of The Athletic believe that the Blackhawks would pull the trigger on a DeBrincat deal if they received the right offer, and suggest that could be a top-10 pick and a quality prospect. That may seem like a disappointing return to fans who are hoping for a franchise-altering haul for their young star.
- Sixty-six points in 59 regular season games, an OHL championship, and a Memorial Cup final. It was a pretty nice season for undrafted defenseman Nathan Staios even before the personal awards. He was named both OHL Most Outstanding Defenseman and CHL Defenseman of the Year, giving him a nice platform to negotiate from as he tries to turn pro. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet notes that the Florida Panthers have shown some interest in the 21-year-old, who is the son of former NHL defenseman Steve Staios.
- Not only does Rick Bowness have a two-year deal as the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets, it includes a third-year option as well. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that it is a club option worth close to $3MM. Bowness, 67, is coming up on 40 years since he first stepped behind the bench with the Jets, joining the organization as an assistant in 1984 after his playing days ended there.
Five Key Stories: 6/27/22 – 7/3/22
With Colorado beating Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup, the offseason is officially underway. Unsurprisingly, there was plenty of news over the past seven days which is recapped in our top stories.
Boston Gets Their Guy: While it took a lot longer than anyone really expected, the Bruins agreed on a multi-year contract extension with GM Don Sweeney. Soon after, Sweeney found his next head coach as Boston hired Jim Montgomery as their new bench boss. It will be Montgomery’s second time running an NHL bench as he was in charge for parts of two years in Dallas before being let go due to “unprofessional conduct” which Montgomery himself revealed was a battle with alcohol abuse. The Bruins will be dealing with several key injuries to start next season including Charlie McAvoy and Brad Marchand so Montgomery will have his work cut out for him early on until those players return. Dallas did well with Montgomery at the helm with a .579 points percentage but expectations will be high after they let Bruce Cassidy (who had a .672 points percentage with the Bruins) go earlier this offseason.
Tampa Makes Early Moves: Just days after falling to the Avalanche, the Lightning were back in the news. First, they found a way to keep Nick Paul around, handing the forward a seven-year contract that carries an AAV of $3.15MM with some trade protection. The 27-year-old fit in quite well after being acquired at the trade deadline from Ottawa, spending time on the second and third lines both down the stretch and in the playoffs. Knowing they needed to fit in that contract and their desire to keep winger Ondrej Palat, GM Julien BriseBois then convinced defenseman Ryan McDonagh to waive his no-trade clause and moved him to Nashville for blueliner Philippe Myers and AHL forward Grant Mismash. The move frees up $4.2MM in cap space as it stands but if Tampa Bay was to have a change of heart and buy out Myers, that could jump to $7.3MM as buying out the 25-year-old would actually give the Lightning a cap credit for next season. Nashville gets a solid veteran blueliner in McDonagh to bolster their top four and take on the remaining four years of his deal at a $6.75MM cap hit.
Fiala To Los Angeles: Minnesota’s salary cap situation is well-known. The increased dead cap charge stemming from the buyouts on Ryan Suter and Zach Parise was going to force their hand with Kevin Fiala. While they wanted to keep him, everyone knew they couldn’t afford to. That situation worked out well for the Kings as they acquired the 25-year-old in exchange for their first-round pick in next week’s draft (19th overall) along with the rights to prospect defenseman Brock Faber. Los Angeles wasted little time signing Fiala to a seven-year, $55.125MM extension that carries some form of trade protection in each year that he’s eligible for it. Fiala is coming off a career year that saw him pick up 85 points in 82 games and he immediately bolsters a Kings attack that was 20th in goals scored this past season. Minnesota, meanwhile, gets some quality future assets and the cap flexibility that should allow them to fill out the rest of their roster this summer.
Boeser Signs: Saturday was a quiet deadline for Vancouver to reach a new contract with pending RFA forward Brock Boeser as it was the first deadline for club-elected arbitration, one that would have allowed the Canucks to offer 85% of his $7.5MM qualifying offer. But that would have been a contentious process, one that both sides wanted to avoid. They were able to do just that as they agreed on a three-year, $19.95MM contract. The deal provides a small increase on his previous $5.85MM AAV, gives Vancouver a lower price tag than what his qualifier would have been, plus an extra two years of team control as Boeser had just one RFA year remaining. It’s a tidy piece of business for both sides with the Canucks needing all the cap space they can get to keep as much of their core intact as they can.
Coaching Carousel: For a while, it looked like the NHL’s annual coaching carousel was set to come to an end. Chicago officially hired Luke Richardson on a four-year contract while Detroit wasted little time following the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Final to make Derek Lalonde their new bench boss in another first-time hire. At that point, there was just one opening left but before it could be filled, another one opened up as the Sharks surprisingly parted ways with Bob Boughner to allow their eventual new GM to pick their next head coach. Not long after that, the other vacancy was filled as Winnipeg named former Dallas head coach Rick Bowness as their new head coach, giving him a two-year deal. San Jose’s vacancy is now the only one around the league.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Offseason Checklist: St. Louis Blues
With the offseason in full swing, it’s time to examine what each squad will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at the Blues.
2021-22 was a decent season for St. Louis. While they finished in third in a very tight Central Division, they got past Minnesota in the first round and then took the eventual Cup-winning Avalanche to six games. GM Doug Armstrong can afford to keep most of the core together but there will still be a lot of work to do over the coming weeks.
Decide Tarasenko’s Future
Last summer, Vladimir Tarasenko wanted a trade but coming off another season that saw him miss extended time due to a shoulder issue and a $7.5MM cap hit, there were no takers. Seattle had an opportunity to take him in expansion and passed. The end result was somewhat of an awkward return to St. Louis.
It’s safe to say it worked out well for both sides. Tarasenko was able to show that he’s fully recovered from his shoulder surgeries, getting back to the 30-goal mark while eclipsing 80 points for the first time in his career. That was good enough for him to lead the Blues in scoring, giving them a much deeper offensive group in the process.
Now Armstrong has a decision to make. The trade request hasn’t been rescinded and there should be a much better trade market for Tarasenko’s services this time around although it’s worth noting that Tarasenko has a full no-trade clause which could come into play as well. The fact that the commitment is only for one year will help his value in a cap environment where it’s difficult to move pricey multi-year contracts. Moving him would almost certainly yield some cap savings which could come in handy this summer.
But trading Tarasenko away now would also create a big opening to fill on the Blues as teams rarely get better after trading their top scorer. While there’s definitely a risk in potentially losing him for nothing in free agency, that has to be weighed against their current situation where they’re a team with an eye on contending next season. The next couple of weeks is when trade activity is at its peak so if Armstrong is pondering a trade, it may need to happen sooner than later.
Re-Sign Or Replace Husso
Coming into the season, Jordan Binnington was expected to be the starter for the Blues with Ville Husso, who had a quiet rookie year, serving as the backup. That changed in the second half of the year when Binnington struggled and Husso stepped up with a .917 SV% from the beginning of January to the end of the season. Unfortunately for Husso and the Blues, the 27-year-old struggled in the playoffs when Binnington was injured so his season ended on a down note. However, Husso showed enough during the season to position himself as one of the top goalies heading into unrestricted free agency this month where he’ll also be one of the younger goalies to hit the open market.
That has him well-positioned to earn a significant raise after making the league minimum the last two years. While it’s unlikely he’ll be able to command true starter money – he has 64 career NHL appearances (including playoffs) after all – Husso could reasonably expect to get the type of top backup money that has been thrown around in recent years in free agency. Jonathan Bernier, a platoon goalie like Husso might be best suited to be, just received a two-year deal with a $4.125MM cap hit last summer from New Jersey. With the potential for more upside, it’s quite possible that Husso could receive more than that on the open market on a multi-year commitment.
Is that something the Blues can afford on their books with Binnington still on the books for another half-decade at $6MM per season? Is that a price they should want to pay even if they had the money to? If Armstrong feels that the answer to one of those questions is no, then St. Louis will be among the teams joining the annual goalie shuffle that will take place at the start of free agency on July 13th.
Extension Talks
In their summer spending planning, the Blues will need to keep in mind that three prominent forwards (beyond Tarasenko) will need new contracts a year from now so any spending this offseason could cut into what they have for contracts in 2023 (unless they sign players to one-year deals). Once July 13th hits, contract extensions can be worked out and Armstrong will be wanting to have those discussions somewhat quickly.
Ryan O’Reilly continues to be one of the more prominent two-way centers in the league. He consistently produces at a minimum of a 60-point pace (over a full 82-game season), kills penalties, and is one of the most prominent faceoff players in the league. He’s not a true number one center in terms of his scoring output but prior to this past season, he averaged more than 20 minutes a game for six straight years. With a $7.5MM cap hit currently, O’Reilly – who will be 32 when it starts – could conceivably command a similar price tag on a long-term deal, one that runs a little longer than preferred to keep the AAV down.
Then there are a pair of prominent younger forwards who will be coming off their $2.8MM bridge contracts in Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou. Both players hit career highs across the board in 2021-22 while surpassing the point-per-game mark. A repeat performance on either side would only push the asking price higher than it might be this summer. At this point, barring a significant drop-off next season, both players should easily double their current price tag at a minimum. New long-term contracts for those two basically will offset any cap savings if one of Tarasenko or O’Reilly goes unsigned a year from now.
While he’s not at the level of the other three listed here, it’s also worth mentioning that center Ivan Barbashev will also be on an expiring deal next summer and is extension-eligible later this month. He’s currently on a $2.25MM and is coming off a 60-point season. The 27-year-old will be unrestricted in 2023 and is currently in a position to land a significant raise of his own. It’s less likely that he’ll be extended now since his performance was an outlier relative to his first few seasons but if Armstrong intends to keep him around, he’ll be budgeting some room for that as well.
Create Cap Flexibility
If you read through that and thought to yourself that the Blues could use some extra cap flexibility, you’re certainly not the only one who thinks that. Looking ahead to this summer’s spending, it should also be noted that on top of Husso being unrestricted later this month, so are winger David Perron and defenseman Nick Leddy, both quality veterans.
It’s well-known that there is a mutual desire for Perron to stick around which will cut into the $9MM of cap space they have to work with this summer and likely into 2022-23’s money as well unless they can convince the 34-year-old to take a one-year deal. Doing so would put Perron’s next contract into 35+ territory so that’s not an ideal scenario from his point of view. Between that and needing some money for Husso or his replacement, it’s unlikely that Leddy returns although St. Louis would undoubtedly love to try to bring in an upgrade there as well.
There’s one contract that stands out above the rest in terms of an overpayment that they’d likely want to get out of and that’s defenseman Marco Scandella. At $3.275MM for two more years, it’s not as if it’s a massive above-market contract but they can likely find someone capable of covering his 18 minutes a game for less money. After that, however, it’s important parts of their core that might have to be moved to create that extra wiggle room. In an ideal world, Armstrong is able to kick that decision down to next summer and delay the tough decisions for another year but they’ll need to move one notable salary off the books to have a chance at that happening.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.
Snapshots: Chychrun, DeAngelo, Sharks
After being at the forefront of trade speculation for most of last season, Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun hasn’t been mentioned in trade talk as much in recent weeks. At this point, it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be on the move as GM Bill Armstrong told Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports that there hasn’t been much movement on the trade front when it comes to the 24-year-old. Arizona’s asking price before the trade deadline was reported to be in the range of three first-round picks (or equivalent assets) or slightly more than that and evidently, no one came in with a big enough offer to get him. Chychrun, who has three years left on his deal with a team-friendly $4.6MM, is coming off a bit of a down year and while the Coyotes will certainly listen to offers at the draft, they may be better off seeing if he has a strong start in 2022-23 to try to bolster his value.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Ethan Bear isn’t the only pending Hurricanes RFA blueliner that is being allowed to speak to other teams in the league as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that defenseman Anthony DeAngelo has been granted permission to shop his services. The 26-year-old was one of the biggest bargains in the league in 2021-22, picking up 51 points in 64 games with just a $1MM AAV. DeAngelo is arbitration-eligible this summer and with Carolina having a lot of key players to re-sign, there may be a price point that’s too rich for them to agree to. Allowing DeAngelo to speak to other teams will give everyone a better understanding of what his market could be this summer.
- ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports (Twitter link) that former Montreal assistant GM Scott Mellanby no longer appears to be in the running for the GM position with the Sharks. Interim GM Joe Will indicated on Friday that the plan is for the team to hold three to five in-person interviews with the hope of making their choice soon after. Rangers’ Hockey Operations Coordinator Mike Grier and Ray Whitney (who currently works for the Department of Player Safety) are believed to still be in the mix for the position.